The Present Truth, Vol. 14 (1898)

January 6, 1898

"The Arm of the Lord" The Present Truth 14, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

When Paul stood up to address the assembly in the synagogue at Antioch, he began with this statement:-

"The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought He them out of it." Acts xiii. 17.

The arm is the member most used in working; the strength of one's arm represents the strength of its owner. Therefore the arm of the Lord signifies the power of God. Thus it was by the arm or power of God, that the Israelites were delivered from Egypt. David said:-

"We heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work Thou didst in their days, in the times of old. How Thou didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand, and plantedst them; how Thou didst afflict the people and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own right arm save them; but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance because Thou hadst a favour unto them." Ps. xliv. 1-3.

All the power manifested in the deliverance of Israel from Egypt,-the dividing of the Red Sea, the overthrow of the Egyptians, the dividing of the Jordan, and overthrowing of the walls of Jericho, as well as the miraculous provision of food and drink, was the working of God's right arm. "Thou hast a mighty arm; strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand." Ps. lxxx. 13.

Again we read: "O sing unto the Lord a new song; for He hath done marvellous things; His right hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory. The Lord hath made known His salvation; His righteousness hath He openly showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered His mercy and His truth toward the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God." Ps. xcviii. 1-4.

All the wonders connected with the coming of the Lord to save His people, and to punish the wicked, are the operation of the arm of the Lord. Thus the prophet

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announces: "Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold His reward is with Him." Isa. xl. 10. Again the power of that arm in effecting the final salvation is thus set forth:-

"Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art Thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? Art Thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head; they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away." Isa. li. 9-11.

The quaking earth and heavens, the darkened sun and moon, the falling stars, the moving islands and mountains, and the mighty hailstones, that herald the approach of Christ, are all indications of the power of the Lord's arm. "The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." Isa. Iii. 10.

TO BRING SALVATION

But note that last statement: As the result of God's making bare His holy arm, all the ends of the earth shall see His salvation. "Mine own arm brought salvation unto Me." Isa. lxiii. 5. Herein is rejoicing and not sorrow, in contemplating the devastating power of that arm, as seen in the destruction of the world of the ungodly. All that terrible power is simply the measure of the mighty power by which God delivers His people. Not simply the power by which He will save them when He comes, but the power by which He saves them now from their sins. God's people are "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter i. 5. That is, they are kept by the arm of the Lord.

With this agree all the Scriptures. The Lord says: "My righteousness is near; My salvation is gone forth, and Mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon Me, and on Thine arm shall they trust." Isa. li. 5. What a wonderful thought, that those who accept the word and work of the Lord, can trust and find comfort in the very arm that does such terrible things! They dwell in the secret place of the Most High.

So passing on from the place where we are told that the Lord shall come with strong hand, and His arm rule for Him, we read: "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom." Isa. xl. 11. That mighty arm that can move the mountains as though they were pebbles, that can take up the islands,-the British isles as well-as though they were fine sand, and can shake the earth so that it will reel to and fro like a drunken man, is the arm that gathers and protects the lambs of the flock, and leads the sheep.

All the power of that arm is exerted to gather them, and then, when folded to His bosom, they can rest securely in its embrace. "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." Isa. lxvi. 13. "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in His excellency on the sky. The eternal God is Thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Deut. xxxiii. 26, 27.

CHRIST THE ARM

Once more, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." Isa. liii. 1, 3. Christ is the arm of the Lord, and especially Christ crucified. A helpless infant; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; unable Himself to do anything; despised and rejected of men; thought to be stricken, smitten of God, and as a malefactor hung upon the cross for the jeers of the mob, He was nevertheless the arm of the Lord, that brings salvation, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 1 Cor. i. 24, 25.

All the mighty power of God is manifested in the cross of Christ. Who of the men of the world believed that in that little babe in the manger in Bethlehem, or in the poor, despised man hanging on the cross, there was the power that could move the world? God's strength is made perfect in weakness. For "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are; that no flesh should glory in His presence." 1 Cor. i. 27-29.

The comfort for us is that no matter how poor we are, no matter how insignificant and despised, no matter how ignorant and sinful, the arm of the Lord is all sufficient for our salvation. Yea, it is in just such conditions that the glory of its power is most manifest. God does not despise the poor and the outcast, for there is where His own arm is. Then praise the Lord when you hear of the stretching forth of that mighty arm; and if it proceeds to shake terribly the earth, then cling the closer to it, and nestle the more confidingly in the bosom of the Almighty, for there is everlasting safety.

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." Ps. xlvi. 1-3, 11.

"Making No Difference" The Present Truth 14, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

The Lord makes no difference between men in the matter of salvation, since there is in reality no difference among men in the matter of sin. But the Lord does put a difference between sin and righteousness, and pronounces a woe upon those "that call evil good, and good evil." Isa. v. 20. It is therefore painful to see Christian people unconsciously labouring to obliterate the distinction between good and evil. For example, a Christian journal bewails the fact that "the daily press is almost entirely hostile to the movement" for the Sunday-closing of public-houses, and refers with approval to the Echo, as an exception, quoting the following as a trenchant statement of the case:-

The seller of drink and drinkers alike enjoy freedom which is denied to those who would enjoy right sources of recreation and instruction. Why should not the spirit-seller be put on the same level as the ordinary shop-keeper?

Of course neither the Echo nor the religious paper which endorses it, means to stand as the champion of the drink-traffic; but the question, "Why should not the spirit-seller be put only the same level as the ordinary shop-keeper?" shows the actual tendency of the movement to close public-houses on Sunday only. The success of it will entrench the spirit-seller to a degree never before known.

"Mingling Darkness with Light. Origin of Sunday Observance" The Present Truth 14, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

A reader of PRESENT TRUTH sends us the following letter of inquiry:-

In following the articles in your valuable paper by Mr. A. T. Jones, relating to the Papacy, I find he has said that ages before the fourth century the idolatrous people celebrated the 25th December. Can you tell me how long before that time it was celebrated? and can you tell me how long before the resurrection of our Saviour the idolatrous people kept Sunday? Will you kindly answer through PRESENT TRUTH?

The last question should properly be answered first, for it will go a long way toward answering the others, if we know that the idolatrous people of old never "kept" Sunday, in the sense that the word "kept" is understood by Christian people to-day. A Sabbath day, a rest day, is something that no heathen religion has ever known. Just as the religion of Jesus Christ is the only religion that ever existed in the world, which offered to people rest from their sins, saying, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden: and I will give you rest;" so the religion of Christ is the only religion that has ever had a rest day. Christ gives rest from sin, by virtue of His power as Creator-the power of the cross,-of which the seventh day is a sign. Other religions have holidays and festivals; Christianity alone has the Sabbath. When we speak of Christianity we mean the religion of the Bible, whether in the day of Abel, Abraham, and Moses, or Paul.

Both Christmas and Sunday are festivals connected with sun worship. Numerous citations might be given, but our space admits of only that which is very direct. Of Constantine's Sunday law, Dean Milman ("History of Christianity," Book iii.) says:-

The rescript commanding the celebration of the Christian Sabbath bears no allusion to its peculiar sanctity as a Christian institution. It is the day of the sun, which is to be observed by the general veneration.

"The venerable day of the sun" is the title by which Constantine referred to the day-a title which shows its ancient connection with sun worship. It was very natural that he should not allude to "its peculiar sanctity as a Christian institution," for it had none. Nobody at that time had ever thought of Sunday as the Sabbath day; so far as a Sabbath day was observed, it was the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, between which and the first day of the week all professed Christians made a clear distinction. Chambers' Encyclop?dia, Art. Sunday, says:-

Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbatical observance of that day is known to have been ordained, is the edict of Constantine, 321 A.D.

Constantine's law simply required that tradespeople should abstain from labour "on the venerable day of the sun," but said: "Let those who are situated in the country freely and at full liberty attend to the cultivation of their fields." Yet the Church historian Mosheim, himself an advocate of Sunday, says that by this law Constantine required Sunday "to be observed more sacredly than before." It was not till after the partial Reformation, that the notion of Sunday as a sacred day came into the church. It was the Presbyterians, who wished to be independent of Rome, and who therefore felt obliged to find some other ground for Sunday observance than that of Rome, who first quoted the fourth commandment as authority for it. So much for Sunday.

As to the Christmas festival, we quote from the Rev. Dr. Philips Schaff, who states the case very concisely:-

The Christmas festival was probably the Christian transformation or regeneration of a series of kindred heathen festivals-the Saturnalia, Sigillaria, Juvenalia, and Brumalia-which were kept in Rome in the month of December, in commemoration of the golden age of universal freedom and equality, and in honour of the unconquered sun, and which were great holidays, especially for slaves and children.-Church History, volume 1, section 77.

That Dr. Schaff did not say this in any spirit of hostility to the festival, appears in the following further statement:-

Had the Christmas festival arisen in the period of the persecution, its derivation from these pagan festivals would be refuted by the then reigning abhorrence of everything heathen; but in the Nicene age this rigidness of opposition between the church and the world was in a great measure softened by the general conversion of the heathen. Besides, there lurked in those pagan festivals themselves, in spite of all their sensual abuse, a deep meaning and an adaptation to a real want [this by way of excuse]; they might be called unconscious prophecies of the Christmas feast. Finally the church Fathers themselves confirm the symbolical reference of the feast of the birth of Christ, the Sun of righteousness, the Light of the world, to the birth festival of the unconquered sun, which on the twenty-fifth of December, after the winter solstice, breaks the growing power of darkness and begins anew his heroic career.

He further states that the feast celebrating the birthday of the sun "is the feast of the Persians' sun-god Mithras." In a translator's note to Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History (Book 3, Century iv., part 2, chap. iv.) we read:-

From the first institution of the festival, the western nations seem to have transferred to it many of the follies and censurable practices which prevailed in the pagan festivals of the same season, such as adorning the churches fantastically; mingling puppet shows and dramas with worship, universal feasting and merry-making, Christmas visits, and salutations, Christmas presents and jocularity, and Christmas revelling and drunkenness.

These things were not transferred to the festival, but transferred with it. Since beginning this article we find in the Christian World of Dec. 16, a quotation from Dr. John Hall, of New York, protesting against the association of "Santa Claus" or any secular idea with Christmas, upon which the paper says:-

We doubt whether Santa Claus will lie frightened away by this deliverance. Christmas was a festival before Christianity came in, and the mirth-making-shall we say the pagan element of it?-got into the race so deep and early that it will take a great deal more than the fulminations of the stalwart New York Presbyterian to dislodge it.

All that now remains to be answered is, When did the celebration of these festivals begin? They are doubtless as ancient, or nearly so, as sun-worship and to that no definite answer can be given. The citations already given show that sun-worship was very ancient. It is, indeed, the most ancient form of idolatry; for when men began to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. i. 25) the sun would naturally be the first creature after themselves-to attract their attention. Of one thing, however, we may be certain: Truth is more ancient than the most ancient error, and will exist for ages after error has been banished from the universe together with its worshippers.

"A Feature of State Religion" The Present Truth 14, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

The St. Petersburg correspondent of the Daily Mail writes to that paper as follows concerning some Russian methods of conversion:-

The authorities in the government of Samara, Russia, have recently been actively engaged in the criminal pursuit of kidnapping children. In the Busulykski district all parents known to belong to heterodox sects have had their children taken from them. The police usually make their visits in the middle of the night, take the children out of bed, and carry them off in the cold night air, in spite of the frantic entreaties of the parents. Many peasants have lost their whole family in this way.

This practice of kidnapping children is increasing in all pars of Russia. lt is, of course, a gross abuse of official power, and an illegal attack on the religious freedom established by statute in Russia.

There are doubtless few, if any, other so-called Christian lands where such a proceeding would be tolerated, at least not at present; and yet Russia is only consistently carrying out a sentiment that is rapidly taking possession of all governments and societies, a sentiment that is the basis of nearly all organised reform, namely, that the individual is nothing and the State or society is everything. The whole tendency is for the majority to decide what is the right course to pursue, and then let the individual conform to it or suffer the consequences. The kidnapping of the children of so-called heretics in Russia, is the natural and logical result of a church-ruled State. Let any class of religionists claim the monopoly of religion in any country in the world, and have the power to enforce their claims, and the same thing would be done that is being done in Russia.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

Japan has nearly two hundred ships of war now in process of construction.

"No student of affairs," says a weekly journal, "can be blind to the fact that history is being made with marvelous rapidity in these days."

Our next book Study in the columns of PRESENT TRUTH will be the Epistle to the Galatians. The entire epistle will be covered in about eighteen or twenty numbers.

A thing that is plain cannot be explained, that is, it cannot be "made plain," since it is so already. Thus: "John goes to school" is a simple statement of fact, and it cannot be made any plainer. All attempts to "explain" the statement would simply be aggregations of words which would either have no meaning at all, or else would serve bewilder the listener. The only possible result of any attempted explanation of such a simple proposition is to call the attention away from the fact stated.

The fourth commandment is composed of a series of just such simple statements of fact. After the commandment proper, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," we have these statements: (1) The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. (2) In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, etc. (3) He rested the seventh day. (4) Therefore He blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it.

These are as plain statements of fact as is the statement that "John goes to school," or that "the sun shines." They cannot be made any plainer. All that can properly be done with them is to believe theirs, since "the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Every so-called "explanation" of the commandment is either a direct contradiction of it or else such a mass of verbiage as serves to confuse the unfortunate person who is persuaded to put confidence in it. If anyone knows where the fourth commandment is stated in plainer terms than in Ex. xx. 8-11, we should be glad to have it shown to us.

The Greek Church authorities, as we notice elsewhere in this paper, are kidnapping children, in order to see that they are brought up in "the Church." Speaking of this, a Russian exile told the Daily Chronicle the other day:-

The sect on which this new form of persecution has fallen most terribly is the Molokan, or Sabbatarians, so called because they keep the Sabbath on Saturday instead of Sunday. Like all the Puritan sects, they are a very peaceful and industrious people, going their own way in the fear of God. But they do not observe the fasts, nor attach any particular sanctity to priests, and they allow anyone who knows the Bible well to preach to them. That is all; and now their children are torn from their homes.

We learn from the Good Health that the sanatorium in Battle Creek (U.S.A.) has a large patronage from the public, and has on its roll of physicians and nurses, and has on its roll of physicians and nurses, and those taking the nurses' and medical missionary training course at the main institution and in its Chicago branch a total of 664 men and women, all consecrated to the world of the Lord. Adding the other workers employed by the institution brings the number up to 1,010. And this, and other similar, though no so large, institutions in America, and various other parts, under the direction of Seventh-day Adventists, are devoted to Gospel health work.

A letter from Dr. Ottosen, editor of Sundhelsbladet, a Danish journal devoted to the dissemination of the principles of healthful living, states that interest in the subject is greatly increasing. Although the new Sanatorium at Skodsborg, near Copenhagen, is not yet ready for the reception of patients, several have already engaged rooms for the whole of next summer, and the prospect is that it will be overcrowded from the very beginning.

"The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals seems" says a morning paper, "to be meeting with no little difficulty in its attempt to suppress the plucking of live birds, a cruel practice that is said to improve their flesh, especially in the case of geese. Several English farmers have been summoned for this practice within the last few weeks, but in no case has a conviction been obtained, which seems to justify Charles Lamb's reproach that if an additional flavour were imparted by it animals would whipped to death."

The American correspondent of the London Freeman says:-

The daily papers are amusing themselves with a report form a town in Kentucky, where the minister of what is called the "Christ" church preached a sermon in which he affirmed that there is no devil, upon which "the congregation took offence, and when the reverend gentleman attempted to speak again he was ejected from the house and about twenty pistol shots were fired after him." This may have changed his mind or else convinced him that there were a number of orphan children in his audience who were prepared to do the works of their father.

"The Outlook" The Present Truth 14, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

The Outlook .-"The New Year opens amid martial mutterings," says one morning paper in its political survey. Another great paper says:-

The year 1808 is likely to be full of anxiety. . . . Look where we may, there never was a more restless time.

There is upon the earth "distress of nations, with perplexity," and men of the world who are not blind to the restlessness of the time are anxiously "looking after those things which are coming upon the earth." But above all the nations is God, the Lord. Now let every heart truth Him and rest in Him. "When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for you redemption draweth nigh." Luke xxi. 25-28. Blessed promise of peace amidst the world's perplexities, and of rest amidst its restlessness!

"The 'Good Health' Magazine" The Present Truth 14, 1.

E. J. Waggoner

The "Good Health" Magazine .-This monthly magazine, from which we have often reprinted most excellent articles, as our readers know, may now be obtained through our agents. It is edited by Dr. J. H. Kellogg, of the Battle Creek (U.S.A.) Sanatorium, and has long had a circulation by post amongst many in the United Kingdom who are interested in the Gospel of healthful living. Now we shall be able to supply it direct, at the published price, 5d. The December number, which was somewhat delayed, has just arrived, and we believe that every one who purchases it and reads it will desire it regularly. Some of the leading articles are: "Are We a Dying Race?" "An Island Paradise," "A Portable Shower Bath," "Complications in Measles," "The Hygiene of Childhood," "How to Stop the Use of Alcohol," "The Body the Temple of God," and scores of other contributions to the whole subject of living, and of caring for the body in health and disease. We heartily recommend this magazine to our readers, for we know it will prove a blessing to every home where it is read.

January 13, 1898

"Why Be a Captive?" The Present Truth 14, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Why be a captive when Jesus has come to "bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house"?

On Jesus was laid "the iniquity of us all," and He overcame it all. Therefore He has broken the power of every evil habit that enslaves man. Let any man confess his own helplessness and put his will on the side of the Lord, and he can thank the Lord for liberty in Him, and the evil habit cannot rule him without his consent.

When one accepts the Lord's salvation and deliverance from evil and is free, it is not that he is now strong in himself. He is free only as he confesses utter helplessness, and trusts in God. It is the one "without strength, and with the powers of evil all about, he who is willing to have the Lord save him may cry out from the depths: "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; and the son of Thine handmaid: Thou hast loosed my bonds." Ps. cxvi. 16.

"The Latest" The Present Truth 14, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

The Latest .-"Military experts are," says a newspaper, "at present interested in a new self-moving car, which is to be a veritable carriage of death. It is to be driven by a 16-horse-power at the rate of over forty miles an hour over a country reasonably level. The climax and purpose of this remarkable machine is to carry two rapid-firing cannon. One man only is needed to run this terrible wheeled weapon of war, and this same man also attends to the firing and loading."

"The Epistle to the Galatians. A Gospel Greeting" The Present Truth 14, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

The best "Introduction to the Bible" is the Bible itself; so the only introduction necessary to this present study is to begin at once on the epistle. One thing only would the writer say, and that is, Do not let these articles be considered as a substitute for the study of the Scripture itself. They are designed only as suggestive, to lead the student into some of the glories revealed in the sacred text. The Epistle to the Galatians is short, and as but few verses will be covered in any one lesson, it is hoped that many will study the Scripture text so carefully that they will have the entire epistle well in their minds when the studies are ended. Then they will find themselves well equipped for a thorough study of the book, which they will then feel that they have just begun. We will now proceed to read

THE LESSON FOR THE WEEK

"Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead); And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Gal. i. 1-5.

A FEW QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

Who wrote this epistle?

"Paul."

To whom was it addressed?

"Unto the churches of Galatia."

Who was Paul?

"An apostle."

From whom did he not receive his commission?

"Not of men."

Did any man have anything to do with making him an apostle?

"Neither by man."

By whom then was he made an apostle?

"By Jesus Christ."

And who else?

"God the Father."

What showed the authority of his apostleship?

He was sent by Jesus Christ, who was raised, and by "God the Father, who raised Him from the dead."

Who are concerned in the greeting and in the sentiments of the epistle?

"All the brethren which are with me."

What blessing is pronounced?

"Grace be to you and peace."

From whom does this inestimable gift come?

"From the God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ."

What has our Lord Jesus Christ done to insure us this grace and peace?

He "gave Himself."

For what did Christ give Himself?

"For our sins."

Why did He give Himself for our sins?

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"That He might deliver us from this present evil world."

According to whose plan is this wonderful redemption?

"According to the will of our God and Father."

What belongs to Him, therefore?

"The glory."

For how long?

"For ever and ever."

Christ's Divinity .-The very first verse shows the divinity of Christ. Paul declares himself to be an apostle, "not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ." That is just as strong Bible proof of the divinity of Christ as is the statement, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John i. 1. It is true that this truth is stated incidentally, in Gal. i. 1, since the subject is Paul's apostleship; but that simply shows how the fact of Christ's divinity is the basis of all the Scriptures. They are not written to prove the divinity of Christ; no, they are written for the benefit of men. Because Christ is Divine, a thing which carries its own proof to every one who make His acquaintance, the Scriptures point men to Him. He is "the Christ the Son of the living God."

A Good Commission .-An apostle is one who is sent. Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ, and of God, the Father, who raised Him from the dead. He had good backing. A messenger's confidence is in proportion to the authority of the one who sends him, and to his confidence in that authority and power. Paul knew that he was sent by the Lord, and he knew that the power of God is the power that raises from the dead. Now "he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God." John iii. 34. Thus it was that Paul spoke with authority, and the words which he spoke were the commandments of God. 1 Cor. xiv. 37. So in reading this epistle, or any other in the Bible, we have not to make allowance for the writer's personal peculiarities and prejudices. It is true that each writer retains his own individuality, since God chooses different men to do different work solely on account of their different personality; but it is God's Word in all, and nothing need be taken off from the authority of the message, and set down to the score of natural bias or prejudice.

One Mind .-In the writing of this epistle, we have an example of what the apostle in another epistle exhorts us all to be: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye all he perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." 1 Cor. i. 10. Paul wrote the Epistle to the Galatians, but all the brethren who were with him were concerned in it, because they were led by the same Spirit. While there can be no doubt as to the fact that all were united in agreeing with what Paul wrote, it may well be that the mention of the brethren refers specially to the greeting. They all sent greeting. Of course the substance of the epistle came direct from Paul's own heart and mind, prompted by the Holy Ghost.

Grace and Peace Be to You .-This is the word of the Lord, let it he remembered, and therefore means more, than man's word. The Lord does not deal in empty compliments. His word is substantial; it carries with it the thing which it names. God's word creates, and here we have the very form of the creative word.

God said, "Let there be light; and there was light," and so on through the whole creation, "He spake, and it was." So here, "Let there be grace and peace to you," and so it is. "The grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men." Titus ii. 11. "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you." John xiv. 27. "Peace, peace to him that is afar off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord." Is. lvii. 19. God has sent grace and peace, bringing righteousness and salvation to all men-even to you, whoever you are, and to me. When you read this third verse of the first chapter of Galatians, do not read it as a sort of complimentary phrase,-as a mere passing salutation to open the real matter at hand,-but as the creative word that brings to you personally all the blessings of the peace of God, that passeth all understanding.

The Gift of Christ .-This grace and peace come from Christ, "who gave Himself for our sins." "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Eph. iv. 7. But this grace is "the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. ii.1. Therefore we know that Christ Himself is given to every one of us. The fact that men live is an evidence that Christ has been given to them, for Christ is "the life," and the life is the light of men, and this life-light "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John i. 4, 9; xiv. 6. In Christ all things consist (Col. i. 17), and thus it is that since God "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all," He cannot do otherwise than, with Him, freely "give us all things." Rom. viii. 32. "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." 2 Pet. i. 3. The whole universe is given to us in Christ, and the fullness of the power that is in it is ours for the overcoming of sin. God counts each soul of as much value as all creation. Christ has, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man (Heb. ii. 9), so that every man in the world has received the "unspeakable gift" (2 Cor. ix. 15). "The grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many," even to all; for "as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Rom. v. 15, 18.

God in Christ .-"God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." 2 Cor. v. 19. "When God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself." Heb. vi. 13. This oath of God was in Christ. Gal. iii. 16, 17.So in the gift of Christ, God Himself is given, and "of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things." Rom. xi. 36. Christ is "the shining of the Father's glory, and the very impress of His substance, and upholds all things by the Word of His power." Heb. i. 3. Therefore since the whole universe depends on Christ, it is evident that in giving Himself for our sins, the entire universe has been pledged to man's salvation. Sometimes people think that they are too poor, and insignificant, and worthless to be saved; well, they may be poor and worthless, but the fact is nevertheless that when it comes to the matter of salvation, God counts a single soul equal in value to the universe. It would perish sooner than a single soul who trusts God's Word.

An Individual Gift .-"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John iii. 16. The love embraces the whole world, but it singles out each individual. Christ, by the grace of God,

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tasted death for "every man." Heb. ii. 9. The whole of the gift of Christ is to each one personally. "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Eph. iv. 7. Christ is not divided, any more than Paul was crucified for sinners. 1 Cor. i. 13. Some people seem to have the idea that as Christ was given for all the world, He has to be divided up among all the persons in the world, each one getting only a portion. Not so; every individual gets the whole of Christ. To illustrate: Christ is the light of the world, the Sun of righteousness. But light is not divided among a crowd of people. If a room full of people be brilliantly lighted, each individual gets the benefit of all the light, just as much as though he were alone in the room. So the life of Christ lights every man that comes into the world, and in every believing heart Christ dwells in all His fulness.

Our Sins Purchased .-Christ "gave Himself for our sins." That is to say, He bought them, and paid the price for them. This is a simple statement of fact; the language used is that commonly employed in referring to purchases. "How much did you give for it?" or, "How much do you want for it?" are frequent questions." "I gave a guinea for it," may be the reply, And when we hear a man say that he gave so much for a certain thing, what do we at once know?-we know that that thing belongs to him, because he has bought it. So when the Holy Spirit tells us that Christ gave Himself for our sins, what should we be equally sure of?-That He has bought our sins, and that they belong to Him, and not to us. They are ours no longer, and we have no right to them. Every time we sin we are robbing the Lord.

Deliverance .-Christ has not only paid the price for our sins, but He has accepted the goods. He has taken the sins all on Himself. He "bare our sins in His own body on the tree." 1 Peter ii. 24. He bears the sins of the world. John i. 29, margin. "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. He "gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us," and since He did not die in vain, He has delivered us. He has wrought deliverance for every soul; whether all will accept it and rejoice in it, is in their own hands. He comes proclaiming "liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Isa. lxi. 1. His commission was, to "say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves." Isa. xlix. 9. Herein is the comfort of the Gospel of salvation: The Lord has taken all our sin upon Himself, having purchased it, so that we do not need to bear it. It was for our sins,-yours and mine,-that He gave Himself. "Our sins" means not imply those things that we have done, but the evil things that we are accustomed to do. He has bought our wicked dispositions, so that we do not need to be burdened with them. The absence of sin is righteousness; therefore in purchasing and taking our sins, the Lord has given to us all the righteousness of God. It is much easier to bear than sin; why not accept and stand to the transaction?

"This Present Evil World." -He gave Himself for our sins, "that He might deliver us from this present evil world." The text indicates that our sins constitute "this present evil world." Of course, for there is no evil in this world except our sins. This present evil world is composed of "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." 1 John ii. 15, 16. Christ said to the Father: "I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil." John xvii. 15. Men and women have gone into cloisters and convents, and have lived in deserts and in caves as hermits, in order to he separate from the world, that is, from "this present evil world;" but every one has found that the world went along. It was present, always present; they could not get rid of it, because it was within them. It is not our associates that cause us to sin, but the evil that is within us. No man can escape from this present evil world, until he escapes from himself, and Christ gave Himself for our sins, to deliver us from ourselves. This He has done, and every soul can say, if he will, "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid; Thou hast loosed my bonds." Ps. cxvi. 16. Having been delivered from himself, and realising it, he can henceforth say, "Not I, but Christ."

He Has Bought Us Too .-This follows from the fact that He has purchased our sins, to deliver us from ourselves. Our sins are part of ourselves; nay, they are the whole of us, for our natural lives are nothing but sin. Therefore Christ could not buy our sins without buying us also. Of this fact we have many plain statements. He "gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity." Titus ii. 14. "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price." 1 Cor. vi. 19. "Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver and gold, from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ." 1 Peter i. 15, 19, R.V.

The Question of Acceptance .-This is for ever settled by what we have already learned. Christ has bought us, together with our sins, and has paid the price. Therefore there is no room for the question, "Will He accept us?" He has already accepted you. Why does a man buy an article at the shop?-Because he wants it. If he has paid the price for it, having examined it so as to know what he was buying, does the merchant worry lest he will not accept it?-Not at all; the merchant knows that it is his business to get the goods to the purchaser as soon as possible. And here there is no room for anyone to object. "But I am so sinful and unworthy." That makes no difference; a man will accept what he deliberately purchases, especially if he has paid a great price for it; and Christ "gave Himself for our sins." There is nothing in the whole universe that God desires so much as us and all the sins we have. We have only to "praise the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved." Eph. i. 7.

"Thy Will Be Done." -What has this petition to do with the text before us?-very much. We have read of what a wonderful deliverance Jesus has purchased for us, and now we read that all this is "according to the will of our God and Father." "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." 1 Thess. iv. 3. He "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." Eph. i. 11. God wills our salvation; if our will coincides with His, or, better still, if we accept His will as ours, nothing in the universe can hinder our salvation. Therefore we have only to pray from the heart, "Thy will be done."

To God Be the Glory .-Not simply, "To Him be glory," as in the common version, but "To whom be the glory," as in the Revision. "Thine is the kingdom; and the power, and the glory." All glory is God's, whether men acknowledge it or

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not. To give Him the glory is not to impart anything to Him, but to recognise a fact. We give Him the glory by acknowledging that His is the power. "It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves." Ps. c. 3. "Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength." Ps. xcvi. 7. Power and glory are the same, as we learn from Eph. i. 19, 20, which tells us that Christ was raised from the dead by the exceeding greatness of God's power, and from Rom. vi. 4, where we learn that "Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father." Also when Jesus by His wondrous power had turned water to wine, we are told that in the performance of the miracle, He "manifested forth His glory." John ii. 11. So when we say that to God is the glory, we are saying that the power is all from Him. We do not save ourselves, for we are "without strength." But God is the Almighty, and He can and does save. If we confess that all glory belongs to God, we shall not be indulging in vainglorious imaginations or boastings, and then will God be glorified in us.

Thus we see a little of the comprehensiveness of Paul's salutation by the Spirit. Instead of being the mere compliments of the day, it embraces the whole Gospel of God's glorious grace. It presents to us man's need, God's willingness to save, and Jesus Christ as the power of God, by which deliverance is wrought. With such an introduction, what else can we expect to find in the epistle itself, than that it contains the Gospel in the clearest and most striking form that it is possible to state it? Even so shall we find it as we proceed in our study.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Beatitudes.-Matt. v. 1-12" The Present Truth 14, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Each one of the beatitudes is amply sufficient for an entire lesson, so that it can scarcely be expected that any teacher will cover the whole of them in one lesson. We shall therefore select only a few for consideration at present.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

The Greek word here rendered "poor" means literally "beggar;" it indicates abject poverty. There is also the idea of cowering or cringing,-the opposite of self-assertion,-such as would be expected in a beggar.

The ones here referred to are those who do not insist on their own rights, because they do not feel that they have any. Nevertheless they have everything. He who demands, and gets, his rights, gets very little, for it is but little that we deserve. Far better is it to let our "rights" alone, so that we may have the infinitely larger gifts that mercy bestows.

God has a special care for the poor. It is common for people to think that God is indifferent to the needs of the poor, and the poor themselves often think that He does not care for them; but the fact is that there is more said in the Bible about the poor than about any other class. To them are the richest promises. Thus, for example:-

"Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom

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which He hath promised to them that love Him?" James ii. 5.

"I know that God will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor." Ps. cxl. 13.

"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.

God has pronounced a blessing upon the poor, but not upon the rich, thus showing that the best use a man call make of riches is to get rid of them in the Lord's cause. To the church in Smyrna the Lord said: "I know thy works and tribulation, and poverty (but thou art rich)." Rev. ii. 9. What greater riches could one have than the kingdom of heaven?

"Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted." Matt. v. 4.

Note that this blessing, like all the others, is not limited, not qualified. The real mourners shall be comforted. What mourners?-All mourners, for there is no discrimination. All mourning shall have an end. To every mourner it seems as though his grief would always continue. The future looks dark and forbidding; that is why he mourns. It is not the present sorrow or loss that causes us to mourn, but the loss which we expect to sustain in the future. This is shown by the fact that if the loss or grief, no matter how great, were only for a moment, no one would mourn. It is the dreary future, the utter absence of anticipation, that makes men mourn. Now we have the assurance that "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Ps. xxx. 5. That is a blessing. We are assured that the cause of all sorrow will soon cease, and of course the sorrow itself; then we can at once be "joyful in hope." The time is soon corning when "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." Rev. xxi. 4.

The message of God to His people is one of comfort. "Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfort to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned." Isa. xl. 1, 2. Blessed comfort! and it is ours now. Of course there is no comfort for those who will not believe the message of comfort. But believe the promise of the Lord, and, walking in the fear of the Lord you will enjoy "the comfort of the Holy Ghost." Acts ix. 31.

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

Another unconditional assurance. That is, there are no qualifications or limitations. All the meek, not merely a few of them, shall inherit the earth, and never have inherited this earth; but they shall.

Take two prominent examples: Moses and Christ. Both were patterns of meekness. See Num. xii. 3; Matt. xi. 29. How much of the earth did Moses possess? Not a particle. Because of his meekness he gave up the prospect of the throne of Egypt, and was a wanderer all the rest of his life. Nothing did he possess at his death. Christ had not a place to lay His head. Luke ix. 58. So it is always with the meek. The possessions of this present world are for those who push their claims, and assert their rights, yea, and deprive others of their rights. The meek and unobtrusive are pushed to the wall and trampled underfoot in the scramble for the possession of this earth? When, then, will it be that the meek shall inherit the earth?

Let it be settled that they shall inherit the earth. They do not now; they never have; but they shall. Shall we say that the world is growing better, or that by and by it will begin to grow better, until a perfect generation comes, and that from that time on the promise will be fulfilled? Even if there were any ground for such a hope, the Saviour's promise would not thereby be fulfilled, for all the meek of past ages would be left out; and it is not merely some of the meek, but "the meek,"-all of them,-who are to inherit the earth.

Then there is but one answer, and that is that it will be after the resurrection. When the righteous shall have been raised from the dead, and all the wicked destroyed from the earth, then shall the meek inherit the earth, "and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." See Ps. xxxvii. 9-11.

It is the earth, that the meek are to inherit. The earth was given to man in the beginning (Gen. 1. 26-28), and "whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever." Eccl. iii. 1-14. He made the to be inhabited (Isa. xlv. 18), but only by the good. This purpose will be accomplished; therefore "we, according to His promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter iii. 13.

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."

God gave the children of Israel bread, in order that they might know that man lives by the Word of God. Deut. viii. 1-3. Food and drink are therefore designed to bring us salvation. Not simply do they illustrate salvation, but if we accept them as gifts of God, that is, as means by which God conveys His own life to us, we shall get righteousness by eating and drinking for it is by that means that we get life, and the Christian has but one life, namely, a righteous life,

Christ is the bread of life, and with Him is the fountain of life. The Israelites ate and drank of Him in the wilderness (1 Cor. x. 1-4), although many of them did not realise it, and so did not get the life of righteousness.They did not eat by faith, and "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Rom. xiv. 23. Read the whole of the sixth chapter of John, and also Ex. xvii. 1-6 in connection with 1 Cor. x. 4. This is a great subject, and can be only hinted at in the space at our disposal this time.

"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

The larger portion of the Christian world are doing their best to destroy this beatitude. They are trying to get things so adjusted that there cannot be any persecution. The task that so-called "Christian statesmanship" has set itself is to take it as easy as possible to do right, and as difficult as possible to do wrong. This can only he done by accommodating religion to the standard of the world, in which case evil is put for good, and good for evil; and in that there is no blessing, but a curse. Isa. v. 20. "All they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution," because "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse." 2 Tim. iii. 13. "In the last days perilous times shall come; for they shall be lovers of their own selves, . . . incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good." Verses 1-5.

Even Christian ministers seem to take it for granted that a man cannot be expected to follow his convictions, and rest on Sunday, if by so doing he will be likely to lose his situation. So they plead piteously for Sunday laws that shall compel all employers to give their men Sundays, so that they can follow their religious convictions without suffering any inconvenience or loss. Why can they not see that in so doing they are advertising their religion as not that of Christ?

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But when we come to the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day of the week, the day before the first day of the week, "the Sabhath according to the commandment" (Luke xxiv. 56), then at once we hear men say, "Oh, I couldn't think of keeping it, for I should lose my situation; I could not make a living; it is so very unpopular and inconvenient." Well, our lesson says that men who suffer for righteousness sale, that is, for the sake, of the, commandments of God, are blessed. God is abundantly able to keep His servants alive; surely He is as able to preserve the lives of men who keep His commandments as He is to keep those in life who disobey Him. But even if men should die for the sake of the truth of God, there is a blessing on them. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." If they are persecuted to death, then they have a double blessing. It is better to be dead with God's blessing, than alive under His curse.

In China and India men cannot be Christians without suffering persecutions such as are unknown elsewhere. They must suffer the loss of all things. The very men who wish to make Christianity so easy in this country that it will cost no effort to profess to be a Christian, will encourage missionaries to work in those heathen lands, and urge men to accept Christ in the face of the most hitter persecution. That is to say, they wish the type of Christianity in Great Britain to be lower than in China or India. But any Christianity that is less than the best, is not the religion of Jesus Christ. No man is warranted in seeking persecution, for that would he self-assertion; but when persecution comes for simple obedience to God's commandments, then "rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven." The God of all comfort, comforts all who are in any tribulation, in order that they may comfort others. "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounded, by Christ." 2 Cor. i. 3-5. Therefore, says the Apostle Paul, "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.10.

"What the Sun Does" The Present Truth 14, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

Of the work of the sun Sir John Lubbock says in his "Beauties of Nature":-

"It draw up water from the ocean, and pours it down in rain to fill the rivers and refresh the plants; it raises the winds, which purify the air and waft our ships over the seas; it draws our carriages and drives our steam-engines, for coal is but the heat of former ages stored up for our use; animals live and move by the sun's warmth; it inspires the song of birds, paints the flowers, and ripens the fruit. Through it the trees grow. For the beauties of nature, for our food and drink, for our clothing, for our light and life, for the very possibility of our existence, we are indebted to the sun."

But when the scientists takes us no further, and even declares the sun to be "the source and ruler of our lives," he is blind to the truth that the heavens but declare the glory and power of God's life. "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." John i. 4. It is just as easy now for men to worship and serve the creature more than the Creator as it was in the days when men first turned from the life of God displayed in all creation to their own imaginings and worshipped the sun and all the host of heaven. Let the warm life-giving sunshine speak only of the warmth of God's love for His creatures, and of His mercy in giving to all life, and of His power to give righteousness as readily as life if men will but believe.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

The Anglican Church Times supports as "entirely reasonable" the demand for a State-endowed Roman Catholic University in Ireland.

The Notes on the International Sunday School Lessons, which began in this paper, have been taken up in response to requests, and will be continued from week to week.

The Christian must run the race "looking unto Jesus." And "let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee." How many lose time and even lose the path by looking aside.

The story told in another column of the closing of the three drink shops by Gospel meetings indicates the most effective line of temperance work. Where the Word has free course and is glorified in the people, they have no use for liquor shops, and the agents of the accursed traffic must go.

At a Christian Endeavour Convention, held in Western Australia some time ago, "a resolution was passed by which the members present pledge themselves to refrain from doing business with men who do not observe Sunday." These things are straws showing which way the wind blows.

It is with ill-concealed feelings of satisfaction that one of the weekly religious journals repeats of following from a writer in Cornhill, with regard to the feeling in some quarters on the subject of Sunday cycling:-

The hedge-clipping season is in full swing. Two years ago I should have paid no heed to it; but now I have a bicycle. . . . I found old John preparing to give up work early, and making no attempt to rake the clippings together. "Why, John," I said, "don't you call it a bit unsportsmanlike to spoil other folks pleasure?" "Well, sir," said John, "I be just leaving these for they Sabbath-breakers."

John evidently forgot that many folks ride the bicycle on Monday who do not ride on Sunday, and that the tyre which will puncture the Sunday cyclist tyre will serve the Sunday-keeper's tyre the same way; or else he was too willing to make the innocent suffer if he could only punish those who in his eyes were guilty. From first to last one will find in all attempts to enforce Sunday observance, and in all penalties for disregard of Sunday, the very same spirit that prompted the destruction of the Albigenses, when the bishop in charge said to the soldiers, "Kill all; the Lord will know His own."

The Catholic Times thinks that China will readily be "Christianised" if the Powers divide up the country, as the Chinese "usually bend with considerable docility to the wishes of the Government." This is true to the Catholic idea of religion-as a form to be imposed from without. Wherever this kind of work has been done it has left the natives further removed from genuine Christianity than ever.

With the knowledge of the fact that the Russian Church authorities are to-day harrying believers, and robbing them of their children, and even persecuting them to the death by exile and privations, read the following words from Mr. Athelstan Riley, of the English Church Union:-

In his estimation, "it was not going to far to say that in the Holy Orthodox Eastern Church you might look as in a mirror, and see therein reflected primitive Christianity."

The Pope has, it is said, given it out to Catholics in Germany that he expects them to aid the Emperor in passing the Naval Increase Bill, and the Emperor has told Archbishop von Stableski that the Pope is "a real Prince of Peace." A Prince of Peace promoting naval bills for value received is somewhat of an anomaly.

The bound volume of THE PRESENT TRUTH for 1897 may be had for 5s. Postage 9d. extra. Any who have saved their weekly copies and desire to have them bound, may obtain covers for binding for 1s. 6d.

A timely pamphlet for circulation now is, "The Eastern Question; What its Solution Means to the World," 1d. It was printed during the Armenian troubles of eighteen months ago, but every month's events in the East have only been emphasising the importance of the subject.

The price of the Good Health magazine is 5d. through our agents. By post it is 2nd. extra.

"'Now is Come Salvation'" The Present Truth 14, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

"Now is Come Salvation." -Do not be cheated of the blessing of salvation by putting it off in the future inheritance. "He shall save His people from their sins." Now He does it, therefore now His name is Jesus-Saviour. All who enter heaven will have been saved from this present evil world while they were yet in it, being "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." He will save you now from sin-from transgressing His law, from your own works-if you will let Him. "For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee." "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His salvation."

"'Wasting and Violence'" The Present Truth 14, 2.

E. J. Waggoner

"Wasting and Violence." -In spite of the natural tendency of humankind to persuade themselves that they are growing better, by constantly reiterating the assertion that they are, a writer once in a while in an unguarded moment allows the truth to escape concerning this advanced nineteenth century, this "age of enlightenment." For example, a daily journal that is always most optimistic, states that "it is once again the day of the mailed hand, of the armed State," and that "Titanic forces are taking birth, and one knows now what their development may mean to the best interests of mankind." In spite of the fact that men assure us that "Christian civilisation" has made wars of conquest an impossibility, there is not a government of any considerable importance on earth to-day that is not deliberately considering how to get the largest share of some neighbour's possessions, if not actively engaged in the act of robbery. Human nature has not changed a particle since the Dark Ages; and while it is true that the preaching of the Gospel has done wonders in the way of enlightenment, it must not be forgotten that the acceptance of the Gospel as a mere form of religion, a national affair, and not the living Christ in the individual, only tends to envelop the world in deeper darkness. Given the natural cruelty of the unregenerated man, with the terrible instruments of violence which modern skill has invented, and who can prophesy the terrible results?

January 20, 1898

"Forgiveness and Overcoming" The Present Truth 14, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

"I have confessed my sins, and have confessed Christ, and believed, or thought I did, that He gave me His righteousness; and He has helped me in many things; but now I see in myself the sin of impatience in little things; is that an evidence that I was mistaken, and that I did not really believe, and so did not really receive Him?"

This is a question that has been asked, not once merely, but very many times, and therefore an answer may be of benefit to many. The answer, in short, is, No. You have things directly turned round, and are looking in the wrong place for evidence of acceptance with God. We are made "accepted in the Beloved" (Eph i. 6), and not in ourselves; for what He is worth, and not for what we are worth. We believe in Christ, not because we see ourselves sinless, but because we see ourselves sinful, and He is sinless.

Never yet did any person overcome sin by looking at it, either in himself or in somebody else. Sin is darkness; righteousness is light. God's glory is His sinlessness. See Rom. iii. 23. How do we get that sinlessness?-"We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. iii. 18. We get righteousness by beholding the righteousness of God in Christ, and in no other way; and we retain it in the same way; never by gazing at our own imperfections.

For example, we have a harsh, unforgiving nature. If one injures us, we find it difficult, yes, impossible to forgive the wrong. Stop now, and think of God's tender, forbearing, forgiving disposition. See how gentle He is to all, how patient and considerate with the erring, and especially how patient He has been and is with us, and how much He has freely forgiven us. As we gaze and meditate, our impatience and bitterness vanishes, we know not how. Certain it is, that no person can contemplate the wondrous love of God in Christ, and at the same time harbour resentment towards anyone. Whatever the sin that besets you, consider the absence of that sin the corresponding righteousness-in Christ, and you have the remedy.

When you first trusted the Lord for salvation, why was it? What was the ground of your confidence? Was it the good things that you had done? or was it the goodness and mercy of God?-Certainly it was the latter, for you had no good things in which to trust. Your very helplessness was what led you to trust the Lord. Now read this text: "We are made of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." Heb. iii. 14.

The beginning of your confidence was in the goodness of God, while you were nothing; that is to be your confidence unto the end. Do not get the idea that after living the Christian life for awhile, you can go in self-confidence. Do not think that whereas your confidence in the beginning was in the Lord's goodness your confidence now may be in your own goodness. Never! He is the beginning and the end. Whatever goodness we may have, even in eternity, will be the Lord's, and we shall retain it then, even as now, only by "looking unto Jesus." "As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." Col. ii. 6, 7.

"He Is Able" The Present Truth 14, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." 2 Cor. ix. 8.

"For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted." Heb. ii. 18.

"Wherefore, He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." Heb. vii. 25.

"He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." Phil. iii. 21.

"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.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. Only One Gospel" The Present Truth 14, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

Having in our minds the opening words of the Epistle to the Galatians, we will proceed directly to the subject matter of it. The apostle at once comes to the point, saying:-

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel; which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men,or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by revelation of Jesus Christ." Gal. i. 6-10.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

What did the apostle say of his state of mind as he wrote to the Galatians?

"I marvel."

At what did he marvel?

"That you are so soon removed;" or, as in the Revised Version, "so quickly removing."

From what or whom were they removing?

"From Him that called you." How had they been called?

"In the grace of Christ." R.V.

To what were they removed?

"Unto another Gospel."

Yet what was true of this "other Gospel"?

It "is not another."

What were some doing to the Galatians?

"There be some that trouble you."

How would these trouble the Galatians?

They "would pervert the Gospel of Christ."

What sort of Gospel then had some been preaching to the Galatian brethren?

A perverted Gospel.

What is said of anyone who should presume to preach a different Gospel from that which Paul had preached?

"Let him be accursed."

Would it make any difference how high the rank of the one who preached a new Gospel?

"Though we, or an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel, . . . let him be accursed."

Was this a hasty, ill-advised utterance on the part of Paul?

"As we said before, so say I now again."

What would be the case if the apostle preached to please men?

"I should not be the servant of Christ."

Of what could he assure the brethren?

"That the Gospel which was preached of me is not after man."

What connection had any man with Paul's knowledge of the Gospel?

"I neither received it," "neither was I taught it," "of man."

How then did he receive it?

"By revelation of Jesus Christ."

A careful consideration of exactly what is said in these first verses in Galatians, will save the student much trouble and confusion later on. It is here that we learn the subject of the epistle. We saw last week that the introduction, the salutation, embraced the whole Gospel; surely such an introduction could lead to nothing else but a setting forth of the Gospel. In the verses that constitute this week's lesson, we find this emphasised. Let us study them closely.

Who Calls Men? -"God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Col. i. 9. "The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus," etc. 1 Peter v. 10. "The promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts ii. 39. Those that are near, and those that are afar off, include all that are in the world: therefore God calls everybody. Not all come, however. "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it." 1 Thess. v. 23, 24. It is God who calls men.

Separating from God .-Since the Galatian brethren were separating from Him that had called them, and as God is the one who graciously calls men, it is evident that they were separating from God. Thus we see that it was no slight thing that called forth this epistle. Paul's brethren were in mortal danger, and he could not spend time on compliments, but must needs get at once to the subject, and present it in as clear and direct terms as possible.

It may be well in passing to note an opinion that sometimes obtains on account of hasty reading, namely, that Paul referred to himself as the one who had called the Galatian brethren, and from whom they were removing. A little thought should convince of this idea. First, consider the positive evidence, a little of which is already noted, that it is God who calls. Remember also it was Paul himself who said that the apostasy would be the result of men's seeking to draw away disciples after themselves (Acts xx. 30), and he as the servant of Christ would be the last man to draw people to himself. It is true that God uses agents, of whom Paul was one, to call men, but it is God nevertheless that calls. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself;" we are ambassadors for Christ, so that now it is God beseeching men by us instead of by Christ, to be reconciled to Himself.

It is a small matter to be joined to or separated from men, but a matter of vital importance to be joined to God. Many seem to think that everything depends on being joined to this or that body of religious people; if they are only "members in good standing" in this or that church, they feel secure. But the only thing worth considering is, Am I joined to the Lord, and walking in His truth? If one is joined to the Lord, he will very soon find his place among God's people, for those who are not God's people will not have a zealous, consistent follower of God among them very long. See Isa. lxvi. 5; John

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ix. 22, 33, 34; xv. 18-21; xvi. 1-3; 2 Tim, iii. 1-5, 12. When Barnabas went to Antioch, he exhorted the brethren that with purpose of heart they would "cleave unto the Lord." Acts xii. 22, 23. That was all that was necessary. If we do that, we shall certainly be with God's own people.

Another Gospel .-The Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom. i. 16. God Himself is the power, so that separation from God means separation from the Gospel of Christ, who is the power of God. Nothing can be called a gospel, unless it professes to give salvation. That which professes to offer nothing but death, cannot be called a gospel. "Gospel" means "joyful news" "good tidings," and a promise of death does not answer that description. In order for any false doctrine to pass as the Gospel, it must pretend to be the way of life; otherwise it could not deceive men. It is evident, therefore, that the Galatians were being seduced from God, by something that promised them life and salvation. The question consequently would be, "Which is the true Gospel? Is it the one that Paul preached? or the one the other men set forth?" Therefore again we see that this epistle must be an emphatic presentation of the true Gospel as distinguished from every false gospel.

No Other Gospel .-Just as Jesus Christ is the only power of God, and there is no other name than that of Jesus, given among men, whereby salvation can be obtained, so there can be only one Gospel. A sham is nothing. A mask is not a man. So this other gospel, to which the Galatian brethren were being enticed, was only a perverted gospel, a counterfeit, a sham, and no real Gospel at all. Some versions give verses 6 and 7 thus: "I marvel that ye are so soon removed . . . unto another Gospel, although there is not any other." Since there is no other Gospel now, there never could have been any other, for God changes not. So the Gospel which Paul preached to the Galatians as well as to the Corinthians,-"Jesus Christ and Him crucified,"-was the Gospel that was preached by Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah.

"Accursed." -If any man, or even an angel from heaven should preach any other Gospel than that which Paul preached, he would bring himself under a curse. There are not two standards of right and wrong. That which will bring a curse to-day would have produced the same result five thousand years ago. Thus we find that the way of salvation has been exactly the same in every age. The Gospel was preached to Abraham (Gal. iii. 8), and the prophets preached the Gospel. 1 Peter ii. 11, 12. But if the Gospel preached by them had been different from that preached by Paul, they would have been accursed.

But why should one he accursed for preaching a different Gospel?-Because he is the means of fastening others in the curse. "Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way." Deut. xxvii. 18. If this be so of the one who causes a physically blind man to stumble, how much more must it apply to one who causes a soul to stumble to its eternal ruin? To delude people with a false hope of salvation, to cause them to put their trust in that which can by no means deliver them, what could possibly be more wicked? It is to lead people to build their house over the bottomless pit. Well might the apostle deliberately reiterate his anathema. And here again we see the gravity of the situation that called forth this epistle. The Galatian brethren, having been led astray by accursed teachers, were themselves in danger of damnation.

"An Angel from Heaven." -But is there any danger, any possibility, that an angel from heaven would preach any other than the one, true Gospel?-Most assuredly, although it would not be an angel recently come from heaven. We read of "the angels that sinned" (2 Peter ii. 4), and "kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation" (Jude 6), and that the habitation from which they were cast was heaven. Rev. xii. 7-9. Now "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness." 2 Cor. xi. 14, 15. It is they who come professing to be the spirits of the departed, bringing messages fresh from the realms above (where the departed are not), and preaching invariably "another Gospel" than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Beware of them. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." 1 John iv. 1. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. viii. 20.

Not Men-Pleasers .-The Apostle Paul exhorts servants to be obedient to their "masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but with singleness of heart, fearing God." Col. iii. 3. How much more then should it apply to those who are preaching the Gospel. So Paul declares that he is not seeking to persuade, to conciliate, to gain the favour of, or to please men, but God. The Lord alone is his Master. "We are ambassadors for Christ," and this is true of every Christian to the extent of the ability that God has given him. The position of an ambassador was thus very concisely put by a daily paper, in connection with a circumstance that occurred a little over a year ago:-

The fundamental basis of the influence and authority of any ambassador is the universal knowledge that he personally is absolutely beyond the reach of praise or blame, of loss or gain, of reward or punishment, in the foreign country where he represents his own. To his sovereign alone, through an official channel, and to no other human being, may a diplomatist look for recompense or fear rebuke.

This is pre-eminently true of Christ's ambassador. To Him, and to no human being, are they answerable. To please Him is their sole business. As soon as they seek to please men, they cease to serve Him.

Unbounded Freedom .-"He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman." 1 Cor. vii. 22. Paul, "an ambassador in bonds" desired the prayers of his brethren, that utterance might be given him, that he might open his mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the Gospel. Eph. vi. 19, 20. He who recognises his relation to Christ as ambassador, is absolutely free. He need fear no man. Nay, it is impossible for him to fear man, since he knows the infinite power that sustains him. He can proclaim the Gospel as boldly before kings as before peasants. How can he fear kings, when he serves the King of kings? And if he does present his message in the presence of God and the angels, how can he fear the face of any man? Such holy boldness is worth untold worlds.

Not of Man .-Paul declared that he

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did not receive the Gospel from any man, but that it came to him directly from Christ. In the account of his conversion (Acts ix. 1-22; xxii. 10), we see that a man was sent to Paul with a message from the Lord; nevertheless it is true that Paul did not receive the Gospel from man. If he had, then he would have been a servant of men. But as he was sent, not by any man, but Jesus Christ and God, who raised Him from the dead (Gal. i. 1), so he carried only the message which the Lord Himself gave him. Note how he repeats that what he tells he received of the Lord: 1 Cor. xi. 23; 1 Thess. iv. 15. "The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 1 Cor. xiv. 37. That was the secret of his boldness. He had no doubts about his message, as he must have had if he had received it from man.

We may have this same confidence, and indeed must have it if we are Christ's servants. If we receive the Gospel from men, then we are not sure of our ground. Not but what God employs human agents, for the Gospel is committed to men, but, no matter whose form we see, no matter what man God uses, we must recognise God's voice, and receive the message fresh from Him, else we have no assurance of it correctness. We need not depend on any man or any church to substantiate the Word of God, or for our knowledge that this or that is or is not His Word. "Ye know all things." "These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and it truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." 1 John ii. 20, 26, 27. Even though a man has truth, and if he has received it through some man as the instrument of the Spirit,-if he traces his reception of it to that man, or his mind runs to that man and to what he said, as assurance for what he holds, he has not yet the truth as he ought to have it. When a man recognises the voice of God in a truth that he hears, and receives it as coming directly from the Lord, then it is his own, and he knows it for a certainty. He is then free from men.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ.- Note that it is not simply a revelation from Jesus Christ, but the "revelation of Jesus Christ." It was not simply that Christ told Paul something, but that Christ Himself revealed Himself to Paul, and in him, and He is the truth. That this is what is meant here may be seen from verse 16, where we read that God revealed His Son in Paul, that he might preach Him among the heathen. So we read: "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." 1 John iii. 20. The mystery of the Gospel is Christ in the believer, the hope of glory. Col. i. 25-27. Thus it is that every Christian not only may but must be as sure of the Gospel which he believes, and which he makes know to others, as the apostle Paul was. Thank God that He has not left us to follow "cunningly-devised fables."

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lesson. How to Pray.óMatt. vi. 5-15" The Present Truth 14, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

JANUARY 30

The Bible contains a great deal more on the subject of prayer than is found in the verses constituting this lesson; for to know how to pray is to know how to live the Christian life. Space does not allow anything like a detailed consideration even of these verses, much less a study of the others bearing on the subject; but we may refer to some of them that the student may read them in connection with the lesson. Read especially Mark xi. 24; Luke xi. 1-13; xviii. 1-14; John xiv. 13, 14; Rom. viii. 26, 27; James i. 5, 6; v. 13-18 R.V.; 1 John v. 14, 15. He who makes these scriptures his own, need never lack any good thing.

PUBLIC PRAYER

In Matt. vi. 5, 6 we are told that we should not pray as do the hypocrites, in public places to be seen of men, but should pray to God in secret. That this is not a prohibition of all prayer in public is evident from the example of our Lord Himself, The seventeenth chapter, of John is the prayer of Jesus in the presence of His disciples, just before His arrest; in the eleventh chapter of John we read His prayer at the grave of Lazarus, in the presence of His disciples and a multitude of the Jews. Matt. xi. 27, 28 and John xii. 28 also note public prayers of Christ. The eighth chapter of 1 Kings contains the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the temple, in the presence of thousands. Elijah prayed in the presence of hundred and fifty prophets of Baal for "all Israel," including the king; and the Lord answered the prayer in a remarkable manner. 1 Kings xviii. 17-37. Paul prayed with the elders of Ephesus (Acts xx. 36), and with the church at Tyre, together with his travelling companions on the sea-shore. Acts xi. 5.

The gist of the exhortation lies in the statement that the hypocrites pray "to be seen of men," and that in the notice and the applause of men, they get all that they pray for. God is in secret, and He "seeth in secret." Now while it is true that men ought literally to go alone, into secluded places to pray, it is not always absolutely necessary that one should be physically alone in order to pray in secret. By the blood of Jesus we have boldness "to enter into the holiest of all" (Heb. x. 19), even into God's inner sanctuary; and not only may we occasionally enter in, but it is our privilege to dwell "in the secret place of the Most High," and to "abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Ps. xci. 1. He who has this knowledge of God may be alone with the Lord in the presence of thousands.

The true prayer, therefore, is that which the petitioner loses himself in the thought of God, and prays from the heart to Him who sees the heart. Such a prayer, although uttered in the hearing of people, is not directed to them, but nevertheless the hearers may be greatly strengthened by hearing a man talking with God by the aid of the Spirit. Obedience to the exhortation, "Let nothing he done through strife or vainglory" (Phil. ii. 3), would shut off anything like making an exhibition in prayer. Ostentation and display have no place in the worship of God. "God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." John iv. 24.

UNNECESSARY WORDS.óLONG PRAYERS

"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them; for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him."

God is our Father; we are His children. His care for us, His solicitude for our welfare, and His ability to do all that His love

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conceives, are as much greater than the care and oversight of any earthly parent, as God is greater than man. It is the duty of a parent to provide for his children. "Provide" means to "see before," to look after beforehand. If parents did not think about food and clothing for their children before their children remind them of their need, the children would starve and freeze. When hunger makes the child conscious of its need of food, it finds that the parent has thought of it long before, and has provided for its wants.

Now it would be folly and affectation for the child to make a long, flowery speech, in asking for food, and to multiply words for the purpose of making the request in as many ways as possible, so as to impress the parent with a sense of its need, when the parent already has the things that he needs ready to give him. Such a course would indeed be most disrespectful to the parent. How much more so, then, to act in the same way toward God, who is the loving Father of all, the universal Provider.

Long prayers find no warrant in the Bible. The longest prayer on record is that of Solomon at the dedication of the temple. That was a great occasion, and the prayer was very comprehensive; yet it can be read slowly in six minutes. The prayer of Jesus in John xvii. may be read with deliberation in four minutes. Of the other prayers recorded in the Bible, including the Lord's Prayer, none of them would occupy a whole minute. Contrast Elijah's prayer with those of the prophets of Baal. They prayed from morning till evening, saying, "O Baal, hear us," and leaped and cut themselves, with of course no result. Elijah quietly addressed the Lord in a prayer less than half a minute long, and fire came down and consumed the sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones of the altar, and the water that was in the trench. The heathen gods cannot hear; therefore those who trust them, not getting any response when they pray, must needs vociferate and multiply their words; but why should the servants of the living God give the impression by their prayers that he is like the gods of the heathen?

Prayer is not for the purpose of making God acquainted with our needs, not to make Him willing to give, for He knows what we need before we ask Him, and has prepared the gifts for us. We come to Him only in response to His call. Therefore true prayer is simply the manifestation and expression of our willingness to receive the good things that come down from the Father of lights. God is not like the unjust judge, so that He needs to be nagged into granting our requests, but He assures us that He will do us justice speedily. Luke xviii. 1-8. It is because of this readiness on the part of God to hear, that His servants "cry day and night unto Him." See Ps. cxvi. 1, 2. We do indeed read that Jesus on more than one occasion spent the entire night in prayer, but it was by Himself, and not in company with others. When men get something of the acquaintance with the Father that He had, they also will delight to hold long conversations with Him alone, as friend with friend; but for one to pray all night just because the Lord did, without the Spirit that led Him to do it, would be mockery.

Not only is it not necessary to use repetitions in asking for anything, but it is not necessary to multiply words in order to ask for the many, many things that we need. This is shown in the model prayer before us, which includes every possible want of man. We cannot go into a detailed study of the separate petitions in this prayer; if we should attempt to analyse them, we could no exhaust them, for they are infinite. We shall best arrive at an understanding of this prayer by reverently praying it, and by carefully studying the Word.

In short, when we pray it is necessary for us to remember the commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Men can take the name of God in vain in other things than profane swearing. Any unnecessary repetition of "that glorious and fearful name" is a taking of it in vain. To ask for unnecessary things, is to take it in vain. To pray without faith, is also to take the name of God in vain. Remember that God is, He knows, He cares, and He is almighty, and that He has already given us all things; then study His will, and in the simple directness of faith make your requests to God with thanksgiving. See Phil. iv. 6, 7. "God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few." Eccl. v. 2. "The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him." Hab. ii. 20. "Be still, and know that I am God." Ps. xlvi. 10.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

The lifeboats round our coasts last year rescued 534 shipwrecked persons. It was a year of unusually violent storms.

"No crisis at home or abroad," said Professor Bryce the other day, "created half the interest that was excited by a football match or cricket match in England or Australia." To this sport mania he attributed some of the ground lost in recent years in Britain's industrial supremacy.

The Jesuit order holds its power not by weight of numbers, but by reason of its unscrupulous methods and its perfect organisation. A Bavarian Roman Catholic journal says that the order has not 14,251 members, of whom 6,000 are priests. The organisation covers the entire world.

Germany tried for many years to drive the Jesuit order from the country by special laws. The uselessness of such effort is shown by the fact that now Germany has more Jesuit priests within her borders than any other country. When Luther set the Word free in Germany by giving it to the people in their own tongue, and cried hands off to Governments and princes, he led out in the one way of resisting the papal spirit.

A report from one of our Society's workers in Brazil says that just as they were preparing to establish a school at some point for the education and training of the youth, the Lord provided the facilities needed for it. Through one of the brethren, the worker writes, "we have come into possession of a good tract of land, with buildings on it for a mission farm, and his hotel is to be turned into a home for our mission school."

At the meeting of the Anti-Opium Society last week it was stated that "during the reign of the Queen we had forced upon China no less than 260,000 tons of opium." The Chinese call opium "foreign smoke," although now it is grown largely in China. When missionary at the meeting declared that about seventy per cent. of the natives of one province have become opium smokers. Thousands of acres which formerly yielded rice crops, in the Western provinces with which he was most familiar, but now given up to the baleful poppy, and rice had to be imported from other districts.

We hear from Calcutta of a great interest among many there to hear the Gospel message of the coming of the Lord and of the preparation to meet him, and the few workers have their hands more than full. We know that the Lord will raise up many in that field amongst Europeans and natives to join in carrying on the message that must go to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." Rev. xiv. 6.

Once again we would call the attention of our readers to the magazine Good Health, which may be obtained from this office through any of our agents.

"Threatening the Government" The Present Truth 14, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

Threatening the Government .-In a plea for a united and vigorous effort for Sunday-closing, in view of the fact that Parliament soon meets, a writer says in one of the religious journals: "Against the united voices of the Christian churches of our land, no Government dare turn a deaf ear." We have been searching the Bible with the special object of finding where Christ or Christians ever made even covert threat against the Government if it did not meet their mind, and we find no such thing. We do find these words of Christ: "If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not." John x. 47. We are therefore forced to conclude that the Christianity which that writer has in mind is a sort that has come up since the days of Christ and the apostles. Beware of it.

"'Suffering as a Christian'" The Present Truth 14, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

The newspapers bring us the following note:-

For refusing to touch a gun a young Hungarian and conscript, Francis John Kiss, has been sentenced to five years' penal servitude with hard labour. The Pester-Lloyd of Buda-Pest gives details. Kiss was ordered to leave his home in the country and join the famous Honved Husars in the capital. On the drill ground no persuasion or threat could induce him to shoulder arms; Christianity, he declared, forbade the use of deadly weapons. On being court-martialled, and he was given the above sentence.

Christ said, "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." Matt. xxvi. 52. As a positive command, He also said, "Resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matt. v. 39. Now we know nothing of the young Hungarian's life, except what is told in the newspaper paragraphs; but we do know that in that one thing he acted according to the precept of Christ; therefore it is an undeniable fact that he is now undergoing a cruel punishment for nothing else than for being a Christian, for following Christ.

"But no Government on earth could exist, if all men should act as this young man did, and refuse to bear arms," is the universal cry. Of course they could not, and the sentence passed upon the young man is strictly in accordance with the law. There must be soldiers as long as there are earthly Governments; but that very fact shows that these Governments are not Christian, but anti-Christian. Let no one decry human Government, or revile soldiers; everybody has a right to be a soldier, who wishes to be one. The Christian must speak evil of no man, nor of men united to form a Government; but every loyal follower of Christ is in duty bound to give a clear testimony as to what Christianity is, and, so far as his influence extends, to make it impossible for anybody to suppose that in killing men, or in learning to do so, he is serving Christ. Christ's kingdom is not of this world; therefore His servants do not fight. John xviii. 36. Earthly Governments cannot exist without fighting; therefore they are directly opposite in character to that of Christ, the Prince of Peace. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal." "If any man suffered as a Christian, let him not be ashamed." 1 Peter iv. 16.

"The Arch Revolutionist" The Present Truth 14, 3.

E. J. Waggoner

The Arch Revolutionist .-The Pope's Christmas allocution, as it is called, was all about his desire for "peace," and there was promised that his views would be further explained. And now the chief Vatican organ comes out boldly inviting a political revolution in Italy. The Pope desires a "real sovereignty," among the princes of this world, and cannot tolerate that a king shall sit in Rome as the head of State. He suggests overthrowing the monarchies and setting up a republic, and in the confusion he would doubtless expect to make sure of dominating the republican federation. It shows the Pope as the arch-revolutionist, stirring up strife, resisting the "powers that be," and generally making plain the anti-Christian character of the Papacy.

January 27, 1898

"Our Father's Care.óMatt. vi. 24-30" The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

FEBRUARY 6

"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor for your body, what ye shall put on." Matt. vi. 24, 25. R.V.

The first part of this passage, concerning the two masters, is self-evident. No man can serve two masters, especially when they are directly opposed to each other, as God and mammon. Mammon was the Chaldean God supposed to preside over wealth and the acquisition of property. So here it stands for property of any kind, not necessarily great riches, but whatever one acquires of this world's goods.

But what is the force of the "therefore"? Why "Therefore. . . be not anxious"?-Because such anxiety would show us to be servants of mammon, and not servants of God. We serve that for which we live. If our whole anxiety is for food, drink, and clothing, this is an indication that we live for those things, that we serve them, instead of making those things our servants. But if there were nothing more to life than merely a struggle to get that with which to keep life going, life would not be worth living. But the life is more than meat, and the body more than raiment.

A LESSON FROM THE BIRDS

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow the not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" Verse 26. In what respect is man better than the birds? Why, he is of more value than they. Luke xii. 7, 24. It is not that man is better able to make a living than the birds are, for that idea would destroy the Saviour's lesson, which is one of trust in the Lord, and not in ourselves. No; but God who feeds the birds will much more feed us, who are of much greater value than they.

How are the birds fed by the Lord? Do they sit on a limb or in their nest,

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waiting for Him to drop the food into their mouths?-Not by any means. "These wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That Thou givest them they gather; Thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good." Ps. civ. 27, 28. They do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; but they pick up what God provides for them, and at every season of the year they find something provided.

Can man do more? Does man provide his own food, or "make his own living," as it is sometimes called? In other words, can man create?-No; he can not add an inch to his stature, or an ounce to his weight. Everything comes to him from without-from above. In reality he does no more than the birds do; he simply picks up what God strews over the whole earth. Why not acknowledge God's hand in the gifts received, instead of claiming that we ourselves do all? for he who is worried and anxious gives God no place in the work.

THE CLOTHING OF THE LILY

"And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Verses 28, 29. What was the difference between Solomon's clothing, gorgeous as it was, and the lilies? Here is something for us to study. We know that Solomon was clothed with garments, out of material taken from plants and animals. Spinning and weaving were necessary. Was it so in the beginning? No; Adam and Eve, as long as they remained faithful to God, were clothed with light, even as God is. God is clothed with light, as with a garment (Ps. civ. 2), and man also when first created was covered with light. Ps. viii. 5. But all have sinned, and so have lost the glory of God (Rom. iii. 23), and as one consequence, they must have clothing made for them by hand. Let God himself provide this, even as He did for our first parents. Gen. iii. 21.

But what is the clothing of the lily?-It is its colour, or the various colours, green, white, yellow, red, that it has "for glory and for beauty." Yes, but what composes or forms these colors?-Nothing else but light. So the lilly has its original clothing of light, which man has lost, and which all Solomon's wealth and wisdom cannot equal. This clothing comes direct from God, without the intervention of human hands.

Now God is "bringing many sons unto glory." Heb. ii. 10. The "robe of righteousness" and the "garments of salvation" with which He clothes those who trust Him (Isa. lxi. 10) are the glory of the Lord with which they shall shine forth in the kingdom of their Father. Matt. xiii. 43. Well, cannot He who does that which is greatest be trusted to do that which is lease? If we believe that God, and His power alone, can give us eternal life and "all things that pertain until life and godliness" (2 Peter i. 3), can we not trust Him to provide the things that pertain to this earthly life? And if we cannot trust Him for this least, do we really have any faith in His promise of eternal life?

HEATHENISM PROFESSEDLY CHRISTIAN

"Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Verses 31-33, R.V.

"Gentiles" are heathen. The people of God are Israelites, and not Gentiles or heathen, although they are taken out from among the heathen. The characteristic of heathenism is trust in that which can be seen, instead of in the unseen. That is why they even make images. But it is not necessary that one make graven or molten images, in order to be a heathen. The heathen are wholly absorbed with the things of this life, for they suppose that they themselves must provide for their own wants, even as they make their own gods. Not recognising the God "who no man hath seen, neither can see," who alone creates and upholds all things, they trust in themselves, and then, finding their own strength (or that which they flatter themselves that they have) inadequate, they actually began to worry.

Suppose now that a professed Christian worries over the future, which is in God's own power? what then?-Why, he is simply showing his unbelief in God's power; in other words, he is showing that he is heathen. But worse this, by professing to be a worshipper of the only true God, and still manifesting the anxiety of the heathen, he is leading men who do not know God to think that He is just like gods of the heathen, and not a loving Father, solicitous for the welfare of His children.

But, worse than all, suppose, as is often the case, that this anxiety becomes greatest when it is a matter of keeping God's commandments? Here is a plain duty, but the man says, "If I do it, how can I get a living?" Ah, how often that question is asked. There is no question about its being commanded by the Lord, the commandment is too plain to admit of any doubt; the only thought is, "I cannot make a living and keep His commandments." Yet the man using such language often calls himself a Christian. What sort of a witness is he for God?-a false witness. By acting as do the heathen, he is declaring that the God whom he professes to serve is just the same as the heathen gods,-that He is not able to care for those who serve Him. What a pity that men will thus bear false witness against God.

ONLY ONE THING NEEDFUL

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." If a man cannot trust the Lord for his daily bread, is it possible for him to make others believe that he trusts God for eternal salvation? Certainly not? what trust can a man have in God for eternity, if he cannot trust Him for a day?

He who is worrying over what he shall eat and what he shall drink, and what he shall wear, and who worries especially when it comes to the question of keeping God's commandments, and who finally concludes that he dare not follow God's commandments in certain thing, for instance in Sabbath-keeping, lest he should not make a living, thereby proclaims that in his opinion this life is worth more than the life to come. As a matter of fact, without the life to come, this life is worth nothing. "What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Matt. xvi. 26.

"The kingdom of God and His righteousness" includes everything. "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come." 1 Tim. iv. 8. In fact, this life is given us for nothing else than a preparation for the life to come; therefore the surest way to get the most of this life, is diligently to seek the life to come, through faith in the Lord. "He that spare not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Rom. viii. 32.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. A Zealous Persecutor Arrested" The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

The two lessons already studied, embracing Gal. i. 1-12 have shown us the subject of the epistle and the gravity of the situation that called it forth. The epistle itself, we have seen, deals with nothing less than the whole Gospel, perfect and complete, namely, Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Redeemer, "mighty to save" from the evil of this present world. That which called for a clear, forcible, and direct statement of the Gospel, was the fact that some were perverting it, doing the accursed work of leading the Galatians brethren away from God and Christ, and causing them to rest in a false hope of salvation, which could end only in their destruction. As a contrast to the false gospel which the Galatians were receiving from men, the apostle assures them that the Gospel which he preached did not come from men, but that he received it by the direct revelation of Jesus Christ. As proof of the statement that he was not indebted to any man for the Gospel, he proceeds, in the verses which follow, to give an outline of his history before and after he became a Christian. Read them in connection with the preceding portion of the chapter:-

THE LESSON FOR THE WEEK

"For ye have heard of my manner of life in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and made havoc of it; and I advanced in the Jews' religion beyond many of mine own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me, even from my mother's womb, and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned unto Damascus.Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. Now touching the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. Then I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but they only heard say, He that once persecuted us now preacheth the faith of which he once made havoc; and they glorified God in me." Gal. i. 13-24.

"Concerning Zeal, Persecuting the Church." -This is what Paul said of himself, in his Epistle to the Philippians. How great his zeal was he himself tells in several places. In the text before us, we read that he persecuted the church of God "beyond measure," and "wasted it," or, as in the Revision, "made havoc of it." See also Acts viii. 3. Before Agrippa he said: "I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem; and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities." Acts xxvi. 9-11. In an address to the Jews in Jerusalem, who knew his life, he said, "I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women." Acts xxii. 4. This he did because, as the previous verse says, he was "zealous toward God." So full of this sort of zeal was he that he breathed nothing but "threatenings and slaughter." Acts ix. 1.

It seems almost incredible that any one professing to worship the true God, can have such false ideas of Him as to suppose that He is pleased with that kind of service; yet Saul of Tarsus, one of the most bitter and relentless persecutors of Christians that ever lived, could say years afterward, "I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." Acts xxiii. 1. Although kicking against the pricks (Acts ix. 5), and endeavouring to silence the growing conviction that would force itself upon him as he witnessed the patience of the Christians, and heard their dying testimonies to the truth, Saul was not wilfully stifling the voice of conscience. On the contrary, he was striving to preserve a good conscience, and so deeply had he been indoctrinated with the Pharisaic traditions, that he felt sure that these inconvenient prickings must be the suggestions of an evil spirit, which he was in duty bound to suppress. So the prickings of the Spirit of God had for a time only led him to redouble his zeal against the Christians. Of all persons in the world, Saul, the self-righteous Pharisee, had no bias in favour of Christianity.

Paul's Profiting. -Paul "profited," made advancement, "in the Jews' religion," above many of his equals, that is, those of his own age, among his countrymen. He had possessed every advantage that was possible to a Jewish youth. "An Hebrew of the Hebrews" (Phil. iii. 5), he was nevertheless a free-born Roman citizen (Acts xxii. 26-28). Naturally quick and intelligent, he had enjoyed the instruction of Gamaliel, one of the wisest doctors of the law, and had been "taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers." Acts xxii. 3. After the "straitest sect" among the Jews, he lived a Pharisee, and was "a Pharisee of the Pharisees," so that he was "more exceedingly zealous of the traditions" of the fathers than any others of his class. Grown to manhood, he had become a member of the great council among the Jews,-the Sanhedrim,-as is shown by the fact that he gave his vote (Acts xxvi. 10, R.V.) when Christians were condemned to death. Added to this, he possessed the confidence of the high priest, who readily gave him letters of introduction to the rulers of all the synagogues throughout the land, with authority to seize and bind any whom he found guilty of "heresy." He was, indeed, a rising young man, on whom the rulers of the Jews looked with pride and hope, believing that he would contribute much to the restoration of the Jewish nation and religion to their former greatness. There had been a promising future before Saul, from a worldly point of view; but what things were gain to him, those he counted loss for Christ, for whose sake he suffered the loss of all things. Phil. iii. 7, 8. What caused this great change?-Nothing less than the power of the everlasting love and patient forbearance of God.

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"Separated unto the Gospel of God." -These are the words with which Paul described himself in the Epistle to the Romans: "Called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God." Rom. i. 1. So here he says that God "separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace." Gal. i. 15. That God chose Saul to be an apostle, before Saul himself had any thought that he should ever be even a Christian, is evident from the sacred narrative. On his way to Damascus, whither, "breathing out threatenings and slaughter," he was proceeding with full authority to seize, bind, and drag to prison all Christians, both men and women, Saul was suddenly arrested, not by human hands, but by the overpowering glory of the Lord. Three days afterward the Lord said to Ananias, when sending him to give Saul his sight, "He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles." Acts ix. 15. God arrested Saul in his mad career of persecution, because He had chosen him to be an apostle. So we see that the pricks against which Saul had been kicking were the strivings of the Spirit to turn him to the work to which he had been called.

But how long before this had Saul been chosen to be the messenger of the Lord?-He himself tells us that he was separated from his mother's womb. From his birth Saul had been "separated unto the Gospel of God." This was no new thing. The work of Samson and of John the Baptist was laid out for them before they were born. See Judges xiii. 2-14; Luke i. 13-17. Jeremiah was chosen before his birth to be a prophet of God. Jer. i. 4, 5. Pharaoh, the haughty, defiant king of Egypt, had also been chosen to make the name of God known throughout all the earth (Ex. ix. 15, 16, R.V.), but he refused to do it as the acknowledged servant of the Lord, and so the work had been accomplished through his obstinacy.

These things but remind us that chance does not rule in this world. It is as true of all men as it was of the Thessalonians, that "God hath from the beginning chosen" them "to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 2 Thess. ii. 13. It rests with every one to make that calling and election sure. And he who willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. ii. 3, 4, R.V.), has also appointed "to every man his work." Mark xiii. 34. He who leaves not Himself without witness even in the inanimate creation (Acts xiv. 17; Rom. i. 20), would fain have man, His highest earthly creation, willingly give such witness to Him as can be given only by human intelligence. All men are chosen to be witnesses for God, and to each is his labor appointed. All through life the Spirit is striving with every man, to induce him to allow himself to be used for the work to which God has called him. Only the Judgment day will reveal what wonderful opportunities men have recklessly flung away. Saul, the violent persecutor, became the mighty apostle; who can imagine how much good might have been done by the men whose great power over their fellows has been exerted only for evil, if they had yielded to the influence of the Spirit? Not every one can be a Paul; but the thought that each one, according to the ability that God has given him, is chosen and called of God to witness for Him, will, when once grasped, give to life a new meaning.

The Revelation of Christ. -"When it pleased God. . . . to reveal His Son in me." Note the exact words. The apostle does not say that it pleased God to reveal His Son to him but in Him. Moreover, he does not say that it pleased God to put His Son into him, but to reveal His Son in him. There is a great truth in this, which stands out very plainly in connection with some other texts.

Read the whole of Deut. xxx. There we see that two things were placed before the people for them to choose between, namely, life and good, and death and evil. This, together with the fact that they were exhorted to keep the commandments of God, shows that they had not yet attained to righteousness. Then in verses 11-14 we read that the commandment is not far off so as to make it necessary for some one to bring it to them, in order that they might do it; "but the Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it."

We see, therefore, that the Word is in the hearts of men before they do it, and that it is there in order that they may do it. But what is the Word?-Read John i. 1-14, where we learn that the Word is God. "And the Word was made flesh." That this is what is meant in the passage just quoted in Deuteronomy, is seen from Rom. x. 6-9, where it is quoted, and the Word is plainly declared to be Christ. Christ, then, dwells in the heart, in the flesh, of every man, and has come thus near to all men in order that they may be made the righteousness of God. Most men are ignorant of this divine presence, and live as though God were not, and that they were their own creators and preservers. But when the Spirit of truth brings a man to the knowledge of the truth, then Christ dwells in his heart, not as hitherto, unappreciated and unrecognised, but "by faith." Eph. iii. 17. Then is Christ revealed in him, and he fulfils the Divine purpose of showing forth the excellencies of Him that called him out of darkness into His marvellous light. 1 Peter ii. 9. Only by such a revelation of Christ in a man can he preach Him among the heathen; with that revelation, his whole life is a Gospel sermon, even though he does not utter discourses. So we see that the work of the human preacher is exactly the same as that of the heavens; to declare the glory of God (Ps. xix. 1-8) and it is to be done in the same manner.

Conferring with Flesh and Blood. -"Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." This statement is made for the purpose of showing that the apostle did not receive the Gospel from any human being. He saw Christ, and accepted Him, then he went to Arabia, and came back to Damascus, and not till three years after his conversion did he go up to Jerusalem, where he stayed only fifteen days, and saw only two of the apostles. Moreover, the brethren were afraid of him, and would not at first believe that he was a disciple; so it is evident that he did not receive the Gospel from any man.

But there is much to learn from Paul's not conferring with flesh and blood. To be sure, he had no need to, since he had the Lord's own word; but such a course as his is by no means common. For instance, a man reads a thing in the Bible, and then must ask some other man's opinion before he dare believe it. If none of his friends believe it, he is fearful of accepting it. If his pastor, or some commentary, explains the text away, then away it goes; flesh and blood gain the day against the Spirit and the Word.

Or, it may be that the commandment is so plain that there is no reasonable excuse for asking anybody what it means. Then the question is, "Can I afford to do it? Will it not cost too much sacrifice?" The most dangerous flesh and blood that one

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can confer with is one's own. It is not enough to be independent of others; in matters of truth one needs to be independent of one's self. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." Prov. iii. 5. "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." Prov. xxviii. 26. When God speaks our part of wisdom is to obey at once, without . . . of one's own heart. The Lord's name is "Counselor." Isa. ix. 6, and He is Wonderful in counsel." Hear Him.

Paul's Visit to Arabia. -In the record of Paul's conversion, in Acts ix., we are told that as soon as he was baptized he began to preach in the synagogues, "proving that this is very Christ. And after many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him," and being let down over the wall by night in a basket, he escaped them, and came to Jerusalem. Verses 22-26. If we had no other record than this, we should not know but that Paul spent all the time in Damascus unto he returned to Jerusalem; but in Gal i. 17, 18 we learn how long a time those "many days" cover, and that in the three years Paul visited Arabia. Returning to Damascus from Arabia, he continued preaching until his earnestness and power called down on him the wrath of the Jews, and he was obliged to flee for his life. Yet in all this time three years' preaching, Paul never saw any other apostle.

Paul's Miraculous Conversion .-There is no question that Paul's conversion was a miracle; but so is every conversion. Men seem to think that Paul's conversion had something more of the miraculous in it than ordinary conversions; but the fact is that exactly the same elements entered into Paul's conversion as in all other conversions. It was more than ordinarily striking, to be sure, because Paul was a more than ordinarily hard case to deal with, and was called to, as he was fitted for, an extraordinary work. Paul saw the Lord, and thereby learned is own wretched condition; this at once humbled him, and he accepted the Lord. That was the whole of it, and it is the same thing that occurs in every conversion, although not necessarily with the same outward manifestations.

"But was it not marvellous that Paul should have been able at once to preach Christ so powerfully and so convincingly?"-Indeed it was, as it is marvellous that any man can preach Christ. That anybody should be able to preach Christ in very truth, involves no less a mystery than Christ manifest in the flesh. But do not let anybody suppose that Paul got his knowledge instantaneously, without any study. Remember that he had all his life been a diligent student of the scriptures. It was not an uncommon thing for a Rabbi to be able to repeat the greater portion or the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures from memory, and we may be sure that Paul, who had made more advancement than any others of his age, was as familiar with the words of the Bible as an ordinary school-boy is with the multiplication table. But his mind as blinded by the traditions of the fathers, which had been drilled into him at the same time. The blindness which came upon him when the light shone round him on the way to Damascus, was but a picture of the blindness of his mind; and the seeming scales that fell from his eyes when Ananias spoke to him, indicated the shining forth of the Word within him, and the scattering of the darkness of tradition. Paul's case was very different from that of a new convert who had never read or studied the Bible.

The Persecutor Preaching .-Compare the statements in Gal. i. 18-22 with Acts ix. 26-30; xxii. 17-21. Circumstances rendered it impossible that Paul should get any teaching from the Jewish Christians. It was not necessary, to be sure, and it was so ordered that all could see that he was taught of God, and not of man. So for years after his conversion he was "unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but they had heard only. That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed," or, "of which he made havoc." And they glorified God in him. That is what God designs shall be done in each one of us.

In view of the case of Saul of Tarsus, let no one look on any opposer of the Gospel as incorrigible. Those who make opposition are to be instructed with meekness, for who knows but that God will give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth? One might have said of Paul, "He has had the light as clearly as any man can have it. He has had every opportunity; he not only heard the inspired testimony of Stephen, but he heard the dying confessions of many martyrs; he is a hardened wretch from whom it is useless to expect any good." Yet that same Saul became the greatest preacher of the Gospel, even as he had been the most bitter persecutor. Is there a malignant opposer of the truth? Do not strive with him, and do not reproach him. Let him have all the bitterness and strife to himself, while you hold yourself to the Word of God and to prayer. It may not be long till God, who is now blasphemed, may be glorified in him.

"The Tobacco Habit and Christian Liberty" The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

The blinding effect of an evil habit, such as indulgence in narcotics and stimulants, is illustrated by the following story which a popular journal prints under the title, "The Lord Chancellor and His Peculiarities":-

It is one of the idiosyncrasies of the Lord Chancellor (who has just been created an earl) that he never smokes, and, in fact, detests tobacco. The late Montagn Williams, in his "Leaves of a Life," relates how he was engaged with Sir Hardinge Giffard-now Lord Halsbury-in an important election petition at Shewsbury. At their lodgings Mr. Williams began to smoke. Sir Hardinge protested. He said he "never smoked," and eventually his eminent junior had to put on a mackintosh and smoke his cigar in a snowstorm. Mr. Montagn Williams did not have to wait long for an opportunity to retaliate. Sir Hardinge carried his habit of punctuality to a height that was only equaled by his politeness. He would have breakfast ready to a moment, but would never commence without his junior. That morning Mr. Montagn Williams tarried so long over his toilet that he did not enter the breakfast-room until three minutes before the hour at which the court sat. He writes:-

I found Giffard seated in an armchair before an enormous fire. The breakfast, grilled fish and other delicacies, was placed on the fender. The tea had not yet been brewed. My leader looked in a rage; he must only have been acting, however, for in all my life I never saw him seriously out of temper. I knew, he declared, just as well as he did, what his rules were. I knew that he had been waiting breakfast for me. It was my duty to be down in time and make the ten, and in consequence of my laziness he would have to go to court without any breakfast at all. "But," I casually remarked, "I never eat breakfast. I don't care about it." "Well," he rejoined, "you are, I think, the most selfish fellow I ever came across." "Oh dear, no," I said, "you forget the smoking yesterday. You don't smoke. I don't see the difference." He burst out laughing, and we proceeded to court. That night I remained by the fire when the meal was over and smoke my cigar.

WHY HE COULD NOT SEE THE DIFFERENCE

Let us examine the humour of this for a moment. The Lord Chancellor's gentlemanly courtesy lost him his breakfast because he wished to share it with his friend. He might have eaten it alone, and his friend, if he did not wish to eat, could not possibly have been inconvenienced because the other was eating. But the writer of these reminiscences professed to see no difference between this exhibition of courtesy and his own insistence upon smoking in the presence of his friend, knowing that the smoke was offensive to him! The case would have been parallel had Sir Hardinge insisted o his friend's joining him in eating something which Mr. Williams did not relish, but which he himself enjoyed; and, further, if when his friend protested he had insisted upon forcing it down his unwilling throat. There would have been little humour in such a situation. Yet Mr. Williams coolly insisted on having his smoke and forcing his courteous companion to smell the nauseating fumes from the smoker's mouth.

We bring no railing accusation of selfishness against those who use the nicotine poison. There are selfish people who do not smoke, as well as people who do smoke who are careful of others' dislike of the odour of tobacco. But the fact remains that the tendency of the narcotic habit is to dull the senses and make the victim selfish and inconsiderate. It has come to this, that when a Lord Chancellor doesn't like the smell of tobacco smoke it is set down as an "iodiosyncrasy" and "peculiarity" of his, and the press thinks it a joke that a legal friend was once so uncourteous as to force him to inhale his smoke. It is nowadays not the man who smokes on the omnibus that is considered boorish and out of place, but rather the passenger who objects to having his lungs filled with the fumes and his eyes with hot ashes. It is all owing to the stupefying, deadening effect of the poison on the brain and nerves and moral sense of the user of it.

When the lad who would learn the vice of smoking makes his first essay at it, the poison usually lets him know its power over him by making him sick, and his system revolts against it. But when by perverse perseverance the system is brought into bondage to it, every year fastens the habit more securely, and makes the man more and more a slave to it. And being thus at the mercy of a tyrannical habit which deprives him of liberty, a man may very readily be as blind to the liberty of his fellows as was the legal gentleman who told the story which we have quoted. Boasting of an age of liberty, the world is coming more and more into bondage.

From all this the Gospel delivers men. Whatever the evil habit, Christ has broken every yoke, and every man is free who will assert his liberty. What smoker could conceive of Christ as holding a pipe between those lips that spoke peace, and holiness, and cleanliness of spirit and body? It is a horrible thought. Why?-Because it is out of harmony with every characteristic of His life. But it is no more out of harmony with His life in Judea, long time ago, than it is now with His life in the believer. "I live; yet not I," said Paul, "but Christ liveth in me." "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

"'Day and Night'" The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

Now and then we read in the newspaper dispatches that this or that Power is working "day and night" to increase its armaments and get ready for the struggle which all the nations regard as inevitable. All are now armed as nations were never armed before, but not one is satisfied. Japan, the youngest of the Powers, is feverishly making up lost time, and has, it is said, over two hundred ships of war under construction.

Thus the nations are fulfilling the prophecies which declare that as the coming of the Lord draws near at hand all the world would be arming for "the battle of the great day of God Almighty." We are told, too, that the spirit of Satan is the agent by which all the nations are being filled with the spirit of strife. Rev. xvi. 14.

While thus the world is working day and night to fulfil the Word, let us remember that there is another call to-day and night work:-

"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their

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peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. . . . Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold His reward is with Him, and His work before Him." Isa. lxii. 6, 7, 10, 11.

Here is day and night work for every believer. Christ is coming; let every one who loves Him join in preparing the way before Him. Nothing else is of any importance whatever.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

"Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Does He reign in your heart, or does sin reign there?

The Pope, we are told, has become a member of the "Association of Prayer for the Conversion of England." There was a time when popes of Rome addressed their prayers for the "conversion" of England to the King of Spain or of France.

When the Lord points out the way plainly many hesitate and say, "I don't see how I can go that way." How long would it have taken Israel to cross the Red Sea had God left them to their own resources? It is not a question of what I can do, but of what God can do. And faith does not question that for a moment.

The imminent danger of war in the East, of revolution in France, of a clashing of interests in Africa,-these fire the constant themes of newspaper comment. How glad may the Christian well be that he is delivered from all the self-interests that make men generally parties to the strife. His work is to preach the Word that will save out of the wreck all who will accept citizenship in the kingdom of heaven.

There are already 158 distilleries at work in Scotland, but more are to be erected, says the Glasgow Herald, to meet the growing demand for whisky. And the growth of pauperism, crime, and insanity in the Kingdom more than keeps pace with the multiplication of breweries and distilleries.

The Pekin and Tientsin Times, an Anglo-Chinese newspaper, complained a little time ago:-

Russia is standing with a pistol leveled at China's head and getting all she wants. The situation can only be leveled up by some other Power getting on China's other side with a Gatling gun.

This complaint is made in all seriousness, as though the blame were China's, but representing China as the helpless traveler in the hands of rival highwaymen, the newspaper unconsciously bears witness to the true character of the warring nations.

Russia threatens Turkey with an occupation of Armenia if the Kurds are not kept quiet. As these wild mountaineers never have been subject to Government, Russia has only to choose her time to advance her frontier line.

It is neither "conformity" nor "non-conformity" that is needed. "Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

"Heaven and earth shall pass away; but My words shall not pass away." If a person, then, wishes to put his trust in that which is abiding, he must let go of the things of the earth, and lay hold upon the words that abide for ever.

God promised Abraham what was humanly impossible, and Abraham knew it. But "looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief," and the promise was fulfilled.

"Preparing for Armageddon" The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

While the newspapers were full of the advances made by Russia, Germany, and France in China, the silence of the British Cabinet led to continual questioning as to what would be Britain's policy in this matter, which so vitally concerns her commercial interests. This state of uncertainty has now been set at rest by Mr. Chamberlain in a speech at Liverpool, which, amid much applause, closed as follows:-

Markets are closed to us sometimes by hostile tariffs, sometimes by hostile commercial occupation. Our own markets are threatened, even our own territories are regarded apparently with jealous eyes, and if we are to meet this we can only do so by defending those that we still retain-and, gentlemen, we shall do this, and at the same time we shall seek to maintain solidarity between all the parts of the empire. We shall try to earn the confidence of our colonial fellow subjects by making their interest our interests. It may be that now we have to come to their assistance, but may not the time come when we shall call for theirs? and, meanwhile, let us be enabled to say, in the words of an imperial-minded post:-

And we will make a promise, as long as the blond endures
I shall know that your good is mine, ye shall feel that my strength is yours,
In the day of Armageddon, in the last great fight of all,
The house shall stand together, and the pillars shall not fall.

The pathetic part of the matter is that men will go into that "last great fight of all" with high hopes for the future, not knowing that it will be the last fight of all simply because it will be the everlasting destruction of all those who use or sanction the use of carnal weapons. Rev. xvi. 16; xix. 11-21. How such expressions, which are so popular, emphasise the necessity of proclaiming with renewed earnestness the Gospel, which has been given "to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

"A Popular Fallacy Exploded" The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

From Frem, a Danish scientific journal, we take the following, which ought to be read by everybody:-

Meat extract, as well as meat soup, is considered by many to be especially nourishing. This supposition is, however, wholly a mistaken one. Professor Volb, of Munich, has recently published an interesting treatise on this subject. Most people reason that, since meat is nourishing, an extract, something taken out of it, must also be nourishing. This is altogether wrong, for in the production of meat extract, as well as in the cooking of soup, all the real nourishment is left behind in the meat. The extract or the soup, on the contrary, contains really only the stimulating matter of the meat, the so-called creatin or creatinin. Both these substances by being taken into our bodies, have exactly the same effect as tea or coffee: they stimulate energy, but they afford absolutely not a particle of nourishment; instead, they rather consume the strength.

This testimony is not at all nullified by the fact, which should be stated, that Frem thinks that people need a little stimulation once in a while; it simply wishes to warn them against the supposition that with their stimulant they are getting nourishment. It adds:-

A cup of bouillon has only the same stiumulating effect upon us as a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. It is well know that the attempt has been made to feed dogs upon soup alone, and that in a few days they were nearly starved to death.

In like manner many people, and especially those who are recovering from an illness, are systematically starved by kind friends who suppose that they are doing the best thing to help them to get strength. And then when the stimulating effect has passed away, and languor ensues, the next natural step is to take porter, stake or brandy, and so the drink habit is acquired. When will people learn that what a person, and above all a sick person, needs is nourishment, something that will give strength, and not a whip to make him use up the little strength that is left? "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?"

February 3, 1898

"'The City of the Living God'" The Present Truth 14, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Abraham "looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." That is the only "holy city." It is "reserved in heaven for you," and in it is prepared a special "place for you" if you will but allow Him to prepare you for it. Not to the Jerusalem "trodden down of the nations," does faith look, but to the "Jerusalem which is above," "which is the mother of us all."

"The Epistle to the Galatians. The Truth of the Gospel" The Present Truth 14, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Before beginning the study of the second chapter of Galatians, read the first chapter again carefully. One must necessarily understand and have in mind the contents of chapter one in order to understand chapter two, since the second is but a continuation of the first. There is no break in the narrative in passing from the first to the second chapter. We may summarise the first chapter thus:-

The salutation, in which the whole Gospel is included.

The reason for writing the epistle, which is found in the statement of the condition of the Galatians, namely, that they were departing from God to a perverted gospel, being led astray by some accursed teachers.

There is but one Gospel, namely, that which Paul preached.

That Gospel was given him, not by any man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ in him.

Lastly, a brief summary of Paul's former life, his conversion, and his experience during the first seventeen years of his Christian life, chiefly with reference to the fact that he was not in connection with any of the brethren, by whom he could have been biased. He was near to Damascus when the Lord met him; he conferred not with flesh and blood, but went into Arabia and returned to Damascus, and after three years went up to Jerusalem, where he stayed fifteen days, afterwards going into Syria and Cilicia, without getting acquainted with the churches in Judea. And so he continues the narrative:-

"Then fourteen years after I went again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised; and that because of false brethren unawares brought in who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you. But of those who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me; God accepteth no man's person); for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me; but contrariwise, when they saw that the Gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the Gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter (for He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was might in me toward the Gentiles); and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I was also zealous to do." Gal. ii. 1-10.

Visit to Jerusalem. -"Fourteen years after," following the natural course of the narrative, means fourteen years after the visit recorded in Gal. i. 18, which was three years after the apostle Paul's conversion. The second visit, therefore, was seventeen years after his conversion, or about the year 51 A.D., which coincides with the time of the conference in Jerusalem, which is recorded in Acts xv. It is with that conference, and the things that led to it, and grew out of it, that the second chapter of Galatians deals. In reading this chapter, therefore, the fifteenth of Acts must be understood and borne in mind. Our study this week will thus necessarily be largely in Acts xv., of which Gal. ii. is merely an adjunct.

The New Gospel. -In the first chapter of Galatians (verses 6, 7) we are told that some were troubling the brethren, by perverting the Gospel of Christ, presenting a false gospel, and pretending that it was the true Gospel. In Acts xv. 1 we read that "certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can not be saved." This, we see, was the other gospel, which was not another, since there is only one, but which was being palmed off upon the brethren as the true Gospel. That these men who brought this teaching professed to be preaching the Gospel, is evident from the fact that they professed to tell the people what they must do to be saved. Paul and Barnabas would not give any place to the new preaching, but withstood it, in order, as Paul tells the Galatians, "that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you." Gal. ii. 5. Paul and Barnabas had "no small dissension and disputation with them." Acts xv. 2. So we see that the controversy was no insignificant one, but was between the real Gospel and a counterfeit. The question was a vital one for the new believers, and has no less interest for us.

A Denial of Christ. -A glance at the experience of the church at Antioch, to whom this new Gospel was brought, will show that it did in the most direct manner deny the power of Christ to save. The Gospel was first brought to them by brethren who had been scattered by the persecution that arose on the death of Stephen. These brethren came to Antioch "preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them; and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord." Acts xi. 19-21. Then the apostles sent Barnabas to assist in the work; and he, "when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith; and much people was added unto the Lord." Verses 22-24. Then Barnabas found Saul, and together they labored with the church in Antioch for more than a year. Verses 25, 26. There were in the church prophets and teachers, and as they ministered unto the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost spoke to them, telling them to separate Barnabas and Saul to the work to which He had called them. Acts xiii. 1-3. So we see that the church there had had much experience in the things of God. They were acquainted with the Lord and with the voice of the Holy Spirit, who witnessed that they were children of God. And now after all this, these men said to them, "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can not be saved." That was as much as to say, "All your faith in Christ, and all the witness of the Spirit, are nothing without the sign of circumcision." The sign of circumcision, without faith, was exalted above faith in Christ without any outward sign. The new gospel was a most direct assault upon the Gospel, and a flat denial of Christ.

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"False Brethren. "-It is no wonder that Paul styles those who presented this teaching, "false brethren," who had, as the Danish strongly expresses it, "sneaked in." Gal. ii. 4. To the Galatians he said of them, "There be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ." Gal. i. 7. The apostles and elders, in their letter to the churches, said of those men, "Certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls." Acts xv. 24. And they further added that they "gave no commandment" to them. Verse 24, R.V. That is to say, these teachers were "false brethren," who were not recognised by the apostles as teachers, who were speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves. There have been many such since that time. So vicious was their work that the apostle said, "Let them be accursed." They were deliberately seeking to undermine the Gospel of Christ, and thus to destroy the souls of the believers.

"The Sign of Circumcision." -These false brethren had said, "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can not be saved." Literally, "You have not power to be saved." This put all the power of salvation in the outward sign of circumcision. Paul declares, "In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love." Gal. v. 6. Circumcision has no power, and uncircumcision has no power, but faith alone, working by love, is mighty to save. That which the false brethren wished to enforce was not real circumcision, for that is not outward, but in the heart, and consists solely in obedience to God's law through faith. See Rom. ii. 25-29; iv. 7-11. Abraham was righteous by faith alone, was in fact, really circumcised in heart "with the circumcision made without hands," by the Spirit, before he received the outward mark, which was not real circumcision, but only served as a sign, a reminder to him that circumcision consists in worshiping God in the spirit, and having no confidence in the flesh. Rom. iv. 2-11; Col. ii. 10, 11; Phil. iii. 3. So these Christians of Antioch, who had been converted from heathenism, just as Abraham was, and had received the Lord Jesus, were circumcised with the true circumcision. The "false brethren" wished them to give up the reality for the empty sign.

"The Flesh Profiteth Nothing." -Jesus said, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life." John vi. 63. The people of Antioch and Galatia had trusted in Christ for salvation; now there were some who sought to induce them to trust in the flesh. They did not tell them that they were at liberty to sin. Oh, no; they told them that they must keep the law! Yes, they must do it themselves; they must make themselves righteous without Jesus Christ. For circumcision stood for the keeping of the law. Now the real circumcision was the law written in the heart by the Spirit; but these "false brethren" wished the believers to trust in the outward form of circumcision, as a substitute for the Spirit's work; so that the thing which was given as a sign of righteousness by faith, became only a sign of self-righteousness. The false brethren would have them circumcised for righteousness and salvation; but Peter said, "Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we believe to be saved." Just as Paul wrote, "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom. x. 10. "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Rom. xiv. 23. Therefore, all the efforts of men to keep the law of God by their own power, no matter how earnest and sincere they may be, can never result in anything but imperfection-sin. "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Is. lxiv. 6.

"A Yoke of Bondage." -When the question came up in Jerusalem, Peter said to those who would have men seek to be justified by their own works, instead of by faith in Christ, "Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" Acts xv. 10. This yoke was a yoke of bondage, as is shown by Paul's words, that the "false brethren" sneaked in "to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage." Gal. ii. 4. Christ gives freedom from sin. His life is "the perfect law of liberty." "By the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. iii. 20), but not freedom from it. "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good" (Rom. vii. 12), just because it gives the knowledge of sin by condemning it. It is a signpost, which points out the way, but does not carry us. It can tell us that we are out of the way; but Jesus Christ alone can make us walk in it; for He is the way. Sin is bondage. Prov. v. 22. Only those who keep the commandments of God are at liberty (Ps. cxix. 45); and the commandments can be kept only by faith in Christ. Rom. viii. 3, 4. Therefore, whoever induces people to trust in the law for righteousness, without Christ, simply puts a yoke upon them, and fastens them in bondage. When a man has been convicted by the law as a transgressor, and cast into prison, he can not be delivered from his chains by the law which holds him there. But that is no fault of the law: just because it is a good law, it can not say that a guilty man is innocent. So these Galatian brethren were brought into bondage by men who were foolishly and vainly seeking to exalt the law of God by denying Him who gave it, and in whom alone its righteousness is found.

Why Paul Went Up to Jerusalem. -The record in Acts says that it was determined at Antioch that Paul and Barnabas and some others should go up to Jerusalem about this matter. But Paul declares that he went up "by revelation." Gal. ii. 2. He did not go up to learn the truth of the Gospel, but to maintain it. He went, not to find out what was the Gospel, but to communicate the Gospel which he had preached among the heathen. Those who were chief in the conference imparted nothing to him. He had not been preaching for seventeen years that of which he stood in doubt. He knew whom he believed. He knew whom he believed. He had not received the Gospel from any man, and he did not need to have any man's testimony that it was genuine. When God has spoken, an endorsement by man is an impertinence.

The Gospel Not Magic. -The great lesson taught by this experience, to which Paul referred the Galatians, is that there is no thing in this world that can confer grace and righteousness upon men, and that there is nothing in the world that any man can do, that will bring salvation. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and not the power of man. Any teaching that leads men to trust in any object, whether it be an image, a picture, or anything else, or to trust for salvation in any work or effort of their own, even though that effort be directed toward the most praiseworthy object, is a perversion of the truth of the Gospel, a false gospel. There are in the church of Christ no "sacraments" that by some sort of magical working confer special grace on the receiver; but there are things that a man who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, and who is thereby justified and saved, may do as an expression of his faith. The only thing in the world that has any efficacy in the way

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of salvation, is the life of God in Christ. "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. 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.

"The Flowing Tide of Ritualism" The Present Truth 14, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

A meeting under the auspices of the Church Association was held last week to "consider the lawlessness and idolatry of a large section of the bishops, clergy, and laity of the Church of England." A special hymn written for the occasion contained this verse:-

"For priest with brazen faces,
And lies in their right hand,
Who tread the sacred places
Of our beloved land;
Who desecrate Thy table
With pagan rites abhorr'd,
And preach the old mass fable;
Have mercy on us, Lord!"

Well-known clergymen on the Protestant side in the Church gave addresses, the keynote being, according to the title of one address: "The advance of open Romanism in our country and disguised Romanism in our Church: Sources of grave national danger calling for public humiliation and repentance."

That is surely the line things are taking in the Church of England. May those who see the danger lift the warning voice and hold up the light. But these meetings accomplish very little. The Romanist fruit goes on multiplying because the stock is of the Papacy. That is the weakness of many of these protests. Complaint is usually made of "lawlessness" because the legal standards are transgressed, and the effort is to appeal to Parliamentary power to enforce the laws of the Establishment. But this very appeal to human authority, and the tacit acceptance of the idea of establishing religious practices by law are of the Papacy. Because the Prayer Book and the standards of the Church were formed on this basis of human authority, they are leavened with papal principles, and we are witnessing the development of those principles in the Romanist revival within the Church.

No half-and-half work meets the requirements of the times. The one work is to lift up the Word of the Lord. It is not a time to look to man and to human power to safeguard truth which stands in power to safeguard truth which stands in the power of God. Who would spend time trying to make a thistle bear figs? Who wants to spend time in controversy about human creeds, and articles and canon law? There is no life at all in them. Preach the living Word of the living God, and let the Spirit of God lift up the standard against the enemy.

"Australian Camp-meetings" The Present Truth 14, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

The Bible Echo, our Society's organ in Melbourne, brings news of an excellent annual general meeting of Seventh-day Adventists in Victoria, held as a camp-meeting in the suburbs of Melbourne.

The newspaper press seems generally to have commented freely on the meetings. The Melbourne Age said of the encampment:-

There are over seventy large roomy tents arranged in orderly fashion, divided into blocks, with intervening streets, the whole array covering about three acres of land. All the dwelling tents look very comfortable and homely, and the whole camp is picturesque and attractive.

And of the public interest, another newspaper, the Kew Mercury, said:-

The popular interest in the Adventist camp-meeting seems to exceed anything of the kind ever met with in this colony. No doubt the beautiful weather that has prevailed during the past week has helped somewhat, but it takes something more than good weather to draw from 1,500 to 2,000 persons from distant suburbs night after night to attend the religious services. There are many pleasing features about these camp-meetings. There is an utter absence of anything approaching cant or vulgarity, and a spirit of good-fellowship and contentment is evident on every hand.

The camp-meeting has long been in vogue for religious conventions in America. About fifty such gatherings are now held each year among the Seventh-day Adventist Conferences in the various States of the United States, in the Canadian Dominion, and in the various countries of the Continent of Europe. They will doubtless be familiar soon in Australia, as our friends here have this year held such meetings in Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, and, we believe, New Zealand also. The believers come together to study the Word and to seek the Lord for personal experience, and the gatherings have proved of great interest to multitudes of the general public, as the newspaper comments show. The time demands a definite message for the people. Prophecy is fulfilling and the Lord is at hand. We are glad to know from reports form all parts that this message of preparation for the Lord's coming is going forth with ever-increasing power. Among the many agencies blessed of the Lord in this work, these camp-meetings are surely not the least.

"A Chieftain's Lament" The Present Truth 14, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

A Chieftain's Lament .-Here is a story with a moral for our own times, when it is so readily taken for granted that the advent of the white man with his trade and superior powers must be a boon to weaker races. When America was discovered by the Spaniards, swarms of priests followed into the new regions, and in Church and State is was loudly trumpeted that all the accessions of territory were to be the glory of the Church in the "Christianising" of the heathen barbarians. After long years one Caribbee chief bore the following witness in complaining of the influence of the white civilization in the West Indies:-

Our people have become almost as bad as yours. We are so much altered since you coming among us that we hardly know ourselves, and we think it is owing to so melancholy a change that hurricanes are more frequent than they were formerly.

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It is the evil spirit who has done all this, who has taken our best lands from us, and given us up to the dominion of Christians.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Call of Matthew.óMatt. ix. 9-17" The Present Truth 14, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

FEBRUARY 13

In studying this lesson, read also the parallel accounts in Mark ii. 14-22 and Luke 5:27-39, for some particulars not mentioned by Matthew. All the accounts tell us that the call of Matthew, or Levi, as he is called by Mark and Luke, took place immediately after the healing of the palsied man. But there is an omission in the account given by Matthew, as we learn from the other records, which is quite striking. Matthew simply tells what took place "as Jesus sat at meat in the house," without telling whose house, or anything about the meal. Mark says that "Jesus sat at meat in his house," that is, in Matthew's house, and Luke says that "Levi made him a great feast in his own house." Matthew modestly omits all reference to what he did.

MATTHEW'S SACRIFICE

"And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and He saith unto him, Follow Me, and he arose, and followed Him."

The office of publican, or tax-collector, was a lucrative one. The men who filled the office were despised and hated by the rest of the Jews, both because they oppressed the people, and because they would consent to collect taxes for the hated Romans. Publicans had to pay a certain sum into the Roman treasury, and then they would collect it, together with as much more as they could for their own profit, from the people. Of course the system naturally led to extortion and oppression. This, however, would not make the publicans unpopular with Pharisees, who were guilty of the same sin; but their calling, and the fact they served the conquerors of the Jewish nation, made them despised by the "better classes" of the Jewish society.

Matthew was thus a man of business, yet when Jesus called him, "he arose, and followed Him." Luke states more, which Matthew modestly omitted: "And he left all, rose up, and followed Him." Luke v. 28. How many business men in these days would follow Jesus if it involved giving up their business? It is much easier to read about it, and to take it as a matter of course that the early disciples should do so, than to do it ourselves. However, there are those even now, who are willing and even glad to suffer the loss of all things, that they may win Christ. Phil. iii. 7, 8.

We speak of Matthew's "sacrifice," an expression for very commonly used to describe a case where one has suffered the loss of property for Christ's sake. It is not, however, strictly correct, nay, it is wholly incorrect in the sense in which it is ordinarily used. If used in the original sense of something devoted to the Lord, and thus made sacred, or sacrificed, to Him, it is perfectly correct. But if it be used to indicate that one has done some great and worthy deed, with the implied thought that a great loss has been sustained, it is incorrect. Christ has made the only sacrifice that is worthy to be called such. In order to accept this sacrifice, one must give up all, but it is simply giving up a poor thing for a good one. Christ does the giving, we do the taking. Whoever talks or thinks about how much he has given up for the Lord, has no just sense of "the unsearchable riches of Christ." Eph. iii. 8. A man in his senses would never complain or make a merit of having exchanged sawdust for gold dust.

THE FAULT FINDERS

"Many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto His disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?" Luke says that they murmured, or muttered. At an Eastern feast, anybody had the privilege of coming in and looking on, even though not an invited guest. An example of this freedom is seen in Luke vii. 36-50. That the Pharisees themselves were not present as participators in the feast, is shown by their murmuring against Christ, for eating with publicans and sinners. They would not have accepted an invitation to a publican's house, much less would they sit at the same table with those they called sinners; yet they were always present to carp at Jesus. Their successors live to-day. They are present at the feast, but only to pick flaws, not to eat. They attend the meting, but they are not fed by the discourse; they only point out something which their sharp eyes have discovered to be wrong. And so these poor, self-satisfied Pharisees starve to death on wind, while others are eating to the fill. It is better to eat with publicans and sinners, than to stand to one side and find fault with the eaters. It is better to be among the humble followers of Christ, who acknowledge themselves to be sinners, and so have the truth abiding in them (1 John i. 8), than to hold aloof and criticise both the poor sinners and the Master who receives them.

SEEKING THE LOST

"Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?" On another occasion, when all the publicans and sinners drew near to hear Jesus, the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, "This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." Luke xv. 1, 2. Yes; for not only does Christ receive sinners, but "the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke xix. 10. One day I met a young man with a most dejected look, who with broken voice said,

"I am lost."

"I am glad to hear you say so," I replied.

His astonishment at such a reply was too great for words, but it was eloquently expressed in his face.

"Yes," I continued, "I am glad to hear that you are lost, for you are just the one that the Lord is looking for; and since He is not far off, I am sure that he will find you."

This was a new view of the case, and it was not long before joy took the place of the young man's despondency.

Note that Jesus not only seeks, but He saves. He is "mighty to save" (Isa. lxiii. 1), so that to as many as receive Him He gives power to become the sons of God. John i. 12. Jesus associates with sinners, and is "not ashamed to call them brethren" (Heb. ii. 11, 12), for by His presence He saves them from their sins, and makes them indeed brethren, in that He makes them joint-heirs with Himself. Mark, in relating the circumstances connected with the call of Matthew, says that "many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and His disciples; for

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there were many, and they followed Him." Mark ii. 15. This is exactly the same word that is used by Matthew. He followed Jesus, and many other publicans and sinners also followed Him. So then they were sinners saved from sin. A sinner who follows Jesus is in a blessed condition.

NEW WINE IN NEW BOTTLES

The tendency is to rob Christ's teaching of its personal character, and to make it general. So this statement by Jesus, that new wine could not be put into old wine skins, nor new cloth into old garments, is made to refer to religion in general. Thus one says, "Time showed that the new, strong Christianity could not successfully patch up the holes in the worn-out religion of the Jews." And again, "If the reformation introduced by the Baptist could retain the old form of Judaism, Christianity could not," forgetting or not knowing that John the Baptist was a Christian, and that his baptism was Christian baptism. See Mark ii. 4; Acts xix. 4. As to "the worn-out religion of the Jews," it was that which God had given them, but which they had rejected, and so Christ came, not to found a new religion, but to exalt "that which was from the beginning." Jesus was a Jew, and He said, "salvation is of the Jews." John iv. 22.

All the teaching of Jesus was personal. The "new wine" of which He spoke was none other than that which the Lord through His prophet freely offered to all. Isa. lv. 1. The "old garments" are the "filthy rags" (Isa. lxiv. 6) of man's own self-righteousness. Man's own works cannot become good garments (Isa. lix. 6), but Christ offers a complete new garment of salvation, a "robe of righteousness" (Isa. lxi. 10), consisting of "fine linen clean and white." Rev. xix. 8. See also Rev. iii. 18; vii. 9, 14. He takes away "the filthy garments," and gives a complete "change of raiment." Zech. iii. 1-5.

The work of Christ is not patch-work but new creation. The new wine of the Gospel, which was new in the days of Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah,-the old, old story that is always new,-cannot be carried in anything but new creatures. For, mark it, Christ receives sinners, in order that they may be witnesses for Him. These publicans and sinners, acknowledged themselves to be sinners, and were thus cleansed from all unrighteousness. 1 John i. 9. Then, filled with the Spirit, they could carry the good news of salvation to others. They became vessels to honour, "sanctified and meet for the Master's use." 2 Tim. ii. 21. The Pharisees, who persisted in saying that they had no sin, could not carry the light to others. Christ came to call sinners, not the righteous. The man who insists that he is righteous, has no part in Christ; and everybody who will follow his own way, instead of the commandment of the Lord, does thus insist that he is right and the Lord is wrong. The lesson is a personal one for us all; we cannot patch Christ's life on to our old life of sin. Let Him make us over new, and then we can wear new clothing, be filled with the new wine, and sing a new song.

"God's Revelation of Himself" The Present Truth 14, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

HOW THE INDIANS RECEIVED THE LIGHT

One of Mr. Egerton R. Young's stories of missionary work among the Cree Indians of North America, on his experience in teaching the Indians how to read, as told in "On the Indian's Trail," is most interesting as a tribute to the power of the simple Bible story of creation without any being evaporated by "higher criticism." He had drilled the Indians on the syllable characters until they were quite familiar with them, using a large, white rock and a burnt stick instead of a blackboard and chalk, and had filled them with amazement by letting them read the name of God on the rock, together with such simple combinations as "God is love," and "God loves you." He continues:-

"Then we opened our bundles of Bibles, and passing them round as far as they would go, I had them all turn to the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis. After some explanation of a few additional signs which they there saw upon the printed page, and which give some variation to the sound of the syllabic character to which they are attached, we began the study of the verse. Of course our progress at first was slow. It could not be otherwise under such circumstances. But we patiently persevered, and it was not very long ere they were able to read in their own language: 'MAWACHE NISTUM KAESAMANETO KEOOSETON KESIH MENA ASHER.' (In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.)

"When they had acquired the ability to read this verse for themselves, and had grasped a little of its meaning, there was another outburst of delight. That first verse of Genesis is very suggestive and full of meaning to anyone, no matter how learned, who tries to investigate it. It is in itself the first chapter of God's revelation of Himself to man, and has long occupied the attention and study of the most godly and profound. Here, for the first time, it was being read by a company of poor Indians just emerging from paganism. But they were sharp and keen, and able to grasp a new truth; and so when the first verse opened before them with its wondrous meaning, great was their delight and amazement.

"'Now we know all about it!' some of them shouted. 'The Kaesa-Mancto (the great God) made all these things, the heaven and the earth.'

"Others said:

"'Our fathers talked about it in their wigwams, and wondered, and wondered how all these things came as they are; but they had to confess that they were in darkness, and knew nothing. But now we know it! We know it!'

"Over and over again they read the verse until they had thoroughly committed it to memory. And in after days, at many a camp fire and in many a hunting lodge, it was repeated to others who had not heard it, but who, on hearing it were also filled with gratification and delight at the answer which it gave to what had long been a subject of perplexity and awe."

Thus we see the demonstration of the words of the Psalmist: "The entrance of Thy word giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple." Ps. cxix. 130.

"Cruelty of the Sporting Instinct" The Present Truth 14, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Cruelty of the Sporting Instinct .-A sporting paper in New Zealand recently complained that the chances for a favourite racer, on which much money was staked, were spoiled in a certain race by the act of "an over-officious policeman" who got in the way and turned the horse from its course. The policeman was rescuing a boy who had wandered on to the track, and who was snatched from before the racers just in time to save his life. The policeman was severely injured by one of the horses, and was rewarded for his gallantry by the authorities.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

A careful estimate of the men's losses in the great engineering strike, in trade union capital spend and wages lost puts the amount at ?3,720,000. The voting on the return to work suggests that industrial peace rests on slight foundations, and now we hear of coming general strikes in Germany and America.

Thursday, January 27, was the thirty-ninth anniversary of the German Emperor's birthday, which was celebrated as usual. There was religious service in the Schloss Chapel, which was attended by the Imperial family. The text, chosen by the Kaiser himself, was: "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen."

It is stated that Dr. Lippe, one of the Jews interested in the Zionist movement, said in his opening address at the Basel conference: "We would look on His Majesty (the Sultan), if he would accept us, as our Messiah!" It shows how blind are the leaders of the movement. And yet many Christians look upon such movements on the part of members of the fleshly Israel as pointing to the approaching fulfillment of God's promise to gather His Israel to Zion. Let each open the Word and learn who are "Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

We learn that our Society's West Indian mission ship, the Herald, is in quarantine in one of the ports affected by the yellow fever epidemic, which has been raging in Jamaica. Three among our workers there have died of the fever, and others, the report stated, were ill. The West Indian and Central American fields, which have thus lost workers, are ripe for harvest, and the need is great, but the Lord knows and cares. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone." It is a blessed thing to live in the work of the Lord, and a blessed thing also to die in it.

"The Spirit of Unrest" The Present Truth 14, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

The Spirit of Unrest .-Lord George Hamilton, speaking as a member of the Cabinet, said the other day that "during the last two years a spirit of unrest appeared to have pervaded almost all parts of the inhabited globe." Statesmen have had reason to notice it, but who has not seen this manifestation of unrest? What does it mean? Again and again we must repeat that it means that we are living in the time of "distress of nations, with perplexity," when "the nations are angry," and when the throwing off of the restraints of God's Spirit is leaving the world more and more a prey to the spirit of unrest and evil. But for another change we thank God. We can see it everywhere. During the last few years many have been led by these things to inquire their meaning, and are more ready than ever before to accept the message of God for this time. How can the world have rest when it rejects God and His Sabbath, which is His rest, and the sign of His power to keep our hearts in peace and righteousness amidst all the sin and strife of the world?

"The Sunday-closing Movement" The Present Truth 14, 5.

E. J. Waggoner

Meetings and "demonstrations" in favour of the Sunday closing of public-houses are now the order of the day, the bishops and clergy no less than the Non-conformist ministers taking an active part in them. A regular campaign has been started. A correspondent sends us a report of one which he attended a few days ago, where the object of the movement was very plainly set forth. The chief speaker, a Wesleyan minister, after saying that "the public-house is the worst enemy the church has," declared, "If once we get the public-houses closed on Sunday, we shall go a step further and"-what? That is what one would naturally suppose, but no; it is not the purpose at all. Here it is: "When once we get the public-houses closed on Sunday, we shall go a step further, and stop all Sunday trade." That is the object, and the only object, of the Sunday-closing movement. Everybody has a right to engage in it who wishes to, but all should know that it is in no sense a temperance movement. It should be understood that it is but a step towards enforced Sunday observance.

But is it not going a little too far to say that enforced Sunday observance is the only object of this movement for the Sunday closing of public-houses? May not the diminution of the liquor traffic be also anticipated?-No; and the proof of this is found in the fact that it is constantly urged that the publicans themselves are in favour of Sunday closing. But no publican who proposed to continue in the business, was ever in favour of diminution in the sale of liquor.

Further proof that this Sunday-closing crusade is a compromise with the liquor traffic, by which the liquor dealers are to help "protect" Sunday in return for having their business protected, is furnished by so eminent a temperance worker as the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Daily Mail gives the following from a speech by him at a "temperance meeting" in St. Andrew's Hall, Bethnal-green, a few days ago; in which "he urged temperance people to concentrate their efforts on Sunday closing":-

Even drinkers, he said, admitted that the closing of the "houses" on Sunday would be an advantage, and he entirely disregarded the statements which had been made that beer served on the Saturday-could not be drunk on the Sunday.

That had nothing to do with the question, and was a side argument to throw them off the track. On the contrary, he predicted that if Sunday closing were in operation there would spring up a bottled beer trade which would insure fresh beer for those who desired it.

What could be plainer? To all drinkers he said in substance: "Don't be afraid that you will not be able to get your beer on Sunday. Join in with us to get the public-houses closed on Sunday, and if the beer that you buy on Saturday night does not last well over Sunday, be assured that a bottled beer trade will immediately spring up which will insure you all the fresh beer you wish."

If you please us much to see the liquor traffic stopped entirely. If only one-half the present amount were consumed, it would be a great gain. But when a given amount of beer is to be sold and drank in a week, it makes no difference when it is done. We marvel much at the blindness that has seized all these good temperance people. So strongly has the Sunday mania seized them, that they really think that they are working for the cause of temperance, while deliberately planning for the undiminished consumption of liquor. Could there be a more striking illustration of the intoxicating nature of the wine of Romanism?

February 10, 1898

"'Altogether Vanity'" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

A sale of antiquities in a London auction room last week included one "lot" of special interest. In its report of the sale a morning paper suggested that,-

If Ptolemy II., Philadelphus, King of Egypt, Antiochus Soter, King of Syria, and Alpina, wife of Seleucus, Queen of Babylon, could have foreseen that twenty-one centuries after their death and embalmment they would have been exposed, unrolled, to the small witticisms and smaller bids of a Covent-garden auction room, they would probably have preferred, like Imperial C?sar, to have been turned to clay, and as a less degrading alternative, to "stop a hole to keep the wind away."

These kings played a stirring part in a stirring epoch of history. They lived in the early days of the division of the Macedonian empire, a period made the subject of such detailed prophecy in the eleventh of Daniel. This Philadelphus was the "king of the south" whose daughter, Berenice, was married to the "king of the north," in the effort to make peace between Egypt and Syria. Dan. xi. 6. He maintained the glory of his father's kingdom, built great palaces in Egypt and completed the great Alexandrian library. Two centuries before he lived the prophet had described the main features of his reign and the tragic death of his daughter. All came to pass as predicted. Philadelphus had to leave his ships and legions and palaces, and while now his body is sold as a curiosity of the auction rooms, the "sure Word of prophecy" still lives, and still teaches men that "all flesh is grass."

The curious crowd in the auction room, making merriment over the remains of these ancient kings who were once worshipped by courtiers, represents the world generally in its failure to learn the lesson of the vanity of all things of earth. The world is full of monuments of departed glory, and "change and decay" are written over the face of all the earth. Yet each generation glorifies itself as though its works would abide, and men neglect the life indeed, and spend their days in grasping after things that can be held for but a little while. This Babylonian queen, who doubtless graced a luxurious court, had to leave all the glitter and frivolity of gay society, and the jewels and the fineries, and here her body is, sold for a few pounds to a showman. It matters nothing what becomes of the dust; but what did her life profit her if she laid not hold of eternal life by faith?

There was a man once, who might have kept the place that was his by adoption in a dynasty of Egyptian kings greater than the dynasty of the Ptolemies. He was in the family of Rameses II., the Pharaoh of the Oppression. The throne was his if he would but take it, and Rameses was old. But he saw something better. Moses "refused to be called the sons of Pharaoh's daughter," and chose the "reproach of Christ" and "affliction with the people of God." The mummy of Rameses II. May be viewed for a sixpence in an Egyptian museum today, we believe; and having rejected the life that abides the great Pharaoh can only come forth in the last time to the resurrection to the second death. Moses, who wanted something better than this world's glory and sin, has already begun to enter upon his reward, as by a special resurrection (Jude 9) he lives in heaven to-day (Matt. xvii. 3); but not less sure is the reward of every servant of God who sleeps in te dust of the earth, awaiting that time when all the saved shall be caught up "together" to abide evermore "with the Lord." The small wits of Pharaoh's court doubtless made merry over Moses' choice, and statesmen considered it contemptible fanaticism. The world is just the same to-day as of old. Men spend their time and sacrifice eternal life for just what they can hold in their hands for a few short years. They call it reason and common-sense, and

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despise the only sensible course, which is to take hold of something that may be held eternally, and that will keep eternally the one who holds it.

Here are a few scriptures which point the lesson that God would have us learn from man's mortality:-

"Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity."

"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."

"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."

"And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." Amen.

"Compulsory Church Attendance" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

"The Transvaal Volksraad," says a South African newspaper, "has decreed that officials shall in future be compelled to attend Divine service on Sundays." It is not a solitary example of such laws, strange as it may sounds to hear of compelling church attendance. There is, in fact, a law now on the English statute books making it an offence for members of the Church of England to omit church attendance. Of course it is never enforced.

When once Sunday laws are made, it is a simple step to compel officers of the law to attend church; and the next step is to compel the people generally. If it is the proper thing to force people to keep Sunday it surely follows that the State may prescribe how it shall be kept. Not all the preachers and others who are in this Sunday-law movement contemplate going so far as that, but they are not running the movement. The evil one himself is behind all compulsory religion, and men who are deceived "know not what they do." But what would any preacher of the Gospel of Christ's grace and liberty say if it were proposed to compel people by law to attend his ministry?

The various religious bodies in America are preparing to establish missions and churches in the Klondyke region. No needier field, probably, will exist when the thousands who are preparing for the rush get into the country.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. 'Justified by the Faith of Christ'" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Our last lesson covered the first ten verses of the second chapter of Galatians, but we did not particularly study the last portion of the section. Accordingly we shall begin our study this week with the sixth verse, in order to keep the connection. First, however, we must be able to take in at a glance all that has preceded, and this can be attained only by frequent and repeated reviews. Right here let us have a little formal general talk about

THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE

It is to be presumed that there are many who are following these studies, who wish not merely a better understanding of this particular epistle, but also of the Bible in general, and who, to this end, wish to know how to study the Bible for themselves, so as to get the best results. The way is very simple, so simple that it is despised by most people. Nevertheless it is not to be despised, for it is the royal way. In spite of the oft-repeated statement, which passes for a truism, that there is no royal road to knowledge, it is a fact that there is

A ROYAL ROAD

to the knowledge of God and His Word, and that it is the only road. Here it is, given by the king who went over it and proved it a success:-

"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." Prov. ii. 1-6.

That is the way the wisest man got his wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom and knowledge concerning everything are to be found in the Word of God; and if you would understand the Word of God; and if you would understand the Word of God, you must study it. No man on earth can give you his knowledge. Another may aid you by his experience, so that it need not take you as long as it took him; he may direct you how and where to work; but whatever anyone really knows he must acquire individually. When you have traveled over a road a thousand times, you know every turn in it, no matter how many there are, and can see the whole way in your mind. So after you have been over a portion of Scripture time after time, thinking each time as you read it, you will at last be able to see the whole of it, and every separate statement in it, at a single glance. And when you can do that, you will see in it what no man on earth can tell you.

But it is useless to think to understand a detached sentence that may present special difficulty, without reference to the connection. If I should bring you a letter, and pointing to a sentence near the close, should ask you to tell me what my correspondent means, you would at once ask, "What is he writing about? what does he say in what precedes?" If I should reply that I didn't wish you to know the subject of the letter, and would not allow you to read it from the beginning, you would say, "Then I cannot help you." But if I should put the letter into your hands, asking you to help me to understand the difficult sentence, you would at once read the letter carefully from the beginning, making sure that you understood everything as you read, and then with all that preceded the difficult sentence clearly in your mind, you would expect to understand the sentence itself. Why will not men be as reasonable in their study of the Bible?

So I would say to those who are reading these articles not merely as interesting

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matter, but with the desire to know the epistle. Study the very words of the text. Go over them again and again; and every time you begin the study of a new portion, go back to the beginning and review all that you have been over. It is a royal method, and it yields royal results.

The first chapter of Galatians gives us a brief, comprehensive view of what the Gospel is, of the condition of the Galatian brethren. The second chapter, as far as we have gone, refers to the meeting held in Jerusalem, seventeen years after Paul's conversion, what was the subject of controversy, and Paul's relation to it. The apostle's sole burden was to preserve "the truth of the Gospel among the brethren." Now we may proceed to the

TEXT FOR THIS WEEK'S STUDY

"But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me; God accepteth no man's person;) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me; but contrariwise, when they saw that the Gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the Gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; (for He that wrought effectually in Peter to the

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apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles;) and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.

"But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles; but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel, I said unto Peter before them all: If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Gal. ii. 6-16.

Not in Doubt .-Paul did not go up to Jerusalem in order to get a difficult point settled. He did not go up to the apostles and elders to find out whether he had been preaching the truth or error for seventeen years. Those who were leaders among the brethren "added nothing" to him. He had seen the Lord Jesus, and he knew whom he had believed (2 Tim. i. 12); and as he had not received the Gospel from any man (Gal. i. 11, 12), he did not need that any man should teach him what it is. 1 John ii. 26, 27. He went up because the Lord sent him. The Lord knew that the brethren in Jerusalem needed his testimony, and the new converts needed to know that those whom God sent spoke the words of God, and therefore all spoke the same thing. They needed the assurance that as they had turned from many gods to the one God, the truth is one, and there is but one Gospel for all men.

No Monopoly of Truth. -"Whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me; God accepteth no man's person." There is no man or body of men on earth, that has a monopoly of truth,-a corner, so to speak, so that whoever wishes it must come to him. Truth is independent of men. Truth is of God, for Christ, who is the shining of His glory, and the very impress of His substance (Heb. i. 3), is the truth. John xiv. 6. Whoever gets the truth, must get it from God, and not from any man, just as Paul received the Gospel. God may and does use men as instruments, or channels, but He alone is the Giver. Every man on earth may be the possessor of just as much of the truth as he is willing to use, and no more. See John vii. 17; xii. 35, 36. He who would act the pope, thinking to hold a monopoly of the truth, and compel people to come to him for it, dealing it out here, and withholding it there, loses all the truth that he ever had, if he ever really had any. Truth and popery can not exist together; no pope, or man with a popish disposition, has the truth. As soon as a man receives the truth, he ceases to be a pope. If the Pope of Rome should get converted, and become a disciple of Christ, that very hour he would vacate the papal seat.

The Biggest Not Always the Best. -Just as there is no man who has a monopoly of truth, so there are no places to which men must necessarily go in order to find it. The brethren in Antioch did not need to go to Jerusalem to learn the truth, or to find out if what they had was the genuine article. The fact that truth was first proclaimed in a certain place, does not prove that it can be found only there, or that it can be found there at all. In fact, the last places in the world to go to with the expectation of finding or learning truth, are the cities where the Gospel was preached in the first centuries after Christ, as Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, etc. Paul did not go up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before him, but began at once to preach.

The Papacy arose in part in this way: It was assumed that the places where the apostles, or some of them, had preached must have the truth in its purity, and that all men must take it from there. It was also assumed that the people of a city must know more of it than the people in the country or in a village. So, from all bishops being on an equality, as at the beginning, it soon came to pass that the "country bishops" (chorepiscopoi) were rated as secondary to those who officiated in the cities. Then, when that spirit crept in, of course the next step was necessarily a strife among the city bishops to see which one should be greatest; and the unholy struggle went on until Rome gained the coveted place of power.

But Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a place that was "little among the thousands of Judah" (Micah v. 2), and nearly all His life He lived in Nazareth, a little town of so poor repute that a man in whom there was no guile said, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" John i. 45-47. Afterward Jesus took up His abode in the wealthy city of Capernaum, but was always known as "Jesus of Nazareth." It is no farther to heaven from the smallest village or even the smallest lonely cabin on the plain, than it is from the largest city, or bishop's palace. And God, "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy," dwells with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. Is. lvii. 15.

It Is God That Works. -"He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles." The Word of God is living and active. Heb. iv. 12, R.V. Whatever activity there is in the work of the Gospel, if there is any work done, is all of God. Jesus "went about doing good," "for God was with Him." Acts x. 38. He Himself said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing." John v. 30. "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." John xiv. 10. So Peter spoke of Him as "a Man approved of God" "by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him." Acts ii. 22. The disciple is not greater than his Lord. Paul and Barnabas, therefore, at the meeting in Jerusalem, told "what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them." Acts xv. 12. Paul declared that he labored to "present every man perfect in Christ Jesus," "striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily." Col. i. 28, 29. This same power it is the privilege of the humblest believer to possess, "for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Phil. ii. 13.

Recognising the Gift. -The brethren in Jerusalem showed their connection with God by recognising the grace that was given to Paul and Barnabas. When Barnabas first went to Antioch, and saw the grace of God that was working there, he was glad, "and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost." Acts xi. 21-24. The other apostles perceived that God had chosen Paul for a special work among the Gentiles; and they gave to him the right hand of fellowship, only requesting that he would remember the poor among his own nation; and this he had already shown his willingness to do. Acts xi. 27-30. So Paul and Barnabas returned to their work.

Withstanding Peter. -"But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed." We need not magnify nor dwell upon the mistakes of Peter or any other good man, because that is not profitable for us; but we must note this overwhelming proof that Peter was never considered the "prince of the apostles," and that he never was, and never considered himself to be, pope. Fancy any priest, bishop, or cardinal, withstanding Leo XIII. to the face in a public assembly. He would be considered extremely fortunate if the papal guards allowed him to escape with his life for thus presuming to oppose the self-styled "vicar of the Son of God." But Peter made a mistake, and that upon a vital matter of doctrine, because he was not infallible, and he meekly accepted the rebuke that Paul gave him, like the sincere, humble Christian that he was. Infallibility is not the portion of any man; and the greatest man in the church of Christ has no lordship over the weakest. "One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren."

Making a Difference. -When Peter was at the conference in Jerusalem, he told the facts about the receiving of the Gospel by the Gentiles, through his preaching, saying, "God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." Acts xv. 8, 9. God put no difference between Jews and Gentiles in the matter of the purification of the heart, because, knowing the hearts, He knew that "there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," so that there is no other way than for all to be "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rom. iii. 22-24. But after having been shown this fact by the Lord; after having preached to the Gentiles, and after having witnessed the gift of the Holy Ghost to them, the same as to Jewish believers; after having eaten with those Gentile converts, and faithfully defending his course; after having given a clear testimony in conference, that God made no difference between Jews and Gentiles; and even immediately after himself making no difference, Peter suddenly, as soon as some came who he thought would not approve of such freedom, began to make a difference. "He withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision." This was, as Paul says, dissimulation, and was not only wrong in itself, but was calculated to confuse and mislead the disciples.

Contrary to the Truth of the Gospel. -A wave of fear seems to have passed over the Jewish believers, for "the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation." This in itself was, of course, not walking "uprightly, according to the truth of the Gospel;" but the mere fact of dissembling was not the whole of the offense against the truth of the Gospel. Under the circumstances it was a public denial of Christ, just as much as that of which Peter had once before, through sudden fear, been guilty. We have all been too often guilty of the same sin to permit us to sit in judgment; we can only note the fact and the natural consequence, as a warning to ourselves.

See how the action of Peter and the others was a virtual, although unintentional, denial of Christ. There had just been a great controversy over the question of circumcision. It was a question of justification and salvation,-whether men were saved by faith alone in Christ, or by outward forms. Clear testimony had been borne that salvation is by faith alone; and now, while the controversy is still alive, while the "false brethren" are still propagating their errors, these loyal brethren suddenly discriminated against the Gentile believers, because they were uncircumcised, in effect saying to them, "Except ye be circumcised, ye can not be saved." Their actions said, "We also are in doubt about the power of faith in Christ alone to save men; we really believe that salvation depends on circumcision and the works of the law." Such a denial of the truth of the Gospel Paul could not endure, and he at once struck directly at the root of the matter.

"Sinners of the Gentiles," and Sinners of the Jews. -"If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? we who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Paul said to Peter, "We are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles." Did he mean that they, being Jews, were, therefore, not sinners?-By no means, for he immediately adds that they had believed on Jesus Christ for justification. They were sinners of the Jews, and not sinners of the Gentiles; but whatever things they had to boast of as Jews, all had to be counted loss for the sake of Christ. Nothing availed them anything except faith in Christ; and since this was so, it was evident that the Gentile sinners could be saved directly by faith in Christ, without going through the dead forms which had been of no service to the Jews.

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"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. i. 15. "All have sinned," and stand alike guilty before God; but all, of whatever race or class, can accept this saying, "This Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." A circumcised sinner is no better than an uncircumcised one; a sinner who stands as a church-member, is no better than one who is outside. The sinner who has gone through the form of baptism is not better than the sinner who has never made any profession of religion. Sin is sin, and sinners are sinners, whether in the church or out; but, thank God, Christ is the propitiation for our sins, as well as for the sins of the whole world. There is hope for the unfaithful professor of religion, as well as for the sinner who has never named the name of Christ.

"Justified." -"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law," "we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified," said the apostle. The meaning of the word "justified" is "made righteous." In an accommodated sense we use the term "justified" of a man who has not done wrong in a thing whereof he is accused. But, strictly speaking, such an one needs no justification, since he is already just; his righteous deed justified him. But since all have sinned, there are none just or righteous before God; therefore they need to be justified, or made righteous, which God does. Now the law of God is righteousness. See Rom. vii. 12; ix. 30, 31; Ps. cxix. 172. Therefore Paul did not disparage the law, although he declared that no man could be made righteous by the law, meaning, of course, the law written on stones or in a book. No; so highly did he appreciate the law, that he believed in Christ for the righteousness which the law demands but can not give. "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, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. viii. 3, 4.

"The Faith of Christ." -Much is lost, in reading the Scriptures, by not noting exactly what they say. Here we have literally, "the faith of Christ," just as in Rev. xiv. 12 we have "the faith of Jesus." He is the Author and Finisher of faith. Heb. xii. 2. God has "dealt to every man the measure of faith" (Rom. xii. 3), in giving Christ to every man. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. x. 17), and Christ is the Word. All things are of God. It is He who gives repentance and forgiveness of sins.

There is, therefore, no opportunity for any one to plead that his faith is weak. He may not have accepted and made use of the gift, but there is no such thing as "weak faith." A man may be "weak in faith," that is, may be afraid to depend on faith, but faith itself is as strong as the Word of God. There is no faith but the faith of Christ; everything else professing to be faith is a spurious article.

Here is comfort. Whoever will accept the faith of Jesus, has that which is as sure to work righteousness in him, and to save him, as the victory of Christ over sin and death is assured. He gives to us His own tried and approved faith. It has not a flaw, and we need not fear to use it; it will not fail us in any contest. "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Eph. ii. 8. We are saved by nothing less than God's unchangeable Word, and by Christ's own personal confidence in that Word. We are not exhorted to try to do as well as He did, or to try to exercise as much faith as He had, but simply to take His faith, and let it work by love, and purify the heart.

Believing Is Receiving .-"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. That is, as many as believed on His name received Him. To believe on His name is to believe that He is the Son of God; to believe that He is the Son of God, means to believe that He is come in the flesh, in human flesh, in our flesh, for His name is "God with us;" so to believe on His name means simply to believe that He dwells personally in every man,-in all flesh. We do not make it so by believing it; it is so, whether we believe it or not; we simply accept the fact, which all nature reveals to us.

It follow then as a matter of course that, believing in Christ, we are justified by the faith of Christ, since we have Him personally dwelling in us, exercising His own faith. All power in heaven and earth is in His hands, and, recognizing this, we simply allow Him to exercise His own power in His own way.

Personal Experience. -The reader will now see the object of Paul's narrative. Instead of beginning with abstract argument, to convince the Galatians of their error, he began with telling his own personal experience. That led him to tell what he said on another occasion, when some had erred concerning the faith. But all the time he is dealing with facts. He is telling what he knows, and the burden of the whole is personal acquaintance with Christ. The Gospel is no dead thing, no abstract doctrine, no "works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves" (Titus iii. 5, R.V.), but a personal, acceptance of the personal Christ, who alone has power to work salvation. Christ as a living Saviour, always and everywhere present, always active and mighty to save, is the theme of the apostle's letter from first to last, but especially in the portion now before us, and that which follows.

"Still Alive" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

There are frequent reminders from various parts of the country that the old Sunday laws have still sufficient life in them to bring people before the courts. And the spirit of intolerance is always alive. The Daily Chronicle said the other day:-

"When will people learn that it is impossible to enforce a religious observance of Sunday by law? Or when will Parliament spare half an hour for the repeal of our ridiculous Sabbatarian Acts? Now and again some poor old woman in a slum is summoned by a spy under a Statute of Elizabeth for having sold him two kippers on a Sunday; and now at Caversham, near Reading, three men have been prosecuted for playing football on Sunday afternoon, contrary to an early Act of Charles I. The magistrates, under the chairmanship of Lord Saye and Sele (whose name in itself savours of Charles I.'s reign), of course, dismissed the summons, not because it was spiteful and ludicrous, but because the three men 'did not constitute a concourse of non-parishioners within the meaning of the Act.' The Act forbids all sports and pastimes on Sundays to any concourse of non-parishioners, whilst all of us, even if parishioners, are debarred from bear-baiting, bull-baiting, interludes, common plays, or any other unlawful exercises or pastimes such as are so popular amongst all ages and all classes to-day. It is a strange thing that the moment we touch law we seem as a nation to lose our sense of absurdity. And as to people who get up summonses of this kind, they are undoubtedly the direct descendants of those Puritans who hated

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bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators."

The weak point in this protest is in that phrase about enforcing the "religious observance" of Sunday. The Chronicle fails to see that enforced Sunday rest is itself the enforcement of religious observance, for the Sunday is a religious institution.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lesson. The Twelve Sent Forth.óMatt. x. 1-15" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

FEBRUARY 20

Parallel accounts are found in Mark iii. 13-19; vi. 7-11 and Luke ix. 1-6, but the one in Matthew is the fullest. Connect this lesson with the last verses of chapter nine, where we are told that Jesus had compassion on the multitude, because "they fainted, and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd." Jesus bade His disciples pray that the Lord of the harvest would send out labourers into His harvest, and the next thing mentioned is that He called His twelve disciples to Him, and sent them forth.

POWER AND AUTHORITY

"He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease." Verse 1. In the margin we find "over" instead of "against," and the Revised Version reads: He "gave them authority over unclean spirits," etc. Still more emphatic is the record in Luke 9:1, 2; "He called His twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure disease. And He sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and heal the sick."

Some suppose that this commission has expired, and that miracles no more occur in the church; but that is equivalent to saying that the preaching of the Gospel has ceased; for the power by which the devils are cast doubt, and the sick are healed, is the power by which the Gospel is preached in its fulness. The Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth." Rom. i. 16. The preaching of the cross is to those who are saved "the power of God." 1 Cor. i. 18. Now the power of God is unlimited and undivided; wherever the power of God is displayed, there nothing is impossible. The power of God is the same now that it was nineteen hundred years ago. The same power that saves men's souls, heals their bodies, and cast out devils. If we say that we do not see such power accompanying the preaching of the Gospel, that shows, not a defect in the Gospel, but in the relation of men to it. If the power is not manifested, then it is for each Christian to ask himself, Why?

But as a matter of fact, the same power and authority which Christ gave to the twelve is manifested to-day wherever the Gospel is really preached, and souls are saved. The Gospel is the power of God to salvation from sin. It purifies the heart by faith. Acts xv. 7-9. Now all men are by nature sinful, and therefore under the power of Satan. Eph. ii. 1-3; Acts xxvi. 16-18. Satan is the author of sin: "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning." 1 John iii. 8. Just to the extent that one is a servant of sin, is he under the control of Satan. When therefore a soul is saved from sin, he is simply delivered from the power of the devil. The man in whom Christ dwells by faith, has had the devil cast out. Thus it appears that wherever the Gospel is really preached, and wherever there is real conversion, there has been the miracle of the casting out of devils.

God does not do things simply to astonish people, and to cause them to stare. Many people long to see miracles and wonders, just as they long for any excitement or sensation. God does not gratify the curiosity of such. But He is continually working miracles, however, and they who do not see them would soon cease to see anything marvellous in the raising of the dead from their graves. Those who serve God in Spirit and in truth, acknowledging His power in all things, are continually lost in wonder at His marvellous works. To them there are no little things, for the least thing that God does is miraculous, because it is infinite. "The weakness of God is stronger than men." 1 Cor. i. 25. When men are living by God's Word, and are continually recognising His power, they do not go wild when something is done that even the unthinking call a miracle. They know that miracles are God's natural working. When the young man fell down from the third storey, while Paul was preaching, "and was taken up dead," the Lord by Paul restored him to life, and the apostle continued his discourse. It was not because the people were unappreciative, but because they lived in constant appreciation of God's power and working. When professed Christians learn to recognise God in all His works, and acknowledge His wonderful working in all things, so that if a dead man should be raised to life they would not give the world the idea that the manifestation of such power is an unusual thing on God's part, we may expect to see the early days of the church restored.

That which Christ said to the twelve, He says to all. To every Christian, even the humblest, He gives "power and authority over all devils." "Resist the devil, and He will flee from you." James iv. 7. With the shield of faith we are able to "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." Eph. vi. 16. Christ "suffered for us in the flesh," that we might arm ourselves "with the same mind." 1 Peter iv. 1. He "suffered being tempted." Heb. ii. 18. When the devil tempted Jesus, the Lord said to him, "Get thee hence, Satan," and the devil left Him. Matt. iv. 10, 11. There was power and authority over the devil, which is given to every believer. Take it, use it, and rejoice in it.

THE LOST SHEEP OF ISRAEL

Jesus said to the twelve as He sent them forth, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

There is something about this charge that is not perfectly clear to our present understanding. The explanation will doubtless be found in the condition of the twelve at that time, since we see that even after Jesus ascended, it was a long time before there was much preaching to any besides the Jews. But of one thing we may be sure, and that is that the words of Jesus to them did not mean that they should be narrow in their sympathies and labours. The Gospel from the beginning, even as to-day, is for "all people." Luke ii. 10; Acts i. 8. Let us note a few items concerning the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

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The Son of God came because "God so loved the world." John iii. 16. He gave Himself "for the life of the world." John vi. 51. By the grace of God He tasted death "for every man." Heb. ii. 9. Yet He Himself said, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. xv. 24) although He was sent "that the world through Him might be saved." John iii. 17. Moreover at the very time that Jesus said that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He was about to grant the request of the heathen woman, and heal her daughter.

Again, the Apostle James, recalling how "God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name," said that this was in fulfilment of the words of the prophets, as it is written: "After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up; that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is called, saith the Lord." Acts xv. 14-17. So we see that the house of Israel is restored and built up by the conversion of the Gentiles. "All Israel shall be saved" by the bringing in of "the fulness of the Gentiles." Rom. xi. 25, 26.

Thus we see that the Gospel which the twelve were sent to preach was not a narrow one. It differed in no respect from that which God sends to us and which we are to proclaim to others. "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. So we are the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and unto us is the word of this salvation sent. "And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Then, as ye have freely received, even so, freely give.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

"Japan is doing her utmost," says a Japanese press correspondent, "in preparing for war."

"The war spirit is in the air," says the Christian World, "and the danger is evidently keenly realised by the leaders of parties."

One of our brethren in Japan says that "two young officers of the army have recently embraced the truth, resigned their positions, and are now taking steps to prepare themselves to preach the message to their countrymen." Good. "The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."

The mortality, through poverty and ignorance and vicious living in great industrial centers is appalling. Recent returns show that in the Manchester township, for instance, "37,674 boys out of every 100,000 die before the age of five." Among adults the death rate among labourers in the towns is nearly twice that of agricultural labourers. When the Lord set man in the world He put him on the soil to till the ground. That is still the place where he lives longest and enjoys the best health.

A general, overlooking one of the recent engagements on the Indian frontier, said of some of the young British troops to his associate: "Look at them; they are fair devils for fighting. I am proud of them." Why shouldn't men in war fight that way? We have it on the authority of Scripture that "the spirits of devils" are the agents who are stirring up the world to the battle of the great day.

At a tame deer hunt the other day, in which "gentlemen" and "ladies" and hounds took part, a deer with an eye torn out by a barbed-wire fence and exhausted and fallen into a ditch, was given whisky in the effort to stimulate it to run further so that the pack of men women and dogs might chase it. Little wonder that wars increase when such things are called sport by the ruling classes.

A Monte Carlo press correspondent says:-

The suicide season here may be considered as fully started. Two successful attempts and one abortive have occurred during the last week. The gambling rooms are more crowded than at any time since the visitors commenced arriving in November last, and it is now almost impossible to reach the tables; players and lookers-on stand five or six deep round them, and hundreds of impatient people promenade the saloons awaiting anxiously an opportunity to try their luck.

All the world that does not choose the true riches, but seeks only for what may be grasped in this life, may see itself as in a mirror in this picture of life at the beautiful gambling resort.

"Just Like Him" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Just Like Him .-"And it came to pass also on another Sabbath, that He entered into the synagogue and taught; and there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched Him, whether He would heal on the Sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against Him." Luke vi. 6, 7. It is not so very strange a thing to see an afflicted person in any assembly; why then should these Pharisees be so specially on the watch when they saw this one present? What was it that made them think that Jesus would heal them?-Ah, it was because it was just like Jesus to heal any afflicted person whom He saw. What wonderful tribute those jealous Pharisees paid to Christ! And what a wonderful comfort this contains for us! We are infirm; but He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities; and whenever He sees infirmity, His impulse is to heal. He is on the lookout to do good. "He delighteth in mercy." Therefore, Be of good cheer; "Jesus Christ maketh thee whole."

"Holding the Winds" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Holding the Winds .-Here are some of the head-lines on a single page of a morning paper one day last week:-

Moorish Trouble; Russian Threats; Japan Active in Preparing for War; Decisive Moment Approaching for the Struggle; French Naval Weakness; Frontier Operations; A Ministerial War Note; Great Blizzard in America; Channel Disaster; The Rush to Klondyke; Fighting the Plague, etc.

Thus the world goes day by day. If the Spirit of God were not holding the winds of strife and restraining the lawlessness of men, the world would come to universal chaos at once. God restrains in order that the Gospel of His kingdom may be preached. He is coming soon, and these signs show that He is "even at the door." Are you ready and doing the work He has left you to do?

"Mohammedanism and Christianity" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

The New York Independent recently contained an account of an interview with a Mohammedan theologian, who set forth the Moslem creed, of which the following is the closing summary:-

There is no god but God, and Abraham is the Friend of God.
There is no god but God, and Moses is the Speaker of God.
There is no god but God, and David is the Seer of God.
There is no god but God, and Jesus is the Spirit of God.
There is no good but God, and Mohammed is the Prophet of God.

The Christian World remarks on this that "the dignity ascribed by him to Jesus, including, apparently, more than is claimed for the Prophet of Islam, is all the more remarkable in view of the bitterness of his co-religionists toward Christians."

It is strange how persistently people who ought to know better will cling to the idea that the Turks are persecutors of Christians. True, they have killed many Armenians, but if it were Christians that they were trying to exterminate, they would have killed the Greeks, who, as a race, profess and practice Christianity just as much and as well as the Armenians do. But in all the agitations, the Greeks were safe. The Armenians have suffered at the hands of the Turks, because of the acts of the revolutionary party among them. All Armenians are naturally suspected; but an Armenian who is known to have no sympathy with revolution, and who is enough of a Christian to be subject to authority, is unmolested in Turkey. The Turks are a long way off from being Christians themselves, but they have a better idea of what true Christianity is and is not than do many who call themselves Christians.

"Let it Grow" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Let it Grow .-"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.

What does the farmer do after he has cast the seed into the ground?-He goes to sleep at night, and about his business in the daytime. What does he do, to make the seed grow?-Nothing? Why not?-Because he doesn't know how it grows. Since "he knoweth not how" the seed grows, it is therefore impossible for him to do anything to make it grow; and so like a sensible man he lets it grow. It is a grand thing when a man knows enough to keep his hands off, and not interfere in a thing of which he knows nothing.

"Warning and Invitation" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

FEBRUARY 27.

REJECTED OPPORTUNITES

"Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you." Matt. xi. 20-22.

Similar language followed concerning Capernaum, in comparison with Sodom. Of those cities where the most wonderful works of Jesus were done, nothing remains but the name. Plants that have been cultivated, and then left to themselves, are in a much worse condition than those that have never been cultivated. So the parts of the earth where the greatest light of the Gospel shown in past ages, are now the most benighted. If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! Matt. vi. 23.

"But why were there not mighty works done in Tyre and Sidon and Sodom? why were they not given a chance as Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum?" This is a question that very naturally arises. It would seem as if it can be answered only by reading why Jesus did not perform many miracles in Nazareth: "And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." Matt. xiii. 58. God leaves no one to perish through any fault of His. All that can be done, He does for all. He has not left Himself without witness in any nation. See Acts xiv. 16, 17. There is not a spot under heaven where God's heavenly messengers-the sun, moon and stars-have not proclaimed the Gospel. Ps. xix. 1-4. Compare Rom. x. 15-18. To every one is given and the light to enable him to be saved. In some places it is possible to do more work than in others; yet the seemingly less favoured places cannot complain that they are discriminated against, since they do not appreciate and use the light they have. They have only themselves to blame if the mighty works which would be convincing are not done in them, because their own unbelief has shut those works out. The man who refuses to receive instruction is as culpable as the man who receives it and turns away from it. God is just, and every tongue will swear to it in the Judgment. Isa. xlv. 22-24. No tongue can be lifted against Him in the Judgment (Isa. liv. 17), but every mouth will be stopped. Rom. iii. 19.

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are delivered unto Me of My Father; and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." Matt. xi. 25-27.

What! thankful that the Gospel has been hid from some? Yes, since the hiding of it from them, is the revelation of it to babes. That is indeed a most wonderful way of hiding the Gospel, namely, to make it so plain and simple that even babes can understand it. Surely no "wise and prudent" man will ever have the face to accuse God of impartiality on that ground. Fancy a wise man who has "not been able to see the evidence for the truth of the Gospel," coming to the Lord, and saying, "You hath hidden these things from me, and have revealed them only to little children; and it is not fair!" "Ah, but how does it happen that they are revealed

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to babes? how is it possible for them to understand these deep things?" The only reply can be, "Because you have made them so simple." And then the report would come, "And do you, who boast of your wisdom, mean to say that you could not comprehend a thing that was so easy that a child could grasp it?" The wise man would be at a loss for a reply, would he not?

"Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." 1 Cor. i. 20, 27. Little children recognised the Messiahship of Christ, when doctors of the law saw nothing but an uproar. Matt. xxi. 15, 16. "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. xviii. 3. Thank the Lord, that He has made the way so very easy and simple that a child can know it. No one need err unless he is wise in his own conceits, and despises the truth because it is so plain. Yes, truly we may well join with Christ in thanks to the Almighty Father.

We sometimes hear about people who believe in God, but cannot accept Christ; that is, they believe in God, but are not Christians. We hear of them, indeed, but we never see them; for there are no such folks in existence. No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son reveals Him. It is impossible to know who God is, to say nothing of believing on Him, except through Christ. "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. Christ is the revelation of God to man. John xiv. 7-9. His name is, "God with us." Matt. i. 23. "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Col. ii. 9. Whoever knows and worships the one true God, in spirit and in truth, is a Christian.

THE EASY BURDEN

Who that reads the Bible is not familiar with the gracious invitation in Matt. xi. 28-30. Christ gives rest, because in Him God's work is complete, and finished work well done brings rest. Our labours weary us, and wear us out, since they are never done; they are always imperfect. Our best work is sin. "All our righteousness are as filthy rags." Isa. lxiv. 6. But in Christ everything was created (Col. i. 16, 17), and when it was all finished, "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Gen. i. 31. The eye of God could see no chance for improvement. And as the works were thus "finished from the foundation of the world" (Heb. iv 3), so the rest was then prepared; and the proof of it is found in the fact that "God did rest the seventh day form all His works." Christ is the Creator and therefore the Redeemer, since redemption is creation (2 Cor. v. 17; Eph. ii. 10; iv. 24); and since the Sabbath is the sign and seal of perfect creation, it is in Christ that we find the Sabbath indeed, God's rest, which is the seventh day.

Sabbath means rest. "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." Eze. xx. 12. It is by the Sabbath that we know God. But we have just read that it is only in Christ that we can know God. So we see that the Sabbath is in Christ, and Christ is in the Sabbath. He is the Word, by which everything was created and upheld, and so He calls us to Him to find the Sabbath, namely, rest on the eternal Word.

What assurance have we that in Him we shall find rest?-This, that His burden is light. What is His burden?-"The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isa. liii. 6. He "beareth the sins of the world." John i. 29, margin. How many sins does He bear?-"The sins of the whole world." 1 John ii. 2. And how does He bear them?-Easily. It is true, they nailed Him to the cross, and laid Him in the tomb; but He "endured the cross," and lives in spite of "the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." Acts ii. 24. All the sins of the world cannot crush Him. Why?-Because He destroys them. Although He has the sins of the whole world on Him, you may look at Him ever so closely, and you will not see a single sin. The longer you look, the more righteousness you will see, but never a trace of sin. With all that load of sin on Him, He enjoys everlasting rest and peace; "for He is our peace."

Well, then, He is certainly the one to come to, for I cannot endure the burden of my own sins. Although I have only my own sins to bear, the weight is greater than the whole world. I am heavy laden, and can find no rest because of my sins. Isa. lvii. 20. They crush me. But Jesus bears them, too, and since He finds the burden so light, I will let Him bear them all alone, and I will rest in Him. The rest is waiting; why not enjoy it? Who will not say to the Lord,

"Out of my bondage, sorrow, and night,
Jesus, I come! Jesus, I come!
Into Thy freedom, gladness, and light,
Jesus, I come to Thee!
Out of my sickness into Thy health,
Out of my want, and into Thy wealth,
Out of my sin, and into Thyself,
Jesus, I come to Thee!"

"The Epistle to the Galatians. The Ever-Present Cross" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Our last lesson in Galatians, closing with verse 16 of the second chapter, showed us that men are saved only by faith in Christ, and that faith in Him is a personal matter. It is by "the faith of Christ." His own personal faith, and no other, that we are justified; and this faith of Christ we get by receiving Christ Himself. Believing in Christ is receiving Him; and when Christ dwells in the heart by faith, and is thus recognised as Lord. He exercises the faith which alone is able to save; for

The Law Can Not Justify .-"By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Gal. ii. 16. Shall we say, "Then we will away with the law"? That is what every confirmed criminal thinks. Persistent law-breakers would gladly do away with the law which declares them guilty and will not say that wrong is right. But the law of God can not be abolished, for it is the statement of the will of God. Rom. ii. 18. "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Rom. vii. 12. We read the law, and find in it our duty made plain. But we have not done it; therefore we are guilty. "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." "There is none that doeth good; no, not one." Rom. iii. 23, 12. Moreover, there is not one who has strength to do the law, its requirements are so great. Then it is very evident that no one can be justified by the works of the law, and it is equally evident that the fault is not in the law, but in the individual. Let the man get Christ in the heart by faith, and then the righteousness of the law will be there also, for Christ says, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart." Ps. xl. 8. He who would throw away the law because it will not call evil good, would reject God, because He "will by no means clear the guilty." Ex. xxxiv. 7. But God will remove the guilt, will make the sinners righteous, that is, in harmony with the law, and then the law which before condemned them will witness to their righteousness.

LESSON FOR THE WEEK

"But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For 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; 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. I do not frustrate the grace of God; for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?" Gal. ii. 17-21; 3:1.

What Was Destroyed? -"If I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor," R.V. We ask again, What was destroyed, the building up of which will prove us to be transgressors? Remembering that the apostle is talking of those who have believed in Jesus Christ, that they might be justified by the faith of Christ, we find the answer to the question in Rom. vi. 6: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Also Col. ii. 10, 11: "Ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power; in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." That which is destroyed is the body of sin, and it is destroyed only by this personal faith of Christ. It is destroyed in order that we may not serve sin. But now if, after having believed in Christ, we put our trust in something else, it is evident that that which was destroyed by faith is built up by lack of it, and so we are found transgressors through our own fault; for Christ is not the minister of sin, but of righteousness.

"Dead to the Law." -Many seem to fancy that "dead to the law" means the same as that the law is dead. Not by any means. The law must be in full force, else there could be no death to it. How does a man become dead to the law?-By receiving its full penalty, which is death. He is dead, but the law which put him to death is still as ready as ever to put to death another criminal. Suppose now that the man who was executed for gross crimes, should by some miraculous power come to life again, would he not still be dead to the law?-Certainly; nothing that he had done could be mentioned to him by the law; but if he should again commit crimes, the law would again execute him, but as another man. Now Paul says that he through the law is dead to the law, that he might live unto God. By the body of Christ he is raised from the death which he has suffered from the law because of his sin, and now he walks "in newness of life," a life unto God. Like Saul of old, he is by the Spirit of God "turned into another man." 1 Sam. x. 6. That this is the case is shown by what follows.

Crucified with Christ. -"I am crucified with Christ," says Paul; "nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Christ was crucified; He was "delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification." Rom. iv. 25. But unless we are crucified with Him, His death and resurrection profit us nothing. If the cross of Christ is separated from us, and outside of us, even though it be but a moment of time and an hair's breadth of space, it is to us all the same as if He were not crucified. No one was ever saved simply by looking forward to a cross to be erected and a Christ to be crucified at some indefinite time in the future, and no one can now be saved simply by believing that at a certain time in the past Christ was crucified. No; if men would see Christ crucified, they must look neither forward nor backward, but upward; for the arms of the cross that was erected on Calvary, reach from Paradise lost to Paradise restored,

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and cover the entire world. But let us note particularly in the following paragraphs how it is that Christ must be crucified in every soul that derives any real benefit from the sacrifice.

Sin a Personal Matter. -Christ was delivered for our offenses. He "His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." 1 Peter ii. 24. He bears the sins of the world. John i. 29. But every man is guilty only of the sins which he himself has committed. Now I do not sin where I am not, but where I am. Sin is in the heart of man: "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evil things come from within." Mark vii. 21-23. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Jer. xvii. 9. Others have sinned as well as I; but their sin is not mine, and I do not have to answer for it. What I need is freedom from my own personal sin,-that sin which not only has been committed by me personally, but which dwells in the heart,-the sin which constitutes the whole of my life.

What I Can Not Do. -I can not free myself from sin. "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins." Prov. v. 22. "For though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord." Jer. ii. 22. My sin is committed by myself, in myself, and I can not separate it from me. Cast it on the Lord? Ah, yes, that is right, but how? Can I gather it up in my hands, and cast it from me, so that it will light upon Him?-I can not. If I could separate it but a hair's breadth from me, then I should be safe, no matter what became of it, since it would not be found in me. In that case, I could dispense with Christ; for if sin were not found on me, it would make no matter to me where it was found. I should be clear. But no works of any kind that I can do can save me; therefore, all my efforts to separate myself from my sins are unavailing.

Christ Bears the Sin in Us. -It is evident from what has been said that whoever bears my sins must come where I am, yea, must come into me. And this is just what Christ does. Christ is the Word, and to all sinners, who would excuse themselves by saying that they can not know what God requires of them, He says, "The Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." Deut. xxx. 11-14. Therefore, He says, "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. What shall we confess about the Lord Jesus?-Why, confess the truth, that He is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, and believe that He is there risen from the dead. "Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?" Eph. iv. 9. The risen Saviour is the crucified Saviour. As Christ risen is in the heart of the sinner, therefore, Christ crucified is there. If it were not so, there would be no hope for any. A man may believe that Jesus was crucified eighteen hundred years ago, and may die in his sins; but he who believes that Christ is crucified and risen in Him, has salvation.

What a glorious thought that, wherever sin is, there is Christ, the Saviour from sin! He bears sin, all sin, the sin of the world. Sin is in all flesh, and so Christ is come in the flesh. Christ is crucified in every man that lives on earth. This is the word of truth, the Gospel of salvation, which is to be proclaimed to all.

Living by Faith. -In the tenth chapter of Romans, as already noted, we learn that Christ is in every man, "a very present help in trouble." He is in the sinner, in order that the sinner may have every incentive and facility for turning from sin to righteousness. He is "the way, the truth, and the life." John xiv. 6. There is no other life than His. He is the life. But, although He is in every man, not every man has His righteousness manifested in his life; for some "hold down the truth in unrighteousness." Rom. i. 18, R.V. Now Paul's inspired prayer was that we might be strengthened with might by the Spirit of God in the inner man, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;" "that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." Eph. iii. 16-19. The difference, then, between the sinner and the Christian is this: that, whereas Christ crucified and risen is in every man, in the sinner He is there unrecognised and ignored, while in the Christian He dwells there by faith.

Christ is crucified in the sinner, for wherever there is sin and the curse, there is Christ bearing it. All that is needed now is for the sinner to be crucified with Christ, to let Christ's death be his own death, in order that the life of Jesus may be manifested in his mortal flesh. Faith in the eternal power and Divinity of God, that are seen in all the things that He has made, will enable any one to grasp this mystery. The seed is not quickened "except it die." 1 Cor. xv. 36. "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. 24. So the one who is crucified with Christ, begins at once to live, but it is as another man. "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."

The Life of the World. -"But Christ was actually crucified eighteen hundred years, and more, ago, was He not?" Certainly. "Then how can it be that my personal sins were upon Him? or how can it be that I am now crucified with Him?" Well, it may be that we can not understand the fact, but that makes no difference with the fact. But when we remember that Christ is the life, even "that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us" (1 John i. 2), we may understand something of it. "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men,"-"the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John i. 4, 9. The scene on Calvary was the manifestation of what has taken place as long as sin has existed, and will take place until every man is saved who is willing to be saved: Christ bearing the sins of the world. He bears them now. One act of death and resurrection was sufficient for all time, for it is eternal life that we are considering; therefore, it is not necessary for the sacrifice to be repeated. That life pervades and upholds all things, so that whoever accepts it by faith has all the benefit of the entire sacrifice of Christ. By Himself He "made purification of sins." Whoever rejects the life, or is unwilling to acknowledge that the life which he has is Christ's life, loses, of course, the benefit of the sacrifice.

The Faith of the Son of God. -Christ lived by the Father. John vi. 57. His faith in the word that God gave Him was such that He repeatedly and positively maintained that when He died He should rise again the third day. In this faith He died, saying, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit." Luke xxiii. 46. That faith which gave Him the victory

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over death (Heb. v. 7), because it gave Him the complete victory over sin, is the faith which He exercises in us, when He dwells in us by faith; for He is "the same yesterday, and today, and forever." It is not we that live, but Christ that lives in us, and uses His own faith to deliver us from the power of Satan. "What have we to do?"-Let Him live in us in His own way. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." How can we let Him?-Simply by acknowledging Him; by confessing Him.

The Gift for Me. -"Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." How personal this is. I am the one whom He loved. Each soul in the world can say, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." Leave Paul out of the question in reading this. Paul is dead, but the words that he wrote are yet alive. It was true of Paul, but no more so than of every other man. They are the words which the Spirit puts in our mouths, if we will but receive them. The whole gift of Christ is for each individual me. Christ is not divided, but every soul gets the whole of Him, just the same as if there were not another person in the world. Each one gets all the light that shines. The fact that there are millions of people for the sun to shine upon, does not make its light any the less for me; I get the full benefit of it, and could not get more if I were the only person in the world. It shines for me. So Christ gave Himself for me, the same as if I were the only sinner in the world; and the same is true of every other sinner. "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."

Christ Not Dead in Vain. -"I do not frustrate the grace of God; for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." If righteousness came by the law, then there would have been no use for the death of Christ. The law itself can do nothing except point out men's duty; therefore, to speak of righteousness coming by the law, means by our works, by our individual effort. So the text is equivalent to the statement that if we could save ourselves, Christ died for nothing; for salvation is the one thing to be gained. Well, we can not save ourselves; and Christ is not dead in vain; therefore there is salvation in Him. He is able to save all that come unto God by Him. Some must be saved, else He has died in vain. So the promise is sure. "He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand, He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." Is. liii. 10, 11. "Whosoever will," may be of the number. Since He died not in vain, see to it "that ye receive not the grace of God in vain."

Christ Crucified before Us. -"Who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified?" R V. The first part of the verse, concerning witchcraft, we shall leave until next week. What we are now concerned with is that Jesus was set forth before the Galatians, when Paul preached to them, as openly crucified before their eyes. So vivid was the presentation that they could actually see Christ crucified. It was not skilful word painting on the part of Paul, nor imagination on the part of the Galatians, for then it would have been only deception. No; it was an actual fact; Christ was there, crucified, before their eyes, and Paul by the Spirit enabled them to see Him. We know that it was not Paul's skill in making beautiful word pictures that enabled them to fancy that they saw the crucifixion, for elsewhere Paul says that he determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and that he purposely and carefully refrained from using the wisdom of words, for fear that he should make the cross of Christ with effect. 1 Cor. i. 17, 18; ii. 1-4. Christ is crucified before us, and each blade of grass, each leaf in the forest, reveals the fact. Yea, we have the testimony in our own bodies. Many there are who can testify that it is something more than a figure of speech, when the apostle says that Christ was crucified before the eyes of the Galatians. They have had the experience. God grant that this study of Galatians, before it is finished, may be the means of opening the eyes of many more, so that they may see Christ crucified before their eyes, and know Him crucified in them and for them.

"Toward Cesarism and Popery" The Present Truth 14, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

"THE DOMINANT INSTINCT OF THE NEW TIME"

The January Review of Reviews, in its survey of the world, drew attention to one feature of political life worth thinking of. The trouble in Austria furnished the immediate text for the remarks, but since the Review was published the troubles in the French and Belgian Chambers have added emphasis to what was said:-

The collapse of the representative system of Vienna but emphasises the conviction that is slowly gaining ground, both in the Old World and the New, that representative government is breaking down. . . . For years past the difficulty of legislating at Westminster has been the nightmare of our practical men. The Parliamentary machine is as hopelessly blocked. In Greater New York, New Year's Day witnessed the establishment of Mr. Croker as the veiled dictator of an English-speaking community larger, more powerful, and infinitely mnore wealthy than the total population of the American Colonies at the time when they revolted from British rule.

We are indeed, it would seem, on the verge of a strong reaction against the old accepted formulas of democratic government. The faith of the people in the people, as the agency to be used for governing

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the people, has been rudely shaken. . . . There is everywhere a perceptible reaction in favour of government by the Capable as opposed to the government by the counting of noses. To find your capable man, to put him in power after having found him, to give ever more and more power to his elbow, is becoming to an increasing extent the dominant instinct of the new time.

With human nature's readiness to lay blame anywhere except where it belongs, people have always blamed governments or the forms of government for their ills, not stopping to see that the trouble is in the people, in the individual man. So one party has followed another into office, almost with the regularity of a swinging pendulum, and by revolutions or by less violent agitations forms of governments have been changed and constitutions tinkered; and the social ideal is farther off than ever. The Gospel would teach men that the tree must be first be good if the fruit is to be good. But God's wisdom is foolishness to the world, and so the world goes on, in its foolish way, expecting to build a good building with bad materials.

This tendency which the Review of Reviews notes as the characteristic of the new time is a perfectly natural one. Sage old Benjamin Franklin understood this. In the federal convention which met to frame the United States' Constitution after the colonies had revolted against the powers that were, he said:-

I think that a general government necessary for us, and that there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and believe further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in a despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other.

That is the tendency of men and society generally, because it is the tendency of human nature, of man as he is. In the political world it runs towards C?sarism or dictatorships, and in the religious world the current runs toward popery. This latter is so because so much of religion is fashioned after the world and is of it. The tendency is to look to popes, to assemblies, to strong pulpits for leading, instead of to the living God. The message of the everlasting Gospel for this very time: "Fear God and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come," is the very message to counteract this looking to man. This Gospel delivers by working from within, the Divine power transforming the man. In this way God builds up His kingdom. Instead of joining the political scientist in the hopeless task of trying to patch up this sinful world, it is the work of Christians to go to every creature with a message of "the world to come," and with the "power of the world to come," too. And it is coming soon. These tendencies noted are but signs that the day is hastening when the utter consumption determined will come upon the world. Let every man who will believe it take hold of the Gospel which will save him from the world now, and go forth with a message that will save others from it.

February 17, 1898

"Diamond Jubilee Memorial" The Present Truth 14, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

The following petition signed by 336,250 women of the United Kingdom, has been laid before her Majesty by the Secretary of State. None but women were allowed to sign it, and all signatures were of those over sixteen years of age. The petition, it will be seen, asks for nothing that can in any way affect the petitioners personally, but is concerned only with the welfare of others. There is no desire to curtail religious liberty, but there is a feeling that there should not be a class privileged under the name of liberty to exercise despotism. It is no wonder, however, if the followers of him who exalts himself above the law of God, should treat with contempt all human law.

M AY IT PLEASE Y OUR M AJESTY ,

We, Your Majesty's loyal and loving Subjects, while thankfully acknowledging the goodness of Almighty God in preserving your valuable life, and extending your beneficent reign today. Beyond that enjoyed by any of your Royal Predecessors; and while further acknowledging the innumerable blessings which have been bestowed upon your subjects throughout your vast dominions, and the many humane laws which have been sanctioned by your Majesty for the promotion of their well being, happiness and freedom; desire earnestly to plead on behalf of a large number of women within these realms, who do not share in such freedom, benefits and blessings, as the rest of your Majesty's subjects are favoured to enjoy.

Your Majesty's Memorialists venture to point out the following facts:-

(A.) That since the early part of the present century 865 Convents have been established in Great Britain and Ireland, about 800 having been instituted during your Majesty's reign.

(B.) That no public record of the number of inmates of these institutions is known to exist; but it is estimated that the women in these Convents must at the present time be not less than 20,000.

(C.) That many young persons of tender age are induced in a moment of enthusiasm, and by means of false and highly coloured presentations of the character of a Nun's life-together with the promise of celestial records at its close,-to enter Convents, and find, when awakened to the dread realities around them, that they are involved in hopeless imprisonment.

(D.) That with regard to the Structural Arrangements of Conventual buildings, many of them are surrounded by high walls, that both the entrance and the inner doors are trebly secured, and that the Underground Cells are known to exist; showing that all possible means are used for giving affect to the Canon Law of the Church of Rome, which inexorably insists that Nuns be made veritable prisoners for life. This law enacts; "That Nunneries be carefully closed and egress forbidden to the Nuns under any pretext whatever without Episcopal License," i.e., of those who are deeply interested in keeping them where they are. Further on it is stated that "If a Nun of her own accord throws off her habit [desirous of returning to her natural life] no allegation should be heard, but being compelled to return to the Convent they must be punished as Apostates." This Law is supreme in every enclosed Convent in Your Majesty's dominions.

(E.) That the knotted cord disciplines are used more or less in all Convents, and the more austere orders use the steel spiked wire-whips, called Iron Disciplines, and other terrible instruments of torture.

(F.) That Nuns, being under vows, are not Free Agents. The will of the Superior is in all Convents absolute, and all correspondence to and from the Convent is read by her or by one whom she may delegate; and all communications not approved by the Superior are withheld, mutilated or destroyed, as she may determine. Generally an Iron Grating, built in the wall, separates the Nun from her visitor, whilst close by stands another Nun, to hear every word, and spy upon every action passing between them. Thus, free intercourse is rendered impossible, and no Nun has the opportunity of making known to her friends without, any wrong from which she may be suffering.

(G.) That Nuns have been transported from the British Isles against their will; your Majesty's Memorialists therefore plead that the deportation of Nuns from English Convents to affiliated institutions on the Continent should be made impossible without due registration and license from the Civil Authorities.

(H.) That private Burial Grounds being attached to Convents, in which interments

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have been seen to take place at night, and having regard to the fact that there is no Specific Registration existing of the names and numbers of the inmates, the Convent Authorities have great facilities for avoiding the holding of Coroner's inquests, and for evading the provisions of the Burial Laws.

(I.) That the Inspection of Prisons, Lunatic Asylums, Factories, Workshops, etc., has brought comfort and liberty to many thousands of your Majesty's subjects; while Convents in Great Britain, unlike those even in Roman Catholic countries, are exempt from any kind of State supervision.

(J.) That your Memorialists are mindful of the benefits conferred under British Rule, upon your Majesty's Indian subjects by the abolition of a long established Religious rite, called Suttee, whereby Hindoo Widows, under the delusion that they would thereby attain eternal beatitude, immolated themselves from the funeral pile of their deceased husbands, causing hundreds of lives to be sacrificed annually, which abolition resulted in giving general satisfaction to your Majesty's subjects. They are therefore absolutely convinced of the necessity for equally stringent laws been passed to prevent practices not less unnatural and cruel and withal of life-long duration inseparable from Convent Life.

Your Majesty's Memorialists therefore humbly pray that your Majesty may be graciously pleased, in the circumstances above stated, to cause a searching inquiry to be made into the system and practices of all Conventual Establishments within your realms, and to institute such public control over them, and shall preclude the possibility of any of your subjects immured therein, being deprived of the benefit and protection of your Majesty's laws.

And your Memorialists will ever pray.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

We have receive the first number of the Oriental Watchman from our Society's office in Calcutta. It is a monthly journal, about the same size as the PRESENT TRUTH, and devoted to the same work. We are glad to see it. May it be a voice in the Orient, telling the watches of the night till "the morning cometh."

"Trostermanden,"-The Comforter,-is the name of a neat, sixteen-page journal, just half the size of PRESENT TRUTH, the first three numbers of which have come to our table. It is published by the Seventh-day Adventist Society of Denmark, and is of course issued from Copenhagen. Both style and matter are excellent, and the paper gives promise of being a valuable factor in the work of proclaiming the Gospel message for this time.

The Speaker is authority for the statement that the bishops have been conferring together with a view of making the Government Bill on Secondary education a Bill for introducing denominational teaching into these schools.

Upon which it pertinently remarks: "When it comes to placing the technical training in the hands of the clergy, it is time to ask how much further England is to be carried in the direction of priestly rule."

Referring to the paragraph in the Queen's Speech, concerning the war on the north-western frontier of the Indian Empire, the Daily Mail says:-

Not every one reading these lines form the Queen's Speech, delivered to her faithful Lords and Gentlemen yesterday, will be aware that for close on half a century we have been almost continually engaged in similar "little wars" on the Northern Frontier of India. . . . From the north has ever come danger and destruction to India.

And then follow the details. The Bible student on reading this cannot fail to be reminded of the words of the Lord in Jer. i. 14: "Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land."

"Why Use It At All?" The Present Truth 14, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Why Use It At All? -The Church Times, in noticing the annual report of the Rev. Prebendary Bernard Reynolds to the London Diocesan Board of Education, says:-

"Mr Reynolds has some excellent remarks to offer on the right way to teach the Old Testament. For example, the boy should be taught that the rainbow was a familiar object already when it was 'elevated into what must be called a sacrament,' not that it was first seen after the flood."

That is to say, that the boy should be taught that the Bible does not mean what it says; for language could not more clearly state the fact that the placing of the bow in the cloud was first done after the flood, than it is stated in Genesis ix. 8-14. God said, "I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud." It is getting so that "Bible teaching" largely consists in warnings against taking the Bible according to its obvious meaning. If such "teachers" would simply warn people against the Bible as a whole, and not pretend to use it at all, it would be much better for the people, and for the cause of truth. It argues much for the hold the Bible has on people in general, that religious teachers feel the necessity of using it as a cover for their own speculations, even though they themselves have no confidence in what it says.

"Busy Night and Day" The Present Truth 14, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Busy Night and Day .-"The making of bayonets and swords for the British Army is proceeding at much more than the average speed at the present moment," says a newspaper. The modern bayonet is creased in such a manner that it lets air into the wound when thrust into a man's body, thus being more deadly than a smooth blade would be. And the soldiers practice a motion in their bayonet exercises which teaches them how to give the blade a twist when thrust home in the human body. Just so coolly do men plan and scheme to kill their fellows.

"What War Is" The Present Truth 14, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Our readers must understand that whatever we have to say about war applies to war as war, and has no reference to any particular war as distinguished from any other; neither is it a criticism of any Government, or of its conduct of any war. As things are in this world, Governments must have war in order to exist, and the fact that war is what it is, and cannot be different and still be war, shows that everything in this world is wrong. With this explanation, made once for all, we give the following from the Christian, with the closing words of which we most heartily agree:-

The demoralising the effects of war on all who take part in its fierce struggles is occasionally painfully evidenced in the letters sent home by the combatants. We had shocking illustrations of this in published letters of some of those engaged in the recent Matabele and Bechuana affairs. The present war in India furnishes some fresh examples. In one case it comes from the pen of the Chronicle correspondent. After describing the burning of some Aka Khel villages which ruined the homes of hundreds of non-combatants, some of whom paid our soldiers to end their lives out of pity (one old woman tried to burn herself with her home), this representative of Army sentiment goes on to say: "Everybody, from the General downwards, is pleased with the success of the day's operations. A hot bath, the snowy whiteness of the cloth and the brightness of the silver which adorned the mess-table, and a night between the sheets, were afterwards thoroughly appreciated." Such callous disregard to suffering inflicted, in contrast to the glorification of the comforts of the British camp, while those poor people were left to perish on bleak hillsides, is painful reading. Any employment that can thus dry up the springs of natural pity for the vanquished must be of the devil.

"What Will the End Be?" The Present Truth 14, 7.

E. J. Waggoner

Parliament opened last Tuesday, the 8th. One of the most striking features of the Queen's Speech was the following paragraph address to the Gentlemen of the House of Commons:-

The Estimates for the service of the year will be laid before you. They have been framed with the utmost desire for economy; but, in view of the enormous armaments which are now maintained by other nations, the duty of providing for the defense of the empire involves an expenditure which is beyond former precedent.

This country is about to expand an amount beyond all former precedent, to increase its armament, because of "the enormous armaments which are now maintained by other nations." But each one of those other nations has increased its armaments to its present size, because all the other nations were increasing theirs; and when they see England taking this step, they, knowing that England does not intend to be behind any other nation in anything, will feel compelled to still further increase their armaments, lest this country should have too much advantage over them. And that will in turn lead to still further expenditure by this country, and so on. Can the end be anything else than a mighty crash that will break them all in pieces?

February 24, 1898

"The Master Was with Them" The Present Truth 14, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

After a whole day of teaching the multitudes on the shore of the sea, He Himself sitting in a boat, Jesus said to the disciples, "Let us pass over to the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took Him even as He was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?" Mark iv. 36-40.

The last words let us into a great secret; indeed, the whole narrative shows us the same thing, namely, that the disciples ought not to have been terrified, notwithstanding the boisterous wind and the threatening waves. "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?" If they had had faith, they would not have been fearful; that is plainly indicated; and that they ought to have had faith is as plainly implied. But faith always rests upon fact, and the fact in this case was that they were in no more danger than the Lord Himself was; and that He did not regard the situation as dangerous, is shown by the fact that He slept peacefully, and by His calmness when they awoke Him.

"Carest thou not that we perish?" As much as to say, "Are you utterly indifferent to our danger? Can you live and enjoy your ease, while we go to the bottom of the sea? Is that all the regard you have for us?" Thus did they in their unreasoning terror reproach the Lord. But their reproach was as foolish as it was undeserved; for He was in the boat with them, and it could not go to the bottom with them, without taking Him also. No danger threatened them that did not threaten Him also. They were as safe as He was. Anyone who reads the narrative can see that this is so.

The seeming indifference of Jesus was not carelessness, but confidence. He had the faith which they lacked. He knew that none could pluck Him out of His Father's hand. When He at last voluntarily yielded Himself into the power of death, "it was not possible that He should be holden of it" (Acts ii. 24); much less, then, could the sea swallow Him, although "the prince of the power of the air" had lashed it into fury against Him. And here is another thing to be remembered, and that is, that the storm was raised against Him, and not against the disciples. It was He, and not they, that Satan wish to destroy. But notwithstanding the rage of Satan, Jesus was safe.

"No waters can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean, and earth, and skies."

"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Heb. xiii. 8. "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matt. xxviii. 20. "I will not leave you orphans." John xiv. 18, margin. Jesus is with us as really as He was with the disciples in the boat on the stormy sea. He had been with His people in the most ancient times; for we read of the wanderings of Israel: "In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bear them, and carried them all the days of old." Isa. lxiii. 9. And since He is the same to-day as then, we know that He shares all our troubles.

Still more plainly is this truth stated. Read Deut. xxxii. 9, 10: "For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He compassed him about, He cared for him, He kept him as the apple of His eye." R. V. So the Holy Spirit inspired the psalmist to pray, "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of Thy wings." Ps. xvii. 8. This prayer, inspired by the Holy Spirit, must be answered, "for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." Heb. iv. 15.

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What an amount of unnecessary fear and worry we might save ourselves, if we would learn and remember the lesson taught by the story of Jesus on the sea. There is not a danger that threatens us, that does not likewise threaten Him. There is not an affliction that presses us, that does not in equal measure afflict Him. Not a temptation comes to us the does not touch Him. Every sin that we bear, He bears also. He is with us, and He cares for us, and He is abundantly able to deliver us, for He Himself has found deliverance. Heb. v. 7-9.

Remember that Jesus came in our flesh. He was not here on His own account, but on ours. All that He suffered and endured, was for us. Whenever danger threatened Him, it was our danger. If the sea would overwhelm Him, it was only that we might perish. Satan sought to destroy Him, but only that we might be lost. But Satan did not succeed. Christ was kept; and since it was our sufferings that He endured, and our dangers that He shared, it follows that His victory and His deliverance is our salvation. "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." Isa. liii. 5.

Jesus rested in the midst of the storm. He was care free, but not careless. Even so we, without being careless or indifferent, may cast all our care upon Him, knowing that He careth for us (1 Peter v. 7), and so be free from care, as He wishes us to be. If we do this, living in constant trust, we are as safe as He Himself is. "Underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. xxxiii. 27); therefore "Rest in the Lord," for He says of those to trust Him, "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall pluck them out of My hand."

"Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe on His gentle breast,
There by His love o'ershaded,
Sweetly my soul shall rest."

"Power" The Present Truth 14, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

The nations of the West are commonly called "Christian" in the religious press, but what a confession as to their character is the statement of the Church Times:-

Our existence as a Power in the world depends upon its superiority to all possible combinations against us. So long as we can keep open to our ships the waterways of the ocean, we are safe. The moment we lose the mastery of the sea we shall be wiped out of existence.

This is the kind of a world we live in. Thank the Lord, none need be of it although in it.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. The Blessing and the Curse" The Present Truth 14, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

The two chapters of Galatians that we have already studied give us sufficient idea of the entire book, so that we can practically take leave of the Galatian brethren, and consider it as addressed solely to us. The circumstances that called forth the writing of the epistle were that the Galatians, having accepted the Gospel, were led astray by false teachers, who presented to them "another gospel," that is, a counterfeit gospel, since there is but one for all time and for all men. The way it was presented to them was, "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can not be saved." Outward circumcision was given as a sign of righteousness which the individual already possessed by faith. Rom. iv. 11. It was a sign that the law was written in the heart by the Spirit, and it was, therefore, only a mockery and a sham when the law was transgressed. Rom. ii. 25-29. But for one to be circumcised in order to be saved, was to put his trust in works of his own and not in Christ. Now although there is in these days no question as to whether or not a man should submit to the specific rite of circumcision in order to be saved, the question of salvation itself, whether by human works or by Christ alone, is as live a one as ever.

Instead of attacking their error, and combating it with hard argument, the apostle begins with experience, the relation of which illustrates the case in hand. In this narrative he has occasion to show that salvation is wholly by faith, for all men alike, and not in any degree by works. As Christ tasted death for every man, so every man who is saved must have Christ's personal experience of death and resurrection and life. Christ in the flesh does what the law could not do. Gal. ii. 21; Rom. viii. 3, 4. But that very fact witnesses to the righteousness of the law. If the law were at fault, Christ would not fulfil its demands. He shows its righteousness by fulfilling, or doing, what it demands, not simply for us, but in us. The grace of God in Christ attests the majesty and holiness of the law. We do not frustrate the grace of God; if righteousness could come by the law, then would Christ be dead in vain. But to claim that the law could be abolished, or could relax its claims, and thus be of no account, is also to say that Christ is dead in vain. Let it be repeated, righteousness can not possibly come by the law, but only by the faith of Christ; but the fact that the righteousness of the law could be attained in no other way by us than by the crucifixion and resurrection and life of Christ in us, shows the infinite greatness and holiness of the law.

THE LESSON FOR THE WEEK

"O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified? This only would I learn from you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh? Did ye suffer so many things in vain? if it be indeed in vain. He therefore that supplieth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Know therefore that they which be of faith, the same are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written:

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Cursed is every one which continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them." Gal. iii. 1-10.

It may be well to call attention to the fact that the words, "that ye should not obey the truth," in the first verse, do not appear in the Revised Version. The thought is there, however, and since the same words are used in chapter v. 7, where the Revised Version also has them, we may well take them as they come in the ordinary version. The fact is, as learned in the first chapter, that departure from the Gospel means departure from God. Now God is the God of truth; therefore departure from Him is disobedience to the truth.

The Sin of Witchcraft. -The apostle asks those who are departing from God and His truth, "Who hath bewitched you?" "Behold, 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." 1 Sam. xv. 22, 23. If you look up this text in the Bible, you will see that in both instances the words "is as" are added. The literal Hebrew is, "Rebellion is the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is iniquity and idolatry." And how so?-Plainly enough, for stubbornness and rebellion are rejection of God; and he who rejects God, puts himself under the control of evil spirits. All idolatry is devil-worship. "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils." 1 Cor. x.20. There is no middle ground. Christ says, "He that is not with Me is against Me." Matt. xii. 30. That is, disobedience, rejection of the Lord, is the spirit of antichrist.

The Safeguard against Spiritualism. -Spiritualism is only another name for ancient witchcraft and soothsaying. It is a fraud, but not the kind of fraud that most people think it is. There is reality in it. It is a fraud in that while it professes to receive communications from the spirits of the dead, it has communication only with the spirits of devils, since "the dead know not anything." To be a Spiritualist medium is to give one's self to the control of demons. Now there is only one protection against this, and that is to hold fast to the Word of God. He who lightly regards God's Word, severs himself from association with God, and puts himself within Satan's influence. Even though a man denounce Spiritualism in the strongest terms, if he does not hold to God's Word, he will sooner or later be carried away by the strong delusion. Only by keeping the Word of Christ's patience can men be kept from the temptation that is coming on all the world. Rev. iii. 10. "The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. ii. 2), is the spirit of Satan,-the spirit of antichrist,-and the Gospel of Christ, which reveals the righteousness of God (Rom. i. 16,17), is the only possible salvation from it.

Christ Visibly Crucified. -"Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified" before their eyes, said the apostle Paul, and he knew, for he first preached to them. But the experience of the Galatians was not peculiar to them. The cross of Christ is a present thing. The expression, "Come to the cross, is not a mere empty formula, but an invitation that can be literally complied with. Not until one has seen Christ crucified before his eyes, and can see the cross of Christ at every turn, does one know the reality of the Gospel. Let those scoff who will; the fact that a blind man can not see the sun, and denies that it shines, will not deter one who sees it from talking of its glory. Our next lesson will deal more fully with this matter of the cross in all creation. But accepting the fact on the apostle's testimony, is it not marvelous that those who had seen and accepted Christ crucified for them, could turn away from Him, to trust in their own works for salvation? Could it be anything less than witchcraft that could produce such a result?

Hold Fast the Beginning. -"Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh?" Foolish is but a feeble term for it. The man who has not power to begin a work, has strength to finish it! Impossible. Who has power to beget himself? No one; we come into this world without having begotten ourselves; we are born without strength; and therefore all the strength that ever manifests itself in us, comes from another than ourselves. It is all given to us. The new-born babe is the representative of man. "A man is born into the world." All the strength that any man has of himself is found in the infant as it utters its first cry with its first breath. Even so in things spiritual. "Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth." James i. 18. We can no more live righteous lives by our own strength than we could beget ourselves. The work that is begun by the Spirit, must be carried to completion by the Spirit. "We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." Heb. iii. 14. "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil. i. 6. And He alone can do it.

Experience in the Gospel. -"Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" These questions show that the experience of the Galatian brethren had been as deep and as real as would be expected from those before whose eyes Christ was openly crucified. The Spirit had been given to them, miracles had been wrought among them, and even by them, for the gifts of the Spirit accompany the gift of the Spirit; and as the result of this living Gospel among them, they had suffered persecution; for "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Tim. iii. 12. This makes the case the more serious. Having shared the sufferings of Christ, they were now departing from Him; and this departure from Christ, through whom alone righteousness can come, was marked by disobedience to the law of truth. They were insensibly but inevitably transgressing the law to which they were looking for salvation.

"Children of Abraham." -The questions asked in verses 3, 4, and 5 suggest their own answer. The Spirit was ministered, and miracles were wrought, not by works of law, but by "the hearing of faith," that is, by the obedience of faith, for faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Rom. x. 17. Thus Paul's labour, and the first experience of the Galatians, were exactly in line with the experience of Abraham, whose faith was accounted for righteousness. Let it be remembered that the "false brethren" who preached "another gospel," even the false gospel of righteousness by works, were Jews, and claimed Abraham for their father. It would be their boast that they were children of Abraham, and they would appeal to their circumcision as proof of the fact. But the very thing upon which they relied

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as proving them to be children of Abraham, was proof that they were not; for "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Abraham had the righteousness of faith before he was circumcised. Rom. iv. 11. "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." Abraham was not justified by works (Rom. iv. 2, 3), but his faith "wrought righteousness."

The Gospel to the Gentiles. -"The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand unto Abraham." This verse will bear much reading. An understanding of it will guard one against many errors. And it is not difficult to understand; simply hold to what it says, and you have it.

For one thing, the verse shows us that the Gospel was preached at least as early as the days of Abraham. And it was God Himself who preached it; therefore, it was the true and only Gospel. It was the same Gospel that Paul preached; so that we have no other Gospel than that which Abraham had. The Gospel differs in no particular now from what it was in Abraham's day; for his day was the day of Christ. John viii. 56. God requires just the same things now that He required then, and nothing more.

Moreover, the Gospel was then preached to the Gentiles, for Abraham was a Gentile, or, in other words, a heathen. He was brought up as a heathen, for "Terah, the father of Abraham," "served other gods" (Josh. xxiv. 2), and was a heathen till the Gospel was preached to him. So the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles was no new thing in the days of Peter and Paul. The Jewish nation was taken out from among the heathen, and it is only by the preaching of the Gospel to the heathen that Israel is built up and saved. See Acts xv. 14-18; Rom. xi. 25, 26.

Thus we see that the apostle takes the Galatians, and us, back to the fountain head,-to the place where God Himself preaches the Gospel to us Gentiles. No Gentile can hope to be saved in any other way or by any other Gospel than that by which Abraham was saved.

The Blessing of Abraham -The Gospel was summed up to Abraham in these words: "In thee shall all nations be blessed." It should be stated here that the two words "heathen" ("Gentiles," in R.V.) and "nations," in verse 8, come from the same word in the Greek. In both the Hebrew and the Greek "the heathen" and "the nations" are the same. Now the blessing of Abraham was the blessing of sins forgiven, and of righteousness by faith. See Rom. iv. 6-11. And this faith was personal faith in Christ crucified and risen, as we learn from Acts iii. 25, 26: "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." "All nations" are included in this blessing; hence we are again brought to the fact that there is no Gospel for any people under heaven except the Gospel that was preached to Abraham. See Acts iv. 12. The blessing comes to all, but is not accepted by all.

"They Which Be of Faith." -These are "blessed with faithful Abraham." That blessing is that their sins are forgiven, and the Lord "will not impute sin" to them. "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John iii. 4. So, then, the Lord will not impute transgression of the law to those who are of faith. But the Lord will deal justly, and will tell the truth; therefore, when the Lord does not impute sin to anybody, that shows that he has no sin, or, in other words, he is not a transgressor of the law, and if not a transgressor of the law, then he is a keeper of the law. Here again we come back to the point that justification by faith means nothing else than being made righteous, or doers of the law, by faith. The blessing is "in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."

A Contrast: Under the Curse. -Note the sharp contrast in verses 9 and 10. "They which be of faith are blessed," but "as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." Faith brings the blessing; works bring the curse, or, rather, leave one under the curse. The curse is on all, for "he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God." John iii. 18. Faith removes the curse. Who are under the curse?-"As many as are of the works of the law." Note that it does not say that those who do the law are under the curse, for that would be a contradiction of Rev. xxii. 14: "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord." Ps. cxix. 1. So then they that are of faith are keepers of the law; for they that are of faith are blessed, and those who do the commandments are blessed. By faith they do the commandments. The Gospel is contrary to human nature, and so it is that we become doers of the law, not by doing, but by believing. "The Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone; as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a Stumbling-stone and Rock of offence; and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed." Rom. ix. 30-33.

What the Curse Is. -No one can read Gal. iii. 10 carefully and thoughtfully without seeing that the curse is transgression of the law. Disobedience to God's law is itself the curse; for "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Rom. v. 12. Sin has death wrapped up in it. Without sin death would be impossible, for "the sting of death is sin." 1Cor. xv. 56. "As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." Why? Is it because the law is a curse?-Not by any means. Why then?-Because 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." Mark it well: They are not cursed because they do the law, but because they do not do it. So, then, we see that being of the works of the law does not mean that one is doing the law. No; "the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. viii. 7. All are under the curse, and he who thinks to get out by his own works, remains there. The curse consists in not continuing in all things that are written in the law; therefore, the blessing means perfect conformity to the law. This is as plain as language can make it.

Blessing and Cursing. -"Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day; and a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after

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other gods." Deut. xi. 26-28. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him; for He is thy life." Deut. xxx. 19, 20.

What It Means to Us. -Have you fully grasped the meaning of all this? Do you see what it means to us? Do you realise what the blessing of the Lord is? It is righteousness; perfect harmony with God's perfect law. This is the blessing of Abraham, which he obtained through faith in Christ, and which is offered to all men of all nations. Freedom from sin! "Not by works done in righteousness which we did ourselves" (Titus iii. 4), but by the "works which God afore prepared that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 10.

Backslider or sinner of the world, whoever you are, this means you. You have desired to do right, to "live a better life," but you have not been able. Well, there is One, and only One, who can live that better life, and that is Christ. He can impart to you the blessing of obedience of righteousness. "He is thy life;" therefore take Him, submit to Him, and He will live in you that blessed life that will make you a blessing.

"Crooked Testimony" The Present Truth 14, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

In the "Notes on the Scripture Lessons," published by the Sunday-School Union, in the notes for the primary teacher there occurs one note on the Lesson for March 6, which is treated of in this number of PRESENT TRUTH, which calls for comment. The lesson, as will be seen, is concerning Jesus and the Sabbath, from the narrative in Matt. xii. 1-13. After stating that "care will be needed in the treatment of the subject, so as to avoid weakening the sanctity of the Sabbath on the one hand, or investing it with dulness and austerity on the other," the truths to be taught are said to be two, namely, "Jesus wants the Sabbath to be a bright day," and "One way to make it bright," the writer begins his hints thus:-

God told Jews to rest one day in seven. Reasons for this: God's kind thought for man and beast. Jewish Sabbath (kept from Saturday evening to Sunday evening) a joyful day.

It is difficult to believe that anybody capable of writing could make such a statement through ignorance; for one has but to consider the custom of the Jews at the present day to know that they do not rest on any part of Sunday, but from Friday evening till Saturday evening at sunset, according to the Bible. If it were made in

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ignorance, then it simply shows to what an extend the pagan Sunday has obliterated the knowledge of the truth from the minds of professed Christians.

By the side of so egregious a perversion of the truth, the statement that "God told the Jews to rest one day in seven" seems comparatively mild, although it is directly contrary to the commandment, which says "the seventh day."

When the chief priests were determined to put Jesus to death, and were trying to find some show of excuse for doing it, "many bear false witness against Him, but there witness agreed not together." Then some were found who testified (falsely of course) to what they had heard Him say about the temple, but "neither so did their witness agree together." Mark xiv. 56-59. Even so it is with the effort to destroy His Sabbath. Their witness agrees not together; for the common argument to establish Sunday is that "Jesus changed the day," while this witness says that the day was originally Sunday, although He had just said that it was "one day in seven," and so no day in particular.

The case can easily be decided by any impartial judge. Pilate said, "I find no fault in this Man;" and the unbiased judge must be compelled to say that the Sunday argument proves the Sunday institution to be an impostor, since "no lie is of the truth."

"'Prepare War!'" The Present Truth 14, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

The Bible tells us that the time immediately preceding the coming of the Lord to judgment, will be characterised by great preparations for war, saying: "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong." Joel iii. 9, 10. In ancient times, when battles were fought hand-to-hand, everything depended on the size and strength of the soldiers; but with modern implements of war, even a comparatively weak man may be a formidable opponent. The following from the Evening News of the 12th, gives in a sober, matter-of-fact way a little idea of what this country is doing in the way of preparation for the coming of the great day. Under the heading, "Woolwich is Busy," it said:-

"Wars and rumours of wars" is an ancient prophecy with nearly two thousand birthdays; and judging from the strange stories which are floating about just now, the latter part of the prophecy is being fulfilled with a vengeance. Eyes are at this moment naturally being turned toward the Government dockyards and factories, and any extra activity in them is attributed to impending warfare.

Woolwich Arsenal is extremely busy at present, busier than it has been probably for half a century, for England has been making ready for the worst for some years.

For two years, at any rate, work at the Arsenal has not ceased day or night in several of the departments.

One good reason for this is the keen competition of the rival Powers.

Altogether there are at the Arsenal some 17,000 employees, and about 4,000 of them are engaged in night work, starting at six in the evening and leaving at five in the morning, three of these hours are overtime, and the day workers are doing about the same extra work.

In the torpedo factory there are 400 men working overtime; there are the same number in the fuse factory, and, so far as can be ascertained, other departments are proportionately busy.

But overtime at the Arsenal is not a novelty, and has caused no trepidation or anxiety among the employees. The more work the more pay, and the

STEADY INCREASE OF WORK

has done good all round. Through overtime the engineers, says one of the men, have made ?4 a week, skilled labourers ?2 5s., and unskilled men ?1 10s.

A casual visitor to Woolwich with the China situation in his mind, might see in the bright night glare at the Arsenal the beacon of a coming warfare, in which all the nations of the earth shall participate. Those who live in Woolwich are used to this, however, for they have seen the factories lighted up for the last two years or more.

Nevertheless the employees at the Arsenal are working with increased energy just now.

The War Office has ordered half a million cartridges a week in excess of last year, bringing the total weekly output up to 2,000,000.

In the fuse factory the men are engaged on 2,500 hundred fuses of one make, and 1,800 of another, and orders have been received to push along with the quick firing guns.

Many of the orders on which the men are working are not of a very recent date, but by April it is anticipated that the men will be busier than ever they have been before.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

"Who hath despised the day of small things?" Zech. iv. 10.

Not the Lord, for He makes use of small things to accomplish His purposes. "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are." 1 Cor. i. 27, 28.

In harmony with this, the Lord says: "Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, and ye few men of Israel; . . . . Behold I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thrash the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff." Isa. xli. 14 (margin), 15. "A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation; I the Lord will hasten it in his time." Isa. lx. 22.

Nothing is too small for the Lord to pay attention to it. If God did not care for small things He would neglect the principal part of the world, because there are far more small things than large ones. Indeed, even the large things are composed of small particles. God's infinite greatness manifests itself in this, that He can personally superintend an infinite number of details, without being worried or flurried. Where there is the greatest weakness, there does He exhibit His greatest power.

Therefore "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.

"I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me; Thou art my help and might deliverer." Ps. xl. 17.

The plague in Bombay is said to be increasing, the number of deaths being more than double that of last year. A correspondent of one of the daily journals says: "Fires of sulphur are burning in the streets, and our nights are lit up with lurid flames from the funeral pyres heaped with burning bodies."

"A fatal nemesis falls on every man who props his position on a lie." So says Dr. R. F. Horton in his discourse on "Romanism and National Welfare." But what about the position that is propped up by a lie? Ah, that cannot stand, however proudly it rears its head, for the Lord has said: "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place." Isa. xxviii. 17.

In a suit for damages in one of the city courts last week, the judge in delivering judgment, said that he feared he would have to disabuse the plaintiffs mind, for she had doubtless come there believing that common sense and law could be reconciled. This charge against the law, coming from the source it does, cannot be impeached. It quite reconciles those of us who have ever studied law to our ignorance of it, and shows that true Christianity is common sense, since Christ's followers are prohibited from going to law.

Several journals have given "an authentic reproduction of the much-talked-of graffito discovered in the old palace of Caligula; on the Palantine Hill." Most of our readers have doubtless seen references to the discovery, and the claim that it is a drawing of the crucifixion of Christ. The paper containing the picture closes its remarks on its various features with the statement: "In this curious and interesting piece of art the figure of Christ and self is not visible." That is quite true, and it might at the same time be mentioned that the figure of the cross on which He was crucified does not appear; also the figures of the two thieves who were crucified with Him are invisible, and likewise the cross is on which they were crucified. Of course it is needless to say that the inscription which Pilate wrote for the cross is also absent. There are some rude figures of men who seem to be trying to erect a sort of scaffold. One representation has four figures dressed as soldiers, and three ladders, while another one has eight figures, of whom only one is dressed at all, and only two ladders. In the "explanation" of the picture, such terms are used as, "probably," "the suggestion is," "it is possible," and "it is tempting to suppose." If half the time spent in useless imaginations about Christ were spent reading His teachings, which need no effort of the imagination to enable one to understand them, it would be a great gain to the world.

"The Church as a Military Training-School" The Present Truth 14, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

The Church as a Military Training-School .-By invitation of the Lord Mayor, who is said to be an enthusiastic volunteer, the boys of the London Diocesan Church Boys' Brigade, gave a grand display of their readiness in drill, at the Guildhall, one evening last week. There was a large and of course a "brilliant" company present, including several dignitaries both of the church and of the Army. The Lord Mayor said that while it was no part of the duty of those who conducted the Church Lads' Brigade to make them soldiers, the boys would lose nothing by having instilled into them the military spirit and military order, for the time might come when they would have to defend their country. He said that he was glad to see that Her Majesty's Government intended to take lads into the Army, and asked where they could get the lads better fitted for the defence of their country than from among the Church Lad's Brigade. What an anomaly! The professed followers of the Prince of peace engaged in training men for war!

"Turkish Soldiers as Peacemakers" The Present Truth 14, 8.

E. J. Waggoner

Turkish Soldiers as Peacemakers .-Speaking in Parliament the other night, Lord Salisbury referred to the statement that had been made to the effect that there would be no peace in Crete until the Turkish soldiers were removed, and said:-

Undoubtedly in the long run that is true. I think that the Turkish soldiers must ultimately be removed, but I doubt if at present there is adequate machinery to keep the peace even in the great towns without Turkish soldiers.

March 3, 1898

"Undesired Testimony" The Present Truth 14, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

When the unclean spirit in the synagogue cried out to Jesus, "I know Thee, who Thou art, the Holy One of God," Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Hold thy peace." Mark i. 23-25. "And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before Him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. And He straitly charge them, that they should not make Him known." Mark iii. 11, 12. He who said, "I receive not testimony from men" (John v. 34), would naturally not receive testimony from devils.

The testimony that the Lord desires is the testimony of the life. He says that the honouring of Him with the lips, while the heart is far from Him, is hypocritical and vaikn. Matt. xv. 7-9. "Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" Luke vi. 46. And yet even to this day many religious teachers think to advance the cause of God by quoting testimony from Napoleon and others, whose whole lives where a denial of everything godly. To such the Lord says, "Keep still." Their patronising words are only a damage to His cause, in that if unrebuked, they tend to cause men to think that mere words, without deeds, are of some value, or that they are even sufficient to identify one as a Christian.

"Trying Gospel Methods" The Present Truth 14, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

We are glad to be able to note that Dr. Parkhurst, of New York, who a few years ago was labouring zealously to purify that corrupt city by the aid of politics, has now become a convert to the Gospel method. He is reported to have said in a recent sermon:-

My ideas on this subject in all its phases are very different now from what they were a few years ago. A new heart is needed by individuals. Unless individuals are changed and reformed we cannot have reformed cities and governments. For that reason, more than ever before in my life, I feel the necessity of personal pleading with you for your souls good. To that work, and that work only, I shall devote all my sermons and all my efforts this winter.

This sort of work will not receive so much attention from the newspapers, but it will doubtless save some souls-a thing that can never be done by political working. It is to be hoped that the Doctor will find the method so successful that he will continue it even after this winter.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. Redeemed from the Curse" The Present Truth 14, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

The third and fourth chapters of Galatians have to do with Abraham as the typical Christian. That which God gave him and promised him is precisely what He gives and promises to all. We say "gives and promises," instead of promises and gives, since giving is the first thing that God does. It is His nature to give. Without respect to persons, He gives to every man. He is not content with simply promising, and then leaving circumstances to determine whether or not anything shall be given. No, He gives, and in His gift is a promise. "Much more" is the description of every gift of God. If those who receive God's gifts receive them joyfully and thankfully, then the very reception of them is the assurance of much more to come. God "giveth to all life, and breath, and all things" (Acts xvii. 25); if they care for these things, and show appreciation of them, then God will give "more abundantly." So again we say, Every gift of God is a promise of more.

God blessed Abraham, not because of Abraham's goodness, but in order that he might become good. Abraham believed God, and accepted the blessing, and so became good. The Gospel was preached to Abraham in the words, "In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed;" and this blessing comes to us through Christ, who, having been raised from the dead, has been sent to turn every one of us away from our iniquities. Acts iii. 25, 26. This is what is presented in the portion of Galatians that we began to study last week. "They which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham."

"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. And the law is not of faith; but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree; that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Gal. iii. 10-14.

Good Works .-The Bible does not disparage good works. On the contrary, it exalts them. "This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable." Titus iii. 8. The charge against the unbelieving is that they are "unto every good work reprobate." Titus i. 16. Timothy was exhorted to "charge them that are rich in this world," "that they do good, that they be rich in good works." 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18. And the Apostle Paul prayed for us all, that we might "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work." Col. i. 10. Still further, we are assured that God has created us in Christ Jesus "unto good works," "that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 10.

Good Works Only By Faith .-"If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Rom. iv. 2, 3. Although good works are required of us, they are not the "works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves" (Titus iii. 5), but the "good works which God afore prepared, that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 10. These good works God has "laid up" for them that fear Him, He Himself having "wrought" them for those who trust in Him before the sons of men. Ps. xxxi. 19. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 29.

"The Just Shall Live by Faith." -This is proof that no one is justified by the law; for if one were righteous by works, then it would not be by faith. There is no exception, no dividing up. It is not said that some of the just shall live by faith, or that they shall live by faith and works, but, "The just shall live by faith." All of the just shall live by faith alone. The law and the works of the law have nothing whatever to do in the work of justifying men, although the law itself "is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Rom. vii. 12.

Who Are the Just?- In other versions than the English, as, for instance, the German and Danish, these texts are made much plainer, because they use the word which conveys the idea more perfectly than the word "just" does to us. This is the way it is: "But that no man is made righteous by the law in the sight of God it is evident; for, the righteous shall live by faith." The words "just" and "righteous" really mean the same thing, but in the word "justify" the majority of readers do not readily recognise the phrase "to make righteous." We see, therefore, that righteousness is the end to be attained. Righteousness means right doing, and the law is the standard of right doing. The only question before us is how this desired object is to be attained. How is the sinner to be made righteous-to be made a doer of the law? Not by the law itself, for that does nothing; it simply points out the right way; but we ourselves are "without strength." Righteousness therefore must come from without, from some living thing, and when attained in genuineness will be "witnessed by the law and the prophets." Rom. v. 21.

Life Is Doing. -"The man that doeth them shall live in them." The law calls for action, deeds, and nothing else. If good deeds are manifested, the law is satisfied. "The law is not of faith;" it cares nothing for faith; works, and works alone, commend themselves to it. How those works are obtained is of no concern to it, provided they are present. There is

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life in the doing of them, for only he who is alive can do them. Notice the word "them." It indicates the fulness of the law. "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." But "all have sinned;" and since all are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. ii. 1), it is very evident that none can of himself be in the position described by the words, "The man that doeth them shall live in them." The man must first be made alive, before he can do them. Do not forget, however, that in all this the law is exalted and honoured, instead of discredited. There is life in obedience to it, and death in disobedience. The curse is only on those who do not do it. "In keeping of them there is great reward." Ps. xix. 11.

Sin and Death the Curse. -That death is the curse is evident from the last part of verse 13, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Christ was made a curse for us, in that He hung on a tree, that is, was crucified. So we have the substance of verse 10 thus, that those who do not continue in the things written in the law are dead. That is, disobedience is death. And this is what the Scripture says: "When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Sin contains death, so that when by one man sin entered into the world, death came by sin. Rom. v. 12.

Christ Made a Curse for Us. -That "Christ died for the ungodly" is evident to all who read the Bible. He "was delivered for our offenses." Rom. iv. 25. The death that was deserved, came on Him. "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." Isa. liii. 5. But death came by sin. Death is the curse that has passed upon all men, simply because "all have sinned." So as Christ was "made a curse for us," it follows that Christ was "made to be sin on our behalf." 2 Cor. v. 21, R.V. He "bore our sins in His own body" up to the tree. 1 Peter ii. 24, margin. Note that our sins were "in His own body." It was no superficial work that He undertook. The sins were not merely figuratively laid on Him, but they were actually in Him. He was made a curse for us, made to be sin for us, and consequently suffered death for us. To some this truth seems repugnant; to the Greeks it is foolishness, and to the Jews a stumbling-block, but "to us who are saved, it is the power of God." For bear in mind that it was our sins that He bore in His own body, not His own sins. The same scripture that tells us that He was made to be sin for us, assures us that He "knew no sin." The same text that tells us that He carried our sins "in His own body," is careful to let us know that He "did no sin." The fact that He could carry our sin about with Him, and in Him, being actually made to be sin for us, and yet not do any sin, is to His everlasting glory and our eternal salvation from sin.

Redeemed from Sin and Death. -Christ has redeemed us from that which He suffered; for "with His stripes we are healed." So He has redeemed us-brought us back-from sin and death. He has redeemed us from death in redeeming us from sin, since death is but the result of sin. But sin is wrong-doing-the transgression of the law. 1 John iii. 4. So it is from our "vain manner of life" that we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. 1 Peter i. 18, 19, R.V. By becoming sin for us, and carrying our sin up to and on the tree, Christ has redeemed us from the transgression of the law. That is, He has redeemed us from committing sin. This is the glorious reality of the Gospel. Present salvation from the commission of "the sin that doth so easily beset us." In this is contained the sum of all things. And this great blessing comes to us through faith.

The Revelation of the Cross. -In verse 13 we are brought back to the subject presented in Gal. ii. 20 and iii. 1,-the ever-present universal cross. We can not go into the subject in detail, for it is inexhaustible; but note the following facts, which may suggest many more things to your minds:-

1. The redemption from sin and death is accomplished through the cross. Gal. iii. 13.

2. The Gospel is all contained in the cross; for the Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom. i. 16), and "unto us which are saved" the cross of Christ "is the power of God" (1 Cor. i. 18).

3. Christ crucified is the only way Christ is revealed to fallen men. There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby salvation may be obtained (Acts iv. 12), and therefore, it is all that God sets forth before men, since He does not wish to confuse them. "Christ and Him crucified," is all that Paul wished to know; it is all that any man needs to know. Thus: the one thing that men need is salvation; if they get that, they get all things; but salvation is found only in the cross of Christ; therefore God puts before the eyes of men nothing else: He gives them just what they need. Jesus Christ is by God set forth openly crucified before the eyes of every man, so that there is no excuse for any to be lost, or to continue in sin.

4. Christ is set forth before men only as the crucified Redeemer; and since that from which men need to be saved is the curse, He is set forth as bearing the curse. Wherever there is any curse, there is Christ bearing it. We have already seen that Christ bore, and still bears, our curse, in that He bears our sin. He also bears the curse of the earth itself, for He bore the crown of thorns, and the curse pronounced on the earth was, "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth." Gen. iii. 18. So the whole creation, which now groans under the curse, has been redeemed through the cross of Christ. Rom. viii. 19-23.

5. It is only on the cross that Christ bears the curse, for His being made a curse for us was indicated by His hanging on the cross. The cross is the symbol of the curse, but also of deliverance from the curse, since it is the cross of Christ, the Conqueror and Deliverer. The very curse itself, therefore, presents the cross, and proclaims our deliverance.

6. Where is the curse? Ah, where is it not? The blindest can see it, if he will but acknowledge the evidence of his own senses. Imperfection is a curse, yea, that is the curse; and imperfection is on everything connected with this earth. Man is imperfect, and even the finest plant that grows from the earth is not as perfect as it might be. There is nothing that meets the eye that does not show the possibility of improvement, even if our untrained eyes can not see the absolute necessity of it. When God made the earth, everything was "very good," or, as the Hebrew idiom has it, "good exceedingly." God Himself could see no chance, no possibility, for improvement. But now it is different. The gardener spends his thought and labor trying to improve the fruits and flowers

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under his care. And since the best that the earth produces reveals the curse, what need be said of the gnarled, stunted growths, the withered and blasted buds and leaves and fruits, and the noxious, poisonous weeds? Everywhere "hath the curse devoured the earth." Is. xxiv. 6.

7. What then is the conclusion of the whole matter? Is it discouragement? Nay; "for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thess. v. 9. Although the curse is visible everywhere,-

"Change and decay in all around I see," yet things live, and men live. But the curse is death, and no man and no thing in creation can bear death and still live. Death kills. But Christ is He that liveth, and was dead, and is alive forevermore. Rev. i. 18. He alone can bear the curse-death-and still live. Therefore, the fact that there is life on the earth and in man, in spite of the curse, is proof that the cross of Christ is everywhere. Every blade of grass, every leaf of the forest, every shrub and tree, every flower and fruit, even the bread that we eat, is stamped with the cross of Christ. Everywhere is that cross; and as the preaching of the cross is the power of God, which is the Gospel, so it is that the everlasting power of God is revealed in all things that He has made. Eph. iii. 20. Rom. i. 16-20, compared with 1 Cor. i. 17,18, amounts to a plain declaration that the cross of Christ is seen in all the things that God has made-even in us.

Courage and Despair. -"Innumerable evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head; therefore my heart faileth me." Ps. xl. 12. But not only may we with confidence cry unto God out of the depths, but God in His infinite mercy has so ordered it that the very depths themselves are a source of confidence. The fact that we are in the depths of sin, and yet live, is proof that God Himself, in the person of Christ on the cross, is present with us to deliver us. So everything, even the curse, for everything is under the curse, preaches the Gospel. Our own weakness and sinfulness, instead of being a cause of discouragement, are, if we believe the Lord, a pledge of redemption. Out of weakness we are made strong. "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." Rom. viii. 37. Truly, God has not left Himself without witness among men. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." 1 John v. 10.

The Blessing from the Curse. -Christ bore the curse, in order that the blessing might come to us. He bears the curse now, being crucified before us, and in us, and we with Him, that we may continually experience the blessing. Death to Him is life to us. If we willingly bear about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus, the life also of Jesus will be manifested in our mortal flesh. 2 Cor. iv. 10, 11. What is the blessing that we receive through the curse that He bears? It is the blessing of salvation from sin; for as the curse is the transgression of the law (Gal. iii. 10), the blessing consists in turning away every one of us from our iniquities. Acts iii. 26. Christ suffered the curse, even sin and death, "that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ." And what is the blessing of Abraham?-That we have already seen, but we may well read it again. Having stated that Abraham was justified, made righteous by faith, the apostle adds: "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Rom. iv. 6-8. And then he shows that this blessing comes on the Gentiles as well as on the Jews who believe, because Abraham received it when he was uncircumcised, "that he might be the father of all them that believe." The blessing is freedom from sin, even as the curse is the doing of sin; and as the curse reveals the cross, so we find that the very curse is by the Lord made to proclaim the blessing. The fact that we live, although we are sinners, is the assurance that deliverance from the sin is ours. "While there's life there's hope," says the adage. Yes, because the Life is our hope. Thank God for the blessed hope.

"The Promise of the Spirit." -Christ hath redeemed us, "that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Do not make the mistake of reading this as though it were "that we might receive the promise of the gift of the Spirit." It does not say that, and it does not mean that, as a little thought will show. He has redeemed us, and that fact proves the gift of the Spirit, for it was only "through the eternal Spirit" that He offered Himself without spot to God. Heb. ix. 14. But for the Spirit, we should not know that we were sinners; much less should we know redemption. The Spirit convinces of sin and of righteousness. John xvi. 8. "He that believeth hath the witness in himself." Christ is crucified in every man; that, as we have already seen, is shown in the fact that we are all under the curse, and Christ alone, on the cross, bears the curse. But it is through the Spirit that Christ dwells on earth among men. Faith enables us to receive the testimony of this witness, and rejoice in that which the possession of the Spirit assures.

The Spirit the Pledge of Inheritance. -Look ahead in our epistle and see what is said of redemption and the Spirit: "God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Gal. iv. 4-6. "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. Thus we see that the gift of the Spirit, which assures us of our redemption through the cross, is itself a promise. As we said at the beginning, all God's gifts are promises of more. Now read how God's purpose in the Gospel is to gather together in one all things in Jesus Christ, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will; that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in whom also after that or when ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory." Eph. i. 10-14.

Of this inheritance we must speak further later on. Suffice it now to say that it is the inheritance promised to Abraham, whose children we become by faith. The inheritance belongs to all who are children of God through faith in Christ Jesus; and the Spirit that marks our sonship is the promise, the pledge, the first fruits of that inheritance. Those who accept

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Christ's glorious deliverance from the curse of the law,-redemption not from obedience to the law, for obedience is not a curse, but from disobedience to the law,-have in the Spirit a taste of the power and blessing of the world to come.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lesson. The Wheat and the Tares-Matt. xiii. 24-30, 36-43" The Present Truth 14, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

MARCH XIII

We are not left to doubt and conjecture as to the true teaching of the parable which is the basis of this week's lesson. In response to the request of His disciples Jesus Himself explained the parable, and so we have His own interpretation for our instruction.

UNSEEN REALITIES

From His own interpretation of the parable of the sower, we know that "the seed is the Word of God." Luke viii. 11. With this thought in mind we can see that the growth of a field of wheat in which an enemy has sowed tares is not simply a good illustration of the development of God's kingdom in the world, but it is in reality the visible manifestation of it. This is the secret of all the object lessons from nature which Jesus gave. He did not put new meanings into the facts operations of nature, but He made clear the lessons which were already there, but had been lost sight of. "In the parables of the lily and the fowls, the seed and the tree, the vine and the fishes, He disclosed the great fact which we are constantly forgetting-that nature has a spiritual as well as a material side-that she exists, not only for the natural uses of the body, but also for the sustenance of the life of the soul. This higher ministry explains all the beauty and wonder of the world, which would otherwise be superfluous and extravagant." "Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact."

In the parable before us the likeness between the kingdom of God in the world and the field of wheat among which tears have been sown is not merely an outward or superficial one. The likeness is an inherent one. The facts are the same in both instances. In the one case the facts are made visible to the natural eye by clothing them with a body, while in the other case, though just as real, they are seen only by the eye of faith. Or to put it in other words, the principles of the spiritual and the natural are the same, and in the light of the teaching of Jesus when we study the natural, we may again in it also study the spiritual.

"The words of Christ placed the teachings of nature in a new aspect, and made them a new revelation. He could speak of the things which His own hands had made; for they had qualities and properties which were peculiarly His own. In nature, as in the sacred pages of the Old Testament Scriptures, divine, momentous truths are revealed; and in His teaching, Jesus laid open before the people, bound up with the beauty of natural things. . . . As interpreted by Jesus, flower and shrub, the seed sown and the seed harvested, contain lessons of truth, as did also the plant that springs out of the earth."

THE TRUE SEEDTIME AND HARVEST

"He that soweth the good seed [which is the Word] is the Son of man." This is simply the statement of the means by which the kingdom of God was originally developed in the earth. The Son of man, who was also the Son of God, was the One by whom all things were made, and without whom was not any thing made that was made. It was through him that God "spake and it was." And this is the seed, the Word, which was sown in the earth at the beginning: "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth." Gen. i. 11. Thus did the Son of man sow good seed in His field which is the world. If the Word of God, by which the world and all in it, including man, was brought into existence, had always been received and obeyed, there would never have been anything but good things in the world, but when man opened his heart to the devil's lie and received it in the place of the Word of truth, then were the tares sowed, "and the enemy that sowed them is the devil."

As the annual sowing of the seed by the husbandman is symbolic of the work of the Son of man in sowing the world with the Word of truth, the Gospel of our salvation; and as the warmth of the sunlight and the moisture of the dew and the rain are symbolic of the provision which God has made for the development of His Word in the hearts of men; and as the growth in the vegetable world, "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear," is symbolic of the progress of the kingdom of God both in the hearts of individuals and in the world in general; so the annual harvest is but a symbolic one. "The harvest is the end of the world." All other harvests are but pictures in God's great lesson book of nature, designed to present in visible form the one real harvest, when the fruit of the seed, which is "the Word of God," shall be gathered. Then the Word will go forth, "Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe." Rev. xiv. 15. Then will some say: "The harvest is passed, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." Jer. viii. 20.

Whether the annual harvest be a good or a bad one depends upon the character of the seed sown in the field, and so it will be in the real harvest at the end of the world. And the harvest time is almost here. The season is nearly ended. "What will the harvest be?"

"OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE"

Before the coming of Christ, John the Baptist had taught of Him: "Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into His garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matt. iii. 12. That this destruction is not a matter of mere arbitrary decree, but that grows out of the very nature of God and His relation to sin, will be seen by reading a few scriptures.

"They shall see the Son a man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Matt. xxiv. 30.

"And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel." Ex. xxiv. 17.

"The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." 2 Thess. i. 7-9. "For our God is a consuming fire." Heb. xii. 29.

The harvest, which is the end of the world, and the coming of the Lord occur at the same time (Matt. xxiv. 3), and then the undimmed revelation of the glory of the Lord will be a consuming fire, an utter destruction,

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to all sin and consequently to all those in whom sin is found in that day. The prophet Isaiah inquires:-

"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." Isa. xxxiii. 14-17.

"Behold He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him." Rev. i. 7. The question to be decided is, whether we shall see Him and live, or be destroyed "by the brightness of His coming." Those in whom His glory is being revealed here, consuming all sin, will be prepared by this experience of His indwelling presence, so that in that day of glory they will "be glad also with exceeding joy." 1 Peter iv. 13.

THE REVELATION OF THE GLORY

The declaration that "then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," is not a poetical exaggeration, neither is it a comparison, but a simple statement of fact. "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." 1 John i. 5. "The Lord God is a sun." Ps. lxxxiv. 11. "The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." Isa. lx. 19. "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Rev. xxi. 23. Once when Jesus was here revealing the glory of God (John i. 14), this glory was permitted to appear clearly, and then "His face did shine as the sun." Matt. xvii. 2. "We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him." 1 John iii. 2. "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament." Dan. xii. 3.

This simply means that the glory of which man was crowned at his creation (Ps. viii. 5), when he was made in the image of God, and which has been lost (Rom. iii. 23), will be restored through the acceptance of Christ, who is the "brightness of His glory." This is not merely an external brightness, but is the shining forth of His righteous character which has been wrought in man through faith. Then will man, restored to the image of God, like him be "clothed with honour" and covered "with light as with a garment." "Then shall the righteous [because they are righteous] shine forth as the sun [because He who is "the Sun of Righteousness" dwells in them] in the kingdom of their Father."

"HEAR HIM"

Our ears are given to us that we may hear the voice of the Lord, even the "still small voice;" but sin has made our ears "dull of hearing." The work of Jesus is not only to open the blind eyes but also unstop the ears. Then it is simply necessary to look with eyes which have been anointed with eye-salve, and to listen with ears which have been touched by His fingers, and believing what we see and hear we shall become acquainted with God as our strength and our salvation. "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made, even His eternal power and Godhead." Rom. i. 20. "The voice of the Lord is powerful." Ps. xxix. 4. He who said, "Let there be light," created light by the power of that Word, and "there was light." The same One says to him who has ears, "Let him hear," and this word when revealed in faith will make it so. Then "thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." Isa. xxx. 21. "I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for He will speak peace unto His people." Ps. lxxxv. 8.

"For the Children. 'The Things that Are Made'" The Present Truth 14, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

When the Apostle Paul stood on Mars Hill, and told the heathen people of Athens of the true God that made the heavens and the earth, He said, "For we are also His offspring." That is, we are all God's little children.

Our Father wants all His children to know and love Him, and so for His human family He made a wonderful book, in which they might see Him clearly, and hear Him speaking to them all the time.

When men put their thoughts into words, and make books, they have to use ink paper, because they can only think and speak and write about things, but God thinks and speaks and writes the things themselves. His Word is "living and active,"-it lives and works.

So when, in the beginning, God put His thoughts into words, the Word took just the form that was in His mind when He spoke it,-sun, moon, stars, plants, birds, fishes, animals, man,-and this is how God's Book was made. We call it "the book of nature," but nature is God's showing us Himself in "the things that are made." He says that "the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Divinity."

In each thing that He has made the living Word is speaking to us some thought of God, showing us something of God Himself that will teach us to know Him better and love Him more.

Adam and Eve were the first of God's children to read in this book of God. They understood just what God was saying to them in each of His wondrous works. "They held converse with leaf and flower and tree, gathering from each the secret of its life. With every living creature, from the mighty Leviathan that playeth among the waters, to the insect mote that floats in the sunbeam, Adam was familiar. He had given to each its name, and he was acquainted with the nature and habits of all."

"On every leaf of the forest or stone of the mountains, in every shining star, in earth and air and sky, God's name was written. They were ever discovering some attraction that filled their hearts with a deeper love, and called for fresh expressions of gratitude."

God's older children, the angels, also delighted to read this beautiful Book of God. They watched with the deepest interest during the six days that it was being made, and when it was finished, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Even they could see God more clearly, and understand Him better, through "the things that are made" in this earth.

But when man, to whom God had given the power choose good or evil, chose to disobey the living Word of God, and so not to let the thought of God be carried out in him, a great change came over everything. The curse of sin came upon man, and "sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

It was God's own life that He had given to man; God Himself lived in him, and so it was upon him that the curse of sin came. Yet God did not at once take away His life for man, but went on bearing the curse that man had brought upon himself, so that he might be saved.

Man now had other, deeper, more wonderful lessons to learn of God. As a sinner he needed to know God as a Saviour from sin, and so that His Book might teach him this God allowed the curse that man had brought upon himself, to come upon all "the things that are made."

Thus man could not only see God in all things, His "eternal power and Divinity," but could see Him bearing the curse of sin, and learn to read the Gospel, which is "the power of God unto salvation" from sin.

And now the Book of God began to tell a more wonderful, more beautiful story than in the beginning, "The Story of the Cross." Another time we will perhaps talk more about this, and how we may each read it for ourselves in all "the things that are made."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

The Army estimates for the coming year amount to ?19,220,500.

It is stated that the details have been definitely settled for an extension of the Bulawayo Railyway to Tanganyika. This will make a fairly good start on the way from the Cape to Cairo.

A steamship of the Castle Line, that arrived from the Cape last week, was for three days of its passage in the midst of a sand-storm! The air was so filled with fine red sand, evidently from the Sahara Desert, that the sun and stars were completely obscured, and the captain had to make his way to Madeira by dead reckoning.

In India the Government pays the Church of England, Church of Scotland, Church of Rome, and other churches considerable sums of money for stipends, etc. This support from the Government may account for the lethargy of these churches when the questions of legalising vice and the opium traffic come up. Governments do not support churches for nothing.

A Christian workers among the Spanish labourers employed in constructing the new Government docks at Gibraltar says that "three thousand are Spiritualists, about one thousand Free Thinkers, and it is a rare thing to find one man who will profess himself a Roman Catholic." It shows how the deception of Spiritualism is spreading among the Spanish workmen.

The London County Council Election has naturally been one of the leading topics of the Metropolitan papers for the past two or three weeks, and the religious journals have also taken their share in the campaign. Some of the preachers engaging in it have been very enthusiastic. For instance, the Rev. J. Guinness Rogers, D.D., in a speech made as chairman of the meeting, said that London is "the greatest city in the universe." We fear that this is but a sample of the way in which attention to worldly politics, on the part of preachers, makes them unfamiliar with that heavenly country of which they ought to be ambassadors. The good doctor must surely have heard of that "city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. xi. 10), the immense size and the wonderful grandeur of which are described in Rev. xxi. 10-27. The improvement of London is a practical theme, but far more practical is the awakening of an interest to dwell in that city where the conditions of life are perfect.

"The annual number of suicides in Europe," says the British Medical Journal, "is estimated at 50,000, and is increasing at a far greater rate than the population. The struggle for existence is a most important cause of suicide, and Dr. M¸ller holds alcohol, blunting as it does the weapons used in the conflict, is the most frequent immediate determinant of the act."

The trial of M. Zola, in Paris, which has resulted in his conviction, is a matter of world-wide interest, in that it shows the growth of militarism. It revealed the fact that France is ruled by the army, and that law-makers, judges, juries, and people, are all under its domination. The old sentiment, "the king can do no wrong," is modified in France to "the Army and do nothing wrong." Of all despotisms, a military despotism is the most mercilessly and fiendishly cruel, inasmuch as militarism knows no law but that of destruction. The worst feature in the whole affair is that the people of France seem to glory in their bondage to this demon. The history of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," is simply the history of the country after the army gained control of the empire. In like manner the present affair reveals the French nation ripe for revolution and anarchy. Other nations are following in the wake of France, in that they are making the Army the first thing of importance.

But there is another feature which still more complicates the situation in France, and that is that race prejudice is at the bottom of the present excitement. Dreyfus, whose cause Zola espoused, is a Jew, and the trial elicited the most violent outbursts against the people. Dr. Max Nordau, one of the leading Jews of Europe, declares it to be his opinion that France is "simply marching towards a new St. Bartholomew's Eve, to a massacre which will only be limited by the number of Jews whom the Catholics can find to knock on the head." Dr. Nordau continues:-

I believe, and I declare most emphatically, that the slightest relaxation in the present display of force on the part of the Government would lead to a general slaughter of the Jews throughout the country.

That the foregoing statement is not the utterance of a frightened Jew, may be seen from the following delivered statement by M. Drument, editor of the Libre Parole, and the leader of the anti-Jewish movement in France:-

It seems a serious statement to make, but to tell the truth, as things are, I see no way out of the present awful situation except by a general revolution, which will sweep away our present masters and replace them with some form of one man power-not necessarily an emperor or a king, but some kind of dictator, a strong, patriotic man who will put an end to Jewish supremacy and clean out our Augean stables of vice and corruption!

A pitiful thing, and not by any means the least worthy of note is that the popular idea of Christianity is such that the ordinary term for those who are moved by this mad frenzy against the Jews, is "Christians." That is, those whom the Bible designates as heathen, are now commonly called "Christians." "Perilous times" are truly just before us, when the earth will be filled with violence by those who call themselves by the name of the Prince of Peace.

"The Coveted Post" The Present Truth 14, 9.

E. J. Waggoner

The Far East bulks most largely in the public mind just now, but a well-informed weekly journal says that the Near East is giving statesmen a deal of anxiety. The whole situation is but a phase of that ever-changing Eastern Question that is always before the nations, and round which, the Scripture shows us, the final conflict will be raging when the Lord appears. The journal referred to says:-

The Powers are tired to death with the impotence of the Concert of Europe, and, given a presentable excuse, would enter but slight protest against Russia's taking over the administration of Armenia. To make this possible, however, Russia must walk warily, waking no suspicions until the coup is all prepared. The first cautious move is the nomination of Prince George of Greece to the governorship of Crete. This has occasioned but slight hostility, and under cover of the Far Eastern war-cloud others may follow shortly. For Russia has never yielded aught of her ambition to possess Constantinople and an exit to the Mediterranean.

March 10, 1898

"As Free as a Bird" The Present Truth 14, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

The Lord Jesus Christ began His earthly ministry by reading in the synagogue at Nazareth the following words from Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Luke iv. 18, 19. And then He said to the congregation, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."

The whole import of the text therefore is that Christ came to give freedom in every sense of the word. It is charged with the idea of liberty, and that to an extent that few realise. We shall be amply repaid for a few moments closer study of it, and for many hours of meditation upon it afterwards.

The word "liberty," in the statement, in Isa. lxi. 1, that Christ was anointed "to proclaim liberty to the captives," is from a Hebrew word, the primary signification of which is "a swallow." This noun is derived from a verb which signifies "to fly in a circle, to wheel in flight," like a bird in the air. From this it is easy to see how the word came to signify "freedom" and "liberty."

We learn, therefore, that the Bible idea of liberty is best represented by the graceful flight of a swallow through the air. We often use the figure, "as free as a bird," and that exactly expresses the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free. Is it not a glorious thing? What a sense of freedom thrills the soul at the very thought of it!

Sin is bondage. Jesus said, "Verily, verily I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin." John viii. 34. Not only is the sinner in bondage, but he is in prison. The Apostle Paul says, "The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed." Gal. iii. 22, 23. The word "concluded" means, literally, "shut up together." All sinners are in bondage, shut up together in prison, condemned to hard labour.

The end of sin is death. James i. 15. Consequently the sinner is not only shut up in prison, condemned to hard, unprofitable labour, but he has the fear of death continually before him. It is from this that Christ delivers us. See Heb. ii. 14, 15. So we read in Ps. cii. 19, 20, "For He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those that are appointed to death." Christ says,

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"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John viii. 36.

"Free indeed." With the knowledge already gained from Isa. lx. 1, we can easily grasp the fulness of that freedom. Imagine a bird that has been caught, and shut up in a cage. It longs for freedom, but the cruel bars make that impossible. Someone comes along and opens the door. The bird sees the opening, but has so often been deceived in his attempts to gain his liberty, that he hesitates. He hops down, finds that his prison is really open, trembles a moment for very joy at the thought of liberty, then spreads his wings and wheels through the air with such rapture as can be known only by one who has been a captive. "Free indeed." As free as a bird.

This is the liberty wherewith Christ frees the captive of sin. The Psalmist had that experience, for he said "Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers, the snare is broken, and we are escaped." Ps. cxxiv. 7. And this is the experience of every one who truly and without reserve accepts Christ.

But it is the truth that gives this freedom; for Christ says, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John viii. 32. He is the truth, and His word is truth. The Psalmist says, "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy law is the truth." Ps cxix. 142. And he also says, "I will walk at liberty, for I seek Thy precepts." Ps. cxix. 45. As we learn from the margin, this is literally, "I will walk in a broad place, for I seek Thy precepts;" and this fits with what we learn in verse 96: "I have seen an end of all perfection; but Thy commandment is exceeding broad." The commandments of God form an exceedingly broad place in which all may walk who seek them. They are the truth, and it is the truth that gives freedom.

"The law is spiritual." Rom. vii. 14. That is, the law is the nature of God, for "the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Cor. iii. 17. Because the Spirit of the Lord God was in Christ, He could proclaim liberty to the captives of sin. So we read the words of one who had been a captive slave, "sold under sin:" "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Rom. viii. 1, 2.

The law of God was, and is, in the heart of Christ. Ps. xl. 8. Out of the heart are the issues of life (Prov. iv. 23); therefore the life of Christ is the law of God. When men attempt to keep the law in their own strength, they invariably get into bondage, just as surely as though they wilfully broke it. The only difference is that in the latter case they are willing slaves, while in the former they are unwilling slaves. In Christ alone the perfect righteousness the perfect righteousness of the law is found, and therefore His life is "the law of liberty," into which we are exhorted continually to look. James i. 25; Heb. xii. 2. The law that shuts up to certain death the man who is out of Christ, becomes life and liberty to the man who is in Christ.

We have seen that the "commandment is exceeding broad." How broad?-Just as broad as the life of God. Therefore the liberty, or the "broad place" in which one can walk who seeks the law of God, is the breadth of God's mind, which comprehends the universe. This is "the glorious liberty of the children of God." "His commandments are not grievous," but on the contrary are life and liberty to all who accept them "as the truth is in Jesus." God has not given us the spirit of bondage, but has called us to the liberty which He Himself enjoys; for if we believe His word we are His sons,-"heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ."

Only the Spirit of God can give such liberty as this. No man can give it, and no earthly power can take it away. We have seen that no man can get it by his own efforts to keep the law of God. The greatest human efforts can result in nothing but bondage. Therefore when civil governments enact laws requiring men to follow a certain religious custom, they are simply forging fetters for them; because religion by law means a religion of purely human power. It is not the man who tries to do right, that is free, but the man who actually does right. But no man does the truth, except the one whose works are wrought in him by God Himself.

The liberty which Christ gives is liberty of the soul. It is liberty from the bondage of sin. That, and that alone is real religious liberty. It is found nowhere but in the religion of Jesus Christ. The man who has that liberty is free even in a prison cell. The slave who has it is infinitely more at liberty than his cruel master, even though he be a king. Who is there who does not want liberty that is something more than a name?

And now one more word of encouragement to the slave of sin, who is heart sick because of his bondage, and is discouraged through the failure of repeated attempts to escape. Freedom is yours, if you will but take it. Liberty has already been proclaimed. Your prison doors are already open, and you have only to believe it, and to walk out, continually believing it. Christ has gained the victory over Satan, and has passed through his prison house, taking away the keys. There is no fetter that can bind the soul that accepts His salvation. He has purchased every soul, and has loosed their bonds so that they may be free to serve Him. With the prison doors open, there is no excuse for anyone to remain in bondage. If anyone remains in bondage after Christ's proclamation comes to him, it is because he loves bondage more than liberty.

Christ is to-day proclaiming liberty to you, for He has broken the snare, and loosed your bonds. Ps. cxvi. 16. He tells you that He has opened this prison door, so that you may walk at liberty, if you will only walk by faith in Him. It is faith that opens the door to the one who is shut up in sin. Believe His word, declare yourself free in His name, and then by humble faith stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Then will you know the blessedness of the assurance:-

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." Isa. xl. 31.

"Parish and Public-House" The Present Truth 14, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

At the annual dinner of the Watford Licensed Victuallers' Association, the vicar was present, and is reported to have said that he had persistently advocated societies like theirs, and that he thought that "a well-conducted public-house was a great blessing in the parish." "He considered that it was not inconsistent with their higher duty they owed to God to carry on their business and sustain it, both morally and religiously." Of course these sentiments were greeted with great applause.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. The Promise and Its Surety" The Present Truth 14, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

We closed our study last week with the fourteenth verse of the third chapter, the last words being concerning "the promise of the Spirit." Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, in order that the blessing of Abraham might come on us, Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. It is clear, as shown in the last study, that the receiving of the promise of the Spirit through faith, refers not simply to the receiving of the Spirit, and much less to the receiving of the promises that we shall at some time have the Spirit, but to the receiving of that of which the presence of the Spirit is a pledge. From Eph. i. 13, 14 we learned that the Spirit is a pledge, the first-fruits of an inheritance that has been purchased for us. In our study this week we have to do with that promised inheritance. And first we will read the portion of the text that outlines it.

THE LESSON FOR THE WEEK

"Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise." Gal. iii. 15-18.

Before beginning our study, it may be well to state that we shall not try to treat of the whole of this portion of Scripture this week, so that if there are some things left untouched, the reader will not feel disappointed. There is so close connection between all the statements in this chapter that it is difficult to select out any special verses for study. All the verses just quoted are necessary to the subject before us this week, yet they must also be considered in connection with the verses that will come in our next week's study.

The Promise Was Made to Abraham. -It will be seen that Abraham is the one about whom this chapter centers. He is the one to whom the Gospel of world-wide salvation was preached. He believed, and received the blessing, even the blessing of righteousness. All who believe are blessed with believing Abraham. They who are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse, in order that the blessing of Abraham might come on us. "To Abraham and his seed were the promises made." "If the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise." Thus it is clear that the promise to us is the promise that was made to Abraham, and in which we share as his children.

The Promise Concerns an Inheritance. -This is evident from verse 18: "If the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise." This agrees with what has been already been noted in Eph. i. 13, 14, that the Spirit is the pledge of a possession that has been purchased. "The promise of the Spirit" is therefore an inheritance. That is, the Spirit not only promises us an inheritance, but the possession of the Spirit is the surety of the inheritance. When, therefore, we read that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith, we can see that it is the same as saying that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse, in order that we might receive an inheritance. And so we read in Heb. ix. 14, 15 that Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, will purge our conscience from dead works to serve the living God; because "He is the Mediator of the new covenant, that by means of death, for the remission of transgression under the first covenant, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."

What the Eternal Inheritance Is. -The last words of the preceding paragraph set us on the track of the answer to this. It is an "eternal inheritance." This of course follows from the fact that Christ has redeemed us from the curse in order that we might receive this inheritance; for the curse is death, and whatever we receive as the consequence of being saved from death, must be eternal. But we must turn to the direct record of the promise to Abraham, and there we shall find the matter clearly stated. The promise is many times repeated, but in order to save time we shall take only one statement of it. In Gen. xvii. 7, 8 we read these words of God to Abraham:-

"I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God."

THE WHOLE WORLD

Here we see most clearly that the promised inheritance is land-the land of Canaan. But, let it be borne in mind, it is an "everlasting possession." Abraham himself, as well as his seed, possess it to eternity. Therefore the possession of the land of Canaan, according to the promise to Abraham, involves the possession of everlasting life in which to enjoy it; but immortality is bestowed only at the coming of Christ and the resurrection. This Abraham well understood; for even while he was in the land of Canaan, he sojourned in it as in a strange country, desiring and looking for "a better country, that is an heavenly" (Heb. xi. 9-16); and the fact that he "died in faith, not having received the promises" shows that he knew that he was to receive it at the resurrection.

But when the land of Canaan is thus given to Abraham for an everlasting possession, the restoration of all things will take place (Acts iii. 20, 21), so that the possession of the land of Canaan will be in

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reality the possession of the whole earth. So Paul, speaking with direct reference to the record in the seventeenth of Genesis, says: "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Rom. iv. 13.

Therefore we, "according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter iii. 13. This is the promised inheritance, the possession of which is assured to us by the Spirit.

An Inheritance without a Curse. -"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, . . . that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." This "promise of the Spirit" we have seen to be the possession of the whole earth made new-redeemed from the curse; for "the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God." The earth, fresh and new from the hand of God, perfect in every respect, was given to man for a possession. Gen. i. 27, 28, 31. Man sinned, and brought the curse upon himself. Christ has taken the whole curse, both of man and of all creation, upon Himself. He redeems the earth from the curse, that it may be the everlasting possession that God originally designed it to be, and He also redeems man from the curse, that he may be fitted for the possession of such an inheritance. And this, let it be noted, is the sum of the Gospel. The whole Gospel has reference to this, and to this alone. Man redeemed, but with no place to live in, would present an incomplete work. While the cross of Christ is the sole agent of redemption, yet "Christ crucified" would be nothing if it did not include Christ risen. But Christ risen means Christ risen to the right hand of the Majesty on high; and this means: "To him that overcometh will I give to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father on His throne." Rev. iii. 21. Without this "blessed hope" our faith would be vain, and we should be yet in our sins; for the power by which we are redeemed is the power by which the new heavens and the new earth are made. their freedom from the curse guarantees our freedom from the curse, for God created the earth not in vain, but formed it to be inhabited, and "some must enter therein." Then will be an earth without any curse, inhabited by people wholly freed from the curse of sin and death. "And there shall be no more curse." Rev. xxi. 4.

The Covenants of Promise. -That the covenant and promise of God are one and the same thing, is clearly seen from Gal. iii. 17, where it appears that to disannul the covenant would be to make void the promise. In Genesis 17 we read that God made a covenant with Abraham to give him the land of Canaan-and with it the whole world-for an everlasting possession; but Gal. iii. 18 says that God gave it to him by promise. God's covenants with men can be nothing else than promises to them: "for who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?" Rom. xi. 35. God does not make bargains with men, because He knows that they could not fulfil their part. Kinowing that man is "wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Rev. iii. 17, God counsels him to buy of Him everything that is needed, but to buy "without money, and without price." In short, God promises us everything that we need, and more than we can ask or think, as a gift. We give Him ourselves, that is, nothing, and He gives us Himself, that is, everything. That which makes all the trouble is that even when men are willing to recognise the Lord at all, they want to make bargains with Him. They want it to be a "mutual" affair-a transaction in which they will be considered as on a par with God. But whoever deals with God must deal with Him on His own terms, that is, on a basis of fact-that we have nothing and are nothing, and He has everything and is everything, and gives everything.

The Covenant Confirmed. -The covenant, that is, the promise of God to give men the whole earth made new, after having made them free from the curse, was "confirmed before of God in Christ." He is the surety of the new covenant, even the everlasting covenant. "For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea; wherefore also through Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us." 2 Cor. i. 20. In Him we have obtained the inheritance (Eph. i. 11), for the Holy Spirit is the first-fruits of the inheritance, and the possession of the Holy Spirit is Christ Himself dwelling in the heart by faith.

Confirmed by an Oath of God. -"When God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself; . . . 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 forever after the order of Melchizedek." Heb. vi. 13-20.

It was the oath of God, therefore, that confirmed the covenant made to Abraham; that promise and oath to Abraham are our ground of hope, our strong consolation; but it is "sure and steadfast," because the oath sets forth Christ as the pledge, the surety, and "He ever liveth,"-the covenant is confirmed in Him, and no one can disannul it or add anything to it. That is to say, The Gospel to-day is precisely the same in every particular that it was in the days of Abraham. It is summed up in this: God will give to men "the first dominion," the earth free from all curse; the promise is to all without exception, and the fulfilment is to all who believe in Christ, "in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Just as the earth was given to Adam in the beginning, without his having done anything to earn it, even so the new earth is a free gift,-the inheritance is solely by promise; but this inheritance is solely by promise; but this inheritance is an inheritance of righteousness, and this necessary righteousness God gives to us, creating us new creatures in Christ, even as in the beginning He created Adam a perfect man. And all this is assured to us by the oath of God, in which He pledged His own existence. But this oath was in Christ crucified, and the cross of Christ, bearing the curse everywhere, is the assurance that God in Christ ever liveth.

"Taxes" The Present Truth 14, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

It is said that on account of a proposed tax of five shillings on each house or hut in Sierra Leone, the natives are pulling down their huts, which are not worth the five shillings, and are living under the trees, rather than pay the tax.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Death of John the Baptist. Matt. xiv. 1-12" The Present Truth 14, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

MARCH 20

From the closing part of the preceding chapter (verses 53-57), we learn that Jesus came "into His own country," and that "He taught them in their synagogue" with such power that "they were astonished," but instead of receiving the truth as a power to work changes in their characters, they remembered that this was "the carpenter's son," and that they were well acquainted with His brothers and sisters, "and they were offended in Him." And "at that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus," and it called to his mind one who had spoken before Him with a similar power, and he said, "This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead." How did Herod know anything about the resurrection of the dead? Evidently from the preaching of John the Baptist. "For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly." Mark vi. 20. The Gospel of repentance and preparation for the kingdom of heaven which John preached (Matt. iii. 2) included the resurrection from the dead, and was preached with the resurrection power. To this Herod bears witness when he recognises the work of Jesus has been of the same character as that of John the Baptist.

"When Herod heard of the wonderful works of Christ in healing the sick, casting out devils, and raising the dead, he was exceedingly troubled and perplexed. His convictions were that God, whom John preached, was indeed present in every place, and that He had witnessed the wild mirth and wicked dissipation in the royal banqueting room, and that His ears had heard His command to the executioner to behead John, that His all eye had seen the exaltation of Herodias, and the taunting insult with which she had reproached the severed head of her enemy. And many things which he had heard from the lips of the prophet now spoke to his conscience in louder tones than the preaching in the wilderness. He had heard from John that nothing could be had from God, therefore he trembled lest some terrible punishment should be visited upon him for the sin he had committed. When Herod heard of the words of Christ, he thought that God had resurrected John, and sent forth with still greater power to condemn sin."

THE POWER OF JOHN'S MINISTRY

Jesus had already said concerning John: "Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: . . . And if ye will receive it, this is Elias which was to come." Matt. xi. 11, 15. In his work as the prophet of the Lord, the true God, Elijah fearlessly reproved sin even in high places (1 Kings xviii. 17, 18) and called upon the people to recognise and worship Jehovah as God. And although "John did no miracle," yet his work was "in the spirit and power of Elias," and his words brought conviction of sin to the hearts of all classes, including Herod the tetrarch. His mission was to turn the minds of the people to the coming Messiah, saying to all, "Behold the Lamb of God," and this he did not merely by his word but by revealing Christlike principles in his life. "His life was so unselfish, marked with humility and self-denial. His teachings, exhortations, and reproofs, where fervent, sincere, and courageous." Thus the declaration of Herod, "This is John the Baptist," was a remarkable testimony to the character of John's work, as being done in the same power in which Jesus worked. Thus it ought to be with every faithful servant of Jesus now. So, after the resurrection of Christ, those who examined Peter and John concerning their work "took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus."

VICTORIOUS IN DEATH

The imprisonment and death of John testify to his own faith in his own work. His mission was "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord," and this involved confession of sins and faith in the saving power of the Gospel. In pursuance of his work He reproved sin of every kind, and when as a result of his faithfulness he was cast in the prison, his own faith in the Gospel which he had preached to others sustained him and he was "faithful unto death," just as He whose forerunner he was, "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Those who look upon outward appearances merely might conclude that the work of John the Baptist ended in defeat, but "the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh upon the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh upon the heart," and He recognised in the integrity of His servant and in His refusal to compromise right principles, a victory greater than a Hastings or a Waterloo. Because Jesus was faithful unto death, "wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name," and with every loyal servant He shares His "new name."

SURFEITING AND DRUNKENNESS A CAUSE OF CRIME

But the faithfulness of John does not relieve Herod of the responsibility of taking his life, and this whole occurrence is a temperance lesson of great power. When in his right mind Herod would never have made such a rash promise as to give to this profligate dancer "whatsoever she would ask," or even having made it he would never have kept it when she said, "Give me here John Baptist head in a charger;" but "Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee" (Mark vi. 21), and with his passions inflamed by surfeiting and drunkenness, and "pleased" by the bewitching presence and art of the dancer, his reason was overborne. Shocked by the inhuman request of the young woman, he is for the moment brought to his sense, "and the king was sorry," but bound by a false sense of honour, and waiting in vain for his drunken companions to release him from his oath, he gave the fatal command and the life of a righteous man is sacrificed to the hatred of Herodias. But this crime is one of the many which lie at the door of intemperance.

"Too often in these days the most solemn responsibilities rest upon those who, from their intemperate habits, are not in the condition to exercise the calm and judgment and keen perceptions of right and wrong with which their Creator endowed them. The guardians of the people, men in authority, upon whose decisions hang the lives of their fellow creatures, should be subject to severe punishment if found guilty of intemperance. Those who enforce laws should be law-keepers. They should be men of self-government, in full

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harmony with the laws governing their physical, mental, and moral powers, that they may possess full vigour of intellect and a high sense of justice. In the martyrdom of John we have a result of intemperance among those invested with great authority. This eventful birthday feast should be a lesson of warning to the lovers of pleasure, and an exhortation to Christian temperance."

THEY WENT AND TOLD JESUS

Herodias was satisfied when she had received the head of John and the disciples were permitted to have the body, which they buried "and went and told Jesus." How much is revealed in these few words. Having lost a faithful leader they "went and told Jesus." In their grief at his shameful death, they "went and told Jesus." With a natural longing for sympathy in their hour of trial, they "went and told Jesus." This is the privilege of every Christian now. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like is we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." "Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." When we have been overcome by any power of evil, we can go and "tell Jesus." He will not take any advantage of our confessions. When death has gained an apparent victory and one has been taken from the family circle, we can go and "tell Jesus." He who wept at the grave of Lazarus, wept with and for us as well, and He says to us "I will come again." "Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Whatever our circumstances in life, it is our privilege to go and "tell Jesus;" and this He invites us to do.

"Have we trials and temptations,
Is there trouble anywhere?
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!"

"Hidden to Be Revealed" The Present Truth 14, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

When the disciples of Jesus came to Him, to ask Him about a parable that He had spoken, He said to them: "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables; that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them." Mark iv. 11, 12.

To the casual reader, and especially to the one who reads with prejudice against the Lord and His Word, these words seem to indicate unfairness on the part of God; let us therefore give them a little further examination.

In the first place we notice from Matt. xiii. 13-15, that it is the people themselves who have closed their eyes against seeing, and have dulled their ears and harden their hearts. Then reading further in the fourth of Mark we find these words: "And He said unto them: Is a lamp brought to be put under the bushel, or under the bed, and not to be put on the stand? For there is nothing hid, save that it should be manifested; neither was any thing made secret, but that it should come to light." Verses 21, 22, R.V.

So we find that things are hidden only in order that they may be revealed. Just as when Jesus thanked the Father that these things were hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes. Matt. xi. 25. No one can complain of such a "hiding" of things as consist in revealing them to babes.

But where are these things hidden?-In Christ, we are told, "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Col. ii. 3. But He is "the Light of the world," and whosoever follows Him shall not walk in darkness. John viii. 12. Now a light is not brought in to be put under a measure, or under a bed, but in order to be put on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house. Compare Mark iv. 21, 22 and Matt. v. 15. Thus in the same connection in which Christ says that to the disciples it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom, while to the others all things are spoken in parables, He plainly shows that all the hiding of the things of God is of such a nature as to make them more apparent.

That this is so, is still further seen by what we learn of the nature of parables. Many people doubtless imagine that parables were used by Jesus to conceal His meaning from the multitude, whereas just the opposite is the case. Read Matt. xiii. 34, 35: "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." See Ps. lxxviii. 1-4.

Why was it, then, that Jesus said that to the disciples it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but that to the others it was not given? Mark iv. 11; Matt. xiii. 10. Why was it given to the one, and not to the other? The answer is obvious,-it was because the disciples asked Jesus the meaning of what He said, while the others did not care enough about what He said, to take that trouble. No person, young or old, can ever expect to learn much if he never asks any questions. If the rest of the people had had the same interest to know the truth that the disciples had, they could have learned it in the same way that they did, namely, by asking. For Jesus Himself, in encouraging men to ask, said, "Every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Matt. vii. 8.

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." James i. 5. "For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." Prov. ii. 6. God is a God that hideth Himself (Isa. xlv. 15), yet only in order that He may be found; for He says, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." Verse 22. "That which may be known of God" is manifest not only to the heathen, but in them; for ever since the creation of the world the invisible things of Him, even His everlasting power and Divinity, are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made; so that no man on earth has any excuse for not knowing the Lord. See Rom. i. 19, 20.

Let us use our eyes, or, if they are closed, ask the Lord for the anointing which He so freely gives, in order that we may know all the things that are so freely given to us by Him.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

"Received ye the Holy Ghost when ye believed?" "We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." "Into what then were ye baptized?"

Those two questions of the Apostle Paul teach us much. What! baptized, and have not received the anointing of the Holy Ghost! Strange baptism that; the Apostle did not have any knowledge of it, for it was not in God's plan. The idea that any should profess to believe, and should have been baptized, and not have received the Holy Spirit was altogether new.

Baptism and the receiving of the Holy Ghost ought to be inseparable. Not necessarily to the exact minute in point of time, for we read of some who received the Spirit before they were baptized, and of others upon whom He came just afterward. But the two are a part of one and the same work, for whoever believes from the heart that Jesus is the Son of God is a candidate for baptism (Acts viii. 36, 37), and the Holy Spirit is given to all who truly believe in Jesus. John vii. 39; Eph. i. 13.

Then let the Apostle's question come home to each one of you personally: "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" If not, there must be a lack in your belief. Search the Word, taking it as the living Word of the living God, see it active in creation, and you will experience the power of the words, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost."

A Russian correspondent of the Daily Chronicle says that Russia is not ready for war in the Pacific, the meager supplies in that region, and the time and expense involved in transport, making it doubtful if Russia could at present hold its own in a war with Japan. He evidently thinks that Russia's work is nearer home, for he says: "From the day when St. Sophia was converted into a Mohammedan mosque, the Russians have regarded the destruction of the Ottoman Empire and the deliverance of the Christian populations as their historic mission."

It has been made known to the world by Cardinal Rampolla that the Pope is "willing to act as mediator between the United States and Spain." The Pope is as coy as a school-girl. A shrewd old gentleman is he. How delicately he puts it! "Willing," he says, when all the world knows that the one desire and ambition of his life is not only to arbitrate between nations, but to rule them all. But he is very diplomatic, and knows that it is better to seem to have power thrust upon him, then to be openly too bold.

When the representative of an American journal asked Mr. Bryce the question, "If the policy of territorial extension by the British has been followed by a corresponding extension of civilisation, why might not this hold good with regard to the extension of United States territory?" Mr. Bryce replied that one would have to define civilisation in order to answer the question properly. "To give savage and backward races our railways and currency and laws is perhaps less of a benefit than we are apt to imagine."

There is sound wisdom in that answer. One can feel very virtuous and philanthropic when his dealing with the savages is called civilising them, whereas all the glamour would be taken off it if it were said that he was exploiting them for his own personal pecuniary profit.

The Rev. Mr. Horton, a portion of whose sermon on "Romanism and National Welfare" we recently printed, says that there are "some hundreds of clergymen of the Church of England who are secretly ordained Romish priests, and there are twenty thousand nuns at work," all labouring to bring England under Papal control.

One of the speakers at the recent Methodist memorial meeting was Dean Farrar, who said that he didn't know and didn't care what the ecclesiastical critics would think of his speaking for the second time in Wesley's chapel, and added, "We want not uniformity but unity."

A new journal, Herald of Health, comes to our table from the office of the Bible Echo, Melbourne. It is a sixteen page monthly, with attractive cover, and full of interesting and useful matter neatly put together. There is great need of the instruction which it gives, and we wish a wide circulation for it and all of its kind.

Mr. Johansen, who accompanied Dr. Nansen on his journey farthest north, said they had no spirits whatever with them during the fifteen months' trip, and did not need any.

The article "As Free as a Bird," beginning on the first page, may be had in tract formed by sending to this office. Price, 1/2nd.

"The Worship of Force and Violence" The Present Truth 14, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

The Worship of Force and Violence .-All over the world people seem to be crazy for war. They want to fight; or if they themselves are not particularly anxious to expose their own persons to flying bullets, they want to see others do it. On the Sunday following the blowing up of the U.S. man-of-war Maine, in the harbour of Havana, when it was the general feeling that war between the United States and Spain must inevitably follow, it is said that

In most of the churches clergymen prayed for victory for the American flag "in the impending conflict," and national airs were sung with feeling by the congregations.

It will be remembered that both Spain and the United States are "Christian nations," and that in case of war, while ministers in the United States would be praying God to give their soldiers success in killing Spaniards, the Spanish priests would be beseeching Him to help their men to slaughter Americans. And the men of the world, considering such an exhibition of "Christianity," would naturally conclude that they were already converted.

"Heavy Stakes" The Present Truth 14, 10.

E. J. Waggoner

Heavy Stakes .-In these days when commercial and political interests are so widespread and the nations touch each other in all parts of the world, a struggle between any of the great Powers is generally considered to involve more than wars heretofore. Nations are practically staking their lives on their armaments, and most of the life of the Continental nations is being put into armaments. Speaking a little time ago of Britain's determination to fight if necessary for trade rights in Chinese ports, the Attorney-General said:-

That was not brag or bluster, but was the outcome of a courageous determination to hold our own. Even if we did have to fight for this cause and lost, we should have a quick and glorious death, instead of the slow starvation which the loss of trade would mean.

March 17, 1898

"The Gospel in Grafting" The Present Truth 14, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

In the book of nature, as well as in the printed Word, God has revealed Himself to us. Everything, animate and inanimate, speaks of the power and wisdom of Him who "commanded and they were created." "But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?" Job. xii. 7-9.

THE SUBJECT OUTLINED

God's plan for the salvation of lost man is also clearly set forth in "the visible Gospel," His working in "the things that are made." One phase of this teaching will be the subject of our study in this article. The facts concerning the creation of man, his fall, God's purpose to restore him, and the result of this work, are briefly stated in the following scriptures: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . . So God created man in His image." Gen. i. 26, 27. "All have sinned and come short of the glory [character or image] of God." Rom. iii. 23. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son." Rom. viii. 28, 29. This is accomplished by "the light of the glorious Gospel [the Gospel of the glory] of Christ who is the image of God." 2 Cor. iv. 4. "And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." 1 Cor. xv. 49. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him." 1 John iii. 2.

We may summarise these facts in this way: Man at the first was made perfect but lost that perfection through sin. The Gospel is God's plan and power for restoring man to his original perfection through the gift of Jesus Christ and the acceptance of His righteousness. The result will be that man will be once more like Him.

THE SAME THING REVEALED IN NATURE

Now the same facts are brought to our attention in "the visible Gospel" of nature, and in His Word the Lord has made this instruction clear to us. That the original perfection of man and his subsequent fall are taught in nature, is pointed out in this scripture: "Yet I had planted thee [Israel, verse 14] a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me!" Jer. ii. 21. The general method of restoration, as taught by the Saviour, is to "make the tree good, and his fruit good." The details of the method will be considered later. And the result is "that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." Isa. lxi. 3. This shows that the degeneracy of all plants and trees, and their tendency to degenerate, is the visible teaching of the fall of man. And the fact that degenerate plants and trees can be made to yield good fruit teaches the Gospel of restoration for man. And the method by which a degenerate plant or tree can be made to yield good fruit, which studied in the light of the Scripture, reveals the method by which sinful man can be "filled with the fruits of righteousness." Let us therefore consider it carefully.

THE FRUIT OF THE NATURE OF THE TREE

The nature of the fruit depends upon and reveals the nature of the tree. "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Matt. vii. 17-20. This is the teaching of nature, and the experience of every man has made him familiar with these facts. But since a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit, it is evident that, if good fruit is to be obtained from a tree which has become corrupt, the nature or character of the tree must be changed. And every gardener knows that this can be done, and that it is done by the process of grafting. One method of grafting is to saw

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off the end of a limb of the tree to be grafted, and then insert it in the end one or more grafts or scions from a tree bearing a superior variety of fruit, and the nature of the graft or scion determines the nature of the fruit borne on the new branch. It is a well-known fact that our best varieties of fruits have all been obtained in this way.

THE ENGRAFTED WORD

But how are these facts interpreted by the Scriptures so that we may see in them what they are designed to teach, viz., the method by which men may be restored to the image of God? Let us read and see. "Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls." James i. 21. How is the degenerate human tree to be restored so that it may bear good fruit? Just as the tree in your garden. It must be grafted. And what is the graft or scion to be used? It is the Word, "which is able to save your souls."

But what or who is the Word? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John i. 1. "And I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. . . . and His name is called the Word of God." Rev. xix. 11-13.

It is thus evident that the "engrafted Word" which we are to receive, and "which is able to save your souls," is Christ the living Word. "He came to His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." John i. 11, 12. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts iv. 12.

TREE AND GRAFT MUST BE OF THE SAME KIND

But it is now necessary to call attention to another fact which is well known to everyone who has had any experience in grafting trees. Any gardener will tell you that in order for the process of grafting to be successful, the graft or scion must be nearly related botanically to the tree which is to be grafted. "Thus roses will bud on briers, but not on myrtles. Apricots will on plums; pears will on quinces; because all these are closely related. But apples will not graft on plums, being not of the same order." This is the chapter in the Gospel of nature in which we read of the necessity for, and the fact of, the incarnation of the Son of God.

Here we see the following scriptures: "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 taketh not hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham He taketh hold [margin]. Wherefore in all things it behoved Him [or He was obliged] to be made like unto His brethren." Heb. ii. 14-17. "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 fulfiled in us, who walked not after the flesh after the Spirit." Rom. viii. 3, 4. "Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me." Heb. x. 5.

God's plan for man contemplated, not the overlooking of sin in man but the removal of sin from man, and his complete restoration to the image of God, a change of character or nature, that we might "be partakers of the Divine nature." But since man who was at the first and by creation "a noble vine, wholly a right seed" (or seed of truth), had through sin "turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine," and had lost the Divine nature so that "there is none righteous, no not one," it was necessary, in order to make it possible for him to receive "the engrafted Word" for his restoration, that the Word should be made flesh, and not merely that it should be made flesh, but that it bear the same kind of flesh. And so God sent His own Son "in the likeness of sinful flesh" that thus the scion or graft might be prepared, so nearly related to us that it might be possible for us to receive the "engrafted Word" and bring forth fruit after the Divine nature.

Since it was man who was to be saved, and sinful man too, the Son of God became the Son of man, not laying aside His divinity but clothing it with our humanity, that He might be able to reach man where he was. This was the only way in which the Divine nature could come in actual contact with sinful man as a means of salvation, since the unveiled glory of God could result only in destruction to sinners. "For our God is a consuming fire." Heb. xii. 29.

THE TESTIMONY OF PROPHECY

All this was clearly set forth in the prophecy concerning the person and work of Christ. Thus we read: "And there shall come forth a shoot of the stock of Jesse, and a branch [or scion] out of His roots shall bear fruit." Isa. xi. 1, R.V. Here is presented "the Gospel of God. . . concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh," but is clothed in such language that it is most clearly intended as a partial interpretation of that remarkable phenomenon in nature which we are now studying. But another scripture will give further light upon the subject. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch [margin, Short or Bud], and He shall reign as King and deal wisely; . . . and this is the name whereby He shall be called, The Lord is our righteousness." Jer. xxiii. 5, 6, R.V. The family of David is a "sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters" (Isa. i. 4), but to the same nation the promise was made, "Thy people also shall be all righteous" (Isa. lx. 21), and inasmuch as this is to be brought about by receiving "the engrafted Word," the Branch (Shoot or Scion) which is to be used in the process of grafting must be "a righteous Branch," since the character of the scion determines the character of the fruit to be borne on the new branch. The Branch was prophesied of, which would be nearly related to the "degenerate plant" so that it could be used in the grafting process, but at the same time infinitely superior in the character of its fruit, so that through it could be accomplished the restoration of the "degenerate plant."

A RIGHTEOUS BRANCH

The meaning of this fact of nature, that the scion and the tree must be nearly related botanically, is further brought out in the scripture: "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold, the Man whose name is the Branch [margin, Bud]; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord; even He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne: and He shall be a priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." Zech. vi. 12, 13, R.V. The tree to be restored was man, and so the Branch (or Scion) must be a man, but in order to "make the tree good" that it might bear good fruit again, it was necessary that the

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Branch, or man, should be of an infinitely superior type, even "a righteous Branch," so that the scripture should be fulfilled which says: "By His knowledge shall My servant justify many." Isa. liii. 11.

AN ABOMINABLE BRANCH

These same truths are taught, by contrast, in another way. Thus we read of Lucifer, who was created the light-bearer but who through his rebellion became Satan, the adversary: "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! For 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 the clouds; I will be like the most High. 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 thee, 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 . . . . the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned." Isa. xiv. 12-20. Read also Eze. xxxiv. 26-30, noticing especially verse 29: "And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more."

What a contrast is here drawn between Christ, the "righteous Branch," and Satan, the "abominable branch." The one is He who "giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength." Isa. xl. 29. The other is he "which did weaken the nations." One is "a plant of renown." The other "shall never be renowed." The one came "to seek and to save that which was lost." The other "walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

THE FINAL COMPLETE RESTORATION

Thus in the light which the Scripture throws upon it, we may learn the teaching which the Lord designs to impart to us through that really remarkable process, the process of grafting. In it the Gospel of the restoration of man to the image of God and the method by which it is accomplished are most certainly taught. So if any man will regard this process in the natural world in the light which is shed upon it from the Word of God, he can see the way in which the degenerate human plant is to be treated and what the results will be. Thus if one will believe the Gospel in grafting, he will be thereby prepared to "receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls."

In the light of what we have learned we may profitably close this study with the following scripture: "Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent: in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have done it." Eze. xvii. 22-24.

"'He Himself Knew What He Would Do'" The Present Truth 14, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesus had gone out into a desert place, and, as usual, a great multitude followed Him. Thousands of hungry people were present, with nothing to eat, and Jesus said Philip, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" Philip at once began to calculate, and concluded that it could not be done, since two hundred pennyworth (200 days' wages) of bread would not be sufficient for each one to have a taste. Peter volunteered the information that there was a lad present, who had five barley loaves and two small fishes, but such a small amount was not worth mentioning among so many. No; it was clearly an impossibility; the people must get along the best they could, for there was no food there for them.

But Jesus was not disturbed by these conclusions. He had simply asked the question, "Whence shall we buy bread?" in order to prove the disciples; "for He Himself knew what He would do it." He knew how many hungry people there were present, and how much, or rather how little food there was at hand, yet He was not at all troubled. He knew what He would do, and He proceeded to do it. Not one of the great multitude went away hungry. Every one was filled, and there was an abundance of food left. How did it come to pass?-The Bread of Life was with them. He who calls to all the world, "Come ye, and buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price," had no need to go away to buy food for those who had followed Him.

Fifteen hundred years before that time, the ancestors of the same people were in the desert, and they had nothing to eat. "And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and

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Aaron in the wilderness, and the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full: for ye have brought us forth into the wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Ex. xvi. 3, 4. But they did not starve, for bread in abundance was sent them from heaven. They were fed from the same source as their descendants by the sea of Galilee.

Yet the lesson was not learned. From the wilderness of Sin they journeyed "according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink." "And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst." Ex. xvii. 1, 3. But they did not die. Water was provided for them in abundance, for "the fountain of living waters" was with them, and "they drank of that Spiritual Rock."

As we read these narratives, we read them in the light of the result, and so have not the sympathy with the murmurers that our own experience would warrant us in having. We do not realise what apparently good reason they had for complaint. One of the first qualifications of a good general is that he shall be able to provide for those in his charge; and a prime necessity for a camp is plenty of good water. If we were in the same position that the Israelites were, we should most likely say, "Anybody who doesn't know better than to choose a camping place in a dry desert, ought to give up his place to somebody else; a child would know enough to pitch by the side of water."

But how did they happen to be there? Was it accidental or lack of judgment that brought them into that difficulty, for which they had to be extricated? Not by any means. They pitched there "according to the commandment of the Lord," and what was more, it was God Himself who led them there, for, as Moses said to the people, "Ye did not believe the Lord your God, who went in the way before you, to search out a place to pitch your tents in." Deut. i. 32, 33. And did God lead them into a place where there was no water? No; for He Himself was with them, and He is "the fountain of living waters." Jer. ii. 13. All the time "He Himself knew what He would do."

"He knoweth the way that I take," for He Himself is the Way. Job xxiii. 10; John xiv. 6. Yea, "known unto God are all His works from the foundation of the world." Acts xv. 18. We get into difficult places, and know not what to do, and we fancy that because we are at our wits end, the case is hopeless. But God is not taken by surprise. Instead of having abandoned us to our fate, it is He who has led us in the difficulty, in order to show us His salvation. And He led us there because it was the very best way. He always knows what to do next, because He saw the situation long beforehand.

Then since we are in the hands of Him who knows us, our needs, and the way, and who always know what He will do, and whose will is always for deliverance, let us rest in the knowledge that "all things work together for good to them that love God." No way can be so dark and difficult but that He knows it and the way of escape. "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."

"The Epistle to the Galatians. The Promise and the Law" The Present Truth 14, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Since we considered only certain features in the text studied last week, we shall include it in the portion for this week, so that the intimate connection may be preserved. We have therefore the following as

THE SCRIPTURE LESSON

"Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; though it be but a man's covenant, yet when it hath been confirmed, no one maketh it void, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy Seed, which is Christ. Now this I say: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God, the law, which came four hundred and thirty years after, doth not disannul, so as to make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God hath granted it to Abraham by promise. What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made; and it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid; for if there had been a law given which could make alive, verily righteousness would have been of the law. Howbeit the Scripture hath shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." Gal. iii. 15-22.

The things in this text that were considered last week were the following: The Promise was Made to Abraham; the Promise Concerns an Inheritance; That Inheritance is the Whole World-the Earth Made New; An Inheritance without a Curse is the Promise of the Spirit; the Lord redeems men from the curse in order that they may dwell forever in an earth redeemed from the curse; The Covenant and the Promise are the same thing; That Covenant has been Confirmed; It was Confirmed in Christ, to Abraham, by the Oath of God, and that oath is our hope and comfort till the present day. With this outline of what has already been passed over, we can proceed with our study.

An Unchangeable Covenant. -God is not a man, but it is sometimes allowable to use human things in illustrating the divine. God is not a man, that He should lie or change. Man is changeable, yet even a man's covenant, if it once be confirmed, can not be disannulled or added to. No change whatever can be made in it. How much more, then, must this be the case with God's covenant? "Whatsoever

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God doeth, it shall be forever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it; and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him." Eccl. iii. 14. "When God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself. . . . 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 forever after the order of Melchizedek." Heb. vi. 13-20. The covenant, we have already seen, is the promise to Abraham, and that was confirmed by God's oath, and made as unchangeable as His character.

Abraham and Christ .-"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ." It cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds of men that Christ is the Seed of Abraham, and that the covenant was confirmed in Him. There would be no difficulty whatever about the question of Israel, if this one fact were remembered. Christ is the Seed of Abraham, and there is no other; for "He saith not, And to Seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ." Abraham and Christ are inseparably linked together. "To Abraham and his seed were the promises made," how many soever they were. Nothing was made to Abraham that could be obtained in any other way than through Christ; and Christ never comes into the possession of anything that does not belong to Abraham. This is plainly stated in the text.

We will not stop to parley over the matter of "literal seed" and the "spiritual seed." Christ is spiritual, that we know, for no one can call Him Lord, except by the Spirit; but He is also very literal: "Handle Me, and see, that it is I, Myself." We are glad to know that the literal can also be spiritual; were it not so, then we would be yet in our sins. But to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. The Seed must be as literal as Abraham, even though He be spiritual; and Christ "took on Him the seed of Abraham." It is enough for us at present to hold to the fact that Abraham and Christ are equally concerned in this promised inheritance, which is spiritual because the Spirit is the first fruits of it. If we are of faith, then we are the children of Abraham and sharers in the blessing.

The Law Can Not Make Void Covenant .-Do not forget as we proceed that the covenant and the promise are the same thing, and that it conveys land, even the whole earth made new, to Abraham and his seed; and remember also that, since only righteousness is to dwell in the new heavens and the new earth promised to Abraham and his seed, the promise includes the making righteous of all who believe. This is done in Christ, in whom the promise is confirmed. The argument of verses 17 and 18 is therefore this: Since perfect righteousness was assured by the covenant made with Abraham, which was also confirmed in Christ, it is impossible that the law, which was spoken four hundred and thirty years later, could introduce any new feature. The inheritance was given to Abraham by promise, but if after four hundred and thirty years it should transpire that now the inheritance must be gained in some other way, then the promise would be of no effect, and the covenant would be made void. But that would involve the overthrow of God's government, and the ending of His existence; for He pledged His own existence to give Abraham and his seed the inheritance and the righteousness necessary for it. "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Rom. iv. 13.

What Is the Use of the Law? -This is the question that the apostle Paul asks in verse 19, both for the purpose of anticipating the objections of the Antinomians, and also that he may the more emphatically show the place of the law in the Gospel. The question is a very natural one. Since the inheritance is wholly by promise, and a covenant confirmed can not be changed, nothing can be taken from it, and nothing added to it, why did the law come in four hundred and thirty years afterward? "Wherefore then serveth the law?" More literally, Why then the law? What business has it here? What part does it act?

The Question Answered .-"It was added because because of transgressions." Let it be understood that "the entering of the law" at Sinai was not the beginning of its existence. The law of God existed in the days of Abraham, and was kept by him. Gen. xxvi. 5. God proved the children of Israel, as to whether they would keep His law or not, more than a month before the law was spoken upon Sinai. Ex. xvi. 1-4, 27, 28.

"It Was Added." -The word here rendered "added" is the same as that rendered "spoken" in Heb. xii. 19: "They that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more." It is the same word that occurs in the Septuagint rendering of Deut. v. 22, where we read that God spoke the ten commandments with a great voice; "and He added no more." So we may read the answer to the question, "Wherefore then the law?" thus: "It was spoken because of transgressions."

Because of Transgressions .-"Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound." Rom. v. 20. In other words, "that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." Rom. vii. 13. It was given under circumstances of the most awful majesty, as a warning to the children of Israel that by their unbelief they were in danger of losing the promised inheritance. They did not, like Abraham, believe the Lord; and "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." But the inheritance was promised "through the righteousness of faith," and, therefore, the unbelieving Jews could not receive it. The law was therefore spoken to them, to convince them that they had not the righteousness that was necessary for the possession of the inheritance. For although righteousness does not come by the law, it must be witnessed by the law. Rom. iii. 21. In short the law was given to show them that they had not faith, and so were not true children of Abraham, and were therefore in a fair way to lose the inheritance. God would have put His law into their hearts, even as He put it into Abraham's heart, if they had believed; but when they disbelieved, yet still professed to be heirs of the promise, it was necessary to show them in the most marked manner that their unbelief was sin. The law was spoken because of transgression, or, what is the same thing, because of the unbelief of the people.

In the Hand of a Mediator .-For the present we may pass by the question of time involved in the phrase, "till the Seed should come, to whom the promise

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was made," since our present study is the relation of the law to the promise. The law was given to the people from Sinai "in the hand of a Mediator." Who was this Mediator?-There can be only one answer: "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." 1 Tim. ii. 5. "Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one." God is one, the people are the other, and Christ Jesus is the Mediator. Just as surely as God is one party to the transaction, Christ must be the Mediator, for there is no other mediator between God and men. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts iv. 12.

Christ's Work as Mediator .-Man has wandered from God, and rebelled against Him. "All we like sheep have gone astray." Our iniquities have separated between us and Him. Is. lix. 1, 2. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. viii. 7. Christ came that He might destroy the enmity, and reconcile us to God; for He is our peace. Eph. ii. 14-16. Through Him we have access to God. Rom. v. 1, 2; Eph. ii. 18. In Him the carnal mind, the rebellious mind, is taken away, and the mind of the Spirit given in its stead, "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. viii. 3, 4. Christ's work is to save that which was lost, to restore that which was broken, to reunite that which was separated. His name is "God with us;" and so with Him dwelling in us we are made "partakers of the Divine nature." 2 Peter i. 4.

The Law Not against the Promise .-"Is the law then against the promises of God?" Not by any means. Far from it? If it were, it would not be in the hands of a Mediator, Christ; for all the promises of God are in Him. 2 Cor. i. 20. So we find the law and the promise combined in Christ. We may know that the law was not and is not against the promises of God, from the fact that God gave both the promise and the law. We know also that the giving of the law introduced no new element into the covenant, since, having been confirmed, nothing could be added to or taken from it. But the law is not useless, else God would not have given it. It is not a matter of indifference whether we keep it or not, for God commands it. But all the same, it is not against the promise, and brings no new element in. Why?-Simply because the law is in the promise. The promise of the Spirit includes this: "I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." Heb. viii. 10. And this is what God indicated had been done for Abraham when "He gave him the covenant of circumcision." Read Rom. iv. 11; ii. 25-29; Phil. iii. 3.

The Law Magnifies the Promise .-The law, as already seen, is not against the promise, because it is in the promise. The promise that Abraham and his seed should inherit the world, was "through the righteousness of faith." But the law is righteousness, as God says: "Harken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law." Is. li. 7. So then, the righteousness which the law demands is the only righteousness that can inherit the promised land, but it is obtained, not by the works of the law, but by faith. The righteousness of the law is not attained by human efforts to do the law, but by faith. See Rom. ix. 30-32. Therefore the greater the righteousness which the law demands, the greater is seen to be the promise of God; for He has promised to give it to all who believe. Yea, He has sworn it. When therefore the law was spoken from Sinai, "out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice," accompanied by the sounding of the trump of God, and with the whole earth quaking at the presence of the Lord and all His holy angels, thus indicating the inconceivable greatness and majesty of the law of God, it was, to every one who remembered the oath of God, but a revelation of the wondrous greatness of God's promise; for all the righteousness which the law demands, He has sworn to give to every one who trusts Him.

Conviction of Sin and of Righteousness .-Jesus said of the Comforter, "When He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." John xvi. 8. Of Himself He said, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Mark ii. 17. "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick." A man must feel his need before he will accept help; he must know his disease before he can apply the remedy. Even so the promise of righteousness will be utterly unheeded by one who does not realise that he is a sinner. The first part of the comforting work of the Holy Spirit, therefore, is to convince men of sin. So "the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. iii. 20. He who knows that he is a sinner is in the way to acknowledge it; and "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. Thus the law is in the hands of the Spirit an active agent in inducing men to accept the fulness of the promise. No one hates the man who has saved his life by pointing out to him an unknown peril; on the contrary, such an one is regarded as a friend, and is always remembered with gratitude. Even so will the law be regarded by the one who has been prompted by its warning voice to flee from the wrath to come. He will ever say, with the psalmist, "I hate vain thoughts, but Thy law do I love."

"A Straw" The Present Truth 14, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

"Straws show which way the wind blows," and the following from the Christian serves to show that a serious storm is threatening:-

One of the difficulties of reform in the treatment of employÈs in places of business, is the fact that tradesmen anxious to introduce reforms complain that on principle competitors make it impossible. To obviate this hindrance, the Christian Social Union executive recently published little pamphlet advocating the principle of "preferential dealing," which means "the practice of purchasing goods only from tradesmen who observe the standard regulations for each trade," but as these vary, they are taken to mean "the best that can be secured at a given time in a particular locality." We must be slow to admit the principle of boycotting: but certainly some pressure should be brought to bear on such trademen as stand out against humane regulations in the treatment of those who work for them. Some men are so selfish that not until their interests are affected will they fall into line with right.

To say, "If you don't do it as I say, I'll kill you," would be considered violent language most unbecoming to a Christian; but to say, "If you don't do as we think best, we will make it impossible for you to earn a living," has now come to be reckoned quite the thing for Christians. It is in the line of the fulfilment of the prophecy in Rev. xiii. 17, of the time soon to come when no one may buy or sell "save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

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Not thus does God deal with the rebellious, and neither do His children. "I say unto you, 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 on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Matt. v. 44, 45. To deal gently with the erring, is the work of a child of God. Christ has "compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way." Heb. v. 2.

If God dealt with us as many of His professed people have thought that they ought to deal with those who did not come up to their standard, we should all have been dead long ago. How can one claim to know the Lord, when He upholds a course which emanates from the devil, and which is directly opposed to the character of God? "If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" When professed Christians use the devil's methods, and think they are serving God, what can be expected of those who do not profess to care for God? Will not the earth be filled with violence? and will there not be a time of trouble such as never was? "In the last days perilous time shall come; for men shall be lovers of their own selves." See 2 Tim. iii. 1-5.

"The Counsel of Destruction" The Present Truth 14, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

In the discussion of the House of Commons over the Army Estimates, the other day, Sir J. Ferguson complained of the contrast between the military spirit displayed by the upper, middle, and lower classes.

In the middle classes there was hardly any desire to join the Army at all, while from the working classes they did not get the real bone and sinew. Ordinary recruits were obtained with great difficulty, and only by reducing the standard. For the most part they were from the idle, unemployed classes. There was evidently something, if not very wrong, very unsatisfactory in a system which failed to attract the best portion of the working classes. It ought to be their endeavour to attract a better class of recruits to the Army.

It is a pity that there was nobody to inform the honourable members who were so earnestly discussing the absolute necessity of bringing more recruits to the ranks, that England's present strength is due to the very fact which they deplore, namely, that the Army does not get "the real bone and sinew" of the working classes. Instead of spending their time in being turned into fighting machines, and unfit for any useful occupation, "the bone and sinew" of the working classes are tilling the soil, or delving in the mines, or labouring in factories. These are the occupations that contribute to the material strength of the nation. When England or any other country, gets the bone and sinew of its labouring classes into the Army, then the day of its downfall is very near.

The reason why candidates for official rank in the Army are more numerous in proportion than those for the ordinary rank and file, is not far to seek. It is indeed two-fold. It is partly, as was stated, because the bulk of the English people do not take kindly to soldiering; they prefer staying at home and minding their own business, to marching about and gouging holes in people with whom they have no personal quarrel. And further, there is the fact pointed out by Mr. Labouchere, who said it was clear that if more men were wanted for the Army, the War Office does go into the market and compete with the trades, giving trade union wages. But nobody expects that this will ever be done; and since sensible men will not voluntarily throw their lives away without more inducement than a petty wage which no one would think of offering to an ordinary tradesman, and the Army must have more men to handle the increasing number of weapons, and to keep pace with the rest of the world, it is very evident that conscription is not far distant. Then will this country, like others, be ready for destruction: "for all the armour of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall even be for burning, for fuel of fire." Isa. ix. 5, R.V. What folly for nations to put all their strength of men and money into powder magazines and fighting machines, so that a spark will blow it all up. Yet the men who counsel thus are called wise men. Would that they would heed the words of Him who is "wonderful in counsel,"-the Prince of peace,-and be truly wise. See Ps. ii. 10-12.

"Sound Advice" The Present Truth 14, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

At one time President Lincoln, as head of the U.S. Army, was called upon to deliver a reprimand to an officer who had been tried by court-martial for quarrelling. Probably no more gentle reprimand was ever given by any officer to an inferior; but the good sense which it contained is even more noteworthy. Here it is:-

The advice of a father to son, "Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but, been in, there is it that the opposed may be aware of thee!" is good, but not the best. Quarrel not at all. No man resolve to make the most of in self can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the officiating of his temper and a loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal rights; and yield lesser ones though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog then be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.

Mr. Lincoln was hardly have read and profit by the Proverbs of Solomon. Quarrelling is one of the most senseless things in the world. To avenge an insult, or to "defend one's rights," which is considered by the world as the mark of a gentleman, is simply the mark of an untamed beast.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Owing to the fact that the next International Sunday-School Lesson is a review of the lessons of the past quarter, no notes appear this week. They will appear next week as usual, with the first lesson for the second quarter.

The Rev. George M¸ller, founder of the Ashley Down Orphan Homes, near Bristol, died on the 10th inst., in his ninety-third year. It is well know that Mr. M¸ller never made direct appeals for assistance in carrying on his philanthropic work, although about ?26,000 was required annually. Nearly one hundred and twenty-two thousand children have been cared for in the Homes since they were opened sixty-seven years ago. Mr. M¸ller was a diligent reader of the Bible, and had himself distributed about 300,000 copies.

"The World's Unrest" The Present Truth 14, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Wars and rumours of war, and preparations for war, constitute the news of the day. For the past fortnight the very air has seemed to be laden with the sound of war preparations. To begin at home, we have first

THE NAVAL ESTIMATES

for the coming year. This matter can be put no better than in Mr. Goschen's own words in the House of Commons. He said:-

I rise to ask this House to grant a colossal sum for the Navy Estimates. That sum is ?28,780,000: but that does not represent the total projected expenditure on naval services. To that must be added ?1,775,000, which will be spent under the Naval Works Act. Thus the total sum that have to administer will amount to ?25,550,000. The House will, I hope, appreciate the sense of responsibility under which I propose those estimates. (Hear, hear.) I have no doubt of the readiness of this House to grant these sums. In fact, if I have any doubt, it is whether in some quarters they will think that I have not asked enough.

This, it must be remembered, is not an emergency appropriation, but the regular yearly expenditure on the navy. Of course it is an increase over last year's amount, but there is a complaint that we are now ?3,000,000 behind in the matter of ships. The following vessels will be under construction, or completed, during the coming financial year: 12 battleships, 16 first-class cruisers, 6 second-class cruisers, 10 third-class cruisers, 6 sloops, 4 twin-screw gunboats, 41 torpedo-boat destroyers, Royal yacht.

THE FAR EAST

It is in China that the interest of the Powers of Europe now centres. Russia has demanded that "China shall surrender her sovereign rights over Port Arthur and Talein-wan for the same term of years and on the same conditions as granted to Germany in the case of Kiao Chao." The time stated is ninety-nine years, which of course means for ever. There have been strong protests, of course, but no one doubts that China will accede to Russia's demands. She cannot do otherwise. This, with the railway privileges that Russia demands, gives that country absolute control over the whole of northern China. All the English journals regard the situation as very grave, the general opinion being that affairs are at a crisis "more pronounced and more dangerous than any that has darkened the horizon of international politics for years." The feeling may be gathering from the following extract from the Daily Mail:-

The causes that have led to this conjunction of events are not temporary or local. The present crisis may pass-its causes will remain.

These are the growing jealousies of some Continental Governments, and their determination to squeeze Great Britain out of her seat at the head of the world's feast. Is this a time, then, to slacken in the business of fleet making? Is it not a time, indeed, when our efforts should be doubled and trebled, until even the rashest and most foolhardy rival gives up the hope of successful attack in despair, or attacks only to be crushed.

RUSSIAN WAR MOVEMENTS

An Imperial Ukase has been issued ordering the disbursement of 90,000,000 roubles (over ?9,000,000) as extraordinary expenditure for the construction of warships. At the same time Russia is largely increasing her army in the Caucasus. More than 15,000 men have been sent to reinforce the regular troops on the Turkish frontier. Several heavy guns, and twelve heavy fortress guns have been sent to the same district, and more are to follow. Besides, many thousand men, and several batteries of artillery, have been sent to the far East.

Japan is of course greatly interested in every movement towards partitioning China, and is pushing her war preparations. The Pekin correspondent of the Tageblatt states that Japan refuses to evacuate Weikaiwei in May, as previously agreed, owing to the fear that if it does so the war indemnity may remain indefinitely unpaid.

The Daily Graphic says: "It may not be without significance to point out that Germany proposes to have in hand during the coming year five battleships and a considerable number of cruisers; that France, while not neglecting battleships, has laid down, or is about to lay down, nine armoured cruisers of large and powerful character; and that Russia is giving signs of even greater activity." The moral which it draws is that the British Admiralty must see that no strikes were allowed to delay ship construction and thus endanger our naval supremacy.

TURKEY ALSO ACTIVE

Following is the statement of the situation in this quarter:-

The Porte has decided to buy 5,000 Russian horses for military purposes. Preparations for an eventual mobilisation are still being made. At the present moment there are as many as sixty-four and a half regiments of the Hamidish cavalry. The reinforcements and the garrisons in Macedonia, which have been taken from the armies of occupation in Thessaly and Epirus, amount to eleven battalions and two batteries. There are now about 100,000 Ottoman troops in Thessaly.

THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN

Although no official statement has been made concerning the Maine disaster, the opinion prevails that it was due to external causes, in which case peremptory demands for reparations will be made upon Spain. In view of this, Congress has without a dissenting voice passed a bill appropriation $500,000,000 (?10,000,000) to be placed that the President's disposal, for battleships, naval supplies, and men. The most active preparations for war are being made.

These are not "alarmist" statements, but simple items of news; but whoever can read them without echoing the words of the prophet is in a condition of pitiable indifference:-

"I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried." Jer. iv. 19, 20.

Some profess to see in these war preparations the assurance of peace. "But there is no peace" until the coming of Him who maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth, by destroying all the armies of earth, and all who take the sword.

March 24, 1898

"Elijah's Gospel and Ours" The Present Truth 14, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

In the work of Elijah, the prophet of God, we have an instructive example of preaching the Gospel "in demonstration of the Spirit and power." In a time when Israel's king, Ahab, "did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him," and had openly established the worship of Baal at the court, so that the influence of the royal family was tending to lead the people into a idolatry, Elijah bore his testimony faithfully in behalf of the true God. His work reached its climax in the experience at Carmel, as set forth in 1 Kings xviii. 17-39.

ELIJAH SENT TO AHAB

After the years of drought, during which Elijah had been hidden from the king and miraculously fed by the Lord, "the Word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go show thyself unto Ahab." "And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him."

THE TEST

Then the test was arranged in accordance with the terms of which the prophets of Baal were to prepare a sacrifice, and then Elijah was to do the same, "and the God that answereth by fire, let Him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken."

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So the plans were carried out, and although the prophets of Baal "called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon," and "prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, . . . there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded." Then Elijah "build an altar in the name of the Lord," and offered a brief prayer recorded in verses 36, 37, and "then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the sacrifice." "And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord He is the God; the Lord He is the God."

THE QUESTION FOR DECISION

The question to be decided then was, Who is the true God? and the Lord so revealed Himself in the ministry of His servant, Elijah, that the people were given an opportunity to see the difference between the true and false, and to make an intelligent decision in the matter. This was the Gospel as preached by Elijah. He pointed out that the real essence of idolatry was in forsaking the commandments of the Lord, and then in his ministry he revealed "the power of God unto salvation;" that power which would be sufficient to keep the people from forsaking or breaking the commandments of the Lord.

The same question has been before the children of men since the days of Adam, Who is God? and in every generation men have said with Pharaoh, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?" But in all these years the Lord has had His faithful servants who were preaching His Gospel, declaring His Word to all the people, giving all an opportunity to choose between the true and false.

THE SAME THING IN CHRIST'S DAY

A departure from the true God reveals itself in different ways at different times in the development of "the great controversy between Christ and Satan." In Elijah's time it showed itself in making "a grove" and in the open worship of a false god under a distinct name; at the time of the first advent of our Lord it showed itself in substituting the authority of man, "the tradition of the elders," in the place of the Word of God in matters of faith and practice. It was with reference to this very thing that Jesus said: "Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men." Mark vii. 6-8. To walk "according to the tradition of the elders," when it is done knowingly, instead of according to the commandment of God, even though it is done by those who at the same time profess to be the children of God, is just as much a vain worship as to fall down before an image which is "a doctrine of vanities."

JOHN THE BAPTIST AND ELIJAH

Inasmuch, therefore, as there was the same departure from God at a time when the first advent of our Lord was drawing near as there was in the days of Elijah, although it was manifested with a different outward form, it was necessary that the same Gospel should again be preached with the same power. And so the Lord had said, through the prophet Malachi: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Mal. iv. 5, 6. In Elijah's time they forsook the commandments of God and openly worshipped another God, under another name. In Christ's time they have forsaken the commandments of God, even though professing great regard for them, and had substituted the "tradition of the elders" in their place. The principle of departing from God by forsaking His commandments was the same. And so the needed Gospel message was sent by John the Baptist, of whom it was said: "And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God [just as Elijah did]. And he shall go before Him in the Spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Luke i. 16, 17. And in the course of His ministry Christ said of John: "And if ye are willing to receive him, this is Elijah, which is to come." Matt. xi. 14, R.V.

THE GOSPEL IN JOHN'S DAY

In preaching the Gospel, the special message which was given to him to deliver, John the Baptist faithfully rebuked the people, even those who professed to be teachers of religion, for their departure from God; warned them against trusting in man for salvation (Matt. iii. 7-10); and urged them "that they should believe on Him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." Acts xix. 4. In doing this He was simply declaring the message due at that time, which he had found in the prophet Isaiah, "Behold your God! Behold the Lord God will come." Isa. xl. 9, 10. Thus was fulfilled the command, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord. . . . And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed." Isa. xl. 3-5.

THE APOSTASY AND THE GOSPEL IN THE LAST DAYS

But now the second advent of our Lord draws nigh, and the present situation is thus described by the Scripture: "This know also that in the last days perilous time shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, . . . lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." 2 Tim. iii. 1-5. By way of further description we also read: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of the devils." 1 Tim. iv. 1. The "falling away" has come, as foretold by the great apostle to the Gentiles, the "man of sin" has been revealed, "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." 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4.

And as previous to the first advent of Christ a message went forth "in the Spirit and power of Elias" to those of whom Christ spoke as "not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God" (Matt. xxii. 29), although they made a great deal of the "form of godliness," so now in messages going forth, "the everlasting Gospel," in fulfilment of the prophecy, "to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. xiv. 6, 7.

A careful reading of the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Revelation will show that it is describing a time when worship is being directed to some other than the true God (Rev. xiii. 4, 8, 12, 15; Chap. xiv. 9-10), and just then "the everlasting Gospel" is preached "with a loud voice," just as in the time of Elijah and of John the Baptist, urging the worship of

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the true God. That the issue at stake now is the same as of old, is shown from the fact that those who receive this special message of "the everlasting Gospel" are described in verse 12 as following: "Here are they that keep the commandments of God." In Elijah's time they forsook the commandments of God and followed Baal; in the time of John the Baptist they "reject the commandment of God" and follow the "tradition of the elder;" in our time there is "the form of godliness" without the power, and the same putting of the authority of man in the place of the plain Word of God. In all three cases God sends forth His Gospel message of warning, with a revealing of His power, in order that men may be "without excuse."

"JEHOVAH, HE IS GOD"

But there is a special force in the fact that the Gospel message now calls upon all men to "worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." This demands a recognition of God as the Creator all things, and the "worship" which He requires is the worship of obedience. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3. But which commandment reveals God as Creator? The fourth, in which He says, "the seventh [not the first] day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. . . . For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is [compare Rev. xiv. 7], and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Ex. xx. 10, 11. God thus reveals Himself as the Creator of all things, and commands us to "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," because our only hope of salvation is in His creative power. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 8-10. "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it: . . . I am the Lord; and there is none else. . . . Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. . . . Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else." Isa. xlv. 18-22. He alone can save who can create, and that we may know Him as the Creator, and so know Him has "God of Israel, the Saviour," He has given us His Sabbath. "And hallow My Sabbaths and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I and the Lord your God." Eze. xx. 20. To know Him as the One who creates is to know Him as the One who sanctifies, and so the Lord says further: "Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I and the Lord that doth sanctify them." Eze. xx. 12.

THE SABBATH THE SIGN

"The Lord Jehovah's Sabbath" is the seventh day of the week (Saturday) and not the first day of the week (Sunday). And the observance of the seventh day of the week (Saturday) is our recognition of the true God, "who created all things by Jesus Christ," and our acknowledgement of our dependence upon, and trust in Him for salvation. It is the outward sign of our having entered into His rest through faith, of our having ceased from our own works as He did from His.

The observance of Sunday as a sacred day, or as being of any significance in the religion of Jesus Christ, rests upon no Scriptural authority and is a forsaking of the commandment of God, and a following of the traditions of men, just as truly as was the worship of Baal in Elijah's time, or "the washing of pots and cups" by the Pharisees. But the Elijah message is also going forth, saying now as of old, "If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him." "By their fruits ye shall know them. Not everyone 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." Matt. vii. 20, 21. Oh, that each one who reads these lines would say as did Joshua of old: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

"A Princely Gospel Worker" The Present Truth 14, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

A series of evangelistic meetings is being held in Copenhagen by Prince Oscar Bernadotte, second son of the King of Sweden. The Prince has long been an earnest Gospel worker. It is not a common thing to see or hear of an earthly prince preaching the Gospel, for "not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called;" yet no king on earth occupies so high a position as the most humble, true preacher of the Gospel. To be the ambassador of the King of kings is greater than to be a king.

"Baptizing Believers" The Present Truth 14, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

THE GAOLER'S HOUSEHOLD

Among the last words of Jesus to His disciples were these: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark xvi. 16. The reader cannot fail to notice that not only is believing made the condition of baptism, but it is the essential thing, which cannot be omitted. Believing and being baptized are the conditions of salvation, and he that believeth not shall be condemned. Without in the least depreciating the importance of baptism, it may be stated that there are instances where it is impossible for a person to be baptized; so the Saviour did not say that he that is not baptized shall be damned, but only he that does not believe.

The difference can readily be seen: in order to be baptized, a person must depend on another; he cannot baptize himself, no matter how much he desires baptism; but he depends on nobody else for believing. The Lord shows, therefore, that while baptism follows belief, and is of no value whatever without it, if the true belief is present the person will be saved, even though in an extreme case circumstances might render the active baptism impossible. Unbelief makes the formal act of baptism valueless; but nothing can invalidate true faith.

Faith therefore is the essential thing. When Philip preached Jesus to the eunuch, and the latter said, "What does hinder me to be baptized?" Philip answered, "If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest," thus indicating that it would be sin to be baptized without believing; for "whatsoever is not a faith is sin." Rom. xiv. 23.

But "the Church," not of Christ, but that which sets itself above Christ, has wholly reversed this order, making the act of baptism, or rather, a substitute for baptism, the essential thing, and faith entirely secondary. Thus it professes to baptize infants, who do not know what is being done to them, and makes their salvation dependent upon the performance of this rite. Then to satisfy those who wish to have the Bible at least named in connection with any religious practice upon

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which they are determined, they refer to those instances in the Bible where someone was baptized together with his "whole house." Of course this proves nothing for infant sprinkling, since the Bible does not contradict itself; nevertheless many people are satisfied to assume that there "must have been" some babies in the house, who were "baptized" without believing.

Let us examine one of these cases, that of the gaoler at Philippi. Awakened by the earthquake which opened the prison doors, and assured by Paul that no prisoners had escaped, he "came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved and thy house." Acts xvi. 29-31.

One who does not read the entire passage, or who does not observe as he reads, might assume, as many do, although without reason, that the apostle assured the gaoler that if he believed both he and his house would be saved. What the text really says, is that both he and his house should believe, and so be saved. This is shown from the context.

Thus, the next verse tells us that "they spake unto him the Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house." This shows that all who were in his house were capable of hearing the Word of the Lord. Why did the apostle speak the Word of the Lord? In order that those who heard might believe; for "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Rom. x. 17. The fact that the apostle spoke the Word of the Lord to all that were in the house, shows that all were capable of hearing the Word; and that shows that all could believe. If it had been only the gaoler himself who was to believe, there would have been no need of their speaking the Word to the others.

The next verse tells us that the gaoler "took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway." This shows that the Word was not spoken in vain, and that all who heard it believed, and so had a right to be baptized, according to the directions of Christ.

Does anybody say that we are guilty of indulging in assumption, when we say that the fact that all were baptized after having heard the Word of the Lord, shows that they all believed? Let us then read first 34: "And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." There we have the whole of the matter. This proves positively that when Paul said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved, and thy house," all were included in the believing as well as in the promised salvation. We see that what he said was really this: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved; and the same is true of all your house." Paul preached the Word to them all, in order that they might know what to believe, and then when all believed, they were all baptized.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. From Prison to a Palace" The Present Truth 14, 12.

E. J. Waggoner

Before proceeding to the close of this wonderful third chapter of Galatians, let us take a brief survey of the ground thus far covered in the chapter, that we may see just where we are.

Beginning with an expression of astonishment that the Galatians should be so foolish as to suppose that they themselves could perfect the mighty work which only the Spirit could begin, and that they could be induced to depart from the truth after they had seen Christ crucified among them, the Apostle at once brings them to the case of Abraham, which at once settles the whole question of the method of salvation, and that for all people. They themselves had received the Spirit of righteousness by faith, "even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 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 are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham."

The blessing, we have seen, is the blessing of freedom from sin; but "as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse," since the curse is upon all who do not continue in the book of the law, to do them, and "there is none that doeth good." So all are in sin; but "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us," in hanging on the cross. He has redeemed us from the curse, that is, from the transgression of the law, in order that the blessing of Abraham might come on us, as upon all Gentiles, through faith. Faith in Christ crucified brings us into relationship with Abraham, and makes us sharers of his blessing, and no soul can ever get or hope for anything more. The blessing of Abraham is freedom from sin, through the Spirit of truth, who convinces the world of sin and of righteousness; and he who is free from sin is an heir of the sinless inheritance, even the "new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." This is the promise of the Spirit.

How sure is this promise?-It is as sure as God's existence, for it was confirmed by an oath of God in Christ, and even a man's covenant, when it is once confirmed, cannot be changed in any particular, or added to; much less then can God's covenant, confirmed by His oath, be changed.

When was it confirmed?-It was confirmed to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the law from Sinai. Moreover it was made sure in Christ, who is the Seed, and the only seed, of Abraham. Therefore the speaking of the law four hundred and thirty years later cannot in any way affect the covenant, which was that righteousness and the everlasting inheritance of righteousness should be given to Abraham and his seed. The inheritance is not at all through the law, but solely by

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promise, "through the righteousness of faith."

What then is the use of the law?-It was given because of transgression, because of lack of faith, as a witness to the fact that the seed of Abraham were in danger of losing the inheritance, and to show them the measure of the righteousness which they must have by faith. But it was in no sense against the promise of God to give them righteousness, since it was "in the hand of a Mediator," even "the Man Christ Jesus," who is the "One Mediator between God and men." The promise contained the law, and does still contain it, so that the law, however loudly it thunders its infinite demands, simply shows us the greatness of the righteousness which God freely gives us in Christ. This office the law performs until the Seed comes, to whom the promise was made. This last fact, however, belongs to our present study. We come now to

THE TEXT FOR THE WEEK

"But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. iii. 22-29.

All Shut Up in Prison .-Note the similarity between verses 8 and 22. "The Scripture hath concluded [that is, shut up], that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." "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." We see that the Gospel is preached by the same thing-the Scripture-that shuts men up under sin. The word "conclude" means literally, "shut up," just as is given in verse 23. Of course a person who is shut up by the law is in prison. In human governments a criminal is shut up as soon as the law can get hold of him; God's law is everywhere present, and always acted, and therefore the instant a man sins he is shut up. This is the condition of all the world, "For all have sinned," and "there is none righteous, no, not one."

"Under the Law." -"Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed." We know that "whatsoever is not a faith is sin" (Rom. xiv. 23); therefore to be "under the law" is identical with being "under sin." Let us get this clearly in mind. The Scripture hath shut up all under sin. What for?-"That the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." Thus we see that those who are shut up under sin are those who are not of faith. But until faith comes, we are kept shut up under the law. Now since we are under the law until faith comes, and whatsoever is not a faith is sin, it is evident that to be under the law means to be under sin. Those who are under the law, therefore, are those who are transgressing it.

The Law a Gaoler .-"So that the law hath been out tutor unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." Verse 24, R.V. The words "to bring us" are marked both in the old version and the new as having been added to the text, so that we have dropped them out. It really makes no material difference with the sense whether they are retained or omitted. It will be noticed also that the new version has "tutor" in the place of "schoolmaster." The sense is much better conveyed by the word that is used in the German and Scandinavian translations, which signifies "master of the house of correction." The single word in our language corresponding to it would be gaoler. The Greek word is the word which transliterated is "pedagogue." The word has come to be used as meaning "schoolmaster," although the Greek word has not at all the idea of a schoolmaster. "Taskmaster" would be better. The idea here is rather that of a guard who accompanies a prisoner who is allowed to walk about outside the prison walls. The prisoner, although nominally at large, is really deprived of his liberty just the same as though he were actually in a cell. But without stopping longer over words, we have the fact stated that all who do not believe are "under sin," "shut up," "under the law," and that therefore the law acts as their gaoler. It is that that shuts them in, and will not let them off; the guilty cannot escape their guilt. God is merciful and gracious, but He will not clear the guilty. Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7. That is, He will not lie, by calling evil good.

Only One Door .-Christ says, "I am the door." John x. 7, 9. He is also the sheepfold and the Shepherd. Men fancy that when they are outside the fold they are free, and that to come into the fold would mean a curtailing of their liberty; but it is exactly the reverse. Outside of Christ is bondage, in Him alone is their freedom. Outside of Christ, the man is in prison, "holden with the cords of sins." Prov. v. 23. "The strength of sin is the law." It is the law that declares him to be a sinner, and makes him conscious of his condition. "By the law is the knowledge of sin;" and "sin is not imputed where there is no law." Rom. iii. 20; v. 13. The law really forms the sinner's prison walls. They close in on him, making him feel uncomfortable, oppressing him with a sense of sin, as though they would press his life out. In vain he makes frantic efforts to escape. Those commandments stand as firm as the everlasting hills. Whichever way he turns he finds the commandment which says to him, "You can find no freedom by me, for you have sinned. "If he seeks to make friends with the law, and promises to keep it, he is no better off, for his sins still remain. It goads him and drives him to the only way of escape-"the promise by faith in Jesus Christ." In Christ he is made "free indeed," for in Christ he is made the righteousness of God.

The Law Preaches the Gospel. -"But," says one, "the law says nothing of Christ." No; but all creation does speak of Christ, proclaiming the power of His salvation. We have seen that the cross of Christ, "Christ and Him crucified," is to be seen in every leaf of the forest, and, indeed, in everything that exists. Not only so, but every fiber of man's being cries out for Christ. Men do not realise it, but Christ is "the Desire of all nations." It is He alone that "satisfies the desire of every living thing." Only in Him can relief be found for the world's unrest and longing. Now since Christ, in whom is peace, "for He is our peace," is seeking the weary and heavy-laden, and calling them to Himself, and every man has longings that nothing else in the world can

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satisfy, it is evident that if the man is awakened by the law to keener consciousness of his condition, and the law continues goading him, giving him no rest, and shutting up every other way of escape, the man must at last find the Door of safety. In Christ alone will the sinner find release from the lash of the law, for in Christ the righteousness of the law is fulfilled, and by Him it is fulfilled in us. Rom. viii. 4.

Faith Emancipates. -When faith comes we are no longer under the goaler, no longer in prison. "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." No longer slaves in chains, to be cast out, but sons, to be received into the Father's presence as rightful members of the family, and heirs of all that He possesses. Faith is freedom, for the Spirit is given to all that believe (John vii. 39); Eph. i. 13), and "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. iii. 17).

When Does Faith Come? -Strangely enough, many have supposed that there was a definite time fixed for faith to come. This passage has been "interpreted" to mean that men were under the law until a certain time in the history of the world, and that at that time faith came, and then they were henceforth free from the law. The coming of faith they make synonymous with the manifestation of Christ on earth. We can not say that anybody ever thought so, for such an "interpretation" indicates utter absence of thought about the matter. It would make men to be saved in bulk, regardless of any concurrence on their part. It would have it that up to a certain time all were in bondage under the law, and that from that time henceforth all were free from sin. A man's salvation would, therefore, depend simply on the accident of birth. If he lived before a certain time, he would be lost; if after, he would be saved. Such an absurdity need not take more of our time than the statement of it. No one can seriously think of the idea that the apostle is here speaking of a fixed, definite point of time in the history of the world, dividing between two so-called "dispensations," without at once abandoning it.

When, then, does faith come? "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Rom. x. 17. Whenever a man receives the Word of God, the word of promise, which brings with it the fullness of the law, and no longer fights against it, but yields to it, then faith comes to him. Read the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, and you will see that faith came from the beginning. Since the days of Abel, men have found freedom by faith. The only time fixed is "Now," "To-day." "Now is the accepted time." "To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."

How Great Is This Freedom? -What is the freedom that comes by faith? That is easily settled by a few texts of Scripture. Christ dwells in the heart by faith, and makes one comprehend "the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." Eph. iii. 18, 19. This is the "large place" in which Christ causes the believer to walk at liberty. The whole universe is His. "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 He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death." Ps. cii. 19, 20. For "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," "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion." Eph. ii. 4-7; 1:20, 21. This is "the glorious liberty of the children of God," the liberty to which the law shuts us up, and towards which it drives us. So emphatically is it true that the law is not against the promise.

Putting on Christ by Baptism. -"As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?" Rom. vi. 3. It is by His death that Christ redeems us from the curse of the law; but we must die with Him. Baptism is "the likeness of His death." We rise to walk "in newness of life," even Christ's life. See Gal. ii. 20. Having put on Christ, we are one in Him. We are completely identified with Him. Our identity is lost in His. It is often said of one who has been converted, "He is so changed you would not know him; he is not the same man." No, he is not. God has turned him into "another man." Therefore, being one with Christ, he has a right to whatever Christ has, and a right to "the heavenly places" where Christ sits. From the prison house of sin, he is exalted to the dwelling-place of God. This of course presupposes that baptism is with him a reality, not a mere outward form. It is not simply into the visible water that he is baptized, but "into Christ," into His life.

One in Christ, the Seed. -"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." "There is no difference." This is the keynote of the Gospel. All are alike sinners, and all are saved in the same way. They who would make a distinction on the ground of nationality, claiming that there is something different for the Jew than for the Gentile, might just as well make a difference on the ground of sex, claiming that women can not be saved in the same way and at the same time as men, or that a servant can not be saved in the same way as his master. No; there is but one way, and all human beings, of whatever race or condition, are equal before God. "Ye are all one in Christ Jesus," and Christ is the One. So it is that "He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ." "But ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." There is but one seed, but it embraces all who are Christ's.

Christ not for Himself. -Christ did not live and die for Himself. It was not necessary that He should bear the curse of the earth in order to possess it as God; for it never passed out of God's ownership. Christ came as the Son of man, to win back as man, for man, that which man had lost. "He taketh on Him the seed of Abraham." Therefore it is that it is impossible that the seed should be complete in Jesus alone, as a single individual. He is the representative man. God's purpose is to "gather together in one all things in Christ." Eph. i. 10. So the seed includes every soul who can be induced to accept the Lord Jesus, and become one with Him. And this gives the glorious assurance that whatever He has is ours.

"Until the Seed Should Come." -It needs not many words now to determine what is meant by the phrase, "till the seed should come to whom the promise

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was made." We know what the seed is,-all who are Christ's,-and we know that it has not yet come in its fulness. To be sure, Christ was once manifested on earth in the flesh, but He did not receive the promised inheritance, any more than Abraham did. Abraham had not so much as to put his foot on (Acts vii. 5), and Christ had not where to lay His head. Moreover, Christ can not come into the inheritance until Abraham does also, for the promise was "to Abraham and to his seed." The Lord by the prophet Ezekiel spoke of the inheritance at the time when David ceased to have a representative on his throne on earth, and He foretold the overthrow of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, in these words: "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. 26, 27.

So Christ sits on His Father's throne, "from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool." Soon will He come, but not until the last soul has accepted Him that can by any possibility be induced to accept salvation. When He comes to execute judgment, and to slay those who said, "We will not have this Man to reign over us," He comes "with ten thousands of His holy ones." Jude 14.

Then will the Seed be complete, and the promise will be fulfilled. And until that time the law will faithfully perform its task of stirring up and pricking the consciences of sinners, giving them no rest until they become identified with Christ, or cast Him off altogether. Do you accept the terms? Will you cease your complaints against the law which would save you from sinking into a fatal sleep? and will you in Christ accept its righteousness? Then, as Abraham's seed, and an heir according to the promise, you can rejoice in your freedom from the bondage of sin, singing:-

"I'm the child of a King,
The child of a King,
With Jesus my Saviour,
I'm the child of a King."

March 31, 1898

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Resurrection of Jesus. Mark xvi. 1-8" The Present Truth 14, 13.

E. J. Waggoner

APRIL 10

The details of the record are of interest, but the central teaching of this lesson is found in the words of the "young man" (an angel, Matt. xxviii 5), who said: "Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: He is risen; He is not here." Let us study once more the resurrection of Jesus and its meaning to us. It is not sufficient to know of the resurrection as an historical fact, to which we give our assent after weighing the evidence. There is abundant evidence to the truthfulness of the record, but we must know the resurrection in a deeper sense than this. It was as "the Son of man," "the second Man," "the last Adam," that Jesus passed through all His experiences upon the earth, including His death and resurrection. When "the Word was made flesh," Jesus, took the place of humanity as its representative, being "born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them which were under the law." Gal. iv. 4, 5, R.V. Our acceptance of His work in our behalf is more than to believe that He passed through certain experiences; it is to enter into those experiences with Him. We do not simply believe that Jesus was crucified, but we believe on the crucified Jesus. We do not simply believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, but we believe on the risen Jesus. And this faith consists in receiving Him as the crucified and risen Jesus, a real union with Him in the experience of death and resurrection. Let us then consider, from this standpoint, something of the fulness of the meaning of the resurrection.

THE RESURRECTION THE SOURCE OF ALL HOPE

And first we will note that everything in the way of salvation depends upon the resurrection. "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins." 1 Cor. xv. 17. He "was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." Rom. iv. 25. These Scriptures make it clear that our hope rests wholly in the resurrection, but a consideration of some other passages may enable us to enter more fully into the meaning, of this teaching. The curse, which was death, was upon man, and in taking his place, Jesus took the curse of death upon Himself. We do not see man in the place of honour, where he was first put, as he has fallen through sin, "but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." Heb. ii. 9.

But life for us depends not simply upon the fact that He bore the curse of death for us, but our hope centres in the fact that He was able to do this and still live. "Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of death and of Hades." Rev. i. 17, 18, R.V. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James i. 15), which is the curse, and so our sins caused the death of Christ, "who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree," but since He "did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth," He was able to pay the penalty for our sins and pass through the grave. Being without sin, there was no sting in His death, and so God raised Him up, "because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." Jesus Himself said: "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." John x. 17, 18. But this "power" grew out of the fact that He was free from sin, since sin is the only thing which can take life from anyone.

Now our life depends upon His life. "We shall be saved by His life." "Because I live, ye shall live also." Therefore if death had conquered Him and the grave had held Him, death would still be a conqueror, and every tomb would be an eternal prison house; but "when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away," and the young man said unto them, "He is risen; He is not here." Thus was the stone rolled away from the door of every tomb, and no grave can hold any member of the human family when is heard the voice of Him who has "the keys of death and of Hades." "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all no made alive." 1 Cor. xv. 23.

So plain is it that all our hope of life has its foundation in the grand truth that "He is risen; He is not here."

CHRIST THE REPRESENTATIVE MAN

Now we come to the representative character of the work of Christ for us, and our personal relation to His experiences.

We have already pointed out that it was as the second head of the human family, taking the place of him who had failed, that He lived and died. Now our acceptance of Him as a personal Saviour from sin involves the acceptance of all His experiences for us, and our union with Him in those experiences. Thus we read in the Scripture: "For the love of Christ constraineth us: because we thus judge, that One died for all, therefore all died." 2 Cor. v. 14, R.V. "I have been crucified with Christ." Gal. ii. 20, R.V. "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 in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Eph. ii. 4-7.

It thus appears that when Christ died, "all died," because in His representative capacity He was the whole human family, and that when God raised Him from the dead, He "raised us up together," for the same reason.

But all these benefits are only temporary, unless they are received through faith. It is by the cross, the death and resurrection of Christ, that all men live, whether saints or sinners, and so all are sharing in the benefits of His work now, and all will come forth from their graves because of the resurrection of Christ; but it is only those who receive these benefits by a personal faith in Jesus as the One through whom they come, who will be able to retain them to all eternity, God has "blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," but we must acknowledge that these blessings are all in Christ and that they are received and retained only as we receive Him, else we shall not be able to keep that which God has given to us.

So it is with the resurrection. The curse, which is death, is upon all, and yet men live, because Christ bore the curse upon the cross, and "being raised from the dead, dieth no more." But this brief period of life is granted simply as a time of probation, a time in which to accept by personal faith in a risen Redeemer the blessings which have been provided "in Him," that so His work may avail for us to all eternity. "We were buried therefore with Him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with the likeness of His death, we shall be also with the likeness of His resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him; knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died unto sin once: but the life that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus." Rom. vi. 4-11, R.V.

This is simply the experience of receiving Christ as a crucified and risen Saviour. It is a practical statement of what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is to "know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death." Phil. iii. 10.

WHAT THE RESURRECTION MEANS TO US

What then does the resurrection mean to us? It means, first of all, our acceptance of the death of Christ for us and our death in Him; and then it means His

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resurrection and our participation in His resurrection life, as a daily experience. It means that, our interests have been transferred to the heavenly kingdom, and that we have been made to "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." And so we are exhorted: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Jesus sitteth on the right hand of God." Col. iii. 1. It means a victory over the world through our faith in His resurrection life (1 John v. 4), and a final and complete victory over that last enemy which is death. "The dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. . . . Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? But thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. xv. 52-57.

So let the word be on our tongues, and the experience of the life of it in our hearts, "He is risen!"

As in nature, as in art, so in grace; it is rough treatment that gives souls, as well as stones, their lustre. The more the diamond is cut, the brighter it sparkles; and in what seems hard dealing, there God has no end in view but to perfect His people.

April 28, 1898

"The Value of Praise" The Present Truth 14, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

PRAISE, THE STRONGEST ARGUMENT

According to the Scriptures, the strongest argument against all opposition to the truth of God, is praise. This appears plainly from the eighth psalm. We quote from the Revised Version:-

"O Lord, our Lord,
How exellent is Thy name in all the earth!
Who has set Thy glory upon the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast
Thou established strength,
Because of Thine adversaries,
That Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger."

From the mouths of babes and sucklings comes a power that is sufficient to stop the mouths of the enemies of the Lord. But little children cannot argue and discuss; if they attempted, their reasoning is feeble, and the effect is painful, because it is unnatural for them, and out place. What does naturally come from the mouths of children?-Praise, gladsome praise, and joy. This is seemly, and is the power that can stop the mouths of enemies.

This is not merely our conclusion. We have the words of the Lord for it. When the children cried in the temple, as Jesus entered it after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and said, "Hosanna to the Son of David," and the priests were displeased, Jesus said to them, "Have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou has perfected praise?" Matt. xxi. 16. Thus we have Christ Himself as authority for the statement that the "power" mentioned in the eighth psalm is praise.

It is difficult to frame an argument to which a shrewd man cannot make some plausible reply, a reply at least plausible enough to cover his retreat. But who can frame an argument against praise? There is nothing to reply to. Even the enemy's anger against the truth and the one who holds it, must to some extent be appeased, because "a soft answer turneth away wrath." Then let us use the argument of praise more and more. Aye, let us learn how to use it to the exclusion of everything else.

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High." Ps. xcii. 1. "Praise ye the Lord; for it good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is

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comely." Ps. cxlvii. 1. "Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people, and praise Him in the assembly of the elders."

WHO MAY PRAISE THE LORD?

A strange question! some may say. Yes, it is a strange question, but not an unnecessary one, since there are many poor souls who do not dare praise the Lord, because they think that they are not good enough to do so. They pray to the Lord, the best they know how, and they have the most sincere desire to serve Him, but they do not dare venture to praise Him. Well, one sentence is enough to answer the question that we have asked, and it is this: "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord." Ps. cl. 6.

The poor, unworthy people may praise the Lord? Nay, not may; that is too feeble; they must. If you will persist in regarding the words, "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord," as merely a permission, and not as the commandment that it is, then read the 117th psalm:-

"O praise Jehovah, all ye heathen,
Laud Him all ye nations!
For His goodness rules powerfully over us,
And Jehovah's faithfullness is ever-enduring!
Hallelujah."
(Hallelujah means "Praise ye Jehovah!")

The very heathen, wickedest people in the world, are called upon to praise the Lord. Well, why not? They are the ones who most of all need to praise the Lord. The more wicked a man is, the more need there is that he should praise the Lord. If the heathen should praise the Lord, they would at once cease to be heathen. Praise is worship, and they who worship the Lord are righteous. So it is to the unworthy and the wicked that the command is specially directed, "Praise ye Lord!" The others are doing it already.

SALVATION AND PRAISE

In the fiftieth psalm, last verse, we read these words of the Lord: "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I show the salvation of God." Of course the reader knows that the word "conversation," as commonly used in the Bible, means "way, manner of life." But there is more to be said about this verse. In the Hebrew text there are not nearly so many words as appear in the English, and if only the very words that appear in the Hebrew were translated, with no additions, we should have the text as indicated in the margin of the Revised Version, thus:-

"Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me, and prepareth a way that I may show him the salvation of God."

Here, then, we have an answer to the question, "What must I do to be saved?" The answer is, "Praise the Lord." And what then? Keep on praising the Lord, He who begins to praise the Lord, and continues to praise Him, will as surely be saved day by day and for ever, as the sun shines in the heavens, or as God lives. Let us see how this may be; it is not difficult to understand.

If one is thanking and praising the Lord, that one is certainly not sinning against Him, is he? One cannot praise the Lord, and at the same time blaspheme His name, or in any way speak slightingly of Him. The mere statement of the case proves it: He who praises the Lord serves Him. The highest angels in heaven do no more than this. The living beings that are nearest to God, forming part of His throne, "rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." Rev. iv. 8.

PRAISE IS THE MOST NATURAL THING

The fact that praise brings salvation will appear more vividly when we think of this phase of the subject, that praise is the easiest and most natural thing in the world. If all men, the ungodly man, would act in harmony even with their own standard of common civility, they would be continually praising the Lord, and would be saved. It is universally recognised that when a person receives a gift he ought to thank the giver. The wickedest man, the one who will rage the most at the name of God, will thank you if you do him a favour. Hand an infidel any book that he wishes to read, or answer his inquiry as to the right road to take, and he will thank you. If he comes down to breakfast in the morning and finds a bouquet of fresh flowers at his plate, his first thought will be to ask who gave them to him, and his next will be to thank the one who so kindly remembered him. Every man will do these things, and there is no one who would not feel that it was a gross breach of politeness to fail to recognise favours bestowed.

Very well, let each one simply be consistent. Let him not discriminate, and give thanks for some things, and neglect to do so for others. Above all things, let him not say "Thank you" for little things, and say not a word for the greatest favours. "Of course not! Who would be so foolish?" Let us see. You come to the table, and find food. How did it come there? The good housewife placed it there, to be sure; but she did not make it. No man on earth could make a grain of corn. No man can make fruit grow from the ground. All that any man can do is to watch it. It is God that "causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man; that He may bring forth fruit out of the earth." Ps. civ. 14. He opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing. Ps. cxlv. 16. Is it seemly to take these things continually from the hand of the Lord, and never thank Him for them?

It is a great blessing, or favour, if you prefer to use that word, to be able to breathe. If you have never thought of it, you will realise it if you get into a close room where the air is almost used up, or have your lungs so filled up that you cannot breathe without pain. Now where do you get your breath? You do not make the air. Your neighbour does not furnish it to you. It comes regularly and continually, without any thought on your part. It comes when you are asleep, and not able to think of it. It is your life, the most necessary thing in the world, and yet you get it for nothing, absolutely free. Isn't it worth thanking for?

And there is the light. You could not get along without it. It is life. Every day it comes new. Is it consistent to say "Thank you" to one who hands you a flower, and never say a word to the One who creates the light and the air and the moisture that made it grow? Just be honourable and fair. Deal with God as justly, and treat Him as civilly, as you do your fellow-men. "Render therefore to all their dues; . . . fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour." Begin with the first thing at hand, and thank the one who gives it to you, and do so with everything that you receive, and you will then be a perfect man. Come now, that is a

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fair proposition, isn't it? All that is required of you is to use ordinary civility, and give thanks impartially for all that you get, to whomsoever gives you them.

Do this, and your mouth and heart will continually be filled with praise to the Lord, "who giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." When you once begin, you will find things enough to be thankful for. Do not cease giving thanks until you have exhausted everything that there is for which to give thanks. Remember that it is not enough to have thanked a person once for a favour, when he repeats it. If he does a thing for you twice, the thing to do is to thank him the second time, as well as the first. If he does not tire of repeating the favour, surely you ought not to tire of thanking him for it. The gift of life and light and breath and all things is continuous, and therefore the thanksgiving must be continuous. I will not urge you to do this heartily. No matter how you feel about it, simply recognise the Lord in His gifts, and have this ability to thank Him for what you receive of Him. Do this, and the greatness of the gifts received from Him will impress itself more and more upon your mind, so that soon thanks will come spontaneously, and you will not know how to stop. Then all will be well with you, for when you acknowledge that every breath that you breathe you get from Him, you will see that He is your life, and the same rule of fairness that led you to thank Him for what He gives, will lead you to allow Him to control His own life. "In all thy ways knowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Prov. iii. 6. When God directs your steps in His own way, your way will be right, for "as for God, His way is perfect." Then

"Oh, worship the King, all glorious above!
And gratefully sing His power and His love;
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendour, and girded with praise.

"Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And gently distills in the dew and the rain.

"Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail-
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end!
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer and Friend!"

"The Epistle to the Galatians. Love, the Fulfilling of the Law" The Present Truth 14, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

Our lesson in Galatians has been largely on the subject of liberty. We have had presented to us the condition of bondage in which all men find themselves by nature. Then we saw the liberty which Christ gives, namely, freedom from sin. Being made free from sin means at the same time to be made free from the law, since when we cease to sin we come into harmony with the law, and it no longer holds us prisoners. This is a most desirable state, and therefore we have the exhortation to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.

Then we are again warned against the presumption of thinking that we can by any works of our own satisfy the law, and are shown that any such attempt is a complete rejection of Christ, and therefore leaves us wholly in sin,-in debt to the law in every particular. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." Gal. v. 6. A person is either circumcised or uncircumcised. Those two words cover every possible condition of mankind. Therefore the statement is that there is no power in humanity, under any circumstances whatever, to do the law, but that the law is fulfilled only by faith, working by love. And this brings us to the

LESSON FOR THE WEEK

"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another." Gal. v. 13-15.

WHAT IS LOVE?

Since the whole law is fulfilled by loving, it follows that all we have to study at present is the nature of love. We can by no means hope to exhaust the subject, but we can in a few words consider some of the important features of love, which are commonly overlooked.

Love Means Service. -Our text shows this: "By love serve one another." It therefore means consideration of others, instead of one's self. Jesus Christ, who had greater love than is known among men, said that He "came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matt. xx. 28. Said He, "I am among you as He that serveth." Luke xxii. 27. When He came to this earth, He "took upon Him the form of a servant." Phil. ii. 7. He did not act the hypocrite. He did not appear to be something that He was not. All that He changed was His form. He did not need to change anything else; for He was already a servant. He was in the form of a King, even the King of kings; and if He had come to the earth in that form, everybody would have been so overawed, not to say dazzled by the brightness of His glory, that they could not have appreciated His character. Therefore He changed His form, so as to appear like a servant, so that the world might see that, although He is Lord and Master, He is also Servant, and that the depth of His service is measured by the greatness of His power as King.

Love Is Unselfishness. -This follows from the foregoing; for since love means service, and service means the doing of something for others, it is evident that love takes no thought of itself, and that he who loves has no thought but of how he may bless others. So we read, "Love suffereth

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long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil." 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5, R.V.

A Deplorable Error. -It is just on this vital point that everybody in the world is making or has made a mistake. Happy are they who have found out their mistake, and have come to the understanding and practice of true love. "Love seeketh not her own." Therefore self-love is not love at all, in the right sense of the word. It is only a base counterfeit. Yet the most of that which in the world is called love, is not really love for another, but is love of self. Even that which should be the highest form of love known on earth, the love which is used by the Lord as a representation of His love for His people,-the love of husband and wife,-is more often selfishness than real love. Leaving out of the question, as unworthy of notice, marriages that are formed for the purpose of gaining wealth or position in society, it is a fact, which all will recognise when their attention is called to it, that in nearly every case the parties to a marriage are thinking more of their own individual happiness than of the happiness of the other. Of course this condition of things exists in varying degrees, and in proportion as real, unselfish love exists, is there real happiness; for it is a lesson that the world is slow to learn, that true happiness is found only when one ceases to seek for it, and sets about making it for others.

"Love Never Faileth." -These are the words of Inspiration, found in 1 Cor. xiii. 8. Here, again, is a test which shows that much that is called love is not love. Love never ceases. The statement is absolute, never. There is no exception, and no allowance made for circumstances. Love is not affected by circumstances. We often hear about one's love growing cold, but that is something that can never happen. Love is always warm, always flowing: nothing can freeze the fountain of love. Presently we shall better understand why this is so; but now it is sufficient for us to learn the fact that love is absolutely endless. We have the Word of the Lord for this, and that should be enough. We may reject love, we may refuse to love, we may drive love from our hearts; but the quality of love is unchanging.

Love Is Subjective. -Perhaps this sub-title needs explanation. It means simply this, that love depends upon the individual who loves, and not upon the one loved. That is really to say, as already said, that love does not depend on circumstances. Love is impartial and unlimited. The word "neighbour" means whatever dwells near. Love, therefore, extends to everything with which it comes in contact. He who loves must necessarily love everybody.

Right here it may be objected that love does make distinctions, and the case of husband and wife, or of any of the members of a family, may be cited. But the objection does not hold, for the family relation, rightly understood, was institute in order that by a union love might the more effectually be manifested to others. On the principle that strength is not merely doubled, but increased tenfold, by union, as shown by the statement that "one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight," union multiplies the working value of love. If two persons, each of whom has this unselfish love to all mankind, unite in love, then their union makes them ten times better able to serve others." That is too high an ideal," you say. Well, we are talking of a very great and high thing now; we are talking of love, absolute and unqualified. Poor, frail, needy human beings can not afford to accept anything but the best.

Why Love. -Sometimes when a declaration of love is made, the loved one asks, "Why do you love me?" Just as if anybody could give a reason for love! Love is its own reason. If the lover can tell just why he loves another, then that very answer shows that he does not really love. See; Whatever object he names as a reason for love, may sometime cease to exist, and then his supposed love ceases to exist; but "love never faileth." Therefore love can not depend upon circumstances. So the only answer that can be given to the question as to why one loves, is, "because;" because of love. Love loves, simply because it is love. Love is the quality of the individual who loves, and he loves because he has love, irrespective of the character of the object.

"Love Is of God." -This statement, found in 1 John iv. 7, is an explanation of all the difficulties that may appear in the foregoing statements. God exists, and no explanation of His existence can be given. Even so it is with love, for love is simply the life of God. "Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." 1 John iv. 7, 8. He who does not love those who do not love him in return, does not love at all; for God's love is the only real love, and He loves even those who hate Him. "We also were aforetime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Saviour, and His love toward man, appeared, not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy He saved us." Titus iii. 3, 4, R.V. We naturally love those who are lovable, and think that we can not be expected to love those who are hateful, and who hate us; but God loves the hateful, and those who hate Him. "If ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same?" "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Matt. v. 46, 48.

Some one may quote 1 John iv. 19, "We love Him, because He first loved us," as at least a partial contradiction of the statement that love takes no account of the loveliness or unloveliness of the object, but loves simply because it exists, and must love, regardless of the object. But the text is only a repetition in another form of the fact that "love is of God." Rightly translated, as in the Revised Version, the verse reads, "We love, because He first loved us." But for the love of God, it would not be possible for any human being to love; just as, if it were not for the life of God, there would be no life in man.

Perfect Peace. -From the statement in Rom. xiii. 10, that "love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law," it will be seen that Christian love does not possibly admit of wars and fightings. Its possession makes it impossible for one to say, as is frequently said in these days, "I have been an advocate of peace and arbitration for twenty-five years, but-" and then go on to say that under such provocation as now exists war is welcomed. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor;" and no philosophy can ever make it appear that it does a man any good to kill him. When the soldiers asked John the Baptist what they should do, as followers of the Lamb of God, to whom he pointed, he replied, "Do violence to no man." Luke iii. 14. Those who asked

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were "soldiers on service," as we see from the margin of the Revised Version. And the margin also gives as the alternative rendering of John's answer, "Put no man in fear." It would be a very mild war in which this command was followed. Love never does any harm to anybody; but love is active, since it is the life of God; therefore love is always doing good. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, "went about doing good."

How Possible. -It appears that it is no light thing to fulfil the law of love. How is it possible for anybody to fulfil the law? With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Therefore this love is possible to man only as God dwells in the heart. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Rom. iii. 5. Love is of God, and that is why love is the fulfilling of the law of God. The Holy Spirit puts God's own life of love into the heart, and because it is His life, it flows back to Him in love. The reader will notice that only love to one's neighbor is spoken of in the text; but since love is of God, and one can not love at all unless the love of God is in the heart, it follows that whoever loves his fellow-men must necessarily love God. If one does not love his fellow-men, that is an evidence that the love of God does not dwell in him. 1 John iii. 17, 18. "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" 1 John iv. 20.

The Only Question. -From all this it is evident that the only question that love can ask is, "How much can I do?" When the love of God is fully shed abroad in the heart, there is no such thing as seeking to do as little as possible. The one who has that love will not be seeking to minimize the law of God. He will not spend any time trying to show that a part of it, if not the whole, is abolished. In fact, he will not be negative at all. Negation, contradiction, never yet did anybody any good, but whatever does not do good does harm; and "love worketh no ill to his neighbor." It is not by telling what you do not believe, and telling what is not true, that men are saved, but by "speaking the truth in love." "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3. His commandments are not grievous, because love is not grievous. Put up no barrier in your hearts to the love of God, and you will find no difficulty with a single one of His commandments.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Marriage Feast. Matt. xxii. 1-14" The Present Truth 14, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

MAY 8

How many times Jesus, in His teaching, said, "The kingdom of heaven is like," and then spoke a parable through which spiritual instruction was imparted to His hearers by a comparison with the well-known facts or experiences of life. By following this method His teaching was also universal in its character, equally well adapted to the needs of all peoples of all times. So it is with the lesson of this week. Although first spoken to those who "sought to lay hands upon Him," and who did soon afterward take and by wicked hands crucify and slay Him, yet it is equally applicable to us now, and it is in its personal application that we shall consider it.

And first there is

THE REPEATED INVITATION

"He sent forth his servants to call them which were bidden to the wedding." And again he urges them, "All things are ready: come unto the marriage." Then there is the refusal: "They would not come." "They might light of it." But afterwards the call is sent "into the highways" and "the wedding is furnished with guests," and among them is found the man "which had not on the wedding garment." There being no excuse for his presence at the marriage in that condition, the order is given to "cast him into outer darkness." Let us study each one of these steps in the parable in its application to personal experience.

THE WHOLE BIBLE SAYS COME

Throughout the whole Bible the invitation is being constantly given to us, "Come." When the world was threatened with destruction by the flood, "the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark." This was an invitation to salvation, and was put on record for our benefit. Under various forms this invitation is repeated through the Scripture until it is given the threefold form in the last chapter of the Book: "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come." Through the prophet Isaiah it is said: Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. . . . Incline your ear, and come unto Me." Isa. lv. 1-3. This Gospel invitation is repeated by the Saviour in the flesh, saying, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." We are urged, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, . . . and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you." 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. And in view of a time of trouble, now near at hand, the Lord has said unto us, "Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity." Isa. xxvi. 20, 21. Then there is the final call: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. xxv. 34. Although the invitation has been often rejected, yet "being full of compassion," He continues the call, so that it is written, "But to Israel He saith, All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." Rom. x. 21.

That heart must be hard indeed which will not yield to all these gracious invitations. Come, and let us "return unto the Lord."

"Come, every soul by sin oppressed,
There's mercy with the Lord;
And He will surely give you rest,
By trusting in His Word."

HOW THE INVITATION IS REFUSED

What an emphasis it puts upon the deceitfulness of sin that it can be said, "And they would not come," "but they made light of it." Invited by a King, but refusing the invitation! And for what? "One to his farm, another to his merchandise." To make light of the invitation is not necessarily to ridicule it in words. It is rather to esteem it lightly in comparison with others things, to place small value upon it, to neglect it. As compared with the value of "farm" and "merchandise" these men did not regard the king's invitation as worthy of their serious attention. Now the "farm" and the "merchandise"

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are all right enough in their place, but theirs is not the first place. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." Eternal interests should receive the first attention. "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. . . . How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation." Moses placed a true estimate upon the worth of the Lord's call to him, for we read that he "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, . . . esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." Those who accept the invitation to the marriage are more than mere spectators, for they share the inheritance with the King's Son. "Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." "For all things are yours." He therefore shows true wisdom who does not regard "his farm" and "his merchandise," "the things which are seen," which are temporal, as more worthy of his attention than the things of the kingdom, "the things which are not seen" which are eternal. Our highest good, here and hereafter, will be found in listening attentively and obediently to the word of the Lord to us. "Hear and your soul shall live."

THE WEDDING GARMENT

But there were those who responded to the King's invitation, "and the wedding was furnished with guests." Yet there was one among them who thought his own garments good enough in which to appear before the King, and so he did not trouble to put on the "wedding garment," which at an eastern marriage is furnished without charge to all the guests. Of course he was conspicuous amond the rest and naturally the King inquired, "Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garments?" Inasmuch as the King supplied this garment and all that was required of a guest was simply to put it on, there was no excuse for appearing there in his own soiled garments, just as he came in from "the highways," "and he was speechless." The lesson is a personal one to us and its meaning need not be misunderstood. It is plainly set forth to us in the typical experience of Joshua the high priest: "Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments form him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. . . . So they. . . clothed him with garments." Zech. iii. 3-5. "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isa. lxiv. 6), but "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness." Isa. lxi. 10. This is "the best robe" which the Father provides for every wandering son who returns to Him. This is "the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe." The Apostle Paul knew the value of this gift as compared with any righteousness of his own, and it was in view of this that he said: "Yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Phil. iii. 8, 9. Inasmuch as this righteousness is a free gift, those who do not possess it are "without excuse."

THE LORD'S COUNSEL

In this time, when "He is near, even at the doors," and when it will so soon be said, "The marriage of the Lamb is come," the experience of the man "which had not on a wedding garment" should appeal to all with special force. Just now, when the tendency is so strong to trust in one's self and in our own righteousness in some form, there comes the word of the Lord, "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 Me. . . . white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear." Rev. iii. 17, 18. "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk anked, and they see his shame." Rev. xvi. 15. It is evident that the "King came in to see the guests" before the marriage feast actually took place, so that only those who were "ready" should go "in with Him to the marriage." This means a period of investigation preparation to the coming of the Lord, and this work is actually going on now. Soon will the work go forth, "He which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: . . . And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. xxii. 11, 12. "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." Matt. xxiv. 44.

"When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found,
Clothed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne."

"The Graves of Lust" The Present Truth 14, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

It was a terrible epitaph to write over men who, but a year before, had been filled with such bright expectations. When they left Egypt it seems as though all the sorrow and darkness lay behind, and before them stretched the glad, unbroken vista of a happy future. With God Himself for their Guide, and the Promised Land for their destination, how could it be otherwise?

Now it was all over for them. Others might perhaps enter the goodly land, but these had only found dishonourable graves in the desert, and the name of their resting-place told the sad tale of their unhappy fall, for "they called the name of that place Kiebroth-hattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted." Num. xi. 34.

Only a few months had elapsed since the mighty power of God had brought them out of Egypt, humbling to the dust the greatest kingdom of the earth, and parting the waters of the Red Sea for their passage. Every day they had eaten the bread of heaven, drinking of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and led by the pillar of cloud until it brought them to the mount of God. There they had stood in the awful presence of Jehovah and heard His own voice speaking out of the midst of the fire, the great things of His law. They had been connected with a movement which had no parallel in the history of the world, taken as a nation from the midst of another nation, by signs and by wonders, by a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm, but it had availed them nothing. All their experience in the past, their anticipations of the future, were buried in the graves of lust.

Yet the ending was inevitable. The world passeth away and the lust thereof (1 John ii. 17), and since they were not estranged from their lust, and would not be, there was nothing before them but a grave. "When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death." James i. 15.

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They need not have been so enslaved by their desires. God could have delivered them from these as easily as He had saved them out of the hand of their oppressors in Egypt, but they did not care to be delivered. It was not that they lacked any good thing, but their minds had gone back longingly to the carnal pleasures of Egypt, the things they used to indulge in before they started on the strait and narrow way.

As they allowed their minds to rest on those vanished pleasures the desire grew, until all present and future good seemed worthless in comparison. They wept as the talked together of the fish they used to eat freely, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlick. Num. xi. 4, 5. Life seemed empty indeed without these. Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent (Num. xi. 10), as though for some dire calamity.

God would have filled their mouths with better things, but it would not do. "My people would not hearken to My voice and Israel would none of Me. So I have them up unto their own hearts' lust." Ps. lxxxi. 11, 12.

They had fully chosen for themselves what they would have. It was Egypt that supplied what their souls desired, and in their hearts they turned back again into Egypt. Acts vii. 39. Yea, they despised the pleasant land, and so they lost the privilege of entering in. It was useless to lead them any further. Lust had conceived and brought forth sin, and the sin quickly did its work. So the brief record reads,-"There they buried the men that lusted."

"Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted;" and "they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come." 1 Cor. x. 6, 11.

"Slow to Anger, Plenteous in Mercy" The Present Truth 14, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

The story is told of two rabbis, Joshua and Eliezer, who came one day to Jerusalem, and saw a fox running about on Mount Zion. At this sight Joshua wept, but Eliezer began to laugh heartily.

"Why are you so glad?" asked Joshua.

"And why do you weep?" asked his friend in return.

"I weep," answered Joshua, "because I see the fulfilment of Jeremiah's lamentation, that the mountain of Zion has become so desolate that the foxes dwell there."

"And just for that reason," said Eliezer, "I rejoice; for when I see with my own eyes how God fulfils His threatenings to the smallest detail, I see therein an assurance that not one of His gracious promises shall fail. Every one of them shall be fulfilled, for the Lord is much more willing to show mercy than to execute judgment."

"'Not Under the Law'" The Present Truth 14, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

The following is from one of the Lent Lectures by Canon Gore at Westminster Abbey. The one from which this was taken was on the seventh of Romans, published in the Church Times of April 15. We quote it merely as showing that the truth here presented, which is identical with what has been set forth in the PRESENT TRUTH, is not peculiar to this paper. Canon Gore is not a Sabbath-keeper, although the truth concerning the statement, "Ye are not under the law," logically involves Sabbath-keeping, as is well known by many who try to make it mean the abolition of the law.

"Ye are not under the law, but under grace."

"In a certain sense, and in a lower sphere, we can understand what St. Paul means if we think of our own relation to the civil law. We are not under that law. There are those laws telling us we are not to make a riot in the streets. But we are not under the law. We do not feel the burden of it. It has no relation to us, this law. We pass the policeman without any sense of alarm.

"Why is it that we are not under the law? Because to us, respectable citizens, the law is altogether with us, on our side, and we are on the side of law. It is part of our own life. We have got beyond it, as it were-not because we are not bound to keep it, but because we are altogether on the side of that which law represents. It is, as it were, part of ourselves.

"So it is that we may in part understand what St. Paul means when he says, 'Ye are not under the law, but under grace.' Christ, the Person of Christ, whose will it is the law expresses, is our Master, our Friend. We belong to His life; we are doing His will; we are living by His spirit. 'Ye are not under the law.' It is no longer there to threaten you. 'But under grace'-for He whose the law is, is your life, and by His will ye are living, and in His love ye flourish."

"The Use of War" The Present Truth 14, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

The makers of implements of war are now reaping a harvest, and are looking forward to still greater gains when war actually beigns. To a newspaper reporter Mr. Hiram Maxim said a few days ago:-

Of the great quantities of guns and ammunition and all sorts of war material we have been selling to both Governments, it would be easier to say what the orders placed in our hands have not called for than what they have. Both Spain and America have been eager to take every mortal thing in the way of war instruments we could supply. Guns of all sorts, from rifle caliber up to heavy artillery, have been in strong demand, and there has been such a call for the Maxim automatic guns which are built at the United States Government ordnance works, and by several private firms in the States, who pay a royalty to us, that we have just granted additional permits for the manufacture of them in the States. The making of these automatic guns is being pushed forward rapidly in Spain, too, where we have the only authorised private arms factory.

But this is not all. Continuing his talk Mr. Maxim said:-

Gun and ammunition makers look upon the coming engagements between the two Powers as an invaluable test of modern weapons of precision and the latest inventions in projectiles and ammunition. There has not yet been a good battle, with good men on both sides, using the best guns and modern ironclads. In the war of the rebellion, in the States, the ironclads used were what would now be classed as obsolete, and the guns tried on them were old-fashioned cast-iron ones. The Chino-Japanese war was too one-sided to afford a fair test of the comparative value of modern weapons and armour; but if Spain and the United States fight we shall have some data to go by, as there will be good guns and good ships on both sides. Certainly there will be no lack of personal courage, and there may be some extraordinary new developments.

Not the least striking and horrible sign of the times is the fact that cultured men can coolly discuss war as a means of demonstrating on human beings the merits and defects of weapons, so that they can know how to make them more deadly. Human life is not considered as of any value in comparison with pounds, shillings, and pence.

"Catholic Population" The Present Truth 14, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

Cardinal Gibbons points to the fact that while in the beginning of the century the Catholics in the United States numbered about 40,000, the Catholic population to-day is between ten and twelve millions.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 17.

E. J. Waggoner

The Daily Mail says that "another ladies' club has gone over to the great majority, and added a smoking club to its accommodation. This is the Writers' Club, in Norfolk street."

The manager of the Crystal Palace states that although there were over 197,000 visitors to the Palace during the Easter holidays, "not a single instance of drunkenness or disorderly behaviour was reported. Nor was a single shrub injured, nor a statue broken."

It is reported that "negotiations" are now proceeding between Russia and China for the leave of Kin-Chau. Russia first peremptorily demanded the place, threatening to use force to eject the Chinese garrison, and thus the way for "diplomatic action" was successfully prepared.

On Wednesday afternoon, April 20, the building so well known all over the world as "Spurgeon's Tabernacle" was totally destroyed by fire. It is doubtful if the destruction of any other single building in the world would cause regret in more hearts than the destruction of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, which has been styled "the Cathedral of Nonconformity."

Although at the time of the PRESENT TRUTH'S going to press (April 24) war has not been formally declared, the two nations, Spain and the United States, are practically at war. Diplomatic relations have been broken off, the Spaniards not waiting even to receive the ultimatum of the American President, and the fleets of both countries have sailed, and Havana has been blockaded. This is the beginning; the end will be with far less rejoicing for all participants. Happy are those who, in times when nations rises up against nation, have their citizenship in heaven, and their dwelling-place in the Most High, so that no partisan sympathy ruffles them. The "perfect peace" that is given to those whose minds are stayed on God, is something far different from that which the world gives. It is not the peace of the "neutral" who, although not a combatant, has all the enthusiasm and warlike feelings of one, but it is the peace of God that flows out to all men in equal measure, knowing no distinctions whatever among mankind.

Russia is determined not to be behind in the preparation for bloodshed. Besides three ironclads announced to be built at the Baltic ship-yards and at the St. Petersburg Admiralty Docks, two more battleships each of 12, 675 tons, will at once be laid down at the Sebastopol and Nicholaieff Yards. Upwards of twenty torpedo boats and two first-class cruisers are now in course of construction on the Black Sea.

New York correspondents report that according to previous arrangement, church bells were rung in several cities in the United States when the President's ultimatum, which was considered a virtual declaration of war with Spain, was made known. The same bells also rang a few months ago on the supposed birthday of the Prince of Peace. The same bells ring for peace and for war. "My brethren, these things ought not so to be."

The Bill proposing a modification of the present law concerning dueling was before the Italian Chamber last week, but it was killed by the speech of Professor Venturi, an inspector of lunatic asylums, who upheld the duel as a mark of cultured and delicate sentiments of honour. He remarked that dueling was practiced only by the most honourable classes, officers, politicians, and journalists, and declared that its abolition in Great Britain indicated a deplorable decadence of the sentiment of honour.

It does seem like a breath from the barbarous Middle Ages, to hear dueling upheld as a necessary part of civilisation, and yet if people are going to kill each other, it doesn't seem to make much difference how they do it. Really, dueling seems more reasonable than ordinary war, which is defended by "the church." In the former, two men fight because they both feel that they have been personally injured, and they are angry, while in war thousands of men who have no grievance whatever fight against others, whom they never saw. In the duel, the combatants have a dog's excuse for fighting, while in war there is none whatever.

The poor old Pope is in a quandary; he doesn't know where to place his sympathy in the present conflict between Spain and the United States. Spain is and always has been intensely Catholic, and has times without number demonstrated its faithfulness to the Pope, even to the death-of all those not in harmony with him. On the other hand, the Pope considers the Catholics of the United States the pick of the flock, and looks to that country as the hope of the Church for the future. Truly, he who in this evil world has the task of posing as the representative of Christ, and at the same time interfering in earthly politics, has a hard lot.

An invitation to dine with the Queen is a command, and takes precedence of all other engagements. No matter what plans or appointments one has made, if he receives a message from Her Majesty, all other obligations are cancelled. Well, the King of kings has issued an invitation to every one to come to the feast which He spreads. His gracious call is, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." How strange that the most trivial things are considered sufficient excuse for not accepting this invitation! What gross disrespect to God, and violation of His commandments, it is to slight His invitation.

In speaking of the last days Christ said that there should be "upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;" "men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world." Luke xxi. 25, 26, R.V. The word rendered "fainting" might equally well be rendered "expiring," as indicated in the margin. How literally this is being fulfilled even now, may be seen by the following form the New York reports of the fatal character of the "war fever" in America:-

Large numbers of people are reported to have become violently insane through over excitement, many have committed suicide through brooding over the Maine disaster, and several murders have occurred through fights over the Cuban question.

May 5, 1898

"Power and Love" The Present Truth 14, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

Who has not had the experience of trembling at the thought of the mighty power of God? We have been glad to hear about His love and tender compassion as revealed in the miracles of Christ, and in His death for mankind, but have dreaded to hear of His eternal power and Divinity. Often we hear men wax eloquent over the love of God, who lose all their enthusiasm when it comes to telling about His power.

All such exaltation of the love of God at the expense of His power, shows a lack of acquaintance with Him. It shows that they have not yet learned what it is to trust in the Lord. Yea, it reveals a lack of love for God, for "perfect love casteth out fear. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 1 John iv. 18.

It is impossible for us to have perfect love for one with whom we are not well acquainted. Now it is a fact that God is all-powerful. "Power belongeth unto God." Ps. lxii. 11. He is the Almighty. But "God is love." 1 John iv. 8. Therefore to feel any shrinking from the power of God, indicates ignorance of the perfection of His love. He cannot be other than He is, neither can He separate any of His attributes from Himself. So then if we do not rejoice in the mighty power of God, we do not rejoice in God at all; for we do not know Him. Love is attractive, and "God is love."

It was the love of God that moved Him to save men from death. "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. But what would His love amount to, if He had not power to accomplish what it prompted Him to undertake? Abraham knew God, and trusted Him, because he was "fully persuaded that what He had promise, He was able also to perform." Rom. iv. 21. It is in the almighty power of God, and in that alone, that all our hope of salvation rests; and in saying that we are not in the least disparaging the love of God, for His power is love, since He Himself is love.

The Apostle Paul exclaims, "God forbid I should glory, save in the cross

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of our Lord Jesus Christ." Gal vi. 14. The cross of Christ is our salvation; it is our joy and rejoicing; it is the one thing of importance to men. 1 Cor. ii. 2. Yet the preaching of the Cross "is the power of God." Therefore the only thing worth glorying in is the power of God. Is it not true, then, that he who does not rejoice in God's power, does not know Him, and therefore does not love Him?

Let one read the Bible carefully and thoughtfully, and he will see that the one thing which is dwelt upon more than all others, is the power and greatness of God. Take the ninety-fifth Psalm as a single instance.

Come! let us joyfully sing unto Jehovah,
Let our shouts ring to the Rock of our help!
Let us come before His face with songs of
thanksgiving,
With stringed instruments joyfully saying to
Him!
For a great God is Jehovah,
A great King above all gods.
In Him the heights of the mountains belong.
His is the sea; He made it;
The lands His hands have fashioned.

When God commissioned His servants to give a special message of comfort to His people, saying, "Comfort ye, comfort ye My people" (Isa. xl. 1), He makes Himself known as the One who holds the seas in the hollow of His hand, and before whom all nations are as a drop from a bucket. Verses 12, 15. "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." Verse 26, R.V. What is the comfort of this?-"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength." "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength."

Beneath His watchful eye,
His saints securely dwell.
That hand which bears creation up
Shall guard His children well.

Who does not feel that there is something majestic in the name Jehovah? There is no other name which conveys such a sense of strength and majesty. When we know that this is the name that is used in the twenty-third Psalm, what a new sense of security it gives us to read,

Jehovah is my Shepherd,
Therefore I can lack nothing.

Who is it that leads beside the still waters, and in the green pastures, and who restores our soul?-It is the Lord Jehovah, in whom is "everlasting strength." All right, then; we need not be afraid; we can safely rest in His power.

It is the arm of the Lord that delivered Israel from the Egyptians, and that divided the Red Sea, and it is on His arm that His people trust. They cry, "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in that ancient days, in the generations of old. Art Thou not he that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? Are Thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?" Isa. li. 9, 10. But it is this same mighty arm, the arm with which He rules the nations, that gathers the tender lambs of the flock. Isa. xl. 10, 11.

As thy days, so shall thy strength be.

There is none like unto God, O Jeshrun,
Who rideth upon the heaven for Thy help,
And in His excellency on the skies.
The eternal God is Thy dwelling-place,
And underneath are the everlasting arms.

The last comforting words of the Lord to His disciples, were of His power. "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you." This was His promise; and the Holy Ghost is the Comforter. When the disciples have received the power of the Holy Ghost, then, said He, "Ye shall be My witnesses;" that is, when we have received power, then, and only then, can we represent Him. Only by the manifestation of His power, can we show His love. Recollect that the miracles of Jesus, in which we all delight, and which reveals such wonderful, tender love and compassion, were but revelations of the mighty power of God.

When we know that God is love, what a delight it becomes to meditate upon His works, and to talk of His power! This is to be the occupation of His saints now and in eternity.

One generation shall laud Thy works to another,
And shall declare Thy mighty acts.
The glorious majesty of Thine honour,
And of Thy wondrous works, will I meditate.
And men shall speak of the might of Thy terrible
acts;
And I will declare Thy greatness.
They shall honor the memory of Thy great good-
ness,
And shall sing of Thy righteousness.
The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion;
Slow to anger, and of great mercy.
The Lord is good to all;
And His tender mercies are over all His works.
All Thy work shall give thanks unto 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 His mighty
acts,
And the glory of the majesty of His kingdom.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Watchfulness. Matt. xxiv. 42-51" The Present Truth 14, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

MAY 15

Replying to the question of the disciples, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?" Jesus briefly mentioned some of the events which would mark the progress of the world's history from that time until His second coming, speaking with special definiteness of the signs which would appear in the last generation. And then, in view of the fact that the exact time of His coming is not revealed, He gives the exhortation to watchfulness which furnishes the basis of our study this week.

CHRIST'S COMING THE CONSUMMATION

In the coming of the Lord is found the consummation of the hope of every believer in Christ. Then will be "the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." The promise to Abraham was "that he should be the heir of the world," but "by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise," and God "gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on." "These [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob] all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declared plainly that they seek a country, . . . But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly." Heb. xi. 13-16. And if we are Christ's, then are we Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Gal. iii. 29. For our citizenship is in heaven, wherefore a Saviour also we are ardently awaiting, the Lord Jesus Christ. Phil. iii. 20.

THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS

Christ's work for us includes the restoration of all that was lost through sin. Man will be "renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him," and the earth will be freed from the curse and its effects, "For the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and He shall make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody." Isa. li. 3.

But this work will not be completed until He returns to this earth for His people. His promise is: "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John xiv. 2, 3. "Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. xxii. 12.

So it is in the coming of the Lord that the hope of the waiting church has centred during all the centuries. We are instructed concerning those who "are fallen asleep in Christ:" "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. . . . For the Lord Himself shall descend with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. . . . Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. iv. 13-18. So at the coming of the Lord the dead are raised, the living will be changed, and the reward will be given to God's servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear His name, small and great.

THE TIME NOT REVEALED, BUT NEAR

Now the exact time of the Lord's coming has not been revealed. "But of that day and hour and knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only." Matt. xxiv. 36. And some seem to regard this as a sufficient reason for not knowing anything about the event, but many prophecies point out when it is near, and after giving a series of signs connected with His second coming, the Saviour said: "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that He is near, even at the doors." Verses 32, 33. Those who will believe the Word will know of the time. "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." 1 Thess. v. 1.

THE NECESSITY FOR WATCHFULNESS

Those who may know that He is near, even at the doors, are urged to watchfulness: "Watch therefore; for ye know not when your Lord doth come." The thief chooses the night for his work, and his efforts are successful when he can find "the master of the house" resting in fancied security, with the idea that no thief is likely to visit his premises. But even if careful watch should be maintained for a part of the night, and then relaxed because no thief had been seen, then would be just the time for a successful robbery. "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

NO IDLE WATCHERS

But watching also includes working. We are not to sit idly by, merely waiting for the time to pass, but "what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for an hastening the coming of the day of God." These are they who are diligent in making known that their Lord's coming is near, and knowing the terror of the Lord they persuade men. "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over His household, to give them meat in due season! Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing." It is the duty of the servant to "feed the church of God," by teaching them the Word of God, and he who has been set as a watchman on the walls of Zion should be the first to give warning of any approaching event. What a neglect of duty it is when he is the very one who "shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming!"

But there will be those who will ridicule the idea, and this is in itself one of the signs of the times. "There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." 2 Peter iii. 3, 4. It may seem at times as

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though His coming was being deferred longer than we had hoped, and yet "the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

THE DAY FAST APPROACHING

Just now the exhortation to watchfulness should be earnestly heeded. "For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." We are living in the last generation. The last signs are being fulfilled. We now see "upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." What means this war spirit which is now taking such a hold upon men in all parts of the world? What means this arming of the nations? It is simply the preparation for "the battle of that great day of God Almighty."

How soon the storm will burst we know not, but we know that "the day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly." Now let every one who has received light be faithful to his trust by giving the light to others. "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. . . . And if He shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants." Luke xii. 35, 38.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. The Flesh, the Spirit, and the Law" The Present Truth 14, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

We have seen that love is the fulfilling not the abolishing of the law. All the law is fulfilled in the Word, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "Love is the fulfilling of the law." "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." To say that love is a substitute for the keeping of the law, is to say that love is a substitute for itself. Men may say that they do not see very much love in the commandments, and that they do not seem to them to be the fulfilling of all love; but that tells nothing against the words of the Scriptures. It simply shows that they do not know the law of God, and that they are speaking evil of that which they know not. Let them but become acquainted with the Lord, and they would find that "His commandments are not grievous," but are the fullness of His own life of love.

The law is love; "but if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another." That is to say, If ye do not observe the law of love, then destruction will be your lot. They who despise the riches of God's goodness and forbearance and love, which are all embodied in His law, whether they see it or not, are heaping up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and perdition of ungodly men. They who reject God's law are simply working for their own destruction; and they who teach others to despise the law, are not only contributing to the destruction of those others, but are inviting those others to destroy them. When respect and love for God's law are weakened, then are the flood-gates of violence and crime opened. But there is a brighter side, with grander possibilities, and it is presented in the

THE LESSON FOR THE WEEK

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. ["They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof." R.V.] If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another." Gal. v. 16-26.

THE FLESH OPPOSED TO THE SPIRIT

The flesh and the Spirit are in direct opposition. "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other." There is no agreement whatever between the flesh and the Spirit. The Spirit strives with men in the flesh, seeking to control the individual to the glory of God; but so long as the Spirit is not fully yielded to, there is no peace, but continual war and unrest. He who is not controlled by the Spirit of God, is controlled by the sins of human nature, and is therefore a slave; "every one that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin." John viii. 34. On the contrary, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Cor. iii. 17.

THE FLESH OPPOSED TO THE LAW

It is clear that there is no agreement between the flesh and the Spirit. What about the flesh and the law? Remembering that "carnal" means fleshly, read Rom. viii. 7: "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." So then the flesh and the law of God are in as direct opposition as are the flesh and the Spirit. Let us now read a little further, to see that this is not a three-cornered fight, but that the flesh is opposed

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to both the law and the Spirit, because both the law and the Spirit are one.

THE LAW AND THE SPIRIT IN UNISON

The story is really all told in Rom. viii. 1-8, which we will read:-

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 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, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."

Note especially the items in the foregoing: (1) The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit. (2) The flesh and the Spirit are in direct and deadly opposition, as already noted. (3) To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Why?-Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God. (4) Thus we see that the opposition of the flesh to the Spirit is simply its opposition to the law of God. This follows as the natural consequence of the fact stated in Rom. vii. 14: "The law is spiritual."

THOSE LED BY THE SPIRIT KEEP THE LAW

Having seen that those who follow the Spirit fulfill the righteousness of the law, read verse 18 in our lesson. "But if ye be led of the Spirit ye are not under the law." That is to say, Those who fulfil the law, are not under the law. What a pity that there are so many who profess to be teachers of the Word, and who, more than all, make a special point of the baptism of the Spirit, who have so little spiritual discernment, and so little acquaintance with the Spirit of God, that they can use the words, "Ye are not under the law," as meaning that the law of God is not to be observed! The only reason why any are not under the law, is that they are keeping it through the Spirit. To reject the law of God is to reject the Spirit, for "the law is spiritual." Those who walk after the Spirit fulfill the law, and only such are not under the law.

JUSTIFIED THROUGH THE SPIRIT

It is not clear that there is in this not the slightest ground for any one's thinking that men are justified by the works of the law, but the very opposite? It is the work of the Spirit of God that brings justification. But the works of the Spirit are perfect righteousness, even the righteousness of the law. The Spirit is the living, personal representative of Christ. It is by the Spirit that Christ dwells in the heart. This makes a complete new life. The old life passes away, as the old man is crucified with Christ, so that the life that is now lived in the flesh is the life of Christ. The only life that appears is the perfect life of Christ. The law has nothing against Him, since He has always done the will of the Father. There is therefore no condemnation to such an one. He is justified. Why?-Because no unrighteousness-no transgression of the law-is found in Him. Then he continues to walk in the law, not by his own power, but through the power of the Spirit. The justification is therefore all of God, and to Him alone is the glory. No man can boast, but he that glorifieth must glory in the Lord. Justification is not by the works of the law; but the very work "justification," which means made righteous, is an assurance that the law is not ignored, but that the perfection of it is so put into and upon the believer that no fault can be found in him.

THE WORKS OF THE FLESH

Verses 19-21 contain a partial list of the works of the flesh. The list given is only a sample of them, closing with the words, "and such like." Note that they are the works of the flesh, that is, they are such things as are natural to mankind.

Compare this list with that given by the Lord, in Mark vii. 21-23, as things that come from within, from the heart of man.

Compare both these with the list given in Rom. i. 28-32, as the things done by the heathen, who did not like to retain God in their knowledge. They are the things that are done by all who do not know the Lord.

Then compare these lists of sins with the list given by the apostle Paul in 2 Tim. iii. 1-5, of things that will be done in the last days by those who even have a form of godliness.

How can it be possible that men professing to be Christians can be guilty of such horrible deeds?-The answer is easy: it is because they reject the law of the Lord. Worst of all is the fact that they are guilty of all these things even while seeking the very highest profession of godliness, in that they profess to be led by the Spirit. But since they have so little knowledge of the Spirit that they imagine that the reception of the Spirit gives them liberty to cast off the law of God and trample it under foot, they are abandoned to all sorts of sins. It can not be otherwise. They use their liberty as an occasion to the flesh, and while making liberty, and promising other people liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption. 2 Peter ii. 19. O, the pity and the awfulness of it!

THEY CANNOT BE HID

The works of the flesh are manifest. They cannot be hid. That which is in the heart must show itself in the life, no matter how much one may endeavor to conceal it. "An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil." Luke vi. 45. All the evil things that are named in Gal. v. 19-21 are in every human heart by nature. No man is responsible for their being in his heart, for he is born with them. They form our inheritance from our ancestors, from Adam down. But we are responsible if they are allowed to remain in the heart; for the Spirit of God will utterly remove them if allowed free access.

But the righteousness of the Spirit is the righteousness of the law, and therefore whoever depreciates and rejects the law of God, or any part of it, thereby rejects the Spirit, no matter what his profession may be. So although he may for a time succeed in concealing the existence of the wickedness of his heart, not only from the world, but even from himself, it is sure sooner or later to manifest itself. Then when the law of God shall have been so preached in the demonstration of the Spirit that all have heard its claims, and the multitude have rejected it, will the Spirit leave them to their own desires, and then

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will be experienced the "perilous times" spoken of by the apostle, for all the earth will be filled with violence, even as it was in the days that were before the flood.

"AND SUCH LIKE"

Read again that list of the works of the flesh. They are these: "Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings." "They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." One would naturally think not, for it is a bad list. Yet in reading them, one is apt to overlook some of the things named, and to dwell only on what seem to be the worst ones, as adultery, murder, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft.

Those are quite universally regarded as outbreaking sins. But notice the words, "and such like." That means that there are others in the same class, and moreover it means that all the things that are here named are identical in character. The Scripture tells us that hatred is murder. "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." 1 John iii. 15. Moreover, anger is also murder, as shown by the Saviour in Matt. v. 21, 22. Envy, which is so common, also contains murder in it.

But who regards emulation as so sinful? Isn't emulation encouraged everywhere? Are not children from their infancy taught to strive to surpass somebody else? Is not emulation fostered, not only by schools of all kinds, but also in the home, and in the church? So far from being regarded as sinful in the extreme, it is cultivated. And yet the Word of God assures us that it is of the same kind as adultery, fornication, murder, and drunkenness, and that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Is it not a fearful thing?

The love of self, the desire for the supremacy, is the source of all the other sins that are mentioned. Out of that have grown innumerable murders. And to think that many mothers are unconsciously training up their children to just such things, even while striving to bring them up properly, by saying: "Now see if you can not behave better than so-an-so." "See if you can not learn to read or to play better than such an one." "See if you can not keep your clothes looking as nice as that one." All such expressions, which are everyday words in thousands of households, are teaching emulation, and setting a false standard. The child is not taught to distinguish between the right and the wrong, and to love the right, but is simply trained to appear better than somebody else. That leads to deception, for all that is thought necessary is to present a better appearance than others, while the heart is corrupt. Those others may not be of very high character, and so the emulator is satisfied, even in this faulty exertion, with simply appearing better than some one who is himself very bad. Ah, the abominable works of the flesh are lurking where many least suspect them! The only remedy is the Spirit of God.

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

When the Spirit is given control, the works of the flesh will no longer be manifested, because the Spirit drives them out of the heart. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." There is no room for emulation there. "Against such there is no law." Why not? Simply because these things are the result of obedience to the law through the Spirit. It is impossible for the natural man to possess these good things. It is impossible for us of ourselves to love those who despise us, or to suffer long and be kind. It is not possible for us to rejoice when we are ill-treated, or even to rejoice when somebody else, moved by the spirit of emulation, surpasses us, and takes from us a prize which we coveted. But it is possible for the Spirit of God. What a blessed condition the one is in who possesses the fruit of the Spirit.

NO POPERY

"Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another." That is to say, Let us have done with emulations and strife. Emulation and strife are the natural outgrowth of self-righteousness, the exaltation of self above God's law. This is the very essence of popery. If there were no emulation, no strife, there would be no pope. The Papacy,-the existence in the world of such a thing as a pope,-is the result of the strife for the supremacy among the early bishops. At first all bishops, or elders, or presbyters, or pastors, for all mean the same thing, were equal. "All ye are brethren," said Christ, and for a little while they lived as brethren. But soon there was a strife as to who should be the greatest and the streets of more than one city, Rome especially, ran with blood which was shed in these contest. The final result was the recognition of the bishops of Rome as supreme.

"But how can it be that so many acknowledge the pope's supremacy, if the popish spirit is inherent in human nature?" Thus: when the popish principle is admitted, some one must be chief, or else there will be a war of extermination. So the others unite in homage to the fortunate one, in hope that their turn may come next, or in the knowledge that they will at least be popes of lesser rank, exercising lordship over those who are beneath them.

Wherever there is emulation, there is the Papacy; and wherever the Papacy is, there is every evil work. The Spirit of God casts out the Papacy from the individual human heart, by producing meekness, faith, goodness. He who knows that from self only evil can come, and that all good things come only from the Spirit, is made humble by that very knowledge. Knowing that he is nothing, he gives place to the Spirit, and the fruits of the Spirit grow in him. Such an one is truly happy, because he is, through the Spirit, "perfect and entire, lacking nothing."

"Jerry McAuley" The Present Truth 14, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

The late Jerry McAuley, who for twelve years superintended the famous Water Street Mission in New York City, was converted while serving a fifteenth-year sentence in the penitentiary for theft. He was pardoned when his sentence had about half expired, but in a short time became a worse drunkard than ever. Through the efforts of some city missionaries, he was reclaimed, and brought back to God, but fell into drunkenness five times during the first year of his new start. At least he was persuaded to give up the use of tobacco, and he never fell again.

"The Shepherd Boy" The Present Truth 14, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

Although the Scriptures give a very full account of David's life, but little is told us of his early days. We know, however, that these were spent at Bethlehem, and he is first brought before us as a shepherd, minding his father's sheep.

Bethlehem was a small town, built on one of the highest hills in Palestine, about four miles to the south of Jerusalem. Its name signifies "The House of Bread," and was probably bestowed on it on account of the fertility of the surrounding country. Even at the present time, visitors to the place report that fruit trees and vineyards abound, and that the neighbourhood of Bethlehem is not surpassed by any in Palestine for luxuriance and beauty.

It was an ancient city in David's time. The patriarch Jacob had sojourned there in his wanderings and it was near by that Rachel had died and was buried. The monument erected by Jacob to the memory of his beloved wife was still standing. It was in Bethlehem, too, that David's great grand-parents, Ruth and Boaz, had their homes; and it was there, a thousand years later, that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was manifested in sinful flesh to save His people from their sins. "But 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 in Israel." Micah v. 2.

Jesse, David's father, was counted a very old man. He had eight sons, of whom David was the youngest, and two daughters, both of whom had children of their own. These, although David's nephews, which be about the same age as himself. They were doubtless among his youthful companions, and we can imagine how, as they minded their sheep together, or practised with their slings, they would talk of what they hoped to do when they grew to be men. It is not likely, however, that they anticipated becoming so famous as they afterwards did. One of them became a great king, and all grew up to be famous warriors. Joab, the great general and statesman, brave but crafty and unscrupulous; Abishai, the mighty men of valour; Asahel, "as light of foot as a wild roe;" and Amasa, who afterwards commanded the army of Absalom and was slain by Joab in treachery, were among these nephews of David. Then there was Elhanan who became one of the chief mighty men of Israel. He also lived at Bethlehem. It must have been a cause of sadness to David in after life to know that so many of the playmates of his youth should destroy one another, and to find them siding with his enemies against him. It was an experience of this kind that made him write the forty-first Psalm.

Yea, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,
which did eat of my bread,
Hath lifted up his heel against me.

For David was not only a shepherd boy, able to run races with the fleet-footed Asahel, and to sling stones like Joab and the others, but was also a musician and a poet. As he listened to the voice of Nature, speaking all around him, and thought upon the Word of God, he sang promises to his Maker, and made sweet music on the harp. He had carefully stored up the instruction received from his father Jesse, Samuel the prophet, and other good men, and had hidden the words of God in his heart that he might not sin against Him.

We do not know whether any of the Psalms contained in the Bible were written by David at this time, but it is very likely that some of them were, and even if they were written in after years, we know that the thoughts in them came to him in those early shepherd days. It was then he had the blessed experience of which he sang in the thirty-second Psalm:-

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no guile. . . .
I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity
have I not hid:
I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the
Lord;
And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.

The shepherd's work was not done at sunset. The sheep had to be guarded from the attacks of hungry wild beasts, or these would come and destroy the flock, so that David sometimes had to remain out at night, and watch the sheepfold. It was not always pleasant, but instead of complaining, he composed verses on the beauties of the star-lit heavens. The eighth Psalm was one of the songs he wrote on this subject.

O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Thy name in all the earth!
Who hast set Thy glory upon the heavens. . .
When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy
fingers,
The moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained
What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?

David knew that although he was young and simple, the Lord could reveal in him the same glory that made the heavens beautiful, and so we find these words in the same psalm:-

Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast
Thou established strength.

When Jesus reminded the Jews of these words He said, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou has perfected praise;" so that when God was doing this with David, He was "establishing strength" in him. That this was a real strength was seen in David's case. More than once while he was guarding the sheep at night, fierce beasts came prowling round, and on

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one occasion a lion, emboldened by hunger, seized one of the lambs, and was dragging it away. David might have thought of the great danger he would run by interfering with the lion, and perhaps reason that he could not hope to save the lamb, and his own life was more precious. But no, he had the true shepherd heart. He loved his sheep, and his only thought was that the lamb was in danger and must be rescued. Besides, God was his strength, and even though the lion was much stronger than himself, God was stronger still. So he went in God's strength to do his duty, taking only a shepherd's staff. He overtook the lion and struck it until it dropped the lamb and turned on David. Then it was seen that God really girded him with strength, for in spite of its superior strength the lion was slain. Another time a bear attack the fold, but David pursued it and fought it with the same result. He must have had this in mind when he wrote the seventeenth Psalm.

He is like a lion that is greedy of prey,
And as it were a young lion lurking in secret
places.
Arise, O Lord.
Confront him, cast him down;
Deliver my soul from the wicked by Thy sword;
From men, by Thy hand, O Lord.

In after years when crafty enemies were about him, trying to lure him into wrong paths that he might fall into evil and be ruined, he remembered how the Lord had upheld him as he climbed from crag to crag of the limestone rocks of Bethlehem, making him sure-footed and keeping him from falling. So when he was at last delivered from the persecutions of Saul, he sang in the eighteenth Psalm:-

He maketh my feet like hind's feet:
And setteth me upon my high places. . .
Thy right hand hath holden me up,
And Thy gentleness hath made me great.
Thou hast enlarged to my steps under me,
And my feet have not slipped.

David knew what it was to be tired and hungry and thirsty. In the hot summer days how he liked to lead the flock to the well which was by the gate of Bethlehem, where they could quench their thirst with the clear, cold water. Many years after, when the Philistines invaded the land, and had taken possession of Bethlehem, David and his men were in a fortress not far off. They ran short of water, and David could not help thinking of the cool, delicious draughts he used to get at the old well. "And David longed and said, Oh that one would give me a drink of the water of the well Bethlehem, which is by the gate!" When some of his mighty man heard that, three of them went down to Bethlehem, broke through the Philistine host, drew water at the well and brought it back to David. He did not like to drink water that had been procured at such a risk, so he poured it out as an offering to the Lord. We learn from the incident, however, how highly he had learned to prize the well in his earlier life, and this helps us to appreciate more fully the words of the sixty-third Psalm, which he wrote at the time just referred to:-

O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee:
My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for
Thee,
In a dry and weary land, where no water is.

In all the experiences of his life the youthful shepherd learned to see the working of God. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses also, had tended sheep, and as David studied the records of the past, he saw how all men were like sheep, and God was a great Shepherd, feeding and guiding His flock, and leading them to the fountain of the water of life. So he sang in the ninety-fifth Psalm:-

O come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker:
For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture, and the
sheep of His hand.

He knew how the very helplessness of the sheep appealed to his own heart, and how carefully he sought to lead them where the pasturage was best and the way was easiest. So the Lord was guiding him, only with infinitely greater love and wisdom, and the joyful realisation of this thought found expression in the beautiful "Shepherd Psalm," which has gladdened the heart of every believer who has read it, and will continue to inspire rejoicing till we all enter the heavenly fold.

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters. . .
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me;
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

So the shepherd boy was learning the ways of the Lord. By faithfulness in the discharge of the duties allotted to him, he was developing a character that God could use anywhere. One who does everything to the glory of God, even if it be only minding-sheep, is achieving true and lasting greatness, and as we follow the history of God's dealings with him, we shall see how

He chose David also his servant,
And took him from the sheep-folds:
From following the ewes that give suck He
brought him,
To feed Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

"What must I do to be saved?"

There is but one answer: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

"Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

"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."

"But I don't feel as I ought to; I cannot feel that I am saved."

If you have never been saved, how do you know how you ought to feel? You don't know how a saved man feels. If you depend on feeling, you will never know whether you are saved or not, for you will never be sure that you have the right feeling, especially since one's feelings change from day to day, and even in a moment.

Can you feel a thing that you don't take hold of? Feeling is touching. If you want to feel that you are saved, the most sensible thing to do is to lay hold on salvation, and that is done only by faith. "Fight the good fight of faith; lay hold on eternal life."

"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." The Word of God gives life to the dead; and life is salvation. But a dead man cannot feel anything. The Word awakens him to feeling; but a live man does not by any means always have the same feeling. You therefore receive the living Word of God, and you will find life. Then no matter what your feeling may be, you will know that you are saved.

Jesus saves! That is what His name means. "I even I, am the Lord; and beside Me there is no Saviour." Isa. xliii. 11. "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else." Isa. xlv. 22. Thank God for salvation that depends not on our fitful feeling, but on His eternal, almighty power! "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Do it, then, do it!

It is refreshing to come across one remonstrance at least against the incongruous association of bloodshed, perfidy, cruelty and greed with "Christian nations." The Bishop of Marlborough, in his sermon at St. Paul's Cathedral, April 24th, is reported to have said:-

Look out upon the world from Klondyke to Rhodesia: and from the banks of the Niger to the Far East where the four Christian cultures, Russia, England, Germany, and France, are gloating over the moribund Empire of China, claiming it not for Christ, the Master of the Nations, but passionately claiming it for commercial purposes. Mammon, Mammon, Mammon! Can your Christian consciences be satisfied with the aspect of things represented by those Christian vultures, not having claimed China for Christ, but for cotton or gold?

The managing partner of the Walker Engineering and Galvanising Company, Mr. James Judge, who is an engineer and an inventor of long experience, has just patented a gun which he believes will, when perfected, discharge 30,000 bullets a minute. It uses no powder, and the discharge will presumably be comparatively noiseless.

The gun discharges its missiles by centrifugal force, being, in fact, a wonderful development of the ancient sling. He has a disc working within a case of 15,000 revolutions per minute, a speed which has already been obtained in practice. From the circumference of the disc project two hands. The bullets are poured into the case from a hopper, and as they fall are caught by the hands, which in coming round rain them out in a continuous stream through an orifice. They are guided into a sieve which may be elevated or depressed and sighted like the muzzle of a rifle.

The Daily Chronicle, in an editorial notice of this machine, says: "Scarcely a day now passes without the invention of something more startling in man-killing implements than those of which the world well wots."

It is reported that President McKinley's call for 125,000 volunteers for the war with Spain has been responded to by more than 700,000 men.

The Daily Chronicle speaks of "the feverish eagerness with which the Christian world is waiting for some copious effusion of blood." It is a sad thing that such an expression is not sarcasm, but quite accurately describes the situation.

The United States has now formally declared war against Spain. As yet the actual fighting has been confined to a short bombardment of the Cuban city of Matanzas. The Spanish fleet has left the St. Verde Islands, where it remained so long to everybody's surprise, and has gone no one knows whither.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer having been asked if, in view of the splendid results of the social work of the Salvation Army, and the unprecedented surplus from the revenue returns, he would consider the desirability of aiding the Army either by a donation of ?50,000 or an annual grant of ?10,000, as is done in the Australian Colonies, has replied that he did not see his way clear to recommend any such action. It was a wise decision. The Government could very easily contribute that amount; but the very worst thing that can happen to any religious work is to receive Government support.

At a committee meeting of the Roman Catholic Young Men's National Union, in New York, last week, a resolution was adopted, offering President McKinley the services of 50,000 members of the Union as volunteers. These Roman Catholics will go to fight and kill the Spaniards, who are also all Roman Catholics, and the Roman Catholic Church will send both parties forth with its blessing! It blessed those who in the Crusades went forth to kill the Turks; it recently blessed the soldiers who went to kill Protestants in Madagascar; and now it blesses Catholics who go out to kill each other! Christ said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." The conclusion is obvious.

May 12, 1898

"Calling and Election" The Present Truth 14, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

Much trouble many people make for themselves, and others also, by limiting the love and mercy of God. "I should like to be saved, but it is impossible unless I am one of the elect, and I have never been called." Sad to say, not a little religious (not Christian) teaching in time past, and even to the present time, has tended to produce and impress these false ideas of God. That professed atheists should blaspheme God's name and character, is to be expected; but that professed followers of God should ever for a moment sanction, not to say promulgate, so horrible a libel upon Him, as that He has chosen a certain few to be saved, and that He has deliberately doomed all the rest to eternal destruction, regardless of their desire or willingness to be saved, is beyond comprehension. Let us note the few simple Bible facts.

WHO ARE CALLED?

First, as to who are called. Read the words of the Apostle Peter to those who assembled on the day of Pentecost: "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. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts ii. 38, 39. Who are they whom "the Lord our God shall call?"-Note carefully: it is those to whom the apostle was speaking, and to their children, and to "all that are far off." That includes everybody.

The same thing was spoken through the prophet Isaiah. By that prophet the Lord said: "I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near." Isa. lvii. 19. The Lord proclaims peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near; there is no chance for anybody to find an exception.

With this agree the words of Christ, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. xi. 28. This includes every needy soul. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Isa. lv. 1. "And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. xxii. 17. Not only is every one who hears invited to come, but he is also authorised to invite everybody else whom he sees. There is no partiality with God.

In view of these plain calls, who dare limit the grace of God? "The grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men." Titus ii. 10, R.V. "As by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Rom. v. 18. All men have gone astray, like lost sheep, and all are called back. God "willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Tim. ii. 4, R.V. The Lord is "long-suffering to uswards, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter iii. 9.

SELF-ELECTED

"Yes; but does it not say somewhere that 'many are called, but few chosen'? and isn't that evidence that all cannot be saved?" Yes, and no. That statement is indeed made, but it by no means teaches that there are any who cannot be saved if they wish salvation. The question is really equivalent to this: "Does not this last text overthrow all the others?" The Word of God is not divided against itself. Read the passages in which the statement is found (Matt. xx. 1-16 and xxii. 1-14), and it will be apparent that those who are not chosen are those who themselves do not choose to accept the terms of salvation. That is the whole of the matter. Election means choice. The free choice is given to all. "Choose life, that thou and thy seed may live." Deut. xxx. 19. "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve." Josh. xxiv. 15.

Whoever chooses salvation, or, in other words, elects to be saved, is one of the elect. The non-elect are of course lost, but it is of their own choice. Of those who are lost, the Spirit of God says: "For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of My counsel; they despised all My reproof; therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices." Prov. i. 29-31.

When the Jews at Antioch "spake against those things that were spoken by Paul and Barnabas, contradicting and blaspheming," the apostles said, "It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." Acts xiii. 45, 46. They judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life, by refusing to receive it. It was indeed given to them, and they put it away from them. Note that it was all in their own hands. They were made judges in the case, and so it is with all men. Each man determines his own worthiness or unworthiness; whoever will receive eternal life, is accounted worthy of it. Each man judges of his own fitness, and elects himself. Surely God could not possibly deal more fairly with mankind.

That the matter of election is one that rests with the individual, is seen from the exhortation of the Apostle Peter: "Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure." 2 Peter i. 10. All men are called of God's own free grace; but the call avails nothing if men do not choose to accept it. Having chosen the gift of God, it rests with the individual to make his election sure, "by patient continuance in well-doing" through keeping the faith.

MAN'S DESTINY IN HIS OWN HANDS

There is a grave responsibility in the fact, yet it is a most glorious truth, that God has placed every man's destiny in his own hands. Every soul can have just what he himself chooses. Surely God is good to all, and His goodness is manifest even in the destruction of the wicked, since even in their destruction God is but allowing them to have that for which they manifested a most determined choice even after the fulness of the blessing of life had been set before them. They simply get the wages for which they have laboured; for "the wages of sin is death." Rom. vi. 23. Men who persistently choose their own way, in opposition to that of God, "treasure up" unto themselves "wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Rom. ii. 4, 5. It would be unjust not to give

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them the wages which they have so carefully laid up.

But isn't it a fact that Jesus said, "No man come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him"? Yes, Jesus did say that; and He also said of Himself, with reference to His crucifixion, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." John xii. 32. Now when we remember that "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son," that it was "by the grace of God" that Jesus tasted death "for every man" (Heb. ii. 9), we can see that it is God Himself who in Christ is drawing all men to Himself. "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." "The Lord hath appeared of old unto Me, saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have by drawn thee." Jer. xxxi. 3.

Next week we will have a study of the power by which God is continually working to draw all men to Himself.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. The Law of Christ" The Present Truth 14, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

A FEW PRELIMINARY EXPLANATIONS

Hasty readers of the Epistle to the Galatians might think that there is a division in it, and that the latter part treats of practical, spiritual life, while the first part is devoted to theoretical doctrines. Such a conclusion would be a great error. No part of the Bible is theory; it is all fact. There is no part of the Bible that is not spiritual and practical. Moreover, it is all doctrine. Doctrine means teaching. Christ's talk to the multitudes on the mount is called doctrine, because "He opened His mouth and taught them." Some people express a sort of contempt for doctrine; they speak slightingly of it, as though it belonged to the realm of abstruse theology, and not the practical, everyday life. Such ones unconsciously do dishonour to the preaching of Christ, which was nothing else but doctrine. That is to say, He always taught the people.

SERMONISING NOT DOCTRINE

That which leads people into this error is a wrong use of words. That which they call "doctrine," and which they speak of as impractical, is not doctrine, but sermonising. That is impractical, and has no place in the Gospel. No preacher of the Gospel ever "delivers a sermon." If he does, it is because he chooses for a time to do something else besides preach the Gospel. Christ never delivered a sermon. Instead of that, He gave the people doctrine; that is to say, He taught them. He was "a Teacher sent from God." So the Gospel is all doctrine; it is instruction in the life of Christ.

AN ABUSE

People quite generally misuse the Epistle to the Galatians. They treat it as though it were a purely argumentative book. They use it merely to draw arguments from, with which to establish some theory, or to demolish somebody else's theory. Worse still, they even go to it to find authority for attacks upon the law of God, which is the law of Christ, since Christ is God, and the Father and the Son are one in all things. It is rare to find anyone, even a real preacher of the Gospel, going to this Epistle for material for Gospel teaching. If they do, they use only the last portion of the fifth chapter, and a portion of the sixth. The rest ignore, with a virtuous feeling that they cannot waste time in disputes about the law. As though the Apostle Paul ever wasted time in such a thing! As though it were a waste of time to preach that which the greatest of apostles took such pains to write under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost! As though the apostle himself ever spent time after his conversion doing anything else but preach and write the Gospel!

THE GOSPEL IN GALATIANS

Recall the beginning of the Epistle. Remember that it was written to reclaim those who were departing from the Gospel of Christ, and from God, into a pretended Gospel, which led to perdition. It was written, that "the truth of the Gospel" might remain with us. Surely, then, it is a great impeachment of the Spirit that guided Paul, to imply that he devoted the greater portion of the Epistle to something that is not practical Gospel. It is all Gospel, and nothing but Gospel.

THE LAW IN THE GOSPEL

And yet, the Epistle does deal largely with the law. In fact, it deals with nothing else; for the real law of God, the law of liberty, is the life of Christ, "who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil." Acts x. 38. The law is righteousness, and righteousness is life. Disobedience to the law is death. "All have sinned," and therefore under the curse of the law; but "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." He received, so to speak, all the broken, ragged edges of the law in Himself, in order that through the creative power of His life, the law might come to us in its perfection, for the purpose for which it was designed, for it "was ordained to life." Rom. vii. 10. Out of Christ, the law is a terror, a yoke of bondage, the ministration of death, because out of Him it is not kept; in Christ it is "not grievous," but is peace and life, because in Him we are made to walk in the good works which God Himself has wrought for us.

THE LAW OF PEACE AND LOVE

"Great peace have they which love Thy law; and nothing shall offend them." Ps. cxix. 165. "O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." Isa. xlviii. 18. "The law is spiritual," and "to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Rom. vii. 14; viii. 6. Those who through the Gospel keep the law are kept in perfect peace, because it is in the Gospel of peace that the righteousness of God-the law-is revealed. Rom. i. 16, 17. Such ones are not "desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another." "For all the law is fulfilled in

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one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." "He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." It is only where men, by departing from the Gospel of Christ, transgress the law, that they bite and devour one another, and are consumed of one another. The fruit of the Spirit, against which there is no law, because it is the perfection of the law, is "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." The Epistle to the Galatians was written for the purpose of restoring the Spirit in its readers. How natural, then, and how perfectly in harmony with the whole epistle, were the opening words of the sixth chapter, which constitute our present lesson:-

"Brethren, even if a man be overtaken it in any trespass, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man thinketh himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." Gal. vi. 1-3, R.V.

THE GOSPEL MEANS RESTORATION

The work of the Gospel is to restore. "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say to you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." Matt. xviii. 11-14.

SAVE THE ONE

Note the fact that the Lord represents His work by the case of the shepherd who seeks after the one sheep that has gone astray. The work of the Gospel is an individual work. Even though under the preaching of the Gospel thousands accept it in one day, as a result of one discourse, it is because of its effect on each individual heart. When the preacher, in speaking to thousands, addresses each one individually, then he is doing the work of Christ. So if a man be overtaken in a fault, restore such an one, in the spirit of meekness. No man's time is so precious that it is wasted when devoted to the salvation of one single person. Some of the most important and glorious truths that we have on record as uttered by Christ, were addressed to only one listener. He who looks after and cares for the single lambs of the flock, is a good shepherd.

SALVATION IS FROM SIN

A fault, a trespass, is a sin. "Sin is the transgression of the law." If any man be overpowered by temptation, and fall into sin, restore him, that is, bring him back into harmony with the law, and thus fulfil the law of Christ. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. i. 15. This He does by taking on Himself the sin, "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." He bears the curse, that the blessing may come to us. He was made to be sin, "that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. v. 21. His name is Jesus, Saviour, because the work of His life is to save men from their sins. Those who are workers with Him, must be devoted to the same thing. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." Rom. iii. 31. The work of the Gospel minister is not to teach people that the law is abolished, but to bring them into harmony with it.

THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION

The law of God is love. "His commandments are not grievous." Therefore there can be nothing of harshness in the work of reclaiming and erring one. "If thy brother sin, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone; if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." Matt. xviii. 15, R.V., margin. The object of showing a brother his faults is to gain him, to restore him, not to condemn him. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, but only as the Comforter. Whoever attempts this delicate work is to go in the spirit of meekness, which is the Spirit of Christ, who is meek and lowly in heart. He is to go simply as Christ's representative, as the agent whom the Spirit of Christ uses. The words that he speaks are to be Christ's words, and not his own. It is to be Christ that goes, and nobody else. Then, whatever be the result, the work will have been done right. But let us beware of putting ourselves in Christ's place. We are not to do something, and then comfort ourselves or defend ourselves with the statement that we have done as He would have done. The work is God's work, and He must be allowed to do it in us.

NOT IMPUTING UNTO MEN THEIR TRESPASSES

Let us not forget the law of Christ. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." That is, we are to restore the erring by bearing their burdens, even as Christ bears the sins of the world. Let us look at this closely. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and have placed in us the word of reconciliation. We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were intreating by us." 2 Cor. v. 19, 20. God does not impute to men their trespasses; He takes them on Himself. Christ was in all things made like 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 puts Himself absolutely in the sinner's place, to the extent of taking all the sinner's guilt on Himself. This is the way He reconciles. He calls us to look at Him, in the like situation with us, weak and tempted as we are. Thus He establishes a bond of sympathy, and having gained our confidence by not putting Himself above us, and looking on us with contempt, He shows us the way of salvation.

SALVATION IN CONFESSION OF SIN

The greatest part therefore of the work of saving souls is to show ourselves one with them. That is to say, it is in the confession of our own faults, that we save others. The man who feels himself without sin, is not the man to restore the sinful. He who goes to one who is overtaken in any trespass, and says, "How in the world could you ever do such a thing? I never did a thing like that in my life, and I can't see how anybody with any sense of self-respect could do so," might far better stay at home. God chose one Pharisee, and only one, to be an apostle, but he was not sent forth until he could acknowledge himself to be the chief of sinners. It is humiliating to confess sin. That is true, but the way of salvation is the way of the cross. It was only by the cross that Christ could be the Saviour of sinners. Therefore if we would share His joy, we must with Him endure the cross, despising the shame. Remember this fact: It is only by confessing our own sins, that we can save others from their sins; but

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whosoever confesses his own sins finds cleansing; thus we see that while salvation is an individual matter, it has to do with more than one individual; our salvation is bound up with that of others. If we confess our sins we shall be saved, and shall be the means of saving some one else.

SELF-ABASEMENT

"If a man thinketh himself to be something, when his nothing, he deceiveth himself." Mark those words, "when he is nothing." It does not say that we should not think ourselves to be something until we are something. No; it is a statement of the fact that we are nothing. Not merely a single individual, but all nations, are nothing before the Lord. If we ever at any time think ourselves to be something, we deceive ourselves. And we often do deceive ourselves, and thus mar the work of the Lord. Remember the law of Christ. Although He was everything, He emptied Himself. He obliterated Himself, that the work of God might be done. "The servant is not greater than his lord." God alone is great; "every man at his best state is altogether vanity." God alone is true, but every man a liar. When we acknowledge this, and live in consciousness of it, then we are where the Spirit of God can fill us, and then God can work through us. The "man of sin" is he that exalteth himself. 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4. The child of God is the one who humbles himself. Instead of fighting against God's law, by maintaining that we are right, let us acknowledge that "law is holy, the commandment holy and just, and good" (Rom. vii. 12), that so we may find mercy, and salvation from our sins, and be made a blessing to others.

"Is It Peace?" The Present Truth 14, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

That secular papers should have occasion to reprove religious papers for their intense zeal for war, is not at all to the credit of the religion which they profess, but it is good to see that there are those who see the incongruity of pleas for war by ministers of the Gospel of peace. The Manchester Evening News of April 28 contained the following:-

When men of peace become possessed of the war fever they are as other men, if not worse. The Baptist ministers, now in conference, are an example. The stand they took yesterday with reference to the war between the United States and Spain must satisfy the most bellicose individual that ever existed. Not only do they approve of the action of President McKinley in declaring war, but their hearts seem filled with regret that we have no amongst us a second Oliver Cromwell, who would have shed the blood of the Sultan of Turkey and a few thousands of his subjects at the time of the bother in Eastern Europe a short time ago. most men are glad that England maintained peace, but our Baptist friends seem to regret that cannon did not thunder in the Bosphorus, that the temples of the Prophet were not blown to atoms, and that there are so many unoccupied plots in the Turkish graveyards. Surely these are remarkable utterances form the servants on earth of the Prince of Peace.

"Uncertain Riches" The Present Truth 14, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

In the April number of Chambers's Magazine appears an interesting contribution on the subject of "mine-salting." It describes some of the methods by which unproductive mining property can be made to appear capable of rich yield, when it is desired to effect a sale. According to the writer, mine-salting is much more common than is generally supposed. It is practiced in every mining district in the world with more or less success, and it is hardly too much to say that fully ten per cent. of the foreign and colonial mines sold to London companies are purchased on samples obtained from salted workings.

Several instances are given, among them being one which occurred in New South Wales a few years ago. Over three hundred ounces of gold were used to salt the mine, with the result that the property was purchased by a Sydney syndicate for ?30,000. So well was the salting done that expert after expert was deceived, and it was not until the market price of the syndicate shares totalled over ?400,000 that the property was proved to have been prepared.

These facts are interesting in view of the enormous sums of money which change hands over mining shares. There probably never was a time in human history when so many enterprises were inviting people to invest their means, with the certainty of becoming speedily rich; and now, as never before, "they that desire to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare." 1 Tim. vi. 9, R.V.

Men of great ability have set themselves to the task of easing others of their wealth, and stop at no means whereby they can accomplish this end. The man whose trust is in uncertain riches may well be uneasy when he considers the powerful combinations which are seeking to augment their own wealth at his expense. The words of the Saviour come with special force to this generation: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth." Matt. vi. 19. "Sell that ye have and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth." Luke xii. 33, R.V.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Day of Judgment. Matt. xxv. 31-46" The Present Truth 14, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

MAY 22

This lesson brings before us the work of the judgment, the basis upon which its decisions rest, and the result of those decisions. It is the closing part of that talk with His disciples, a portion of which was studied last week.

THE STANDARD OF JUDGMENT

There are only two classes to be dealt with in the judgment, and the work of the judgment consists simply in separating these two classes. No arbitrary decisions are rendered. "They were judged every man according to their works." The standard in the judgment will be God's own character, His righteousness, as described in His law and revealed in the life of Christ. When Jesus came to this earth as "the Son of Man," as our representative, He took it upon Himself to meet this standard in our behalf. His work is thus prophesied of: "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within My heart." Ps. xl. 7, 8. And His whole life experience is summed up in these words: "I have kept My Father's commandments." John xv. 10.

But this He did in our behalf, not as an excuse for our continuing in sin, but that He might "save His people from their sins." "For what the law could not do, in that was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walked not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. viii. 3, 4. "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. v. 21.

A righteous character is required of everyone who shall be admitted to the heavenly kingdom ("Thy people also shall be all righteous"), but this righteousness is provided for us in the gift of Jesus to be "the Lord our righteousness." "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places [or things] in Christ." Eph. i. 3. While He was here upon the earth the Father's voice was heard saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," and "He hath made us accepted in the beloved." By the course of our daily lives we are deciding whether we shall "be found in Him" in the judgment day.

THE SEPARATION

The separation which the Son of man will make in the judgment is simply the fixing for all eternity of the choice which each one has made for himself during his period of probation. The Lord urges us: "Come out from among them and be ye separate," but this is a separation of character and not a mere bodily separation. We are in the world, yet we are not to be of the world, just as Jesus associated with sinners in order to save them and yet He was "separate from sinners." All the efforts of men to separate themselves, by shutting themselves up in cells or caves, have resulted in failure, since "the world" from which they are to be separated is in their own hearts, and so goes with them even into the most secret places. The work can only be accomplished by the power of that Word of God which is "quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

THE RESULTS OF SEPARATION

But there are certain and definite results of separation from the world and abiding in Christ. "Hereby know we that we are in Him: he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked." 1 John ii. 5, 6. Now when Jesus was upon the earth, He "went about doing good." "I am among you as He that serveth." "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." And He has given to us the true test of character: "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not everyone 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." Matt. vi. 20, 21. So in the judgment day the decisions turn upon the way in which we have treated the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and those in prison; not because we can earn salvation by doing deeds of mercy to those who are in distress, but because a life of devotion to the need of others is a sure evidence of the indwelling of Him who came "to seek to save that which was lost." When His love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which He has given us, then that love will flow out in service to others, as is shown in His own life; and thus are we "filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, and to the glory and praise of God." "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world." 1 John iv. 17.

THE GOSPEL IN DEEDS

The lack of a disposition to relieve the distress of others is evidence that we are not abiding in Him whose heart responded to every cry of need. It is not always the amount given or the greatness of the service rendered. "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that He hath not." 2 Cor. viii. 12. The services spoken of in the lesson, as having been rendered by some and withheld by the others, are not those which require the possession of great wealth. It is to share our food with the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to share our home with the stranger, or clothing with the naked, and to visit those who are sick or who are in prison. This is simply to preach the Gospel by deeds as well as by words, and to reveal the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, "though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that he through His poverty might be rich." And that which renders the service acceptable

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to God is that it is done for His sake "who gave Himself for us." "For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, He shall not lose his reward." Mark ix. 41.

CHRIST IDENTIFIED WITH HUMANITY

In this lesson Jesus fully identifies Himself with suffering humanity. He says: "I was an hungered," "I was thirsty," "I was a stranger," "I was sick," "I was in prison." "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." So completely is it that "the Word became flesh." Furthermore it is "the Son of Man," before whom "shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another." And the Father "hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man." Thus the case of every member of the human family is committed to Him who was in all things "made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." How wonderfully are the love and mercy of God revealed in His dealings with His erring children!

"COME!" "DEPART!"

To those whose lives have revealed that they have received Christ as their Saviour from sin, the word is, "Come": to those who have refused the gift of His love, the word is, "Depart." The one class have chosen the fellowship of Jesus by His indwelling Spirit, and to them it is granted to enjoy that fellowship to all eternity in the earth made new and fully relieved from the curse and all its effects. "They shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads." "Behold the tabernacle 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." Rev. xxii. 4; xxi. 3. The other class have said by their actions, "We will not have this Man to reign over us." Instead of separation from the world they have chosen separation from God, and now this choice is for ever confirmed and they "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." 2 Thess. i. 9. In the judgment that fellowship with God, which is life, is granted throughout eternity to those who have opened their hearts to the indwelling of God's presence in Jesus Christ, but eternal separation from God is the lot of those who have refused His presence here. But separation from God is death, "For in Him we live and move and have our being." And so the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the righteous will be of equal duration. Sustained by His own life, the righteous will live as long as God lives, but being eternally separated from that life by their own choice, the wicked shall "be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous." "For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be."

NO ACT OF TRIFLING IMPORTANCE

How evident it thus is that the ordinary experiences of our lives are weighted with eternal consequences. It is not in some great crisis merely that we decide our eternal destiny, but every decision which we make is giving its mould to the character and is determined beforehand what the final decision will be. "Blessed is the man that heareth Me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of My doors. For whoso findeth Me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that sinneth against [or misseth] me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate Me love death." Prov. viii. 34-36. A little study will show that the lesson of this week is simply the direct application to the life of the principles found in the first Psalm. "Blessed is the man!"

"Called to the Throne" The Present Truth 14, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

Great change had taken place in Saul since he was anointed king of Israel. At first he was little in his own eyes, but by the time he had reigned two years his heart was so lifted up that he presumed to offer sacrifices, a work which God had appointed to the priests. He was wise in his own estimation, but the Lord told him that he had done foolishly and that the kingdom should be taken from him.

It was many years after this that Samuel was instructed to go down to Bethlehem and anoint a king among the sons of Jesse. He was afraid that the news of his errand would get to the ears of Saul who would seek to slay him. This shows how far Saul had gone in his evil ways. Like the heathen kings of other countries, he was seeking first to glorify himself and secure his own dignity. His power was given him that he might protect the weak and ensure justice to all, but it was perverted to his own selfish purposes.

If the king did evil, his subjects would feel free to do the same, and would excuse themselves by pointing to his example, and thus encouragement be given to wrong-doing. It is easy to see how Saul's wicked course would set the fashion among the leaders of the nation, and these in turn would influence others, until all Israel would be leavened. When all the people joined in making it easy for every one else to do wrong, every one was making it hard for themselves to do right.

It may have been because the degeneracy had spread as far as Bethlehem that, when the elders of that place saw the faithful old prophet, Samuel, coming into their city, they trembled, and said, "Comest thou peaceably!"

Then Samuel proclaimed a sacrifice to the Lord and called Jesse and his sons to take part. All of them came except David, who was left in the field. Perhaps he was considered by the family too young for such things, and besides, there must be something important to bring Samuel to Bethlehem and, as a matter of course, it would relate to one of them.

When Samuel saw the oldest son, Eliab, he felt at once that this was the man to anoint,-just the right age and with an aspect and bearing worthy of a monarch,-and only awaited the Lord's command. But to his surprise the Lord said, "Look not on his countenance or the height of his stature, because I have refused him."

It was not mere inches that was needed in a king. Saul had enough of these and to spare, for he was head and shoulders above everybody else. But the fault was that his heart did not match the splendid proportions of his body, and so, while man, looking on the outward appearance, was thinking what a magnificent leader the king of Israel was, the Lord was continually troubled because He had to look down on the shrivelled, darkened, miserable thing that did duty for a heart in Saul. There was no pleasure at all in contemplating it, and to make matters worse, the other hearts in Israel were getting like it, so the Lord was looking for a different kind to take its place, one like His own, and that was why Eliab would not do.

God does not care so much about our bodies being big if only our hearts are enlarged, and although we cannot by taking thought add one cubit to our stature, or the slightest increase to our own hearts, God can and will do it for those who let Him. "God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore." 1 Kings iv. 29.

I will run the way of Thy commandments,
When Thou shalt enlarge my heart. Ps. cxix. 32.

Abinadab passed next before Samuel, but he was not satisfactory, nor was any one of the seven sons who came to the sacrifice. After they had all passed by, little thinking that God was judging them, Samuel had to tell Jesse, "The Lord hath not chosen these."

Samuel was perplexed. The Lord had certainly sent him to anoint one of the sons of Jesse, and yet all had been refused. He wanted to know if there was not another son still. Yes, there was the youngest, minding the sheep. "Send and fetch him," said Samuel, "for we will not sit down till he come hither."

So they fetched him, wondering what the prophet could want with him, and as he came in at the door, "ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to," the Lord said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is he." Then Samuel anointed him before his brethren, and he who, a few minutes before, was but a humble, unthought-of shepherd lad was now the divinely-chosen king of Israel.

It was a wonderful step and we might think him fortunate above all men, but this was nothing to a far more glorious transition which God wrought for him, and which every one of us may share as well. David tells something of it in the fortieth Psalm.

I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined unto me and heard my cry,
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit,
out of the miry clay;
And He set my feet upon a rock, and established
my goings.
And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even
praise unto our God.

Hannah, Samuel's mother, in words which would be well known to David, had rejoiced in a similar experience.

The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich;
He bringeth low, He also lifteth up.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust.
He lifteth up the needy form the dunghill,
To make them sit with princes,
And inherit the throne of glory. 1 Sam. ii. 7, 8.

So, too, can we be glad, "giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us form the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." Col. i. 12, 13.

Since it was because of David's heart that he had been chosen king, let us look therein and see what we find.

The Lord is my strength and my shield;
My heart hath trusted in Him, and I am
helped;
Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth;
And with my song will I praise Him. Ps. xxviii. 7.

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Again, in the fortieth Psalm we read,-
I delight to do Thy will, O my God,
Yea, Thy law is within my heart.

These words were also spoken of Christ, but since David was a man after God's own heart, we would expect to find the same thing in both. This was not because David was better than anyone else, but because he gave his heart to the Lord. He prayed,

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation
of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer. Ps. xix. 14.
Create in me a clean heart, O God;
And renew a right spirit within me. Ps. li. 10.

The difference between David and Saul was that David let the Word and Spirit of God come freely into his heart and fill and control it, while Saul kept it to himself and would not let the light into it.

He saith in is heart, God hath forgotten:
He hideth His face; He will never see it. Ps. x. 11.

"Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." Jer. xvii. 5.

We might wonder why David was not immediately proclaimed king and Saul driven from the throne, instead of having to wait so many years. The question trouble David sometimes, but he tells in the seventy-third Psalm how his mind was set at rest. At first

My steps had well nigh slipped,
For I was envious at the arrogant,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. . . .
Surely in vain have I cleanse my heart,
And washed my hands in innocency.

But as David saw what would be the end of the wicked, and what their envied riches did for them, he realised that the only thing worth having was the saving blessing of God, and, having this, he was willing to do without all else that God in love kept from him.

Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire
beside Thee. . . .
It is good for me to draw near unto God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
That I may tell of all Thy works.

The delay in bringing David to the kingdom was good in many ways. Saul had opportunities for repentance, and Israel had time to learn that it was an evil thing and bitter, that they had chosen to be ruled by man rather than God. David also gained the needed experience and was taught, by his own sufferings, how important it was that "he that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God." 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. Nor did the advantage end there. The experiences then gained have passed down to succeeding ages a rich legacy of understanding of the character of God.

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever:
With my mouth will I make known Thy
faithfulness to all generations. Ps. lxxxix. 1.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 19.

E. J. Waggoner

"We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." 2 Cor. xiii. 8.

God's Word is the truth (John xvii. 17), and that is settled in heaven for ever (Ps. cxix. 89), as immovable as His throne. Therefore all the assaults of his enemies are vain.

Paul verily thought at one time that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Truth, and he did them (Acts xxvi. 9, 10), yet he injured only himself, while the truth grew and prevailed.

In this fact that we can do nothing against the truth, but for it, because God works all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph. i. 11), there is both admonition and encouragement for us. We are warned by it not to oppose the truth, since all our attacks will only recoil on our own heads. More than this, we are taught to yield to God's will, that it may be done in us even as it is done in heaven, that is, heartily, freely, gladly.

The will of God must be done, whether we yield to it or not. Nothing can stand against His power. If we oppose it, its success means our destruction; while if we yield to it, then its unchangeableness means our everlasting salvation. How much better that the will of God be done with our consent, than against it.

Encouragement is found in this, that when we by yielding range ourselves on the side of truth, nothing can be against us, but everything must serve us. Joseph's brethren sold him into Egypt because of envy, and yet it was God who sent him there. Jacob said, "All these things are against me," yet those very things were working out the salvation of his life. What a glorious thing it is to be subject to the mighty God, who makes all opposition serve only as help, so that "all things work together for good to them that love God."

The rebellion in Sierra Leone over the imposition of the hut tax is assuming serious proportions. Several missionaries are said to be among the killed, and the despatch of Imperial troops has been decided upon. The collection of that little bit of revenue will prove to be a very expensive business.

Although the object of the war between the United States and Spain is said to be the liberation of Cuba, the first real fighting has taken place in the Philippine Islands, where Admiral Dewey has, according to report, destroyed eleven vessels of the Spanish fleet. Meanwhile, the suffering in Cuba is increasing, even the wealthy in Havana being in straits for food.

The price of wheat continues to rise. At the beginning of the Cuban war, it could be bought for about 37s. per quarter, now 54s. is demanded, and some dealers will not sell for less than 60s. Bread has gone up to 7d. per 4-lb. loaf. The same pressure is also being felt on the Continent, and the French Government has taken off the duty on wheat for the present, amounting to about 12s. per quarter.

The balance of the outstanding portion of the war indemnity due from China to Japan, was paid at the Bank of England on the 7th. The sum, which amounted to nearly ?13,000,000 sterling, was made by a single cheque, said to be the largest ever drawn on the Bank of England. China is now entitled to demand the withdrawal of the Japanese forces from Wei-hai-wei, which means, of course, the occupation of that place by the British.

The Australian Federal Convention at first refused to insert in the constitution a clause prohibiting the commonwealth from passing religious laws, the reason being given that such a clause would prohibits Sunday legislation. Now, however, it has repented, and has inserted the prohibitory clause. It is a matter of small moment, however, for no human legislative body or laws can give or withhold religious freedom. The United States Constitution has such a clause as that just adopted in Australia; indeed the Australian clause is almost an exact copy of the American; yet it has not been a bar to religious legislation in America. There are always to be found ministers who, while the protests that Sunday observance is the foundation of religion, nevertheless assure the law-makers that Sunday legislation is not religious legislation.

Speaking on the Vaccination Bill now before the House of Commons, Mr. T. Bayley said that a year ago he was strongly in favour of vaccination, but inquiry into the question, and reading the Government reports, made his mind very doubtful, and he was beginning to believe that they were absolutely at the wrong end of the question altogether, and that sanitation, isolation, and cleanliness of the people would do more to destroy small-pox than giving cow-pox or anything else.

This is undoubtedly the correct view. Altogether apart from the merits of vaccination as a preventive of disease, it is evident that this alone does not save a person from small-pox. Habits of life which invites such a visitation cannot be atoned for by an occasional inoculation, any more than a man can violate the laws of health and yet hope to retain it by means of a periodic pill.

The Boys' Brigade now numbers nearly 800 companies, with over 2,800 officers and 35,000 boys, in the United Kingdom. At the annual meeting last week, in Queen's Hall, Lord Reay, who presided, said that "the defence of the British Empire depended largely on the voluntary force, and there could be no better nucleus for future volunteers than was provided by this movement." Yet the movement, it will be remembered, is wholly religious.

An article on the soldiers of Spain, in the Daily Mail of April 20, says: "Very little meat enters into the Spanish soldiers dietary. Perhaps this is the reason his wounds heal so rapidly and easily." Undoubtedly; the man who does not eat flesh has, other things being equal, every advantage over the man who depends on the butcher for his living; and yet, such is the force of custom, that the very man who wrote the foregoing concerning the benefits of a non-flesh diet, would doubtless say that he couldn't live and be healthy without meat.

May 19, 1898

"The Flock of God" The Present Truth 14, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

"O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God; and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand." Ps. xcv. 6, 7. "Know ye not 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.

"Who are His sheep? Is it just those who acknowledge and serve Him? or is it all?-Evidently the latter; for in the Psalm whence the first text is cited, the exhortation follows, "To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts;" and the other text intimates that His sheep consist of those whom He has created.

Still more positive proof that all men are originally considered as God's flock, is found in Isa. liii. 6: "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." Everyone who has gone astray, and every one for whom Christ died, belongs to His flock. "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

The Lord Jehovah is the Shepherd. Ps. xxiii. 1. Jesus says, "I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." John x. 11. Christ died for all; by the grace of God He tasted death for every man. So we see that all people on earth are rightfully His sheep. Ah, what infinite comfort there is in that thought, when it is accepted; every one who will allow that he is one of the Lord's flock can say with confidence, "I shall not want."

Sad to say, not all will acknowledge the Lord as their Shepherd. We cannot tell who they are, who by their own unbelief take themselves out of His flock; but He knows. Jesus says, "I am the good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine." John x. 10. To some He said, "Ye believed not, because ye are not of My sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." Verses 26, 27.

Jesus stands and calls, and those who hear and follow Him thereby prove that they are indeed His sheep. Those who gather to Him at His call form what is commonly termed His church; for the Greek word that is rendered "church" is composed of

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two words which means literally "called out." The words "church" and "flock" are used interchangeably, as in Acts xx. 28, in the words of Paul to the elders of the church in Ephesus: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood."

The word which is used in the Old Testament, however, and which ought still to be used instead of "church," is "congregation." It would be vastly better if "congregation" were always used when speaking of the body of Christ, and the word "church" were wholly abandoned. The word "congregation" comes directly from the Latin word which means "flock." It means literally, "flocked together," and aptly designates those who gather together from all directions, at the Shepherd's call. When the Lord calls, His sheep hear His voice, and flock to Him. Thus being "called out" of this present evil world, they form one body, a congregation. Of course they are not all in one single place on this earth; so there are many little congregations, and yet only one congregation, since they are all one in Christ.

Since the flock has come in response to the Lord's voice, they will not, after having assembled, listen to any other voice. "Hear Him" is the command from above. If any other voice is listened to, the only result is the dividing and scattering of the flock. Remember that the only test of whether or not any are Christ's flock, is the voice of Christ. All who listen to it are His sheep; those who will not hear it are goats that are at last to be separated from the flock (Matt. xxv. 31, 32); and those who use other than Christ's voice, that is, His words, are "grievous wolves" or else thieves and robbers.

It will readily be seen that the flock of God, "the congregation of the righteous, is not a law-making, but a law-keeping body. The flock does not rule, but is ruled. The ruling, however, is by Christ, the great Shepherd, whose ruling consists in feeding. Compare Micah v. 2 with Matt. ii. 6, margin. It would manifestly be most absurd for a flock of sheep to lay down rules for its own guidance; much more to presume to be rulers of others.

From this we can see the impropriety of the use of the word "church," as applied to the Lord's flock. That word means "lordly," and came into use with the rising up of the men of whom Paul gave warning,-men "speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." Acts xx. 30. These men began to lord it over God's heritage, and soon the idea became prevalent that they themselves constituted the church. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, introduced or at least gave prominence to the idea, which soon became prevalent, that-

"The church is founded upon the bishops, and every act of the church is controlled by these same rulers." "Whence you ought to know that the bishop is in the church, and the church in the bishop; and if anyone be not with the bishop, that he is not in the church."

and as a consequence the bishops, instead of considering themselves as under-shepherds, soon claimed to be "the church," that is the lords of the people. Instead of giving their lives for the flock, they slaughtered the flock for their own pleasure. But lordship is not a thing that has any place in the house of God. To us there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ. Him will we hear. From any other voice than His we will flee.

The word "church" has obtained such a foothold, that it is not at all probable that it will ever be replaced by the rightful word, "congregation;" but when we use it we must remember that the church of Christ is not a house of lords but is a flock, feeding on the words of the "one Lord." How much better this position than the former. If we assume the lordship, we have all the burden and worry, with the fear, nay the certainty, of making mistakes; while if we are content to be humble sheep, led by the good Shepherd, we are sure to be kept safe, and brought into the everlasting kingdom.

With what confidence we may rest! "Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, 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." Isa. xl. 10, 11. His own life is answerable for the life of each member of the flock.

Therefore "the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom the glory for ever and ever. Amen."

"The Power by Which God Draws" The Present Truth 14, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

Last week we had a brief study of the matter of calling and election, in which we saw that God calls all men to repentance, and has chosen or elected all men in Christ unto salvation, and that it rests with each individual to make his calling an election sure. At the close of the study the question arose, "Can anybody come to the Lord unless he is drawn?" and the answer was, of course, No; since Jesus said: "No man can come unto Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him." John vi. 44. But this must not be taken as indicating that there are some who are not drawn, and who therefore cannot come, because Christ also said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." John xii. 32. And He has been "lifted up" from the earth, on the cross, which was what He referred to.

"God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." 2 Cor. v. 19. Therefore in the cross of Christ, the Father, who sent Him, is drawing all men unto Him. According to promise, we will now have a brief study of the power by which God is drawing us to Himself and salvation, so that we may see how utterly without excuse we shall be if we neglect "so great salvation."

LOVING-KINDNESS IN THE CROSS

The prophet Jeremiah writes: "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have by drawn thee." Jer. xxxi. 3. This loving-kindness that draws men to God is manifested in the cross; for "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. v. 8. "And He died for all, that they which should live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who for their sakes died and rose again." 2 Cor. v. 15, R.V. So we come again to the fact that in the cross God is drawing every man to salvation.

Before we go any further, let it be understood that the fact that Christ is drawing

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all men to salvation does not prove that all men will be saved, for men may and do despise and resist the love of God. We merely state this, in passing, so that no one need be troubled by the thought that we are claiming that all men will be saved. What we are concerned with is to show that all men might be saved if they would, and to show that so strongly does God desire the salvation of all men, that they are obliged to labour for destruction, and to put forth positive resistance, to avoid being saved. "Whosoever will," that is, whosoever is willing, is sure to be saved.

The fact just stated, together with the truth set forth in Jer. xxxi. 3, is seen in Rom. ii. 3-6, where the apostle addresses himself to every sinner in particular, saying, "And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the righteous judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after the hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds."

THE CROSS IN CREATION

What we have thus far learned is that God is drawing all men by the power of the cross. Now we wish to see what all men may know of the greatness of that power. True, we are told that the "exceeding greatness" of His power is manifested in the resurrection of Christ from the dead; but we want to know if that power is actually manifested so that we can see its action, instead of merely reading the statement of the fact. The answer is given in God's own Word. Let us read and see.

1. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Rom. i. 16.

2. The preaching of the cross is also the power of God to salvation. 1 Cor. i. 18.

3. So the Gospel is the preaching of the cross of Christ, as plainly appears when we read 1 Cor. i. 17, 18.

4. That which may be known of God, that is, "His everlasting power and divinity," has been manifest ever since the creation of the world, "being perceived through the things that are made." Rom. i. 20, R.V. Therefore putting these things together, namely, that the Gospel, by which men are saved, and which is "to all people," is the preaching of the cross of Christ; that it is the power of God; and that the power of God is seen in His creation, we learn

5. That the power of the cross, the power by which God draws men to Himself, is the power that is manifested in the visible as well as the invisible creation.

This agrees with the statement that "in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible" (Col. i. 16, R.V.), and Christ's own words of encouragement to those whom He sends to preach the Gospel: "All power is given unto Me, in heaven and earth." Matt. xxviii. 18.

The psalmist sung:

For Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through
Thy work;
I will triumph in the works of Thy hands.
Ps. xcii. 4.

A SPECIMEN OF GOD'S WORK

It is by the work of God that we are saved; "for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 10. Therefore the exhortation of Elihu (chapter xxxvi. 24-29) is most worthy to be heeded:-

Remember that thou magnify His work,
Whereof men have sung it.
All men have looked thereon;
Man beholdeth it afar off.
Behold, God is great, and we know Him not;
And the number of His years is unsearchable.
For He draweth up the drops of water,
Which distill in rain from His vapour:
Which the skies pour down
And drop upon man abundantly.
Yes, can any understand the spreadings of the
clouds,
The thunderings of His pavilion?

Think of the mighty power by which the water is drawn up from the earth to the clouds. Every day, every hour, every minute the work is going on, yet so silently is it accomplished that few give it a thought. People will wonder at the power displayed by a machine that will pump a few million gallons of water a day; but in God's great waterworks thousands of millions of tons of water are daily drawn up, not merely a few hundred feet, but miles into the air, and they are stored up till the proper time comes for it to be sent down gently in rain.

That is most literally drawing power; and it is the same power that God exerts to draw us to Him; for the Gospel is the power of God, and the power of God is seen in the things that are made.

"Can any understand the spreading of the clouds?" asks Elihu; and to this day the most learned scientist is compelled to answer, "None." "He bindeth up the waters in His thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them." Job xxvi. 8. Think of the weight of water contained in a single rain cloud. If it should all come down at once everything would be swept away before it, and the very ground would be furrowed as with a gigantic plough. Some idea of the amount of water in a single cloud may be formed when we consider that to cover merely a single acre of land an inch deep, would take more than one hundred and thirty tons of water. Now remember that in a single rain shower several inches of rain have been known to fall upon thousands of acres, and we can realise what vast reservoirs the clouds are! What held that water in the sky until the time came for it to be poured on the earth? No scientist has any theories to account for how it is done; but we know the fact, that it is held up by the power of God, the same power that drew it up. This is the power that is exerted to draw us to Him.

THE SECRET OF THE NORTH

Again: the magnetic needle points to the north. Everybody knows the facts, but nobody knows why. There is a mysterious attraction in the north. Mysterious indeed, for the Hebrew word for north means, concealed, hidden. What is this power, which men arbitrarily called magnetism, which fills the whole earth, and by which matter is kept from becoming a chaotic mass and going to destruction?-It is God's own personal influence, for "there is no power but of God." His secret dwelling-place is "Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the Great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge." Ps. xlviii. 2, 3. Lucifer, in his mad ambition to set his throne above the stars of God, and to be like the Most High, said:-

"I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." Isa. xiv. 12-14.

"He stretched out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." Job xxvi. 7. The earth hangs upon nothing, upheld by that mighty power that emanates from "the secret place of the Most High,"-the north. That power pervades every particle of matter in the universe, and holds it in its place. In Christ "are all things created, . . . for He is before all things, and in

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Him all things consists," or "cohere." Col. i. 16, 17. He upholdeth "all things by the word of His power." Heb. i. 3.

The mind cannot grasp such mighty power. It is but the working out of "the love of God which passeth knowledge," which is devoted to the well-being of mankind. "The earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord" (Ps. xxxiii. 5), and it His loving-kindness that draws us to Him. All the force in nature, by whatever name men know it, whether cohesion, chemical attraction, magnetism, gravitation, or what not, is simply the influence of the Spirit of God, from whose presence none can flee, whether he ascend to heaven, or descend into the depths of the earth, or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. Ps. cxxxix. 7-10.

Here we may well stop and meditate. What more could God do than He has done for the salvation of all mankind? That wonderful power-God's loving-kindness-is manifested also in our own bodies, so that if we are but willing that the Holy Spirit should dwell in us, and the peace of God should rule there, it cannot be otherwise than that we shall be "kept by the power of God unto salvation." God has caused His goodness to pass before us; He invites us to look at it. Oh, may our eyes ever be directed to that Divine goodness, that its power may transform us and make us wholly like God!

"The Epistle to the Galatians. Improving the Opportunity" The Present Truth 14, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

Although we have studied the first three verses of the sixth chapter of Galatians, we will for the sake of the connection include them in the text for this week, and without further review begin the study.

"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." Gal. vi. 1-10.

Burden-Bearing. -It can well be said that there is much in this portion of Scripture, as well as in others, which no one as yet understands, especially in verses two and five, which, seem to be directly contrary to each other. One says that we should bear one another's burdens, and the other says that every one shall bear his own burden. Without speculating upon what we do not know, we can find abundance of instruction in what is evident. Each one must have the Spirit of Christ, which is that of burden-bearing. He devoted His life to the service of others. But His own burdens He carried to God. He did not ask others to carry them for Him. Even so it should be with us. If every one in the house of God, to say nothing of the world, acted according to this plan, how easy it would be to get on! There would really be no burdens for any one to bear. Each one thoughtful only of others, studying their burdens, that he might help them, would find his own burdens carried in turn by others. The only burden that any one would then carry would be Christ's burden, which He calls us to take, because it is light. Let us learn of Christ, who bore the burden of the world, and asked none to share it with Him; yet He found it easy and light. When we try to unload our burdens on others, we are always in trouble, always heavy-laden; but when we are wholly devoted to bearing the burdens of others, we find them light.

Communicating Good Things. -"Let him that is taught in the Word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." There can be no doubt but that this refers primarily to temporal support. "The laborer is worthy of his hire." If a man gives himself wholly to the ministry of the Word, it is evident that the things necessary for his sustenance must come from those who are taught. But this by no means exhausts the meaning of the injunction. The one who is taught in the Word must communicate to the teacher "in all good things." Mutual help is the burden of this chapter. "Bear ye one another's burdens." Even the teacher who is supported by those who are taught, is to assist others pecuniarily. Christ and the apostles, who had nothing of their own,-for Christ was the poorest of the poor, and the disciples had left all to follow Him, nevertheless distributed to the poor out of their little store. See John xiii. 29. As the teachers contribute not only the Word but temporal support as well, so those who are taught in the Word should not confine their liberality merely to temporal things. It is a mistake to suppose that ministers of the Gospel never stand in need of spiritual refreshment, or that they can not receive it from the weakest in the flock. No one can ever tell how much the souls of teachers are encouraged by the testimonies of faith and joy in the Lord, which come from the mouths of those who have heard the Word. It is not simply that the teacher sees that his labor is not in vain. The testimony may have no reference whatever to anything that he has done; but a humble soul's joyful testimony to what God has done for him, will often, through the refreshment it gives the teacher of the Word, be the means of strengthening the souls of hundreds.

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Sowing and Reaping .-"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." A simple statement of fact, that can not be made plainer by any amount of talk. The harvest, which is the end of the world, will reveal what the sowing has been, whether wheat or tares. Verse 8 is so plain and striking a statement that comments only weaken its force. "He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you." Hosea x. 12." He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool," and equally foolish is he who trusts in other men, as is seen from the next verse: "Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies; because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of mighty men." "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm," whether it be his own flesh or that of some other man. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." Jer. xvii. 5, 7.

Faint Not. -"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." Eccl. xi. 6. This is the thing that is taught in verse 9. We can not tell how much we shall reap, nor from which of the seed that we sow. Some may fall by the wayside, and be snatched away before it has time to take root, and other may fall on stony ground, where it will wither, and still other may fall among thorns, and be choked; but one thing is certain, and that is that we shall reap. Notice the statement in Ecclesiastes: We do not know whether the morning sowing or the evening sowing will prosper, or whether both shall alike be good. There is no possibility that both can be bad. One or the other alone may prosper, or else both may be good. Isn't that encouragement enough for us not to be weary in well-doing? The ground may seem poor, and the season may not be favorable, so that the prospect for a crop may be most unpromising, and we may be tempted to think that all our labor is wasted. Not so; "in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Cor. xv. 58.

Make No Difference. -"As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." In this we see that the apostle speaks of temporal help, for it needs no special exhortation to preach the Word to those who are not of the household of faith; they are the ones to whom it is specially to be preached; but there is a natural tendency-natural, I say, not spiritual-to limit charities to those who are called "deserving." We hear much about "the worthy poor." But we are all unworthy of the least of God's blessings, yet He showers them upon us continually. "If ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest; for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." Luke vi. 33-35. The most of Christ's ministry on earth was among those who cared nothing for Him personally. In some instances they would not even take the favors bestowed; but that made no difference with Him. He gave just as freely of what He had to give. Let us learn more of Him, that we may "fulfil the law of Christ."

Seek the Opportunity. -Note especially the beginning of the tenth verse. "As we have therefore opportunity," let us do good unto all men. Doing good to others is to be considered a privilege to be enjoyed, and not an irksome duty to be discharged. Men do not speak of disagreeable things as opportunities. No one says that he had an opportunity to injure himself, or that he had an opportunity to lose some money. On the contrary, a man will speak of an opportunity to make some money, or to escape from some threatened danger. It is thus that we are to consider doing good to the needy. But opportunities are always sought for. Men are always on the lookout for an opportunity to get gain. So the apostle teaches us that we should be seeking opportunities to help some one. This Christ did. He "went about doing good." He travelled about the country on foot, a tramp, if you please, but a glorious one. He was searching opportunities to do some good, and He found them. He did good, "for God was with Him." His name is Immanuel, which means, "God with us." Now as He is with us all the days, even to the end of the world, so God is with us, doing good to us, that we also may do good. "We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." To this end, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost."

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Lord's Supper. Matt. xxvi. 18-30" The Present Truth 14, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

MAY 29

No mere empty form has any place in the Gospel of Christ. Every act which Jesus did while here upon the earth, and every ordinance which He instituted, is full of meaning. The meaning may not always lie upon the surface, and the words addressed to Peter, when the Lord established the ordinance of feet-washing, may often be applicable; "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." But the whole life of Jesus was simply a revelation of the Gospel, and every deed had its place and its significance.

From the account given in another place concerning the institution of the Lord's Supper we learn what its meaning is: "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till the come." 1 Cor. xi. 26. That is to say, all that is accomplished by the work of Christ, which centres in His death on the cross, is designed to be set forth in the Lord's Supper. This gives to it a fulness of meaning which it is impossible for us to grasp all at once, or adequately to consider within the limits of a single article. We shall hope, however, to call attention to some of the great principles involved, from which each one may be able to draw

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other lessons, according to the extent of his own experience in the Gospel.

THE BODY OF CHRIST

The record tells us that "as they were eating, Jesus took the bread [a loaf, R. V. margin] and blessed it, and break it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body." The previous verses speak of the preparations which had been made for the passover supper, and it was this which they were eating. The bread, or the loaf, which Jesus took from the table, was therefore the bread provided for the passover supper. And this we know was unleavened bread. "Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it, [the passover]; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith." Deut. xvi. 3. When Jesus took the bread from the table, just such bread as they had been eating, He did nothing which would even suggest transubstantiation, but He simply blessed it (gave thanks, margin) just as He did when He fed the hungry multitude (Mark vi. 41), and said, "This is My body."

THE LIFE OF GOD

The force of this statement may be more clearly seen if we consider briefly the real purpose of the work of Christ in behalf of man. He found the whole human family "alienated from the life of God," "dead in trespasses and sins," and He declared the aim of His mission in these words: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John x. 10. All life is of God, the Father, whose distinguishing characteristic is that He is "the living God." This life has been revealed in His only begotten Son. "For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." John v. 26.

God is independent and self-existent. His name is I AM. But man is neither independent nor self-existent. God through Jesus Christ is the source and the preserver of his life. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." This was just as true before sin entered into the world, as it has been since that time. "Ere sin entered into God's fair universe, and while as yet there was no estrangement between Him and any of His creatures, and so no need as yet of atonement and reconciliation, there was for all this, need of One who should stand between the Uncreated and the created Life." Now the original sin of man was the refusal to recognise this fact. "It was the lust of independence at whatever cost; the longing for a separate kingdom of his own, the assertion of self and of self-sufficiency, the dethronement, the annihilation of God, the deification of self." The inducement which Satan held out for disobedience was, "Ye shall be as God."

LIFE THROUGH UNION WITH CHRIST

But Jehovah is "the only true [real] God," and beside Him there is none else, and the exaltation which was promised on condition of disobedience and departure from God proved to be a fall, and dependent man would at that moment have ceased to exist, if it had not been for the Gospel of Jesus Christ "who gave Himself for us." He through whom all things were created and sustained before sin appeared, accepted the additional burden of sin, and still offered to minister life to the human family. But this involved His taking our flesh and suffering in it the penalty of sin, and so uniting Himself with us as the Son of man in the experience of death that we might be united with Him in the experience of life. "For if we have become united with the likeness of His death, we shall be also with the likeness of His resurrection: . . . knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died unto sin once: but the life that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus." Rom. vi. 5-11. R.V.

THE BREAD OF LIFE

Now it was God's plan that man, even in his state of innocence, should receive life by eating such food as the Lord provided for him. "And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." Gen. i. 29. And the lesson which it was necessary to teach to man after he had sinned, and which it is necessary for us to learn to-day, is that in the bread which we eat every day we are receiving life from God through Jesus Christ, who said: "My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. . . . This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of the bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." John vi. 32-51.

We are now better prepared to understand the meaning of His statement, "This is My body." The life of God, from which man cut himself off by his own sin, has been restored to him in the gift of Jesus "who is our life." The curse, which is death, came upon all things, but "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." By His death on the cross the channel of life from God to man was kept open for all, and through the acceptance of Christ by faith this gift of life may be continued to us throughout eternity. While "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," yet this life is supplied to us in the food which God provides for us, of which bread, being in itself a perfect food, is a complete representative. The grain, from which the bread is prepared, is simply the body in which the life of the Word is brought to us. "The seed of the Word of God." "But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed His own body." And so all unleavened bread, which is simply bread in which there is no element of decay or death, is the body which the Lord Himself has given to His own life, in order that by eating it we might receive life from Him. Those who recognise it as being wholly a gift of God, brought to us by the Gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and so receive it by faith as the manifested life of Jesus, will enjoy this blessing of life for ever and will "have right to the tree of life." "And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them." Isa. xlv. 21.

POPISH ASSUMPTION

The claim that any human being has the power by any words of his to change the bread into the Lord's body is simply the assertion of that spirit which "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." It is a refusal to recognise what God has already done, for "God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him," and an assuming of the prerogatives of God the Creator. It is the same denial of man's dependence which cut man off from the life of God in the first place. Man is simply the creature, and not the creator, and his only

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hope is in recognising this fact, and receiving life from God in harmony with His plan, without pretending to any power which would render him independent of God, and a Saviour unnecessary. "Take, eat; this is My body."

THE FRUIT OF THE VINE

"And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is My blood of the new testament [covenant], which is shed for many for the remission of sins." The principles already set forth will apply with equal force to the statement of Jesus concerning the wine. The blood is the life. Gen. iv. 4. Jesus has said, "I am the true vine." In the pure, unfermented juice of the grape, the product of the vine, we have the nearest possible approach to liquid life just as God has prepared it. But, just as in the case of the bread, this gift of life comes to us through Jesus and His work in our behalf, and is in very truth His life, His blood. At the marriage of Cana of Galilee, Jesus changed the water into wine by His own life-giving power, and so gave them His own life to drink, just as He gave the multitude His own life to eat when He multiplied the loaves by the same power. The pretended power assumed by man to change the wine of the Lord's supper into His blood, is a rejection of the fact of man's entire dependence upon God for life, a putting of himself in the place of God, and the assertion of his ability to save himself.

Thus does the Lord's supper show forth His death, and the fact that we receive life through His death, and lifts eating and drinking above the mere gratification of appetite, and teaches us how to eat and drink to the glory of God. It is designed to show us that there is but one life and that is the life of God, and that it is only through the Gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus that we have life now, and that through our faith in the same Gospel that same life will be continued to us as long as God Himself shall live. How glorious it will be to realise this experience in the "new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." "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 there shall be no more curse." "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

Commenting on the present situation, and the outlook for the future, a prominent daily says: "The prospect which opens before Europe is not a pleasant one."

It is very plain that war does not foster ability to see things as they are, or to tell the truth. Reading to reports of a battle, one from Washington, and the other from Madrid, both on the same page of a newspaper, one would scarcely suppose that they had reference to the same thing. Some are perhaps troubled to know which report to believe. Those who are wise believe neither.

In Madrid a mass was said last week for the repose of the Spanish soldiers who perished in the naval battle at Manila. On the other hand, the Archbishops of the Catholic Church in the United States have decided to address a letter to the clergy and laity of the country, asking their prayers for the success of the American arms, and for the repose of the soldiers who fall in battle.

News comes that on the 11th inst. a terrible gale visited the Prefecture of Swate, on the north-east coast of Japan, which was ravaged by the great tidal wave in 1896, and that over 200 fishing boats and 1,500 men are missing. "The prince of the power of the air, the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience," inciting them to deeds of violence and destruction, is using the elements in the same service. Soon, however, the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

Every declaration of war by any nation is a declaration that might makes right. The proof is seen in this, that two hundred thousand men are licensed to do what is forbidden to a single individual. If one man deliberately slays another, he is denounced as a villain unfit to live; but if several thousand combined kill a few hundred men, even lying in wait for them, and attacking them unawares, they are lauded and publicly thanked. The United States Government is now supplying the Cuban insurgents with provisions and munitions of war, employing many armed men in the service, while at the same time a ship's owner is undergoing a sentence of two years' imprisonment by the same Government, for having attempted to do the very same thing.

All the world has read within the last week of the riots which, first breaking out in Milan, have spread over nearly the whole of Italy. The Marquis de Rudini is said to be in possession of documents, which he has laid before the Ministry, showing that a long-organised conspiracy has existed, especially in Milan, which had elaborated treasonable plots down to the smallest details. "The plan was to overpower Lombardy and turn it into a Republic, which should have connection with the rest of Italy in the same manner as the Federated Cantons of Switzerland bear relation to each other."

Prompt and drastic measures were taken by the Government, and the rioters are now held in check, only, however, after the slaughter of some 500 persons (men, women, and children), the wounding of 2,000 more, and the destruction of millions of pounds worth of property. A good portion of the country is under martial law, and the military patrols have orders to shoot all persons caught with arms in their hands.

The disturbances have ceased for the present, because of superior force, but the causes and the spirit that started them still exist. The causes are excessive taxation (12s. in the pound) in order to maintain Italy's standing as a military power, scarcity of food, and political ambition on the part of persons who are ready to take advantage of the general discontent, in order to advance their own ends. To all this must certainly be added the scheming of the agents of the Catholic Church, which will never rest so long as another than the Pope rules in Rome. That this outbreak will be successfully used by the Papists to show the necessity of the restoration of the Pope's rule, is a matter of course. The Papacy has always flourished best when there was tumult and anarchy.

The fact is noted with regret that all that Garibaldi fought for is virtually lost; but none think of what this teaches, namely, that nothing is ever really gained by force of arms. Nothing that seems to be gained by fighting is ever held. No evil is ever put down, so long as men's hearts remain unchanged. But this is a lesson that the mass of men will not learn, and so troubles will increase until the end comes.

While none can fail to sympathise with the poor Italian peasants and labourers who in a most productive land find it almost impossible to get enough food to keep them alive, that should not be regarded as a warrant for using violence. The Bible speaks of the oppression of the poor by the rich, but tells us that the just do not resist, although condemned and killed. The God of peace alone can give redress for the ills that the poor suffer.

When people clamour, and attempt to overthrow Government, because bread is scarce and dear, unreasonable as such a course is, Government has only itself to thank for it. It is a natural result of the promises that every party makes when seeking power, namely, that is placed in power it will bring about a better state of things, and ease the burdens of the people. When these promises fail, as they always must, it is but to be expected that the people will hold the ruling class responsible. It is much easier to make promises than to fulfil them.

At the present time men are being prosecuted in the United States for peacefully and quietly pursuing their ordinary labour on Sunday, and the people are repeatedly told from pulpits in legislative halls that in the observance of Sunday is the only hope of the stability of the nation. But Admiral Dewey steamed into the harbour of Manila, on a recent Sunday morning, surprised the Spanish fleet, kept the hundreds of men under his command hard it work for several hours until it was destroyed, and several hundred Spaniards were killed, and Congress thanks him, and gives him a sword. Can the reader fail to see what these things teach?

A correspondent of the Daily Mail, at Ala (South Tyrol), says that on the Italian express arriving at the station from Milan, May 13, the conductors and officials wore military uniforms, and were armed with swords and revolvers.

May 26, 1898

"Daniel's Prayer" The Present Truth 14, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

Noted as Daniel is as a prophet, it is as a man of prayer that he is best known in the world. Everybody is familiar with the story of the plot against his life, in the securing of the decree that whoever should "ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days," save of the king, should be cast into the den of lions, and how "when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime." Dan. vi. 10.

There was no compromising, no shuffling, no attempt at concealment. Why should he hide the fact that he prayed to the God of heaven? It was nothing to be ashamed of. Suppose there was a law against it, and this life was threatened, should he, by heeding the decree, or at least pretending to heed it, by seeming not to pray, give those heathen the impression that he was afraid to trust in God? Should he allow them to believe that the king of the Medes and Persians was greater than that King of the universe? What a fearful denial of God that would of been! If he had done so, we may be sure that his life would not have been saved.

How naturally the counsel of expediency comes forward in such times. "There is no need of deliberately putting your head into the lion's mouth. You know the decree; it is unchangeable; if you continue to pray as you have been in the habit of doing, you will be virtually committing suicide. You don't need to violate your conscience at all; the decree doesn't say that you must make petitions to the king instead of God; you will be all safe if you will simply omit praying for a month; that will not be idolatry. Or, if you must pray to God, why then, think your prayer in your own mind as you go about your work, without opening your lips, or after you go to bed. In the dark you can even move your lips and frame words silently, and nobody will be the wiser." Thus argues Mr. Worldly Wiseman.

If such temptations did not come to Daniel, he was more than human; but they had no affect on him. He knew the Lord. He would not dishonour his King

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for fear of what one of his fellow-subjects with the title of king might do to him. In the first place he knew that he wouldn't be safe thirty days without prayer. Even if instead of threatening death to all who should make the request of anyone except himself, the king has offered the highest possible rewards and the protection of his kingdom to those who would not ask anything of any other, Daniel would not be safe. "It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in princes." Ps. cxviii. 8. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help." "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for its help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, which made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is; which keepeth truth for ever." Ps. cxlvi. 3, 5, 6.

What is a god good for, that cannot save in times of trouble? Strange that men who profess to be Christians, who pity the poor heathen who worship gods that can do nothing, will, when danger threatens, act as though the God whom they profess to serve were like the gods of the heathen. That is just when God's power is seen at its best. "God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble." Ps. xlvi. 1. There was never a time in the world when Daniel needed to pray more than when that decree went forth against prayer. And since he was sent to Babylon as a witness for God, he needed above all things to avoid giving the impression that his God was not able to keep him. What is a witness good for, if he doesn't give straight testimony when others are swearing falsely?

There was nothing of the bravado about Daniel. He didn't bluster. He didn't tell what he should do in spite of the decree of the king. He didn't prate about his "rights." He quietly did what was right, without making any unnecessary display. He didn't change his custom. If he had been in the habit of praying with his windows shut, no doubt he would have continued praying with them shut after the decree was signed. He would open them to parade his devotions, nor to show his defiance of the king's decree. But he wouldn't change his habit, and shut them, now that praying was declared unlawful. That would have shown lack of confidence in his God; and it was trust in God, not defiance of the king, that moved Daniel.

Daniel was intimately acquainted with the Lord. He was accustomed to talk with Him, and when he prayed, he expected to have his prayer is answered. And God did not disappoint him. Read the story in the second chapter of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed a dream, and had forgotten it, and he asked his professional wise men to recall the dream for him, and to tell him what it meant. Of course they could not do it. Then the king ordered them all to be put to death as a set of frauds and impostors. Daniel did not know anything about this affair until the officers came to take him to execution with the rest, when he said: "Why is the decree so hasty about the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation." Dan. ii. 15, 16.

A bold promise that. If Daniel failed after that, his fate would be worse than that of the others. But he knew that he should not fail, for he was acquainted with his God. There was no presumption in his promise to make known the dream and its interpretation. He knew what he would do. He at once went to his house, and joined with his three companions in prayer to God; and the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. There was a good understanding between God and Daniel, and that was why Daniel would not pay any attention to a decree forbidding him to pray to God. What a grand thing to be so well acquainted with the God that made heaven and earth! You and I may be on terms of as close intimacy with God as Daniel was, and we shall find that He is near for all things that we call upon Him for. "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even for ever." Ps. cxxv. 1, 2.

"The Lord also will be a refuge for the opressed, a refuge in time 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.

"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof," is the description of the mass of people in the last days. A form of godliness, without power, is like salt that has lost its savour. It is absolutely worthless. Now there is no power but of God; the Holy Spirit's power is the only thing that makes a profession of religion of any value. Religion according to law is therefore only a lifeless form. Why then should one who knows the Lord bother himself in the least as to what the laws of the land say about religion? How can one who is acquainted with the substance busy himself with what at best is only a shadow? Rather preach the Gospel in the power of the Holy Ghost, and all who accept it will have both the form and the power. As for those who know not the power, they are in a more hopeful condition without the form than with it.

"Sons of God" The Present Truth 14, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

God is love. It is therefore His nature to love. Being love Himself, when He bestows love He bestows Himself; therefore the love of God is the imparting of what He is. By this test we may know whether that which claims to be love deserves the name. True love gives itself in full, holding nothing back. If it seeks anything for itself, it is not love.

Since God is love, He must needs impart Himself. The fullest extent to which this could be done was to beget a Son. So Jesus shared the life of the Father, one with Him in all things. God's love held nothing back from Him, "for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell." Col. i. 9. "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Col. ii. 9.

God's love was not diminished in Christ and it revealed itself just as before. It still desired to give itself. So it was agreed by the Father and the Son, "Let us make man." True love cannot be satisfied with partially bestowing itself. It must give freely the best it has. So man was to be made, "in our image, after our likeness."

"In Him were all things created." "And in Him all things consist." Col. i. 16, 18. The fact that man held his life in Christ made Jesus the security not merely for its continuance but also that man should receive in the life the fulness of the love of God, in the same measure that it was bestowed upon Christ. It also secured that the love which was revealed in Christ should be the law of man's life, since the life of Christ is made our life. "In Him we live and move and have our being." Acts xvii. 28.

This is true of the angels also. "In Him were all things created in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible." In heaven, God's plan did not

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meet with universal acceptance. Some thought that to hold everything in Christ was to narrow the possibilities of life, and to exalt Christ at the expense of His creatures. Lucifer, son of the morning, desired a more free and independent existence, and proposed to exalt himself, saying, "I will be like the Most High." The plan of love was that he should be, in a wider, higher sense than he ever dreamed, but refusing to become so in Christ, in love, he became altogether unlike the Most High.

Man was induced to join Satan in his rebellion, and it seemed as though God's plan was overthrown, and His love wasted. But the rebellion only served to demonstrate how entirely God had given Himself to men in Jesus Christ, when He created them. All that He had was then freely bestowed, and now it was made manifest. "Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us." 1 John iii. 16. "God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." Rom. v. 8. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things." Rom. viii. 32.

"As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." John i. 12. Not only was God's purpose established, that men should be His sons in Christ, but it was seen that only as they were in Christ was their position, as sons, secured. Moreover, so far from sharing their possibilities, in Christ men are highly exalted, sharing to the full the glory and kingdom which He has won. "If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." Rom. viii. 17. Thus we are "able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." And find that in this love we too are "filled with all the fulness of God." Eph. ii. 17-19.

So, in spite of man's rebellion, and none the less on account of it, will God's love fulfil its loving purpose to "gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth." Eph. i. 10. The infinite development of this purpose in the ages to come will "shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." "It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him." 1 John iii. 1, 2.

"The Epistle to the Galatians. The Glory of the Cross" The Present Truth 14, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

We come now to the closing portion of the Epistle to the Galatians. The importance of the Epistle, not less to us than to those to whom it was first addressed, appears in every chapter. The consuming zeal of the apostle Paul in writing it is seen in the fact that, contrary to his usual custom, he seized the pen and wrote the Epistle with his own hand. Chap. vi. 11. As intimated in chapter four, the apostle suffered from weak eyes, which hindered him much in his work, or would have hindered him but for the power of God resting on him; so that it was necessary for him always to have some one with him, to minister unto him, and to serve as amanuensis. From the second Epistle to the Thessalonians (chap. ii. 2) we learn that some took advantage of this fact to write letters to the churches in Paul's name, which troubled the brethren; but in the close of that Epistle (chap. iii. 16-18) Paul indicated to them how they might know an epistle that came from him. No matter by whom the body of it was written, he wrote the salutation and the signature with his own hand. So great was the urgency in this case, however, that he wrote the entire epistle himself.

The lesson for this week, which follows, we quote from the Revision:-

"As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they compel you to be circumcised; only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law; but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

"From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen." Gal. vi. 12-18.

True and False Circumcision. -From the twelfth verse it is evident that the circumcision which was being taught to the brethren, as recorded in the second chapter, and warned them against so strongly in chapter five, was mere outward circumcision in the flesh. That stood merely for outward righteousness, the works of the flesh. The true circumcision was and is to "worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Phil. iii. 3. True circumcision is the keeping of the law, which can be done only as the Spirit of God writes the law in the heart. See Rom. viii. 25-29; Heb. viii. 10. The man who had the circumcision in the flesh merely, but did not keep the law, was reckoned by the Lord as uncircumcised. Such ones gloried or boasted in the flesh, and denied the cross of Christ, which is the only thing in the world in which one may rightly glory. The true circumcision is crucifixion with Christ; for that is, as seen from verse 14, a complete cutting off from "this present evil world."

God Revealed in the Cross. -The apostle said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Read now the words of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah:-

"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches." Jer. ix. 23.

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Why should not the wise man glory in his wisdom?-Because, so far as it is his own wisdom, it is foolishness. "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." 1 Cor. iii. 10, 20. No man has any wisdom in which to glory, for his own wisdom is foolishness, and wisdom which God gives is something to cause humility instead of pride.

What about might? "All flesh is grass." Isa. xl. 6. "Every man at his best state is altogether vanity." Ps. xxxix. 5. "Men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity." But "power belongeth unto God." Ps. lxii. 9, 11.

As to riches, they are "uncertain." 1 Tim. vi. 17. Man "heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them." "Riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." Prov. xxiii. 5. Only in Christ are found unsearchable and abiding riches.

Man therefore has absolutely nothing in which to boast, for what is there left of a man when he has nothing that can be called wealth, no wisdom whatever, and absolutely no strength? Everything that man is or has comes from the Lord. Therefore the Lord says, "Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth; for in these things I delight." Jer. ix. 24.

Now put this text with Gal. vi. 4. The same Spirit inspired them both, so that there is no contradiction. One text says that we are to glory only in the knowledge of the Lord; the other says that there is nothing in which to glory save the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The conclusion therefore is that in the cross we find the knowledge of God. To know God is eternal life, and there is no life for mankind except through the cross of Christ. So again we see most clearly that all that may be known of God is revealed in the cross. Aside from the cross, there is no knowledge of God.

The Cross Crucifies. -The cross in which we are to glory is the cross of Christ, the cross on which Christ suffered crucifixion. To Him it meant crucifixion, and so it does to us, for by it the world is crucified to us, and we unto the world. It meant humiliation and disgrace, yet nevertheless it is something in which to glory, because the disgrace is only that which the world regards as disgrace. Since the friendship of this world is enmity against God, it follows that the hatred of the world is friendship with God; and the friendship of God is something in which to rejoice.

The cross of Christ, in which alone there is glory, separates from the world. By it the world is to us as though it did not exist. If the world is crucified to us, and we to the world, then, although in the world, we are no longer of it. The cross means death and disgrace as far as the world is concerned. That which is contrary to the world, and to all the calculations of the world, and which the world despises and turns from, is that in which the child of God is to glory.

The Cross Elevates. -Jesus said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." This He said signifying what death He should die, namely, the death of the cross. He humbled Himself to death, even the death of the cross; "wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name." Phil. ii. 8, 9. He 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. It was through death that He ascended to the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. It was the cross that lifted Him up from earth to heaven. Therefore it is the cross alone that brings us glory, and so it is the only thing in which to glory.

The Cross Creates. -"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." That is, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any power. The only thing that is of any value is a new creature, or, as indicated in the margin of the Revision, "a new creation." "If any man be in Christ, there is a new creation;" and it is only through death that we become joined to Him. Rom. vi. 3. The cross makes a new creation, so that here again we see a reason for glorying in it; for when the new creation came from the hand of God in the beginning, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job xxxviii. 7.

The Cross Seen in Creation. -The preaching of the cross is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe. 1 Cor. i. 18. "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." Thus we see that it is the Gospel. Rom. i. 16. But the power of God is seen only in the things that are made. Rom. i. 20. It is in the things that are made that we learn that which may be known of God, "His eternal power and divinity." Now since the cross is the power of God, it follows that the cross is revealed in the things that are made. Although the curse, death, has come upon all the earth, we nevertheless see life all about us. How can that be?-Only because Christ is everywhere present. But wherever Christ is, there is the cross; for Christ is not known to mankind except as the Crucified One.

The Glory. -We have seen that the cross is the power of God, and that the power of God is seen in the things that He has made, so that the cross is everywhere visible in creation. It is by the cross that everything is sustained. But for the cross, there would be universal death. Not a man could breathe, not a plant could grow, not a ray of light could shine from heaven, if it were not for the cross. Now "the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork." Ps. xix. 1. They are some of the things that God has made. They show God's power. They declare the glory of God, for His power is His glory. The glory of God is His power, for "the exceeding greatness of His power to usward" is seen in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (Eph. i. 19, 20), and "Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father." Rom. vi. 4. It was for the suffering of death that Jesus was crowned with glory and honor. Heb. ii. 9. So we see that all the glory that the saints will ever share with Him, is nothing more than the glory of the cross. Surely there is enough glory in the cross to satisfy anybody.

The Marks of Christ. -"From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." The marks of the cross were upon Paul.

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He had been crucified with Christ, and he carried the nail-prints. They were branded on his body. They marked him as the bond-servant, the slave, of the Lord Jesus. Let no one, then, interfere with him; he was not the servant of men. He owed allegiance to Christ alone, who had bought him. Let no one seek to get him to serve man or the flesh, because Jesus had branded him with His mark, and he could serve no other. Moreover, let men beware how they sought to interfere with his liberty in Christ, or how they treated him, for his Master would surely protect His own.

Ah, what glory there is in the cross! All the glory of heaven is in that despised thing. Not in the figure of the cross, but in the cross itself. The world does not reckon it glory, but then it did not know the Son of God, and it does not know the Holy Spirit, because it can not see Him. May God open our eyes to see the glory, so that we may reckon things at their true value. May we consent to be crucified with Christ, that the cross may glorify us. In the cross of Christ there is salvation. In it is the power of God to keep us from falling, for it lifts us up from earth to heaven. In the cross there is the new creation, which God Himself pronounces "very good." In it is all the glory of the Father, and all the glory of the eternal ages. Therefore God forbid that we should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified to us, and we unto the world.

"In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime."

Therefore-

Since I, who was undone and lost,
Have pardon through His name and Word;
Forbid it, then, that I should boast,
Save in the cross of Christ, my Lord."

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Jesus Condemned. Matt. xxvii. 11-26" The Present Truth 14, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

JUNE 5

In this lesson we have a view of the way in which humanity, when under the control of "the prince of this world," will treat divinity. "Jesus stood before the governor," and "was accused of the chief priests and elders." And Pilate understood the real animus of the whole matter: "For he knew that for envy they had delivered Him up."

SATAN IS THE ACCUSER

It is the work of Satan to accuse. He is called "the accuser our brethren. . . which accused them before our God day and night." He was, and is, the instigator of all accusation against Jesus; and envy always has been, and still is, the only ground of his accusation. It was envy of the honour given to the Son of God which led Lucifer, "son of the morning," to rebel against the government of God and to seek to put himself on an equality with God. He said: "I will ascend above the heights of the cloud; I will be like the Most High." Failing in this attempt to usurp the authority of God in heaven, "he was cast out into the earth," and here he has inspired and fostered the same spirit of envy against God and His Son.

This is clearly set forth in the treatment which some of God's chosen representatives in the earth have received. When Joseph told a dream "to his father and to his brethren. . . his brethren envied him," "and the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph in Egypt;" but he who was thus the object of their unjust envy was God's chosen means of delivering them from death by famine.

Later, when the Lord sent Moses to Egypt "to be ruler and deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush," his work in behalf of the people was not appreciated, and "they envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord."

And now when the Son of God Himself appears on earth to accomplish His work in behalf of man, "the God of this world" arouses the same spirit of envy against Him, even in the hearts of those who made the highest professions of loyalty to God, and the climax is reached in His being brought before the governor with the demand that He should be put to death under the charge of being a mover of rebellion against properly constituted government. The very crime of which Lucifer was himself actually guilty, he now inspires men to charge upon the Son of God! What an illustration of the statement of the scripture: "For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." All this shows the working of selfishness, for "love envieth not."

"THE JUST. . . DOTH NOT RESIST"

But to all this accusation of envy Jesus "answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto Him, Hearest Thou not how many things they witness against Thee? And He answered him never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly." The charge of treason against the Roman government, which was preferred against Jesus, was utterly false, but since He was here to bear the punishment of those who were guilty of treason against the government of God, He made no defence. "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened He not His mouth."

What a lesson for us! Although the

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right was altogether on His side and the charge against Him was wholly false, yet He made no effort to justify Himself. "When He was reviled, He reviled not again: when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed His cause to Him that judgeth righteously." Justifying oneself is simply one form of accusing another, and the Son of God never indulges in accusation. For He, even "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."

A FEARFUL CHOICE

The choice which the people made, as between Jesus and Barabbas, is full of meaning and warning to us. "Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? . . . But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus." Although the people were persuaded by their leaders, yet this did not relieve them of their own responsibility in the matter. This is shown by the reference made by Peter to this event in his talk to the people after the resurrection of Christ: "But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life." Acts ii.14, 15.

Thus when humanity was given its choice between the Author and Giver of life on the one hand, and a robber and a murderer, a taker of life, on the other, it deliberately chose the latter. Such is the power of Satan in human hearts. But envy over-reached itself, and the determination to "destroy Jesus" which Satan inspired in the minds of people was but the sealing of his own destruction. For Jesus by His death was to "destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage." And so envy brought destruction upon itself.

"CHOOSE YE THIS DAY"

All this has a meaning for us at this very time. "When Christ was upon this earth the world preferred Barabbas. And to-day the world and the churches are making the same choice. The scenes of the betrayal, rejection, and crucifixion of Christ, have been re-acted, and will again be re-acted, on an immense scale. People will be filled with the attributes of Satan. The delusions of the arch enemy of God and man will have great power. Those who have given their affections to any leader but Christ will find themselves under the control, body, soul, and spirit, of an infatuation that is so entrancing, that under its power souls turn away from hearing the truth to believe a lie. They are ensnared and taken, and by their every action they cry, 'Release unto us Barabbas, but crucify Christ.'"

ASSUMING THE RESPONSIBILITY

When Pilate, who himself stated that he found no fault in Jesus, had allowed himself to be overborne by the wicked demand of the people, he made an effort to shift

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the terrible responsibility for the death of Jesus upon some one else. "He took water, and washed His hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children." Thus did a long record of iniquity come to its climax. In the Lord saw it all in its beginning. When the people rejected the Lord from being king over them, and demanded a man for a king, that they might be like the nations around them, the Lord heard in their cry, "Nay; but we will have a king over us," those words which found utterance so many years afterwards, "We have no king but C?sar." And now they have become "the betrayers and murderers" of their rightful King. A little later they began to draw back from the terrible responsibility which they had assumed, and complained of the disciples, Ye "intend to bring this man's blood upon us."

"HIS MISCHIEF SHALL RETURN UPON HIS OWN HEAD"

In the destruction of Jerusalem was seen in a partial way, and as a type of the final destruction of the whole world, the results of rejecting Jesus. Because Jerusalem knew not the time of her visitation and refused Him in whom alone was any hope of salvation, a terrible overthrow came upon her, and this was in itself a prophecy for the whole world. "The scenes that transpired at the destruction of Jerusalem will be repeated at the great and terrible day of the Lord, but in a more fearful manner." "A world is represented in the destruction of Jerusalem." And the time is at hand, for "the great day of the Lord is near, it is near and it hasteth greatly." "In this perilous time who will be found traitors? Who will choose the friendship of the enemies of Christ? Who will accept the bribery of the world at the expense of the principles of righteousness and truth?" "When the cases of all come up before the God of heaven for decision, He will ask each one the question, 'What have you done to My only begotten Son?' What will those who refuse to accept truth answer? They will be obliged to say, 'We hated Jesus and cast Him out. We chose Barabbas instead of Christ.'"

O that the goodness of God may lead us all to true repentance, and to the full acceptance of Jesus and His message of warning for the world at this time, that instead of being held answerable for His blood, His blood may be answerable for our sins, and we "may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless."

"Idolatry in London" The Present Truth 14, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

It is doubtless well known to most of the readers of PRESENT TRUTH that there has of late been some vigorous opposition to the Catholic ceremonies that are becoming more and more prevalent in the Church of England. This opposition, under the leadership of Mr. John Kensit, has not been confined to a verbal protest, but has taken the form of active violence, which has resulted in Mr. Kensit's arrest. He was fined in the Police Court for brawling in church, and having appealed, the Church Association has taken up the case, hoping by means of the courts to have the popish ceremony suppressed. The annual meeting of this Association has recently been held at Exeter, when the following resolution was adopted, which concisely shows the present state of affairs:-

That the scandalous prevalence of open idolatry especially within the three metropolitan dioceses, has, of late years, assumed such proportions, and the Bishops having been appealed to in vain to forbid such practices, this meeting warmly commends the action of the council of the Church Association-

(1) In supporting Mr. Kensit's appeal from the magistrate's decision respecting his protest in church against the worship of a crucifix;

(2) In seeking a faculty for the removal of the tabernacle of St. Ethelburga's, dedicated to the illegal reservation of a consecrated wafer, to which Divine honours are paid, as though it were Jesus Christ Himself.

This meeting further calls upon the loyal members of the Church of England to support the council in their effort to stem the tide of idolatry now protected and sanctioned by the Bishops, and for this purpose to raise the guarantee fund of ?2,000 to enable the council to defeat the efforts of the English Church Union, which has undertaken the defence of their twin idols, the wafer and the crucifix.

That the ceremonies are idolatrous, cannot be questioned. They are nothing but Paganism. But since the same things are practised in the Roman Catholic churches, the question arises, Why do not the Protestants carry their warfare into that body? Why do they confine their protest to the Church of England? The Bible forbids idolatry, no matter by whom it is practised. The answer is, of course, that the opposition to idolatry in the Church of England is based on the ground that it is illegal, in that is contrary to the Prayer Book. Thus we see that the

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objection is not to idolatry in itself, but to disregard of the Prayer Book. If the Prayer Book sanctioned the adoration of the cross, then the ground of their protest would be removed.

It will be clearly seen that even among the protesters against Catholicism the Prayer Book holds a higher place than the Bible. That very fact shows that there is no essential difference between the two parties, for the substitution of human authority for Divine is the very essence of Catholicism. This shows what violence is used in the opposition to the pagan ceremonial. If the opposition were truly Christian, based on Scriptural grounds, there would be no violence or unseemly behaviour. The only force that Christianity knows is the power of the Holy Spirit, and the only weapon of the Spirit is the Word of God.

As a matter of fact this fight against pagan ceremonies in the Church is not in reality opposition to idolatry, but only to the outward manifestation of it. Idolatry has its seat in the heart, the very being of man. The fact that a man adores the work of his own hands, paying to it the reverence due to God alone, shows that in his heart he regards self as God. The thing made cannot be as great as the maker, and therefore the worship of any thing made by human hands is only an evidence of the worship of self. The adoration of an image, no matter what its form, is only an outward sign of the idolatry that is within.

From this it is very evident that the destruction of all idols would by no means be the destruction of idolatry. As well might one think to change the nature of a tree by cutting off its leaves, or to reduce the temperature of a heated room by breaking the thermometer which indicates the degree of heat. No well-instructed person can therefore have any sympathy with these protests that are being made. If the court should declare the ceremonies illegal, the idolatry would still remain, and idolatry in conformity with law is no better than any other idolatry. The very fact that the question is one to be settled by the courts, shows that it is not a matter of Christianity but of the Papacy; for Christianity knows no guide or authority but the Word of God, while human authority in matters of religion is always and everywhere the very essence of idolatry.

It is a deplorable fact that there is a great amount of paganism not alone in London but in all England, and in every other professed Christian land as well. That is simply to say that men are lovers of themselves more than of God, and regard their own wisdom and authority as superior to His. Paganism is the religion of human nature; and has always existed since the fall; but the characteristic of the last days is that it takes on a form of godliness. This, instead of being an improvement, is an added source of danger.

The remedy is the Word of God. The Apostle Paul, after foretelling the coming of the state of things, says: "I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and dead at His appearing and kingdom, Preach the Word." "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations" (which is the root of image making and image worship), "and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

But they will not all hear the Word. No; sad to say, they will not. What then? Shall we not use force? By no means, for that is only an aggravation of the trouble, since force is opposed to the Word. There is no greater force than God's Word, and when men will not listen to that, even God is obliged to say, "Ephraim is joined to his idols; let him alone."

"A Question of Spiritualism" The Present Truth 14, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

A correspondent, who seems to be wavering on the verge of Spiritualism, sends us the following quotation from 2 Cor. xii. 2-4, together with his opinion of it:-

Paul says: "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body I cannot tell; God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man (whether in the body or whether out of the body I cannot tell: God knoweth;) how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."

The above seems to prove (in my opinion) that Paul was used to holding converse with disembodied spirits, inasomuch that he did not go to the trouble to ascertain in this instance as to whether this man were bodied or disembodied.
J. E. B.

In this case, as in every other, the exact statement of the text is worth any number of opinions about it. By nothing the text carefully, we learn,

1. That the man to whom the apostle refers was none other than himself, for in verse 7 he drops the use of the third person, and says: "Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." Therefore,

2. There is no hint in the text of any communication with disembodied spirits. Indeed, the text makes no mention of spirits of any kind. Paul, in the ecstasy of vision could not tell in what condition he was when he was given these revelations.

3. Here is not the returning of departed spirits to this earth. On the contrary, the man-not a dead man, but the living apostle-was himself caught up into paradise. This is as opposite to Spiritualism as anything could be.

Thus it appears that the text does not at all warrant our correspondent's opinion. In reading the Bible, it is necessary to keep our opinions out, for our opinions are as much inferior to the Bible as the earth is lower than the heavens. Isa. lv. 9. If we propose to follow our opinions, it is not necessary to mix the Bible up with them, for we can form opinions enough without it. The Bible is not given us to help us in forming opinions, but to teach us truth. It is absolutely to take the place of our opinions. We are to forsake our thoughts, and allow the Lord to give us His thoughts instead; and in order to get His thoughts, we must adhere most closely to His Word.

"'The Champion of Israel'" The Present Truth 14, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

Not long after Samuel's visit to Bethlehem another messenger arrived for David, this time from the King. Saul was in distress and needed help. An evil spirit from the Lord was troubling him.

At his anointing the Spirit of God had come upon Saul, changing him into another man. Under its influence his way had been divinely directed, and so long as he yielded to it, his steps were ordered by the Lord. But he chose his own way, refusing counsel, and so the Spirit Lord was driven from him. Without it he was like a ship without a rudder, for "it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps," and would certainly make shipwreck of himself and the nation committed to his care.

To prevent this it was necessary that he should be deprived of his influence to some extent. The Lord did not leave them entirely alone, for that would involved him in immediate ruin, but sent a spirit of evil, or sadness, upon him. Remorse and terror filled his mind, unfitting him for duty, and his state of mind soon became known among his servants.

They counselled him to send for a skilful player on the harp, who should dispel with cheering music his fits of melancholy. David's name was recommended before him as of one "cunning in playing, and a comely person," and Saul, hoping for relief, "sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep."

So David passed from the cottage at Bethlehem to the court of the king at Gibeah. The lessons learned in communion with the God of nature, the views of His power manifested in the works of His hands, and the experience of His love in the daily round of shepherd life, had given David the needed preparation for his new duties. His simple faith and love and trust in God would form just the influence that Saul needed to be brought in contact with. The stricken heart of the afflicted king found comfort in David's ministrations, "and he loved him greatly." So Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him." Unhappily for him, the indecision which appeared in all his life kept him from retaining the blessing now granted.

Although armour-bearer to Saul, David still went to and fro between Bethlehem and the king's house, keeping the sheep in the intervals of his attendance on Saul. During one of his visits home, Israel was again invaded by the Philistines, and the forces of Israel met them a few miles from the border which separated the two countries. At his father's request, David set out for the camp, some fifteen miles distant, bearing provisions for his three oldest brothers, who were among the soldiers of Saul.

While David conversed with his brethren on the field of battle, a strange, imposing figure stalked into the open space between the two armies, and defied Israel to produce a man who could stand before him in single combat. His appearance struck terror to the hearts of Israel, and as he thundered out his challenge they fled before him.

Truly it needed a brave man to face this giant. Standing nearly twelve feet high, with a coat of mail that weighed a hundred weight and a half, and armed with an enormous spear, the iron head of which alone weighed twenty pounds, there seem but little hope of finding a champion bold enough to meet him.

Yet greater things than this had been done in the history of Israel, many a time. It was only one generation ago that the ark of God, captive and undefended by human strength, had gone through the cities of the Philistines like a destroying army, compelling reverence at every stage, and finally returning in acknowledged triumphed to its own country; its sole defence being that it bore the name of the Lord. The Israelites seemed to have forgotten, so it was no wonder that the Philistines failed to remember, that the name of the Lord was a strong tower, for all who put their trust in Him. That was why one army gloried in the confidence which Goliath inspired in them, while the other, looking at his bulk, groaned in despair.

One person alone, probably the youngest and weakest in all the camp, remembered that the battle is the Lord's, and that His arm is not grown feeble. David came before Saul and announced his intention of going out against the Philistine. It was Saul's place to go, as leader of the people, but his trust was in his own strength, and now, in that hour of need, it failed him. He attempted to set before David the perils of his undertaking, but David was not going in his own strength, and felt no doubt as to the issue of the conflict. Refusing Saul's armour, he took his sling and five smooth stones out of the brook and drew near to meet the Philistine.

Goliath seemed disgusted at the insolence of a mere youth in coming out to fight with himself, and boasted loudly of what he would do to his adversary, but David declared that "all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with the sword and spear." Said he, "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts."

It was a fearfully unequal contest. On one side was a man, bigger and stronger than all other; on the other the great and powerful Creator of heaven and earth, before whom all the nations are as a drop of a bucket. He might have gone forth against Goliath in terrible majesty, shaking the earth with thunder and smiting His antagonist with the lightning, but, being all-powerful, He was able to accomplish just as much with a smooth stone in the hand of a youth.

There was no reason why Saul, or anyone else in the army, should not have been used by the Lord to lay low the pride of the Philistines, except that they all had too much of it in their own hearts. They thought so much of themselves that the Lord was overlooked, and seemed too far off for any practical purpose. Yet God had called them that they should bear His name, and be His representatives, and in His name, they might have done what David did.

This experience is written for our learning that we may know in what our strength

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consists, and that we should learn not to fear difficulties or temptations on account of their great size and seeming strength. Our victory or defeat will depend entirely on whether we meet the enemy in the name of the Lord. Christ says, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name that will I do." John xiv. 13.

It was now apparent to all Israel that David was most suited to be their leader. In allowing another, young and inexperienced, to take the place of danger as the champion of Israel, Saul had confessed himself unfit for the post. David was no better in himself than anyone else, as He sadly proved in after years, but while he allowed God to work His will through him, great good would come to others thereby. God alone could help the people, and only as David revealed God, would his life and reign be a blessing. He realised this when he wrote the 44th Psalm:

Thou art my King, O God:
Command deliverance for Jacob.
Through Thee will we push down our adversaries;
Through Thy name will we tread them under
that rise up against us.
For I will not trust in my bow,
Neither shall my sword save me.
But Thou hast saved us from our adversaries,
And hast put them to shame that hate us.
In God have we made our boast all the day long,
And we will give thanks unto Thy name for ever.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 21.

E. J. Waggoner

The Marquis de Rudini, premier of Italy, is reported to have said that things had never looked so black in Italy since 1860 as they do now.

Peace is not one of the things that men of the world are expecting just now. At the dinner of the West London Volunteer Infantry Brigade, a few evenings ago, the Duke of Cambridge, who presided, said: "Our position, unless both the army and navy are made strong enough to keep us where we are now, will, in my opinion, be a very melancholy one."

If two men stood with loaded weapons, each alert and on his guard and ready to shoot the instant the other made a threatening motion, no one could describe them as being at peace with each other; yet that is just the sort of peace that prevails among all the great nations of earth to-day. That is all the peace that this world gives. Not so does the Lord give peace. Have you His peace? If not, why not? He has given it to you.

Not long since a French missionary was killed in China, and the French Government has demanded ?4,000 as compensation. It is reported also that a demand has been made for a railway concession in the neighbourhood of Nanking. Missionaries now have a high market value among the Powers.

At the annual meeting of the Grand Committee of the Birmingham Liberal Unionist Association, Mr. Chamberlain, who has just been re-elected president, made a speech, in which he said:-

What is our next duty? It is to establish and maintain bonds of permanent amity with our kinsmen across the Atlantic. I don't know what the future has in store for us. I don't know what arrangements may be possible with us; but this I know and feel-that the closer, the more cordial, the fuller, and more definite these arrangements are with the consent of both people, the better it will be for both and for the world-and I even go so far as to say that terrible as war may be, even war itself would be cheaply purchased, if, in a great and noble cause, the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack would wave together over an Anglo-Saxon Alliance.

This portion of the speech was greeted, according to the report, with the loudest and most prolonged applause.

This speech has been the subject of widespread comment. The Daily Chronicle states the situation:-

The Foreign and Colonial Secretaries between them have succeeded in producing what the financial telegrams call "a feeling of uneasiness." There is a sense of gathering clouds; and though no man knows exactly how or where the storm may burst, and no one would venture to say that it will not in all human probability blow over, yet there is a conviction that there is thunder some where about, and that any spark might let loose the baleful forces of the Armageddon, which has been foretold so often.

The Spanish journal El Liberal said:-

Scarcely has Lord Salzburg explained away his infelicitous references to dying nations than Mr. Chamberlain threatens Spain with an Anglo-American alliance. Spain, however, is not frightened. The day on which the agreement is signed will be the date for the outbreak of the general conflagration. Germany and Russia, with allies, will face Great Britain and the United States, and the outbreak will involve India, Africa, and Manchuria. If the Anglo-American alliance be accomplished, Europe, heretofore indifferent to our case, will take part, not to favour us, but to defend its own preponderance in the world.

The call now is for more fast cruisers for the Navy, in order that in time of war the enemy's motions may be closely watched, and especially for convoying grain ships. A writer in the London Review says: "In six weeks we should be starving unless our Navy proved equal to the task of safely convoying all the grain on the way to our ports."

Something must be done, it is urged, to increase the size and strength of the army. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, in his speech at the Army Temperance Association, said that "with our fast increasing imperial responsibilities we stand in need of a larger army." The question is, How shall it be done? As the Daily Mail says, it is "not altogether obvious how it is to be increased without drastic alterations in our military system;" but "to neglect the army or rest content with paper measures that such a time as this would be suicidal folly." Only two ways are suggested, namely, greatly increase pay, or conscription. As between these two, it is not difficult to foretell which will be adopted.

Among all the eulogies of Mr. Gladstone, we have seen none that set forth his character in a more attractive light than the following little incident. It occurs in a long article contributed to the Chronicle by a friend of his. Telling of their walk home after dining out together, he says:-

Opposite Knightsbridge Barracks I was addressed by an unfortunate woman, but passed on unheeding, stepping off the pavement to let her pass. Then she addressed Mr. Gladstone, who did not repel her. In a few moments he joined me, and asked if I always repelled those women when they spoke to me. I said, "Yes." "Perhaps you are right," he answered, "but I never like to repel them when they speak to me. I have come across terrible tragedies in that way, and have perhaps been able to do a little good. I believe that as a rule they are more sinned against than sinning."

The last number of the Review of Reviews contains a paragraph that should give pause to those who talk about war conducted in the interests of humanity. Speaking of "the last great humanitarian war," the campaign for the liberation of Bulgaria, where the Turks were said to have massacred some fifty thousand inhabitants, the editor says:-

To avenge the Bulgarian atrocities the Russians invaded Turkey, and for every Bulgarian man, woman and child, who had been massacred by the Turks, two Russian soldiers fell in battle or died of disease, and probably at least double that number of non-combatant peasants-Bulgarian, Armenian and Turkish-were done to death between the contending armies. The Bulgarian atrocities were avenged, no doubt, but at a very low computation it cost five lives to avenge one!

The remedy is truly worse than the disease. War, as a cure for inhumanity, is very much like suffocating a man to death to cure the asthma. Nevertheless it is the best remedy the world knows. Oh, that men would learn that the Gospel of Christ solves every perplexity and heals every ill!

A sad but striking sign of the times is furnished in the following item from a recent number of the Kansas City (U.S.A.) Times:-

The patriotism of the members of the First Christian Church at Sedalia, Missouri, was shown last night in the middle of a sermon. The pastor, the Rev. J. S. Myers, was preaching, when he read a telegram announcing that Commodore Dewey's ships had won a great naval battle at Manila and completely annihilated the Spanish war vessels, in an instant the congregation was on its feet waving handkerchiefs and cheering. It was several minutes before the applause ceased, when all joined in singing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee."

The following is said to be an extract from a letter of Signor Crispi:

Very bad times are in store for us. We must keep united and provide against the dangers which threaten us. The classes must organise and prepare themselves for struggle with the masses.

June 2, 1898

"Each Man's Destiny Self-Decided" The Present Truth 14, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

The children of Israel, on their way from Egypt to Canaan, had gone as far as the desert of Paran, on the borders of the promised land, when the Lord said to Moses: "Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel; of every tribe of their father shall ye send a man, everyone a ruler among them." Num. xiii. 1, 2.

Accordingly the twelve men were chosen, and Moses sent them away with this charge: "Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain, and see the land, what it is, and the people that dwell therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strongholds, and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land."

So they set off, and searched the land for forty days. "And they came unto the valley of Eschol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bear upon a staff between two; and they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs. That place was called the Valley of Eschol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from thence." The word "Eschol" means "a cluster." Some people, who make their own limited experience the standard by which the truthfulness or reasonableness of the Bible is judged, imagine that the account of the cluster of grapes so large that required two men to carry it, is an exaggeration.

The Bible does not need any man's testimony to substantiate it; yet it may be of interest to some, as showing the wondrous fruitfulness of the earth in some places, even in these last days, to read that the writer of this has himself seen a single cluster of grapes weighing twenty-eight pounds. If the one that the spies

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cut was still larger even than that, one man alone would find it a very difficult task to carry it uninjured for several days.

Well, what was the result of the investigation? "They returned from searching the land after forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told them, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it."

Thus far they were all agreed. One would suppose that the sight of such luscious fruit, to people in a desert, and the knowledge that there was a country full of it, within easy distance, and that the country had already been given them by the Owner thereof, would have so stirred them that nothing would restrain them from going at once to take possession. Alas! there was a "but" in the report of some of the twelve.

Having shown the desirability of the land, ten of the men added: "Nevertheless the people be strong in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great; and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south; and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountain; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan."

What of that? Those same people dwelt there four hundred years before, when Abraham was in the land, and the Lord had mentioned them all by name, and others beside them, in the promise to Abraham. In giving the land to Israel, the Lord had full knowledge of all its encumbrances. He had promised the ancestors of Israel, that He would give them the land, "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. 11-15. The same God was as well able to protect a multitude as a few.

Moreover these very people had seen the power of God, not only over a mighty nation,-the Egyptians, whom He shook off in the Red Sea,-but over the winds and the sea. They had seen how all things in heaven and earth are subservient to His will. Yet now as soon as the ten spies mentioned the people of Canaan, whom God Himself had expressly named in the gift, "all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses, and against Aaron; and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!" Num. xiv. 1, 2.

Two men alone were faithful to God in the truth. Caleb and Joshua "stilled the people before Moses," and said: "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." "And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us; for their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us; fear them not."

Surely it would be a one-sided contest: the people of the land had no defence. True, they had cities with high walls; but "except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Ps. cxxvii. 1. The Lord is more than all, for "all nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity." Isa. xl. 17. Nevertheless the ten spies said: "We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we;" and so much were they overcome by their foolish and wicked fears that, although they had just told how good the land was, "they brought up and evil report of the land," saying, "It is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof."

Well, we know the result. It was just as each one said. Those who said, "We are not able to go up," did not go up. They could not, indeed, "because of unbelief." But those who said, "We are not able to go up," did not go up. They could not, indeed, "because of unbelief." But those who said, "We are well able to go up and possess it," found nothing to hinder them. They did indeed find walled cities, but the walls fell down of themselves, before a finger was lifted against them. Those who expressed a wish to die in the wilderness, had their wish gratified; those who wished to possess the promised land, had it.

Even so it is to-day. "According to your faith be it unto you." God has blessed us with "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Eph. i. 3. "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." 2 Peter i. 3. In Christ "we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." Eph. i. 11. Our weapons are "mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds" (2 Cor. x. 5), while the principalities and powers with whom we are to fight have had their weapons taken away from them by the power of the Crucified One. Col. ii. 15. 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 that is "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." Eph. i. 19-21.

It is impossible therefore for our faith to make too large demands upon God's love and power. We cannot exhaust His gifts. The word is, "All things are yours; whether. . . the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours." 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things;" and the victory has already been won for us. In Christ are all things, and He is "the desire of all nations;" therefore we cannot desire a thing that is not ours already. Nay, our desires cannot begin to compass the things that God has given us; for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit." Oh, then, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," and "Be not faithless but believing," for "all things are possible to him that believeth."

God can do but very little for a man who misinterprets divine blessings, and concludes that he is favoured on account of some goodness in himself.

"A Lesson in Obedience" The Present Truth 14, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

Many people imagine that the times when quiet, unoffending people could be made to suffer real persecution for their loyalty to God and His Word, are in the past, and that men in these days are too enlightened to persecute their fellow-men for conscience' sake; but we have had under close observation for nearly a year a case which shows that all the elements of religious persecution are everywhere present as much as they ever were, and that more extended and relentless persecution than has ever yet been known is not only possible, but is highly probable, yes, more, is actually inevitable, since careful and systematic preparations are being made for it. The case in question is highly interesting and most instructive, and as the whole affair is now ended, we will give a brief account of it.

NARRATIVE OF THE CASE

Early in 1897 Christen Rasmussen, a young man nineteen years of age, from Hurup, Denmark, was called to perform the military service that is demanded of every able-bodied young man. At that time he was not converted, but during a short visit at his home he gave himself to the Lord, accepting Christ as his Saviour, and fully decided to obey his heavenly Master in all things, according to the Sacred Word. This was no mere formal matter with him, as his subsequent history shows.

He should have presented himself at military headquarters at one o'clock, April 10, 1897, but as that day was the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath according to the commandment of the Lord, to whose service he had given himself, he did not put in an appearance until after sunset. For this seeming dilatoriness he received a reprimand, and was thereafter assigned to his duty.

During the week he made a request to the captain, to be exempted from service on Sabbath days, but the answer was that nothing could be done for him in that direction. The young man, however, had no question in his own mind as to whether the king of Denmark or the King of the universe had the first claim upon his service.

Accordingly, the next Sabbath morning when the soldiers appeared for inspection, he remained in his room reading his Bible. A corporal came with orders for him to take his place, but he answered, "I cannot, because it is the Lord's Sabbath." Then a lieutenant came, and commanded him to take his place in the ranks, but he replied, "I cannot." "Why not?" said the lieutenant. "Because it is the Sabbath." Finally he accompanied the lieutenant outside, but could not be induced to take his place in the ranks.

NO PLACE FOR GOD'S LAW

He was brought to the captain, who said, "Why do you not take your place?" "Because the Lord has said, The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work." "Well, you are a soldier, and must obey; nothing of that kind is taken into consideration here. Take your place," said captain. "I cannot, sir." Without further parley a sergeant was ordered to take "No. 52" to prison, which was done.

Before the military court he had nothing else to answer than this: "The God who created heaven and earth has said, 'On the seventh day, which is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, thou shalt do no work,' and I cannot do anything other than obey Him." He was thereupon sentenced to three times five days' solitary confinement in a dark cell, on bread and water. The successive periods of five days' darkness were separated by one day's imprisonment in the light.

At the close of this sentence he was asked by his friends how he had it in prison. "Oh," said he, "it was somewhat lonesome at times, but I prayed to the Lord, and sang praises to Him, and so my heart was glad."

AN EXCELLENT CHARACTER

It should be stated that the military authorities gave the young man an excellent character. His reputation for activity and soldierly ability was good. The officer said that he was the best man in the company. At target practice he proved himself superior to all the rest. The colonel who had to send a report of the case to the King talked with him, and told what a good report he had heard of him from the officers, and said, "You are a clever marksman, can you shoot as well at the Germans, when you get in the battle?" "No," was the reply, "I cannot shoot or kill a fellow-men, since God's law forbids it." "Oh, yes," said the colonel; "I believe you are a faithful man to do what you believe to be right. You will fear God, and live for Him. I have nothing bad to report about you, but I must write that you are deluded."

Several times was young Rasmussen before the military court for insubordination, the only charge being that he would not work on Sabbath, and as often must he undergo punishment, so that as an Aarhus (Denmark) paper said in giving an account of this case, he spent the greater part of the summer in discharging penalties, and these were naturally made more severe one after the other. Dark cells and bread and water were everyday affairs with him. The closeness with which one punishment followed another, depended only on whether he came out of prison the first or the last day of the week; for as surely as Saturday came, was there the refusal to work, and the swiftly following sentence.

"ACCOUNTED MAD"

At last he was sent to the insane asylum, to be kept under observation for three months, to see if he was of sound mind. Here his surroundings were by no means pleasant, but the Lord whom he served did not forsake him, and he always maintained his courage. Whenever his friend saw him in the intervals of his imprisonment, he seemed glad and happy in the Lord, and had not a hard word to say of those at whose hands he was made to suffer.

In the insane hospital the doctor had naturally many talks with him, but could find in him nothing different from other men, except his loyalty to what the Bible says, and his confidence and happiness in the Lord. The doctor's report of his first examination ran something as follows:-

"The patient was sent in for examination as to a state of mind; because he, as an Adventist, had ever since his call to military service refused to work on Saturday, and had therefore undergone one punishment after another. His behaviour in the hospital has been good, and one cannot know any other abnormal symptom in him than his defence of the sacredness of Saturday, which he supports with innumerable texts from the Bible."

As with Daniel, the only fault found in him was concerning the law of his God.

On the second of October last he was sent back to the army with the declaration that it was perfectly sane, whereupon the old history began to repeat itself. Friday evening soon came, and, as before, he respectfully but firmly refused to continue his work. Judgment followed quick and strong, and twice more was he obliged to

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suffer for his faithful "disobedience," each time five times five days in the dark cell, on bread and water, the last time without any bed. In all this time he uttered no complaint, only expressing the hope that he might soon receive his final sentence of continuous imprisonment.

Finally his case was settled, and he received a sentence of eight months' hard labour in the penitentiary. This was less than he expected. From the time that he was taken to the prison, until, a little less than two months later, he was pardoned on the king's eightieth birthday, nothing was known of him except that the inspector said he must learn to obey, and he had no doubt but that they would succeed in teaching him, and that in the prison he would be obliged to work on Sabbath, or else be punished according to the prison regulations.

It transpires that on its refusal to work on the Sabbath, he received the mildest punishment prescribed for such an offence. Instead of being flogged, he was obliged to spend the Sabbath in a dark cell or hole, where, as it was winter, and there was no fire, he suffered much from the cold. Now, however, he is free from prison and from all further military service; and as none of the things he endured could spoil his peace, it may well be believed that he is now glad in the Lord, to whose service he is more than ever devoted.

WHO WAS DISOBEDIENT?

We have he headed this narrative "A Lesson in Obedience," and such it is. The military authorities thought all the time that they were engaged in teaching the young recruit obedience to order; but the fact was that it was he who was giving them a practical lesson in obedience, which most of them were too dull to appreciate, their senses having been blunted by their military training.

It is true that Rasmussen was technically disobedient, but that which in his case was called "disobedience" was the highest kind of obedience. A writer for one of the Danish newspapers well said: "I cherish the highest respect for this young man. The faithfulness and integrity which he exhibits is so rare that it ought to be rewarded by some other means than the House of Corrections." In reality it was the military authorities who were disobedient, for the law which says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," is for all, and the king on his throne is under the same obligation to keep it that the peasant is.

That Rasmussen's case is only faintly suggestive of what may yet follow in multiplied instances in every land, is indicated by the following taken from the Aarhus Folkeblad February 19:-

"One cannot comfort himself with the thought that this is an isolated case, for there will soon be many, I know of a certainty. We really come to the heart of the matter only when we see that such a man can come into a yet more serious situation in time of war. For according to what I have been able to learn by conversations with men belonging to the Seventh-day Adventists, they will absolutely refuse to go against an enemy with weapons in hand. They will hold themselves strictly to the fifth [sixth] commandment, 'Thou shalt not kill.' They will allow themselves to be killed, but they will not kill. If this is correct, and I believe it is, then these men are useless as soldiers, and may, if war should break out, come into the most deplorable condition in that they may be condemned to death, and put others in the painful situation of being obliged to pronounce so hard a sentence upon them."

THE GOD OF WAR

When one stops to consider how the war spirit is dominating the nations of earth, and what its nature is, it will be apparent that there are indeed "perilous times" ahead, and not far distant. The demon whom men call "the god of war" is stern, harsh, unyielding, unrelenting, and mercilessly cruel. The groans of the wounded and dying, and the wails of widows and orphans, are music to his ears. Men call him Mars, but he is well represented by the ancient Moloch, that brazen image into whose red-hot arms living children were flung, while the beating of drums and the blare of trumpets drowned their dying cries, or mingled with them to work the multitudes up to the highest pitch of frenzy.

The Danish people are as kind and courteous and gentle a people as can be found in the world. Moreover all those who came in contact with young Rasmussen liked him personally, and the officers praised his efficiency and willingness, yet the worship of the military demon begets so false a conception of duty, that not one of them would hesitate in obedience to inflict upon him any sort of punishment. Why?-Because in their minds human Government is greater than God. Young Rasmussen was not punished because the officers had any ill will to him, nor because they were hard-hearted men. Far from it. On the contrary, it caused them pain, and they did it at the sacrifice of personal feelings and to what they conceived to be their duty. The same thing would be done in any other country in the world, only the punishment might be much more vigorous. The kings and rulers of earth have set themselves against God, and have assumed the right to set aside His law, which says, "Thou shalt not kill," and as a matter of course the other portions of that law are as lightly regarded by them.

A FALLACY

This case shows the fallacy of another idea, that is entertained by many, namely, that religious persecution must be prompted by hatred of the religious principles of the ones persecuted. In this case those at whose hands Rasmussen suffered had no religious bias. They cared more for the Sunday than for the Sabbath. It was absolutely immaterial to them what religion the soldiers professed, or if they professed none at all. The only thing that concerned them was, to secure implicit and unquestioning obedience to the regulations of the army. If a man disregards them, the fact that he does so in obedience to God's law is not for a moment taken into consideration; punishment must follow to the bitter end.

MILITARISM ABOVE GOD

"But there must be discipline in the army, or else its efficiency is at an end; and if partiality is shown there will be an end of discipline," will be urged by many, and not last, by any means, by men who occupy the places of influence in the church. Think of the wickedness of such a defence! God and His law must be considered of secondary importance to the military machine! It is of more importance that the army should be maintained, than that God should be regarded! The mere statement of the case is sufficient to show that it is as gross paganism as ever existed. What hope can there be of peace on earth as long as such principles rule?

The situation will be worse in the future than it has ever been in the past, for war is now sanctioned by the professed ministers of the Gospel, as it has never been before. It is so easy for the rulers to raise the cry of "humanity" in justification of any war, or else there is always that magic word "patriotism;" and when a country is "Christian," it is readily argued that to defend its "honour" is a Christian act;

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so that he who will refuse to disobey God's law, "Thou shalt not kill," will be condemned as a traitor to God in his country, and that even by the ministers of religion.

PAGANISM

Is it not time that the question were again asked: "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God serve Him, and if Baal, then serve him." In so-called "Christian" countries the worst sort of paganism is assuming overwhelming proportions. The great mass of people seem to think that when "Government" (which is in the main only another name for the army) commands disobedience of God's law, there is no alternative but to disobey it; and those who refuse to transgress God's law are branded as lawless and disobedient. What is it but heathenism thus to ignore God, and to set the military god above Him?

Thank God that there are still faithful witnesses to the truth, lone voices in the desert, saying, "Behold your God!" When the testing time comes the single voices will be multiplied by thousands, whose quiet lives of humble obedience to God's law will speak louder than any words, and will result in bringing many from the camp of Satan, to enlist under the banner of the Prince of Peace.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Jesus Crucified. Matt. xxvii. 35-50" The Present Truth 14, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

JUNE 12

Few are the words in which this most remarkable scene in human history is recorded, but every detail is weighty with meaning. The great central fact is stated in the briefest possible way: "And they crucified Him." The attendant circumstances are set forth in the simplest and most direct manner. Only the Holy Spirit Himself could give such an account of such an event.

It was the Son of man who was crucified, our representative. And "we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died." 2 Cor. v. 14, R.V. It only remains for us to accept His death, and for us each to know, "I have been crucified with Christ." Then can we make our own the words of the Scripture: "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away, that we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin." Rom. vi. 6, 7, R.V. "But God forbid that I should glory, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Gal. vi. 14. It is thus that we experience the power of His death, that power by which He destroyed the devil and his works. Heb. ii. 14. And since He "His own self bare our sins in His own body to the tree,"

My sin-oh, the bliss of the glorious thought!-
My sin-not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross; and I bear it no more:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.

All this, and much more which we cannot now consider, is bound up in the simple statement, "And They crucified Him."

KING OF GLORY

And there was His accusation: "This is Jesus the King the Jews." It was by preferring the charge of treason against Him that His condemnation had been secured from Pilate; "If thou let this man go, thou art not C?sar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against C?sar." John xix. 12. And yet in His examination before Pilate, Jesus had told him, "My kingdom is not of this world." But He was King, and in no experience did His kingship stand out more clearly than when He was upon the cross. For He was King because of what He was in Himself, by virtue of His own character, and His death on the cross demonstrated before the whole universe His inherent fitness to be king over all. The fact that He could die to save the world was the clearest reason why He should be made "King of kings and Lord of lords." And so the Scripture says: "And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Phil. ii. 8-11. And He is King to-day, the rightful King, for the Lord enquires:

Is it not I who My King have established
On Zion, holy mountain of Mine?

Each one of thus, by the way in which we treat Jesus to-day, is declaring whether he recognises this rightful claim to be King, not on earthly thrones, but in his own heart, "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." And so His accusation, while false from the standpoint of His accusers, was yet the expression of a great truth when properly understood. "The Lord shall rule over you."

"WITH THE TRANSGRESSORS"

Jesus died where He had lived, with sinners. "Then were there two thieves crucified with Him, one on the right hand, and another on the left." And these two men were representatives of the two classes of sinners, the repentant and the unrepentant. Jesus was crucified for all, but only those who are willing with humble confession of sin to recognise His kingship will be able to receive the benefits of His death.

It is perfectly evident that the taunts which were cast at Jesus as He hung upon the cross were inspired by the prince of darkness. When Satan met Jesus in the wilderness, he sought, by casting doubt upon His sonship, to induce Him to depart from the Father's plan for Him in using His own Divine power to save Himself from suffering. Then he said, "If Thou be the Son of God," etc. And Satan to-day is still finding some who profess to be the children of God, who yet permit themselves be used as mouthpieces for speaking against Jesus. "Likewise also the chief priests mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; Himself He cannot save." Alas for humanity! How little it comprehends the work of Jesus! It was true that "He saved others," and it is also true that by refusing to save Himself on that day, again declining to use His Divine power to save Himself from the suffering which He had willingly accepted in behalf of man, He saved both Himself and us. But it was for us that He endured the suffering, for He might have refused to drink the cup, but alas for the human family if He had taken that way of saving Himself. How clearly does the cross show that there is no selfishness in Jesus.

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"He trusted in God," they said in derision. Thus it was that in their scorn they were unintentionally bearing witness to the genuine character of His work. For He had said, "I can do nothing of Myself," and "I live by the Father," and He had thus placed Himself on the same ground of weakness and dependence as humanity finds itself, to make righteousness (right-doing) by faith possible for helpless humanity. "In all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren." Well may we say: "For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges." What a scene of mockery and insult is witnessed at the cross! All join in the reviling: "they that pass by," "the chief priests," "the scribes and elders" and "the thieves also." No wonder that the sun, the eye of God, refused to look upon such an exhibition, and that "from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour." Inanimate creation showed more sympathy for its Creator than did man who was made in the image of God. So cruel is sin.

Jesus has endured without a word all that Satanic malice could suggest in bodily suffering and taunts and derision, but now when He takes upon Himself the experience of the lost sinner in His separation from God, that terrible cry is wrung from His human lips, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" "Christ died for our sins." "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath made the iniquity of us all to meet on Him." And "the wages of sin is death," under separation from God. And it was this experience, the sense of being separated from His own Father whom He loved, whose thought had always been His thought, whose will had always been His will, that crushed His soul in that awful hour. It is only in view of the cross that we can measure the cost of our salvation and understand that value which God Himself has set upon the human soul. "I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir." How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"

The fact that Jesus "cried again with a loud voice" just before He "yielded up the ghost" shows that it was not physical suffering which caused His death. He was crushed by the weight of the sins of the world and died literally of a broken heart. But in His agony of death, borne down by the weight of the sins which He had taken upon Himself, He became conqueror and King of the universe. He had already said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me," and so it was. When other kings have died the cry has been, "The king is dead," and they have turned to the new king with the cry, "Long live the king," but this King gained both His kingdom and His subjects by His death. "Yea, I loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have by drawn thee."

Oh, 'twas love, 'twas wondrous love, the love of
God to me;
It brought My Saviour from above, to die on
Calvary.

"Crooked VisionóPerverted Judgment" The Present Truth 14, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

"What is the charge against a prisoner?"

"Breaking the Sabbath, your worship. He spent the most of last Sunday at work."

"Ah, that is bad; what was he doing?"

"He was killing a man, your worship; and as the man was strong, and made much resistance, he had to work very hard before he could finish the job."

"That is bad, very bad; but as this is his first offence, I will let him off this time, with a caution to wait until Monday the next time he wants to kill anybody."

You say that this is but a caricature, and unworthy a place in a religious journal! Then read the following, and say if our story is far-fetched. It is a despatch from Indianapolis, U.S.A.

The Presbyterian General Assembly has forwarded a resolution to President McKinley, a king that no battles be fought on Sundays, and urging that if Admiral Sampson should meet Admiral Cervera on a Sunday he should request the Spanish admiral to wait until Monday before fighting.

Here we see the result of a departure from the plain commandment of God, and the substitution of the commandment of men. Nowhere does the Bible forbid any kind of labour on Sunday; but there is an explicit command, saying, "Thou shalt not kill." Men have so long ignored the commandment which says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work," and have substituted for the Lord's day a day of man's own choosing, that now they are unable to see any sin in killing men in droves, provided it isn't done on Sunday. So perverted has their judgment become, that no thought is given to the sinfulness of transgressing God's commandments; the only fault found is with the disregard of man's ordinance.

This is a sign that perilous times are coming, when the earth will be filled with violence, as in the days before the flood. The persistent disregard of the fourth commandment, not only by the world, but by "the church," will yield such a harvest of lawlessness as will be terrible to behold. God's law is a unit, and the disregard of one portion of it carries with it rejection of the whole. "Turn ye, turn ye, for what will ye die?" Man can live only by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Another instance of the terribly perverted ideas of the Gospel which now prevail, has come to our attention since the foregoing was written. The New York Independent, one of the most influential religious journals in the United States, contains a leading editorial entitled, "Reparation, not vengeance," in which the war cry, "Remember the Maine," is deprecated, and it is insisted that the plea of "humanity" must be strictly adhered to. The Independent wants war, but wants it under the guise of Christianity. Revenge isn't a nice word, and the editor says it is "unworthy of a Christian people." And then follows the serious exhortation, "Let us keep to law and Gospel even in war."

We have long been accustomed to seeing the ten commandments ignored and perverted, but it does sound a little strange to hear men talk of slaughtering human beings in harmony with the Gospel of Peace, whose Author said, "Resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also," and who Himself set the example. But the law and Gospel are inseparable, and the perversion of the one cannot fail to be attended by the perversion of the other.

In striking contrast with this plea for the law and Gospel to be adhered to in

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war, is the following from the Daily Telegraph of May 23, with reference to the resolution of the Presbyterian Assembly concerning Sunday fighting:-

A very great and very wise English prelate declared in the House of Lords that foreign policy could not, unfortunately, be conducted on the principles of the Sermon on the Mount. Still less can actual war be carried on without outraging the fundamental axioms of Christianity at every point. Absurd as is the resolution, it may serve the purpose of calling attention to the fact that war, inevitable, and even imperative as it sometimes is, must temporarily put in abeyance the doctrines of the Gospel of Peace.

It is a pitiable state of affairs, when the world has clearer ideas of Christianity than the church itself has. Now is the time for Christians to show that Christianity is something more than a name, and that true Christians never put the doctrines of the Gospel of peace in abeyance even temporarily.

"A Vain Appeal" The Present Truth 14, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

The Committee of the International Peace Bureau have issued from Berne the following general appeal:-

As soon as the question of Cuba had led to a state of tension between the United States and Spain, the friends of peace sought both by individual and united effort to prevent hostilities between the disputants, but events precipitated themselves and notwithstanding the peaceable intentions of the two Governments, the dreaded war was rendered inevitable by the passions of the two peoples becoming inflamed against each other.

The war had hardly been declared before some of its deplorable consequences made themselves felt throughout Europe, in the rise in the price of bread and in the trouble and suffering which has followed. Incontrovertible evidence is thus given of the ever-growing inter-dependence of all the members of the great human family. War cannot now be carried on at any spot on the globe, without all civilised communities feeling the disturbance, and each having its own interests affected thereby.

If the peace of Europe were to be broken? We tremble to think of such a possibility, and we are seized with horror when we attempt to realise what a European conflagration would mean; nevertheless, just as the present war has been brought about by misguided public opinion, so in Europe the same cause might lead to manifestations of hostility, and disastrous consequences might be inevitable.

Therefore, under the present sad circumstances, we appeal to you to unite together in protesting against the use of brute force to settle international differences, as well as against all oppression, and we entreat you to demand that some pledge shall be given to the nations, that the peace, which humanity longs for, shall be secured to them.

We ask you to join your efforts to the efforts of those societies, which are working in every land, in the cause of peace; and we urge you publicly to declare your determination that this scourge of war shall be driven from our midst. Let your voice be heard above all cries of international passion and hatred!

This appeal clearly sets forth the situation, and present danger; but it will be ineffectual, because it utterly ignores the cause of war. "From whence come wars and fighting among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" James iv. 1. To declare a determination that war shall be driven from our midst, is really to declare that emulation, wrath, strife, hatred, greed, ambition, etc., be driven from human hearts. Each individual may make this declaration for himself, and if he do so in sincerity, the Holy Spirit of God will put all these things away from him, and fill him with the love and peace of God. But war can no more be suppressed by resolutions or pledges than a man can be cured of leprosy by Act of Parliament.

"Murderous Millinery" The Present Truth 14, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

The following letter was sent to the editor of the Christian World. It can hardly be wondered at that Christianity is regarded by so many as a sham when those who appear in public as its advocates and adherents manifest so inconsistent a disregard for its principles of kindness and all-embracing love. If not a sparrow falls to the ground without the notice of the Father, how must He regard the slaughter of His creatures for the adornment of those who profess to be His servants?

Sir,-It is an extraordinary thing that, despite all that has been said on the subject of "murderous millinery" and the proved and reiterated statement that every graceful "osprey" plume nodding in a woman's bonnet means the slaughter of a whole family of birds, under circumstances peculiarly revolting, Christian women, some of whom are leaders in Christian work, still wear these barbarous adornments. At the May Meetings of the different religious societies, ospreys are everywhere-even on the platform. At one meeting a woman pleaded for self-devotion-with ospreys in her bonnet! At an important ladies' missionary gathering the lady who presided, and one of the missionaries who described the cruelties of Indian life, both wore ospreys. It is hardly conceivable that, after all that has been said and written on the subject, any woman can be unaware of the barbarity of the trade in ospreys. Perhaps some comfort themselves with the idea, sedulously fostered by drapers and milliners, that their ospreys are only "imitations." But in nineteen cases out of twenty the plumes are real, and are only called "imitations" in order to salve the easily soothed consciences of the women who buy them. As Ruskin says, a woman who will wear relics of murdered birds in her headgear would almost make her dead baby into an ornament if fashion demanded it-Yours truly, A MAY MEETING WOMAN.

A letter to the Chronicle states that

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 22.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords.

That means that kings are His subjects. He is "on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him."

This is all that can be said of the poorest man or the one in the humblest position on earth. All owe Him allegiance. Kings and rulers owe Him the same service that the peasants are bankers do, except that those who have the greatest influence and opportunity have the greatest obligation.

No man is great in the sight of God. He "bringeth princes to nothing, and maketh the judges of earth as vanity." "Men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity." Ps. lxii. 9. "Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity." Ps. xxxix. 5. From the height of heaven, whence God beholds the earth, no man is greater than any other.

Therefore He speaks to mankind as a whole, including every individual, saying, "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God?" Micah vi. 8.

Every man's duty then is plain. It is to worship the Lord God, and to serve Him only. Matt. iv. 10. Whoever does this, will do his full duty to every other man on earth, no matter what his name or rank.

Then when anyone is brought into a situation such as that described in this paper, where men in places of authority demand that which is a violation of the commandment of God, the way is very clear. One has only to serve God. Only so can he rightly serve his fellow-men. The highest service we can render mankind, and that for which we are placed here, is to show them the power of the truth of God.

The poorest and most unlettered person in the world, even a little child, can do this. It does not require that one shall be able to make fine distinctions as to just how far the rights of earthly rulers extend. The question of human rights, whether of the ruler or the subject, has not to be considered at all. But only the question of what is right; and God's Word determines that. One has only to know the Lord, and to receive the words of His mouth, to be able to "understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path."

The bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in their semi-annual session at Albion, Michigan, U.S.A., passed the following resolution:-

That we render most hearty thanks to God for the victory He has vouchsafed to our arms at Manila, and that we congratulate our navy upon this magnificent result.

What can the bishops mean by "our arms?" They are Christians, and "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal."

An American religious journal of high standing says that "nothing is wanting to make Commodore Dewey's victory complete and satisfactory to the last degree," and then proceeds to describe the battle, stating that the commander "brought all his ships and men safely through the action, destroying nearly a dozen Spanish ships, killing and wounding a thousand or more Spaniards, silencing shore batteries, and making useless about $6,000,000 of Spanish property." That is not the kind of work that Christ finds "satisfactory to the last degree." He comes that men may have life, and His work is to restore, and not to destroy.

The editor of the Daily Telegraph says that war cannot be carried on without "outraging the fundamental axioms of Christianity at every point." Yet many, very many, professed ministers of Christ are defending war as necessary. Then it must be that the editor of the Telegraph is mistaken in his estimate of Christianity, or else many of its professed ministers are false to it. If it be the first, then they ought to labour to convert him, by explaining to him how peace and war, universal love and wholesale murder, are compatible; if the latter be the case, then the church needs conversion. Certainly something needs to be done, for there is a fearful confusion in the minds of many as to what Christianity really is.

The idea of an Anglo-Saxon alliance is finding much favour both here and in the United States. The sentiment of the leading journals of the latter country is thus expressed: "Let us not hesitate to join Great Britain with or without the aid of the other Powers, in policing the world." It will be a bad day for both nations, and for the world, when that programme is carried into effect.

It may seem to some that we are devoting much space just not to references to war and fighting. We are indeed, because it is necessary. The world, and the professed Christian world too, is filled with a spirit that is directly opposed to the Spirit of God, whose fruits are "love, joy, peace," etc. The Gospel is being set forth as sanctioning war and bloodshed, and it is necessary that the world should know that war talk, no matter from what source it comes, has nothing in common with the Gospel of Christ. The Christian religion is being misrepresented, and many souls will be lost as the result. We would do what we can to remind people that the Gospel is just the same to-day that it was when Christ lived it on earth.

Dr. Agar Beet's book, "The Last Things," has been causing some stir among his Methodist brethren. Dr. Beet, who occupies a prominent position in the denomination as a teacher and lecturer, denies in this book that the doctrine of the soul's inherent immortality is founded on Scripture, and shows that it was derived from Plato and introduced to the church by men who "called to their aid, in defence of the teaching of Christ, Greek metaphysics." Perhaps, now that a Professor of Theology has led the way, others will feel free to accept the Scripture which declares that God "only hath immortality." 1 Tim. vi. 16.

June 9, 1898

"The Equality of Faith" The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

"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." Eph. ii. 8-10.

God "will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." 1 Tim. ii. 4. This being so, and it being also true that "without faith it is impossible to please Him," and that salvation is only by faith, it necessarily follows that "God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Rom. xii. 3.

Much vain speculation has been indulged in as to what faith is, and how it is to be obtained, and the discussion of the subject has brought confusion to thousands. As a consequence many settle down to the conviction that it is too hard a thing for them to understand, and that they are so constituted that they cannot believe anyhow.

All this is as Satan would have it, but is contrary to God's plan. Satan would make people believe that the way of life is hard to find, and that only the learned, and those with philosophical minds, can comprehend it; whereas God tells us that the way is very simple, and that it is hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes. Nothing is easier than to be saved, if one but sets his heart upon it.

The idea that one must understand faith, and be able to define it, in order to exercise it, is as absurd as that one must be able to explain sight in order to see, or that one cannot hear unless he can explain the laws of acoustics. Faith is as easy as seeing or hearing, and is as natural to mankind. Many persons are born without sight or hearing; but no soul is born into this world without the quality of faith, and the ability to believe.

There are many inequalities in this world but there is one thing in which all men are equal by birth, and that is in the matter of faith. There are vastly different conditions under which children come into the world, some being born to wealth, others to poverty; some to refined surroundings, and others to degradation; some have a fair start, in that they inherit many good traits from a godly ancestry, while others seem to have inherited all the evils that the flesh ever exhibit; but all have in equal measure the same legacy of faith, given to each directly by the Lord Himself.

The child naturally believes everything. All that it learns is learned only by faith. It lays hold of realities, and takes them just as they are. If there were a child that had not the ability to believe, it could never learn anything. But the child of the wicked man, the infidel, and the blasphemer believes just as readily as the child of pious parents. For example, one learns to read wholly by faith, by believing what one is told, and the child of the infidel can learn as readily as the child of the believer. And this is only one of scores of things that come to all people only by faith. Sin is inherited, but infidelity cannot be transmitted from father to son. Unbelief, infidelity, is something that one has to learn.

In making all men equal in the matter of faith, God has more than counterbalanced all the inequalities in this world, and made it equally easy for all men to be saved. For salvation depends not on us, but on God. It is His power that saves. "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." It is the power of God that saves, and nothing is difficult for that power. So it makes no difference how much worse one person may be than another, or how much greater a load of sin he may have inherited; since salvation is by faith in the power of God, who does the work, and the same faith is given to each person, the vilest sinner stands as good a chance of salvation as the one who seems to be the best.

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What shall you believe, in order to get this salvation? Believe just what the child believes; believe the things that you see. Whoever is saved must become as a little child, and a little child believes what it sees, even if it cannot fathom the mystery of them. What do you see?-In everything that is made you see the eternal power and Divinity of God. The Gospel is just that power exerted to save men. Lay hold on that power, and you find salvation. Simply trust yourself to the power that made and that upholds the universe. Rest in it, give yourself completely over to the eternal power, and it will give you the eternal salvation. Believe that the God who makes the heavens perfect, and keeps them so, can also "make you perfect in every good work, to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight," if you are as passive in His hands as the heavenly bodies are. He has been working in you to keep you alive ever since you were born, waiting for you to yield to Him, that He might carry the work to perfection. Will you not let Him have His own way now?

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Risen Lord. Matt. xxviii. 8-20" The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

JUNE 19

In a former lesson we study concerning the resurrection of Christ. In this lesson we are to consider of events which occurred after His resurrection.

The experience of the two women in meeting Jesus, and the instruction which He gave to them are full of Gospel teaching. "Jesus met them." They had come "to see the sepulchre," expecting to find their Lord in a tomb. Still it was their love for Jesus which brought them there, and the angel had said to them, "I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified." But instead of finding a dead Saviour in Joseph's tomb, the living Saviour met them. Although their faith had not taken in the fact of His resurrection, yet in response to their thought of Him, such as it was, "Jesus met them." And so it is with us. To the feebleness of our thought of Him, He responds with a mightiness of His grace. Though we may sometimes speak and act as though the Saviour was dead, yet even then He reveals Himself to us as the living Saviour, "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or a think."

GO AND TELL

And the living Jesus, who met them, said, "Go tell." Having seen for themselves that He was not in the tomb, and having heard from the angel "He is risen," and having themselves seen Him alive, they were to make known these things to others. Thus does the Lord use him and instrumentalities to make known to others the glad news concerning Himself.

MY BRETHREN

The whole truth of the incarnation is taught in the way in which Jesus speaks of His disciples. He calls them "My brethren." It is not because of what they have done, but because of what He has done, that they are His brethren. It was only a few days before this, when the multitude came to take Jesus, that "all the disciples forsook Him and fled." But "both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." "When God would assure us of His immutable counsel of peace, He gives His only begotten Son to become one of the human family, for ever to retain His human nature as a pledge that God will fulfil His word." "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." "As many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God." "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." "Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us." And so even after human failure and desertion, still He says, "My brethren." Jesus looks upon every member of the human family as a brother, although some are "estranged indeed from the Father's house, but not forgotten by the Father's heart." "O, soul lost in sin, however far you have wondered, into whatever depths of degradation and misery you have sunken, God recognises you as His own, precious to His heart of love. Amid all the angels that surround the throne, He still yearns to recover you."

Blessed Jesus! would you know Him? Oh, how
He loves!
Give yourselves entirely to Him, Oh, how He
loves!

THE FALSE AND THE TRUE TESTIMONY

Two reports of what had happened at the tomb were carried into the city. After this interview with Mary Magdalene "she went and told them that had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that He is alive, and had been seen of her, believed not." At the same time "some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priest all the things that were done." And after they "had taken counsel" (but not of Him who "is wonderful in counsel,") they put a lie into the mouths of the soldiers, and "large money" into their pockets, and sent them forth with a report which condemned themselves for unfaithfulness. "And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day." But the living Jesus was His witness. To His disciples "He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs," and in His disciples after Pentecost, by His representative, the Holy Spirit, He showed Himself to the world. And each one who can say out of His own experience, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me," is bearing witness to the fact that the body of Jesus was not stolen by His disciples, but that He "was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father."

UNBELIEF

If the disciples had believed what Jesus had told them, they would have known just where to look for Him after His resurrection, for He had said to them, "After I am risen again I will go before you into Galilee;" but though they had been told once, yet the angel sends them word again, "Behold, He goeth before you into Galilee." And so "the eleven [one is now missing] disciples went away into Galilee. . . . and when they saw Him, they worshipped Him: but some doubted." Wherever there is room for the exercise of faith, there is also the possibility of doubt; and even the bodily presence of Jesus did not prevent some from doubting. This is the very nature of the "evil heart of unbelief."

ALL POWER IN THE SON OF MAN

It was the Son of man, after His resurrection, who said, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth." As the Son of God He was, equally with God, the "possessor of heaven and earth," but giving up all He

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became the Son of man, that as the Son of man and in behalf of the human family, He might win all things by His life and death and resurrection. And so the Scripture says, "All things are yours," and we are to be "strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power." These are the privileges of every believer in the risen Lord.

GO THEREFORE AND TEACH

"Go ye therefore. . . and I am with you alway." It is because He has all power and has promised His constant presence that the believers can carry to others the glad news of His power to save. And this they do, not simply in the words which they speak, but by the indwelling of that power. For salvation is after all wholly a question of power, as the Gospel "is the power of God unto salvation." It requires the same power to save from sin as to create in the first place, and "power belongeth unto God," and this power is exercised through His Son, Jesus Christ, and therefore "there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."

THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL

The commission of Jesus was to teach all nations to observe "all things whatsoever I commanded you." But Jesus did not speak of Himself. "For I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak." "My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me." And so the things which Jesus had commanded them were the things that the Lord had commanded from the beginning. He preached the Gospel, the same Gospel which was preached unto Abraham, but brought out in a clearer light, for "never man spake like this Man." He through whom God's holy law was spoken from Sinai had come to this earth to teach the principles of that same law, both in His words and in His life. In His sermon on the mount, and in all His teaching, He was simply presenting in the clearest manner the same principles of truth and righteousness which had been presented to Israel. And this was the charge which He gave to all believers, that they should continue to proclaim those same principles in the earth, "even unto the end of the world." And these are the principles of "the everlasting Gospel."

"The Joy of Tribulation" The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

Paul the apostle had come up to Jerusalem to worship, and to bring alms to the poor saints, and had been seized in the temple, and all but killed by an infuriated mob led by the rulers of the Jews. He had been beaten, had been bound with two chains, and had been nearly pulled in pieces by the priestly mob as he testified to truth before the council. Now it was night, and as he lay in the castle prison, guarded by Roman soldiers, "the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." Acts xxiii 11.

How true it is that the Lord gives not peace as the world gives. A man of the world, wishing to comfort a friend in trouble, would say, "Cheer up, old fellow; this can't last long; in a day or two we shall have you out of this trouble." That is to say, what everybody knows, that the world knows of no comfort in tribulation; its only method of comfort is to seek to remove the tribulation. If it cannot see any prospect of a speedy cessation of the trouble, it can only say, "Well, bear it like a man; I'm awfully sorry for you, but I can't help you; you'll have to make the best of it."

Cold comfort that, isn't it? It is the best the world can give. Now what better has the Lord to give? Here it is, as shown in the case of Paul: Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have borne witness here in chains, before a howling mob who would think no more of taking your life than that of a mad dog, even so must you bear witness in Rome. That is, the Lord comforted Paul in his tribulation by telling him that he was to have yet more of it! That is indeed not like the comfort of the world, and the world would not recognise it as comfort at all; but the man who knows the Lord, and has tasted "the comfort of the Holy Ghost" can understand it and rejoice in it.

DIFFICULTIES MADE HELPS

God comforts His people in such a way that, to the one who accepts it, there is no possibility of becoming downcast and disheartened. He does it by turning the devil's weapons against him. He takes the thing designed to overthrow, and makes it a means of building up. The tribulation itself is made a source of comfort, not imaginary, but real. Now it is evident that it is useless to think of disheartening or defeating a man who is in close, vital connection with One who turns sorrow itself into joy, difficulties into helps, and poverty into riches.

Christ is the Comforter. While He was visibly present with His disciples, they were happy. When they heard that He is going away, they were sad, but He told them that He would send them "another Comforter," even the Holy Spirit, His own Representative, whom the world could not receive because it cannot see Him, but who will abide for ever with those who receive Him. The comfort of the Holy Ghost is therefore the comfort of the Divine Presence.

"BE OF GOOD CHEER"

Jesus closed His last talk to His disciples, in which He had told them that they must suffer reproach and persecution and even death, with these words: "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.

The first recorded instance of the Lord's use of the words, "Be of good cheer," is in Matt. ix. 2, to the palsied man: "Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee." In Christ "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Eph.

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i. 7), and that is the real comfort of the Holy Ghost. With that assurance, we can find joy in every situation. That is why in Him we have peace. So the Apostle Paul writes: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Rom. v. 1-5.

WEAKNESS MADE STRENGTH

The reason for glorying in tribulation is given more in detail by the apostle in 2 Cor. xii. 7-10: "There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore 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."

"Every man at his best state is altogether vanity" (Ps. xxxix. 5); but "power belongeth unto God." Ps. lxii. 11. Tribulation discovers to us our weakness. But if we learn the full lesson, then the trouble that reveals our helplessness, at the same time reveals the infinite power of God, who is "a very present help in trouble." Christ does not fail, nor become discouraged. He bears the burden of the whole world, with all its sin and misery; yet He declares that His "burden is light." Matt. xi. 30. In all His conflict with Satan, He had perfect peace; in all the weight of affliction that was laid on Him, the joy of the Lord was His strength. The victory was His continually, and if we believe it we can say, "Thanks be unto God, which causeth us to triumph in Christ." 2 Cor. ii. 14. Is it not clear that tribulation, which simply reveals more perfectly the presence of the mighty Comforter, who Himself is afflicted in all our afflictions, and who bears all our burdens, is itself a joy?

But there is another cause for glorying in tribulation. It is given by the Apostle Paul, who was certainly well qualified to speak, in 2 Cor. i. 3-5: "Blessed [be] God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ."

Notice that God comforts in all our tribulation. This He does by His presence, which gives rest (Ex. xxxiii. 14), and He has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Heb. xiii. 5. No trouble frightens Him from us. If we are only willing for His presence to abide with us, there is no trouble in which we may not "rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory."

THE ABILITY TO COMFORT OTHERS

But "none of us liveth to himself," and God does not bestow gifts upon us merely for our selfish gratification. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ consists in giving. The Spirit is the "living water," but living water is flowing water; so that if we would enjoy the living water we must keep it flowing to others. The Lord blessed Abraham, in order that he might be a blessing. So He comforts us in all our tribulation, in order "that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."

The world is full of trouble. It is not possible that a man should be in the world, and not have some trouble. It would not be possible to enumerate all the various kinds of trouble, for their name is legion. We see its poor victims on every side, and the heart that is not moved to pity at the sight is indeed calloused. But pity is not always comfort. We may pity where we are powerless to help. Now God wishes us to help people who are in trouble, for that is the only way we can be workers together with Him; and in order that we may be able to comfort people who are in any sort of trouble, He lets us have all sorts of trouble. This trouble reveals His comfort, which we can pass on to other afflicted souls. It follows therefore, that the more trouble we have, provided of course that we trust the Lord, the better workers we shall be.

If we fret and murmur under tribulation, and refuse to bear it, then we are refusing the means that would make us helpful. Then as we go along we see some poor fellow who has fallen into the miry pit, and we wish we could help him. "O, if I only had a lever or pulley by which to lift this man out of the pit!" And then the Lord may say to us, "Well, I offered it to you some time ago, but you refused to take it, saying that you couldn't be bothered with it. Your neighbour, who was willing to bear the burden, can now render the comfort that you are powerless to give."

TRIBULATION A TALENT

This was well understood by Dr. Moon, whose blindness made it necessary for him to invent a means by which he could read, the result being the system that is now generally in use among the blind. He said: "God gave me blindness as a talent to be used for His glory. Without blindness I should never have been able to see the needs of the blind." Was not that a beautiful way of considering an affliction? He who has that spirit, will never be found wondering how it can be true that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings, for he will see his afflictions as blessings.

We do not need to make trouble for ourselves for there is enough already; neither do we need to seek for it, for it will come unasked; but who that knows "the comfort of the Holy Ghost," and the blessing that comes from ministering comfort to despondent souls, would seek to be exempt from it? What a glorious privilege God bestows upon us, that of associating us with Himself in comforting those who are oppressed by the devil. He saves the lost, and makes them saviours of others; and He takes the very means which Satan uses for our destruction, and by His Divine power makes it a means of salvation.

"THE JOY OF THE LORD"

"The joy of the Lord" is in seeing souls saved for whom He has suffered. See Isa. liii. 10, 11; Luke xv. 10. All therefore who would enter into the joy of the Lord must share His sufferings. If we did not suffer with Him, we could not appreciate, much less share, His joy, even if we were admitted to heaven. For us there would be no joy in heaven. For us there would be no joy in heaven. Do not imagine that the joy of the redeemed in heaven is simply joy over being delivered from suffering. If it were, then absence of tribulation here would bring the joy. No; it is joy that comes as the direct result of tribulation. It is through much tribulation that we enter

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into the kingdom of heaven. The tribulation introduces us to the comfort of the Lord, which is so vast that it takes all eternity to fathom it. Then "thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."

"The Sign of the Cross" The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

The Apostle Paul wrote: "Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Gal. vi. 14.

Again he wrote: "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are; that no flesh should glory in his presence. 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. 27-31.

Still again we have the words of the Lord by the prophet Jeremiah: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord." Jer. ix. 23, 24.

Putting together these different texts, all given by the same Spirit of truth, what do we find?-Just this: That the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ reveals God and His righteousness and lovingkindness to us. We are not to glory in anything but the Lord: yet we are to glory only in the cross; then of course the cross is inseparably connected with the Lord. We are to glory only in the knowledge of God and His lovingkindness and righteousness; but we are to glory in the cross alone; therefore it is the cross, and the cross only, that enables us to know God.

But "that which may be known of God is manifest" even unto the ignorant heathen; "for God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made,-even His everlasting power and divinity." Rom. i. 19, 20. Therefore since all that may be known of God is seen in the things that He has made, and, as we have just learned, it is the cross that gives us all our knowledge of Him, it follows that the cross is found in all creation, in every created thing.

How so?-Thus: God's everlasting power is seen in the things that He has made; and the cross is the revelation of the power of God unto salvation. 1 Cor. i. 18. The power that it took to create the world, and all things that are in it,-is the power that saves those who trust in it. This is the power of the cross.

Moreover, Christ is revealed to us as the One who bears the sins of the world. The curse is upon Him; but the cross is the embodiment of the curse. It is in the cross, that He bears the curse. "Christ and Him crucified" is the one thing worth knowing. But the curse is everywhere. Everywhere we turn our eyes we see death, and yet life in spite of it. Wonderful! Death kills, yet it comes upon men and all creation, and life continues nevertheless! Why?-Because of the presence of the Crucified One, who alone can receive all the poison of death, and yet live.

So the power of the cross, by which along salvation comes, is the power that creates, and that continues to work in all creation. The cross unites us to Christ, since it crucifies us unto the world. We are united to Him by death. Rom. vi. 3. But "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;" or, "there is a new creation." 2 Cor. v. 17. "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them." Eph. ii. 10. It is in the cross that this new creation is wrought, for its power is the power by which "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

"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: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion." Ps. cxi. 2-4.

Here we see that the wonderful works of God reveal His righteousness, and His grace and compassion as well. This is another evidence that His works reveal the cross of Christ, in which infinite love and mercy are centred.

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But "He hath made His wonderful works to be remembers:" or, "He hath made a memorial for His wonderful works." Why does He wish men to remember and declare His mighty acts?-In order that they may not forget, but may trust in, His salvation. He would have men continually meditate on His works, that they may know the power of the cross. It is in the works of His hands that we triumph. Ps. xcii. 4. So when God had made the heavens and earth, and all their host, in six days, "He rested on the seventh day, from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." Gen. ii. 2, 3.

The cross conveys to us the knowledge of God, because it shows us His power as Creator. Through the cross we are crucified unto the world, and the world unto us; that is, by the cross we are sanctified. But sanctification is the work of God, not of man. Only His Divine power can accomplish the great work. In the beginning God sanctified the Sabbath, as the crown of His creative work-the evidence that His work was finished, the seal of perfection, and therefore He says: "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." Eze. xx. 12.

So we see that the Sabbath-the seventh day-is the true sign of the cross. It is the memorial of creation, and redemption is creation,-creation through the cross. In the cross we find the complete and perfect works of God, and are clothed with them. Crucified with Christ means the utter giving up of self, acknowledging that we are nothing, and trusting absolutely in Christ. In Him we rest; in Him we find the Sabbath. The resting upon the seventh day of the week is but the sign of the fact that in the perfect work of God, as seen in creation,-in the cross,-we find rest from sin.

"But it is difficult to keep the Sabbath; my business will suffer;" "I couldn't make a living and keep the Sabbath:" "it is so unpopular." Oh, yes; nobody ever said that it was a specially pleasing thing to be crucified. Read the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. Christ was not very popular, and least so of all when He was crucified. The cross means death; but it means also the entrance of life. There is healing in Christ's wounds, blessing in the curse that He bore, life in the death that He suffered. Who dare say that he trusts Christ for everlasting life, if he dare not trust Him for a few years or months or days of life in this world? Accept the Sabbath of the Lord, and you will find that it means the cross to a degree that you never before dreamed of, and therefore "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

Now say once more, and say it from the heart: "Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world." If you can say that in truth, you will find tribulations and afflictions so easy that you can glory in them.

"Hallelujah, what a Saviour!"

"Sunday Keeping in China" The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

In the Quiver for May, the Rev. F. R. Graves contributes a very interesting article on the difficulties which confront Chinese converts. He speaks especially of the hardships involved in keeping Sunday, which the native Christians do on the instruction of the missionaries, China being a country without any recognised rest day. We quote at length from the article.

"The foreigner in China has brought his Sunday with him; the heathen has never known what Sunday is; and the native Christians are in a different position from either. They have entered the Christian church, and among the other religions and moral obligations that they have assumed, comes the duty to keep Sunday.

"To us it seems an easy matter for people to keep Sunday-it is merely a matter of will, of habit. The law of the land and public opinion are helps, not hindrances. To the Chinese Christian there are difficulties innumerable on every side. Public opinion is against him. His heathen neighbours can be trusted to make his going to church as unpleasant as possible for him, and there is the further question of labour, which is a most complicated one.

"The question of keeping Sunday is a serious one to the Chinese Christian. The man may have a business of his own. If he shuts is shop on Sunday while his competitors keep theirs open, he will lose his business. He may be in the employ of a heathen. The man will most probably refuse to let him have the day to himself. To decide what is the duty of the convert in such cases is not always easy. We have to go back to the times of the apostles to find parallels, to see human law and custom on the opposing side. It makes us realise the struggles of the early Christians to see these same difficulties repeat themselves.

"In such a country as Africa, the Sunday question is not so pressing. The converts have to be educated to keep the day and to appreciate its spiritual value and significance; but the Christian convert does not come into conflict with an elaborate system of law and social order, nor in the question of Sunday labour are the converts required to make such sacrifices. If a man lives by hunting or fishing, or by the produce of a small plantation of maize or bananas, it is not so difficult for him to give up the day to rest and religion.

"Far different is the situation of the Chinese convert in endeavouring to keep Sunday sacred in a country where all labour and mercantile enterprise are organised on the smallest margin of profit, and where he may have to face the question of no work and no wages as the reward of his effort.

"Many times when I have been appealing at home for help for missions and have been sitting in a church where the worshippers were all of the rich, where everything had been done that was possible to make worship ?sthetic and to minister to the physical comfort of the people in the pews, there has come over me a sense of how much unreality there is in fashionable religion, of how little most of the people before me know of the toils by which the church is planted, and the care by which it is maintained. What could they know of the struggle against a hostile world, the fight to establish the elementary truths of Christianity in a heathen land? Very imperfect Christians, no doubt, could be found in those Chinese congregations, but the religion at least is practical and real to them, and they know something of the cost by which it is won. At such times while the eye was filled with the glory of the painted widows, and the ear filled with the sweetest strains of the white-robed singers, my heart has traveled far across the ocean and I have wished that I might exchange it all for the simplicity, the reality, of my Sundays in China."

Many of our readers whose eyes have been opened to the unchanged obligations of the Fourth Commandment, and who have found themselves thereby brought into conflict with "an elaborate system of law and social order," will read with interest of the experience of the Chinese converts. Although these are taught to observe a day which is nowhere required in the Scriptures to be kept holy, their faithfulness in walking up to the light they have proves the quality of their Christianity. It is to be hoped that these faithful souls will ere long know the Sabbath of the Lord, and, entering into His rest, find it as much more blessed as its authority and character are higher, than the first day of the week.

To any who are dissatisfied with the unreality of fashionable religion, and who long to know the actual experience of genuine faith, such as Mr. Graves refers to

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among the Chinese, we would say that this is not denied to those who live in a civilised and so-called Christian land. The man who takes God at His word and renders Him a hearty obedience, honouring the Sabbath which He has sanctified and blessed, will find ample opportunity to learn what it is to walk by faith and stand as a witness for truth against the long array of tradition, worldly interests, business policy, popular religion, and alienated friends. Nor is such an one to be pitied. The observance of the day which recalls the power of the Creator has never yet been associated with any lack of ability on His part to keep those who put their trust in Him. Against all the power of the enemy they are more than conquerors through Him who hath loved them, and it needs no "glory of painted glass or white-robed singers" to beautify and strengthen the promise to those "that keep My Sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me," that "Even unto them will I give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and daughters." Isa. lvi. 4, 5.

"Rest in the Lord" The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

A committee consisting of influential members of the synagogues of Berlin has organised a systematic agitation in favour of the observance of Sunday, not instead of Saturday, but rather in addition to the seventh day as the Sabbath. It has published an appeal that attracts a good deal of attention. In this address it describes the empty synagogues on the Sabbath Day, and then continues:

In the great majority of cases dire necessity compels our people to work on the Sabbath. A walk through the streets of our city, a glance into the empty synagogues and the open business houses, factories, offices and schools, must convince everybody that our day of rest has been transformed into a day of labour. It is accordingly not surprising that our children grow up without knowledge of Judaism and without learning to love it. It is not our purpose to undermine or shake the Sabbath, which is holy, and a foundation stone of Judaism, but we want to make provision for those who are not able to attend the synagogues on Saturday.

One cannot help wishing most earnestly that those Jews knew the Sabbath "as the truth is in Jesus." Then they would find that no necessity ever compels a person to labour on the Sabbath; for the Sabbath makes known the power of God that created and upholds the universe,-that everlasting power that saves, and which is the actual, personal possession of every believer. The Sabbath means rest in Christ, rest and eternal salvation from sin; and whoever trusts the Lord to keep him in life through eternity, will have no fear but that He is fully able to keep him alive in this present time. Those who rest in the Lord find it no burden, but a delight, to rest on His Sabbath.

"Self-Complacency" The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

It is related that several years ago a large sum of money was sent out to China from England in relief of an appalling famine. But Dr. Wenyon, of the Wesleyan mission, reported in a recent speech that he had discovered in Shantung a commemorative column, erected by the Government's authority, on which this British contribution was calmly set down as "tribute money."

We may smile at this Chinese conceit, but we must remember that it is only a touch of that human nature which shows them to be our kindred. It is identical with the patriotism which among the people of every nation consists in believing and in reiterating that their country is the biggest and best on earth. Whoever reads the papers in these days will see that the Chinese have by no means a monopoly of boasting.

A Bond-street firm lately bought a gold snuff-box at a sale, for which they paid ?3,500. As they expect to sell this bauble at a profit, it can easily be seen that in spite of the hard times there are still people in the world who have more money than they know what to do with.

"Hints to Smokers" The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

The following "hints to smokers," by a German physician, are quoted in Public Opinion from a translation in the Pharmaceutical Era, New York. The hints, the doctor says,-

"are founded upon his professional observations for many years of the mouth, teeth, stomach, lungs, heart, and skin of the devotees of tobacco. The first and foremost rule is never to smoke before breakfast, nor, as a rule, when the stomach is empty. Never smoke during any exertion of great physical energy, as dancing, running, cycling, mountain climbing, or rowing, and especially if in a contest. Never follow 'the bad custom of the French and Russians' by allowing the smoke to pass through the nose; never inhale it through the nose. Keep the smoke as far as possible from the eyes and nose; the longer the pipe the better; the use of a short pipe during work is to be avoided. Always throw away your cigar as soon as you have smoked four-fifths of it. The smoker should rinse his mouth with a glass of water in which a teaspoonful of table salt has been dissolved. It should be used as a gargle at night, and care should be taken that every cavity in the teeth is well washed with it."

If tobacco were as much of a friend and a necessity as some would have us believe, it is strange that such extreme caution should be needed to keep it as far away as possible. It would be better to sum the whole matter up in one hint, and say, "Don't let the vile stuff get near you." Here is a rule that we can recommend from experience as a sure cure and preventive of all evils from tobacco smoking: Never smoke within forty-eight hours of meal time or bed time.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

-Of 51,000 breweries in the world 25,000 are in Germany.

-Russia is increasing in population faster than any other country in the world.

-France uses annually about 4,000,000 tons of potatoes in making starch and alcohol.

-The Houses of Parliament cover nine acres, and contain twelve hundred apartments.

-Russia has ordered ten torpedo-boats from Cramp's, besides a battleship and a cruiser.

-Mr. Joseph Leiter's corner in May wheat has, says the Central News, now closed with a profit of 5,000,000 dollars.

-Two American expeditions are about to set out for the North Pole with the object of finding Andree if possible.

-Wei-hai-wei has now been formally handed over the English. The Chinese flag still flies by the side of the British.

-A lighthouse of bamboo has just been built in Japan. It is said to have greater power of resisting the waves than any other kind of wood, and does not rot like ordinary wood.

-The banana is the most prolific of fruits. The produce of an acre planted with bananas will support twenty-five times as many people as the produce of an acre planted with wheat.

-Burlar-proof glass has been invented by a smart manufacturer. It is made by pouring molten glass over a network of steel wire. It is especially adapted for skylights and jewellers' windows.

-An amateur botanist in Russia has succeeded in cultivating roses of a pure black colour. His persistent experiments lasted more than ten years, and he intends shortly to exhibit his new black roses in London.

-The new U.S. Minister to Pekin is charged to negotiate with the Chinese Government for the acquisition of an important seaport on the Chinese coast, as such a place would be invaluable to the American fleet as a coaling station.

-The death is announced in Paris of the Bishop of Angers, who, it is said, had become so heart-broken at the quarrels and dissensions arising out of the administration of his bishopric that he voluntarily starved himself to death.

-The Russians are forcing the first-class merchants to take out licenses at Tallenqau amounting to ?200 annually for each merchant and trader, thus nullifying all the undertakings which have been given as to the place being an open port.

-The blockade of Havana by the United States Navy is slowly but surely finishing the extermination that Weyler started. All the food in Havana or other cities will be utilised for the soldiers, and the reconcentrados must perish, together with the poorer class families.

-Messrs. Bryant and May, the well-known match manufacturers, were charged at the Police Court on Wednesday with not reporting cases of phosphorus poisoning among their employees. It was discovered that seventeen cases had occurred. The full penalty was inflicted.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

"The just shall live by faith."

The Bible abounds in exhortations about living, but not about dying. Life, not death, is the theme of the Gospel. Christ "hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." Then let your planning be about life, and not about death.

With some religious people the talk is all about death. We read about "a happy death;" but a happy life is much more to be desired. He who lives right as long as he lives need not trouble himself about death.

Often we hear this expression with reference to some belief or practice, "That will do very well to live by, but it will not do to die by." A wicked fallacy! Whatever is good enough to live by, is good for everything; and nothing is good enough to live by unless it is perfect.

We are here in this world, not to prepare for death, but to prepare for life. True, we are told, "Prepare to meet thy God," but we meet Him alive, not dead. He who has the living Word, is "passed from death to life." Then banish from your songs and talk all those expressions that tend to make one careless of life, by intimating that death is the all-important thing. God has called us to life, not to death. Then rejoice in life that gains the victory over and destroys death.

The British Medical Journal says that the proprietor of a patent medicine recently brought suit against a newspaper for damages alleged to have been caused by a slight error in the punctuation of an advertisement. In the advertisement there was a testimonial which read thus: "I am now completely cured, after having been at the gates of death mainly through taking half a dozen bottles of your medicine." The insertion of a comma after the word "death," would have made a different story; but we are not sure that its omission was an error, or that there is any joke in the case. Many people have been brought to the gates of death by taking medicine, and have recovered by leaving it off. It can be said of drug medicines, as the schoolboy wrote of pins, that they have saved thousands of lives. When asked how they had saved life, he replied, "By not swallowing 'em."

"Be a Christian, and you cannot help being a gentleman," said the late Samuel Plumsoll, whose unselfish labours did so much to lessen the dangers of sailors. His remark shows that he had learned the secret of life.

More than five hundred representative men of almost very shade of religious and political belief assembled at the Hotel Cecil last Friday evening, at a banquet presided over by Lord Coleridge, to express their enthusiasm for an Anglo-American alliance. The report says:-

Art, law, the Church, literature, journalism, the stage, the Army, the Navy, and the reserve forces, and the higher criticism were not wanting in strenuous advocates of the union of hearts in its new reading.

The Catholic Times reports that the Pope's appeal to the Catholics of the world for prayers for the conversion of England is being responded to in more than one foreign country. An association has been formed in Germany to this end, which already numbers twenty thousand members. The same issue announces the reception into the Roman Catholic Church of Sir Henry Hawkins, a prominent English judge. They expect that his action will "have a happy influence upon many others."

That which is ordinarily known as "the sign of the cross" is but an empty gesture; it accomplishes nothing, for it is nothing. But the true sign of the cross, as will be seen from the article on another page, is no empty form, but is a real thing. God has no meaningless forms in His service. He does not ask people to go through forms and ceremonies, but He gives them realities. Neither does He ask men to make motions and go through forms representing something else; He gives them the thing itself. The sign of the cross carries the cross with it. God has brought to us all "the true cross" of Christ. By it there is salvation. Who will accept it?

Speaking on the present-day glorification of doubt, the Rev. Alfred Rowland remarked a few days ago that an affectation of this experience was popular among those who had never thought seriously about the doctrines of Christianity. They seemed morbidly anxious to air what they were pleased to call their doubts; and eagerly assured all and sundry that they had lost their faith. It is said that one of these, an undergraduate at Balliol, relying for approval on the reputed scepticism of the Master-Professor Jowett-said to that shrewd teacher, "The fact is, Master, I do not believe there is a God." "Well, sir," was the sharp reply, "you must find one by to-morrow morning, or you will be sent down." And he did, or said he did.

Under the heading, "The Horrors of War," the Chronicle publishes the following, which needs no comment:-

At the German Surgical Congress in Wiesbaden the well-known professor of surgery, Doctor von Bruns, of Tubingen, read a paper on "Inhuman Weapons of War," which has had much attention drawn to it throughout Germany. Doctor von Bruns has made a number of experiments on dead bodies or portions of them with the bullets supplied to the British troops during the recent campaign in the North-West of India. He says that the results of the contact of these bullets with the human body are fearful, and cannot be exaggerated. Not only are the bones, but the flesh as well, torn and splintered in all directions. Even the skin at the point of contact shows long seams torn in all directions.

Of Christ it is said: "He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing 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." Isa. xl. 3, 4. What does this show?-Just this, that judgment according to what one sees and hears is not righteous and equitable judgment. "But no man in this world has any other means of judgment than his eyes and ears." Exactly, and that is why there is injustice even in the best of earthly judgment. "Every man at his best state is altogether vanity." Man is but fallible, and his best judgment is not only faulty, but is often positively foolish. Only the Spirit of God can render perfect judgment. "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." 1 Cor. iv. 5.

June 16, 1898

"'Every Word'" The Present Truth 14, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

"The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." Ps. xii. 6.

This is true not merely of a few words, but of all. "Every word of God is pure; He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him." Prov. xxx. 6.

Moreover, there is enough in the words of God for every necessary purpose. They are sufficient to make a man "perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. iii. 17. Not only is nothing more needed, but whatever is added to God's words is a lie. Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." Prov. xxx. 7.

There is no trace of error or likeness to untruth in the words of the Lord. He is the truth; therefore His words are truth, for they are His life. "Thy word is true from the beginning; and every one of Thy righteous judgments endureth for ever." Ps. cxix. 160.

Unto us the Lord says: "Let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." Matt. v. 37. Also, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God." 1 Peter iv. 11. That is, the Lord wishes men to speak just as He does, but He will not have them equivocate. They must not say one thing, and mean another. This is because there is nothing of that kind in the words of God. He is not double-minded nor double-tongued.

God is infinite; "there is no searching of His understanding." Isa. xl. 28. Therefore His word is of infinite depth. Eternity will not be long enough to enable the keenest intellect or the most diligent student to exhaust the meaning of any one of the words of the Lord. Thus it is that we can always return to the same word, and find something fresh and new. It is a sun shining with never-fading light; a fountain whose waters never fail. Therefore the one who comes into close acquaintance with the Word of God never tires of it any more than he tires of the light of the sun, the fresh beauty of nature, or the sparkling flow of the mountain stream.

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By these facts we may understand what some people call the "double meaning" of the Scriptures. There is in reality no such thing. God does not require us to be better than He is; but He will not have our speech Yea and Nay; that is, He, will not have us speak with a double meaning; therefore we may be sure that He will not speak that way. What sometimes appears to be a double meaning in the words of the Lord, is simply a deeper view into the same meaning that first appeared. We assumed that we had fathomed the full meaning of the Word; in our self-conceit we did not dream that the Lord could think greater thoughts than we could, and so we assumed that our grasp of the passage was all there was to it, at least in that direction; and then when we chanced to see something more in it, we thought that it must be still another meaning. But it was not so. We were simply by His grace looking a little deeper into the fountain; and He would have us understand that what we had thought was the bottom, was only the limit of our previous eyesight; now the Spirit has opened our eyes to see a little further into "the deep things of God."

The knowledge and remembrance of these truths concerning the Word will save us from two errors in studying the Bible. In the first place, we shall never assume that we know all that may be known even of any single portion of it. No matter how well acquainted we may he with any part of the Bible, we shall know that there is always much more in it for us to learn. In the second place, we shall on the other hand not fall into the error that we cannot absolutely depend on what any text says, unless we know every test that has any bearing on the same subject. One error is as bad as the other for either one keeps us from coming to the knowledge of the truth.

It is very evident that we can never learn what the Lord would have us learn from His Word, if we assume that we know it all now. But it is just as evident that we shall never believe anything with certainty, if we labour under the fear that we may possibly come across another text which will overthrow or change the meaning of the one that we have before us.

Not long ago we read a portion of a conversation on the Bible, in which one of the speakers, a lady, said, "We cannot take one verse of the Scripture and say this is the way, the truth, and the life, but must compare scripture with scripture." This is a very common opinion even among those who mean to reverence the Word of God. They do not realise that they are virtually saying that none of God's words are absolutely true in themselves, but that we must collate them all, and strike an average, in order to get at the real truth. That is a terrible charge to bring against the Lord. "Every word of God is pure."

We are to live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Every word is truth and life. Any word of the Lord is sufficient to give life to the one who receives it as the Word of the Lord. If a man knew only one verse of the Bible, and believed it, he would be saved by it. This does not disparage any other word, for every other word has the same power, and although any one word is sufficient for salvation, it is much better to have more than one, yea, to have them all. A tallow candle gives light, which is just as real light, and of the same kind, as that which the sun gives; and while the candle will suffice to light us through a dark passage, we should rejoice much more in the sunshine.

Some time ago a friend of the writer referred to Luther's controversy over the Lord's Supper, as an instance of the error of supposing that any one text expressed absolute truth in itself. It is well known that Luther kept repeating the words, "This is My body," and would not be moved from them. Yet he was wholly wrong in his position concerning the bread of the Lord's Supper. And why?-Was it because he stood so firmly for the exact and literal meaning of the Word of the Lord? No; not by any means; it was because he did not take the words of the Lord absolutely. If he had taken the words which he so often repeated, just as they were spoken by the Lord, he would have had no trouble, but would have been led into a greater truth than anybody thought of at that time.

Jesus said, as He took the bread, "This is My body." He did not say that it would become His body after something had been done to it, or some words had been repeated over it, but that it was His body, just as He took it up. Luther did not believe that, nor do many to-day. What Luther meant, when he repeated the words of Christ, was that the bread became the body of Christ, after the priest had transformed it. But that, you can see, was not at all what the Lord said. That was not holding to the text, but was widely departing from it.

What the Lord said, and what He would have us understand everyday of our lives, is that the bread from which we get our life day by day, conveys to us His own life, by which alone we live. There is no life but His. He is the life. He is the body, the substance, the reality, of everything that is of any value. He is the true and living Bread. If it were not for His life in the bread that we eat, it would not be food, and we could get no life from it. He would have us take His word; as absolute literal truth; and if we do that, we shall find that there is life in them.

Jeremiah knew this truth, when he said, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." Jer. xv. 16. It was by giving the children of Israel bread in the desert, that God sought to impress on them the fact that man lives only by every word that proceeds out of His mouth. See Deut. viii. 3. Let us learn this lesson, and "as new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word," in order that we may be filled with righteousness.

"The Power of an Endless Life" The Present Truth 14, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

We are told in the Scriptures that Jesus Christ is made priest, "not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." Heb. vii. 16. Have you ever thought what this means to us poor, weak mortals, fainting under a load of sin that crushes us to earth, and vainly trying to stand upright before temptation that sways us to and fro like the reed before the tempest? Perhaps you have thought that it was written to help fill out a theological system; but it was not. It was written in order to help us in our everyday life. Let us come closer to it, and get such a hold of it that we may ever have the blessing of it.

In the first place, why is Christ priest? The answer is, "To make reconciliation for the sins of the people." In order that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people, "in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren." "For in that He Himself hath suffered

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being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted." Heb. ii. 17, 18. Christ's work as priest, then, is solely that of helping people that are tempted. He was made like us, therefore He can sympathise with us. "For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. iv. 15, 16.

So much for Christ's understanding of our case, His close, personal sympathy with us, even at our very worst, and His continual willingness and intense desire to help us. But what of His power to succour us? What is His ability to deliver us from the evil, and to make us "ready to every good work?" What power does He as priest bring to our aid?-He brings "the power of an endless life." Literally, the power of an indissoluble life, a life that can never be weakened or in any way diminished, and which death itself cannot affect.

The power of an endless life is the power of eternity. We have here not merely duration, but concentration, intensity. Christ as God inhabits eternity. His name is "I AM." That is to say, eternity is present with Him every instant. We look at the things which He has made, where that which may be known of Him is manifest, and though our gaze be but for a moment, we see His "eternal power." The whole strength of a life that is eternal is available at any and every instant.

Do you get the force of this? Let us see if we cannot bring it more within the range of our comprehension. Every one of us can exert more or less physical strength. To make the case very simple, we will put the amount exceedingly low, and say that our average strength is one hundred pounds. We can lift a weight of one hundred pounds, or can resist that force. That is what we can do at any time. We can do it this minute, and we can do the same thing the next minute, and can repeat the act at any minute of our lives. Now that is not very much at any one minute; but suppose that we could concentrate all the minutes into one, and could in any one minute lift a weight or resist a force equal to the sum of all that we could do in all the minutes of our life. Do you not see that our strength would be almost inconceivable, even with our comparatively short lives? Taking the limit of life as threescore and ten, the strength of a man, even at our low estimate, would be more than three thousand million pounds. This he could put forth at any and every instant of his life, from childhood until old age. What could not such a man do?

But that is only a feeble representation of the actual strength which Christ as High Priest in our flesh is able to exert in our behalf. He has Himself suffered and withstood the strongest assaults that can possibly be brought to bear against human beings. He ever lives to make intercession for us, that is, to put Himself in between us and the enemy. And the power which He brings to bear at any and every instant is "the power of an endless life." Whatever power we can conceive of His having at any moment, we may multiply by all the moments of eternity, and may know that all of it is at our service every moment of our conflict with the devil. Lifting mountains is a light affair with such strength. "He taketh up the isles as a very little thing."

Is there not inspiration and strength in the very thought? Is this not encouragement for us to "fight the good fight of faith," and to "lay hold on eternal life?" Ah, who can tell the power there is in that life? In comparison with it, all the power of the devil and all his hosts is but nothing, for they shall all perish. With this strength given unto us, we may confidently resist the devil, knowing that he will flee from us. By faith this life is ours. Therefore "trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."

"Three Sabbaths" The Present Truth 14, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

THE LORD'S SABBATHóTHE JEWISH SABBATHóTHE POPE'S SABBATH

One can in truth speak of sabbaths in the plural only as one can speak of many gods. "There is no god but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth; as there are gods many and lords many; yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we through Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through Him." 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6. So, though there be various sabbaths, so-called, there is but one true Sabbath, the Sabbath of the Lord.

THE LORD'S SABBATH

The word Sabbath means http://nc.st rest. It is a Hebrew word transferred into the English language. When the Hebrews used the word "Sabbath," it conveyed the same idea to them that the word "rest" does to us. The fourth commandment therefore really says to us: "Remember the rest day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the rest of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the rest day, and hallowed it."

We must not make the mistake of judging of the Lord's rest from what men are accustomed to call rest. God is not a man. We should rather learn from God's rest what rest really is. God's rest is not mere physical rest from weariness. This we know from two facts. First, "God is Spirit." John iv. 24. Not "a spirit," as though He were one of many; but He is Spirit, as it is rendered in the margin of the Revision. Second, "The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary." Isa. xl. 33. The Lord therefore did not rest because He was tired, and His rest is not physical, but spiritual, since He is Spirit. "They that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth."

God rested, not because He was weary, but because His work was finished. When work is finished, and is well done, nothing but rest remains. In six days God finished His work, and as He surveyed it, He pronounced it "very good." There was no flaw in it. It was without fault before Him. Therefore since God's work was done and well done at the close of the sixth day, "He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made."

He had no sad reflections, no regrets. His rest was not marred, as what man calls rest so often is, by any such thought as, "To-morrow I must go at that work again;" nor, "I wish that I had done this portion a little differently;" nor, "If I could do that over again, I could make an improvement;" nor, "That last day's work is so bad that I cannot bear to look at it; I was so tired when I got to it that I couldn't half do it." Nothing of the kind. Every portion of the work, even man, was as perfect as it was possible for it to be, and God took pure delight in contemplating the work from which He was resting because it was complete and perfect.

This is the rest which He offers to us. It is not something that He imposes on us, but which He in everlasting love and kindness gives to us. Rest is not a task that is laid on one. It is not a burden. They who look upon the Sabbath as a burden, have no idea of what the Sabbath of the Lord is. It is rest, perfect, unalloyed rest.

Jesus Christ is the One by whom the worlds were made, "for in Him were all things created, in the heavens, and upon the earth," therefore He is the one who offers us this rest. To every soul He cries, "Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. xi. 38. The rest is found in Him, because in Him the works of God are completed. In Him is the new creation, and

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if any man be in Him, he is a new creature. On the cross Jesus cried, "It is finished," thus showing that in His cross we find that perfect rest that comes alone from the finished work of the Lord.

This rest is gained by faith. "We which believe do enter into rest." How so?-Because by faith we have the finished, perfect work of the Lord as our own. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 29. Believing Him means receiving Him; and since in Him the works of God are complete, it follows that by believing on Him we find the rest. The rest that Jesus gives is rest from sin. The heavy laden whom He calls to Him are those who are burdened with the weight of their sins. All men are thus burdened, "for all have sinned." Our best works are utterly worthless. Christ will have a people who are "zealous of good works" (Titus ii. 14, 15), but the good works must be those which God Himself has wrought for us in Christ. Only His work is enduring. "His work is honourable and glorious; and His righteousness endureth for ever." Ps. cxi. 3. Therefore, "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. It is "not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour." Titus iii. 5, 6.

It is by the works of God, therefore, that we are saved, and not by our own. Good works there are in abundance, and they are for us too, but through no work of our own; solely through the perfect work of God in Jesus Christ. If the works were our own, then the rest would be our own; but God gives us His rest, not ours, because only His works can yield perfect rest. "He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered" (Ps. cxi. 4), or, literally, "He hath made a memorial for His wondrous works." That memorial is the seventh day, the day on which He rested from all His works. That day He has blessed and sanctified, made holy. Its holiness has never departed from it, for "whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever." No matter what man does, nor how man regards the day, its holiness remains.

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God;" and the seventh day, which God for ever declares to be His rest, is that by which He makes known to us the perfection of His rest, because it calls us to contemplate a finished and perfect new creation. It reveals to us the everlasting God, the unwearied, almighty Creator, who has wrought and laid up great goodness for them that trust in Him before the sons of men. Ps. xxxi. 19. It reminds us that we are "complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power." It tells us that, although we have sinned, and brought the curse upon God's perfect creation, the cross of Christ, which bears the curse, restores and perpetuates the perfect work of God, so that through it we may stand without fault before the throne of God, just as when man was first made. "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."

THE JEWISH SABBATH

There is such a thing as "the Jewish Sabbath," or the Sabbath of the Jews, but it is a far different thing from the Sabbath of the Lord. Many people imagine that if one observes the seventh day he is keeping the Jewish Sabbath; but that does not at all follow. No one keeps the Jewish Sabbath if he keeps the Sabbath "according to the commandment." There is the same difference between the Jewish Sabbath and the Sabbath of the Lord, that there is between a man and God. Let us explain.

"The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord;" but we have seen that the Lord's rest is spiritual rest, which the seventh day commemorates. A man may cease from physical toil on the seventh day of the week, and not keep the Sabbath of the Lord. If a man stops work on Friday evening at sunset, and abstains from all labour until the next day at sunset, merely as a form of worship, and in order that he may be physically better able to go at his work again, or with the thought that he is thereby discharging a duty, and gaining the favour of God, that is not keeping the Sabbath of the Lord. To keep the Sabbath of the Lord is to delight in the Lord. Those who do not delight themselves in the Lord, do not keep His Sabbath, no matter when they abstain from labour.

It is absolutely impossible for one who is not a Christian to keep the Lord's Sabbath; for, as we have seen, God's rest comes only from His perfect work, which is found only in Christ. "We which believe do enter into rest." Therefore no Jew, so-called, as distinguished from a believer in Christ, keeps the Sabbath of the Lord, even though he apparently rests on the seventh day of the week. His rest is his own rest, and not the rest of the Lord, do you see the difference? The Jewish Sabbath falls on the same day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord, but it is not by any means the same thing. It represents only the man himself, and his own work. Instead of being the sign of justification by faith in the work of the Lord, it is the sign of self-righteousness, as indicated by the question which the Jews asked of Jesus: "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" They counted their own works equal to God's works. Their obedience was not the obedience of faith, but only of form. From such a Sabbath may the Lord deliver us. It is from it that we are delivered in the Sabbath of the Lord, for we are saved from our own works, and given the perfect works of the Lord. "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord," but let us beware of making it a mere caricature of rest. Let us take it for what it is: the rest of the Lord.

THE POPE'S SABBATH

This is something entirely different from the Sabbath of the Jews, and infinitely different from the Sabbath of the Lord. The Sabbath of the Lord is the acceptance of God's own works, and rest in them alone, allowing Him to work both to will and to do of His good pleasure; the Jewish Sabbath represents the vain attempt of zealous and self-confident men to do the works which God Himself does, and which God alone can do; but the Pope's sabbath signifies the substitution of man's work for God's work, as being not only as good, but even better. It dispenses with even the form of the commandment of the Lord. Let us see how this is.

The Lord's Sabbath has been sufficiently dwelt on for the present. We know what it is. We have seen that the Jews' sabbath is the observing of the form of the Lord's Sabbath, without the substance which can come only by faith. It falls on the same day, but is man's Sabbath, not the Lord's. The Pope's Sabbath has nothing in common with the Sabbath of the Lord, not even in form, but utterly repudiates it. Thus, a

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papist book, entitled, "A Sure Way to Find Out the True Religion," says:-

"The keeping holy the Sunday is a thing absolutely necessary to salvation; and yet this is nowhere put down in the Bible; on the contrary, the Bible, says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy (Ex. xx. 8), which is Saturday, and not Sunday; therefore the Bible does not contain all things necessary to salvation."

This is only one out of many similar citations that might be given, but is sufficient to show that in the observance of Sunday the Catholic Church deliberately repudiates the Word of the Lord, and sets itself above it. It has placed its sabbath on an entirely different day from the Sabbath of the Lord,-a day which even God Himself could not possibly have made His Sabbath, since on it He began His work, in order to emphasise its claim to be above God. It would teach men that they are to obey the church rather than God.

Notice that the citation speaks about the necessity of "keeping holy the Sunday." But God has not made the Sunday holy. In fact, the Bible knows nothing about such a day. It does know the first day of the week, which it calls a working day, but the Sunday, a day composed of parts of two days, was made in Rome. The only day that God has ever spoken of as holy is the seventh day of the week. That day He Himself has made holy, and all He asks of us is to keep it holy. But since God has not made the Sunday holy, it follows that if man is to keep it holy, man himself must make it holy. All the sacredness in the world that Sunday has is that which man gives to it. The Sunday-sabbath, therefore, stands as the sign of man's pretended power to make things holy. For it man can make one thing holy, it is evident that he can make anything holy. If man can make and keep a day holy, then he can make and keep himself holy. The Pope's Sabbath is thus the sign of his claim to take the place of the Lord as the sanctifier of sinners.

While the seventh day is the sign of God's power to save by His own works, the Sunday is the sign of man's assumed power to save himself by his own works, entirely apart from, and in spite of the Lord. It repudiates the Lord, in repudiating His Word. Take notice that this is said of the Pope's Sunday, and not of all those who regard it as a holy day. There are thousands who are keeping the Pope's day, honestly supposing it to be the Sabbath of the Lord. Such of course believe in justification by faith, although they unwittingly observe the sign of justification by works. It is for the benefit of such that this article is written, that they may be wholly consistent in their profession of faith. We are dealing with facts, regardless of how men may stand related to them; and the facts are that the Lord's Sabbath is justification by faith; the Pope's Sabbath means justification by works, and that man's own works. On which side will you stand?

"Modern Superstition" The Present Truth 14, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

Italy is in sad need of the Gospel. Her people, in common with all others, realise the need of a Saviour, and it is pitiful to read of the profitless superstitions with which the Church of Rome pretends to satisfy their aspirations.

A special correspondent to the Catholic Times writes a lengthy article on the recent exposition of the "Holy Winding Sheet" at Turin. He says:-

Innumerable pilgrimages were being organised in Italy and Southern France, and the greatest joy and gladness reigned supreme in the hearts of the Turin people, who for the last thirty years-namely, from the year 1868 up to the present day-ardently sighed for the signal favour of being allowed to prostrate themselves before the Holy Winding-Sheet, and there acquire a new impulse of faith, of confidence, of love, end of gratitude towards Jesus Christ, who deigned to leave impressed upon that linen sheet the features of His inanimate body. On account, however, of the sanguinary conflicts of which Italy unfortunately has bean the theatre for some time past, the authorities deemed it prudent to postpone the unveiling of the Winding-Sheet until the past eight days.

Why cannot the people see the folly and deceit in this business? If the exhibition of the sheet could inspire new faith and love in beholders, surely it was most unjust to withhold it for thirty years, especially when the people "ardently sighed for the signal favour."

Further, if it could impart these desirable impulses, which would have so great a tendency to strengthen and build up the church, the leaders of the church must have been singularly blind to their own interests to withhold the sight so long. Since it is not conceivable that the priests of Rome should be indifferent where the interests of their Church are concerned, it must be that they have no faith in the efficacy of the sheet themselves.

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This is seen clearly in the fact that its exhibition was delayed several days on account of the rioting in Italy, the very time when impulses of love were most needed.

A great responsibility rests upon those who know the Lord to let the light shine, till the dark places of the earth are illuminated, "with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God." Jesus asks none to ardently sigh for His blessing for thirty years. He says, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," and to all who will receive it, be offers, not the vision of a discarded sheet, but "the power of His resurrection," the riches of the glory of the mystery, "which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

"Things Turned Upside Down" The Present Truth 14, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

The leading article in the New York Independent of May 13 is by Justin McCarthy, M.P., on "Affairs in England," the principal topic of which is the recent victory of the British and Egyptian army over the Dervishes, which he deplores, as a useless waste of life. He frankly says that he believes in war, but only when it is "necessary," and he cannot see any real profit in opening the way or going to Khartoum. The following paragraph from his article, coming as it does from a man of the world, who does not profess wholly to disbelieve in war, is very striking, and should cause the blush of shame to tinge the cheeks of many ministers of the Gospel:-

There is no voice now in England like that of Mr. Bright-no voice coming from a really great orator, who ventures to stand up for the Gospel of Peace. So far as I know, the pulpits of the English State Church have not much concerned themselves of late years about that Gospel of Peace. Now we get into a war, no one knows why a war of which all we know is, that it certainly is not a war of national defence; and when our brave soldiers win a victory, we are bidden to rejoice; and if anyone expresses the slightest doubt as to the occasion for the joy, he is at once set down by the majority of his acquaintances as a Little-Englander, or an Irish Nationalist, or some equally objectionable person. Perhaps the time may come when the memory of Prince Bismarck will be lees honoured by thoughtful and impartial men for his triumph over Austria and over France than for the noble declaration which he once gave forth, that the Eastern Question was not worth to Prussia the blood of a single Pomeranian grenadier.

Sad to say, this particular paragraph is selected by the Independent, a religious paper, for special editorial comment and rebuke. Is it so, that the church, which should be the salt of the earth, is leading even the world in the march to destruction? The loudest clamours for war seem to come from professors of Christianity, while the voices that deprecate bloodshed are in the world. What a strange reversal of the order of things!

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 24.

E. J. Waggoner

China has granted to France the following compensation for the murder of Father Berthollet: Condemnation of the guilty parties; punishment of the authorities concerned; payment of 100,000 francs; building of a memorial chapel; and an important railway concession.

It now appears that the recent massacre of Russian troops in the province of Ferghana, was caused by the inflammatory intrigues of the Mussulman priests. The Turkish victory over Greece has led to a widespread revival of the Islamic spirit, and the leader of the insurrection is known to have been in communication with high circles at Constantinople on the subject of proclaiming a Holy War.

By the War Revenue Bill, which has just passed the U. S. Senate, and which will come into effect the last of the present month, a tax of 10 cents (5d.) a pound is imposed on tea. The amount of tea imported into the United States last year was almost one hundred million pounds, on which amount the proposed tax would be about ?2,000,000. Unfortunately many people who might easily be free from this tax, will find it a heavy burden, because they will deny themselves necessities in order to provide themselves with that which is not only superfluous but injurious.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, presiding on Monday at the Diocesan Sunday-school Teachers' Festival in that city, said

He had no doubt there were inaccuracies in the Old Testament narratives, but they must notice that throughout the book there was evidenced the great desire of the writers to tell the truth as far as they knew it.

Seeing that "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," and it was "God who spake in time past by the prophets," it is a good thing that we can rely not only on the great desire of the Author of the Old Testament to tell the truth, but on His power to do so. It is a pity that the Archbishop should conceive it in his province to cast any doubt on the Word of God, especially to those who teach it to the young, but the loss is his own. "For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect. God forbid: yea let God he true, but every man a liar."

It is very significant when so important a church paper as the Church Times, utters sentiments like the following in a long article on "Church and stage." Speaking of the idea that the theatre is irretrievably bad, it says:-

We do not accept the verdict of utter condemnation, and equally refuse to believe in the impossibility of winning the stage for Christ. Rather we hold that believers in the lncarnation should claim the stage for righteousness and in the service of truth, and should lose no chance of extending the reign of our ascended Lord to the theatre and all belonging to it.

In the days of Christ the ecclesiastical leaders loved to "go in long clothing." Mark xii. 38. In these days they love not only long clothing, but long titles as well. The Greek Patriarch of Alexandria is a good instance, although not an isolated one. It is not at all likely that he has ever been heard of by one person in a million outside of his own flock, or that he, has ever distinguished himself there except by his title, yet he modestly styles himself, "By mercy of God, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria, Libya, and the whole Africa, Fathers' Father, Pastors' Pastor, Thirteenth of the Apostles, and Judge of the Universe." One would not think there was room enough in the universe for another such being, yet there are hundreds of them on this small earth.

In striking contrast with the bombastic, self-glorifying title of the "Patriarch" of Alexandria, is the account given of himself by a man who has actually done something in the world. Mr. Edison wished to join the Engineers' Club of Philadelphia, and as would-be members are required to mention work that they have done, he did so as follows:-

I have designed a concentrating plant built a machine shop, etc., etc.
THOMAS A. EDISON.

Another of those interesting fictions, which the humour of modern diplomacy describes as "leases," has been entered into between China, and England, by which an area of two hundred square miles in the neighbourhood of Hong Kong is brought within the jurisdiction of the latter Power. The pleasing illusion of a lease is kept up by the term of ninety-nine years, but the amount of the consideration is not stated. England will proceed at once with the improvement of the property, and it may safely he assumed that she has no intention of surrendering it, with the fixtures and fittings, when the lease expires.

In the current number of Harper's Magazine, Captain Mahan, the eminent authority on all naval matters, deprecates the idea that all the United States needs is a navy for defensive purposes only. He says:-

Among all masters of military art-including therein naval art-it is a thoroughly accepted principle that mere defensive war means military ruin, and therefore national disaster. It is vain to maintain a military or naval force whose power is not equal to assuming the offensive soon or late, which cannot, first or last, go out, assail the enemy, and hurt him in his vital interests. A navy for defence only, in the political sense. means a navy that will only be used in case we are forced into war; a navy for defence only, in the military sense, mean's a navy that can only await attack and defend its own, leaving the enemy at ease as regards his own interests, and at liberty to choose his own time and manner of fighting.

In the grand demonstration given the week before last in Brooklyn, N.Y., in honour of General Woodford, recent U. S. minister to Spain; Dr. Storrs said:-

It may be that it is the Divine purpose to bring us out from our long isolation on this continent, and push us forward in the march toward the world's civilisation.

Is it not passing strange that even ministers of the Gospel always connect war and civilisation? Since civilisation in itself has only one advantage over barbarism, namely, to enable men to kill more of their enemies, and to do it more artistically, would it not be well for lovers of the Lord to drop the designation "civilised" altogether, and be content to be known as Christians alone? Civilisation means war; Christianity means peace.

At the recent meeting of the American Baptist Association, Dr. George Dana Boardman, of Philadelphia, in speaking on "Bible Work," felt impelled to give expression to his feelings of sadness over the prevailing military enthusiasm. It is a most striking sign of the times, and not by any means to the credit of the professed ministers of the Gospel of Peace, who were assembled there, that while Dr. Boardman's solemn words touched every heart, they were "out of accord with the prevailing sentiment of the meeting."

June 23, 1898

"'Consider the Lilies'" The Present Truth 14, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

"Consider the lilies how they grow; they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon and all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so cloth the grass, which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O ye of little faith?" Luke xii. 27, 28.

Jesus has sent us to school to the lilies, and has appointed them our teachers in the way of life. We have not by any means exhausted the lessons that they have to give us; indeed, few of us have made more than a beginning, for although the instruction that they give is so simple that a child can understand it, yet no philosopher of the schools can compare with them in depth of wisdom.

What are we to consider about the lilies?-"How they grow." It is not how they look, but how they grow. One would naturally suppose that, since Jesus was talking of clothing, and how we are to be provided with what is necessary, He would have directed us to the looks of the lilies, to see how tastefully they are dressed; but such a supposition is evidence of our need of instruction. We are so ignorant of the first principles of the wisdom which the lilies teach.

"The Lord seeth not as a man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." It is not that the Lord despises outward beauty; far from it. "Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary;" and He has promised to "beautify the meek with salvation." He delights in beauty; but He knows that as corruption comes from within, and not from without (Mark vii. 18-23), so beauty, to be real, must come from within. He severely rebuked the scribes and Pharisees, because they made clean the outside of the cup and the platter, while within they were full of impurities, and said, "Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also." Matt. xxiii. 25, 26.

Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like a lily. How is that? Is a lily then so much more wondrously beautiful than other things? Jesus did not say so. Some lilies are more gorgeous, but others are very plain, and scarcely noticeable. It is quite likely that when Solomon was arrayed in his royal apparel on State occasions, his clothing would outshine a whole bed of ordinary lilies. Yet in all his glory he was not clothed like the most modest lily that grows. Why?-because no matter how gorgeous and beautiful his clothing was, it was all put on; it was no part of himself; but the beauty of the lily's dress is the lily itself. All that it looks to be, it is.

Thus it is that the lilies, who our teachers by Divine appointment, teach us that the only clothing that is of any real value is that which cannot be put on and off, but that which grows; that which is formed from within. Even such clothing did the Apostle Peter write about, saying to the women, "Whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." 1 Peter iii. 3, 4.

How strange that people should proudly boast of that which is no part of themselves! Not only is our clothing no part of ourselves, but the very fact that we are obliged to wear manufactured clothing at all, is proof of our fallen and degraded state. God is clothed with light as a garment, for He Himself is light.

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His clothing is the beauty of His own character. His clothing, like that of the lily, is what He is. Even so it was with man in the beginning, for man was made in the image of God. It was not until they lost their first estate through sin, that our first parents had any need of clothing that must be put on from the outside. So that upon which most people bestow so much care and worry, and in which they take so much pride, is the mark of their shame.

Until the kingdom is again restored as in the beginning, all mankind, the children of God as well as the wicked, will be obliged to wear manufactured clothing; but let them not worry about it, nor be proud of what is no part of them. What should they do?-"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness." Then clothing and everything else that is necessary will be added. "Seek the kingdom of God." Where shall we seek for it? The Saviour has given us the answer: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo, there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Luke xvii. 20, 21.

This agrees with the exhortation to put on apparel that is "the hidden man of the heart." Where the King is, there is the kingdom; and the King is the Word of God, that "was made flesh." This Word is in us, in our mouth, and in our heart, that we may do it. If we yield ourselves to it, we shall be filled with righteousness. We shall grow up "trees of righteousness," and our clothing will be "the robe of righteousness," the product of the growth from within. He who is able to supply us with this beautiful clothing, of which no one can boast, because it comes only with humility, can very easily provide the other necessary clothing. Temporal things are very easily managed by Him who handles eternities.

The lesson therefore which we learn from the lilies is that of absolute dependence and trust. "Consider the lilies how they grow." How do they grow?-They simply grow. They grow by the power of God in them, which they do not try to resist. You will remember that the name "Israel" was given to Jacob when he ceased all his struggling against the Lord, and cast himself wholly upon the Almighty. His strength was demonstrated to be nothing, and so he let the Lord support him. Now the Lord says, "I will be as the dew unto Israel; ye shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon." Hosea xiv. 5. That is, "they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength." Their beauty will be "the beauty of holiness." Their clothing will be not simply that which can be put on and off, but, like that of the lily, it will be the product of the growth of grace within, it will be themselves, and will endure to all eternity.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Kingdom Divided. 1 Kings xii. 16-25" The Present Truth 14, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

JULY 3

In this lesson we have the climax of the trouble for which the later years of reign had been preparing the way. For King Solomon loved many strange women . . . and he had seven hundred wives . . . for 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. . . . . Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, inasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David My servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen." 1 Kings vi. 1-13.

It had been only a hundred and twenty years since Saul was anointed king, and yet the evil results of having a king, which the Lord pointed out to the people at the time, were already being severely felt. He had said, "Ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you." And so it was.

REAL AND FALSE KINGLY POWER

When God created man in His image and said, "Let them have dominion," it was not an arbitrary power over the earth which was conferred upon him. He was to have dominion by virtue of that inherent power of the righteousness of the character which was given to him in making him in the image of God. And it was God's plan that the earth should be ruled by the power of His own righteousness as revealed ill and through man. After man had fallen into sin, this purpose of God was not changed, although it became necessary to give His own Son to become the man, the second Adam, through whom all this should be accomplished. Just in proportion, therefore, as men lived near to God, following in His ways and permitting Him to reveal His righteousness in them, so would they have dominion, so would they have stability of character, and thence would follow stability of government. Just in proportion as they departed from God and refused to be obedient to His commandments, and thus permitted sin to have dominion over them, so would they lose their dominion, so would weakness of character assert itself, and thence would follow instability of government. This was the history of the people of God under all their rulers.

APOSTASY AND DISTRESS

In his later years Solomon "kept not that which the Lord commanded," but his heart was turned away "after other gods." "Wealth, luxury, and self-indulgence worked out, as in numberless other royal cases, their bitter fruits. The material gifts of God's bounty were perverted to selfish ends. A policy of mere worldly expediency, instead of righteousness, led to alliances with heathen courts. These, in turn, involved increased expenditure, which was met by augmented taxation."Thus was the way prepared for discontent and revolt.

A PETITION DISREGARDED

After the death of Solomon and the accession of Rehoboam, the people came to the new king and said: "Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee." The king "consulted with the old men" and they gave wise counsel, saying, "If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will

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be thy servants for over." Then the king" consulted with the young men that were grown up with him and they recommended this reply: "My little finger shall he thicker than my father's loins." The new king followed the counsel of the young men and threatened the people with heavier burdens than his father had imposed upon then.

THE TRUE AND THE FALSE PRINCIPLE OF GOVERNMENT

The two replies well represent the difference between the principles of the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. "If thou wilt be a servant unto this people," said the old men, and this was the principle upon which God in Jesus Christ deals with the rebellious world. "Behold My Servant whom I uphold." "I am among you as he that serveth." "Whosoever will be chief among you, let him he your servant." Thus does He who is King of kings and Lord of lords relate Himself to those whom He would win as His loyal subjects. In marked contrast with this is that arbitrary spirit which would seek to crush under an iron heel every one who should raise a voice against oppression. The one would win by self-sacrifice; the other would drive by an increase of arbitrary power.

But instead of being terrified into submission by the threats uttered, the people were driven into open revolt: "What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David." When the tax gatherer came among them," all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died." "So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day." Thus by disunion and division was the way being prepared for the downfall of the nation and their captivity.

THE SITUATION TO-DAY

He who considers the situation among the nations of the earth to-day cannot fail to see the working of the same influences which brought disaster to Solomon's kingdom. There are nations where the people are growing under the burden of debt and taxation, and yet their protests, not always wisely made (as in the recent riots in Italy), are met with a display of military power, and no hope is held out that the condition of affairs will be improved. The ruling powers have in many cases so far repudiated the principles of truth and righteousness that there is no sure foundation upon which to build any hope of future reform. The time is near when "all these things shall be dissolved," and the only hope of individuals will be that each one has built for himself upon the sure foundation, and "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

"The Venomous Beast" The Present Truth 14, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

Every incident recorded in the Scripture is designed to impart some Gospel instruction to us; and all personal experiences should be read with this fact in mind. The only purpose in studying the Bible is that we may learn the Gospel.

What might possibly seem like a minor event in the life of the Apostle Paul, when considered from this point of view, is full of suggestion for us. When on his way to Rome as a prisoner, he was shipwrecked and cast upon the island of Melita. And as Paul was putting some wood upon the fire which had been kindled for them by the people of the island, "there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand." Seeing "the venomous beast" hanging upon his hand, the people at once concluded that he was an escaped criminal whom "vengeance suffereth not to live." And so they expected to see him fall down dead, or at least to show some sign of distress, but "he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm."

This was in direct fulfilment of the Lord's promise to believers, "They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them," and it contains also a practical lesson for us. Of course it illustrates God's power to keep those who put their trust in Him, but the way in which this power is exercised, and the part which we have to act in connection with it, are not always so clearly understood as they should be.

To the seventy, whom He had sent out with the Gospel message, Jesus said: "Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." All that which tends to injury of any kind has its origin in sin. "That old serpent, called the, devil and Satan," is responsible for the death-dealing power of all serpents; and the power which successfully resists his attacks is sufficient to render harmless the attacks of all other serpents through which he may attempt to work his work of death. And so the gift of power "over all the power of the enemy" would place one where the bite of the most venomous serpent could do him no injury.

But what is this power and how is it imparted? God does not in an arbitrary way impart this gift to some and withhold it from others. "For there is no respect of persons with God." There is only one power in the universe and that is God's power. Even the power of that old Serpent is simply a perversion of the power of God. But God's power is the inherent power of His own goodness, His righteousness, and in the revealing of His character is the revealing of His power. It is therefore clear that the giving of His power as simply the giving of His own righteousness in Jesus Christ "the power of God;" and the receiving of this power is simply the receiving of Jesus Christ.

This truth of the Gospel is well illustrated in one of the experiences of the children of Israel in their journey to the promised land. The Lord had said to them: "Behold, I send an angel ['the Angel of His Presence,' Jesus Christ 'who went with them'] before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared." So long as the people believed God and accepted the gift of His Son, as His personal Presence with them, they were led by a way that they knew not, they were abundantly supplied with food and drink and clothing, and they were protected from every threatening evil.

All this came to them through faith when unbelief and murmuring took the

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place of faith and thanksgiving, then were experienced the results of the power of the enemy. And so on one occasion "the people spake against God, and against Moses," "and the Lord sent [let loose] fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died." These same serpents were in the wilderness all the time, but as long as the people accepted by faith God's gift of His own Presence to keep them in the way, it was possible for Him to protect His people from them. But since they were held in check by the Lord's powerful presence with a believing people, any rejection of Him was a rejection of the very power that preserved them, and so the serpents were able to destroy them. God gave them power over the serpents all the time, but it was the rejection of that power which exposed them to death.

These same principles are brought out in the experience of the Apostle Paul. It was his faith which saved the lives of all the ship's company. God gave them to him, and he accepted the gift through his faith in the Word of God; "I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me." Thus was it possible to avert the destruction which the enemy was attempting to bring upon them. And the experience with the viper was simply the same thing in another form. And the same faith which saved his life and the lives of the others from "the prince of the power of the air," who worked through the storm, now saved him from the same power working through the viper. And so "he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm."

But the faith which made such results as these possible did not come in a day, and that was not the first time that the apostle had shaken off the viper and felt no harm. The fundamental principle in all his experience as a Christian was this: "It is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith." This it was which gave him the power over all the attacks of that old serpent, in whatsoever form they were made. And so having by his faith shaken off that old Serpent whenever he had fastened himself upon him, he was prepared for that experience, on the island of Melita that day.

The lesson for us is plain enough. So long as we are in this world of sin we are exposed to the attacks of the enemy, yet the Lord's presence will keep us in the way, and even if "that old serpent, called the devil and Satan "should fasten himself upon us, we shall be able to shake off the venomous beast and feel no harm, provided that our faith keeps the channel of power open to us. "These signs shall follow them that believe." And as the lack of faith in the earth and the refusal to accept Jesus Christ are opening the way more and more for "the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders," those who would be preserved from the perils of these last days must be putting into constant use the faith which works by love. The power of an indwelling Saviour will hold in check "all the power of the enemy." "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

"The Everlasting Gospel. God's Saving Power in the Things that Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

Luke ii. 10-13: "And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger."

Let the following facts that are stated in this text be carefully noted and remembered.

1. The "good tidings of great joy," that is, the good and joyful news, which is what the word "Gospel" means, consists in the announcement of a Saviour.

2. This Gospel or good news of salvation is to "all people."

3. This Saviour of the world, over whom "a multitude of the heavenly host" were rejoicing, was but a helpless babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger because its parents were not able to command a better resting place.

4. From this last fact we may learn that "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are; 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. 27-31.

Nothing in this world is weaker than a new-born baby, and no one was more despised than Jesus was by the world, nor was any baby ever born whose birth attracted less attention by the world; yet He was "the power of God and the wisdom of God," the One whom God makes our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So as no flesh has any cause to glory before God, no flesh has any ground for discouragement. No flesh can be weaker than was the Saviour of mankind. Even when grown to manhood He said: "I can of Mine own self do nothing." John v. 30.

Rev. xiv. 6, 7: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

In this text let us note:-

1. This everlasting Gospel is to all people, just as the angel said to the shepherds.

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2. Since there is but one Gospel (Gal. i. 7, 8), we know that this everlasting Gospel, which is to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people," is the good news of a Saviour, "which is Christ the Lord," who shall "save His people from their sins." Matt. i. 31.

3. This Gospel calls for the glory-all glory-to be given to God, to whom alone it belongs. See Matt. vi. 13. As already learned, we are to give Him the glory, because there is nothing that man has wherein to glory.

4. We are to give God the glory, instead of man, because "it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves." Ps. c. 3. He is worthy of all glory, because He is the Creator of heaven, and earth, and all things that are in them. Our acknowledgment of His glory as Creator puts us into the right relation to Him-we as His subjects, and He as our Saviour.

Rom. i. 16: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth."

As we read this, let us remember that the Gospel of Christ is the good news that Jesus is a Saviour from sin.

The power by which He saves, is the power of God working in Him.

He came as a helpless babe absolutely unknown to the world. He had no beauty, that anyone should desire Him, and was "despised and rejected of men." Isa. liii. 2, 3. By taking our flesh, He voluntarily assumed a place where He was unable to help Himself. Yet we need not be ashamed of this Christ, weak and despised as He was, because He was "the power of God,"-the perfection of God's power shown in weakness.

Rom. i. 19, 20: "That which may be known of God is manifested in them (that is, in ungodly men); for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and Divinity; that they may be without excuse."

This text should be studied with great care, until the following facts contained in it are indelibly impressed on the mind:-

1. Ever since the creation of the world, the invisible things of God,-all that may he known of God-are clearly to be seen.

2. The things which may be known of God are His everlasting power and Divinity.

3. These things are manifested in "the things that are made," that is, in creation.

4. Since we have seen the Gospel-the everlasting Gospel-to be the power of God unto salvation, and God's everlasting power is revealed in the things that are made, it follows that the everlasting Gospel is preached by every created thing. That is, by everything that God has made, He shows us His Divine and everlasting power to save us from our sins.

5. That is why no one has any excuse for ungodliness. "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." 2 Peter i. 3.

Taking all these texts into consideration, we can understand why the preaching of the everlasting Gospel from heaven calls upon us to "worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." In them is seen the power of God unto salvation. Whoever recognises that fact must worship God, because "power belongeth unto God." Ps. Ixii. 11. No man has any power, nor anything in which to glory. "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as Head above all." "In Thine hand is power and might; and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all." 1 Chron. xxix. 11, 12.

Lastly, let us ever remember that, since all things that are made reveal the power of God;-since the power that is manifested not simply to create but to uphold everything in the universe is the power that is working to save men;-and we see the Gospel in all creation, the story of creation was written for no other purpose than to teach us the Gospel, to show us God's power to save us from sin.

"'Behold You God'" The Present Truth 14, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

By comparing Isa. xl. 3-5 with John i. 23 and Luke iii. 4-6, we readily see that in the first-mentioned chapter we have the prophecy of the mission of John the Baptist. Concerning this there is no possibility of any misunderstanding; but where many err is in supposing that the work prophesied of by the prophet Isaiah was finished when the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth died. That this was not the case, is as plain as that John himself came in fulfilment of it. The prophecy itself shows this.

If we read as far as the 9th verse of Isaiah, we shall see that the message of John the Baptist included this exhortation and announcement: "Behold your God! Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold His reward is with Him, and His work before Him."

Thus we see that the special mission which John the Baptist began, reaches to the coming of the Lord to give reward to all His people. The prophecy did not foretell the coming of John, but only of a voice, and that voice must continue to sound until the necessity for it ceases by the coming of the Lord. Men may be put to death, but the voice cannot be stifled.

That voice was to proclaim the nothingness of human flesh, and the greatness of God, thus teaching absolute faith and trust in Him, and preparing people for His coining; for only those who become acquainted with the Lord are prepared for His coming, and all the preparation that is needed for that event is personal acquaintance with Him.

That this message, "Behold your God!" is to be given before the coming of the Lord, and is not a cry announcing His appearance in the sky, is evident enough when we remember that His coming will be like the lightning that shines from one end of heaven to the other (Matt. xxix. 27), so that "every eye shall see Him" (Rev. i. 7), and there will then be no need for anybody to say, "Behold Him!" No; the message is preparatory to that event; it introduces people to the Lord, so that those who heed it may be able to say when the Lord comes, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." Isa. xxv. 9.

We know now why the message given, "Behold your God!" People have not liked to retain God in their knowledge (Rom. i. 28), and have consequently become corrupt, and are in danger of the eternal destruction which at the Lord's coming will be the lot of "them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. The question now is, How shall we make the acquaintance of the Lord? Where are we to behold Him?

The answer is, In "the things that are made." Ever since, the creation of the

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world, all that may be known of God is clearly to be seen in the things that He has made. People have so long been serving the works of their own hands, that they have become like their idols, "eyes have they, but they see not." They need to have their eyes opened, and turned to the works of God's hand, where He stands revealed.

God's "everlasting power and Divinity" are revealed through the things that He has made. So every created thing proclaims the Gospel,-the good news of a Saviour from sin,-because the Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Thus it is that every created thing announces a Saviour, because it reveals God's power, and Christ is "the power of God." So the message proclaimed by the angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem, is repeated and re-echoed by every created thing.

The heaven, and earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters, repeat the message of salvation. Day and night the voice keeps saying, "Behold!" And shall men, the crown of creation, be silent? Nay; in addition to the silent voice of the life, the being,-which they possess in common with the rest of creation, they have articulate speech, so that with "a loud voice" they can cry, "Behold your God, in heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters; and worship and give glory to Him!" It is to this end that these lessons, the first of which we have this week, have been written. May each one who studies them have his eyes opened to see the Lord in all His power and glory; and as the exceeding loveliness of the sight fills you with "joy unspeakable and full of glory," you will need no second bidding, "Lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!"

"'Passing the Love of Women'" The Present Truth 14, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

We would naturally expect that a man after after God's own heart would reveal in his life something of the love of the love and tenderness which dwells in the Father's heart, and there was that in David which inspired strong affection in those who knew him. Even Saul I "loved him greatly." Michal, Saul's daughter, bestowed her affections on him, and of Jonathan, Saul's eldest son, it is written that he loved David as his own soul.

The first time that David and Jonathan are mentioned together was after the return of the former from the slaying of Goliath. From that time Saul would no more allow David to return to his home at Jonathan's Bethlehem, but set him over the men of war. "Then Jonathan and David made a covenant. . . and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle."

There was much in common between the two friends. The same spirit of fearless trust in God which had made David bold to take up the challenge of Goliath was likewise strong in Jonathan. Accompanied only by his armour-bearer he had once attacked a garrison of the Philistines, and the Lord had delivered them into his hand. Saul with six hundred men had not ventured to attack the enemy, but Jonathan said, "It may be that the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few." "So the Lord saved Israel that day."

Jonathan's disposition was a noble one. Even when he learned that the throne which should come to him, as Saul's eldest son, was promised to David, it did not lessen his love. The faith, by which he was victorious over the Philistines, proved him a true child of Abraham, and like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he desired a better country, that is, an heavenly. His father sought the honour that cometh from men only; and could not endure to hear the praises of David sounded louder than his own, or the thought that his kingdom was to be given to another better than he; but Jonathan, in generous, self-forgetful love, could strip off his own princely arms and raiment, and put them upon his friend. One who looks for an everlasting dominion, and who knows that God holds for him "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," will not feel hurt and rebellious if others receive a larger portion of earthly honour than falls to himself. It may be that much of the good seen in David's after life was due to the influence of Jonathan's example.

The time soon came when Saul tried to take David's life, and spoke to his son about it, expecting his co-operation in the attempt but instead Jonathan warned David of the danger and succeeded for awhile in turning Saul from his evil purpose. Jonathan pleaded with his father not to sin against David, "because he hath not sinned against thee. For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?"

Although quieted for awhile Saul's jealous, unreasoning anger was again raised against David, and this time he concealed his intentions from Jonathan. But David learned of his peril and, meeting Jonathan, told him what Saul was doing. Jonathan would not believe that his father could be so treacherous, and it was not until Saul, in his anger at David's escape, cast his javelin at his son, that Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David. He met with his friend for the last time, so far as we have any record, "and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded."

"And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever." So they parted, Jonathan returning to the city, David going forth to seek a refuge from the hatred of the king.

The next mention of Jonathan tells of his death on the battle-field at Gilboa, together with two of his brothers and his father. We may think it sad that Jonathan's life should not have been set in happier times, and that the closing years should have been embittered by his father's enmity against his dearest friend, but we may hope with confidence that he had learned like David the lesson of trust in God.

Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.
Ps. xxxvii. 5.

Even it the evil seemed to triumph in the life he knew the time was coming when

The meek shall inherit the land,
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of
peace. Verse 11.

When David learned of the death of Jonathan he mourned greatly, saying,

Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in
their lives,
And in their death they were not divided;
They were swifter than eagles,
They were stronger than lions.
I am distressed for the, my brother Jonathan:

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Very pleasant hast thou been unto me
Thy love to me was wonderful,
Passing the love of women.

Great, however, as was the love of Jonathan for David, it was but a feeble representation of that which Christ bestows on us. So closely has He knit His soul with ours that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He puts upon us His own raiment, "for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness." He equips us with His own weapons and armour, bidding us "put on the whole armour of God," and take "the sword of the Spirit." He is the Son of a King and heir to the throne of the universe, but He left everything and "became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich," and He calls whosoever will to sit down with Him on His throne.

Truly, His love to us is wonderful, passing the love of women. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they way forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands." "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." "As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you." Indeed to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, is to be filled with all the fulness of God.

Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly
crown
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem's home was there found no
room
For Thy holy nativity.

Thou camest, O Lord, with the living Word,
That should set Thy people free;
But with mocking scorn, and with crown of
thorn,
They bore Thee to Calvary.

Oh, come to my heart, Lord Jesus!
Thy cross is my only plea;
Oh, come to my heart, Lord Jesus, come!
There, is room in my heart for Thee.

"For the Children. 'Well Dressed'" The Present Truth 14, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

The Saviour prayed for His disciples, "Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold Thy glory." And the promise of God to His people is that they shall dwell in His courts, and He will give them places to walk among those that stand by His throne of glory.

Those who go to the courts of earthly kings and queens, are very particular about their appearance. When they are "presented at court" they must wear a certain style of dress, every part of which is carefully looked over before they are allowed to pass into the presence of the sovereign.

But what have we in which to appear at the court of the King of kings? How can we stand without fear or shame among the shining angels who surround His throne, and be "presented faultless before the presence of His glory"?

In the courts of earthly kings many things are very different from what they appear to be. Those who are the most richly and beautifully clothed in the eyes of those who see only the outward appearance, may really be full of wickedness and deceit.

But in the courts of the Lord, in the light of His countenance, every one appears exactly what he really is. No one there can look beautiful outwardly, who is not "all glorious within."

The Lord tells us how we all look to Him, when He says that "all our righteousnesses are as filth rags." Not rags only,-that would be bad enough,-but filthy rags. But we are not to worry and mourn over this, saying, "Wherewithal shall we be, clothed?" because our "Heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of these things."

Our Father will see that His children do not disgrace Him by going about in "filthy rags." He says, "I will clothe thee with change of raiment." He will not be satisfied with anything but "the best robe" for His children.

But in order to change our raiment He must take away the old sinful nature, which is what clothes us in "filthy rags." And so He says, "I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee." This He can only do by washing us in His own blood. Then think how much it has cost Him to clothe us with change of raiment!

He puts in the place of our iniquity His own purity and beauty of character. He covers us with the "robe of righteousness" by putting His own righteous life into us. This shines forth and clothes us like Himself with glory and beauty.

A poor old Frenchwoman went one evening to a mission hall in Paris, and listened with great interest to an address on "the robe of righteousness." As she left the hall she said to one of the mission workers,-

"I believe that this is my last visit here. I am rapidly getting weaker."

"I will come to see you," answered the gentleman, "but should God soon call you, have you any fear of appearing before Him?"

"Oh no," replied the old Frenchwoman with a bright smile, "I am too well dressed for that-too well dressed to dread the Judgment."

The poor old woman was not trusting in her own righteousness, but in the beautiful garment of salvation which is the free gift of God to all who will receive it.

"What are these that are arrayed in white robes?"

"These are they which. . . have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God."

"Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
'Midst flaming worlds in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head."

"Greatness" The Present Truth 14, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

There was a time when all the beings whom God had created were filled with the Spirit of God,-the sweet spirit of love, for "God is love." "Love seeketh not her own," and so every one, instead of looking out for himself without paying any attention to the good of others, was all the time seeking the happiness of some one else, just as God Himself does.

But the spirit of jealousy and pride, the desire to seek great things for himself, came into the heart of Satan, and he said, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God." He wanted to hold a higher position than anyone else, and to rule over all the angels of God, and he thought to get for himself this high place.

This spirit of pride and envy Satan has put into the heart of man. Cain, the first child born into this world, allowed the spirit of Satan to rule in his heart, and when he grew to be a man, he became so jealous of Abel his brother that he rose up against him and killed him. When little boys and girls try to appear better than others, to have more than others, or to get for themselves that which belongs to anyone else, it is because they are ruled by the spirit of Satan. This leads to quarrelling and fighting among them. It is just the opposite of the sweet spirit of Jesus, the spirit of love which "seeketh not her own."

If every one would let Jesus cast out Satan from his heart, and rule in him by His Spirit of love, His kingdom would come, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Then wars would cease unto the ends of the earth, and all be peace, harmony and love, as in the beginning. But now Satan rules in the kingdoms of this world, and we must therefore expect to find them just the opposite of the kingdom of Christ.

Jesus said, "If My kingdom were of this world then would My servants fight," because this is the way of the kingdoms of this world. When His disciples were quarrelling as to which of them should be the greatest, Jesus showed them that what they were seeking for themselves was not true greatness. He said that in the world, where Satan's spirit rules, those who win for themselves power over others, and "exercise lordship and authority upon them," are called "great." To the subjects of His kingdom He says: "But so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister, and whosoever will be the chiefest shall be servant of all."

These verses, written a long while ago by Rev. E. Jones, show that the "great" men of this world are not those who follow the teachings of Jesus Christ:-

Son. How big was Alexander, pa,
That people call him great?
Was he, like old Goliath, tall?
His spear a hundred weight?
Was he so large that he could stand
Like some tall steeple high;
And while his feet were on the ground,
His hands could touch the sky?

Father. No, my child; about as large
As I or Uncle James.
'Twas not his stature made him great,
But greatness of his name.

Son. His name so great? I know 'tis long,
But easy quite to spell;
And more than halt a year ago
I know it very well.

Father. I mean, my child, his actions were
So great, he got a name
That everybody speaks with praise,
That tells about his fame.

Son. Well, what great actions did he do?
I want to know it all.

Father. Why, he it was that conquered Tyre,
And levelled down her wall,
And thousands of her people slew:
And then to Persia went,
And fire and sword on every side
Through many a region sent.
A hundred conquered cities shone
With midnight burnings red;
And strewed o'er many a battle-ground,
Ten thousand soldiers bled.

Son. Did killing people make him great?
Then why was Abdel Young,
Who killed his neighbour, training day,
Put into jail and hung?
I never heard them call him great.

Father. Why, no, 'twas not in war;
And him that kills a single man,
His neighbours all abhor.

Son. Well, then, if I should kill a man,
I'd kill a hundred more;
I should be GREAT, and not get hung,
Like Abdel Young, before.

Father. Not so, my child, 'twill never do;
The Gospel bids be kind.

Son. Then they that kill and they that praise,
The Gospel do not mind.

Father. You know, my child, the Bible says
That you must always do
To other people, as you wish
To have them do to you.

Son. But, pa, did Alexander wish
That some strong man would come
And burn his house, and kill him too,
And do as he had done?
Does everybody call him GREAT,
For killing people so?
Well, now, what right he had to kill,
I should be glad to know.
If one should burn the buildings here,
And kill the folks within,
Would anybody call him great,
For such a wicked thing?

"The Wisdom of Solomon" The Present Truth 14, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

Solomon wrote, "He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not unto him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears." Bishop Thomas W. Dudley, of whom the following story is told, had evidently learned some lessons at the same school that Solomon did:-

When it was first known in the city in which he was settled that he was to go to Kentucky, some of his friends were disposed to be critical.

"You are not going to Kentucky, are you?" asked one.

"Yes, indeed."

"Do you know what kind of a State that is? I saw in the paper that one man killed another in a Kentucky town for treading on a dog."

The bishop said nothing, and the man continued, impatiently, "What are you going to do in a place like that?"

"I'm not going to tread on the dog!" was the calm reply.

The quarrelsome man is the one who is always in difficulty. A man of peace can live peaceably even among ill-disposed people. No man ever has any use for weapons, except the man who always carries them.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

-The French Cabinet has resigned, after having been in office for two years.

-The best watchmakers' oil comes from the shock of the shark. About half a pint is found in each shark.

-Intense misery exists in Havana, and no doubt throughout Cuba in the capital a barrel of flour fetches ?6 sterling.

-Dr. Koch declares that the spread of malaria in the tropics is due to the propagation of blood parasites by mosquitos.

-It is calculated that 1,000,000 acres of forest land are used up every year in Europe to supply the railways with sleepers.

-During 1897, in addition to the ordinary revenue, about ?940,000 was raised for hospitals, dispensaries, and convalescent homes, while further ?25,000 a year was added to the revenue from annual subscribers.

-And imperial edict has been issued ordering the establishment at Peking of a university on the European model. The high officials are commanded to consult together immediately with a view to carrying out the scheme.

-North Wales University College, in order to illustrate experimentally the teaching of agriculture, is about to acquire a farm at Liedwigan of 358 acres at a cost of ?4,000. The Drapers' Company have promised ?1,000 towards the scheme.

-In the Philippines, the Roman Catholic priests are the real authorities. The registration of births, marriages and deaths is in the hands of the priest, who will not marry anyone for less than ?6, just what many of them earn in half a year. Baptism costs ?5 or more. For burials of the tax rises from ?2 for an infant to ?10 or ?12 for an adult. Till the tax be paid the body remains unburied.

-By a vote of 209 to 91 the Washington House of Representatives has declared for the annexation of Hawaii. This means that the United States has embarked on a new policy, which will add one more vast, disturbing element to the unrest of the nations.

-Three thousand boats, calculated to carry 15,000 people and 10,000 tons of supplies, are starting on the passage up the Yukon river to Klondyke, the lakes being now clear of ice. As these craft are managed great part by inexperienced hands, it is feared serious mishaps may result.

-Russian diplomacy is making headway in China. The Times announces some most important railway concessions which have just been granted to Russia, one of them being for the construction of a line through territory in the Yang-tse Valley, which England considers within her sphere of influence.

-In Germany, it is said, paper floors are well liked because, having no joints, they are more easily kept clean, they are poor conductors of heat and of sound, and they cost less than hard wood floors. They are put down in the form of a paste, which is smoothed with rollers, and after it has hardened, painted of any desired colour or pattern.

-Mr. Joseph Leiter's colossal corner in wheat has collapsed. It is difficult to tell from the varying reports the amount of his losses, but it seems clear that his enormous profits have been more than swallowed up, and he is poorer than when he began to speculate. His loss is a gain of many. The price of wheat is falling rapidly and is now about 40s. per quarter.

-The Italian Government is taking vigorous measures to suppress all attempts at sedition. A number of Socialist and Clerical associations have been dissolved, and some twenty-five journalists and typographers are to be tried before a military tribunal. A new bill is being introduced, which will compel newspapers to give heavy pecuniary security, and invest the Government with the right to suspend or suppress them.

-The scheme for federation of the Australian Colonies has fallen through for the present, owing to the refusal of some of the colonies to join in. Somehow human nature does not seem to take kindly to federation, much as they desire it. If there is anything more difficult than getting nations to sink their differences and form an alliance, it is the task of preserving the alliance when it is made. No one nation trusts another, and even the colonies regard each other with suspicion.

-The profession of a bull-fighter has its risks, but the remuneration he receives makes it worth his while to undergo them. Here are some statistics relating to the earnings of the three most celebrated toreadors in Spain. During last year Mazzantini took part in 66 bull-fighting exhibitions, killing 168 bulls, for which he received ?16,000. Reverte, with 71 exhibitions and 160 bulls to his credits, got ?11,500; while Guerita's earnings for the season amounted to ?19,000 for killing 147 in 76 exhibitions.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 25.

E. J. Waggoner

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."

Hunger is not a bad thing. The man who has never been hungry does not know the satisfaction there is in eating.Only those who know what real hunger is, can appreciate the real value of food, and can enjoy it.

The sad case of the poverty-stricken is not that they get hungry, but that they have no food with which to satisfy their hunger. It is deplorable when one has nothing to eat, but it is a good thing to feel downright hunger when there is abundance of good food at hand to supply the need.

The blessedness of hungering after righteousness lies in the fact that "the gift by grace" even "abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness" is provided for all through Jesus Christ. To every hungry and thirsty soul the Lord calls, "Come ye to the waters!" "Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."

Some one asks, "How can I hunger and thirst after righteousness?" Ah, it is a simple matter, as simple as longing for daily bread. Christ is "the desire of all nations." He alone can satisfy "the desire of every living thing." Have you ever known what it was to be dissatisfied? "What a question! Ask me rather if I ever know what it was to be perfectly satisfied." Just so; you have never known absolute satisfaction; there has always been a longing for something, you knew not exactly what, but something different from what you had. Well, that was the hunger of the soul for Christ, who is righteousness. You didn't know it, but the full, conscious possession of Jesus Christ would satisfy that unrest and longing, just as cool water will satisfy the thirst of the body.

Still more Christ is "the Bread which cometh down from heaven." He is "the living Bread." This is not a figure of speech, but the statement of an actual fact. To demonstrate it, God fed the Israelites in the desert forty years with manna. He rained down bread from heaven, and it was "spiritual meat," which, if they had eaten by faith, would have given them life everlasting. But it was daily bread, to satisfy their ordinary hunger. So it is that the demand of our bodies for food can be satisfied only by Christ. He is "the life." If we but recognise Him in the gifts of God, then in satisfying our daily hunger with the food which He provides for us, we shall be filled with righteousness. "O taste and see that the Lord is good." "There is no want to them that fear Him."

The Christian World reports that a band of men at Hatfield have formed themselves into a "Sunday League," and have been using vigorous measures for the protection of the day. Their object is to discourage Sunday cycling by maltreating those who ride in that vicinity on that day. On the Sunday before last they stoned two cyclists, and when the latter dismounted, they beat them with sticks, and set dogs on them. The authorities, however, do not approve of this method of missionary work, and two of the ruffians have been arrested and sentenced to a month's imprisonment.

A Convent of French nuns has just been opened by Cardinal Vaughan, at Chelsea, where prayer is to be maintained unceasingly, both by day and day night, for the conversion of England.

At a recent meeting of the Christian Police Association, one officer told how a comrade of his had, in the early hours of the morning, spoken of the Saviour of sinners to a poor fallen woman in the street. "Three other policemen have already spoken to me about Jesus Christ this morning," was her suggestive reply.

The rush of young men in America to volunteer to fight against Spain, has incidentally brought into prominence the evils of cigarette smoking. Ninety per cent. of those who were rejected as physically unfit for service were cigarette smokers. A leading religious journal thinks that the State, "which has the right to require good health of its citizens, whom it may need in war," ought to legislate against the evil habit.

It is said that there are 94,100 priests in Spain, of whom 31,000 have been trained in seminaries. The monks number 68,000, and the nuns 32,000. The monks have great political influence, which, as a matter of course, they exercise to the grave detriment of the country. This detriment is not by any means wholly due to the fact that the monks are Roman Catholics. It is impossible for any minister of religion, no matter of what denomination, to engage in politics without injurious results to the country, and to his own religion as well, if it was good for anything when he began.

"The University of Princeton has conferred upon Admiral Dewey the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws." Why Doctor of Laws? The connection does not seem very clear. But the fact should serve to show the emptiness of all titles and degrees conferred by man. It indicates also how the war demon dominates all classes of society. The surest way to become famous in this world is to accomplish some deed of destruction. Let all Christians beware of being dazzled by the world's empty honours. Christ Himself has declared that to receive glory from man is incompatible with belief in Him. John v. 44.

June 30, 1898

"'Thy Will Be Done'" The Present Truth 14, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"

These were the words by which Saul, the persecutor of Jesus of Nazareth, showed his acknowledgment of that same Jesus as his Lord and Master, the one who had the right to command his service.

Up to the moment of his arrest while on the way to Damascus, Saul had been deliberately and persistently fighting against the Lord Jesus. He knew the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and thought that he ought to do many thing contrary to it (Acts xxvi. 9), which he also did; yet when, in response to his question, from the ground where he had been thrown, "Who art Thou, Lord?" the reply came, "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest," immediately all thoughts of persecution vanished, and Saul at once acknowledged Jesus as Master.

What a marvellous change! Here was a man who for weeks and mouths had been possessed of but one thought, namely, to fight against Jesus of Nazareth, yet as soon as Jesus met him and said, "I am Jesus," instead of replying, "You're the one I'm after; I'm bound to exterminate your sect," he asked, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" as meekly as though he had never had any thought but to serve this Jesus. What could have effected this change?

The answer is plan: Saul had felt the hand of power upon him. Power such as he had never before experienced had laid hold on him, and he needed no one to tell him that it was supernatural. When the Spirit of God takes hold of a man, that man needs no formal introduction to the Spirit. When the Spirit sends strong conviction of sin, the man who a moment before might have been justifying himself, and might have been denying the existence of God, at once knows that it is the Spirit of God who is speaking to him, and he acknowledges the truth of what is said. So as soon as Saul learned that this Jesus whom he was persecuting was the one whose Spirit had seized him, he was as ready to serve as he had before been to persecute.

But while Saul was now a willing servant, he had not yet learned the conditions of service. His thought was of something that he should do, whereas the experience that he was even then passing through was intended to show him that it is the Lord who works with His servants, since His alone is the power. The Lord did not tell Saul what he should do, but told him instead to go and listen to what should be told him later.

Three days later the Lord sent Ananias to give Saul light. Ananias demurred, but the Lord over-ruled his objection, saying, "Go thy way; for 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. Mark this: the Lord did not say that He would show Saul how great things he must do for Him, but how great things he must suffer, or experience for Him. This means not trouble merely, but joy as well; for the apostle learned that the suffering of tribulation means the sharing of joy.

Paul was "a chosen vessel," to bear the name of the Lord. A vessel does not itself do anything; it receives and gives out what is put into it. The work is done by the one using the vessels. So the Apostle Paul, writing of the wondrous privileges of the servant of Christ, in ministering the Spirit, said, "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. 7.

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It was a grand thing for Saul of Tarsus to say, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do;" for it showed that he recognised Jesus as his Master; but as he became acquainted with the Lord, he did not talk about what he had done or was to do. Although he could say in later life that he had laboured "more abundantly" than all the other apostles, he did not fail to add, "Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." 1 Cor. xv. 10. So when he and Barnabas came up to the conference in Jerusalem, "they declared all things that God had done with them." Acts xv. 4. Again they told "what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them." Verse 12.

This is the language of every servant of Christ. "Not I, but Christ." When Paul was asked, "What must I do to he saved?" he replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." This was in harmony with the words of Christ, who, in reply to the question of the Jews, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" said, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 28, 29. Belief is not a substitute for work, but it is the work. Faith works, because it lays hold of the Word of God, which is "living, and active."

Christ is the great example of faithfulness in work. "I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day." John ix. 4. "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to accomplish His work." John iv. 31. Yet He declared, "I can of Mine own self do nothing" (John v. 30), "the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works" (John xiv. 10); and He was shown to be approved of God, "by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him." Acts ii. 22. So it is God who worketh. If God had seen fit to correct Saul's language, when he yielded himself as His servant, He might have said, "What you are to do is to let Me do what I will." Our highest prayer is, "Thy will be done." God accepted Saul's tender of service without any reference to the language, because it was sincere. His only desire was that God should he glorified in him, no matter how.

And oh, think of the wondrous possibilities before the one who thus yields himself to God! Nothing is too hard for the Lord. All we have to do is to settle two things. First, whose we are, and second, His power. If we know that we belong to the Lord, so that He alone has the right to control us, and we have no voice in the matter, for we are not our own, and then realise that He is Almighty, there is no limit to what God can do with us. And so long as we remember that we are His, and that we have no power to do anything, being only vessels for the Master's use, we shall not become vain-glorious over the great things God may do with us.

For let it be remembered that the greatest thing that God can do with any man is to work righteousness through him; and righteousness is humility. If we continually acknowledge that we are the Lord's, and know that what He wants its to do is what He will do in us, we shall be kept from sin; for He will work in us, and in Him is no sin. Christ has "power over all flesh" (John xvii. 3), therefore if you "yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God;" it is certain that "sin shall not have dominion over you." Rom. vi. 13, 14.

God can do no wrong. He is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." He "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." "His work if honourable and glorious." "The works of the Lord are great." "Whatsover God doeth, it shall be done for ever." Doesn't it follow as plain as the day, that he who once for all, and always, acknowledges that he belongs to the Lord, for the Lord to do with him as He will, must be righteous to eternity? Settle it then, to whom you belong, and if you decide that you belong to God, which is the fact, your whole future is clear. Only one thing would God have you do, and that is to acknowledge that you are His, and to adhere to it. Whose are you?

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things that Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

THE BEGINNING

Gen. i. 1: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

Who was in the beginning? What did God do? Who created? When did God create? When were the heaven and the earth created?

From the texts in the preceding lesson recall and state the reason why the story of creation was written.

John i. 1-4: "In the beginning was the Word, end the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him; and without Him was not anything made that hath been made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men."

Ps. xxxiii. 6, 8, 9; "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." "Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spake, and it was (done); He commanded, and it stood fast."

1 John 1. 1-3: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life: (for the Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal Life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you."

1. The Gospel of John, which is wholly devoted to telling us how we obtain life through Jesus (ch. xx. 31), begins just

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where the story of creation begins: In the beginning God-the Word-created all things.

2. The Word was in the beginning.

3. Life was in the Word, and the Word itself was life,-the Word of Life,-that eternal life which was with God in the beginning. That which was in the beginning was Life.

4. All things came from this Word, that is, from the Life.

5. We are saved by the Life (Rom. v. 10), that same Word of life which was in the beginning, and by which all things were created.

6. The Word, without which not one thing was created, "was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John i. 14); "and this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." 1 Peter i. 25.

7. By the Word were all things created, and by the same Word of power are all things still upheld. Heb. i. 3. But this eternal power,-the power of an endless life,-that is manifested in the things that are made, is the power which God uses to save believers. So the story of creation is the preaching of the Gospel. The power that we see working in all nature is the Gospel in visible form.

Col. i. 15-18: We have redemption, that is, the forgiveness of sins, in the blood of Christ, "who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in Him were all things created, in the heavens, and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him and unto Him; and He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning."

1. We have redemption through Christ's blood, that is, through His life (Lev. xvii. 11), the same life that was in the beginning, and from which all things proceeded.

3. Not only was Christ in the beginning, but He is the Beginning. He is "the Beginning of the creation of God." Rev. iii. 14. All things originate in Him.

3. Christ is "the image of the invisible God." But the invisible things of God are seen in the things that have been made. Rom. i. 20. Therefore in everything that has been made, Christ is to be seen. There is a world-wide difference between this truth and pantheism. The truth is that every created thing reveals God's power; the men of old "changed the truth of God into a lie" by saying that every created thing is God. So they worshipped and served the creature instead of the Creator.

4. The fact that Christ is to be seen every created thing is also shown by the truth already learned, that Christ is the power of God," (1 Cor. i. 24), and the eternal power of God is seen in "the things that have been made. Rom. i. 20.

5. We have redemption in Christ, because in Him all things were created. Thus we see that the power of redemption is the power of creation. The work of redemption is indeed nothing less than creation.

6. In Christ all things hold together; every tangible thing is held in permanent form by Him, and in Him alone men are complete.

7. The Head of creation is the Head of the church.

8. Christ is the Beginning and the end. Nothing can be begun or completed without Him. "In the beginning God." Christ is "the Beginning." This is the story which every created thing tells us. Let these words be so deeply engraved in the mind, that it will be impossible to think of undertaking anything apart from Him. Let Him have His rightful place as the Projector and the Accomplisher,-the One who works both to will and to do.

"The Beginning and the End" The Present Truth 14, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesus Christ is the Beginning, the source, of the creation of God. Rev. iii. 14. Apart from Him not one thing was made. John i. 3. In Him were all things created; that is to say, all things spring from His Being, so that He is "the everlasting Father;" for He is the first-born of all creation. Col. i. 15-17. He is the image, and effulgence, the wisdom, and the power of God.All the works of God are begun and completed in Him.

The eighth chapter of Proverbs is the call of wisdom; but Christ is the wisdom of God, so that the words are the words of Christ concerning Himself. In the twenty-second verse we read: "The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old." Now there is in the Hebrew of this verse no word indicating "in," so that, as expressed in some translations, it properly reads, "the beginning of His way." Christ is the Beginning of God's way, as stated in Rev. iii. 14. Also the word rendered "possessed," in Prov. viii. 23, is the same as that used by Eve when Cain was born, "I have gotten a man" from the Lord. So we may read the text thus: "Jehovah brought Me forth, the beginning of His way, before His works of old."

With this passage compare 1 Cor. i. 24; John i. 1-3 ; Col. i. 15-17; and Rev. iii. 14. Then continue reading in Prov. viii. 24-31:-

When there were no depths, I was brought forth;
When there were no fountains abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills was I brought forth;
While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields;
Nor the beginning of the dust of the earth.
When He established the heavens, I was there
When He set a circle upon the face of the deep;
When He made firm the skies above;
When the mountains of the deep became strong;
When He gave to the sea its bound,
That the waters should not transgress His commandment;
When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
Then I was by Him as a Master Workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him;
Rejoicing in His habitation earth;
And My delight was with the sons of men.

"In the beginning-God." And Christ, the Word of God, is the Beginning of His way. "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Col. ii. 9. Therefore through Him alone we have access to the Father. He died for us, that He might bring us to God." 1 Peter iii. 18. What we must come to, therefore, is the Beginning. Contrary to the usual idea, the Beginning is not what we start with, but what we are to come to. True we ought to start at the Beginning, but we do not, and because we do not, none of us start right. And because we do not come to the Beginning, we keep "out of the way."

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"Whosoever, shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." Luke xix. 17. Where does a little child begin to learn?-At the beginning. It does not think that it knows anything, and so allows itself to be taught. It accepts truth by faith, and so it learns. So we, like children, should begin at the beginning, and then we should begin right, for when we come back to the beginning, we come to God. If men would trust in the Lord with all their heart, and not lean to their own understanding (Prov. iii. 5), they would always do and say the things that are right, and would make no mistakes whatever. They could not go wrong, for it would be the Spirit of the Lord thinking and working in them. The reason why we fail is because we assume that we are able to originate plans and to think for ourselves, and do not recognise God as the only Beginning.

We are so anxious to get to the end, that we almost entirely lose sight of the Beginning. Just as though it were possible ever to attain the end while ignoring the Beginning! But we are too impatient to "wait on the Lord." We are like, the man who is not content to sit quietly on board the steamer and be carried to his destination, but must needs leap into the sea, and try to swim there by himself. Of course he will drown if he doesn't get back into the ship. So with us, unless we abide in Him "who is the Beginning."

For He is "the Beginning and the end, the first and the last." Rev. xxii. 13. So when we have got to the Beginning, lo, we are at the end! In Him all fulness dwells, "and of His fulness have all we received." In Him we find all things, from first to last. To go back to the Beginning and to be taught like little children, that is, to take simple statements of fact, and to believe them, and not to profess to know anything except what we have been told (allowing God to be the Teacher) seems altogether too simple. We are ambitious for the complex wisdom of the world, which is foolishness. But when we humble ourselves to be children and to walk with God and learn of Him, then we find out that the simple beginning contains the sum, of all wisdom. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov. i. 7); but that does not mean that something else is the end of it for "the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom," Job xxviii. 28. Men regard the Beginning as something they advance from, and look back to; whereas it is what we are to come to and abide with. When we come to Christ, the Beginning, we have the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls. 1 Peter i. 9.

The last message of the Gospel directs us to the Beginning, as the preparation for the end. "Worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." To fear God and give glory to Him, is the whole duty of man. To live in constant recognition of Him as "the Author and Finisher," and to allow all our works to be begun and wrought and finished in Him, in righteousness, because He is righteous. The devil has sought to beguile us from "the simplicity that is in Christ," and has succeeded; now as the end approaches, the call is sounded "with a loud voice" for us to come to the Beginning, and to remain there, that we may rejoice in the end.

The Gospel of John begins where Genesis begins, and Revelation ends with the beginning. So the Gospel is an infinite circle, ending where it begins, and enclosing the universe. If we are content to abide at the Beginning, God, we have everything. If we despise the Beginning, we have nothing.

There are infinite possibilities of knowledge and achievement in the Lord. He is the One "which is, and which was, and which is to come." Rev. i. 1. His name is I AM. Wherever and whenever we receive Him, we find the Beginning and the end. In Him alone we learn the truth of that which has been; His Word therefore is the only authentic history. In Him only do we know the truth and reality of that which is; so His Word is the only true text book of science. And He by His Spirit reveals to us things to come, because He takes the things of Him who is to come, and shows them to us. John xvi. 13, 14.

This is not philosophical speculation, but is simple truth. O that we all might be simple enough to see it, and faithful enough to abide in it! Then we should let all our works be wrought in God, and they would be perfect. We should not boast so much about being "independent thinkers," but should allow God to think for its, and our thoughts would be, as much higher than ordinary human thoughts as the heaven is higher than the earth. This would not be the slavish following of another, for the service of God is freedom. It would be God thinking in us, not instead of us. And why should He not, since He is our life? Who should use our brains and our muscles, except the One in whom we live, and move, and have our being? He is able, for He is the Beginning. Whatever He does not begin in us is nothing. When the light of the Sun of righteousness shines on it, it will be found to be emptiness. Let us then speedily learn the Beginning of God's Word, and find in it the sum of all revelation.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Elijah, the Prophet. 1 Kings xvii. 1-16" The Present Truth 14, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

JULY 10

It was the work of Elijah, the Prophet, to be a witness for the true God and the power of His word at a time of general apostasy in Israel. Ahab was the king, and he "did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." When he was at the very height of his sinful course, Elijah came to him with this message: "As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not he dew not rain these years, but according to my word." From another scripture we learn that this is an illustration of the power of prayer: "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months." James v. 17.

When the prophet said, "but according to my word," it was not a self-assertive boasting of his own power, but in answer to his prayer of faith the Lord had entrusted him with His own word of power to speak, and thus did it become his word.

DISTINGUISHING SIGN OF THE TRUE GOD

The giving, or the withholding of rain is one of the ways by which the true God is made known as distinguished from false

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gods. "Are there any among the vanities of the heathen that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not Thou He, O Lord our God?" Jer. xiv. 22, R.V. "Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." Acts xiv. 17. Thus did God, in His tender mercy, preach the Gospel of His mercy and His righteousness, and call the attention of all the people to Himself as the only true God, through the prophet Elijah, when the people were being led away into idolatry through the wickedness of Ahab.

It is through the ministry of the rain that the Lord usually provides food for the people, for "the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater." Isa. lv. 10. But when the necessities of the case render it desirable, the Lord can just as easily provide food in some other way; and so when He told Elijah to hide himself "by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan," He said, "I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." This method seems miraculous to us simply because it is a departure from God's usual methods, unless perchance we have failed to recognise the direct agency of God in providing us with daily food. He feeds us just as truly as He fed Elijah by the brook, but usually it is in co-operation with our efforts, for which He supplies the power, that the result is obtained.

GREAT POWER THROUGH WEAK INSTRUMENTS

The channels used through which to supply food to Elijah are suggestive of God's ability to use the most dependent instrumentalities with which to accomplish His purpose. The ravens cannot supply themselves with food: "Who provideth for the raven his food?" "He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry." Job xxxviii. 41; Ps. cxlvii. 9. "They neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them." Luke xii. 31. So also the widow woman was by her very circumstances more dependent than the one whose husband might be expected to provide for the needs of the household. But by using such instrumentalities as these to feed the prophet Elijah, God is proclaiming the fact that He "hath chosen the weak things of this world to confound the things which are mighty," and shows His ability to accomplish His purpose.

The prophet of God, through whose word the rain was stayed, and through whose word it came again, was himself thirsty and needy of water, and like any other man, he asked the favour of a drink. He said to the woman, "Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink." In like manner, many years afterward, "a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people," Himself the giver of the water of life, said to a woman, "Give Me to drink." Thus do power and weakness touch each other, and thus is the power of God magnified through weakness.

FOOD FROM THE WORD

It was by the word of the Lord that there came to be meal in the barrel and oil in the cruse in the first place, for "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; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart." Ps. civ. 14, 15. It is by the power of the same word, making the earth to bring forth the annual increase, that meal is kept in the world's barrel throughout the year, and that famines are averted. But people forget this because they see the grain growing in the fields, and so comparatively few receive it as the direct gift of God. They eat by sight rather than by faith. In the case of the widow woman it was purely by faith, her faith in the word of the Lord to her through the prophet Elijah, "The barrel of

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meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail."

Thus while the Lord was preaching the Gospel of His power and righteousness to His own people by withholding His usual blessings, on account of their departure from Him, He was by the same prophet proclaiming the same Gospel of His power find righteousness among the heathen, and offering special blessings to be received through faith in His word. The Saviour Himself cited this experience of Elijah with the widow woman, when the unbelief of the people of His own city prompted the question, "Is not this Joseph's son?" "And He said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country." Happy are those who, like the widow of Zarephath, receive the word of the Lord, the message of His own power to save, without stumbling at the messenger, and so learn to live by the word. For "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."

"'Where Wast Thou?'" The Present Truth 14, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

When God "answered Job out of the whirlwind," He began at the beginning, saying: "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding." Job xxxviii. 1. The same question could be asked of every man who lives, or who has ever lived, and not one of them could say word.

Everything else in the whole creation was made before man was. Man was the last of all. When he came into being, he found everything complete; and every man that has ever been born has found everything waiting for him when he arrived.

Why this arrangement? Evidently so that no man could have any chance to lay claim to share with God the honour of creation. It is a fact that no man can create. This needs no argument. Men work, and effect changes in form and appearance of many things; but no man ever yet added the slightest particle of matter to the substance of the earth or to anything that exists; and no man ever can do it. Yet such is the conceit and self-assertion of the human mind that if God had performed any new act of creation after man came into being, man would surely claim that he himself had done it.

Even as it is, men are very prone to exalt themselves above God. The only thing that will keep them-us-from doing this in some form or degree, is to remember "who is the beginning." We are wont to pride ourselves not a little upon the fact that man was made last-"the crown of creation;" it may serve to abate that pride if we think that God made man last because there was no use for him before; there was nothing that he could do, he would have been hopelessly in the way of the progress of creation, and what is more, he would not have been able to maintain himself. God had to provide all things first, so that man, the most helpless of grated things, might be able to live.

If all men had but kept in mind this simple truth, and had remembered that in Christ, who is the Beginning, "were all things created," and "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together," there would never have been a pope, great or small. "Seekest thou great things for thyself; seek them not," says the Lord. Let us rather be content to remain children, keeping close to the Beginning. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him," as the beginning, "and He shall direct my paths." What He begins He will carry too successful completion.

"A Great Delusion" The Present Truth 14, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

The jubilee of modern spiritualism is being celebrated this year. At the International Congress, which opened on the 22nd, the President is reported as saying that he confidently anticipated the enrolment in their ranks of the Society for Psychical Research at no distant date. In his experience he had seen material objects moved without any visible physical contact, and had also seen writing done by invisible intelligent beings-on one occasion over 900 words been written in six seconds. In addition to this he had seen materialised forms gradually built up in the middle of a well-lighted room, apparently out of the side of the medium, who was all the time distinctly visible. He had, moreover, scores of times seen, touched, and held converse with beings who were certainly not present in the flesh. Some people require palpable proofs of spiritualistic theories; but, to be convinced spiritualist, these phenomena constituted a mere A.B.C.

The fact that these wonders are wrought by Spiritualism, while it proves the existence of invisible beings, does not verify the common idea of consciousness in death. The Scripture speaks of the "spirits of devils working miracles" which deceive the whole world, and warns us, "when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits;" "should not a people seek and to their God? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. viii. 19, 20.

Judged by this test the "invisible, intelligent beings" above referred to are clearly seen to be spirits of darkness. If those who are now rejoicing in the spread of modern spiritualism would but seek to the law and to the testimony, they might know that they have "the god of this world," "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Instead of the success of the movement being an occasion for jubilee, it should rather lead to distress of mind on the part of those connected with it and prayerful watching in the case of all.

"How to Prosper" The Present Truth 14, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

We read of David, while at the court of Saul, that he "behaved himself wisely in all his ways," or, as a marginal reading expresses it, "he prospered." This was noticed by those with whom he those associated," and he was accepted in the sight of all the people."

If one would prosper he must behave wisely, but that is what people find it so difficult to do. We sometimes think that if we had only received a better education, or a superior training, or if our surroundings were not so unfavourable, we would not get along so badly as we do. But remember that David had not been brought up among soldiers and statesmen. His training had been among the sheep, and it was a great change to be set over men of war; yet even with his youth and inexperience, "David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul: so that his name was much set by."

"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?" No doubt this question came to David as he found himself surrounded with new and strong temptations, but he had learned the answer: "By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word." "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee."

It was because David listened to the Word of God, and meditated upon it, that he did wisely and prospered so greatly. Perhaps he was thinking of his experience in Saul's house, among careless and wicked companions, and how God gave him prosperity, when he wrote the first Psalm.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel
of the wicked,
Nor standeth in the way of sinners,
Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord;
And in His law doth lie meditate clay and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams
of water,
That bringeth forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The wicked are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind driveth
away.

Moses had told Israel, hundreds of years before, that if they would keep the commandments of the Lord, the nations around them would say, "Surely this great nation is a wise, and understanding people."

There is a reason why men prosper when they receive the Word of God. The Word itself is bound to prosper. The Lord says of His Word that goeth forth out of His mouth, "it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." So that when we receive the Word of God into our own hearts, it will prosper there. It is sure to prosper wherever it is, and if we will not have it, it will prosper in others who will receive it. That is why God sends His Word to us, that it may prosper in us, and thus we will prosper too.

To Joshua the Lord said, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."

When David's time came to die, he charged Solomon his son to walk in God's ways, to keep His commandments, "that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself." Many of the kings of Israel and Judah did not walk in the way of the Lord, and none of them prospered, but of King Hezekiah it is written that "he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following Him, but kept His commandments:" "And the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth."

Christ Himself testified, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart;" and so, of Him it is written, "the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand."

And in Thy majesty ride on prosperously,
Because of truth and meekness and righteousness.
Thou hast loved righteousness and hated wickedness:
Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee
With the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. Ps. xlv.

God gives men prosperity in His Word. If His Word dwells in us richly, it will be in all wisdom, and we shall do wisely and prosper. We shall even have the wisdom and prosperity of God, which is more than mind can conceive. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper. And this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." In Christ we are made not only righteous, but wise and prosperous. 1 Cor. i. 30.

Men sometimes think that they are more likely to prosper in this life by not paying any heed to the Word of God. Very likely when Saul was hunting David up and down the country, to take his life, others thought that it was Saul who was prospering and not David, and Saul became David's enemy continually."

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Let us lay hold of God's Word and trust only in that for wisdom and prosperity.

Delight thyself also in the Lord;
And He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Commit thy way unto the Lord;
Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
And He shall make thy righteousness to go forth
as the light,
And thy judgment as the noonday.
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him:
Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in
his way,
Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices
to pass
Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil-doing.
For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not
be:
But the meek shall inherit the land;
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of
peace. Ps. xxxvii.

"For the Children. In the Beginning" The Present Truth 14, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?" This question that the Lord asks will bring at once to your minds the first verse in the Bible, which tells us of the time when God did this great work. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Let us put with this another text which will heap us to answer the Lord's question. "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning." We are His works, for "it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves."

So the Lord says to each one of us, "Before I formed thee, I knew thee," How long before? "From the beginning" all His works are known to Him.

Then do you not see that your beginning was not, as you have perhaps thought, the time when you came a tiny, helpless baby into this world? Long ages before this, God thought about you; you were in His mind. This is where you began, in the thought of God.

When, therefore, in the beginning, God spoke out the thoughts that were in His mind, when He laid the foundations of the earth and said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," you were there, in God's thought, and therefore in the word which expressed the thought.

Every little child that ever has been or ever will he born into this world, was a part of the great plan of God which He had in mind when He made the world. The Apostle John heard this son, which was being sung before the throne of God; "Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are, and were created." But it is the living and powerful Word of God which He says "shall accomplish that which I please." So all God's work of creation is done by His Word, and all that He hid in His mind in the beginning will be worked out by the Word which He spoke in the beginning.

Read in the 139th Psalm, verses 14 to 18, what the Psalmist David says of the way in which he was thought upon and "fearfully and wonderfully made" by God. Then like him you will exclaim, "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."

Study the precious Word of God that you may find out more and more of His precious thoughts of you. Do not make any plans for yourself, but seek only to know what is the plan that He has had in mind for you "from the beginning." Give yourself fully to Him that His powerful Word may work out in you just that which He pleases. Then will His will be done in you, and you will be made, as He said in the beginning, "in His image, after His likeness."

Is it not a sweet and wonderful thought that the great God, who created and upholds the heavens and the earth, thinks upon us? And not only so, but that as a loving Father He has been thinking of us and planning for us long before we appeared in this world. All the little things that come in our everyday life have been thought of and ordered by Him.

How precious and important this makes each day of life, and how earnestly we should seek to learn just what He wants to teach us every day, and do just what He would have us. Perhaps some of you know the little poem beginning,

I cannot do much, said a little star,
To make this dark world bright;

But I'll cheerfully do the best I can,
For I am a part of God's great plan.

Read the verses for "Little Children" on this page, and you will see some ways in which you may fit into God's great plan of love, and be used by Him to bring light and blessing to those who are in darkness and sorrow.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

The Bible tells us about the river of life. Only in heathen mythology, and in songs composed for Christians to sing, do we read anything about the "river of death." Would it not be better to take our songs from the Bible than from mythology?

Let no one forget that "that which may be known of God,-all that may be known of God,-is revealed in the things that are made. For two thousand years men had no other record of God than that which is written in the leaves of the forest and on all creation. Enoch and Noah walked with God by the light which shines from the Word in nature.

Even now, although the Bible has been translated into so many languages, and circulated so widely, there are many millions of people who have never seen or heard of it; and yet out of these tribes and peoples some will be saved (Rev. vii. 9), showing that all might be saved if they would, without the written Word.

This is no disparagement of the Bible; far from it. The Bible is the Word of God, and is profitable and necessary. It would not have been necessary if men had heeded the revelation of God in nature; but now that men have become blinded by the deceitfulness of sin, it is necessary that they should have something to point them to the power and Divinity of God. The Bible is thus an index, a guideboard. It does not reveal the glory, but tells men where to look to see it. It directs them to Him that made all things, and whose saving power is still seen in them.

Study the Bible with an earnest desire to know the will of God, that you may do it, and you will see wondrous things out of God's law. And when the Spirit of God has revealed unto you what no natural eye has seen, and no ear heard, and what has never been devised by the human heart, you will be able, with the eyes of your enlightened understanding to see the footsteps of God everywhere, and to walk and talk with Him. Then you will know that the glory of the Gospel shone as brightly before your eyes were opened to see it in creation.

Many good people are still hugging the delusion expressed in the following paragraph from an article in the Youth's Companion on "Electricity in Modern Warfare":-

The effectiveness of some of the more recently developed electrical devices has not yet been tested in actual warfare, but it is safe to say that their use will certainly hasten the day when war will prove so destructive and so terrible as to be avoided, it possible, by all civilised nations.

It doesn't work that way. The greater the preparation for war, the more probability of it. The training of pugilists does not tend to diminish prize fighting, but on the contrary promotes it. No matter what engines of destruction are invented, nations will fight just as readily as when they met hand to hand, provided each one thinks that it is a little stronger, and has more destructive weapons than the other; and "patriotism" requires that each one shall believe this. It is indeed true that these war preparations are hastening the time when there will be no more war, but it is only by hastening the last great battle that will end with the coming of the Lord to consume the fighters and to give the dominion of the earth to peacemakers.

Even if the Spanish-American war is not the beginning of Armageddon, as was suggested by a European writer when it began, it is proving a factor in the preparation for it. It is bringing the United States into such connection with the other Powers of the world, that it cannot fail to be involved in the great battle that is coming. Writing of the jealousy with which Europe regards both England and the United States, President Washburn of Robert College, the American College at Constantinople, says:-

We can never get back to the position which we occupied before this war, whether we desire to do so or not. Henceforth, in self-defence we must share the burdens of Europe and have a navy and an army strong enough, at least, to defend our liberty and our rights. We must cease to concern ourselves only with local politics and try to comprehend the world politics which centre in Europe, for Europe will never again forget us or lot any opportunity escape to put us down, to destroy our influence, to limit our commerce, to bring us into subjection to the Old World.

The enthusiastic American sees in this cause for rejoicing over his country's rapid development and future power; but the student of the Bible sees in it the sure tokens of its speedy destruction. But the downfall of earthly Governments weans the setting up of the everlasting kingdom of God, which calls for rejoicing; so that the only sad feature in the prospect is that so many are carried away with the noise and excitement of war and its seeming successes, and are not preparing the way of the King of peace.

A German Professor has written an article for the Deutsche Revue, in which he says that America has no right to interfere in Cuba and that "a country where lynch law survives is unfit to play the judge of other countries." To this the New York Independent frankly says:-

That is a shot that hits and hurts. There is too much justification for the rebuke. Nothing else is such a shame to this country abroad as the prevalence of lynch law in certain portions of it. It is of no use to explain or palliate, for to the foreigners ours is all one country, and the whole country is held responsible for what is not prevented in certain States. It is not worth while to make excuses, and the right way is to thank every foe that smites us for it.

"He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone." A criminal is not the proper person for judge. But there is no nation on earth that is not to a greater or less extent guilty of injustice and even cruelty to some persons, if not to some classes. And so no nation has any right to act as censor of another. In short, war is condemned by every principle of right, and has not and never has had any other reason than that given by the Apostle James, chap. iv. 1, 3.

At the public conference of the Navy League held on the 23rd, the most advanced suggestion was made by a clergyman, who thought it might be necessary to fall back upon conscription and considered the principle one that might be adopted.

"A Mistake" The Present Truth 14, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

A Mistake .-In one of the papers last week there was a large head line, "Christians Show Fight," and underneath was information to the effect that "The Christian Albanians have taken the offensive and attacked both Mussulmans and the troops." We needed no second report to assure us that this was entirely a mistake. That some non-Mohammedan Albanians had attacked Turkish soldiers, and killed some of them, we could easily believe, but that no Christians were engaged in the struggle, we were certain; for Christians follow the precept and example of Christ.

July 7, 1898

"The Miracles of Our Lord. Changing the Water into Wine" The Present Truth 14, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

CHANGING THE WATER INTO WINE

The purpose to be served in making the miracles of Jesus a part of the Gospel record is clearly stated in the Scripture itself: "These [miracles] are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in His name." John xx. 31, R.V. In our study of the miracles, therefore, this object should be kept in view, that we "way lay hold on the life which is life indeed."

All the revealings of the power of God in the world about us teach the same lesson, when they are properly understood, and so the miracles should also serve as Divine interpretations of the Gospel of life and power which is praclaimed in the more familiar, and so less startling, operations of the same Master Workman. "The miracles of the Bible are not only emblems of power in the spiritual world, but also exponents of the miracles of nature-experiments, as it were, made by the Great Teacher in person, on a small scale and within a limited time, to illustrate to mankind the phenomena that are taking place over longer periods throughout the universe." When thus viewed, they will not only teach their own lesson to us, but they will also throw such a light upon God's book of nature that we may read the same lesson on every page. And thus recognising constantly the presence and power of the living God in us and around us, we may learn to receive it in its fulness as "the power of all endless life."

The record of the miracle which we are to study in this lesson is brief, simple, and natural. It is God giving us a view, at close range, of His own mighty power with the simplicity of a father explaining his work to his little child for the purpose of encouraging confidence. And the account closes with these words: "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him." John ii. 11. In our study of the Holy Spirit's account of this miracle we should see the manifested glory just as clearly as did the disciples, and with the same result, believing for life in His name.

Note the simple facts: "They wanted wine:" "And there were set there six water-pots of stone;" "Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And He saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it." Then the ruler of the feast tastes "the water that was made wine," and immediately calls the bridegroom and says: "Every man at the beginning doth

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set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse; but then hast kept the, good wine until now."

We are not told how the water was changed into wine. In obedience to the word of Jesus, they poured the water into the water-pots, and in obedience to the same word they drew out and bare to the governor of the feast that which on tasting proved to be the best wine of the feast. There is one word, however, which gives all the explanation which is needed, and that word is "Jesus." He is the Word of God, and "all things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory." And not only were all things made through Him, but He also is "upholding all things by the word of His power," and "in Him all things consist," or hold together.It is by the direct and constant revealing of the power of God through Jesus Christ, "the power of God," that the orderly march of the stars and planets is maintained, and that the so-called operations of nature are carried forward. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." And in performing this miracle Jesus is giving a sample, as it were, of His work and revealing Himself as the one through whose personal agency all the processes of vegetable growth and fruit-bearing are carried forward.

THE TRUE VINE

In the usual method of changing water into wine the vine is the visible means of accomplishing the work. The water which has been poured upon the ground by the showers of rain, is gathered up by the roots of the vine, carried up by the stock into the branches, and becomes the juice of the grapes. When the process is completed, and the grapes are subjected to pressure, then can be obtained the water which is now changed into wine. Several months are occupied in this work, which goes on quietly by day and by night. But Jesus has said, "I am the true [real] vine," and the vines which we see in the gardens and the vineyards are not independent agencies for the changing of water into wine. They are simply the visible forms through which works the life of Jesus, the true vine, and as He at Cana of Galilee, dispensing with the usual visible forms of vegetable life, and disregarding the question of time, "manifested forth His glory," by changing the water into wine; so He would teach us that the same glory is manifested when the same change is wrought by Him in the way so familiar to us. And as "His disciples believed on Him," when they saw that which He did in Cana of Galilee, so would He have us believe on Him, when we see what He is doing in every garden and vineyard. And as this miracle was written in order that those who read it might by believing "have life through His name," so viewing all the processes of growth and fruit-bearing in the light thrown upon them by this miracle, and reading them as so interpreted, we may by believing "have life through His name."

MANIFESTING GLORY

It is evident that the Gospel is preached to us in this miracle, and through its teaching we may see how the Gospel is preached to us in every garden and field. The Gospel is "the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor. iv. 4), "the Gospel of the glory of the blessed God" (2 Tim. i. 11, R.V.), and this glory is His goodness (Ex. xxxiii. 18, 19), His character, His righteousness. "The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth . . . for therein is the righteousness of God revealed." And so when Jesus at Cana of Galilee "manifested forth His glory," by doing the work which He wrought that day, He was simply showing that the power which changes water into wine is the power which God uses with which to save believers. And the, glory which was then manifested is the glory which brings life to the dead, for "Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father" (Rom. vi. 1), and so recognising "the glory of His power" day by day as it is revealed to us in the true Vine, we who are "dead in trespasses" and sins, are quickened together with Christ and raised up together with Him and made to "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." But this 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." And so "we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory." And this is the work of the Gospel, that those who "have sinned and come short of the glory of God," should once more be crowned with glory and honour.

FRUIT-BEARING

It was the work of Jesus "to preach . . . recovering of sight to the blind," that we might be able to see Him as the true Vine, and so submit ourselves unto Him that He "who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains" and hangs the luscious fruit upon the branches of every vine and tree, may fill us "with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." "I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing." And this is the Gospel which He would teach its in the miracle in Cana of Galilee.

"That Convenient Season" The Present Truth 14, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

Paul was before Felix, reasoning of "righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come," strong conviction seized the Roman governor, so that he trembled; but he was not willing to yield to it, so he said to the apostle, "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." Acts xxiv. 20.

From what we know of the character of Felix it is quite likely that he had no intention of ever accepting Christ, and that his talk about "a convenient season" was only an excuse to Paul, and a means of throwing off conviction. But it is a fact that there are very many who say the same thing, who really think that at some time or other they will serve the Lord, and who by the plea of a convenient season delude themselves into believing that they are at present doing as well as can be expected of them.

One man says, "If I could get away from these associates, I would reform." The youth thinks, "When I get it little older, temptations will not be so strong, and then I can serve the Lord" while the old man thinks, "If I were younger, it would be easy to be a Christian, hut now I am too old to change." Another says, "If my circumstances were different, I would keep the Sabbath." "As soon as I get out of debt," or, "As soon as I can get out of this business, I will begin keeping all the commandments." And thus

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people deceive themselves, and continue in sin.

They deceive themselves often into thinking that they are as good as they need be. For if it were true that they absolutely cannot it present serve the Lord, then of course it cannot be required of them. But the very statement of the case shows its fallacy; for there is no time when one ought not to serve the Lord. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind." Luke x. 27. This leaves no moment of one's existence when he its free not to serve the Lord; for if one does not serve God all the time, he is not serving Him with all his strength. It certainly is not serving God with all our strength, when we devote the most and best of it to self and the devil, before we begin to obey the Lord.

Sin is sin, no matter when or why it is committed."Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John iii. 4. To do anything contrary to God's will, therefore, is sin. "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." James iv. 17. Now when a person says that he intends to serve the Lord, or to begin some duty, at some other time, he shows that he knows that he ought to do it; and therefore by not doing it he convicts himself of sin. And yet by pleading inconvenience, and unfavourable circumstances, he makes himself believe that his sin is not really sin. He assumes great virtue to himself by thinking of what he would do if he were in the proper circumstances. Because he thinks he would if he could, he takes to himself the credit of the deed, and thus often goes along contentedly, and never finds the "convenient season" for which he is looking. So well satisfied does he become that he is doing the best he can, that no time ever seems to him convenient for changing his course.

Suppose now that the "convenient season" has come, or that the change in circumstances or associates has been effected, and that the person has changed his manner of life as he proposed to do; is he really any better than he was before? What think you? Certainly not; it is not he that has changed; it is only the circumstances. The conditions have changed; he remains the same as before. Since he began to serve the Lord (as he thinks) only when the conditions became favourable, it is evident that when the conditions become unfavourable again, he will leave off.

Does the man really accept Christ, when he professes to serve Him only at a more convenient season? Not by any means. He really dishonours Christ, bearing false witness against Him. Christ is a perfect Saviour. "He is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him." All power in heaven and in earth is in His hands. He is the Head of all principality and power. He has power over all flesh. John xvii. 2. He has spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, exhibiting them in triumph by His cross. Col. ii. 15. Even the bars and gates of death He has burst asunder, and "all the power of the enemy" was nothing to Him. Now what does the man say who pleads that his circumstances or temptations are such that he cannot now serve the Lord?-Why, he virtually charges Christ with lack of power to save him in his present condition. He limits the power of God. He does not accept Christ as a full and perfect Saviour, able to save one from the lowest depths, and to pluck a brand from the fire, or a soul from the jaws of the lion. But he who does not take Christ as a perfect and all-powerful Saviour, does not really accept Him at all; for Christ is nothing but perfection.

"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. vi. 2. Jesus is "mighty to save." He says, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." Isa.. xlv. 22. "Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out." John vi. 37. "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. xi. 38. "I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me in vain; I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right." Isa. xlv. 19. The Lord does not deceive anybody. He does not call all to Him to find present salvation, and then say to some, "I didn't mean you; your case is too difficult; I shall have to wait till a more convenient season." No; He can save all, and He can save now.

Then turn to Him now. Why not have rest? See; you do not have rest now; for you admit that the conditions are too hard for you. Well, suppose your more convenient season came, what then? Why, those supposedly more favourable circumstances would be all that you could endure, if not more, so that even it you kept on with your profession, you would never know enjoyment and peace in the service of God. It would be a hard service to you, which shows that it would not be real service, for His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. But if you accept Him now, when everything seems to be the hardest and most unfavourable, you will find immediate rest. Then when the more favourable circumstances come, if there be any such, you can have so much the more ease in His service. So in Christ you will always find green pastures and still waters; a table will be spread for you in the presence of your enemies, and you can oat without fear. Being delivered out of the hand of your enemies, and from the band of all that hate you, you can serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness all the days of your life. Luke ii. 74, 75.

What is the assurance for this? The One who is made unto its "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption," is "the power of God." 1 Cor. i. 34, 30. He in whose life we have redemption, is the One in whom all things were created, and in whom all things hold together. Col. i. 14-15. "All Lord God! behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee." Jer. xxxii. 17. Then commit the keeping of your soul to Him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator, and do it now.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Elijah on Carmel. 1 Kings xviii. 30-39" The Present Truth 14, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

At the close of the "many days" (three years and one half, James v. 17) of drought, of which something was learned in the last lesson, "the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth." So the prophet and the king are brought face to face, and "Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim." It is true that Elijah had said, "There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word," and because the blessing of rain had been withheld, the people had suffered exceedingly, "and there was a sore famine in Samaria, "but there was a cause back of all this, and that was that the true God had not been recognised as the giver of these blessings.

WHY JUDGMENTS COME

When God is recognised, and is acknowledged to be what He is in fact, the Creator of all, and therefore "Lord of all," His commandments at once become the law of the life, and He is thus given His rightful place to rule in the hearts of men. But Israel had departed from the true God, and the blessings which He intended as a means of turning every one of them away from their iniquities (Acts iii. 36) were being so abused that their continuance only served to confirm the people in their sins, and so they are withheld as a means of again calling the attention of the people to Jehovah, the true God, who alone could cause the rain to fall. Thus does the Lord use every possible way, both by giving and by withholding blessings, in His efforts to reveal Himself to men as the only true and living God.

A DECISIVE TEST

But Elijah now proposed a test which shall settle the rival claims of Jehovah and Baalim. He requested Ahab to gather together "all Israel unto mount Carmel," together with the prophets of Baalim and the prophets of the groves. This was done, and then "Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baalim, then follow him." He then directed that the prophets of Baalim should prepare a sacrifice, and he would do the same, and "put no fire under," "and call ye upon the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him he God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken." So the prophets of Baal prepared their sacrifice, "and called on the name of Baal from morning even unto noon saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered." "And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded."

Then Elijah called all the people unto him, and he "took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, . . . and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord." He then prepared his sacrifice, and three times he told the people to "fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood," and it was done. In his brief prayer he said, "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel. . . . Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God." "Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God."

WHOM SHALL WE SERVE

The question to be settled in Elijah's time was not a new one then, neither is it out of date to-day. From the time of the first solicitation to sin in the garden of Eden, until the end of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, the whole matter at issue is, Who is God? The inducement held out to depart from the commandment of the Lord in the first place was, "Ye shall be as God," and Satan has sought ever since to inspire man with a sense of his own superiority, to fill him with his own spirit of disloyalty and rebellion, and to prevent him from acknowledging God as the rightful King over all the earth and from yielding loving obedience to Him as such. Sometimes Satan has worked in one way and sometimes in another, but his purpose is always the same, to turn man away from the true God. In order that man should be able to make an intelligent choice and that he might be drawn to God by seeing Him as He is, the Lord has through a succession of faithful servants in every age revealed Himself to the people, as He did through the ministry of Elijah.

THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF ELIJAH

The Old Testament scriptures closed with this prophecy: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord," and this was fulfilled in John the Baptist, whose work was done "in the spirit arid power of Elijah," "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." But this work of preparing a people for the Lord's coming was not completed in the time of John the Baptist, and will not be completed until He shall "appear the second time without sin unto salvation." And as the fulfilment of the prophetic Word shows that "the great day of the Lord is near," so the Elijah message in all its old-time power ought to he given now: "If the Lord be God, follow Him."

HISTORY REPEATED

But the work of John the Baptist was also in direct fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. . . . Behold your God." Isa. xl. 3-9. And the demand for this special message grew out of the fact that in the multitude of forms and ceremonies, and through following the traditions of men, the true character of God was being altogether hidden or misrepresented, and that righteousness which is "conformity of the heart and life to the revealed will of God" was lightly esteemed. So complete was this departure from God in John's day, and so little was His true character known even by those who professed to be His chosen representatives, that when Jesus appeared among them "the image of the invisible God," they did not recognise Him, and John said, "There standeth one among you, whom ye know not. . . . Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." Prophecies were interpreted in harmony with their own ambitious desires for an earthly kingdom in which they should occupy the prominent places, and their religion degenerated into mere political scheming, a sort of "civic

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righteousness" or "Christian citizenship" affair, in which the Messiah could be made to serve their own selfish purposes. The leaders of the people, while professing to be loyal to the true God, had in reality gone after other gods just as surely as had king Ahab in the days of Elijah. And to them the message came: "Repent ye . . . And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father," "There cometh one mightier than I after me." "Behold the Lamb of God."

THE CLOSING CALL

It is one of the signs of the times that "in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, . . . having the form of godliness but denying the power thereof." 2 Tim. iii. 1-5. Forms and ceremonies, and "science falsely so called," have been substituted for that true knowledge of God through which grace and peace are multiplied, the traditions of men have been followed instead of the Word of the living God, and so now that message is demanded which says, "Fear God, and give glory to Him; . . . and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." The nothingness of man and the greatness of God, the inability of man to save himself and his consequent need of a mighty Saviour, man's weakness and God's power, "All flesh is grass," "Behold your God," this is the message which is now to go to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." And thus will the way of the Lord be prepared.

The lesson which was taught that day at Carmel is to be taught again "in the spirit and power of Elijah," and the soul-stirring inquiry which was then made is to be repeated, "How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him." And each one is answering the question by the choice which he is daily making, and soon the decree will go forth, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: . . . and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still." Oh, that every one would say in his heart and in his life, "The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God."

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

POWER AND WISDOM

Ps. lxli. 11: "God hath spoken once, twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God."

Matt. vi. 13: "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever."

Rom. xiii. 1: "There is no power but of God."

John xix. 11: "Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above."

Isa. xl. 15, 17: "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust in the balance: behold, He taketh up the Isles as a very little thing." "All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity."

1 Chron. xxix. 11, 12: "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as Head above all. Both riches and honour come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all; and Thine hand is power and might; and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all."

Isa. xl. 29: "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength."

1 Cor. i. 24: "Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God."

Col. ii. 2, 3: "Christ, In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

Isa. xl. 2: "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."

Jer. x. 10, 12: "The Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King." "He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion."

Matt. xxviii. 18: "Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth."

Rom. i. 30: "The invisible things of Him," "even His everlasting power and Divinity," "are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made."

2 Peter 1. 3: "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,"

Isa. liii. 11: "By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many: for He shall bear their iniquities."

Read these texts until you cannot possibly forget what they say. Take them just as they say, and do not imagine that they mean something else. If the Lord had meant something else, He would have said it, instead of saying what He did. He who "giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding," knows how to say what He means.

Know then, and understand, that there is absolutely no power in the universe, except the power of God.

Man has no power whatever in himself. Man is one of the things that God has made, and so the power that appears in him is the power of God, just the same as in the rest of creation.

Whatever power the faint receive, comes from God. It is His own power. God is the strength of His people. "The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation." Isa. xii. 2. Even the power that exalts itself against God, is God's power perverted. The kings of the earth and the rulers, with the people, moved by the devil, put Christ to death; but the power which they used so wickedly came from above.

Jesus Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Remember, He is the power and the wisdom. His Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, and of counsel and might.

The Lord made the heavens and the earth by His power and His wisdom.

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That is, He made all things by Jesus Christ.

Without Christ, the Divine Word, the Power of God, not one thing was made; and He still upholds all things by the Word of His power. Heb. i. 3.

Thus all the power in heaven and in earth is His. There is no manifestation of power, force, or energy, as men call it, in the universe, except the personal presence of the living Christ, by the Spirit of power.

His everlasting power and Divinity are seen in all things.

His Divine power has given us all that is necessary to enable us to live godly lives. That is to say, The power which is given us, to enable us to live godly lives, is the Divine energy that is manifested in all created things, whether in heaven or on earth. He who is the wisdom and the power of God, and who is revealed in all the things that are made, is "of God made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 Cor. i. 30. Thus all the power of God manifested in all creation, is available for our salvation.

It is by the power and wisdom that made the universe, that the Lord justifies us, because He who bears all things bears our iniquities.

This power that works in heaven and in earth, in every created thing, is the power that is given by the Holy Spirit to all who yield themselves absolutely to the Lord. This is the power with which He sends them forth to teach all nations His truth.

"That hand which bears creation up
Shall guard His children well."

"Power to Witness" The Present Truth 14, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

"Ye, shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be My witnesses . . . unto the uttermost part of the earth," said Christ. Acts i. 8.

In the same connection He also said, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore." Matt. xxviii. 18.

Take these tests in connection with Rom. i. 20, which tells us that this power is seen in everything that has been made,-in the blade of grass, and in the hosts of the heavens,-and see what encouragement it is for all men.

We learn the power by which God works to save us front sill. Every soul who is longing for deliverance may know that "the power that worketh in us" to save, wherever we really desire salvation, is the power that supports and holds together the universe. Then Iet no one say or think that God cannot save a sinner such as he is. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. There is encouragement also to witness to the power of this salvation; for the power that saves is the power by which witnesses are sent forth. Nothing less than all power in heaven and in earth can save a man from sin; so that whoever is saved has all that power with which to proclaim the Word of truth, the Gospel of our salvation.

Notice that what is needed, and all that is promised, for the proclamation of the Gospel, is power. The Lord does not promise eloquence nor learning, but power. Paul was not destitute of that which in the world passes for wisdom, yet he says, "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5.

It is power that tells. Not human power, but Divine power. "There is no power but of God," so that all attempts to make an impression are vain. "He whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God" (John iii. 34), and "the Word of God is quick, and powerful."

All therefore that is needed for the Gospel to go with power is to have a company of people fully yielded to God's power, that is, to His will, and saved by it. There need not necessarily be many. Twelve such men effected a mighty change in the world a few hundred years ago.

All are not apostles; all are not evangelists; all are not called to go as missionaries to other lands, or even to other neighbourhoods, than their own; but each one who is saved can witness to the power of Christ to save, with all the power by which he has been saved.

"God's Power in Man" The Present Truth 14, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

There is no power in the universe except the power of God. This is plainly taught in the Scriptures, and is so self-evident as to need no argument.

"How then is man responsible for his actions?" is the question that some will ask. "Why isn't he as irresponsible as the beasts, or the plants of the field?" To many who ask this question, it seems unanswerable; but really it is a very shallow question, and shows wonderful lack of thought.

It is really sufficient answer to the question, to say that God did not make man to be a beast nor a vegetable. To say that God ought to save a man regardless of his actions, since all the power that is in him is the power of God, and man is not responsible for his acts, is inconsistent, in that it demands that God shall treat us as both vegetables and men. God does not save the beasts nor the vegetables of the field. He who wishes to disclaim all responsibility for his own acts, ought not to expect that God do anything else with him than let him go to destruction, just as he does other things that are irresponsible.

But the plants of the field, and the beasts, although irresponsible, fulfil the object of their existence, in that they do not resist the will of the Lord, while man does not do this; and therefore he cannot possibly be treated as an irresponsible being.

It is God's power in man, and yet every man has perfect freedom. God made man in His own image, to be a companion for Himself; but a cowering slave could not be a companion for God. There must be no fear, no restraint, in perfect companionship. Now it is utterly impossible for any man to exist apart from the power of God. No man can keep himself alive. So God mercifully exercises His own power in man's behalf, and whoever loves life will yield to that power. And since God's power is infinite, it follows that whoever yields to that power has unlimited freedom of action. Only the one who tries to resist the power,-he who rejects it,-finds himself fettered and limited.

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God does not compel anybody to love Him. Rather, He does not try to it, since love cannot be forced. So if a person does not wish to love the Lord he need not; but all those who hate Him, love death (Prov. viii. 36), for He is the life.Thus everybody has before him the choice of life or death, and can have whichever he chooses. Surely that is fair. If man hates the life of God, if he refuses to yield to God's power, then he inevitably finds himself hampered and bound, because there is no power but of God, and he is shutting himself off from the source of supply. But if he yields to the power in its fulness, if he chooses life, then he is as free as God Himself, for the power which works in him unrestrained is the power that fills and upholds the universe. He can do whatever he pleases, and all that he does will prosper. Nowhere in the universe will such a man feel any restraint to his effort, for nowhere will he come to the limit of the power that works in him.

"Justified by Knowledge" The Present Truth 14, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

"By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities." Isa. liii. 11. What knowledge of us has the Lord, and how does He have it? Thus: "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." Heb. iv. 12, 13, R.V.

There is nothing that the Lord does not know about men; and He knows it not by hearsay, not as the result of inquiry, but from actual experience. The Word that creates and upholds is present in every being, for the Word is the life. In every fibre of the body, there is the Word of God present. He knows the sins, because He bears them. The knowledge by which He justifies, is the knowledge of experience: for He bears the iniquities.

In the Lord power and wisdom are combined. There is power intelligently directed. His power is His wisdom, and His wisdom is powerful. Thus it is that there is no such thing as chance in the world; force does not act at random, but since it is God's own power, it acts a cording to the wisdom of God.

By His wisdom God has established the world, and by His discretion He has stretched out the heavens. By His knowledge He justifies. Thus we see that the wisdom and power that saves us from sin is identical with that which created and upholds the universe. What chance then is there for anybody to say, "I am such a sinner, that it doesn't seem possible that the Lord can save me?" Is anything too hard for the Lord? No one need philosophise or draw conclusions; all we have to do is to recognise and admit a simple fact, namely, that the Lord is the Creator. Give to God the glory that is His due. Worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters, find you will never find any place for doubts as to the power of God to do whatever He pleases.

"For the Children. Thoughts for the Seaside" The Present Truth 14, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

"And God said, Let the waters under the heaven he gathered together unto one place." "And it was so." "And the gathering together of the waters called He seas." "He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap; He layeth up the depths in storehouses."

"Who shut up the sea with doors when it brake forth; when I established My decree upon it, and set bars and doors and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?" "He gave to the sea His decree that the waters should not pass His commandment."

He hath "placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it, and though the waters thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it."

"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life." "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly.And God blessed them and said, Be fruitful and multiply, and till the waters in the seas."

"O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Then made them all, the earth is full of Thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan whom Thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That Thou givest them they gather, Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good."

"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in the great waters, these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth and raiseth up the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to heaven, they go down again to the depths." "He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still."

"The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." "Thou rulest the raging of the sea; when the waves thereof arise, Thou stillest them."

D EAR C HILDREN :-

As the holiday season is here again, many of you are looking joyfully forward to your yearly visit to the seaside. Here you will see "the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep." No doubt the beach will be the most attractive place to you, where you will spend most of your time, digging in the sand and hunting for pretty shells and jelly fish and other such treasures with which to fill your little pails.

Perhaps you will notice what it is that makes the beach, that part of the shore that is washed by the sea. It is the Tide, which you may see all day either "coming in," or "going out." The beach is the, strip of land between high water and low

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water marks, so that when the tide is at its height the beach is quite covered with water. In some places where the shore slopes very gently, there is a very wide beach, and at high tide boats can sail where a short time before you have been able to walk. But where the coast is very steep and formed by high cliffs, there is no beach, but the tide only causes the water to rise and fall.

The tide comes in regularly every twelve hours. It is six hours coming in and six hours going out, but if you stay some little time at the seaside you will notice that it does not come in at exactly the same time every day. Yet we can always find out beforehand when it will be "high tide" and "low tide."

This is because there is a close connection between the tide and the movements of the sun, moon, and earth. At the times of the new and full moon the tide rises higher than usual; this is called the "spring-tide." The lowest tide, called the "neap-tide," is at the second and fourth quarters of the moon.

This earth, which seems to us so large, is but a tiny portion of God's great universe. And God Himself fills all the things that He has made. "Through all created things thrills one pulse of life from the great heart of God." There is one life in all things, the life of God, and this is why all move together in perfect harmony.

He who "appointed the moon for seasons," and makes the sun to know "his going down," has also given "to the waters His decree." We learned last week that it is the powerful word of God which does all His work. He says, "It shall accomplish that which I please." Jesus says that the Word is "Spirit and life." By filling all things with God's life, His living Word works His will in all His works.

So as you watch the constant movement of the waters, you call see the Word of God working, the "Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters," and keeping them in the place appointed by God, drawing them backwards and forwards according to His will.

The waters of the ocean are full of life. In the beginning God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life." This is why we find in the great and wide sea" "things creeping innumerable."

At low tide you will find on the beach different kinds of shell fish and other tiny living creatures which, by the going out of the tide; are left out of the water. Some of these could not live if they were kept out of the water or in the water all the time. But by the coming in and going out of the tide they are kept a part of the time in the water, and a part of the time out of the water.

In this we see how that in all His great works, our Creator is working for the good of the tiniest of His creatures. We were talking last week of how the Lord cares for each little child, and takes care of all the little boys and girls that He brings into the world. But this will teach us that "The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works." "Thou hast male heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in them, and Thou preservest them all."

"The Witness of the Heavens" The Present Truth 14, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

"The heavens declare the glory of God." In their ever-changing beauty, the sunny days and starry nights show forth "the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge." Nor does the firmament reveal Him only as a Being of infinite power, at the thought of whom the inhabitants of the earth should tremble. "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." "Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens." So morning by morning as we rise from our sleep, and behold the rays of the sun once more, its beams bring the glad message that "the mercy of the Lord endureth" still.

What a blessed thought with which to begin the day! That which smites upon our eyelids in the summer mornings and gently calls us from slumber is the greeting of the heavens, bidding us be of good cheer, whatever the day may bring, for since God's mercy is over us still, "as thy days so shall thy strength be." "His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness."

If we be conscious of unworthiness, of sinful deeds and stubborn hearts, still the sun shines even to us, and thereby we learn that the mercy and faithfulness which the heavens reveal, are not yet worn out for us. "He is kind unto the unthankful." "He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good," and therein, Christ taught, He loves them that hate Him.

Nor when the sun gets on the horizon, may we think that the powers of darkness prevail, and the evidence of His faithfulness grows dim. Throughout the twenty-four hours He leaves not Himself without witness. To those who fear that their way is hid from the Lord, and that His watch-care is withdrawn, He says, "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."

As far as the lights of heaven shine, so far goes the message of God's mercy. As unsearchable as the expanse of heaven is the length and breadth and height and depth of His infinite love; and as free as is the vision of God's glory to the eyes of men, is the free gift of the righteousness, which is the glory of God, unto all and upon all them that believe.

"Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and stars for a light by night. . . . if those ordinances depart from before Me, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever." "If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done." "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."

Those who have believed God's promise and trust Him for salvation, need never fear that He will suffer His faithfulness to fail, nor alter the thing that is gone out of His lips, so long as they can see the sun and moon in the heavens; for, "His seed shall endure for ever, and His throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established for ever as the moon." Then so long as men have reason to think that the morning will bring them the sunlight, and night be made beautiful with stars, they have no less reason to be confident that He whom they have believed, will keep that which they have committed unto Him.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

"God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." 1 John i. 5.

"All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. iii. 23. Sin is therefore the absence of glory; it is darkness.

Thus we see that the glory of God is His righteousness. He is righteousness; that is His being. But He is light. The glory that shines from Him is the shining out of His character. He is light, and the light that shines from Him is the light of His life.

"Christ is the image of the invisible God" (Col. i. 15), the brightness, the effulgence, the shining forth of His glory. Heb. i. 3.

"The Lord God is a sun and shield." Ps. lxxxiv. 11. Christ is the shining of God's glory, which is His righteousness, so that He is "the Sun of righteousness." Mal. iv. 2.

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John viii. 13. After stating at one time that He is the light of the world, He showed the reality of it by giving sight to a man born blind. John ix. Jesus is the light of the world, by which men see to go about.

The Lord is upright; "He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." Ps. xcii. 15. Thus it is that He is the Sun of righteousness, for He is the light of the world. The light, therefore, which shines upon this earth is the righteousness of God in Christ.

"The heavens declare the glory of God." Ps. xix. 1. He has set His glory upon the heavens. Ps. viii. 1, R.V. The sun but transmits to us the light that emanates from "the eternal Father." But that light is God's own character, His own personality. Therefore the sun brings to us the righteousness of God.

The true light is that which "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John i. 9. The sun lights and warms the whole earth. "His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." Ps. xix. 6-8. Thus we see that the law of God, the living righteousness of God, has been and is given to every man on earth. "The grace of God that bringeth salvation bath appeared to all men."

What then shall we do? Take the light as God's own gift, His own life, and rejoice in it. "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son uleaneeth us from all sin." 1 John i. 7. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Prov. iii. 6. Acknowledge God in the light, which shines constantly, and God will make you righteous. He will shine righteousness into your hearts. Oh, what a glorious thing light is! "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."

The Echo says that a union between the British Empire and the States "would be strong enough to impose peace upon the world." The States are just now engaged in "imposing peace" on Spain. War is the only way the world has of imposing "peace." When therefore Great Britain and the United States unite in imposing peace on the rest of the world, the result will be worldwide war.That will be the only result of the much-talked-of alliance. It will be the last great revolution or overturning of history, and will end in the taking of the reins of the government of this earth by Him "whose right it is" (Eze. xxi. 37), who makes peace because "He is our peace."

It is noted as an exhibition of the finest and of the worst traits of the English character, that a young man employed in the ship yard where the terrible calamity took place at the launching of the Albion, promptly dived into the water, and swam to the rescue, and in seven journeys succeeded in bringing seven persons ashore; but while he was thus engaged some one stole his watch find clothes, and made off with them. We need not, however, set this last thin- down as peculiarly English; it was a manifestation of human nature, such as is found all over the world. And as to the first man, who risked his life to save others, since every good thing is from above, we may recognise; in his action the prompting of the Divine nature,-the working of Him who came "seeking to save," and who "gave Himself a ransom for many."

"'Divine Service'" The Present Truth 14, 27.

E. J. Waggoner

In the Court notices in one of the papers a few days ago, where some Court function was described, it was stated that "Divine service was afterward performed in the private chapel."

It is to be feared that this language but too literally expresses what actually took place, and what many services in churches and chapels are, namely, a performance. Ceremonies performed, and forms gone through constitute too much of what is called Divine service. Prayers are "said," and the exercises are gone through with after a fixed programme, very much in the same way as would be the case with a concert. This is the case not only with those whose service follows a fixed ritual, but all others are prone to fall into ruts, and the repetition of cant phrases which either have no meaning, or else are gone over without thought.

But what a sad commentary it is on the extent to which real service of God has been crowded out, that by "Divine service" is generally understood nothing but stated exercises in a church building! That may be Divine service, or it may not be; but the whole life of the worshipper is that which determines the fact. Divine service is the service of the daily life. The house servants who labour "in singleness of heart, fearing God," doing all things heartily, "as to the Lord, and not unto men," knowing that they "serve the Lord Christ" (Col. iii. 22-24), are doing, not performing, the true Divine service.

This is not a disparagement of "the assembling of yourselves together;" that is necessary; but let us beware of narrowing our ideas of Divine service down to mere going to meeting, to singing hymns, and saying prayers. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise."

July 14, 1898

"'Come!'" The Present Truth 14, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Who says it?

"The Spirit and the Bride Say, Come!" To whom do they say it?

"Let him that is athirst come." How many may come?

"Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. xxii. 17. May the poor come as well as the rich? "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Isa. Iv. 1.

Who has this water of life to offer so freely?

"Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." John vii. 37.

But is there not danger that the supply will be exhausted?

"How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God I therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures. For with Thee is the fountain of life." Isa. xxxvi. 7-9. God is "the Fountain of living waters." Jer. ii. 13. What will those receive, who listen to this gracious invitation?

"Incline your ear and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live." Isa. Iv. 3.

What kind of existence is it that He gives those who come? is it a life of toil and drudgery?

"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 week and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Matt. xi. 28-29.

Do you say that you do not know where to find the Lord?

"He is not far from every one of us." Acts xvii. 27. "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord?" Jer. xxiii. 1.

Are you so weak that you have not strength to come? That is tell right, see what power there is in the word, "Come."

The disciples of Jesus were on the stormy sea, in a boat, tossed by the waves, when Jesus appeared to them, walking on the water. Peter said, "Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water. And He said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus."Matt. xiv. 28, 29.

Thus we see that there is power in the word "Come," which Jesus utters, to bring anyone to Him who yields to the word, and trusts it. It matters not whether it be on the water, or through the air; the word "Come" has the power to carry.

With what power does this gracious invitation of Christ draw those who listen and yield to it?

"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. 3.

"Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." 1 Peter iii. 18.

"Now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Eph. ii. 13.

Has the Lord given its any visible, tangible evidence of His power to draw and to hold?

"He, draweth up the drops of water, which distil in rain front His vapour; which the skies pour down, and drop upon men abundantly." Job xxxvi. 27, 28, R.V. He "hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand," "He taketh up the isles as a very little thing." Isa. xl. 12, 15.

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Rom. v. 1, 3.

"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels." "Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. xvi. 27; xxv. 31.

If we listen now to His voice, saying, "Come," and become acquainted with it,

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and love it, when lie comes in His glory, and says, "Come," we shall be "caught up" "to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 17.

The power by which our bodies will at that time be changed, and we be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, is the same power that now works to charge us from sin to righteousness. Will you not yield to it?

"O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Elijah's Flight and Encouragement. 1 Kings xix. 1-6" The Present Truth 14, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

JULY 24

In Elijah's conduct, after the triumph on Mount Carmel, is seen the manifestation of human weakness. He who had boldly faced an apostate nation, the wrath of the king and the malice of the priests of Baal, now flees for his life before the anger of Jezebel. God had vindicated His own name in sending fire from heaven, and Elijah, as His faithful servant, had shared the glory which thereby came upon the worship of Jehovah. Israel, at his command, had risen against their false prophets and slain them all; yet to Elijah it seems that the cause is lost, evil had, triumphed, and death would be a welcome end.

In past lessons we have traced slightly the parallel between Elijah's times and these. To-day a message is due, given in the spirit and power of Elijah, calling men to forsake Baal and return to the worship of the true God. Still, as then, God uses men as His instruments, and now, as ever, men are but dust. Circumstances are before us which will try us to the utmost, and will, unless we profit by the Scriptures which are written for our learning, desolate our souls and wring from us Elijah's cry, "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life."

How then shall those who fear God, and serve Him, declare His message fearlessly as did Elijah, and yet escape the bitterness of his despair?

A SOURCE OF FAILURE

Does not his self-accusing plaint, "for I am not better than my fathers," suggest the cause of his sudden weakness? It seems so difficult for men to allow God to work through them without taking to themselves some credit for the power manifested. Those who feel their utter need of all things, and in whose weakness the strength of God is made perfect, are yet tempted, when a great work is done, to forget that all they have contributed to it was nothing and less than nothing; for "verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity." Ps. xxxix. 5. So they flatter themselves that they must be better than their fathers. The awakening from this delusion is a painful experience, but an absolutely necessary one. Together with the "spirit and power of Elijah" must go the spirit displayed in John the Baptist, to whom was committed the same work, "He must increase, but I must decrease." John iii. 30. So shall we be saved from painful and humiliating falls, and our continued usefulness be secured.

The food given to Elijah, by which he was sustained for forty days and forty nights on his journey to Horeb, showed that the strength in which he was to go was in no wise dependent upon himself, and its apparent insufficiency for so long a period might have prepared him for the lesson given at Horeb, that the power of God is not qualified or limited by outward appearances.

THE STILL, SMALL VOICE

At last Elijah reached the mount of God; "and he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?"

"And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away."

Surely it was a doleful state of things, and Elijah's words seem to imply that God might have bettered it if He would. Elijah had been very jealous for God, yet God had allowed Elijah's life to be threatened and endangered in His service. When he was gone the last worshipper of God would have perished; so far had matters drifted.

Then Elijah was told to stand on the mount before the Lord. He did so, and as a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces, he fully expected to hear the message of Jehovah, delivered in tones of rolling thunder. "But the Lord was not in the wind." And now followed the crashing of an earthquake, and again, the hot fierce blast of a devouring tire, but in neither of these was the Lord revealed. Then in the quietness and calm that followed the passing of the fire was heard a still, small voice. And Elijah wrapped his face in his mantle and listened. Again the same question as before was asked, and again he made the same reply. After telling Elijah to anoint fresh kings over Israel and Syria, and Eliaha to be prophet in his own room, the still, small voice went on to say, "Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him."

STRENGTH MADE PERFECT

What a glorious word was that; well worth coming the long journey to hear. Seven thousand faithful souls! And Elijah thought there was but one discouraged witness, and they sought his life. So God had been working after all, and had not left the whole burden on Elijah's shoulders. Who would have thought it? No one had talked of great demonstrations of Divine power, creating excitement and swaying multitudes with mysterious, force. What had done the work? The still, small voice. Yet what infinite power there had been in the voice.

The message of the everlasting Gospel is to go to the world in these days with a loud cry, and those who hear it are to lift up the voice with strength; but it will not always be with the outward demonstration that suggests earthquake and roaring fire. When the Saviour of the world lay, wrapped in swaddling clothes, in a manger, when He toiled at the carpenter's bench, and above all, when He was nailed to the cross between thieves, forsaken of all men, "His visage marred more than any man," so far from being the Power and Wisdom of God, He seemed "a worm and no man; a reproach of men; and despised of the people." "All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn." Ps. xxii. 6, 7. Yet in it all, He was declared to he the Son of God,

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with power, because "the weakness of God is stronger than men."

Just as Christ prayed, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" so the people of God in the last days mourn and lament that "The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." But since Christ, for us, passed through that experience, we need never feel forsake n. He says to us, "Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands." Isa. xlix. 16.

ANOTHER PARALLEL

When the message of the Gospel, given in the power of Elijah, brings the messengers face to face with the wrath of the dragon, and the powers of this world, the temptation of Elijah will come to us to make us feel that evil has triumphed, we alone are left to serve God, and they seek our lives to take them away. "Like as a woman with child, so have we been in Thy sight, O Lord. We have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen." Isa. xxvi. 17, 18. Then will the Lord comfort us, as He did Elijah with the news of the seven thousand.

"Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together and come to thee." "Behold, these shall come from far: and lo these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim."

"Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?" Isa. xlix.

The Lord answers this question by telling of His own working, and adds, "And thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for Me." His strength is made perfect in weakness, but we so soon get tired of weakness. Christ was always dependent upon His Father for words and works, and even for will.

POWER IN GENTLENESS

He spake with a still, small voice, but the power of God was in the voice. The power of God is very gentle. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians that "our Gospel came to you in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." Yet he says, "We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children."

The remembrance of the gentleness of God's power will keep us from discouragement if we do not see the kind of power manifested that seems to our minds necessary for the furtherance of the Gospel, and the lament of Elijah, that we are no better than our fathers, and that it can profit the world nothing for us to live on any longer, will never rise to the lips of those who remember that God hath chosen "the base things of the world, and things which are despised, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in His presence."

"The Power that Saves" The Present Truth 14, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

"And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought Him to come into his house; for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.

"And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent her living upon physicians, and could not be healed of any, came behind Him, and touched the border of His garment: and immediately the issue of her blood staunched. And Jesus said, Who is it that touched Me? And when all denied, Peter said, and they that were with Him, Master, the multitudes press Thee and crush Thee. But Jesus said, Some one did touch Me: for I perceived that power had gone forth from Me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before Him declared in the presence of all the people for what cause she touched Him, and how she was healed immediately, And He said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." Luke viii. 41-48, R.V.

Here we have another of the miracles of Jesus, which are written that we might know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, we might have life through His name. Most striking is this miracle adapted to the purpose for which it is designed; for nothing could more clearly illustrate the truth that we receive life and salvation from Christ through faith in Him.

Consider the facts in the case. For twelve years the woman had been suffering, and steadily growing worse. Physicians could do her no good, and she had no more money to spend on them, even if they could. She was dying in misery, without help or hope of help.

She was indeed dying, for loss of blood means loss of life. "The blood is the life." Deut. xii. 23. This is a well-known and universally recognised fact. To shed blood means everywhere to take life. Therefore, when we read that the woman had been losing blood for twelve years, and that the loss was increasing, we know that her life was gradually and surely vanishing away.

But the great Physician came her way, and she had confidence in Him; "for she said within herself, If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole." Matt. ix. 21. She touched Him, and immediately she was made whole; that is, all her lack was supplied; the loss was made good. What did she lack? What was she losing?-Blood, life. Therefore in that she was made whole, it is evident that what she received was life-new blood. This is the simple fact. As surely as the miracle was performed, so surely did the woman in that instant receive life; yes, she actually

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received fresh blood; for she was made whole, and her lack was blood. How was it done?-Jesus tells us all that we can know about it, saying, "I perceived that power had gone forth from me." From this we see that when Jesus supplied new life to the suffering, it came directly from Himself. In Luke vi. 19 we read that "all the multitude sought to touch Him: for power came forth from Him, and healed them all." In this verse, as in chapter viii. 46, the Authorised Version has "virtue," where the Revised Version gives us the word "power." "Power" is the better word, for the Greek word is the same word that we have Anglicised as dynamite. The power that works in all things, and that upholds all things, is the life of God; so the power that went forth from Jesus and healed the woman, as well as the multitudes, was life; and this we have already seen from the fact that Jesus supplied what she lacked, namely, life. Jesus went about doing good because God was with Him (Acts x. 38), and with God is "the fountain of life." Ps. xxxvi. 9. The characteristic of a fountain is that although you continually draw from it, it always has just as much to give; so although Jesus was continually bestowing life,-it was flowing from Him to others,-the supply did not diminish, because He had the fountain in Him. He is "the Author of life." Acts iii. 15, margin.

THE TOUCH OF FAITH

Jesus said to the woman, "Thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." In the margin of the Revised Version we have "saved," in the place of "made whole;" and this is the better reading. The words in the Greek are identical with those spoken to the sinful woman, who also touched Jesus, and who received forgiveness of sins. Luke vii. 37-50. Jesus said to her, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." Here, therefore, we have a practical illustration of the statement that, "the just shall live by faith" (Rom. i. 17), together with the statement concerning Jesus, that "we shall be saved by His life." Rom. v. 10. The woman was saved by the life of Christ, which she received through her faith in Him; by faith she received life front Him, so that she could truly say in the most literal sense, "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.

From the case before us, we see that these expressions are not mere forms of speech, but the statement of actual fact, We really receive life from the Lord. Whether we believe it and acknowledge it or not, it is true that our life comes from the Lord; for it was to the heathen that the apostle Paul spoke the words, "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 28. But there is a difference in the manner of our contact with the Lord. The multitudes pressed upon the Lord as He was on the way to the house of Jairus, but only one touched Him in faith, and thus received new life. So all the multitudes of earth are in personal contact with Christ, whether they will or not, for only in Him can they have life; but when our touch is the touch of faith,-when we acknowledge Him in all our ways (Prov. iii. 6),-then we experience His life as the power that saves.

A BLESSED REALITY

There was no imagination in the case of the poor woman who was healed by the touch of faith. There are imaginary diseases; but when the life-blood is surely ebbing away, the weakness that results is not a fancied one. No imagination is powerful enough to give strength to one who is in such a condition. But the woman was made perfectly well and strong, and this now strength was no more imaginary than was her previous weakness. That which was done for her was as real as though a physician had performed the operation of transfusion of blood from a healthy person. Life is indeed real; and when Jesus tells us that He gives us His life, we may be sure that the gift is not an empty name.

How real and how precious this miracle makes the words over which so many are offended; namely, "without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb. ix. 32. The blood is the life; the shedding of blood is the giving of life; we have no life in ourselves, but are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. ii. 1), because sin carries death with it (Rom. v. 12; James i. 15); the taking away of sin is therefore simply salvation from death; but those who are dead cannot live unless they receive new life, which must come from outside of themselves; and this life Jesus in His love freely supplies.

A DIFFERENT LIFE

Everybody is familiar with the expressed resolve to "live a different life," the different life to be of course a better one. But how few realise that that better life must indeed he "a different life." The life that they have been living is a life of sin. The life itself is sin. With that life they can do nothing else than sin, for it must be evident to every one who stops to think, that a person call live no life except that which he has, and that if he lives a different life, he must receive another life. This new life is just what we get by faith in Jesus, and the miracle which we are considering was done and recorded in order that we might see the reality of the transaction. It is something on which to build faith. Shall we not then, like the poor woman, "feel after" the Lord? If we reach out the hand in faith, we shall certainly find Him, for "He is not far from every one of us." "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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom. x. 8-10.

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

POWER AND MERCY

Psalm cxi. 2-4: "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; the Lord is gracious and full of compassion."

Ps. xxxvi. 5: "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds."

Ps. Ixii. 11, 12: "God hath spoken once; twice have I heord this: that power belongeth unto God. Also unto Thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy."

Ps. cxix. 64: "The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy; teach me Thy statutes."

Ps. xxxii. 10: "He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about."

Lam. iii. 22, 23: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassion fail not. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness."

Col. i. 17: Christ "is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

Ps. cxxx. 7, 8: "Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities."

Eph. ii. 4-6: "God, being rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, quickened us together with Christ (by grace have ye beau saved), and raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus."

Isa. xl. 26: "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."

Ps. xcv. 4: "In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is His also."

Isa. xl. 27-31: "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, fly 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. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but 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; and they shall walk, and not faint."

If you cannot at first see the things that here follow, in the texts just quoted, read the texts until you can. Take the truth direct from the Scriptures themselves.

Note that the Lord makes His grace and fulness of compassion known by making His wonderful works to be remembered. That is, His wonderful works reveal His graciousness and compassion.

Power and mercy are combined. Both belong to God, and cannot be separated. Just as all the things that are made reveal the power of God, so all of God's works show His mercy. His power is merciful, and His mercy is powerful.

God's mercy is everywhere, in the heavens and in the earth. The earth is full of it. It is not merely on the earth, but it is in it. All the power that is seen in the things that God has made, is His mercy in action.

It is by the mercy of the Lord that we live. It is His mercy- that keeps us alive. Lam. iii. 22. Thus we see that mercy is power, for it is His power that keeps us.

It is in Christ that everything holds together. That is, "cohesion," which is but another term for "holding together," is God personally working to uphold all things. If matter did not hold together, we should have no place to stand on, and we ourselves would have no existence. So since it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, we see that cohesion is simply a manifestation of the mercy of the Lord. Cohesion is Christ, the power of God, working in nature. It is the word of His power upholding all things.

Think of the marvellous force that holds the mighty rocks in huge masses. What infinite energy is constantly working in every particle of matter in the universe, in order that there may be form and solidity. Can you fail to see the hand of God in it?

Men tell us that this force is "cohesion." Now "cohesion" simply means "sticking together." Therefore when they tell us that particles of matter, atoms, are held together by cohesion, it is the same as though they told us that matter is held together by holding together. "Cohesion" simply describes what is done, but does not tell what does the thing. The Bible tells what does it. It is Christ the power of God.

Thus it is that God shows us His power to save. He saves us by His mercy, in which He is rich. With Him there is plenteous redemption. How much?-As much as there is force in the universe. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; all the force, even to the very centre of the earth, is the working of the Lord's own hand. What has the Lord said of the safety of His sheep in His hand?

But God's mercy is in the heavens as well as in the earth. "Lift up your eyes on high," and see the stars. It is His power, His mercy, that keeps them in their places. His own hand guides them in their orbits. Because He is strong in power, not one is lacking. It is God's powerful mercy that, prevents them coming in collision. Or falling upon this earth and crushing it. What is the force that operates between the heavenly bodies? Men call it "gravitation;" the Bible tells us that it is God's own power, that is, it is the working of the "Saviour which is Christ the Lord." If the words "cohesion" and "gravitation" hide the personal presence of the Lord, don't use them. In any case, don't say that cohesion, gravitation, chemical affinity, etc., do certain things. Don't think that the thing done is the One who does it. Don't forget that God's everlasting power and Divinity are revealed in the things that are made.

Does not this help you to grasp the reality of the power that is put forth to save us? The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. So in everything that God has made we may see the Gospel, if we do not close our eyes in unbelief. Not only in every living thing, but in every rock, and in every grain of sand, as well as in the sun, moon, and stars, God shows us the power that redeems those who trust Him,-the power of the life of Christ, the power of the cross. How can men who live on the solid earth, and who even dare trust that the unstable water will hold

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together sufficiently to bear them up, refuse to trust the Lord, whose all-pervading presence makes it possible for them to live at all?

"'Great Things'" The Present Truth 14, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious."

"For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is His also." Ps. xcv. 3, 4.

"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable." Ps. cxlv. 3.

"For Thou art great, and doest wondrous things; Thou art God alone." Ps. lxxxvi. 10.

"Great things doeth He, which we cannot comprehend." Job. xxxvii. 5.

"Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous thing." Ps. lxxii. 18.

Not only is it God alone who does great things, but He does nothing else but great things. He is a great God, and He does great things. The least thing that He does is great. The smallest flower, the tiniest and most slender blade of grass is the product of power greater than that possessed by all nation; and kings on earth. Nothing less than infinite power could make it; but there is no power greater than infinite power; therefore in the smallest thing, that God has made,-a blade of grass, a grain of sand, yea, even a single atom,-the everlasting power and Divinity of God are displayed as really as in the sun, moon and stars.

"The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and merciful in all His works." Ps. cxlv. 17, margin. This is the rendering given in the text of several versions. Now since all the works of the Lord are merciful, and He does only great works, it follows that His mercy is as great as His works. His works are done in mercy; but they are the product of infinite power; so the mercy of the Lord is equal to His power, and identical with it.

Therefore "according to the height of the heaven above the earth, so great is His mercy." Ps. ciii. 11, margin. Literally, "so mighty is His mercy." Remember now that it was "not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy He saved us." Titus iii. 5. The power of this mercy to save us, is the power that is revealed in the whole universe.

What comfort, then, there is for us in reading that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before prepared, that we should walk in them." Phil. ii. 10. Or that "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Phil. ii. 13. We know that His great mercy will do great things, not simply for us, but in us.

Yea, He will enlarge us also. "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty;" "in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all." 1 Chron. xxix. 11, 12. "It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect." "Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation; and Thy right hand hath holden me up, and Thy gentleness hath made me great." Ps. xviii. 32, 35.

All this is the mercy of the Lord. "God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us made us alive together with Christ (by grace are ye saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Eph. ii. 4-6. It is by the mercy of God that we are raised up with Christ, and made to sit in the heavenly places with Him, for His mercy is great above the heavens; but in the raising of Christ from the dead, and setting Him "at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion," God showed "the working of His mighty power." Eph. i. 19-21. So again we see that the power of God is His mercy. All creation proclaims the power of God, and therefore the mercy by which He saves us from our sins.

It is wonderful indeed; so great is the field into which the Lord brings us, that it seems as though we were in a dream; nevertheless it is true, and our mouth may be filled with laughter and our tongue with singing, and we can say, "The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."

"O come to the Father
Through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory;
Great things He hath done."

"The New Western Empire" The Present Truth 14, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

The recent American victories have given enormous impetus to the popular demand that the United States shall abandon its old traditions and embark upon an era of territorial conquest and imperialism. Newspapers, clergy, and politicians seem almost unanimous in urging this course upon the States, but there are a few who see in it disaster for the Republic. Apart from the unrighteousness of war, and its condemnation by true Christianity, they know from history that warring nations, even when prosperous, cannot escape the evils of military domination, or the oft verified forecast of the fate of those who take the sword.

A correspondent of the Chronicle who claims to be intimately acquainted with American politics and history, points out some of the natural consequences which may be expected to follow the new departure. We give a portion of his letter.

"What will be the result of this 'new imperialism,' if approved by the American people? The United States will be converted from a democratic Republic to a great centralised imperialism, following in the path to ruin of all the old rotten empires whose wrecks strew the path of human history. Instead of peace there will be war, for the other Powers of the world will no more admit American than they will British pretensions of supremacy. They will arm, and arm, and arm, and they will compel America to arm. The base of American life will thus be changed. The swollen pension system, instead of being reduced, will be increased until half the citizens of the United States will be living on the other half. Huge armies and navies will arise, involving crushing taxation levied on a people who, having to meet the competition of both the Eastern and Western world, will find their scale of living pared down. Since it is utterly impossible that the mass of voters can control the doings of officials in countries thousands of miles over-sea, it is certain that

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officialism would increase to such a point that every Republican principle would be crushed. Doubtless there might be more matters of 'interest' in Washington. A cyclone is interesting, an earthquake is interesting to the survivors; but to wise men the calm, peaceful evolution of a self-contained Republic whom no enemy will attack, and which can, therefore, avoid the curse of militarism, is a far more interesting subject of contemplation."

"For the Children. Our Teacher" The Present Truth 14, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Adam, the son of God, was put by his Father into this earth, which was to be not only his home, but also the school in which he was to be educated for the service of God. But he had no books from which to study like those we use in our schools to-day.

Yet he had a wonderful library written for him and for his family by God Himself. All that men need to learn is to know God, and all that can be known of God is clearly seen in the things that He has made. Read Rom. i. 19, 20.

So God did not give them a lot of books to teach them about His works, but He wanted them to study the works themselves, that they might teach them to know God. On everything that men could see, in every living thing that He had put into the earth, some message from God was written.

The Spirit of God, which we learned last week "fills all things," was teaching them in each thing some precious lesson of God's power. Man could not of himself read what God had written, but the same Spirit which dwelt in all God's works filled him also, to teach him just what these lessons were. The work of this great Teacher was to teach men to read what God had written for them in all His works.

The patriarch Job, who lived very early in the history of this world, said, "Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall toll thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these, that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?"

But by degrees, as through sin men departed from God, they lost the Spirit of God out of their hearts, and soon forgot how to read what God was saying to them in all creation. They did not know Jesus Christ, who, we are told in the book of Revelation, is "the Alpha and Omega," that means the alphabet of God.

You know that the first thing in learning to read is to know the alphabet, the A B C. So the Holy Spirit, whom God has appointed for man's Teacher, moved upon men who had not departed from God and forgotten Him, to write the Holy Scriptures. "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," to bring men again to the knowledge of Jesus, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," so that they might again be able to see God in His works, and read His lessons there.

Many try to read God's book of Nature before they have learned the alphabet, Jesus Christ; but this is as foolish and useless as for a child to try to read before he knows the A B C. All that he could do would be to guess at the meaning of what he saw. So God says of those who did this that "they became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."

But when we take the Word of God for our guide in all our study of "the wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge," the Holy Spirit will unfold to us the precious lessons that the Creator is teaching us in everything that He has made. This will make us truly "wise unto salvation."

When Jesus, the great Creator of all things, Himself became a little human child, He took the Word of God for His text book, and with the Holy Spirit for His Teacher, He carefully studied the lessons that He Himself had written in all the earth for the children of men. And you will remember that when He was only twelve years old, the great teachers of Israel, "and all that heard Him, were astonished at His understanding." When He became a man, and taught the people that which He had learned of God in this way, they said, "Whence hath this man this wisdom?"

"Every child may gain knowledge as Jesus did, from the works of Nature, and the pages of God's Holy Word." He has given His Holy Spirit to abide with us and teach us "all things." He says, "Call upon Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."

Then let each little child take Him at His word, and like Jesus learn early to talk with God. Ask Him to make you pure in heart, so that you may see God, and to open your ears that they may be

"Alive and quick to hear
Each whisper of His Word."

Then as you learn more and more to know His voice and behold His glory, like Jesus you will be able to "speak the things that you have seen and heard," and so bring light and salvation to others by bringing them also to the knowledge of God.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

-A terrific tornado is reported from New Hampshire, you as a which did immense damage to property and cause great loss of life.

-Earthquake shocks have being felt in Dalmatia, seven townships been seriously damaged and a number of deaths having been caused.

-The German emperor recently issued an order that no sermon preached before him by a chaplain must exceed fifteen minutes in delivery.

-The sweepings of the Mint for a year and seven months yielded gold valued at ?467. The mint may profit on the silver bullion purchased for coinage last year of ?399,670.

-Severe fighting has recently taken place at Santiago, both the American and Spanish forces having thousands of killed and wounded. Admiral Cervera's fleet was completely destroyed in an attempt to escape.

-Three of the leading London breweries are amalgamating with a capital of ?15,000,000. The vast mass of this sum should be an object lesson to the poor who contribute so largely to the fortunes made out of beer.

-Three Italian school-teachers recently applied for work as public chimney-sweeps in a Swiss village just over the line. The places they sought paid only about ?32 a year, but that was more than they got in Italy as teachers.

-The Bulgarian Government have devised a scheme for increasing the population. For every son born after a certain number in the family the State will pay the father nearly ?1 a month, and the mother also receives a consideration.

-The Tramway Department of the city of Glasgow has had a very successful year. The aim is to make the system as cheap as possible to the public, and the average fare paid is only three farthings, but the gross profits exceed ?100,000.

-Something new in street lamps has just been completed in London. By inserting a coin in a slot a person may have a quart of boiling water, or a cup of coffee, cocoa, or beef-tea. If the idea succeeds it will be put into operation in many other places.

-The vine at Hampton Court Palace, after two centuries, is beginning to show signs of decay. This year it has been found necessary to remove 2,000 of the 3,200 bunches of grapes, the vine not having sufficient strength to bring so many to maturity.

-The working power of steam-driven machinery employed in Great Britain is estimated to be equal to that of a thousand million of men. In all the world, less than half of that number, counting both sexes, are employed in productive industry, so that steam is doing more work in England alone than is being done by all mankind.

-A Cheltenham family of seven, in poor circumstances, showed marked symptoms of poisoning after freely partaking of meat for supper a few days ago. The youngest child died, and others were removed to a local hospital, where they lie in a precarious condition. The meat had been previously noticed to be tainted.

-A new uses been discovered for slag which has hitherto been regarded as one of the waste products of iron smelting. Combined with coke it can be made to produce ethylene gas which is said to be a more brilliant illuminant than acetylene and fifty per cent. cheaper. The utilisation of the slag will also reduce the cost of pig iron.

-A remarkable strike is reported from Chicago. The stereotypers to work on the daily papers are dissatisfied with their wages of $3.25, about 13s. 6d. per day of eight hours, and have struck for $4, or 16s. 6d. for a day of seven hours, and 75 cents over time. As a result, none of the morning papers printed in English appeared last Saturday.

-A negro postmaster at Pickens, Mississippi, a village where there are about 130 white and 410 coloured residents, was forced to resign by the white population, who declared, in a letter to the Post master-General, that no negro could serve them. To teach them a lesson, the local post-office was abolished, and now the inhabitants have to go eight or nine miles to get their letters.

-In a seventy mile walking match in Berlin, among twenty-two starters eight were vegetarians, and the distance had to be covered within hours. The first six to arrive at the goal were vegetarians call all in splendid condition. Not till an hour after the last vegetarian had arrived did the first meat-eater appear, and he was completely exhausted. All the others had dropped off after thirty-five miles.

-A machine has just been invented for making flower pots, which will turn out sixteen pots per minute, as against the one that can be made by the aid of a wheel, and the result is said to be much superior to the hand-made article. That there is room for this new invention may be seen from the fact that the output of flower pots in the United Kingdom is stated to be not less than five hundred millions annually.

-A writer in "Scribners," describing life in the Philippines says that taxation there is absurdly excessive. There is a head tax, a tax for the privilege of doing business, a tax on every tree that is felled, to say nothing of petty fines which fill the pockets of the officials. In the year ending in 1896, the collector of customs at Manila collected 82,000 dollars in these petty fines, all of which legally became his personal property.

-A terrible disaster has occurred in the Atlantic. The French liner La Bourgogne was sunk by a collision with a sailing vessel off the coast of Newfoundland. A dense fog prevailed at the time. Of the passengers and crew, over 500 were drowned. Terrible scenes were enacted on board the sinking vessel. In the mad struggle for the boats the crew drove the passengers back with oars and boat-hooks. On the water fighting continued, and many persons were thrust off the boats and rafts while trying to save themselves.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John i. 1.

"And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." 1 Peter i. 35. Therefore whoever receives the Word of the Gospel receives God. When the Word of God dwells in any man's heart, God Himself abides there.

"If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John xiv. 33. This is not a fanciful thing, but a fact. The Word which, when received, brings God into the life, is "alive and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight. But all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Heb. iv. 12, 13.

Can the Word, that is, God, do no more for us than reveal our defects when we receive it? "Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you." John xv. 3. "Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Eph. v. 27.

Some will perhaps say with Solomon, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee." 1 Kings viii. 27. To many it seems incredible that God should in very truth have His abode with those who hear His voice." Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: where is the house that ye build unto Me? and where is the place of My rest? for all those things hath Mine, hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My Word." Isa. lxvi. 1, 2.

God does not count Himself honoured when the wealthy and the powerful espouse His cause, trusting in their riches and power, for it is "not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Zech. iv. 6. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. The humblest, feeblest, basest of mankind, may receive that Word, and manifest in their lives "that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." 1 John iv. 2. "The vilest offender who truly believes" receives power to become the son of God, and "whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected." 1 John ii. 5. The "base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, that no flesh should glory in His presence." 1 Cor. i. 28, 29.

"For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of men as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falloth away: but the Word of the Lord eudureth for over." 1 Peter i. 24, 25. "Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." Isa. lvii. 15.

Thus it is evident that to receive the Word of God means the accomplishment in us of all that God desires to see. The perfect life of Christ was the Word made flesh; and whoever receives the Word will find that it is a Word of power, able to build us up, and to give us an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. Acts xx. 32. "Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth." John xvii. 17. "This is the work of God that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent" (John vi. 29); "and His name is called, The Word of God." Rev. xix. 13.

The question is often raised, "If God be so full of love and mercy as you say, why does He permit men to be mowed down like grass by murderous weapons." God has no pleasure in the death of men, but He has given man the choice between life and death. The choice is offered to all, and men will often choose deliberately the way of death. Then when they find it a painful and disagreeable portion, they rail at God because He permits evil to come upon them. The wise thing to do then is to acknowledge that they made a foolish choice and turn from their evil way, and take life instead of death. To those who find that they have been spending their money for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not, the Lord calls, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Isa. Iv. 7.

Satan has largely succeeded in getting men to lay upon God the blame for his own work of destruction. They accuse God of doing nothing to prevent evil, when He might stop it. "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not," and instead of recognising the infinite love of God in all His dealings with men, they impute to Him the attributes of Satan. God"s character is on trial before the universe. If it shall appear that anyone has lost eternal life on account of God"s negligence, indifference, or lack of provision, it will make Him responsible for the loss of that soul, and He would then be the criminal. But when the secret things are made manifest, and the hidden things are brought to light, it will be made clear that God did everything that infinite love and wisdom could do, consistently with man's right of free choice, to turn men back from the paths of destruction, and no man's blood can be charged to Him. All will acknowledge that "Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee, for Thy judgments fire wade manifest." Rev. xv. 3, 4.

Men will know then that they sold themselves to Satan to work his hellish will, lured by his lying promises of earthly gain and honour. Iniquity will appear in its true light, and Satan will be seen by all as the loathsome, degraded thing he is. "They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, 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?" "Thou hast destroyed thy land and slain thy people." "He who smote the people in Israel with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet, they break forth into singing." Isa. xiv.

"Power unto Salvation" The Present Truth 14, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

"I am not ashamed of the Gospel of I Christ." There is no reason why any man should be ashamed of the Gospel, nevertheless many men have been and are ashamed of it. Many people are so ashamed of it that they could not think of lowering themselves so much as to make a profession of it; and many who do make a profession of it are ashamed to let it be known. What is the cause of all this ashamed?-It is that they do not know what the Gospel is. No man who really knows what the Gospel is, will be ashamed of it, or of any part of it.

DESIRE FOR POWER

There is nothing that men need and desire so much as power. It is a desire that God Himself has planted in man. Unfortunately the devil has deceived the most of mankind, so that they seek for power in the wrong way. They think that it can be found in the possession of wealth or political position, and so they rush to secure those things. But these do not supply the power for which God has created the desire. This is shown by the fact that they do not satisfy. No man was ever yet satisfied with the power that he obtained by wealth or position. However much they have, they desire more. No man finds in them just what he thought he would; and so he grasps after more, thinking that he will find his heart's desire farther on; but all in vain. Christ is "the Desire of all nations" (Haggai ii. 7), the only Source of complete satisfaction, because He is the embodiment of all the real power there is in the universe-the power of God. "Christ, the power of God." 1 Cor. i. 34.

POWER AND KNOWLEDGE

It is commonly said that knowledge is power. That depends. If we take the statement of the poet, that "The proper study of mankind is man," then certainly knowledge is anything but power. Man is nothing but weakness and sin. All men know that they are sinners, that they do things that are not right, but that knowledge gives them no power to change their course. You may tell a man all his faults, and if you tell him nothing more, you have weakened rather than strengthened him. But he who with the Apostle Paul determines to know nothing "save Jesus Christ and Him crucified," has knowledge that is power. "For this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." John xvii. 3. To know Christ is to know the power of His endless life. It is for lack of this knowledge that men are destroyed. Hosea iv. 6. But since Christ is the power of God, it is quite correct to say that power is the one thing that men need; and the only real power, the power of God, is revealed in the Gospel.

THE GLORY OF POWER

All men honour power. Wherever power is manifested, there will always be found men to admire. There is no one who does not admire and applaud power in some form. Powerful muscles are admired and boasted of, whether they be those of man or of beast. A mighty engine that moves vast weights with case always attracts attention, and men honour the one who constructed it. The man of wealth, whose money can command the service of thousands, always has admirers, no matter bow his money is obtained. The man of noble birth and position, or the monarch of a great nation, has multitudes of followers who applaud his power. Men desire to be connected with such an one, because they derive a certain dignity from the connection, although the power is not transferable. But all the power of earth is frail and but for a moment, while the power of God is eternal. The Gospel is this power, and if men would but recognise it for what it is, there would be none who would be ashamed of it. Paul said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Gal. vi. 14. The reason for this was that the cross is the power of God. 1 Cor. i. 18. The power of God, in whatever form manifested, is glory, and therefore it is a thing for glory, and not for shame.

CHRIST NOT ASHAMED

Concerning Christ we read, "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. "God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He bath prepared for them a city." Heb. xi. 16. Surely if the Lord is not ashamed to be called the brother of poor, weak, sinful mortals, man has no reason to be ashamed of Him. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!" 1 John iii. 1. Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ! Could there possibly be a worse case of the exaltation of self above God! For to be ashamed

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of the Gospel of Christ, which is the power of God, is an evidence that the man who feels thus ashamed really thinks himself superior to God, and that it is a lowering of his dignity to be associated with the Lord.

"Ashamed of Jesus I just as soon
Let midnight be ashamed of noon;
'Twas midnight with my soul till He,
Bright Morning Star, bade darkness flee."

SAVED BY FAITH

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Eph. ii. 8. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Mark xvi. 16. "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. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Rom. x. 10. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John vi. 39. Faith works. Time would fail to tell of those "who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, . . . out of weakness were made strong," etc. Heb. xi. 33, 34. Men may say, "I cannot see how it is possible for one to be made righteous simply by believing." It makes no difference what you can see; you are not saved by sight, but by faith. You do not need to see how it is done, because it is the Lord who does the work of saving. Christ dwells in the heart by faith (Eph. iii. 17), and because He is our righteousness, "He also is become my salvation." Isa. xii. 2.

July 21, 1898

"Fruit Bearing" The Present Truth 14, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

What gives the strawberries and the cherries their colour and flavour? Whence do the flowers derive their beauty?

We see a score of different fruits and flowers growing in the same soil, within a very small space, all receiving the same amount of attention, the same amount of moisture, and the same sunshine; yet all differ in appearance and taste, and each one is perfect after its kind. What is the source of this variety and perfection?

The Scriptures give the answer: "God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth: And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed, after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind. And God saw that it was good." Gen. i. 11, 12. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: . . . Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God so clothe the grass of the field, shall He not much more clothe you?" Matt. vi. 28-30.

Thus we see that the fitness and beauty of the plants of the earth are the product of the Word of life. That life is infinite, so that it can present itself in an infinite variety of forms, each one perfect after its kind.

The same Word that made the plants of the field, each after its kind, made man after his kind. Each plant was made to bear its own particular kind of fruit, and the fruit which man was made to bear, is righteousness. Jesus said: "I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go forth and bear much fruit, and that your fruit should remain." "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye should bear much fruit." John xv. 16, 8. "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."

How is this fruit-the fruit of righteousness-to be brought forth? This is really the same question as the one at the beginning, and the answer is the same, for we have read: "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 will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth in the sight of all the nations." Isa. Ixi. 11. "Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit." lsa. xxvii. 6.

There is therefore no more ground for doubting the possibility of God's working righteousness in man, than the possibility of His creating flavour, strength and beauty, in the plants of the field. Of this latter we have positive evidence. We see it. We do not know how it is done; that is God's business; but we know the fact. He who works perfection in the one will do so in the other, if the same submission be present.

The true nature of man is the Divine nature. Christ is the representative Man. It is God who makes man's way perfect, for His way is perfect. Whatsoever He does is good. Let Him have His own way, and we shall be likewise good. If man would but accept the

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truth that "all flesh is grass," and would be content to be grass, their ways would be as perfect as was all creation in the beginning. "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us."

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Naboth's Vineyard. 1 Kings xxi. 4-16" The Present Truth 14, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

JULY 31

Among the kings of Israel "there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." Verse 25. God had commanded Israel that they should not make marriages with the people of heathen nations, because these would turn them away from following Him awl beguile them into the worship of false gods, but "Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians." Chap. xvi. 30, 31.

It seemed a grievous sin, even in so depraved a nature as Ahab's, but it brought its own punishment. God had said that if Israel would join themselves to idolatrous nations and make marriages with them, "they shall he snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land." Josh. xxiii. 13.

A PRESENT DANGER

The same warning is given now. "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" 2 Cor. vi. 14-18.

It is true that Ahab was not himself faithfully serving God, but, for this reason, it was all the more dangerous for him to become allied with a woman whose influence would certainly tend to still further separate him from the Lord. Many who have not fully surrendered themselves to God, though knowing His will, excuse their intention of joining themselves to unbelievers by saying that these are as good as themselves. While this may be true the terrible danger of their course is none the less real. In a little while the glamour of romance will have worn away, the novelty of a new experience will cease to excite the mind, for no human love can satisfy the soul's deep need. There will be an intense desire for the pure, sweet, lasting comfort that Christ alone can give. Then too late comes the bitter awakening to the fact that that which was intended to be a temple for the living God has been surrendered to idols. To be faithful to God means then a lifelong struggle against opposing, ever-present influences, and many give up in discouragement.

EVIL INFLUENCES

Since the time dealt with in our last lesson, God had given Ahab two wonderful deliverances from the hand of Benhadad, king of Syria. The Syrian army, although greatly out-numbering Israel, had been totally destroyed and Benhadad forced to sue for his life, which Ahab had weakly spared. There is evidence in Ahab's history that he was not altogether indifferent to the word of the Lord and that, at least once, he showed real contrition for his wrong-doing. Without Jezebel he might have left undone some of the crimes which have stained the record of his reign, but he was "stirred up" by the wicked ingenuity of his abandoned wife. He had heavily handicapped himself by his union with her, and he had to suffer the consequences,

NABOTH'S INTEGRITY

Close by Ahab's palace in Jezreel was a garden of herbs owned by Naboth. Some plan of the king's for the improvement of his property made it seem desirable that this garden should be added to his grounds, and he approached Naboth with a proposition for its purchase or exhange. Naboth, unlike his corrupt neighbours, respected the commandment of the Lord, which had forbidden any man to permanently dispose of his inheritance, and firmly declined to entertain the king's suggestion.

Baulked in this pet project, Ahab went home like a spoiled, peevish child, and fretted because he could not have his own way. "And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread." Jezebel found him thus, giving rein to his ill-humour, and drew from him the story of his complaint. She laughed to scorn his dejection over the repulse of a rebellious subject and promised that she would give him the vineyard herself. Doubtless in Zidon, where she came from, they had a short way of dealing with men like Naboth, who presumed to set themselves against the wishes of a king.

FALSELY CONDEMNED

Her plans were soon executed, and found only too ready agents in the men of Naboth's city. These at her instigation brought false charges against him, and with deep-dyed hypocrisy condemned him to death on a charge; of blaspheming God. "Then they carried him forth and stoned him with stones that he died." His sons also were slain. 2 Kings ix. 26.

The report was carried to Jezebel that Naboth had been removed, and she in turn conveyed it to Ahab, bidding him "Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive but dead."

In the first blush of pleasure Ahab sets out to examine his new possession. He must have at least guessed that it had come to him by unjust means, but in the gratifying reflection that he could now carry out his plans unhindered, he gives himself no trouble as to how the transfer has been accomplished.

THE WAGES OF SIN

But who is this menacing figure that stands before him in the garden? The sight of the man of God recalls the long story of his past misdoing, the thirsty years of famine, the scene on Mount Carmel, the fire from heaven and the slaughter of the priests of Baal, his own hopeless struggle against the power of God, his recent crime, the very place in which he stood testifying to his guilt and crying, like the blood of Abel for vengeance on a murderer; all crowds upon his guilty conscience and fills him with a dire foreboding of well-earned retribution. Before Elijah has spoken, the cowering king confesses his self-condemnation in the words, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy!"

Sharp and clear, like all Elijah's words, comes the sentence, "Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood." "The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel." Here, on the scene of their latest crimes the punishment is to come. The

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vineyard of Naboth is not taken from Ahab. He may take what pleasure he will in it now.

Jezebel was a heathen who professed no allegiance to God, but this in no wise exonerated her from the duty of rendering obedience to His law, or exempted her from the penalty of transgressing it. Men think that God has no claims upon them except such as they choose to acknowledge, but "what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Rom. iii. 19. Jezebel and Ahab thought to secure for themselves desired advantages by their sin, but in their case, as in all others, the only wages received for sin is death.

REAPING CORRUPTION

Satan makes many things appear, in the eyes of men, of priceless value, if they be forbidden by the law of God, but when men have gained the thing desired, often at the cost of their own soul, they realise for how little they have sold themselves. Like Cain, men become filled with a thirst for revenge that will not be satisfied without destroying the offending life, but when the desire is gratified, the cold, impassive face of the dead turns the short-lived triumph into an abiding curse, heavier than they can bear. Amnon so greatly desired Tamar that he became sick with longing, but when he had satisfied his lust, he "hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her." The soul of Judas was consumed with a passion for gain, but when be received the thirty pieces of silver, which had outweighed in his estimation the sacred claims of friendship and honour, there was no sacrifice he would not have made to cancel the fatal bargain. It was not silver that he had won, but the unblest end of a despairing suicide, the abhorrence of a universe.

GRACE ABOUNDING

The history of Ahab teaches that the way of the transgressor is hard, that it may be made even harder by marriage with one who will confirm evil tendencies, that Satan's promises to those whom he deceives are never fulfilled, and we may also learn from Ahab's life that "the mercy of the Lord endureth for ever," for even after Naboth's murder, because Ahab humbled himself before God, the threatened evil did not come in his days. Surely "there is forgiveness with Thee that Thou mayest be feared." Ps. cxxx. 4.

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

THE SPIRIT'S WORK

Gen. i. 2: "The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

Ps. cxxxix. 7-10: "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."

John xiv. 16-18: "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless [or orphans]; I will come to you."

John xvi. 18, 11: "When He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself. . . . He shall glorify He; for He shall receive of Thine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine; therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you."

Rom. viii. 10: "The Spirit is life because of righteousness."

John vi. 63: "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; . . . the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life."

Eph. iii. 14-16: "I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family In heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might, by His Spirit In the inner man."

Matt. xxviii. 18, 19: "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore."

Acts i. 8: "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be My witnesses."

1 Cor. xii. 4-11: "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God who worketh all in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal. For to one is given through the Spirit, the word of wisdom; and to another, the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; . . . but all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally as He will."

The word "moved," in Gen. i. 2, is from a Hebrew word signifying "to cherish one's young, to brood or hover over, as the eagle its young." It occurs in Deut. xxxii. 11. The Syriac equivalent, which is far more common, "is used of birds which brood over their young; of a mother cherishing her infant; of Elisha cherishing the dead body of the child; also of a voice descending from heaven, and hovering in the air; also to pity."-Gesenius' Hebrew and English Lexicon.

There is no spot in the universe where the Holy Spirit of God is not. Read this in the second text quoted in this lesson.

Read the texts that tell plainly that the Holy Spirit is the direct Representative, the personal Presence of God, both Father and Son. So God is present in every place by His Spirit. "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." Jer. xxiii. 21. This is the Scripture teaching as to the "Real Presence."

The word "hell," in Isa. cxxxix. 8, which occurs so often in the Bible, is really the same as our common word "hole." Both are from one and the same Anglo-Saxon word. The Hebrew word from which it is translated is often rendered "grave," or "pit." It signifies, as will readily be seen, the portion of the earth under the surface, the hidden, secret part. So we learn from the test that there is no place, even in the inner part of the very earth itself, where the Spirit of God is not. "In His hand are the deep places of the earth."

When God strengthens one with might, it is by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the

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power of God. We have already learned that Christ is "the power of God," and this lesson tells its that the Spirit takes the things of Christ, and shows them to us.

So it is that "the invisible things" of God, "even His everlasting power and Divinity," which "are clearly seen" in "the things that are made," become plain to us by the working of the Spirit. He shows Christ, "the power of God" to us in the things that are made.

The Spirit is everywhere, in heaven and in the lowest and most remote parts of the earth, always the same Divine power. He is Christ's Representative, simply revealing Christ's power. Thus we see that in the most literal sense "all power" "in heaven and in earth" is given unto Christ, "the Author of eternal salvation." Remember that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes.

A man can do a great many different kinds of work with the same strength. The same steam power can be applied in a great variety of ways. The power that pushes, can also pull. The same power that lifts up, can also cast down. So "there are diversities of workings, but the same God who worketh all in all." This that is said of the power that works in the church, is as true of the power that appears in creation, since the power that is revealed in the things that are made, is the power by which God saves those who believe. All the power, or force, as it is usually termed, that is seen in matter whether in earth or heaven, is but the working of the one Spirit of God.

Men have changed the truth of God into a lie. Rom. i. 35. Instead of recognising God in His works, they said that the works themselves were God. So they "worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator." Not only so, but the ancients, in their limited idea of God, thinking that He could do but one thing, made every different work, and every different manifestation of energy, a different god. They had a god of the heavens, and a god of the earth; a god of the winds, and a god of the waves; gods for trees, and gods working different things in men; but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him." 1 Cor. viii. 6.

The foolishness of the men of old who could not see the power of the one God in all things that exist, is perpetuated unto this very day, by the men of earth who profess to be wise. Every distinct manifestation of energy is regarded as a different power or force, and to each one a different name has been given, as gravitation, cohesion, chemical affinity, electricity, etc. Men will tell us that such and such a thing is accomplished by the power of gravitation, and another thing by electric force, and another by chemical affinity, as though there were so many different gods working. It is as though they should say that it requires a different power to plough the ground from what it does to sow the grain, and that a still different power is needed to reap it, and another to thresh it, and still another to Iift the bags of grain into a cart. But we all know that one man, with the strength that is given him, can do all these things. Even so one God by one Spirit shows His power in an infinite variety of ways in all creation.

The Spirit of God hovered or brooded over the face of the waters in the beginning, and brought order out of chaos. Matter was thus as it were impregnated with force, because the same Spirit of power still works in it. The so-called different forces, cohesion, gravitation, etc., are not different forces, but different manifestations of the one Spirit's power, working to preserve the earth, and make it a safe dwelling place for men.

The Word of the Lord is Spirit and life. So the power of the Spirit in all creation is the power of the Word that upholds all things. God's Word is not a dead letter, but a living Spirit.

Recall the last lesson, in which we found that power is mercy. The power of God, which is seen in all creation, is the mercy by which He saves us through "the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly." Titus iii. 5. Recall also the fact that the word rendered "moved," which describes what the Spirit of God did to the unformed earth, has also the idea of "to pity." Thus we may know that God, in filling the earth with His power, has filled it with His tender love and pity for mankind. The whole earth is full of His mercy. Ps. cxix. 61. The power by which the earth holds together,-the force that is seen in all created things, whether in heaven or in earth,-is the power by which the Lord protects His people, when He gathers them as a her gathers her chickens under her wings. Matt. xxiii. 37. "How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings." Ps. xxxvi. 7. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." "He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust." Ps. xci. 1, 4. How true it is, that God has stretched out His hand, and caused "all the ends of the earth" to see His salvation.

"When all Thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I'm lost
In wonder, love, and praise."

"'Receive Ye the Holy Ghost'" The Present Truth 14, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

The necessity of obeying this injunction is shown by this statement: "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Rom. viii. 9. The possession of the Spirit of God is not something that is optional with the Christian. Many seem to think that the receiving of the Spirit merely marks a higher state of Christian experience,-one which is very desirable, but yet not absolutely essential. They talk much about the "higher Christian life," as though there were two kinds of Christian life, one all ordinary, everyday life, and the other special and extraordinary, marked by being filled with the Spirit.

All this is most erroneous and misleading. The people who talk so much about the "higher Christian life," are good, and sincere, and well-meaning, but they nevertheless do a great deal of harm, by giving

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their hearers and readers a false idea of Christianity. By talking about the "higher Christian life," they convey the idea that there are two kinds of Christian life,-a high and a low life. It is in reality the Roman Catholic distinction of "saints" and ordinary Christians. The lower life is supposed to be good enough for all ordinary purposes, and sufficient for salvation, while the other is thought to be for people who are devoted to great deeds, and who live outside of the reach of the petty trials that fall to the lot of common people.

THE SPIRIT FOR ALL

Now when we read that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His, we see that any teaching that tends to make anybody satisfied without the full possession of the Spirit of God, and that makes people think that any life is Christian that is not the very highest, is contributing to their destruction.

"But where is the Spirit? and where shall I go, and what shall I do to receive it?" These are important questions, and most easily answered. Let us take them one at a time.

"Where is the Spirit?" Rather ask, Where is He not? "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. Instead of being difficult to find the Spirit of God, there is on the contrary no place where one can escape His presence.

ALL POWER IN HEAVEN AND EARTH

The Holy Spirit is Christ's Representative. John xiv. 16-18. It is by the Spirit that Christ dwells in the hearts of His people. Christ is the power of God, and this power is seen in everything that is made; so that every manifestation of what men call "natural force," is but the working of the Spirit of God. In the heaven and in the earth, even to its very depths, the Holy Spirit is working to hold all things in the shape which was given them when in the beginning He brooded over them. There is no power but the power of God, who giveth power to the faint, and increaseth strength to them that have no might; and it is by the Spirit that God strengthens with might (Eph. iii. 16); therefore we see that the Holy Spirit of God is the source of all strength. The moving of the Spirit is what makes it possible for men to move.

THE MEASURE OF THE GIFT

Thus we see that the Spirit of God has been working in the earth, and in men, from the very beginning. There is not a man on the earth, with whom the Spirit has not striven. And as Christ died for all, when He ascended on high He poured out the Spirit on all flesh. How much, if any, difference there is between this manifestation of the Spirit and that which existed from the beginning, we cannot know; but one thing we may be assured of, and that is that the receiving of the Holy Spirit in fullest measure is the privilege of every person on the earth. Moreover, it one really "receives" the Spirit, he must receive the fulness of the Spirit, "for God giveth not the Spirit by measure." John iii. 34.

NOT MANIFEST IN ALL

Some one will perhaps say, "If this is so, then there is no need of answering the question as to how we are to receive the Spirit, since it seems that every one is in possession of it already, and therefore everybody must be saved." Not quite so fast. It is true that the Spirit has been poured out on all flesh, but it does not follow that everybody has received Him. The fact that the Spirit is obliged to "strive" with men, shows that He is not received. The trouble is that men resist, instead of receiving. Only those who absolutely yield to the power that works in all created things, even in men, "receive" the Holy Ghost.

"They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength." There is no strength but from the Lord, and they that wait on Him receive fresh supplies of it continually. It is the power of an endless life, that is for ever young. Waiting on the Lord, therefore, is the essential for receiving the Spirit, and the consequent power; for power comes with the reception of the Holy Ghost. Acts i. 8.

"WAITING"

What is this waiting on the Lord? It is very simple. It is the constant actual acknowledgement that we are dependent on Him for everything, and that He alone is our rightful Ruler. It is to acknowledge in a practical manner that we belong absolutely to the Lord, to be used by Him according to His will. And it is to do this constantly. It is complete submission to Him. It is the attitude of waiting on Him, waiting for Him to speak to us, or to take us in hand to use us, and yielding absolutely to Him when He does proceed to use us. It is to have no will of our own, but to accept His will.

Do you say that this is too hard a requirement? that it is too difficult a thing to do? Why should it be so difficult? It requires no strength whatever. The Lord knows that we have no strength, and His way provides for such a case, by giving us His strength. All that is required of us is to let go, and rest. It is to be still, and know that the Lord is God. It is quite true that such self effacement does not suit proud human nature, but it is evident that there can be nothing easier, if there be the willingness, since all that is involved is the letting go and holding still.

How much power will be imparted to the one who receives the Spirit? All power. This is the privilege of every person, and is at the demand of every believer. Nothing less will do for anybody. The Christian life is a new creation, and nothing but God's everlasting power can create. Infinite power is required for the creation of the smallest particle of matter, and nothing less than just that power is revealed in the smallest thing that God has made, and no greater power is required for the creation of the universe. So we see that the power which God gives by the Holy Ghost is for all circumstances, great as well as small. There are not two Gods, neither are there two powers. As God is one, so is His power one, and undivided. The same power that performs mighty miracles is the power that is required to enable a man to "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being faithful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." Col. i. 10.

NOT FOR SELF-EXALTATION

It is a great mistake to suppose that being filled with the Holy Ghost necessarily makes one a wonder-worker. God is meek and lowly in heart, and therefore the possession of His Spirit makes one the farthest possible from being inclined to "show off." John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from birth, yet he never did any miracles. Jesus was also filled with the Spirit, yet there was nothing about Him that distinguished Him from other men, except to those who had spiritual discernment. It is true that mighty works did show themselves in Him, yet He was known among men as the carpenter of Nazareth.

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Jesus was as full of the Spirit when He worked at the carpenter's bench, as when He preached the Gospel. He was no less full of the Spirit when He sat weary and hungry and thirsty on Jacob's well, than when He taught the multitudes on the mount. In the wilderness, tempted of the devil, He possessed the same fulness of the Spirit that He did on the stormy sea of Galilee. The same fulness of the Spirit was required to enable Him to answer questions correctly, or not to answer at all; to take the little children kindly in His arms and bless them; to feed the multitudes; to wash the feet of His disciples; to talk with Nicodemus; or to raise Lazarus from the dead.

Love vaunteth not itself. Therefore the possession of the Spirit, whose first-fruit is love, does not lead one to esteem himself different from other men, or apart from them. The one who is filled with the Spirit is the same in all respects as other men, except that he is constantly possessed with a consciousness of utter helplessness. He knows that he has no strength, and that therefore as the power that is given him is not his own, he has no right to attempt to use it for his own purposes. And since it is not possible for a mere man to do the works of God, he is in a constant state of passive submission to the will of God, that He may work in him both to will and to do of His good pleasure. That which the inanimate creation does unconsciously and involuntarily, he does consciously and voluntarily.

"IT IS GOD THAT WORKETH"

Then whether God chooses to do what men would call little things through him or great things, it is all the same to him. To be used as the instrument of a small work, overlooked or even despised by men, does not depress him, nor does it elate him to be used as the instrument of what men call something great, and which they would naturally applaud. When one is so well acquainted with the Lord that he can recognise the greatness of God's power in the least things, then God can use him in the performance of what men call great things; and yet he may never be used in that kind of service. If he is so used, however, he takes it just as much a matter of course in the line of God's working, as he does what men call the ordinary things of life. This is not because he has any lack of appreciation, but just the contrary, He lives in constant recognition of God's infinite power in all the details of life, and gives Him all the glory; and he can do no more. He has constant appreciation of God's power, and since he knows that it takes the same power to do the small things as the great, he praises God just as much for the one as for the other.

THE FREE SPIRIT

This is the lesson which all nature teaches us. Much more might be said, and the subject can never be exhausted, but this is certainly sufficient to show that the reception of the Spirit of God is not an indifferent matter. No one can be a true Christian without receiving the Spirit, and no one can really "receive" the Spirit, without being filled with it, since God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Spirit is as free as the air. Give the air all opportunity, and it will rush in; yield to the Spirit, and He will take possession. And there is no such thing as yielding by degrees, since resistance is resistance, be it never so feeble; so that receiving means absolute submission. Therefore he who "receives" the Holy Ghost must necessarily be filled with the Spirit. Only so can he live the true Christian life.

Do not make the mistake of saying that you have yielded to the Spirit, and that therefore all that you do must necessarily be the Spirit's working. In other words, let us beware of mistaking our own spirit for the Spirit of God. The man who is filled with the Spirit will make no parade of his goodness. He will make no claim for himself. Love vaunteth not herself. His religion will not be in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

There is no limit to the possibilities before the one who is yielded to and possessed by the Spirit for the Spirit of God is "the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." Isa. xi. 2. Yet the possessor, conscious that he has this treasure in an earthen vessel, will be humble, giving glory to God. A vessel?-Yes, he himself is only a "vessel," a means of conveying the Spirit to others: for "he that believeth, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

"OBEYING THE TRUTH THROUGH THE SPIRIT"

How to receive the Spirit? Study the story of creation, not simply that which is recorded in the first chapter of Genesis, but that which is written on the earth, the sea, and the sky, and you will know. Then when you say to the messenger of God, bringing God's word, no matter what it is, "Behold the servant of the Lord; be it unto me as Thou wilt," the Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you, and all that comes from you will be holy.

"For the Children. The Spirit of Life" The Present Truth 14, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

"Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth." We have been thinking lately a great deal of the Creator of the heavens and the earth, "the sea and all that in them is," but most important of all is it to remember that "it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people.

Let us find out first of all just what He made us for. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"

You will remember that when God made Adam, when the temple of his body was complete, "He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." That which God breathed into him to give him life, was the air, which man has gone on breathing ever since. So this is the life-giving Spirit of God.

Each little new-born baby when it comes into the world, is a temple or house, formed by God for Himself to dwell in. Then God breathes the air into its nostrils, the breath which gives it life. The Spirit of God which fills all the things that He has made, rushes in and takes possession of the new house, and the child becomes a temple of God with the Spirit of God dwelling in him.

Did you think your body was a house for you to live in? Oh, no; God made you from the dust of the ground, to be a house for Him to live in. That was what He reminded Adam when Satan tempted him to think that the forbidden tree would make him so wise that he could do without God living in him: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." When the breath, which is the Spirit of God, is taken away, "then shall the dust return to the earth as it was."

Now you will see that we have no life ourselves, but "we live, and move, and have our being," because He who is "the Life" dwells within us. When Jesus lived on earth, a temple for the Spirit of God, He said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing."

What? Can we really do nothing of ourselves? you ask. Can we not see, and hear, and speak, and move, and think, of ourselves? Just think for a moment what it is that does all these things. Is it your eyes that see, your ears that hear, and your brain that thinks? If so, why cannot one think and see and hear after the breath has left the body, and he is dead, so long as he has eyes and ears and brain? Adam had a perfect body when he was first formed, but not until God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life could he think or speak or see or hear.

Then what is it really that does all these things?-It is the Spirit of God, which is our life, and truly we can of our own selves do nothing. It is by the power of His life in us that we see and hear, and by the same power that we speak and think and move. "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." "And there are differences of workings, but the same God which worketh all in all."

All the members of our bodies are formed for the use of the Spirit of God, as a means by which He may enter into us and use us. Through our nostrils and our lungs He breathes His life into us, and all our senses are a way for God to give Himself to us.

He comes in at our eyes in all the beautiful things that we see around us, that reflect His beauty to us. In all sweet sounds, in the songs of the birds, the music of the sea, the mighty peal of the thunder, and in His Holy Word, He enters at our ears into His own temple.

And then, if we will let Him, He uses our tongues, our hands, our feet, and all our members to do His holy will, and through us gives Himself to others.

Take my life, let it be
Consecrated Lord to Thee.
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, ALL for Thee.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

It is generally expected that the surrender of Santiago will bring to an end the war between Spain and America. It has been made very evident in the progress of the struggle that issues of world-wide importance have been raised, and one most probable result will be that the United States and many of the nations of Europe will devote more energy and money than ever to the perfecting of their military and naval armaments.

God calls His people also to arm themselves. The envy and warlike spirit of the nations is but the outcome and manifestation of the working in men's hearts of him who was a murderer from the beginning. So long as men forget the fact that it is Satan who is working all the evil and the world, so long will they make the mistake of thinking that they must wrestle with flesh and blood if they would bring about a better state of things. Men will go to war with a feeling that they are embarking upon some righteous crusade, will work far more evil than the wrong they are attacking, will kill thousands and fill whole nations with the spirit of murder; and when one side has to retire through exhaustion, the first cause of all the evil, Satan, is untouched, with his influence and dominion over men greatly strengthen, and ready to start the whole thing over again on the first opportunity.

This explains why it is that after thousands of years of fighting, nearly always in a "good cause," there is more wrong and oppression in the world than ever, and, it seems to men, more need of fighting than there ever was before. The most hopeless feature is that professing Christians are joining with the children of darkness in their view of the efficacy and necessity of war, and are sometimes even found leading the outcry for the slaughter of their offending fellow-men.

Let no one be deceived on this point, but let all who would gladly see an improvement, ceased trying to make the symptoms disappear and begin to treat the disease itself. Satan is the enemy and the proper object of attack, and he must be met in his own entrenchments. "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hands, even of your lusts that war in your members?" James iv. 1. What prospect is there of success in an attempt to reduce his fortifications and dislodge the enemy? "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but might be through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God." 2 Cor. x. 3, 5.

"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day." Eph. vi. 11-18.

The nations are all convinced that the force possessing the most powerful weapons and the strongest armour will be victorious. Let the Christian be as wise in his generation, and not go out to battle with imperfect defence. Whoever shall put on the armour of God may shout, Victory! as he goes forth, and never be in a moment's doubt as to his ultimate and continual triumph, for the "shield of faith" is able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, "and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 1 John v. 3. "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." Rom. xvi. 20.

At a recent meeting of the London Baptist Association a paper was read on the Sunday and its invasion by present-day amusements. The means by which its sanctity was to be maintained were said to be legal action, moral persuasion and spiritual influence. In the discussion which followed, a number of ministers spoke from various standpoints, and one, Boulder than the rest, claim to found on the teaching of the New Testament a strict view of the holiness of Sunday. It was resolved that he should write a paper for the next meeting on "The New Testament Teaching on the Observance of the Lord's Day," meaning Sunday. He will find much in the New Testament concerning the vanity of teaching for doctor and the commandments of men, but any attempt to produce scriptural support for the observance of Sunday will only tend to still further confusion in the minds of the London Baptist Association. God's Word is clear enough regarding the Sabbath when man ceased trying to make it fit a day that it never refers to as the Sabbath.

Is war murder? Most people would answer, No. If it be not, then why is it that in the reports of battles we continually read of the "murderous fire" and the "merciless hail of bullets" that met one side or the other. And if it be murder, can Christians engage in it, and retain their Christianity?

Or, suppose we do not call it murder, for man have a dislike to that word; it sounds worse than "kill," and we will use the supposedly milder word instead. No one can deny that war means killing. Now the commandment says, "Thou shall not kill." It is certain that war cannot be carried on without ignoring this commandment. But the power that presumes to set aside this or any other commandment, sets itself above God; and whoever obeys the command to go to war, recognises another God before the Giver of the ten commandments. That is heathenism. War, then, is an act of heathenism. Can a Christian act like a heathen and still be a Christian? What think ye?

"Tent Meetings" The Present Truth 14, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Beginning with July 29, a ten days' meeting will be held at Bath for the study of the Scriptures. The meetings will be held in a large tent, which will be pitched on the Beechen Cliff Estate, Bloomfield, near the Holloway Post Office. There will be two or three services every day, beginning on the evening of the 30th inst., and closing on Sunday, August 7. If any of our readers would like to attend the meetings the whole or a part of the time, they will be heartily welcome. The study will be along the same lines as are continually presented in this paper,-the reception of the power and wisdom of God in Christ crucified, as a preparation to meet Him at His soon appearing. As God opens His Word to our understanding we find great joy and peace in believing, and we look for much blessing at the forthcoming meetings. If any are taking their holidays at that time and seeking rest and recreation, we invite them to join us and find both in receiving the Word of God.

July 28, 1898

"The Light of Life" The Present Truth 14, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." 1 John i. 1.

All the light that men have is the life of God. "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." God's life shines. "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." 1 John i. 3. "God hath shined in our hearts to give the light." 1 Cor. iv. 6.

Men, unconsciously to themselves, recognise that the light of the world is the life of God, by avoiding the light when they do evil deeds. There is something about the light that makes the daytime out of harmony with the spirit, of wrong-doing. Impure thoughts and motives feel, in the light, as in the presence of a strong, repressing influence. Speaking of evil-doers, murderers, thieves, adulterers, despoilers of the poor, Job says, "They are of those that rebel against the light." Job xxiv. 13. "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light." John iii. 20.

The light is life. The life comes to all men from God as freely as the light does. If a man allows the life of God to control him, his deeds will be good. Only as God's life is allowed to appear are the deeds such as not to he ashamed of. Wicked men do good deeds sometimes. That is due to the fact that all those particular instances they do not resist the life of God; whereas, in many other things they do resist it. When a good deed is done, it will bear bringing to the light. "He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." John iii. 21.

"The life was the light. Sometimes men get fresh light, and it calls them to new experiences. They question with themselves whether they call obey the light or not, and often decide that it requires too much of them. This is because they forget that the light is the life. The light that reveals now truth is the life and power of the thing revealed. Whenever one sees a new duty to be performed, that which reveals it is the strength and life required to discharge it. Some people have questioned for years whether they should keep the Sabbath of the Lord, hoping some day to receive power to do so, but the light that brought the knowledge of the truth to them was the life that would have made them able had they received it. Said Christ, "I know that His commandment is life everlasting." John xii. 50.

We need not look to the future with forebodings of failure, questioning in our hearts if we will be able to walk in the light unto the perfect day. We shall never receive any light that is not life. God is light, and as we receive more light it will only be receiving "the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of our understanding being enlightened that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we will have fellowship with Him, and our path will shine more and more with the light of life, for it is His will that we should have life, and have it more abundantly.

Although the light condemns evil, it is never sent for condemnation, but, that men might be saved. God does not use His knowledge to condemn us, but "by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many." Without the light we should see nothing of God's works, but the more light we get on them, the more we see "His everlasting power and divinity," and recognise the love that is expressed in the work of creation. So the more the light of life shines in our own hearts, the further will be removed from any

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thought of condemnation or fear. Our prayer will be, "O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me." Ps. xliii. 3. "The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Num. vi. 25, 26.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Elijah's Spirit on Elisha. 2 Kings ii. 6-15" The Present Truth 14, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

AUGUST 7

Only two instances are recorded of men who have passed from mortality to immortality without going through the grave. They are Enoch and Elijah. Others have gone to heaven, but they have been raised from the tomb, among them being Moses (Jude 9, Matt. xvii. 3) and the saints which arose from their graves at the resurrection of Christ (Matt. xxvii. 53, 53), the multitude of captives whom He led with Him, "when He ascended up on high." Eph. iv. 8.

TRANSLATION OF THE SAINTS

We have noted in the work of Elijah several points of similarity with the message which is to prepare the world in these days for the second coming of Christ. The call is to be given in the spirit and power of Elijah, but the likeness does not end there. Those who "make ready a people prepared for the Lord" will be on this earth "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels." "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 c;aubht up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17.

In Rev. xiv. 1-5, we read of 114,000 who were redeemed from among men. These are the ones "prepared for the Lord," on whom the seal of the living God is placed (Rev. vii. 2), who are without fault before the throne of God. Thus the people in whom the message of Elijah is fulfilled will share his experience in being translated without seeing death.

IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

It was revealed to Elijah that he was to be taken up into heaven by a whirlwind, and the fact became known also to Elisha and the sons of the prophets. How Elijah's heart must have thrilled with rapture at the thought that the last day of earth had dawned, and ere its close he should see the face of Him in whose presence he had lived. God was to him the living God, "before whom I stand," and this consciousness of His presence had been the source of all Elijah's power, and the preparation for his translation. Enoch, also, who was translated, had walked with God. Concerning Jesus the Scripture says, "I foresaw the Lord always before My face, for He is on My right hand, that I should not be moved, therefore did My heart rejoice, and My tongue was glad; moreover also My flesh shall rest in hope: because Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell. . . . Thou shalt make Me full of joy with Thy countenance." Acts ii. 25-28.

So, too, those who meet the Lord at His appearing are made ready. The message of preparation, given in Isaiah xl. is to "Behold your God." The studies which are followed every week in THE PRESENT TRUTH call on us to behold God, and point to the revelation of Him that is made in all His works. To receive this message and to behold God is to know that we are always in His presence, and the acknowledgment of this fact, that "in Him we live and move and have our being," will prepare us to meet Him in peace at His appearing.

A DOUBLE PORTION

Elisha desired a double portion of the spirit of Elijah, and this he might have if he should see the angels that bore Elijah from the earth. The fact that he did so was evidence that his eyes were opened, that there was done for him the work that he asked God to do for the young man at Dothan, who beheld "the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha" (2 Kings vi. 15-17). The very seeing of spiritual things was the receiving of the Spirit, for it is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord (Isa. xi. 2), and of "revelation in the knowledge of Him." Eph. i. 17.

Elisha's request for a double portion of Elijah's spirit was not dictated by any desire to outshine his predecessor in exploits and fame. Had there been any thought of this, he would not have received his petition. The man who prays for the Spirit with any thought of self-exaltation knows not for what he is asking. Elisha knew that he was called to succeed Elijah. He knew the work was infinitely beyond his strength. He was anxious that it should still be carried out aright, and he felt that if Elijah needed so much of the Spirit of God, his own need was doubly great. Some regard the outpouring of the Spirit as not absolutely necessary to the Christian life, but as being a very distinguishing addition. Such need to learn that at their best state they are altogether vanity, and then they will seek for the Spirit as the very essence and beginning of the Divine life.

A HARD THING

Elijah could say nothing as to whether this request for a double portion of his spirit would be granted. It was not under his control, be was subject to it. He warned Elisha, however, that he was not asking for something that was all ease and prosperity. To some it might seem that Elijah's lot was one to be coveted, awing kings by his word, bringing rain and fire from heaven at his call, and enjoying communion with the Creator, but he himself knew the other, inner side of a prophet's life. He whose eyes were opened to behold God could feel, as others could not, the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Like Moses and Paul, he had great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart. "For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren." To the nation it seemed a light thing to go on carelessly in wrong-doing, putting on one aide the tender entreaties of a loving Father, but to Elijah's enlightened understanding, the sight of their wilful ingratitude brought something of the anguish that wrung the Infinite Heart. To those who receive the Spirit of God there comes a new, appalling sense of the guilt of turning from the Lord, and despising the riches of His grace.

ASK AND RECEIVE

No one can tell the motives that are in the heart of another, but God looketh on the heart. He knew that Elisha's desire for a double portion of the Spirit was that

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the Divine life might be abundantly revealed, and so, though the request was a great one, it was granted. There is no promise in the Scripture more plain or more emphasised than that relating to the bestowal of the Spirit. God is most anxious to give it to us, far more so than the most earnest seeker is to receive it. If men would submit to the teaching of the Spirit they would learn that often, when they felt especially tried and discouraged, the Spirit was working to convince them of sin that it might also bring the comfort of righteousness.

"And it came to pass as they still went on and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder." As Elijah's mantle fell from him, Elisha took it for his own, and it was a sign that the spirit of Elijah rested upon him. That God was with him was seen in the parting of the Jordan at his word.

NO RESPECT OF PERSONS

God is no respecter of persons. "Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are," and whatever God did for him, He will gladly repeat to others. Moses was honoured above many, but it was not a special honour for him alone. To his successor, and to us, the promise was given, "As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

Elijah's history gives encouragement to all. Although but a man, God wrought great things through him, so that be was more to Israel than the chariots and horsemen thereof. Who now will come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty, receive the spirit and power of Elijah, stand faithfully for truth, count not his life dear for the excellency of the knowledge of the living God, and have the privilege of being redeemed from among men to follow the Lamb whithereoever He goeth?

"The Reproach of Christ" The Present Truth 14, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

"O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!" Isa. xl. 9.

Those who give this message are to lift up their voices with strength. It is to be a loud cry. It is a Gospel message, for Gospel means good tidings.

What is it to "Behold your God"? The words are very simple and can hear no other meaning than that people are to see their God. Where shall we look to behold Him? We cannot expect to see Him where He is not present, but wherever He is, there we are to sea Him, and there is no place where He is not present." Whither shall I flee from Thy presence?" "If I ascend up into heaven Thou art there." "Thou hast beset me behind and before." Ps. cxxxix.

Since it is impossible to get from the presence of God, it is equally impossible to avoid beholding Him. No matter where we may be, in city or field, in darkness or light, upon whatever we look we see God.

Some will say, That cannot be, for surely when we look upon poverty and wretchedness we do not behold God. Yes, even there, we see God suffering the poverty and wretchedness, and if we help the suffering one, He says, "Ye have done it unto Me." It is literally true that he that giveth to the poor lendeth unto the Lord.

Even the sinner is living by the life of God. God gives to all life and breath and all things, so that His own life is revealed in every living thing. When a man uses the life to commit sin with, he is woefully perverting it, but God does not withdraw it on that account. He "is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish [lose the life], but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter iii. 9. "That which maybe known of God is manifest in them." Rom. i. 19. So to Belshazzar the Lord was declared as "The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways." Dan. v. 23. "For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." Eph. v. 30.

It is a wonderful thought that man should thus have power over the Divine life, even to misrepresenting and perverting it. In the beginning man was given dominion over the works of God's hands, which were but the various manifestations of the Divine life filling all things, and in this way God placed His life at the command of man. When man sinned, the curse of death which came upon him, fell, for his sake, upon the earth also, so that it was God's life in man and all creation which bore the curse. Wherever the curse has marred the life, "Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you," and in the perversion of His life by sinful men He is put "to an open shame." Gal. iii. 13.

Still God has not withdrawn His life from men. "I am among you," said Christ, "as He that serveth." Luke xxii. 27. "Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me." Isa. xlv. 11.

It is inconceivable to finite minds that He who is "of purer eyes than to behold iniquity" should allow Himself to be associated with the workers of iniquity; but He so loved the world that He could not see it perish. The accusation, "This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them," meant salvation for the sinners and but faintly expressed the closeness of His connection with them. "Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." Isa. liii. 4. God says, "Thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities. I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake." Isa. xliii. 34, 25. "For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto Me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord." Jer. xiii. 11.

When we realise and confess that God is come in the flesh, that He is our life, instead of compelling Him to serve with our iniquities we will let Him manifest His own life, and make us "partakers of the Divine nature." "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. We will repent sincerely of the hateful sins which we forced upon His life, when we "hid as it were our faces from Him," and our earnest prayer will be, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts: and see if there be any way of pain or grief in me." Ps. cxxxix. 23, 31, margin.

Not only in the lives of men but in all creation it is God that bears the curse. This is why Paul could say that the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." Rom. viii. 19, 22.

"How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein?" Jer. xii. 4.

Thus everywhere we behold God, dishonoured, it is true, bearing shame and reproach, crucified, but it is for us that He is made a curse, and the remembrance of this fact will reveal unspeakable glory in the cross, the reproach of Christ. Then the one ambition will be to be crucified with Him, to know the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, and to turn men from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may "cease from perverting the right ways of the Lord." Nothing will cause us such distress as to behold our God and see where the glory should be revealed, the loathsomeness of sin. We shall be among those "that sigh and that

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cry for all the abominations that be done," and learn to "sorrow a little for the burden of the King of princes."

When men see God indeed, they will lift up their voice with strength that others may behold, "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together." Isa. xl. 5. Then "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke [reproach, R.V.] of His people shall He take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it." Isa. xxv. 8. "He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." 2 Thess. i. 10. "And there shall be no more curse." "And His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face." Rev. xxii. 3, 4.

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

THE POWER THAT DRAWS

Gen. 1. 2: "The earth was without form, and void; . . . and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

Ps. cxxxix. 7, 9: "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flea from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there."

Jer. xxiii. 23, 24: "Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret place that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth?"

Isa. xl. 26: "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."

Job xxvi. 7: "He stretcheth out the North over empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing."

Ps. xlviii. 1-3: "Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the North [or, more literally, is Mount Zion, the extremest North), the city of the great King. God hath made Himself known in her palaces for a refuge."

Isa. xiv. 12-14: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the morning I how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst lay low the nations I And thou saidst in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: and I will sit upon the Mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High."

John vi. 93: "Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw him."

John xxxi. 82: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto Me."

Jer. xxxi. 9: "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee."

Read these texts until you can see the following facts clearly stated:-

It was the Spirit of God, brooding over the face of the waters in the beginning, that brought order out of chaos.

God's presence by the same Spirit is still in every part of the universe. He fills heaven and earth. Hell, that is, the inmost recess of the earth beneath, "is naked before Him." Job xxvi. 6.

"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 present continual working of the Spirit in every place, even in each individual particle of matter that compose the earth, is what still makes it a sate place to dwell on. That power causes the atoms to cohere ("in Him all things hold together," Col. i. 17), so that the earth is a solid body, instead of a vast number of scattered particles.

God is not only near at hand, but He is "afar off." It is His power that is doing the work which men call "gravitation." It holds the innumerable heavenly bodies in their places, so that not one is lacking.

It is a fact that there is an attractive force, a power that draws, in everything. Suspend two ivory balls from a height, and it will be seen that the distance between their centres is not so great as the distance of the two points from which they are suspended. If a ball be suspended a few inches from the face of a high cliff which ascends perpendicularly, it will be found that the ball is drawn toward the rock. In every solid there is a strong force at work holding the particles together. The particles of water are not held together so closely. This drawing power is seen most clearly in what is called a magnet, and in the needle of the compass, which always, in the most mysterious manner, points toward the north.

There is something mysterious in this attraction to the north. The word in the Hebrew Bible, which is always used for "the north," signifies, "hidden, secret, concealed." God stretches out the north,-the hidden, secret place,-over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing. That mysterious power emanating from the north, holds it in its appointed place, and likewise holds all the other heavenly bodies.

This mysterious power is the power of God, whose dwelling place is "in the uttermost parts of the north." "Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land." Jer. i. 14. It is from the temple of God that the plagues of the wrath of God are sent forth. Rev. xv. 1, 6-8; xvi. 1. Only those who dwell "in the secret place" of the Most High, will be kept safe from the plagues. Ps. xci. 1-11.

"Power belongeth unto God." His everlasting power is seen in the things that are made. Christ is the power of God, and the Spirit is His Representative everywhere. All power in heaven and in earth is in His hands. The power that directs all the heavenly bodies in their orbits, leading them forth and drawing them back again, so that there is not the slightest contusion, is the power of the Spirit of God. The attractive power of God's own personality everywhere present, is that which holds the universe in order.

The cross of Christ is the power of God, for Christ, the power of God, is set forth only as the crucified One. Christ cannot truly be preached except as "Christ crucified." Therefore every manifestation of

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power in the universe is but the manifestation of the power of the cross. The cross is the centre of salvation because the crucified Christ, the power of God, is the centre of the universe. So the power which is actively working in every particle of matter, and which is so visibly at work everywhere, is the power of the cross, by which God is working to draw all men to Himself.

God is real, and His salvation is real. When He tells us about the power of His salvation, He does not leave us to our imagination, nor does He refer to something vague and indefinite and intangible, but shows the power actually working before our eyes, and even in our own bodies. The Word which is preached unto us, and which we are to proclaim to others, is "that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes." 1 John i. 1. 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." Eph. iii. 20, 21.

"Rome and Ritualism" The Present Truth 14, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

Roman Catholics are watching with unconcealed interest the progress of Ritualism in the Church of England. They recognise that every step made in advance by the "High Church" party is so much gain to the principles for which they stand themselves. The Catholic Times of July 1, while pointing out that the Ritualist party has yet much to learn, goes on to say:-

She maintains dogmas which the nation could ill afford to lose, end which it is well it should not lose, not only because more doctrine is always better than less, but also because we shall thereby be saved the trouble of teaching them, when the Church has grown to the fuller measure of strength for which we all work and pray. She is with us far more then she Is against us. In thousands of churches throughout the country her ministers are teaching our doctrines with less suspicion and more acceptance than our own clergy could hope to do. Ritualism may retard, but it will not prevent conversions. And we can only rejoice to hear from Canon Gore that the Ritualist's movement is beginning, rather than at an end. May it go on and prosper!

A later issue of the same paper says that "What the end of the present agitation will be it is impossible to foretell, but that it will advance the growth of Catholicity we have no manner of doubt."

In a recent sermon Cardinal Vaughan said that the number of conversions to the Catholic Faith in this country, shown by statistics carefully prepared two years ago, were at that time 700 per month and last year-the end of December, in the diocese of Westminster only, there were registered on the baptismal register between 1,300 and 1,000-the names of persons who had submitted to the Catholic religion.

While it is undoubtedly true that the forces of evil are gaining strength, according to the words, "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2 Tim. iii. 13), it is also true that "the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Prov. iv. 19. For every one "it is high time to awake out of sleep. 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. 11, 12.

"For the Children. The Breath of Life" The Present Truth 14, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." Do you remember what we learned last week-why it was that God formed man from the dust? It was that he might he "the temple of God," with the Spirit of God dwelling in him.

When one has the privilege of making his own house, he thinks and plans carefully to have everything as perfect and convenient as possible for his own use. He is careful about the doors and windows, and all the entrances to the house, and every room is made just suitable for the use for which he wants it.

And so in making man for His own formed him just what dwelling place, God formed him just what He needed for this purpose. Every part of his body was planned for the special use of the Spirit of God, to do the work that He wanted to do in and through him. Think of this often, and "yield your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." Remember that

"I am His house, for Him to go in and out;
He builds me now, and if I cannot see
At any time what He Is doing with me
'Tis He that makes the house, for me too grand.
The house Is not for me, It is for Him;
His royal thoughts require many a stair,
Many a tower, many an outlook fair,
Of which I have no thought, and need no
care."

Now think again how God enters into the temple of the human body; for what He did for the first man, He has done for every child of Adam who has since come into the world,-first formed him from the dust of the ground, and then "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." We learned last week that all the organs of our body are useless, until the breath of God, the Holy Spirit, takes possession of it and fills it. So we will think of this a little while, before we talk any more of those wonderful powers that the Spirit brings to the body in which He dwells.

Jesus said, "I am . . . the Life," and with Him is "the fountain of life." Not a fountain, but the fountain; the only fountain of life is Jesus. All the life that there is in God's great universe comes from God through Jesus Christ. Then when the breath of life is breathed into us, it is the spirit of Jesus, who is "the Life." Every moment of our lives we are receiving, in the breath that keeps our bodies alive, life from the fountain of life.

Sit still a little while and think of this, as you draw in the life-giving breath,-that the great God, your Creator and Father, is still breathing into your nostrils the breath of life, and that it He should stop doing this for a single moment you would die, for remember that you have no life of your own. While you are at your work and play, and not thinking of Him at all, and when you are asleep, and have forgotten all about breathing, He is thinking of you every moment, and gently breathing His life into you.

The life that comes into our lunge in the air, is taken up by the blood as it passes through the tiny blood vessels that cover the lungs, and then the life of God is carried by the blood to every part of our bodies.

You know that what makes the difference between a living and a dead body, is that the dead body does not breathe. God's life no more enters into it, and what very soon takes place? Just what God said: "Unto dust shalt thou return." Strange and wonderful as it may seem to us that these bodies of ours are really formed from the little particles of the dust of the ground, just like that over which we walk every day, this is very clearly seen when the breath of life is taken from them; for they soon fall to pieces, and drop back into the dust out of which they were taken.

What is it then that holds our bodies together in their beautiful and wonderful form? Perhaps you will answer, "The breath of life," but remember that the breath is God's Spirit, and the life is Jesus. So it is the Spirit of Jesus that knits together all the tiny particles of matter that form our bodies, and holds them in their shape, and fills them with His life. And this is just what the Word of God tells us; "In Him all things hold together."

His Spirit holds together not only our bodies, but all the dust of the ground, and so makes the solid earth for us to live upon, and keeps it also in its shape. And not only in its shape, but in its place, for He "hangeth the earth upon nothing." And what He does in this world, He is doing in all the worlds that He has made, "upholding all things by the Word of His power," "the Word" that "was made flesh and dwelt among us,"-"Christ, the power of God."

"The Air We Breathe" The Present Truth 14, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

You know that we keep on breathing every moment of our lives, and if we should stop we should die. But not only is it so important that we should breathe, but also that we should have pure, fresh air to breath. We have inside us something called lungs, made up of a lot of little cells or bags, which swell out when the air is drawn into them. This is why our bosoms are rising and falling all the time.

When we take the air into our lungs we poison and spoil it. The poison from every part of our bodies is carried by the blood to the lungs, where it passes off into the air that fills the lungs, and the good air passes into our blood and is carried all through our bodies.

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So the air that we breathe out is full of poison, and this is why it is so important that we should have our rooms well supplied with the fresh, pure air of heaven, especially when there are many people in them. For if we keep on breathing the same poisoned air over and over, our blood cannot be purified by it, and the poison stays in our bodies and makes us ill.

You will perhaps wonder why it is that if men and animals are poisoning the air in this way all the time, it does not all become spoiled, and the life in it used up. Just see what wonderful provision God has made for this. Did you know that the trees and plants are breathing the air in and out all the time just as we are? The leaves are the lungs of the plants, and they breathe in the poisoned air which comes from men and animals, and breathe out again the fresh, pure air that we need to keep us alive.

Man is not the only "temple of God," but all created things are His dwelling place. He is "the Life," not of men only, but of all living things. So it is God who through the plant is taking away the poison from the air, and breathing out His pure, sweet life for us. He has made the plans not only to delight our eyes with His beauty, but that through them He may give life to us continually.

"Nature itself as a parable, showing for the law of love. There is nothing, save the selfish heart of man, that lives unto itself. Every leaf of the forest, and every lowly blade of grass, has its ministry of beauty and refreshing. Every tree, and shrub, and leave pours forth that element of life, without which neither man nor animal could live."

Can we not, then, read in the plants "the Gospel of our salvation"? Does not this teach us how God takes upon Himself The curse and poison of our sin, and destroying it, pours out His life for us instead, that we may be saved by it?

The crowded cities do not have many trees and plants to purify the air for the great number of people who poison it. But God sends the wind to carry the poisoned air to the country, where it is made pure, and carried back by the wind to the cities again.

It was in to man's nostrils that God breathed. We can learn from this the proper way to breathe,-not through the mouth, but through the nose. In this way the air is warmed and freed from bus before it reaches our lungs. If we breathe the air out through the mouth, we are likely did take the poisoned air in again, as it is right before us. But the nostrils, when we breathe in the proper way, send the poisoned air down out of our way, so that we can take fresh air at each breath.

Think of the wonderful love and wisdom shown in all the works of God, and you will love and praise Him who "have done all things well."

"The Way to the Highest" The Present Truth 14, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

Lucifer said: "I will ascend into heaven; I will be like the Most High," and saying so, he fell to the lowest depths.

Is it not a good thing to desire to ascend into heaven? and should not men long to be like God?-Certainly; God created man in His own image, to be like Him, and to be with Him as His companion.

Where then was the trouble with Lucifer?-Simply this: He said: "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 [the uttermost north]; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." He assumed the task which only the Most High can accomplish, and failure was inevitable.

God wishes all to be with Him and like Himself; but if all could make themselves like God, then were all God. None can come to God except He draws them. God is no respecter of persons, and so He draws all impartially; but the power with which He draws is love; whoever rejects love, refuses to be drawn. In rivalry and emulation there is no love; consequently the spirit that Lucifer manifested was calculated to take him away from God, instead of toward Him.

Moreover, Lucifer's attempt to be like God was based on an utter misconception of the character of God, and for this reason also failure was inevitable. "Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is, Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isa. lvii. 15. "Before honour is humility." God is great because He is "meek and lowly in heart."

Men do not and cannot lift themselves to the height of God's throne; but in Christ God is working to lift all men to "His own right hand in the heavenly places." Eph. i. 19, 30; ii. 4-6. "Whosoever humbleth himself shall be exalted." This is not an arbitrary regulation, but a necessary condition; for contrary to all mere human thought and practice, the way to the heights is through the depths. God Himself, who is on high, is also in the deep. It we would attain to the Highest, we must begin at the lowest.

"Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself; taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God hath highly exalted Him." Phil. ii. 5-9, R.V. "We behold Him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour." Heb. ii. 9.

Jesus Christ was on earth as the perfect Representative of God. He was God's perfect Representative, not because He put Himself in God's place, but because God was in Him in His fulness. It is God whom we see in Christ, not some one acting like God. He occupies the very place that Lucifer thought to occupy "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;" but it was God, not He Himself, who placed Him there. He is indeed "ascended up far above all heavens," and why?-"Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth!" Eph. iv. 8, 9.

Christ is "the power of God," and consequently it is through Him that we have access unto the Father. So we get there in the same way that He did. There was no way for Him to get to heaven but by the cross. This was not an arbitrary requirement on the part of the Father, but the only way to be like the One whose very Being is expressed in the cross-who gives Himself, His life, that others may live. Whoever thinks to be like God by exalting himself, is bound to fail, because God humbles Himself. He comes down, that others may come up.

That God, who dwells on high, is to be found only in the depths, is shown by the fact that Jesus died and went into the depths, "that He might bring us to God." We are in the depths already, and therefore God is "not far from everyone of us." If we will acknowledge and keep in mind our lowly condition, we shall find no difficulty in ascending to heaven; for God fills heaven and earth, and whoever abides in Him has the freedom of the universe.

It is in death that we are united with Jesus. "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?" Rom. vi. 3. That is the lowest possible place. So when self dies, since we cannot get any lower, and by our death we get Christ's life, to ascend with Him is inevitable. But we ascend with Him by keeping humble, for the Most High God is in the depths at the same time that He is on high.

"Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee, that he may dwell in Thy courts; we shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house, even of Thy holy temple." Ps. Ixv. 4.

"A Natural Sequence" The Present Truth 14, 30.

E. J. Waggoner

The following item is from the New York Independent:-

One of the most extraordinary events in the history of American colleges is the acknowledgment by George H. Stephens, formerly Professor of Ethics and Logic at Lafayette College, that he was the incendiary who destroyed Pardee Hall, the scientific building which cost a quarter of a million dollars. It was done out of spite and revenge after he had been dismissed from the faculty.

It is not an uncommon thing for a man to set fire to a building because of spite; but this case is noteworthy, in that the wicked deed was done by a Professor of Ethics, or morals. The case is not so astonishing, however, when we remember that in the teaching of "ethics" in colleges, the Bible, which is the only book on morals, is ignored. No one need be surprised that, a heathen act is committed by a teacher or a student of pagan morality; for the so-called teaching of morals, without the Bible, is nothing but the teaching of paganism.

August 4, 1898

"Holy Places" The Present Truth 14, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

God is holy-the Holy One. The seraphim who are continually in His presence cry, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts." Isa. vi. 3.

His name is Holy. Isa. lvii. 15. Not only is He holy, but He is the Sanctifier, the One who imparts holiness. He is the standard of holiness, because He comprehends in Himself all the holiness there is. "There is none good but one, that is, God." Matt. xix. 17. Whatever holiness, therefore, any person or thing has, must be God's holiness.

Since holiness is God's character, and that cannot be separated from Himself, it is evident that God sanctifies by His own presence. None can have His holiness without having Himself. Accordingly we read that whenever God specially manifested Himself to anybody, the announcement was made that the place was holy.

When Moses saw a bush burning, but not consumed, he knew not that it indicated the presence of God, until the Lord spoke to him, saying, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Ex. iii. 5. Likewise when the Lord appeared to Joshua before Jericho, He said to him, "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy." Joshua v. 15.

But it is not necessary that the Lord should be seen, as was the case with Joshua, or that some unusual manifestation should take place, as in the bush that Moses saw, whenever God reveals His presence. Jacob, as he lay down on the stones at night to go to sleep, saw nothing unusual, and had no thought of God except as a far distant Being; but in a dream he saw the Lord and the heavenly host, and awaking, said, "Surely, the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." Then awed by the thought of God's presence, he exclaimed, "How terrible is this place!" Gen. xxviii. 15, 16.

The command to Moses and to Joshua to put off their shoes, did not imply that their shoes were more unholy than the rest of their clothing, except that they might be more soiled, but showed rather that men ought to walk very carefully in the presence of God. A barefooted man will take more notice of where he steps than

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will a man with shoes on. The fact of the shoes being likely to be soiled would also teach the importance of purity to those who come into God's presence. "Blessed are the pure in hrart, for they shall see God."

The Lord was just as really present at Bethel as He was at Horeb and Jericho, and He was as actually present when Jacob lay down to rest, as He was when be had the dream, or when he awoke. This should cause us to inquire, "May it not be that the Lord has been in some place where I was, and I knew it not? May I not at some time have acted before the Lord in a way that was highly unbecoming, and as I would not have done if I had known that He was present? Have I ever desecrated a place hallowed by the presence of God?" Ah, this is a serious matter, for we can readily see how easily one may be led into gross breaches of good conduct, by ignorance of God's presence. How often when in a lonely place, like Jacob's lodging at Bethel, has not one done things that he would not have dreamed of doing in the immediate presence of God. It becomes us therefore to ask, Where is God?

Where is God? Where is God not? "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. 31. "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 deell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me." Ps. cxxxix. 6-10.

Every place, then, is in reality holy ground, and all ought to know that they are continually in the presence of God. In the most secret place, even though it be in the desert or in the depths of the sea, in the belly of a whale, they should know and remember the truth, "Thou, God, seest me;" since none can hide himself in secret places, where God I cannot see him. As God fills all things in the heaven and earth, the message to every one is, "Behold your God!" that, beholding Him, they may be changed into His likeness, and endure "as seeing Him who is invisible."

Ever since the creation of the world the invisible things of God have been clearly revealed, being seen in the things that have been made. Rom. i. 20. The special manifestations mentioned in Scripture are simply to impress upon our minds the fact of God's constant, universal presence. The fire that burned in the bush, yet did not consume it, should remind us of God's presence in the light of the sun, which is only the shining of His glory. He dwells in the light, because He is light. The continual remembrance of this fact would work a wondrous change in our lives; for "if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us fronm all sin." 1 John i. 7.

Does the thought that God sees every secret place seem a terrible one? Get acquainted with God, and it will not. What comfort there is in these words: "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." Matt. vi. 6.

The recognition of God's presence in every secret place, of the fact that "He is not far from every one of us," since "in Him we live, and move, and have our being," makes us dwellers "in the secret place of the Most High," where we are safe "under the shadow of the Almighty. And that is our sanctification, since the presence of God gives holiness. The presence of God acknowledged, will make us new creatures, and to us all things will become new, so that the transition from this earth to the earth made new will to its be no violent change, but a step in the natural order of things.

Think why it is that God is so near. Is it to destroy us? Far from it. It is to save us from sin. At Sinai, when the very earth trembled at the presence of the Lord, Moses said to the frightened multitude, "Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not." Ex. xx. 20. God has always been present; if He had designed to destroy us, He would have done it long ago; for we have deserved it. But instead of wishing to destroy, He has been present in love to uphold and preserve. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not." Lam. iii. 22. His presence is salvation. Oh, recognise it, trust it, and find in His presence "fulness of joy."

"The Secret of the Lord" The Present Truth 14, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

The earth was without form, and "void," when the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, bringing order out of chaos. The Hebrew word from which "void" is rendered is the same that in Job xxvi. 7 is rendered "the empty place," where we read: "He stretcheth out the North over the empty place."

When we know that the North-secret place-is God's dwelling place, we can understand why there is such an attraction toward the North, and why it is that the earth is kept in position by this mysterious attraction. We say, we can understand why, not how. God's own presence, by the Spirit, filled every particle of the matter of the earth, and instantly order came out of chaos. Each atom assumed the correct position in relation to every other atom, just as a company of well drilled soldiers fall into line at the word of command.

God dwells in the secret place, and His name is Secret. But "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." Not that men can comprehend the secret, but it is with them. That is, God's presence, that power by which He draws all things to Himself, is with them, bringing order into their disordered lives. "Receive ye the Holy Ghost;" yield to Him as passively as the drops of water do to the sun, and the, same Divine Power that in the beginning hovered over the face of the

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waters, and which still keeps the earth steadily turned toward the polar star, will continually overshadow you, and in the midst of a fallen world's perplexity will fill you with the peace of God.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Shunammite's Son. 2 Kings iv. 25-37" The Present Truth 14, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

While journeying from place to place, Elisha had frequent occasion to pass through the town of Shunem, where he received much hospitality at the hands of one of the prominent residents. The Shunammite woman is spoken of as being "great," and the narrative shows that her husband possessed servants, land and cattle in plenty, but when Elisha first made her acquaintance she was without the blessing counted chief of all among the women of Israel, the possession of a son. Instead, however, of giving way to bitterness and repining, she seems to have set herself to the work of helping others. Seeing that Elisha was a man of God, she proposed to her husband that they should build him a room in their house, and furnish it, so that he might regard it as his own home, whenever he should pass that way.

"YE HAVE DONE IT UNTO ME"

Elisha was much touched by this unusual evidence of kindly consideration, and God, regarding the attention and honour as paid unto Himself, moved the prophet to declare unto his hostess that her own darling wish was granted, and that she should at last embrace a son.

Anyone would be glad to entertain a stranger if they believed him to be a prophet, who would reward them with the bestowal of some much-desired blessing, but the opportunity of doing what the Shunammite woman did is offered to all even now. Christ says, Whose shall receive a little child in My name receiveth Me. "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." Matt. x. 42. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Heb. iii. 3.

THE CHILD'S DEATH

"And when the child was grown, it tell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. And he said unto his father, My head, my head." Under the fierce blaze of an Eastern sun, it is not unusual for a person to receive severe injuries to the brain, which quickly prove fatal. The little child was taken to his mother, and "sat on her knees till noon, and then died."

Without saying anything of the child's death to her husband, the mother went up to Elisha's room with the body, laid it on the prophet's bed, and went out. She then asked her husband to let a servant go with her to Mount Carmel, "that I may run to the man of God, and come again." Expressing some surprise at this sudden idea, her husband consented, and she set out, urging the servant to make all speed and slack not his driving on her account.

THE MOTHER'S FAITH

Why should she thus hasten to the prophet, without telling a soul that her child was dead? What meant that assuring answer to her husband's question, "It shall be well," when the fast-stiffening body of their only child lay cold and still in the room upstairs?

God had given her the child. It had not come as other parents received their children, for this, like Isaac, was a child of promise. It may be that the mother's heart had dwelt much on the similarity of circumstances, and had loved to think of her son as a second Isaac, destined to an honourable place in the work of God. Now the resemblance was more complete, for the trial of Abraham had come to her. Isaac's life was spared at the last moment. Her son's had been taken, but still Abraham, knowing not the turn events would take, had accounted that God was able to raise up Isaac from the dead, and this was the faith that sustained her now.

THE GIFTS OF GOD WITHOUT REPENTANCE

God had given her this son in acknowledgment of her kindness to His servant, but a gift, taken away again, was no gift, and she believed that what God had given her He would not take back, and none other could. Therefore she goes to the prophet, strong in her confidence in God's love and justice, that it will confirm her in the possession of the son whom death has for the moment taken away. Surely the Shunammite woman is among the great cloud of witnesses to the power of faith, of whom we read in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. "Women received their dead raised to life again."

Elisha saw her coming afar off and told Gehazi, his servant, to run to meet her, and enquire after the welfare of herself and her family. He did so, but she had no word for him, beyond what she had said to others: "It is well." She came to Elisha, and poured out the pent-up torrent of her mother's heart in the words, "Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?" She appeals to the power that gave her a son. That can restore him to her. Elisha is its channel to her, and she refuses to leave him, even to go with Gehazi to the body of her child. Elisha, yields and follows with her to her home.

AN OLD TESTAMENT JUDAS

Gehazi is Elisha's servant. He is to him what Elisha was to Elijah, and has doubtless been selected for his superior qualifications, to be Elisha's successor, when death shall take away his waster. He may have been wall-adapted by natural abilities for the place, but is now making evident most clearly his unfitness to be to; Israel a prophet of the living God. He has a high opinion of the dignity of the position, for when the Shunammite woman casts herself at the feet of Elisha, he attempts to thrust her away. He takes no note of her agony of distress, but thinks only of maintaining the propriety of approach to an office which will be his one day to exercise. Like Judas he failed to learn the character of his high calling, and, like Judas, he finally fell.

Doubtless it is with considerable elation that Gehazi bears the prophet's staff to the body of the dead child. The miracle he is about to perform will considerably elevate him in the popular respect, and increase his already high standing in the schools of the prophets. He forgets that the rod of Moses, the mantle of Elijah, and the staff of Elisha are but symbols. The power is of God, and not in the staff, or the man who wields it. He lays it, as instructed, on the mouth of the child, but there is no response, and he returns to Elisha to report, with

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chagrin, that the attempt has been a failure, "The child is not awaked."

The check and disappointment might have taught Gehazi a heart-searching lesson, but it did not, and shortly after we find him lying to Naaman and his master for the sake of gain. The deceit is revealed to Elisha, the judgment of God is sent upon the covetous impostor, and he who might have been an honoured successor of his master, goes from Elisha's presence a leper white as snow.

RESTORED TO LIFE

"And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. And be went up, and lay upon the child, and put his month upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm."

Elisha's proceeding seems strange until we reflect upon the circumstances. He had been closely concerned in the child from the beginning. It was by his mouth that the promise of its birth had been given. He would be greatly interested in the coming of the little one, in noting its growth from time to time as he sojourned at the Shunammite's home, and doubtless his sympathy and co-operation were strongly enlisted in the mother's efforts to bring up her child in the knowledge of the living God.

This continual and intimate association with the little child cannot have failed to unite the two in the closest mutual affection, and Elisha's first impulse on beholding the body, would be to clasp the poor little dead form to his heart, with the intense desire, born of deep strong love, that he might wake it to life again, and find it responsive to his caress. Gehazi's indifferent soul could be content with laying a staff on the mouth of the child, but this in no wise represented the tender interest of the Divine rather over His sleeping children. The vitalising touch of Christ's own hand, and His tears over the grave of Lazarus, like Elisha's close embrace, were far more expressive of the attitude of God's heart of love, not only over the Shunammite's son, but over all those who sleep in the grave till the resurrection. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Ps. cxvi. 15.

Elisha's amiable, approachable disposition may he judged from the way in which the sons of the prophets brought all their little troubles to him, and the way in which God wrought miracles to remove those troubles, shows that "He hath respect unto the lowly," and that Elisha's spirit revealed His own.

Elisha's prayer was heard. Life returned into the little body, and the child was given to his waiting mother. Her thankfulness and joy seemed too great for words. "She bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out."

DEATH AN ENEMY

If it were true, as is generally taught, that the soul goes to heaven at death, it would have been an evidence of great selfishness on the mother's part to desire that her son might be recalled from scenes of bliss. Evidently she did not take this view, nor did Elisha, nor did the Lord who restored the child. When children come back to life again, it is not from the glory of heaven, but from "the land of the enemy." Jer. xxxi. 16. Death is an enemy, the last enemy that shall be destroyed. It is not a blessing to man, for it only comes as the consequence of sin, and any teaching that minimises the evil of death, calling it the "gate of life," to that extent obscures the evil of sin, in its nature and effect.

A NEW LIFE

Doubtless in after life the Shunammite woman would impress upon her child that his life must be always yielded to God, as being doubly the Lord's. Not only was be a child of promise, but when his life had once been lost, it was restored again. His was not an ordinary life, for he had been raised from the dead. But this is a consideration which should influence all of us. Paul tells us to yield ourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead. "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." Rom. vi. 4, 18. Men say sometimes that if they could only have a new life, they would gladly yield up everything. Nothing else than this does the Lord offer to all. Whoever confesses his sins to God may know that those sins were the crucifixion of Christ. But since "in Him we live and move and have our being," if He is crucified, we are too. So whoever is baptized into Jesus Christ, taking His name, thereby confesses his belief, that he is baptized into His death. Now if we be dead with Christ, and He is raised from the dead, it is equally clear that we must live with Him. Therefore, whoever confesses his sins to Christ may know that he has new life indeed, even the life of Christ. "We know that we have passed from death unto life."

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Powere in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

THE LIGHT

Gen. i. 1-3: "In the beginning Clod created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light."

Ps. cxix. 130: "The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple."

Prov. vi. 23: "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life."

1 John 1. 5: "This is the message which we have heard from Him, and announce unto you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."

2 Cor. iv. 6: "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."

Ps. lxx. 19; "Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved."

Ps. cxxxix. 11, 12: "If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee."

Ps. cxii. 4: "Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness."

Micah vii. 6: "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when l fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me."

Ps. xxvii. 1: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be followeth Me shall not walk In darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Nothing in the world is clearer or more easy to be seen than light; and the Word of God is light, the proof of this being that when He spoke, immediately there was light. Therefore if we take the texts of this lesson as the pure Word of the God who is light, and who is "the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning" (James i. 17), we shall find them very plain and easy to understand, and wonderfully enlightening to our eyes.

The Spirit of God brooded over the face of the deep, in the beginning, and brought order out of chaos, and caused the light to shine forth. God's Word is Spirit and life, and the Word is light. So it came to pass that when the Word went into the darkness, the light shone forth.

Take notice that it is no figure of speech when it is said that the Word of God is light. It is real light, such as "is sweet" (Eccl. xi. 7) to behold. The light which we have by day, and by night too, is the light that comes from the Word of God. There is no light in the world except that which comes from God's Word.

God is light. Christ is the Light of the world. He is "the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John i. 9. The light by which every man in this world sees, is the shining of the Lord's countenance.

"If we walk in the light as He is in the light," that is, if we recognise the Presence of God in the light that shines upon us every day, then we shall walk in the light of His countenance, and in His name shall we rejoice all the day, and in His righteousness shall we be exalted. Ps. Ixxxix. 15, 16. Thus we shall have fellowship with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ. 1 John i. 3, 5, 7.

He who knows "the joyful sound" of God's Word, knows that it gives light, and while he listens to it he cannot possibly walk in darkness; for the Lord God will enlighten his darkness. Ps. xviii. 28.

Men have discovered this much of truth, that light is motion. "Waves of light, though they can pass through air, are not waves of the air, as sound waves are. Waves of light can cross the most perfect vacuum; they travel thousands of miles in the vacuous space between the stars. They are waves of another medium which, so far as we know, exists all through space, and which we call, using Sir Isaac Newton's term, the ether. If you ask me what the ether is made of, let me frankly say, I do not know. But if light consists of waves, and if those waves can travel across the millions of miles that separate the stars from the earth, then it is clear that they must be waves of something; they are not air-waves, nor water-waves, because interstellar space is devoid both of air and water. They are waves of a medium which, though millions of times less dense than water or air, has yet a property that resists being torn or sheared asunder; exceeding the resistance to shear even of hard-tempered steel."-Light Visible and Invisible," by Dr. Sylvanus P. Thomson. Page 108. Only the one who reads and with all simplicity of mind believes the Word of God, knows that this motion is due to the Spirit of God. Force energy, life, is motion, and so far at least as this world is concerned, the beginning of it all was when "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." How richly God has endowed the world with the gift of His Holy Spirit! "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"

What more could God do than He has done to impress upon man the reality of His saving power? The "Word of Truth," the Gospel of our salvation, is the Word which commanded the light to shine out of darkness. If we believe, then we receive that Word into our hearts, and so the light shines in; "to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God." That Word which is proclaimed unto us, is the Word "which was from the beginning." It was light then; it is light still. So every ray of light that comes to this earth,-and this means actual light, that enables us to see,-is a Gospel sermon.

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In this connection read the nineteenth Psalm. "The heavens declare the glory of God," and preach the Gospel; for the Gospel message consists in this, "Fear God, and give glory to Him." Their words have gone to the end of the world, so that every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people have heard the Gospel. Compare Ps. xix. 4 with Rom. x. 15-18.

In the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. Rom. i. 17. And the law of God is His righteousness. Isa. li. 7. Therefore the heavens in proclaiming the Gospel of light, make known that "the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." Thus it is a reality that the Lord hath made bare His Holy Arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

But the declaration of the heavens is not sufficient. When in addition to the preaching of the voiceless creation, the Gospel of the Kingdom, whose rule is "the perfect law of liberty," is proclaimed in all the world by creatures to whom God has given tongues, then, and then only, will the end come. "Ye are the light of the world." Let your light shine.

"'The Law Is Light'" The Present Truth 14, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

"My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother; bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. 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. 20-33.

The law of God is nothing other than His life. It is in no sense to be compared with human laws, for it has nothing in common with them. Men get together, and after a certain amount of deliberation they decide on certain rules which they will impose on other men. The requirements may in the main be just, but they cannot possibly do equal justice to all, since they cannot take into consideration all the various circumstances and conditions; and even where they are applicable, they give the person to whom they speak no power. They do nothing; they are lifeless; the man to whom they are addressed must supply the action.

Moreover human statutes have no special connection with the men who issue them. The laws and the law-makers are no part of each other, and very often the laws are ignored by the vary men who make them. So for a double reason the laws cannot put any life or goodness into the subjects of them; in the first place the men who make them are not themselves perfectly in harmony with them, and in the second place, they cannot, no matter how good they are, put any of their personality or vitality into the laws which they frame.

Not so with God's law. He Himself is all that He requires. He is not only good, but He is Goodness. His own life is the law. Each plant has what is termed its "law of growth." There are certain general characteristics common to all plant life, and then each plant has certain individual peculiarities. But these "laws" are not certain enactments to which the plant conforms. The plant grows by the Word of God which says now as in the beginning, "Let the earth bring forth grass," etc.; and that Word of life abiding in each makes it perfect "after its kind." God's "everlasting power and Divinity," that is, His own life and personality, are revealed in all the things that He has made. The plant is involuntarily submissive to the life force of God, and so it conforms to law.

In like manner God's law for mankind is His own character-His life. He wishes men to be good, but He Himself is all goodness. There is no goodness but God's goodness, consequently men conform to His righteous requirements only by voluntarily yielding to His life as implicitly as the plants of the field do involuntarily. He does not require us to be something of ourselves; but He is what He wants us to be, and we become that by accepting His life.

Now "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." This is the Gospel message. His life is the law, and His life is light. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." So the law is light.

This is most literally true. God conveys His life to the earth through agents. He has set His glory in the heavens, and made the still, together with the stars, the bearer of light to the earth. Mind this, the sun does not originate the light, but is simply the bearer of God's light-God's life to the earth. Thus the sun is, under God, the supporter of all life upon our planet. Whatever we have, whether it be food or clothing, grows from the earth; but there could be no life nor growth without the

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light coming from God through the sun. Thus we see that light is most emphatically our life.

But this life that comes to us in the light is God's own life, of righteousness. Its shining brings the plant of the field to perfection; and if men were only voluntarily its submissive to the life of God as the plants are involuntarily, it would bring them to equal perfection after their kind.

With this knowledge concerning the light, the life, and the law, we can See the force of the nineteenth psalm:-

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard," or "without these their voice is heard." "Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heavens, and His circuit unto the ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." Ps. xix. 1-9.

There is no change of subject in verse 7. The law of the Lord is conveyed to us in the light and heat of the sun, which gives life to the earth. If we but recognise God's life in the light, we shall receive it with constant gratitude, and yield to Him, that He may direct His own life in His own way. Thus shall we glorify God in our lives.

We are precluded from making the objection that we cannot see how God can convey righteousness to us in the light of the sun. We cannot tell how He conveys strength and beauty in perfection to the plant by means of the light, but we know the fact; and that fact is ever before us to teach us the possibility of His imparting to us, by the same means, the righteousness for which He designed us.

"Teaching Children" The Present Truth 14, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

Timothy knew from a child the Scriptures which were able to make him wise, and the natural result was seen in his after experience. Paul wrote of him, "I have no man so dear unto me, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's." Phil. ii. 20, 21, margin.

It is still unusual to meet with one who truly lives for others, because it is so rare to find one who has, from a child, been made wise by the Scriptures, and whose character has been founded and fashioned on the eternal principles of grace and truth. Almost every child is brought into contact with the Scriptures, as soon as it is able to read at all, but only as a collection of interesting narratives, very much like any other story-book.

The minds of the little ones are especially adapted to the reception of Divine truth. They are anxious to know the reason for everything they see, and to understand it. The answers made to their questions make a deep impression on their forming minds, and none can tell how much the life is influenced in its development by the turn thus given to their thoughts. All can recall situations of their childhood, and conversations with others, the very words of which are indelibly stamped on the memory. Over and over again the mind has recalled that particular experience, and pondered over the words spoken. If the words thus involuntarily treasured have enshrined thoughts of truth and beauty, the gain to the child is great.

Children receive whatever is told them with unquestioning faith, so long as they have confidence in their informant. They are not troubled with the wisdom of the world, and God designs that truths, which shall prove as an anchor to the soul, should be woven into the growing life and intelligence of the little one.

Parents need not think that fairy tales are better adapted to the children, and that more valuable instruction can be left till afterwards. The child will receive as truth whatever is told it, and if falsehood and exaggeration be temporarily sown, it is impossible to say how much will be torn up with these when the child discovers that it has been played with, and that it must reconstruct its system of truth for itself, with lessened confidence in the word of others. How much better to start right from the beginning and watch that no seed be sown except such as will bear the desired harvest.

Jesus said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." This shows what is God's design. Then should not parents co-operate with Him, and point their children to the life of the Heavenly Father that is revealed in all the wonders of creation, bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. God has made the human mind for the knowledge of Himself, and it is capable of receiving this knowledge as soon as it begins to act. When the parents know the Lord themselves, they can impart the same knowledge to their children. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words. . . shall be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children."

Timothy's early training, bestowed upon children in these days, would bear fruit in lives like his.

"For the Children. Light and Sight" The Present Truth 14, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

"Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun." Without the sweet sunlight there would be nothing lovely and pleasant in the earth for our eyes to behold; for the light is not only beautiful itself, but it makes beautiful everything that it shines upon.

You will remember that Jesus said: "I am the Light of the world." The way that He lights this world is through the sun. We cannot look upon the glory of the face of God and live, but in the glorious sun He sheds upon the earth just as much of the light of His countenance as we can hear.

Is it not indeed "sweet" to know that we are walking in the light of His face for "in His presence is fulness of joy." All the beauty and colour of the earth is the reflection of the rays of the sun, which is the light shining from the face of God; and so "the beauty of all created things is but n gleam from the shining of His glory."

But what would all this glory and beauty be to us if God had not given us "eyes to behold" it, and by His Spirit of life within us given us the power to see? He has made our bodies for His own temple, and our eyes are one way by which His Spirit enters into us. We see Him reflected as in a mirror in all the things that He has made, go that we may learn to know and love and worship Him, and let His Holy Spirit rule our hearts and lives.

But Satan, who wants to put himself in the place of God, is all the time trying to get into our bodies, and make them his temple, instead of the holy temple of God, which He made them to be. So all the ways that God has made for His Spirit to come into our hearts, Satan is trying to use to get himself in instead.

Think how it was that Satan first got into the heart of man. It was through the eyes; for Eve kept looking at the fruit that God had told her not to touch, for if she did she would die. She kept on looking until she "saw that it was good." This was because Satan, the father of lies, was getting into her eyes, and she did not let the Spirit of God keep him out. When the lying spirit of Satan got into her eyes, it made her see all things wrong; and through this entrance, Satan got right into her heart and made her do the very thing that God had told her not to do.

Oh, will you not give your eyes to God, that the Spirit of Truth may use them, to teach you only what is pure and true and good? Ask Jesus to open your eyes, so that you may "clearly see" Him in all His works, and to keep and guard them by His Holy Spirit, that no evil thing may find an entrance there.

Let the glory of God that shines upon you in the sunlight stream through your eyes right into your hearts, and make you "all-glorious within." And think, if the light, which is but a faint reflection of His glory, is so "sweet" and "pleasant" for our "eyes to behold," what must be the glory and beauty of the face of Him whose smile we see in the glad sunshine.

"A Lesson from the Lark" The Present Truth 14, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

In the Natural History of Birds of Germany, we find the following interesting fact:-

"Larks, a feeble race of birds, rise higher in the air than any rapacious bird, and this is often a cause of safety. Their greatest enemy is the Hobby. They fear him greatly, so that as soon as one appears singing ceases, and each suddenly closes his wings, falls to the earth, and hides against the soil. But some have mounted so high to pour out their clear song that they cannot hope to reach the earth before being seized. Then, knowing that the bird of prey is to be feared when he occupies a more elevated position from which he can throw himself on them, they endeavour to remain always above him. They mount higher and higher. The enemy seeks to pass them, but they mount still, until at last the Hobby, heavier, and little accustomed to this rarified air, grows tired, and gives up the pursuit."

This suggests a lesson for us. Our enemy, Satan, seeks to destroy us, but if we can keep above him, it is plain that he can have no power over us. Jesus, our Saviour, has been raised to the right hand of God in the heavenly places, "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion" (Eph. i. 20, 21); and since we are by faith raised to the heavenly places with Him (Eph. ii. 4-6), it follows that that is our rightful place. If then when our enemy assails us, and that is constantly, we "seek those things which are above," we shall escape him; for that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, has been cast out of heaven, so that he can find no place there any more. Rev. xii. 7-9. He cannot endure its atmosphere. There we can from full hearts sing thanks unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

Christ "gave Himself for our sins." He "gave Himself for us." He "loved me, and gave Himself for me."

The Gospel consists in giving. The Christian life is a life of service, of giving to others. "Freely ye have received, freely give." The living waters flow from the throne, and he who believes and receives, from him shall flow rivers of living water.

What shall we give?-There is only one thing to give, namely, ourselves. First of all give ourselves to the Lord; and since He gives away everything He has, it follows that we must give ourselves to our fellowmen.

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." So-called Christian work that is not the giving of self, is not Christian work at all, Mere talk will never suffice to convert anybody; the life must be given.

It was not merely when Jesus hung on the cross of Calvary that He gave Himself. His whole life was a gift. He gave His life all His life long, and still He gives us Himself. When He healed disease, it was His Divine life that gave the renewing. When He spoke, His own life was in the words. "The Word was made flesh." He was what He spoke, and therein lay the power of His words.

Jesus spoke with authority, because He spoke from His life. Whatever one says, that is not fresh from his own experience, that is not his own life in articulate form, is of no value. You wish to help somebody? Good! give him yourself, and the thing is done. You may say that you are of not enough importance or value to do anybody any good. That is all right; Christ gives us Himself, that it may be no more ourselves but Himself. Receive Him; then give yourself; and His presence will make the gift valuable and helpful.

It has been left for an American pastor to discover that the bowling-alley, the billiard table, etc., as a part of a church outfit, do not detract from the spiritual, but on the contrary "predispose young people in favour of religion, and help mightily to build up the Church." If that were true it should not be difficult to convert the world in a short time. Unfortunately "building up the Church" is not always by any means synonymous with the increase of pure Christianity.

The Lord does not call attention to His greatness and power because He wishes us to feel crushed by the contrast between His almighty power and our weakness, "Therefore will He be exalted that He may have mercy upon you." When we realise that we are absolutely worthless and helpless in ourselves, and say with David, "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven find in the earth is Thine;" we are beginning to learn how vast is the life by which we ourselves live, and how invincible and irresistible is the power that worketh in us. The thought brings joy and fills the heart with praise to God, who hath "given such power unto men." "He that is with us is more than all they that can be against us." So that the more we learn of the power of God, the more we can rejoice, "for it is God which worketh in you, to will and to do of His own good pleasure."

The best thing we have seen concerning the proposed Anglo-American alliance is a bit from a sermon by Dr. Parker. He said: "I do not follow a God who classifies the nations invidiously." "Luther was not an Englishman. I am almost sure he was not even an American, and I do not think Australia could claim him. God has made of one blood all nations." That has the right ring. The only union the followers of Christ ought to know anything about, is union with Him. The only alliance (covenant) in which they can have any interest is "the everlasting covenant," sealed by the blood of Christ. Here "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian," English, American, German, Spanish, nor French, "but Christ is all and in all."

The following fact which is incidentally mentioned in the Daily Mail's account of the handling of tea at the bonded warehouses may serve to sweeten many a teadrinker's cup: "The emptying of the chests, which is necessary to ascertain the tare, frequently reveals dead rats and other foreign substances, mostly introduced, it is feared, to replace tea which has been abstracted."

To behold God is the sum and crown of true education. "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." Paul would know nothing but Christ and Him crucified, and there is nothing to know outside of that. In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He is the power and wisdom of God. He who does not know Christ does not know the Beginning of anything. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

So the wisdom of this world, which omits God, is only foolishness. The seeing of His everlasting power and Divinity in the things created is not given to mental acuteness. It is not for those who rely upon intellectual ability. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."

"Getting Ready for Emergencies" The Present Truth 14, 31.

E. J. Waggoner

The latest step in the line of increasing the navy is thus summarised in the leading editorial of the Daily Chronicle of July 23:-

The startling announcement made last night by Mr. Goschen to the House of Commons eclipses for the moment all other news. Over and above a charge of seven millions for additions to the Navy already contemplated, we have undertaken a fresh naval programme, involving a charge of eight millions more. To spend fifteen millions sterling-a sum larger than the whole revenue of some Continental States-in adding to the strength of the strongest navy in the world is remarkable enough in itself. But the reason alleged for this enormous outlay makes it a still more ominous event. Mr. Goschen is quite frank about it. Russia has just begun a now naval programme, which includes, besides the ships before arranged for, four battleships, six powerful cruisers and several torpedo destroyers. Therefore we respond with four better battleships, six still more powerful cruisers, and a dozen torpedo destroyers. And in order that there may be no mistake, Mr. Goschen tells us in language not to be misunderstood that they ore specially built to go safely through the Suez Canal, and to encounter at an advantage the Russian warships on the China station.

Mr. Goschen stated that, while regretting to have to introduce the name of any foreign Power, it was impossible to conceal the fact that it was the action of Russia, and the programme on which she has entered, which led to the parallel action on the part of Great Britain. Still he wished it understood that what the Board of Admiralty proposed is not aggressive in the slightest sense. That is no doubt true; nevertheless the fact remains that ships of war are built for no other purpose than for fighting. They will all he used.

August 11, 1898

"The Glory of the Lord" The Present Truth 14, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

"Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! Who hast set Thy glory above the heavens." Ps. viii. 1.

The first occurrence of the Hebrew word rendered "above" in this text, is Gen. i. 3, where we read that "darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." In the Revised Version the text reads, "who hast set Thy glory upon the heavens." Both renderings are correct, for the original word has the idea of nearness, over, upon, against. The glory of God is far above all heavens, but it rests upon them.

One thing is taught by the test, and that is that the glory that shines in the heavens is the glory of God. The latest translation, the "Polychrome," gives the verse thus:

"How glorious is Thy name over all the earth!
And in the heavens, how Thy glory shines!"

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork." Ps. xix. 1. There is no real glory either in heaven or earth, except the glory of God, just as He is the only real King in the universe, and the only One who has power. His is "the kingdom, and the power, and the glory." It is all His, no matter how much anybody else may claim, or how little He is recognised in His works.

The heavens did not create themselves, neither do they manufacture their own light. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light."

Darkness, absolute darkness, without one suggestion of light, was upon all things when they were first created. With the earth in chaos, the heavens were dark. "I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light." Jer. iv. 23. So we know that the light is not

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originated by any created thing. In the shining of the heavens, they are simply showing forth the excellencies of Him who is light and in whom there is no darkness at all.

But the darkness was not darkness to God. "The darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee." Ps. cxxxix. 12. He is light, and the entrance of His Word gives light; so when He sent His Word into the darkness, light immediately shone forth.

BODIES OF LIGHT

Although it is a fact that none of the heavenly bodies evolve light from themselves, it is nevertheless true that they are bodies of light. Light existed, as we have seen, before the sun was formed; "and God saw the light, that it was good." This was on the first day, and it was not until the fourth day that the sun was made to be a light. In some way, which only the Creator can comprehend, things which before were dark became light. They were not merely shone upon, but they were caused to shine forth. They do not originate light, but they emit from themselves the light which existed before they were formed. Although nothing but darkness in themselves, they are actually bodies of light.

Last of all God's works man was created, and was crowned with glory and honour, and set over the works of God's hands. Ps. viii. 66. Man was made of the dust of the earth, and had in himself no more glory than the dust that still remained on the face of the earth; yet God made him in His own image, "crowned him with glory and honour," and caused him to have dominion over the works of His hands. Since God is light, it was but natural that the being who was to be His representative on the earth, should bear His glory, even to a higher degree than the heavens, over which he was given dominion.

"We are His workmanship," even as the heavens are, and were created for His glory. He who made the heavenly orbs to be bodies of light, could most easily make their lord likewise a light bearer. We do not see it so now, because "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. iii. 33. Through sin man lost the dominion, and likewise the glory; but "the first dominion" (Micah iv. 8) shall yet be restored, and to this end God has chosen us to be "a royal priesthood, an holy nation;" "that ye should show forth the praises [virtues, or excellencies] of Him that called you out of darkness into His marvellous light." 1 Peter ii. 9. It is evident, therefore, that "in the ages to come," even as at the beginning, God's people will be crowned with His own glory.

This is very clear from the fact that "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. For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many eons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Heb. ii. 9, 10. Jesus is the second Adam; as man, in every respect like other men, He has gained back the dominion which the first Adam lost, and so, as Adam was, He is crowned with glory and honour. That glory is glory that surpasses the brightness of the sun.

GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH

"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." John i. 14. In the very beginning of His ministry, Jesus turned the water into wine in Cana of Galilee, "and manifested forth His glory." John ii. 11. Mark this: He manifested forth His glory. The glory was there all the time, only veiled. So on the mount with Peter, James and John, He "was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." Matt. xvii. 1, 2. The light did not shine upon Him, but shone forth from Him.

Jesus was on earth an ordinary man, with nothing in His appearance to distinguish Him from other men. "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." Isa. liii. 3. Yet He was full of the glory of God. That glory was in the form of grace and truth; it manifested itself in good works and kind deeds. His was the glory of God, which is the glory of a perfect character.

"And the glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them," said Christ of His disciples, When Christ dwells in the heart by faith, we are strengthened with might by the Spirit of God, "according to the riches of His glory." Eph. iii, 16, 17. As the image of God is renewed in the soul by the indwelling of the Spirit, the glory of God is revealed, yet not in a form that appeals to the eyes of the world, who are attracted by that which is gaudy, and which dazzles.

PREPARING THE WAY

"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." Isa. xl. 3-5. This is the preparation for the second coming of Christ. The only thing that hinders His coming at once, is the lack of preparation on the part of people. The way of the Lord is thus prepared by His forerunner: "He shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Luke i. 17.

God's way must be prepared in the hearts of His people. This preparation is humility of heart, the acknowledgment that "all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." When the heart is thus brought low, the way is prepared for the Lord to manifest Himself. But God is light, so that whenever He appears in the way, His glory is revealed. That way is in His people; so that the glory of the Lord is to be revealed in the hearts and lives of men, and all are to see it there, even if they do not recognise it as God's glory. Some will see it, and will rejoice in the light.

"Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for Thy truth's sake." Ps. cxv. 1. The heavens make no claim for themselves, consequently they show forth God's glory, and are themselves glory. So when we are willing that self shall sink out of sight, confess that we are nothing,

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and make no claim to distinction, we also may be "to the praise of His glory." The glory will manifest itself as good works wrought by God in us, and will be nothing to attract people to us. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." 1 John iii. 2.

Wonderful thought l that these poor, frail, mortal bodies are to shine with the brightness of the heavens. But so it is. "Our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself." Phil. iii. 21, R.V. When Christ comes, "then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matt. xiii. 43. "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Dan. xii. 3. Truly "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Rom. viii. 18.

What is the object of telling us about this wonderful glory? Is it merely that we may congratulate ourselves on the display we are one day to make?-Far from it; for when that glory is revealed, we shall individually be as unconscious of it as we now are. Each will see the glory of the others, and delight in the sight, but like Moses, will not know that his own face sends forth rays of light. It is written for our encouragement. Mark this: The glory is to be revealed in its; the righteous are to shine forth. God tells us of the future glory, in order that we may know what He gives to us in this present time. It is the power by which we are to overcome; for power is glory. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father (Rom. vi. 4), yet it was the working of God's "mighty power." Eph. i. 19, 20. And this same power works in all who believe. That glory is power will appear more fully in the article entitled, "The Fruit of the Light:" and the power that God gives us in the conflict with sin, is "according to the riches of His glory." The power and the glory that the heavens reveal is only a portion of that which God now gives to us by His Spirit.

"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 the Lord the Spirit." "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves."

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Gen. i. 2, 3: "Darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light."

John i. 1, 4, 5: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

John i. 9: "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

John ix. 1, 5, 6, 7, 14: "And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth." And Jesus said, "As long as I am in the world, l am the Light of the world. When He had thus spoken, 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."

1 John i. 2: "The Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, end show unto you that eternal Life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us."

Ps. xxxvi. 9: "With Thee is the Fountain of Life; in Thy light shell we see light."

Matt. v. 14-16: "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Isa. Ix. 1-3: "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising."

Isa. xlix. 6: "I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be My salvation unto the end of the earth."

Eph. v. 13: "All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light; for whatsoever doth make manifest is light."

John iii. 19-21: "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 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."

Phil. i. 9, 10: "This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more In knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ."

Light comes only from the Word of God, as in the beginning. Apart from the Word of God, there is no light. There is no light in the world except the light that comes from God's Word. Therefore those who reject the Word of the Lord are walking in darkness, and if they persist in that rejection, there is nothing for them in the future but "the blackness of darkness for ever."

The Word of the Lord is Spirit and life. So, as we have seen, the light that shines upon the earth is light from the Spirit of God. There is therefore no need for anybody's being in ignorance of the Spirit.

The word which gives light is the Word of life. The Word is life, and the life is

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the light of men. The light by which men walk in this world, is the life of Christ. The condemnation is that the life has been manifested, and all men have seen it, and yet few will recognise it.

The life of Christ,-the true light,-lights every man that comes into the world. There is not a man in the world who can plead ignorance of the life of Christ. It will be no excuse to plead that we did not know that the light was the life. The Bible has told us. Even if we did not have the Bible, we know that light is life, not only for man but for the lower animals and plants. That light gives life is apparent to everybody. And as to the source of light, we know at least that we did not make it. It was here before we were. It is a free gift to us, as free to the poor as to the rich. This of itself is enough to show that it is not from man; for nothing that man makes is "without money and without price." But every free gift is worth thanks. The least and the only return that we can make for so wonderful a blessing as light, is to give thanks for it, not once, merely, but as often as we receive it, which is all the time. Now if we look about to see whom we are to thank for the light, we shall at once discover that, like every good and perfect gift, it is "from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." So by continually giving thanks to the Giver of the light, we should be kept in the right way; for the promise is, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, end He shall direct thy paths." Prov. iii. 6.

The life of Christ is given to the world as freely as the light, for the light is His life. No one need fear that there is not enough to supply everybody to all eternity. When people say that they cannot think it possible that the Lord can save them, they virtually say that they do not think that the Lord has life enough for everybody. But this doubt has been answered before it could be made, for the light is inexhaustible. If there were a thousand times as many people in the world as there are now, not a soul would have any the less light. By using the light, we do not deprive anybody else of it. A thousand candles may be lighted from a single candle without diminishing its light in the least. So the life of Christ is inexhaustible. He can give the whole of it to ever one in the world, and still have it all left.

Proof that Christ is literally the light of the world, is given in the case of the healing of the man that was born blind. There was a man who had never seen the light. Jesus said that He was the light of the world, and to demonstrate the reality of the saying, He made the man see. This shows us that the light of day is the light that comes from Christ, and that by it we may receive salvation, if we receive it in faith. It shows us also that the Lord has not only life enough for everybody, but that He can give the light of life to those who have not the power to see.

With the Lord is the Fountain of Life. If we drink from that fountain, receiving the life by faith, we shall also be light. As Christ is the light of the world, so He says to His disciples, "Ye are the light of the world."

We have no light, however, except that which comes from the Word. We can shine only by the light of the glory of God. This is given to us, as we have already learned, by the Word which commanded the light to shine out of darkness. We do not make the light. We can arise and shine, only because our light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon us.

The Lord gives us light, not merely that we may enjoy it, but that we may be light and salvation to others.

We are exhorted to be sincere. The word "sincere" means literally "without wax." It is derived from the terms used in ancient times in the preparation of honey. When it was perfectly pure, without any wax in it, it would stand the test of the light; if held up to the light, no foreign matter could be seen in it. The light would pass through it. The honey was then sincere, that is, pure, without wax. "Whatsoever doth make manifest is light." If we allow the life of Christ to dwell in us and control us, then on coming to the light it will be manifest that our works are wrought in God.

There is nothing that is not manifest to the light of the Word; for "all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." The Word of God "is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The Lord has not left us without practical demonstration of this truth also. The so-called "X-rays," enable us to see through material that is ordinarily opaque, as wood or iron. Human flesh offers no obstruction whatever to these rays of light. And yet the rays themselves are invisible. Nobody can ever understand the secret of it, because nobody can ever fathom the mystery of the life of God; but God has allowed us to have this additional demonstration of the fact that nothing can hide away from the light of His countenance. His light, and the sight of His eyes, can pierce even to the depths of the earth. Read Jer. xxiii. 24. This should move us to ready confession of our sins, since they cannot possibly be hid from Him. It is also most encouraging to us, because, since it is the life of Christ that saves, and the life is the light, we may know that we cannot possibly have sunk so low that the life cannot reach us.

"Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee; our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance." Ps. xc. 8. Thank the Lord for that, instead of cringing at the thought, and vainly trying to hide the sins from the light of His countenance. Why?-Because in His glance the sin will be driven away and consumed. Evil shall not dwell with Him. Ps. v. 4. Ah, then if we do not shrink from His presence, the sins must flee. It is the work of light not only to reveal corruption, but also to remove it. Disease germs are destroyed by light. Thus God would show us how the light of His countenance cleanses from iniquity. "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."

"The Fruit of the Light" The Present Truth 14, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesus is the Light of the world. This is no figurative expression, but the statement of an actual fact. The light by which we see to work or read, is that which shines from the Lord. "God is light," and Christ is the shining of His glory, so that all the light that shines upon this earth comes from His person. Evidence of this is seen in the fact that, after saying, "I am the Light of the world," He immediately made a blind man see. Further evidence of the reality of the light that shines from the person of Christ is found in the fact that in the New Jerusalem the city has no need of the sun or moon; for "the Lamb is the light thereof." Rev. xxi. 23.

What a glorious thing to realise, that we are even now walking in the light of the countenance of God! Perhaps it seems unreal to you. Well, if you will but

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believe the Word, you will soon find it very real; and in familiarity with the thought is there strength and salvation. Recognising that God's real presence is in the light, we shall "walk in the light as He is in the light," and shall know the blessedness of the truth that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.

The sun is the source of all the light and heat that this earth has. But the sun has nothing except what it receives from the Lord. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." All the life, therefore, upon the earth is the life of Christ. He is "the Life." There is no other. Since the light that shines from the sun is the life of the Word, we can see how true it is that "the life was manifested, and we have seen it."

But we do not always recognise light when we see it. Jesus was full of glory when He was on earth, yet very few knew it, simply because they were blind. Even to-day there are very many "foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not" (Jer. v. 21), so that they do not perceive God in His works.

Light is life. This is true of men and of all the plant creation. No plant can grow without sunlight. See how the tree reaches out its branches in every direction, to take in the sunshine. It grows symmetrically, and thrives, because it never rejects a ray of light. It longs for the light, and rejoices in it. Without the light, it would droop and die.

Year after year the tree stores up the light. Because it never shuts the light out, it is full of light. You don't see the light in the tree? That is because you have not your eyes open. If you are as yet unable to recognise it in the growing tree, wait until it has been cut down and is used as fuel. What a bright light shines from the grate. Where does it come from? Oh, the tree is now giving out the sunlight that it stored up during all the years of its life.

If you are burning coal, the same thing is seen. The coal that you burn was once growing timber. It became buried in the earth, and lay there for centuries, becoming harder and more compact, and undergoing certain chemical changes, waiting the time when it should be brought forth to serve man with the light that it received from the sun ages ago. If we burn gas or oil, which come from coal, it is nothing but condensed, concentrated sunshine. In an hour we get the benefit of the sunlight of years.

We can see the light when it shines from the grate or the lamp. But it was in the tree before it was given up for our use. Light a torch of wood. Now you see the light coming directly from the wood itself. That is positive evidence that the light is there, only we are so blind that we do not usually recognise light until it strikes us in the eye almost hard enough to blind us.

Light is power. Put the fuel into the furnace, under a boiler of water, and see what force is let loose. The railway train speeding across the country, and the vast steamship ploughing its way through the waters, carrying the load of a hundred railway trains, are both driven by the light of the sun. Men harness up the sun, and use him to drive all the machinery that is in existence, never once thinking that the force that serves them is the power of God's own light.

Perhaps we can now see the glory in the growing plant. The power by which it grows is the light of the sun, which we must never forget is the light of God's countenance. What marvellous glory the meadow reveals! Is not a forest, or even a single tree, in full leaf, a glorious sight? Ah, we do sometimes use that term, which shows that we recognise the fact that there is glory there; the trouble is, that we do not stop to think whose the glory is, and to give glory to Him who made all these things.

A time however has something besides leaves; it has fruit. The ripened fruit is but the expression of the life power of the plant. The sun warmed the earth, it caused the water to mount up through the rootlets and the stock to the leaves and blossoms, and when the energy of the plant manifested itself in fruit, it was the sun that brought it to perfection, and gave its cheek its beautiful tint, which is so

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beautiful simply because it is not painted from the outside, but is the flush of life. So all the good things that come to our table, which the earth brings forth abundantly, are but the fruit of the light. And that light is the life of the Lord of heaven and earth.

Then we eat the light! Why, yes, the light is our life, just as it is also the life of all other plants; for "all flesh is grass." If we eat and drink to the glory of God, recognising His life in His gifts, we shall eat and drink righteousness; for the promise is. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Of God's servant it is said, "He shall blossom as the lily." Hosea xiv. 5. "Israel shall blossom aud bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit." Isa. xxvii. 6. "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.

That which the plants do involuntarily, we must do voluntarily and consciously. They take in all the light that comes to them, and thus glorify God. If we do the same, then we shall be called "trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." Isa. lxi. 3. "For the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth." Eph. v. 9. The very same light that brings the fruits of earth to perfection, shines upon us, to make us bring forth fruit after our kind, and to cause us to bear much fruit, that God may be glorified. The fact that the light will do this for us, if we accept it, is shown to us every day in the gardens and fields, in the forests and meadows. Let us therefore walk in the light, that we may be "filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Naaman Healed. 2 Kings v. 1-14" The Present Truth 14, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

AUGUST 21

Naaman was a great man, honoured by his master, the king of Syria, and a mighty man of valour, to whom his country owed its high position, "but he was a leper." All the outward dignity and honour counted for nothing beside this. Thousands of soldiers obeyed the lightest word of Naaman, but he himself was in the grip of a foul disease, that was slowly but surely consuming his life.

In his household was a little maid, taken by force from her home in Israel during some Syrian raid. She, although a captive and with sorrows enough of her own, was touched with the sight of Naaman's misery, and felt the gloom of the shadow that it cast over his home. "She said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for He would recover him of his leprosy."

REVEALED TO BABES

Was not this a marvellous knowledge of the Lord? To this child were revealed the things that were hidden from the wise and prudent, so that she had a truer conception of God than many who boasted of knowing Him.

Naaman was an enemy of Israel; his military skill and prowess had been directed against their nation. Surely it was a matter of rejoicing that so formidable a foe was rendered powerless by his leprosy. Who would think of recommending his case to the favourable consideration of the God of Israel? Yet the little maid was sure that God so pitied the suffering, was so truly a God of love, that if this enemy of Israel should go before Him in his need, relying on the Divine mercy, he would not be sent away disappointed.

No one could be so well acquainted with the Lord as this little child without revealing in her life the power and goodness of God, for it is through the knowledge of Him that there come to us all the things that pertain to life and godliness. 2 Pet. i. 3. Therefore it was that the utterance of her faith carried conviction to the heart of Naaman. He realised that this was not some childish tale of wonder, but that there was the power of God in it, and he determined to obtain the healing so confidently promised to him.

"WEAK THINGS"

There to be a great work done in the world in these last days. The Gospel of the kingdom is to be preached in all the world for a witness before the end come, and is to be carried before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. Who is sufficient for so great a work? "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." He is able to use children in His work, and through them, He can do great things, even making them His witnesses before kings, as the little Israelitish maiden was used to make known the true God to the famous Naaman. Only let the children receive and treasure the knowledge of God, and let all receive the kingdom of God as little children, and through them God will reveal Himself to many who, surrounded by earthly pomp and grandeur, and counted fortunate and happy by their friends, yet mourn in secret over the plague of their own hearts, and long for deliverance from the leprosy of sin.

A FATAL DISEASE

For sin is the loathsome disease that has fastened itself upon the lives of all. We may try to forget it, and persuade ourselves that we shall grow out of it, but all the while it is tightening its hold upon us, it is eating away our life, marring and disfiguring us. In spite of our efforts to overcome it we find that we cannot shake it off, it has become a part of us, and as the horror of its continual presence overwhelms us, we feel that we too have become like the lepers of old, unclean. Our cry is, "O wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from this body of death?"

But Naaman was made free from his leprosy. So there is hope that we may be made whole. How was he cleansed?

WASH AND BE CLEAN

First of all, Naaman went to the King of Israel with great sums of money, and

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changes of raiment, and with a letter of introduction from the King of Syria to the ring of Israel. But none of this did him any good. Wealth and splendour and kingly rank were of no avail against the leprosy. Elisha heard that Naaman was come to the king seeking to be cured, and he sent word, "Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."

"So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha," and the prophet sent out a messenger to him to tell him to wash in Jordan seven times, and he should be clean. Then Naaman did just what we should have done in his place. He got offended because things did not happen according to the way he had arranged in his own mind as he came along in his chariot. It was to be something like this. The prophet would come out of his dwelling a venerable and majestic figure, raise his eyes to heaven, and solemnly call upon the name of his God, then pass his hand over the leprous places, and Naaman would find himself suddenly healed. Then Naaman would say graciously, Don't go yet, behold here are ten magnificent suite of raiment, ten talents of silver, and no less than six thousand pieces of gold. I give them to you. You can do as you like with them. Then while the prophet would stand open-mouthed at this exhibition of princely generosity, Naaman would mount and drive off, well pleased with himself and satisfied that he had done the thing handsomely. But now this exasperating old man had not even come outside the door. It was outrageous treatment for one in his position. Naaman was not going to stand it. He should go back to Syria at once. The idea of telling him to bathe in the muddy Jordan! Weren't Abana and Pharpar just as good, and a great deal cleaner, too? Why not wash in them and be clean. "So he turned and went away in a rage."

GOOD COUNSEL

It was well for Naaman then that he was not one of those haughty characters that it is unsafe to speak to when they are offended. He had listened to the story of his wife's little slave-girl, and had come all this way on the strength of it. His servants must have loved him and earnestly desired his recovery, for they ventured to reason with his fuming indignation. Said they, "If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean." The reasoning was sound, and Naaman saw the force of it. In a humbled frame of mind he set himself to carry out the simple conditions on which his healing was promised. "Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." He returned to Elisha converted from his idolatry, a sincere worshipper of the true God, and doubtless recognising that Elisha's seemingly abrupt treatment of him in the first place had been directed by Divine wisdom, and had taught him the needed lesson.

WHITER THAN SHOW

What God did for Naaman He does for those who are afflicted with the leprosy of sin. He gives a new life, which is free from sin. "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. "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. v. 21. "Therefore 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." Verses 17, 18. He whose sins are borne by the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, is made whiter than snow, and his flesh becomes like the flesh of a little child, for he is born again.

WHY ARE NOT ALL HEALED?

But "many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian." Why was this? Was not God able or willing to heal more than one leper, and if not, why did He not choose to heal one of the lepers of Israel? Remember that Naaman was not compelled to be healed. He went to Israel to find healing, and went on to the Jordan, because he desired the healing so much, and believed the word that was spoken to him. Any other leper in Israel or Syria might have been healed in the same way. To-day God's arm is not shortened, and His mercy and salvation are free. You, who read these lines, are you cleansed from the leprosy of sin, so that your flesh has come again as the flesh of a little child? If not, why not? Others have found healing and cleansing from sin in receiving the life of God. Will you be among them, or among the many who, like the lepers in Israel in Elisha's day, were not healed, although the living God was among them to heal and save, so that even heathen, like Naaman, found Him and proved His power.

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases."

"Whom Shall We Trust?" The Present Truth 14, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

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. "Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall from yielding fruit." Jer. xvii. 5-8.

Why is the man cursed that trusts in man? Why should the Lord deal so hardly with him?

The Lord does not deal hardly with him. That statement, "cursed be the man that trusteth in man," is no more a threat than is the declaration that the

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man who puts his hand in the fire will be burned, or that the man who leans upon a broken reed will fall. It cannot be otherwise.

See why it is that the man who trusts in man, even though it he himself, is sure to come to grief; "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Not a very safe thing to trust in, is it?

Nor is that all. Even though one's intentions are the best, his power is nothing. "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Isa. ii. 22.

This suggests the reason, given in Ps. cxlvi. 3, 4, why we should not put our trust even in the great ones of earth, "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."

"Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God; but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds." Jer. v. 4, 5.

Then is it not safe to trust in what the wise men of the earth, and the doctors of the law, say? No; it is dangerous to the highest degree. "Ye have ploughed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies; because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men." Hosea x. 13.

There is no wise man who is wiser than Solomon; but "a greater than Solomon is here." Jesus Christ is "the power of God, and the wisdom of God," and He is nearer and more available for counsel than any man can he. Trust Him. "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgments as the. noonday." Ps. xxxvii. 5, 6.

"Happy is the man that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God; which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is; which keepeth truth for ever." "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth." "Trust in Him at all times; ye people pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us."

"For the Children. Light Pictures" The Present Truth 14, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

"We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory." What is this "glass" in which we may "behold the glory of the Lord"? He Himself tells us that it is "the face of Jesus Christ." All the glory of God is reflected in the face of Jesus, and there we may see His perfect image.

We have been learning that Jesus is "the Light of the world," and we may see His glory everywhere, for the whole earth is full of it. It shines forth in the light of the sun, and is reflected to us in all the bright and beautiful things that we see around us everywhere.

Now let us see what this light will do for us, if we really behold in it "the glory of the Lord." Did you ever have your likeness taken? If so, you will remember how careful the photographer was to set you in a good light, in a place where the light would shine full upon you. This was so that you might reflect the light on to the plate that he had prepared, that the light so reflected might paint your image there.

All things that the light shines on reflect its rays into your eyes when you look at them, and this reflected light paints on the curtain at the back of the eye the picture of the thing itself. (Read more about this in the piece about the eye beginning on this page, and find out all you can about this wonderful organ of sight that God has formed in our bodies to make it possible for us to behold His glory.)

You know that when you look right into anyone's eye, you see, in the pupil, a tiny picture of yourself. This is painted in the eye by the light reflected from you. Think then what will take place if you turn your eyes to the face of Jesus Christ, which will reflect into them all the glory of God. The light shining from His face will paint His image, not in your eyes only, but in "the tables of the heart," if they are made ready by His Holy Spirit to receive it, And so you may become a living picture of the Lord Jesus Christ; 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."

He not only shines upon you in the face of Jesus Christ so that you may see Him there, and learn to know and love Him; but that you, by "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord," may be "changed into the same image." Then you will be able to give the light of the knowledge of His glory and beauty to those who have not yet learned to look into the face of Christ for themselves. And as the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shines forth from you, there will be power in that light to change others also into the same glorious image.

Do not forget that you may see God in all the things that He has made,-that the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is shining upon you in all His works. And if in all these things you "behold your God," when the image of the thing is blotted from your eye, the image of God whom you have seen there will remain in your heart, and He will shine forth in your eyes, and be heard in the kind of gentle tones of your voice, and felt in the loving touch of your hands, so that in you, one of the things that He has made, others will "behold their God."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

"Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!" Put the emphasis on the "we," and make it strong. What! we, poor, insignificant, frail, sinful creatures, is it possible? "I can understand," says one, "how the Lord could own Moses, or Daniel, or John; but it seems too much to think that He owns me as His son." But He does, nevertheless. His love is so unbounded that even we, even I am owned by Him as a son. There is no ground for discouragement; that "we" reaches down to the lowest depth. Behold it! Do not take your eyes from it.

The Bishop of Liverpool, in reply to an appeal to him to stop the Romish practices in one of the Liverpool churches, said:-

You cannot dislike Ritualism more than I do; but you are mistaken in supposing that I have power to put a stop to it. Parliament has much power to stop it, but a bishop has very little.

Upon this the Christian makes the following comment:-

The assertion of popular right to a hand in the government of the Church would be but a return to apostolic usage and custom. For many centuries, as there are clear proofs, laymen exercised a determining voice in the ecclesiastical councils of their day. It was only very gradually, and for reasons that are easily noted, that the priest grow paramount. When his authority was finally established the day of decline began in the Church, which did not wake to its sad condition till, at the Reformation, the voice of the people once more began to make itself heard. In every age and land since then the Church has been healthy and progressive in proportion as it line been governed openly by the "assembly of the saints." It at the present crisis the members of the Church of England make an effective protest against Romanising doctrine and practice, the knell of these things will be speedily sounded-but not till then.

Without any disparagement whatever to Parliament, we must say that it sounds decidedly amusing to hear that body referred to as an "assembly of the saints." It is composed of men of every shade of religious belief, and of men who repudiate religion of any kind; yet it is the body that has control of the Church of England! Worst of all, the bishops of the church seem not to feel the humiliation of the thing in the least. When will they learn that Christ alone has control of His own body, and that to say that any body of lawmakers has power to control a church is to say that it is not the Church of Christ. That is not to say, however, that many of the members of such a State-controlled church may not be members of the Church of Christ. His body is not shaped by lines and compasses in the hands of men, and takes no note of the limits of ecclesiastical organisations.

Suppose that Parliament should "put a stop" to Ritualism in the Church of England? What of it? The evil would still remain untouched. You cannot cure a miser's covetousness by stealing his money from him, neither can you cure a woman's pride by pulling the feathers from her bonnet, or the rings from her fingers. No more can a bad tree be made good by plucking off its fruit. All these efforts to "reform" the church by force, whether made by zealous individuals on their own account, or by Parliament, exhibit a most deplorable lack of knowledge of what constitutes real godliness. If the tree be corrupt, the fruit cannot possibly be good. The Word of God abiding in the heart is the only thing that can effect a reformation. "Preach the Word!" That is the only remedy for evils of every kind. "But they won't all accept the truth of the Gospel," will be said. No, they will not, and when they do not, nothing can be gained by trying to force them to act as though they did. When the idea that men can be converted by wholesale is given up, and men are content with the results that come from preaching the Word, and from dealing with men as individuals, and not as societies, leaving each man to stand or fall to his own Master, then will there he a return to apostolic usage and custom-and not till then.

War does not seem nearly so glorious a thing to those who are in it as it does to those who shout for it from the safety of the pulpit or the editorial chair of the modern religious journal. The Daily Chronicle's special war correspondent in Cuba writes thus in his report:-

War is about as horrible and ghastly a thing as one can well imagine. It is a pity that the painters and the writers of fiction have always depicted war in such glowing colours. There is nothing brilliant about war-there is nothing but dirt and nastiness to offend both the eyes and nose.

And this is only from the ?sthetic side. When we add to this the slaughter of human beings, and think of the hundreds of wounded and mangled bodies that are forced to wallow in this "dirt and nastiness," one can see that war is nothing hat the most revolting form of butchery. It is brutal, wholesale murder, added to all the repulsiveness of the slaughter pen. And yet there are not wanting religious leaders to argue that war is perfectly consistent with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One has become accustomed to think of American cities as the special habitat of the city "rough," who makes pedestrianism at night, and even in broad daylight, a dangerous thing; but human nature is asserting itself over here, although happily not as yet to anything like the extent that it is across the water. "The works of the flesh are manifest," however, and the following from the Chronicle of July 26, may be read in connection with 2 Tim. iii. 1, as a noteworthy sign of the times:-

"The appalling list of cases of violent assault heard by Mr. Hannay at Southwark Police-court yesterday makes us wonder whether we are really living in a well-ordered and civilised community. Stabbings, kickings, glass-throwing, and various other forms of vicious brutishness seems to be the commonplaces of the turbulent district that has Mr. Hannay's court as a corrective. Day after day our columns contain records of the most terrible forms of lawlessness, with which the police seem quite unable to cope. Fines, which are rarely paid, with the alternative of terms of imprisonment, seem to have no other effect than to encourage others to do likewise, while the frequency with which the prisoners regret that they did not kill the victim of their brutality makes one shudder. What is to be done to stamp out this reign of terror? If it is merely a question of insufficient policing, as some correspondents have urged in writing to us on the subject, let us have more policemen. But the evil seems to us to lie deeper down than that."

"Slowly, majestically moving, the holy day of God has passed around the globe. Its stately, calm procession bas visited with light the lonely ships on the great Pacific, coral islands in warm South seas, desert wastes and busy coastlands of Australia, the chill of white Siberia, the tropics of Malayland, the teeming plains of India. . . . And now the Lord's day comes to Africa and Europe."

That is the beginning of an article by Miss Lucy E. Guinness, in the Christian. Of course she had reference to the first day of the week, but the language applies to the Sabbath. That is just the way every day in the week travels round the globe, and we are pleased to see it the acknowledged as regards the Sunday, because one of the most common quibbles against Sabbath-keeping is that "it isn't Sabbath all over the world at the same time, and so it can't be kept." God knew that the world was round, when He made the Sabbath for man, and all that He requires of us is to keep it where we are, as it comes to us, and not where we are not.

August 18, 1898

"The Joyful Sound" The Present Truth 14, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

"The voice of the Lord is upon the earth; the God of glory thundureth; the Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty." Ps. xxiv. 3, 4.

"When He uttereth His voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures." Jer. x. 13.

"Hear attentively the noise of His voice, and the sound that goeth out of His mouth. He directeth it under the whole heaven, and His lightning unto the ends of the earth. After it a voice roareth; He thundereth with the voice of His excellency; He will not stay them when His voice is heard. God thundereth marvelously with His voice; great things doeth He which we cannot comprehend. For He saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of His strength." Job xxxvii. 2-6.

What a grand thing it would be if every child were taught this truth-this fact of science! If they were taught whenever it thunders to recognise it as the voice of "the Lord God merciful all gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin," who speaks peace to His people, they would never cower in terror at the sound of it. There are many men and women who cannot hear the crashing thunder without fear, because they have not learned that it is the voice of God; and there are doubtless many more who would be still more terrified at its sound if they did know that it is God's own voice, because they do not know the Lord, and have not learned that He is love.

One day when Jesus was talking to a crowd of people He broke out into the prayer, "Father, glorify Thy name."

"Then there came a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." John xii. 28. Jesus understood these words perfectly, because He was thoroughly well acquainted with the voice and words of God; but the people who stood by said that it thundered. There were indeed some who said that an angel spoke to Him, but even they could not distinguish any articulate sounds. To the most it was only ordinary thunder, and that is really what it was; for ordinary thunder is the voice of God speaking words which our dull ears and minds have not learned to comprehend. "How small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?" Job xxvi. 14, R.V.

God does not wish that we should be afraid of His voice. The "everlasting Gospel" of salvation is to be proclaimed "with a loud voice," and that speaks only comfort. Men are simply to take up the call of the Spirit and the bride, and say, "Come;" and the loud cry which they are to utter can be nothing but the resounding of the mighty voice with which God first speaks it, for He says, "I have put My words in thy mouth." Isa. li. 16. See also 2 Cor. v. 18-20.

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We are exhorted to "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. iv. 16. By the blood of Jesus we have boldness to enter into the holy place where God Himself dwells. Heb. x. 16; Isa. Ivii. 15. We may come there as boldly as a little child to its mother, and we shall hear gracious words of life spoken to us, if we can but learn to recognise the loving voice of God in the thunder.

For "the God of glory thundereth," and the throne of grace is the throne of glory (Jer. xiv. 21) where God gives grace "according to the riches of His glory." John, who was permitted to see into the holy place of God, says: "Out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices; and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God." Rev. iv. 5.

"In the midst of the throne" whence the thunders proceeded, "stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." Rev. v. 6. So we see that the thunders come from the very place where the crucified and ascended Saviour sends forth the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus hung on the cross "the earth did quake, and the rocks rent." There was God's throne. The body of Jesus was the temple of God, and His heart was God's throne. When He was slain, there came forth from that throne blood and water,-which is the Holy Spirit,-"for there are three that bear record, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one." Calvary was the throne of the living God made visible to men; for the throne of God, as the cross of Calvary, contains the slain Lamb; and from that throne, as from Christ on the cross, comes the pure water of life-the Holy Spirit. Yet there are lightnings and thundering and voices from that throne of grace and mercy. What is that but an indication of the fact that God proclaims His grace in tones of thunder, so that none may fail to hear it, and all may know the greatness of His salvation?

"I will hear what God the Lord will speak; for He will speak peace unto His paeple." Ps. lxxxv. 8. But all have not been as willing to hear as was the psalmist. The Lord says to His people, "O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been like a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." Isa. xlviii. 16. So we learn that God speaks peace when He speaks His law, and that those who will hearken will find peace. That peace comes from Christ, by the power of His cross; for in the heart of Christ was the law of God (Ps. xl. 8), and it flows out to us in His life.

Even so, the law is in the throne of God in heaven; for "righteousness and judgment are the foundation of Thy throne." Ps. lxxxix. 14. The ark of God in the most holy place of the tabernacle built by Moses was a type of the throne of God, because upon it, from between the cherubim, God appeared in glory, and spoke mercy to His people. But within the ark, underneath the mercy seat, were the tables of the law, showing that righteousness, even the righteousness of the law, is the foundation of the throne. The law was there on dead stone, it is true, because that was only a picture, and not the reality; but it indicated the fact that in the real throne in heaven is the Lamb slain, the Living Stone,-in whose heart is the living law.

"The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the sanctuary." Ps. lxiii. 17, R.V. Mount Sinai was the sanctuary, the throne, of God, when "He descended upon it in fire," and proclaimed His law. "And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice." Ex. xix. 18, 19. "And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpets, and the mountain smoking." Ex. xx. 16. Now when we remember that from this same mountain there was at that very hour living water flowing forth, flowing directly from Christ, the smitten Rock, we see that we have in Sinai the perfect picture of the throne of God in heaven. But that throne is "the throne of grace;" yes, and so was Sinai, because "the law entered that sin might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Rom. v. 20. So Sinai, Calvary, and Mount Zion all agree in one; all are the throne of God's glorious grace, where God speaks righteousness and peace.

When the people heard the voice of God as thunder, speaking His law, they said to Moses, "Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was." Ex. xx. 19-21. What was the matter with the people? Ah, they didn't know the joyful sound. They didn't know that all the commandments of God are promises. They did not know that great as are the requirements of God's law, so great is His grace to put the righteousness of the law into and upon us. They did not know that God's mercy is as great as His judgments, and that though truth-the law of God, Ps. cxix. 142-goes before His face, mercy accompanies it. Ps. lxxxix. 14. He had sworn to Abraham, that He would make him and his seed righteous, and this proclamation of the law was but the exhibition of the greatness of His sure promise.

"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. Ixxxix. 15, 16, Let us learn the joyful sound. Let us know that the thunders that come from Sinai, that are heard on Calvary, and that proceed from the throne of God in heaven, are but the assurances of His grace and mercy, and of the righteousness with which He will till and refresh every soul that believes. Let us then come boldly to the throne of grace, not frightened by the thunders, but rejoicing in them as in the voice of a loving Father.

There will come a time when God's voice will shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Heb. xii. 26. That will be "when God ariseth to shake terribly the earth." Isa. ii. 91. At that time many will "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." Yet at the same time others will not fear even though the shaking earth be removed (Ps. xlvi. 1, 2), but will say; "Lo, this is the Lord, we have waited for Him, we will he glad and rejoice in His salvation." Isa. xxvi. 9. And why?-Because they have learned to know the joyful sound of the thunder of God's power. That thunder

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which will shake the earth, and strike terror to the hearts of the wicked, will be but the voice of God repeating the covenant of peace to His people. Blessed sound! How fearful to think that any should flee from the God who speaks peace!

Would you be able to rejoice at the coming of the Lord when His thunders shake the earth? Then learn the joyful sound now. Say from the heart, "I will hear what God the Lord will speak." Yes; hear Him!" Hear, and your soul shall live." Listen to the voice of His law, and learn from it the joy of the Lord, the joy of His salvation.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Elisha at Dothan. 2 Kings vi. 8-18" The Present Truth 14, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

AUGUST 28

In this lesson is seen the powerlessness of men to do ought against those who are under the Divine protection. It has been a source of encouragement in innumerable instances in the past, and will continue to be so until the last enemy of God's people is destroyed. It is not recorded that we may envy Elisha for the remarkable way in which his life was safe-guarded, but that we may know for ourselves the nature and efficiency of the protection on which we may rely.

The Syrians had resumed their policy of harassing Israel by repeated forays, and seemed desirous of capturing the king. More than once they laid an ambush for him, but in some way he became aware of the danger and managed to avoid their encampment. The king of Syria began to suspect treachery in his own ranks, as one plot failed after another, and reproached his servants with their unfaithfulness to him in warning Jehoram. One of them replied that the discovery of the ambuscades was due to no defection on their part, but to the presence of Elisha the prophet in the ranks of Israel. He was repeating to the king of Israel the words uttered in Benhadad's chamber.

GOD'S VIGILANCE

Who could hope to circumvent such a foe as this? No deep-laid schemes could be relied upon, for the utmost cunning of the Syrians could not surprise a man who knew their thoughts. Yet this is the advantage enjoyed by those who array themselves under the banner of the cross. Many fear the power of Satan because he has gained dominion so largely over their minds, but this does not render his position an impregnable one. It is true that he often lies in wait for us, and when we least look for it, some sudden temptation is sprung upon us which too often finds us unprepared for resistance; but whoever commits the keeping of his soul to a faithful Creator may rest in the confidence that God cannot be surprised, or found off His guard. "Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." Ps.cxxi. 4. "I the Lord do keep it; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Isa. xxvii. 3. "Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off." Ps. cxxxix. 2. Although our sinful thoughts may spring upon us unawares, they are not unknown to God. He knows all about them afar off. "Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance." Ps. xc. 9. "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape." 1 Cor. x. 13. None need feel that the odds are against them in their quest of the kingdom of God and His righteousness, for it is as true now as it was in Elisha's day that the advantages are all with the servants of God.

NO POWER AGAINST THE LORD

The king of Syria might be expected to recognise that he could not hope to capture an enemy who knew his most secret plane, but having learned that Elisha was at Dothan, he sent thither "horses, and chariots, and a great best, and they came by night, and compassed the city about." It was an imposing expedition for the capture of one man, but its very size and strength only emphasised its inability to do anything at all against Elisha.

It is not a matter for discouragement when difficulties come thick and fast around us, but rather for rejoicing, because then the victory of faith will be so much the greater and more manifest; "for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few." Elisha's servant saw the host compassing the city, when he went forth in the early morning, and his heart was filled with dismay. Returning to his master he cried, "Alas I how shall we do?"-Eisha was not alarmed, "and he answered, Fear not: For they that be with us are more than they that he with them."

MINISTERING SPIRITS

In the course of earthly history it has often seemed that the truth was in a minority. Witnessing alone for God, men have faced angry multitudes, who thirsted for their blood, and to human eyes it seemed a contest of one against many, with all the power and influence on the side of the crowd. But it has not been so in reality. Angels, that excel in strength, never forsake the side of those who trust in God. Amid snares and perils, their ministry preserves and guides those who shall be heirs of salvation. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." Ps. xxxiv. 7.

At Elisha's request 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." They were not sent there to be shown to the young man, but were there before, as EIisha's bodyguard. The only difference was that the servant's eyes were opened, so that now he saw how matters stood.

INVISIBLE BEINGS

We may learn from this incident why it is that men do not see angels. Abraham saw and talked with them, so did Jacob, and so did many others. They have not become extinct, or diminished in number or power, nor are they less present about us. The reason we do not see them is that our eyes are closed. The difficulty is in ourselves. If we would accept their service, and submit ourselves to their influence, we would quickly learn how irresistible was their power, and how comforting their fellowship. Their sympathies are keenly unlisted in our behalf, and their greatest desire is to use their strength in our defence against the powers of evil, but while men array themselves determinedly against these ministers of blessing, it is not to be wondered at that they are so seldom seen.

To Elisha the presence of the living God was a reality, and, continually beholding God, his eyes were opened. When we learn to see God in all places where He is revealed, when He lifts up the light of His countenance upon us, and is always before

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our face that we should not be moved, when we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not scen, our own eyes will he anointed with eyesalve and we shall see much that is now hidden from our vision. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing." Isa. xxxv. 5, 6.

LEADING THE BLIND

Elisha's next request was that the Lord would smite the Syrians with blindness. This was done, and they were led helpless into Samaria, which suggests another reason why blindness in part has come upon men, so that they cannot discern spiritual things. Had sinful man been still allowed the privilege of beholding the angels and spiritual beings, he might have proved as intractable as Satan and his fallen hosts. One who is blind will sometimes submit to be led, just as Benhadad's army followed meekly the leading of Elisha. The Lord says, "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known."

The mercy of the Lord is over all His works and endureth for ever, and it will yet be seen that all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. It is only that He may make His mercy known to men, that their eyes are now blinded, and when they submit to God, and acknowledge Him in all their ways, He will speedily direct their paths into the visible, unbroken, everlasting communion of the whole family in heaven and earth.

"'The Recompense of the Reward'" The Present Truth 14, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

The reward of the Christian is something that is much talked about, yet little understood. This misunderstanding on the part of so many who profess Christianity is the cause of many encore on the part of infidels, who scoff at the professors as cowardly people who are afraid to meet the consequences of their own actions, and who therefore invest in a sort of life insurance, the policy to be paid at the end of life. "They are looking out for what they will get by and by," say they. As for themselves, they do not think it worth while to give up something that they at present possess, for the prospect, which to them seems altogether uncertain, of getting something better by and by.

It is a fact also that this view of the case affects not a few professed Christians, and is one great cause, if not the solo cause, of their low living. Regarding the Christian's reward as something wholly future, and the Christian life as simply one of "giving up" something that they cherish, they very naturally lose courage, and are unable to "hold out." It is not in human nature to labour long in uncertainty, or continually to keep in mind a reward that lies only "at the end of the race."

Now it is true that there is a reward for the well-doer, and that the coming of the Lord will put every Christian in eternal possession of that reward; but why?-Simply because the coming of the Lord destroys all the curse, and takes both dead and living to be for ever with the Lord, who is the reward.

The Lord says: "Behold, I come quickly and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as His work shall be." Rev. xxii. 12. "Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him." Isa. xl. 10. What is this reward that is "with Him"?-It is Himself-His own presence. To Abraham, the father of all the faithful, God said: "I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." Gen. xv. 1. And the psalmist wrote: "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup; Thou maintainest my lot. The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage." Ps. xvi. 5, 6.

God gives His Holy Spirit, His own personal representative, to be with His people for aver, so that Jesus says: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matt. xxviii. 20. By the Spirit we are made "heirs of God." Rom. viii. 17. It is not that we are heirs of His property, but that we are heirs of Himself. He is our portion; He is our reward. Jesus brings His reward with Him, because His coming assures His eternal presence with His people, and it is "with Him that God freely gives us all things." When the heavens and the earth shall shake, and be removed, "the Lord will be the hope of His people." Joel iii. 16.

We are exhorted to "run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith." Yes, but we are not told to look far away or to some distant time; no; "He is not far from every one of us." Look to Jesus, not simply as One who "is to come," Out as One "who is." Our only hope in the coming of the Lord is our personal acquaintance with Him now. If we know Him, and love His presence with us, then we shall "love His appearing." When Jesus comes, all those to whom His coming is indeed a reward, will say, "Lo, this is our God." The Lord can never be the eternal reward of any of whom He is not the present reward.

And the Lord, the "very present help in trouble," is the reward. No one can have anything worth having outside of Himself. Take the case of Moses. "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible." Heb. xi. 24-27.

Take that word "respect" in its primitive significance, namely, to look toward, and you have the exact idea of the text. Moses looked continually at the reward. How often have we read this passage, and thought that Moses was sustained in his arduous labours by the thought that by and by he would get something that would recompense him for it all. What a mistaken idea! We have tried to revive our flagging zeal, and that of others, by appeals to think of the reward that will come by and by, but we have not by any means always been successful. That which is distant is uncertain; only that which we have are we sure of. And so our Christian life has been a mixed career, success and failure, and possibly more failure than success, because we had not a steady spring as its source. In the business of the present, we naturally forgot the future, and so lost our only incentive.

Not so with Moses. He looked constantly at the reward, which was present; that is, he looked to Jesus, whose presence went with Him. "He endured as seeing Him who is invisible." No matter how pressing the cares of the present time, no matter how numerous were the daily duties, nothing could distract his attention from "the recompense of the reward," because like the Psalmist when he said, "The Lord is the portion of Mine inheritance," He could say, "I have set the Lord always before we; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Ps. xvi. 8. He saw the invisible God, his reward, and therefore there was no uncertainty in his actions.

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The reality and the fulness of this present reward is seen by the fact that Moses, who had had ample experience, esteemed "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." This word "reproach" is the same that occurs in Matt. xxvii. 44, where it is rendered "cast in the teeth." That is the meaning of the word. How expressive! It conveys to us the idea of bitter taunts, and especially of taunts over our helplessness or our seeming failures. Yet Moses found that this very reproach contained more of reward than all the riches of Egypt, because it was the reproach of Christ. "The unsearchable riches of Christ," which are Christ's own personal presence, His own life, are so great that even though accompanied by reproach and suffering, they outweigh all the riches of earth.

"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.

Let us then bear in mind that the Lord Himself is our reward, and that He is always present. Then we get our reward as we go along, and that which comes at the last is so much extra. So shall we always be satisfied, and to the end that our zeal and courage may not abate, but that we may ever have before us the recompense of the reward as an incentive to action, let us heed the message, "Behold your God!" "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else."

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

CLOUDS AND RAIN

Gen. i. 6-8: "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and lot It divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, end divided the waters which wore under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."

Ps. xix. 1: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament showeth His handiwork."

Eph. ii. 10: "We are His workmanship, created In Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

Ps. xcvli. 1, 2: "The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness ore round about Him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne."

Ps. civ. 1-8: "Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment; who stretchest out the heavens as a curtain; who layeth the beams of His chambers in tile waters; who maketh the clouds His chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind."

Nahum i. 3: "The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm; and the clouds are the dust of His feet."

Jer. x. 10, 12, 13: "The Lord is the true God He is the living God, and an everlasting King." "He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion. When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasuries."

Job xxxvi. 26-28: "Behold, God is great, and we know Him not; the number of His years is unsearchable. For He draweth up the drops of water, which distill in rain from His vapour; which the skies pour down and drop upon man abundantly."

Job xxxvii. 2-6: "Hearken ye unto the noise of His voice, and the sound that goeth out of His mouth. He sendeth it forth under the whole heaven, and His lightning unto the ends of the earth. After it a voice roareth; He thundereth with the voice of His majesty; and He stayeth them not when His voice is heard. God thundereth marvellously with His voice; great things doeth He, which we cannot comprehend, For He saith to the snow, Fall thou on the earth; likewise to the shower of rain, and to the showers of His mighty rain."

Job xxxvi. 30, 32: "Can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, the thunderings of His pavilion?" "He covereth His hands with the lightning; and giveth it a charge that it strike the mark."

Job xxxvii. 16: "Didst thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge?"

Job. xxvi. 8: "He bindeth up the waters in His thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them."

Read these texts as the living words of the living God. The whole of understanding them is in believing that they mean just what they say.

Man, as well as the firmament, shows the handiwork of God. In Christ are all things created, and we also are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. If we believe that God is personally present "in the firmament of His power" (Ps. cl. 1), then when we consider the power that is revealed there we shall know and rejoice in "the power which worketh in us."

Look in the margin of the Revised Version, in Gen. i. 6, and note that the word rendered "firmament" is the Hebrew for "expanse." God made an expanse, a vast space to divide the waters from the waters. The stars are set in the expanse of the heavens. This idea of an expanse is found in Ps. civ. 2: "who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain."

That God is actually and really present "in the firmament of His power," is seen in the, statement that He "maketh the clouds His chariot," and "hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm." "The clouds are the, dust of His feet." "Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud." Isa. xix. 1.

"When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens." "He thundereth with the voice of His majesty." "God thundereth marvellously with His voice; great things doeth He, which we cannot comprehend." If children were taught the truth about the thunder and the storm, "as the truth is in Jesus," they would never cower in terror when the voice of God is heard in the heavens. "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.

"Hath the rain a father?" Has it? Read the answer in the Bible. Where does the rain come from?-From the

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clouds. How does it get there?-"He draweth up the drops of water, which distil in rain from His vapour; which the skies pour down and drop upon man abundantly." If the

Poor Indian, whose untutored mind
Sees God in cloud, and beers Him In the wind,

to be pitied for his ignorance? Is he in reality so "untutored" as the civilised man whose learning has caused him to leave God out of all his so-called science?

"Can any understand the spreadings of the clouds?" "Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous workings of Him which is perfect in knowledge?" These are questions to which no man even in these days is presumptuous enough to say, "Yes." "He bindeth up the waters in His thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them." No scientist can explain the power by which the clouds are upheld in the slay. Only the first and only Book of science, the Bible, tells us what it is. It is the "eternal power" of the Creator, which is clearly seen in the clouds as well as in all other things that He has made.

By a little calculation we can form a slight idea of the wonderful power by which the waters are bound up in the thick clouds so that the cloud is not rent under them. This calculation can easily be made if we remember that a cubic foot of water weighs sixty-two and one-half pounds. Let us take a comparatively small space. Perhaps the area best known by all is the space covered by the Parliament buildings. A cloud holding sufficient water to cause it to rain to the depth of just fan inch over that space alone, would contain over twelve hundred and fifty tons of water.

A better idea of this weight can be obtained if we consider it as coal instead of water, for we are accustomed to seeing tons of coal. Think then of twelve hundred and fifty tons of coal being suspended over that small area. And think of the great clouds that send down their contents over miles and miles of country. What an infinite weight of water is floating about in the air over our heads!

What holds this water thus suspended? There can be but one answer: It is the hand of God. He "hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand." Isa. xl. 13. "The balancings of the clouds" reveal the "wondrous workings of Him which is perfect in knowledge."

Jesus said, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all [men] unto Me." Now we know that the power by which He draws is very real. It is power that is constantly in operation before our eyes, drawing up the drops of water, "which distil in rain from His vapour." It is a real, tangible power, to which we are to submit. Why should we not quietly yield to this power that tends to draw us upward to God, instead of, by our stubborn resistance, compelling it to "strive" with us?

When the Apostle sets Christ forth as the One who by Himself purges our sins, he speaks of Him as "upholding all things by the Word of His power." Heb. i. 3. The clouds of water give us something tangible by which we can grasp the power that saves us when we believe. We may trust Him, because all "power" "in heaven and in earth" is His. Then

Praise ye the Lord.
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in the firmament of His power.
Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens,
And ye waters that be above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of the Lord;
For He commanded, and they were created.
He hath also established them for ever and ever;
He hath made a decree which shall not pass
away. Ps. cl. 1, 2; cxlviii. 4-6.

In the latest rendering of the Psalms, this last verse, as it is also indicated in the margin of the Revised Version, reads thus:-

He established them for ever and ever;
He gave them a law which they may not transgress.

"Peace Negotiations" The Present Truth 14, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you." John xiv. 27.

How does the world give peace?-A striking answer is furnished by the nations of the world. Take for instance the recent struggle between Spain and the United States. After much blood and treasure had been spent, Spain began to negotiate for peace. The United States of course responded, but let it be distinctly understood that while the matter was under consideration the war would be vigorously prosecuted. And so war and "peace" measures were considered at the same time between the same parties. Out of the same fountain both sweet water and bitter are supposed to be sent forth.

Take the nations of Europe. Peace is now supposed to prevail. There is no actual fighting anywhere. But what is the attitude of every power?-Armed to the teeth, and industriously increasing their armaments. They stand with weapons in hand, waiting only a threatening movement on the part of another, to let fly. The "peace" of which there is so much boast is exactly the same "peace" that prevails between two pugilists, who stand with clenched fists, and who have not yet come to blows because each wishes to let the other begin, so that he may learn his antagonist's plan of attack.

"But that is not peace at all," you say. Just so; for the world does not give any real peace. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." The world cannot give what it has not. An "armed peace" is not peace; yet the only way the world has of preserving peace is by maintaining armies so strong that others will not dare attack them. But those very armies are a preparation for war, and a constant menace to peace. So the peace which the world gives is in reality war.

Not so the Lord. He speaks pence, because He is peace. God is "the very God of peace;" the Gospel is "the Gospel of peace;" Jesus Christ is "the Prince of peace." God's rule is a reign of peace. To the helpless, tempest-tossed sinner the Lord says: "Let him take hold of My strength, that lie may make peace with Me." Isa. xxvii.5. But He does not throw the burden of peace negotiations upon the rebels. No; "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." He takes the initiative, and makes peace with rebellious man. "Not imputing their trespasses unto them." He takes the responsibility of the sin all upon Himself.

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God does not stand upon His dignity. He does not demand that everything shall be done to satisfy His wounded feelings. No; the mind of God in Christ showed itself in that He "made Himself of no reputation." The One who is sinned against takes the blame upon Himself, and makes the way very easy for the offending one to lay down his weapons. He has no enmity against the sinner, nay, He does not fight the sinner; He is only love and perfect peace, and His sole effort is to induce the rebel to accept His peace.

Let the people learn God's character before they talk about conducting war on Christian principles. War on Christian principles is just such war as Christ wages. He has no hatred in His heart, and He does not kill His enemies. On the contrary, He is filled with infinite love and pity for them, and He gives His life for them. "The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Instead of taking life, He gives life, even His own life of righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

"Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Not simply are we at peace with Him, but we have His peace dwelling in our hearts, and sanctifying us. Then "let the peace of God rule in your hearts," and "the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

"For the Children. 'The Firmament of His Power'" The Present Truth 14, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

"And God said, Let there be a firmament." The firmament is sometimes called the atmosphere. But instead of the "firmament" and the "atmosphere" we usually speak of the "sky" and "air." These are little words easy to say and to remember.

When you look up into the beautiful blue sky you are really looking straight away into the air. Although the air around us seems to have no colour, it appears blue as we look up into the sky. Next week we will talk about the clouds which float in the blue sky or firmament, but to-day we will learn something about the firmament or air itself.

In one of his beautiful psalms, David speaks of "the firmament of His power." The power of God is in the air, for, as we have learned already, it is His breath or Spirit of life; so all the power of God's own life is in it.

We do not realise the power that there is in the still air about us, but when it is stirred and set in motion by the storm, and rushes over the earth, it mighty wind, tearing up tall trees by their roots, and rolling up the waves of the ocean into great mountains, we can see something of the power that there is in the air. But this same power of God is in all the air about us, and if you think a little, you will see some ways in which this great power is shown.

What is it that gives you life, and makes you able to move, to run and jump, to see and hear, and talk and work? It is life you say, but where does this life come from? Oh, you breath it in, in the air, which is the breath of God, the Spirit of power. So the power that works in you and makes you able to do anything at all, is the power of God which is in the firmament, or the air that He breathes into you.

It is the Spirit of God in the air which gives us the power of seeing and hearing. The air conveys to us the light of the still, and not only carries sounds to us, but also enables us to make them. Without the air we could not make the slightest pound nor hear anything at all.

We have been learning how God has given us eyes so that we way see Him in all His works. He has made our ears also that we may hear Him, that He may speak to us. And just as in the light He enters by our eyes into our hearts, and shines through us to give light to others, so by our ears His Spirit of power, which carries the sound of His words to us, comes into us to give us the power to obey the word that He speaks. The Word of God tells us that we may receive the Holy Spirit by "the hearing of faith." That is, by simply hearing and believing what God says to us.

And we can hear His voice not only it, the words of the Holy Scriptures, but in the songs of the birds, in O beautiful music, and in all lovely sounds. If in all these things we hear Him we shall in them all receive His Holy Spirit to teach us and make us like Him.

"He that planted the ear" is able to give you "the hearing ear" as well as "the seeing eye." To each of you He says, "Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live."

Jesus said of the Holy Spirit whom He would send to comfort His disciples: "He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you." This is just what He is doing for us continually by the air which surrounds and fills us. The air reflects the light of His countenance to us, and so enables us to see His beauty; it carries to us the sweetness of His voice in all beautiful sounds, His fragrance in the sweet scent of the flowers, and in other ways reveals Him to us. Let us think of all these things that He is doing for us by His power in the air, and "Praise Him in the firmament of His power."

"Wonders on earth, and wonders in air,
Wonders around us everywhere,
Wonders which show forth the marvellous plan
Of One who is greater, far greater than man."

"Artificial Food" The Present Truth 14, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

Considerable sensation has been caused in the scientific world by a discovery announced to the Chemists, Congress, just held at Vienna. This is no less than the artificial production of albumen, the most important of all the food elements. Dr. Lilienfeld has been at work on the invention for many years, and now claims to have completed it. The production is simple and rapid, the albumen being obtained from the waste of coal tar and ammonia, and it is claimed that by chemical test, the product cannot be distinguished from that provided by nature.

It has not yet been demonstrated, however, that the nourishing effect of the now product is equal to the natural albumen, and on this depends the whole value of the invention. All that is certainly known so far is that it has been built up in the same chemical proportions as albumen, but whether it will give life to the eater as the natural product does is the question. It is generally admitted that if it shall be found to possess this quality, the value and importance of the discovery is inconceivable. No food is of value except in so far as it imparts life. To take inorganic minerals and produce therefrom a substance capable of sustaining life would be something which only God can do. Man may build up the very semblance of a living thing, in the exact chemical proportions of the thing copied, but he cannot give it life, or derive life from it. Only God can command stones that they become bread, because only God can put into matter His own life.

This is the point at which all human science and skill has to confess its impotence. Men may analyse a compound and divide it into its several elements, yet never discover the life which will alone account for the mysterious forms of energy revealed; or they way reconstruct the various constituents and appear to have the same compound again, yet never be able to invest it with the life.

Men have tried to construct diamonds, and so have procured the necessary material and subjected it to the proper conditions, but no one can ever yet made a diamond. Much stir was made a little while ago by an attempt to transmute silver into gold. It was observed that the only difference between the two metals was in the relative density of their respective atoms. What more simple than to bring to bear the required pressure and change silver to gold? The attempt was made but it was a failure, and Argentaurum has gone to join the philosopher's stone of the middle ages.

God has opened up the treasures of His universe to the minds of men, but instead of beholding therein "His everlasting power and Divinity," and glorifying Him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters, they have failed to recognise the Divinity, and render the Creator worship. Instead, they have become vain in their imaginations, and have supposed that they could do what God alone is able to accomplish.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 33.

E. J. Waggoner

"Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come find see." John i. 45, 46.

The name by which Jesus was distinguished while on earth was "Jesus of Nazareth." Joseph "came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." Matt. ii. 33. And after the ascension of Christ, that name was used in the performance of a mighty miracle. To the man who had never had the use of his legs, Peter said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." Acts iii. 6.

In the economy of God there are no accidents. It was not an accident that Jesus was brought up from infancy in the town of Nazareth, and that He is known to this day as "Jesus of Nazareth." There is something for us in the frequent use of that title. What is it?

Consider the reputation of the people of Narareth, and you have the answer. The estimation in which the place was held is indicated by Nathanael's question: "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip expressed no surprise at this question, for nobody expected to hear of any good from Nazareth, and he did not attempt to defend the place, or to argue the case at all. The only thing he could say was, "Come and see." The place was so thoroughly bad that nobody would believe that there was any good in it unless he saw it for himself.

The word Nazareth means "separated." But the city of Nazareth was separated or distinguished by its general worthlessness. It was in that place that Jesus was brought up, yet He was a Nazarite indeed, separated and distinguished because of the goodness of His character. Under the very worst conditions, he developed a perfect character.

Was not this written for our encouragement and strength. How often we wish that we could get out of the conditions in which we find ourselves through no fault of our own, into a place where the conditions are more favourable for serving God. And because we are where we are, and our associates are so wicked and so much opposed to the truth, we persuade ourselves that we cannot be expected to do right. So we, like Felix, wait for a more convenient season, which too often never comes.

It is for help in just such cases that we are directed to Jesus of Nazareth. He was faithful to Him that called Him. He was just as good in Nazareth as in Bethany. Circumstances and associations had no effect on Him, for He trusted in God from childhood. He "went about doing good," "for God was with Him;" and the good which He did to suffering people was only the shining forth of the good that was in Him. If He had not resisted the evil influences which the devil threw around Him in Nazareth, He could not have healed those who were oppressed by the devil.

There is not a phase of human experience that Jesus has not passed through. No one is in such unfavourable circumstances for doing God's will as Jesus was. He knows all about us. And He is with us every day, even, to the end of the world. He does not simply point to His achievements, to how He "endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself," but by the blessed and all-powerful Holy Spirit He comes into our hearts, to endure the same things still, and to make us "strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might."

Therefore "consider Him." "Take the name of Jesus with you," even the name of Jesus of Nazareth. There are no associations so bad that Jesus cannot live a holy life in the midst of them, and it is He, not we, who gains the victory. "Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

On Friday afternoon, the 12th, the terms of peace between the United States and Spain were signed in Washington by the representatives of the two Governments, and the officers in command of the various forces in the West Indies and the Philippines were notified that hostilities must cease. The terms are these: Spain to relinquish all sovereignty over Cuba; Puerto Rico and all other Spanish islands in the West Indies, together with certain islands in the Ladrones, to be ceded to the United States; all these islands to be at once evacuated by Spain; the United States to occupy the city, bay, and harbour of Manila till the future of the Philippines shall be determined by treaty, said treaty to be concluded by ten commissioners, five appointed by each nation, to meet in Paris by October 1.

From this it will appear that, financially considered, the United States have made a very good thing out of their "humanitarian war."

The Tent Services to which reference was made in a recent issue, were held at Bath as announced. Over three hundred of our friends were present from different parts of the country and, at the evening meetings, a considerable number of the Bath residents attended. The occasion was one of deep blessing to those who were present as the reality of the Gospel and the fulness of the Divine gifts were presented from day to day with increasing force and clearness, the hearing of the word brought faith to believe that God Himself had become, our salvation, so that we might trust and not be afraid. At the daily gathering for prayer and praise the time was well filled with testimonies of gratitude and rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord. Many who were present have devoted their lives to the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom, which is to be preached in all the world for a witness before the end come, and all felt that they could take up their work with greater courage than over before and go forward to victory in the strength of the Lord. Several were baptized during the week.

If any desire a detailed report of the Bath meetings, it will be forwarded on Orders should be received at once.

The state of affairs in the Far East is considered really alarming. In spite of the protests of the British Minister, the Chinese Government has sanctioned the Belgian-Russian contract for a railway from Peking to Hankow, in the very heart of the Yang-tse valley, which has been held by Great Britain to be within her "sphere of influence." This seems to give Russia a great commercial advantage over Great Britain, and whenever commercial interests are seriously threatened, the mutterings of war are heard.

August 25, 1898

"A Law of Love" The Present Truth 14, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

One Sabbath day Jesus an His disciples were passing through a cornfield, on their way to the synagogue "and His disciples were a hungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto Him, Behold, Thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day." Matt. xii. 1, 2.

Would Jesus defend His disciples in at unlawful course?-Not by any means, for He said,-"Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven end earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. v. 17, 18. And He used still stronger language, to show the unchangeability of the law, which includes the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy. Said He, "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Luke xvi. 17. That law was in His heart. Ps. xl. 8. It is evident, therefore, that Jesus had no sympathy with lawlessness.

Yet Jesus defended the action of the disciples in plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath day, and rubbing the grains out in their hands, and eating, to satisfy their hunger. This was not, as some think, a setting aside or ignoring of the law, to make room for a higher claim, that of human need, but it was in view of the fact that what the disciples did was perfectly in harmony with the law. To the Pharisees Jesus said: "If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless." The Pharisees accused the disciples falsely, in saying that they were doing what was not lawful on the Sabbath day.

"God is love." His law is a law of love. "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of His saints; from His right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, He loved the people." Deut. xxxiii. 2, 3. This is a part of "the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel." The blessing of God is "life for evermore" (Ps. cxxxiii. 3), and "His commandment is life everlasting." John xii. 50. God's law is not negative; it is positive, life-giving. It does not need to be set aside, in order that human needs should be met; no; it is impossible for one jot of its claims to abate; but the law makes provision for the satisfying of human need. Yea, the law exists for the sole purpose of satisfying the desire of every living thing.

Many people get the idea, and too often they get it from professed Christians, that to serve God and keep His commandments means to make one's self miserable. What a libel that is upon God's goodness and fatherly care. The words of the Lord are spoken to us, that our "joy may be full." To the one who knows the Lord and His law, it is a delight. It is not that one shall compel himself to like something that is disagreeable; that is not Christianity; but it is that men should find that the commandments of God are "more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the

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honeycomb." The true Christian rejoices in the Lord, and delights to do His will, because he cannot help liking what is so good.

In keeping with the common idea that Christianity deprives men of all that is desirable in life, very many people have the idea that the Sabbath is a yoke of bondage imposed upon them. Consequently they reject it entirely, while others accept it in much the same way that they would take bitter medicine. They think that they must do it in order to be saved, and they reluctantly take on the Sabbath, and either pity themselves for the hard road they have to travel, or else they complacently boast of the great "sacrifice" which they have made for the Lord. It is difficult to know just what to call such dealing with the Sabbath of the Lord; but one thing we may be sure of, and that is, it is not Sabbath-keeping.

"This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John v. 3. Therefore the Sabbath commandment is not grievous. "The Sabbath was made for man," not against him. It is not something that is imposed upon man, but something given to him; it is not a burden for him to carry, but it carries him, and eases him of his burdens. It is not hard, but easy, to keep the Sabbath, even as it is not hard, but easy, to rest. Rest is not work. The true keeping of the Sabbath is the entering into God's work; and since that work is finished and perfect, we find rest in it. Keeping the Lord's Sabbath,-God's rest,-is absolutely to trust in Him, allowing Him to work His perfect will in us. It is the perfection of faith in God.

God has laid up righteousness for those who trust in Him. Ps. xxxi. 19. We are made righteous by faith. He gives righteousness. All our own righteousnesses are as filthy rags; there is no real righteousness except the righteousness of God, and that cannot he had apart from Him. We can have no perfect righteousness except as His presence gives it to us. But "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." So the righteousness that God gives us is eternal life. The Sabbath is part of God's gift of righteousness. Indeed, it is the perfection of His righteousness, for it is perfect rest in Him. To keep the Sabbath is to trust God implicitly and absolutely, to rest in His love. Therefore the Sabbath brings to us God's free gift of everlasting life in Christ.

The greater includes the less. He who does that which is greatest, will certainly do that which is less. As nothing is too hard for the Lord, so nothing is too small for Him. Whoever believes that God will keep him alive throughout eternity must certainly know That He will provide for his needs day by day. If a man is in fear about his daily support, that shows that he does not trust God for eternal life; for it is absurd to say that I trust God to keep me eternally, but do not trust him for today. So we see that the Sabbath of the Lord-the seventh day of the week-is the great test of our faith in God. It is made the busiest day in the week by the most of the world. To keep it as the commandment of God requires, scents to be cutting one off from his daily bread. A man who has not faith in God cannot do it; but the one who trusts his whole being with God for eternity, can trust Him to give him his daily bread while he keeps the Sabbath. He will see that the Sabbath, instead of being a hardship, reveals to him God who gives to all life and breath and all things.

We see, therefore, that the record of the passing through the cornfield on the Sabbath day, as well as the miracles of healing which Jesus did on that day, is for the purpose of showing us that in the Sabbath God gives Himself to us, with all the strength of His life. The lesson is, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Do not despise or reject the gifts of God. He gives all good things. He is solicitous for our welfare. He desires that we shall live, and enjoy life. But we must not be afraid to trust Him. We must not act as though we thought there were concealed poison in His gifts: and we must know that the Sabbath is the blessed gift of God. It is for our good both here and in eternity. "O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. O fear the Lord, ye His saints; for there is no want to them that fear Him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." Ps. xxxiv. 8-10.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Death of Elisha. 2 Kings xiii. 14-25" The Present Truth 14, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

SEPTEMBER 4

Some sixty-five years had passed since Elisha entered the service of Elijah, when he fell sick "of his sickness whereof he died." There was yet much wickedness in the land, and the ancient sin of Jeroboam still bore its evil fruit, but in many respects the closing circumstances of Elisha's life present a brighter picture than could have been seen in Israel at the beginning of his work. The zealous purging of John, the oppression of Hazael, king of Syria, and the faithful, enduring testimony of Elisha's influence had not been without affect. The royal attitude toward Elijah had been one of eager, relentless persecution. He had boon accounted a hateful enemy, "he that troubleth Israel," but on Elisha's death-bed, the king of Israel came to mourn the loss of one who had been a bulwark to the State, more efficient for defence than all its panoply of military strength. "And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof."

FAITHFUL WORK

One especially pleasing feature in the history of the sister country of Judah deserves notice. It bears witness to a revival of the spirit that had of old exalted the nation, recalling the few occasions on which they had consecrated themselves to God with unreserved devotion. It was in connection with the restoration of the temple and, telling of the way in which the funds were handled, the record says, "Moreover they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen for they dealt faithfully."

ELISHA'S BLESSING

At the time Elijah was instructed to anoint Elisha to be prophet in his own

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room, the sentence of judgment went forth, against Israel: "it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth the sword of Jehu shall Eliaha slay." Now that Elisha was about to leave the people he loved, for whom his long life had been spent, he desired to see this sentence lifted from them. The destruction was accomplished; Jehu had done his hart and passed away, Hazael's reign was near its close, and Elisha himself was on his dying had. He wished to leave a blessing and not a curse behind him, as Moses "blessed the children of Israel before his death," and as Christ longed to bless His own who received Him not, when He beheld the city and wept over it.

It was not yet too late for Israel and Judah to turn from their wickedness and fill the high position destined for them. "The Lord was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast He them from His presence as yet." Elisha hoped that they had learned the lesson which their afflictions had been designed to teach, and that he might leave for them a last message of blessing and comfort in the promise of perfect deliverance from their enemies.

A SIGN OF WEAKNESS

At his direction the king of Israel aimed an arrow through the open window toward the stronghold of their Syrian foes. This was a declaration of war, and since God, by the prophet, directed the flight of the arrow, it showed that His hand was against their enemies. Elisha then told the king to take the arrows and smite upon the ground with them. He did so thrice and stopped. This revealed to Elisha that only thrice would it be possible for the Lord to lead the armies of Israel to victory, and he was wroth with the king, and told him that if he had smitten five or six times, tie should have smitten Syria till he had consumed it. The sign was of the Lord. It simply indicated the future, but did not control it, and Elisha's wrath was against the spirit of indifference and backsliding that was so easily contented, when it might have had all that was to be desired. Elisha knew from this that the reformation in Israel was only a partial and transitory one, and that there was no prospect of a complete deliverance from the bondage of sin, and all the other forms of slavery thus entailed, because In their hearts the people loved to have it so.

WILLING BONDAGE

It seems surprising indeed that a people could be found, so enslaved in heart as not to desire freedom when they might easily have it, but to this day men are displaying the same lack of appreciation of their privileges. God wants to set us free. The Son came at infinite sacrifice to make us free indeed, and sometimes, when the way of transgression becomes especially hard, and the intolerable degradation of spiritual bondage makes the iron enter into our souls, we do rejoice at the offer of freedom, and, for a while, exchange the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Yet, too often, we fail to realise how great a salvation is provided for us in the gift of Christ, and are so easily satisfied. As the sense of condemnation is taken away, it is felt that all is well, and that there is no danger of further subjection. Satan awaits his opportunity and erelong, instead of going on from strength to strength, we find ourselves again led captive. Why should we not smite again and again until our enemies he utterly consumed?

LIMITING GOD

It is the Lord who fights for us, but we are workers together with Him. He is willing and anxious to show Himself strong in our behalf, and to work in us more than we can ask or think of freedom and power and deliverance, but He does not thrust Himself upon us unbidden. He desires that we shall seek His help, and meet the tempter in His strength. He is able to do all things, but His people ask so little at His hands. They let go the arm of the Lord too soon. He only finds occasional admittance to their hearts and has no opportunity allowed to show what He can do for those who trust Him. His rightful place is in the heart, but He is made to stand without, knocking and pleading for permission to come in. "O the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest Thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldest Thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save?" Jer. xiv. 3, 9. The Lord reproached His people of old because "they limited the Holy One of Israel." If we would cease to limit Him with our unbelief, and our disposition to sit down and go no further whenever we receive a blessing, He would speedily make bare His holy arm in the sight of the nations, and all the ends of the earth would see the salvation of God. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth." Hosea vi. 3.

That which prevents our having this experience in its fulness is set out in the following verse, in which the Lord expresses Himself is "a man astonied [or bewildered], a mighty man that cannot save." "O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as the morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away." Paul says, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. iii. 13, 14.

A WONDERFUL MIRACLE

On more miracle is recorded in occasion with Elisha, and it took place after his death, a band of Moabite invaders, burying one of their company, were surprised and hastily cast the body into the sepulchre of Elisha. "And when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet." The narrative is very brief and we are not told why God wrought this miracle, but it must have been a striking lesson to Israel. As Elisha's presence was withdrawn and clouds were once more gathering round the nation, it would remind them that the power by which bespoke and lived was not diminished, and that while his body was fast turning to dust and was withdrawn from their eyes, the God in whose presence Elisha stood and walked, was still among them, able to use that which was weak, and even that which was not (1 Cor. i. 28), to accomplish His great designs.

"We should fill all the hours with the sweetest things,
If we had but a day;
We should drink alone at the purest springs
On our upward way;
We should love with a lifetime's love in an hour,
If the day were but one;
If what we remember and what we forget
Went out with the sun."

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

RAIN AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

Job xxxviii. 25-38: "Who both divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause it to rain upon the earth where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein is no man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground: and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? Hath the rain a father? or who both begotten the drops of dew?"

Jer. ii. 13, 13: "Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, end be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken thee the Fountain of living waters, and hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."

Ps. xxxvi. 8, 9: "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures. For with Thee is the Fountain of life."

Rev. xxii. 1: "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb."

Rev. v. 6: "And I saw In the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, an though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God."

Rev. vii. 17: "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall load them unto living fountains of waters."

Ps. lxv. 9, 10: "Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it; Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water; Thou preparest them corn, when Thou best so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly; Thou settlest the furrows thereof; Thou makest it soft with showers; Thou blessest the springing thereof."

Ps. lxxxix. 14: "Righteousness and judgment [justice] are the foundation of Thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before Thy face."

Hosea x. 12: "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you."

Isa. xlv. 8: "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; I the Lord have created it."

Hosea xiv. 5: "I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon."

The rain has a Father, for it is God Himself who has begotten the drops of dew. He draws the drops of water to Himself, and sands the rain upon the earth by His Word.

God is the Fountain of living waters. With Him is the fountain of life. This is not a figure of speech, but an actual fact, for out of the throne of God and of the Lamb proceeds the river of life.

The Lamb slain,-Christ crucified,-is in the midst of the throne. Therefore the river of life proceeds from the crucified Saviour. So "the glorious Lord" is in reality "unto us a place of broad rivers and streams." Isa. xxxiii. 21. All who live in Him cannot fail to be led unto living fountains of water." "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their Shepherd." "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters." Ps. xxiii. 1, 2.

Where does the rain come from? Read the sixty-fifth psalm, and see. God waters the earth and enriches it with the river of God, which is full of water. How is it that it is full of water?-It is the life of God Himself, who is infinite.

Don't argue with this text, and try to reason it out, which means to reason it away. Believe what it says, that the rain which waters the earth and makes it fruitful comes from the river of God. The rain certainly does not create itself. It is not self-existent. No; it has a Father; it comes direct from the bosom of God. Truly "the Life was manifested, and we have seen it."

God is "the living God." His throne is a living throne. See the first chapter of Ezekiel. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of it. God's law is His righteousness. Isa. li. 7. So the foundation of the throne of God is His living law, His own life. See this indicated in the ark of the sanctuary, in which were the tables of stone.

Christ is in the midst of the throne. He is the "Living Stone." 1 Peter ii. 4. The law of God is in His heart. Ps. xl. 8. So Christ, the life of God, is the foundation of His throne,-the Living Stone, on which is written the living law.

It is from this "sure foundation" the Rock, that the river of life flows. Ex. xvii. 6. It springs forth from the living law,-God's righteousness. Thus it brings the righteousness of the law-the righteousness of God-with it.

The rain that waters the earth comes from the river of God. It is the life of God in visible form. So it is a literal fact that God rains righteousness upon us, and the skies pour it down. No soul has any excuse for ungodliness and unrighteousness, for "abundance of grace and of the gifts of righteousness" has been bestowed on all. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."

Why then are not all saved, whether they believe or not? Since righteousness is literally rained down upon all mankind, why is it necessary to believe in order to be saved?-Because believing is receiving. Believing is breaking up the fallow ground. If the ground is not broken up, then the rain runs off without producing any crop. "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 bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burnt. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation." Heb. vi. 7-9.

"The Lord is good unto all; and His tender mercies are over all His works." See how abundantly, how lavishly, God bestows His gifts. He has enough, and to spare. He does not need, even if He had the disposition, to measure out the gift of life, lest the supply should run short. "God giveth not the Spirit by measure." John iii. 34. This He demonstrates to us, in that He causes it to "rain on the earth where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein is no man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground." He lets the rain fall on the barren rock, and on the wide expanse of ocean. So freely does He bestow His life upon mankind.

"The Water of Life" The Present Truth 14, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

With God is the fountain, the well-spring of life. He Himself is "the Fountain of living waters." Jer. ii. 13. This is demonstrated to us by the river of water of life, which flows from the throne of God and the Lamb. It is a real stream, as plainly to be seen by the inhabitants of the heavenly country as any earthly stream is by those who dwell on its banks. Nevertheless it is spiritual, it is indeed the Spirit, for the Spirit of God is living water. John vii. 38, 39. But spiritual things are spiritually discerned; and the glorified saints, having spiritual bodies, will be able to see the Spirit of God, even as now with our physical eyes we see each other. "The Spirit is life because of righteousness" (Rom. viii. 10); and in the world to come we shall be able to see the Spirit of life proceeding from God in a never-failing stream.

In order to be able to see spiritual things, we must become spiritual. When the Lord comes, and the righteous dead are raised, both dead and living are changed to immortality, and given spiritual bodies. See 1 Cor. xv. 42-53; 1 Thess. iv. 15-17. All the change that takes place at that time is in the body, outwardly, and this will take place only with those who have previously been led by the Spirit, and walked in the Spirit, having the mind of the Spirit. "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Rom. viii. 9. The change at the coming of the Lord will be simply the last step in the change from glory to glory. God wishes us now to be filled with the Spirit, and if this be the case, then we shall be able even now to discern spiritual things, even though our eyes cannot see them. The world receives not the Spirit of God, "Because it seeth Him not." John xiv. 17. But believers are well acquainted with Him, and can discern His presence, although the eyes that they now have are not fitted to see Him.

We have read that God is the Fountain of living waters. In harmony with this is the Polychrome rendering of Ps. xlvi. 4.

"A brook, whose waters make glad the city of
God,
Is the Most High in His habitation."

God Himself is the stream of life, for God is Spirit. So we read of the new earth that "there the glorious Lord will be to us a place of broad rivers and streams." Isa. xxxiii. 21. The reason for this is that "the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King: He will save us." Verse 22. He saves us by His life,-the cleansing stream,-which flows from the throne, the foundation of which is righteousness and justice, that is, His everlasting law. The Lamb in the midst of the throne leads the redeemed unto "fountains of waters of life." Rev. vii. 17, R.V. That fountain, God's own life, will be our drink, and the life of everything that grows from the earth. Thus will it be as plain to the eyes of the redeemed saints that they live directly from the life of God, as it now is to any man that we live by food and drink.

The good things of God, however, are not reserved for the future. God has given us Himself in Christ, and so with Him all things. Rom. viii. 32. "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup." Ps. xvi. 5. Even now God chooses men, and causes them to approach unto Him, that they may dwell in His courts. Ps. lxv. 4. By the blood of Christ we are "made nigh." Eph. ii. 13. By that blood,-the stream of life from out God's throne,-we have boldness to enter into the holy place where God dwells. "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." Ps. xcii. 13. "How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God I therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures; for with Thee is the Fountain of life." Ps. xxxvi. 7-9. So we see that the river of God's pleasure is the river of life flowing from His throne. The word translated "pleasures" in this text is "Edna," the feminine form of the Hebrew word "Eden." The Garden of Eden is the garden of pleasure, and from its waters God gives us to drink even now.

The river that flowed from Eden divided and watered the whole earth. Gen. ii. 10-14. Eden is no more in this earth, but God still allows men to drink of its waters. Who may drink? "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. xxii. 17. God took the man whom He had made, and (literally) "caused him to rest in the garden of Eden." In Eden there is rest. "We who have believed do enter into rest," for there remaineth a rest to the people of God (Heb. iv. 3, 9), a rest that comes to us from Eden. That rest is the Lord's own rest-the Sabbath of the Lord. Rest is delight, and so the Lord says, "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, . . . then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord." Isa. lviii. 13, 14. Those who with all their hearts believe God, worshipping Him as Creator of heaven and earth, rest in His almighty power, and delight their souls in Him. They drink of the water of Eden, and keep the Sabbath that was given to man in Eden.

Just as such ones have passed from death unto life, even while yet in this mortal body, even so they pass from the old earth to the new, even while inhabiting this sin-cursed earth. To them "all things are become new." 2 Cor. v. 17. In Christ, who is, and is to come, future things are made present. The Spirit is the first fruits of the inheritance. So everything that they see (that is, everything that God has made) is to them only the image of the invisible. Every gift of God is a medium conveying the Holy Spirit. So in the rain that comes down from heaven and waters the earth, they receive the water of life, the Holy Spirit poured out upon all flesh. Even now, as in the beginning, the river of Eden waters the earth, and they who know the Lord delight in it. To them heavenly things are not mere speculations nor simply possible future enjoyments, but present living realities. They sit with Christ in the heavenly places. Eph. ii. 6.

"Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it; Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water." Ps. lxv. 9. According to the marginal note this text would read: "Thou visitest the earth when thou hast caused it to desire (rain); Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God." God creates a desire, a longing, for Himself, and then He supplies that desire. He alone can satisfy the desire of every living thing. The reason why all do not consciously take of Him, and delight in Him, is that they do not believe or realise this truth. So they go on unsatisfied. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry

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soul with goodness." Ps. cvii. 8, 9. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." Matt. v. 6. Yes; every shower that falls from heaven, enriching the earth, and causing it to bring forth fruit, is to those who live in constant recognition of God, a rain of righteousness.

God's witness of Himself is that He does good, and sends rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, so that men can rejoice in abundance of food. Acts xiv. 17. He sends rain on the unjust as well as on the just, in order that they may accept His righteousness, and turn from their evil ways.

"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God: for He hath clothed me with the garment of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. 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. 10, 11. How does the earth bring forth her bud? It is by drinking in the rain that falls upon it. Even so will the Lord cause righteousness to spring forth. How? Just as the earth brings forth her fruit, that is, by the rain. The rain from heaven, recognised as coming direct from God's throne, from God Himself, and acknowledged as bringing to us the Holy Spirit, will cause us to bring forth the fruits of righteousness. The same thing that makes the earth to bring forth fruit will also make them bear fruit to holiness, if they truly believe; for belief brings them into the same relation to God-the same state of receptivity-that the earth is. Then "seek ye the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near," and He will come and rain righteousness upon you.

"Lighting Up the Sun" The Present Truth 14, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

The other day I came upon a man who was rubbing two dry sticks together. "What are you doing?" I asked. "I am trying to throw light upon the dark spots in the sun," was the reply, "Ah, I hadn't noticed that there were any dark spots in the sun; to me it seems to be only light; have you seen them?" No; but I have been told that they are there." "Well, my friend, don't you know that if you succeed in getting light out of your dry sticks, it will after all be only a bit of light from the sun, and that since all light is from the sun, you can throw no light upon it? Don't imagine that you can manufacture light."

Which thing is an allegory, born of the statement that Dean Farrar is working upon a volume, which "will not be an ordinary commentary on the New Testament, but will throw light on dark find difficult texts." Where will he get the light which he has to throw on these dark texts? Will he manufacture it? If so, if it he that he has light in himself for the people, why does he not throw it directly on the people, instead of on the "dark texts" which, if they have no light in themselves are not worth lighting up?

This is not a drive at Dean Farrar, nor a play upon words, but an endeavour to bring the reader's attention sharply to the fact that the Word of God is itself light. "For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light." Prov. vi. 23. No one can throw light upon it, but must receive from it all the light he ever has. "The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." Ps. cxix. 130. To talk of throwing light upon the Bible, or any part of it, is as absurd as to talk of throwing light upon the sun. Yea, more so, for the light which the sun has is only that which it has received from the Word of the Lord.

There are no "dark texts" in the Bible. There are indeed things that are "hard to be understood," and things that are difficult to our comprehension; but the trouble is not in the texts, but in us. It we cannot see, that is an evidence that we cannot see, and not that the sun does not shine. Let every one disabuse himself of the idea that any man can throw light on the Bible, for then the Bible is put down as less than man. In that case man is the judge and maker of the Word, instead of its disciple. What we all need to pray is, "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law." If you don't see light in any test, know that the difficulty is in your vision, not in God's Word. If "the anointing which we have received of Him" abideth in us, we shall be able to see. If any man willeth to do, he shall know as much as is necessary for him to know. When we "walk in the light as He is in the light" we shall be able to see light in His light. Simple belief is the best and only "introduction to the study of the Bible."

"For the Children. 'The Brightness of the Firmament'" The Present Truth 14, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork." You have learned that on the second day "God made the firmament" by the power of His Word, saying, "Let there be a firmament." And He "divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament." "And God called the firmament, Heaven."

Last week we were thinking about God's power in the firmament; to-day we will talk about His glory, which the heavens declare,-the beauty of the Lord which we may see in "the waters which are above the firmament." For you know that the clouds which float to in the blue sky are large masses of water in the form of vapour, which has been drawn up there by the power of God, working through the sun. If you want to know more about this, read the "Story About Raindrops" on the next page.

God draws up to Himself the drops of water, and holds them up in the sky, and stretches them like a curtain over the earth, sending them down where they are needed in refreshing showers, to water the thirsty ground, and "make it bring forth and bud."

Of the cloud that rested over the tabernacle that was with the children of Israel in the wilderness, we are told that "the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud." This is true, not of that particular clout only, but of all the clouds that are in the sky. Have you ever watched with delight the glorious sunrise? when

"Far eastward in the heaven
You see at last the sign,-
Along the far horizon
A single silver line.

"It broadens and it deepens
To a sea of red and gold,
With clouds of rosy amber
Around its glory rolled."

Or, more glorious still, the splendour of the sunset sky, when the ruler of the day "seems to lay down his head upon a pillow of crimson and gold," and

"Bright clouds are gathering one by one,
And sweeping in pomp round the setting sun,
With crimson banner and golden pall,
Like a host to their chieftain's funeral."

Where does all this brightness in beauty come from,-the delicate soft tenths of pink and amber, and the magnificent glowing crimson and gold?-It is the glory of the Lord appearing in the clouds. His glory which the sun reveals is reflected by the clouds before the sun rises and after it sets. The glory would be there just the same if there were no clouds reflect it to us; but through the clouds it is made visible so that we are able to see in "the brightness of the firmament," the glory of the Lord.

And then, you will remember, that after the flood of waters which destroyed the earth, God said, "I do put My bow in the cloud." The rainbow simply shows us all the beautiful colours that are in the light, which is the glory of God shining from the face of Jesus Christ. But this glory is the shining forth of His love and goodness, so we may really see in the rainbow, when His Holy Spirit opens our eyes, the beauty of God's character.

A little while ago, while walking one morning in a large park, I watched one of the gardners watering the plants with a large hose. As the water shot from the hose in a cloud of fine spray which fell gently to the earth, I saw reflected in it a beautiful rainbow. And I knew that this beauty of the Lord was all about me in the light, although unseen, and that like the cloud of spray I might reflect it so that others could see it, by revealing His character, His grace and loveliness.

And this is just what God is promise that His children shall do, for He says that they "shall shine as the brightness of the firmament." Think of this whenever you see the beauty of the heavens come and ask God to let His glory shine into your heart, so that you may reveal the beauty of His love, that when He comes its beauty may "shine forth" from you for ever in "the kingdom of your Father."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

-Zoologist's say that all known species of wild animals are gradually diminishing in size.

-The young giraffe at the Zoo has died a month after its arrival in this country. It costs society ?900.

-The Imperial penny postage to those British colonies which have adopted it will come into force on Christmas Day.

-The famous giant tortoise, aged 203, which has grace the Zoo for the last twelve months, has expired. It will be stuffed.

-A Council assembled under the Emperor of Austria has decided that Hungary should be restored to fiscal independence.

-Several persons were killed by a tornado in Minnesota, which did great damage to crops and destroyed a number of houses.

-The cabbage still grows wild in Greece, where it originated. Radishes are native to China, but have been grown in Europe for centuries.

-Very hot weather has been experienced in London during the last week, several persons having succumbed to the heat, among them to City policemen.

-A new steamed digger has been tested near Kelvedon. The digging is performed by ten two-pronged tools, and is said to be more effectual than ploughing with horses.

-The "Whales Gallery," just open that the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, is reputed to contain the greatest collection of Wales and the whole world.

-Almost the first act of the American government, after signing the terms of peace with Spain, was to place an order in Birmingham for ten million cartridges for immediate delivery.

-A thousand camels, which are conveying British troops towards Khartoum, where poke-bonnets as a protection against sunstroke. Only one of all these animals has died so far, and that was a camel which have lost its hat.

-An interesting calculation has been made which shows that a pound of good coal equals the work of one man for one day. One square mile of a scene of coal only four feet deep, would exceed the work of 1,000,000 men for twenty years.

-Turkey will soon be asked to raise the rank of its Diplomatic Representative to U.S.A., to that of an Ambassador, and enable America to have a Plenipotentiary of equal rank at Constantinople. This will open the way for America to take in Eastern affairs the same interest now shown by the Great Powers of Europe.

-Fearful hurricanes, accompanied by hail and bursting clouds, have visited Poland, causing terrible damage. Several houses have had their roofs blown off, cattle have been killed in numbers, bridges destroyed, trees uprooted, and the cut harvest standing in the field rendered worthless. Twenty-four persons have been killed.

-A leading journal States on good authority that the Foreign Office owes its recent diplomatic defeats in China to the Russian sympathizers of Li Hung Chang, and that on the discovery of this fact has been decided to demand his immediate dismissal and banishment from Peking. If necessary the demand is to be backed up by force.

-Despite German objections, the U.S. Navy Department is determined to establish a cooling station at Samoa.

-From South Dakota a terrific wind and hailstorm is reported. Eight bodies had been recovered, but the loss of life is known to have been greater.

-The Bishop of Hereford has offered to act as mediator between the cold-owners and miners in South Wales, but his services have been declined by the proprietors.

-Shortly before the news of peace arrived at Manila, the U.S. squadron bombarded and took the town, with much loss of life. The mortality among the Spanish troops at Santiago is fearfully heavy, and the dead bodies are being piled in heaps and burned.

-A Norwegian ship, on recently arriving in Melbourne, reported that from latitude 20 to 3 deg. north, she was enveloped in a cloud of dust, at times so thick that it was impossible see a ship's length ahead. The sails were changed in colour to a dull brown, and the decks were thickly coated.

-Dr. George Waltenath, of Hamburg, who recently announced his discovery of a non-luminous moon, claims to have received further evidence of its existence. He has received letters from China and different places in Germany where the dark satellite has been observed. His theory gives the size of the body at 123 times less than that of the moon, and a weight eighty times less.

-A strange railway accident is reported from the South of France. A have the goods train, drawn by three engines, was ascending a steep gradient in a long tunnel, when it was found that the engines were not strong enough. Owing to insufficient ventilation of the tunnel the smoke from the engines asphyxiated all the drivers and stokers, and the train went backwards, crashing into a passenger train behind. Both trains were wrecked, eleven persons killed and a number seriously injured.

-The Kaiser's tour to Palestine continues to provoke much suspicion. It seems impossible now for a prominent political personage to do anything unusual without stirring of jealousy. It is noted that Russia alone does not display disquietude, and this fact is winning for her a share in the evil surmises. Those who have studied the Eastern Question in the light of the prophecies know that startling developments maybe look for carillon in Palestine, such as have not entered into the wildest dreams of European statesmen. A little realise into whose hands they are playing.

-Russia is fast consolidating her position in Persia. The new Grand Vizier is known to be friendly to the Russian influence, and the Holy Synod of Russia has planned an extensive programme of operations in Persia. An appeal has been issued to the Russian people for funds to carry on this work, in which stresses laid on the political importance of the conversion of the Nestorians, and the rivalry of the other European powers. The official Russian journals are backing up the appeal. We do not call attention to the circumstances from any political motive. The Christian does not have any citizenship in this world, "for your have we no continuing city," but we mention them that our readers may see how the nations of births are becoming more and more involved in the toils of the great destroyer, and preparing for what a leading journal called the other day "the inevitable Armageddon." The fact that this will be largely brought about under the auspices of religious bodies will not ameliorate the fearful conditions of the impending conflict. "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."

"Seeing Life" The Present Truth 14, 34.

E. J. Waggoner

Most young men are filled with an ambition to "see life." This is a most laudable ambition, but, unhappily, their idea of what constitutes life is so far from the reality that few ever see life indeed.

Christianity is by them considered dull and "pokey." The one who becomes a follower of Jesus is thought to have thrown his life away. To "see life" it is supposed that one must indulge in dissipation, and must visit places of amusement where, to say the least, he would not feel comfortable with his mother as company.

In fact, the stage is quite generally regarded as affording the heat opportunity to see life. But here, let it not be forgotten, the idea of "realism," real life, is always associated with the representation of what is most corrupt and vicious, thus indicating that the popular idea of life is wickedness. What a sad revelation this is as to what constitutes the "life" of the majority of mankind.

But what are the facts in the case? Is it real life, is it life at all, that people see on the stage, or in the most popular places of resort, or as a general thing on the public highways?-Far from it. The Word of God makes the real facts very plain, and every one can for himself prove the truthfulness of what it says.

"This is the record, that God bath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life;" "and He that believeth not the Son shall not see life." 1 John v. 11, 12; John iii. 36. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you." 1 John i. 1-3.

"There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. xvi. 35. How sad it is to think of men rushing to death, while they think that they are enjoying the very fulness of life. They go the way of her who says, "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant;" "but he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell." Prov. ix. 15, 16.

This way which seems right to a man, but which ends in death, is one's own way. We have all turned, every one to his own way (Isa. liii. 6); and this way we would fain persuade ourselves is life. Reproofs of instruction, which are "the way of life," (Prov. vi. 23), come to us, but we do not relish them; and the result to all who persist in rejecting the way of the Lord is that they shall "eat of the fruit of their own way," which is death; "for the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them." Prov. i. 31, 32.

Wisdom, which is the fear of the Lord, and departure from evil (Job xxviii. 28), calls to us all, saying, "Whoso findeth me findeth life;" "but he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul; all they that hate me love death." Prov. viii. 35, 36. What! is it possible that anybody should love death? Yes, it is; and, strange to say, those who talk the most about "seeing life" in this world, are the very ones who are most in love with death. All those who love that which leads to death, love death itself. Death entered into the world by sin (Rom. v. 12); all sin contains the poison of death concealed in it. To love sin, then, which is the transgression of God's law, is to love death. How horrible the thought, that one will clasp a skeleton, or what is worse, a putrid corpse, to his bosom, imagining that it is the embodiment of life.

It would not matter how beautifully a body of death were decked out, no one would feel any attraction for it if he could perceive that it was but a decaying carcase. If then people would but stop to consider the difference between life and death, they would not make the terrible mistake that they do, of pursuing death instead of life. This difference is so very plain that none need have any difficulty is discerning it.

The difference, in short, is this: Life is eternal existence, while death is eternal destruction. Whatever endures has real life in it. Now all know that those things which the world calls pleasures and "real life" cannot exist long, and that is the; reason why men are so fierce in pursuit of them. One says, "Life cannot last long, and I mean to enjoy it while I can." He means that the things that he calls life cannot last long. But that very fact shows that they are not life, but death; for life, real life, is eternal. That which is not eternal is not life.

Life is strength, it is freshness, and fulness of joy. One does not grow weary of life; for the characteristic of eternal life, which is the only life, is that it is continually new. One can no more grow tired of it than he can of the morning dew drop or the clear light of the rising sun. But men who are wholly devoted to what the world calls the pleasures of life, soon grow weary and disgusted, and often show by committing suicide that death is what they have been after. A Christian cannot commit suicide; he loves life too well. The more he has of it, the better he likes it.

"What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it." Ps. xxxiv. 12-14. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live; that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, that thou mayest cleave unto Him, for He is thy life, and the length of thy days."

In a recent speech at Cape Town, Mr. Rhodes declared that federation in South Africa is very near.

It is stated on the authority of Cardinal Vaughan that the converts to the Catholic Church in England and Wales average about 700 a month. These figures, it is stated, are not based on conjecture, but on returns from the Catholic clergy, who are obliged to keep a register of all persons "baptized," and to state if they are converts.

A great thread "trust" is from Chicago, with a capital of eighteen million dollars, comprising the largest firms in England and the United States.

September 1, 1898

"Harvest Time" The Present Truth 14, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

Now is the time of harvest. Wherever one goes throughout the laud, there is to be seen the standing grain even now over-ripe, here the reaper with his sickle busily laying the corn in bundles, while the gleaner follows on behind, there the wore modern reaping machine swiftly laying low a whole field, and now we see shocks of corn waiting the gathering into the barn.

It is a busy season, the season far which the farmer has been labouring and waiting all the year, for it determines the value of what he has done. It is, in fact, the judgment time of the year. The nature of the sowing appears in the reaping; and upon the harvest depends the farmer's future. If it is good, he can rejoice in his prosperity; if it is poor, it may mean bankruptcy.

Who thinks of the real significance of the harvest, as it comes year after year? It has a lesson, and a most important one, which should be impressed upon us more and more deeply by its regular recurrence; but such is the perversity of human nature, that instead of learning the lesson better by its constant repetition, we become entirely unconscious of it, even as we do of the ticking of the cloak. Let us see if we cannot stir up our slumbering senses to appreciate the instruction and warning that God never wearies of giving us.

Jesus was one day teaching His disciples, and He said: "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in tile ear, but when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come." Mark iv. 26-29, R.V.

By the seen, the Lord teaches us of the unseen. That is, from what is apparent, He teaches us of the real; "for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal," and only that which is lasting is real. Each year, therefore, we have a complete picture of the kingdom of God; the whole work of the Gospel, from its beginning till its consummation, is annually set forth in living pictures before the eyes of all men.

For a more detailed account of the matter, read the parable of the wheat and tares, and its interpretation, in Matt. xiii. 24-30, 37-43, together with Scripture already quoted. Seed is sown; it germinates and grows, but no one knows how. This we do know, however, that the seed must die in order to bear fruit. John xii. 24. It must die in order to live. 1 Cor. xv. 36. And the work is wholly of God. "God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed His own body."

Sad to say, an enemy is also working, among the wheat, and tares spring up among the wheat. "The good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one." "The field is the world." The good seed, as we also learn from other scriptures, is the Word of God. Those who receive the Word, the incorruptible seed, into their hearts are born of it, thus being transformed into the same substance. This is the new birth, the passing from death to life. He who is not willing to die, cannot hope to live. The farmer who should refuse to cast seed upon the ground, seemingly throwing it away, would never reap anything. The harvest Would surely come, but his hands would be empty. "He that saveth his life, shall lose it."

In the growth of the grain we have an illustration of the Christian's growth in grace. "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. In the first place, the work is wholly of God. The showers that fall upon the earth show the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; the sunshine which warms the seed into life, shows us how the Sun of righteousness arises with

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healing in His wings. So the grain grows, because under the favourable conditions which God provides, it cannot do otherwise. We also, if we are consciously as passive in the hands of God as the corn is involuntarily, and as willingly receive the things that pertain to life and godliness, which His Divine power gives in perfection, will as surely bring forth fruit to the glory of God throughout eternity, as the corn ripens to the harvest.

For the harvest will surely come, and "the harvest is the end of the world." Each recurring harvest is but a sign of the coming end of the world, when "every man's work shall be made manifest." The real harvest is yet to come; these yearly harvests are but the assurances of it. We allow them to come and go without giving them a thought beyond the pounds, shillings, and pence which they bring; their regularity makes us indifferent to the lesson they teach, whereas each returning harvest should but deepen our sense of the coming judgment.

The Jews had each year a round of service in their sanctuary, which was designed to teach them the truths of the closing act in the yearly service was the Day of Atonement, which came in the autumn, when the year ended. It was to them the day of judgment. It was their unbelief that made that typical service necessary. If we will allow the veil of unbelief to be taken away from our eyes, we shall see the Gospel of the kingdom set forth even more vividly and really than it was in the Levitical yearly service. Their ceremonies were but dead forms; our lesson, which they also had, is the working of the living Word.

Each harvest tells us that God will bring every work into judgment, and "the day shall declare it." "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Gal. vi. 7, 8. What shall the harvest be in your case. You may know now as surely as when it comes, for the sowing determines the reaping. The harvest will surely come; it is even now upon us. Then "let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not."

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Sinful Indulgence. Amos vi. 1-8" The Present Truth 14, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

SEPTEMBER 11

The message of Amos the prophet was given in a time of great seeming prosperity. Both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were victorious in war, winning back from their enemies much of the territory that had been taken away. Jeroboam the second was king over Israel and "he restored the coast of Israel." "For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel that it was very bitter: and the Lord said not that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam." 2 Kings xiv. 26, 27.

Uzziah reigned over the kingdom of Judah, "and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper." "And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians." "And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly." "And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong." 2 Chron. xxvi.

"NEITHER WERE THANKFUL"

But it was the same old, sad story over again. Israel and Judah forgot that it was God who made them rich and strong, and began once more to trust in themselves and their uncertain riches. "For she did not know that I gave her the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. Therefore will I take back My corn in the time thereof, and My wine in the season thereof, and will pluck away My wool and My flax which should have covered her nakedness." Thus spoke Hosea, who prophesied at the same time as Amos.

LESSONS UNLEARNED

In despising the long-suffering of God and forgetting all His benefits, Israel was surely preparing the way for another experience of suffering and oppression, such as that from which they had been lately delivered. The Lord was not willing that the lessons of the past should thus be wasted, and sent His servants the prophets with messages of warning and instruction. These called attention to the patience and mercy of the Lord, as revealed in their past history, denounced the sins into which the people had fallen, and pointed out the inevitable results of continuance in their evil way. "Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you as ye say."

AN INSPIRED HERDMAN

Amos had not been educated as a prophet. He was not declaring God's Word because that was the kind of work he had been brought up to do. When the priest of Bethel told him to get out of Israel and go to Judah if he wanted to prophesy, because Bethel was very well contented with things as they were, and could not consent to hear anything against the king who supported its false worship, Amos replied that he was not engaged in the work by his own choice, but that God who gave him the message told him where to speak it. Said he, "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a dresser of sycamore trees: and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel."

"WE CANNOT BUT SPEAK"

The time needed such a man, one who was filled with a solemn sense of the fact that God had given him a message for the people, and that they must hear it. It was no light thing to Amos that the Lord had spoken, and he could not withhold the message from those for whom it was intended. He says, "Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? can a bird fall in a snare on the earth, where no gin is set for him? shall a snare spring up from the ground, and have taken nothing at all? shall the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid? shall evil befall a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Surely the Lord; God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? THE LORD GOD HATH SPOKEN, WHO CAN BUT PROPHESY?"

AT EASE IN ZION

"Woe to them that are at ease in Zion." Zion has never been a place for the idle and self-indulgent. It is true that there is rest in the presence of the Lord, but because this is true, no one who truly believes and enters into the rest, can be contented without bringing others to the same knowledge of God's nearness to them, that they too should seek the Lord, it haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one. Christ had not held to the riches and glory of heaven, but for our sakes became poor that we might be rich. Israel had been exalted once more among the nations that these might learn how blessed a thing it was to have "God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for;" and that in the spread of this knowledge, the promise to Abraham should be fulfilled that his seed should be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

DEBTORS TO ALL MEN

Instead, however, of recognising God in His gifts, and exalting His name among the heathen, Israel resigned itself to the sinful enjoyment of its temporal blessings, unmindful of the crying need of a world that lay in darkness, without God and without hope. Had they carried the knowledge of God to other nations, these would have been subdued by the influence of the Gospel, but they were not, and Israel had only themselves to thank when, in after days, brought into bondage to those heathen nations, they learned how cruel a people could become when unenlightened by the Word of God. When the work which might have been done in comparative ease had to be done under a terrible pressure of discouragement and difficulty. It would have been better for them had they gone to the heathen than waited for the heathen to come to them.

CARNAL SECURITY

At present they felt secure in the mountain of Samaria. They put far away the evil day, and rejoiced in deeds of violence and shame. Lying on beds of ivory, and stretched on luxurious couches, they feasted on dainties, and sang idle songs to the sound of the viol. They devoted much time to the fine arts, inventing instruments of music. Wine flowed freely at their banquets, and fragrant ointments perfumed their persons, but the anger of the Lord was against them because their one thought was to use all His gifts for their own gratification, and in their self-centred pleasures they were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Like Elijah's disturbing message came to them the stern reproof of the herdman Amos, that for these things, "shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the revelry of them that stretched themselves shall pass away. The Lord God hath sworn by Himself, saith the Lord, the God of hosts: I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein."

INACCEPTABLE WORSHIP

The services of the temple had taken on new magnificence in those days of prosperity. The newly invented instruments of music were introduced into the public worship, but the Lord was not pleased with them. "I hate, I despise your feasts." "Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols." What God desired was that they should receive from Him the righteousness that was bestowed as freely as the corn and wine. "Let judgment roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream." But Israel did not appreciate the best gifts of all, and failing to receive these, they also lost the lesser gifts. The promise is given to us that if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all necessary things shall certainly be added.

THE PRESENT SITUATION

The situation now is the same as it was in the days of Amos. There are judgments waiting to be poured out, not upon one nation only, but upon all nations. Men put far away the evil day, and there are many at ease in Zion. "When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them . . . and they shall not escape." 1 Thess. v. 3. Some are scoffing at the promise of His coming, and "as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. xxiv. 38, 39. God's servants should now be proclaiming His Word, calling on men to "fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come," to recognise God in His works and receive life and righteousness at His hands, that the prophecy of Amos may be fulfilled to them, "I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God."

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

Isa. xxxiii. 20, 21: "Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be token down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams."

Rev. xxii. 1: "And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb."

Rev. v. 6: "And I saw In the midst of the throne . . . a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God."

Rev. vii. 17: "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their Shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life."

John xix. 33, 34: "But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs; but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His aide, and forthwith came there out blood and water."

1 John v. 8: "There are three that bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three agree in one."

John vii. 37-39: "Jesus stood and cried saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spoke He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive."

Isa. xliv. 3, 4: "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring; and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses."

Ps. li. 12: "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit."

Titus iii. 4-6: "When the kindness of God our Saviour and His love toward man, appeared, not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy He saved as, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour."

Ps. i. 1-3: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and In His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shalt be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

God Himself is a place of broad rivers and streams. The river of life flows from Him. It is a real stream, because from it comes the rain upon the earth, as we saw in our last lesson. It is the life of God in visible form.

Christ crucified is in the midst of the throne, whence the water of life flows, so that the water flows direct from the cross.

The law of God was always in the heart of Christ, even when He was here in the flesh, so that He Himself was the throne of God. He has told us that His body was the temple of God. John ii. 19-21. So it was fitting that the water of life should flow from His side as He hung on the cross.

On the cross Christ gave His life for us and all mankind. So the water that flowed from His side was the water of life. It was mingled with blood, for the water and the blood are one. So we see that the river of water of life is also the blood, the life, of the Lamb. The Lamb slain is in the midst of the throne, the source of the river of life.

"The Spirit, and the water, and the blood agree in one." All three are life. So the water of life flowing from the throne of God,-from the slain Lamb,-is the Spirit of God. Christ Himself has told us this in so many words.

The world cannot receive the Spirit of God, "because it seeth Him not." John xiv. 17. "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. Our physical eyes are not adapted to see spiritual things; therefore if we could be permitted to enter heaven just as we are, we could not see the throne of God, nor the water of life, any more than we can where we are. But at the resurrection we shall receive a spiritual body (1 Cor. xv. 44-51), and then we shall see the river of life, which is the Spirit of God. We can then sea the Spirit as plainly as we now see our earthly friends.

But God gives us the Spirit, in order that, receiving Him by faith, we may become spiritual, and thus with our spiritual eyesight, that is, by faith in the words of God, we may see the Spirit in the gifts of God. The world cannot receive Him, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: "but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."

The Spirit is the water of life, and so it is always spoken of as being "poured out" upon us. The reality of the gift of the Spirit, and the freeness of the gift, is shown to us by the rain, the life of which is the Spirit. The fulness of the salvation of God is made known to us in the rain that refreshes the earth, and by which we have life.

"If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John i. 7. The blood of Christ is the water of life, and is also the Spirit, and so it is that we are cleansed by "the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost."

All the water that is in the heavens and earth comes from the throne of God, from the river of life. Water cleanses. This everybody knows. Thus it is that God makes us see the reality of the cleansing power of the blood of Christ.

The water that Christ gives is "living water." It is flowing, not stagnant. Flowing water, living water, is pure. Even if impurity be thrown into it, it soon becomes pure. All the sewage of the city of Paris flows into the Seine, yet forty miles below the city there is not a trace of impurity in the water. And this is in this sin-cursed earth. With what confidence then may we not come to the "fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." Zech. xiii. 1. And the reality of this cleansing is made known to us afresh every day, as we wash our bodies in water, or use water for the cleansing of our garments.

How freely and literally God has bestowed-"poured out"-His Spirit upon all flesh! Why will not all men receive Him? Read again the words of the scriptures

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that compose this lesson, and see how easily we may receive the Holy Spirit simply by believing. Do you believe? What a wonderful blessing is promised to those who meditate in the law of God. What is the law of God?-Can you not see that it is His life, and that it is in everything that He has made? What a grand thing to be sure of prosperity in every undertaking! Let us then meditate in the law of God as revealed in His works. Let us pray, "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law." Ps. cxix. 18. "Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work; I will triumph in the works of Thy hands." Ps. xiii. 4.

"The Reality of the Spiritual" The Present Truth 14, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

SEEING THE INVISIBLE

That which most stands in the way of people's living the Christian life, next to an unyielding will, is the difficulty they find in conceiving of spiritual things as real. This difficulty is not necessary, but is a result of the false ideas diffused among the people by religious teachers who devoted themselves far more to theology than to the Bible. That spiritual things are almost universally considered as intangible and unreal, is shown by the fact that even most people who argue strenuously for the personality of the Holy Spirit, will yet make a distinction between the literal and the spiritual. Thus they will speak of the literal and the spiritual meaning of the Bible, and of the difference between the literal and the spiritual seed of Abraham, and will talk about "literal Israel" and "spiritual Israel" as though they were two different peoples.

Now it is evident that just to the extent that spiritual things are considered as unreal, will they fail to have any effect upon one's practical life. When one considers his literal, every-day, practical life as something apart from the spiritual life, then it is plain that his every-day life will not be spiritual, or, in other words, it will not be a Christian life. But when one realises that spiritual things are even more real than the things that we see everyday, and lives as in the invisible world, the spiritual life will be his ordinary, every-day life. The secret of the strength of Moses was that "he endured as seeing the invisible."

In previous numbers we have spoken of the water of life, which Jesus said was the Holy Spirit. The Word of the Lord is Spirit (John vi. 8), and the Spirit and the water and the blood agree in one (1 John v. 8), and all are life. The river of living water flowing from the throne of God, from which we are now invited to take freely, is the Spirit of God. The reality of this river is made known to us in Ps. lxv. 9, 10, where we read that the earth is watered and made ready for the harvest by showers from the river of God, which is full of water. Thus every shower makes known to us the fulness and the freedom of the Holy Spirit. With every refreshing draught of the drink which God provides us, we may and should consciously receive the Holy Ghost; and so also with every breath of heaven's air that we breathe.

There is nothing with which we are well acquainted that more nearly represents the Holy Spirit than the air we breathe. Indeed, the Lord used the wind in its unseen motion as an illustration of the spiritual birth. Ps. civ. 4, "who maketh His angels spirits," is rendered in the Revised Version, "who maketh winds His messengers." Indeed, the same Hebrew word is rendered in different places "Spirit," "breath," and "wind," as for instance in Gen. i. 2; vi. 3; vii. 15; viii. 1. Scores of other instances might be cited.

Air is invisible, yet it is real. For a long time scientists and philosophers thought that the air was immaterial, and had no weight, although thousands of years ago Job wrote of the weight of the wind (Job xxviii. 28); and every one who has seen the trees bend and break in a storm, or has seen things floating in the air as in water, might have known that it had weight. But now that scientists have discovered that the air has weight, and are all agreed upon it, we may believe the Word of God and the evidence of our senses without fear of being called old-fogeyish.

But now a new thing has been discovered, which makes the invisible actually visible. This is the fact that the air under certain conditions becomes liquid, like water, and can be seen and handled just the same as the latter substance. We have already noted this interesting fact; but the following further description of liquefied air, by William Henry Hail, Ph.D., comes in very aptly in this connection:-

Liquid air is a clear, colourless liquid, when filtered, resembling water. It is intensely cold, the temperature being three hundred and twelve degrees below zero. It is constantly boiling, as it absorbs heat from the surrounding objects, and thus it gradually resumes the gaseous condition. If enclosed in vessels thickly surrounded with a non-conductor, however, it boils very slowly, and may be kept thus in an open vessel for many hours, and may be transported from place to place.

I visited Mr. Tripler's laboratory, March 24, He had just sent off a quantity of liquid air to John Hopkins University, a distance of one hundred and ninety miles, to be used by Prof. George F. Barker in a lecture there.

At the time of my visit to the laboratory, Mr. Tripler was entertaining a party of friends by exhibiting the properties of liquid air. When poured upon any surface, it breaks into drops, which immediately volatilise. So rapidly does it absorb heat from all surrounding substances, that when poured into a glass tube standing in water or whisky, the liquid surrounding the tube is soon frozen. As the liquid sir boils away, the nitrogen first evaporates, because the boiling-point of nitrogen is lower than that of oxygen. After a while nearly pure liquid oxygen remains. A cup of ice was removed from the outside of one of these tubes. Inside is liquid oxygen was poured; then steel was burned in the oxygen.

In another experiment a blowpipe was extemporised by putting liquid air into a vessel to which a tube was attached; and the vaporisation of the air forced air through the tube so as to blow to red heat an ignited hard carbon, which was then plunged into liquid oxygen, and burned intensely in the mid.it of the surrounding cold liquid. The characteristic odour of ozone was noticeable.

The air, as it vaporises, does so in a white cloud, like the vapour of water. Some liquid sir was enclosed in a bottle in which a tube was fitted; and the pressure of the boiling air caused a fountain of vaporised air to issue from the tube.

A bung pounded into a bottle containing liquid air, was blown to the ceiling with a loud pop.

Liquid oxygen is somewhat heavier than water. Liquid air was poured upon water. After the nitrogen had boiled off, the oxygen would sink into the water in little globes, which descended till they reached a depth of water where the ebullition of the descending globe became so violent as to raise it again to the surface.

The cold of the liquid sir is so intense that india-rubber, immersed in it, became brittle, and broke like glass, as did also a tin cup containing liquid air.

An exhaust pump was attached to a

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glass tube containing liquid air, and the vaporised air was drawn off, causing violent ebullition; in the tube. So great a degree of cold was thus produced as to cause a liquefaction of the air of the room outside of the tube, and even some crystals of frozen air were formed, the temperature requisite to freeze air being about four hundred degrees below zero.

Such is the avidity of liquid oxygen for some hydrocarbons, that violent explosions are caused by burning such substances as alcohol or cotton waste in the oxygen. An iron pipe, open at both ends, and a copper pipe, open at one end, were shown at the laboratory, both of which had been shattered by explosions thus caused, the energy of chemical combination being so enormous that the resulting gases broke their way through the tube, instead of escaping through the open end, only a few inches distant.

Although men stumble upon these discoveries, it is not an accident that they are allowed to come to light. God will make it plain to the most obtuse that the unseen is real, and that when the proper conditions are obtained, that which is now invisible may be seen. In the world to come, nothing will be invisible to the saints of God. "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Heb. iv. 13. There is no creature that is not manifest in His sight. When "that which is perfect" is come, we also shall know even as we are known. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. Then will the Spirit of God be seen proceeding from the Father as a stream of living water. Happy are those who now learn to know the reality of the spiritual, and to endure as seeing the invisible. In that world they shall dwell in the presence of Him "whom no man hath seen, neither can sea," "and they shall see His face."

"'Christians' at War" The Present Truth 14, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

The idea that war may be a Christian duty has been very strong in the United States, during the last few months. It is not strange, therefore, that the conception of Christianity has been conformed, more or less, to the spirit of the world. It is to be hoped that war has gained something by the association: Christianity has certainly not. Special missions have been held for the United States soldiers, while they were awaiting embarkation at the different depots, and a contributor to one of the leading religious journals writes the following, among other things, on the character of the work done.

The demand for reading matter is great and unceasing; but the men do not care for old religious papers and tracts-for which I little blame them. They are men, and should not be expected to care for that which we would not enjoy ourselves. Some of the literature sent is not sufficiently robust and high-toned. If you contemplate sending literature to the soldiers, I advise you to keep for your own edification those old religious papers and kindred matter, and send, instead, your latest magazine and comic paper end novel, provided the latter is fit for the soldier to read.

There was no reading-matter so popular among the men as the Scriptures, yet Christian workers are requested to send novels and comic papers.

There has been a great and marvellous demand for Bibles on the part of the men. There is no literature supplied in the Y.M.C.A. tents so popular as the Bible. I have passed through the regiment when there were more Bibles than newspapers to be seen. These men are far from being Christians, but they are reading the Bible, and with interest. Some of them have no notion where to begin. Numbers start with the first chapter of Genesis; others wiser (than the Lord, presumably, who began there), go to the chaplain or Association workers for advice.

One of the noticeable features of the work, one which would not always have been regarded in the past as a step in the right direction, is recorded with especial gratitude.

There is-or was-only one Catholic chaplain at Chickamauga, and he laboured unceasingly and faithfully to minister to all the soldiers of his communion. I know that more than one Y.M.C.A. tent was tendered him for use in holding services, and I was present when the chaplains In council agreed each to make out a list of the Roman Catholics in each regiment for the use of Father CuIbert. In other ways, too, they offered to cooperate with him, a tact which greatly affected that faithful minister.

In view of the effects, even in camp-life, of trying to combine Christianity and war, it is not surprising that when it came to actual fighting chaplains should throw off the Christianity altogether, and surrender themselves to the war spirit. One chaplain, lying in hospital from a wound received before Santiago, said:-

"I could not help taking part in the fight. I at first confined myself to the duties of my office, caring for the wounded as the battle progressed, but when our men began to reel under the concentrated Spanish fire, I felt the American rise in me, and, tearing the red cross off my arm, I snatched up the gun and cartridge-belt of one of our men, and went to shooting just like the rest of them."

"I thought," suggested the correspondent, "that your mission was to save souls, and not to send them to death."

With a twinkle in his eye, the chaplain replied:

"Yes, but when I saw our poor boys staggering under the resistance of the Spaniards, I thought of brave 'Bob' Evans, of the Iowa, when he said that the best place for the Spaniards was below. I think I sent a few of them there or somewhere else."

It is useless to think that by "Christianising" warfare, it will lose some of its horrors. When Christ and Belial agree, it will be possible to combine the two, and not before then.

"For the Children. The Circle of Blessing" The Present Truth 14, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

Water,-what is it? Where does it all come from? Where does it all go to? Did you ever wonder, as you watched the rain pouring down upon the earth, and in a few hours perhaps could not find a trace of it anywhere?

Water is the life-blood of the world. Without it there could be no life at all upon the earth. You know that the blood is the life of your body, but it is not enough for you to have blood in you; it must flow all through you, to keep your body pure and healthy, and carry food and life to every part of it. And so we have what is called the "circulation of the blood" through the body.

And there is also a circulation of the water all over the world; it is through this that life and blessing are carried to every part of it, and to all things that are upon it.

You have already learned a little about the vapours, how by His power in the sun God is drawing up into the air the water from the seas, lakes, and rivers, and all over the surface of the earth. This is God's way of "distilling," or purifying the water, for no matter how dirty and muddy may be the place from which it comes, all its impurity is left behind, and that which is drawn up into the clouds is perfectly pure.

But the cloud does not keep this moisture for itself; it receives and holds it only that it may carry it to the place where it is needed and pour it out in showers of blessing. See how God, who works through the sun to draw up the water, is working through the clouds to give it in blessing to the earth.

"He leadeth the thick cloud with moisture,
And spreadeth abroad the cloud of His light:
And it is turned round about by His guidance,
That they may do whatsoever He commandeth
them
Upon the face of the habitable world."

Guided by the hand of God the clouds are carried to the place where He wants them, and then "He saith to the snow," and likewise to the rain," "Be thou on the earth!" And so "the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud."

As the rain falls through the air it washes out its impurities, taking with it some of the little particles of dust and other substances, and also some of the poisonous gas which is in the air. These things are not good for us to breathe, but they are needed by the plants, to which they are carried by the rain.

When the air is so cold that the water freezes as it falls, and comes to the earth in the form of snow, it makes a warm covering for the ground which keeps the earth from freezing and protects the plants and keeps them alive until the warm sun melts the snow which is no longer needed to keep the earth warm.

Now let us see what becomes of the rain and snow that fall, and how they continue their work of carrying blessing and life. The earth does not keep the rain that falls upon it to itself any more than the clouds do.

Some of the rain runs into the soil, and gathers up the food that the plants need and carries it to their roots, which suck it up in the water. Then they give out the blessings that they have received, in fresh green leaves, beautiful blossoms, sweet fragrance, and life-giving grains and fruits.

Some of the rain runs off the surface of the ground and forms brooks which swell, as they are fed by other streams, into great rivers which water the land through which they flow, give drink to man and beast, and are a blessing in many other ways.

The rest of the rain runs down deep into the earth until it comes to rock or some substance through which it cannot pass. Then it flows along underground until it comes to an opening, and gushes out, a living spring. The hand which guides the clouds also

"Sendeth forth springs into the valleys;
They run among the hills;
They give drink to every beast of the field;
The wild asses quench their thirst.
By them the fowl of the heaven have their habita-
tion,
They sing among the branches."

Truly "the Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works."

But the water that gushes out of the springs is not the same pure soft water that fell upon the earth. In its journey through the earth and among the rocks it has gathered a quantity of chalk, lime, and other minerals, which it carries with it as it flows into the rivers, and it is thus swept into the sea. These salts and different minerals are needed by the animals which live in the sea, for food to make their bones and hard shells.

So the water that the sea gives up in vapours to carry blessing to the world, returns to it at last bringing a blessing.

Now I am sure that you have already thought of one great lesson that God is

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teaching us by all this. Read the poem on the next page called "The Wayside Spring," and you will find the same lesson there. Think over it through the week, and next week we will talk more about it.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

-In Greece 1,000 copies is a "phenomenal" circulation for a daily paper.

-The plague at Bombay has again become epdemic, there being 108 deaths from the disease in one week.

-Edinburgh University has conferred its first M.D. on a lady. The recipient was married three hours later.

-The cholera outbreak at Madras is increasing. From the 18th to the 19th ninety-one deaths were registered.

-The total value of food stuffs exported by the United States last year exceeded all previous records by about ?35,000,000.

-A waterspout burst on Saturday over a settlement in a narrow valley near Rogersville (Tennessee) and seventeen persons were drowned.

-In times of scarcity the South African natives sometimes rob ants' nests, and as much as five bushels of grain have been taken from a single nest.

-The Hawaiian Islands were formally annexed by the United States on the 13th inst., the Stars and Stripes being raised over the Government buildings.

-In rural districts many people do not use more than two hundred words; the average man can do very well with a vocabulary of five hundred words.

-Illness among the Americans in Puerto Rico is on the increase. There are now nearly a thousand cases of malaria and dysentery, and a few of typhoid fever.

-The Khartoum expedition is now started. The line of march is strewn with skeletons and ruins of towns which have been destroyed by the Mandi's forces.

-Twenty years ago there roamed over the plains and mountains of the Far West nearly 8,000,000 buffaloes. To-day there are less than 600 head of the animal in existence.

-A whale, measuring 47ft., and weighing four tons, was washed ashore on the coast near Llanelly. After it had been killed, eight horses were employed to drag it from the water side.

-A foreign savant has declared that a most prevalent cause of hysteria in women is high-heeled shoes, and that if the objectionable boots are abandoned the hysteria will cease.

-A ton of Atlantic water, when evaporated, yields 81 pounds of salt; a ton of Pacific water, 79 pounds; a ton of Arctic or Antarctic water, 85 pounds; a ton of water from the Dead Sea, 187 pounds.

-The well-known pianist, Herr Siveking, has been arrested in the health resort of Ischl, under singular circumstances. Herr Siveking, who is a Protestant, met in the street a Catholic priest, who was proceeding with a crucifix on a visit to a dying person. The priest rudely reprimanded the pianist for not having saluted him. Thereupon Herr Siveking replied in an animated manner, and a crowd soon gathered, taking the side of the priest. At the instance of the priest's friends the pianist was arrested. This unpleasant incident took plane after a concert which he had given for the benefit of the poor of Ischl.

-It is reported that Jamaica is preparing to take a plebiscite on the question of requesting the permission of the British Parliament to allow the colony to endeavour to arrange annexation to the United States.

-The hop crop this year in England will be a failure. The hops, owing to extremes of cold and heat, have been attacked by mould, and on one plantation of 300 acres, not a sound branch could be found.

-There is a possibility of trouble in the Philippines between the American troops and the insurgents. Aguinaldo has control of the water supply, and is said to be dissatisfied with the treatment accorded him and his men by the United States.

-Mount Vesuvius is in a state of active eruption. The lava is flowing in four streams, its progress being at the rate of a hundred yards an hour. Constant explosions are heard from the central crater, which is vomiting ashes and flames.

-The choir of a West-end church have gone on strike, owing to a reduction in the salary of the younger members. The musical service was thought to be one of the best in the district, but it is difficult to imagine where the element of worship came in.

-An Austrian professor and his brother were ascending a mountain, roped together, when one of them fell into a crevasse. The brother cut the rope to save himself from being dragged down. The body of his dead brother was found in a pool seventy feet below.

-A thought-weighing machine has been invented by an Italian scientist, the rush of blood to the head turning the scale. The machine is said to be so delicate that it can measure the difference in the exertion needed to read Greek from that required for Latin.

-The weather has been intensely hot in London during the past weeks, and many deaths from sunstroke are reported. The East-end is being threatened with another water-famine, as the supply has run short and the water is only turned on for a few hours daily.

-A fruit merchant is importing five million oranges from Australia, to arrive during this month and the next. They are brought over in cold-air chambers, and if in good condition will find a ready market. Previous attempts to import oranges during the summer months have not been successful.

-The clock at Hampton Court Palace, which was constructed 240 years ago, has just been cleaned. The mechanism was found to be in excellent condition, and the venerable timepiece will probably keep on going for another 900 years. It goes for twelve mouths without winding, and records the hours, seconds, minutes, days, months, and the times of sunrise and sunset.

-Some very successful results in wireless telegraphy have just been achieved. While the Royal yacht Osborne was going at full speed, several messages were transmitted to Osborne House, four or five miles away, and replies were received on beard the yacht, as perfectly as if the messages had been conveyed by wire. Stormy weather is found to be rather an assistance than otherwise.

-An extraordinary effect of the intense heat is reported from Kent. The heat has been so great that it has been found quite impossible to churn the cream collected during the week into butter, as the fat instead of forming a solid mass remains in a liquid condition. This has caused serious loss to dairy farmers in the district. Such an occurrence cannot be remembered by the oldest dairy farmer in the neighbourhood.

"The Manifestation of the Life" The Present Truth 14, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

Last week we had a few words on this page about "seeing life." We noted that what is very commonly called seeing life is not that at all, but just the opposite. What most people call life is nothing but death; for we have all turned to our own way, and that way ends in death, because it has nothing but death in it. Men who are content to live without the knowledge of God, are admiring a dead carcass, under the impression that it is a beauteous thing of life.

There is, however, real life to be seen by whosoever will look. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you." 1 John i. 1-3.

This "Word of life" which was from the beginning, was God. John i. 1-4. "In Him was life," because He is "the way, the truth, and the life." John xiv. 6. "He is thy life, and the length of thy days." Deut. xxx. 20. Therefore in the injunction, "Behold your God!" (Isa. xl. 9), we are commanded to behold the life. It is not only a privilege, but it is everybody's duty, to see life, real life. Indeed, whoever does not see life is plainly in a most deplorable condition. "The wrath of God abideth on him." John iii. 36.

But "God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thess. v. 9. We, as well as Paul, have been chosen, to "see that Just One." "That which may be known of God" is manifest, "for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made," and these invisible things of God that are so plainly revealed, are His everlasting power and Divinity. If therefore anyone should say, Where is the life, that I might see it, we have only to reply, Open your eyes, and look about you!

"There's not a plant or flower below
But makes Thy glories known."

Everywhere we look, we see life and activity. A walk into the forest or through the meadows will reveal to us more of real life than we could see in a month in any city in the world. Among men we find the artificial; where God alone rules, we find the real; and it is from the plants, these silent teachers, that we are to learn.

Even among men, however, the life is manifested; for the Word of life is near every man, in his mouth and in his heart, that he may do it. Every soul that has not definitely and finally rejected the Lord, is still influenced to a greater or less extent by His Holy Spirit. Often the resistance to the Spirit is slackened, and then some of the workings of the Spirit will appear; for the Spirit, like the air, will instantly fill every space that is opened. The good that manifests itself in men and women, no matter how degraded they are, is from the Lord. It is the manifestation of the Life.

"All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." 1 John ii. 16, 17. Sin is of the devil, and the Son of God-the Life-was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil. John iii. 8. Sin is death, and we get no life by looking at it. The children of Israel might as well have expected to be healed of their sores by looking at them, as we to get any benefit from looking at sin, whether in ourselves or others. "Looking unto Jesus" is the sole remedy, for by beholding we become changed.

The Life is the light of men. "The Spirit is life because of righteousness." Whatever is good is from God, is the revelation of His life. From evil only death can come; therefore "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and it there be any praise, think on these things." Phil. iv. 8. Let us look at the Life, and we shall be filled with it.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 35.

E. J. Waggoner

Only this year the United States Government decided to build three battleships, four monitors, sixteen destroyers, and twelve torpedo boats; yet notwithstanding this, the Naval Board of Construction has decided to recommend to the next session of Congress the building of fifteen large and fast warships, which will cost between eight and ten million pounds sterling. The proposed additions are rendered necessary by the annexation of Hawaii and the possible retention of the Philippines. "Imperial America" is now the cry, and an empire must have vast fleets and standing armies. Not much longer will the people of the United States be able to boast of their freedom from the burdens which large armaments impose on the nations of Europe. The saddest feature is that the people are enthusiastic over this "imperial" policy, not knowing that it presages the country's downfall.

At the International Congress of Zoology, held at Cambridge, Professor Haeckel of Jena said it was a fixed fact that man was a member of the primate (monkey) order, that lemurs, monkeys and men descend from one common stem, and that zoology might be proud to have proved this fact, based on the theories of Lamarck, 1809, and of Darwin, 1859. The subsequent discussion seemed to show, however, that the facts were not very firmly "fixed," for while Prof. Haeckel allowed a thousand million years for the evolution from monkey to man, Lord Kelvin was quoted as saying that life could not have existed more than twenty-five million years. Prof. Haeckel admitted that the time was only a matter of theory, which he had not studied himself, but since the doctrine of evolution itself is based on theories, it is difficult to see how men can pretend to be any more certain over that than they are over the time required for the development.

September 8, 1898

"Washing in the Word" The Present Truth 14, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

Every reader of the Bible will see at a glance that this picture is intended as a representation of the incident recorded in the ninth chapter of John. The story is quickly told. Jesus passed by, and saw a man who was blind from his birth, and, after saying, "I am 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."

The cut represents the washing in the pool, and also the young man before the neighbours and the Pharisees, to whom he recounted the story of his cure, in these simple words, "A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash; and I went and washed, and I received sight."

There is scarcely any limit to the number of lessons to be learned from this incident, with all the conversation that grew out of it; but that which specially presents itself to us at this time is the fact that the Word of the Lord is living water, and that it has healing and cleansing power. Would that this lesson might be indelibly impressed on the mind and heart of every reader!

In the first place we must know that water comes from God's Word,-the Word itself is water. "The Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King; . . . when He uttereth His voice there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth." Jer. x. 10-13. Since He is the living God, from Him comes the living water. He is "the Fountain of living waters." Jer. ii. 13. His word is a living word, yea, it is life itself, "the Word of life."

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word

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was God." "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." Life is light, so that the Word of life is the Word of light. This was demonstrated in the case of the blind man; for when he obeyed the Word of the Lord, he saw. "The entrance of Thy words giveth light." Ps. cxix. 130. By the entrance of the Word of the Lord is meant acceptance of that Word and yielding to it; for since the Word is life, its entrance must impart its own life to the receiver. If the young man had objected that he couldn't see how going and washing would do him any good, he would never have seen. Of course he couldn't see, for he was blind; but when he yielded to the Word, he saw light in it. Even so it is folly for anyone to refuse to obey the Word of the Lord, because he cannot see it. Sight comes with acceptance of it. We do not need to see in order to accept the Word, but we need to accept the Word in order to see.

The visible water in which the young man washed was simply a representation of the invisible water of life-the Word. Another instance of this is found in the case of Naaman. When he came to Elisha, the prophet sent word to him, saying, "Go wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." 2 Kings v. 10. Naaman was angry at first, but his wrath was appeased by his servants, who said, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? how much rather, then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?"

This gentle entreaty and sound sense had its effect, and Naaman washed and was cleansed from his leprosy. Was the water of Jordan really better than the water of the rivers of Damascus?-Not a particle; but Elisha spoke the word of the Lord, "Wash, and be clean," and the acceptance of that word brought cleansing, even as it brought sight to the blind man.

But the case is not yet complete. We must see that the Word of the Lord is indeed the water of life, with power in itself to cleanse and give sighs, without any visible agent. So we take the case of another leper. One came to Jesus, full of leprosy, and said, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will, Be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed." Matt. viii. 2, 3. The same thing was accomplished in this case as in the case of Naaman, and by the same means, viz., the Word of the Lord. Both are recorded in order that we might know of a surety that the Word of God is water, and has cleansing power.

What is the value of this lesson for us? Is it purely theoretical?-Far from it. "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Isa. lxiv. 6. We are full of the leprosy of sin. "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores." Isa. i. 5, 6. Now to all who are in that deplorable condition, the Lord says, "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well." And then follows the assurance that, as the result of this washing, "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. i. 16-18.

Take notice that the very same thing is here said to the sinner that was said to Naaman the leper: "Wash, and be clean." It is the same Word that was spoken to the leper who came to Christ. Jesus said, "Be clean." Here was a definite command, "Be clean," to each of these lepers, yet neither one of them understood it to mean that he was to make himself clean. When the command, "Be clean" was accepted, the cleansing came. The words, "Be clean," carried cleansing with them. Even so it is when the Lord says to wretched sinners, "Wash you; make you clean." The acceptance of the commandment brings the cleansing, showing us that "His commandment is life everlasting." John xii. 50. Every one of the ten commandments is a promise of the righteousness which God will give us if we accept it.

Christ "loved the church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word." Eph. v. 25, 26. Literally, "that He might sanctify and cleanse it by a water-bath in the Word." To those who receive His Word, He says, "Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you." John xv. 3. Oh, then let us receive the Word with gladness! How much better it is to be clean than to be filthy! How much better clean garments feel than filthy garments. Why should anyone be unclean and blind also, when he can find cleansing and sight in the Word which the Lord has spoken? Surely every one who loves cleanliness, and finds pleasure in the light of the sun, should make haste to accept the word of the Lord, omitting not one jot.

"Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come."

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Captivity of the Ten Tribes. 2 Kings xvii. 9-18" The Present Truth 14, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

SEPTEMBER 18

The kingdom of Israel had failed to learn the lesson that God desired to teach it, that He was the giver of all the good they enjoyed. Their great desire had been to get away from the Lord, and now, in a measure, their wish was about to be granted. Nearly eight hundred years had passed since they came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, to be to God a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation, a peculiar treasure to Him above all people. He had given them the land of Canaan, casting out the inhabitants thereof, because of the nameless abominations with which they polluted it, but Israel had fallen so low that the same evils were now found among them. The prophets had testified faithfully against their sins, and called them to return to the worship of the true God; they had declared His forgiving love, but the message fell upon indifferent ears and hardened hearts. "They knew not that I healed them."

"TRUST IN THE LORD"

When the king of Assyria began to fasten his yoke upon the kingdom of Israel, exacting tribute from them, instead of seeking the Lord for deliverance, appeal was made to Egypt, the very kingdom

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from which God had once delivered them with great power and with a stretched out arm. Israel knew well that Jehovah had crushed the pride of Egypt, yet they leaned upon the broken reed. "Ephraim is like a silly dove without understanding: they call unto Egypt, they go to Assyria." The payment of tribute to Assyria was withheld for awhile in hope of help from Egypt, but the rising was quickly suppressed, and the Assyrian king sent Hoshea, king of Israel, to prison.

A RECORD OF TRANSGRESSION

The scripture which contains the day's lesson is one long list of the iniquities of Israel, telling how they walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before them, and how they did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord, setting up idols on every high hill and under every green tree. The Lord had spoken to them "by all the prophets, and by all the seers," reminding them of His dealings with their fathers, and exhorting them to turn from their wickedness and live; "notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected His statutes, and His covenant that He made with their fathers; and they followed vanity, and became vain." All the abominations of the heathen were reproduced in their history; they worshipped all the host of heaven, with the degrading rites that the heathen taught them. "And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger."

GREY HAIRS

To the people it appeared that they were having a good time. Restraints were cast off, and all did what their hearts prompted them to do, but the course of sin was quickly run, and they were about to reap the fruit of their doings. "Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, grey hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not." So men often promise to themselves a long career of sinful pleasure, and say, "Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry, for thou hast much goods laid up for many years," when even, then the sin has worked its own destruction. The Lord was not pleased to see the evil plight into which Israel's contempt for His counsel had plunged the nation. He said to them, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine help, I will be thy King, where is any other that may save thee?" "O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously." "I will hear their backsliding, I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away from him."

The mercy of the Lord endureth for ever, and even when the dark clouds of doom were shout to burst over the guilty nation, the Lord stood by them, as ready as ever to heal their backsliding, and love them freely.

A FINAL CALL

"In yet another way the Lord sought to save Israel, and to help them to return. Just at that time the king of Judah was carrying on a thorough reformation in his kingdom, and in calling the people of Judah to return to the Lord with all the heart, he kindly sent messengers throughout all Israel with earnest invitations to them to seek the Lord also. They were assured from the Lord that if they would turn to Him with all the heart, they would not only remain in the laud, but those who had been carried captive would find compassion with their captors, and would come again unto their own land." Empires of the Bible, p. 241.

This message from the king of Judah to the people of Israel was carried by the posts throughout all Israel and Judah, "but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun ["a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun"] humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem." "And all that did so humble themselves and turn to the Lord, escaped captivity or slaughter. For I then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, destroying the cities; making captives of the people, and leaving the country desolate. At last he came 'up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them . . . in the cities of the Medes.'" Empires of the Bible, p. 212.

THE LOST TEN TRIBES

Some claim that the kingdom of Israel, which they refer to as the Lost Ten Tribes, will yet come to light as one or more of the great nations of modern history. It is true that the whole house of Israel will be saved, and will become one nation, under one King, "but they are not all Israel which are of Israel." All were saved out of the ten tribes that would be saved, and the rest judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life. Full opportunity was given to return to the land of Israel to all who desired to do so, when Judah ended her captivity in Babylon, and all others became in destiny what they had long been in heart, like the heathen round about them. The Israel of God is made up of those who take hold of His covenant by faith in Christ, and "if ye are Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed."

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

THE AIR

Gen. i. 6-8: "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, . . . and it was so, And God called the firmament heaven."

Ps. lvii. 10: "Thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and Thy truth unto the clouds."

Ps. xxxvi. 5: "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds."

Ps. xxxiii. 6: "By the word of the Lord wore the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth."

Gen. ii. 7: "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."

John xiv. 6: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life."

Acts xvii. 21, 25, 28: "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."

Job xii. 9, 10: "Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind."

Job xxvii. 3, 4: "All the while my breath Is in me, and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils; my lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit."

Job xxxiv. 14, 15: "If He set His heart upon man, if He gather unto Himself His Spirit and His breath; all flesh shall parish together, and man shall turn again unto dust."

Ex. xiv. 21: "And the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided."

Ex. xv. 8: "With the blast of Thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the waters wore congealed in the heart of the sea."

Eze. xxxvii. 9, 10: "Then said He note 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."

John xx. 21, 22: "Thou said Jesus unto them again, Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost."

All things have come into existence by the breath of the Lord; there is nothing that is not the offspring of His own life.

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness." Lam. iii. 22, 23. But for the breath that God gives us, we could not live a moment; so it is because the Lord gives us breath, that we are not consumed. The air that God gives us is an expression of His faithful mercy and compassion.

Thus it is that God has surrounded the very earth with grace and mercy. The air is an atmosphere of mercy. Everybody on earth lives and moves in the atmosphere of God's grace. If we believe this, and take the constant gift as coming from Him, we shall breathe in righteousness; as well as drink it.

"The just shall live by faith." Rom. i. 17. But everybody in the world lives by breathing. Breathing is something that cannot be omitted for a moment. It must be kept up constantly. Now if we glorified the Lord not only with our breath but in our breath, if we acknowledged that the breath which we have is His, thus allowing Him to direct the life that comes by breathing, our life would be one of faith, and it would be righteous. The just therefore live by faith only by breathing faith. Jesus is the truth and the life. There is no life but His. We live by breathing. Therefore we breathe His life. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." This is true of everybody; but only those who recognise the fact get any real benefit from it. "Man that is in honour and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish." Ps. xlix. 20.

The air we breathe is the breath of God. The wind that gently moves the leaves of the trees, or that stirs the sea to its depths, is the breath of His nostrils.

In the beginning God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. But we live by the very same means, and in the very same manner that all mankind have always lived. We have exactly the same air that Adam had. Therefore we also breathe by the breathing of God. The Spirit of God is in our nostrils. This is as plain as the Word of God. Read again the scriptures that teach us this. Let them be firmly fixed in mind. Learn to live by faith.

How wondrously free are the gifts of God! How free is the gift of God's Spirit, God's life! "As free as the air." "Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men. For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry souls with goodness." Ps. cvii. 8, 9. "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord."

"Breathing God's Righteousness" The Present Truth 14, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

Man lives by the breath of God. When we read that "He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things," we are not to understand that these things are something apart by themselves, but that God gives us Himself in His gifts. It is God's presence, and that alone, that makes any gift of value. So the breath by which we live is God's own breath, the breath or life-God's own life. "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils to breath of life; and man became a living soul." Gen. ii. 7.

The physical structure of man has not changed since the creation. Mankind live now by the same means as then. We breathe in the same way that Adam did, and the same air, too. The first breath that a man draws is no different from every subsequent one. The same thing that was done for Adam, is done for every soul that is born into the world: God breathes into its nostrils the breath of life. But that which we breathe, as well as that which Adam breathed from his first breath till the close of this life, is there. The breath of life is the air that surrounds us. This we know without being told; for if the air be shut away from us, so that we cannot breathe, we quickly die. But it is God who breathes into our nostrils this breath of life. Thus we see very plainly that the air that surrounds us is God's breath.

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We have grown so accustomed to putting the Lord far away from us, that first it seems almost like sacrilege to say that He is so near and so real that the air is His breath. In fact, we have never in our lives, at least a majority of us have not, been accustomed to thinking of God as near at hand, as the One in whom we actually live. The statement, "in Him we live, and move, and have are being" is very familiar, but to most people it is only a form of words. When we come to consider it as an actual fact, then many begin to shake their heads. They would limit the meeting and force of the Scripture by their own previous conceptions. Let us remember that the Word of God "is true from the beginning," and that it is "the truth." There is no exaggeration in God's Word. God says just what He means, and means all that He says.

What is air? From childhood we have been taught that it is a gaseous substance composed of a combination (not chemical) of two gases, oxygen and nitrogen. But that didn't tell us anything as to what it is. Even though it had been correctly analysed, the mere naming of these two gases does not really add to our knowledge. The name is not inherent in the thing. The names by which the gases are known are simply arbitrary designations given by men. But new scientists tell us that there are still other elements in the air, which they have never known before. We now have "argon" and "crypton," and still other things said to be constituents of the air. All this simply shows that human science really knows nothing as to what air is. This is the aptly, though not very ingenuously confessed in the name "crypton," given to one of the supposed elements of the air. It is not, as some might think, the name of anything whatever, but means hidden, concealed, unknown. It indicates that there is something there which the philosophers know nothing about.

Let us now take a little rest from these various "elements," which for all that anybody can tell, are different manifestations of one and the same thing, and come to a simple statement of what the air is. What is air?-It is life. There is no doubt about it. To know that indeed is of more value than to know all the fictitious names which scientists have given to the supposed constituents of the air. It is the great agent by which God conveys to us His life. If we remember this, it will lead us to the possession of greater wisdom than can be learned in all the schools on this earth.

We have already seen that the breath that we breathe is God's breath, and thus that the air is the breath of God. Let us note two other texts which state this very explicitly. When Israel came to the Red Sea, "the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided." Ex. xiv. 21. What was this "strong east wind" by which the waters were divided? In the song which Moses sang when filled with the Holy Ghost, we are told. Addressing the Lord, he said: "With the blast of Thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea." Ex. xv. 8. The east wind that drove the waters back, was an ordinary wind, the same as we are so well acquainted with; but nevertheless it was the breath of God's nostrils. How much more we can appreciate the air, when we realise that it comes direct from God, and how this truth should teach us not to shut it out, and not to contaminate it with tobacco smoke and other vile odours.

And now to see that God is continually doing for us just what He did for Adam in the beginning-breathing into our nostrils the breath of life. How little we think about breathing when we are in health. If we had to think about our breath in order to keep it going, we should have no time to think of anything else. And we should not dare to go to sleep. But we do go to sleep, and lose all consciousness, yet we breathe all the time. The breath comes as regularly as when we are awake, although not so often, because it is not needed so much. We do not do it ourselves? Who does? It is God. "He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper." Ps. cxxi. Because the Lord does not sleep, we can lay us down in peace and sleep. And what is more, we can awake, for the Lord sustains us.What a sense of the marvellous greatness God gives, to know that for the life and breath of every individual on earth God is personally responsible. How near we are to Him, when we receive the breath of His nostrils! Truly, He is not far from every one of us.

Our life therefore is not our own. It belongs to God. Not merely in the sense that He has a claim upon it, but it is His own life. Because He lives, we live. In Him we live, because He is our life. This solves the problem of right living. We know that God gives us His own life. This shows that it is possible for Him to dwell in us. How easy then to see that if we but yield to Him, that He may direct His own life in His own way, we shall live righteous lives, because "as for God, His way is perfect." Let God use His own breath in His own way, and our breath will be righteousness to us. We shall breathe in righteousness with every breath.

Can God make a man good simply by breathing on him?-Certainly; that is what He did in the beginning. Adam was formed of the dust of the ground. He was man, but he was good for nothing as man. He was utterly useless. He knew nothing, and could do nothing. Then God breathed into his nostrils. That was God's last act in creation; and when God had done that, He saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. That is to say, that breath of God changed man from a good-for-nothing man into a very good man. As long as Adam received his breath as coming direct from the Lord, and was content to be simply the instrument through which God's breath should play, everything was harmony and peace and goodness. But as soon as Adam thought that he could live on his own account, all was discord. God can and does breathe righteousness into all who acknowledge Him in their every breath.

We live by breathing. But "the just shall live by faith." That is, the man who lives by faith is a righteous man. Now since we live by breathing, and by faith our life is made righteous, it is evident that we shall be righteous if we breathe by faith. It cannot be otherwise. If with every breath we were acknowledging God as the giver of every good and perfect gift, we could not fail to be righteous; for we breathe several times every minute, and if in all our ways we acknowledge God, He will surely make our way is right. Then let everything that hath breath praise the Lord; and as the breath of God comes upon us moment by moment, let us remember that with every inspiration comes the blessed words, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost!"

"A Plea for Peace" The Present Truth 14, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

The one absorbing topic of interest during the past week has been the Czar's manifest to the nations of Europe, inviting them to meet in a conference and consider the question of reducing their armaments.

The document points out that such a step would be in conformity "with the most essential interests and legitimate views of all Powers;" and credits all the Governments with making peace the object of their international policy.

It is in its name that great States have concluded between themselves powerful alliances; it is the better to guarantee peace that they have developed in proportions hitherto unprecedented their military forces, and still continue to increase them without shrinking from any sacrifice. AlI these efforts nevertheless have not yet been able to bring about the beneficent results of the desired pacification.

The message goes on to point out the disastrous results of the increasing armaments. "They strike at the public prosperity at its very source." Intellectual and physical strength are unproductively consumed. "Hundreds of millions are devoted to acquiring terrible engines of destruction." "National culture, economic progress, and the production of wealth are either paralysed or checked in their development."

Nor do these sacrifices give any hope of averting the calamities of war, as so many claim. The Czar should know, if any can, whether it be true that the best way of ensuring peace is readiness to fight, and he says:-

In proportion as the armaments of each power increase, so do they less and less fulfil the object which the Governments have set before themselves.

The economic crises, due in great part to the system of armaments ? outrance, and the continual danger which lies in this massing of war material, are transforming the armed peace of our days into a crushing burden which the peoples have more and more difficulty in bearing. It appears evident, then, that if this state of things were prolonged it would inevitably lead to the very cataclysm which it is desired to avert, and the horrors of which make every thinking being shudder in advance.

When the Czar of Russia speaks on this wise all men listen. It is thought probable that the Conference will be held, for no country would care to take the odious initiative of declaring that it did not desire to see the chances of war lessened. But it is not expected that the matter will go beyond a conference.

It seems strange, but the first results of the Czar's message have been to increase the sense of irritation among the nations. France has been reckoning on Russian assistance to recover her lost provinces, and does not want to talk of peace until this has been done. Almost everywhere the message is regarded with suspicion, and while the idea of increasing the prospects of peace is applauded, and each nation hopes that others will begin soon to disarm, it is felt necessary to make sure that they themselves are not placed at any disadvantage. Some point out that it would be well for Russia to set an example, but no one believes she will do this. A significant fact is that the stock markets have been unfavourably affected in the four principal financial capitals of Europe.

There is but one hope of peace on earth and good will to men, and that is that the peace of God should keep men's hearts and minds. Christ came to bring peace. It is not a natural product of the human heart, for among the works of the flesh are hatred, variance, wrath, strife, murders. The fruit of the Spirit is love and peace. Christ is our peace, and the life that is not yielded to Christ and controlled by Him cannot know peace. "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."

It is true that the Bible foretells a movement among men in the last days, which will promise peace to the world, and some of the statements which the prophets say will be made at that time have been much in evidence during the last few days. "Many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, . . . and He shall judge among the nations . . . and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruningbooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Isa. ii. The rest of the chapter shows that in that very time the judgments of God are about to fall upon the world, because men have altogether forsaken Him.

"Their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots," in spite of their talk of disarmament, and not learning war any more. "For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them." 1 Thess. v. 3.

The Czar's manifesto is in itself a most ominous sign of the times. Coming whence it does, it shows that the strain on the nations is unendurable, and that things cannot go on as at present. God would save men from the coming destruction, and He has made use of the Czar to set before all early the situation and the prospect.

Let no one be deceived by a false hope of peace and security, looking for it at the hands of men who are strangers to it. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee." Isa. xxvi. 3.

"'He Leadeth Me'" The Present Truth 14, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

The following incident was told by a lady at a prayer meeting in London a few days ago. It had only just taken place.

I had long been anxious that some dear friends of mine should become interested in the message of salvation, which God is making known so fully in these last clays. I had written them more than once, but they did not seem to care about such things, and manifested a disinclination for the subject. A little while ago I asked the Lord to help me write such a letter to them, as would bring the matter before their minds in just the way to impress them with its importance, and make them see that it was not utterly a fad of mine, but the Word of the Lord. They replied very kindly, and invited me and my husband to spend a day with them.

The invitation was received with pleasure, and we prepared to accept it. We took an early train to King's Cross, but owing to some delay, this arrived seven minutes late; and when we got to Euston Station we found that the train by which we expected to travel had been despatched, and there was not another one for four hours. What was to he done? Should we go back home or not? I felt that we ought still to visit our friends, and so we decided to wait for the next train. My husband went away for a short walk and I took my way to the waiting room. I could not help feeling that the Lord was over-ruling matters, and that we ought not to be vexed at having to wait. I asked Him that if He had anything for me to do there, He would show it to me.

In the waiting-room was one person, a lady clothed in deep mourning, who seemed to be in great distress. I went over to her, and asked her if she was not feeling well. She lifted up to mine a very tear-stained face, but made no reply. It seemed to me that she was almost fainting, and I offered her my arm. She took it and we walked out of the waiting-room and up and down the station. In a little while she began to get control of herself, and gradually told me her sad story. Her son had lately died very suddenly of fever, and as she and her husband had been nursing him, her husband had been taken with an apoplectic fit, of which he had died. These unexpected blows had fallen upon her with crushing weight, and following them came the discovery that she was reduced to comparative poverty. Her husband had determined to alter his will and make one in her favour, but had been taken away before the new one could he drawn up.

She could not endure to stay among the scenes connected with such sad memories, and was taking the train to Manchester. Her train did not start for five hours. I thought I knew now why I had lost my own train. The Lord wanted me to comfort this stricken soul. As we walked about, and I talked to her of the Lord's goodness and what a faithful Friend and Comforter He was, "a very present help in trouble," she confessed to me that she had made up her mind to destroy herself; for all the joy had gone out of her life, and the burden was greater than she could bear. She had known something of the Lord once, but her husband was indifferent to such things, and she had allowed all thoughts of the Saviour to be crowded out of her mind. The Lord gave me words to speak to her and helped me to comfort her, as I am sure I could not have done of myself, if I had tried to prepare for this interview. The four hours passed almost like four minutes, and when our train left, she said she felt so glad that God had sent me to help her, and that I had spoken to her. She felt that she could trust the Lord now, and believe that He was caring for her. We exchanged addresses and promised to write to each other.

When we finally got to the home of our friends, they were very anxious to know what had made us so many hours late, and I had opportunity to tell the whole story. They were deeply impressed by my morning's experience, and it opened the way for just such a conversation as I had been longing to have with them. They were much concerned, and I believe that God will lead them to see and rejoice in the great things He has done for them.

As the persons present at the prayer-meeting listened to this experience, simply told, all hearts were touched, and to one at least the thought was suggested that surely this was no less wonderful than when Philip was sent into the desert to join himself to the eunuch's chariot, and point a needy, thirsty soul to the fountain of living waters. The God of Abraham; of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of the prophets and apostles, is our God. He "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." "This God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death." It is a good thing to commit our ways entirely to Him, for the promise is, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

"My principal method of defeating heresy," said John Newton, "is by establishing truth. One proposes to fill a bushel with tares; now if I can fill it first with wheat I shall defy his attempts."

"For the Children. 'Freely Give'" The Present Truth 14, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

Very many lessons we could learn last week from the "circulation of the water." We did not have space to talk about them then, but if I should ask you to tell me what the great lesson is, I think that some of you at least would answer, "Freely ye have received, freely give."

"The ocean, itself the source of all our springs and fountains, receives the streams from every land but takes to give; the mists ascending from its bosom fall in showers to water the earth, that it may bring forth and bud."

God does not give to anything a blessing for itself alone. The cloud which He loads with moisture is only a channel through which He may pour out the rain upon the earth. And the earth again receives God's blessing in the rain only that it may give it out in food, in fruit and flowers, in springs and brooks and rivers, to bless all the creatures that live upon it, and carry a fresh supply of water to the sea.

And God does not give any blessing to any of His children for them to keep to themselves, but He always wants through them to give it to some one else. Perhaps you will at first hardly think this can be true. "Surely the food that I eat, the fresh air that I breathe, and the sunshine that makes me glad, are for me! How can I give these out to others?" Let us see.

How does the earth give out to you the life that it drinks in in the rain? It brings forth "seed to the sower, and bread to the eater." You eat the food that the earth brings forth, and what do you receive in it?-Life,-the very life that the earth received in the rain.

But this life is not for yourself. You are a part of God's great plan, His "circle of blessing" about which we learned last week. He gives His life to you only that through you it may be given out in blessing to others. And giving your life for others does not mean dying for them, but living for others every day.

Jesus wants you to give out the life that He gives to you just in the same way that the earth does-in fruit. He says, "I am the True Vine," "ye are the branches;" "herein is My Father glorified that ye bear much fruit." The branch, you know, has no life of its own, but the life of the vine runs into it, and is given out in beautiful clusters of fruit. The vine gives its life, through the branches, in fruit.

And so you, the branches of Jesus, the true Vine, have no life of your own, but He is pouring His life into you all the time. He breathes it into you, as you have learned, in the air, gives it to you in the food that the earth brings forth, and sheds it upon you in the sweet life-giving sunlight. And why?-That through you, His branches, He may give out that life in fruit to bring blessing to others.

If you do not know them already, you can read in the fifth chapter of Galatians the fruits that the branches of Jesus Christ, the true Vine, bear: "Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."

Every little deed of love, each kind and gentle word or action, is Jesus giving out through you in service for others, the life which He has given you in air and food. The joy that the bright sunshine brings into your hearts, He wants through you to shed upon others, making them happy too.

If we think that the life we have is our own, we shall keep it to ourselves, and it will not do any good to anybody. But if we know and remember that it is the life of Jesus, the true Vine, and we are only little branches that have no life of their own, we shall let Him do what He will with His life in us. Then we shall "freely give" out in the fruits of love, joy, peace, and gentleness, that life which we have "freely received" from Him.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

-The public debt of France is the largest in the world, and amounts to about ?1,600,000,000.

-Over 2,300 deaths from plague reported in the Bombay Presidency last week, including 156 in the city itself.

-While the wedding service is proceeding in Japan the bride kindles a torch and the bridegroom lights a fire from it and burns the wife's playthings.

-A Zionist Congress has just been held at Basle. Three hundred and fifty delegates were present, and the movement was reported to be steadily growing.

-Five great American iron and steel corporations, commanding a capital of two hundred million dollars, have been amalgamated, and others are expected to join the new trust.

-At a mass meeting of the Welsh colliers a resolution in favour of accepting the terms of the coalowners was carried with only two or three dissentients. These provide for a sliding scale, with a fixed minimum.

-Dr. John Hopkinson, and his three children, who were roped together, fell down a precipice in the Swiss Alps, and were killed. Dr. Hopkinson was a well-known scientist and his death is regarded as a great loss.

-In certain parts of Africa it is considered a mark of disrespect to bury out of doors at all. Only slaves are treated in such unceremonious fashion. And the honoured dead are buried under the floor of the house.

-A Dantzig paper publishes the main provisions of the late Prince Bismarck's will. It states that the total estimated value of the Iron Chancellor's real and personal estate amounts to roughly one million pounds.

-A fire at a Menagerie, in Liverpool, burned to death four lions, two tigers, three hyenas, three leopards, a fine snake, 25ft. long, and several bears, while most of those rescued alive were so terribly injured that they had to be killed.

-General Weyler, who has been living in retirement in Spain, has received numerous letters asking him to return to active political life, and has decided to do so. He advocates a military dictatorship for the reorganisation of the Spanish army and navy.

-London is suffering from infantile diarrhea to a greater extent than the mortality returns suggest. Indeed, the summer complaint among the young has become so alarming that the Battersea Vestry has issued a special warning to the public. This notice advises mothers of families to boil all water and milk before use, to use no fruit, and to be sure that all food is sufficiently cooked.

-An extraordinary discovery has been made in connection with the cleaning out of two wells near Basingstoke. The wells had not been cleaned out for half a century, and when the sanitary officials had concluded their work, they had brought to the surface no fewer than sixty-eight buckets, of all sizes and shapes, eight carloads of bricks, and loads of rubbish of the miscellaneous and unsavoury sort. A little auction was held to dispose of the buckets. The health of the village has never suffered from impure water-drinking, the water from the wells having always been considered unusually good.

-Colonel Henry has confessed that one of the documents principally relied upon as proving the guilt of Dreyfus was forged by him. He was immediately arrested, and committed suicide in prison.

-Relations between Great Britain and China are very strained owing to the insistence by the former on China's adhesion to railway concessions granted to British syndicates. The entire British squadron is engaged in supporting the demands.

-The Black Flag rebellion in China, which has been smoldering since the outbreak last July, shows signs of again assuming a serious aspect. The rebels are in great force fifty miles to the north-west of Canton, and intend to attack the city.

-The want of money in the Turkish Treasury is causing considerable embarrassment to the Ports which is desirous of celebrating the anniversary of the Sultan's accession by paying off one months arears of the salaries due to the State officials.

-Famine reigns in Armenia consequent upon three bad harvests, Government pressure, and the heavy drafts of bread-winners called out for military service. Many Armenians have sold their daughters to obtain bread, or have themselves become Moslems to escape starvation.

-Coffee and eating-house keepers are disturbed over Sir Thomas Lipton's scheme for providing cooked food at cost price to the poor classes, and claim that it will ruin thousands of small eating-house keepers. A memorial on the subject was presented to the Princess of Wales, who was at the head of the movement, the reply has been received stating that the Princess regrets being unable to give the memorialists any redress.

-A correspondent of the Chronicle reports an interview with a German professor of world-wide repute and exceptional knowledge, who said "Russia is the heaviest danger we have to face in the future. The ancient peril from France belongs to the past. We have left it behind us. That from Russia is still to come. A war between Germany and Russia is absolutely inevitable."

-In several districts of Russia the harvest is a failure, and not a single hay-rick is to be seen. Cattle are being fed on fodder taken from the thatches of cottages. Horses and oxen are sold at any price, as their owners cannot feed them. The authorities are taking special measures to prevent the complete destruction of live stock during the famine. "It is also contemplated to give the peasants permission to gather faggots for fuel, and dried leaves for fodder in the woods."

-At Barnsley by the breaking of a fly-wheel two men were killed and five seriously injured. The wheel which measured 30ft. in diameter, and weighed forty tons, came off whilst running at a fast speed, and broke into sections. The mishap broke the steam pipes and completely wrecked the mill. Pieces of a wheel, which was revolving at a terrific speed, flew in all directions. One piece, weighing three tons, passed through the roof of the engine-house, and fell in a garden 100 yards away, embedding itself in the ground.

-Seizures of bad food are becoming numerous, perhaps on account of the warm weather, but that a great deal food unfit for human consumption escapes the Inspectors is evident from the deaths reported as due to eating tinned rabbits, etc. Last week seventy-eight large barrels of "mixed liver's" were destroyed by magisterial order. The inspector described the contents is a filthy, slimy mass, consisting of livers of pigs, sheep, oxen, and horses also, which appeared to be diseased, and were certainly putrid. The slime was most offensive. The importers, on whose premises extracts were being made from similar stuff, described themselves as "manufacturers of preserved provisions, soups, and all kinds of table delicacies."

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 36.

E. J. Waggoner

"He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." John x. 1.

Jesus is the door. He says: "I am the door, by Me if any man enter in, He shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."

But how can it be that he who does not enter in by Jesus Christ is a thief and a robber? To many this seems inexplicable, but it becomes very plain when we consider the facts. Let us see what they are.

The one who does not enter by the door, is the one who thinks to save himself. He will not come to Christ, that he might have life. He will not accept Christ, and will not acknowledge the claims of Christ upon him. Sometimes he will not even confess that he is a sinner.

Whether he will admit that he is not as good as he ought to be, or not, the one who does not enter by Christ, keeps his own sins. The fact is that he has sins; for "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." He who enters by the door, leaves his sins at the entrance; for no sins can pass that portal; but he who proposes to get to heaven by a way of his own, carries all his sins with him, on his own back.

The truth is, however, that both the man and his sins belong to the Lord Jesus. He has bought them. "He gave Himself for us," and He also "gave Himself for our sins." Since Jesus has paid the price for us and our sins, both we and they belong to Him; and whoever does not give himself and his sins to the Lord is defrauding Him of what belongs to Him.

Let no one deceive himself with the idea that he can keep the commandments of God outside of Christ. As we have already seen, whoever does not give himself to the Lord is a thief and a robber to begin with, no matter how good a reputation for honesty he may have among his fellowmen; and, moreover, he who does not believe the Lord, proves himself to be a liar, because by his unbelief he is charging the God of truth with being a liar. "He that believeth not is condemned already," but "whosoever believeth is not condemned."

What good will an earthly reputation for honesty be, when the Judge of all the earth knows the so-called honest man to be a liar, and thief, and a robber? Why will men who would scorn to defraud a follow-man of a farthing, rob God as complacently as though He had no existence? Give God His due; let Him have yourself and the sins which He has purchased; and let Him do as He will with His own. He will for ever destroy the sins, and He will save the sinner with an everlasting salvation.

When the children of Israel first saw the food which God provided for them in the wilderness, they said "man-hoo?" that is, "What is this?" and that question, anglicised into "manna" has served as a name for it ever since. People generally think that "manna" is the name of that which the children of Israel ate for forty years, whereas, on the contrary, it is only an indication of ignorance as to what it was. That is the way with many of the "scientific" names that we meet with. In this case, however, there was no excuse for ignorance, for God had told them beforehand that He would send them "bread from heaven;" and we are told that the people ate of "the corn of heaven," "angels' food." If they had called it by its real name, "bread from heaven," or "heavenly bread," it would have kept them in much closer touch with heaven, and they might have been saved from much evil. Likewise in these days if men would recognise God's gifts as coming directly from Him, instead of inventing names which serve only faintly to conceal their own ignorance, and effectually to shut off the view of God, the world would be in a far better condition.

The subject of confession is just now causing much controversy in some of the churches. The practice of hearing confessions is denounced by many as another Ritualistic innovation, borrowed from Rome; but on the other hand, evangelical leaders have spoken in favour of it. It is plain, however, that very few of the disputants get their ideas of confession from the Word of God. This nowhere enjoins the kind of confession which is found in the Church of Rome, and the bodies that pattern after it. We are told, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another that ye may be healed." James v. 16. If this instruction were carried out, one particular class of men would not insist on their right to hear the confessions of others. All would be free to choose to whom they should confess; women would naturally confess to women, and men to men, and there would be none of the scandal that now attaches to confession.

The person who is sinned against is the one to whom the confession of the sin should be made, and since all sin is against God, it should be acknowledged to Him. By His Spirit alone men are convinced of sin, so it is only as the Spirit reveals the sin that men realise their guilt. A spirit of confession is not aroused by the questionings of a priest. Nor does the Lord receive the confession of sin with rebuke and penance. "With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plenteous redemption." "There is forgiveness with Thee that Thou mayest be feared."

It is painful to see in religious bodies, professing to exist only for the service and worship of God, such persistent effort to keep the people away from God by requiring that they approach Him through the medium of their fellow-men. The disciples showed too much of this spirit when Christ was on earth, desiring to send away those that cried after Him, and keep the children from His presence, but Jesus had only rebuke for such misconception of His work and character. He is still the Door, the Way, and no man cometh unto the rather but by Him. Those who would put themselves in any degree between Christ and sinners know not what spirit they are of.

The troops now being returned to Spain arrive there in a most pitiable condition. Numbers die on the voyage, and men fall dead oil the streets as they march to their barracks. The same thing is true of the American troops, only in a much loss degree, and there are bitter complaints and blunders and mismanagement in caring too the health of the army. Spectators go wild with delight over the "glory" which has been won. Those who have won it probably count it dear at the price.

September 15, 1898

"Strength in Weakness" The Present Truth 14, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep." Ps. cvii. 23, 24.

What are the works of the Lord, and the wonders in the deep, which are seen in the great waters?-The answer is given in the next verses: "For He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof." The mighty power of God is seen by those who go to sea.

God rules in the sea. When Jonah sought to flee from the presence of the Lord, and took a ship bound for Tarshish, "the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken;" but as soon as Jonah was out of the boat, "the sea ceased from her raging." Jonah i. 4, 15.

He rules the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, He stills them. Ps. lxxxix. 9. An example of this is seen in the stilling of the tempest by Christ on the sea of Galilee. "He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto them sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a, great calm." Mark iv. 39. The word here rendered "peace" is the same that a mother would use in quieting a boisterous child: "Hush; quiet," she will say; and just as with a restless infant did Jesus deal with the tempestuous sea.

For Jesus was Immanuel, "God with us," and "the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." Ps. xciii. 4. There is nothing more awful than the sea when lashed to fury by a violent wind. The destruction that it can work is beyond all description. The strongest works of man are unable to resist its force. No other created thing can equal the sea in power and grandeur; yet it is to God no more than the tiniest infant.

See how strikingly this is set forth by the Lord in His instruction to Job: "Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb; when I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it, and prescribed for it My decree, and set bars and doors, and said, Thus far shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?" Job. xxxviii. 8-11, R.V. The sea with all the might of its proud waves, is to the Lord only as a newly-born infant in swaddling bands. And this God is the God of our salvation.

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Nor only do the wonders of God in the deep show the power of God unto salvation of those who believe, but they are cited as encouragement to those who labour for the salvation of others. Read Isaiah li. 12-16: "I, even I, am He that comforteth you; who art thou, that thou art afraid of man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall he made as grass; and hast forgotten the Lord thy Maker, that stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundation of the earth; and fearest continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he maketh ready to destroy. . . I am the Lord thy God, which stirreth up the sea, that the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is His name. And I have put My words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of Mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, Thou art My people."

The God who can stir up the sea, so that it will roar, and then still it again with a whisper, is the God who put His Word in the mouths of those who will be ambassadors for Christ. Nay, more, the very word that can do this, is the word which He puts into the mouths of those who will yield themselves to Him, to obey and speak only His Word, and no words of their own.

In God's dealing with the sea we have still further encouragement as "labourers together with God." God has "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. 23. Yet this same sand is unstable and shifting. He who builds on it is sure to come to destruction. Matt. vii. 26, 27. "A rope of sand" is an expression for weakness; yet this same sand serves in the hands of God to restrain the raging sea, and keep it in bounds. So although man is weakness itself, and worse than useless to build upon, the word which God puts in his mouth will build a new heavens and a new earth. "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." Faith in God will manufacture strength out of weakness. Heb. xi. 33, 34. The sea itself, which rages so furiously, is but water, which is unstable and weak. The strength that it exhibits is the strength of God. "Trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."

"The Living Bread" The Present Truth 14, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

In recent studies we have learned that the rain which comes down from heaven and waters the earth is the life of God. "Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it. Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water." Ps. lxv. 9. How greatly, beyond our utmost thought, God enriches the earth in thus visiting it, we do not know, but we are told of some things that He does for it by means of the rain, and these we should believe and receive as from Him.

God's life poured out upon us in the form of rain is not different from His life, as it is revealed in Christ, or as the angels behold it in heaven. It is not strained off before it is poured from heaven, therefore all the righteousness and power that is comprised in the Divine life, indeed "all things that pertain to life and godliness," are shed freely upon the earth in the rain. "Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness." The earth, being without power of choice, has to receive the rain as what it is, and consequently, that which springs from the earth as the result of the rain, is identical with it in quality and virtue. "Let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together: I the Lord have created it." Isa. xlv. 8.

If a man will recognise the fruit of the earth as the life of God he will know in eating food that he is a partaker of the Divine life and nature. Such an one will grow strong on the nurture of the Lord. It is a well-known fact that to be strong and well a man must eat strength-giving food, and the measure of his strength will be determined by the quality of his nutriment. Whosoever eats of the Lord will be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Israel had a great work to do when they came out of Egypt. It was no less than is committed to the church of Christ to-day,-to be co-workers with God. But God does not ask men to do anything, in their own strength, and so He fed Israel with food that was able to impart abundant strength, sufficient for the easy and successful accomplishment of every duty that lay in their path. They had "the corn of harvest. Man did eat angels' food." But Israel did not receive the wonderful strength that there was in the manna. They even despised it, and in so doing, "they believed not in God, and trusted not in His salvation." Ps. lxxviii. 22. They were eating and drinking of Christ, but they did not believe it, and so they only ate and drank condemnation to themselves.

Still the earth brings forth salvation and righteousness. Christ "is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die." He says, "As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." John vi. 57. Israel failed to discern the Lord's body in the food that was given them, and so, not receiving Christ in it, their diet was too poor for the task before them. It overtaxed their strength, and they fell by the way. Christ had an infinitely more trying journey before Him, but He received so much strength in living by the Father that, all the way, He was more than conqueror. In the same way, if we eat His flesh and drink His blood, where He has put these for our use, we will triumph always. If we do not, we will fail like Israel to enter in, and the simple and only cause of our failure will be unbelief, that is, refusing to admit that God speaks the truth.

It was literally true that Christ lived by the Father. He had meat to eat that His disciples knew not of. Yet He was made in all things like unto His brethren, and had no secret channel of communication with the Father that was denied to them. He said, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me." He ate and drank what they did, but not as they did. The will of God was perfectly assimilated into Christ's life, just as every one is made of what he eats and drinks. His testimony was, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God, yea, Thy law is within My heart."

Since He lived by the will of God, as His meat and drink, it must be that this was conveyed to Him in the partaking of material food. There was so high a quality of nourishment in His diet, as He took it, recognising God's life, or will in it, that it could sustain Him when others, who had last eaten at the same time as Himself, were quite exhausted. At one time, He went in the strength of it, forty days and nights, and it was only afterwards that He was hungry. It is evident that there is more strength in receiving the will, or word, of God without bread, than there is in eating bread without receiving in it the life of God. The Lord suffered Israel to hunger, and fed them with manna that He might make them know that man doth not live by bread alone. Christ could say, "I know that His commandment is life." John xii. 50.

Just as the Divine life does not deteriorate

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when it comes down from heaven and comes forth in vegetable life with unimpaired vitality. Nor when taken into the body of man does it change for the worse. It remains in every stage the life of God, and while the observer of nature sees in its different manifestations what he calls, at one stage, the law of plant life, and at another, the law of human development, it remains, all through, the law of the Divine life. In thus imparting His life, God communicates in it the law of His own being, His own personal character and attributes. Thus the man who acknowledges that His whole life is derived from God, will also know that in his heart, in his very being, is the law of the Divine life, the instincts of the Divine nature.

This is what God promises in the new covenant. "I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. . . . And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know Me." Heb. viii. 10, 11. This covenant is fulfilled to every one who recognises God's life in his food, and receives it with thankfulness. It was to fulfil the everlasting covenant, made with Abraham and his seed, that God gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness. He "satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out, . . . for He remembered His holy promise, and Abraham His servant." Ps. cv. 40-43. Christ, giving His disciples the juice of the grape, said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood." 1 Cor. xi. 25. Through Isaiah God calls us to "Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. . . . and I will make an everlasting covenant with you." Isa. Iv. 2, 3.

Thus we see how it is that when we acknowledge God in all our ways, He will direct our paths. He writes His law in our hearts, putting it into us as the law of our being, just as it is the law of His own existence. "And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones." Isa. lviii. 11.

God declared His covenant of life and peace to Israel on Sinai, but the people did not see the grace that was abounding there, flowing from Sinai to them in living streams of water. We are come unto Mount Zion, to the city of the living God. "The Lord's throne is in heaven." "Clouds and darkness are round about Him," but always from the cloud comes the stream of the water of life, in the form of rain, dropping down righteousness on the earth, that the earth may bring forth salvation for the service of man. God speaks His living law from the midst of the cloud, and those who receive it in the water of life and the bread from heaven, live by it, and find it life everlasting. To such the law is not a code of regulations, which one man can teach to another, but the life of Christ, His flesh and blood, which He gives for the life of the world. All who partake of this wonderful nutriment are strengthened with might by God's Spirit in the inner man, and Christ dwells in their hearts by faith, so that they, in Him, are filled with all the fulness of God. No work is too difficult for them, for they can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth them; and God has no secrets from them, for the Spirit, which is their life, the Divine law of their being, searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

THE SEAS

Gen. i. 9, 10: "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land earth; and the gathering together of the waters called He seas; and God saw that it was good."

Rev. xiv. 6: "And I saw another angel fly to the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

Ps. xcvi. 11-13: "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord; for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth; He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth."

Ps. xxxiii. 6-8: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap; He layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him."

Ps. clv. 1-3: "Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honour and majesty, Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment; who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain; who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters; who maketh the clouds His chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind."

Jer. v. 22: "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."

Job xxxviii. 8-11: "Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as it if had issued from the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it, and prescribed for it My decree, and set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto shalt thou come and no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?"

Isa. xl. 12: "Who hath measured the waters In the hollow of His hand?"

Ps. cxxxix. 9, 10: "If I take the wings of tile morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the seas, even there shall Thy hand lead Me, and Thy right hand shall hold me."

Ps. lxv. 5-7: "By terrible things wilt Thou answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation; Thou art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are far off upon the sea; which by His strength setteth fast the mountains, being girded about with light; which stilleth the roaring of the seas, the roaring of the waves, and the tumult of the people."

Isa. li. 10, 11: "Art Thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the ass, a way for the ransomed to pass over? Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their beads; they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow slid mourning shall flee sway."

Ps. xcv. 5, 6: "The sea is His, and He made it; and His hands formed the dry land. O come

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let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.

The everlasting power of God is seen in the things that are made.

"The sea is His, and He made it." Therefore the voice of the sea whether audible or inaudible proclaims the Gospel.

The vast expanse of the sea, which God measures in His hand, shows us the greatness of His power, which is mercy, because it is salvation. So it is not more, but less than a full statement of the truth, that

"There's a wideness in God's mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea,"

The mighty power of the sea is but the manifestation of the merciful power of God to save us from our sins. If we but listen to His voice, our righteousness will be "like the waves of the sea." Isa. xlviii. 18.

What power can pluck us out of the hand of Him who measures all the waters of the sea in the hollow of His band?

God's power over the raging of the nations of the earth, is as great as His power over the sea. He can still them just as easily. See Matt. viii. 26. This is to be the confidence of the people of God in times when the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing; when the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Christ, saying, "Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."

God's power over the sea is an assurance to us of salvation. Because He rules the sea, "therefore the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion."

When the Lord comes, it will be for the salvation of His people. But that will only be the consummation of the salvation which He accomplishes for them day by day. In view of His coming to judgment, the sea roars out its joy; it speaks the mighty power of God. If we but learn to understand its language, then we shall experience the power which it reveals, and shall also rejoice at the thought of the coming of the Lord, because we know the joy of His presence.

"Confessing Christ" The Present Truth 14, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

"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.

How simple and easy is the way of salvation! It is only the way of the transgressor that is hard. God has chosen us to salvation "through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." 2 Thess. ii. 13. That is the whole story. We have simply to believe and acknowledge the truth, and the Holy Spirit does the work.

When Jesus hung upon the cross, just before He breathed out His life, He cried, "It is finished!" That showed that in Him the works that were finished from the foundation of the world are restored. In Him the creation is made new, as at the beginning, for He is the Beginning. So accepting the Gospel, and living the Christian life consists simply in the constant recognition and acknowledgment of things that are so. As in the record of the creation at the beginning, each successive step ends with, "and it was so," the Gospel, which is the new creation, consists of simple facts. Surely it should not be a difficult thing to acknowledge a simple, well-attested fact.

What is it now to confess Christ?-It is to confess the whole truth concerning Him. A partial confession will not do, for Christ is not divided. He who takes Christ must accept Him as a whole. "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Eph. iv. 7. "Of His fulness have all we received; and grace for grace." John i. 16. To confess Christ, therefore, is to confess Him in His fulness. He is the One who was, and who is, and who is to come.

THE ONE WHO WAS

Many people seem to think that all there is to confessing Christ is to admit that there was such a man on this earth nearly nineteen hundred years ago. That is true as far as it goes, but the acknowledgment of that fact alone will have no more influence on a man's life than will the fact that a man named Julius C?sar lived more than nineteen hundred years ago. The truth concerning Jesus Christ at that time was that God was in Him. His name was Immanuel, God with us, He was the Divine Word made flesh.

But that is not all that is involved in the confession that He was. "He was." When was He was in all the time to which the past tense can be applied. Of whatever time it can be said that it was, it is true that Christ was then. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John i. 1. His "goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity." Micah v. 2, margin. He was from everlasting.

"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. "Without Him was not anything made that hath been made." All this is involved in the confession of the Lord Jesus as the One who was. He was the brightness of the glory of the eternal God, and the very impress of His substance. This is only a part of the confession of Christ, but it is not an insignificant part; for whoever makes this confession, recognising Him as in truth the Creator, must necessarily confess Him as

THE ONE WHO IS

Christ crucified is the One who is, for, said He, "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, than shall ye know that I am," Christ crucified is Christ risen, and the fact that He could lay down His life and take it up again, shows that He has life in Himself, and therefore has life to bestow on others. Whosoever does not believe that He is, will die in his sins.

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He is the One who is. What is He?-He is all that He was, for He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." So then He is still "the everlasting Father," the Creator. He created by the power of His cross; for the works which are finished from the foundation of the world, are found only in the cross. In the cross there is a new creation, even the same that was in the beginning before sin, entered into the world. So we have the two parts to the confession of the Lord Jesus. He was God from the beginning, the Creator of all things, and He still is, the same that He was from the beginning. All power in heaven and earth is His.

But this is not all to this part of the confession. To confess Christ as the One who was and is, we must confess the truth about Him. What is this truth, the confession of which is salvation to us?-"Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God." 1 John iv. 2. In order, therefore, to confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, we acknowledge Him as having come in the in the flesh.

Jesus Christ came in the flesh. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." It is the perfect tense, reaching from the past up to the present. It is as true that He is now come in the flesh, as that He did once come. He changes not; He is the same in time past, present, and future. The One who was, and the One who is, and the One who is to come, is ever the same.

He is come in the flesh. In what flesh? "There is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fishes." 1 Cor. xv. 39. He was not made beast, bird, or fish, but He was made man. Said Pilate, "Behold the man!" "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." 1 Tim. ii. 5. So Christ is come in the flesh of man, of mankind. Therefore whoever confesses Christ, must confess that He is come in his own flesh. I must acknowledge that He is come in my flesh, and you must acknowledge that He is also come in your flesh. And He has not divided Himself among us, but "of His fulness have all we received." If the fulness has not been manifested in us, it is only because we have not believed and confessed.

When you and I confess that Christ is come in our flesh, then we know the fact that "the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." His struggle against sin, and His victory over it, was a fight with our sins, and a victory over them. Not simply was, but is, for He is, as well as was, and is all that He ever was. So all our sins, all our sinfulness, is now on Him. He bears it.

Not only is Christ come in our flesh, but He is risen. He was "declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Rom. i. 4. The resurrection was the proof of the fact that He was successful in His fight with sin. "Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." Acts ii. 24. Why was it not possible for the pains of death to hold Jesus Christ?-Because "the sting of death is sin," and "in Him is no sin." Christ is therefore come in our flesh with all the power over sin that is demonstrated in the resurrection. This means that His victory is ours. When we truly confess Christ in our flesh, with "power over all flesh," even the power of the resurrection, it is as impossible for sin to have dominion over us as it was for the grave to hold Him. His whole life is reproduced in us. When sin comes, we rest upon this truth that the crucified and risen Saviour is in our flesh, so that it is "not I, but Christ" that it is seeking to overcome. But that it cannot do, for Christ has demonstrated His power over sin in the flesh. How easy it is to see that the confession of this fact is salvation for us.

When we have confessed Christ as the One who was, and the One who is, it is but a natural step to confess Him as

THE ONE WHO IS TO COME

"Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. ix. 28. He still bears the sins of many, even our sins. Yet in Him is no sin. But His work is not complete until He comes again to take His own unto Himself. As surely as He was here once, so surely will He come again. "This same Jesus," "the Lord Himself," shall come again. And those who know Him as the sin-bearer, who have made His acquaintance in their flesh, cannot fail to look with longing for the time to come when they shall see Him whom not having seen they love.

The Apostle Paul who received the truth direct from the Lord, says that when we eat the bread and drink the cup, Christ's body and blood, we do "show the Lord's death till He come." 1 Cor. xi. 24-26.

Thus the act which emphasises our confession that He is come in the flesh, in our flesh, is at the same time a testimony that He will come again. So in the heartfelt confession of Christ as the One who was, and who is, and who is to come, we have both present and eternal salvation. Why not confess Him, not in part, but in His fulness, and confess Him now, yes, eternally now?

"Why God Blesses" The Present Truth 14, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

"Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." Acts iii. 26.

God does not bless us as payment for some good thing that we have done; as many people seem to think, but He blesses us in order that we may become good. The Lord blesses all men, regardless of their character. "The Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works." Ps. cxiv. 9.

Thanks are due to "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Eph. i. 3. Everything in the universe is in Christ; and so since God gives us all blessings in Him, to turn us away from our iniquities, it follows that "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." 2 Peter i. 3.

How many blessings has God given us?-All blessings. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down." God has not kept back anything. There is no good thing that He has not made to come down to men. We cannot enumerate all the blessings that God bestows upon us in Christ, but we may single out one or two, to see how they work to turn us away from our iniquities.

Fruitful seasons and abundance of good food are a blessing. This blessing, like all others, comes to us in Christ; for if it were not that Christ bears the curse of the earth, it would yield nothing whatever but thorns and thistles. But the Crucified One bears the curse of death, so that life may abide with us. There is no blessing that comes to us except through the cross of Christ.

Very well, then, we have food to eat because Christ died for us. This is a blessing that comes to us through His cross. If therefore we receive it as a blessing direct from heaven, we shall find that it will turn us away from sin. Why

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does God give us food?-In order that we may live. Food is the ordinary means which God uses to convey to us His life. Yes, but what kind of life does God design that we should live? Manifestly the very same life that He gives us, and that is a good life, because it is His own. God provides food for us, therefore, in order that we may live righteous lives.

How can this be? The answer is, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Prov. iii. 6. This is literally, as indicated in the margin of the Revised Version, "He shall make thy paths right," or straight. Of course if God directs one's ways, they will be pure to be right, for He will direct them in His own way, and "as for God, His way is perfect."

God gives us Himself in all His gifts. In Christ alone is there perfection. The beauty of the flower, and the perfection of the fruit, are due solely to Christ. If then we hunger and thirst after righteousness, and realise that in the food which the Lord gives us He gives us the body of Christ, then, eating by faith, we shall have His righteousness.

So with everything by which He conveys His life to us. His life is always perfect, and we can have no life except His life. His life received therefore, as His life, must necessarily turn us away from iniquity, for "there is no unrighteousness in Him." The trouble is, we pervert His gifts. We use Him life as though it were our own, and so make no real use of His blessings. One has said,

"Man never is, but always to be blessed."

But that is a falsehood. The same God who was, and who is to be, is the God who is. He that cometh to Him must believe that He is. All the blessings in Him are present blessings. All blessings have been given us. If we do not experience the blessings, it is because we have not accepted them. Learn to recognise God's hand in everything, not in word merely, but in fact, and you will find that sin will not have dominion over you.

Then do not forget the reason why God blesses. Remember that He does not reserve His blessings for Him friends, but that He freely bestows them upon His enemies. There is not a soul so sinful that he has no right to claim the blessings of God. God has given them to him, in order that he may claim them. He does not bless us in sin, as a premium for our sins, that we may continue in them, but in order that we may be separated from them. For no one can live in constant recognition of the blessings of God and at the same time live in rebellion against Him. What God desires is that every sinner shall claim His blessings, realising that they come from Him. Do not be afraid; they are for you. Give God the glory for all that He does, and He will glorify you, for in glorifying you is He Himself glorified.

"For the Children. The Gift of Speech" The Present Truth 14, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

The heavens declare the glory of God;" "there is no speech nor language," yet their words go out "to the end of the world."

We have been learning lately about the way in which the heavens and all the works of God are praising Him, by revealing,-making us able to see,-His power and His glory.

And last week we learned how we may do the same thing, by giving out the life that He gives to us, in loving service for others, so making His goodness and beauty to be seen.

Each thing that God has made shows something of the character of God. The heavens declare His glory, the flowers His loveliness and fragrance, the mountains and the seas His power and fulness, and in His manifold works His infinite wisdom is shown. But in man, His crowning work, all the fulness of His glory, His power and wisdom, were revealed. God made man in His own image, and filled him with His own Spirit, that He might fully reveal Himself in him.

All the other works of God praise Him and declare His glory "without speech or language." But to man God gave the power like Himself to speak out and put into words the thoughts that filled his mind. God did not teach man a language, and give him a lot of words to learn, but He gave him the power to speak and make language. He did not teach him the names of the animals, and all the living things in the earth, but He brought them all before him "to see what he would call them; and whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof."

As God brought each living thing to Adam, His Spirit which dwelt in him showed him its nature, and what was the lesson that God was teaching him by it. Then the same Spirit of God which showed him the truth, gave him utterance, and made him able to speak out what he saw. So the name that he gave showed the truth that each living thing revealed.

And then you know that man was only the house or temple of God, and all the powers that God gave him were for Him to use to do His own work through man. So man's mouth was made for the Spirit of God to speak His own words through man, and there was power, the power of God, in the words that man spoke, so long as he was perfect.

And even since man has fallen by sin, and lost the fulness of the power and glory and honour with which God crowned him in the beginning, the Spirit of God still speaks His own words of power through all those who will let Him use them. "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," and this is how the Bible, the Word of God, was given to us. In the Bible we have a great many beautiful songs which we call psalms, and David, "the sweet Psalmist of Israel," who sang and wrote most of these, said, "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His Lord was in my tongue."

In one of these, which he calls "a song for the Sabbath," he says, "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name." In another psalm he tells us how we may do this, and what the result will be. "He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God; many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord."

When the Spirit of God is using your eyes and your ears and all your senses to reveal God to you, and to teach you of Him in all the things that He has made, your hearts will be filled "with wonder, love and praise." Then like David you will pray, "O Lord, open Thou my lips, that my mouth may show forth Thy praise." You will long to tell others of that which you have seen and heard of Him. And God has made your month so that you may do this.

When Isaiah "saw His glory," he "spake of Him" (John xii. 41), and so will all who really behold their God. And the Spirit of God who fills you with praise will also give you utterance, so that you may speak and sing of Him with power that shall lead others to "fear, and trust in the Lord."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

-The heart beats ten strokes a minute left when one is lying down than when in an upright posture.

-When a chameleon is blindfolded it loses all power of changing its colour, and its entire body remains of a uniform tent.

-The shoe factories use 1,000,000 kangaroo skins yearly. Australians have begun to raise and breed kangaroos as they would sheep.

-The hearing organ of animals is not always located in the head. In some grasshoppers it is in the forelegs, and appears on the wings of many insects.

-According to the latest returns there are at present in London 37,000 people living in one room; 17,000 living six in one room; 6,000 living seven in one room; 1,800 living eight in one room; 32,000 living eight in two rooms; and 11,000 living nine in two rooms.

-A telegram from Kiao Chao announces that that place has been opened as a free port.

-In spite of great natural difficulties, it is determined to extend the Soudanese railway to Khartoum.

-Last year 852,000 persons were employed in the mines and quarries of the United kingdom. The annual output of coal is about 200,000,000 tons.

-The Russian Government has expressed the wish that the peace conference should assemble at the end of the present or the beginning of next year.

-The London School Board has decided to make its evening schools free, and is also making provision for a complete commercial education at these.

-The French Minister of War has resigned, as he is still of opinion that Dreyfus should not be re-tried. His colleagues were all in favour of a new trial.

-Colston Hall, in Bristol, where the Trade Union Congress has been meeting, was destroyed by fire, the largest known in the city for half a century. The damage is estimated at ?90,000.

-After expending nearly ?120,000 in vain attempts to float their stranded vessel, the steamship China, which went ashore at Perim, the P. and O. Company have decided to blow up the steamer.

-The South Wales colliers are all returning to work.The proprietors held out strongly for the abolition of the monthly holiday, but the men would not work on it last week, and say they never will.

-At Wellingborough last week a Midland express train was derailed and smashed. Six persons were killed and forty injured. The catastrophe was caused by some boys playing with a barrow which they pushed on to the lines just as the train was passing.

-The best and riches class of natives in the Philippines are anxious that the United States should annex the whole of the islands. They consider the clamours for independence impracticable, and propose that the insurgent regiments should be enrolled in the American army, under American officers.

-The Standard Oil Trust, which is one of the greatest monopolies in the world, and which supplies England with the low-flash oils to which so many fatal accidents are due, has now succeeded in getting complete control of the Canadian business. Two weeks ago the last independent refinery passed into the possession of the American monopoly. The price went up at once a penny per gallon.

-Khartoum has been taken by the Egyptian army, with heavy slaughter of the dervishes. It is hoped that now the power of the Khalifa has been permanently destroyed, and that the Soudan will be restored to peace and order. What will be the next step no one can say, but many are advocating that the English forces continue their advance southwards, until they arrive at Matabeleland, and so form an unbroken line of communication on English territory from the north to the South Africa.

-Turkey has not yet made any reply to the Czar's proposal although it is said that the Sultan has already expressed to the Czar his admiration of the proposal, assuring him of his assistance in the work of peace. The Pope has also blest the project, and his official organ is full of enthusiasm over it, but holds that the Czar and Pope must act together in order to guarantee definitive peace. Those who really desire peace must tremble at the prospect as they behold these expert peacemakers hastening to lend their assistance. What do they know of peace?

-It has been decided by the Board of the Hospital Saturday Fund to drop the annual street collection, as the numerous imitations of this practice have brought it into disfavour.

-Spain has not yet had enough of militarism, or at least her rulers think so. A call has been made for 100,000 recruits. It is thought that this move will keep the young men from joining any Carlist insurrection.

-It was announced last week that an alliance had been concluded between England and Germany. The German press contradicts the report, but says that an agreement has been reached on some minor points of policy. The Kaiser is to visit Egypt after leaving Palestine.

-The Swedish Commission has reported in favour of spending about a million and a half sterling on the defences of Sweden. The King, however, is in warm sympathy with the Czar's proposed disarmament, and will send delegates to the Conference.

-It appears from a recent report that the Kurds have complete dominion over the Armenians in Van, Bitlis, and Erzeroum. Armenians are murdered, their houses plundered, their stock stolen, and the marauders are never punished, and their victims never received redress.

-The Kaiser has announced that a new law will come into force this year, in which is provided that anyone, no matter who he is or what he is called, who seeks to hinder a German worker who is willing to work, or who incites to a strike, will be punished with penal servitude.

-There is an early prospect of a short cut across the Atlantic. A line of steamers is to run between Milford Haven and Canada, which will shorten the journey to the States by some five hundred miles. As soon as fast steamers can be built it is expected to accomplish the journey in a little over four days.

-Speaking at Leicester, the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Adler, alluding to the British victory at Khartoum, said it was a remarkable fact that near the scene of last Friday's battle Moses won a great battle when connected with the Egyptian Court. Atbara also bears the same name to-day as it bore in Moses' time.

-The Mussulmans at Candia (Crete), being discontented with what they regard as ill-treatment and undue favour shown to the Christians, held a monster demonstration last week, after which they set fire to various parts of the city, and attacked the British troops. Candia has been bombarded by the fleet.

-The President of the Royal Society has calculated that in thirty years the increase of the world's population will call for more wheat than can be produced. He proposes that manure should be taken from the air in the form of nitrogen, so as to increase the productiveness of the soil, and so stave off for a while the universal starvation.

-The supply of water in the East End has now been restricted to four hour's daily service. With the return of hot weather much privation is felt. At many houses no water is received at all. Indignation meetings are being held, and it is generally felt that this off-repeated stoppage of the supply is becoming intolerable. The usual water-rates are charged, and rigorously collected.

-A meeting, attended by influential delegates from the principal West Indian sugar producing colonies, was held at Barbados, resolutions were adopted declaring that the only effective remedy was the abolition of the sugar bounties, and some speakers suggested that, failing their treatment from England, only one course was open-viz., an appeal for annexation to the United States.

"Escaping from the World" The Present Truth 14, 37.

E. J. Waggoner

We are told that Jesus Christ "gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world." Gal. i. 4.

Yet the same Jesus has given to His disciples this commandment: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." Mark xvi. 15.

He made the greatest sacrifice to deliver us from this world, and yet He deliberately sends us into it; how can this be?-The answer is given in His prayer for His disciples: "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil." John xvii. 15.

This world is diametrically opposed to Christianity, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." 1 John ii. 16, 17. And "the world" does not get converted. It is as much opposed to Christianity to-day as it was to Christ. What Christ does is to save men from it.

A faulty idea of what and where the world is, from which Christ would save men, has led many to retire into monasteries and into desert places. A writer in a recent number of the Echo gives the following explanation of why a certain author has become a nun:-

The world is irreligious, and for the man of spiritual views it is a huge disappointment. According to M--, whilst a man is of this world, he cannot commune with God, therefore the only course left Is to retire from it, to mix with men who think only of their Creator, and who, by a life of prayer and meditation, reach a plane of devotion denied to those who seek the things of this world.

It is true that "while a man is of this world, he cannot commune with God;" true Christians are "not of the world." John xv. 19. But they do not withdraw from their fellow-men, because Christ has set them in the world to be lights to it. To them it is said: "Do all things without murmurings and disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world." Phil. ii. 14, 15. Thus we see that the ideal Christian life is that which is lived "in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation." The true Christian life cannot be lived anywhere else by the man who is in possession of ordinary health and strength; for God has never sent any man to dwell in a monastery, and men can live true godly lives only where God sends them.

"The world" is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; and these every man carries with him. It is not some other person's lust and pride, but the lust of our own flesh, and our own pride, that cause us to sin. One may go into the desert, and live alone, yet he will carry the world with him. If he cannot live free from the world when surrounded by people, he cannot do it when alone.

Jesus Christ lived a life of activity in this world. He had seasons of retirement, as every one should have, but His life was among the people. "As He is, so are we in this world," if we are His true followers. The sole business of the Christian is to benefit others; and he who can benefit his fellows in no other way than by taking himself away from them, is certainly not a representative of Christ.

A light is for the purpose of shining where it is dark. Christ is the true light. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." The darkness could not put it out. A light that cannot be seen better in the dark than in the light, is not worthy of being called a light.

The darkness of sin in this world did not cloud the life of Christ. He was able to live a perfect life among men who lived in sin. He is the same to-day that He was then, and by the Holy Spirit He lives personally in those who yield to Him in faith. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." His life in a man to-day will be as perfect as it was centuries ago.

He "gave Himself," instead of taking Himself away. The object of Christianity is not a selfish one. The Christian is not selfishly seeking for the pleasantest thing for himself in this life, nor are his efforts directed to the saving of his own soul. In seeking to save himself, a man loses everything; but when, forgetting himself, he devotes his efforts to the salvation of others, He finds salvation; for he can save others only by the life of Christ in him, which is salvation. No man can save himself by good works; but any man may and should be a worker with Christ for the salvation of others.

Europe has been horrified by another Anarchist outrage. The Empress of Austria, who was travelling in Switzerland, was stabbed by an Italian while leaving an hotel, and died shortly afterwards. The assassin had no motive for the deed, except the usual Anarchist hatred for those in high places. A London paper publishes a report that an attempt was also made on the life of the young Queen of Holland, during the coronation festivities last week. Three shots were fired at her, but all missed, although one of her attendants was wounded. The growth of Anarchism is an ominous sign of the times. Men are deluded by Satan into the belief that by doing evil good will come, but it would be a very corrupt despotism indeed that would not be preferable to the murderous rule of anarchy. "While they promise them liberty, they themselves servants of corruption."

Word has been received at Khartoum that a French force is in possession of Fashoda, the next place of importance on the Nile southwards. If this be true, it is likely to cause trouble between the French and British Governments, as the latter is credited with a determination to occupy all the available territory lying between Khartoum and the Cape. The outlook for peace is not encouraging, and every day makes it clearer that the Czar's proposal is doomed to failure. The Russian papers are now endeavouring to explain away the manifesto, and, it is thought, thus prepare the public mind for the inevitable collapse of the disarmament suggestion.

September 22, 1898

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Reformation Under Asa. 2 Chronicles xiv. 2-12" The Present Truth 14, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

OCTOBER 2

Asa was the grandson of Rehoboam, in whose days, and through whose folly, Israel had been divided into two kingdoms. The division had been attended and followed by much ill-feeling, and during the reign of Ahijah, this had culminated in the battle of Mount Ephraim, in which Israel was defeated with heavy slaughter, although twice as strong in numbers as their opponents. No less than five hundred thousand of the chosen men of Israel were slain in this conflict. "Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers."

REMOVING THE IDOLS

Israel was long in recovering from the severe defeat then sustained, and after Asa's accession to the throne there was a period of ten years of unbroken peace. The time was spent in clearing out of the kingdom of Judah the idolatrous relics of

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King Solomon's apostasy. The altars of the strange gods were taken away, and the images of the sun were destroyed out of all the cities of Judah. A royal proclamation was sent throughout the country, commanding the people to seek the Lord and obey His commandments.

RELIGIOUS LEGISLATION

There are many nowadays who think that because such proclamations as these are recorded in the Scriptures, it was right to issue them, and that it is still right to enforce matters of religion by the law of the land. But, although Asa was a reformer, he showed by this edict that he did not fully appreciate the character of the worship which God requires of His people. God's law is a law of love. By His loving-kindness He draws men to Himself, and His commandments are given, not as rigid, autocratic requirements, but as a word of life, promising to all who hear and live the righteousness they set forth. Christ was the law of God in life and action, for love is the fulfilling of the law, and Christ was perfect love. Whoever would get correct ideas of the law of God will find them in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, who said, "Thy law is within My heart." He came not to condemn but to save. "If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." Gal. iii. 21. But what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son. . . condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." Rom viii. 3, 4. God's Word is strong enough in itself to accomplish the thing whereto He sends it, and if the Word prove weak through the flesh, the flesh does not improve matters by promulgating a supplementary law of its own. The only effect of this is to hide from view the efficiency of the Divine Word, and thereby diminish faith in it.

ENSURING PEACE

Asa showed further that he did not appreciate what God wanted to be to His people, by the measures he took to secure peace. In another proclamation to Judah, he admitted that because they had sought the Lord, He had given them rest on every aide; yet, instead of exhorting them to continue to seek the Lord, and thus maintain their security, he ordered that they should build fortified cities, "and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars." In the same spirit he increased his army, until it numbered nearly six hundred thousand men, all of them mighty men of valour.

THE WAY OF PEACE

It is true that when God blesses men, with peace or any other good, He uses means; but we ought not to look for the fulfilment of the divine purpose through means which he has not provided. The Measures taken by Asa were such precautions as might well be adopted by the heathen who knew not God, but the Lord did not design that His people should be preserved in peace by increasing their armaments. At the present time the world is largely of opinion that the nation beet prepared for war stands the beat chance of maintaining peace, and statesmen and politicians claim that it would be criminal neglect to allow their nation to fall behind in the headlong race for military pre-eminence. Peace can only come in the knowledge that the Lord's protection is over us, for "except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." If Judah had committed their ways unto the Lord, He would have seen that their peace was not disturbed. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee." Isa. xxvi. 3. "When a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." Prov. xvi. 7.

THE ETHIOPIAN INVASION

This was soon demonstrated to Asa. A great king was advancing rapidly toward the border of Judah, conquering as he went, and threatening Asa's kingdom with the horrors of a barbarian invasion. The continual struggle between Egypt and Ethiopia had ended for the present in the subjugation of the former country, and Zerah, king of Ethiopia, had joined Egypt and the surrounding countries to his own. Now he was come forth, with more than a million warriors in his train, to lay waste the land of Palestine. Asa despaired of overthrowing this army with his own, Judah's numerous forces and fenced cities were seen to be of no avail in this tremendous crisis. "And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with Many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee."

A NEEDED EXPERIENCE

God could have easily hindered the Ethiopian army from approaching Palestine and doubtless the faith of some waxed faint as they watched with growing apprehension the steady advance of the invading host. But the lesson see needed. God would teach His people that their security did not consist in armies and fortifications, that it was indeed nothing to Him whether He were called to help those who were many, or those who had no power. To the extent that armies and walled cities obscured the need of His protecting presence, were they no gain at all, but a decided loss. Asa's prayer showed that the danger which God had allowed to threaten the nation had taught him the intended lesson. It indicated complete dependence upon the Lord, and the Lord amply honoured the trust reposed in Him. "So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah." Their overthrow was so complete that they could not recover themselves. Zerah's conquering career was checked, and he returned to the country of Ethiopia, abandoning his foreign conquests and devoting his attention to the restoration of hi-, own shattered kingdom.

LIFTING THE STANDARD

Once more the knowledge of the true God had shone out, and His power been seen, "working salvation in the midst of the earth." God would deepen the lesson in the hearts of His people, so as Asa was returning with rejoicing to Jerusalem, a prophet was sent to meet him, declaring that if they would continue to seek the Lord, He would certainly be found of them. They were therefore exhorted to be strong and fearless in the Lord, for their work would be plentifully rewarded. Asa took courage from these promises and applied himself diligently to the work of exterminating every vestige of idolatry, not even tolerating it among his own relations, and all Judah joined him in the work with their whole heart. As the reformation spread, those in the kingdom of Israel who desired to worship the Lord in truth, loft their homes, "for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him." God was drawing to Himself all who would be drawn, and those in Israel who rejected this opportunity of uniting themselves with the worshippers of Jehovah, sank lower and lower in idolatry, until the time soon came when there were only

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seven thousand in all the land who had not bowed the knee to Baal.

A FOOLISH POLICY

God was desirous that His people should keep in mind the victory over Zerah, but it faded from their memories, and when, after twenty-five years of peace, trouble again arose between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Asa made appeal for assistance, not to Jehovah, but to the heathen king of Syria. It seemed as though the arrangement worked satisfactorily. The immediate difficulty was averted, but in turning away from the Lord, Asa had turned away from that which alone made peace sure to his kingdom. The Lord sent word to him that he had done foolishly, and that from thenceforth he would have wars. The messenger asked, "Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims [Libyans] a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, He delivered them into thine hand."

A RELIABLE GOD

The Lord likes to be relied upon. He makes great promises to those who will trust Him, declaring that they shall never he put to shame, nor confounded, world without end. He is strong enough and willing enough to do for His people all that they need, but although He has given innumerable evidences of His power and love, it is rarely that He finds any who care to trust Him. His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards Him. One who realises his need, and determines to trust the Lord's promise to supply all his need, should never fear that he is going to be disappointed. The Lord has been searching the whole earth for just such a case, to give Him an opportunity of showing what He can do, and now, if the man will only continue to trust Him, the Lord will show Himself strong in his behalf.

TAKING THE NAME OF GOD

God did not ask Asa to keep up a huge army, and thus take all possible precautions against his enemies. He asked simply that Asa would rely upon Him, and trust, not in horses and chariots, but in the living God. It did not offend Him that Asa should say, "In Thy name we go against this multitude. . . let not man prevail against Thee," for He has identified Himself to the full with our cause and interests, and to all who thus acknowledge their intimate relation with God, and claim the privileges which the relationship confers, the promise is given, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

SOWING THE SEED

Gen. i. 11, 12: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind; and God saw that it was good."

Mark iv. 26-29: "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth, and should sleep find rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up he knoweth not how. The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come." R.V.

1 Peter i. 22-24: "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently; 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."

Gal. iii. 16: "To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy Seed which is Christ."

John i. 1, 4, 14: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "In Him was life." "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."

Matt. xiii. 3-9, 18-23: "Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some [seeds] fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up; some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun wan up they were scorched: and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them; but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." "Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside. But he that received the seed into stony pieces, the same is he that beareth the Word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for awhile; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the Word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns, is he that heareth the Word; and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the Word, and be becometh unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is be that heareth the Word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

Isa. Ixi. 10,11: "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bring. eth 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."

From Mark iv. 26-29 we learn that in the growth of corn from the sowing of the seed to the harvest we have a visible and perfect presentation of the kingdom of God. From the visible we learn of the invisible. The power of God, which is the Gospel, is seen in the things that are made.

"The earth beareth fruit of herself," that is, literally, "automatically." But an automaton, so-called, does not manufacture its own power. The power which runs an automaton is furnished by a spring that is

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wound up, so that although no application of power can be seen, the machine acting as s living thing, there is in reality a constant application of power from without. Through the spring, the force of the man who wound it is being constantly exerted. "Power belongeth unto God." "There is no power but of God." The earth therefore brings forth by the power of God.

Something is necessary before the earth can bring forth fruit of herself, and this is set forth in the parable. It is this: seed must be sown. The earth beareth fruit of herself, but not until seed has been placed in it. If there were no seed in the ground, the earth could never bring forth anything. Now when the earth was first created, there was nothing in it. When the dry land was separated from the water, it contained no seed, and had it been left alone, it would never have brought anything forth. What did God do, in order that the earth might bear fruit?-He spoke to it. He sent forth His Word into the earth. The seed, therefore, whence everything comes, that grows out of the earth, is the Word of God.

Take a handful of corn, and cast it upon the ground. If the conditions are favourable, it will spring tip and bear fruit. What is the life of the seed,-that which gives it germinating power?-It is the Word of the Lord. The real seed of everything that grows is nothing other than the living Word of the living God. We see therefore that the Word of God is very real, although we cannot see it. There is nothing real except the Word.

Thus we find that when we are told that the new birth is effected by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever, it is not a figure of speech, but the statement of an actual fact, and the reality of it is shows to us by the corn growing from the seed that is cast into the earth.

The fact that we cannot see the seed which God places in us for our regeneration, and that we cannot explain how it is dome, makes no difference with the fact, nor with our faith. We cannot see the life of the seed which we cast into the ground. Nobody can tell by looking at seed whether it has life in it, and will germinate or not. And when it is sown, nobody knows the mystery of growth. "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the earth, . . . and the seed should spring and grow up he knoweth not how." No farmer refuses to sow seed, because he cannot tell how it grows and multiplies; but if he should refuse to sow seed until he could understand and explain all about how it grows, he would be no more foolish than the man who refuses to accept the Lord until he can understand how the Lord can speak righteousness into his soul, and cause it to grow and multiply.

Christ is the Word, and the Word is the seed; hence Christ is the Seed. This is true in every sense. The Word from which everything grows which God has made, is the life of Christ. So it is that in eating bread (good bread, of course) we are eating the body of Christ.

God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth just as the earth brings forth her bud, that is, by speaking to the souls of men, just as He does to the earth. They who hear shall live. If we consciously yield to the Word of God as completely as the earth does involuntarily, we cannot fail to bring forth fruit unto eternal life.

"Christ the Seed" The Present Truth 14, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ." Gal. iii. 16. "For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea; wherefore also through Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us." 2 Cor. i. 20. "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." Col. i. 17.

Christ is "the Beginning;" He is the source of all creation, visible and invisible, whether in heaven or on earth. Oh, that men mould realise the absolute reality of this fact! Without Him there is not one thing. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 28. Most people accept these Scripture statements, hut in an accommodated, unreal sense. They do not realise that they are literally true, and that there is no material thing in existence outside of Christ; that outside of Him there is no existence whatever. He is; His name is "I Am;" and He is the only One who is. That which is not in Him, is not at all.

If Scripture statements were taken as literally true, spiritual life would be a practical experience, instead of the abstraction that it so often is. Nothing is more true than that the religious life of many consists largely in the repetition of certain phrases, the meaning of which they do not comprehend, and which very often have no meaning. All this comes from the habit of making a distinction between the literal and the spiritual,-of separating the ordinary, practical, everyday life from the spiritual, religious life. As a matter of fact, the spiritual is the only reality there is. That which is seen only with the natural eyes is temporal; only the unseen is eternal.

Christ, the Word, is the Seed to whom the promise of God is made. All who "put on Christ" are the seed in Him. When seed is sown it multiplies. That is why it is sown. So Christ, the Word, being received into human hearts and lives, as He comes in the person of the Holy Spirit, multiplies Himself. Every one in whom He thus dwells is transformed, and lives a now life. He can say, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and

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gave Himself for me." Gal. ii. 20. This is the new birth, which is accomplished by the Word of truth. James i. 18; 1 Peter i. 23. Christ becomes the ruling factor in the life. The life is no longer ours, but His: He takes complete possession, so that He thinks and acts through us, using the organs of our body for the accomplishment of His will.

Just here comes in the trouble with many people who would gladly live this perfect Christian life, or rather, allow Christ to live it in them, that the thing seems so intangible; they cannot sufficiently grasp the idea that Christ can dwell personally in them. It seems to them a name, a theory, rather than a fact. Now the Lord has anticipated this difficulty, and has put the Gospel into visible form, so that we may continually have an object lesson before us. In the seed that the gardener sows, God has provided us a lesson concerning the reality of the Seed by which we are begotten anew, and in the fruits of the earth He teaches us of the fruits of righteousness.

We cannot see the life that is in the seed which is sown, neither can we see it in the corn that we eat, no matter at what stage we view it. But we can see that the corn grows. We place a single seed in the ground, and we see that it multiplies, and produces thirty, sixty, or even a hundred grains. Each one of these grains has the same life that the original seed bad, and just as much of it. We take the corn, and make it into bread, and eat it, although we can see no life in it; but we know that there is life in it, for we receive life from it. The life of the corn becomes our life. All this is a common, everyday occurrence. We have been familiar with it all our lives. We cannot understand the secret of the life in the seemingly lifeless grains of corn, nor can we understand how the life becomes ours; but we know the fact, and are content with that.

Now it is just as easy for us to comprehend how Christ can dwell in us, so that His life becomes ours, as it is to comprehend the fact that we can get our life from the food which we eat. Indeed, the comprehension of the one is the comprehension of the other. Remember that Christ is the Seed, the origin of all things. He is the Word of God, by whom all things came into existence. In Him is life. When God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth," He sowed the seed whence all things come. That seed was the Word. It was the life of Christ, the Word, that made the earth fruitful. There is no life but His, for He is the life. John xiv. 6. So when we eat the grain and fruits which the earth brings forth, and get life from them day by day, we are literally receiving the life of Christ. The life which we assimilate, and which becomes ours, is none other than the life of the Word of God, which was in the beginning, is now, and is to come. With this simple, easily recognised fact in mind, we can see how literal were Christ's words when He look bread in His hands, and said, "This is My body." In eating bread, we are partaking of the life of the Lord.

The Israelites in the desert of Sinai ate bread, which they called "manna." It was their daily food for nearly forty years. It was "bread from heaven," yet just as literal food as that which we eat every day. But it was "spiritual meat." 1 Cor. x. 3. They did not eat by faith, hence they died; but if they had eaten by faith, discerning the body of Christ, they would not have died. John vi. 50, 51. "The just shall live by faith." By living faith, men become transformed into the perfect image of Christ. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." We live by eating. If now men ate by faith, they would live by faith, and so be righteous. And how eat by faith?-Simply recognising the fact that the body of Christ is the substance of all reality; that His Divine life is that which we get in the food that He gives us. Then just as a person assimilates his food, and by that very process, would he assimilate Christ. Consciously yielding to Christ, that He might live in His own way the life which he gives us, our life would be not simply modelled after, but the actual reproduction of His life. The Seed abiding in us, would keep us from sin. 1. John iii. 9. How easy and plain is the way of life! It consists simply in the constant recognition of the great fact that Christ is the Seed, and consciously eating of Him. "O, taste and see that the Lord is good!"

"Peace Proposals" The Present Truth 14, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

Peace Proposals .-Many religions leaders have spoken and written most enthusiastically about the Czar's proposal for a conference of all the Powers to consider the possibility of establishing universal peace. They seem to regard it as the dawning of the reign of the Prince of peace. Now it is not necessary to disparage the Czar's motives in the least, but the slightest knowledge of the Gospel and of human nature, ought to be sufficient to enable anybody to see that this proposal is impractical. Peace cannot be brought about by royal proclamations or agreements. The Czar, with all his power, cannot change a single human heart, and so long as men's hearts remain what they are, will strife and war continue. There is, however, a royal proclamation which, if heeded by all, would produce universal peace, and it is this: "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts." He will put His peace into every heart that will receive it. "I will hear what God the Lord will speak; for He will speak peace unto His people."

"For the Children. The Real Seed" The Present Truth 14, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

Where did all the flowers in your garden come from, and all the fruits that are now piled up in the fruiterers' shops, and hanging on the trees and bushes in orchards and gardens?

Some of you perhaps will say that they grew "out of the ground," and that is true; but the earth can bring forth only what is first put into it. What do you have to put into the ground to get the sweet peas, nasturtiums, and mignonette, that delight you with their pretty blossoms and sweet fragrance? If you go back to the beginning of them all you will remember the little brown seeds, that you put into the round in the spring, and watered and watched so eagerly, until the tiny green blades pushed themselves up through the ground, and grew greener and stronger each day, putting forth shoots and leaves and buds, until at last they were covered with blossoms.

But those seeds after all were not the beginning, for they came from other plants which sprang from other seeds, and so we could trace them right back to the real beginning when God said, "Let the earth bring forth." So we see that "in the beginning was the Word." The Word of God was the beginning of everything in the earth. This is just what Jesus tells us when He says, "The seed is the Word of God."

We said just now that the earth can only bring forth that which is first put into it, and now you will see that what was put into the earth in the beginning to make it bring forth and bud, was the Word of God. So all that you see springing up out of the earth, grass, flowers, the wheat and grains from which your bread and porridge are made, the nuts and fruits that you enjoy so much,-is the Word of God, put into all these different forms, so that you may see it, handle it, and taste it, rind get life and strength from eating it every day.

The same verse in the first chapter of the Gospel of John which tells us that "in the beginning was the Word," says also, "the Word was God." When God said, "Let the earth bring forth," it was the life of Jesus going forth into the earth, and springing up in all these different beautiful forms to give pleasure and life to us. So when you eat of any of "the fruits of the ground," you are feeding upon the life of Jesus Christ. When you admire the grace and beauty of the flowers, it is the loveliness of Christ that you are delighting in.

All the leaves, buds, blossoms, and fruit that unfold and develop in the plant were wrapped up in the tiny seed that was put into the ground. They are only the showing forth of the riches of the life of God that was in the seed. So you see that the seed is not only the beginning, but also the end of the whole plant, for there is nothing unfold in us also, and all the beauty of His life will be seen. We will talk more about this next week.

"Consistency" The Present Truth 14, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

Speaking to an assembly of Christian workers, Mr. Moody said:-

Nothing will straighten a man out himself like trying to help others. If you smoking men take the unbelieving man who doesn't like the smell of tobacco, and you ask him to make an unconditional surrender, it would straighten out lots of you. When a man gets into that kind of work It Is going to make a different man of him at once. I believe your progressive cuchre would go to the four winds; you will get something better, and so we let go your cardplaying, dancing, and theatre.

Surely it is a sad reversal of the proper order of things when the professing Christian has to be "straightened out" by the unbeliever. It is this inconsistency, shown in so many ways, which weakens the testimony of the church. When one who claims to be born of the Spirit, to be redeemed from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit by the blood of the Son of God, is yet dependent for pleasure on the narcotising drugs with which the world blunts its sorrows, men will, of course, conclude that the attractions of Christianity cannot be very powerful.

There is not much hope, however, that the tobacco user will be found among the ranks of Christian workers. The devotees of the weed laud it for its soothing, rest-giving properties. Unfortunately these come into play not only when men are tired and have earned a rest, at which times they do not need the assistance of tobacco to dispose them to quietude; but when there is much to be done, and plenty of strength to do it, the natural energy which would prompt men to vigorous action can be completely dispelled by the "soothing" influence of a pipe. The idleness which is repellent to the normal man is promoted and rendered agreeable by this means; the mental keenness which would not tolerate inaction is obscured by the sedative effects of the drug, and lives which should have been a blessing to the world result in smoke.

A professor of Christianity is affected by tobacco just as other men are. The evils of nicotine-poisoning are as marked in his case as in others, and even more so. He is expected to watch and pray always, and to gird up the loins of his mind, but he may be sure that indulgence in tobacco will effectually indispose him for anything of this kind, and carefully guard his mind against the excitement of an undue interest in the things that belong to his peace.

The assumed ability of coffee to replace food or to increase the power for work without corresponding tissue destruction is, according to Dr. Edward T. Reichert, entirely deceptive, and the conditions produced by it are comparable to those observed at times in the insane, in hysteria, or in fright, when the individual may be capable of performing prodigious feats of strength and endurance, but nevertheless at the direct expense of his tissues.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

-Birmingham has set on foot and Association for conducting open air concerts in courts and alleys.

-Coal is dearer in South Africa than in any other part of the world; it is cheapest in China.

-The Tartars have a quaint custom of taking a guest by the ear when inviting him to eat or drink with them.

-The town of Jerome, Arizona, was destroyed by fire on Sept. 12. Eleven persons are known to have lost their lives, and thirty are missing.

-A great fire is reported from British Columbia, the town of New Westminster having been almost entirely destroyed. Thousands of people are homeless.

-This year is the Jubilee of the Emperor of Austria, but owing to the assassination of the Empress, all the festivities, processions, and entertainments have been cancelled.

-The Universal Text Display Society is the name of a new religious organisation founded in Chicago, U.S.A., the object of the Society being to display in prominent places, forcible Scripture texts.

-It seems to be quite clear that the French are in possession of Fashoda, and that they have every intention of staying there. For months past there has been a regular despatch of troops to that point, by way of the Congo State.

-In New York, 210 deaths have been caused by the heat in five days. Works in Birmingham and the Black Country have been stopped on account of the heat. Iron workers could not stand before the puddling furnace is night or day.

-Amid violent speeches and great disorder the Spanish Senate has finally approved the Bill sanctioning the conclusion of peace on the basis of the Washington protocol. The different parties, military and civil, blame each other for the disastrous outcome of the war.

-Admiral Dewey considers the situation in the Philippines critical, and is anxiously awaiting reinforcements. Aguinaldo, who has 37,000 men armed with rifles, desires the absolute independence of the Philippines. He thinks that the Americans have accomplished their mission and should now withdraw.

-A proposal to annex Jamaica and the other British West Indian islands to Canada is being taken up seriously by the Press of the Dominion. It is generally held that the annexation of territory within the tropics would round off the resources of the Dominion, the one being the commercial complement of the other, while the completion of the Bermuda cable would solve the difficulty of administration.

-In spite of rumours to the contrary, the Kaiser seems to have made up his mind that disarmament is not the way to secure peace. Replying to a deputation in Westphalia, he said: "The development of German industry can only be assured by undisturbed progress under the protection of peace. Peace will never be better guaranteed than by a German army always ready to take the field. May God grant that it may be always possible to provide for peace with this sharp and well-preserved weapons; then the Westphalian and peasant may be able to sleep quietly."

-Professor Ramsay has reported the discovery of still another gas in the atmosphere, the fourth whose existence has been brought to light by the spectrum of liquefied air. It is to be called "xenon."

-Li Hung Chang has been ordered by Imperial edict to retire into private life. This is counted a success for England, and a rebuff to Russia, whose interests are assiduously served by the degraded statesman.

-Within three days three different attempts have been made to wreck trains on the Midland Railway, by fastening a timber and crowbars to the rails. Fortunately all were discovered before any damage was done.

-The United States Legation at Constantinople, replying to the last note from the Porte, on the subject of claims for losses sustained during the Armenian massacres, declines to acccept the Turkish Government's repudiation of responsibility.

-A Commission has been appointed by President McKinley to investigate the charges of inefficiency and effective organisation brought by officers of the army against the Secretary for War, but as the Commission is largely composed of friends of the officials attacked, little is expected from the inquiry.

-A British tourist, Dr. Samuel Thomas, has discovered in a hitherto unexplored part of the Grison Alps, between the Bruggerhorn and the Wolfsobden, a small lake of blood-red water. The unusual tint is due to the presence of millions of vegetable infusoria. The altitude of the lake is 6,660 ft. above sea level.

-A strange sight was seen in the Soudanese camp the day after the victory. Some thousands of the Dervish prisoners were sitting in rows on the ground waiting their turn to be examined by the doctors as to their fitness to serve in the Egyptian Army. About forty per cent. were found sound, and immediately enlisted.

-The recent census of the Russian Empire contained an enumeration of the newspapers and magazines, showing that in a total population of over 129,000,000 there are only 743 publications. Of these, 589 are in Russian, 69 in Polish, 44 in German, 9 in French, 5 in Armenian, and 2 in Hebrew, while different dialects take up the remaining few.

-A rare and beautiful display of the Aurora Borealis was visible in England on the 9th, between eight and eleven o'clock. It took the form of ten or twelve straight, slender beams of light rising vertically in parallel, almost meeting near the zenith. They were seen chiefly over the great Bear, and were succeeded by a distinct narrow band of white light stretched in the form of an arch.

-The Lyddite shells which were used in the bombardment of Omdurman prove terribly destructive. They explode with inaction so violent as to destroy objects more thoroughly for a larger area round than any other explosive known, weight for weight. Within four hundred yards so violent were the vibrations produced by the explosion of a large shell that masses of masonry were reduced to dust.

-During the thirty-two days prior to Sept. 12, the total rainfall in London has been only three-tenths of an inch, or about one-eighth of the average. This drought has had serious consequences, apart from the limitation of the water supply in the East-end. Within a radius of fifty miles, all the pastures, fields, and meadow lands are parched and baked, and there is no vegetation for the cattle and sheep in the fields. In consequence the milk supply has suffered, both in quality and quantity.

"God's Care" The Present Truth 14, 38.

E. J. Waggoner

"Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." 1 Peter v. 7.

For whom does He cares?-"The Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works." Ps. cxlv. 9.

And yet there are many people who are utterly unconscious of the Lord's care for them. They have the idea that God gives them no thought, except when some trouble comes, and than they charge Him with having sent it. Is this fair and honest? Let us see.

Those who have that idea, and their name is legion, seem to take it as a matter of course that they live. They act as though their life depended wholly on themselves, whereas it is in God that "we live, and move, and have our being," for "He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." Acts xvii. 25, 28.

This care of God for mankind is constant. Not a single moment does He relax His watchfulness. Representing His people (and He claims all the world as His own) as a vineyard, the Lord says: "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Isa. xxvii. 3. "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not slumber." Ps. cxxi. 3.

Because God does not sleep, we can sleep in peace, and wake again. Think what a terrible condition we should be in, if we had to attend to supplying ourselves with breath. We would not dare do anything else, lest at some time we should forget to breathe. We should never dare go to sleep, for if we did, we should never wake up. But we couldn't live long without sleep, and the little time we might live would be useless to us, since it would all have to be spent trying to breathe; so we see we could have no existence whatever if God did not care for us sufficiently to give us breath every moment.

The best rendering of Job xxxiv. 14, 15, is this: "If He set His heart upon Himself," that is, "if He thought only of Himself," "if He gathered to Himself His Spirit, and His breath; all flesh would perish together, and man would turn again to dust." Because God does not live for Himself alone, but solely for the welfare of His creatures, we are kept in life.

God continues His mercies to us moment by moment year after year, although they for the most part are unrecognised. It is only on the occasion of some remarkable deliverance that even most professed Christians take any notice of God's care. But we should remember that His care is manifested none the less in keeping us from accident, so that our lives run smoothly, than in saving us from some visible danger.

Remember also that all this care is bestowed upon those who are in rebellion against Him. He gives breath to the man who blasphemes His name, just as freely as to the one who offers praise. All have sinned, and brought death upon themselves, for death comes by sin; yet we live notwithstanding the fact that death has passed upon us. Why is this?-It is because God cares for us, and is not willing that any should perish. By the constant interposition of His own life, He is warding death off from us.

Why should the Lord do this?-Ah, can you not see that it is because He desires all men to live eternally. If it were His will that any should perish, He would not take the trouble to keep any in life. If God did not care for us, He would let us drop at once into everlasting destruction. The very fact that He gives us life, is the promise of everlasting life. It is commonly said that "while there's life there's hope;" but it may truly be said that life itself is hope; for we live only by the life which the Holy Spirit gives us, and if we recognise that life as coming from Him, it will be in us "a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

We see that the Lord has all the care of us. The burden, all our burden, is on Him. He bears us and our sins. The question is, will we allow Him to bear it, and do as He wishes with it, because He bears it, or will we persist in bearing it ourselves until He takes us at our word and allows us to assume the burden wholly, and sink into perdition? If we allow Him to have His way, and acknowledge that His way is perfect, He will bury the sin in the depths of the sea, and will make all our burdens as light as His own, which is easy. Will you yield to the Lord, and acknowledge Him in all your ways?

"Come, cast your burdens on the Lord,
And trust His constant care."

The story is told of a labourer who was being drawn up alone in a bucket from the bottom of a well which he was engaged in digging. As he neared the top, some of his companions at the mouth of the well amused themselves by throwing pebbles and small bits of earth down upon him. This made him very angry, and after vainly telling them to desist, he in his rage uttered the serious threat, "If you don't leave off, I'll cut the rope!"

This may or may not be true, but at any rate it finds its counterpart in thousands of people whom God is trying to draw out of the pit of destruction. They make a start in the Christian life, but soon some professed Christian does something, doubtless wholly unintentionally, that offends them. "Well, if he is going to act that way, I shall not be n Christian any longer," is what many a poor soul says in effect. That is to say, If somebody else doesn't do just right, I'll cut the rope, and let myself drop to the bottom! Is there any render of these lines who has ever acted so foolishly? Isn't it foolish? You would think that no one could ever seriously say so absurd a thing as is told of the man in the bucket, yet many are actually doing it: deliberately going to destruction because somebody else has done a thing which they think is wrong. If you have ever done be foolish a thing, don't do it again.

Enormous destruction has been caused in the West Indies by a strong cyclone lasting ten hours. None of the Islands have escaped. Immense landslips and tidal waves have increased the desolation. Many hundreds have been killed, and the majority of the people have been rendered homeless. The storm has been one of the most destructive ever known in the history of the Islands.

September 29, 1898

"The Morning Dawns" The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night." Isa. lxii. 6.

"Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." Isa. lii. 9.

"Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night; it ye will enquire, enquire ye; return, come." Isa. xxi. 11, 12.

God's watchmen are all the followers of Jesus, and not simply a few men called prophets or preachers. Every one, no matter what his station in life, who regards the words of Jesus, is a watchman, for the Lord Jesus said: "The Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every wan his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye, therefore; ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch!" Mark xiii. 34-37. It is obvious from this that every one who follows Jesus is a watchman.

What is their cry? "It is high time for you to wake out of sleep, for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far spent, and 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. 11, 12. "The morning cometh and also the night."

From the texts already quoted, it is evident that the morning for which God's people are watching is the coming of the

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Lord. When Jesus came, the people which sat in darkness saw great light." "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men; and the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not." John i. 4, 5. All the time that sin reigns on this earth, from the fall of Adam till "the times of restoration of all things," at the coming of the Lord, is night, because sin is darkness. The light of Christ's life is the only light that pierces the gloom of this night.

But Jesus is the Word, and so the word which His Spirit inspires, being His own life, is the light that shines in this darkness. It is our guide, So the Apostle Peter, speaking of "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," of which he was an eyewitness on the mount of transfiguration, wrote: "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." 2 Peter i. 19.

Jesus is "the bright and morning Star." Just before the coming of the Lord His Word is to he proclaimed, and His life to be manifested, to an extent and with a power never before known. This will be the shining of the Day-star, which will usher in the perfect day, when "the Sun of Righteousness" will shine over all the land, and "the earth shall be covered with the knowledge of the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea." Christ cannot come until the power and love of God have been demonstrated in the lives of His followers to the same degree as in His own life. God will show by means of the church,-that is, all true believers in Jesus,-His power to work perfect righteousness in sinful mortals, thus accomplishing a work even greater than that which Satan set himself to overthrow.

"The morning cometh, and also the night." Light rejected means darkness. For those who, when light comes to them see no light in it, there remains nothing but deeper night. Man's attitude to God's Word of light determines whether or not the morning, which necessarily comes with the bright shining; of that Word in its perfection in human lives, will be morning for them. They who come to the light, find the morning; they who reject God's Word, have no morning. "To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to the Word, surely there is no morning for them." Isa. viii. 20.

"For Zion's sake will I not bold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." Isa. lxii. 1. The perfect day that is to dawn on the whole earth, and never cease, when the Lord comes, will not be simply the shining of the glory of the Lord in the heavens, but the shining forth of His glory in the lives of His people. They that "be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Therefore "arise and shine for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."

"Notes on the Sunday-School Lessons. Jehoshaphat's Good Reign. 2 Chronicles xvii. 1-10" The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

OCTOBER 9

Jehoshaphat came to the throne of Judah at the age of thirty-five, at which time Ahab bad been king of Israel three years. The reign of Jehoshaphat, like that of his father Asa, was a prosperous one, but while, like his father, Jehoshaphat acknowledged that the Lord was the strength of His people, he also followed the policy of Asa in increasing the number of his fighting men. Although the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about .Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat, this did not seem to be considered sufficient, and so we find the armies of Judah reaching the enormous total of one million, one hundred and sixty thousand, without counting the garrisons which the king put in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.

"NOT BY MIGHT"

It had been necessary to teach Asa that the national safety did not depend upon its armed hosts, and there were events in Jehoshaphat's life which showed that, with all his piety and steadfastness, he needed to learn the same lesson. The possession of so large an army made him a desirable ally, and Ahab sought his assistance against the king of Syria. Ahab and Jezebel would know how to entrap the unworldly Jehoshaphat, if he should cease to seek the Lord humbly for wisdom and guidance, and they seem to have taken special pains to gain his goodwill. "And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that he had with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth-gilead." Jehoshaphat knew that Ahab was a wicked king, who had almost extinguished the worship of the true God, by favouring the idolaters and persecuting the servants of Jehovah, yet his answer to Ahab was, "I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war." The alliance between the two was strengthened by the marriage of Ahab's daughter to the eldest son of Jehoshaphat, a union which bore evil fruit.

DEPARTING FROM GOD

Micaiah, a true prophet, gave a faithful warning as to the disastrous results that would follow the projected campaign, but the first steps had been taken in departing from the Lord, and it seemed easier to go forward than back. Jehoshaphat perhaps comforted himself with the thought that, supported by so large an army, he could not run much risk, but he had forfeited the protection of the Lord, and nothing else could avail him. His new ally dexterously arranged, as he supposed, to divert all danger from himself to Jehoshaphat, and therein demonstrated at once to the latter how poor an exchange he had made in forsaking the Lord for such a friend. The principal onslaught of the Syrians was made upon Jehoshaphat, and his life was in peril till he "cried out, and the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him."

TURNING TO THE LORD

As Jehoshaphat returned to his home in Jerusalem a sadder, and perhaps a wiser man, a prophet was sent to meet him with the rebuke, "Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord." The vain-confidence which had prepared the way for the disaster was not confined to Jehoshaphat, for all the cities of Judah were permeated with the military spirit. It was therefore necessary

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that all should learn how cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." The report came that a great multitude of the Moabites and Ammonites were gathered to battle against Judah. "And 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."

THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOMETH

Victory was certain then. Even with a large army, if that were all, success would have been extremely uncertain, but the turning to the Lord in faith was the overcoming. "The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord." Prov. xxi. 31. So the message was sent to praying Judah. "The battle is not yours but God's." They had turned the matter over to Him, and He took it up promptly and gladly. To every soul before whom is the battle of life, against sin, God sends the message of comfort, "that the warfare is accomplished." Victory is achieved, and faith may take it from first to last. "Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you." The enemies of Judah were totally destroyed, "and the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about."

ENTERING INTO REST

It was not the fault of the Lord that His people did not have rest all the time. Jehoshaphat had it at the beginning of his reign, and the only thing that disturbed the rest was the army he raised to secure it. God had been always proclaiming rest, and to this day the rest remaineth for the people of God; rest, because the works are finished from the foundation of the world, peace, because the warfare is accomplished. Israel failed to enter in because of unbelief, and that is the only barrier between us and God's perfect rest. "Let its labour therefore to enter into that rest."

EXALTING THE NATION

Because Jehoshaphat did not learn perfectly every lesson given him, he was not therefore rejected. God blessed him to the fullest extent possible, and established the kingdom in his hand. Jehoshaphat provided for the more thorough teaching of the Word of God throughout his dominions by sending forth men of the tribe of Levi, who "went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people." They had with them the book of the law of the Lord. In this work and in the prosperity that followed in its train, it was made manifest that "righteousness exalteth a nation." They realised the truth of the words spoken by Moses. "This is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." As the Word of the Lord was diligently taught throughout the land, the fear of the Lord was made known to the surrounding peoples, and the Philistines and the Arabians were numbered among those who brought presents and tribute to Jehoshaphat.

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

THE SEED QUICKENED

John xii. 24, 25: "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. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."

1 Cor. xv. 36-38: "That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; and that which thou sowest not the body that: shall be, but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other kind; but God giveth it a body, even as it pleased Him, and to such seed a body of its own."

Gal. iii. 16: "To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ."

Gal. iii. 27, 29: "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the premise."

1 John iv. 17: "As He is, so are we in this world."

Matt. xxvii. 42: "He saved others; Himself He cannot save."

Phil. ii. 5-9: "Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, counted It not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name."

Heb. x. 5: "When He cometh into the world, He saith, sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me."

Eph. v. 30: "We are members of His body."

Rom. viii. 8-13: "They that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."

Phil. iii. 8-10: "For, verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord; . . . that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death."

Rom. vi. 5: "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection."

Phil. iii. 20, 21: "For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it way be conformed to the body of His glory according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself."

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All our knowledge comes from the Word. The statements that follow are not comments, but simply repetitions of what is set forth in the preceding texts. They are for the purpose og calling closer attention to the texts themselves. Let each reader ponder these texts until they are indelibly printed in his mind and on his heart. They should be as familiar to us as our own names. Then can we sea not only the truths that follow, but much more that cannot be put into words.

The kingdom of God is like seed cast into the earth. Mark iv. 26-29. We are God's husbandry, or tillage. 1 Cor. iii. 9. The growth of a seed from the time that it is sown until the harvest, is a visible and constantly recurring manifestation of the truth of the Gospel as it affects men.

That which was placed in the earth in the beginning, to cause it to bring forth grass, herbs, find trees, was the Word of the Lord. The Lord, therefore, is the real seed, the life of all visible seeds. Christ is the Word, and He is the Seed.

If all men would remember one of the first and plainest truths concerning plant life, it would be their salvation. That truth is that the seed must die in order to live and multiply. No one ever gets back the seed which he sows, yet this fact does not cause the farmer to keep the seed, and not sow it. He who would keep the little quantity of grain that he may have, gets nothing from it; but if he casts it into the ground, seemingly throwing it away, he gets much more. So the man who lives for himself, loses his life, while he who lives for others, giving his life for them, gets more abundant life. Even Christ pleased not Himself, yet He has the most perfect Satisfaction, and fulness of joy.

In coming to earth Christ "emptied Himself." The word in Phil. ii. 7, rendered "made of no reputation," and "emptied" in the Revision, is the same that is rendered "made void," in Rom. iv. 11 and 1 Cor. ix. 15, and "of none effect" in 1 Cor. i. 17. Thus we can see that Christ not only gave up everything that He had in heaven, in coming to this world, but He most literally gave up Himself. God prepared Him a body, and made Him a perfect Man.

"He saved others; Himself He cannot save." This intended taunt flung in the face of Jesus as He hung on the cross, was really His glory as the Saviour of men. Only by giving Himself, taking absolutely no thought for Himself, could He save others. He gave up His life, not simply when He was on the cross on Calvary, but constantly. His whole life was in giving of His life for others. But in giving away His life, throwing it away, as it must have seemed to many, when He chose death rather than being made king, He not only gained it, but saved the lives of millions more. Any man who is thoroughly devoted to the salvation of others, thinking not once of himself, not even of his own salvation, will be made salvation to others, and will thereby have his own salvation assured; for only the presence of God with a man can work this perfect unselfishness which saves others, and that presence is the man's own salvation. While we are looking out for others, God Himself is looking out for us.

God prepared Jesus a body, by the same power by which He prepares a body for every seed that is sown. And by the same power, He makes us members of Christ's body. Just as the Spirit of God completely filled Jesus, so that His body was only the instrument through which the Holy Spirit manifested Himself, even so it will be with all who give up their own lives for the sake of the Lord Jesus. God will prepare them a body fit for His own dwelling place. The body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 1 Cor. vi. 13. He will use the brain to think through, the vocal organs to speak through, and the hands and feet to act through. It will be God manifest in the flesh, for Jesus came to this world for no other purpose than to show us the possibility of this being the case with every man. The life of the seed that is sown, as well as of the plant that grows, is the life of God alone. That life manifests itself through the form which we see, as a constant object lesson to us. If we are willingly as passive in the hands of God as the grain is involuntarily, His life will work in us the same as in Jesus of Nazareth.

This in "the power of the resurrection." The resurrection of Jesus simply declared Him to be the Son of God with power. Rom. i. 1-4. He was the Son of God all His life, but the resurrection from the dead made it apparent to all; for that showed that the power by which he had lived a righteous life was the power that brings life from the dead. The very same power wits manifested in His resurrection that was manifested in all His life.

The belief in the resurrection of the dead is nothing else than the belief in God's perfect righteousness manifested in human flesh. Jesus was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." 1 Peter iii. 18. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." This is a thing done not merely at the resurrection of the last day, but every day. For note what the consequence is of this quickening of our mortal bodies: "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh."

Jesus said, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I Shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." John iv. 14, The water that He gives is the Holy Spirit. John vii. 37-39. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth." John vi. 63. When we come to the Lord, to receive wholly of His life, to live by Him, our bodies are prepared for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit quickens the body, so that instead of being dead in sin, it is alive unto righteousness. Our members then become instruments of righteousness. The life of Christ manifest in mortal flesh gives not simply victory over sin, but over disease as well. "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. It is this same life dwelling in us that, by the same power that it has over the flesh, quickens our mortal bodies into immortality at the coming of the Lord. The power that now works in believers is the power of the resurrection. Christ in us is the hope of glory.

The life of Christ in the flesh is of course the perfect example of the quickening power of the Spirit. But God has provided that we may have it continually before us. Every seed that sprouts, of whatever kind, is an illustration of the power of the life of the Spirit to triumph over difficulties. Here is a seed enclosed in a shell that is so hard that a vigorous

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blow with a hammer will not suffice to break it. The shell is hard and dead. Is it possible that any life can come from that? Wait and see. Silently, without observation, the Word of life within operates, the dead, hard shell gives way before it, and the new life manifests itself. Even so, "the kingdom of God is within you." It "cometh not with observation" but its power is infinite. If we will but acknowledge that the kingdom is the Lord's, and allow Him His own rightful place in His own kingdom, we shall "be conformed to the image of His Son," and though our outward man perish, yet the inward man will be renewed day by day, in righteousness and true holiness.

"Contempt for the Word" The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

The value set by Roman Catholics upon the Word of God appears very clearly in the last number of the Catholic Times. Writing of the overwhelming defeat of the Khalifa's army at the Battle of Omdurman, the paper says:-

How was it, we may ask, that the sons of the desert, who must have seen that they were fighting for a hopeless cause, threw away their lives so proudly and seemed positively to court death? Well, many men have been known to prefer death to a fate that was even worse. And there was a worse state than death in store for the Dervish warriors. The Rev. R. H. Weakley, so we learn from one of our contemporaries, had in store for the 2,000 prisoners of war, after the Battle of Athara, a consignment of Scripture in the vernacular. Luckily, when he came to look for the recipients of his Scriptures, he found that no Baggara had been taken prisoners. They had neither given nor taken quarter.

The writer may have intended this as a pleasantry, for the amusement of his readers, but whatever the object, the extract is interesting in showing how small a degree of respect is accorded by Rome to the Scriptures. There is no surer evidence of apostasy from God than a contempt for His own living Word.

"Signs of the Times" The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

From every side come reports of disaster by sea and land. Not only in the political but in the natural world also, there is increasing commotion and unrest. Terrible catastrophes which, a few years ago, would have furnished talk for many days are now quickly forgotten, because followed so quickly by equally serious calamities. Destructive cyclones, volcanic eruptions, deadly plagues, water and food famines, ruinous strikes, insurrections, massacres and wars, are continually brought before our notice in the daily papers. In the numerous disasters which are now occupying so large a place in earth's history, crowding ever closer upon each other, God is warning all men of the danger they run in rejecting His care and protection. We see "upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:" because God, who is man's life and the only shield between him and the malice of Satan, is rejected. Men seek to avoid Him, thinking to find freedom from restraint in forgetting God; but it is life eternal to know Him, and everlasting destruction to be separated from His presence. To the extent that men turn from God they choose death, and if they persist in their choice, they will finally get it.

God would be a protection to all men, from every danger, if they would only be content to dwell with Him. His presence would give them rest and safety. "Because thou hast made the Lord . . . thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Whoever dwells in God has "a peaceable habitation, a sure dwelling-place, a quiet resting place." "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday." "It shall not come nigh thee." Ps. xci. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." Ps. xlvi. 1-3.

Earth's history is soon to close amid scenes of woe and desolation, such as

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never have been since there was a nation. The plagues of the wrath of God will be poured upon the impenitent, and mighty earthquakes and mighty hail will complete the work of destruction. Rev. xvi. Every one may, if he will, flee from the wrath to come, and find refuge in the Lord. As the blood of the Lamb, sprinkled on the doorposts, saved Israel in Egypt from the visit of the destroying angel, so "now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." To all who are thus reconciled to God, He will say, "Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity." Isa. xxvi. 20, 21.

God is permitting evils to come upon the world now in order that men may be impressed with their need of a refuge, lest the last great storm burst suddenly and find them unprepared. Some will turn at His reproof, and to such He says, "Behold, I will pour out My Spirit unto you, I will make known My words unto you." "Whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." But those who despise the reproof and will have none of His counsel, He leaves to eat of the fruit of their own way. To them He says, "When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you; then shall they call upon Me but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me; for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord." Prov. i. 27-29.

"Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near." Isa. lv. 6.

"The Children. 'After Its Kind'" The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

"So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground." Let us think for a little while of some more of the lessons of the kingdom that the seed teaches us.

Do you get any flowers in your garden just by wishing they were there? No, you must put in the seed before anything will grow. And then you do not sow any kind of seed that you can get hold of, and expect to get from it the particular flowers that you want. You must sow the right kind of seed, the seed of just the flowers that you want, just where you want them, for everything is sure to spring up "after its kind."

If you should very much want some roses, and should sow poppy seeds, would you get any roses? Oh, no; all your wishes could never make roses grow from weeds, nor from anything hut rose trees. You cannot gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles."

And just so, nothing will grow in your hearts, either good or bad, without seed. Just as you can have in your garden the flowers that you want by putting in the right seed, so you can have your lives just what you wish them to be by having the right kind of seed sown in your hearts. If you want, and I am sure you do, to have the gentleness and kindness of Christ blossom and bring forth fruit in your lives, you must have the good seed of the Word of God sown in your hearts.

When God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass," in that Word He was putting into the ground the seed of all the grass and flowers that have ever sprung up. When He said, "Let the earth bring forth . . . the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind," that was the seed of all the fruit that there has ever been in the earth.

He has made you from the dust of the ground, and you are His garden where He plants the seed of His Word, that you may bring forth just what He wishes. When He says to you, "Little children, love one another," He is sowing in your hearts the seed of love, from which all loving words and actions will spring forth like sweetest blossoms. And then Jesus says to you, "Be ye kind one to another," and that is the seed of kindness that He puts into you. He says also, "Children, obey your parents," and this Word of God is the seed of obedience that He sows in your hearts.

When you sow seed in the earth you do not have to try to make it grow; neither does the earth try to bring it forth, but it springs up of itself because the life of God is in it. Jesus says, "The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life." Listen, then, to the precious words of Jesus, and so receive them into your hearts as the earth receives the seed, and you will not have to try to love one another, to be kind and obedient and gentle, but these graces of the Spirit of Jesus will spring forth in your lives as naturally as the flowers spring from the seed that you sow in the ground.

But there is something we have not yet spoken of that must be done before the seed is sown. You know that the ground must be dug up and watered and made soft and ready to receive the seed. If it should only lie on the top of the hard ground, or he put just below the surface, it would he lost. In the Parable of the Sower, which you may read in the fourth chapter of Mark, Jesus shows how important it is that the ground should be prepared to receive the good seed. It must sink deep into the soft ground, and then it will spring up and bring forth fruit.

So your hearts, which are the garden of the Lord, must be prepared by Him for the seed of the Word which He sows in them. If you ask Him, His Holy Spirit will work in you, and make your heart soft and tender and ready for the good seed. Do you remember what David said about this good seed? "Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee." Just as the seed is buried in the soil, so must the Word be hidden in our hearts and kept there. Then we shall be among those of whom Jesus says, "These are they which, having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit unto perfection." "Whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

-Only one European was killed by the great cyclone in the West Indies.

-It is a breach of etiquette for a Chinaman to wear spectacles and company.

-From the beginning of 1898 to the present time the rainfall in London and vicinity is 40 per cent. below the average.

-In Paris, 50,000 navvies, who are engaged on the work of the forthcoming Exhibition, have struck for an increase of pay.

-There has been a very heavy crop of plums in Kent. Sandwich alone despatched eighty-five tons to London markets in one day.

-There have been great floods in Spain, the olive crop being destroyed in whole provinces. Eighty dead bodies were found in one village.

-A fund has been opened for sending relief to the West Indies, which is receiving liberal support. A first installment of ?5,000 has already been sent.

-The Mussulman population in Candia is handing in its weapons to the British Admiral, and the ringleaders in the recent riots have been arrested.

-A plague of caterpillars is reported from several districts, thought to be due to the dry weather. Near Hove 700 acres of cauliflowers were destroyed by the pass in one day.

-The drought is causing serious inconvenience to villages in Northamptonshire, most of which are dependent upon surface springs. A number of isolated villages are without any water whatever, and farmers are reducing their lives stock in consequence.

-There are at present eleven distilleries at work in England, 143 in Scotland and 28 in Ireland, and these consume 1,303,561 quarters of malt, 1,396,446 quarters of unmalted grain, 733,333 cwts. of molasses, 6,876 cwts. of rice, and 9,579 cwts. of sugar. What an immense gain it would be if these enormous quantities of food were not diverted from their proper use. And this only takes account of spirits, not of beer.

-The eruption of Vesuvius is becoming more active and the streams of molten lava are flowing in every direction. Seven new craters have formed around the central crater without, however, in any way diminishing the activity of the latter. The volcano is throwing out stones and scorine similar to those ejected in the great eruption of April 1872, when the lava streams covered an area of two square miles, averaging 13ft, in depth, and the damage to property exceeded 3,000,000f.

-It is reported that the European Governments have agreed to hold an international conference in October with a view to taking measures for the prevention of Anarchist crimes. The conference will discuss the best methods of putting down Anarchist propaganda in barracks and workshops. It is thought, however, that the conference will prove abortive owing to the fact that England and Switzerland are determined to maintain the right of asylum, and are opposed to international measures against Anarchism.

-Two new kinds of safety matches have been patented, and are about to be placed on the market. Neither contain any trace of the fatal yellow phosphorus, but the matches strike on any ordinary service.

-The P. and O. steamer China, which went ashore at Perim on March 25, has just been refloated, at enormous cost. This is the most important salvage operation that is taken place for many years.

-Within the last eighteen months over 200 lynchings have taken place in the United States. In several instances no offence is alleged against the victims. One or two women were murdered by the mob, and one child of eight.

-The price of wheat is still on the downward grade, and now stands at 25s. 7d. per quarter of 480lb., as against 48s. 1d. on May 21. There has thus been a reduction of 22s. 6d. per quarter since the highest price during the war scare. Bread, however, shows no such reduction.

-A comparative estimate has been prepared, of the total American loss sustained during the late war. The actual fighting resulted in 279 killed and 1,423 wounded, while sickness and disease, caused by lack of proper care, food and medical attention, were responsible for 2,086 deaths and some 40,000 cases of illness.

-In 1896 the rate of killed out of 980,000,000, persons travelled by rail was one in 196,000,000, in 1897 the ratio rose to one in 57,000,000. The total number of passengers who travelled by ordinary ticket was over a thousand million, in addition to which number must be added a million and a quarter of season ticket-holders.

-An Imperial edict has been published in China extending the operations of the Post Office throughout the empire. Frequent edicts are being issued by the Emperor, decreeing reforms and cutting down expenditure. These are meeting with approval in some quarters, but they tend to excite irritation in the official classes.

-Kangaroo tails to the number of 1,000 have arrived in London for disposal in Leadenhall market. This is the second consignment to reach England, and is the largest. The first came to hand just a year ago, and was eagerly snapped up by the public, and discovered that "kangaroos soup" was rich, highly nutritious, and possessed a fine "herby" flavour.

-Two deaths at Surbiton have taken place through meat poisoning. From the medical evidence given at the inquest it would appear that fresh meat may be affected by the deadly ptomaines generated in tainted meat. The deceased persons ate some lamb which had been in the same pantry with some decaying ox tongue. The analyst was firmly of the opinion that the lamb had become contaminated through being put in the larder with the tongue, and it was highly probable that the contagion was conveyed from one to the other by flies.

-At the Vegetarian Congress held in London last week, an address was given by the leader of a Russian sect, which abstains from religious motives from taking the life of any animal, and for the same reason, its members refuse to participate in the murder of man by joining the military service, even when the refusal entails suffering and death. The speaker said that "during the last three years more than a thousand human beings have thus given up their lives. At the present moment, when so much is being said about disarmament and the avoidance of bloodshed it is instructive to note that a whole community of men, women and children who are refusing to participate in preparation for murder-are for that very reason being systematically and cold-bloodedly martyred, by the very same power which for its fine words of peace and goodwill is being so enthusiastically extolled."

"'Modern War'" The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

Detailed reports of the battle of Omdurman are beginning to come in, and gruesome reading they are indeed. As one correspondent says, "It was not a battle but an execution," an execution in which more than ten thousand men were slaughtered in less than four hours.

The Chronicle's correspondent mentions a map of the field, showing the dead, which the commander have allowed him to see, on which the net total of Dervishes slain was placed at 10,824, and says:-

Remember that the battle cannot be said to have lasted more than four hours in all its phases, and there were intervals when scarcely a shot was fired, while little more than two-thirds of our force, or say 15,000 men, were actively engaged at any time. And the revised estimate of the number of the Dervishes in sight accords with the original estimate formed both by the Sirdar and myself-35,000. Nothing like this slaughter is upon human record, I believe per hour and per mile. In my tale of the battle I spoke of the impossibility of any troops in the world living under similar fire, but I never dreamt of aught like this, and allowing for dips and concealment on the ground, probably not more than 15,000 of the enemy were visible at any one time from our lines after the first demonstration or after fighting began. Think of what this means-four out of six visible men swept away in about three hours' firing! I hope the map will be published, for no document of war exists which so well shows what modern war is.

The Daily Mail says editorially:-

The terrible punishment inflicted on the dervishes at Omdurman bears testimony to the deadliness of volley-firing under discipline. With magazine rifles and perfect fire discipline, the next European war will witness slaughter on an unprecedented scale. Victory will more than ever be on the side of the big battalions.

And what about the victors? Oh, they had, as the Telegraph correspondent puts it, only a "trifling loss of a few hundred men." From all this appears that modern war is the same thing in spirit that ancient war was,-contempt for human life. It differs from ancient warfare only in being more murderous, as modern weapons are more effective than those of old time.

A short paragraph from one of the best written reports shows the spirit of war as nothing else does that we have ever seen. It will be remembered that a small body of Lancers cut their way through a body of Dervishes outnumbering them ten to one, and all of them desperate fighters. Great slaughter was inflicted, and they suffered terrible loss in killed and wounded, yet, when they burst straggling out, their only thought was to rally and go in again. "Rally, No. 21" yelled a sergeant, so mangled across the face that his body was a cascade of blood, and nose and cheeks flapped hideously as he yelled. "Fall out sergeant, you're wounded," said the subaltern of his troop. "No, no, sir; fall in!" came the hoarse answer; and the man reeled in his saddle. "Fall in No. 2; fall in. Where are the devils? Show me the devils!" And No. 2 fell in-four whole men out of thirty.

They chafed and stamped and blasphemed to go through them again, though the colonel wisely forbade them to face the pit anew. There were gnashings of teeth and howls of speechless rage-things half theatrical, half brutal to tell of when blood has cooled, yet things to rejoice over, in that they show the fighting devil has not, after all, been civilised out of Britons.

No; and civilisation will never take it out. But what a thing to rejoice over,-that the demon of war is still dominant! Devils must certainly hold high carnival over it, but angels can but weep.

WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?

The days of the coming of the Son of man will be like those before the flood, when the earth was filled with violence. After reading the foregoing, one can form some idea of the awfulness of the time when all the deadly war engines that are being got in readiness all over the world are put in action by men who are "fierce."

These "little" wars are only skirmishes preparatory to the last conflict. The coming of the Lord will not arbitrarily cut short the strife. He will not come until the final choice has been made, and men have placed themselves under His banner of peace and love or else on the side of the prince of evil and destruction; and when men once fully reject the Prince of peace, and are wholly controlled by Satan, they would destroy one another from off the earth within that generation, even if the Lord should not come.

Now, when Satan is plotting destruction for men, as never before, is the time to proclaim as never before the Gospel of life, and to point men to Christ the Life, as the place of safety. Thank God there is perfect safety for all those who dwell in the secret place of God.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

Once more the scene is changed in China. Recent edicts, of an enlightened character, announcing important reforms, gave hope that the Emperor was alive to the needs of his country and people, and that there were brighter days in store for the benighted land which, by a strange misapplication of terms, has been named the Celestial Empire. Now the report comes that the forces of ignorance, superstition and established custom, have proved too strong. The Emperor has abdicated, whatever that may mean in China, his aunt, the Dowager Empress, has the reins of power, and the advisers of the late Emperor, who were guilty of counselling reforms, have had to flee for their lives. Li Hung Chang, who has just been disgraced, is expected to return to office, and the Powers of Europe are watching closely to see how the change of situation is going to affect their plans. The circumstances afford one more forceful illustration of the truth that, even given the best intentions and the highest rank, it is better to "put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help."

"Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God." Ps. cxlvi. 5.

"The Confessional" The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

The Confessional .-It is through the confessional that the Church of Rome holds the people. Not merely by the knowledge which the priests get of the secrets of the people, but by the very fact of the confessional; for if one is in trouble, or burdened by sin, there is always a desire to share it with some one else; and the Church of Rome makes capital out of this desire, for its own advancement. Now let all those who know the Lord proclaim aloud to every sin-burdened soul that he may cast his burden on the Lord, and freely confide in Him. He will not only share the burden,-He will take it all. He is much nearer than any priest can be, and is every moment near. Every hour we may make our confession to Him. And He has pity and compassion such as no man, even though he be the dearest relative, can feel. There is no fear that He will betray our secrets, for He Himself will forget our sins. "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in men." He will never fail; and the tender, loving sympathy that He has for the erring, and the perfect peace that He bestows, are beyond all description. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

"Christening War-ships" The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

Miss Leiter, who was recently selected to christen the new battleship Illinois, of the U.S. Navy, has received a request from the Woman's Christian Temperance Union that she should use water for christening the ship instead of the traditional bottle of wine.

The objection to the use of wine in such a connection seems a little strained, and it is difficult to see how the cause of temperance would be served even if the request of the W.C.T.U. were complied with. It would naturally be supposed that the more bottles of wine were empitied into the sea the better the Union would be pleased.

The very idea of christening a war-ship is an incongruous one, for christening, although an unscriptural ordinance, is a religious ceremony, and a most inappropriate one for a vessel of any kind, especially when the object of the ship is to destroy life. If such a vessel must be christened, surely it is fitting that its career should commence under the auspices of that which has proved itself to be a deadly enemy to the human race.

October 6, 1898

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Temple Repaired. 2 Chron. xxiv. 4-13" The Present Truth 14, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

OCTOBER 16

When Jehoshaphat died, Johoram, his son, reigned in his stead. He had been associated with his father on the throne for four years, and his reign extended over another four. As Jezebel had been a curse to the kingdom of Israel, so her daughter, Athaliah, the wife of Jehoram, was a curse to Judah. Under her influence Jehoram became like Ahab, "and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord." His first proceeding, after his father's death, was to slay all his brethren, "and divers also of the princes of Israel."

THE WAY OF TRANSGRESSION

This precautionary measure did not, however, strengthen his hold upon the kingdom. Nations which had given allegiance to his father now broke away. The Philistines and the Arabians, who had acknowledged that God was with Judah and had brought presents and tribute to Jehoshaphat, now turned against Jehoram as he departed from the Lord; "and they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives." Only the youngest son was left. Two years after the beginning of his sole reign, Jehoram was smitten with an incurable disease, and after another two years of horrible suffering, he died, and was buried without royal honours. He "departed without being desired."

AN EVIL TAINT

The youngest son of Jehoram was named Ahaziah. He was the only one who had been spared by the Arabians. At the age of forty-two he came to the throne, but only reigned one year. His life also was overshadowed by his mother's fatal influence, and to her he owed its early termination, for while visiting his relative the king of Israel, Jehu slew him in obedience to the command of the Lord to utterly destroy the seed of Ahab and Jezebel.

ANOTHER JEZEBEL

As soon as Athaliah learned that her only son was dead, she slew ill his sons and took the kingdom herself. One, however, of Ahaziah's children, the newborn Joash, was concealed by his aunt, the wife of Jehoiada the priest. Under their care he was preserved for six years, and at the end of that time Jehoiada was able to organise a movement which set Joash on the throne and slew Athaliah. "And all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city was quiet, after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword."

SOWING AND REAPING

The influence of this one wicked woman had been powerful for evil. Had Judah been faithful to God, the people might have withstood Athaliah's attempt to introduce and establish the worship of Baal, but, the spirit which viewed with indifference a union between the servant of God and a worshipper of idols, was well adapted to foster and strengthen a false religion, which appealed to desires for sensual indulgence, and gave its devotees unbridled license to follow the dictates of their corrupted hearts.

NOTHING SMALL

It does not do to think lightly of sin. The fault for which we excuse ourselves may be a slight one, but it is a seed which can develop to undreamed-of proportions. To Jehoshaphat it may have seemed unlikely that any harm would come of his permitting a friendship between his son and the youthful daughter of Ahab. Doubtless Jehoram, which means Jehovah is high, had been carefully trained by his pious father, and instructed in the knowledge of the true God, and Jehoshaphat could not think that these defensive barriers would fail to protect his son against Athaliah's tendencies towards idolatry. Yet within two years from his own death, the temple of God had been broken up to furnish material for the house of Baal, all the things dedicated to God's service had been bestowed upon Baalim, and Jehoram, the son of a godly father, had slain his own brethren and his father's friends: "moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah thereto." His career is a solemn warning to parents to make the compromise with sin, in their dealings with their children, and to guard them as long as possible from all willing contact with evil, however fascinating and comparatively harmless it may now appear to be.

RESTORING THE TEMPLE

In the days of Joash, in consequence of the depredations committed by Athaliah, the temple was in great need of restoration, and the king was minded to repair it. He accordingly instructed the priests and the Levites to go out into the cities of Judah and gather money from the people for this purpose. The temple had been an asylum for Joash during the first six years of his life, while bidden from Athaliah, and he desired to see it rescued from its dilapidated condition. He commanded that the business should receive immediate attention, and that the work of repair should be hastened forward. After some years, however, it was found that the work was not making much progress and the king sent for his uncle, Jehoiada the priest, to inquire into the delay.

A CONTRIBUTION BOX

A new plan was then decided upon. "At the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the Lord." Then proclamation was made that all the people should come to the temple, and bring the offering that Moses had directed, for the service of the tabernacle. "And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest." When the box was filled, the priests opened it and counted the money, then replaced the chest. "Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance." With the funds collected in this way the builders were paid. "So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them."

HOW TO GIVE

The scriptural rule for giving is,-"he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity." "God loveth it cheerful giver." He does not value an offering that is given with reluctance, and counted a matter of hardship. "This have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that He regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with goodwill at your hands." Mal. ii. 13. Even though a man bestow all his goods to feed the poor, except love prompt the gift, it is a worthless, unprofitable offering. When the thought in giving

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is to attract attention to the generosity of the giver; and cause him to be well spoken of, God does not count the offering as made to Himself. Such a payment is neither offered nor accepted as a free gift. It is a business transaction. The donor desires to purchase so much of standing, influence and fame, and gives what he thinks will acquire the desired advantages. "They have their reward." There is nothing further for them.

"AS THE WORLD GIVETH"

It is rare to find a body now, professing to be the servants of God, which is content to rely upon the simplicity of giving. Bazaars and entertainments are needed to extract money from the pockets of those who are "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." 2 Tim. iii. 4, 5. Such efforts are not always successful in raising the desired funds, but when they are, it is not the love of God that has provided the means. An equivalent has been received by the purchasers of amusement. "They have their reward."

How much better is God's way. Every gift, given with simplicity and grateful acknowledgment to God, is another link to connect us with Him. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart he also." God knows how to acknowledge to every cheerful giver the receipt of his offering, and does it in a way that, in itself, is worth more than the gift. The charge of robbery is made by God against all who withhold from Him the tithes and offerings which are His due, but to all who render these cheerfully a glorious promise is given; "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Mal. iii. 8-13.

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

"ALL FLESH IS GRASS"

Gen. i. 11, 12: "And God said, Lot the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself, after his kind ; and God saw that it was good."

Mark iv. 26, 27: "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep end rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow tip, he knoweth not how."

Isa. xl. 6-8: "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 knoweth upon it; surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the Word of our God shall stand for ever."

John xv. 1, 3, 4, 5: "I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Husbandman, Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine; ye are the branches; He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing."

Isa. xxvii. 2, 3: "A vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day."

Ps. cxxi. 3, 4: "He that keepeth thee will not slumber, Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."

Matt. vi. 28-30: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, That oven Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

Hosea xiv. 5: "I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon."

Ps. xcii. 12, 13, 14: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing."

Isa. liii. 1, 2: "Who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground."

Isa. ix. 21, 22: "Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one n strong nation; I the Lord will hasten it in his time."

Isa. lxi. 1-3, 11: "The Spirit of the Lord God Is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; . . . To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give auto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to shine forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations."

Col. ii. 6, 7: "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him; rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."

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The statement that "all flesh is grass," is absolute and unqualified. It is true that in 1 Peter i. 24 we read that "all flesh is as grass;" but that does not in the least destroy the force of the statement in Isaiah. The Scriptures do not contradict themselves. All flesh is as grass, because all flesh is grass. We may contradict the statement, and say that we cannot see how we are grass, and that we do not think it means just that; but in so doing we shall never find out what it does mean, and shall deprive ourselves of all the comfort that there is in it.

There is comfort in the knowledge of the fact that all flesh is grass. The fortieth chapter of Isaiah, in which the statement occurs, is a message of comfort. The special message of comfort which God sends to His people, is that all flesh is grass. This is a part of the message that is sent to prepare n people for the coming of the Lord. The other part is, "The Word of our God shall stand for ever." We can never realise the full strength of the Word of God until we realise that we are but grass, as helpless as is the grass of the field; for as long as we imagine that we have any strength in ourselves, we cannot rest wholly on the strength of the Lord, on the Word that upholds all things; and to the extent that we depend on our own fancied strength, are we useless.

This message, "all flesh is grass, . . . but the Word of our God shall stand for ever," is only another statement of the message of Rev. xiv. 7: "Fear God, and give glory to Him, . . . and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." We give glory to God only when we acknowledge that He alone has the power, and that we are helpless; that in Him alone is life and righteousness; that in Him is everything, while in us is nothing. He is light, while we are in ourselves but darkness. When we hold fast this confession, and allow Him to work in us and to clothe us even as He does the grass of the field, men see our good works, and glorify Him, because, He does the works. Then we way be "filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." To have the perfect righteousness of God, by the faith of Jesus Christ, is aII that is needed to meet the Lord. So we see that the message which leads men to confess themselves to he as weak and worthless as the grass of the field, and God and His Word to be everlasting strength and righteousness, must be the preparatory message for the Lord's coming.

Note that in the Saviour's words in Matt. vi. 28-30 the lilies of the field are counted as grass. There are many different kinds of grass that grow out of the ground, so that we have a large range of objects in nature to study in order to find out what we are, and how God would deal with us. Corn, as well as everything else from which bread is made, is simply grass. Let this be remembered, for it has a practical hearing on our study of the life of faith.

Do not fail to note the fine recognition of the fact that all flesh is grass, in the words of the Saviour. After calling our attention to the lilies of the field, He says, "If God so clothe the grass of the field," etc. That which is ordinarily called simply grass, is grass of the field; men are a higher order of grass, destined for infinitely higher purposes, but grass nevertheless.

Not only are we grass, but we are designed to be trees,-trees of righteousness. Let the student recall the lesson on "The Fruit of the Light," told he will see some of the lessons to be learned from the fact that we are called "trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." If we constantly keep in mind the scriptures which tell us that we stand in close relationship with the grass of the field and the trees of the wood, and that the kingdom of God is like the seed that is cast into the earth, and grows to perfection, we shall be continually learning Gospel lessons; for we are seldom out of sight of something that is growing.

"The Vine and the Lily" The Present Truth 14, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

When we read that "all flesh is grass," we must not fail to couple with that statement the words of Christ, which show that the lilies of the field are included in the classification. Matt. vi. 28-30. The righteous are also often called trees. These things teach us that from everything that grows out of the ground we are to learn something concerning our life in Christ.

Jesus says, "I am the true Vine." This was a part of the last instruction that He gave to His disciples before He was crucified. He had told them that in eating the bread they were eating His body; the supper was over, and the closing hymn had been sung; and now they were on their way to the garden, or possibly were in the garden itself. A vine growing in the garden by the side of the path as they walked, would easily and naturally serve to give point to the Saviour's words. They had just drank of the fruit of the vine; here was one growing before their eyes, such as they had seen thousands of times. How many times we have seen the vine growing. What is it?-It is a vine, nothing more; its object is to bear fruit for the service of man; that is the end of the matter. Oh, no; that is only the beginning; that is not the real vine; it is only an object lesson. Jesus says, "I am the true Vine." These vines that we see growing are designed to teach us lessons of Christ and of Christian living. If we have seen them, and eaten of them, and have not learned these lessons, our seeing and eating have been in vain.

God's purpose for us is that we should bear fruit. Jesus says, "I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." John xv. 16. "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much

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fruit." Verse 8. We are to bear much fruit, and the fruit is not to be unsound, and wither, but is to remain. The nature of the fruit to be borne is described in Gal. v. 22, 23, thus: "Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." And these fruits are, like the fruit of all trees, to come from within, and not to be put on from the outside. "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." Phil. i. 11. The fruit, being in us, is to be brought forth, and thus will God be glorified. We see, therefore, that although the fruit is to come from within, as we are full of it, it is not the product of our own life, but of the Spirit of God, so that the praise and glory are all due to Him.

But how are we to bear these fruits of righteousness, since in us, that is, in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing? Ah, they are the fruits of the Spirit, whom the Lord has given to us, that He may abide with us for ever. John xiv. 16. The Spirit is the bond of union between me and Christ. The Holy Spirit is "the Spirit of adoption," showing us to be children of God, "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ." Rom. viii. 15-17. We need not question how the Spirit can dwell in us, for that does not concern us. All we have to do is to yield our assent; He who has the work to do will attend to it Himself. The mystery of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the unsolvable mystery of the self-existence of God, and of the incarnation of Christ. It is enough for us to know the fact.

Read again the words of the Saviour: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for severed from Me ye can do nothing." John xv. 5, 6, margin.

The branch bears fruit because it shares the life of the vine. There is no difference between the vine and its branches. They have one life. As is the vine, so are the branches. "If the root be holy, so are the branches." Rom. xi. 16.

The life of the vine is the sap. That is the blood of the vine or the tree. The same sap that nourishes the vine, goes out to the uttermost branch, so long as the branch remains a part of the vine. Jesus says, "As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." John vi. 57. He whom God has sent receives the Spirit without measure (John iii. 34), and "the Spirit is life because of righteousness." Rom. viii. 10. The life of Christ, therefore, is the Holy Spirit of God, and the life of those who live by Him is that same Holy Spirit. What the sap is to the vine and its branches, which we see, that the Holy Spirit is to Christ and those who are in Him.

Now let no one lose sight of the object of this study. It is not vain curiosity, and therefore we have not indulged in any speculations. We have held strictly to the text of Scripture. The lesson that we are to learn is the possibility and the reality of the Spirit's dwelling in us and producing in us the same fruits that manifested themselves in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. We are familiar with the fact that sap circulates through the vine and its branches, and produces fruit; what the Lord would teach us is that through faith in His Word we have just as real and intimate a connection with Him as the branch of the grape vine has with the vine itself. The Spirit of God, the life of Christ, can pass from Christ to us as freely and as constantly as the sap does from the root and the stock to the outermost branches, and this is the case so long as we by faith maintain the connection. Is there not life in the very thought?

This is what the Apostle speaks of when he says that by the exceeding great and precious promises of God we are made partakers of the Divine nature. 2 Peter i. 4. We do not become partakers of the Divine nature by an occasional look at the exceeding great and precious promises, but by a continual feeding on them. The life of faith must be as continuous as the natural life, which comes by eating and breathing. It is not by occasional breathing that we live; even so it is not by occasional thoughts of God and His promises that we live the Divine life. But when the faith is constant and steadfast, the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, must follow as naturally as do the works of sin when we are out of Christ. The Divine nature is not less active and powerful than the carnal nature. Therefore when we are partakers of the Divine nature, it must be as natural to do right as it is to do wrong when we are controlled by the carnal nature. "As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Rom. vi . 19-22. The one necessary condition is by living faith to abide in the true Vine.

There is infinite power in the Word of God. By it we are made clean. John xv. 3. Here is infinite comfort and encouragement for the believer. The way of life is not hard, but easy. Jesus says, "My yoke is easy." It is the way of the transgressor that is hard. The Lord in His infinite mercy has made it as easy to do right as to do wrong, provided we trust Him absolutely; yea, far easier, inasmuch as His power is infinitely greater than all the power of sin. Well may this be spoken of as a "great salvation." We do not need to know the how, but the fact is ever before us in the fruit-bearing vine and trees.

Christ is not only the true Vine; He is a tree of life, since He is the wisdom of God. Prov. iii. 13-18. "He is also the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys." Song of Songs ii. 1. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." Israel "shall grow as the lily." Growth means flower and fruit, so we have it, he "shall blossom as the lily." Hosea xiv. 5. "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels. 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

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forth before all the nations." Isa. lxi. 10, 11. Just as the lily is clothed with beauty, even so will those who trust in the Lord be clothed with righteousness. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like a lily. His magnificent clothing was wrought by man, and put on from the outside. It was no part of himself, and when it was taken off, as it had to be, he had no more glory than the humblest peasant. But the beauteous clothing of the lily comes from within. It is wrought by God, and not by man. Although the work of God, and the lily's own work, yet it is a part of the lily itself. It belongs to it, and cannot be laid aside without the destruction of the lily. Even so shall it be with those who trust the Lord, He will clothe them with the beautiful garments of righteousness in just the same way that He clothes the lily. This is the Christian's assurance not only of the life to come, but also of all that he needs for this life. For He who does that which is greatest will also do that which is least. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Rom. viii. 32. "All things" leaves nothing out. In accepting Christ, the believer receives all things that pertain to life and godliness. He receives everything that he can possibly need in time and in eternity. "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. "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!"

"Traditions of Men" The Present Truth 14, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

The Bishop of Ripon, in his address as president of the recent Church Congress, uttered these words:-

As increasing light falls upon great problems, and men being to realise how much of Judaistic, pagan and scholastic thought is mingled with popular Christianity; how many accretions due to human weakness and race prejudice have been incorporated in our conceptions, they will distrust the Church. For every new epoch has added new dogma to faith, and with every new dogma the Church has gone further from the simplicity of Christ.

Is there not then cause for a reformation, not on the lines of any book made by man, but on the basis of the Bible? Only there can the simplicity of Christ be found.

"The Children. God's Garden" The Present Truth 14, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

"My Father is the Husbandman." This is what Jesus said, and we learned last week that we are His garden, or as the Apostle Paul tells us, "Ye are God's husbandry," or "tilled land." We have been learning lately about the good seed,-the Word of God,-which He puts into our hearts, that we may bring forth just the blossoms and fruit that He loves to see, in His garden.

But if you have a garden you know that the sowing of the seed is not all that needs to he done in it. You must watch and water it; and besides this you will find springing up some plants that you have not sown, and that you do not want there. These you must pull up, because they are weeds that are not only useless themselves, but they will prevent the good seed from growing properly, and perhaps crowd it out altogether.

Now see how much care the Lord takes of His garden, how carefully and tenderly He watches over us, His "tilled land." He says, "I the Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment, lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day."

"Lest any hurt it"! Who is it that is trying to hurt the Lord's garden, and how can he do this? Oh, you know already, it is His great enemy, Satan. He wants to destroy all the Lord's beautiful plants, and change His garden into a waste wilderness, bringing forth nothing but thorns and weeds and poisonous plants.

And see how artfully he is working to do this. Jesus teaches us about it in one of His parables. He says that "the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his field," but his enemy carne and sowed tares and went his way. "But when the blade was sprung up, arid brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this."

God in the beginning sowed only good seed in His field,-in this earth, and in the hearts of His children Adam and Eve. The earth brought forth only what was "pleasant to the sight and good for food." And only love and all its pleasant and beautiful fruits appeared in the lives of God's children. But now, alas, the earth brings forth thorns and thistles, and many things not pleasant to the sight nor good for food, but things that will bring death instead of life. And there are hatred and quarrelling, and other deadly weeds, growing up where only love should be.

From whence hath the Lord's land these tares? The words of Jesus give us the answer, "An enemy hath done this." How he did it, and is still doing it, we will learn next week, and also how the words of Jesus will be at last fulfilled, "Every plant that My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

-Fashionable Japanese young ladies, when they desire to look attractive, killed their lips.

-During a storm on the Russian Baltic coast between Polangen and Libau about 120 fishermen were drowned.

-In Madagascar, to stop the dwindling of the population, the French are now imposing a tax on all childless persons.

-The dispute between Italy and Colombia is at an end, Columbia having yielded the concessions demanded by Italy.

-In order to stay the increasing disaffection among officials in Turkey, one month's pay is announced, leaving only thirteen months in arrear.

-Spain expresses the English of Hispania, a word founded upon the Punic "span," a rabbit, owing to, it is said, the number of wild rabbits found in the peninsula by the Carthaginians.

-The French Cabinet has decided in favour of the transfer of the Dreyfus appeal for revision to the Supreme Court. This may not mean much, but is one step in the direction of revision.

-Five acres of land at Charing Cross, now owned by the Marquis of Salisbury, were bought 250 years ago by his ancestors for grazing purposes at a ground-rent of ten shillings an acre for 500 years.

-It is pointed out that the deposition of the Chinese Emperor is the third coup d'Ètat brought about by the Empress Dowager and Li Hung Chang. On each of the previous occasions a young emperor died suddenly.

-The port of Taipeh, China, was visited on August 28 by a terrific storm, which devastated the entire district. In the port itself several vessels, all Chinese it is believed, were wrecked, and 170 persons were drowned.

-Gedaref, the last stronghold of the Dervishes, has been taken after severe fighting. The Egyptian force consisted of 1,300 men, and that of the Dervishes numbered 3,000. The latter were completely routed and lost 500 killed.

-A German subject has secured from the Argentine Government a concession for the construction of a complete network of railways, having a total length of 2,000 miles, which when completed will serve the whole southern portion of the province of Buenos Ayres.

-The Turkish forces are to be compelled to withdraw from Crete, unless something happens to disturb the harmony of the European powers that have decided upon this move. After this is done the "Christian" population is to be disarmed, in the interests of the Mussulman inhabitants.

-Chile and Argentina have been on the verge of war, owing to a dispute over their boundaries. The Senate of the latter country has sanctioned the mobilisation of a force of 50,000 men, and has largely increased the import duties by way of preparation, but as the questions in dispute are to be submitted in part to Great Britain for arbitration, it is hoped that an amicable settlement may be found possible.

-The latest returns from Bombay show an increase in the number of deaths due to the plague. There were 148 cases in the week which terminated fatally.

-Beef is never seen at a Chinese table, oxen and cows capable of working the plough being accounted too valuable to the farmer to be consigned to the butcher. Very severe penalties are attached to the slaughter of these animals, the punishment for the first offence being a hundred strokes with a bamboo.

-A fearful tornado is reported from Canada. The city of St. Catherines received the full force of the funnel-shaped storm which destroyed all the buildings in its path, tearing up large trees, and even sucking up the water from the Welland Canal as it crossed. Five persons were killed by pieces of timber hurled through the air. The loss to property was very heavy.

-In Russian political circles the Kaiser's visit to Palestine is regarded with growing uneasiness. It is feared that he will seek recognition as one of the protectors of Christian interests in the East. France and Russia consider that they have a legal right to consider their privileges in this respect as exclusive, from which it would appear that there are other considerations involved, and that the Christians are not protected for the sake of protecting them.

-The greatest trust ever known in the United States has just been incorporated with a capital of two hundred million dollars. It is designed to operate on an enormous scale, and although intended to swallow up the iron and steel industries of the country, will not confine itself to these. Capitalists think that the world is at their mercy, but they are heaping up treasure "for the last days." "Go to, now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your misery's that shall come upon you." James v. 1.

-Writing of the corruption which has been revealed in French official life by the Dreyfus agitation, the Chronicle says, "Society has not sufficiently pondered the moral effect of such a system on the classes which are impatient of authority. Anarchism is not wholly dementia. It is nourished by the spectacle of officialdom, which is honeycombed with deceit, rank with injustice, and regardless of the elementary honesty, while it discourses upon its 'honour.'" While anarchy is altogether wicked, it is only the harvest that springs naturally from sowing corruption.

-The Pope, in answer to the Czar's proposal, has remarked that one of the best means of assuring peace would be the establishment of a tribunal of international arbitration. Cardinal Rampolla has communicated the Pope's idea to the Russian Minister at the Vatican, who appears to have received it favourably. He expressed the hope that it will be taken into consideration at St. Petersburg, and that negotiations for the establishment of an arbitration tribunal will proceed at the same time as the negotiations for disarmament.

-A reign of terror prevails at Pekin for all Chinese of progressive tendencies, and especially for progressive Cantonese, whom the Dowager Empress seems determined to exterminate. Kang, the fugitive leader, who escaped under British protection, last year started a society in Canton against the cruel practice of binding the feet of girl children. The Puh Tsan Tsu Hut, or Not Bind Feet Society, was started, 10,000 strong, all the fathers of a large district around the city pledging themselves not to bind the feet of their girl children, nor to marry their sons to girls with bound feet. Miss Kang has never had her feet bound, and habitually wears Manchu dress, that Manchu feet may look less singular-the Manchus never bind their women's feet. She has herself published a treatise against foot binding, a phenomenal act for a Chinese young lady.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 40.

E. J. Waggoner

God demands nothing of us except that which He first gives us, for we have nothing that He has not given. He has given us His whole life, and it is therefore but simple justice that He should demand the whole of ours. Our life is in fact His, so that in asking our lives, God is only asking for His own. "Will a man rob God?"

God's Divine power "hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness." Therefore in calling upon us to live holy lives, God is only asking us to exhibit what He has given us. It is as though He should say, "Where is that treasure that I deposited with you? Produce it, that I may see it." So the commandments of God are not arbitrary requirements; they are promises, yea, much more than promises of what He will give as; they are statements of what He has already given us. The greater the commandment, the greater the grace. Truly "His commandments are not grievous."

Whenever we find an expression of truth we like to pass it on. Here is one from Dr. John Watson, at the missionary meeting of the Baptist Union: "God elected no people in order that He might reject others. He chose peoples and individuals only in order that's through them others might be saved." This is a truth that cannot be too often repeated. "No man liveth unto himself." "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister."

The Chronicle in publishing an appeal to the religious bodies of Great Britain to support by all possible means the Czar's proposal for decrease of armaments among, the nations of Europe, says:-

The one point to be noted by every man is that if the idea embodied in the Czar's rescript cannot be carried out, the basic ideas of our civilisation are lost. We may as well throw up the sponge, we may as well cease to prate about civilisation and progress, for our talk will be as the idle wind.

These are desperate words, but their truthfulness is manifest. When the failure of the forthcoming Conference shall demonstrate, what has already been proved a thousand times, that "civilisation" is a totally different thing from the Christian principles on which it is supposed to rest, perhaps some who have "prated of civilisation and progress" will cease their vain glorying. God is our peace, and He is the only One who can give it. The delegates to the Conference will be able to secure it for themselves by submission to His will, but unless they accept peace where it is offered, their diligent search in other directions will only end in disappointment. To attempt moral reforms without relying upon the one moral force in the universe is to labour in vain.

It is by no means a comforting sign of the times that within three weeks three railway companies have been obliged to issue rewards for information leading to the conviction of persons who have maliciously attempted to wreck passenger trains.

A Sanitary Congress has been in session in Birmingham during the past week. Considerable attention was devoted to the purity of food supplies, and the evils of adulteration and the use of chemicals for preserving foods. The boracic acid which is much used to keep milk sweet, was strongly denounced as unfit to be taken into the stomach, especially when handled by unscientific men. A Dr. Niven complained that whilst "an enormous stream of infectious milk was pouring into our cities," there were no powers under which this milk could be seized, of the supply stopped. As to meat affected with tuberculosis, he was positive on three points (1) that ordinary processes of cooking do not destroy the infections material in the deeper-seated glands, (2) that the danger from eating such meat is under-rated, and (3) that a standard should be established in reference to tuberculous carcases as regards seizure, because we are much too lenient.

During the homeward voyage of the P. and O. steamer India, a remarkable phenomenon was observed by the crew in the Indian Ocean. One night the officer in charge observed that the ship was approaching what seemed to be a dense white fog lying low upon the surface of the sea. Soon the vessel was in it, when it was found that the sea was milk white and luminous. The sea for miles looked like a great white sheet, and there was no mist at all, what seemed at a distance to be fog being only the light from the water.

Now for the explanation. The scientific writer of the Daily Mail, which contained the report, gravely advanced the following:-

This extraordinary spectacle, which is of very rare occurrence, is no doubt due to a combination of certain atmospheric phenomena, acting in conjunction, or upon the surface of the sea, and effecting some chemical change in the phosphorescence.

How marvellously scientific! "Certain phenomena" effected "some chemical change," and the result was quite natural. See? One can quite appreciate the statement that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God," when so much of it is so self-evidently absurd. There is such a thing as true science, but "explanations" that are merely a jumble of big words to avoid saying "I don't know," are not science.

The Word of God is seed, which when sown in the heart will hear fruit "after its kind." It is not a corruptible seed, but an incorruptible, living and abiding for ever; therefore the fruit of this seed will be an incorruptible experience which will abide trial. Unless this be the case, it is evident that the seed sown was not the pure Word of God, received into an honest and good heart. "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil." "He that committeth sin is of the devil." "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin." 1 John iii. 8-10. If any by this token learn that they were not born of incorruptible seed, the remedy is obvious. The Word of God, received not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God, effectually worketh in them that believe. 1 Thess. ii. 13.

According to the revenue returns 70,706,000 pounds of tobacco were consumed in the United Kingdom in the year ending March last. While the increase in population was only one per cent., the increase in the consumption of tobacco was more than four per cent. The increase in the use of tea is also shown to be much in excess of the increase in population.

The lately deposed Emperor of China is said to have committed suicide, but all reports agree that the suicide was an involuntary one.

Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia have jointly demanded that Turkey shall withdraw its troops from Crete. Unless this is done within a certain time, the four Powers announce their intention to resort to force.

October 13, 1898

"Praise the Lord" The Present Truth 14, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

"Praise to the holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise.
In all His works most wonderful,
Most sure in all His ways."

"Let everything that hath breath, PRAISE THE LORD."

That is what breath is for,-to praise the Lord with. It is the breath that God gives that makes man a living soul; and man was formed only for the glory of God.

But we see that the call to praise God is not limited to man. It includes everything that has breath, and the lower animals have breath as well as man. They, too, are to praise the Lord.

Can dumb brutes praise the Lord? Most assuredly, else they would not be called on to do so. There is no exception; everything that has breath ought to praise the Lord. If there is anything that does not praise Him, there is no use for its existence.

The lower animals cannot speak; how then can they praise God?-In the same way that the heavens do, which also have no voice, namely, by fulfilling the object of their creation. Breath gives life, and since it comes from Cod, it is to be used only in His Service. So it is not merely with our tongues that we are to praise the Lord, but with every organ of the body that is quickened by the breath of life.

There is stronger evidence of the worthiness of God to be praised, than the charges that men bring against Him, and the blasphemies that are uttered. Remember that no man provides his own breath. The breath that we breathe is a gift from God, which He bestows upon us fresh every moment. What man is there who would patiently and uncomplainingly continue to heap benefits upon those who persistently and unceasingly slandered and reviled him? Such goodness is not found among men; but it is the goodness and forbearance of God. No stronger proof of His worthiness to be praised is needed than kindness in giving breath to those who

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hate and revile Him, and who use the breath that He gives them in denying His goodness.

Praise is an evidence of life. Hezekiah said: "The grave cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee as I do this day." Isa. xxxviii. 18, 19. If a man does not praise the Lord, that is a sign that he is practically dead. It is just the same as though he had no breath at all, for he does not use it to any real purpose. What wonder if God at length leaves off giving breath to one who shows no appreciation of its value? Are you alive?

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Isaiah Called to Service. Isaiah vi. 1-13" The Present Truth 14, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

OCTOBER 23

The prophet, Isaiah began to see visions concerning Judah and Jerusalem in days of king Uzziah, and his work continued for some sixty years. It was in the last year of Uzziah's life that Isaiah saw the vision which is the subject of the present lesson. Uzziah was the grandsons of Joash. The latter, like his father; died a violent death, as did also his own son Amaziah. Both Amaziah and his son and successor, Uzziah, began to reign in the fear of God, but as the Lord prospered them, their hearts were lifted up. Amaziah worshipped false gods, and Uzziah became so full of pride and self-importance that he even forced his way into the sanctuary with the intention of burning incense. For this he was smitten with leprosy, and obliged to surrender the kingdom to his son Jotham.

CLEANSING FROM SIN

In Isaiah's vision there was revealed to him the Lord upon His throne, exalted high, surrounded by angels and worshipped by the seraphim. As these declared the holiness of the Lord, a sense of his own sinfulness overwhelmed the prophet and he cried, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." But God never makes known His holiness with the object of inducing despair in men. High and lifted up as He is, His holiness and power are equalled by His love for men, and He bids them "Sing unto the Lord, all ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." Ps. xxx. 4. In His love He bestows His holiness freely upon sinful men, hence the infinite measure of His holiness only makes known the fulness of His unspeakable gift. In quick response to the prophet's sense of need, an angel flies to him with a live coal from off the altar, and as it was laid upon Isaiah's mouth, the comforting assurance was given, "Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

A THRONE OF GRACE

The blasphemous pride of King Uzziah in presumptuously approaching that altar had merited and found swift and awful punishment; but for Isaiah's humble confession of guilt it had no terrors. The sinful and helpless, who can only plead their sad necessity, may come with boldness to the throne of grace, and find there plenteous redemption. The broken and contrite heart may be despised among men, but it is honoured in heaven. God hath respect unto the lowly. His answer to every confession of wrongdoing is, as it was to Isaiah, "Thine iniquity is taken away."

"WHOM SHALL WE SEND?"

Then follows the next step. Isaiah dwelt among an unclean people. God cared for them as much as He did for Isaiah. Who should go forth and tell them of the cleansing that was so freely given, and so easily obtained? The angels could not do it, for they did not know the defilement and the burden of sin. The messengers must be chosen among men redeemed, and Isaiah, who knew both the disease and the healing, offered himself for the work, saying, "Here am I; send me."

A WARNING MESSAGE

Just as quickly as the cleansing of sin followed upon the confession of it, did the commission to declare the Gospel follow upon the offer of service. "And He said, Go." The words of the message were put into his mouth. It reads like a message full of discouragement at first sight. "Tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not." The cause also was to be made known. "For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and bear with their ears, and understand with their heart." Acts xxviii. 27. Although the words hardly seem like a message of good tidings, they were so in reality for all who would hear, since they made known the flimsy character of the barrier that kept the people from forgiveness and healing. If only Judah would use their senses, hear with their ears, see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, the result would be that they "should be converted, and I should heal them."

THE GLORY OF THE LORD

God did not require great things of His people that they might be saved. If He had asked them to hear without ears, or see without eyes, they might have complained that His conditions were hard, but these faculties had already been given and God simply asked that they should be used. It was necessary to use their members for the maintenance of their physical life. Food grew around them in abundance, but they needed to see it and gather it with their hands before it could give them life. So all about them, as the seraphs sang, the whole earth was full of the glory of God, or the fulness of the whole earth was His glory. See margin of Revised Version. Had their ears been open to hear what God said to them, by His servants and His works, their eyes been willing to see in the wonders of nature the living presence and continual working of their Creator, they would have gladly recognised in every ministration of earth and sea and air, supplying their wants, that they were made partakers of the Divine life, and thus have been turned from idols to serve the living God.

LIKE THE BEASTS THAT PERISH

The same lesson is for us to-day. The difficulty that hindered Judah than prevented their children from acknowledging the Messiah, and Paul told the Jews at Rome that the Holy Ghost had spoken truth by Isaiah, when it declared the real nature of the obstacle that kept them from being saved. Fuller than the beasts that perish, men receive the life of God through the channels by which it is conveyed, caring

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only for the food and raiment after which the heathen seek, and forgetting that these are added to a far more precious gift, the righteousness of God. Matt. vi. 31-33. In the life of God that is bestowed so freely upon men, "filling their hearts with food and gladness," are given "all things that pertain unto life and godliness," but it is true of the multitudes now as it was in the time of Isaiah; "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider." Isa. i. 3.

"HOW LONG?"

The Divine ambition is to see men happy. God's rejoicing is in the welfare of His children, and He desires that men shall acknowledge His love in the abundance of His gifts. If they will not do so, before He allows Himself to be finally rejected, and the way of death irrevocably chosen by His creatures, He gives opportunity to learn the value of His gifts by their withdrawal. Some, when the judgments of the Lord are in the earth, will learn righteousness (Isa. xxvi. 9), and so, although God does not willingly afflict nor grieve the children of men, this is often the only chance of saving them. It was so with Judah. To Isaiah's question, how long it should be before the people should be willing to see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and thus be healed, the reply was given, "Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate." Yet the promise was given that a remnant should return, and that like a tree which has life in its trunk, even though all outer sign of life, in leaves and branches, has disappeared, the holy seed should be the substance of the nation. This seed was not holy by its own merits but would consist of all who should submit themselves to the righteousness of God, and not attempt, in ignorance of God and His righteousness, to establish their own righteousness.

THE GOSPEL OF ISAIAH

Isaiah had marvellous revelations of God's character. His writings present so much of the work of Christ that they are often spoken of, and truly so, as the "Gospel according to Isaiah." For this reason many who are counted wise and learned; but who know not the Scriptures nor the power of God, have declared it impossible that a man living so many hundred years before Christ, could have been so enlightened on the subject of the Saviour's work and teaching. To all such the warning of Isaiah comes, that they should open their eyes and ears, and learn to discern, where they see now only common things and human power, the glory of God filling all the earth. This glory of God, whom the seraphim acclaimed as, "Holy, holy, holy!" when seen and received by faith, works in the beholder the fulfillment of the Divine command, "Be ye holy, for I am holy."

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

THE POWER OF GROWTH

Gen. i. 11, 12: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass. . . . and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit."

Ps. civ. 14: "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."

lsa. xl. 6-8: "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof 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 fedeth; but the Word of our God shall stand for ever."

1 Cor. iii. 6, 7: "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase."

Ps. lxii. 9, 11: "Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity." "God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God."

Isa. xl. 29: "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength."

1 Cor. i. 33, 24: "We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God."

1 Chron. xxix. 12: "In Thine hand is power and might; and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all."

Matt. xi. 29, 30: "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."

Lam. iii. 27: "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth."

2 Cor. xii. 9, 10: "And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore 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."

1 Cor. x. 13: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

Matt. xvii. 20: "Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

Luke xviii. 27: "The things which are Impossible with men are possible with God."

2 Peter iii. 18: "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

Acts i. 8: "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost la come upon you; and ye shall be My witnesses."

Remember that God's message of comfort includes the special cry, "All flesh is grass; . . . but the Word of our God shall stand for ever."

There is nothing that grows that is weaker than the tender grass; it is a synonym for weakness and instability. Just as there is nothing weaker than the grass, so there is nothing stronger than the Word of God. In this lies the comfort.

It is not an uncommon thing for people

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to acknowledge that they are weak. Even the strongest physically have times when they feel weak. Especially among professed Christians is a confession of weakness a common thing. Nevertheless they do not get comfort out of the confession. On the contrary, the fact that they are obliged to confess that they are weak, is a source of great sorrow to them. They are continually mourning their weakness. "I am so weak!" is the sorrowful cry. "Oh, if I only had more strength!" is their often expressed wish.

What is the trouble? Simply this, that their confession does not go far enough. They say that they are so weak, and wish that they had more strength, thereby showing that they flatter themselves that they have some strength. But the facts are that all men together are lighter than vanity, and that God alone hits power. He is the Almighty. That is, He has all might, so that there is no might outside of Him. Strength is an attribute of Divinity. If man had strength in himself he would be God. So just to the extent that men imagine that they have strength, do they imagine themselves to be God. As long as men think themselves to be gods, with strength in themselves, so long will they trust in themselves instead of in God. But "he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." As long as a man thinks that he has the slightest particle of strength, there is continual failure and discouragement before him.

What is the remedy?-Simply this, to acknowledge the fact that there is absolutely no strength in him, but that "in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength" (Isa. xxvi. 4), and then to say, "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup." Ps. xvi. 5. Then he has the benefit of "everlasting power and Divinity," although he himself is but helpless grass.

Walk through a cornfield in the spring time. Everywhere you will see little rifts in the ground, showing where the tender blades are pushing their way up to the light. All over the earth there is a general upheaval, more in the aggregate than any earthquake over known, yet there is not the slightest sound or commotion. Men go about entirely unconscious of what is taking place. What causes it?-It is the power of God's Word, which in the beginning and ever since said, "Let the earth bring forth grass." The word "dynamo" is simply the Greek word for power. We have another form of the same word in the familiar word "dynamite." All know what dynamite is used for, and what terrible explosions it causes. Well, this rifting of the earth by the growing grass is but an example of the working of God's dynamite. God's dynamite, contrary to that perverted form which man makes use of, works silently, and to upbuild, instead of with deafening noise, and to destroy.

When the poor woman who was dying from loss of blood came behind Jesus and touched the hem of His garment, and was instantly made whole, the Lord said, "Somebody did touch Me; for I perceived that power had gone forth from Me." Luke viii. 46. This is the word just referred to. The power that went from Him can be conceived only by thinking of the force which men call dynamite; but, as already stated, it works quietly and to restore, instead of to destroy. It is what He gives to every one who believes on Him, and the illustration of the same thing is constantly before us in the power that is manifested in the growing grass. Just as power-the power of the life of Christ-came into the poor woman; just as the power of the ever-living Word animates the grass of the field; even so does the Spirit of life in Christ come into us, and manifest itself as righteousness, when we believe in truth.

Look a little closer at that growing corn. Here we see not only a little crack in the earth, but a portion of it is raised up a heavy clod is tilted to one side, and stands on edge. What causes it?-Look down, and you will see a tiny, white, tender blade of corn underneath it. That little spire of grass, that if removed from its bed has not strength enough to stand alone, is now not only standing bolt upright, but is bearing a load many thousand times its own weight. Is grass then such powerful matter? No; it has no strength at all. At any rate, anybody can see that there is a power manifested here that is no part of the grass itself. What is it?-The nearest that anybody can come to an answer without the Bible is that it is "vital force." That is all right; it is the strength of life, for that is what vital force means. But the Word of God tells us that Christ is "the life." The force therefore that is manifest in the growing grass is nothing other than the power of the life of Christ.

Now we may form some idea of the statement that "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." 2 Peter i. 3. If a man could lift as much in proportion to his size and weight as the tiny blade of grass does in pushing the clod of earth away from before it, it would not be so difficult a thing for him actually to remove a mountain, would it? But the mountains of earth are where the Lord has placed them, and do not need moving. The mountains that man needs for the most part to remove are the mountains of sin. This earth, and earth life, are upon him, holding him down. The power which God gives him is first of all to be directed to the removing of this load. Let him now receive that word which said, "Let the earth bring forth grass," and in obedience to which the tiny blade comes forth, even though it must raise what to it is a mountain, and the world and all the lust thereof cannot any longer hold him down. Let a man consciously and voluntarily submit himself to the Word of the Lord as completely as the grass of the field does unconsciously and involuntarily, and the same power that brings it to perfection as grass, will bring him to perfection as man, even "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Eph. iv. 13. The only thing that hinders is man's pride, which makes him unwilling to acknowledge that he has no more power than the grass of the field. But that is the fact, and it is far better to acknowledge it and so be filled with Divine, everlasting power, than to deny it, and have no power at all.

"'The Open Grave'" The Present Truth 14, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

In the city of Hanover, Germany, there is in one of the churchyards a grave which attracts the attention of hundreds of visitors every year. Pictures of it are to be found for sale in nearly every stationer's shop, and it is known far and wide as "The open grave." The history of it is in brief this:-

More than a hundred years ago a woman was buried there, and the following inscription (whether by her own direction or not, I do not know) was placed on the lowermost stone of the tomb: "This grave, purchased for eternity, must never be opened." The grave, as will be seen from the cut, was covered with heavy stones, the top one being a solid block that doubtless weighs not less than a ton, and all the stones were firmly bound together

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with iron bands. But no human device can hinder the working of the power of life. Either a seed fell into the grave before it was closed up, or else a shoot from a tree penetrated the grave from beneath, and in obedience to the law of life, proceeded to make its way to the light. Slowly and imperceptibly, but with irresistible power it forced its way between the huge stones, and burst every iron band. Now there is not a single stone left in its original position, although no hand of man has ever presumed to try to move them. A vigorous birch tree is now growing from the open grave which was to remain closed to all eternity. The tree is flattened where it comes in contact with the huge covering stone, so that it fills the entire aide of the grave, but immediately above the block it assumes the natural, round shape, and is about fifteen inches in diameter. There is in the same churchyard another grave that has been opened in the same manner by a small locust tree, but it does not attract the attention that the first one does, since it has no inscription and no iron clamps. Both however teach the same thing, namely, the power of life.

How easily the voice of God sounding from heaven can rend all the tombs! That voice which at the last day will shake the earth, and open every grave, is but the same voice which in the beginning said, Let the earth bring forth grass and trees; and although no sound of it is heard, that Word is able, as we have seen to break every bond. That is the power of the resurrection. But the power of the resurrection of the last day is only the power which Jesus Christ, who is risen from the dead, exerts in every believer. He is near to every soul, with all the power of His resurrection life. "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." Rom. x. 8, 9. That Word, which at the last will open every grave, and whose power is shown in the bursting of the iron bands that were designed to keep the Hanover grave closed, is able to burst every bond that would hold any soul down to this earth and its grovelling life. Jesus still comes as of old, anointed with the Holy Spirit, "to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Who will listen to Him? "Hear, and your soul shall live."

"God's Dynamite" The Present Truth 14, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

One evening in the spring, as I was taking a walk in a side street of a country village, I noticed little crater-like upheavals in the hard concrete pavement. Stooping down to examine them more closely, I saw that they were caused by little tufts of grass that had forced their way through. The pavement was very hard, and there were no crevices in it, through which the grass could get a start, but the tender blades had come through what was almost solid stone. What a marvel was this! If men had wished to break up the pavement, they would have been obliged to give many heavy blows with hugs hammers; but in obedience to God's Word, the grass made its way through without a sound, and unnoticed by any body. That same Word says to us, "Be ye holy, as I am holy," and the commandment has as much power in the one case as in the other. Why then are not all holy who wish to be?-Simply because they do not receive the commandment in the same way that the grass of the field does. When God makes known His commandment they at once think that they must put it into action, and thereby they prevent its action in them. The grass of the field, on the contrary, does not flatter itself that it has strength. It is content to be simply grass, and so it grows in obedience to the Word because that self-fulfilling Word has free course in it. Obedience to God's commandments does not consist in our working them, but in allowing them to work us. God's everlasting power and Divinity are just as ready to manifest themselves in us for all that God wishes us to be, as they are in the grass of the field, when we will give God the glory, and will not assume that we are God, and that the power comes from us. God, and not we, is to be glorified in our fruit-bearing. This is the message, "Fear God, and give glory to Him."

"The Value of Burdens" The Present Truth 14, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

"It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." A yoke is for the purpose of carrying a burden, so that the words of the prophet are equivalent to the statement that it is good for a man to bear burdens in his youth. It is not natural for people to like to bear burdens. Whenever we have them, we are inclined to drop them, or to shift them on to other shoulders, as soon as possible. Now learn a parable from the grass of the field. You may at some time when you have seen the tiny, slender, white blade of grass standing upright under the load of a heavy clod of earth, or perhaps a stone, have taken pity on it, and removed its burden. Mistaken kindness! The stem which before stood erect, now droops, and leans upon the earth. It has not strength enough in itself to stand alone, yet the power of the Word of life working in it enabled it not only to stand upright, but to bear a heavy burden as well. Only with the burden could it stand.

How often we see this same thing in human grass. Young men shirk responsibility, they chafe under some burden which God in His wisdom has allowed to rest upon them, and they throw it all off. They think that they cannot stand so much. Neither can they in their own strength, which is nothing but weakness. But in throwing off the burden, they reject the strength which God provides for bearing it, and with this strength gone, they could not stand at all. All the strength that any man has with which to stand is the strength which God gives him, and God is as able to make a tender shoot lift a ton as He is to make it grow at all. God's strength is made perfect in weakness. He allows no trial or temptation to come upon any soul without at the same time furnishing the strength needed to hear it. To him that has no might, He increases strength. How much better to bear burdens with the strength which God gives, than to bear nothing and to be utterly destitute of power.

"Knowing God" The Present Truth 14, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

The greatest good that any man can get in this world is the knowledge of God. This contains in itself all that can be desired, and much more. The message of glad tidings that Christ brought for all people was simply the revelation of the rather. The world sat in darkness and in the shadow of death because it had forgotten what God was. Christ came to light up the darkness, and that which He brought to do it with was the life of God. John i. 4.

"This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God." Men shun this knowledge, fearing that it only bits for them a sense of condemnation. "The world hath not known Thee," said Christ. If men would only look upon God as He has revealed Himself in His Word and works, they would find it a revelation so wonderful in its nature and effect that in the very beholding they would become changed. "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." Isa. xlv. 32.

There is comfort in the knowledge of God. When He commits to His servants a word of comfort for the sinful and troubled, to tell them that their warfare is accomplished, and their iniquity is pardoned, the glad tidings is given in the message, "Behold your God." Isa. xl.

The everlasting Gospel which prepares believers to meet the Lord in peace at His appearing bids men to "fear God and give glory to Him." God does not seek fictitious honour, and when He invites men to give glory to Him, it is that they may know the wonderful fulness of the reasons there are for doing so. This call is glad tidings, because the glory of the Lord is that He saves, even to the uttermost, that He endures the contradiction of sinners against Himself, that He meats all hatred and defiance with an unalterable love, and bears for man the curse that man has earned. He does all this and desires man to give Him credit for it, by joyfully accepting the situation which infinite love has created. "Give glory to Him," as One who gives His own glory to the unworthy.

"Strength for Service" The Present Truth 14, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

The power of God, manifested in all creation, is the power in which the Gospel is to go as a witness to all people. This was the encouragement with which Christ sent forth His disciples. "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations." Matt. xxviii. 18, 19. It was in this confidence that the early church bore its testimony. When opposed by earthly rulers their only appeal was to God, "which last made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is." Acts iv. 24. Paul so taught and laboured that the faith of his converts "should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." 1 Cor. ii. 5.

As the churches have failed to rely to the full on the strong arm of God for efficiency, weakness has come in, but instead of returning to the Lord, recourse has too often been had to the world. Protection and favour are sought from earthly governments, but these, while ministering to carnal pride and the desire for worldly standing, are found poor substitutes for "the exceeding greatness of God's power."

Dr. Fairbairn is about to visit India for the purpose of delivering a series of lectures on the Christian religion, for the Haskell Trust. The duty of the trust is to provide "distinguished men to discuss with representatives of the leading religions their different forms of faith, to show the points in which they agreed and differed, and to enable those who followed each better to understand the feelings of the other." Dr. Fairbairn is considered to be pre-eminently fitted for such work, and his approaching visit to India was made the occasion of a complimentary dinner at the Holborn Restaurant.

After the company had drunk to the success of his mission, Dr. Fairbairn, in replying, expressed himself as feeling the responsibility rather than the pleasure associated with his undertaking. It would have been easy to go to learn, but the puzzle was how to go to teach. Religion in a sense was but an incident in the life of our people. We were an imperious race, it not imperial. It was very difficult for a religion of peace to be carried out by a people of dominion; it was very difficult for the people who were ruled to receive the religion of the rulers as s religion that was a religion of peace end humility. Christianity would have a far better chance in India if it came in its own right, to speak in its own name in absolute dissociation from the imperial power.

These words are true. Christ's kingdom is not of this world. Its sole concern with the world is to save out of it all that will be saved, and "imperial power," connected with its"work, is only a source of weakness. Those who plead that the church is helped by the money and influence of the world should remember what God said to Amaziah, when he hired a hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for an hundred talents of silver. "There came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the Lord is not with Israel. And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? and the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this." 2 Chron. xxv.

"The Children. 'The Enemy'" The Present Truth 14, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

We began to learn last week about the "enemy" who sowed tares-bad seed-in the Lord's field, where He had put only the good seed of His own Word, Jesus! said that this parable in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew is about the kingdom of God explained it to His disciples, "The field is the world; to teach us When He said, the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil."

You all know when and how Satan began to cast his bad seed into the Lord's field. Into the beautiful garden of Eden he came with his heart filled with hatred, to try to destroy the work of God. He began by whispering lies into the ear of Eve, telling her that the Word of God was not true, so that she might let him pluck it from her heart, and put his had seed in its place.

If only Eve had trusted in God and believed His word, she would have kept it in her heart and been safe. For we learned last week how carefully our Heavenly Father watches over His plants, and keeps them "night and day" lest any hurt them. But, oh, she listened to Satan until she really believed that what he said was true, and so his bad seed got right into her heart, and choked the good seed and destroyed it.

And how quickly this bad seed sprang up and brought forth its bitter fruit of sinful actions, disobedience and shame and sorrow. Instead of "the children of the kingdom" which come from the good seed of God's Word, Adam and Eve became "the children of the wicked one." They were just tares or weeds in God's garden, instead of His precious and fruitful plants.

And since, as we have learned, every plant must bring forth "after its kind," and can only multiply itself, but not bring forth any other kind of plant, all their children must be like themselves, "the children of the wicked one." So the whole world would be filled with weeds.

How sad for the Lord to see His beautiful garden that He loved and watched so eagerly bringing forth only weeds. But He did not become discouraged and leave the field to Satan. He says, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure," and "My word shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." No enemy can really hinder the work of the Lord, or keep Him from carrying out His purpose.

God did not pull the weeds out of His garden and destroy them at once; He loved His children so much that He longed to save them. He wanted to put the good seed back into their hearts, and undo all the work of the enemy.

So He gave to the woman in her sorrow the promise of a most precious Seed that He would plant in His field, through whom they might again become "the children of the kingdom" and the whole world be filled with the precious fruit of it. Read the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of Galatians, which will tell you who this precious Seed is, and then we will talk more about this next week.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

-The Turkish army is to be increased by the addition of thirty-two regimens of cavalry.

-France has more than a quarter of a million carrier pigeons train for use in time of war.

-The first meeting of the Spanish-American peace commission was held in Paris on October 1.

-The wheat crop of Manitoba and territories is estimated at 40,000,000 bushels, or about double last year's crop.

-A famous musician says that 50 per cent. of the Germans understand music, 16 percent. of the French, and 2 per cent. of the English.

-A woman who had undertaken to abstain from food for thirty days, broker fast last week on the eighteenth day by the orders of her medical attendance.

-An attempt by Dervishes to retake Gedaref, which had been recently captured by Colonel Parsons and his Egyptian troops, was repulsed with heavy Dervish losses a few days ago.

-Nothing has yet been decided with regard to the participation of the Vatican in the Disarmament Conference, but the Pope is extremely desirous to be represented.

-More than 200 kinds of an extinct life, including insects, reptiles, plants, shells, fruit, etc., have been found in amber. In one collection, which is valued at ?100,000, is a perfect lizard, eight inches long.

-In order to avoid loss of time the British and French Governments have decided not to wait for the arrival of Major Marchand's report, negotiations will therefore begin at once in Paris, with a view to the settlement of the Fashoda question.

-President McKinley's forthcoming Message to Congress will recommend an increase of the regular army to 100,000 men, quadrupling the strength of the army prior to the war. Native regiments for the colonial possessions will also be proposed.

-The sewage of the city of Paris is now being used to irrigate an immense farm of nearly four square miles' area. It has proved such a benefit to the land that farmers in the vicinity who oppose it, are now anxious to arrange to receive sewage on their own farms.

-The otter is the fastest-swimming quadruped known. In the water it exhibits an astonishing agility, swimming in a nearly horizontal position with the greatest ease, diving and darting along beneath the surface with a speed equal, if not superior, to that of many fishes.

-The Lord Mayor has invited the London County Council to a dinner at the Mansion House. Some of the Councillors are objecting strongly to the acceptance of the invitation, on the ground that the two bodies have conflicting interests, and they regard the dinner as an attempt to buy off opposition.

-In the public schools of Switzerland heat-holidays have been established by law. The well-known fact that the brain cannot work properly when the heat is excessive has been recognised there, and the children are dismissed from their task whenever the thermometer goes above a certain point.

-According to reports from Constantinople, the cost of entertaining the German Emperor will be widely felt. To effect the necessary economy, all Government employees, excepting those holding high positions, have received only three months' pay this year, and there is great distress in consequence among the poorer classes. Extraordinary precautions are being taken for the preservation of order during the sojourn of the Emperor and Empress in Constantinople. Numbers of young Turks and other suspected individuals have been arrested, and will be kept in confinement until the departure of the Imperial visitors. It is calculated that when the Imperial party travel between Jaffa and Jerusalem there will be between 8,000 and 10,000 soldiers and animals on the road.

-Dr. Herzl, the leader of the Zionist movement among the Jews, is sanguine as to its early success. Lecturing in London, he said that "they had organised a Jewish colonial bank, and that the vitality of this organisation would soon be felt. Within one short year the whole situation would be changed, and Palestine open to all." He said that they had numerous Christian sympathisers who shared in their hope, but if this be so, they are doomed to disappointment. Jerusalem which now is in bondage with her children. It is Jerusalem which is above, which is free. Gal. iv. 25, 26. When Jerusalem which is above comes down from heaven, the Israel of God will possess their inheritance. Rev. xxi. 2. This is the city for which Abraham looked, and no other is promised to his seed

"Faith, Hope, and Love" The Present Truth 14, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

"But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Cor. xiii. 13.

The greater includes the less. Unlike things cannot be compared. If one is compared with another, as being greater than that other, the idea is that he is greater in the very elements that make the other great. Love, being greater than faith and hope, comprises in itself all the elements of faith and hope.

This is just what the Scripture says: Love "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." Verse 7. Love believes, and love hopes. But love is everlasting. Therefore faith and hope, as well as love, abide. Love without faith would be maimed. Love is the perfection of faith and hope, because love itself is absolute perfection, since "God is love." And "this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments."

That which expresses man's highest idea of benefaction is "the greatest good to the greatest number;" the Gospel of God, however, brings the greatest good to everybody. It is itself the highest good, salvation, complete salvation of body, soul, and spirit,-and it is "to all people." God leaves nobody out of His calculations. The free gift has come upon all men unto justification of life.

Many men think that they do very well if they do not do much evil. If in their great schemes for human advancement only a few people are made to suffer, they count it unto themselves for righteousness. But he who does injustice to a single soul is an enemy of the human race, for humanity is one. This fact may be a great encouragement to the many whose sphere is limited, and whose opportunities are few; for since humanity is one, he who does good to a single soul is a benefactor of mankind. More than this, he is counted a friend of the Lord.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

The Guards, who were engaged in the fighting at Khartoum, arrived in London last week, where they received a most enthusiastic welcome. The public excitement had a marked influence in increasing the number of recruits who offered themselves for enlistment. Since Omdurman fell, recruiting for the principal British regiments engaged there has increased by about a third.

The Sultan will agree to the demand of the Powers that the Turkish troops leave Crate. This move will doubtless do something to restore peace to the distracted island, but it is significant that when the Turks leave the country, the Jewish families also intend to go.

Small detachments of British, German and Russian troops have now arrived in Peking, for the purpose of protecting their respective Embassies and assisting in the maintenance of order. It is reported that the Chinese appeared cowed as the troops entered the city. If they were posted in the recent history of their country, and knew what was the usual outcome of European intervention, they may well have trembled to see the Powers establishing themselves, under any pretext, in Pekin itself. In the past, nations have only been impelled to conquest by their own hunger for territory, and need of expansion. Now their appetites are quickened by a keen competition, and the knowledge that they must "grab" quickly and largely, or there will be nothing left for them.

"If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross." Matt. xxvii. 40. These words were spoken by men for whose sake Christ was nailed to the cross. They did not know it, but they had become the mouthpiece of Satan, and their taunts were simply the continuance of the temptations in the wilderness, all of which were directed at that same point, "If Thou be the Son of God." The priests and rulers promised that if He would only show His power by coming down from the cross, they would Him as their King.

There had been enough evidence of power in Christ's ministry to convince all, but this test was the only one they were willing to abide by. Yet it would have been destruction to them had Jesus descended from the cross; and Satan, who had inspired their offer, would have rejoiced in their ruin. The depth of Satanic cunning and malignity is seen in making those who were the objects of the Saviour's dying love the instruments of this most subtle snare.

Satan is still the god of this world and blinds the minds of those who believe not. Under his influence men, for whom Christ died, take the same stand as did the priests and rulers. "Let Him now come down from the cross" say they, "and we will, believe Him." It is the cross that makes them draw back. The very thing which makes it possible for them to be saved, Satan persuades them to regard as the most objectionable feature of the religion of Christ. If they could accept Christ and retain the possession or the hope of worldly honour and reputation, they would be willing to become Christians, but Christ must come down from the cross, and become uncrucified, before the friendship of the world ceases to be enmity against God. The world hates Him, and that is why He is crucified.

"The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." 1 Cor. i. 18. Jesus is plainly set forth crucified among men (Gal. iii. 1), and although some who profess His name and service connect with the world, He remains crucified to it. Therefore He is always able to save from the world those who weary of its vanities, and esteem the reproach of Christ greater, riches than the treasures of Egypt.

Because Christ was the Son of God, He did not come down from the cross, and by His steadfastness in the face of all opposition and discouragement, He proved beyond doubt that He was indeed the Son of God. The way to find salvation is to be crucified with Him, for thus we shall live with Him. Rom. vi. 8. To as many as thus receive Him, identifying themselves with Christ crucified, and acknowledging that His crucifixion is for our sake and that by His stripes we are healed, to them He gives power that they also should become the sons of God. John i. 13.

"God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Gal. vi. 14.

October 20, 1898

"'His Mercy Endureth For Ever'" The Present Truth 14, 42.

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." Ps. lxxxix. 1.

But nobody can live upon a past experience. The Christian's rejoicing does not consist merely in telling what God did at some time in the past even for him. Life-real life-is not in the future nor in the past; it is now. Therefore the only reason why we can sing of the mercies of God for ever, in that "His mercy endureth for ever."

"For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever, Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens." "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." "For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His wercy toward them that fear Him." "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children." Ps. ciii. 11, 17.

Someone will say, "Yea; the mercy of the Lord is for over, but only to a certain class; there comes a time when His mercy ceases for sinners; and may it not be that it has now ceased?" To this it is necessary only to say that it will be time enough for people to talk about God's mercy ceasing, when they read something in the Bible to that effect; but in the face of the statement, repeated many times, that "His mercy endureth for ever," and that "the Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works" (Ps. cxiv. 9), it is exceedingly presumptuous for anybody to say that there over will come a time when God's mercy for anybody will cease, or be in the least diminished.

God's mercy is Himself, for He is love, and it must be as enduring as He is. We read that He is "from everlasting to everlasting," and even so have we just read of His mercy. To say that there will come a time when God's mercy will cease, is the same as saying that there will come a time when His righteousness will cease. There is no more reason to limit God's mercy than there is to limit His righteousness. True, it is said that His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, but the same thing is also said of His righteousness. But neither the one nor the other statement gives us any reason to conclude that either God's mercy or His righteousness will ever cease, or over be restricted in any degree.

The righteousness of God endures for ever, yet it will not be found on everybody. Why not?-Because so many will not submit unto the righteousness of God. The free gift comes upon all men unto justification of life (Rom. v. 18), but many reject the gift. It is evident, then, that God cannot be charged with unrighteousness. If men will not take what He freely gives, He is clear. So His tender mercy is over all, and it endures for ever; and the fact that many utterly refuse His loving mercy, does not in the least diminish it.

In an otherwise most excellent hymn, occur these words:-

"But if you still His call refuse,
And all His wondrous love abuse,
Soon will He sadly from you turn,
Your bitter prayer for pardon spurn."

No, never! That is not the Lord. "Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out," says Jesus. He is "able to save to the uttermost," not simply the worst sinner; but to the longest time that any sinner may need and desire pardon, because "He ever liveth to make intercession for us." There will indeed be a time when men who have abused his love, and definitely refused His call of mercy, will call, and will not be heard (Prov. i. 24, 33), but the mason why is that they do not desire pardon-cleansing from sin. They would gladly escape the consequences of sin, but they do not desire holiness. Their sorrow is not godly sorrow that worketh repentance. He does not heed their cry, because they do not ask for anything

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that He has to give. Even though they might seem to ask for life, they do not really ask for it, because they do not ask for holiness. There will never be a time when a truly repentant sinner will be rejected by the Lord. The only reason why probation will cease, will be that there will no longer be any need of it. The decree, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still" (Rev. xxii. 11), will not be an arbitrary fixing of destiny. It will not be that God's patience is exhausted, so that He will say, "I will not stand this any longer; I will not give them any more opportunity." No; it will simply be the announcement of the fact that everybody has made a final decision, so that no change would be made even were probation to be continued for a thousand years. And the mercy of God will be as great when the wicked are destroyed, as it was when Jesus hung on the cross. Read Ps. cxxxvi. 10, 15-20.

The greater the thing refused, the greater the loss. Let no one think that because the mercy of God is so infinite and so eternal, therefore he is safe without it. What a foolishly fatal conclusion! The fact that the mercy of God is so great, filling heaven and earth, is the great reason why we should accept it; for if we reject it, there will be nothing left for us but eternal destruction. If His mercy were feeble, it might he rejected with comparative impunity; but since it fills eternity, the rejection of it is an eternal loss. Let us rather at once accept His mercy, and accept it as freely as He gives it; and then, since "His mercy endureth for ever," we, being tilled and surrounded and transformed and preserved by His mercy, must also endure for ever. Then indeed we can sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Messiah's Kingdom Foretold. Isaiah xi. 1-10" The Present Truth 14, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

OCTOBER 30

It is noteworthy that very many of the illustrations used by Isaiah, to represent the truths taught by him, are drawn from the vegetable world. He speaks a great deal of the kingdom of God, and of that kingdom Christ Himself said that it is "as if a man should cast seed into the ground." Mark iv. 26. In the present lesson the Saviour is likened to a rod coming forth from the stem of Jesse, and a branch growing out of his roots. There had been a good many vicissitudes in the history of Jesse's descendants, when Isaiah wrote, and the future contained a great many more. It seemed sometimes, so far as any hope of spiritual life was concerned, that Jesse's was a dry, withered root, but out of this unpromising soil, Christ was to grow up "as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground."

THE WORD MADE FLESH

"All flesh is grass," and Christ was made in all things like unto His brethren. He had no more strength than the grass of the field, for He declared that of Himself He could do nothing. It was the Word of the Lord that caused the grass to grow and gave it life. The grass is simply the visible manifestation of the Word by which it lives. Hence the various forms of the grass show forth the beauty and glory of the Lord. Many will not allow that it can be true of them that they are merely grass. They point with pride to their achievements, to the acquirements which mark them as superior to others, and claim that these give proof of an independent intelligence. Christ made no such claim for Himself. He sought not His own will. The Father gave Him commandment what He should speak, and showed Him all things that He should do. He simply took the humble place of the grass of the field, which exists only because of the Word of life, and reveals, not itself, but the working of that Word, in the Word made grass. Christ was the Word made flesh, and all flesh is grass.

LED BY THE SPIRIT

Because Christ did not lean to His own understanding, but trusted in the Lord with all His heart, the Lord directed His every step. Because He submitted to the guidance of the Spirit, it had free course in Him and was revealed in its fulness in His life. It was everything to Him, and so it imparted to Him freely everything that it was. It was not given by measure, and being unhindered by Him in its manifestations, all its characteristics were revealed in His life as wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord. The Spirit made Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and He allowed it to influence His mind and form His judgment on all matters that demanded attention. He did not rely upon the inadequate means of information supplied by His human eyes and ears, but trusted in the infallible guidance of the Spirit. So His judgment and reproof was given in righteousness and equity. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." John i. 14.

"A WITNESS TO THE PEOPLE"

Christ came to earth to make known what inconceivable riches bad been bestowed by God upon men in the gift of His life. The life was communicated by the Spirit, but men saw no particular value in the gift, and felt indifferent as to whether it was given or not. What it would do for helpless men was seen in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Springing, like His brethren in the flesh, from a dry root, which only conveyed its inheritance of sin and death, He triumphed over both by receiving the life from above. The whole of His victorious life was a witness to men of what God had done for them. His sinlessness did not separate Him from the unworthy, for such an High Priest became us, but showed the power of the salvation that was theirs by free gift. So He said, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings" to men, that they too might be, like Himself, trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. Isa. lxi. 1-3.

OUT OF WEAKNESS MADE STRONG

It may seem at first sight humiliating to be told that all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the field, so that man is absolutely dependent upon the Lord, but those who receive this truth find in it unending strength and rejoicing. They learn that in being made dependent on His life God does not doom them to a beggarly existence, and their hearts are comforted, "being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, . . . in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

A GLORIOUS REST

As men learn to trust in the Lord for all things, and put no confidence in the flesh, God's strength is made perfect in their weakness, and they are made strong, in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Thus the power of God is seen and declared among men, and the root of Jesse "shall stand for an ensign of the people: to it shall the Gentiles seek: and His rest shall be glorious." As the tumults of earth agitate human minds, and men's hearts fail them for fear, looking after those things that are coming on the earth, God's people trust calmly in Him, in whom there is everlasting strength, and perfect peace. Isa. xxvi. 3, 4. When trials and clouds are thickest and darkest, His rest is most glorious, and made known to the Gentiles as most worth their acceptance.

ABUNDANCE OF PEACE

The picture of perfect peace presented in this lesson is but a demonstration of what the Spirit of God can do, in reconciling the most contrary natures. The wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid, the calf and the young lion, can all live together in amity and peace, because the rule of God, interrupted by man's rebellion, is fully restored in all things. The law of God, which is the life of God, is made again the universal law of being, and there shall be no evil or destruction, because "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." In the everlasting inheritance of God's redeemed, the week shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace (Ps. xxxvii. 11), for only they shall possess the earth. Matt. v. 5. The earnest of that inheritance is given now in the Holy Spirit to believers, and since the inheritance is all that it is by virtue of the power of the Spirit, it follows that whosoever receives the Spirit knows thereby the power of the world to come. This is the power which is made known to those who confess themselves to be only grass, and find a glorious rest in the knowledge that it is God which worketh in them to will and to do of His good pleasure.

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

INTELLIGENT ACTION IN PLANTS

Gen. i. 11: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit, . . . and it was so."

Isa. xl. 6, 8: "All flesh is grass." "But the Word of our God shall stand for ever."

1 Cor. iii. 19, 20: "The wisdom of this world Is foolishness with God," "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain."

Rom. i. 21, 22: "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."

2 Cor. x. 4, 5: "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down Imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

2 Cor. iii. 5: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God."

1 Cor. ii. 12: "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."

Jer. x. 23: "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps."

Prov. iii. 6: "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

Isa. Iv. 7, 8: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return note the Lord; . . . for My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord."

Ps. xxv. 14: "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him."

1 Cor. i. 24, 30: "Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." "Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom."

Col. ii. 2, 3: "Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

Prov. ii. 6: "The Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding."

Daniel ii. 20, 21: "Wisdom and might are His; . . . He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding."

Ps. i. 1-3: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he death shall prosper."

Col. iii. 16: "Let the Word of Christ dwell In you richly in all wisdom."

Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life." As there is no life but from Him, so there are none of the manifestations of life that are not from Him. This does not make Him responsible for everything that men think and do, since they to so great an extent hold down the truth and the life in unrighteousness. They do not give the life free course, but pervert it, and the result is confusion and emptiness.

Christ is "the wisdom of God" as well as "the power of God." Just as there is no power but of God, so there is no wisdom but the wisdom of God. The so-called wisdom of men who reject the Lord, is foolishness with Him. "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." There is no right thought except the thought of God. There is no right thought except the thought of God.

"All flesh is grass." Man has no more power to manufacture thought than the grass of the field has. "In Him we live,

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and move, and have our being." Our perfect gift is from above, and cometh down muscles are the organs by which motion is effected, but they do not originate motion. If they had that power in themselves, then they would continue to move indefinitely at will. But all have seen muscles that could not act, and that not only in dead men. There must be a power to act on the muscles, else they are useless. That power is the life of the Lord. So with the brain. It is the organ of thought, but it does not originate thought. A power entirely distinct from the brain must act through it, else it is useless. When that power is allowed free course, the thoughts are right; otherwise they are vague and perverted. "The way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps."

"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts." But a man's ways and thoughts are all that make him anything more than a useless lump of clay. Does the Lord desire that a man shall forsake his ways and his thoughts, and he a nonentity? Not by any means. He offers him something that is far better. God's ways and thoughts are as much higher than man's ways and thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth. The Scriptures therefore teach us that it is possible for God to take complete possession of a man, and to think and act through him. This is God's design for man. Only as this is the case, is man a complete and perfect man. The body is designed to be the temple of the Holy Ghost, and that means that all the organs of the body are to be simply the instruments through which the Holy Spirit will manifest Himself. This complete submission to the will of God will not destroy any man's individuality, but will on the contrary make it more marked. God is infinite. He who has made every plant "after its kind," each with a distinct characteristic of its own, will make every man perfect after his kind, if he will but be as passive to the Spirit of God as the plants of the field are. "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established." Prov. xvi. 3.

Only by the Spirit of God can we know the things that are freely given us by the Lord. What has the Lord freely given us?-All things. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Rom. viii. 32. He "giveth us richly all things to enjoy." 1 Tim. vi. 17. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." James i. 17. "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven." John iii. 27. Since everything is given us by the Lord, and we cannot know the things that are freely given us by Him except by the Holy Spirit, it follows that there is absolutely no real knowledge in the world that does not come from the Spirit of God. To reject the Holy Spirit is to reject wisdom and knowledge. It He does not think in us, we have no thoughts that are worth thinking. Every thought is to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. O what marvellous treasures of wisdom and knowledge there must be for all who are unwilling to humble themselves to admit that they know absolutely nothing, and to submit to let God think His own thoughts in them! Some of the possibilities for man when God's thought and Word has free course in him, are revealed in the plants of the field, which offer no opposition by self-sufficient pride. In studying God's action in them, let us remember that He will do as much greater things in the man who is as submissive to Him, as the object for which man was created is greater than that for which the grass of the field was made.

"God's Thought in Plants" The Present Truth 14, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

The Scriptures tell us that "all flesh is grass." This we are bound to accept as absolutely true. It may at first seem too humiliating a thought; but if we look at the truth as it is, we shall see that it is a most glorious thing to know that we stand in the same relation to the Lord that the grass of the field does. Not that we are of no more value in His eyes than is the grass of the field; far from it. But we are as absolutely dependent on Him as the grass of the field is; and when we recognise and confess this dependence He works in us in the same way that He does in the grass of the field, only to as much greater a degree as we are of more value than that grass, and are created for a higher destiny. Let us now for a few moments forget entirely about ourselves, and give undivided and impartial attention to some of the things that are growing. Let us consider them, "how they grow."

"A LIFE HISTORY"

We will begin at the very beginning, the very lowest and simplest form of plant life. We will take the life history of a water plant, the scientific name of which is of no special consequence. "To the naked eye it appears like a dense plexus of dark-green irregularly branched and matted filaments. These filaments, when magnified, are seen to be tubular cells which wither and die away at the base while growing at the apex, and developing sac-like branches laterally. . . .

"Now there comes a time in the life of every one of these filaments when its extremity swells and becomes more or less club-shaped. The moment this occurs, the dark-green contents withdraw somewhat from the extremity, leaving it hyaline (glassy) and transparent. Almost simultaneously the contents of the swollen part of the tube nearest the apex become transparent, while further do the colour becomes very dark. Twelve hours after the commencement of this change, that portion of the tube's contents which occupies the club-shaped end separates itself entirely from the rest. A little later the cell-wall at the apex of the tube suddenly splits, the edges of the slit fold back, and the enclosed mass travels through the aperture. This, jelly-like ball, having a greater diameter than the hole, is at first strangulated as is struggles forward, so that it assumes the shape of an hour-glass, and looks for an instant as if it would remain stuck fast. There now arises, however, in the entire mass of green jelly an abrupt movement of rotation combined with forward straining and in another instant it has escaped through the narrow aperture and is swimming freely about in the surrounding water. The entire phenomenon of the escape of these bodies takes place between 8 and 9 A.M., and in any one case, in less than two minutes."

Let us stop here just long enough to let our minds grasp the fact that we have been witnessing the birth of a new plant. Another living thing, humble as it is, has begun a separate existence. Shall we follow it in its short career?

GUIDED IN THE RIGHT WAY

"At first the ball rises to the surface of the water towards the light, but soon after it sinks deep down, often turning suddenly half way round and pursues for a time a horizontal course. In all these movements it avoids coining into collision with the stationary objects which lie in its path, and also carefully eludes all the creatures swimming about in the same water with it . . . .

"At length the swimmer attains permanent rest. He lands on some place or other, preferably on the shady side of any object that may be floating or stationary in the water. . . . So long as it is in motion, the gelatinous body has no definite wall. Its outermost layer is, no doubt, denser than the rest; but no distinct boundary is to be recognised, and we cannot properly speak of a special enveloping coat. No sooner, however, is the ball

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stranded, no sooner has its movement ceased and its shape become spherical, than a substance is secreted at its periphery; and this substance, even at the moment of secretion, takes the form of a firm, colourless, and transparent membrane. Twenty-six hours afterwards, very short-branched tubes begin to push out from the interior, and these become organs of attachment. In the opposite direction the cell stretches into a long tube which divides into branches and floats on the water. After fourteen days the free ends of this tube and of its branches swell once more and become club-shaped; a portion of their slimy contents is, as before, separated from the rest and liberated as a motile body, and the whole performance described above is repeated."-Kerner's "Natural History of Plants."

This little jelly-like cell, whose entire life history we have followed, is the very simplest form of matter. It has no organs whatever, least of all has it a brain, yet no one can deny that there is intelligence manifested in its action, all the intelligence that is needed for its well-being. Whence comes that intelligence? Let each one answer the question for himself, while we pass to notice the action, not of a single cell, but of n multitude of primitive forms of life working together to build up a plant. We consider simple facts, apart from any speculation, and the extracts are from the above-named work.

"METHODICAL ACTION"

"When one considers the unanimous co-operation of protoplasts living together as a colony, and observes how neighbouring individuals, though produced from one end the same mother-cell, yet exercise different functions according to their position; and, further, how universally there is the division of labour most conducive to the well-being of the whole community, it is not easy to deny to a society, which works so harmoniously, the possession of unity of organisation. The individual members of a colony have community of feeling and a mutual understanding, and stimuli must be propagated from one part to another." "But the great puzzle lies, as before remarked, in the circumstance that the atomic and molecular disturbances occasioned by such stimuli and transmitted through the connecting filaments are not only different in the protoplasma of different kinds of plants, but even in the same plant they are of such a nature, according to the temporary requirement, that each one of the aggregated protoplasts in a community of cells undertakes the particular avocation which is most useful to the whole, the effect of this joint labour conveying the impression of the presence of a single governing power of definite design and of methodical action."

And that is exactly what there is, but "the governing power of definite design" does not originate in the cells themselves. "The way of man is not in himself;" neither is the way of a plant of the field in itself. It is God that worketh in the grass of the field both to will and to do of His good pleasure, thereby showing us how perfectly He will do the same in us when we will consent to occupy the same humble position before Him that the grass of the field does. But let us a little further "consider the lilies of the field, how they grow."

INTELLIGENCE

"Were we to designate as instinctive those actions of the vital force which are manifested by movements purposely adapted in some manner advantageous to the whole organism, nothing could be urged against it. For what is instinct but an unconscious and purposeful action on the part of a living organism? Plants, then, possess instinct. We have instances of its operation in every swarm-spore in search of the best place to settle in, and in every pollen-tube as it grows down through the entrance to an ovary and applies itself to one definite spot of an ovule, never failing of its object. . . . Linaria Cymbalaria (toadwort) raises its flower-stalk from the stone wall over which it creeps toward the light, but as soon as fertilisation has taken place, these same stalks, in that very place and amidst unchanged external conditions, curve in the opposite direction, so as to deposit their seeds in a dark crevice."

SELECTION OF FOOD

"The very salts that are needed by most plants are amongst the most widely distributed on the earth's surface. . . . At the same time it is very striking that these mineral food-salts are not introduced into plants by any means in proportion to the quantity in which they are contained in the soil, but that, on the contrary, plants possess the power of selecting from the abundance of provisions at their disposal only those that are good for them, and in such quantity as is serviceable."

"Having now seen that land plants take in food-salts by means of special absorptive cells, it is natural to find that each of these plants develops its absorption-cells, projects them, and sets them to work in a place where there is a source of nutritive matter. The parts that bear absorptive cells will accordingly grow where there are food salts and water, which is so necessary for their absorption. The Marchantias and fern prothalli spread themselves flat upon the ground, moulding themselves to its contour. From their under surface they read rhizoids (rootlike projections) with absorptive cells into the interstices of the soil. Roots provided with root-hairs behave similarly. If a foliage leaf of the Pepperplant or of a Begonia be cut up, and the pieces laid flat on damp earth, roots are formed from them in a very short time. The roots on each piece of leaf proceed from veins near the edge, which is turned away from the incident light, and grow vertically downwards into the ground."

"It is a matter of common knowledge that roots which arise upon subterranean parts of stems, like those formed on parts growing above ground, grow downward with a force not to be accounted for by their weight alone." It is sometimes claimed that the growth of roots downward is but "an effect of gravitation." It is strange that those who give this "explanation" do not tell us why the branches of the same plant, which are much heavier, do not also grow downward by the same force. That it is not a matter of weight is shown by the facts which follow.

ADAPTATION TO CIRCUMSTANCES

"It is noteworthy that if bits of willow twigs are inserted upside down in the earth, or in damp moss, the roots formed from them, chiefly on the shady aide, after bursting through the bark, grow downwards in the moist ground, pushing aside with considerable force the grains of earth which they encounter. The appearance of a willow branch thus reversed in the ground is all the more curious inasmuch as the shoots, which are developed simultaneously with roots from the leaf-buds, do not grow in the general direction of the buds and branches, but turn away immediately and bend upwards. Thus the direction of growth of roots and shoots produced on willow-cuttings always remains the same, whether the base or the top of the twig used as a cutting is inserted in the earth."

"If seeds of the garden cress are placed on the face of a wall of clay which is kept moist, the rootlets, after bursting out of the seeds, grow at first downwards, but later they enter the wall in a lateral direction." "The direction taken by roots in their search for food is dependent upon the presence of that food, and the fact that the roots grow towards places that afford supplies of nutritious material, are strikingly exhibited, also, by epiphytes growing on the bark of trees, such as tropical orchids. . . . The growing rootlets which spring from the seed, and the absorptive cells produced from minute tubercles, grow upwards if placed on the under surface of a branch, horizontally if placed on the side, and downwards if on the upper surface. Thus, whatever the direction, they grow towards the moist bark which affords them nourishment."

FINDING THE BEST PLACE FOR A LIVING

"The movements of roots, as they grow in earth, suggest that they are seeking for nutriment. The root-tip traces, as it progresses,

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a spiral course, and this revolving motion has been compared to a constant palpitation or feeling. Spots in the earth which are found to be unfavourable to progression are avoided with care. If the root sustains injury, a stimulus is immediately transmitted to the growing part, and the root bends away from the quarter where the wound was inflicted. When the exploring root-tip comes near a spot where water occurs with food-salts in solution, it at once turns in that direction, and, when it reaches the place, develops such absorptive cells as are adapted to the circumstances."

IDENTITY OF PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE

Let one read carefully all the foregoing statements of fact, and add to them instances from his own observation, and he cannot fail to be impressed with the fact that in plants all the phenomena of animal life are manifested, although of course within a narrower range. Intelligent action is manifested at every step of growth. No false motions are made. Nothing is done in a haphazard manner. These things can be accounted for only by "the presence of a single governing power of definite design." The Bible tells us what this is. The everlasting power and Divinity of God are clearly seen in the things that are made. Rom. i. 20.

When a man perceives a good opening, and occupies it, he is said to exercise good judgment. When a man avoids a place where he has met with danger, it is called the exercise of memory and reason. What shall the same things be called in plants? It is evident that they must be called by the same name as in man; but it is also equally evident that the plant itself has no power to remember or to reason; therefore we are shut up to the conclusion that God Himself exercises these functions in the plant; and this being so, since all flesh is grass, it is evident that these faculties in man are simply manifestations of the Lord's presence and working. Erratic movements in man, poor memory and poor judgment, are simply the result of lack of submission or positive opposition to God's Spirit. The blessed assurance is, "Behold, Thy servant shall deal prudently." Isa. Iii. 13.

SURE AND WELL-DIRECTED EFFORT

Note with what precision and certainty the plant proceeds to procure its necessary sustenance. Out of a vast mass of matter at hand, it selects only that which is good for it, and only in such quantity as it needs. No one needs to be told that human plants do not by any means exhibit the same wisdom and prudence. How few there are who know what are the very best things for them to eat,-what is best adapted to their constitution,-and who do not make frequent mistakes in the quantity taken. And yet man boasts of his superior wisdom! Does he do well to boast when he does not exhibit in the most vitally essential things the intelligence that is manifested in the despised plant of the ground?

Take note also of how surely the plant sends out its rootlets to places where there is moisture and nourishment. It makes no mistakes. It does not make any experiments. If water is to the east of it, we do not find it sending out its water carriers to the west. It goes at once and in the most direct manner to the very place where it can make its living. Ah, how often we find men making bad investments! How often a man settles down in a place where there is no possibility of his earning a living, and then is obliged to go elsewhere. Indeed the whole life of very many men is little else than speculation, and too often only failure. Why is it that the man who has a brain, and who claims as his essential characteristic that he is a "reasoning being," so often acts with less evidence of calculation than the grass of the field?

GOD'S WORD GIVEN FREE COURSE

The answer is not far to seek. It is because in the plants of the ground the Word of God is allowed free course, while the human plant imagines that wisdom originated in himself, and that he is in himself capable of directing his own affairs. If the man would unreservedly acknowledge God in all his ways, and not lean to his own understanding, which is nothing at all, he would make no more mistakes than the plant does. We have the word of the Lord for this. The man who makes the law of God his meditation day and night shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water; he will bring forth fruit in its season, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Ps. i. 1-3. Would it not be far better to be humble enough to acknowledge that we have of ourselves no more wisdom than the grass of the field, and always do the right thing at the right time, than to trust in our own supposed wisdom and He continually making failures? We have our choice,-either to boast of our own ability, and make failures, or to confess our ignorance and have true prosperity. But when we come to think of it, there is nothing in failure to boast of, so that boasting is really excluded in every case. We have our boasting for nothing; we might better refrain from boasting, even in our innermost thought, and have something substantial.

THE LESSON FOR US

The great lesson to be learned is this, that God can and will manifest His own wisdom and strength in those who absolutely depend on Him. We may say if we wish to, that He gives wisdom and strength; the Bible uses those terms; but we must bear in mind that He Himself must direct them. "It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." We are not to work the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit of God is to work us. In the plant of the earth we have an object lesson of how completely the Spirit of God can and will use our organs, if we will but receive Him indeed. With no will but God's will, no Spirit but God's Spirit, no life but the life of God, even mortal flesh could exhibit power and wisdom that are beyond human comprehension. Only under such conditions can John xiv. 12 be fulfilled. That means the humility of Jesus, and perfect and unquestioning acceptance of every word of God. Is not the result worth the cost? "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom."

"Imagination Against Knowledge" The Present Truth 14, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

"Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom." Why not?-Because "the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." The result of men's boasting of their own wisdom, and trusting to it, is set forth in Rom. i. 21-23: "When they knew

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God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-footed beasts, and to creeping things." The verb from which the noun rendered "imaginations" is derived, is the one that is translated "to reason," so that the word, as suggested in the margin of 2 Cor. x. 5, might well be rendered "reasonings," instead of "imaginations." That is to say, The so-called reasonings of men who leave God out of the account, are only vain imaginations. How true this is may be clearly seen from a few short extracts from one of the latest and really most scientific works on the subject of botany. It is a work which confines itself largely to statements of actually observed facts, without venturing much in the way of theory, and therein it is truly scientific. What we quote is from the introduction.

EVER SEEKING, NEVER FINDING

"Even though the ultimate sources of vital phenomena remain unrevealed, the desire to represent all processes as effects, and to demonstrate the causes of such effects-a desire which is at the very root of modern research-finds at least partial gratification in tracing a phenomenon back to its approximate cause. In the mere act of linking ascertained facts together, and in the creation of ideas involving interdependence among the phenomena observed, there lies an irresistible charm which is a continual stimulus to fresh investigation. Even though we be sure that we shall never be able to fathom the truth completely, we shall still go on seeking to approach it. The more imaginative an investigator, the more keenly is he goaded to discovery by this craving for an explanation of things, and for a solution of the mute riddle which is presented to us by the forms of plants. It is impossible to overrate the value and efficiency of the transcendent gift of imagination when applied to questions of Natural History."

The Bible student will on reading this at once involuntarily think of men who are "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. iii. 7), which was the case with those described in Rom. i. 21-23; but we will pass on to note the author's own statement as to the real value of this "transcendent gift of imagination."

CONJECTURE UPON CONJECTURE

After mentioning certain objects of research, he says:-

"In all these and similar investigations imagination plays a predominant part. Experiment itself is really a result of the exercise of that faculty. Every experiment is a question addressed to nature. But each interrogation must be preceded by a conjecture as to the probable state of the case; and the object of the experiment is to decide which of the preliminary hypotheses is the right one, or at least which of them approaches nearest to the true solution."

THE HISTORY OF THEORIES

"Every one of our theories has its history. In the first place a few puzzling facts are observed, and gradually others come to be associated with them. A general survey of the phenomena in question suggests the existence of a definite uniformity underlying them; and attempts are made to grasp the nature of such uniformity and to define it in words. Whilst the question thus raised is in suspense, botanists strive with more or less success to answer it, until a master mind appears. He collates the observed facts, gathers from them the law of their harmony, generalises it, and announces the solution of the enigma. But observations continue to multiply; scientific instruments become more delicate, and some of the newly-observed facts will not adapt themselves to the scheme of the earlier generalisation. At first they are held to be exceptions to the rule. By degrees, however, these exceptions accumulate; the law has lost its universality and must undergo expansion, or else it has become quite obsolete, and must be replaced by another. So it has been in all past times, and so it will be in the future. Only a narrow mind is capable of claiming infallibility and permanence for the ideas which the present age lays down as laws of nature."

MASTER OR TINKER

To be always travelling towards a place and never getting there is highly unsatisfactory; but to have no hope of ever getting there is most discouraging. From the foregoing it would seem that many great thinkers are at the best only tinkers. An architect who built houses that would fall down almost as soon as he had finished them, would hardly be called a master builder; so a mind that frames a law that is not even expected to be permanent cannot be called a master mind. There is only one master mind in the universe, and that is the mind of God. Imagining is not thinking. So-called ideas which are the product of imagination, are not ideas at all; they are only shadows. Only God can create ideas. When men are willing to acknowledge this, then they will think to some purpose, for their thoughts will be God's thoughts. "The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations." Ps. xxxiii. 11.

TRUTH NOT UNCERTAINTY

Jesus said, "If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." He Himself is the truth, because He is the fulness of the God of truth. It is possible for men to know the truth. The Holy Spirit is given in order that we may know the things that are freely given us of God. Is it not a most humiliating confession, to be obliged to say that the work of even a "master mind" in science must necessarily in a few years, or even months, be thrown aside, that no one can be sure that any theory he advances is the truth? Can there be any more humiliating confession than the acknowledgment that one has no hope of reaching the object which he is seeking? and to be obliged to say that the foundation which he has laid for his followers to build upon is not a foundation, but only a weak, floating raft that will soon go to pieces? Is not that in reality a confession that one knows nothing? How much better, then, to make that confession to God, and at the same time to confess Him, and to accept His thought, that we may be sure of our ground. He has laid in Zion a tried stone, a sure foundation, and whoever believes shall not be confounded.

When each experiment is preceded by conjecture, then it is evident that one has only conjecture by which to test his work. True it is stated that "the object of the experiment is to decide which of the preliminary hypotheses is the right one, or at least which of them approaches nearest to the true solution;" but when one starts out without knowing where he is going, how can he possibly tell when he gets there? To make a lot of preliminary guesses (for an hypothesis is only a guess), and then to guess which of the guesses is the correct one, is labour spent to no profit. One can never arrive at any definite conclusion that way, and that is what is admitted.

TRUTH A MATTER OF PRIMARY REVELATION

But the truth may be known, and the lesson to be learned from this study is that we must know the truth to begin with. Truth is revealed by God in His

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Word. No man can by searching can find out God, and He alone is the truth. God must reveal Himself to us, and then we know the truth; and this He has done even to babes. The truth is most wonderfully simple. A little child can grasp it, because it has only to be believed to be known. When one knows the truth, then study may be carried on to eternity, and with positive certainty at every step. For we are to grow in the knowledge of the truth. We are not to be studying all our lives to find out what the truth is, but we are to begin with the truth, and to spend all time and eternity as well in exploring it. The knowledge of the truth must precede all observation of phenomena or gathering of facts, if our work is to be to any real profit. Then every fact that is observed can at once be referred to its proper place in the building of God's truth.

IMAGINATION IS IDOLATRY

Imagination is not a gift of God. It is the perversion of God's gift. It is the result of refusing to let God Himself direct the faculties which He has given us, and trying to direct them ourselves. One has no right to imagine anything. Imagination is but an ignis fatuus that leads men into a fog. The first chapter of Romans tells what it does for men. They had the knowledge of God, that is, of the truth, for God had showed it unto them. But they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. They did not like to admit that they were not wise in themselves. So they proceeded to find out the truth by their own "reason." But God is the only source of reason, and "reasoning" without Him is only vain imagination. They saw wisdom and power displayed in the things that are made, and which are growing. But they would not acknowledge that it was God's power and wisdom that were manifested there, for in that case they would have been obliged to acknowledge that it was only by His power and wisdom that they themselves lived and acted and thought. This they would not do, for they professed themselves to be wise; they put themselves in the place of God. Then there was nothing left for them but to say that the things that were made were God, thus changing the truth of God into a lie. Instead of seeing God in everything, they imagined that everything was God, because they rejected the truth to begin with. The truth is that God's power and Divinity are to be seen working in everything that is made; the lie is to say that the power and wisdom originate in the things that are made whether it be men or the grass of the field. When men substituted their own imaginations for pure reason, it naturally followed that they gave those imaginations visible form, and so image worship was the result. Imagination is simply the forming of an image in one's own mind. The image that is formed is only the imagination of the heart made visible. To make images is idolatry, whether they be formed by the hands, or only retained in the heart.

The work of the Gospel is to cast down imaginations. "Every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God," must be overthrown, and every thought must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Imagination has no place in God's work. He deals in facts, not in fancies. The Gospel is a fact. There is no speculation about it. We have only to believe what is real, that which has been done and finished.

Think what heights of knowledge we all might have attained to even in our short lives, and with our meagre advantages, if we had never learned anything but the truth. We might not have been able to make much of a display, but we would have had something of solid value. One bag full of wheat is worth more than a thousand bags full of air. That which made Jesus of Nazareth superior to all the men of His day was the fact that He held Himself rigidly to the truth. Thank God that even though we have turned every one to his own way, and have filled ourselves with winds of teaching, it is never too late to learn the truth. If we come to Jesus in humility, He will transform us by the renewing of our minds, even giving us His own perfect mind.

JESUS CHRIST THE SOURCE OF WISDOM

Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God, and He is of God made unto us wisdom as well as righteousness. God's Word is the only source of wisdom; "for the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." Now since imagination is the deadly foe of the truth and of wisdom, it is evident that in dealing with the Scriptures, above all things, every trace of imagination should be rigidly excluded. Nothing of self must be allowed any place. We must hold ourselves as nothing, not bringing to the study of the Word any preconceived ideas, or rather, what men are pleased to call ideas. We must be silent before the Lord, believing that every word of God is absolute truth, and allowing Him to fill us. Then there will be no mistakes. Then there will be no danger that we shall fall into error. All who do this will see the truth, and will be "perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." Only in this course is there safety. In thus humbly submitting to be taught of God, not presuming to originate a single thought for ourselves, there are possibilities of almost infinite wisdom for the poorest and humblest souls. They who acknowledge God as the One who is all in all, have access to "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

"Let no man deceive himself: if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise." 1 Cor. iii. 18.

"Always Something New; Always Trust" The Present Truth 14, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

When after forty years' wandering in the wilderness the children of Israel were about to cross the Jordan and go into the promised land, Joshua gave them directions about following the ark, that they might know the way they should go; for, said he, "ye have not passed this way heretofore." Joshua iii. 3, 4.

Thus it should always be with the people of God. A new experience should be theirs

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every day. For forty years the children of Israel had been wandering in the wilderness, crossing and recrossing their path, going forward and backward, and making no real advancement. They were always in the same territory.

It need not have been so. All the progress that they made in all those years they could have made in a few days, if they had believed the Lord and obeyed His Word. Immediately after they left Egypt, the word of the Lord to Moses was, "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." Ex. xiv. 15. Going back was not in God's plan for them. The work which He did for them that day, in dividing the Red Sea, so that they might go forward, was amply sufficient to show them the power by which they were to advance. They were always to be treading upon new ground, and consequently they would always need His guidance.

Where they failed was in assuming that after one or two experiences they had learned it all, and could manage for themselves; and this is where people are most likely to fail to-day. "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days." Heb. xi. 30. The people had absolutely nothing to do with the capture of that city; invisible hands had thrown down its walls, without their lifting a finger; all they had had to do was to follow the Lord, and trust: yet when the next city was to be taken, they thought that they knew all about how to do it. Ai was a much smaller city than Jericho, therefore they concluded that only a few of the people of Israel were needed to capture it. But they had not been that way before, and so as they trusted to themselves, they were defeated.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Prov. iii. 5, 6. "The way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Jer. x. 23. There is nothing so simple but that it needs the wisdom of God to understand it thoroughly; nothing so small but that God's own power is needed in order that it be done properly.

Some one will say, "I thought that we were to learn by experience, so that we could know how to do things right ourselves. What is the use of our experience, if we are never to apply it." Ah, the trouble is that we so often misapply it. We do not learn by experience. Take the experiences of the children of Israel. What do they teach us?-Simply this, that when they trusted the Lord it went well with them, and that when they assumed that they knew how to do things themselves they made pitiable mistakes. That which all our experience should teach us is that "power belongeth unto God," and that we have real success only as we trust Him. We are to learn by experience to trust the Lord. The fact that we go on trusting in ourselves, trying to do things, and failing, shows that we do not profit by experience.

How often after having by the grace of God successfully resisted a temptation, and having gained a victory over some besetment, have we assumed that now we knew how to do it, and have met with shameful defeat the next time. There is no saint so skilled in the devices of Satan, and so experienced in gaining victories, that he can win one alone. Though a man walk with God, as Enoch did, for three hundred years, he is no more able to walk alone the last day than he was the first. He is as absolutely dependent on the Lord for strength to resist at the close of that time as he was at the beginning.

The one lesson which God wishes men to learn is submission, and trust In Him. Only by His power are we kept. Never in time or in eternity can a saint of God stand or walk alone. The experienced Christian is not the one who tries to stand alone, but the one who has learned absolutely to trust God in every detail of life. The true overcomers are those who "have no confidence in the flesh."

So in Christian work, that is, work that has to do directly with others besides ourselves. Why is it not more successful? There are thousands of earnest, zealous souls engaged in it; why are not greater results seen? One great reason is that the workers so often assume that experience has taught them how to do it. It is so easy and so natural to make this mistake. By the grace of God we have some measure of success. Straightway we think that now we have learned how the work is done. We went forth at first in fear and trembling, but now success has given us confidence, not in God, but in ourselves. It is vain confidence.

Only when we realise that the work is God's, and not ours, can success attend us. Consider this: When we think that, having become familiar with a certain work, we are able to do it ourselves, and do not feel the need of such absolute dependence on God as at first, but lean more to our own understanding, is it not plain that now we are going round and round over the same ground? We are making no advancement, else we should feel the need of the Lord's guidance in the new territory. Does not this explain the whole matter of the little success that attends so much of the work that is supposedly done for the Lord? 'We have forgotten that it is the Lord's work, and that only He can do it, and have also forgotten that His word is, "Go forward!" The Lord has a large place, which He wishes to bring us into. It is nothing smaller than "the breadth, and length, and depth, and height" of infinity. But we have not been this way heretofore; in this vast field we need a Guide constantly, and we may have one. So although you have gained a thousand victories, trust God for the thousand and first as much as you did for the first one. If you have preached five thousand times, remember that you don't know how yet. In order that real work may be accomplished, the old preacher must go before the people with as great distrust in himself, and as much sense of absolute dependence on God, as he did the first time he ventured to open his mouth. It is always over new ways, and to fresh victories, that the Lord would lead us. "Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."

"For the Children. The Promised Seed" The Present Truth 14, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

Who is the Seed-the precious Seed-that God promised to send into the world to save it from perishing? Have you read the text which tells us, of which we spoke last week, Galatians iii. 16? Thy Seed, which is Christ." Yes, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Jesus is the Seed that God promised should bruise the serpent's head, should cast Satan out of this earth and destroy him, and make it again God's kingdom where only His own plants should bloom for ever.

From the very beginning, when the promise was first made, those who believed it watched eagerly for the coming of the promised Seed. When Cain, the first little baby, was born, and his mother Eve said, "I have gotten a man from the Lord," she earnestly hoped that she held in her arms the One who was to be her Saviour. But, alas, how sadly disappointed she must have been when, as he grew up, his pride and jealousy and hatred of his brother showed all too plainly that he "was of that wicked one." Instead of the Son of God, they had got a son in their own image; for we learned how they themselves became "the children of the wicked one," through receiving his word in the place of the Word of God.

Many years passed before the promise of God was fulfilled, and no doubt many a mother, like Eve, longed that the precious. Seed might he given to her care. So that is people should not lose hope, God often repeated through His prophets the promise of the Seed. And at last, "when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son; born of a woman." You all know the story, how the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, and told her that she should have son, and the Holy Child "the Son of God."

Think of the wonder of His love, not only that God should give His only begotten son, but that Jesus, who was "in the form of God," and had all the riches and glory of heaven, should give it all up for our sakes, and come into this world of sorrow and take the form of sinful man.

You will remember one lesson that we learned from the seed was that each thing must grow "after its kind." And so Jesus, the son of God, although He no longer had the form of God, but "was made in the likeness of men," grew up in this earth just as perfect, pure and holy, as He was in heaven. And its "the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was, upon Him," His loving mother and those who watched Him knew that He was indeed the Son of God, so God-like was He, so loving, gentle, kind, and obedient.

But oh, it will not do us any good to know that Jesus once came and lived in this earth, unless this precious Seed be sown in our own hearts. Jesus, the Word of God "was made flesh and dwelt among us; "He lived here as a little child like you, just to show what you may be, what sort of plant you will become, if you let Him, the Word of God, the good seed, dwell in your heart. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name."

The Spirit of life, the Spirit of Jesus, is

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in the precious seed of the Word, just as it is in the seed that is sown in the earth. And so when you listen to the Word of God, and believe it, and receive it into your heart, the power which makes the seed spring up out of the earth, each "after its kind," will "form Christ within you," and fill you with His pure and holy life, just as naturally as roses grow on rose trees, and apples on apple trees, and grapes on the vine.

"The Birth of Jesus" The Present Truth 14, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

And Mary brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for Him in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, "Fear not; for, beheld, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men."

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord has made known unto us."

"And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger."

"Not a Laughing Matter" The Present Truth 14, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

At the recent Sanitary Congress in Birmingham, Dr. Niven, health officer of Manchester, gave facts to prove that "at present an enormous stream of infectious milk is pouring into our cities, and that the matter is true one of urgency." This milk may pass all the tests required, and yet may be spreading disease and death all the time.

"In dealing with meat infected with consumption, Dr. Niven stated that his

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own impression was that the amount of such meat actually consumed as food was under-estimated. The muscular substance in meat is rarely infected, but the fat and the glands constantly are, and ordinary cooking does not destroy the infectious matter."

Of course a resolution was passed urging immediate legislation in these matters. There is no doubt but that closer inspection will result in diminishing the amount of diseased meat sold, but there is only one absolute remedy, and that is one which lies in every individual's power. It is simply to abstain from the eating of flesh, and to use the foods which God designed that man should eat. It is very unfashionable not to eat the flesh of dead animals, and those who do not follow the fashion are usually laughed at as mildly insane; but it is a good deal better to be unfashionable, and to be laughed at, than to have scrofula and consumption. "He laughs best who laughs last."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

-A second crop of strawberries has been gathered in a garden at Tottenham.

-The buildings, walks, and ornamentation of the Paris Exhibition of 1900 will cost ?4,000,000.

-The income-tax in India is levied on all incomes of ?33 and upward, and then only one man in 700 comes within its scope.

-The sweet, or China orange, was first brought into Europe from China by the Portuguese in 1547. Orange trees were first brought to England and planted with little success in 1595.

-A destructive hurricane is reported from Georgia which inflicted much damage to property, while the loss of life is estimated at 100. Many small vessels were wrecked, the crews in some instances been drowned.

-The average supply of wine produced annually in Europe is sufficient to supply every man and woman of the adult population of this continent with over one bottle of wine per head during each week throughout the year.

-During the past few days some fifty foreign Anarchists have been expelled from France. Ever since the assassination of President Carnot the detective service has kept the closest possible watch on all persons known or suspected as militant Anarchists. Against any foreigner believed to be a dangerous character and expulsion decree has been at once issued.

-Fifty thousand workmen are out on strike in Paris for an increase of wages.

-A little steamboat on the Jordan River makes regular trips from Jericho to the south end of the Dead sea.

-Owing to an extensive underground fire raging near Sunderland the drinking water runs warm from the taps.

-Notwithstanding of occasional showers, this water famine in the East-end continues, and a large increase in fever cases is reported from the district.

-The Kaiser takes with him to Palestine eighteen picked men of the body guard of enormous stature, including the biggest man in the German Army.

-The arrival of a number of negroes in Illinois to take the place of miners out on strike was followed by a desperate battle. A number were killed on both sides.

-A fine of ?50 has been imposed on demand for selling putrid condensed milk. It was marked as unfit for human use, but he obliterated the marks, and tried to dispose of it.

-A town in the West of Ireland consists of a gaol, a court-house, a police barrack, two or three churches, a convent, two long narrow streets and seventy-nine public-houses!

-Some ladies opened a coffee-stall for the benefit of hop-pickers at Sissinghurst. It was extensively patronised, no case of drunkenness occurring in the village during its continuance.

-The situation caused by the spread of yellow fever in the State of Mississippi grows more serious, and it is feared the entire State will be infected unless the weather soon becomes cooler.

-The Spanish forces have been required by the American Government to evacuate Cuba by the 18th instant. American control in Cuba will be established on December 1, regardless of Spanish delay.

-The drought has seriously affected the foundations of many houses around London, especially on the slopes in the South-eastern district. The shrinking of the clay soil has led to a settlement, causing walls to crack.

-The German Emperor's tour in the East comprised a three weeks' visit to Egypt, but to the general surprise, and the consternation of the hotel-keepers in that country, this part of the programme has been suddenly abandoned.

-The men who have returned from the Nile campaign are dying in large numbers at Alexandria from enteric fever. It is believed that ten per cent. are already affected, the disease being largely due to the immoderate use of cheap spirits.

-The abolition of fees in the Evening Continuation Schools by the London School Board has doubled the attendance this season. The applications in the first week of this session were about 50,000, as compared with about 25,000 in September, 1897.

-Fashoda has emerged from its desert obscurity to the front rank of International importance. Both England and France talk of supporting their claims to the place by war if necessary, but it is expected that the question will be diplomatically settled, France claiming compensation elsewhere for her disappointment.

-When the Russian, British and German troops entered Peking last week, it was observed that although Russia had agreed to bring the same number of men as the other Powers, she had brought more than twice as many. French and Italian troops are soon expected to arrive, and the Japanese Government has ordered a force of blue-jackets to land at Peking for the protection of their Legation.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

Nine Italian Anarchists have been arrested at Alexandria, for being concerned in a plot against the German Emperor. Some very powerful bombs were found in their possession, and the capture is considered as of the greatest importance.

There are rumours of a military plot in Paris to overthrow the Republic, and place the Army officials in a position where it would be treason to question their acts or doubt their honour. The rumours are denied, but the credence they receive is significant. Large numbers of troops have been concentrated in Paris, ostensibly on account of the strike, but this is questioned in many quarters. No one can look over the political situation without feeling that Europe is on the eye of a great eruption. Just where the volcano will burst is an anxious problem.

Christ is the True Vine. His people are the branches. The vine is nothing without its branches, for only by these can it bear fruit and demonstrate its value. So Christ identifies Himself to the full with His people. He commits His name to them and makes them His witnesses, not revealing Himself apart from them but in them. Unless they bear the fruit "which are by Jesus Christ," He is shown to the world as unprofitable and barren. This has been too much the case, and the world has not known His love for them because the church, "which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all," has not revealed it. To the world Christ has been largely an empty name. When the church abides in Him and glorifies Him by bearing much fruit, His fulness will appear, and men will know what He is, and be drawn to Him.

An Oxford professor has lately written an article in the Contemporary on "The Earliest Religion of the Ancient Hebrews," in which he claims that the Jehovah cult is not an Isolated system of worship, but was in its earliest beginnings identical with the very far-spread adoration of the moon god, who was in antiquity boat known under the name of Sin.

This is not referred to because it is better worth notice than any other product of heathenism, but because of the remarkable way in which one largely circulated religious paper introduces the article to its readers. It observes that "old-fashioned Bible readers" will find it difficult to swallow this statement, but proceeds to make it manifest that the new-fashioned kind are not so hard to be convinced. The paper concludes its review of the article in these words:-

It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that the theory, if substantiated, though sufficiently startling, in no way affects the belief in the Divine origin of the revelation through the Hebrew race. It only touches some of the details of the road along which the revelation has travelled.

It will be noticed from this that it is not deemed impossible that the Professor may he right after all. But this would make no difference. How much is that faith in the Bible worth which is prepared to believe that Jehovah once made Himself known to people as the Moon-God? When men are willing to allow that the true God and false gods are identical, it simply means that their own god is a false god, and they have relapsed into heathenism, in spite of the name they bear. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. Some things that call themselves "Christian" are inspired by Satan.

The Welsh mining strike has resulted, it is estimated, in a direct loss of ?1,800,000, in wages, and the engineering dispute not less than ?1,700,000. And that is only a small part of the loss to the country. But considering the lose to the workmen alone, it can readily be seen that it would take a very large increase of wages to make it up. Common sense, leaving the Gospel entirely out of the question, ought to teach men that a strike is the worst possible way to settle any labour difficulty. It is only a kind of war, and nothing is ever settled by fighting of any kind except with the weapons of the Holy Spirit. Of injustice there is an abundance, but it is better for any man to work for small wages than not to work at all. God Himself has promised to "maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor." The trouble is that people are afraid to trust Him, and take matters into their own hands. "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." The wildest dreams of labour reformers cannot hope to be consummated in a time sooner than the Lord will certainly come to judge the poor with righteousness. "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." It requires only the patience of the farmer, who waits until the harvest for the fruit of the seed which he sows in the spring.

"Real Enjoyment" The Present Truth 14, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

Real Enjoyment .-Self enjoyment is the world's idea of happiness. "How are you enjoying yourself?" is one of the most common questions; and "I am enjoying myself very much," is the common term to express perfect satisfaction. If one is enjoying himself, nothing more is thought to be needed. Ah, how small enjoyment that is! He who has nothing but himself to enjoy, has a very limited range of enjoyment. And very mean enjoyment it is, too. God would have us enjoy something far better, and so He gives us Himself. "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." Rom. v. 10, 11. Here is true enjoyment, the enjoyment of God. He who enjoys God has an unlimited and eternal field of enjoyment. God gives Himself to us in Christ, in whom are all things, and so it is that He "giveth us richly all things to enjoy." 1 Tim. vi. 17. When people learn that "every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights," and that we have no good thing except in Him, they will cease asking their friends, "How are you enjoying yourself," and will say, instead, "How are you enjoying the Lord?"

"Accept Only the Mind of Christ" The Present Truth 14, 42.

E. J. Waggoner

Accept Only the Mind of Christ .-The Bishop of Ripon, in his presidential address at the opening of the recent Church Congress, quoted with approval the words of Dean Stanley, that "the error of Christendom" has been "that it has put aside the mind of Christ, and taken in place thereof the mind of Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, great in their way, but not the mind of Him of whom we read in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John." That is frank, and true; why not, then, adopt the simple remedy of coming back to the mind of the Lord, as given in the Holy Scriptures, and holding to that alone. That mind is great; enough and comprehensive enough to employ the thoughts of all men to all eternity? Such statements as that just quoted should be known by all the people, in order that they may not any longer appeal to the Church, which has confessedly wandered from the Lord, but may rest on His Word alone. "Let this mind be in you, which; was in Christ Jesus."

October 27, 1898

"God's Beautiful Preachers" The Present Truth 14, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth." Isa. Iii. 7.

There is more than one preacher of this class, for when the Apostle Paul quotes this scripture, he, uses the plural, saying, "It is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, that bring glad tidings of good, things!" Rom. x. 15.

It is true that the text speaks only of the feet of these preachers, calling them beautiful, while we are talking about God's beautiful preachers; but since the feet are the most humble members of the body, it necessarily follows that if the feet are beautiful, the whole body must be beautiful also. May we know who these beautiful preachers are?-Certainly, or else we cannot know the message that they bear. Let us see what the Scriptures have to say about them, and we shall learn something valuable about preaching the Gospel, as well as something of the glory of the Gospel.

In Rom. x. 13, we have the statement that "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Then follow some questions, designed to emphasise the tact that all have had an opportunity to know the Lord, and to call upon Him. Thus: "How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent?" All these questions suggest their own answer. But some have been sent, as is shown by what follows: "As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" So since some have been sent, it is evident that there are preachers; and since there are preachers, it follows that people have heard; and since they have heard, they have had a chance to believe, and to call upon the name of the Lord.

Passing by the statement that "they have not all obeyed the Gospel," and that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God," we come to the question, "But I say, Have they not all heard?" Heard what?-The Word of the Gospel, of course, for that is the only thing under consideration. "Yes, verily," they have all heard the Gospel, but they have not all believed it. Now for the proof that all have heard it: "Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." Whose words went unto the ends of the world?-The words of the beautiful preachers of whom the Apostle has just spoken as preaching the Gospel of peace, and bringing glad tidings of good things.

So far it is all very clear. Now who are these beautiful preachers of the Gospel, whose words have gone unto the ends of

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the world?-The answer is found in the scripture from which the Apostle has quoted. It is Ps. xix. 4. It is the bodies which God created to be in the firmament of the heavens, to give light upon the earth, whose "line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." The sun, moon, and stars, and the firmament itself, are the preachers whose feet are so beautiful upon the mountains, as they come preaching the Gospel of peace. And truly their feet are beautiful. Who has not been filled with ecstasy as he has seen the sun lighting up the hilltops, or the soft light of the moon upon the mountains? Beautiful preachers they are indeed.

Glory is power, for we read in Rom. vi. 4, that "Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father," and in, Eph. i. 19, 20 that the resurrection of Christ was a manifestation of the working of the mighty power of God. Therefore the heavens, in declaring the glory of God, are proclaiming His power.

And the power of God is salvation; for the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and "His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." 2 Peter i. 3. So the heavens proclaim the salvation of the Lord. Thus, as rendered in the best translations, "Jehovah hath made bare His holy arm in the sight of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God." Isa. Iii. 10. Take notice that this statement directly follows the verse first quoted, about the beautiful messengers of good tidings, publishing salvation.

So the heavenly bodies are God's model preachers. They preach simply shining. That is the way that Jesus Himself preached. He was the light of the world. It was the shining of His life that taught men. He is the Light that lights every man that cometh into the world, and whosoever follows Him shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life, even of His life.

Would you be one of God's beautiful preachers? You do not need to be eloquent. It is not actually necessary that you be able to speak at all. You have only to let Christ shine upon you, and to allow God to make your heart His sanctuary, and then He that sitteth between the cherubim will "shine forth." "It is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." The one thing that the world needs is to see God in His works, that they may learn His ways. Then "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Hezekiah's Great Passover. 2 Chron. xxx. 1-13" The Present Truth 14, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

NOVEMBER 6

At the time of Hezekiah's accession to the throne, the worship of God had fallen into sad decay in the land of Judah. The king's father, Ahaz, during a reign of sixteen years, had gradually made up his mind that there was no profit in serving Jehovah or maintaining His worship. The treasures of the temple had been used to purchase the alliance of heathen kings, "for Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the Lord, and gave it unto the king of Assyria; but he helped him not." The reign of Ahaz was filled with disaster, but although the prophets Micah, Hosea, and Isaiah, proclaimed faithfully the cause of the evils, and exhorted the people to return to the Lord, to find in quietness and confidence the needed strength, they would not hearken. Instead they leaned upon those who smote them, for Ahaz 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." At last Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut them in pieces, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

RE-OPENING THE TEMPLE

As a consequence, when Hezekiah was made king, at the age of twenty-five, the house of God was in a deplorable condition. Before be had been on the throne a month he opened the doors of the temple and repaired them. Although the father of Hezekiah had been an infidel, his mother was the daughter of a prophet, and to her training of him was doubtless due the stand he took on the aide of the Lord. He gathered the priests and Levites together, and exhorted them to sanctify themselves, and then cleanse the temple, removing all the filth that had accumulated. In eight days this work was accomplished, and sin-offerings were made on behalf of all the people. By His prophets God gave directions concerning the order of the proceedings. As the people joined in the solemn service of confession and re-consecration of themselves and the temple to God, their hearts were filled with gladness and thanksgiving. "And Hezekiah rejoiced and all the people that God had prepared the people, for the thing was done suddenly."

"A SHORT WORK"

It was a marvellous change. A month before the worship of God had seemed dead and forgotten, Now it had revived and all the congregation was rejoicing in the Lord. No man would have dared to predict such a reformation, and if anyone had proposed it, the general expectation would have been that it would take a longtime to accomplish. But God's arm was not shortened. All through the years of the reign of Ahaz one disaster after another had fallen upon the nation, and its enemies had triumphed over it, because Judah had not leaned upon the strong arm of their ever-present Deliverer. Now the first recognition of His presence was meeting with such a response of spiritual power and blessing that their hearts were filled with rejoicing. The barren years of the past might all have been as full of blessing as this week was proving, and it was not God's fault that they had been so different. We may learn from this that when we come to God sinful and unworthy, His temple polluted and abandoned to filth, "which temple ye are," our past lives but a record of idolatry and abominable deeds, God does not turn away from us. He gladly takes such people and prepares them suddenly.

UNFAITHFUL SHEPHERDS

There is one feature of the history which demands attention, because it is ever present in a work of reform. At the preparation of the burnt offerings, not all the priests had sanctified themselves, "for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests." In Christ's day, the question was asked, "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharsees

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believed on, Him?" and there were many who did not dare to confess Him for fear of being put out of the synagogue. It was not until many days after Christ's ascension that we read, "a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." Acts vi. 7. So in Hezekiah's reformation it was not until all the people had come in, even from the provinces of apostate Israel, that the priests and Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves. 2 Chron. xxx. 15. Yet, in spite of the truth which is repeated so often in the Scriptures, that God alone is the head of every man, and that no one is to be conscience for another, we find men to-day asking the ministers and church leaders believe. When an old truth shines anew from the sacred Word, men who profess to be God's servants, excuse themselves from accepting or obeying it, because the ministers have not done so. Many who learn that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, ask, "Why do not the ministers preach it then?" If the people had waited for the priests, Judah would never have seen the reformation, and those who wait now for others to obey before they receive the word, may wait for ever. When God prepared the hearts of the people they waited for no man, and the thing was done suddenly. So the prophets of Hezekiah's day tell us that the remnant of Jacob, in the last days, shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, "that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men." Micah v. 7. "Ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men." Hosea x. 13.

OBSERVING THE PASSOVER

While the people were assembled at the re-dedication services, it was decided among them that the Passover should be observed. The proper time for this was the first month, but rather than wait a whole year for the privilege, they agreed, and the Lord approved their decision, that the Passover should be kept in the second month. Letters were sent throughout Judah and Israel calling all the people to Jerusalem to join in the service. The promise was given, perhaps through Isaiah, that if the people would yield themselves unto the Lord, and come once more to His sanctuary, the fierceness of His wrath should be turned away from. them, end those of them that had already been carried away captive should return to the land. Even then, on the very eve of Israel's capitivity and dispersion, Jehovah's love for them was as strong as ever. He was still ready to do for them all the good things that were promised to the obedient, if they would turn to Him with all their hearts. "So the posts passed from city to city . . . but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them." "Nevertheless divers humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem."

REJOICING IN THE LORD

All Judah joined with one heart in the celebration of the Passover, and a great company assembled at Jerusalem. They brake down all the idolatrous altars in Jerusalem and cast them into the brook Kidron. Many of the people were ignorant of the cleansing that God had prescribed for those who should eat the Passover, "yet did they eat the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart so seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people." So there was great gladness among all the people, and they made the air ring with their songs of praise, "singing with loud instruments unto the Lord." The Levites taught the good knowledge of the Lord, and the people had such a joyful time together, that it was unanimously decided to keep another seven days in the same way. So there was great joy, for since the time of Solomon there was not the like in Jerusalem. And their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to God's holy dwelling-place, even unto heaven.

"PRAISE IS COMELY"

"Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion!" Ps. lxv. 1: "Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely." Ps. cxlvii. 1. God inhabits the praises of Israel, but too often, instead of building Him a glorious habitation of praise and thanksgiving, His people cause Him to dwell in a silent, deserted house, in sad need of cleansing and repair. God loves to be praised by His children, not for the sake of being praised, but because He delights to fill their mouth with laughter and their tongue with singing over the great things He has done for them. He puts gladness in men's hearts more than in the time that their wine and oil increase. When men praise God with their whole heart it means that they are waking up to some appreciation of His everlasting love for them by proving it in their own lives. When Israel could be persuaded for awhile to fix their eyes on the Lord, it always let in a flood of rejoicing. If it were not that we are equally blameworthy, we would wonder that men could ever be so foolish as to drop back again into the chilly darkness of despair. Yet they did, and their history is written for us that we should not fall after the same example of unbelief.

"A Really Good Man" The Present Truth 14, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

"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." "A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." Luke vi. 43, 43.

From good only good can come. A good man does only good things. A good man can no more do bad things, than a good tree can bear bad fruit. "Every tree is known by his own fruit." No matter what the appearance of a tree may be, its fruit is the test of its character. If it looks good, and yet brings forth poor fruit, that shows that its pretences are false. Even so if a man professes to be good, and is called good, and yet does bad things, that shows his profession to be a vain one.

But what is it to be good, and to do good deeds? The last part of this question answers the whole. To be a good man is to do good deeds, "He that doeth righteousness is righteous." 1 John iii. 7. Not that doing good deeds makes one good. Far from it. It is the being good that makes one do good deeds. The good deeds are the natural, inevitable result of the goodness that is within. But the good deeds are the measure of the man's goodness. To be good is to do good, for goodness is active. Righteousness is right doing. Just as a man cannot do good unless he is good, so a man cannot be good without doing good. It is the fault of mere "professors" of religion, that the world has for the most part a false idea of what Christianity is. It is too often thought to be mere sentiment, the holding of certain correct ideas. Passing by all false ideas, we come direct to the truth, which is that Christianity is a life,-the life. To be a Christian, is to live right. Christianity is the life of Christ in men and women. One's life is made up of what one does; of everything that one

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does. Every moment of a man's life, and every act, goes to make up his life. Every act of the true Christian is a Christian act. That means that every act of the true Christian is a Christlike act,-an act which is the product of Christ's life.

Christ is the standard of Christianity. He is "the Son of man." He is "the Man." Only as one is in Him, can one be "a perfect man." Eph. iv. 13. Christ is the representative Man. He is God's idea of what a man ought to be. In Him we find the reality of God's ideal as to man. That is to say, that every real man, every true man, every perfect man, must be a Christian. Just to the extent that a man is below the standard of Christ's life, is he below the standard of a perfect man; he is so much less than a man.

People often complain of the narrowness of their sphere. They long for great things. They feel that their field is too narrow to allow any real expansion to their lives. They despise the humdrum of the everyday round of duties. Such should remember that the greater part of Christ's life on earth was lived in an obscure town of mean reputation, and that there He was but a common labourer. Only the last three years of His life was he before the public as a teacher and preacher. At twelve years of age, a Jewish child was reckoned a member of the synagogue, to which only men belonged, and at that age, Jesus, who was subject to His parents, would naturally begin to take an active share in the work of the family. At thirty He began His public ministry. Therefore we see that eighteen years of His life were spent as a carpenter. That is, His experience as a carpenter was just six times as long as His career as a public teacher.

But during all that time He was the Son of God. He was the Saviour, Christ the Lord, just as really while He was working at the carpenter's bench, as when He was teaching and healing diseases. He was doing the will of God just as really, and just as perfectly, when He was driving the saw and the plane, as when He was silencing the Pharisees, blessing little children, and making the lame to walk. "God was with Him" when He was a carpenter in Nazareth, just the same as when He was going about and "healing all that were oppressed of the devil;" for He says to the Father, "Thou art My trust from My youth." These are simple facts in the life of Christ that are too often overlooked, but which it is necessary to remember if we would live the real Christian life.

Did you ever hear the question asked, "What kind of carpenter was Jesus of Nazareth?" Do you say that it is impossible to answer it? that we have no statement about it? Not so; we know just as well as we know anything about Him, that He was a good carpenter. How do we know that? We know it from the fact that "God was with Him," and that He was a good man. God was in Him, and that was what made Him "the Man." If He had not been a good carpenter, He would not have been a good man. If this seems irreverent to anyone, it is because he has not accustomed himself to think what it moans to be a Christian. To be a Christian means to be a good man,-just such a man as Christ was; and a good man is one who does everything well that he has to do. Remember the axiom that being good means doing good work, not a part of the time, but all the time. It does not mean doing some things well and other things poorly, but doing well everything that he professes to do. More than half the earthly life of Jesus was spent as a carpenter. It is evident therefore that if He had not done good work as a carpenter there would have been a large part of His life when He was not good, and this thought cannot be entertained for a moment.

As before stated, and as it must be evident to every person, it takes every act of a man's life to make up his life. There is not a single thing that one has to do as a carpenter, a farmer, a housekeeper, a dressmaker, or as a servant in any line whatever, that does not go to make, up the life. Now if one is a Christian, every one of these acts, no matter how seemingly in. significant, must be a Christian act, that is, an act that comes from the life of Christ dwelling in the person; for the Christian has not two lives, but only one, and that the life of Christ.

In this connection a few texts might be read with profit, as showing that the Gospel is concerned with every detail of one's life and work. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Eccl. ix. 10. "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ." Col. iii. 33, 34. "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." Verse 17.

From all this it is evident that for a professed Christian to do poor work, to slight his work, and not to put the full measure of his strength into everything that he does, is a disgrace to his profession. It is to dishonour Christ. Since Christianity does not consist merely in singing hymns and making prayers, and in doing certain acts of benevolence, but in the whole of the daily life, it follows that the true Christian, being a good man, will be a good workman in whatever line he follows. Of course all men are not equally adapted to the same thing; but the man who is led by the Spirit of the Lord will not make the mistake of choosing labour to which he is not adapted. Having been guided to the right thing, to the work that God has given him to do, he will be guided by the same Spirit to perfection; for in Christ there is perfection.

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Ps. i. 1-3. There is no exception here. Everything that the godly man does shall prosper. There is nothing that concerns any human being, that is too small for God to be interested in, and to direct. There is nothing in this world, of anything that needs to be done, that is so small and insignificant that it can be done right without the power of God. And whatever is done wholly in His strength, must be done in the best possible manner.

Every inspired prayer is a promise. The Spirit "maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God;" therefore when the Spirit prompts a prayer, we know that it is God's will that we should have the thing prayed for. Now in

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the prayer of Moses the man of God we read, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work, of our hands establish Thou it." Ps. xc. 17. So then if one is consciously and willingly a dweller in God, the work of his hands, no matter in what line, whether great or small according to man's estimate, will be established. Everything that he does will be done so well that it will stand throughout eternity. He will not be engaged in a business that he will be ashamed of in the Judgment, as the work that he does will be such that he will not be ashamed to have it exhibited there. Isn't that a glorious possibility?

Christianity is not a small matter. To be a good man means a great deal more than most people think. The true idea of Christianity, if accepted, would make a complete revolution in ore's whole life. A few such Christians in every community would make a vast difference in that community, even though they were but day labourers. Would that all professed Christians would rightly represent "the Man Christ Jesus!" Would that all might more perfectly comprehend the high calling of God in Christ Jesus! Then men would see that "godliness is profitable unto all things;" and the time would soon come when God's kingdom would come, and His will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

THE GLORY OF THE HEAVENS

Gen. i. 14-18: "And God said, Let there be lights In the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days, and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; He made the stare also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good."

Isa. xl. 26: "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who bath 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."

Ps. lxxxix. 35-37: "Once have I sworn by Thy holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and His throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established for over as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven."

Jer. xxxi. 35-36: "Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stare for n 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 He, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever."

Ps. viii. 1: "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! who hast set Thy glory upon the heavens."

Ps. xix. 1-7: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language; their voice cannot be heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course. His going forth is front the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord is perfect converting; the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."

Ps. lxxxiv. 11: "The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory."

John viii. 12: "Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the Light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Eph. vï 14: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee."

Mal. iv. 2: "Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings."

2 Cor. iv. 6: "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."

Matt. v. 14, 16: "Ye are the light of the world." "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Isa. Ix. 1-3: "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, nor gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory he seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising."

Matt. xvii. 1, 2: "Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up unto a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light."

Phil. iii. 20, 21: "Our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself."

Matt. xiii. 13: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."

Dan. xii. 3: "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

God's everlasting power and Divinity are seen in the things that He has made, and in nothing do they more plainly appear than in the heavenly bodies. They are where they can be seen by all, and

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they speak a language that all can understand.

No sound is heard from the sun, moon and stars; that is why they can speak to the understanding of all. If they used any of the languages of earth, only a portion of the people could comprehend their speech; but by their silent shining forth of the glory of God, their words have gone to the ends of the earth, so that "all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God;" for God's glory is His power, and His power is salvation.

The sun, moon, and stars did not create themselves. They are not the originators of the light which they send forth. It is God's glory that they declare by simply letting it shine, as He has put it upon them. The light which they give to the earth is light direct from the presence of the Lord; it is indeed the light of His presence.

God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all; and Christ is the shining of His glory. So Christ is the light of the world. He is the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. We cannot have the fact too strongly impressed upon our minds that Christ is the light of the world, that is, He is all the light there is. The light that rejoices our eyes every day, is really the personal presence of Christ with us. If these scriptures were but real to us, what a difference it would make in our lives. We should know that we are constantly in the presence of the Lord.

As Christ is the light of the world, so are His true followers. but it is only as His light is allowed to pass through us; that we are the light of the world. Christ shines upon us, and it we are sincere, that is, if there is nothing in us to obstruct the light, the light shines through us, and we share His glory. What a wonder, that Christ will let mortal men occupy the same relation to the world that He Himself does!

The same light which God commanded to shine out of darkness, is the light which He shines into our hearts. Do not forget that the light that shines upon us new every morning is to enable us to behold our God.

Jesus said: "The glory which 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; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me." John xvii. 22, 23. The glory of God, which Christ has given us, marks us as sons of God, even as He is. We are joint-heirs with Christ, and the Father loves us even as He loves Him. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him; for we shall see. Him as He is." 1 John iii. 2. The glory is not now recognised in us as the glory of God, even as it was not in Christ, except on the mount of transfiguration; but when He comes, the glory of His grace, with which He has filled us, will shine forth, so that our bodies will shine like His glorious body. But His body shines above the brightness of the sun. And the glory in which the saints will at last appear, is but the glory which now is given to them in the form of grace and truth. So the lesson that we are to learn is that the power that is revealed in the whole heavens, is the power that is given no, to enable us to live to the glory of God.

"Revealing the Glory" The Present Truth 14, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. iv. 6.

Other versions give the verse something like this: "For God, who said that light should shine out of darkness, has let it shine into our hearts." This is not perhaps so exactly literal a rendering, but it makes emphatic the fact that is contained in the text, that the light which in the beginning God caused to shine out of darkness, is the same light that He lets shine in our hearts. And why does He let it shine into our hearts? "To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

One may read this text very many times without getting the full benefit of it. It is only when we consider it in relation to what goes before, and remember what the general subject of these chapters is that we can get the force of these words. One ordinarily thinks that God has shined this light into our hearts, in order to give us the light of the knowledge of His glory. It is true that that result will follow as a matter of course; but what the text teaches is that the light shines into our hearts for the sake of others, to give to others the light of God's glory. God makes His people the light of the world, not for their own sakes, but for the sake of others.

If anyone will read carefully from the latter part of the second chapter of 2 Corinthians to the first part of the sixth chapter, paying no attention to the chapter divisions, but reading all as one connected letter, he will see what is meant. In the latter part of the sixth chapter we read, that God "maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place." Compare this with the test first quoted. Then in the third chapter we read that God has made us able to be ministers of the new covenant, that is, ministers of the Spirit; and so follows a statement of the glory of this ministration. It is the glory which transfigured the face of Moses, as he talked face to face with the Lord. The children of Israel would not look upon this glory, and so they remained in darkness; but we, beholding this glory with unveiled face, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory. Here we learn what effect the glory has upon us personally when it shines upon us.

"Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not." 2 Cor. iv. 1. Here we learn that this shining of the glory upon us is not simply for our sakes, but it is that we may minister it to others. "But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 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." Then passing on into the fifth chapter we read that we are ambassadors for Christ, since God has put the word and ministry of reconciliation into us, and beseeches sinners by us even as He did by Him. "We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." 2 Cor. vi. 1.

Surely no one can fail to see that God designs that every one of His people should shine the light of His glory forth to the world, even as the heavens do and as Christ did. "For so hath He commanded us, saying, I have set thee

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to be a light of, the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." Acts xiii. 47. The glory which God has given to Christ, He has given to us, and for the same purpose that He has it, namely, that we may shine as lights in the world, and thus glorify God. "Glorify Thy Son, that Thy: Son also may glorify Thee." John xvii. 1. "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." John xv. 8.

"I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Rom. viii. 18. "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified." Verses 28-30. God has glorified His Son Jesus, and has given us the same glory that He has given Him. By beholding Him we are conformed to His image, so that we are His brethren, He being the firstborn. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 1 John iii. 2. The glory that God has given us does not appear to the eyes of the world, even as the glory of Christ did not. Yet those who were enlightened by the Spirit, saw the glory of Christ, "the glory as of the only begotten full of grace and truth." John i. 14. So the glory which God gives us is now in the form of grace and truth; but when the Lord will come it will shine forth so that all may recognise it as glory.

What is the measure of that glory? "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Eph. iv. 7. When Christ was on the mount of transfiguration, the glory that was in Him as grace and truth shone forth, so that "His face did shine as the sun." Matt. xvii. 2. Therefore when He comes, and we appear like Him, "then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matt. xiii. 43. That is, the glory which God even now gives us, is the glory of the sun. But glory is power, the power of grace, so that the power which God gives us now, not simply to enable us to be saved, but to bring others to salvation, is the power that is manifested in the whole heavens. "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Daniel xii. 3. Therefore, "Arise, shine!"

"God's Faithfulness" The Present Truth 14, 43.

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.

Christ is God's Chosen, in whom His soul delights (Isa. xlii. 1), and He is the Seed of David. Rom. i. 3. He is "the Root and the Offspring of David." Rev. xxii. 16. The tabernacle of David, that is fallen down, is to be built up by the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts ii. 14-17), and the throne of David is to be perpetuated to all generations through the resurrection of Christ. Acts ii. 29-31. But by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead all who believe are begotten unto a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 1 Peter i. 3-5. Therefore the covenant with David, unto which God swore, is the covenant that assures us an inheritance among the saints in light; and so we see that it is identical with the covenant with Abraham, to which God swore by Himself, and which gives us strong consolation and hope of salvation through Jesus Christ. Heb. vi. 13, 20.

The Seed of David is the Seed of Abraham, and if we are Christ's we are a part of this Seed, and heirs according to the promise. Gal. iii. 29. So we find in the following scripture the direct promise of eternal life to us: "Once have I sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David. His Seed shall endure for over, and His throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established for ever as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven." As surely as the sun and moon endure, so surely will God give eternal life to every one who trusts Him. His faithfulness is written in the heavens. The sun and moon are witnesses to it.

"When God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself." This was not for Abraham's sake, but for our sake. Abraham did not need the oath for confirmation, because his faith was perfect before the oath was made; but it was given that we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us." "God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, interposed Himself by an oath." Heb. vi. 17, margin.

Do you realise what is involved in the oath of God? how strong the consolation is? Think of it a moment, and when you have grasped its meaning, you may continue to think of it forever. He promised salvation to every one who would accept it in faith; to all who would simply trust Him to save them. Then He pledged Himself its surety for the fulfilment of the promise. He interposed Himself between us and the possibility of failure, staking His own existence upon the result. When one pledges anything, it is well known that the thing pledged is lost if the price is not paid, or the vow performed. So in swearing by Himself God put Himself in the position where He would forfeit His own existence if His promise should fail.

Let us in passing remember that this promise is to all. "Whosoever will, let him come." God has chosen the poor of

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this world. James ii. 5. "And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen." 1 Cor. i. 28. If God's promise should fail in the case of the poorest or the most insignificant and despised of human beings, that would be a failure just the same as if He should reject the whole world. If one poor soul should come to Him and fail to find forgiveness for a sin confessed, or help in time of need, that would be a failure of God's promise, to which He swore by Himself, and therefore that very moment God would cease to exist.

Does some one say that it is irreverent to talk about God's ceasing to exist. It is no more irreverent that it is to talk about His not being able or willing to forgive any sin that is acknowledged, or to provide all the help that any soul needs. Would that all men might see that to doubt God's willingness to forgive is to deny His existence, so that it is the rankest infidelity not to accept pardon, or to doubt that God helps in every time of need.

And now what constant assurance have we before our eyes that God lives, and that therefore His promise is sure?-His faithfulness is written in the very heavers. "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; He calleth them all by name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in power, not one is lacking." Isa. xl. 26. The whole universe depends on God. If He should cease to exist, everything would that instant cease to exist. God made the sun, moon, and stars "for signs, and for seasons, and days, and years." That thing of which the exist as a sign is the faithfulness of God. The sun, moon, and stars are evidences that God still lives, and as surely as He lives, may we come with boldness to the throne of grace, with perfect confidence that we shall obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. "For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations." Ps. cxix. 89, 90.

"The Children. Light-Bearers" The Present Truth 14, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

"And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; He made the stars also."

God "giveth the sun for a light by day, and the moon to shine by night." But you know that the bright moon which lights up the dark night and makes it beautiful with its clear beams, has really no light of its own. All the glory that shines from it is the borrowed light of the sun; it shines by reflecting the sun's rays. So when the sun sets, and passes for a time out of our sight, we know that it is still shining somewhere, although we cannot see it, because the moon catches its rays and sends them down to us.

But did you ever think that the sun has really no light of its own any more than the moon has? All its light is borrowed also; it is the reflection of s greater light, of the Light, the only Light, in whom is no darkness at all. When we studied our lessons on the light we learned that Jesus is the true Light of the world, and all the glory of the sunlight is the reflection of the light of His face, the shining forth of His glory which He puts upon it.

And so, although we cannot see the face of God, we know that He lives and that His glory is still shining, because we can see its beams in the glorious sunlight by day and the soft beautiful moonlight by night. God makes the sun and moon and stars to be "great lights," just by letting His own glory shine upon them. And this is how He makes His children to be, as Christ called them, "the light of the world." They "shine as lights in the world," only because He shines upon them and they reflect His light to others just as the sun and moon do.

As we see what the sun is to our world, how there would be no light, no heat, no beauty, no growth, and so no life without it, we see how all things come to us from God just through the shining of His face upou us. Then let us pray the prayer of the Psalmist, "God be merciful unto us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us."

Read the following piece which shows how dependent our world and all who live in it are upon the sun. But as you read remember that it is not the sun that is doing all these things for us, but He whose glory lights up the sun, whose hand guides it in its path through the heavens, and who is working through it to give life and blessing to us all.

"A Tender Plant" The Present Truth 14, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

Long before the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten and beloved Son of God, came into the world as a little baby and lived here as a little child, the prophet Isaiah had written of Him, "He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground."

Nazareth, the city where Mary and Joseph lived when Jesus was a boy, was a place with such a bad reputation, and so many wicked people lived there, that when Nathanael heard first of Jesus of Nazareth, he said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" He could hardly believe that Jesus of Nazareth could be the Son of God, the Seed so long promised find expected.

Growing in such a soil, in the midst of such surroundings, Jesus was indeed as a "root out of a dry ground." But the power of God's own holy life was in this Seed, and nothing but purity and beauty could spring from Him. In the midst of sinners, He lived, even as a child, a life of perfect purity, "holy, harmless, and undefiled."

"From His earliest years Christ lived a life of toil. In His youth He worked with His father at the carpenter's trade, and thus showed that there is nothing of which to be ashamed in work. Though He was the King of Heaven, yet He worked at a humble trade, and thus rebuked all idleness in human beings. All work done as Christ did His work is noble and honourable. Those who are idle do not follow the example that Christ us given; for us from His childhood He was a pattern of obedience and industry.

"He was as a pleasant sunbeam in the home circle. Faithfully cheerfully He acted His part, doing the humble duties that He was called to do in His lowly life, Christ became one with us in order that He might do us good. He lived such a life of poverty and labour as would help the poor to understand that He could sympathise with them."

"He did not choose to be the son of a rich man, or to be in a position where men would praise and flatter Him. He passed through the hardships of those who, toil for n living, and He could comfort all those, who have to work at some humble trade. Those who know the kind of life Christ lived can never feel that the poor are to be despised, and that those who are rich are better than the humble."

All the beauty of, this "tender plant" was just the unfolding of the precious Seed of which we have already learned, just as the flower is the unfolding and opening out of the seed that we sow in the ground. So when Jesus the Seed comes into your hearts, (and He has promised to do this if you ask Him,) this same life will unfold in you just as it did in Him when He dwelt in Nazareth. So as you read of the child life of Jesus, how He was obedient to His parents, and anxious to learn the Word of God from those whom He had appointed to teach it how He "waxed strong in Spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him;" how He helped His father in the carpenter's shop, and "increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man;" in all this God is teaching you what you too will be if this precious Seed is allowed to spring up in your heart. Like Jesus you will "grow up before Him as a tender plant," and no matter what your outward surroundings may be, like Him you will be "holy, harmless and undefiled," kept from the evil that is around you.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

-A vessel laden with naphtha exploded off the coast of Kent. Nine lives were lost.

-A great gale has caused many wrecks and much loss of life all around the coast, especially off Scotland.

-France exports to England more than ?52,000,000 worth of her products, while to Russia she exports ?2,000,000 worth.

-In consequence of the severe heat throughout New South Wales farm stocks are dying and crops are failing from want of rain.

-The Church Army has fifty-nine mission and colportage vans which travel through the rural districts of England winter and summer.

-An express on the Great Central Railway fouled a goods train near Lincoln, and was thrown off the rails. Nine persons were killed and many injured.

-The Khedive of Egypt have been agitating against England and seeking help from the Powers of Europe. There is some talk of deposing him, as he has always been unfriendly to England.

-The Atlantic liner went ashore last week off the coast of Cornwall, 103 lives being lost. The vessel was fifteen miles out of its course, but the reason is unknown as the officers all perished.

-The Paris railway strike has collapsed owing to the failure of the various branches who had voted for the proposed strike to cease work when ordered. The officials of the Union have "struck" in consequence.

-The whole of North Wales has been visited by a phenomenal rainfall. Mountain torrents have been swollen into rivers, flooding roadways and homesteads, and the rivers have overflowed their banks into the valleys, covering thousands of acres with water.

-Aluminum seems likely to take the place of stone in lithographic printing. Experiments made with it have given great satisfaction.

-Owing to a failure in the gas supply, the greater part of Bournemouth was suddenly enveloped in darkness last Sunday evening, the service terminated abruptly in most of the churches.

-The Spanish-American Commission for settling the terms of peace is divided over the question of assuming the Cuban debt. America absolutely refuses to do this, and has instructed its representatives to refuse further parley on the subject.

-A terrific hailstorm broke over the island of Malta last Wednesday, lasting for twenty minutes. The damage done to property was enormous. Hailstones were found weighing a quarter of a pound. Thousands of panes of glass were destroyed.

-?30,000 has been raised in England to assist the sufferers from the recent hurricane in the West Indies, but a further ?50,000 is urgently wanted. In view of the vast sums which are raised for purposes of destruction every year, this request ought not to be denied.

-A most remarkable gradual upheaval of land is taking place around Hudson Bay, the upheaval extending over a larger area of ground than any other recorded instance. Driftwood-covered beaches are now twenty to seventy feet above water, many of the old harbours have become too shallow for ships to enter, and various new islands have appeared.

-Twenty-four firms of dyers in the Bradford district have combined and will soon be formed into a company, with a capital of five millions. "The objects of these combinations are evidently twofold-too cheapen production, and to save the expense and waste which come from rivalry, while it is probably not overlooked that these gigantic unions are better able to fight trade unions."

-The Russian Government organ asserts that at the present moment there are, throughout the world, 5,250,000 men under arms, and that in the event of a general war these could be increased to 44,250,000. The annual cost of the military establishments for the whole of Europe amounts to the sum of ?250,000,000; and this is only the charge for the land forces. The fleets are not included.

-Cardinal Rampolla has been talking of the French protectorate over Christians in the East in such a way as to offend German susceptibilities, especially in view of the Kaiser's visit to the East. He has now been ordered by the Pope to wait on the Prussian Legation and tender it "the most pacific and conciliatory assurances." The danger of a rupture between Prussia and the Vatican is now removed.

-A remarkable accident is reported from Birkenhead, owing to a steamer dashing into some dock gates, forcing them open. The water in the dock, which was about eight feet above the river level outside, rushed out with tremendous force, and carried everything before it, the massive gates being dragged from their sockets in the wall and hurled into the river. It will cost many thousand pounds to repair the damage to the gates.

-At a London police-court a boy of eleven charged one twelve years old with assaulting him. The magistrate returned to the prosecutor the money he had paid for the summons, and advised him, "If a boy of your own age, and not too big-in that case I would protect you-hits you again, hit him back. It's much more English." Of course, it was absurd for one boy to summons another, but the magistrates' Council would justify a good many cases of assault, if it does not increase their number. If it is right for boys to be "English," it is for men.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 43.

E. J. Waggoner

The question of Fashoda still continues to absorb the public interest. Both English and French statesmen profess confidence that a peaceful and satisfactory solution of the difficulty will be arrived at, but great activity in naval preparations is reported on both sides. Major Marchand's report has been received in Paris, but it makes no mention of recent events. Captain Baratier, who was with Marchand, is now on his way home to furnish full information to the French Government.

Christ's invitation to those who labour and are heavy laden is, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me." What is His yoke? He "bare our sins in His own body," "Himself hare our weaknesses and carried our infirmities." "Why," you say, "that is my burden. Those are the things that make me feel so discouraged and heavy-laden. If it were not for those weaknesses I could get along very well. These cannot be Christ's burden, for they are mine." Not so, the things that weigh you down are the things that He bears. You have thought you bore the weight, while He comforted you and tried to encourage you, but instead of this, it is He who bears it, and asks you to join Him.

When Christ bears the yoke it is light in proportion to His strength, and so it will not press heavily upon those who take His burden upon them. It is so light that there is rest in bearing it, because the strength is so much greater than the burden that the sense of labour is swallowed up. In thinking of being yoked with Christ, we must not regard ourselves as walking by His side, bearing half the burden, for He dwells in our hearts, and the full weight is upon Him as long as we abide in Him. It is getting out of Christ, and being separated from His strength, that brings us where we feel heavy laden.

How is it that Christ bears our burden? "In all their affliction He was afflicted . . . in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them and carried them all the days of old." Isa. lxiii. 9. He brings His people out of the house of bondage, because He loves them. Therefore never think that when you are in trouble through your own wilful folly and sinfulness, the Lord leaves you to bear that burden by yourself. All burdens come that way, but the Lord bears every burden because He loves us. He does not choose some of the lighter ones and leave the least hopeful cases to bear their own. All burdens are His, and so for every soul there is rest in Christ. "Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." 1 Pet. v. 7.

The visit of the Kaiser to the Sultan has been the occasion of much display and pomp. Constantinople has been hastily decorated and its unsightly places covered by yellow hoardings, but underneath the gaudy externals lies the squalid reality of ignorance and poverty. Gifts of great value are bestowed freely upon the Imperial visitors, but the troops who lined the route of the procession can rarely get their pay. The Turks are said to weep for joy as they read the Kaiser's words of congratulation, but so fearful are the police of anarchist outrage that people are thrown into prison on the slightest pretext, and foreigners are not allowed to look from upper windows. Such is the glory of this world!

"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. The man who comes to God confessing his sin must believe that He is just and faithful to forgive the sin. When God gave to Israel instruction as to sin-offerings, He provided that every one who came to confess sin should also come prepared to return thanks for the forgiveness.

"When he shall be guilty in one of these things, he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing: and he shall bring his trespass offering. . . . And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then lie shall bring . . . two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the Lord; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering." Lev. v. The burnt offering was "an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord." It was expressive of thanksgiving for favours received. "And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets. . . . And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished." "And the congregation brought in sacrifices, . . . and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings." 2 Chron. xxix. 28, 39, 31.

It is evident therefore that when a man brought a burnt offering it was to express joy and gratitude, and when the burnt offering was brought in connection with a sin offering, it showed that the sinner was so confident of receiving forgiveness that he had brought along with him the expression of his thanks. Indeed, if he should present himself to the priest with only one pigeon for the sin offering, and explain that the other for the burnt offering would be forthcoming as soon as he received the forgiveness, the one pigeon for the sin offering would not be accepted. He had to come showing his faith that the forgiveness was an absolute certainty.

And the blessedness of the thought consisted in this fact, that this was the Lord's own appointment. He left no room for any to doubt their acceptance and forgiveness. He did not invite sinners to try to find out if there was any forgiveness for them, but to come in full assurance of faith and take it. The forgiveness was to be a matter of course for every one who should confess. Jesus Christ is still the same. Whosoever comes to Him He will in no wise cast out. Shall not we to whom Christ is revealed, not in types and shadows, but as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, be as confident in His forgiving love as He taught Israel to be? Let us not confess our sins and then wonder if we are forgiven, but learn to know Him as "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering. . . . forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7.

Those who could afford to offer more, gave not pigeons, but a goat or a sheep, or a bullock, and in such cases the sin offering and the burnt offering were found in the same animal. So Christ is not only our sin offering, but He is also our burnt offering. "By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." Heb. xiii. 15. Accepting His life as the atonement for our sin, we enter also into His relation with the Father, being made one with Him as Christ is. "We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. v. 11.

November 3, 1898

"Waiting on the Lord" The Present Truth 14, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

The promise of God is "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings eagles; they shall and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." Isa. xl. 31.

What is it to "wait on the Lord?" Is it simply to spend a certain amount of time in prayer to God? or does it mean vastly more than this? The Scriptures themselves must tell us, and in the various places where the expression occurs we must find the answer.

The very word "wait" suggests continuity, and not intermission. One may tarry for another for a certain length of time; but if he at last wearies, and goes away, we say that he does not wait. The one who gets impatient does not wait. This idea of something constant is conveyed in Ps. xxv. 5: "Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me; for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day." Of course that means not merely one day, but every day. So in verses 20, 21 of the same psalm: "O keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in Thee. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on Thee." The preservation is a result of waiting on the Lord; one is preserved so long as he waits on the Lord, so that the waiting must be continuous, without intermission.

But, the word "wait" contains more than the idea of expectation; it means more than simply to tarry for another; it involves the idea of service. A waiter is one who serves. So in Ps. we read, "Unto Thee do I lift up Mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their maskers, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our until that He have mercy upon us." Now it is true that in the Hebrew there is no verb expressed in this verse, neither look nor wait; but the thought is there, for with the eyes one looks, and one who is looking steadfastly upon another is waiting. But waiting in this sense, which is exceedingly common, does not mean standing in a state of idle expectancy; it means serving. A servant is most actively employed while waiting on his master.

That to wait on the Lord means to serve and obey Him, may be seen from Jer. xiv. 22: "Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? Art not Thou He, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon Thee; for Thou hast made all those things." Here the contrast is between

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God and the idols of the heathen, which are emptiness and vanity, without power. They can do nothing, and are therefore not worthy of any attention. God can cause rain; therefore we will wait on or serve, Him.

Why is a servant called a waiter?-Because he is supposed to be always on the alert to respond to the call of the master. Even though for a season not on active duty, his time is not his own; he cannot engage in any enterprise for himself, lest his master should call him, and he be not ready to serve. So in the service of God. To wait upon Him means to be constantly devoted to Him. He who waits on the Lord recognises himself to be just what is described in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah: simply grass, "less than nothing, and vanity," and he recognises God as what He is,-the eternal Creator and Preserver, who alone has power. One who is in that state will hold himself, soul, body, and; spirit, absolutely at the disposal of the Lord. He, with all his bodily organs, will simply be an instrument through which the Holy Spirit will manifest Himself visibly.

Under such circumstances it cannot be otherwise than that one's strength will be renewed; for, "if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. viii. 11) the result being that we live no more after the flesh, but after the Spirit. This is the power by which God forgives all our iniquities, and heals all our diseases. Ps. ciii. 3. God's presence sanctifies every place where it is manifested; and it should be remembered that real service to God is not what we do for Him, but what we allow Him to do with us. No one can give anything to God. We serve God when our whole being is passive in His hands, for Him to do as He will with us. This is constant waiting on the Lord, and the strength that is renewed to such is the eternal power of God.

Therefore "wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord."

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Assyrian Invasion. 2 Kings xix. 20-22, 28-37" The Present Truth 14, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

NOVEMBER 13

It is written of Hezekiah that "he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following Him;" "so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him." Yet this unswerving devotion did not procure for him immunity from foreign invasion. The attacks made on him, however, by the empire of Assyria, were not necessarily misfortunes. It is no hardship to sustain an assault which can be easily repulsed, and since Hezekiah, in the hour of need, always sought help from the Lord, he was never left without defence. It is evident from the history that Jerusalem was more than once threatened by Assyria during Hezekiah's reign, but there is no record of its falling into the hand of the Invader, although the other fenced cities of Judah were taken.

THE OBJECT OF AFFLICTION

It was necessary for the sake of Assyria that that heathen people should receive the knowledge of the true God. The promise had been given to Israel: "All people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee." Deut. xxviii. 10. The fulfilment of this promise depended upon their hearkening diligently to the voice of the Lord. The angels in heaven do this, and for that reason they excel in strength, and the commandments of the Lord are fulfilled in them. Ps. ciii. 20. The same attitude would have made Israel strong in the Lord and obedient to His voice. It would not have been necessary for them to go about calling attention to the fact that they were called by the name of the Lord. Everybody would see this for themselves. A man does not set his name to a cheque or document without being sure that he can meet the obligation that he is incurring, and in sending forth Israel under His own name the Lord had regard to what was due to the Name; He made every provision to ensure that they should live aIl to the Name, and that no one should think less highly of it because it was borne by mortal men. "This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise." "Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God." Isa. xliii. 12, 21.

WITNESSING TO TRUTH

"Hear and your soul shall live." Isa. Iv. 3. Had Israel only hearkened to God's word to them, continually declaring His Name in His character, they would have lived the life that belonged to the Name; and Assyria, and all the other heathen; nations, though they had never seen Jehovah, would know all about Him through Israel. His people would have been His witnesses that He was God. For the lack of this witness, all the nations had made gods for themselves, and then Assyrians, having conquered all who met them in battle, concluded that their own gods were better and stronger than all others. Thus it became important to bring their false god, which was supposed to be greater than all other false gods, into conflict with the only true God; that it might be seen that there was but one true God, and that in learning this truth, the heathen might find life. "For this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God." Since Assyria had gained pre-eminence over all other nations, an was watched by them all, the result of the conflict between the gods of Assyria and the God of Judah could not fail to become known to all the nations.

A BLESSING FOR ALL PEOPLE

It was by no means necessary, however; that the land of Judah should be invaded by the heathen, and that the knowledge at the true God should be proclaimed by means of siege and famine. There was a much better and easier way. The seed of Abraham was to be a blessing to all the families of the earth, and had they accepted the responsibility which the knowledge of a Saviour brought, to make the glad tidings known to all people, the same power which occasionally wrought marvellous deliverances for them in their own land, would have always attended their missionary labours in other lands, "to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God."

AN UNCERTAIN SOUND

God had exalted Assyria to be chief over the nations, giving into their hands all

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other kingdoms. In consequence of this no nation had been able to stand before them in battle. This continued success had filled them with pride, and they attributed their victories to their own strength. It became necessary therefore that they should learn their weakness, and know that all power was of God. The occasion for the lesson was furnished by Sennacherib's invasion of Judah. He demanded that the city should submit to him, and warned them that their God was not able to deliver them from his hand. For this delusion on his part, Judah was partly to blame. He knew that they were relying to some extent on the king of Egypt, and, measuring his own strength with that of their ally, he felt confident of his own superiority. Naturally, he would feel that if the God of Judah was all powerful they would not trouble themselves about earthly alliances. Hearing that the king of Egypt was coming against him, he went off to crush Tirhakah, and wrote to Hezekiah warning him to trust no god that promised deliverance from Assyria's conquering army.

THE STRENGTH OF ISRAEL

Hezekiah knew what to do with the taunting message of Sennacherib, in which he boasted that he had overthrown all the nations, in spite of their gods, and said, "Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee." He took the letter up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. It was a matter that concerned the Lord, for it declared that He was impotent as were the false gods. Hezekiah prayed, "Now, therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save Thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord God, even Thou only." The Lord was not slow to take up the case. He had put His name upon Israel, remembering that they were dust, and had no power in themselves to preserve its honour; for His purpose was that He and His people should be so closely identified, His strength being made perfect in their weakness, that the one Name would serve for both. Just as soon as they were willing to identify themselves with Him, so far from counting it presumption on their part, or throwing in their teeth the accusation that they only remembered Him when they got into insurmountable difficulties, He at once identifies Himself with them, and lo, they are as absolutely safe from Assyrian invaders as though they sat beside Him on the throne of universal dominion.

THE LORD'S DERISION

Now they are delivered from all their fears. They are authorised to laugh in contemptuous, derision at the empty power of Sennacherib. Isaiah brought from God the message, "That which thou hast prayed I have heard." Concerning the king of Assyria, the word was given, "The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn!" His rage was not against Judah but against God, and because he, being nothing, had presumed to exalt his voice against God, he was to be taught his weakness. "I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest." Doubtless the message was conveyed in some way to Sennacherib, and with it would go the startling intelligence that the words of Jehovah were already made good, for "it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand." Among these would be Rabshakeh, whose insolent, over-bearing spirit had made him a instrument to bear the scornful message of his master, for we read that the angel smote, "all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land." 2 Chron. xxxii. 31.

AN IMPRESSIVE LESSON

Numerous inscriptions have been discovered in the land of Assyria, and much additional information has been gleaned therefrom concerning the life of Sennacherib, but, so far as is known at present the "shame of face" in which he returned from Jerusalem was sufficiently deep to prevent his leaving behind him any record of this particular expedition. He reigned for twenty years after his return, but did not again attempt to invade the land of Judah. It must have been known through, out his wide dominions that there was one God at least before whom "the great king" had to confess himself powerless. A last testimony to the futility of serving idols was borne by his death, for it was while engaged in worshipping in the house of his god that two of his sons slew him with the sword.

"THINE IS THE POWER"

"There is no power but of God." Rom. xiii. 1. Therefore the servant of God is not to fear any of his enemies. "Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread." Isa. viii. 13. All power in heaven and earth is given to Christ, and whoever bears His name need not fear the malice of the hosts of darkness. We may take for our encouragement God's words to Sennacherib, and laugh to scorn the efforts of Satan to destroy us, so long as we remember that we are without strength, but that God is the strength of our life, and He is mighty to save. Therefore "Rejoice always," and "be in nothing terrified by your adversaries," even though the temptations that assail you have a long record of past successes. The continual remembrance that God alone has power will keep us continually rejoicing over the fact that our adversaries have none. When we believe the Word of God we can laugh them all to scorn. "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad." Ps. xxxiv. 2.

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

THE ANIMAL CREATION

Gen. i. 21, 24, 25: "And God created great whales (literally, "sea-monsters"), and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl, after his kind; and God saw that it was good." "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind; and God saw that it was good."

Rom. i. 20: "The invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, oven His everlasting power and Divinity."

Job xii. 7-10: "Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind."

Ps. l. 10, 11: "Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are in My mind." R.V., margin.

Ps. civ. 21, 22, 27, 28: "The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their most from God. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens." "These wait all upon Thee; that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That Thou givest them they gather: Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled (satisfied) with good."

Ps. cxiv. 15, 16: "The eyes of all wait upon Thee; and Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing."

Matt. x. 29-31: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."

Luke xii. 6, 7: "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows."

Prov. vi. 6-8: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise; which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest."

Job xxxix. 26, 27: "Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south? Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?"

Job xxix. 13-17: "Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacoocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. . . Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath He imparted to her understanding."

Isa. i. 2, 3: "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider."

Jer. viii. 7-9: "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but My people know not the judgment of the Lord. How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made He it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken in, they have rejected the Word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?"

Prov. ii. 6: "For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of His month cometh knowledge and understanding."

Job xxxv. 10, 11: "None saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night; who teacheth as more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh as wiser than the fowls of heaven?"

Job xxxvi. 22: "Behold, God exalteth by His power; who teacheth like Him?"

The everlasting power and Divinity of God are seen in the things that are made. God has made the animal creation as well as the plants; therefore in animals we may see His presence and power displayed?

Remember that the worker is not the thing worked. There is an infinite difference between the Creator and the thing created. The power that is seen in anything must not be confounded with the thing itself. Neither men nor any of the lower orders of creation are God, but His everlasting power and Divinity are seen in everything from highest to lowest. Nothing but sin cherished hinders its perfect manifestation.

From the beasts, the birds, and the fishes we are to learn lessons about God. From them we learn not only God's power, but His tender care and love of all the fowls of the mountains, and all the beasts of the field, not one is out of His mind. They receive their food directly from Him, and He never forgets to feed them.

Two sparrows were sold for a farthing in the days of the Saviour, and if the purchaser would take two farthings' worth, one bird would be given, and no account would be made of it. But although man made no account of it, God did not forget it. Not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without His permission. We are of more value than many sparrows; how safe, then, we are in His care. Satan cannot come near one of God's children, to do him the slightest injury, without direct permission from God (see Job i. 8-12); and when this is allowed, God's power to sustain is so much more wonderfully manifested, that the sufferer can rejoice in the midst of it. 2 Cor. xii. 7-10; James i. 2-4.

Man does not "make his own living" any more than the birds and beasts do. They gather what God gives them, and man can do no more. Man sows seed in the earth, and God makes it grow, and man gathers it. The seed which is sown is itself given to man. The birds and bees work much more diligently to procure food for themselves and their young than men do; yet the latter boast of how they make their own living, and regard the former as being entirely supported by others. But all are alike supported from the same source. No man can "make a living," and therefore God has not given it to any man to do. God is the Author of life, and He alone gives it. God would have men without care, the same as the birds; not reckless, but trustful as they are. Our business is

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to glorify God, to allow Him to glorify Himself in us, by working His righteousness in us, and He will attend to our living.

Man gets wisdom from the very same source that the beasts and the birds do. In himself he has no more wisdom than they have; and when he rejects God, the source of all knowledge, he knows even less than do the dumb brutes. The most stupid beasts of burden have more real knowledge than does the man who rebels against God. But God designed man to be inconceivably higher than any other creature, and will give the wisdom that will place him in this position, if he will but acknowledge Him as the Giver of everything.

"Great Lessons by Humble Masters" The Present Truth 14, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

"Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee." Job. xii. 7, 8.

What is it that these creatures can teach us? They can teach us the one thing that it is necessary for thee to know, namely, that the power of God is manifested in everything that exists. "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord, which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth." Jer. ix. 23, 24.

Most valuable lessons are given to everybody every day; and are ignored. Men are constantly mourning their lack of advantages for education, when if they would improve the opportunities freely provided, they might obtain knowledge that cannot be found in any school on earth, that is conducted by man. The most valuable things are to be had free. It is only for second-rate things that we have to pay money. "Where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living." "It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it; and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of corals or pearls; for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold." Job. xxviii. 12, 13, 15-19.

Since wisdom cannot be obtained for gold, and no jewels of earth are equal to it in value, it follows that whoever gets it must get it freely. It comes from God without money and without price. "If any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." James i. 5. The wisdom which He gives to man is greater than that which He gives to the beasts of the field and He "maketh us wiser than the fowls of the heaven," provided we but accept His Word, and do not imagine ourselves to be any wiser, in ourselves, than the beasts and the birds are.

Out of the almost infinite number of facts that might be cited, we will instance only a few, from authentic books of natural history, as well as from personal observation, which show what marvellous wisdom God has given to creatures with the tiniest bodies and brains. Let us first take a look at

THE CALIFORNIAN WOOD-PECKER

This bird nourishes himself upon ants and other insects, but at the same time that he is hunting these, he is engaged in storing up acorns for future use. Whether he eats these acorns, or only the worms that may breed in them, is a question among naturalists, but that is immaterial to our present study. What concerns us at present is the manner in which he stores them up. He chooses a tree, and hollows out in its trunk a cavity just large enough to receive a single acorn. Then he brings an acorn, and inserts it into the hole, so that it cannot fall out, nor can any other bird or animal get it out. In this way he stores up a vast number. I have seen a fir tree so filled from the bottom to the top of its trunk with the acorns which this industrious little worker had gathered, that from a little distance it looked as though it had been shot full of rifle bullets. It is said that a wood-pecker will carry an acorn thirty miles to store it in its larder.

The acorns which are thus gathered are long and slender, very much like a modern rifle bullet. Of course they vary in size, just as any other nuts; but the remarkable thing is that in no case is the hole made a particle too large for the acorn which is designed for it. Each acorn fits its cavity as perfectly as if it were a piece of iron that had been driven in with a hammer. So, as already stated, no animal can get one of them out. Only the wood-pecker with its strong beak, can pierce the hard, polished extremity of the acorn. Man can dig them out with a knife, but in no other way. It is worthy of note that the holes are never wade too shallow, so that the ends of the acorns project beyond the bark of the tree. In every case they are exactly even with the surface. How long would a man have to practise before he would be able to do such perfect mortising?

THE TAILOR BIRD

This bird is not only a tailor, but a spinner and weaver, as well. "They place their nests in a large leaf, which they prepare to this end. With their beaks they pierce two rows of holes along the two edges of the leaf; they then pass a stout thread from one side to the other alternately. With this leaf, at first flat, they form a horn in which they weave their nest with cotton or hair. These labours of weaving and sewing are preceded by the spinning of the thread. The bird makes it itself by twisting in its beak spiders' webs, bits of cotton, and little ends of wool. Sykes found that the threads used for sewing were knotted at the ends. It is impossible not to admire animals who have skilfully triumphed over all the obstacles met with in the course of these complicated operations."

Yes; and one may well any, It is impossible not to admire the God who teaches these creatures to do such perfect work.

NOT BLIND INSTINCT

But some one will say, "Yes, it is very interesting and amusing; but the bird is born with that instinct, and cannot really do any other way." Even if this were true, it would not in the least diminish the honour due to God for thus providing it with that sense; but it is not true. "Certain birds change the form of their dwelling according to the climate, or according to the season in which they inhabit it. For example, the Crossbill does not build its nest according to the same rules in Sweden as in France. It builds in every season. The winter shelter is spherical, constructed with dry lichens, and is very large. A very narrow opening, just sufficient for the passage of the owner, prevents the external cold from penetrating within. The summer nests are much smaller, in consequence of a reduction of

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the thickness in the walls. There is no teaching her pups to fight, longer need to fear that the cold will come them to secure their food through them, and the animal gives itself no superfluous trouble.

"Again, the Baltimore Oriole, which inhabits both the Northern and the Southern States of North America, knows very well how to adapt his manner of work to the external circumstances in which he lives. Thus, in the Southern States the nest is woven of delicate materials united in a rather loose fashion, so that the air can circulate freely and keep the interior fresh; it is lined with no warm substance, and the entrance is turned to the west, so that the sun only sends into it the oblique evening rays. In the North, on the contrary, the nest is oriented to the south, to profit by all the warm sunshine; the walls are thick, without interstices, and the dwelling is carpeted in the warmest and softest manner. Even in the same region there is the greatest diversity in the style, neatness, and finish of the nests, as well as in the materials used."

It is a common idea that birds and animals never improve their methods of labour, but that the young one knows of itself how to go to work, and that it does as well the first time as ever afterwards. This is a mistake, as is already shown. Other instances which may be cited, will show that the brains of these labourers are actively engaged in planning and inventing.

The Popular Science Monthly gives the missionary Moffat as authority for the statement that when lions were yet numerous in South Africa, they were often seen instructing one another in leaping to catch prey, using a bush in their practice, instead of an animal. In one case a lion, which had missed a zebra, through miscalculating the distance, repeated the jump several times, for his own instruction. While he was engaged in this exercise, two other lions came along, and he led them round the rock, to explain the case to them, and then, turning to the starting point, completed the lesson by making a final leap. The animals kept roaring during the whole of the curious scene, "talking together," as a native who watched them said.

By the aid of individual training of this kind birds become clever with age, old birds building more artistic nests than young ones. In Constantinople, whore the life of the street dogs depends upon their ability to protect the morsel that they have secured, against all intruders, the writer has been amused by watching an old dog teaching her pups to fight, and training them to secure their food.

BEES IN THEIR DWELLINGS

In a hive full of active bees the temperature rises considerably and the air becomes vitiated. Accordingly, means are adopted to secure ventilation. "Bees ranged in files one above the other in the interior agitate their wings with a feverish movement; this movement causes a current of air which can be felt by holding the hand before the opening of the hive. When the workers of the corps are fatigued, comrades who have been resting come to take their place. These acts are not the result of a stupid instinct which the hymenoptera obey without understanding. If we place a swarm, as Huber did, in a roomy position where there is plenty of air, they do not devote themselves to an aimless exercise."

The stores of bees often suffer from the raids of a large moth called the "Death's Head Moth." "Protected by the long and fluffy hairs which cover him, he has little to fear from stings, and gorges himself with the greatest freedom on the stores of the swarm. Huber, in his admirable investigations, narrates that one year in Switzerland numbers of hives were emptied, and contained no more honey in summer than in the spring. During that year Death's Head Moths were very numerous. The illustrious naturalist soon became certain that this moth was guilty of the thefts in question. While he was reflecting as to what should be done, the bees, who were more directly interested, had invented several modes of procedure. Some closed the entrance with wax, leaving only a narrow opening through which the great robber could not penetrate." Others built up before the opening a series of parallel walls, leaving between them a zigzag corridor through which the bees themselves were able to enter; but which would not admit the long body of the moth. In the same way man constructs a turnstile, which will allow him to pass, but which excludes the long body of a cow. The bees set up the barricades only in the years when the Death's Head Moth is numerous. In years when it is rare, they let in their doors wide open, for their own greater convenience.

GARDENING ARTS

Whole numbers of this paper could be filled with authentic stories of the wisdom of this little insect, but we must be content with one or two facts. The Leafcutting ants of tropical America are often referred to by travellers on account of their ravages on vegetation. "They climb a tree, station themselves on the edge of a leaf, and make a circular incision with their scissor-like jaws; the piece of leaf, about the size of a sixpence, held vertically between the jaws, is then borne off to their house." It is said that they are capable of destroying whole plantations of orange, mango, and lemon trees. But the ants do not eat these leaves. If they did, their performance would not be so wonderful. These ants are in reality mushroom growers and eaters, for "the real use of the leaves is as manure on which to grow a minute species of fungus." Great care is taken that the nest should be neither too dry nor; too damp. If a sudden shower comes on, the leaves are left near the entrance, and carried down only when nearly dry. During very hot weather, on the other hand, when the leaves would be parched in a very short time the ants work only in the cool of the day, and during the night. "Occasionally, inexperienced ante carry in grass and unsuitable leaves; these are invariably brought out again, and thrown away."

HARVESTING ANTS

In spite of Solomon (Prov. vi. 6-8), naturalists for a long time asserted that ants do not store up food in barns for the winter; but it is now admitted that they spoke from too meagre data. Nearly all ants may therefore be called harvesters, but there is one species which specially deserves this name. They procure various kinds of grain towards the end of autumn, collecting them from the ground, or even climbing the stalks and gathering them. But they have not completed their task when they have the grain safely in their storehouses. The conditions of heat and moisture in the interior of the ant-hill are such that the grain, if left to itself, would soon begin to grow. But this the ants do not desire, at least not until it suits their convenience. How they prevent the grain

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from germinating is a secret not known to man; but it is certain that they do it, for as long as the ants have access to the grain it does not germinate, but if from any cause they are denied access to one of the chambers where the grain is stored, it immediately begins to grow.

But although they thus hinder germination in the grain, they do not render it impossible, and when the time has come for utilising the accumulated stores, they allow the grain to follow the natural course. The radicle and stalk of the plant soon come to light. But the ants do not allow the development of the plant to go too far. As soon as the starch in the grain has been, in the process of growth, converted into sugar for the use of the growing plant, the young stalk is cut off before it has an opportunity to consume the food thus prepared for it. Then the ants bring out their stores to the sun, dry them, take them back to their barns, and thus through the winter have a supply of sweet flour. Here we have the manifestation of wisdom that is not merely wonderful as exhibited in ants, but which is beyond the understanding of man.

TOPOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE

"Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming." When the season comes for these birds to migrate, they go; but they do not go at the same time every season. If warm summer weather continues till late in autumn, the birds remain; and what is more remarkable, they do not, except in single instances, anticipate the return of warm weather in the spring, even though its coming be delayed beyond the usual time. How do they know the right time?

But there is something even yet more remarkable connected with the migration of birds. It is the fact that they will cross the ocean and come back to the very spot from which they started, building their nests year after year in the very same tree or house.

When we stand on the deck of a steamship in mid-ocean, with a trackless waste of waters on every side, we wonder at the human skill which guides the great vessel across the waters, and brings it straight to its destination, even though the place be one to which the master has never before sailed. But he could not do it at first. It took years of study to enable him to accomplish the feat, and when he undertakes the task he has charts and maps of the entire route, and the most delicate instruments, besides his Compass, to enable him to mark his course. But the bird will make the same trip without compass or chart. If this be attributed to "instinct," then the question arises, Isn't instinct better than reason? Wouldn't it be a good thing for man if he had instinct?

THE SOURCE OF WISDOM

Where do the birds get this knowledge? The answer is indicated by the Lord in His question to Job: "Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom?" and by His statement concerning the ostrich, that "God had deprived her of wisdom, neither bath He imparted to her understanding." Now God "teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven." Why then do not men invariably know more than these creatures do? Here is the answer: "The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the Word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?" Jer. viii. 9.

Some one will ask: "Do you mean to say that if men were wholly controlled by the Word of the Lord, they would be able to cross the ocean without chart or compass?" To that we have no answer to make; but we are to learn from the birds and beasts not merely to do the same things that they do, but that dependence on God which will make us proportionately wiser than they are, in the things which are necessary for us to do. One thing is certain, and that is, if men were wholly yielded to the Word and Spirit of God, they would make no mistakes in whatever they undertook. See Ps. i. 1-3. The degree of knowledge that a man would possess if he were wholly guided by the Lord, is incalculable. That in the world to come man will be able to go to all parts of the Lord's dominions; and not get lost, there is not the slightest doubt. Every Sabbath day, and every new moon, all flesh will appear in the temple of God to worship. From every quarter of the globe they will make the journey, and each one will by the most direct route come to the Holy City. Who dare say that even in this present world a man wholly led by the Spirit of God could not do the same thing, if it were necessary in the service of God. When God's ways are in a man's heart, God will direct his paths.

When we study the life of Christ we can see what wonderful wisdom can be attained by one who takes counsel of God alone. Remember that Chat was here on earth in man's place, so that "in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren" (Heb ii. 17), so that He had access to no wisdom that is not open to mankind. He never went to the schools, which taught the wisdom of the day, but He had wisdom even as a child, that caused the wisest doctors of the law to marvel. Here is the secret of His wisdom: "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. The Lord God hath opened Mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward." Isa. l. 4, 5.

STRENGTH IN HELPLESSNESS: WISDOM IN SIMPLICITY

In this connection let us learn another lesson from the ant. In "Glimpses of Nature," in the Strand Magazine, Grant Allen has the following in a little treatise on ants:-

(Continued on p. 697.)

"It takes the insects three or four weeks, in the pupa form, to develop into full-grown ants and even when they have finished, they are as helpless as babies, and could not escape from the cocoon but for the kind offices of the worker attendants. 'It is pretty to see the older ants helping them to extricate themselves, carefully unfolding the legs and smoothing out the wings of the males and females, with truly feminine tenderness and delicacy.' This utter helplessness of the young ant is very interesting for comparison with the case of man; for it is now known that nothing conduces to the final intellectual and moral supremacy of a race so much as the need for tending and carefully guarding the young; the more complete the dependence of the offspring upon their elders, the finer and higher the ultimate development."

Make special note of the words we have placed in italics. They let us into the secret of wisdom and strength, although the naturalists who note the fact, do not carry it out to the proper conclusion. We are the offspring of God. Acts xvii. 28. God deals with us as with children, it we do not get so wise in our conceits that we imagine we can get along without instruction from Him. No other animal that is born into the world is so ignorant and helpless as the human infant. And no matter how long we live, we are always little children-babes-in the eyes of God. He says: "Hearken unto to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by Me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: and even to your old age am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you; I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you." Isa. xlvi. 3, 4. "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you."

Jesus Christ was born a helpless infant, and was wrapped in swaddling clothes, in which even a man would be helpless, and laid in a manger. He was a perfect picture of human helplessness and foolishness. But He was cast upon God from the womb (Ps. xxii. 9, 10), and so in Him we have the full demonstration of the fact that "the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 1 Cor. i. 25. In Him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. ii. 3), and He is made unto us wisdom. God's strength is made perfect in weakness." Let no man deceive himself. If any among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise." 1 Cor. iii. 18. "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God; which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is." Ps. cxlvi. 5, 6.

"For the Children. Animal Life" The Present Truth 14, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

We have been learning for some weeks about the plants, the flowers, fruits, and seeds, which spring out of the earth in obedience to the Word of God, "Let the earth bring forth grass." This week we will learn about some other kinds of plants, some of which swim in the sea, some fly in the air, and some move about over the face of the earth.

"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind." "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so."

"But," you will perhaps say, "surely these are not plants!" Well, let us see what the Word of God says about this. In the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians we read, that "all flesh is not the same flesh; for there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds." But in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah we are told that "all flesh is grass."

And then if you will think for a little while you will see that the animals all come from the ground, the same as the plants do that remain rooted in the soil. For just as God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass," so He said also, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature, cattle, and creeping thing." So the plants and the animals were all brought forth by the earth, and all came from exactly the same seed,-the Word of God,-and they all share one life, the life of God, for He is the Life, and there is no other.

And then again we have been learning how the plants which spring from the earth draw their food from it, and live by the nourishment that their roots suck up out of the ground. But we shall see that these moving plants also get all their food from the ground, for "God 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." All the living beings in this earth are dependent on the earth from which they come to supply them with food to sustain their lives.

We have seen that in all the beauty, fragrance and usefulness of the plants, and in all the glory of the sun, moon and stars, God is revealing Himself to no. But this is true of all the things that He has made. So learn all that you can about the animals, the birds, the fishes, and creeping things, for each one, even the tiniest, holds some wonderful secret of God's love and power which He has put there for you, and if you ask Him; His Holy Spirit will teach you what it is.

In another part of this paper you will find some facts about the animals, the bees, the ants, and the birds, which will show you how wonderful are the wisdom and skill which are seen in their actions. It is God's own life in them which gives them such wisdom. It is His life in the bird which teaches it how and where to build its nest; His life in the bee which teaches it where and how to gather honey and store it in the wonderful comb of wax which it makes; His life in the spider which teaches it how to weave its silken: web and fasten it securely; His life in the ant which gives it such wisdom that the wisest man who lived tells us to "consider her ways, and be wise." Solomon himself learned wisdom from studying these works of God, and "he spake of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes."

Try to find out what the Word of God tells you about the different animals with which you are familiar. Read the 39th and 40th chapters of Job, and see how many animals are mentioned there, and how much we are told about them. And all these works of His bands God man dominion; but how differently often treat the animals from what Himself does, for "the Lord is over gave men God to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works." We see cruel men, and sometimes thoughtless little children, ill-treating

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God's creatures whom He has given them to love and protect.

But the time is soon coming when all the suffering and sorrow that has come upon the animals through man's sin will be over; and "they shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain saith the Lord." In the new earth which God will make, men will no longer hurt and destroy the animals, nor hunt them and use them for food; and the animals will not hurt nor destroy each other or man, but "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."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

-The king of Greece speaks twelve languages.

-In the human body there are some 2,000,000 perspiration glands.

-The average life of a tradesman is about two-thirds that of a farmer.

-It is stated on good authority that France will retire from Fashoda if England will promise to consider the matter of compensation.

-Recent investigations have shown that the people of Great Britain swallow over 5,500,000 pills daily, or one pill a week for every person in the population.

-As a consequence of the recent frontier war the Khyber pass has been taken out of the hands of the Afridis, and will in future be controlled by the Indian Government.

-In France the oxen that work in the fields are regularly sung to as an encouragement to exertion, and no peasant has the slightest doubt but that the animals listen to him with pleasure.

-The evacuation of Crete by the Turkish troops is continuing regularly, but it appears that, after all, one or two small Turkish detachments will be left in Crete, as a visible token of Turkish sovereignty.

-The French Cabinet has resigned in consequence of a vote of No Confidence passed in the Chamber. The overthrow is due to the attitude taken by the Cabinet in favour of revision of the Dreyfus trial. Rioting has taken place in Paris and order is preserved by the troops.

-A very large falcon has been shot in a field at the back of Hampstead Heath. The bird is a native of the Polar regions, and seldom found south of Norway. Its migration so far to the south is a very singular occurence, and it is said to be the sure precursor of a very severe winter. The falcon's wings measured 4ft. across from tip to tip.

-The plague has appeared in Vienna. A drunken assistant in a bacteriological laboratory contracted the disease from some animals, which had been inoculated with virus, and died very quickly. The doctor and two nurses who attended the man were also infected and the doctor is dead. One of the nurses is not expected to recover. The animals have been cremated and the laboratory closed. The doctor who perished was the first authority in Vienna on the subject of the plague.

-Fighting is reported from the Transvaal between the Boers and the Kaffirs under Magato. It is said that 20,000 natives, fully armed, are in the field, but their first attack has been repulsed.

-All the establishments of Devonport Dockyard have been for months past working under severe pressure. In every department the men are working extra hours, and additional workmen are continually being entered.

-At Ostend it has been decided to impose an annual tax of ?20,000 sterling, with an additional fee of ?1 per member, on all of gambling establishments within the city. Some idea of the enormous gains of these institutions may be gathered from the fact that this tax is not expected to press heavily on the fashionable saloons now existing.

-Great havoc has been wrought in Macedonia by a terrific tempest of hail and rain. Several large iron railway bridges, as well as tunnels and viaducts, were destroyed. The rivers overflowed their banks, and a caravan, composed of forty-seven men, women and children, and 100 horses, was drowned.

-The heaviest catch of fish for many seasons was delivered by the Scottish North Sea herring fleet at Yarmouth on Tuesday. Two thousand lasts-about 26 1/2 millions-of herrings were landed, the whole available accommodation in the harbour and on the quays and markets being blocked with them.

-At the Central Criminal Court the Grand Jury made the following presentment: "The grand jury deem it their duty to express their opinion that more strenuous effort should be made to regulate the trade in drink, a large number of the cases which have come before us-some of which were of the gravest character-being directly due to its baneful influence.

-An order has been sent from Constantinople that no real estate in Palestine shall pass into the hands of Jews, even if they are Turkish subjects. The Sultan is supposed to want to raise the price of his consent to the nationalising schemes of Zionists. He is also prohibiting Jews from preceding to Jaffa or Jerusalem unless a guarantee is given that they will leave again in thirty days.

-In 1897 exports of British goods were valued at ?7,000,000 sterline less than in 1882, whilst the expenditure on beer, at an average of 1s. 8d. per gallon, was ?23,000,000 sterling more. Last year the beer consumed represented an expenditure sufficient to give employment to 500,000 additional workers at ?2 per week each besides providing pensions of 10s. per week each for every man and woman in the United Kingdom over sixty-five years of age.

-The capital of the railway companies of the United Kingdom is returned at ?1,090,000,000. Of this sum ?957,000,000 represents paid-up capital, and the balance of ?152,000,000 nominal capital due to conversions, consolidation, etc. The companies' revenue last year was ?93,700,000, an increase over 1896 of 4 per cent. The total number of passengers, 1,030,420,000. 374,000,000 tons of merchandise were carried. This traffic realised ?47,857,000.

-Considerable importance is attached to the reception at Constantinople by the Kaiser of the Papal delegate before the foreign ministers. It is regarded as having been intended to mark the termination of the coolness in the relations between Germany and the Vatican. The reception appears all the more significant in view of the fact that Mgr. Bonetti possess no diplomatic status and no official position. When, some time ago, it was proposed to appoint a diplomatic representative of the Holy See to Constantinople, the idea was believed to have been suggested by Germany.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 44.

E. J. Waggoner

The Supreme Court of Appeal in France has ordered a revision of the Dreyfus trial. It is four years since Captain Dreyfus was condemned to lifelong imprisonment for selling military secrets to a foreign power. Since then one circumstance after another has come to light, showing that his condemnation was secured by perjury and forged documents, and now there is an almost universal feeling that he is an innocent victim of military envy, and race hatred. Dreyfus is of Jewish descent.

To a great extent, France, in the lives of its people, has refused to recognise God. Like the other countries of Eastern Europe, it heard the Gospel at the time of the Reformation and, for a time, it seemed that France would welcome the light. But truth was rejected, and the Massacre of St. Bartholomew expressed the attitude of the nation toward the Word of God. From that time to this, France has presented to the world the spectacle of a people, equal to ethers in natural qualities torn and convulsed by every species of tumult and violence.

The terrible oppression of the lower classes by the aristocracy paved the way for a relentless revenge in the Reign of Terror, Following this came the Napoleonic wars which exhausted the strength of France in a vain effort to subdue the rest of Europe. Since that time Empire and Republic have succeeded one another in rapid succession. The Franco-German war of 1870, which found France unprepared, and inflicted on her overwhelming disaster, marked the last change in the form of government, which has been Republican since that time. But during the twenty-eight years, no less than thirty-six different ministries have fallen. How long the next one will endure, or whether some military dictator will seize power by a sudden coup, no one can venture to predict.

The present agitation over the Dreyfus trial, and the striking manner in which the secret things have been brought to light, is a demonstration, in such a way as to compel attention, that, "God taketh the wise in their own craftiness." 1 Cor, iii. 19. "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." If France will close her ears to the things which belong to her peace, and refuse to hear the Word of God, she, and all others who do likewise, will have the same things brought to their notice in bitter lessons, the significance of which cannot be denied.

"Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." Jer. xvii. 5. "Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity." Ps. xxxix. 5. It will save all men unwelcome lessons of the folly of putting their trust in men, if they will receive in meekness the truth of God's message that all flesh, without exception, is grass, and that the only power is the Word of God. The spirit of war is abroad in the earth, and men are confiding more and more in their own strength, in their numbers and wealth, and glorying in the exploits of their armies, but all these are Satan's temptations to lure the mind away from the one source of strength, and thus prepare the way for a defeat which will mean infinitely more to them personally than the loss of earthly empire.

Although God is ignored in the counsels of the nations, He is as closely concerned in their doings as He was in the history of Israel or Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar thought that since God had not been recognised as the object of his worship, He had no right to interfere in the affairs of Babylon, but by suffering and humiliation, he learned "that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will." "He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." "Those that walk in pride He is able to abase." Dan. iv. Satan is engaged in bitter opposition to the King of the universe, and has enlisted in his ranks the wisdom and power of this world. Its great men largely owe their promotion to his help, and serve his interests, being joined with him, unwittingly, against the God of heaven and earth. "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." Ps. ii. 2, 3. By schemes of conquest and military glory the rulers of earth seek to connect with themselves in Satan's service the people whom they rule, but God warns all to trust not in princes, in whom there is no help, but in Him alone. That all the people may see the force of His counsel, "He bringeth the princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity;" that, as in France at the present time, it may be seen how much of honour and glory there really is in those departments of human affairs which claim to abound, far above all others, in these virtues.

Dr. Creighton gave some practical advice at the Exeter Hall demonstration in favour of the Czar's peace proposals. He said, "The first step towards peace is that we should each one of us try to acquire a pacific temper." It is always easy to blame some other person, or some body of men, for not being inclined to peace, but a persistent effort to preserve one's own temper in patient calmness will soon convince one that peace is not easily attainable. If every one else were peaceably disposed, it might be possible, but when confronted with deceit, envy, and hatred, it takes real peace to give peace. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit, and he who looks for it in carnal hearts and worldly minds will look in vain. There is only one way to acquire "a pacific temper," and that is to receive the Holy Spirit.

Major Marghand has left Fashoda to report in person to the French Government. He has left one of his officers in charge. The decision of Lord Salisbury's Cabinet is said to be that Major Marchand will he treated as an explorer only, and no political significance will be allowed to his Mission.

A great demonstration, organised by Mr. John Kensit, was held at Exeter Hall on the 38th October. A letter was read from the Bishop of London, appealing to the "Christian charity" of the meeting against the proposal to interfere on November 6 with every Ritualistic service in England, as far as possible. Dr. Kensit announced that in deference to this appeal, no active steps would be taken on the day mentioned. The "demonstration" afforded all present an excellent opportunity of studying the effects on opponents of violent tactics directed at the reform of abuses. A large minority were present who evidently had no sympathy with Mr. Kensit's aims, but their efforts to interrupt the proceedings seemed only to kindle a strong desire to "throw them out," an impulse which was promptly acted on in every instance. Finally, order was restored by the police. Violence will not promote real reform under any circumstances. If Satan be employed to cast out Satan, Satan is as much in possession as ever.

November 10, 1898

"The Everlasting Gospel. God's Saving Power in the Things that Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

THE DUST OF THE EARTH

Gen. i. 26, 27: "And God said, Let as make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God made man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them."

Gen. ii. 7: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul."

Gen. ii. 9: "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree."

Gen. i. 24, 11: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind." "Let the earth bring forth grass."

Isa. xl . 6: "All flesh is grass, and all the godliness thereof is as the flower of the field."

Isa. xl. 15: "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; Behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing."

Ps. lxii. 9-11: "Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart upon them. God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God."

Ps. xc. 3: "Thou turnest man to dust, and sayest, Return, ye children of men." Revised Version, margin.

Gen. xviii. 27: "And Abraham answered, and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes."

Job xlii. 5, 6: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

Ps. li. 17: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise."

Ps. ciii. 13, 14: "Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust."

1 Sam. ii. 8: "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."

Isa. Iii. 1, 2: "Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on Thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come unto theo the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion."

John v. 30: "I can of Mine own self do nothing."

1 Cor. i. 27, 28: "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are."

2 Cor. xii. 9, 10: "And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, them am I strong."

Isa. xl. 29-31: "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but 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."

Isa. xxvi. 19: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."

Out of the ground the Lord made man, the lower animals, and plants. All are from the dust, and all return to dust again. When they have returned to dust, it is impossible to distinguish between them. Their dust is all alike. That which makes the difference between them in life is the working of God in them.

"All flesh is grass." Even though man, contrary to the design of God, eat animal food, the animal which he eats lives upon herbs, so that not only the first man, in the beginning, but every man, even to this day, comes from the ground. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

It is not necessary to make comparisons between man and any other creature. Go back to the origin of man, and consider him just as he is, namely, dust. What power is there in the dust? Look at the dust in the street; what can it do? Nothing. That is the power of man, for man is dust. The lesson that we are to learn is that we have no more power or wisdom in ourselves than the dust has that lies under our feet. We are dust that has been fashioned by the hand of God into a certain

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shape, and the breath of the Almighty has come into us, giving us understanding. We have nothing to boast of over the dust that still lies in an unformed mass. "What hast thou that thou didst not receive?" 1 Cor. iv. 7.

A very insignificant part of the dust, too, is man. In the sight of God, as compared with His vast universe of matter, all the nations together "are counted as the small dust of the balance." The dust that lies on the grocer's balance, which is so fine that it is not perceptible, and which makes no material difference in the amount of that which is being weighed, bears the same relative proportion to the earth that all nations together do to the universe of God. "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?"

God makes no account of degrees and ranks among men. The prince and the pauper are both made from the same dust. Let the prince be buried in all his robes of royalty, and the beggar he buried in his rags, and when they have returned to dust no man could tell which was born in a castle and which in a cottage. Men of low degree in the estimation of the world, are vanity; that would probably be admitted at least by men of "high degree;" but men of high degree are a lie, because they seem to be something when they are nothing; in reality both high and low are all together "lighter than vanity." "To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity." Just as stated in the preceding paragraph, they are not of sufficient weight to make it worth while to blow them off the balances in which the universe is weighed. "Why should the spirit of mortal be proud?"

"Where is boasting, then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of faith." Man has nothing but what God has given him. He can be nothing of value, except as God makes makes him such. Just to the extent that man is anything different from what God's own life in him would make him, is he a disgrace and a curse. Man has no more ground for boasting than has the dust that the wind whirls about; for all that makes him different from that is the life of God in him.

Men forget that they are dust, and consequently they put themselves in the place of God, and that is lawlessness. Then God turns them again to dust, or contrition (not destruction, as in the common version), that is, He allows something to come upon them to convince them that they are but dust, and absolutely helpless, and then He says, "Come again, ye children of men." Just as in the beginning He made man of the dust of the ground, and crowned him with glory and honour, so whenever a man will be as passive dust as was that in the beginning, God will make a man of him, of whom He can say that he is "very good." God's power to create is our hope of salvation.

This working of God in the beginning, to make man of the dust of the ground, and His continued working to make men new when they are willing to be counted as only dust, is the hope of the resurrection, for it is the same working. Those who dwell in the dust shall awake and sing at the coming of the Lord; but the song that they will then sing will be the very same song that God now puts into the mouth of those whom He lifts out of the dust and filth of the pit.

The power that converts is the power of the resurrection, the power of the world to come. It is the power that in the beginning made the heavens and the earth, and made man of the dust of the ground. What God has done, He can do, for His arm is not shortened, that He cannot save. Much as it goes against a man's natural inclination to regard himself its nothing but helpless dust, there is everlasting strength in the acknowledging of the fact, for it puts him where the Almighty Creator can lift him up to His own throne, and crown him with everlasting glory and honour. "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

"A New Man" The Present Truth 14, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

As the last and crowning act of creation, "God created man in His own image." The process is thus briefly described: "And the Lord God made man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul." Gen. ii. 7. Man is therefore animated dust; but the life which animates him is the life of God. If men would but keep those two facts in mind, and not be ashamed to acknowledge them, they would be just what God wishes them to be; for when man had been made, "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." The expression is the strongest that could be used. God Himself could find no fault in man, and that means perfection.

When man forgot that he was but dust, and began to act as though he were God, he fell, and the image of God was shattered. It is in this condition that we all find ourselves in this world, as sons of the fallen Adam. God's purpose in Christ is "to restore all things," and therefore "if any man be in Christ he is a new creature," or, "there is a new creation." The work of Christ, in whom all things were created in the beginning, is to make man over again, in the image of God, so that, as in the beginning, God can look at him and say, "very good."

Only one thing stands in the way of this new creation, and that is man's unwillingness to believe that he is nothing but dust. The thought is too humiliating. Dust has no power in itself, and if man were to confess himself to be but dust, that would be an admission that of himself he can do nothing; and that he does not like, for the natural man is continually boasting of his own powers,-"power of intellect," "power of body," etc., forgetting that the higher degree he makes out for himself, the more of a lie he is (Ps. lxii. 61), since "every man at his best state is altogether vanity." Ps. xxxix. 5. That this refusal to acknowledge himself to be but dust stands in the way of the new creation, appears from this, that since man deliberately chose his present condition, God leaves it to him to choose if he will accept the original condition again; and since man in the first instance was made in the image of God out of the dust, it follows that it is only as dust that he can become a new man again. Man has nothing more to do with his new creation than Adam had in the beginning; but every man can choose to lie made now. God alone can do the work.

Although man is for the most part quite indifferent as to his condition, except as expressed by the commonly-declared desire to "better his own condition," God is not indifferent. His great desire is to see man as good as man was when the breath of the Almighty first gave him life and understanding, and no one knows so well as God that this change is impossible as long as man entertains the high notions of himself that he does; therefore God's attention is directed towards causing man to see and

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realise that he is but dust, and that "life, and breath, and all things" come from Him alone. This is shown in the prayer of Moses, which is in part as follows:-

"Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountaind were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." Ps. xc. 1-4.

Looking at the margin of the Revised Version, we find a better reading of the word rendered "destruction." It is "dust," or "crushing." The Jewish version, by Rabbi Leeser, gives the proper word, "contrition." "Contrite" means "ground together," as the chemist reduces a substance to powder in the mortar. Another form of the same word that occurs in the ninetieth psalm is found in Ps. li. 17, where we read, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." That is, a heart, broken to pieces, and ground up to dust. It is true that man is only dust, no matter how high he exalts himself in his pride, so that the work of God in turning him to dust, or contrition, is to make him see his condition. When we are by the Spirit of God made conscious of our sinfulness, pride at once departs. God has many ways of bringing men to this condition, none of them pleasing to the natural man; but we are at present concerned only with the fact that God brings us low for our good. In ancient times, when men were wore picturesque and vivid in their representation of things, they put dust op their heads, or sat in the dust, as an indication of their low state. That was a sign of repentance, for it showed that they recognised that they were nothing but dust. That is all that God wants. He does not desire to humiliate man, but only to get him to recognise the facts as they exist, in order that He may lift him up.

Nothing is too hard for the Lord. He does not despise a broken and a contrite heart, because out of it He can create a new heart. It suits His purpose much better than anything else could. What He did in the beginning He can do again. All that anyone needs in order to be saved, is to recognise that he is but dust, and then implicitly to believe the story of creation. Wonderful things God can do with dust, as the Bible narratives plainly show.

"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." To be in Christ plainly means to be of the same nature, and the first thing necessary to this is the acknowledgment, "I can of mine own self do nothing." Christ, in whom we have redemption, "is the image of the invisible God." Col. i. 15. Such an one is "created in righteousness and true holiness," and day by day "renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him." Eph. iv. 24; Col. iii. 10.

The first man was made faultless. God looked him over, and could not detect a single flaw. He was pronounced "very good." Of Jesus Christ, in whom the new creation is effected, it is said, "in Him is no sin." "There is no unrighteousness in Him." This is why the first man was made perfect, because "in Him were all things created." Therefore He is able to take us when we are but dust, and present us "faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." Jude 24. Who will humble himself, that he may be thus exaIted?

"The Power of the Resurrection" The Present Truth 14, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

The prophet Isaiah sang thus to God's people concerning the resurrection: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." Isa. xxvi. 19.

The power by which this will be accomplished, is the power by which men are now made alive, who are "dead in trespasses and sins." Eph. ii. 1. Jesus set it forth in these words: "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." (Compare Isa. lv. 3.) "For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. 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." John v. 35-39. No one who believes in the resurrection of the dead, can have any doubt as to Christ's power to raise any man from the death of sin to the life of righteousness; and no one can doubt His power to raise the dead, if he but reads the story of His life in the four Gospels.

Man is but dust, and unto dust he returns again. His breath is only in his nostrils, and therefore he is nothing to be accounted of (Isa. ii. 33), for "his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. cxlvi. 3. But the same God who in the beginning made man of the dust of the ground, can of the dust bring him forth to life and glory; and that which makes us know this is the new creation which takes place with every one who is in Christ. Out of the dust of repentance God takes man, and makes him over entirely new, so that although he is still in mortal, sinful flesh, the perfect life of Jesus is manifested in him.

God turns man to dust, and says, "Return, ye children of men." All have gone astray like lost sheep, but God calls them back, and is very patient and long-suffering with them, waiting long for them to hear His voice, "Return!" But when they hear, their return is as certain as is the resurrection of the dead. God will say to His people who are in the graves, "Come!" and they will "come again from the land of the enemy." Jer. xxxi. 16. So it really makes no difference whether we consider Ps. xc. 3 as referring to conversion or the resurrection, for both are identical. Conversion

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is resurrection from the dead, and has in it the assurance of the final resurrection at the coming of Christ.

Christ says, "To him that overcometh will I give to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." Rev. iii. 21. So John, speaking of the resurrection, says, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." Rev. xx. 4. These are they who have been raised from the dust of the grave. That will be a glorious time; but God has nothing for us in the future of which He does not now give us a taste; so He "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." Eph. ii. 5, 6. "The working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places" (Eph. i. 19, 20), is that by which we are thus quickened now from our death in trespasses and sins.

"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 throve of glory." What a blessed thing it is, then, to remember that we are dust, for God remembers it too, and He has not forgotten how to make a man of the dust and crown him with glory and honour.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Manasseh's Sin and Repentance. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 9-16" The Present Truth 14, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

NOVEMBER 20

Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah. He became king at the age of twelve and reigned fifty-five years. Hezekiah by his piety and steadfastness had been a blessing to the nation, so that since the time of Solomon there had been nothing like his day in the history of Judah. His son, "Manasseh, seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel." We are not told how it was that the son of Hezekiah proved so different from himself, but we may learn from the circumstances that prosperity is not always good. When Hezekiah was anointed king, the house of God was deserted and out of repair, and the kingdom was harassed on every side, while Manasseh found himself on the throne of a powerful state, with well-filled treasuries and storehouses. Youth is seldom fitted to exercise power, because it has not learned that in reality the ruler is the servant of the governed. When power is used only to minister to self-exaltation and self-indulgence it is a curse.

FALSE FRIENDS

There is never any lack of evil counsellors and flatterers to fill the mind of a king with false notions of his relations to his people, and Manasseh was misled by these, The Lord spoke to him also by His prophets, but he would not hear them. Hezekiah had employed men to copy out some of the proverbs of Solomon, and among these wise sayings were several which related to the office of a king. They are found in the twenty-fifth to the twenty-ninth chapters of Proverbs. One of the proverbs reads, "Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall he established in righteousness." Prov. xxv. 5, This may explain why Manasseh's throne was not established. He listened rather to counsels that favoured his own inclinations than to the faithful warnings uttered by servants of God.

"LED CAPTIVE BY SATAN"

Manasseh stopped at nothing in his departure from the Lord, and his case is a warning to those who think that because they have, been brought up respectably they can refuse to serve God, and yet never become so abandoned as others who have sunk to the depths of shame and degradation. Manasseh had a good father and godly training, but turning from the Lord, he went altogether to the bad. He built again the high places which his father had broken down, and reared altars for the worship of the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. As if this was not enough, "he set a carved image in the house of God." He caused his children to be sacrificed unto devils, in obedience to the cruel dictates of heathenism. He dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards. The evils for which the Amorites had been cast out were reproduced in Manasseh; "moreover he shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other."

PERILOUS TIMES

In these last days the prophecies tell us that before Christ comes, it will be as it was in the days of Noah, when the earth was tilled with violence, and every imagination of men's hearts was only evil continually. Some may think that it would take a very long time to undo all the work of civilisation, and bring the world to such a depth of depravity, but we see in the case of Manasseh that it did not take very long to descend from an exceptionally high standard to one that went beyond the excesses of the unspeakable Amorites. All the good there is in the world is due to the Spirit of God. Men do not recognise this fact, and attribute all signs of good to themselves, but the Spirit strives with them, and though it is seldom allowed to appear as a positive power, its negative influence is always at work, smothering to some extent the manifestations of the carnal heart. As the world finally hardens itself against the work of the Spirit, it will quickly be seen how little restraining power there is in the boasted growth of civilisation. "This know, that in the last days perilous times shall come." "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall was worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." 2 Tim. iii. 1, 12, 13.

A BROKEN STAFF

There was only one hope of saving Manasseh. He had rejected the true God for false ones. He must he left to make practical trial of their value. The captains of the host of the king of Assyria came, conquered him, bound him in chains and carried him away to Babylon. This must have brought forcibly to his mind the uselessness of serving idols. Hezekiah had met the armies of that same nation in the strength of Jehovah and one of His angels had laid them low. Manasseh had served his false gods diligently, had even sacrifice his children to them, but now in his distress they did nothing for him. It must have come home to him then that all these years he had been following-nothing. He had exchanged the truth of God for a lie. What insanity of folly!

PROMISES TO THE PENITENT

Man's extremity is God's opportunity. In captivity, bemoaning his fate, Manasseh was more accessible to the Spirit of God. There were no flatterers at hand now to fill his ears with vanity. God loved Manasseh still, and His Spirit came, not to fill his mind with the terrors of a rain remorse, but to whisper thoughts of comfort, and forgiveness. "And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly." Perhaps he remembered reading, in the book of Deuteronomy, the promise of God that if, when the curse had fallen on any for disobedience, they should call His words to mind and return unto Him, the Lord would turn their captivity. "If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee." Deut. xxx. 4. The history of Manasseh is recorded that no one should despair. From the height of opportunity and privilege, he fell to the depths of deserved ruin; yet from those depths his plea for mercy was heard at the throne of grace. And God was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord He was God.

Manasseh's repentance was sincere, and during the rest of his long reign we read of no relapse on his part. The people also returned to the worship of God, although they sacrificed still in the high places.

A ROYAL LOVE

The greatness of God's love is seen in His treatment of the repentant sinner. He does not say, "You are forgiven, but I can never trust you again." There is no humiliation attached to His forgiveness, for with it He bestows the love that casts out fear. He not only forgives the sin but remembers it no more. He restores the years that the locust hath eaten. Joel ii. 25. He says of Israel, "I will bring them again to place them and they shall be as though I had not cast them off." Zech. x. 6. Manasseh not only received forgiveness but was restored to more honour than he had before. So to Nehuchaduezzar, when he learned that the heavens do rule, was given greater honour than that which before had lifted up his heart in vanity. "For the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me." Dan. iv. 36. The Lord does not fill His kingdom with shame-faced, amnestied criminals, but with a royal nation, an holy priesthood, "kings and priests unto God." "Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." Ps. lxviii. 18.

ABUNDANT PARDON

None should feel discouraged because they find themselves in evil case, and have certain evidence that their own sinfulness and folly has brought them there. Satan tries to persuade such that it is useless to expect help from God, when it is the very rejection of His counsel that has brought them into distress. God brings people into such places for the very purpose of helping them, and because there is no other way of getting them to accept His help. "Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are, afflicted. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble." Does He reply, "You should not have been such fools. If you had obeyed Me you would not have got into trouble. Now you must bear the consequences"? No. "And He saveth them out of their distresses. He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men." Ps. cvil. 17-21. Israel would not listen to the voice of God, so by means of the things that fascinated them, He allured them into the wilderness. There in distress He spoke comfortably to them. It was not for the sake of punishing Israel that they were allured into the wilderness, but that God might give them their vineyards from thence. Hosea ii. 14, 15. So Manasseh went into the wilderness, and received his kingdom from thence. Knowing from whom He received it, and acknowledging the Giver, he was established in the possession of it as he never had been before.

"The Power to Forgive" The Present Truth 14, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

A reader of the PRESENT TRUTH asks for an explanation of John xx. 33, saying, "I know God alone has power to forgive sins, but I have been asked the question, and to take the verse as it reads it seems as though Christ gave His disciples that power."

Let us first read the verse and its connection. Jesus bad appeared to His disciples as they were gathered together, and said, Peace be unto you. "Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you; as My rather hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." John xx. 21-23.

GOD'S WORD ABSOLUTELY TRUE

One thing must be settled first of all, and that is, that we must take this verse, as every other thing that the Lord says, just as it reads. When once we know that we have the words of the Lord just as He spoke them, that is, that we have them accurately translated, then we have nothing to do but to believe them without any alteration or amendment or any fitting of them to some preconceived ideas. In this case there cannot he the slightest doubt that our version gives the correct rendering of the words of Jesus to His disciples. Therefore we must accept the statement that Christ gave His disciples power to forgive sins. Why should we wish to believe otherwise? The fact that some people pervert the good gifts of God, should not hinder its from receiving them with gladness.

MEN SENT IN CHRIST'S STEAD

"As My Father hath sent Me, so send I you." Then those whom Christ sends are commissioned to do the same work which He here on the earth. And whom does Christ sent? He sends every one who hears and accepts His gracious invitation, "Come unto Me." "Let Him that heareth say, Come." This is unconsciously admitted by every Christian, even though he might think it almost if not quite presumption to think that he is sent in Christ's place; for there is no one who does not find comfort in the assurance, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world;" but this assurance is in connection with the charge, "Go ye, therefore." Every believer is commissioned

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to bring sinners to God, by the power of Christ, who is with him for that purpose.

But there is plainer evidence still, that God has bestowed upon mortal men the high privilege of being "workers together with Him." Read 2 Cor. v. 17-20. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." This includes every one who is in Christ. It is not limited to the eleven who saw Jesus in the flesh. Whoever is in Christ, is a new creature. With such ones "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." One who is in Christ is not the same person that he was before; he is another man. "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given unto us the ministry of reconciliation." To whom has God given "the ministry of reconciliation." Read the text, and see. It is to those whom he has reconciled to Himself. Every one who is in Christ is a new creature, is reconciled to God, and has received the ministry of reconciliation. His life work is to induce others to he reconciled to God.

"ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD"

But how are we to do this? We are not sufficient for such a work. Of course we are not; but we must remember that when we are in Christ all things are of God. Even Jesus said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing;" "but the Father which dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." John v. 30; xiv. 10. This ministry of reconciliation is on this wise: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself not imputing their trespasses unto them." With Christ all things were of God. It was God in Him who was reconciling the world. And the same God "hath put in us the word of reconciliation." Verse 19, margin. What follows? "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech by us; we pray in Christ's stead, Be, ye reconciled to God." This is the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. How few appreciate it. So many professed Christians are content with the thought that Jesus can save them, not realising that He has sent them to be salvation to others.

"He whom God hath sent, speaketh the word of God; for God giveth not the Spirit by measure." John iii. 31. God puts the word of reconciliation into him, and he cannot but speak it. But when the word of Christ dwells in men richly, it must necessarily have the same effect that it had in Christ. That is just why God puts it into us. Now read an example of the power of the Word.

AN EXAMPLE OF THE POWER

"And, behold, they brought unto Him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed; and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy: Son, he of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins he forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk." But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith He to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house. But when the multitude saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto man." Matt. ix. 2-8.

The word that heals is the word that forgives. The power to work miracles is the power that forgives sins. This is the word and the power of God alone, but He has committed it to men. He has put into men the word and ministry of reconciliation. But "all things are of God." If this is not remembered and acknowledged, there is nothing at all. Jesus saith, "The word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me." John xiv. 24. He was here on earth as we are, in order that we might be here on earth as He is. Leaving Himself and His own glory entirely out of the account, He spoke only the words of God, and the result was mighty works. That same word is given to us, if we will but accept it, with the consequences which follow.

THE POWER GIVEN TO MEN

Note that Jesus calls Himself "The Son of man." He is the Son of God, but it was not under that title that He declared His authority to heal and to forgive. "The Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins." So in John v. 26, God has given the Son authority to execute judgment, "because He is the Son of man." Strange, isn't it? If we had written that we should have said that He has authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of God, wouldn't we? But no; it is because He is the Son of man. Jesus was here on earth as man, "a Man approved of God," the representative Man; and when the people saw the power that was in Him, they glorified God, who had "given such power to men."

The salvation of God "at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His own will. For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. 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 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. 3-8.

MAN'S PLACE IN GOD'S PLAN

God has given a work to men, that is not given to angels, which excel in strength. That work is the preaching of the Gospel. Why is it given to men instead of to angels, who are so much wiser and stronger? Because "unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come." "The world to come" is the new earth, which was in the beginning, and over which God gave man dominion. See Gen. i. 26-28. But now we do not see all things put under man, as in the beginning, because man has sinned, and lost the crown of glory, and so the dominion. Nevertheless, "whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever." God having given the earth to man, will never take it away from him. But man has lost the power to rule the world, simply because he lost the power to rule himself. He rejected the word of the Lord. So we see Jesus, made a Iittle lower than the

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angels, that is, made man, and as man we see Him "crowned with glory and honour, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." He has by His life and death won the right to the dominion of the earth, and is now exalted "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. 21. But all who believe are raised with Him to the same position. E ph. ii. 1-6. So then we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. All that He has is ours. He has gone on before us to the capital of our common heritage, leaving us here for a season to continue the work which He begun; but He is still with us with all His power, by the Spirit, in order that the work may be done as He did it.

A PRICELESS TREASURE IS WORTHLESS VESSEL

True as the world was in the beginning given to man to rule, to man is entrusted the work of bringing it back into its first condition. The word which God puts into the mouths of them that trust Him is the word that is to "plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art My people." Isa. Ii. 16. But "all things are of God." "No man taketh this honour to himself." "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of men." It is not to a priestly class that this work is given, but to all believers, for all true believers are priests of God. 1 Peter ii. 9. No man can at will declare the forgiveness of sins, any more than he can at will perform miracles. But to every contrite soul, to every one who is mourning because of his sins, God has commissioned us to say, "Thy sins be forgiven thee." In order, however, for one to say this, he must himself know to the full the power of forgiveness. He must know from experience that God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And whenever any man assumes any power as belonging to himself, or has a spirit of exaltation or boasting because of his supposed power, the word is not in him. "I can of mine own self do nothing." "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation."

What a glorious calling is ours in Christ Jesus! Think of it! To be taken into partnership with the God of heaven, who Himself supplies all the capital and does all the work! What an "unspeakable gift!" Truly, "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him." But, thanks be to His name, He has revealed them unto us by the Holy Spirit. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

"For the Children. God's Way" The Present Truth 14, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

When you saw the picture that we showed you last week, and thought of the beautiful New Earth which God will make, where there will be no "sickness nor sorrow nor crying," where all will be love and peace, and you will be able to play with the lions and leopards and wolves and serpents, without any fear or danger,-did you not long for that happy time to come? But that is what this earth would have been now and always if it had not been for sin.

We have found how in the beginning everything that God made obeyed His Word. The flowers and trees obeyed His Word, and grew just where and how He wanted them to,-they grew in His way. The sun, moon, and stars obeyed His Word, and His hand guided them in His own way through the heavens. The animals and birds and fishes obeyed His Word, and each one lived and worked in just the way that He wanted it to.

But God's most noble and beautiful work, those whom He had made in His own image to rule over all the rest of His creation, disobeyed His Word, and chose to go in their own way instead of in His way. This brought sad disorder and trouble into God's beautiful world; for death came upon the plants and the animals and everything in the earth through man's sin.

And as they watched the fading flowers and falling leaves, as they saw the animals grow wild and fierce and fight and kill each other, as they wept over their dead, and felt their own strength going from them, they knew indeed that "there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

God's loving heart grieved over the sorrows of His children, over the pain that His creatures were suffering; for not one sparrow falls to the ground without His notice, and He even numbers the hairs of our heads, and sees every tear that we shed. But He cannot save us from the bitter fruits of choosing our own way, unless we are willing to give up our own way, and take God's way instead.

So that every one may know how good and pleasant and beautiful His way is, He came Himself into the world to live out that way right in our midst. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Man's way is sin and death. God's way is truth and life. So God cannot give us life, eternal life, in His new earth where everything will he just in His way, unless we will give up our own way of sin, and take His way of truth. We must have Jesus, who is God's Way, to live in us, so that we shall always choose to do just what God would have us.

He showed to us just what God is, and what we all may be if we will but let God have His own way in us just as He did. Then if you will choose God's way all the time, instead of your way, and ask Jesus to live that way in you, you will find that His way is life, for He says, "He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

And though you may have to sleep in the grave for a little while before He comes, His Word which brought the plants, the animals, and man from the ground in the beginning, will call you again from the dust of the earth, and will make "all things new," as they were in the beginning.

"Come, Lord, and wipe away
The curse, the sin, the stain,
And make this blighted world of ours
Thine own lair world again."

"More About Animals" The Present Truth 14, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

We were talking last week about how we may learn to know God by studying the things that He has made. How wise, how loving, how merciful is our great Creator you will end out more and more as you think upon the wondrous works of His hands.

Here is a little picture of some of the wonderful things that His powerful Word made from the dust of the ground, when God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature."

The largest animal in the picture is the kangaroo. It does not go along on its four legs like most quadrupeds, but upright as you see it here, and instead of running along the ground, it takes the most astonishing long, high leaps.

So that the mother kangaroo can carry her little ones safely with her in these flying leaps, God has made a little cradle in her body, a small pouch or pocket where her babies are stowed away, safe and warm. Here they are kept by the mother until they are old enough to leave it, and even then they run to her and jump in when anything frightens them. You can see the tiny head of one of the babies peeping out from its cosy cradle.

At the top of the picture is a little hedgehog. You will know him by the sharp spines, or prickles, sticking out all over his body. This little creature has nothing else to defend it from the attacks of its enemies-it cannot run swiftly and get away from them, and it has no strength or skill with which to meet them. But God has covered it with this armour, and when it sees an enemy-a cat, or weasel, that is unfriendly to it-it draws in all the soft parts of its body and rolls itself up so that nothing can be seen but a ball of sharp prickles. Then anything that touches it only pricks itself without hurting the hedgehog, who waits until its enemy goes away and gives it an opportunity to escape.

Just below the hedgehog, making its way to the water, you will see a strange looking little animal that you have never seen before. But did you ever see anything at all like it? Look closely, and you will see that it has a bill exactly like a duck, and webbed feet also.

It swims in the water and feeds in the mud just like a duck, but its body is like that of a mole, and it burrows like the mole in the ground, in the river banks, and makes its nest under the ground. It is so wonderfully formed that it is as much at home in the water as a duck, and in the land as a mole. It is called the duckbilled water-mole.

This little creature's home is in Australia, and when one was first sent to Europe people thought that somebody must have made it up by fastening a duck's beak on to the body of a small animal. But they have since found that this is really the way that God made it, though they have not ceased to wonder at it.

Another time we will talk about some more of these wonderful works of God. If you will read through the 104th psalm, you will see how He who made them is all the time caring for each one of the smallest of His creatures. He says, "I know all the fowls of the mountain, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine." He knows them all, He thinks of all, He feeds all, and He loves all. "Fear not, therefore," for Jesus tells you that you are of much more value to Him than all "the fowls of the mountains" or "beasts of the forest," so "how much more" will He think of you, and take loving care of you all the time.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

-Fifty-two fresh trade disputes occurred during September, involving 7,614 workpeople.

-Thirty years ago there were only two dozen explosive compounds known to chemists, now there are over a thousand.

-While excavating near Oxford-circus for the new electric railway a supposed plague pit was discovered. Roman London lies eighteen feet below the modern pavements.

-A Bill has been introduced into the Cape Parliament providing that the sum of ?30,000 per annum be placed at the disposal of the Imperial authorities as a contribution towards the Navy.

-The London County Council has almost unanimously agreed to promote a Bill in the coming session for the purchase of the undertakings of the eight London water companies by agreement, or failing agreement by compulsion.

-The Admiralty intend forming a Special Service Squadron of exceptional strength, and the ships comprising it will assemble in Plymouth Sound at an early date. Contracts have been entered into with South Wales collieries for the supply of 200,000 tons of coal to the fleet at rates which are 3s. higher than the average for the last two or three years. War scares are expensive luxuries for a country.

-A new battleship has just been launched on the Thames for the Japanese Government, which when completed will be the most powerful vessel afloat.

-A report has been received from Upper Ubangi, Africa, of the murder of a missionary by a tribe of natives. A child who accompanied him was killed and eaten.

-The price of wheat has risen considerably in Italy, and in view of the troubles caused in this way last spring, the Italian Government views the situation with some anxiety.

-It is known at Washington that the Administration officials expect the final settlement of the Philippines problem to be the retention of the islands, and the payment of the Philippines' debt of 1897.

-The French Cabinet crisis is ended, a new Ministry having been formed with M. Dupuy as Premier. The Cabinet will bow to the recent decision of the Court of Appeal and support justice in the Dreyfus affair.

-The total number of shipping casualties that occurred during the year ending June on or near the coast of the United Kingdom amounted to 5,277, and show; an increase of 657, over the total for the preceding twelve months.

-The majority in favour of prohibition of the liquor traffic at the recent polling throughout Canada was 13,844. The number of electors who voted was 548,042, or only 44 per cent. of the electorate. The total number of votes registered for prohibition was 278,403, against 264,579.

-Now that the season for prize cattle is at hand, Sir Richard Thorne's lecture on tuberculosis comes as a timely warning. He stated that "there was no flesh more likely to propagate tuberculosis than that of the well-stalled bullock. This was chiefly owing to the enforced confinement of the animal."

-South London has been visited by a cyclone. It was limited in area and duration, but enormous damage was done. Houses were unroofed, trees were blown down, vehicles were overturned, lamp posts were twisted, and chimneys fell. No one was seriously injured, the streets having been cleared by the heavy rain.

-In 1888 Ireland made 11,063,948 gallons of whiskey, and in 1898, 14,517,708 gallons, an increase of something like 3,500,000 gallons in the ten years. In 1888 Scotland made 18,159.651 gallons, and last year 33,744,503 gallons, which, added to the Irish output, means considerably over a gallon a head for every man, woman, and child in the United Kingdom.

-A remarkable vessel was launched last week. She is called an ice-breaker, and her purpose is to open up harbours which have been closed by ice during the winter. There are four propellers, driven by separate engines, with a total of 10,000 horse-power. In shape the vessel is like a battleship, but has a very long, powerful ram at the bow. Besides carrying cargo herself, the ship will act as a convoy for merchant vessels, making for them a safe passage through the ice. The vessel has been built for the Russian Government, and will be principally used in keeping open trade routes in the Baltic.

-Owing to the extreme heat, the Emperor William is still further curtailing his four in the East. At Jerusalem the Kaiser made a speech in which he announced that the Sultan, as a proof of personal friendship, had given him a plot of ground at Jerusalem, which he had pleasure in placing at the disposal of his Catholic subjects in the Holy Land. The Pope has telegraphed his sincere thanks for this gift. Reports have been spread among the populace in Constantinople that au alliance with Germany had been concluded, and that a new era of prosperity was about to dawn in consequence.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

"Immortality on God's Terms: Endless Life in Christ the Lord." This is the title of a little book of about ninety pages, by George P. McKay, pastor of Devonshire Square Church, London. Published by H. R, Allinson, 30, Paternoster Row. The nature of the book is fully and accurately indicated by the title, and the subject is more comprehensively dealt with than one would expect to find in so small compass. We welcome it as a step in the direction of taking the Bible at just what it says, instead of "interpreting" it to make it agree with ideas borrowed from pagan philosophy.

There is one thing which the author does not make clear, and that is, the distinction between immortality and eternal life. Very few pay any heed to this distinction, taking it for granted that they are synonymous terms, and thereby the way for people to accept the truth is made more difficult. Whether these terms are regarded as the same by the author of this little book, we cannot say with certainty from reading it; but the mention of it gives opportunity for a brief statement that may help many in their reading of the Bible.

The terms "immortality" and "eternal life" indicate two entirely different things; and it is a matter of great practical importance, and not a mere theological quibble, to note the distinction. Mortality and immortality apply solely to the body, meaning corruptible and incorruptible, while eternal life is never essentially any part of man, but is the manifestation of the Divine Spirit.

All men are mortal. The Bible tells us this, and it is all too patent to our own senses. Mortal means corruptible, decaying, subject to death; immortal means of course just the opposite. Now that men are subject to decay and death, is amply demonstrated by every cemetery, by every physician's sign, and by every man's own body. Immortality, incorruptibility, the condition of absolute immunity from death, so that the lapse of time will make no change in the body, is bestowed only at the coming of the Lord and the resurrection. "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Cor. xv. 51-54.

This portion of Scripture alone is amply sufficient to show that all men, Christians as well as sinners, are now mortal. It is only at the resurrection of the just that men are made so that they cannot die any more (Luke xx. 35, 36), "and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." Rev. xxi. 4.

With eternal life, however, it is different. "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 [the life, R.V.], and he that hath not the Son hath not life." 1 John v. 11, 13. This record which God has given concerning His Son, is so plain and positive, that nobody can disbelieve it without charging God with lying. See verse 10.

Christ is the life. He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." John xiv. 6. And His life is eternal; "for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us." 1 John i. 2. This life is God's own life, and is superior to everything. Temptation cannot make any impression upon it, nor can it be in any way affected by sin or disease. It is this life, and this life only, that enables a person to resist temptation, and to live free from sin. The possession of it by faith is what makes a man a new creature.

This life is freely offered to all. Not only is it offered, it is given, but very few will "lay hold on eternal life." Since it is the life of God, it cannot be had apart from God. God in Christ must dwell in the heart by faith, in order that the life may be there. This life, the life of Jesus, is manifested in the mortal flesh of those who are yielded to Him. 2 Cor. iv. 11. The Holy Spirit received in His fulness, bringing the personal presence of Christ into the soul, is eternal life. "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." John xvii. 3. We can know God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent to reveal Him, only as He dwells in the heart.

This is the life of righteousness. Circumstances of life, or conditions of the body, have no effect on it, since it is Gods own life. Even death itself cannot affect it. The life, being hid with Christ in God, will continue the same even though the man die. The life may be laid down, and taken again, as in the case of Jesus. So long as a man keeps the faith, he keeps the life, and if he dies in the faith, he sleeps in Jesus, and awakes in life. The life is his-held for him-while he is sleeping in the grave, just as surely as though he were awake. When the Lord comes, then the eternal life that we have possessed in our moral bodies, and which has been our righteousness, will be ours in our immortal bodies, and will be our righteousness to all eternity.

The trouble over this question has all arisen from people supposing that they were God. Men do not fear God, and give glory to Him, but assume that they live and move by some inherent power. They think that they have life in themselves. Everything would be right if they would but remember that man is in himself nothing-"less than nothing, and vanity." He is but dust, into which God has been pleased to breathe His own life. Man has sinned, but God has in mercy continued His life to us, that we may be saved from sin. If we appreciate the gift, and acknowledge it as a gift from God, so that He can exercise it in His own way, it will at last work out immortality for us; and the immortality and the life will always he held directly from Him. "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen."

It is evident that the love of Christ does not warm our own hearts, if we have nothing to say to others of its power, it we do nothing to kindle in the hearts of others the love of God.

November 17, 1898

"A New and Living Way" The Present Truth 14, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

"And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." Matt. xxvii. 51. While the first tabernacle was yet standing it was a sign, given by the Holy Ghost, that the way into the Holy Place, of which the earthly tabernacle was but a type, was not yet made manifest. The rending of the veil at the death of Christ was a sign that He had opened for us a new and living way, "that is to say, His flesh." Heb. x. 30. "I am the way." "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." John xiv. 6.

When Christ came into the world, He said, "Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me." "Lo, I come (in the volume of the Book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God." It was not the continual sacrifice for sin that God desired to see established. He preferred that sin should be destroyed, and His will be done on earth as in heaven. So Christ came to take away the first that He might establish the second. God had said, "I hate, I despise your feast days. . . Though ye offer Me burnt offerings and your meat offerings I will not accept them . . . But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream." Amos v. 31-34.

"A body hast Thou prepared Me." "In all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren." "He took on Him the seed of Abraham." "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." "Himself took our sicknesses, and bare our infirmities." The body which was prepared for Christ was "the body of the sins of the flesh." "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body to the tree." Therefore in that body every soul of man is represented, for He is the Lamb of God that beareth the sin of the world. In the experiences of that body we are most closely concerned, for it is our own body.

"In the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart." "In Thy Book all My members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." Ps. cxxxix. 16. "We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." Unless our names are blotted out, they are "written in the book of life of the Lamb slain." But those whose names are written in the book of His life, being His members, will like Him delight to do the will of God, and have His law within their hearts. By that same will "we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Said He, "for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified." John xvii. 19.

This is the covenant that God makes with us in Christ, that as His law was in the heart of His Son, so it shall be in ours. "I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them." As Christ was sanctified by the truth, so are we to be, not merely as a standard set for our attainment, but as the law of our being, for we are made "partakers of the Divine nature." Our sins and iniquities will be remembered no more by God, and this is assurance that they will cease to exist.

Christ has joined the human family to Himself in bonds so strong and enduring,

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that nothing shall separate us from His love. "As He is, so are we in this world." Although Christ is entered into the Holy Place, to appear in the presence of God, He is there as Man for us, and so in Him we too are in the Divine presence. He sits at the right hand of the Father, but God who raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory, in doing so "quickened us together with Christ, and hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Eph. ii. 5, 6. Therefore since Christ is in the holy place we can with all boldness enter there, with a true heart, in full assurance of faith.

Nor is this to be accomplished by the exercise of the imagination. The Gospel deals in facts, not fancies. The flesh which Christ has sanctified by one offering is our flesh, the sinful flesh. It is now made holy, even with the inconceivable holiness that makes the heavenly sanctuary so sacred. "The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." The holiness of Christ, which consecrates His dwelling-place, is shared with us, and so, being one in spirit with the beings there and in harmony with the surroundings, we may dwell in the house of the Lord without fear all the days of our life, to enquire in His temple, and to ask, in the name which gives us right of entrance, for whatsoever we desire. Only, remembering in whose body we come, as by a new and living way, it is fitting and significant that we draw near "having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."

"'Power with God'" The Present Truth 14, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

"And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Gen. xxxii. 24-28.

"As a prince hast thou power with God." The way people for the most part use this test, one would think that it read, "As a prince hast thou power against God." It is read as though Jacob had all night been consciously wrestling with the Lord, and had at last worn him out, so that the Lord had been obliged to yield, and bless him. And so people regard prayer as a sort of wrestling contest with the Lord, imagining that if they can hold out long enough they will weary the Lord into granting what they ask. There are very few, however, who have this idea, who persevere very long in prayer, because they do not find prayer a pleasant occupation. Such a view of the test does the greatest dishonour to God, who is not the hard, unjust, unfeeling judge, but the tender, loving Father, who anticipates all His children's wants.

Think of the situation for a minute. Put yourself in Jacob's place. Would you have the boldness to enter into a wrestling contest with the Lord, knowing it to be He? Do you know of anybody who you think would dare lay hands on the Lord, or one of His messengers from heaven, and try to throw him on the ground? We cannot think of a person so presumptuous and so irreverent that he could venture to lay violent hands on the Lord, knowing Him to be the Lord. If the wicked men who put Christ to death had known who He really was, "they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." 1 Cor. ii. 8. They might have known, but they did not.

The very fact that Jacob wrestled with the angel, who was none other than the Lord, shows that he did not know Him to be the Lord. He thought that it was an enemy that had seized upon him. The touch of the Lord as the day began to break showed Jacob at once the futility of the struggle, and made it impossible for him to continue it. With his thigh out of joint, there was nothing for him to do but to cling to his late antagonist for support. Then the Lord said, "Let Me go." Anybody can see that this was said merely to test Jacob, because He who could with a touch dislocate a man's thigh could easily disengage Himself from his grasp. But Jacob is now no longer wrestling with an enemy; he is embracing a Friend, and he is determined to cling.

"By his strength he had power with God." Hosea xii. 3. When was it that Jacob received his blessing?-It was when he was leaning on the Lord for support, unable to stand alone. What then was his strength?-Manifestly it was his weakness. When he found that he was without strength, then he prevailed. His power with God was his absolute helplessness.

Remember now that the text says that Jacob had power with God, and not against Him. Jacob had no power at all, but he was made sharer of God's power, and that was his strength. His faith made him a prince of God. The son of a king is a prince. Those who believe on the name of the Lord become sons of God. John i. 12. As a son of the King of kings, and therefore a prince of God, one must necessarily have power with God; not power against Him, but power derived from Him.

This power God gives to every one who truly believes. Absolute trust is the only condition, and that absolute trust must arise from the knowledge of God's loving power, and consciousness of our own helplessness. God "raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and the needy from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory." When we believe, He adopts us into His own family, so that all His people are of royal birth. He lifts us up from the death of sin, and sets us in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that is, on His throne, so that in Christ we are given power with God; we are made sharers of the Divine power.

When one has received this power,-and it is the portion of every one who is wholly the Lord's,-it follows as a natural consequence that he will have power with men. It is with this power that God clothes His servants, in order that they may make known the Gospel. What is the Gospel?-It is the power of God. It is evident then that no one can show forth the Gospel, unless he has that power of God.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is set down with His Father in His throne. As Son of God, the heathen are His heritage, and the uttermost parts of the earth His possession. He has not yet taken possession, but it is not lack of power that prevents His doing so; He is manifesting His power in drawing men to Himself. The power by which at the last He will destroy the reprobate, and renew the earth, is the power by which He now works to save men. Indeed, the manifestation of that power at the last, in the destruction of the wicked, will be for the salvation, of His own faithful people.

The fact that Jesus even now has power over the heathen is shown by the statement that lie is seated at the right hand of God 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." But God has bestowed this wonderful love on us who believe, that we should be called the sons of God. This

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being called the sons of God is not a fancy title, but, as stated in the Revised Version, "such we are." "Now are we the sons of God." It is in Christ that we become sons, and in Him we are raised up to sit with Him in the heavenly places, and that means that God has placed us "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion." In all this there is nothing for us to boast about, for we are nothing. The power is the Lord's, which He is pleased to manifest through us, when we fully yield to Him, and depend on Him.

Then comes the promise of Christ, "he that overcometh and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they he broken to shivers; even as I have received of My Father." Rev. ii. 26, 27.

Here Christ says that His disciples shall share the same power and authority that the Father gives to Him,-the authority mentioned in the second psalm. "Yes," some one will say, "but this is all future." Very true, and even so it is future in the case of Christ. Not yet does He rule the nations with a rod of iron, and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel; but the power to do so is His, nevertheless. His power is exerted to save them, until they absolutely and finally refuse to be saved, when it will remove them. When He begins to execute judgment, His saints will share the honour with Him (Ps. cxlix. 5-9), and in the meantime He imparts to them His own power, that they may carry forward His work of reconciliation.

"If by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ." Rom. v. 17. "Shall reign in life." When? Why, when life comes, of course. And when does life come?-When we are risen with Christ from the dead, to "walk in newness of life." Rom. vi. 4. When men yield themselves to God "as those that are alive from the dead," sin shall not have dominion over them. Rom. vi. 13, 4. Instead of being ruled, they will rule. From slaves, they will be transformed into kings, with power over the flesh. "He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city," for the power by which he rules himself is the power by which the whole earth is to be made new, and the first dominion restored.

Whatever you may choose to give away be always sure to keep your temper.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. A Temperance Lesson. Proverbs iv. 10-12" The Present Truth 14, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

NOVEMBER 27

A great deal of effort is put forth in connection with Temperance work, which is not accomplishing good results because it has strayed into side issues and is wasting its strength in unproductive lines. Temperance reform is a very simple matter, so long as it deals with the real difficulty, but when false methods and irrelevant problems are introduced, it becomes complicated. That which is responsible for the evils of intemperance is the perverted appetite of men. If that be conquered in a man, he is saved from intemperance. If it conquers him, he is lost, even though every public-house be closed by local option, prohibition or compensation. To fight intemperance by attacking externals is like trying to kill a tree by plucking off its leaves, or cure an attack of small-pox by covering up the symptoms. In both cases to attack the thing at its source is not only the simplest but the easiest way.

A FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

Only one thing will overcome intemperance, and that is, temperance. But this is a fruit of the Spirit of God. Gal. v. 23. Therefore any temperance movement which does not rely upon the Holy Spirit is fore-doomed to failure. But, it may be said, so few will receive the Spirit. Where that is the case, it will be impossible to save the man. The most perfect legal enactments will profit him nothing. It may be urged that it would be impracticable for the temperance work to depend upon the Spirit, because so many active leaders of the movement do not care to be publicly connected with the Holy Spirit. Let them go; their money and influence, are worse than useless if they hinder a reliance upon the one source of success.

THE FREE SPIRIT

But how can poor drunkards get the Holy Spirit! It is a general belief that this is only accessible to Christians of an advanced type: something that they have earned by a consecrated life and faithful service. God's gifts are not given to those who deserve, but to those who need. The Spirit was given freely to the wicked world before the flood, but the people stubbornly resisted its striving. Still it is given to all to convince of sin and of righteousness. John xvi. 8. It is poured out upon all flesh. Acts ii. 17. Just as much as the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, the Spirit lusteth against the flesh. Gal. v. 17. There are times in almost every man's life when he submits for a while to be led of the Spirit. This is why the drunkard is sorry afterwards for his intemperance, and, when he contiunes to be led of the Spirit, finds in it power sufficient to overcome the lust of his flesh.

THE VICTORY OF FAITH

It is the conviction that their case is hopeless that prevents men from rising out of the degradation of self-indulgence. The man who feels the appetite asserting itself in him and clamouring for gratification, realises that the resistance which he purposed making against the temptation is gradually melting away, and feels that it is impossible to struggle against his own nature. But if, in that hour, he can know that there is a power with him which is stronger than the appetite, and that, ceasing to struggle, he has but to call for help upon One who is mighty, the knowledge will beget in him the confidence that brings victory. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." Jesus Christ has come in every man's flesh, and for this reason, nothing is impossible to the man who knows it. "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God," and "greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." 1 John iv. 3, 4. The knowledge that Christ, with all power, dwells in him, will give a man victory over drunkenness and every other sin. No man can be a successful temperance worker who cannot bear testimony to this fact, for there is no other way of salvation given among men.

THE TRUTH A SHIELD

The same principle applies in temperance work for the young. In the portion of the inspired Word on which the day's lesson is founded, is set forth the one bulwark which will provide a final and lasting security against the seductions of evil. Pledges are seldom kept when

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pressure is brought to bear. Home associations lose much of their force with passing years, but in the early chapters of the book of Proverbs is set before us the one means of instilling truth into the heart so that it will abide there, and form a permanent barrier against temptation.

A LIVING WORD

God's Word does not merely instruct us to be wise and get understanding. It is wisdom and understanding in itself, so that if a simple person receives the Word he is thereby made wise and prudent. The object of the Word is "to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion." Prov. i. 4. But there comes a time when the young grow up and meet new temptations. How will they shape their course then? If they have really become wise, they will meet the temptation aright. If they are but fools, they will follow where the temptation leads. It is not a question of what or how much they have read, but of what their characters have become; and here is seen the value of the Word in the training of the young, for it imparts in itself the virtues it sets forth.

HOW TO BECOME WISE

The Word itself grows and multiplies. When the seed of truth, though small as a grain of mustard-seed, is taken in, it begins to grow. It is not merely a dry statement but exerts an influence on the recipient, so that he begins to incline his ear unto wisdom, and applies his heart to understanding. This will lead him to cry after knowledge, and to lift up his voice for understanding; even to seek it as silver, and search for it as for hid treasures. Nor will the mind thus be drawn out in vain. A valuable experience follows. "Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom." Such a man will not be a mere book-worm, crammed with facts but lacking in nobility of character. Wonderful as are his attainments in the field of knowledge, they are not out of proportion to the honest integrity and simple beauty of his daily life. It is sound wisdom that the Lord gives, and "He preserveth the way of His saints."

A GOOD EDUCATION

Such a man is well educated. He understands righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path He is secured against backsliding, because the temptations of Satan do not compare in attractiveness with the way of the Lord. Wisdom has an abiding place in his heart, and knowledge has become pleasant to his soul, so that it is more precious than rubies, better than silver and fine gold. Prov. ii. Wisdom's ways are pleasantness and all her paths are peace. "Happy is every one that retaineth her." He does not get lonely, or have to sigh for amusement, for the Word is a pleasant and constant companion. "When thou goest it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest it shall keep thee; and when thou wakest, it shall talk with thee." Prov. vi. 32.

A GOODLY HERITAGE

Parents who train their children to have such an appreciation of the Word of God as is set forth in the first chapters of Proverbs, and none can until they have it themselves, are doing infinitely more to secure the welfare of their children than they could accomplish by leaving them large fortunes. In this way they can build them up against intemperance, and all other evils. Nor need there be any uneasiness as to the final outcome of such a training. The path of the just is not a way of comparative uncertainty, sometimes light and sometimes dark. It "shineth more and more unto the perfect day." The pathway of safety is indicated to all in emphatic words, which ring out from the sacred page their tones of warring and promise, "Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life."

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

MAN'S DOMINION

Gen. i. 26-28: "And God said, Let us make man in our imago, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

Luke iii. 38: "Adam, which was the son of God."

Heb. i. 10: "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands."

Heb. ii. 6-8: "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 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. 8, 9: "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."

Matt. viii. 23-27: "And when He was entered into a ship, His disciples followed Him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves; but He was asleep. And His disciples came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, Lord, save us; we perish. And He saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of, man is this, that even the winds and the waves obey Him?"

Matt. ix. 2, 6-8: "And, behold, they brought to Him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed; and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy: Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee." "That ye may know that the Son of man htah power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith He to the sick of the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house. But when the multitude saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto man."

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Matt. xxviii. 18-20: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations. . . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

Eph. i. 18-23: "That ye may know . . . 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, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

Eph. ii. 4-6: "God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

Matt. x. 1: "And He called unto Him His twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all mariner of disease, and all manner of sickness."

Rom. i. 3, 4: "Jesus Christ our Lord" "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."

Ps. ii. 8, 9: "The Lord hath said unto Me, Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession; Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."

1 John iii. 1, 2: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God."

Rev. ii. 26, 27: "He that overcometh, and keepeth My words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; find he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of My Father."

Josh. x. 12, 13: "Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and be said in the sight of Israel, 8un, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed."

1 Kings xvii. 1: "And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word."

James v. 17: "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are."

Acts i. 8: "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

Isa. xiv. 14: "Thus saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans men of stature shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine; they shall come after thee; in chains shall they come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else."

God is "the great King." Man was made in His image, and was His son, so that he was created a prince. He was given dominion over the works of God's hands, but this dominion was not an arbitrary thing. Man was not merely appointed king, but he was made a king. The authority was in him. "There is no power but of God." Rom. xiii. 1. Man in himself has no more power than the dust of which he is made; but since the everlasting power and Divinity of God are seen in all the things that He has made, it was but natural that in the highest of God's creatures this power should be manifested in the highest degree. The royal authority that was given to man in the beginning was the fulness of God's presence in him.

God set man over the works of His hands. The works of Cod's hands are described in the first chapter of Genesis, and are mentioned in Heb. i. 10. They include all that God made in the beginning. It was no small dominion that was given to man. The heavens and the earth that were made "in the beginning" were put in subjection under his feet. The fish of the sea, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air were to obey his will, and to come and go at his command; and the very earth itself was to be subject to him. This is plainly set forth in the tests quoted. It seems almost incredible that such power was given to man, yet we are bound to believe it, because God's Word tells us so. Why should we not be glad to believe it? for "whatsoever God doeth, it shall he for ever." Eccl. iii. 14.

Nevertheless we do not now see all things put under man. On the contrary, we see man for the most part weighed down under the burdens of this earth. Why is this?-It is not of God's appointment. Man sinned, and lost the glory with which he was crowned. His authority consisted solely in the righteousness which God's presence gave him; and when he rejected the Lord and lost the righteousness, he necessarily lost the dominion. The sceptre of Christ's kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness. Heb. i. 8.

But Jesus tasted death for every man, and because of this He is crowned with glory and honour. This crown He has as man, for it was as the Son of man that He tasted death for every man. Therefore as man He now has the dominion which God in the beginning gave to man. All power in heaven and in earth is in His hands. Remember that this power is in His hands as man,-the representative man,-for as God He had it all before He ever came to earth. God had never given up His right as Lord over all, and it was not necessary that Christ should come to earth to establish this claim; what He came for was to become man, and as man to win back what man had lost. "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." 1 Cor. xv. 21.

Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. He was the Son of God before He was raised from the dead, just as much as afterwards (see Matt. iii. 17), but it was the resurrection from the dead that demonstrated the fact. It was by the Spirit of holiness that He was raised. He was raised because as the Son of God He was holy.

This same Spirit of holiness-the Spirit of adoption-God has given us, so that we are sons of God, even as Jesus Christ is. It doth not yet appear what we shall be; the world does not recognise us as sons of God, just as it did not recognise Christ as the Son of God; but the resurrection will prove the fact. The resurrection will not make us sons, but will make the fact evident to all.

Jesus Christ, having been raised from the dead, was raised above all principality and power, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. The world to come is the new earth, and it was the new earth over which God in the beginning gave man dominion. Christ, therefore, as the Son of wan, having by the Spirit of holiness that dwelt in Him been shown to be also the Son of God, has the very same dominion that man in the beginning had as the son of God. And this He has for every man, since by the grace of God He "tasted death for every man." Therefore in Him we are raised to the dominion which man lost through sin. It is true that we do not now see all things in subjection under man, that is under all mankind, yet it is a fact that this dominion is given to those who are in Christ. If they do not exercise it, it is because they do not realise "the riches of the glory of His inheritance in

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the saints." "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; for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the world upon them." 1 Sam. ii. 8.

Evidences of the reality of this power as a present possession have when occasion demanded been seen not only in the Man Christ Jesus, but also in those who were His followers. To all it is said, "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you." The Lord wishes us to understand that Jesus of Nazareth was not a unique specimen, but that He was God's idea of what every man ought to be. It is only as one comes "to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," that he is "a perfect man." Eph. iv. 13. 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. There was no power manifested in Jesus that has not also been manifested in some of His faithful followers. God is not partial with His children. "Unto every one of ns is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Eph. iv. 7. We may none of us ever perform what are termed miracles, but we need the power nevertheless, for nothing less than the fulness of the power which God gave to man in the beginning, and which is now in "the Man Christ Jesus," can enable us to conquer sin. and Satan. "Power and authority over all devils" is needed by every person who overcomes, for we have the entire host to contend with. Eph. vi. 12. Thank God, this power is given to us!

"I'm the child of a King,
The child of a King;
With Jesus, my Saviour,
I'm the child of a King."

"A Great Step" The Present Truth 14, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Speaking on "Citizen Sunday" at St. James's Hall, one preacher said that "the creation of the London County Council was a great step forward in making London a city of God." It is unfortunate that the pulpit should lend itself to the work of misrepresenting the city, "whose Builder and Maker is God." What sort of idea will men get of it if they believe that London made "a great step" toward being like it when the London County Council was organised. As advocates of civic reform such preachers may do as well as anyone else, but as heralds of the Kingdom of God, they need to learn that God's ways are as much higher than human schemes as the heavens are higher than the earth. Isa. lv. 7-9.

"Inspiration of the Bible" The Present Truth 14, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Some years ago a weekly newspaper was established in Germany to defend orthodox doctrines, and especially the doctrine of the verbal inspiration of the Bible. At the end of last month this paper came to an end from sheer lack of writers. "In spite of all our efforts to find contributors, we have been unable to secure any," says the editor in his farewell. There is no occasion for discouragement in this. The Bible is sufficient for its own defence, and it is never more firmly established than when it is left to speak for itself. When men take the Word under their protection, it is more likely to increase infidelity than to inspire respect for the Scriptures.

"The Home. Cesarea" The Present Truth 14, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

A journalist, writing of the Kaiser's tour in Palestine describes the site of C?sarea. He says,

"It was visited by Peter and Paul and Philip, and it had a continued existence of some thirteen hundred years. Now there is not of the old town as much left as would shelter a pair of owls. A few fragments of walls are all that remain, scarcely a morsel of sculpture on the site of the sandstone and granite city, which measured over half a mile each way. By giving days to the investigation there may be found traces of a great theatre and other notable buildings, especially fortifications. But in an hour or so one can see nothing except the most frightful desolation, relieved by the existence of about a score of houses, built out of the material supplied by the quarry of the ruins."

Like all other great cities of antiquity the history of C?sarea serves to demonstrate the transient character of human works, beside the Word that endureth for ever. C?sar Augustus, in whose honour it was built by Herod, soon returned to the dust from whence he came, but Paul, who lay there in chains for more than two years, at the caprice of one of its most worthless governors, will rise from the grave to live eternally. "The world passeth away and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

But apart from the future life, C?sarea owes its place in the memory of man, not to its ancient splendour, for that has vanished from sight, and almost from history; not to its connection with powerful kings, but to the fact that it is mentioned by the men whom it judged worthy of bonds and imprisonment. Yet, while we take pleasure in this evidence of the far more exceeding and eternal influence of the Gospel, our glorying will be vain unless we show that we have really learned the lesson it teaches. The Jews in Christ's day built the sepulchres of the prophets, and thought that they had thereby sufficiently dissociated themselves from the deeds of their fathers; yet they themselves slew One who was more than a prophet. In this they showed that the lessons of history profited them nothing.

It is quite common for people now to moralise on the inevitable decay of earthly greatness, yet how few who recognise this are really turning from the lust of the flesh and the pride of life to build on the Word which endureth for ever. The test which came to our fathers comes to us. It is easy but insufficient to see and blame their mistakes. How many, if their choice lay, like Paul's, between earthly honour and the contempt of men, would choose truth and right, whatever they involved? The offence of the cross is not yet ceased, but whoever bears it finds it the power of God and an everlasting joy, while those who refusing the reproach of Christ, choose the pleasures of sin for a season find in them the sorrow of the world which worketh death. C?sarea from its sandy waste bears witness that the end of earth's splendour and greatness is only desolation.

"For The Children. Children of God" The Present Truth 14, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Through all our lessons on the creation, we have seen how His eternal power and Divinity are seen in the things that God has made. The light, the air, the sky, the grass and trees, the sun, moon and stars, the birds, beasts and fishes, all are telling us of God.

"All things that on earth I see
Seem to have a voice for me;
Ceaselessly, by night and day,
'Learn the truth we teach,' they say."

The voice that they all have is the voice of God speaking, for they are His living Word in all these different forms.

But in God's crowning work He meant to make Himself the most clearly to be seen, "so God made man in His own image." Adam was the son of God, a perfect likeness of God his Father. He was a king, for he ruled over the whole earth and everything in it; but he did not have a crown of gold to put on, and robes of state to wear, like the kings and queens of the earth wear now. His royal robe was a garment of light, and his crown was a crown of glory, for God "crowned him with glory and honour."

He did not have to put on any glory, but it shone right out from him, because he was the son of God and his character was like the character of God. Think how this beautiful light shining about Adam and Eve would light up everything that they came near, and how they would "shine as lights in the world.

But when they listened to the voice of Satan and fell into sin, they lost their holy character, and the light all faded away. Their beautiful crowns, their royal robes of light, were gone. But we have been learning lately how God is going to "restore all things," to bring back to man everything he has lost through sin. It was for this that Jesus, the Son of God, became man, to make men again the sons of God, kings of the earth, and lightbearers. For we read that "as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name."

When the Son of God, the Light of the world, is received into our hearts, and dwells there, we become the children of God and shine as lights in this dark world. Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." His light will now shine forth in our actions, which will show us to be the children of our Heavenly Father. And if we become like Him now in character, by and by He will change our bodies, and make them just like His own glorious body.

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him." "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."-the beautiful new earth about which we have been learning,-and "shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."

"A Fatal Education" The Present Truth 14, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

The Times has been calling attention to the vary serious state of things found to exist among the boys who were entered at a great public school.

"Of the first hundred boys examined thirty-nine were below the average height and fifty-three below the average weight. Sixty-eight were below the average in chest measurement, sixty-three were the subject of 'deformities,' such as lateral curvature of the spine, pigeon breast, knock-knee, and flat-foot. Twenty had defective sight, nine defective hearing, one an abnormal growth, one was colour-blind two had heart disease, two were ruptured, fourteen had varicocele, and twenty-two suffered from albuminuria. These boys were assured by the doctor to be typically healthy lads from thirteen to fifteen, and their parents were, as a rule, not aware of the existence of any physical defects."

This extraordinary percentage of infirmities is attributed to the keen competition for entrance to such schools, and the consequent increased demands made on the boys. It is well to be educated, but that kind of education which prematurely develops the mental powers at the expense of the rest of the body is not worth having. Too many pass from a brilliant career at school or college to an early grave, which buries with the ruined frame the education for which it was sacrificed. True education is that which teaches bow to live, and the education which destroys life cannot be a good one, even for those who survive the process.

In these days of scholarships there is a growing tendency to push the children forward in the struggle for such prizes. Many cannot hope to obtain them unless they take the time which should be allotted to out-door recreation, and, instead of guarding the children against the misuse of their strength, parents too often encourage the unnatural emulation.

The brain, like every other organ of the body, can only do its best when supplied with an abundance of pure, healthy blood, and for this a sufficiency of exercise is essential. It is true that by special effort one child may disregard its bodily health and surpass another in the acquirement of knowledge, but that other, by due regard to the laws of health, may build up a body and brain which will be doing good work long after the infant prodigy has lapsed into comparative uselessness, if not the utter oblivion of death.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

-An under vest, worn by Charles I., at his execution has been sold by auction for 200 guineas.

-A gas explosion at the Capitol in Washington did great damage, destroying a large number of important records.

-Since 1887 the British system of telegraphs has grown in length from one mile and a third to 1,111,366 miles of wire.

-The Government of India have decided to join in the scheme of Imperial penny postage from the beginning of its operation in January 1, 1899.

-Notwithstanding the recent heavy rains, the East-end still has to be content with a four-hours' supply of water. The Water Company is trying to secure a large reserve before it increases the supply.

-Black stamps of the value of a halfpenny, are being issued by Spain, one of which must be attached to every place of inland mail matter in addition to the usual postage. In Madrid, the number of letters posted has fallen off fully one-third since the extra fee has been demanded.

-The extension of the Soudan railway to Khartoum, 180 miles, has been definitely decided upon, and the orders for the necessary bridges are being placed with British firms. The principal one will be over 1,200 feet in length. There will be, in addition, between fifty and sixty smaller bridges.

-The American Line steamers, which were engaged in the American-Spanish war, have now we commenced running between New York and Southampton.

-Authenticated reports from Paris state that a plot has been discovered for the assassination of several persons who have been prominent in working for a revision of the Dreyfus trial.

-By the overflowing of the Yellow River in China 2,000 square miles are flooded, hundreds of villages destroyed, cattle and grain are swept away, tens of thousands have been rendered homeless, and famine is imminent.

-In connection with the naval preparations, not only our ships in course of construction being hurried forward, but even old coast-defence gunboats are being overhauled. One paper remarks that it looks as though the whole bar naval power is to be put on a war-footing. Immense quantities of stores are being purchased. The cost of the preparations must already run into several millions.

-An Italian journalists has been arrested by the Turkish authorities at Java and thrown into prison on account of some correspondence in which he said that the Sultan while allowing his soldiers to go unpaid was expending millions of francs in Syria. Probably the Turkish authorities feel that it is bad enough to have to suffer for their ostentatious hospitality. It is intolerable that other people should pass remarks upon it.

-During the last seven years investors in Limited Companies have lost less than ?28,000,000 in England. These figures only relate to companies that have been while the by order of the courts, and do not include numerous existing companies that pay no dividends. The Hooley disclosures throw light on the methods by which this wholesale transference of cash from the public to the company promoter is affected.

-All the European Governments have agreed to meet in an Anti-Anarchist Conference at the end of this month. Italy will propose that Anarchists be regarded as criminals and not as politicians, that they should be subject to extradition, and that the Press should be stopped from lending any encouragement to the movement. If these proposals become law they might be used by unscrupulous governments for far other ends than the exhortation of real Anarchism.

-It is now announced by official communication in Paris that Fashoda will be abandoned. Although this decision has been considered certain per several days passed, the work of preparation in English dockyards is being pushed forward with unabated energy. Those who have scouted the idea that a civilised Powers would now go to war except upon the greatest possible necessity, should be convinced by the Fashoda crisis that a serious conflict may be precipitated over a comparatively small question.

-In a speech made last week the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that every person in the United Kingdom, man, woman and child, drank on an average thirty-one gallons of beer in the course of a year. "He was glad of this increase for the sake of the revenue." At the rate of threepence a quart, this means a yearly expenditure of thirty-one shillings on beer by every member of the population, and as it is certain that vast numbers of infants and others do not drink any, it is clear that the drinking portion of the community must spend a lot of money on beer. The Government gets a revenue of ?12,000,000 from the business, but it cost the country great deal more than this to care for the orphans, poppers, imbeciles and criminals, who owe their condition to intemperance. It is short-sighted finance that congratulates itself on such a growth.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

A recently published report on the general subject of lunacy in France, methods of treatment, etc., show that alcohol is responsible, for the greatest proportion of lunacy in the country. This report will not attract much attention, but whenever there is a case in which there is a suspicion that religion has had something to do with the unsoundness of mind, there is a loud outcry.

Let it be understood that real religion never yet made a lunatic of anybody. When Jesus was on earth one great feature of His work was the healing of lunatics; and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is always working to save men from any tendency in that direction. God gives to those who believe in Him the Spirit that produces "a sound mind." 2 Tim. i. 7. It is impossible for a true believer in Christ ever to become a lunatic without first renouncing his faith.

A literally striking comment on the way in which terms are misapplied, is furnished in the report of the way in which an injunction against strikers, granted by a United States judge, at the request of the American Steel Wire Company, is characterised by the "labour" leaders.

The injunction declares that all men have the right to labour and to take the places of strikers. It prohibits strikers from entering the company's promises and inducing the present employÈs by threats or persuasion to cease work.

Strikers must not congregate for the purpose of intimidation, or picket or patrol the neighbourhood singly or collectively, or visit the homes of employÈs for the purpose of threatening their wives or families.

Strikers must not ask others to cease work, or ask anyone to ask them to do so.

It is stated that "labour leaders" throughout the country denounce this injunction as "a blow to the freedom of labour." As a matter of fact, it is just the opposite. What they call "Freedom of labour" is freedom to prohibit labour, and by their objection to the injunction these so-called leaders of labour show themselves to be merely leaders of idleness. This is but an evidence of the prevalence of the spirit to call evil good, and good evil; to put darkness for light, and light for darkness. This is a result of that spirit of lawlessness which sets aside the authority of God's law, and makes a working day of the Sabbath, and puts in its place a day which God calls a working day.

A well known dignitary of the Church of England presided last week at a public meeting held by the Salvation Army. In the course of his address he said:-

When he looked around and saw all the magnificent work done by many true Christians who did not belong to his own particular church he thanked God and took courage that He had servants in many denominations. From the religious opinions of these persons on many minor matters he might widely differ, but that did not prevent him acknowledging their social work. He regarded it not as a condescension, but as a distinguished honour to take the remotest part in helping such Christian work. The Church of England was doing a great and noble work, but there was ample need and room for all other workers, and he should always hold out the right hand of fellowship to those who were sincerely taking part in the mighty work of improving the condition of things in the world.

This is good, and one would judge from it that the speaker's regard for Christ was such that he counted all men brethren in Him. Yet a little earlier in the address, speaking of those who would probably subject him to vituperation for his appearance on that platform, he gave utterance to this un-Christlike sentiment,-

he should regard all such censure as lying immeasurably below his utmost capacity for disdain.

As a leader of men, setting a good example to narrower minds, it would have been better and nobler to adopt Christ's attitude. When He was reviled He reviled not again. It does not take so much Christianity to co-operate with friends of differing faith as it does to love our enemies, and those who speak all manner of evil against us falsely. Yet to show this love will do more "to improve the condition of things in the world" than to announce our immeasurable disdain for those who dislike our methods. The real interests of the cause of Christ suffer far too much from the "capacity" of His people for this kind of thing.

"Peace Talk and War Preparations" The Present Truth 14, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

In his speech at the Lord Mayor's banquet, Lord Salisbury took occasion to mention the Czar's peace proposal, and the mention of that naturally led to some remarks on the active war preparations at home. What he said is so marked a sign of the times that it is well worth considering. Speaking of the disarmament proposition, with which he expressed the utmost sympathy, he said:-

In some respects the era of this great proposition-which I think will be an epoch in the history of man-has been marked by unhappy omens. It is the first year in which the mighty force of the American Republic has been introduced among the nations, whose domination is extending, and whose instruments to a certain extent are war. I am not implying the slightest blame, far from it; I am not refusing sympathy to the citizens of the American Republic in the difficulties through which they have passed, but no one can deny that their appearance among the factors of Asiatic, as all events, and possibly European diplomacy is a grave and serious event which may not conduce to the interests of peace, though I think that in any event, it is likely to conduce to the interests of Great Britain.

What has been imposed upon us is that the subject-matter of war is terribly prevalent. On all sides you see nations who are decayed, or whose government is so bad that they can retain neither the power of self-defence nor the affection of their subjects. You also see, when that phenomenon takes place, there are always neighbours who are impelled by some motive or other-it may be by the highest philanthropy, it may be by a natural desire for Empire-to contest with each other as to who shall be the heir of the nation that is falling away from its old position. And that is the cause of war.

Still more serious is the consideration which recent events have forced upon us that these wars come upon us absolutely unannounced and with terrible rapidity. The storm cloud rises in the horizon with a rapidity that baffles all calculation. It may be that within two months from the first warning you have received you may find that you are engaged in or in prospect of a war in which your very existence may be at stake.

Then followed a statement of the fact that other great maritime and colonial powers had fallen because they possessed a land frontier by which their enemies could reach the heart of the country. Said he: "We have no such land frontier. But, if we ever allow our defences at sea to fall to such a point of insufficiency that it is as easy or nearly as easy to cross the sea as it is to cross a land frontier, our great Empire, stretching to the ends of the earth, supported by maritime forces in every part of it, will go clattering to the ground when the blow at the metropolis in England is struck." So the conclusion was:-

If you will think out these ideas you will see why we cannot admit that in the present state and temper of the world we can intermit our naval and military precautions. They must be kept constantly on foot.

And so, whether the talk and sentiment be for war or peace, the preparations for war will go steadily onward until "the battle of the great day of God," when the instruments of war, and those who make and use them, will be consumed.

November 24, 1898

"Everlasting Power" The Present Truth 14, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

According to the Shastras, or religious code, of the Hindoos, the sanctity of the Ganges is shortly to cease. They are not clear as to the precise date, but it will be somewhere about six months from the present time. It is to be hoped that many who now worship the river, will be led to consider what kind of a god it can be whose power and sacredness depart with the lapse of time, and that the Gospel of a Saviour who, because He continueth ever, is able to save unto the uttermost, will gain new value in their eyes by contrast with their own decaying deities.

Why is it that men all over the world have come to worship the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever? The answer is given: "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful." Rom. i. 31. If thankfulness is involved in glorifying the Creator, it is evident that to know Him as God is to know Him as giving occasion for thankfulness. Nor is the thankfulness to be on a small scale, but on a divinely infinite one. Therefore to know Him as God is to know Him as blessing men to an infinite extent.

This must be true still of God, or men would now be justified in not glorifying Him as God; but all who do not "are without excuse." Therefore God is still giving infinitely to every man. If He were not, ingratitude would cease to be a sin. "That which may be known of God is manifest in them." Rom. i. 19.

The creation reveals eternal power and divinity. These may be clearly seen. Take the Ganges for instance. Why does it flow on and on for centuries, carrying down to the ocean a vast volume of water without cessation. Why does the sun pour out unreservedly every moment the fulness of its light and heat, yet have as much to-day as it had ages ago? These things reveal the everlasting power of God. Men who think more of the creature than the Creator predict a distant time when the sun will have parted with all its light, because they do not recognise in the working of all nature the everlasting power of God.

It is this power which keeps the heathen alive, and which keeps up the uninterrupted flow of the Ganges. But does not God know that His precious gifts will be perverted, that the Ganges will get the honour due to Himself, and that the men whom He has made will pervert His life, and change the truth of God into a lie? Yes, He knows it perfectly, and it grieves Him at His heart, as did the wickedness of the world before the flood. Yet the current of blessing given in His life flows with unabated volume, because not only is His power everlasting, but His mercy also endureth for ever.

In God's hand is the soul of every living thing. Job xii. 10. No one can go anywhere in the universe out of the presence of God. No matter where he may be, "

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even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me." Ps. cxxxix. 10. So God is trying to lead the heathen. They will not be guided by Him, but He does not therefore give them up. "Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself." Because He loves them with an everlasting love, He draws them everlastingly to Himself with loving-kindness. Jer. xxxi. 3. The more determinedly a man resists this love, the more wonderful it is seen to be. Truly it is love that hopeth all things, endureth all things; and thus, even where God is rejected by men, they cannot hinder that which may be known of God being manifested in them. The more they do despite to the Spirit of grace, the more they bring out its wonderful long-suffering, its patient, God-like endurance. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Rom. v. 20.

Every man who does not recognise that he receives his life and breath and all things direct from God, and that God's hand is leading and upholding him every moment, is in the same condition as the Hindoo worshippers of the Ganges. Indeed he is worse, for to the extent that he has more light than they, his ingratitude is the baser. He is serving the creature rather than the Creator. What is the way out of this deplorable condition? Be thankful. Glorify Him as God. We may not see very much to be thankful for at first, but if we give thanks for that, the righteousness of God will be revealed from faith to faith, and the occasion for gratitude will be seen to greatly increase. We will not then glorify ourselves as God but Him, and know that He has all things while we in ourselves have nothing.

In this humility lies the only hope of our exaltation. While we glorify ourselves we will trust in self for everything, and having no power in ourselves will never make any advancement. When we know ourselves helpless, and know that God has all power, we will look to Him for help, and He will not leave us helpless. "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. God's princes dwell in His palaces, and in those palaces God is known. He is known as what He is, a refuge. So knowing Him as God, and glorifying Him as God, His people find infinite occasion for thankfulness. "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God." Ps. xlviii. 1-3.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Book of the Law Found. 2 Kings xxii. 8-20" The Present Truth 14, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

DECEMBER 4

After the death of Manasseh, his son Amon reigned for two years. He was only twenty-two years old, but he walked in all the evil of his father's earlier life. A conspiracy was organised against Amon which resulted in his murder, but the people of the land slew the conspirators, and put Josiah, the son of Amon, on the throne at the age of eight years. He reigned for thirty-one years, and was one of the best kings that Judah ever had. He "walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left." This disposition became especially marked in him when he was sixteen years old, and during the rest of his life it was steadfastly maintained. "And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him."

A DISCOVERED TREASURE

In his eighteenth year, Josiah instructed Hilkiah, the high priest, who was father to Jeremiah the prophet, to apply the temple contributions to restoration of the sacred building. This work was put in hand and, in the course of it, an important discovery was made. The book of the law, which God had directed should be kept with the ark of the covenant, was brought to light. Hilkiah showed the book to Shaphan, the scribe, who read it himself, and then took it to Josiah. "And Shaphan read it before the king."

A GRIEVOUS FAMINE

It is impossible for us to conceive now the feelings with which this recovered treasure would be regarded. The Word of God is so easy of access that men have come to regard it as a common thing, and often show it scant reverence. But no greater calamity could befall the world than to be deprived of the Bible. Because we are so accustomed to it, and to enjoying the results of its influence, we seldom think how everything that makes life worth living, yea, even life itself, we owe to this Word. The prophet Amos tells how the loss of the Word will affect men: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst." Amos viii. 11-13.

CHOOSING DARKNESS

The Lord is not to blame for such a famine. Men will not endure sound doctrine, "but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2 Tim. iv. 3, 4. Having rejected the counsel of God against themselves, and chosen pleasing error rather than sanctifying truth, they have only themselves to blame when false Christs and false prophets ensnare their souls. Rejecting the Word that would save them, there is no other way of escape.

A MODERN INCONSISTENCY

Occasionally some fragment of ancient manuscript is brought to light, purporting to bear some mutilated portion of the "Sayings of Jesus," but it is strange that while these discoveries cause great excitement, men can calmly ignore the authentic sayings that all possess in the Scriptures. The high estimation in which the fragments are held should be much more bestowed on the Word which God's goodness has preserved for us in such perfect form. When we remember that it is the Word of the Creator of the universe to us, bringing infinite treasures of wisdom and knowledge, manifesting unsearchable love in an everlasting salvation, we will honour the precious revelation by implicit confidence and unquestioning obedience.

SLOW TO ANGER

When the book of the law was read before Josiah, he rent his clothes. He knew that the nation had pursued a course very different from the one commanded by God in the discovered document, and had justly

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incurred the judgments therein denounced against the disobedient. Josiah sent messengers to enquire of the Lord by Huldah the prophetess, whether the evils of which Moses wrote were indeed to fall upon Judah. The answer was returned that the Lord would certainly fulfil His word, but in that reply evidence was given that the judgments of God were only directed against the stubbornly impenitent. To Josiah, because his heart was tender and he had humbled himself before the Lord, the promise was given that his eyes should not see the evil, but that he should end his days in peace. The same heart-felt repentance on the part of others would have secured the same degree of favour. It was because the people would not be turned from their own ways that the judgment could not be averted. The Lord was trying to purify His people by suffering, but they were so joined to their sins that the people were melted entirely away before they would allow themselves to be separated from their iniquities. "They are all grievous revolters, they are all corrupters. The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away." Jer. vi. 28, 29.

READY TO FORGIVE

The compassionate Judge of all the earth, who had inspired Abraham's pleading for the cities of the plain, and Himself wept over Jerusalem, was not at this time less desirous of finding some reason to spare the guilty nation. Before the city was finally destroyed He proclaimed, "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 the truth; and I will pardon it." Jer. v. 1. Long after Josiah enquired of the Lord, a promise was given that if the people would fear God and give glory to Him, by keeping the Sabbath which He had sanctified, the city should stand for ever. Jer. xvii. 20-27. So in the last days, the test of the fourth commandment reveals who will follow the Lord and be saved, and who will choose his own way and be destroyed.

A TRANSIENT REFORMATION

For a time after the discovery of the Book of the Law, the people returned to the Lord. Many of those who were left in the cities of Israel joined Judah in observing the Passover. Never before since the days of Samuel bad there been such a gathering. It was in his time that Israel rejected the Lord from being King over them, and the evil effects of kingly rule upon the nation may be judged from the fact that the sacred historian has to go back before the time of the kings to find a parallel to the Passover which was kept in Josiah's eighteenth year. Before the Passover, there was a thorough destruction of all idols throughout the land. In the country of Israel, where the fast decaying power of Assyria no longer bore sway, the altars set up by Jeroboam were now destroyed. In Bethel for three hundred and fifty years there had been preserved the prophecy uttered in Jeroboam's day, that a king named Josiah should defile the altar and offer upon it the dead bodies of its priests. Josiah saw the tomb of the prophet who had uttered this prediction, and gave orders for its preservation, after the prophecy had been repeated to him by the men of the city.

JOSIAH'S DEATH

The iniquity of Assyria was now filled up, and the mighty empire was tottering to the fall which its pride had provoked. Egypt, Babylon and Media, were encompassing it with their armies, and Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, came through the land of Judah to attack the Assyrian stronghold, Carchemish. It was in God's plan that the king of Egypt should do this, and when Josiah thought to arrest the progress of his army, Pharaoh-Necho sent him a warning message from God, saying that he was not come against Josiah, and had no desire to meet him in battle; "for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that He destroy thee not." Notwithstanding this warning, Josiah persisted in his attempt to stop the king of Egypt, and was fatally wounded in the battle that followed. There was great lamentation at his death in all Judah and Jerusalem. Yet he was taken away from the evil to come, and the words of Christ to the weeping women of Judea were indeed applicable to those whom Josiah left behind him: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children."

"The Sabbath and the Changed Calendar" The Present Truth 14, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

A friend sends us the following communication:-

"As the change in the calendar is sometimes urged as an objection to the observance of the seventh day of the week, I shall be glad if you will kindly find time to insert an article in the next issue of Present Truth, in order that any doubt that may still exist in the minds of your readers and others may be removed."

This we gladly do. The thing is so simple that it is easily disposed of. Let us begin with the commandment, which says: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work." Ex. xx. 8-10. These are the words of the Lord. Now it can hardly be claimed that any change made in the calendar by man, can nullify the command of the Lord. The change in the calendar has certainly not abolished the law of the Lord. This being the case, it follows that the only real objection anybody can have to keeping the seventh day according to the commandment is that he doesn't want to do so.

In the question under consideration, however, the claim is that since the calendar has been changed, it cannot be known with certainty which day is the Sabbath. To this it is only necessary to say that no change that man may make in the calendar can affect the revolution of the earth on its axis, which alone governs the division of time into days. A brief statement of what has been done will make this appear.

Without going into lengthy details it is sufficient to say that the calendar was reformed by Julius C?sar in the year 46, B.C., when it was arranged substantially as we have it now. But too much time, by eleven minutes, was allowed to the year, and in the course of centuries there was a marked discrepancy between the actual year and the calendar year. Accordingly, in the year 1583, Pope Gregory XVI. ordered the fifth day of October to be called the fifteenth, and that the years which are not multiples of 400 should not be called leap years, so as to correct the discrepancy. The change in the calendar was therefore simply this, that the fifth day of a certain month was called the fifteenth, and had no more effect on the days of the week than would the changing of the date of the Lord Mayor's show from the ninth to the nineteenth of November.

That this is really so is proved by the fact that Great Britain did not adopt the

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calendar as changed by Pope Gregory until the year 1753, in which year the third of September was called the fourteenth. But although for seventy years two reckonings had been in use, there was no difference whatever in the count of the days of the week.

Still further, Until this day the change in the calendar has never been adopted by Russia, which reckons according to what is called Old Style, yet the days of the week are just the same in Russia as they are over the border in Germany, where the New Style is in use. Anybody can see that it makes no difference with the order of the days of the week, and their relation to each other, whether Sunday be called the eighth or the twentieth of November.

This is the whole of the matter. When we say that the changing of the calendar has had no more effect on the numbering of the days of the week than the changing of one's clothes, we are talking on the basis of existing facts, and not theory. One thing more may be said in conclusion, and that is that the bringing forward of such an objection against Sabbath-keeping emphasises the utter absence of any ground for the observance of Sunday as nothing else could.

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

FOOD OUT OF THE EARTH

Gen. i. 29, 30: "And the Lord God said, Behold, I have given you every green herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every boost of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat; and it was so."

Gen. ii. 9: "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food."

Ps. civ. 11: "He causeth the grass to grow fur the cattle, and herb for the service of man; that He may bring forth food out of the earth."

Ex. xvi. 3, 4: "And the children of Israel said unto them, would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we eat by the flesh pots and when we did eat bread to the full, for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven unto you; and ye shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I way prove them, whether they will walk in My law or no."

Deut. viii. 2, 3: "Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led then those forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep His commandments, or no. And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knowest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every ward that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."

John vi. 31-33, 48-50: "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then said Jesus unto them, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the Bread of God is He which cameth down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." "I am that Bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die."

1 Cor. x. 1-5: "Our fathers . . . did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not wall pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness."

1 Cor. x. 6: "Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted."

1 Cor. x. 9: "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents."

Ps. Ixxviii. 18: "And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust."

Heb. iii. 19: "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."

Rom. xiv. 23: "And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith; for whatsoever is not of faith is sin."

1 Cor. xi. 23-30: "I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take eat; this is My body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Ale. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood; this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death, till He come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily; shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."

Ps. ciii. 2-5: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's."

Isa. Iv. 2: "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labaur for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."

Prov. iv. 20-22: "My son, attend to My words; incline thine ear unto My sayings; Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh."

Matt. v. 6: "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; far they shall be filled."

Rom. i. 17: "The just shall live by faith."

It is out of the ground that God makes the food grow that should be eaten by every living creature. It is true that many animals, since the fall, subsist largely or wholly on the flesh of other animals; and man has also been allowed to do the same thing; "but from the beginning it was not so." Since the work of Christ is to restore all things, it is evident that the food which God gave man in the beginning is the best for him, and should be adopted by all who wish the perfect image of God to be restored in them, as in the beginning.

Plants, and plants only, can assimilate unorganised matter. They can take the ultimate elements, and transform them into living substance. Then these elements are in a condition to be assimilated by animals. But this food does not undergo any change in the bodies of the lower animals that it does not undergo in the bodies of men. No new food substance is formed in the bodies of animals.

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They simply use that which has already been prepared in the plant for both man and the other animals. Therefore when men eat the flesh of animals, they are simply taking their food second and; and food that has once been used loses strength and value just the same as any other article does through use. Thus it is that the flesh of animals is not so nourishing as grains. More than that, the degenerate characteristics of the animal are necessarily imparted to the food that it has formed into its own flesh; and if the animal is diseased, which is very commonly the case, this evil is intensified.

When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, to fulfil to them the promise made to Abraham, He gave them the purest food possible-bread direct from heaven. Is it not consistent that when He sets His hand the second time to deliver His people, He will expect them to come as nearly as possible to the same style of living?

In those days the people tempted God, by asking meat for their lust, and as a consequence they were destroyed. "Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted."

The bread which they had was from heaven, given not by Moses, but by God. It was daily bread, for the nourishment of their bodies, and was their living for forty years. Yet it was "spiritual meat." It was by giving them this bread that God undertook to teach them that man doth not live by bread only, but by the Word of God. Therefore we see that in eating of it they were eating the Word of God. By the giving of the manna, God would have us learn that in the daily bread which He gives us, He is giving us Himself. Christ is the living bread that came down from heaven, and it was upon His body that the children of Israel were fed; in refusing that food, they were rejecting Christ.

But they did not discern the Lord's body, and so, although the food which they had was the very best that could be given them, they died. They ate and drank condemnation to themselves. Men may do this, we learn from the eleventh chapter of 1 Corinthians, even while eating the body of Christ. And yet, if we do not eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, we have no life in us. John vi. 53. Only the perfect body and blood of Christ can give life, but that life must be received in faith, else even it will be of no avail.

The Lord's Supper, consisting of the very purest materials that can be obtained,-unleavened bread and unfermented juice of the grape, "the fruit of the vine,"-is the best possible exhibition of the body and blood of Christ,"-a Lamb without blemish and without spot." 1 Peter i. 19. Christ said of it, "This is My body," and, "This is My blood." It is to teach us the same lesson that was given in the manna,-that in the food which He gives us, He gives us Himself; that that which nourishes our bodies is at the same time to be to us "spiritual meat."

It follows therefore that the Lord's Supper is the model meal. Christ is the bread of God which cometh down from heaven and giveth life to the world. John vi. 33. Whoever does not eat of Him by faith, has no life. So then we should eat of nothing else but Him, if we would have perfect life. If in our daily meals we ate only of that food in which the perfect life of Christ is clearly exhibited, and ate in recognition of that life, we would he constantly living in Him. Such a life would be a life of faith, and would therefore be a life of righteousness.

It is by taking the words of Christ, which are Spirit and life, that we eat His flesh and drink His blood. But we must remember that Christ gives us His words in a tangible form. Remember that the manna was given to show that man must live by the Word of the Lord. But the words of the Lord "are life unto those who find them, and health to all their flesh." So this living by faith,-the conscious taking of the Lord's life, and that only, in the food which He gives us,-will be physical health. It does not mean self-punishment or the mortification of the body by denying one's self of any good thing, but on the contrary the eating of that which is good, having the mouth satisfied with good things, and delighting in fatness. It is as much more enjoyable a way of living as righteousness and health are more enjoyable than sin and disease.

"Life is fullest or content
Where delight is innocent."

"Eating Life or Death" The Present Truth 14, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." Matt. v. 6.

These words teach us that righteousness may be obtained by eating and drinking; that we are to eat it and drink it. For when one is hungry and thirsty, and then is filled, it is only because he has eaten and drank that for which he hungered and thirsted.

PLAIN LANGUAGE

There is not nearly so much figurative language in the Bible as most people suppose. Some one reads a text that is beyond his experience, and because it seems impossible to him he says, "O that is figurative language." Of what it may he figurative he cannot tell, but it eases his mind to think that it does not mean exactly what it says; for if it does not mean what it says, and he does not know what else it means, it is evident that he is freed from any obligation in the matter. This is the way the Word of God is made of none effect.

We shall get along much better if we settle it in our minds that God knows His own mind; that He knows exactly what He wishes to say, and just how to say what He means; and that when He says a thing He means it. Surely we cannot go wrong when we take the Lord at His word. Suppose it should happen on some occasion that He did not wean just what He said, and we should take His words as though He did mean them as He said them, do you not see that He could not condemn us for believing what He Himself said? "He that believeth is not condemned." If a father jokingly tells his child something, and the child confidingly takes the father at his word, and mischief follows, it is clear that it is the father that is to blame, and not the child. It is an honour to the father, that the child didn't think he could mean anything different from what he said; and a disgrace to him, that he abused the child's confidence. But God does not joke with His children. He says to us, "Let your Yea be yea, and your Nay, nay;" and He does not ask anything of us that He is not Himself. Therefore we may believe that "every word of God is pure; He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him." Prov. xxx. 5.

So when we read, "O taste, and see that the Lord is good" (Ps. xxxiv. 8) we may believe that His flesh is true meat, and

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His blood is true drink. John vi. 55. When we read that the children of Israel in the desert ate spiritual meat, even Christ Himself, we are to believe the fact. In believing the statement we shall find knowledge of the utmost value. We do not believe the words of the Lord because we understand them, but we believe them in order to get understanding. "For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding."

EATING THE BODY OF CHRIST

The Lord said to the children of Israel, "I will rain bread from heaven for you;" and Jesus said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." What else can we believe, therefore, but that it was the body of Christ that they ate? We may doubt, and say, "How can this be?" just as the unbelieving Pharisees did; but we shall find that doubt means death.

"But," some one may exclaim, "Jesus Himself shows us that He does not mean that we are actually to eat His flesh and drink His blood, because He says, 'The flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.'" You should read more carefully than that. It is true that Jesus used the words just quoted, and meant just what He said; but it is not true that He said that we were not really to eat His body and drink His blood. He said that if we do not eat His flesh and drink His blood we have no life in us; and He would not immediately deny what He had said. We should see in these words of Christ, not a denial of His former words, but an evidence that in His words we find His body and His blood. The words of the Lord are not merely empty sound, but they are real things. They are good food, and may he eaten. "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart." Jer. xv. 16.

Read with great care Deut. viii. 2, 3. "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep His commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." Too often the words, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," are taken as though they meant that bread is in opposition to the Word of God. But the texts tell us that God gave the children of Israel bread in order that they might know that man lives only by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. That is to say, God would teach us that in the bread which He gives us, He gives us His Word.

BREAD FROM HEAVEN

If we but think of the origin of bread, we shall see that this is so. Bread comes from corn, and corn is grass. God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass," "and it was so." There was nothing in the earth until God spoke, so that the grass came forth from His word. His word was the seed that was sown. Nothing grows but from the word of the Lord. The grain that the farmer sows contains the word of life, else it would never spring up. So when we eat the bread that is made from the grain, we are really and truly eating the word of the Lord. But the word is life, and Christ is the life; so in the bread which God gives us, He gives us the life of Christ. It was therefore no figure of speech, but an actual truth that Christ uttered, when He said to His disciples as He handed them the bread, "This is My body."

Think what would happen if men recognised every mouthful of food that they ate as being the very body of Christ. Would they not eat with reverence? They would constantly remember and acknowledge that their life comes from God, and that it is His life that they are using, and not their own. This would teach them that they are not their own. Consequently they would be continually passive in His hands, for Him to live His own life in His own way. But this would be righteousness, for His life is only righteousness. So by eating and drinking they would be filled with righteousness. We can have only one life at a time, and the life which God expects us to live is the Christian life. But we get our daily life only by eating the daily bread that God gives us. So we see that God expects that by the food which He gives us we are to receive strength to live the Christian life. Of course it is understood that when we say that we are to live the Christian life, we mean that we are to let Him live it in us; for He alone is our life.

SATISFIED WITH GOOD

But we are to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Our desires are to be only for that which is good. The Lord gives that which is good. He does not withhold any good thing from His children. Ps. lxxxiv. 11. From above He sends down every good gift and every perfect gift. James i. 17. He says, "Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." Our natures are corrupt, and our appetites perverted, so that we desire things that are not good. This has been so ever since the fall. The woman "saw" that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and that it was to be desired to make one wise. But it was not so. The tree was not good for food. It brought death. We are therefore to learn that not what we may naturally desire, but what God gives us, is good. This does not mean that our whole life is to be one continual longing after things that we like, but dare not take. No; the lesson that we should learn from our first parents as well as from the children of Israel is that "we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted." Thank the Lord, He satisfies our mouth with good things. He teaches us to desire the good, and to find delight in it. The way of life is not one of unsatisfied longing. The good Father opens His hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing. Ps. cxlv. 16.

RECEIVING IT FRESH FROM GOD

The sum of all this is that we are to hunger only for those things that convey to us the life of God in its freshness and fulness. We are to train our appetites to desire only the things that God says are best for us. There are plants in which the life of God has been so perverted through the curse that they are only death to those who eat. These we should not touch. There are plants, such as tea and coffee, which, while they do not, as ordinarily taken, cause immediate death, yet have no life-giving power. They excite, but do not strengthen. The only power they have is in the line of death. It is evident that such things cannot be taken to the glory of God, for it is not to the glory of God that His children should be slaves to that which destroys. In taking these things, not to mention tobacco, which is wholly poisonous, and altogether filthy, one is not taking the pure life of the Lord. Consequently they are against the Christian life, for everything that is not of the Lord is against Him.

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There are other things that are food, but not the best food. The flesh of animals is food, that is, it will give strength to the body, but it is not perfect food. At the best, it is one degree removed from the food as God prepares it for us. In eating the flesh of animals, we get our food secondhand, to say nothing of the defilement from the evil dispositions and the diseases of the animals themselves. But out of the ground the Lord God makes to grow food that has no taint of evil about it, and when He gives us the best things, it is, to say the least, very ungrateful to pass them by, and take that which is inferior. Not only is it ungrateful, but it shows disregard for His life. It shows that we would rather gratify our desires than receive the fulness of His life.

LIFE ONLY BY FAITH

Therefore since God gives us food in order that we may have life, and the life which He wishes us to live is His own perfect life of righteousness, it is evident that if we eat only the food which He tells us is the best, and eat it in faith, as coming from Him, and bringing Him to us, we shall have that perfect life from day to day. But we must remember that the best things taken without recognition of Him are not life, but death. The children of Israel ate food direct from heaven, and yet they died, because they did not eat in faith. So whoever does not discern the Lord's body in his eating and drinking eats and drinks damnation to himself, and not righteousness. It is evident that no one can discern the Lord's body where it is not, so that it is impossible to eat and drink righteousness in that which is not food nor to get it perfectly in that which is not perfect food; but the mere eating of the best things is not sufficient; we must take them in humble and thankful recognition of God. When this is done, life and righteousness must follow as surely as the word of God is life.

"He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." This is true without any qualification. The Lord's Supper is the model meal, to show us that in eating and drinking pure food we are eating the Lord's body and drinking His blood. It is thus that we get His life. But if we do not take those things in which His life is clearly to be discerned, or do not recognise Him in the good things that we do eat, we eat and drink to no purpose. Our eating and drinking in such case is only to death. A little thought must make this apparent to everybody. What will be the end of those who know not God? It will be destruction. See 2 Thess. i. 8, 9, and Ps. ix. 17. What does it profit a man to have lived threescore years, if at last he sinks into perdition? Would it not have been better for that man if he had not been born? To what end was all his eating aud drinking? To nothing but destruction. If he had recognised the Lord in all his ways, he would have been eating and drinking to life, but since he does not recognise the Lord, he is taking only death, instead of life. "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Because of sin disease and death are in the world. So sickness and death come from rejecting or ignoring the Lord, who is life.

NOT A TRIVIAL MATTER

Is it not evident that the matter of proper eating and drinking is not a mere fad? It is not a matter of no consequence, for God has not spoken about things that are useless. And let no one imagine that this means that we are to go into "Jewish bondage." Far from it. The bondage of the Jews did not consist in their obedience to the ward of the Lord, but in their disobedience. The Lord would have us free from bondage; but when we do not have the life of His word, we have nothing but bondage. He would have us eat that which is good, and delight in fatness. He would have us delivered from every evil thing that tends to enslave and destroy life. He would have us enjoy the absolutely perfect freedom of His own life. "O taste, and see that the Lord is good."

"Modern Jerusalem" The Present Truth 14, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The Daily Mail's correspondent who accompanied the German Emperor on his trip to Palestine, gives a vivid picture of the squalor of Jerusalem, and of the transparent frauds concerning the so-called holy places, together with the unblushing beggary of priests and monks, and says:-

Jerusalem, in fact, is not a place for pilgrims to visit. The ancient streets and the eternal hills and valleys are there. There is no denying the Mount of Olives and the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the steep hill-side upon which our Lord walked and taught, and from which He sorrowfully surveyed Jerusalem, the roads to Bethany, and the pleasant but beggar-ridden village of Bethlehem. The rocks and the landscape are the same, and the blue sky and the clear bright light. But as regards its monuments and its sites of Holy Places, it is a city of painful disillusionments.

More than eighteen hundred years ago Jesus declared that Jerusalem was left desolate, abandoned by the One whom she thrust without her gates, and crucified. Jerusalem that now is, is in bondage with her children; but Jerusalem which is above, is free, and to that God's people look. It has foundations that cannot be covered with rubbish. Let every one who wishes to go on pilgrimage, look up, for there is our shrine.

"The Children. Our Food" The Present Truth 14, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

All the lessons that we have had on the creation have taught us that all God's works, and especially man, whom He made in His own image, are the temple or dwelling-place for His own Holy Spirit. And we have found, too, that all God's works in this earth are made of the dust of the earth itself, and what gives form, beauty, wisdom, and power to anything, is God's own Spirit of life, for when this is taken away the dust returns to the earth "as it was."

Have you ever thought how God is still carrying on His great creative work? Let us see how He is still taking the dust of the earth, and forming from it beautiful temples for Himself to dwell in.

Your body is made up of the food that you eat. If you were kept without food for a time, you would not only stop growing, but you would become thin and wasted. So you see that besides the food you need to build up your body and make you grow, there is a certain amount of waste which has to be made up by the food that you take.

But did you know that no matter what kind of food you are eating you are really feeding upon the dust of the ground, and your body is being made up of just that out of which God formed man in the beginning? God "maketh grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth" from which he comes.

The plants and trees, which spring out of the ground, take the dust of the ground, and prepare it for food for us and the animals. What we call the "vegetable kingdom" makes all the food that is necessary for the "animal kingdom," to which we ourselves belong. Different animals require different kinds of food, but each one can find growing out of the ground just the food that it needs.

As you take the food that God has provided, His creative power works in you, taking this material and building up your body from it. Learn what you can of the different organs of your wonderful body through which He works to do this, and see how "fearfully and wonderfully" He has made you.

Even what are called beasts of prey,-carnivorous animals-those which like lions and tigers feed upon the flesh of other animals, do not really get any food but what these animals have got from the plants. It was not God's plan that the animals should feed upon each other, for in the beginning He said to man,

"Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed. . . . and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree bearing seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat; and it was so." The animals fed only upon that which God meant for their food, and man eat the grains, fruit, and nuts which his Heavenly Father had provided for him.

And as it was in the beginning, so it will be again when everything in the earth is brought back to purity and perfection. For then, God's Word tells us, "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." And men shall "plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them," and eat of the fruit of "the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."

"Jesus in His temple holy,
Where sweet angel anthems ring,
Dwelleth, too, in temples lowly,
Heareth, too, when children sing."

"God's Temple" The Present Truth 14, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

When God had given to King David the kingdom of Israel, he wanted to honour God and show his love for Him by building Him a house. He was so anxious about it that he said, "I will not give sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob."

Then the prophet of God came to him with this message from the Lord: "Thou shalt not build Me an house," "but a son shall be born to thee;" "he shall build an house for My name."

But although David was not able to build the house, he was allowed to select all the materials for it, and he made the most careful preparation, for he said, "The work is great; for the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God."

We have just been learning of how the Most High, who "dwelleth not in temples made with hands," is still making for Himself living, moving, growing temples, where He may live and show forth His glory. He says, "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?"

The great work of building His own house can be done only by the Creator Himself, but He lets us be co-workers with Him in this. I think you will see already what is your part of the work, for we have found that our bodies, which are His temple, are made up of the food that we eat.

So the work that God gives to you is like that which David had, to select the materials out of which His house is to be built. God provides he very best, and He tells us just what is good, and what is harmful, and then He allows us to choose just what material we will for His house to be made up of.

If we love and honour Him as David did, shall we not be very careful only to furnish the very best material for His house, and not to take into our bodies anything that is not good, just to satisfy our own appetite, or please our taste? Shall we not find out from God's Word just what is the food that He has provided for us, and take that which will make good, pure, blood, strong muscles, and clear brains, so that our bodies may be in the best possible condition for His service?

"If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." "Whether therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

"The King of Birds" The Present Truth 14, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

The eagle is among birds what the lion is among the animals. You know he is called the "king of the forest," or "king of beasts," and the eagle is the king of birds. It soars higher than any other bird, and is lose to sight as it "flies away toward heaven." Because of this it was called in ancient times "the Bird of Heaven."

"Bird of the broad and sweeping wing,
Thy home is high in heaven,
Where wide the storms their banners fling
And the tempest's clouds are driven."

Have you noticed how often the eagle is spoken of in the Bible? Solomon, the wisest man, who spake of birds, as well as of all the other works of God (see 1 Kings iv. 33), said that "the way of an eagle in the air" was one of the things which he knew not, which were too wonderful for him.

From the Lord's words to Job in the 27th verse of the 39th chapter we learn that it is at the command of God that the eagle "mounts up," and also that it "makes its nest on high." It does not build a nest in the trees or bushes, as most birds do, but chooses usually the peak of a very high rock, which can scarcely be reached by men or animals.

"Thy throne is on the mountain top,
Thy fields the boundless air,
And hoary peaks, which proudly prop
The skies, thy dwellings are."

The eagle makes its nest of strong sticks, leaving a hollow in the middle which it lines with grass, and here it lays its eggs, and keeps the young ones until they are old enough to fly. When the eaglets are hatched, the father and mother spend all their time and strength getting food for them. They are very fierce towards anything which they think would harm them. An Irish peasant once robbed an eagles' nest while the parent birds were away, and started off with the young eaglets. But when the old eagles came back and missed their family, they attacked the robber with such fury that they killed him.

It is God's own life in all His works that gives to His creatures such love and tender care for their offspring. And from this we may learn of His great love and care for us, "for we are also His offspring." It is because of His great love for His children that His anger burns so against sin, which hurts and destroys them and against Satan who is seeking to steal them away from Him.

How safe we are if we make Him our refuge, and let Him defend us against all the attacks of the enemy. He says that no one is able to pluck us out of His hand, for He is greater and stronger than all.

In Deuteronomy xxxii. 11, we are told what the mother eagle does when the time comes for the eaglets to leave the nest and learn to fly. First she "stirreth up her nest," and makes it so uncomfortable that the young ones will want to leave it. Then she "fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings."

When the young birds get so tired that they cannot fly any higher, nor even hold themselves up in the air, the mother flies down underneath them, and catching them on her own strong wings bears them up in safety between her shoulders.

In this way our Heavenly Father is teaching us how carefully and tenderly He is watching His children to see when they are tired, and to keep them from falling He says of His people that He "bare them on eagles' wings," and brought them unto Himself. So let us never be afraid, but always remember that "underneath are the everlasting arms" upon which we may rest in peace and safety. And "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles."

"Difference Between Food and Stimulants" The Present Truth 14, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

In the article on eating righteousness, in another part of this paper, it is stated that tea and coffee are not foods, but stimulants, and are poisonous, instead of helpful to the body. This will without doubt meet with a strong protest from many, who will say, "I positively know that tea is nourishing and strengthening. Why, I couldn't get through my morning's work without my tea. I must have a cup of tea before I can do anything in the morning, and then in the middle of the forenoon my strength is gone, and I am so faint that I should give out entirely if it were not for the tea; but directly I have had my tea I am fresh and strong for work again."

Exactly, and that statement is in itself the best of evidence that tea does not give strength, but rather deprives one of it. It simply satisfies a craving which it has created for itself, and not any natural desire of the body. In reality it does not satisfy anything, since the more one uses it, the more the desire for it increases.

The difference between food and stimulants may be briefly stated thus: Food supplies a real want of the system. The body is continually using up substances which must be replaced by food, or else the strength will be utterly lost. When this substance is replaced with food, the longing of the system is satisfied. But the point to he specially noted is that any kind of good food will satisfy this desire. It is true that a hungry person may at a particular time have a preference for a certain kind of food, yet if that is not at hand, any other wholesome food will do as well. When the waste has been repaired, the system does not bother itself about what particular food it was that did the work. But it is not so with the unnatural appetite that exists for a stimulant. Nothing but the stimulant will answer the demand. If it were a real desire for food, a piece of bread would fully satisfy the desire, but nothing but tea will do. That shows that the tea does not satisfy a legitimate desire of the body, but a fictitious desire which it has created for itself. It is the supply that has created the demand.

Suppose that there were a big strong ruffian who should make a regular practice of picking up a small boy and throwing him into the water, and then plunging in and pulling the lad out just as he was drowning; would you praise that fellow's bravery and humanity? Would you recommend him for a medal on account of his activity in saving life? Of course you would not. You would on the contrary report him to the police, that he might be punished for his brutality.

Now tea is just such a conscienceless ruffian as that. It throws its victim into the ditch, and then pulls him out, and the poor, deluded victim embraces it, and says, "Noble fellow! you have saved my life." And the more the thing is done, the more the victim falls in love with his tormentor. The trouble is, he does not know that the one who lifts him up temporarily is the one who has pushed him down. Do you not think that we can get along better without such a "benefactor"?

A food is a servant, while stimulants are tyrants. Let the woman who now thinks herself wholly dependent on tea for strength, make a desperate struggle and free herself from its clutches, and it will not be long before she will find that when she depends solely on food she can dispatch her morning's work without that terrible feeling of faintness that she before experienced. Then she will see for herself that her tea was not a food, serving the needs of the body, but a tyrant stimulant, producing a feeling of weakness in order that it might get credit for seeming to undo its own mischief. Tea and coffee are thieves and robbers, and lying ones at that.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

-Gooseberry fool is a corruption of gooseberry foulÈ-milled or press to gooseberries.

-One horse-power is calculated to be sufficient to raise 33,000 pound to the height of one foot in a minute.

-The proposed military reforms in Germany will make an addition of about 25,000 men to the imperial force.

-Magato, the chief whose tribe is now at war with the Boers, has been defeated and his stronghold captured.

-The decision to re-try his case is to be communicated to Captain Dreyfus, and he will be asked to prepare his defence.

-To encourage the cultivation of flowers in the East-end, a Society is planning to supply school children with plants at a nominal cost of one penny each.

-At an inquest held on a hospital patient, who died from the effects of an overdose of opium, it transpired that the nurse misread the doctors signed and administered an ounce of opium instead of a drachm.

-Representatives of the Powers at Constantinople having called attention to the dangerous disturbances in Macedonia, the Sultan replied that he was contemplating extensive reforms and all the European provinces.

-St. Petersburg is built on what was formerly a swamp. To the present day strong west winds, combined with high water in the river, forces water into the cellars.

-An alderman at Lydd after returning home from a mayoral banquet fell on to the fire in his drawing-room, and being unable to rise without assistance was burned fatally.

-An expedition has set out from Aden to discover the exact locality of the Garden of Eden, and is making for the Palaeolithic settlement in Somaliland, which is sought by the leaders to cover the supposed site.

-The crew of the flagship of the Channel Fleet having had some of their privileges curtailed for littering the decks with orange-pips, etc., some of them retaliated by cutting ropes and throwing gear overboard. All leave has been stopped.

-It is reported from St. Petersburg that great progress is being made with the new fortifications at Port Arthur. The batteries destroyed by the Japanese have been replaced, and new batteries are being built. Six Russian warships are in the harbour.

-The Norwegian Parliament has decided, with but one dissentient vote, to introduce a purely Norwegian flag without the emblem of union with Sweden. This is the latest development of a movement which may lead to trouble between the two countries.

-A railway collision is reported from America and which a number of deaths were caused. A heavy wind had caused the falling leaves from the forest by the side of the line to accumulate on the track, and the brake apparatus of the two trains had thus become clogged.

-On the march to Jerusalem, the Kaiser wore a thin white silk dust-cloak, "which floated on the breeze as the Emperor rode along on his well-trained charger." One correspondent who describes the scene, says "nearly all the members of his staff who rode behind him wore like mantles which, whatever their intention, undoubtedly looked as though they were deliberate invitations of crusaders' attire."

-An extraordinary scene was witness the other week at Feltwell, Norfolk, where the tower of the church has been under repair, and girt round with scaffolding. Sadly, while the work men were at breakfast, the tower swayed, and then fell with a tremendous crash into the churchyard, wrecking gravestones, filling the place with rubbish, and sending up clouds of dust. The belfry contained a fine peal of bells, which were scattered in all directions.

-A coloured editor at Wilmington, U.S.A., who had published an offensive article in his paper was given a few hours' notice to remove his press, seize the publication of his newspaper, and leave the town. As he did not comply with this notice, 600 armed whites, including some of the best known citizens of the place, and some ministers of religion, marched to the office and destroyed a printing material. The building afterwards caught fire, and was burned down.

-Tesla, the celebrated electrician, has patented a new submarine torpedo-boat, possessing undreamed-of powers of destruction. It carries no crew, can be operated at any distance with the aid of a telescope, and is full of delicate electrical and compressed air machinery. No wires are necessary to connect the boat with the operator. M. Tesla uses earth and atmosphere as his double wire, and thus secure as a complete electrical circuit. The steering gear and firing mechanism are attuned to a certain electro-magnetic synchronism. A similar set of synchronisitc instruments are all connected to one small switchboard in the hands of the operator. By simply turning a lever on the switchboard, the boat is steered, submerged, raised, and the torpedoes fired.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 47.

E. J. Waggoner

"Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Isa. ii. 33.

"Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." Jer xvii. 5.

Why this curse? Is it an arbitrary punishment from the Lord, pronounced upon the one who trusts in man? Not at all; it is simply a statement of fact. The man who trusts in man, whether it be himself or some other man, is under a curse, because he is putting his trust in that which cannot deliver.

How little is man "to be accounted of"? The Lord tells us in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah. He has "weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance," but all the nations of men who dwell on the earth "are counted as the small dust of the balance." That is, the dust that goes to make all nations of men is so small an amount in comparison with all the dust even of this earth alone, that it makes no appreciable difference in the balance. If all the men were off, the weight of the earth would not be sensibly lightened, so that in weighing the mountains and hills the men upon them are not taken into account.

So much for man in comparison with the earth alone. But look up now to the heavens, and see the shining suns that light up an infinite number of worlds, the number of which is known only to the infinite God. When we consider these wondrous works of God's fingers, then must we exclaim, "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?"

Plainly, then, to trust in man for help, is to trust in nothing. Help would utterly fail, if it were not for the fact that the God who made the heavens and the earth, upholds all things by the Word of His power. Think how easily He can do it. "He taketh up the isles as a very little thing." Then the burden of all mankind is as nothing to Him to carry all men in His arms makes no additional tax upon His strength.

Yet, insignificant a part of creation as man is, he is not despised, nor forgotten, nor neglected of the Lord. "All nations are before Him as nothing" in comparison with the great universe, yet He knows the number of hairs upon the head of every single individual. So we have at once evidence of God's thoughtfulness for us, and of His ability to carry into effect the thoughts of peace which He thinks toward us.

The only thing that burdens the Lord is sin. The weight of all nations is nothing to Him, but sin makes Him weary. This, however, is no reason why any sinner should hesitate to come to Him. Quite the contrary; for whether we trust Him or not, He has us all, and the burden of all our sins, upon Him. The Lord bears the sin of the world. Then since sin is a burden to Him, and He has all our sins upon Him, the thing that we should haste to do is to let Him take the sins away from us, so that He may be relieved of that burden. He can easily bury the sins in the depths of the sea; but He does not wish to cast men there also; therefore He asks us to let Him separate the sin from us, in order that, in casting off that burden, He may not be obliged to fling us off with it.

What marvellous long-suffering and compassion God exhibits for man! For our sake He endures the heavy load of sin which we compel Him to carry. He is compelled to carry it, simply because His love for us will not allow Him to throw us aside. If we would but yield to Him, He would remove the sin from us, and from Himself also, and then it would be unalloyed joy for Him to continue to carry us. And this removal of the sin would be our salvation, for sin is death. With what confidence can we trust the Lord to save us from sin, when we know that He wishes to do it in order to relieve Himself of the one thing that burdens Him. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is."

A Nonconformist Political Council has lately been organised for the purpose of securing the representation in Parliament of Nonconformist interests. The first National Conference of the Council was held last week. In view of the fact that Unitarians and Jews are welcomed, it was considered inexpedient to open the proceedings with prayer. One of the speakers, who so stirred the audience that hundreds stood up and frantically cheered when he concluded, said of the Nonconformists:-

They needed more self-confidence, for they were overdone with modesty. They were more than a half of the religious people of this land, and more than four-fifths of the English-speaking peoples of the world, and they should realise their strength, and catch a little of the spirit of their brethren across the sea who were born free. They had been called the "backbone of the Liberal Party." A most appropriate title, for their position had generally been at the back! It was time they gave up their role of being political "hewers of wood and drawers of water."

It is time, indeed. It is not the Lord's will that His servants should be in bondage to any political organisation. The Son makes men free, but how can the Nonconformist ministers declare freedom for the oppressed if they have to go "across the sea" for it themselves? Moses said of the life that he set before the people, "Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us?" Deut. xxx. 13.

No man can serve two masters. Jesus claims the undivided allegiance of His followers, and if they believe His statement that all power is given to Him in heaven and earth, they will not degrade themselves by becoming "hewers of wood and drawers of water" for any other master. "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?"

The retiring mayor of a town in Wiltshire, instead of providing the usual mayoral banquet, with champagne toasts, for the town officials and local dignitaries, has carried out the instruction of Christ by inviting to a feast the poor and the lame. His action has excited some comment as being unusual in a mayor.

The Minister for War said last week that the Government were carefully revising the whole of their schemes of defence before asking the country to make the larger sacrifices which would be necessary, but gave warning that the new armaments would be a very expensive luxury.

December 1, 1898

"Hid Treasure" The Present Truth 14, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

"The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." Matt. xiii. 44

"Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her." Prov. iii. 13-15.

"But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it . . . the price of wisdom is above rubies. Whence then cometh wisdom?" Job xxviii. 12-20.

"In whom Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Col. ii. 3. But if this treasure of the kingdom of heaven be hid, how can any man get it? "Canst thou by searching find out God?"

Not only is wisdom hidden in Christ but "your life is hid with Christ in God." Col. iii. 3. "And ye are complete in Him." Col. ii. 10. "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God," "who is our life," "is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 Cor. i. 34, 30.

"Goeth and selleth all that he hath." There is no comparison between our sin and folly and the righteousness and wisdom of Christ, yet they are the price God asks us for His Son. They are all that we have, but if we are willing to give them, the transaction is complete, and Christ, in whom "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," is ours, secured to us as an everlasting possession by the oath of

754

God. He "gave Himself for our sins." Gal. i. 4.

"But the treasure is a hidden one, and we have tried in vain to find it," say some. To whom is it hidden? Only "to them which believe not." Believe what God says, and the hidden things will become plain. God has no secrets from those who fear Him, and His deep things are revealed by the Spirit. Israel found them mysterious and dark, because when they came to consider them, they always took the precaution to put a veil over their hearts. The same veil of unbelief is all that now blinds the hearts of men, "that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ should not dawn upon them." 2 Cor. iv. 4.

Christ is not hidden from men. He is everywhere revealed, for in Him all things consist. Men live by Him every day, yet declare that they know Him not. He is the bread of heaven that comes down to give life to the world, and He says of the bread we eat, "This is My body:" yet men do not discern the Lord's body, for the simple reason that they do not believe His words. "Men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly Thou fillest with Thy hid treasure." Ps. xvii. 14. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." But even this omnipresent manifestation of Christ can accomplish nothing for those who persist blindly in denying that He is revealed when they are filled with Him. Those who believe behold their God, and accepting Him as what He is, they find Him made unto them wisdom and righteousness.

The man whose eyes are thus opened, does not regard God's terms as harsh. "For joy thereof" he goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field, and his testimony is, "What things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." Phil. iii. 7, 8.

People need to learn the difference between gratification and satisfaction. Anything which one gets into the habit of liking, will gratify; but only that which is good and necessary will satisfy. Strong drink gratifies a perverted appetite, but only good food can satisfy the desire of the system. The devil gratifies men by pandering to their lusts; God satisfies men by giving them what they really need.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Trying to Destroy God's Word. Jeremiah xxxvi. 20-32" The Present Truth 14, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

DECEMBER 11

Jehoiakim was the son of Josiah. The people of the land had made his younger brother, Jehoahaz, king before him, but Jehoahaz had only reigned three months when the king of Egypt, under whose dominion Judah had fallen by the defeat of Josiah at Megiddo, annulled the choice of the people, and placed Jehoiakim on the throne. Jehoahaz was taken captive into Egypt, where he died. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, "and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done."

PUBLISHING THE PROPHECY

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the Lord commanded Jeremiah to write in a roll of a book all the prophecies that had been given through him, from the beginning of his work. This was done, Jeremiah dictating the words to Baruch the scribe, who was then directed to stand at the gate of the temple and read them in the hearing of all the people. Standing in this audience, when the roll was read to the assembly on the fasting day, was Michaiah, the grandson of that Shaphan who read to King Josiah the book of the law which was discovered by Hilkiah the priest during the cleansing of the temple. Michaiah went to the scribe's chamber in the king's house, and reported to the princes assembled there the startling character of the words that Baruch war, reading in the ears of the people.

BURNING THE ROLL

The princes sent for Baruch and, at their request, he sat down and read the roll to them. They cautioned him and Jeremiah to hide themselves and let no man know their whereabouts. Then the princes went in to the king, leaving the roll in the scribe's chamber, and told him of the words that God had sent. The king commanded that the roll itself he brought to him. "Now the king sat in the winter-house in the ninth month [which would correspond to our November 1,] and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth." Three of the princes begged the king not to destroy the roll, but he would not hear them. He would have been glad to serve Jeremiah and Baruch in the same way, and he ordered their immediate arrest; "but the Lord hid them."

TREASURING UP WRATH

The conduct of Jehoiakim is in strong contrast to that of his father Josiah. The latter, when God's judgments against the disobedience of Judah were made known to him, humbled himself and by sincere penitence and confession, averted from himself the corning doom. Jehoiakim was stirred to fury by the Word of the Lord and, instead of recognising the justice of the sentence and turning from his evil course, wilfully defied the righteous anger of God and burned His message. By humbling himself, and turning at God's reproof, Jehoiakim might have yet been saved, but he cut himself off from the source of forgiveness and life, and while the roll itself was written out again in even fuller detail, there was added to it God's sentence against the rebellious king: "He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall he cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity." In fulfilment of the first part of this judgment, his son, after a brief but wicked reign of three months, was carried to Babylon, where he spent thirty-seven years in captivity.

HONOURING GOD

The principle upon which God has ever dealt with men was laid down to Eli, and is often repeated in the scriptures. "Them that houour Me I will honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." 1 Sam. ii. 30. This is not because God is like men, who will bestow respect where there is a likelihood of their getting at least as much back. God does not seek honour from men because He likes flattery,

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or finds it difficult to get honour among those who know Him better. He is not satisfied when men merely draw near Him with their lips, but desires that the heart may be yielded to Him, in confiding recognition of His love, in order that He may do marvellous things for those who trust Him. "Whose, offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth Me; and prepareth a way that I may show him the salvation of God." Ps. 1. 23, R.V. The greater the conception men have of the glory and power of God, the more they can rejoice; for God, who spared not His own Son, keeps nothing for Himself. Those who believe Him to be the Almighty can sing for joy because of the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe." "Therefore will He be exalted, that He way have mercy upon you." "Blessed are all they that wait for Him." Isa. xxx. ls.

INFIDELITY

Infidelity does not always take the form of burning the Scriptures. There are other ways of rejecting the Word of God. Those of our readers who have been following, during the past few months, the studies contained in the PRESENT TRUTH, on God's Saving Power in the Things that are Made, will understand clearly why it is that Satan has been making such a special onslaught upon those parts of the Bible which deal with the record of creation. He knows what is involved in a right understanding of this question, and hence his efforts have been steadily directed towards creating false ideas of man's inherent power, and his real relation to his Creator. To hide the truth from men, and at the same time develop in them that spirit of independence of God which will most surely render them subject to his own evil influence, he has led men to set their own ideas above the Word of God, and judge the inspiration of the Bible by their own imaginations. But it is not only the avowed infidel who has been thus deceived. The satanic temptations are more subtle than men think, and many who hold in theory to the full inspiration of the Bible, have yet been insensibly influenced by the prevailing spirit of unbelief.

WHAT IS MAN?

God's Word declares that man in himself is nothing more than dust. God's own life animating the dust produces a living soul (Gen. ii. 7), but only as God's Spirit is in man is he capable of any of the manifestations of life. This Spirit of God is the only life there is. By it all creation exists. "Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are created." Ps. civ. 29, 30. The words "breath" and "spirit" here used are identical in the original. That which causes the dust to hold together and form the body of a man is the life of the Creator. "In Him all things hold together." Col. i. 17, R.V. Death is simply the undoing of this connection between God's life and the dust. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Eccl. xii. 7. Many refuse to believe that it is in God they live and move, and have their being, but their unbelief cannot make the Word of God untrue. Acts xvii. 28.

A TEST

There is a real test which every one may apply for himself, by which he may know if he really believes the inspired Word of God, or if he has been deceived by Satan and has been unwittingly drawn into unbelief, only different in degree from the rampant infidelity which made Jehoiakim burn the roll that rebuked his wicked course. If we believe God's record of our creation we will know that we are only dust and that all the life we have is God's life. Since it is absurd that dust should presume to direct or control the Divine life (Jer. x. 33), he who believes the Bible will in all his ways acknowledge the Lord and allow Him to direct. He will not lean to his own understanding, but will trust in the Lord with all his heart. The man who trusts in himself at all is trusting in vanity, a vain or empty thing. If he seems to be something when he is nothing, he is a lie. "Men of low degree are vanity." But all men are alike, so that if a man thinks he is a little better than any other man, he too is only vanity. "Men of high degree are a lie." It does not matter how high the degree. It may not be very much, or it may look down upon every one else in the world. However high it is, it is to that extent a lie. This is infidelity. No lie is of the truth, and the man who cherishes his own lie cannot receive God's truth.

MEN OF HIGH DEGREE

Even among professing Christians this lie of "high degree" is found. Some will say that there are certain lines of work which they feel competent to undertake, certain temptations which they can easily meet, and because of this they feel of higher degree than others who can only make a lesser boast. Jesus, the Son of man, who was "the truth," in whom there was no lie, said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing." He knew that God dwelt in Him and did the works and spoke the words. It is the spirit of self-exaltation, of high degree, that hinders faith. The man who knows himself to be vanity will listen humbly to the words of life spoken by his Creator, and will not presume to criticise them. "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word." Isa. lxvi. 2. "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?" John v. 44. Jehoiakim thought himself of high degree, and looked upon other men as instruments of his vainglorious ambition. He built his house by unrighteousness, using his neighbour's service without wages, to make for himself a wide house and large chambers, and his eyes and his heart were filled with covetousness and oppression. Seeking houour for himself he could not believe the voice of the Lord, and this is the secret of his burning the roll. But it was seen by all that his high degree was only a lie, for before his death the word of the Lord spoke concerning him; "He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem." Jer. xxii. 13-19.

"The One Sure Remedy" The Present Truth 14, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

A short time ago we picked up a paper, and the first thing to meet the eye was a patent medicine advertisement, which began in this way:-

Is your liver torpid? Are you constipated? Have you become a victim to gout? Does rheumatism ever rack your frame, or do you ever suffer from biliousness, dyspepsia, sciatica, etc.? It any one or more of these maladies ever trouble you, the probabilities are that as a result of indulgence in too much or too rich food, or the too free consumption of strong teas, coffees, and cocoas, or from insufficient exercise, your system has become filled with uric acid and other life-destroying substances, which not only produce the diseases mentioned, but accentuate any tendency you may have to other ailments of the stomach, liver and kidneys. In order to rid your system of these impurities an aperient is necessary, but the one employed should not be drastic, lowering, or nauseating.

Then follows of course the name of the wonderful remedy which will rectify all the evils above mentioned, and make and keep the patient well, provided he keeps on taking it.

Just after reading this advertisement, we picked up another paper containing an

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advertisement of another sure cure for everything. After recounting a list of ills, the writer says: "By doing as we direct you will in a short time become strong and healthy; your digestion will be all right; you can eat what you please and be your own master; your brain will become clear, and its reasoning powers will return with four-fold vigour. All we ask is that you do as we direct. Now what do we direct? Simply this: Take 4s. 6d. and go to the nearest chemist's and ask for a bottle of-" etc. We are not advertising patent medicines, so we will not give any names; but we quote these things for the purpose of illustrating a lesson in health.

Why is it that with all these medicines in the world, which are swallowed most faithfully by tens of thousands of people, and which are certified to be sure cures for everything that can happen to a person, people still suffer from these same ills? Surely no one can think seriously of the matter for a minute without seeing that they are all of them utterly worthless. No doubt some of the men who push these things think that they are doing the people good, for many of them are as ignorant as the people whom they dupe; but the rapid increase of the very diseases which they profess to cure, shows that these supposed remedies are only deceits. Those who use them most are the ones who continue to suffer the most.

The reason is that the cause and nature of diseases are ignored. As long as people regard disease as something like rate in a house, for which they are in no way responsible, and medicine as something that will hunt it out, as a ferret will chase the rats, so long will they suffer many things of many patent medicines, and get no better, but rather worse. Who would be so foolish as to think that he could cure a burn while holding his hand on a live coal? If he had accidentally or wilfully put his hand in the fire, the first thing that he would do in order to effect a cure would be to take the hand out of the fire. Now in ninety-nine out of every hundred cases of disease, if the sufferer would simply remove the cause he would get well without doing anything else whatever.

Look at the advertisement first quoted. The statement is made that if any of the diseases mentioned are troubling a person, the probabilities are that he has been indulging in too much or too rich food, or too freely consuming ten, coffee, and cocoa. That is reasonable enough. What would common sense teach such an one to do? Manifestly to leave off those injurious things. But no hint of such a course is given. Rather is the idea conveyed that people can eat what they please, no matter how injurious, and can counteract its ill effects by taking liberal doses of some man's medicine.

It should be known by everybody in the world that there is no medicine compounded by man that can cure any disease. No physician on earth, no matter how skilful, can cure anybody. God alone has the power of life. He is the Fountain of life. Jesus Christ is the life. There is no life in the universe except the life of God; and the great Creator has given His life to us abundantly, putting it into us, and surrounding us with it, so that we may have health in spite of the curse which has fallen upon the earth and all mankind. If one will but study the workings of that life, and learn the ways of God, which He reveals to us, and will yield to the life, putting no obstacle in its way, health cannot fail to be his portion.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ points out the way of life and health. It teaches us that God gives us His life in Christ, in order that we may be saved from sin. This life He gives to everybody, because it is His desire that all shall live. Its nature is righteousness. Whoever will not oppose the life, will be sanctified by it. It is not that God will count one man righteous because somebody else with whom he has no connection has lived a righteous life, but that the life of that other, even the life of Jesus, is allowed to manifest itself in the man, thus making him actually righteous. This is a simple statement of a fact known to all Christians.

Now that righteous life of Jesus, which is freely given to all, is perfect life. It is eternal life. It is life that conquers death. It is evident, therefore, that if this life be accepted and recognised in its fulness, health must be the result. The life which the Lord gives to every man in the world, and which keeps us in existence day by day, is His own eternal life. All things that pertain to life as well as godliness have been given to everybody. No new factors need to be put in operation if we but recognise and fully accept the richness of the gift that God has bestowed upon us, we shall have physical health as well as salvation. Indeed, salvation pertains to the body as well as to the soul and spirit. 1 Thess. v. 23.

The stream of life flows from Christ to all mankind. Men have resisted its flow, and sought to clam up its course, and thus disease and death, the result of sin, have abounded. Cease to work against the life. Give the Word of life free course. Do not deliberately nor thoughtlessly put poisonous things into it, nor do those things which are plainly contrary to it. It is true that the life conquers death, but you must not trifle with it, and put death upon it for the purpose of seeing it manifest its power. That is continuing in sin, that grace may abound. There is poison and death enough in our own natures to give the life all the exercise that is needed. Rather seek to know the ways in which it manifests itself, that you may coincide with it, and you will be astonished at its wondrous power. The life of Jesus manifested to the full in our mortal flesh will accomplish for every one who yields to its sway all that it did when it was manifested in the flesh in Judea and Galilee.

"My son, attend to My words; incline thine ear unto My sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health [medicine] to all their flesh."

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

"HIS COMMANDMENT IS LIFE EVERLASTING"

Gen. i. 3: "God said, Let there be light; end there was light."

Gen. i. 6, 7: "God said, Let there be e firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. . . . And it was so."

Gen. i. 9: "God said, Let the waters under the firmament be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so."

Gen. i. 11: "God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth; and it was so."

Gen. i. 24: "God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so."

Ps. cxlvii. 15-13: "He sendeth forth His commandment upon earth; His Word runneth very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool; He scattereth the hoar frost like ashes. He casteth forth His ice like morsels; who can stand before His cold? He sendeth out His Word, and melteth them; He causeth His wind to blow, and the waters flow."

Ps. cxlviii. 8: "Fire and hail; snow, and vapours, stormy wind fulfilling His Word."

Job xxxvii. 6: "For He saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of His strength."

The Lord God has also said:

Matt. v. 37: "Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."

Eph. iv. 28: "Let him that stole, steal no more."

Eph. iv. 29: "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."

Eph. iv. 31, 32: "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."

Phil. ii. 5: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."

Col. iii. 15: "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts."

Col. iii. 16: "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom."

1 Peter iii. 10, 11: "He that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it."

Rom. xii. 9: "Let love be without dissimulation."

John xii. 50: "I know that His commandment is life everlasting."

Ps. lxxxv. 8: "I will bear what God the Lord will speak; for He will speak peace unto His people, and to His saints."

Isa. Iv. 3: "Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live."

Dan. x. 16-19: "Then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my Lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me. Then there came again and touched me Ono like the appearance of a man, and He strengthened me, and said, O man greatly beloved, tear not; peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when He bad spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my Lord speak; for Thou hast strengthened me."

Note from these texts that whatever God says is so. This does not mean merely that He tells the truth, but that whatever He says ought to be, comes to pass. He "calleth those things that be not as though they were" (Rom. iv. 17), because the very calling of their names brings them into existence. His Word creates. When God wanted the earth and the things that are on it to come into being, He simply said, Let them exist, and immediately they were.

Therefore if anyone wishes to learn the way of life and righteousness, "Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee, and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee, or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?" Job xii. 7-9. What will these teach us?-They will teach us that if we hear what God the Lord speaks, we shall have life and peace.

There is life in simply hearing the Word of the Lord. "Verily, verily I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. 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. . . . 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." John v. 24-29. Read the story of Lazarus, of the daughter of Jairus, and of the son of the widow of Nain, to see the lifegiving power that there is in the Word of the Lord. Now "these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name." John xx. 31.

When the prophet Daniel had a vision from God he lost all strength, and even his breath left his body. Then the Lord spoke to him, and said, "Be strong, yea, be strong," and immediately he was strengthened. That same Word says to us, "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." Eph. vi. 10. "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. ii. 1. "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Josh. i. 9. Compare Isa. xli. 10-16.

It will be well worth while to look up many other places in the Bible where direct commands are given, and whenever one is found, instead of thinking, "What a hard thing to do!" remember that the word which commands that these things be done is the same word that says to the snow, "Be thou on the earth," and which commands the rain to fall. It is the same word that in the beginning created all things, and caused the light to shine out of darkness. "This commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off." Deut. xxx. 11, R.V. If we hear the Word of the Lord, not for one moment merely, but continually, it will he as easy for us to do according to the commandments of God as it was for the earth to bring forth grass at His command. The dead do not do anything to make themselves live; they simply hear the voice of the Lord, and

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live. So our part, when we are dead in trespasses and sins, is to listen continually to what the Lord says, and we shall live and be strong. Remember that God's Word is always the creative word.

Read Ps. lxxxi. 5-10 very carefully. See what a wonderful promise God makes to His people, that if they will only hearken unto Him there shall be no strange god found among them, and no false god shall be worshipped by them. He will take the idols away. Now read Ex. xx. 1-3, and see that this is the same thing. From this learn that all the commandments of God are but "exceeding great and precious promises" of what He will do for us it we will but heed His words.

"The Living Word" The Present Truth 14, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

"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." Heb. iv. 13.

The Word of God is not simply living, but it gives life. "My soul cleaveth unto the dust; quicken [make alive] Thou me according to Thy Word." "My Word hath quickened me." Verse 50. "Hear, and your soul shall live." Isa. Iv. 3. Jesus says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life, 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. 24, 25.

God gives to us His Word, in order that we may live; if we but keep the Word, we shall keep the life, for it is "the Word of life." When man issues a commandment, the one to whom it is addressed is obliged to supply the force necessary to carry it into execution; but when God gives a commandment, the commandment is itself the living force that will work effectually in those who receive it . "His commandment is life everlasting." This is why it is that if we would enter into life, we must keep the commandments. Only in keeping the commandments of God have we life, for they are life. We keep them by faith, and they supply the life and righteousness.

The story of creation is given to show us the reality of these things. There we see the word in action. "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made;" "He commanded, and it stood fast." When He spoke, it was. The earth did not have to go about to make itself, when God spoke; but when He spoke, it existed. The darkness did not have to exert itself to produce light; but God commanded the light to shine out of darkness, and it was so. The earth was without form, and void. God desired order, but He did not expect the earth to put itself in order. "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." "And God said, Let there be light; and there was light."

That same Word speaks to us. The Gospel is the power that creates, for "if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation." "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. iv. 6. The Word says to us, "Be filled with the Spirit." Eph. v. 18. If we receive that Word, the Spirit will fill us, and will bring order out of the chaos of our minds and hearts.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." John i, 1, 4. "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Therefore the same Word which in the beginning caused the light to shine out of darkness, says to us, "Arise, shine; for thy Light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Isa. Ix. 1. If we will hear that Word, we shall as surely be "light in the Lord" as the light in the beginning shone when God said, "Let there be light."

"God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit;" "and it was so." There was no struggle on the part of the earth to perform the commandment of the Lord; only the reception of the Word of life, which works effectually wherever it finds an opening for it. Now "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. "And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Then shalt have no other gods before Me." Ex. xx. 1-3. Now how did God suppose that we were to keep that commandment? Israel of old made the mistake of supposing that they themselves must furnish the power to do it, and they did not attain to the righteousness of the law. But God did not expect anything of the kind. Hear what He says, repeating almost the words that are in Ex. xx. 1-3. "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 then 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." Ps. lxxxi. 8-10. There was to be no straining to manufacture power which they did not have, but a simple yielding to the self-acting Word. Let the people but hear, and continue to hear, the Word of the Lord, and He will take the responsibility upon Himself of seeing that strange gods are kept from among them.

The first commandment includes all the ten. The tenth commandment, "Then shalt not covet," is only another precept against idolatry, for covetousness is idolatry. Col. iii. 5. The law ends just where it begins, and is as a whole but an exhortation to love God. But love is of God, and He sheds His love abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit. So instead of expecting us to do what the flesh cannot possibly do, God simply asks us to submit to His love, to submit to His righteousness. "His commandments are not grievous," but they are love.

Thus we see that the commandments of God are in reality promises of what He will do for, us, or rather, statements of what He has already laid up for us ready to our hand. His grace supplies all that His justice demands. He never asks anything of us that He has not first given to us. "How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them." How precious is the thought that no matter what God requires us to be, no matter what He tells us to be or do, the very same Word that makes known to us the requirement supplies the thing required. Let us read all the commandments of God in the light of the first chapter of Genesis, and life will assume a new phase. Then the greater the commandment, the greater will be our thanksgiving for what the Lord has done for us; and even in the midst of the thunders of Sinai we can say, "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul."

"Treasure" The Present Truth 14, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

One feature of the last days is that treasure will then be heaped together in a special manner. It will be obtained by dishonesty and oppression, but it will not profit its possessors. James v. The fulfilment of this sure word of prophecy is at present more noticeable in the United States than in any other part of the world, but other countries are fast following in the same train. A recent estimate of the capital invested in trusts in the United States shows that it amounts to nearly ?541,000,000 sterling. About half of this is taken up by nine trusts. In spite of Anti-trust laws, which recognise the danger of such gigantic combinations, the evil continues to grow. The present year has shown in England what a comparatively small trust can do to raise the price of wheat and cause distress among the poorer classes. The report on the trusts concludes:-

What the actual value of the property covered by the stocks and bonds of these companies is it would be difficult to say, but the figures show to what an extent the abuse has spread and the dangers that are involved to the community by this unrestrained centralising of capital.

"The Children. Telescope and Microscope" The Present Truth 14, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

Have you ever looked through a telescope at the stars? If not, take the first opportunity that you get to do this, and you will be astonished and delighted at the wonders that you will see. The telescope is an instrument made to aid our sight by making objects that are really far away seem to be much nearer, so that they can be better seen. Things so far off that they cannot be seen at all with the naked eye, can be looked at through the telescope.

By the help of the telescope astronomers have discovered that the stars, which seem like tiny points of light because they are so far away from us, are many of them suns much larger than our sun, with worlds moving round them as our world moves round the sun.

And besides this they have found that these suns and worlds that can be seen, are only a very small part of God's great universe. For as men are able to invent more and more powerful telescopes, they see millions of stars that were invisible before. And yet there are as many more beyond, and there is really no end to the universe of God.

Yet God is lighting up each one of these countless suns with His own glory, and upholding and guiding all the worlds that move round them. All this shows us the greatness of our God, greatness that our minds are too small to understand, even as our eyes, with all the help that men are able to invent, can see only a small part of His works.

As we think of these things, and "consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained," how it brings to our minds the words of the Psalmist, "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?"

But there is another instrument which aids our sight in a different way from what the telescope does, and helps us to see how mindful God is, not of man only, but of even the tiniest of His works. This is the microscope.

With the telescope we can look away off from our world, and see something of the great works of God, and the immensity of His universe. With the microscope we can look into the works of God that are round about us everywhere upon the earth, and see the perfection and beauty of the very smallest thing that our eyes are thus enabled to see.

With the telescope we see that our world, which seems to up so great, is but an atom, like a little grain of sand, compared with the great universe; and all the waters of the ocean are like "a drop of a bucket." But when we take the microscope and examine the tiny grains of sand and the little drops of water that make up our world, we find that each is in itself a little world of wonders.

A drop of water magnified (you may have seen one, or the picture of it), is full of tiny living creatures as perfect, as wonderful, as the stars of heaven. And into whatever of the works of God we look in this way, we find that the more they are magnified the more wonders they show.

But here, again, our sight is limited, and when we have seen all that can be seen with the most powerful microscope, there is still hidden from us as much of the wonderful working of God's power, His infinite perfection and skill revealed in the most minute atoms, as there is of His greatness in the heavens beyond the power of the telescope to reveal to us.

So while the use of the telescope might lead us to look upon our world as insignificant and unimportant, because it seems such a little speck in the universe, the microscope shows us the importance not of the world only, but of every little particle that forms it, and of the smallest and lowest living creatures that inhabit it.

Therefore while the telescope leads us to exclaim, "What is man thou Thou art mindful of him?" the microscope, showing how "fearfully and wonderfully" not we only, but all the works of God are made, puts into our mouths these words of the same Psalmist, "How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God; how great is the sum of them; they are more than can be numbered."

"The God of nature and of grace
In all His works appears
His goodness through the earth we trace,
His grandeur in the spheres."

"Hidden Wonders" The Present Truth 14, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

When Professor Huxley was visiting the Highlands of Scotland, one day as he wandered over the moors, he picked up a moss-cup, and began to examine it with his magnifying glass.

A Highland shepherd came near and watched him with interest and curiosity. Mr. Huxley asked the man if he would like to see the moss-cup through the glass.

As he looked, his eyes opened wide with

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wonder; presently he said, "Can this be a moss-cup?"

When he was assured that it was, he asked that he might see it again, and then, handing back the glass and the moss-cup, he said, "O sir, I wish you had never shown it me."

"Why?" asked Mr. Huxley in surprise.

"Because I do tread upon thousands of them every day of my life," was his reply.

Now that his eyes were opened to see what had before been hidden from him in this common, familiar object, it had become such a mystery of wonder that the thought of trampling on it seemed almost like sacrilege.

And so it is with every one of the works of God's hands. The more we think upon them, and seek them out, and examine them, the more we shall realise that He does indeed "fill heaven and earth," and "the whole earth is full of His glory."

"The Ostrich" The Present Truth 14, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

Although the eagle is "the king of birds," and is able to fly the highest of all the feathered tribe, it is not the largest. The largest of all birds is the ostrich, which you call see in the picture. It has a long neck and when it holds up its head, it is seven or eight feet high, taller than a tall man. When God was telling Job about some of His wonderful works, He spoke about the ostrich. Let us see what we can learn of it from what He who made it said about it.

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

First we will speak about the "wings and feathers" which God has given to the ostrich. The wings are very small for the size of the bird, too small for so large and heavy a bird to fly with. But when it is running it lifts its wings, and flutters them over its back, and they act like a sail to catch the wind and carry the bird onward. When it runs at full speed, it cannot be overtaken by the swiftest horse, but "scorneth the horse and his rider."

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

The bird is so much hunted to get these valuable feathers to be used for useless ornaments, that it is disappearing from the earth through the pride and cruelty of those whom God meant to be its protectors. For we have learned that in the beginning God gave into man's care and keeping all the living creatures on the earth.

If you think of this whenever you see these beautiful plumes, which have usually been torn from the living ostrich, I am sure you will not take any pleasure in seeing them used as an ornament by others, nor ever want to wear them yourself.

There is one thing in which the ostrich is just the opposite of the eagle. We read last week from God's Word some beautiful passages which show the tender care of the eagle for her young ones. But the ostrich "leaveth her eggs on the earth," and "is hardened against her young ones."

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

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

But although the ostrich is "hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers," they are not left to perish. He who "knows all the fowls of the mountains," and thinks of and feeds the little sparrows, does not forget them. He hatches the eggs by the heat of the sun, and cares for and feeds the young birds, so that they grow up and become large and strong like their parents.

What a sweet lesson of trust in God, our Creator, He is teaching us in all this! He says, "Can it woman forget her sucking child?" "Yea, they may forget; yet will not I forget thee." So like David we can say, "When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up."

But I expect you have been looking at the other birds in the picture, and wondering especially about the one with its magnificent tail spread out so proudly. Another time we will perhaps tell you something about this.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

-A severe snow-storm has been experienced over the North of England and Scotland, several railways being blocked.

-The Sultan has ordered the closing of an orphanage at managed by American missionaries, which shelters sixty homeless victims of the Armenian troubles.

-Crete has been cleared of Turkish soldiers, and the suzerainty of the Sultan will be recognised by allowing one Turkish flag to fly in the island at a spot to be agreed upon.

-Italy is experiencing a revival of trade prosperity which will allow of the duties on bread and flour being abolished. A treaty just concluded with France is expected to promote the development of Italian industries.

-At some recent French army man?uvers a battery of the new quick-firers discharged twenty-one shells per gun per minute. A target consisting of 200 wooden soldiers was directed at a distance of two miles and a half. In one minute and three-quarters every one of them was destroyed.

-The vicar of Hexton has justified his bishop by administering Holy Communion at a Congregational Church in Wellingborough. He refused to recognise the bishops authority until this should be exercised in putting down the ritualistic practices which were carried on in the diocese.

-The United States Congress will soon be asked to vote ten millions sterling for the construction of a number of first-class ironclads, in addition to the thirty-six torpedo boats and destroyers lately authorised. Congress will also be asked to increase the enlisted force of the navy from its present maximum of 12,000 men to 17,000. The United States seems determined to live up to its new reputation as a fighting power.

-A curious incident is reported from Syria in connection with the Kaiser's tour. The Turkish man-of-war which escorted his yacht ran out of coal, and a local merchant refused to deliver any fuel without payment. On reporting the difficulty to Constantinople by cable, an honourable distinction and the title of pasha was authorised to be conferred on the inexorable merchant, who thereupon promptly delivered the coal. The humour of the situation is somewhat modified by the recent revelations concerning Mr. Hooley's attempted purchase of a Jubilee baronetcy in our own enlightened country, and the terms of his admission to the distinguished circle of the Carlton Club.

-The Turkish Government has addressed a formal request to the Vatican for the appointment of an Ottoman Legation to the Holy See. The Pope is favourable to the proposal, and is at present endeavouring to obtain the consent of the French Government.

-According to an American paper, President McKinley is determined that unless Turkey makes preparation for the American missionary property destroyed in Asiatic Turkey, in 1895 and 1896 a naval demonstration will be made against Smyrna or some other Turkish city.

-The American Commissioners at Paris offered Spain $20,000,000 for the session of the Philippines, and stated that a clause would be inserted in the treaty allowing Spanish ships and merchandise to enter on the same terms as American. If these terms are not accepted America will take the Philippines by force.

-On the Pennsylvania Railway, a gang of platelayers who were working on one track stepped on to another to avoid a train. The noise from this train, together with the smoke and steam, and a fog, prevented their noticing the approach of another train which crashed into their midst. Eleven men were killed, and six badly injured.

-The question of what ought to be done with the gold Communion plate presented to St. Paul's Cathedral by Mr. Hooley, has been settled by the payment to that gentleman's creditors of ?1,500, the value of the service. When the church leaves the modest simplicity of its Founder, it must expect to get into embarrassing situations. The early church was not careful to answer those who thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money.

-1897 was the biggest year for the coal trade there has ever been. From the minds of the United Kingdom there were dug and raised 202,129,931 tons. This colossal output exceeded that of 1896 by no less than 6,768,671 tons. The export of thirty-seven million tons is also the largest on record. The number of persons employed above and below ground, including those engaged in working the ironstone and fireclay produced from coal mines, was 681,531.

-Lord Charles Beresford in a recent speech bitterly deplored the loss of British prestige in China. Which meant to speed the destruction of our enormous Chinese trade. Russia had jumped the boundaries of the Chinese Empire by twelve hundred miles during the year, and there was nothing to prevent her going forward as far as Peking, unless Great Britain declared that there was a certain line beyond which Russia must not go, and that to cross that line would mean war.

-Speaking at a recent meeting of a Society for training church workers, the Bishop of Lincoln began with an apology for being there at all, because he had no right to presume to speak upon the definite religious life. This sounds bad from a bishop, but what he meant by a "definite religious life" was joining a "brotherhood." Still if the bishop thinks that is the only way to live a definite religious life, his apology was not out of place after all. The definite religious life is the life of Christ, and if a man has not that, he is none of Christ's, bishop or no.

-Bohemia and the other German provinces of Austria, which are at present Roman Catholic, wholesale conversions to Protestantism are reported. This is attributed to the general desire to become connected with the German Empire, which did not favour their aspirations while the provinces remain Catholic, they are being already sufficient Catholics in Germany to endanger the Protestant ascendancy. The agitation is making considerable progress. Germany will probably discover that people who change their religion wholesale for political reasons do not make any essential change in their principles. If Roman Catholic principles are now inimical to German interests, they will not be less so when christened Protestant.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 48.

E. J. Waggoner

"For Thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great." Ps. xxv. 11.

What a strange ground on which to base a plea for pardon! One is naturally inclined to minimise his fault, when asking for pardon; among men the smaller the offence the more easily the pardon is secured, and that is why people are so apt to try to hide their sins, or make them appear as small as possible. That plan, however, is not the right one to pursue with the Lord.

"Pardon mine iniquity; for it is great." When we think of it, we can see that the greater the sin the greater the need of pardon; and when we look at the matter from the Lord's point of view, we can understand how it is that the surest way to obtain pardon from Him is to set forth the sin in all its enormity, without minimising or excusing it in any way whatever.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all uurighteousness." 1 John i. 9. Righteousness belongs to the Lord (Dan. ix. 7), and "He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself." 2 Tim. ii. 13. The greater our sin, therefore, the greater the manifestation of God's righteousness in forgiving it.

"Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief; howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief Jesus Christ might show forth all His longsuffering, for an ensample of them which should hereafter believe on Him unto eternal life." 1 Tim. i. 15, 16. Just because Paul was the chief of sinners he received mercy! "What a wonderful Saviour!" Let no one fear to come to the Lord for pardon, because he is so great a sinner. His sinfulness is his recommendation to the Lord. "They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

The name of the Lord is "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." Ex. xxxiv. 5-7. Now the plea is, "For Thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity." If He should refuse such a request, He would be denying His own name. He would be saying that He is no longer the Lord God. You see it is absolutely impossible for the Lord to refuse to pardon any sinner. As long as God lives, He must pardon the sins of every one who from the heart requests forgiveness and cleansing.

"God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Rom. v. 8-10. Belief in Christ is incompatible with doubt as to His power or willingness to forgive any sin. To doubt on these points, is to disbelieve that He is the Christ, the Son of God. "Him hath God exalted with His own right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." Acts v. 31. Mark, He gives repentance and forgiveness to Israel, without exception, and it was they who crucified Him. To the very ones who cried, "Crucify Him!" forgiveness was preached. Who then dare say that he has sinned so much that he cannot be forgiven?

We are reconciled to God by the death of Christ. "He died for all." 2 Cor. v. 15. By the grace of God, He tasted death "for every man." Heb. ii. 9. Then are all reconciled. There is not a soul on earth whom God does not in Christ count as sinless, for "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." 2 Cor. v. 19. Whoever in the world, therefore, sincerely acknowledges himself to be a trespasser, may know that he is that very moment freely and fully forgiven. And since it is by the life of Christ that we are saved, it is evidently just as easy for Him to save one person as another. To disbelieve this is to limit the Lord, and to make Him like one of us. The same One who created the tiniest blade of grass also created the entire universe, and by the very same power. Nothing less than the life of Christ could create the smallest thing, and nothing more is required for the greatest. So to create a clean heart in the vilest sinner is for the infinite life of the Lord just as easy as to do so for the little child. With what confidence then may we trust in the Lord for all that we need!

"This life of trust, how glad, how sweet!
My need and Thy great fulness meet,
And I have all in Thee."

The Daily Chronicle, reporting a series of interviews with the leading publishers and booksellers of London, says:-

More and more the tendency of the public loans toward the reading of fiction. Young people do not delight, as their grandfathers did, in selecting a grave, informing work, say in biography or in travel, and poring over it long nights in succession. The whole competition of broad-winning is keener, and what is sought from books is, first and foremost, recreation.

It is a sad state of things. The last word, however, is a mistake. It is not recreation, but amusement, that people seek. Recreation, creating anew, renewal, is what people ought to seek and to find in books; but it does not come from fiction. From nothing, nothing comes. He who feeds on nothing, will come to nothing. The mind that dwells only on the imaginary, will in time become unable to appreciate or understand that which is real. And so the one Book which above all others affords real recreation, is cast aside as uninteresting. The final result is, that "truth is fallen in the streets."

"How precious is secret prayer-the soul communing with God! Secret prayer is to be heard only by the prayer-hearing God. No curious ear is to receive the burden of such petitions. Calmly, yet fervently, the soul is to reach out after God; and sweet and abiding will be the influence emanating from Him who sees in secret, whose ear is open to the prayer arising from the heart. He who in simple faith holds communion with God will gather to himself Divine rays of light to strengthen and sustain him in the conflict with Satan."

December 8, 1898

"The Man of Sin" The Present Truth 14, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

In the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians we read of the apostasy from the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ, and the manifestation of the "man of sin," "the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God."

It was not long after the death of the apostle who penned those words, that the prophecy was fulfilled. Among the elders or bishops of the church there arose men whose great ambition was to draw away disciples from Christ to themselves. They did not claim to be doing this, but they had so put themselves in the place of Christ that they imagine that in exalting themselves they were advancing the church.

One of the most striking examples of the arrogance of men who professed to be the representatives of Jesus, is that indicated in the illustration on this page. We see Henry IV. of Germany, in the garb of a penitent, waiting for admission to the presence of Pope Gregory VII., that be order that we may see that theirs was not an exceptional case of presumption and self-assertion. Every sin that a man commits is in himself. The fact that one man is in a position to exhibit his sinful disposition more fully than another, does not make him a greater sinner than that other one. Or, to put it the other way, the fact that the sphere of a man's influence may be his pardon, and have his dominion restored to him. The Emperor had claimed for himself power which God alone can exercise in the church, and had been deposed by the Pope; not because of his sin, but because the Pope would be the only one on earth to set himself forth as God.

God alone has the right to remove kings, set up kings; but this right the popes claimed for themselves. We need not dwell on their sin, but simply note it, in order that we may see that theirs was not an exceptional case of presumption and self-assertion. Every sin that a man commits is in himself. The fact that one man is in a position to exhibit his sinful disposition more fully than another, does not make him a greater sinner than that other one. Or, to put it the other way, the fact that the sphere of a man's influence for evil is circumscribed, does not make him personally any less a sinner than if it were unlimited. The lamp whose rays are shut in by the four walls of a room shines just as brightly as though the light were not enclosed.

Even so we, although acting in a very small place, may be in reality as much the man of sin, opposing God, as any pope that ever sent his anathamas to the ends of the earth. Obedience to the Word of God is the only safeguard against popery.

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If the teaching and example of Jesus had always been followed, there would never have been a pope; and he who does not thus follow Jesus, lacks only opportunity and ability, to be as great a pope as Innocent III. or Gregory VII.

Jesus said: "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; even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matt. xx. 25-28.

"Judge not, that ye be not judged." Matt. vii. 1. So although Jesus spake as never man spake, He said, "If any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." John xii. 47, 48. Our part is to teach the Word, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear; and we can teach the Word only as we live it, for it is the Word of life.

"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Rom. xii. 3. "Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant." Phil. ii. 5-7. Love is the bond of perfectness, and love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own." 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5. "Let all that ye do be done in love." 1 Cor. xvi. 14.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Captivity of Judah. Jeremiah lii. 1-11" The Present Truth 14, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

DECEMBER 18

Zedekiah was the last king of Judah. He was a son of Josiah and was made king by Nebuchadnezzar in the place of Jehoiakim's son, the latter being taken captive to Babylon after a reign of three mouths and ten days. Zedekiah was made to swear by the Lord that he would be faithful to Nebuchadnezzar, but he violated his oath. He sought help from Egypt to throw off the Babylonian yoke, but although Egypt came to his assistance, its interference did not save him. He, like his fathers, rejected the one hope of deliverance in turning away from the Lord, and none other could help him. "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 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." 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, 16.

A MARK ON THE FOREHEAD

It was not only their fathers who had transgressed the commandments of the Lord and provoked Him to anger.

Right down to the time when the city was taken the wicked practices of the nation, both rulers and governed, were continued. The condition of the city in those days was typical of the state of things that will exist when earth's guilty career finally closes. The prophet Ezekiel was shown the wickedness that was being practised in the city, and even in the temple itself. He saw also that a mark was put upon the foreheads of those who lamented over the abominations that were done in the midst of Jerusalem, and a destroying angel was commanded to exterminate all who had not the mark. Eze. viii., ix. In the last days the winds of strife and destruction are held until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. Rev. vii.

THE SEAL OF GOD

A seal is not put lightly to anything. When the servants of God are sealed with His seal, it means that He accepts them as His own act and deed. They are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. There is no thread of human invention in the garment of righteousness with which they are clothed. They know that they are sufficient for nothing of themselves, but that Christ is made to them wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. They have submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, and are complete in Him. Jesus beholds in them not a vestige of the filthy rags of human self-righteousness, but the travail of His own soul and is satisfied. In them He sees the work that He designed to do for men, and He is willing that these shall be known everywhere as the proofs of His saving power. He is willing to be judged by these results and He puts His own seal upon them. So in Revelation xiv. we read of the same people that they have the Father's name in their foreheads. They stand before the universe as illustrations of what that Name means in its fulness. They keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Rev. xiv. 1. They have learned that God's Word brings the power without which men have in vain tried to obey it. His commandments are known to them as life everlasting, and Christ dwells in them, so that they have the faith of Jesus. They are His perfect representatives and, being filled with the Holy Spirit, are His witnesses to the ends of the earth. They have the testimony of Jesus. Rev. xii. 17.

HATED BY THE WICKED

The dragon, which is Satan, is wroth with these witnesses, and stirs up men against them. So, during the siege of Jerusalem, the anger of those whom he rebuked consigned Jeremiah to a prison, where he lay until he was taken from it by the victorious Babylonians. Into, their hearts God put a desire to show the prophet kindness, and he was permitted by them to go wherever he would. Zedekiah had sent often to Jeremiah to know what the Lord had to say, but although even to him counsel was given that would have saved his life, he feared to obey it. His guilty conscience made him a coward, and he dared not take the advice to go forth from the city and submit to Nebuchadnezzar.

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So he stayed where he was until a breach was made in the defences of Jerusalem, and then he stole forth by night and tried to flee from the country. "And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho."

DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY

Zedekiah was brought before the King of Babylon at Riblah, who passed judgment upon him for violating his oath. The last scene his eyes were permitted to gaze upon was the slaughter of his own soul, then he was blinded, bound with chains of brass, and carried a miserable captive to Babylon. Shortly after, the temple, the king's palace, and every house of prominence in Jerusalem, were burned with fire, and all the people, except the poorest classes, were removed to Babylon. Many of the principal men also were slain. Thus went out in darkness, for a time, the history of that nation which God had chosen to be a peculiar people to Himself above all nations. God is ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy, but if the mercy be not accepted, He will by no means clear the guilty. "Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness." Lam. i. 8.

NO RESPECT OF PERSONS

The destruction of Jerusalem came because of its wickedness. Those who were grieved over these things were spared from the destruction. One instance is given us showing this. An Ethiopian eunuch, Ebed-Melech by name, when he knew that Jeremiah was put into the dungeon, and was like to die there of starvation, went in to the king and pleaded that he might be taken out. His request was granted, and Jeremiah was put in the court of the prison. After Jerusalem was taken the Lord sent a message to this man by Jeremiah, saying, "Thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee because thou hast put thy trust in Me, saith the Lord." Jer. xxxix. 17, 15.

REJECTING GOD

Israel rejected the Lord from being King over them when they desired Samuel to make them a king that they might be like the heathen around them. Their desire had been granted. They had had kings and these had made them like the rest of the heathen. From henceforth there was to be no king until He should come whose right it is to reign over His people. The word of the Lord was sent 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 . . . it shall be no more until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him." Eze. xxi. 36-37. The people of God have no earthly head until Christ shall come in the glory of His kingdom. If any church professing the service of Christ has put itself under the control of a man, it has fallen into the same error that proved so disastrous to Israel of old, and like them will end in becoming like the surrounding heathen, if not worse.

"The Sanctuary of God" The Present Truth 14, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

"When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from the people of strange language, Judah was His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion." Ps. cxiv. 1, 2. "For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is a lot of His inheritance." Deut. xxxii. 9.

GOD'S PRESENCE SANCTIFIES

Every place where God's presence is manifested, is sacred. When the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush in the desert, He said to him, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Ex. iii. 5. Likewise when He appeared to Joshua before Jericho, He said, "Loose the shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy." Josh. v. 15. When God came down on Mount Sinai, to speak the law, the mountain was made holy by His presence, so that no unconsecrated person could touch it and live. Sinai was at that time the sanctuary of the Lord (Ps. lxviii. 17, R.V.); for the word "sanctuary" signifies "holy place," and every abiding place of God is necessarily holy.

GOD'S DWELLING-PLACE

The sanctuary of God is therefore His dwelling-place, so that the text first quoted tells us that when God called Israel out of Egypt, it was that He might dwell among them, and sanctify them by His presence. In harmony with this is 2 Cor. vi. 16, 17:-

"What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; for God hath said, I will dwell in them; and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Wherefore, out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing."

NOT A MAN-MADE HOUSE

When Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, preached the Gospel before the Jewish Sanhedrim, it was these words that stirred the grave assembly to fury, and caused them to gnash on him with their teeth:-

"Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built Him an house. Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of My rest?" Acts vii. 46-49.

This is what Paul said to the Athenians (Acts xvii. 24); and Solomon himself, at the dedication of the house which he had built for the Lord, said: "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have builded?" 1 Kings viii. 27. "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." Isa. lvii. 15.

A LIVING HOUSE

The living God dwells in a living house; and only a spiritual house befits Him who is Spirit. Accordingly we read that, coming unto the Lord, "a living Stone, rejected

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indeed of men, but with God elect, precious, ye 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. 4, 5, R.V.

Jesus Christ is the tried and sure Foundation upon which all who would abide for ever must be built. "For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly 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. 18-22.

The household of God is the church of the living God (1 Tim. iii. 15), but only because each individual member is the dwelling-place of God. To each person the word comes: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" 1 Cor. vi. 19. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17.

When Jesus was asked how it was that He would manifest Himself to His disciples and not to the world, He replied: "If a man love Me, he may keep My words; and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John xiv. 23. The Word abiding in the heart sanctifies, so that the heart of each believer is the sanctuary of the living God. This fact is so clear that no more words are needed to make it appear, and we have therefore only to consider its wonderful force, and its practical application to us.

EVERY MAN A TEMPLE

Remember first that every person is designed to be the temple of God, yes, is God's temple; but all have gone aside, and have set up idols in the sanctuary, thus defiling it, and denying God's right to His own dwelling-place. What we wish to consider is what takes place when God dwells in His fulness in His own house, and is allowed complete control.

"In His temple everything saith, Glory." Ps. xxix. 9. Therefore when Christ dwells in the heart by faith, and the Spirit strengthens the inner man "according to the riches of His glory," so that the being is "filled with all the fulness of God" (Eph. iii. 16-19), he who leads his people like a flock shines forth (Ps. lxxx. 1); and because of the light that shows itself in good works, men glorify God. Matt. v. 14-16. "Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." Isa. xii. 6. "Nations that knew not thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified thee." Isa. lv. 5.

VIEW OF GOD'S THRONE IN HEAVEN

The first chapter of Ezekiel gives us the most vivid picture of the nature of the sanctuary of God in heaven. Read the entire chapter, and pay special attention to the following items:-

The heavens were opened, and the prophet "saw visions of God." Verse 1.

"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." Verses 4, 5.

"And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above." "And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty." "And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings." Verses 22, 24, 25.

"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 as the appearance of a man above upon it." Verse 26.

"And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning." Verse 14.

MOVED BY THE THOUGHT OF GOD

Here we see that God's throne in the heavens is composed of living creatures, and that it is not fixed to one spot, but that it moves. "And they went every one straight forward: whither the Spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went." Verse 12.

"Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the Spirit of life 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 life was in the wheels." Verses 20, 21, margin.

The throne was too glorious to be seen and described in detail; and we can form no clear conception of its likeness; but one thing we may learn, namely, that it is full of the Spirit of God, and is so closely in touch with Him that His thought for it is instantly executed. God's Spirit is to go to some place, and thither the throne of God instantly moves. Every thought of God is promptly responded to, and carried out, because His spirit fills His throne and temple.

ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN

Even so it will be when God is allowed his rightful place in the bodies of men. His spirit will be their spirit, and his mind and thought will be their mind and thought. In 2 Cor. vi. 16-18, where we are told that we are the temple of God, we learn that when we are sanctified by his presence we are his sons and daughters. We are the temple of God, because the Holy Ghost dwells in us. 1 Cor. iii. 16. We are builded together in Christ for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Eph. ii. 22. But "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Rom. viii. 14. That is, those who yield themselves to God, to be his spiritual house, his temple, are filled with the Spirit, and are guided by the Spirit whithersoever the Spirit wills to go. The mind of the Spirit is their mind.

GOD THINKING IN MAN

That God designs to think and act for his people, is shown by his call to the wicked to forsake their way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and to return to the Lord, whose thoughts are as much higher than man's thoughts as heaven is higher than the earth. Isa. lv. 7-9. When a man forsakes his ways and thoughts, and returns to the Lord, his ways and thoughts henceforth must be God's.

When God thinks for a man it is not like one man's thinking for and imposing

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his will on another. There is perfect freedom. The man chooses God's thoughts, because they are better than his own, and then God thinks in him, the man's brain being the organ of the Holy Spirit. "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear" (Rom. viii. 15), but God has given us the Spirit "of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Tim. i. 7. Only by the Spirit of God can anybody rightly know anything. 1 Cor. ii. 12. When men submit to be the temples of God, then is God's will done on earth even as it is done in heaven.

A PEOPLE CALLED OUT

It was to this end that God called his people out of Egypt. They were "called out," and so they constituted the church of the living God, for the Greek word which is rendered "church," means literally "called out." God calls people out from the world, that they may be a "spiritual house, a holy priesthood" (1 Peter ii. 5); and His presence in them makes them "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people" (verse 9); and they "show forth" the praises of Him who have called them out of darkness into His marvellous light, because He who dwells in them shines forth.

That this was the object of God's calling Israel of Egypt is seen from His words in Ex. xix. 3-6:-

"And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine; and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation."

A TABERNACLE MADE WITH HANDS

Yet while they were still encamped before Sinai, the Lord told Moses to direct the children of Israel to bring an offering of gold and silver and brass, acacia wood, and various kinds of skins, and fine linen, etc., and said: "and let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." Ex. xxv. 8.

"TABERNACLE OF WITNESS"

What a strange thing, that the Most High God, who dwelleth not in temples made with hands, should ask weak mortals to build Him a house, that He might well among them! Why was it?-The answer is plain; they were too high-minded, too self-sufficient, to give place to God, that He might dwell in their bodies, controlling every thought an act; for God dwells with the lowly; therefore since God would not cast them off, He manifested His presence among them in a marked manner, hoping at length to draw them wholly to Himself. If they had believed, they would not have needed the sanctuary, any more than Abraham did. The principal thing in it, and to contain which it was specially built, was the law,-the tables of testimony. But this law of the children of Israel ought to have had within them, "written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart." In that case they would have had the witness in themselves; their own bodies would have been tabernacles of witness, and they would have been witnesses for God. As it was, however, "the tabernacle of witness" was that built by Moses. Acts vii. 44. The fact that this testimony was in that tabernacle instead of in them, made it a constant witness against them, a testimony to their unfaithfulness.

"Our Lord sprang out of Judah; of which it tried Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood." Heb. vii. 14. Yet as already noted, "when Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah was His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion." The primary design was that all Israel should be His sanctuary, even as now. The confining of the sanctuary service to the tribe of Levi was a standing reminder of the unfaithfulness of the people, which hindered them from receiving the fulness of God; and the raising up of Christ out of the tribe of Judah, was no new thing, but a manifestation of that which had been from the beginning.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED

From the tabernacle built by hands some valuable lessons are to be learned, for God never directs anything to be done in vain. The jealous care which God has for His dwelling-place was one of the chief lessons, but there were many things that could not be taught by that building, for the simple reason that a dead thing can never show the activity of a living thing.

God's real dwelling-place moves of itself, impelled by His thought, while this house had to be carried by men. A stream of living water comes from God's throne (Rev. xxii. 1), as was shown at Sinai; but nothing of the kind was seen in the tabernacle of Moses. The rightful place of God's law, as the foundation of His throne, was indicated, and this is a thing which should not be overlooked, for it must be in every heart where God dwells. Jesus said, "Thy law is within My heart." Ps. xl. 8.

That tabernacle was cleansed with blood (Lev. xvi.), an indication of the fact that it is the blood of Christ that cleanses the living sanctuary-our bodies. But whereas in that sanctuary the cleansing was done only periodically, in the real sanctuary it is a continual process. Just as the water of life constantly flows from God's throne, so the blood of Christ constantly flows through the hearts of believers, cleansing them moment by moment; and as the blood is life, identical with the water of life, (1 John v. 8), it must flow out as well as in; so out of him that believeth, whose heart is God's throne, "shall flow rivers of living water," and he shall be a source of life to others. This high calling Israel of old missed through unbelief. Let us take heed lest we fall after the same example of unbelief.

CLEANSING OF THE SANCTUARY

"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out." Rev. iii. 12. It is worthy of note that this promise is in immediate connection with the statement by the Lord Jesus, "Behold, I come quickly." The sanctuary of the Lord is now defiled and broken down (Dan. viii. 13; Acts xv. 16); but before the coming of the Lord is to be built up and cleansed; for Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it, "that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Eph. v. 25-27.

That God has a sanctuary in the heavens, and that Christ is priest there, cannot be doubted by anyone who reads the Scriptures. See Heb. viii. 1, 2, etc. But this sanctuary is as much greater than the figure that was built by Moses as heaven is greater than earth, or as the work of God is greater than any work of man. Of the work of the sanctuary in heaven it is not necessary to speak particularly here, since what we may know of it is indicated in the service of the priests in the earthly

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tabernacle, who served "unto the example and shadow of heavenly things." But that sanctuary is a living place, as we learned in the view of God's throne; and that men saved from sin on this earth are to become a part of it is stated in Rev. iii. 12, just quoted. Therefore it follows that the cleansing of the sanctuary,-a work which is set forth in the Scriptures as immediately preceding the coming of the Lord,-is coincident with complete cleansing of the people of God on this earth, and preparing them for translation when the Lord comes.

THE PERFECT TESTIMONY

God has never left Himself without witness in what is termed the works of nature; but that witness is insufficient; man, the highest of God's creatures, must witness to Him as well as the lower things that God has made. In every age there have been individuals who, like Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, have been faithful witnesses; but they were only parts of the whole. It is not merely single individuals, but a body of people "called out,"-the congregation, the church,-that constitutes God's house. Before the end comes, and at the time of the coming of Christ, there must be a people on earth, not necessarily large in proportion to the number of inhabitants of earth, but large enough to be known in all the earth, in whom "all the fulness of God" will be manifest even as it was in Jesus of Nazareth. God will demonstrate to the world that what He did with Jesus of Nazareth He can do with anyone who will yield to Him.

THE LIFE OF JESUS MANIFEST IN MORTAL FLESH

Jesus Christ was the perfect temple of God; but if He were to be the only one in whom such fulness is revealed, then the too common idea that Jesus was a unique specimen, not made in all things like unto His brethren, and that is impossible for anybody else to be in all things like Him, would be warranted; and Satan would not fail to charge God with incapacity and failure, saying that He is not able to take a man born in sin, and bring him to perfection. Day after day he is making this charge through men who, either despondently, or in self-justification, say that "Christ was different from us, for He was begotten by the Holy Ghost, and being born sinless had the advantage of us." The Lord wants all to understand that the new birth puts men in the same position that Christ occupied on this earth, and He will demonstrate this before all the world. The life of Jesus is to be perfectly reproduced in His followers, not for a day merely, but for all time and for eternity. There is danger in delaying to yield to this working of the Lord by His Spirit, for He says:-

"Behold, I will send My Messenger, and He shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of His coming? . . . and He shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." Mal. iii. 1-3.

The glory of the house of God when He shall dwell in it in His fulness cannot be described or imagined. "Eye have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of men, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit." Therefore, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." "And the very God a peace sanctify you holy; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

GOD'S REST

Gen. i. 31; ii. 1-3: "And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. 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."

Ex. xx. 8-11: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt then labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work; then, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."

Rev. xiv. 6, 7: "And I saw another angel fly In the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountain of waters."

Eze. xx. 19, 20: "I am the Lord your God: walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them: and hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God."

Eze. xx. 12: "Moreover also I gave them My Sahbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them."

Isa. xl . 9: "Behold your God!"

Matt. xi. 28: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

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

Ps. xxxi. 19: "O how great is Thy goodness which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Then hast wrought for them that trust in Ther before the sons of men."

Eph. ii. 8-10: "For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them."

2 Cor. v. 17: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ["there is a new creation," R.V.]; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God."

Col. i. 12-16: "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated ns into the kingdom of

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His dear Son: in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins; who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature; for by Him [in Him] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him."

John xix. 28-30: "After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. . . . When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished; and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost."

John vi. 29: "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent."

Heb. iii. 7-12, 19: "Wherefore, even as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, like as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, wherewith your fathers tempted Me by proving Me, and saw My works forty years. Wherefore I was displeased with this generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; but they did not know My ways; as I aware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest. Take hoed, brethren, lost haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God." "We see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief."

Heb. iv. 1-5, 9, 10: "Let us fear, therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us, even as also they; but the word of hearing did not profit them, because they were not united by faith with them that heard. For we which have believed do outer into that rest; even as He bath said, As I aware in My wrath, They shell not enter Into My rest; although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He hath said somewhere of the seventh day on this wise, and God rested on the seventh day from all His works; and in this place again, They shall not enter into My rest." "There remaineth therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from His."

Rest follows labour; but the labour must be finished, or else there can be no real rest. Moreover, the work must be well done, so that it is perfect and complete, or else the rest will not be perfect. When God had worked six days in creating the heavens and the earth, and all things in them, He rested on the seventh day, because His work was done, and was well done. Everything was perfect.

The Sabbath is the sign that He is God, for only God could do perfect work; and the fact that God rested, shows that His work was perfect. "His work is honourable and glorious; and His righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered." Literally, "He hath made a memorial for His wonderful works." Ps. cxi. 3, 4.

How is the Sabbath a memorial of God's creative power, and thus a sign that He is God? Thus: Just as one rests only after work is done, and finds the joy and satisfaction of rest in the contemplation of the work well done, the Sabbath is the constant reminder of the fact that God's works are perfect; it continually reminds us that He created all things, and, most of all, that He finished His work. In the best and fullest sense of the word, His work was finished: it was complete and perfect. Creation was a finished piece of work. Otherwise there could have been no perfect rest following. The Sabbath is therefore the sign or mark of perfection.

When we look abroad upon the earth now, we do not see all things perfect. The curse has marred the works of God's hands. Man, creation's lord, has fallen, and his dominion has suffered with him. The Sabbath, however, remains. There remaineth a rest for the people of God. That is still left. But it is a sign of perfection. It is the proof that God's creation was made perfect. It is the proof that He is a great God and does great things. Therefore since God makes nothing in vain, and whatsoever He does shall be for ever, the Sabbath is the pledge that everything, man included, shall be made new again. It is therefore the evidence of the sanctifying power of God.

The everlasting Gospel calls upon men to "worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." That is what the Sabbath does. Therefore it follows that the Sabbath is the fulness of the everlasting Gospel. It is the seal of perfection. It marks a new creation complete and perfect.

This new creation is effected through the cross. "If any man be in Christ, there is a new creation." The Messiah is the one who restores all things, and it is by the power of His cross that He does it. The power of the cross is the power that created the heavens and earth in the beginning; for the preaching of the cross is the power of God (1 Cor. i. 18), and the power of God is seen in the things that are made. Rom. i. 20. So when Jesus was about to yield up His life upon the cross, He cried, "It is finished." In Him, therefore, that is, through His cross, the works of God, which were finished from the foundation of the world, are ours when we believe. The rest which Christ gives those who come to Him, is the rest that comes from works finished and perfect. The Sabbath teaches us that Christ's power to save is the same as the power that made all things perfect in the beginning.

"All things that pertain to life and godliness" are given us by "His Divine power." The good works in which God wishes us to walk are already prepared for us. God himself has wrought them for us, and laid them up for us. We find them in Christ. In Him the works of God are manifest, and they are ours by faith. By faith we receive Christ, and receiving Him we have the finished works of God. But when we have the finished works of God, it is evident that we have God's rest. The true keeping of God's Sabbath, therefore, instead of being an attempt to get righteousness by works, is the acceptance of righteousness by faith. It means simply trusting in the Lord for everything; letting Him be the One who both wills and works in us.

This is why those who do not have faith in Christ cannot keep the Sabbath. Only by faith do we enter into God's rest. Without perfect faith there can be no Sabbath keeping, because only by faith do we receive the perfect work of God in Christ.

How plain the Sabbath of the Lord makes the fact that there can he no such thing as a man making himself righteous by his own works. For instance, a man who does not know this fact, is striving to make himself righteous. Righteousness is right doing, and the righteousness that is required is the righteousness of God. Therefore only God's doing, God's work, can be counted righteous. So the man is trying to do God's work. We say to him, "My dear friend, you are working for nothing. How foolish in you to be trying to do a work that is already finished. The works were finished from the foundation of the world; and the proof of it is found in the fact that God rested the seventh day from all His works. Moreover, the work is that which only God could do, and that is why He has finished it. Leave off your own work, accept God's finished work, and thus be at rest." In the Sabbath of the Lord we find the fulness of the fact that "to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Rom. iv. 5.

(Continued on p. 777.)

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The word "Sabbath" means "rest." Indeed it is the Hebrew word for rest. The seventh day is the rest of the Lord. God's presence alone gives rest, and that is why the Lord calls us to come to Him to find rest. Now as the seventh day is God's rest, God's Sabbath, it follows that in it we find the "Real Presence." Not of course in the formal, outward cessation of labour on that day, but in the perfect trust in the righteousness of God, of which the rest from physical work on the seventh day of the week is a sign. God's perfect works are found only in Christ, for in Him were all things created, and in Him all things exist. Therefore we must have the real presence of the Lord, in order to have the perfect work of God. But when we have the real presence of Christ, bringing the perfect work into our lives, then we have God's perfect rest, which comes from perfect works finished. So the true Sabbath of the Lord is His real presence with us. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, . . . then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord." Isa. lviii. 13, 14.

"For the Children. Man the Masterpiece" The Present Truth 14, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

More wonderful than all the glories of the heavens, or any of the perfect and beautiful works of God that can be seen through the telescope and microscope, about which we were talking last week, is man, His last and crowning work.

Think for a little while of some of the wonders of this beautiful world, the things that God made in those first six days of time, and what we have been learning about them lately.

Think of the great sun, which, lighted up by the glory of God, enlightens and gladdens the whole world with its beams; of the air which is carrying the breath of God's own life to all His creatures. How beautiful is the blue sky, with the white, fleecy clouds sailing over it by day, and the silvery moon and bright stare by night.

Think, too, of the fresh, green grass, which makes such a soft, velvety carpet for the earth, and provides food for the creatures that live on it; of the lovely flowers, with their exquisite shapes, brilliant colours and sweet fragrance. Think of the lofty trees, with their thousands of leaves purifying the air, giving pleasant shade, and catching and storing up the sunbeams for the future use of man. Think of the birds, their wonderful plumage, and sweet, glad songs, the grace and freedom with which they rise and soar in "the open firmament of heaven;" of the bees, butterflies, and ants, and the millions of tiny insects which fly among the grass and flowers, and creep upon the ground beneath our feet.

And what marvels are found in the waters, not of "the great deep" only, but of every little rippling stream that "runs among the hills." Then there are the animals, the majestic lion, lordly elephant, and patient and useful camel, and many more, each teaching us something of their Creator.

And now that you have thought upon all these things, remember that God's noblest, highest work, His crowning work, is man, whom only He made in the Divine image. You will then understand something of our value in the eyes of God, who meant us to be more glorious than the sun, more beautiful than the flowers, more free than the birds, more wise and skilful than any living creature.

God's work was not complete, there was something wanting in it all, He was not satisfied with it, until He had "made man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." Then "He saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good" and "He rested and was refreshed."

So the work in which God takes the greatest satisfaction is man. You will remember that when Jesus spoke of the lilies, and how God clothes them with beauty, He said, "Shall He not much more clothe you?" And when He told us to "Behold the birds" which God has made He said, "Ye are of much more value than they."

God's most wonderful work, His masterpiece of skill, wisdom, and love, is the human body; all its organs are "fearfully and wonderfully made" to do the work He has appointed them. Do you not want to learn more of His masterpiece the wonderful body that He has prepared for you?

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If I were to tell you of a very strong man, like Samson, and I wanted to make you understand how strong he was, I could only do it by telling you of the wonderful things he had done. Or if I should tell of one who was very wise, or very kind and loving, I should have to tell you of his wise acts, or kind and loving ways and deeds, to make you understand something about him. We learn what people are by what they do.

And this is how we learn of God,-by the things He has made, by the work that He does. We can know what He is only by seeing what He does. And as His greatest work in this earth is man, we can learn more of Him by studying ourselves, our own wonderful bodies, than by studying any of the things that are round about us, no matter how great and glorious they may be.

So find out all you can about the wonderful temple of your body, and we will try to help you by telling you more about it from time to time.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

-In very clear water sunlight penetrates to a depth of over 1,500 feet.

-Fifty thousand Bank of England notes are on the average made daily.

-The Roman Catholic Cathedral at Wellington, New Zealand, has been destroyed by fire

-A healthy baby increases to treble its weight at birth in the course of its first three months.

-An original ?100 share in the New River Company fetched recently the enormous sum of ?120,000.

-The tiger's strength exceeds that of the lion. Five men can easily hold down a lion, but nine are required to hold a tiger.

-When a chameleon is blindfolded it loses all power of changing its colour, and its entire body remains of a uniform tint.

-The smallest salary paid to the head of a civilised Government is ?3 a year to the President of the Republic of Andorra, in the Pyrenees.

-Trouble is once more brewing among the tribesmen on the North-west frontier of India. An insurgent leader, known as the Mad Mullah, has gained some victories, and is threatening the Chitral road.

-Canada has agreed to abandon the Behring Sea Fisheries, the United States purchasing Canadian vessels and paying a compensation to be agreed upon. Severe gales have been experienced in the Atlantic, fifty-six vessels having been wrecked off Long Island. The harbours are strewn with wreckage.

-Lord Kitchener is appealing to the British public for ?100,000 to furnish an educational institution at Khartoum for the training of young Soudanese.

-Prince George of Greece has been formally appointed High Commissioner of Crete for a term of three years, in spite of the persistent opposition of the Sultan.

-A number of seals have appeared in the Straits of Dover, off the French coast, and steps have been taken to destroy them owing to their depredations on the fishing grounds.

-At a recent lecture given at the Dental Hospital it was stated that less than 16 per cent. of schoolboys and girls of an average age of twelve do not require some treatment of decayed teeth.

-Spain is no sooner out of her trouble with America than she is threatened with the horrors of civil war. The Carlists are reported to be preparing for an uprising and endeavouring to disaffect some of the regiments.

-The reason given why birds do not fall off their perches is because they cannot open the foot when the leg is bent. Thus a hen while walking will close its toes as it raises the foot and open them as it touches the ground.

-It is perfectly amazing to notice carefully how much an ordinary shrub will grow in a single summer. A silver-fur 2?ft. high was lately carefully measured. It had put forth 585 new shoots, varying from ?in. to 6in. each.

-The seed vessels of wild peas and beans, when dry, open and curl up with a sudden snap which expels the seeds sometimes to a distance of twelve to twenty feet. Indications of this habit are seen in the cultivated varieties, the seed-pods of which often curl with a snap when opened.

-The small town of Werda, in the kingdom of Dahomey, is celebrated for its temple serpents-a long building in which the priests keep upwards of 1,000 serpents of all sizes, which they feed with birds and frogs brought to them as offerings by the natives.

-Spain has agreed to the cession of the Philippine islands to the United States on a payment of twenty million dollars. The Spanish delegate stated that they were constrained to yield by force, and pointed out that the indemnity of twenty million dollars could not be refused because it is embodied in the proposal of the Americans, and could not be detached from it.

-The Metropolitan and District Railway Companies have decided to undertake an experiment in the electric traction on their line between Earl's Court and High-street, Kensington, at a cost of ?20,000. Preparations will be complete, it is expected, by next summer. If the experiment succeeds it will be followed by the conversion of the whole inner circle into an electric railway.

-The German Minister of War will shortly introduce a measure for increasing the peace footing of the German army by some 30,000 men. The Minister will argue that as the peace footing of neighbouring countries has been increased, it is necessary that Germany should keep pace with them. The Tageblatt, commenting on this, says that any realisation of Russian disarmament proposals, as far as can be seen, is not even thought of.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

We have had an opportunity of examining the International Teacher's Bible, particulars of which appeared on our advertisement page last week. The type is a good size and plain, the binding seems good, and the helps consist of such matter as is likely to be most useful to a teacher. The illustrations and maps are numerous and interesting. At 4/11, it is certainly a very cheap Bible.

The Church Gazette gives an account of an interview with a young man who was desirous of entering the ministry of the Church of England, and called at their office to get some advice. He was asked,-

"Have you plenty of influential connections?" "None."

"Have you money to spare?"

"Very little."

"You expect to succeed by merit alone?"

"Just so. Can I reckon on doing so?"

"I can't give you any assurance, then, because merit goes for very little in our Church."

Why do not men read God's Word to them, and learn that influential connections and money are utterly worthless in His sight beside a humble mid contrite spirit? This is the indispensable qualification for His service. Whoever desires to serve the Lord in spirit and in truth, not for worldly honour and filthy lucre, need find no hindrance in human barriers and limitations.

On December 1st a crowded meeting was held at the City Temple, which was described by one of the speakers as the most significant gathering of the nineteenth century. Eleven presidents of as many Free Church denominations addressed the immense audience, "and not one struck a discordant note." The object of the gathering was to set forth the aims of the National Council of Nonconformists.

Dr. Clifford, who presided, said that

They represented 1,841,767 members of the Free Churches. They were training 3,170,193 young people in their Sunday-schools. They owned fifty million pounds' worth of property. They were more than half the "communicants" living in England and Wales. They were the legatees of the Reformation, and were constrained to do battle with the Popery of Roman Catholicism on the one hand, and with the infinitely more subtle and dangerous Popery of the Anglican Church on the other.

There is a much more subtle and dangerous popery than either of these. When men attack the Papacy in its own spirit and with its own weapons, they are really one with it, even though they call themselves Protestants.

To regard the Papacy merely as a politico-ecclesiastical organisation is a dangerous error. It is the very masterpiece of Satanic cunning and ingenuity for the destruction of souls. Its essence is self-exaltation. To this Satan owes his own fall from heaven, and that which cast down the son of the morning from his first estate will join with him in sin and perdition every soul that entertains it. The Papacy is but the ripened manifestation of the spirit of self-confidence. When the head of this system "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," he is simply illustrating the logical and necessary outcome of self-exaltation.

God's people are not to seek to cast down the Papacy by claiming for themselves the worldly privileges and honours enjoyed by it. It is set on high as a terrible example to all Christians of what is involved in departing from the simplicity of God's way, and seeking power from earthly rulers. In the natural impulses of the human heart the germ of the Papacy is always present. Every man needs to be delivered from it by Divine power. The conflict is not with flesh and blood, but with the rulers of the darkness of this world.

Dr. Clifford continued:-

They did not, however, join in the cry of "No Popery." The people should have all the Popery they wanted, but on two conditions. Firstly, that they paid for it themselves and did not directly or indirectly take any of the money, buildings, or patronage of the State. Secondly, that Popery as Popery should be completely excluded from the sphere of civic and political life.

It would seem from this that the objection is not so much to Popery in itself, as to the appropriation of money by the State on its behalf. The Council intends to take the State under its care in this respect. When it does this, and "Popery" is completely excluded from the "sphere of political life," it is evident that "Protestantism" will have the "sphere of political life" all to itself. But this will be nothing more nor less than the Papacy, which way made by the union of the church with the civil power. So that in reality the National Nonconformist Council is proposing to establish the Papacy in England; but so "infinitely subtle and dangerous" is the work with which they are meddling that they themselves are ignorant of its true character, and think that they are doing God service.

The National Council was a divine creation. He had no misgiving as to its mission. They saw clearly what they had to do, and their minds were made up that they would do it.

Dr. Clifford said that, "in his judgment Parliament was not sufficiently religious in the truest and deepest sense of the word." "They sought to make the State more religious." This, of course, will have to be accomplished by putting religious men into the State. When this has been done to the full, the Council expects that evil will be abolished. The Rev. Hugh Price Hughes said

The Council of the Free Churches had been drilling for five years, and the devil and his servants would go before they were five years older.

It is possible that they will not be known longer by their present names, but they will not be the less firmly established. Satan is not afraid of any political movement. He can do with all such whatever pleases. The one thing that has defeated him on every point, and spoiled him openly, is the life of Christ. He is said so long as men do not rely entirely under the power of that life dwelling in them. As soon as he can tempt them from the unfailing source of strength by delusive promises of a more successful expedient, he has the game in his own hands.

In view of all this, it is only natural that the first effort of the Council should be contrary to the Word of God. Rev. E. Price Hughes exhorted them to unite and "force" through Parliament a bill that would give England Sunday-closing. Note that the effort is not to be against intemperance, as such. That may go on every day of the week but Sunday. It is Sunday that is to be protected. And when our readers have looked through the Bible to see what it has to say about the first day of the week, they will know that God has given no commandment concerning it. The seventh day is still the Sabbath of the Lord. As a religious institution we owe the Sunday to the Papacy. Hence it is only fitting that when the National Nonconformist Council proposes to walk in the steps of the Papacy, it should give first place to its chiefest institution.

December 15, 1898

"The Son of the Highest" The Present Truth 14, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she should have a Son, whose name should be Jesus, Saviour, he said of Him:-

"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." Luke i. 32, 33.

There are many who adore Jesus as the great and mighty Son of the Highest, who do not experience the joy and blessedness that they should from the knowledge of His greatness, because they adore Him as one far off, separated from them by infinite space, and not as One near at hand, a personal companion. But while He is the Son of the Highest, He is the Son of man, and it is as such that He always referred to Himself.

Christ is not to be worshipped as the heathen worship their gods. The heathen set their gods upon a pedestal, and think of them as enjoying themselves together apart from men, and having no interest in common with them. It is true that they attribute all human passions to their gods, but all these emotions are for their own kind, and not for men. No heathen ever thinks of his god as a being who loves him or has any manner of sympathy with him; the god is to him a being whose anger is to be appeased, or at the best, whose indifference is to be overcome, and his favour bought.

But Christ appears among men first of all as man. His appearance in the world was as a babe in Bethlehem, "born of a woman, born under the law." Gal iv. 4, R.V. He "was born of the seed of David according to the flesh." Rom. i. 3. It is "the throne of His father David" that is to be given Him. His greatness is in His humility. "Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave Him the name which is above every name." Phil. ii. 8, 9.

It was not for His own sake that Christ, the Word, who was in the beginning with God, and who was God, came to this earth. It was not to win anything for Himself, for as God all creation was His. But man had lost his dominion of glory and honour which he had in the beginning as the son of the Highest. So in order to win back for man that which he had lost, He became Man, and it is now as Man, as the seed of David according to the flesh, that He is made great, and called the Son of the Highest. So in order to win back for man that which he had lost, He became Man, and it is now as Man, as the seed of David according to the flesh, that He is made great, and called the Son of the Highest.

Remember this, it is as a Man, the Son of man, as "the Man Christ Jesus," that He occupies His high position; not as a unique specimen, but as the representative Man, our Forerunner. "He died for all," and what He won is for all. He is "the

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firstborn among many brethren," all of whom through the grace of God have equal rights with Himself. "The Spirit itself heareth 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.

Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. He is the One Mall who is entitled to be called the Son of the Highest. But coming in the flesh as the seed of David, the Son of man, He has in His flesh abolished the enmity that separated man from God the Father, "that He might create in Himself of the twain one new man, so making peace." Eph. ii. 15. "For through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father." There is only one Man, "the Man Christ Jesus;" but in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, we who have fallen, and have lost the Divine image, may attain "unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Eph. iv. 13. Then in Him we also shall be great, and shall be called sons of the Highest, and shall reign with Him for ever and ever.

God, who raised Christ 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," hath, because of His great love wherewith He loved 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. i. 20, 21; ii. 4-6. "He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree." In His hand is power and might, and in His hand it is to make great, and to give strength to all. 1 Chron. xxix. 12. "Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation; and Thy right hand hath holden me up, and Thy condescension hath made me great." Ps. xviii. 35, R.V.

"With His stripes we are healed." Because He humbled Himself we are made great; for if we accept Him as the sharer of our humiliation. He will acknowledge us as sharers of His greatness. Then let us gladly accept Him and worship Him as the Fountain of Life.

"Not now afar, but near."

Sin never suffers much from the rebuke of sinners.

"Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Glad Tidings. Heb. i. 1-9" The Present Truth 14, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

DECEMBER 25

Jesus Christ is the Word of God. By Him all things were made. In the beginning the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All that Jesus Christ is, the Word is, for He was the Word made flesh. That Word had been spoken in divers manners in time past unto the fathers by the prophets; now the time was come for it to be spoken in the fulness of its power and meaning. The Word has not changed. It liveth and abideth for ever. Whatever was comprised in the Word made flesh is imparted to us to-day if we incline our ears to it. "This is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you."

A LIVING WORD

God spake. His words are alive and powerful. Heb. iv. 12. To show that this is so, He spoke by a life. The life of Jesus was a message from God to men. It set before them in visible action the words that God had been speaking for thousands of years. He had been preaching peace and forgiveness to men by His prophets, but the words had fallen largely upon unheeding ears. Men did not grasp His meaning. He declared unto them that their warfare was accomplished, their iniquity was pardoned, and invited them to enter into rest, and cease from their own works, but if they listened for a while they did not believe. They were too engrossed in the struggle, to acquaint themselves with God and be at peace. So God spoke to them by His Son, saying, "They will surely reverence My Son."

PREACHING PEACE

"The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ." Acts x. 36. Christ Himself was the message of peace. He was the Word that God sent. In His life God was preaching to men. And the word was published throughout Galilee and Judea. How was it spoken. He "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil." That is God's idea of preaching. That was how He preached peace by Jesus Christ. And Peter said, "He commanded us to preach unto the people." Verse 42. The preaching was to be carried on in the same way. It was not to be preaching about salvation. God's Word does not do that. It is salvation. "To you is the word of this salvation sent." Acts xiii. 26. "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord." Heb. ii. 3. God speaks salvation. "Hear, and your soul shall live."

THE WORD OF GOD

"God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son." Jesus is still God's message to us. Whatever the life of Jesus comprehends of power and blessing is God's thought to usward, preaching peace. "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil." Jer xxix. 11. Jesus is heir of all things; by Him the worlds were made; He is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His person; and the universe is sustained by His power, but none of these things were counted too dear to be sacrificed, if only peace could be restored to the rebellious race. Never until the redeemed behold the glory that Christ had with the Father before the world was can they appreciate the love that left it all for their sakes. Yet, so far as we can appreciate the sacrifice, we may learn from it the reality of the word of peace which is preached to us by the life of Jesus.

THE POWER OF THE WORD

Jesus is heir of all things. Though He was rich yet for our sakes He became poor that we through His poverty might be made rich. Every token of love bestowed upon Him by the Father is shared with us who were esteemed, while dead in sins, above them all. We are made joint-heirs with Christ.

The worlds were made by Him. Therefore His message comes to us charged with the inconceivable force of creation. The power that it took to construct the universe out of nothing is the measure of the power by which Christ destroys the enmity, and puts His righteousness in our hearts, making us now creatures.

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So, also, the message of peace brings to us the brightness of the glory of God, as it did to Moses and Stephen, that we should, in turn, show forth the excellencies of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light, finally making our bodies like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself.

The peace is not to be a short-lived one. It brings in itself the assurance of its own permanence. For He, who is our peace, upholds all things by the word of His power; therefore He is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

A LIVING WORD

Now that Christ has shown to men the nature of God's word, there is no reason why any should be weak and discouraged. Man's word may be an empty fancy. God's word is always a living thing. A man may make a true statement and we way believe it without being ally better off, but this is never so when God speaks. His words are alive, they are facts, not mere ideas, and whoever believes the word takes hold of the fact, and becomes one with it. Jesus is the Word of God. He is every word of God, and every word believed reveals to us more and more of the unsearchable riches of Christ. He is the possession of the human race. God so loved the world that He gave Him to us. Though His own received Him not, the gift was not withdrawn. He was despised and rejected of men, yet He says, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." He cannot deny Himself, and so He is still ours. "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given."

FOR ALL MANKIND

"Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people." All that God's message in Christ ever meant for any soul, it means now for every one. It is tidings of great joy and it is to all people. No one may put it from him on the plea that it cannot be for him because he is not reconciled to God. The message brings peace to such. It is for the weak and despairing, because it brings in itself strength and rejoicing. It is for the poor and the needy because it has promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. "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?" Only he who receives the Word as life can help others, for only so can it he in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

"Dwelling in the House of the Lord" The Present Truth 14, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

That mortal men on this earth may in this present age not only enter the dwelling-place of the Lord, but may actually reside in the Lord's house, is a fact made very plain in the Scriptures. Let us read a few familiar texts.

First, we have a blessing on those who dwell in the house of the Lord: "Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will be still praising Thee." Ps. lxxxiv. 4. They must praise the Lord, for He inhabits the praises of His people (Ps. xxii. 3), and "in His temple everything saith Glory." Isa. xxix. 9.

Without wasting any time arguing with those who would deprive themselves of the blessings of the Lord by claiming that they are not real, we read: "How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures." Ps. xxxvi. 7, 8.

We are dealing with facts, not theories; therefore we have only to do with the fact that we may and should dwell now in the house of the Lord, and not with any explanation as to how it can be. With the text last quoted, about resting under the shadow of God's wings, and being satisfied with the fatness of His house, connect the following:-

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide; under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt Thou trust; His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and seethe reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge, even the Most High thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Ps. xci. 1-10.

Here we see that the safety of God's people during the awful time of trouble just preceding the coming of the Lord (See Dan. xii. 1; Luke xxi. 26-28), will be due to the fact that they have been and are then dwelling in the house of the Lord. The plagues that will be poured out upon the earth cannot touch them, because they will be dwelling safe in the place whence the plagues come. It is as one who is safe from the shot that comes from a fort, because he is in the fort whence the fire comes. And yet these people are at the same time on the earth, in the midst of the plagues, with the wicked falling all around them.

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See also in this connection Ps. xxvii. 4-6: "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me; therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord."

Now we may profitably consider how we may dwell in the house of the Lord, that is, what is necessary on our part. Assuming that every reader desires this privilege, many fail because they do not knew where the Lord lives. With Job they say, "O that I knew where I might find Him!" Read then these few texts, and let them be for ever fastened in your memory:-

"Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." Isa. lvii. 15.

"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.

"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.

"Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: where is the house that ye build unto Me; and where is the place of My rest." Isa. lxvi. 1.

God's house, then, is the whole universe. That is a fact, and yet there are myriads of people who do not dwell in God's house; they are in it as defilers of it, not recognising the sacredness of the place where they are. God dwells everywhere, and since His presence sanctifies, every place is holy. Now holiness becomes His house, and if everybody would but remember this, and recognise all space as God's dwelling place, all men would be holy. The temple sanctifies the gold, and the altar sanctifies the gift. Continually to recognise the presence of the Lord, is to make one a constant dweller in His house.

He who thus dwells in the house of the Lord, will behold the beauty of the Lord. He will discern the Lord's body, for he will be dwelling in God, and so he will live indeed. And God will dwell in him, for he will not partake of anything but the perfect life of the Lord. Thus beholding the beauty and glory of the Lord, he will be changed into the same image, and overcoming the world, he will be made a pillar in the temple of God, to go no more out. Rev. iii. 12. So shall he dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD

Rev. xiv. 6, 7: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

Eccl. iii. 11: "He hath made everything beautiful in its time."

Ps. xciv. 9, 10: "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see? He that chastiseth the nations, shall not He correct, even He that teacheth man knowledge."

Ps. xcvi. 5, 6: "All the gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord made the heavens. Honour and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary."

Ps. xxvii. 4: "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple."

Ps. xix. 1: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork."

Ps. xlv. 2: "Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into Thy lips."

Isa. Iii. 11; liii. 2: "His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him."

Hosea xiv. 5, 6: "I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree."

Ps. xc. 16, 17: "Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us."

Matt. vi. 28-30: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

Ps. cxlix. 4: "For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people; He will beautify the meek with salvation."

Isa. lii. 1: "Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean."

Ps. xcvi. 9: "O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness."

Isa. xxxiii. 17: "Thine eyes shall behold the King in His beauty."

Rev. xxii. 3, 4: "And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face."

Ps. xvii. 15: "As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness."

The invisible things of God, even His everlasting power and Divinity, are seen in the things that He has made. "The heavens declare the glory of God." So in the things that God has made, we see His own presence revealed. God puts Himself into all His works.

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The Word which was in the beginning with God, and which was God, and in which was life, is the Word that made all things. "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist," that is, hold together. So it is from the life of the Lord that everything comes, and in that life that everything is upheld. "We are His offspring," and the mountains, as well as the whole earth, were "brought forth" from His very being. Thus it is that everything that God has made bears His impress. Be has set His glory upon the heavens.

Every faculty that any man has is but the working of God in him. If we do not put anything in the way,-if we do not refuse to be used by the Lord,-God will so work that every one of our faculties shall be perfect. Read Ps. xciv. 9, 10. From this we learn that whatever faculties man has, God has them infinitely more perfect. Whatever man can do, God can do better. We see because God gives us sight-a portion of His own power of seeing. We hear because God uses our ears as instruments of His power to hear. So to the questions, "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?" we may add, "He that made all things beautiful, must He not be beautiful?" Just as the invisible things of God are seen in that which He has made, and everything bears the stamp of His own life, in spite of the curse, so all the beauty that is seen in the universe is but the shining through of the beauty of the Lord.

Men's judgment concerning beauty has been very much perverted. They call many things beautiful, which are really ugly; and many things in which men see no beauty at all, are the very soul of beauty. "The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." That is why when Christ, who is "fairer than the sons of men," came to this earth, He had no beauty that men should desire Him when they looked upon Him. They looked at what He appeared to be, and not at what He really was.

Have you never had the experience of meeting with a person who at first seemed ugly, but who, after intimate acquaintance, was really beautiful? The first sight was not prepossessing, but when you saw what who, after intimate acquaintance, was really beautiful? The first sight was not prepossessing, but when you saw what the person really was, the ugliness of feature was entirely forgotten. This shows that beauty of character is the only real beauty. The saints of God may be very plain outwardly, but when the hidden things are brought to light, then shall they shine forth in the beauty of holiness.

The beauty of Israel is as the beauty of the olive tree. An olive tree is one of the most gnarled, twisted, and ungainly of trees. It grows on hard, stony soil, and more often than not will have the appearance of an old willow tree that has been torn by storms until it is almost dead. Its beauty is the abundant crop of fruit that it bears, in the evidence that it shows of the richness of life in it. So the life of God in the soul is the real beauty of men, and that alone will constitute their beauty in the ages to come.

Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of the lilies of the field. "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, . . . shall He not much more clothe you?" "If God so clothe the grass." How does He clothe the lily? With His life that is in it, making it grow. The beautiful clothing of the lily is but the outward manifestation of the life within. The beauty is not put on from without, but comes from within. It is an essential part of the lily itself. Take the beauty away, and the lily is no more. Its beauty is God's life in it shining forth. Even so God will clothe all His children.

Strength and beauty are in the sanctuary of the Lord, because He is the perfection of beauty. So the one thing that the Psalmist desired was to dwell in the house of the Lord, to behold the beauty of the Lord. He said, "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness." Not, as some misread it, When I awake in Thy likeness. No; the Psalmist had such a true sense of the beauty of the Lord, that he knew that the sight of the Lord's face would alone be perfect satisfaction. To be permitted to look at that face throughout eternity, will be the highest blessing that can be bestowed on men. Eternity will not be long enough to cause one to become tired of gazing on the face of the Lord. Each moment will reveal some new and glorious feature.

How may we form some idea of the beauty of the Lord?-By looking at the things that He has made, and looking by faith, so that we can see Him in them. Learn first that there is no real beauty in the universe except the beauty of the Lord. Then think of all the beauty of the grass, trees, and dowers. Add together the beauty of the forests and the meadows, the colours of the rainbow, and the glorious tints caused by the setting sun. In thinking of these, one almost forgets the beautiful plumage of the birds, but that must be added in, too. Who can conceive the marvellous beauty of all these combined? But as these are only "parts of His ways," so all the beauty that is revealed in this earth, is but a single feature, as it were, of the beauty of the Lord. All the beauty of the stars, not simply as their many colours are revealed through the telescope, but as a close acquaintance would reveal it, and the beauty of the infinite number of worlds that cluster round these beautiful suns, is but the manifestation of the beauty of the Great King. Ah, how much more meaning we can now see in that statement concerning the redeemed, "They shall see His face." Not only when they stand in the place where the seraphim veil their eyes from the splendour of the glory, will the ransomed ones see His face, but wherever they wander in the great universe, the face of their Redeemer will shine out to them in all the wondrous beauty that everywhere appears. Who will not be satisfied?

What is the practical benefit of this lesson to us? Is it merely a matter of curiosity? Far from it. "We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. iii. 18. It is the beholding of the beauty of the Lord as it is revealed to us in the things that He has made, that prepares us for the sight of His face when He comes. "He will beautify the meek with salvation." The more we see and know of the marvellous beauty of the Lord, the more do we know of the power of His salvation. As we see the beauty that God has put into and upon the lower creation, we may form some idea of the beauty with which man, who was made to be creation's lord, will be clothed when he is restored to his own dominion. And as we think of that, it is that we may

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know the perfection of the beauty of holiness which God has for us even now. Let us then pray with new and more enlightened faith, "Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it."

"The Children. Our Hands" The Present Truth 14, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

Think what a wonderful little instrument your hand is, how many things you can do with it, and how helpless you would be without it. To every one of His creatures God has given just the organs that it needs to express itself with, to put its thoughts into action. But we do not find any of the animals with a hand, like the perfect hand of man, because God has not given them the wisdom to use it.

The elephant, one of the most intelligent of creatures, has a long trunk which it uses skilfully, as you may have seen, in something the way that we use our hands. It can pick up things with its trunk, and by bending it into different shapes can do many different things with it. God has put the different members in the bodies of fill the animals according to the power and wisdom that they have to use them.

But when we come to man, the highest and most intelligent of all living creatures, we find that God has given him this perfect little instrument, able to meet all the needs of his mind which directs them, in any kind of motion or work.

This gives man great superiority over all other animals; he has been called "the animal with the thumb." You will perhaps at first think it strange that so much notice should be taken of this little member; but see how few things you could do well without your thumb, and how many you could not do at all. Try it for a little while, and you will learn something of the wisdom of Him who "hath set the members in the body, every one as it hath pleased Him."

In the hand and arm there are thirty bones and fifty muscles all connected by nerves with the brain, which sends messages along them to tell the hand just what to do. If these nerves are injured the hand is quite useless, for it can do nothing of itself; it is only the servant of the mind which moves and works through it. The number and wonderful arrangement of these bones and muscles make it possible for the hand to be put into any position, and to do whatever work the mind wants it to.

Besides the many different kinds of work that you can do with your hands, think how dependent you are upon them for feeling. The hand is the principal organ of touch or feeling. Some of the nerves that we spoke of send messages from the brain to the hand, telling it what to do, and others send back message from the hand to the brain about the things that it touches. So the brain feels things with the hand, and a great deal of knowledge can get into your mind through your fingers.

When the nerves connecting the brain with the eyes are destroyed or injured, as in blind people, the brain makes the hands do the work of the eyes. You know that if you go into a very dark room where you can see nothing, by feeling with your hands you can find what you want, and move about without getting hurt or doing any damage. And then, too, you may have seen blind people using their fingers to read with, by feeling the raised letters in the books specially prepared for them, so making their fingers do the work of their eyes.

When one is deaf and dumb, he makes his hands do the work of his tongue, and by making different signs with them he can make people understand what he wants to say.

When we are separated from each other we can still talk together by using our bands to write with. You will think of many other ways in which we use our hands, and see how much you have to thank God for, for putting these most useful members in your body.

But although we may all have hands just alike, just as perfect and beautiful in shape and structure, how much more skilfully some are able to use their hands than others. This will show you that the hand needs training to make it the perfect servant of the mind, able to do exactly what the mind wants done.

You have, I am sure, already found this out in your writing, drawing, and other hand-work. What your hand puts onto the paper is often very different from the beautiful copy that you have in your mind, is it not? But the more the hand is used in useful work, the more skilful and able will it become.

Remember what we have learned about our bodies being the temple of God, and all our members for His use and glory, not ours. Then let your hands be trained for His use, for the more skilful they are, the better He can use them in His service. Let Him have your hands, that He has made for His own use. Ask Him to take them and use them to do kind, helpful, loving deeds, and to keep them so that Satan cannot use them to do naughty, unkind actions with.

"Take my hands and lot them move
At the impulse of Thy love."

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

-Nearly a million persons make their living in America by the electrical industries.

-An Atlantic liner, the Londonia, with a cargo of cattle, has foundered in mid-ocean. Part of the crew were taken off by a passing vessel.

-The phonendoscope, a new invention, conveys to the physician the sounds made by an internal organ, and enables him to decide whether it is healthy or not.

-The vicar of Lancaster says he has discovered, as chaplain of the Lancaster Prison, that nearly 99 out of every 100 who find their way to the jail do so through drink.

-A Peterborough physician says that, during his forty years' practice, one in every eighteen of the death certificates he or his partner had signed were attributable to drink, and many of these related to females.

-A Glasgow minister states that during the last twenty-five years he has married no couple unless they undertook to have no alcoholic liquor at the marriage feast. Out of some 1,000 couples only five or six refused to agree to this condition.

-James Tyson, the richest and, according to an old employee, the meanest, man in Australia, is dead. He has left millions but no loved ones to "enjoy" them. He had but one known relative, a brother, whom he never favoured while alive.

-The Sirdar's scheme for an educational institution at Khartoum is meeting with a prompt response, and the money needed, ?100,000, has been nearly subscribed. The French Government is proposing also to establish some French schools in the Soudan, on the ground that if it is Egyptian territory, they have as much right to do so as England. Some irritation has been displayed in this country over their intention, which is regarded as a continuation of the "pin prick" policy. From which it would appear that the interests of the Soudanese are not the only consideration.

-A hair alleged to be from the beard of the prophet Mohammed has been presented to the Constantinople poorhouse by a lady of that city. A great procession of State officials and military accompanied the relic when the transfer was made.

-The French Minister has presented an ultimatum to the Chinese Government threatening that, unless a French missionary who is now a prisoner in the hands of the rebels is released within ten days, French troops will be ordered to cross the frontier.

-The United States Secretary of War recommends, in view of the need for a military force in the islands now occupied by the United States, that the regular army be increase to 100,000 men, and that a portion of this force be recruited from the inhabitants of the islands.

-In a Brooklyn church a large room has been fitted with up hammocks, cribs, and toys. A volunteer committee of young women assembles every Sunday morning, and the mothers who would otherwise be kept at home, leave their babies in their care while they themselves attend the regular church service.

-Matters in Hungary are hastening to a serious crisis. The ten years' treaty with Austria will expire at the end of this month, and no provision has been made for the future government of the country. There is great political excitement over the situation, and numerous resignations of prominent officials.

-Two gigantic new trusts are announced from the States. One is a combination of flour interests, with a capital of thirty million sterling. The other is practically an amalgamation of all the railroads between the East and the Mississippi River, to control freight and passenger rates. It is the most colossal thing of the kind on record.

-Between the time that the muzzling regulations came into force in February, 1896, and November, 1898, the London police seized 97, 262 dogs, of which 28,073 were claimed, and 69,189 destroyed. Whilst there were 662 cases of rabies in England in 1895, only sixteen cases had been reported during the present year. There had not been a single case of hydrophobia during the past twelve months.

-Lord Roberts, speaking at Portsmouth, said that "we were living in stirring times, and it was impossible to say where or how soon the services of our soldiers and sailors might be required. It would no doubt be eminently satisfactory if they could make certain that they would never be required at all, and that the Czar of Russia's beautiful idea of general disarmament could be realised. But he confessed that he did not see how such an admirable end could be obtained until all nations of the world could agree to rest content with what they had got, and never strive for anything more; to forswear the acquisition of territories under any pretext or purpose whatever, either for the interests of commerce or for their own aggrandisement."

-Although all the European Governments are accepting the Czar's invitation to the Peace Congress, he must be getting discouraged over the prospect of success, for the Russian Government intend spending 180 million roubles on the reorganisation of the field artillery. A Russian paper has just published an article which rejects all idea of any continued peace between Russia and England, who are inveterate enemies. It speaks of "the supreme combat which she must inevitably have, sooner or later, with Great Britain." The battle of Armageddon will not come by an unreasonable decree. It will be the natural outcome of the envy of the nations. All that now hinders it is God's Spirit, striving to turn men from their own ways. When that Spirit is rejected, the crash will not be long delayed.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

We hear a great deal about "the plan of salvation," from men who know nothing about salvation itself.

If people knew more about real salvation, we should hear very little talk about "the plan," for salvation is not a plan, but a power.

People will sermonise and theorise and discuss by the hour about the wonderful plan of redemption. Some feel free to criticise it,-and if it were only a plan, why should they not?-and others are wholly charmed with its beauty; yes, they fully approve of the plan; it has their cordial approbation; they think that the Lord devised a thoroughly good scheme, and feel as though He ought to be very much pleased with them for their endorsement of His plan, and so they are contented with themselves, and with the plan.

"Well, didn't the Lord devise it? and isn't salvation according to a plan?" What's that to you? Who would enter into a discussion on rope-making when he has fallen overboard, and the rope is flung to him? Suppose salvation is according to a plan; who are you that you should presume to be competent to express any opinion about it? A plan is good for nothing unless it will work. Salvation means the saving of somebody-the saving of you. You cannot know anything about the value of "the plan of salvation," except by being saved. That is the test. If you are not saved, you can't know anything about it; and when you are saved, you will be too full of the fact, to be theorising about the plan.

No; God didn't devise the plan of salvation; it was and it is. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus Christ is the power of God, and He is salvation, and He was not devised and planned. He is. His name is "I AM."

"Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved." That's it; in His name we must be saved. There is no other way; there could be no other way. He alone is the way; and He is the perfect way. He is the living way-ever living. He that cometh to God must believe that He is, not that He was devised. The remedy existed before the disease. Sin is finite; salvation is infinite; sin is temporal; salvation is eternal; because salvation is God. "Behold God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid."

Christ "loved me, and gave Himself for me." That's the whole of the matter. And He didn't stop to plan and calculate about it. The man who sees a poor fellow helplessly sinking beneath the waves, and stops to calculate the chances, loses his chance, and loses the man. The only thing to do is to throw himself in. That Jesus did without hesitation. It was the only thing that could be done, and so there didn't need to be any planning; there was no room for it. He was on the spot when the need arose, and He loved the needy, lost one. What more need be said?

If people wouldn't think and talk so much about God's plan of salvation, they wouldn't do so much planning and speculating about salvation for themselves. But the very talk about "the plan of salvation" seems to convey to people the idea that there were several possible ways under consideration, and that finally one was adopted; and so they feel like pursuing the investigation a little further, to see if God did really hit upon the best way; and it doesn't take much of this sort of speculation to make the ordinary man think that he can suggest a good many improvements. So he talks about schemes of salvation, and goes to perdition.

Salvation is a thing done, and to be accepted. God has done it, and He has done it simply by being. He is and therefore there is salvation. Our part is to be saved. There was and is no other God, no other Christ, and so there is no other way of salvation; there could not and cannot be any other. We are saved by His life, and His life is a thing, not a plan. Don't theorise about it, but accept it and be saved.

The power that closed the mouths of the lions when Daniel was cast into their den was not a new experience in his life. It was the same power that was always present with him, continually working in no less marvellous a fashion than when it demonstrated its ability to control wild beasts. Daniel was like all other men. He had like passions with others, and in him, as in all men, there was that "unruly evil, full of deadly poison," of which Inspiration declares, that while "every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind," yet "the tongue can no man tame." James iii.

It is evident, therefore, that if there was any power in Daniel's life to control his tongue, it was a comparatively easy thing to stop the mouths of lions, and it was because Daniel allowed this power to work in him that he was as safe in the den as out of it. The power that works in the Christian is "able even to subdue all things," and this is demonstrated where the power is not restrained. Thus Paul fought with wild beasts at Ephesus and lived to tell of it.

How do we know that Daniel allowed this invincible power to operate in his life? It was seen in the fact that even his enemies could find no ground in him for accusation. They were obliged to confess, after making the attempt, "We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God." Daniel knew why God had sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths; "forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt."

This was not because Daniel was naturally better, than other men. He needed, like all others, to pray, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." Ps. cxli. 3. That which distinguished him from others was the fact that he prayed this prayer in faith, that is, He believed the Lord would do it and let Him do it. He thus learned that there was nothing too hard for God, and the confidence did not desert him when it became necessary that a lesser work should be wrought in setting a watch over the mouths of the lions and keeping the door of their lips.

The expulsion of Turkey from Crete marks one more step in the direction of driving the Turk out of Europe. Those who wish to know what the Scriptures say of that event, one of the last to occur in earthly history, Should obtain the pamphlet on "The Eastern Question," published at this office. Price one penny.

December 22, 1898

"The Universal Message" The Present Truth 14, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

Here is the simple yet wondrous story, with the incidents attending one proclamation of it:-

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

"And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

That is a story, not of a, day, but of eternity, and it is not for one, day in the year, but for eternity. The effort, that is made to exalt the great events of by devotion a special day to the "celebration" of them, very naturally has resulted in causing people to think very little about them at other times, and so of course to lose the real spirit of them on the particular days when they are remembered. But "the old, old story is ever new," as we shall see if we give constant heed to it.

The message concerns us as much as it did the shepherds. The angel said to them: "I bring you good tidings of great joy," but he immediately added the words, "which shall be to all people." Therefore what he said to the Bethlehem shepherds that night is addressed as directly and as personally to everybody who ever lives on the earth.

What is this joyful message?-"Unto you is born this day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Can it be said to each individual in the world, to-day, and every day while time lasts, "Unto you is born this day a Saviour"? Most certainly. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. He was begotten of Mary by the coming of the Holy Ghost upon her, and the power of the Highest

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overshadowing her. Very well; the same Spirit of power is given to every soul for the same purpose; and the Apostle Paul, who was not only himself filled with the Spirit, but who was a minister of the Spirit to others, wrote to the backsliding Galatians, saying, "I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you." to every true believer is Jesus Christ born as truly as of Mary, for He is "the Son of man."

It is not known when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. That is, the time of year is not known. The most certain thing about it is that His birth did not take place on the twenty-fifth of December, nor in the mouth of December, for at that time of year shepherds do not keep their flocks in the fields by night. Another evidence, of which most people are unaware, is that nobody thought of the twenty-fifth of December as the date of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem until several centuries after the event. The adoption of that date is purely arbitrary, for there is nothing whatever in Scripture to indicate at what time of the year it was. The Lord left the date unrecorded so that no one should have any excuse for celebrating acertain day as the birthday of Christ, instead of letting it be a constantly-recurring event.

God inhabits eternity. Eternity is always present with Him. To Him there is no past nor future, as to us. Not only is He at all times and in all places, but everything is in Him. The things that newly occur to us, and which we connect with certain fixed dates, are the things which were in Him from the beginning. Read these words: "Now unto Him that is able to establish 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." Rom. xvi. 25, 26, R.V. That is, these things which are preached concerning Christ are the things which were from times eternal. The fact that at a certain time they were brought within the range of man's vision, does not, prove that they first then had an existence.

This is what is said directly of the Christ of Bethlehem: "Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, which art little among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall One come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting," or "from the days of eternity." Micah v. 2. So that even in Bethlehem in Judea nearly nineteen hundred years ago was not something which just then came into existence, but was simply the visible manifestation of what had been from eternity. When then should we celebrate the birth of Christ the Lord?-Now, now, eternally NOW, we celebrate it by allowing the reality of it to be visibly manifest in our own lives. That is the only way that it can be done.

"And this shall be a sign unto you: ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." What! that the Saviour of the world? That little helpless babe the One whom God has sent into the world "that the world through Him might be saved?" Yes, so it is. "Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose thee." Isa. xlix. 7. For "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things which are." 1 Cor. i. 27, 28. "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

Nothing on earth has less wisdom than a little babe; and a newborn baby presents the most perfect picture of helplessness that call he found. No other creature is so utterly helpless. Even so it was with the babe in the manger in Bethlehem. Yet it was "Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." That is a sign to us. Of what is it a sign?-It is a sign that the strength of God is made perfect in weakness. It is for the purpose of cutting off all ground for the discouraged wail, "I am so weak and helpless." Are you weak and helpless? Good; then you have the sign of God's salvation. Don't forget the sign.

Once more; let us compare two portions of Scripture, that we may see how the message comes to us exactly as it did to the shepherds. "The angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them." So to us comes the message, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee." Isa. Ix. 1, 2. Christ is the Light of the world, and He is come into the world, even to us. Therefore our light is come. It is come that we may shine. And how may we shine? By showing forth in our lives the excellencies of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. Thus it is that men as humble as the unnamed shepherds of Bethlehem may flash back to heaven the light which the angels brought, and may reveal even to "the principalities and powers in heavenly places" the hidden mysteries of the birth of Christ.

"Rewards of Ambition" The Present Truth 14, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

Competition for the rewards of ambition, thirst for popularity, desire for approval of the world, satisfaction of self-love, will build no foundation for Christian character or eternal life, though they may gain the emoluments of this world.

"The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made" The Present Truth 14, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

"THE FULNESS OF GOD"

Gen. i. 1, 2: "ln the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

Gen. i. 31: "And God saw everything that He had roads, and, behold, it was very good."

Isa. vi. 3: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the fulness of the whole earth is His glory." R.V., margin.

Ps. xxiv. 1, 2: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein, For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods."

Ps. xxxiii. 4, 5: "The word of the Lord is right; and all His works are done in truth. He loveth righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."

Ps. cxix. 64: "The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy; teach me The statutes."

Jer. xxiii. 24: "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?"

John i. 14: "The Word was wade flesh, and dwell, among us (and we behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth."

Matt. xxviii. 18: "Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven slid in earth."

Eph. iv. 10: "He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things."

John i. 16: "And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace."

Col. i. 17-19: Christ "is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the body, the church; who is the Beginning the Firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence. For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the fulness dwell."

Col. ii. 8-10: "Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of man, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ; for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in Him ye are made full."

Matt. v. 6: "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."

Phil. i. 11: "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."

Eph. iv. 7: "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ."

John iii. 34: "God giveth not the Spirit by measure."

Eph. iii. 14-19: "I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."

Eph. i. 22, 23: The church "is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

Hab. ii. 14: "The earth shall be tilled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

God's name is I AM. Nothing exists except by Him. Everything bears His impress, because He has put Himself into everything that He has made. Apart from Him there is nothing.

At the bidding of the Lord, the matter that forms the earth came into existence. But the earth was formless and empty. Then the Spirit of God moved upon it, brooded over it, and it was filled. Its fulness was the goodness and the glory of God.

That brooding of the Spirit impregnated matter with force. Wherever there is matter there is force; but the force is no part of the matter itself, but is the manifestation of "the fulness of God." The force of the winds and the waves, and the power which the rock has to resist pressure, is but the manifestation of the life of the "Father of all, who is ever all, and through all, and in all." Eph. iv. 6.

The fulness of the earth is the goodness and the glory of God. That is, all the force that is exhibited in nature is but the power of God's goodness. All the fulness of God dwells in Christ, and He ascended upon high, "that He might fill all things." Eph. iv. 10. As sin brought emptiness, so the cross of Christ brings fulness. Sin tends to bring the earth into it condition of confusion and emptiness (Isa. xxxiv. 11), but by the cross, which lifted Christ up to the throne of glory, the earth will again be filled as it was in the beginning.

All things consist in Christ. In giving Him to us, God has given us all things. Rom. viii. 32. "Of His fulness have all we received." All the power that there is in the whole creation is ours. Whether we believe it or not, the fact remains that God has given all things to everybody; the Gospel is the revelation of this truth to us. The message now is, "Fear God, and give glory to Him." We give Him glory by worshipping Him as the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And we worship Him as such only when we allow Him to exercise His creative power in us; for if we do not yield ourselves to Him, acknowledging that we are nothing apart from Him, then we deny His supreme power.

It is not enough that the heavens declare the glory of God, and that tile invisible things of God, even His everlasting power and Divinity, are seen in everything on the earth, and in the very earth itself. Man also, whom God has created for His glory, must show forth the excellencies of God. God crowned man in the beginning with glory, and until God's glory is fully revealed before the world in man, the work of the Gospel will not be finished. When those who are willing to follow Christ have so learned His power in the things that He has made that they know nothing else save Christ and Him crucified, then will the church in very truth be "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." Then will the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God, for the world can see the fulness of His glory in mortal men, so that they will be without the shadow of an excuse for not believing in Him. Then will Christ's work of filling all things perfected, and there will be no place in the universe for those who will not allow Him to fill them. Then will the kingdom of God come, and His will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Then will this scripture

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be fulfilled: "And every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying, Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever."

"Studies in the Gospel of John. Christ the Beginning" The Present Truth 14, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made."

This Divine Word appeared in the person of Jesus of Nazareth; for "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," and John bore witness of Him, saying, "He that cometh after Me is preferred before me; for He was before me."

This settles the question of the pre-existence of Christ, for all who have any respect for the Bible as the Word of God. It is true enough that the flesh of Jesus, that is, His fleshly body, was not in the beginning with God, the Creator of all things; for "when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me." Heb. x. 5. But "the flesh profiteth nothing; it is the Spirit that quickeneth; and the life that animated the flesh of Jesus, and which is the real person, was the Word which was in the beginning with God, and which was God. So while cavillers may amuse themselves by playing upon words, we rejoice in the full assurance that this Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express imago of His person.

Jesus Christ Himself is the Beginning. Col. i. 18. He is "the beginning of the creation of God." Rev. iii. 14. He is the power of God, and "the wisdom of God." 1 Cor. i. 24. Therefore it is He who speaks in the eighth chapter of proverbs, saying, "I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment; that I may cause those that love Me to inherit substance, and that I may fill their treasuries. The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." Prov. viii. 20-23.

On this last text it may be remarked that the words "set up" are from one Hebrew word meaning anointed, so that the meaning is the same as in the second psalm, "Yet have I set My name upon My holy hill of Zion." The word is the same in the Hebrew, and it will he noticed in the margin we have "anointed" as the rendering of the Hebrew. Thus we learn that Christ was the anointed king before the earth existed.

Moreover, the word "in" has really no place in the twentieth verse of Proverbs viii., as there is nothing in the Hebrew to indicate it. So we read, "The Lord possessed Me, the Beginning of His way, before His works of old." Still further, it should be stated that the word "possessed" is the very same that occurs in Gen. iv. 1, where we read that on the birth of Cain, Eve said, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." Therefore putting all these things together, we learn that Jesus was brought forth "from the days of eternity" Micah v. 2, margin), before anything was created, and that He Himself is the beginning of all the ways of God. He is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." Col. i. 15. He is the Beginning of everything.

THE FIRSTBORN

"Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." Rom. viii. 29. "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 why we rejoice in the fact that Jesus of Nazareth, who was "born of a woman, born under the law" (Gal. iv. 4), is the Son of God. It shows us that although we are born to low estate, subject by nature to all the infirmities that are the inheritance of man born of woman, we may become sons of God, own brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and sharers of all His fulness.

Christ is the firstborn among many brethren. Thus He is the heir; but we are joint-heirs with Him. It is not as in earthly estates, where the eldest is the sole heir to the titles and estates, and the younger brothers must look out for themselves. Christ is indeed the heir to the titles and to all the estate of God; but there is no exclusiveness in Him. Whatever He has, He shares in equal measure with all His brethren. "Of His fulness have all we received." If we receive Him in His fulness, He gives is not only the privilege, but the power, the right, to be the sons of God. All that He is, we may be, but only in Him as the Beginning, the Author and Finisher of our faith, and therefore of our works. By the will of God, through the Blessed Spirit, we have the same rights that Christ Himself has.

"How can this be?" If you are wise, and would be wiser, you will not ask that question. Be content not to know so much as God, for you never can, no matter how much you try. Who can explain the mystery of life? "As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all." Eccl. xi. 5. Yet nobody refuses to be called the son of his father, not to inherit an estate that may fall to him as eon, because he cannot understand the, mystery of birth. Why should we be any more foolish in dealing with that new birth which makes us veritable sons of God? The "plan of salvation" is entirely beyond the comprehension of the human mind; but the working out, the results, of the plan, we may know by experience, provided we believe.

Jesus Christ is the firstborn among many brethren, "the firstborn of all creation," because "in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth;" and it is for this reason that in Him we have redemption even the forgiveness

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of our sins. Redemption is creation, for "it any man be in Christ, there is a new creation." We become sons of God, therefore, by the same power by which Christ, the Divine Word, created all things in the beginning. Now creation is not a fancy, but a fact. It is not a mere mental process, a conception, but a tangible reality, a thing done. It is done, however, solely by the Word of God. "For He spake, and it was, He commanded, and it stood fast." So the fact that we are as really sons of God as Christ is, rests on the same foundation as does the creation. It is all of Christ, "who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence."

THE WILL OF GOD

"As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John. i. 12, 13. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." James i. 18.

Men commonly speak of the will of God as if it were something to be dreaded, and to be endured when it cannot be avoided. When they enjoy prosperity, or what seems to them to be prosperity, they take it as a matter of course; but when there is adversity they complain for a while, and then piously talk about submitting to the will of God. It is with them as though the will of God were exercised only to thwart us, and to wake our lives a burden. On the contrary, the will of God is exercised to give us life and happiness. "It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."

"This is the will of God, even your sanctification." 1 Thess. iv. 3. He says, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." 1 Peter i. 16. Certainly; that is most fitting; for the son is heir of the father. We are children of God, and if children, then heirs. So of course we must be holy, since holiness is His nature. To be sons of God means nothing else than to be partakers of the Divine nature. So as it is His will that we should be His sons, it is His will that we should be holy. His will is made known to us in His Word. When we hear His Word, we have simply to say from the heart, "Thy will be done," and it will be so, even as it was so when He spoke in creation, saying, Let this and that be. There is eternal power in the thought of God. Everything that we can see in the visible creation is but the product of His thought. So if we accept His thought, His will, we shall be made to the praise of the glory of His grace.

We had nothing to do with bringing ourselves into this world. We were born of flesh and blood, and of the will of man, but not of our own will. Now when we receive the Lord, not as a figure of speech, but as a real Person, really present with us through the eternal Spirit, by whom He offered Himself to God, His will makes us sons of God, deriving our whole life directly from the Lord as really as when we were born of the flesh we derived our lives from our parents.

"Ah, yes," some one says, "but that is spiritual; it is only spiritually that we are the sons of God." That is the language by which Satan makes people deny the truth even while pronouncing the words of truth. It is true that it is only spiritually that we are the sons of God, but that does not mean that we are not really and wholly the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, it so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." Rom. viii. 8-10. Spiritual things are real, and may be handled. Christ was wholly spiritual, even when He walked this earth as a man, and in Him all who believe are made spiritual even while yet on this earth.

In Christ we are "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Eph. ii. 22. Now of the living creatures forming the throne of God in the heavens, it is said, "They went, every one, straight forward; whither the Spirit was to go, they went." Eze. i. 12. God's thought is the law of their lives; it moves them. His Spirit of life is in them so that they have no existence, no thought apart from Him; as He thinks, so they are. Our prayer is to be, "Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." This is a possibility, else the Saviour would not have told us to pray for it. Let it be according to His word.

THE LIGHT OF LIFE

"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John i. 4, 9. Verses 3 and 4 are by some of the best scholars rendered thus: "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made. That which was made in Him was life; and the life was the light of men." It is simply a difference in placing the marks of punctuation, which as is well known are no part of the original text. It is a fact that everything that is made in Him is life. Whoever is in Him must live, for He is life itself.

"And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." The margin of the Revised Version gives "overcame" in the place of "comprehended." Perhaps we can get a better grasp of the idea conveyed by this word "comprehend," by noting Isa. xl. 12, where we are told that God "comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure." When we put a thing in a measure, it is shut in. Even so light may sometimes he shut in by darkness. Go out some foggy night in London; if you are not careful you may run against a lamp-post. Why? Because the thick fog so shuts in the rays that come from the lamp, that they do not reach more than a few inches. They are shut in as by a thick wall or put within a bushel. They cannot penetrate the gloom. The darkness comprehends or overcomes the light. But not so with the light of life. It shines out in the darkness, and the darkness does not prevail against it. That is a true light; it is of worth. It is not only unquenchable, but it cannot be kept within bounds of darkness.

A portion of this unquenchable life is in every man that comes into the world. It would all be in every man, if no man would reject it; for "of His fulness have all we received." But men "hold down the truth in unrighteousness." Rom. i. 18, R.V. Christ is the truth and the life. They work against the life, because they love death. Prov. viii. 36. What wondrous grace has been manifested by the Lord, in that He has so marvellously provided for the salvation of all men. Upon every soul of mankind has He bestowed this wondrous love, that all might he called the sons of God. Men may reject the love, but that does not at all nullify the fact that it has been bestowed.

This light of life is in every man that comes into the world. It "lighteth every man coming into the world." R.V. As he comes into the world, he receives the light. It is ours from our earliest infancy. With our first breath we have the life of Christ. What for?-"The Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." Deut. xxx. 14. And this Word was in the beginning

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with God, and the Word was God. So although "the wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies" (Ps. lviii. 3), there is no excuse for their so doing. God's eternal power and Divinity are to be seen in them as well as in the other things that He has made, "that they may be without excuse." Rom. i. 19, 20. The life is with them from the very beginning in order that they may live even as Christ lived.

Do you say that this but increases the condemnation of all mankind, in that all have sinned, and "there is none that doeth good, no, not one?" Very true, but "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Great as the condemnation may be, greater still is the salvation. The life is in every man, not for condemnation, but for salvation. "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." John iii. 17. These things are for our learning, not for our discussion. They are not theories, but facts. We are to understand them by believing them, and thus we get life through His name.

"Our Winter Visitors" The Present Truth 14, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

The little birds that built their nests here in the spring, and cheered and charmed us through the summer with their sweet joyous songs, have many of them left us now that the cold winter weather has come. The swallows, the nightingales, and many others have flown away to the warm and sunny south of Europe, to Africa and Asia. The insects upon which they feed have vanished, the fruit trees and bushes are bare, and they could not find enough food here now; and besides this they could not live through the cold and snow of our English winter.

So God guides these tender little birds over laud and sea, to sunny lands where the summer is just beginning when ours is ending; where they will find an abundance of food and bright sunshine, and live happily until the time comes for them to come back to their old home. So you see that their lives are one long summer. God teaches them just when to leave us; He makes them "know their appointed times;" and it is by His wisdom that they fly, "and stretch their wings toward the south."

There are a few birds that stay with us all through the year, like the familiar little sparrow and the bold robin-redbreast, which when the other birds have left us are driven by cold and hunger nearer to us than before, coming to our windows to be fed, and even sometimes into our houses to find shelter.

But there are other little visitors now in our parks and gardens, woods and fields. Let us see where these come from.

You know that our days are long in the summer and short in the winter, and as we go farther and farther north the summer days grow longer and longer and the winter days shorter and shorter, until right up at the North Pole the summer is one long day when the sun never sets, and the winter is one long night when the sun never rises.

Think of a night lasting five or six months, nothing but darkness; and how cold it must be when not a ray of sunshine reaches the earth through all that time! Everything freezes; the snow falls like a white blanket to cover the land, and all nature goes to sleep during the long, long night.

Of course the birds would all die if they should stay up there, and so God teaches them to fly away towards the south, and many of them come to is for the whiter, and take the place of those, which have gone from us to warmer lands. They reach us in the autumn about the time that the summer birds are leaving.

After staying with us through the cold winter, when there is not much food for them, and the country looks most dreary, they fly away in the spring just when the trees are bursting into leaf and blossom, the flowers springing up, and everything looks so beautiful, inviting them to stay. What call it he that tempts them to leave us at this most pleasant season, when our little summer visitors are joyfully returning to build their nests in their old homes? What leads them to fly away towards the cold and snowy north, away up into the Arctic Circle, to build their nests and bring up their young ones?

If we could fly with them and see where they go, and why, I think we should not wonder that they wanted to go.

A BIRD PARADISE

When at last the sun rises and the day dawns again after the long Arctic night, the snow melts very quickly, the summer comes suddenly, and immediately the birds appear in swarms. By thousands and millions they come from all parts, just as soon as it is possible for them to live there again. You will wonder what they call possibly feed on, when the ground has been covered with snow for so long, and nothing has been able to grow in the intense cold. But God has thought about them and prepared for them. He has provided a great store of their favourite food all ready for them to eat just as soon as they arrive.

In the far North there are great quantities of cranberry, crowberry and other fruit-bearing bushes. The continual sunshine of the Arctic summer (for remember that the sun does not set for months) makes these bushes bear a great deal of fruit. But almost as soon as it is ripe, and before the birds have time to gather it, the snow begins to fall, and covers it all up.

Underneath the snow, which keeps all the air away from it, it is perfectly preserved, and kept quite fresh and sweet, without any sign of decay. So you see that directly the snow melts, there is a rich feast of "preserved fruits" all ready for the millions of birds which come such long distances to have a share in it.

And, then, too, the sun ever shining brings to life such swarms of insects that the air is filled with them, and the insect-eating birds can get an abundance of food just by opening their mouths. No wonder the birds swarm here to make their homes and bring up their young ones in this land of peace and plenty.

What a delightful bird paradise it must be where there is constant sunshine, swarms of insects, stores of fruit waiting to be gathered, and no one to disturb or molest them. God, who has provided this delightful summer home for them, teaches them where to find it, just when to set

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out for it, how to reach it, and when to leave.

As you "behold the birds" as Jesus has told us to do, think of these things, and what beautiful lessons they teach us of our Heavenly Father's love and care. "They have neither storehouse nor barn; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them." Sometimes He feeds them by putting it into the hearts of kind people to give them food in the cold weather. This is one way in which you way help Him to take care of them.

"'Bottled Sunshine'" The Present Truth 14, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

George Stephenson said that fire from a piece of coal is "bottled sunshine" of long ages past.

The coal that glows in the grate, giving out so much warmth and comfort, was once part of a living tree, drinking in the sunbeams and storing them away just like the trees do now.

These old trees were buried beneath the ground, and gradually turned to coal, but the sunbeams were still there, only waiting for heat to set them free again.

And now when the days are cold and dull, and we have not the bright sunshine to warm and cheer us, we let out some of this "bottled sunshine," and are made comfortable and happy with its bright beams.

But do not forget what we have learned about the sunshine,-that all the light that shines in this world is the glory of God which the sun reflects, the light of His own glorious face. Then you will learn to see in the fire something of the brightness of the Lord Himself, just "a gleam from the shining of His glory." You will know that all the blessing and comfort that the fire gives, come straight from Him.

And as the trees catch the sunbeams when the bright sun is shining on them, and keep them to give out again when and where they are needed, so may you when the light of Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, shines upon you, catch His bright beams and shed them forth in dark places to warm and gladden and comfort those who are in gloom and sadness.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

-In Russia servants kiss their mistresses hands both as morning and evening greetings.

-The hardest known wood is cocus-wood. It turns the edge of any axe, however well-tempered.

-Sir William Harcourt has resigned the leadership of the Liberal party in the House of Commons.

-According to a telegram from Manila, the Americans will probably have to fight the natives for the possession of the Philippines.

-During a strong wind at Southsea, a pleasure boat drifted on to the pier, smashing ninety feet of it, and dividing the pier, which is over a mile long, into two.

-The treaty of peace between the United States and Spain has been formally sign, Spain giving way on all points but protesting that she has been forced to do so.

-Never before in the history of the trade has shipbuilding been so brisk on the Thames as it is to-day. More orders for warships by foreign Governments have been offered to Thames firms within the last few weeks than they have been able to undertake.

-At an auction the sum of ?86,000 was refused for a public-house at Cricklewood.

-The United States Adjutant-General has asked for 50,000 men to preserve peace and restore order in Cuba, where rioting has been going on.

-It is said that the tolling of church bells on the occasion of a burial is based on the old Pagan custom of banging gongs when a body was to be interred, in order to scare away the bad spirits.

-A five-petalled flower, nearly a yard in diameter, is found in the Philippine islands. The buds at a distance look like gigantic cabbage heads. A single flower has been known to weigh more than 221lbs.

-South American ants have been known to construct a tunnel three miles in length, a labour proportionate to that which would be required for men to tunnel under the Atlantic from London to New York.

-At Grenada, a crowd of women of the lower class assembled and threw stones at the statue of Columbus, as they considered that the man who had discovered America was the chief cause of all Spain's misfortunes.

-In the West India Islands and in South America grows a tree whose fruit makes an excellent lather and is used to wash clothes. The bark of a tree which grows in Peru, and of another which grows in the Malay Islands, yields a fine soap.

-The Disarmament Conference will meet next March at St. Petersburg. The Czar has not abandon his initiative, and a definite program will be submitted to the Governments in the course of a few weeks. All political questions will be excluded.

-A tree grows in perfect balance on every side. When a large branch shoots out on one side, one of equal size or two smaller ones appear on the other. The roots are balanced in the same way, a large branch on one side being matched by a large root. The centre of gravity is thus always perfectly maintained.

-Advices from the provinces of Livonia and Courland report that leprosy is spreading to a marked extent. The military authorities in those districts have been compelled to reject for the army many young men found to be infected with the disease. Notwithstanding the precautions taken to prevent the propagation of the scourge, the number of its victims amounts at the present time in Russia to more than 5,000.

-The surgical world on the other side of the Atlantic has been greatly interested in the result of some extraordinary wounds which were received by the soldiers of the United States during the course of the recent war. Among them was a man who was shot through the head, the bullet entering behind the ear and coming out near the spine, but in a week, although he had bled profusely he was about again. Another man had four perforations of the intestine, but walked four miles to the hospital without any hemorrhage. When it was suggested that he should wait ten or twelve hours before the operation he went away of his own accord and disappeared, being found three days afterwards walking about as if nothing had happened to him. At the battle on July 1 the men fought on empty stomachs, to which fact the surgeons attribute the extraordinary immunity from a fatal consequences of the wounds which were received. Several men shot through the abdomen by Mauser bullets walked four miles to the hospital and arrived in good condition, recovering after suffering very little pain, and without the need of an operation. All the treatment that was given to them was that they were sent to lie down and not allowed to take any food, except perhaps a little beef tea, for twenty-four hours. Nearly every one of them went back to service and there was not a case of lockjaw or of gangrene.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

With the present number we conclude the series of lessons that have been conducted for the past six months with the story of creation as the basis. It is designed to continue them, beginning with the next number, using the book of Isaiah as the basis. Many companies of believers have been much blessed by the studies of the present lessons in their Sabbath schools, and it is hoped that even greater blessings may be experienced from the study of those which are to follow.

"Everything was done front the beginning, and there is nothing in the universe, physical, intellectual, moral, that is not in the first verse of the first chapter of the first book of the Bible."-Dr. Parker.

These are true words. Think then what an unlimited field of study is presented in the whole of the first chapter. What a grand thing it would be to have a school with the story of creation as its entire curriculum. It was from such a school that He who spake as never man spake was graduated.

A friend writes to call our attention to a statement in a contributed article in the PRESENT TRUTH of September 29, to the effect that Apollos was a Greek, and kindly asks us to make the fact clear, since in Acts xviii. 24 it is stated that he was a Jew. The only explanation we can make is that the statement in the article is a mistake, which was overlooked by the editor. We thank our friend for calling our attention to it, for others may have been confused by it. The Scripture says that Apollos was a Jew, and that is all there is to be said about it.

One leading religious journal in commenting on the Czar of Russia's plea for disarmament, says, "At times the church wants war." That is true, for every war that has ever been waged has had the sanction of the "church;" and in the most recent times "the church" and its pastors have clamoured for war, which cool-headed statesmen were trying to avoid. Yet when all is said, it must always be kept prominently before the people that Christians do not want war. Christianity is always and everywhere opposed to war. Whether there be dishonour with peace, or not, peace is always honourable and only honourable.

God calls men to enter into His rest. His rest is infinite because His work left nothing imperfect. The lapse of time will never reveal any defect in His work. It will endure for ever and will always be at) perfect that there will be no respect in which it can be improved upon. Therefore it is easy to understand how God can rest.

In entering into the rest of God we enter into the possession of His work. Only as we do so, can we know, His rest. A retired merchant, who has amassed great wealth, can only invite a poor man to enter into his rest by sharing with him the wealth and advantages that have made it possible for himself to rest. If he bestows anything less than he himself possesses he does not impart the same sense of rest and security that he himself enjoys.

Everything that God has is shared with men. He spared not His own Son, and He will not withhold anything. Therefore all that secures the Creator against evil, fall and death, is given to us in equal measure for ever and ever. Our part is to believe and receive it, and thus enter into His everlasting rest. Only unbelief keeps man from enjoying the fulness of God.

"The Beauty of Truth" The Present Truth 14, 51.

E. J. Waggoner

In a notice of a recent book of poems we find the following lines cited as a specimen of true poetry"-

"The poet gathers fruit from every tree,
Yea, grapes from thorns and figs from thistles
he.
Plucked by his hand, the basest wood that
grows
Towers to a lily, reddens to a rose."

Very smooth and flowing it is, and it may be poetry, but it cannot he called beautiful, for the reason that it is not true. We quote it, not for criticism, but to call attention to a thing too often unrecognised, and that is that truth alone is beauty.

Go into an art gallery and you will find pictures over which people who have been instructed in the proper terms to use, will go into ecstasies. As specimens of skill in blending colours, and in canvas, they are indeed marvels; but measured by the standard, they are but blotches, because they are caricatures of the truth.

For example: The frescoes by Michael Angelo, in the Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican at Rome, are set down in the guide books and in the treatises on art as things to be universally admired. Accordingly people crane their necks, and lie on their backs, to get good views of them, and go away to tell what wonderful productions they are. Wonderful they are, indeed; but such caricatures of sacred things cannot but be disgusting to anyone who loves truth, and who reverences the Bible. The undignified representations of God, and the crude, worse than childish conceptions of His work, are calculated to produce pain rather than pleasure. "A fair woman without discretion," and "a jewel of gold in a swine's snout," are not objects to be admired; so exquisite paintings of untrue and impossible things, and especially crude attempts to portray sacred mysteries, are the reverse of beautiful.

That nothing is beautiful that is not true, may be seen from this: God is the Creator of all things, and He creates by the power of His own life. All things have their existence from His own being, and were in the act of creation stamped with His own personality. Now God is beautiful. See Ps. xxvii. 4; Isa. xxxiii. 17. Therefore "He hath made everything beautiful in its time." Eccl. iii. 11. But God is also truth. Whatsoever is untrue is unlike Him, and since He is the source of beauty, that which is unlike Him cannot be beautiful. Only false training, and lack of true cultivation, can cause anybody to see beauty in that which is false.

God desires truth in the inward parts, and this we may have by devotion to His law, which is the truth. Ps. cxix. 142. "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy law is the truth." That which is true is eternal, and that which has in it the freshness of eternity must be beautiful. Therefore we should pray from the heart, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it." Ps. xc. 17. Only the beauty of the Lord is lasting, and that which is not lasting is not real.

"He will beautify the meek with salvation."

December 29, 1898

"The Call of Abraham. The Time of the Promise" The Present Truth 14, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

Since we begin in this number of the paper some studies in Isaiah, it is fitting that before we begin them we should consider the place which the prophecy of Isaiah occupies in Scripture, its relation to us, and its right to be called the Gospel of Isaiah. This last item, however, will appear from the prophecy itself as we proceed in our study.

In this matter, as with everything else, we must go back to the beginning if we would get the proper understanding of it. We know the fact that in the beginning God gave man dominion over all the earth (Gen. i. 26-28) and that it was the presence of God in man that gave him the authority. It was God working in him both to will and to do of His good pleasure; and it pleased God to rule the earth through man. Yes, it is true of the first Adam, as well as of the second, that it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell, for He was the son of God. Luke iii. 38. This is evident from the fact that it is in Christ as Man, the Man Christ Jesus, that all fulness dwells, and that we are made full in Him. Col. ii. 9, 10, R.V. "Of His fulness have we all received" (John i. 16), that we may be filled "with all the fulness of God." Eph. iii. 19.

Man rejected the word of the Lord, and thus lost his dominion. In sinning, be lost the crown of glory and honour. But even in announcing to man the consequences of his fall, God made promise of the Seed through whom all things should be restored and in making known to Abraham the fact that the Seed in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed should be his, God made promise to him that "he should be the heir of the world." Rom. iv. 13.

Not in Abraham's lifetime, however, was this promise to be fulfilled. "He gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet he promised that He would give it to him for a possession." Acts vii. 5. Nevertheless Abraham died in faith, for he well understood that it was only through the resurrection from the dead that he was to receive the inheritance. In making the covenant with him, God had said, "Know of a surety that the seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." Gen. xv. 13-16.

But when God made promise to Abraham, He, "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 of the hope set before us." Heb. vi . 13-18. That was this: "By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Gen. xxii. 16-18.

Taking these texts all together, we see that the promise and the oath are for our sakes. We have the same interest in them that Abraham had. In fact the oath was altogether for our sakes. We see also, as already noted, that the promise was to be fulfilled only through the resurrection; and

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the resurrection is promised in the words, "Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." The seed is Christ and all who are His (Gal. iii. 16, 29), and "the last enemy that shall he destroyed is death." 1 Cor. xv. 26. The promise that God confirmed to Abraham with an oath was that in the fourth generation, after four hundred years, his posterity should come into the land, and possess it. And this meant that Abraham himself should also inherit it, for the posterity cannot come into inheritance before the father does.

Now we are told that when Moses was born, as the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, "the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham." Acts vii. 17-20. Therefore we know of a surety that when God sent Moses to bring His people out of the house of bondage, the time had come when "the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven" should be "given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom." And this is further corroborated by the inspired words of Moses after crossing the Red Sea: "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." Ex. xv. 17, 18.

But although "there failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel; all came to past," the people "in their hearts turned back again into Egypt," "yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not, His word; but murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord." Acts vii. 39; Ps. cvi. 24, 25. "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." Heb. iii. 19.

Nevertheless "the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter iii. 9. Therefore "again He limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so Iong a time; as it is said, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Heb. iv. 7. No man has any more than to-day; but the Lord promised Abraham that days of repentance should be lengthened out to four hundred years. Even that, however, was slighted, and since it must be that some accept the promise and enter into the promised land, God kept on saying, Today, even after the expiration of the first time.

It was not until the refusal of the children of Israel to accept the freedom to which the Lord had called them had been marked by their being carried away to Babylon, that God set another time for the deliverance of His people. When they went to Babylon, God told them that in seventy years He would deliver them; and so He did; yet they did not get free from Babylon any more than they had from Egypt, and in view of this God again extended the time, marking off a very long period, which is also now in the past. But before the Babylonian captivity the only time that had ever been set was the four hundred years concerning which God had sworn to Abraham. At any time up to the Babylonian captivity the people might, by repentance and faith, have entered into the promised inheritance. They were living under exactly the same conditions that we are: They were living in the time of the end, the longest prophetic period having been completed. The only thing that hindered the coming of the Lord and the restoration of all things, was their lack of preparation because of unbelief.

It was in this time of waiting that Isaiah prophesied. His was the message of the everlasting Gospel, saying, "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." See Rev. xiv. 6, 7. Therefore since the conditions were the same then as now, and the thing that was impending was the same, it follows that the prophecy of Isaiah is spoken as directly to us as if the prophet were living to-day, and his words were now uttered for the first time. There is no portion of the Bible that is more full of the living Gospel, and that is more important to be understood, than the prophecy of Isaiah. A clear grasp of the facts outlined in this article will enable us to appreciate the study of the book at every step.

"The times are prophets now;
They preach impending doom;
Let each, repentant, bow,
And saints prepare for home.
We wait for Jesus from the skies;
Soon shall His glories greet our eyes."

"The Gospel of Isaiah. Smiting and Healing" The Present Truth 14, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

SMITING AND HEALING

1. "The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem; in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahas, Hezekiah, kings of Judah:-

2. Hear, O ye heavens; and give ear, O earth,
For it is Jehovah that speaketh.
I have nourished children, and brought them up,
And even they have revolted from Me.

3. The ox knoweth his possessor;
And the ass the crib of his lord;
But Israel knoweth not Me:
Neither doth My people consider.

4. Ah sinful nation! a people laden with ini-
quity!
A race of evil doers! children degenerate!
They have forsaken Jehovah;
They have rejected with disdain the Holy
One of Israel;
They are estranged from Him; they have
turned their back upon Him.

5. On what part will ye smite again, will ye add correction?
The whole head is sick, and the whole heart
faint;

6. From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness therein;
It is wound, and bruise, and putrefying sore;
It hath not been pressed, neither hath it
been bound;
Neither hath it been softened with ointment.

7. Your country is desolate, your cities are
burnt with fire;
Your land, before your eyes strangers de-
vour it;
And it is become desolate, as if destroyed by
an inundation.

8. And the daughter of Zion is left, as a shed
in a vineyard;
As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a
city taken by a siege.

9. Had not Jehovah God of Hosts left us a
remnant,
We had soon become as Sodom; we had
been like unto Gomorrah."
Isa. i. 1-9.

Inasmuch as everybody has the Bible in the so-called "Authorised Version," and can refer to it at pleasure, and very many have the Revised also, it has been thought best in the present study to give the

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readers the benefit of another translation. The one chosen has been that of Bishop Lowth, which is without doubt, as a whole, the best English translation of the prophecy of Isaiah. Accordingly we shall print the text of this, as above, and shall in the notes give the student the benefit of any other translations that serve to make any portion of the text more striking. This statement of the case will serve for the regular reader, so that it will not need to be repeated.

Let every one who proposes to derive lasting benefit from these studies of the Gospel according to Isaiah, give heed to the following counsel: First of all study the text carefully. How? Read it again and again, taking special pains to find out exactly what it says. Note the dependence of every verse and sentence upon that which precedes. Nobody in the world can tell you anything that is true concerning the text, that is not found in the text itself; and if you give heed, you can tell what the Lord says as well as anybody; for He uses the language of the common people. The notes that follow are only designed to fix your attention more sharply on what is contained in the text, and to help you to retain it by associating it with other familiar portions of Scripture. You will see that nothing is introduced that is not contained in the text of the lesson, and will thus learn how rich is the Word of God.

"Hear, O heavens, O and give ear, earth?" Why? Because the Lord hath spoken. When the Lord speaks, it is the time for every one in heaven and earth to keep silence. "The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him." Hab. ii. 20. "Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer; yea, twice; but I will proceed no further." Job xl. 3-5.

The importance of keeping still when the Lord speaks cannot be too strongly emphasised. When one of the great men of earth speaks on a subject of which he is supposed to be master, most people have the good sense to give attention, esteeming it a privilege to be permitted to hear; and even though they do not fully agree with all he says, they are modest about expressing their opinion; but few have any scruples about answering back when the Lord speaks. Almost everybody considers himself competent to be a critic of the Bible. But if we would always keep silence before the Lord, not even in our inmost hearts uttering a word, but allowing God to give us His thoughts, we should find not only life but sound wisdom as well; for the word of God is life, and "the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." Prov. ii. 6.

But there is a special force in calling upon the heavens and the earth as witnesses when the rebellion of men is mentioned; for they have never transgressed God's will. The earth is obedient to the voice of God, and has been ever since He said, "Let the earth bring forth grass." "For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations; Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They abide this day according to Thine ordinances; for all things are Thy servants." Ps. cxix. 89-91. See Jer. ii. 13, 13 and Deut. xxxii. 1-3 for other instances where the Lord calls upon the heavens and the earth to witness the apostasy of the people.

Notice the contrast brought to view in verses 2 and 3. In the original the contrast is very marked,-children as against dumb brutes. "Children have I made great and exalted, and even they have rebelled against Me." So much for children, while the ox and the ass recognise their master. The ox and the ass give more respect to their possessor than children to their Father. What a striking contrast.

Whom do the ox and the ass recognise as their lord and master? The answer is easy; it is the one who feeds them. The ass knows the crib of his lord. He knows where he finds his sustenance. And the beasts show their recognition of their owner by bending their necks to the burden which the master lays upon them. They give service to the one from whom they receive their support.

Does some one say that this does not require very much discernment on the part of the beasts? Then what shall be said of the children whom God has nourished? If the recognition of a master is so simple a thing that even a beast is not considered as specially worthy of credit for submitting to the hand that feeds him, what language can express the stupidity of men who do not know the Lord "who giveth us richly all things to enjoy?" even "life, and breath, and all things." Remember that man was made to be the lord of the brute, and as such is designed to be infinitely above the brute in knowledge. What excuse can be made for him then, when he is ignorant of that which the slowest witted of beasts know perfectly well?

To know God is the easiest thing in the world. If it were not, there would be some who would have excuse for not knowing Him. But all are "without excuse," for everything reveals Him. One does not need to be a philosopher, in order to know God. All that is required is that one have as much knowledge as an ox or an ass, to recognise the simplest facts. Continually to recognise the One who feeds us, is all that is needful to make one a Christian. One does not need to theorise; the Gospel is not a theory, but a fact. Simply to believe things that are, is all that is wanted. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is." And the evidence that He is, is seen in the gift of our daily bread.

Everybody can easily see that he does not feed himself. The ox and the ass know that. All our living comes from without ourselves, and we do not make it. Now in order that no one can have any chance to cavil, and say, "How can I know the name of the one who does provide this food?" we may say, "All that you are required to do is to recognise the Creator." Worship the One who made "heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." When we do this, it will be easy to see that the One who gives us life has a right to the management of that life, and our duty is done. "Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee." Job xii. 1.

Some one may be inclined to say that the portion of Scripture allotted to this lesson is not very comforting, since it is all reproof. Well, it is true that the necessities of the case have forced us to take only a broken fragment of the message, but it is not without comfort, even if it is reproof. It is a reproof addressed to children, and the Lord says, "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of His correction; for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." Prov. iii. 11, 12. The Holy Spirit, whose special office is that of Comforter, is first of all a Reprover of sin. John xvi. 7, 8.

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"The commandment is a lamp, and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life." Prov. vi. 23.

"Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity." Shall we cringe and cower before the Lord because He addresses us in that manner?-Not by any means; for we hear the call of the Saviour: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden; and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matt. xi. 28, 29.

"Take My yoke upon you," says the Lord. Certainly. The ox and the ass submit to the yoke of the one who feeds them; why should not we? And they bear heavy burdens for their masters; but our Master calls us to come to Him, that He may relieve us of our burdens. We are "laden with iniquity." Why?-Because we have departed from Him. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. Only when we "have gone away backward" do we find hard labour and heavy burdens. What a blessed service it is, that gives rest from labour!

"Why will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more?" When the ox and the ass are rebellious and refuse to bear the burden placed upon them by their lord, or when they turn aside out of the way, what do they bring upon themselves? The rod of correction, of course. Even so it is with us, when we depart from the way. But bear in mind that the strokes that come are not given arbitrarily. Departing from the way of life is in itself death. So the offence brings its own punishment. "For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of My counsel; they despised all My reproof. Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them." Prov. i. 29-32. They that sin are treasuring up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath. Rom. ii. 5. "His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate." Ps. vii. 16.

"From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness" in the body because of the sin that has been committed; but "wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores." That is the result of refusing to hear the words of the Lord, which "are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh." Prov. iv. 20-22. Nothing is more sure than that there is the closest connection between sin and disease. Disease is only the working of death; and death came into the world with sin. Rom. v. 12. But for sin, there would be no disease in the world. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Rom. x. 17. And "the just shall live by faith." That is, men can live by the words of the Lord. It is a fact that we have no life except that which the Lord gives us. This everybody must admit. And it is also a fact that the Lord's life is perfect and eternal. There is no life but the life of the Lord, therefore the life which the Lord gives us is a perfect life. Then is it not, to say the least, as easy for the Lord to give us perfect health as to have us suffering from all manner of disease? Certainly, and far easier; for the Lord cannot give us any other life than that which is perfect. Why then do we suffer disease?-Simply because we "have all gone out of the way," and have departed from the Lord. We have rejected His words, which are Spirit and life. It is not the Lord who sends us disease, but disease comes as the result of rejecting or neglecting the word of the Lord. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Hosea iv. 6.

Read Ps. xxxviii. 1-8 to find a parallel to Isa. i. 4-6. Notice how often in the Bible disease of body is named as a result of departing from the Lord. When men shall have wholly rejected the Spirit and Word of the Lord, the first manifestation of it will be a plague of "a noisome and grievous sore" upon them. And the plague that appears in the body of a man, will be only the working out of "the plague of his own heart."

Read Luke vii. 50 and viii. 48, noting the margin of the Revision. There we see that Jesus used the same words to the one whose sins He forgives as to the one whom He healed of a grievous disease. "Thy faith hath saved thee," is the same as "Thy faith hath made thee whole." Salvation is simply the work of making whole. When Jesus on the Sabbath day healed the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, He made him "every whit whole." John x. 21-33. Afterward when He found the man in the temple, He said to him, "Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee." John v. 14. This shows us (1) that the man's disease had been the result of personal sin; and (3) that Jesus in healing his disease had saved him from the sin, even as He did the paralytic. See Matt. ix. 2-6. "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.

"From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it." That is our condition apart from the Lord. But when the lame man at the gate Beautiful was healed by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, Peter said to the people who gathered round, "His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know; yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." Acts iii. 16. That man was not only healed in body, but saved as to his soul, for all the prophets gave witness "that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." Acts x. 43. Moreover when Peter talked of the case the next day before the judges, he declared that the man stood there whole in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, in whom alone there is salvation, thus identifying the healing of the body with salvation.

One thing more we must not omit in the consideration of this lesson. Note the horrible condition brought to view in Isa. i. 5, 6. Remember that disease is but the outward physical manifestation of sin. It is not always the result of our own personal sin, but that makes no difference; if we are not responsible for it, we may be sure that God will save us from it, since He saves us from the result of our rebellion. The fact which we wish to keep in mind is that disease is but the working of death, which is the fruit of sin. Now a body that is full of wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores is not by any means a pleasant object to look at. It is, indeed, most disgusting. Now remember that, no matter how fair one's person may be to the sight of man, if the heart is corrupt that person looks to God just as he would to us if covered with loathsome ulcers. "The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." 1 Sam. xvi. 7.

Remember also that this fearful condition

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of body is but the result of departing from the Lord and lading ourselves with iniquity. Then read the blessed Gospel according to Isaiah: "Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;" (Compare Matt. viii. 16, 17.) "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. If we are laden with iniquity, and covered with sores and bruises, we but share the lot of the Lord. We put it that way, although the fact is that He shares our lot. He takes our burden of sin and our sicknesses. What for? In order that we may be freed from it all. His sores heal our sores. How so? Because His sores are our sores. What? are the sores that He has my sores? Yes, certainly. Why, then I do not have them any more. No; they are all upon Him. Let Him keep them then, for "He will swallow up death in victory." Wonderful Physician, who heals our diseases by His own; but so it is, and so let it be.

"Studies in the Gospel of John. 'Follow Me'" The Present Truth 14, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

"Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Him." John i. 35-37.

"The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow Me." Verse 43.

That the disciples first mentioned did not follow the Lord without being called, is seen from the account in Matthew's Gospel. There we read: "And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him." Matt. iv. 18-30.

The first thing to be considered is that this call of Jesus is to us as well as to those of whom we read in this narrative. To all who labour, and are heavy laden, the Saviour says, "Come unto Me." "And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. xxii. 17.

We are apt to lose the most of the blessing that we should receive from the narrative of the calling of the first disciples of Jesus, because we allow the story of what they became to drive from our minds the knowledge of what they were when they were called. We imagine that Jesus called them because of some special goodness in them, which drew Him to them, and so think that they were specially favoured above other men. Thus it is taken for granted that such ordinary mortals as we are could never be called by the Lord as they were called. Let us therefore see if we can find out anything about the nature of these men who were so honoured by the Lord as to be called to follow Him.

There were twelve of them, but of only a few have we any particulars. We know that Peter and Andrew and James and John were fishers. Fishing is not the most refined and gentle occupation in the world, and we are given glimpses of the character of James anti John, which show that they were not very gentle by nature. They, as well as Peter, were ready to fight anyone who offered them or their Master insult.

When Peter was brought into a place where his life seemed to be endangered through his acquaintance with Christ, his fears gained the mastery of him, and he denied his Lord. Not only so, but he did it with curses and swearing. Now we cannot suppose that Peter was in the habit at that time of using profane language but we well know that men who have never in their lives been accustomed to use such language, do not break forth into profane expletives on any occasion, no matter how much they are taken unawares. But a man who in former days has been in the habit of swearing, but who through association with Christ has abstained from it for some time, may very easily relapse into the old way when sudden temptation assaults him while away from the Lord. Indeed, no matter how long a man has been master of an evil habit, the moment he loses his connection with the Lord, that moment he begins to sink back into the old slough. So the fact that when Peter was frightened into denying Christ, he did it with cursing and swearing, shows that in the old days before he knew the Lord, he had been a rough, profane fisherman full of generous impulses, and what the world would call "good hearted," but the very opposite of the Christian gentleman that he became when filled with the Spirit of God.

Judas was another of the men whom Jesus called. He was the one who betrayed the Lord, selling Him for thirty pieces of silver. His besetting sin was covetousness. When the funds of the little company of disciples were placed in his keeping, he became a thief. Yet we must

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not forget that he was called by the Lord to be an apostle, and as one of the twelve was sent out with "power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of disease and all manner of sickness," and was given the commission, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils." Matt. x. 1-8. Even up to the very moment when he delivered the Lord into the hands of the mob, there was no one but the Lord Himself who could distinguish any particular difference between him and the other disciples. He was outwardly as correct in his deportment as they; and there is nothing to indicate that in the beginning his nature was any worse than theirs. Indeed, from what the Bible teaches of the nature of all men, we know that when the disciples were called, Judas was as promising a subject as any of them.

What made the difference at the last? Simply this, that the eleven yielded themselves to the influence of the Lord, and were drawn out of their old lives, and transformed by His Spirit, while Judas, however much he may have been attracted at the first, clung to his own way, stubbornly resisting the transforming power of the Lord, and so became more and more hardened. Judas shows what any man may come to if he resists the Spirit, while Peter, James, and John, together with many others, reveal to us what the grace of God can do for anyone who submits to it.

It is no disparagement of the apostles to say that by nature they were no better than any other men. They all, including Judas, had faculties which, when trained and developed by the Lord, would make them most powerful workers in His service, but which, left untrained, would make them equally strong to do evil. It is to the everlasting praise of the glory of the grace of the Lord Jesus, that such men, taken from such surroundings as they were taken, could develop into such giants in spiritual stature, and such able ministers of the Holy Spirit.

The lesson to be learned from the call of these disciples is one of hope, and courage, and trust. We are to remember that they were men "of like passions" with us, neither better nor worse by nature than we are. They may have had some more marked characteristics than we have, which would make them capable of occupying a larger sphere than we are designed for, but in that respect they did not differ from us more than many of our unbelieving fellow-men do at the present time; for there is no doubt that there are very many men in the world, who have greater natural ability than the majority of those who have given themselves to the Lord's service. We are to learn that what a man is by nature is not by any means the measure of what he may be by grace. Just to the extent that we, in our thought of what the most of the twelve became, lose sight of what they were when they were called, do we lose the benefit of the sacred narrative. It was written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Since they were but sample specimens of all mankind, and God is no respecter of persons, we see in their call the call of all men. It rests with us, by humble acceptance of the will of God, to make our calling and election sure.

OBJECT OF THE CALL

Jesus said to the first disciples just what He says to all, "Follow Me." Now let us see why they were called. We have seen that when called they were sinners. Jesus did not call them for what they were, but for what they might become under His training. Did He therefore say, "Follow Me, and I will save you from your sins"?-That was implied in the call, but that is not what He said. What He said was, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." And that is just what His call means to every one of us. Personal salvation is included in the call, as a matter of course; for no one can give to others that which he has not himself; but that fact that Jesus calls us to Him in order that we may be saved is emphasised and made more sure by the fact that He calls us to make us saviours of others.

There are so many among professed followers of the Lord Jesus who are even after years of Christian profession often troubled with doubts as to their acceptance with God. They wish they knew that they were accepted of Christ. What wonder, then, that we find so many seekers after God who are appalled at the sense of their own unworthiness, and who hesitate to make a start to serve the Lord, fearing that He will not accept such sinners as they are. Now all these fears would be swept away if these persons could but be brought to see the fulness of the meaning of the call of the Lord Jesus. It does not stop with the individual who is called. God calls us, in order that through us He may reach somebody else. "Let him that heareth say, Come." So when anybody says, "It doesn't seem as though the Lord could save so great a sinner as I am," you may always say in reply, "My dear brother, or sister, the Lord has called you for the sole purpose of making you a saviour of some other poor sinner; the saving of you is incidental to that object. It is but a light thing for Him to save you; the great thing is that He will make you a means of salvation."

Let us now read one or two texts which make this even more clear. The first is, 2 Cor. v. 17-20. We quote the margin of the Revision, and omit the word "you" from verse 30, which, as indicated by being placed in italics, is no part of the text. "If any man [person] is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. But all things are of God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation: to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having placed in us the word of reconciliation. We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were intreating by us; we beseech on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God."

In reading this do not forget that the ones who have the word of reconciliation placed in them are the ones who are reconciled. Whoever therefore is in Christ, and therefore a new creature has in him the word of reconciliation, and so is an ambassador for Christ, to carry on the ministry of reconciliation. By each one who accepts the Lord Jesus, God beseeches sinners even as He did by Him. If you have never seen this in the text, read it until you can see it, for it is there.

Now we will read Isa. xlix. 6-9: "It is a light thing that thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation unto the ends of the earth. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose thee. Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit desolate heritages; that

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thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves."

There can be no question but that these words apply primarily to Christ; but He is "the Son of man," and came to earth in man's stead in order that we might be ambassadors in His stead. That these words refer to men whom the Lord calls, equally with Christ, may be seen by comparing verse 6 with Acts xiii. 46, 47, where we read that Paul and Barnabas said, "We turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." The apostles applied the words to themselves as naturally as though they themselves had been named in the prophecy. This shows that whatever work was given to the Lord to do in this earth, is given to every one who will accept His call.

How wonderfully comforting is this scripture! To whom does the Lord say that He will make him His salvation?-"To him whom man despiseth." It is true that Jesus was despised and rejected of men; but He was despised solely on our account, because He bore our reproach. He put Himself absolutely in the sinner's place. Yet despised as He was, as one forsaken of the Lord for his sins, He was the salvation of God, showing that every one who is despised for sins that he himself has done is also chosen to be the salvation of God.

What a blessed sound is the call of the Lord! How it removes every shade of doubt and fear. No longer, when we rightly hear it, is there any room for doubt if the Lord can save us. The call of the Lord reaches far beyond that, saying to us as it finds us in the degradation of sin, "Son, go work to-day in My vineyard." "Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children."

"For the Children. Snow Crystals" The Present Truth 14, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

What is it-this soft, white, beautiful covering that falls from heaven so gently and noiselessly, and spreads itself over the earth.

"Crystallised water," you will perhaps answer, water that has been frozen by the cold into little crystals, and fallen in flakes upon the earth.

But think, again, what the water is, and where it comes from. Try to remember some of the lessons that we learned about it a little while ago.

Like the air, which is His breath, and the sunlight, which is His glory, the water comes to us from God Himself, and is His own life, which He pours out upon the earth to give life to everything that He has made.

So when the water is crystallised by the cold, we can see something of the beauty of the Lord's own life, the beauty of the Lord Himself, in the beautiful, pure white snow.

We can see much of its beauty by looking at it as it lies like a soft white carpet upon the ground, and robes the trees and bushes in its fleecy mantle; still more if we take some in our hands and look closely at the little flakes. But if we put some under the microscope and examine it, we shall see that these tiny flakes are perfect little star-shaped crystals of extreme beauty.

Here are some of the lovely forms that you would see. You will notice that they nearly all have six points or sides, and that they are all perfectly regular in shape. As many as one thousand different beautiful forms have been noticed, but in the same snow-fall the flakes are generally alike.

The beauty that we see in all the earth and sky is the beauty of God Himself. His own life appears to us in all these beautiful forms. And "He hath made everything beautiful in its time."

In the spring and summer we have the beautiful flowers and plants. But in the winter when the flowers are gone God says "to the snow, Be thou on the earth," and so He spreads another carpet over it, just as beautiful, just as wonderful, and we find when we look into it, just as varied, as the grass and flowers.

Besides the lovely shapes of the snowflakes, how beautiful is their dazzling whiteness. There is no colour in the snow itself; you know that water is as colourless as air. But the snow's whiteness is caused by the way in which these wonderfully formed little snow crystals break up the light and reflect it.

We have spoken before of the seven different colours that are in the light, and how these all combined or blended make white. So the snow gets its pure, brilliant whiteness by reflecting all the rays of light.

God is able to "wash us from our sins in His own blood," so that His pure light can shine through us, and be reflected by us to show His beauty to others.

We have been talking to-day about the beauty of the snow; next week we hope to tell you something of its usefulness.

"Jottings" The Present Truth 14, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

-It is very probable that the new London University will occupy a portion of the Imperial Institute rent free.

-A scientist looking for microbes says there are absolutely urine on the Swiss mountains at an altitude of 2,000 feet.

-It has been pointed out that since 1837 the British nation, though the greatest of her interests is peace, has gone to war no lees than 11 times.

-Another large company is reported from America, which intends to control the production and output of linseed oil. The capital will be nearly ?7,000,000.

-There are now over 330,000 words in the English language, acknowledged by the best authorities, or about 70,000 more than in the German, French, Spanish, and Italian combined.

-An explosion of the powder magazine situated in the midst of the Chinese camp at Hangchow caused appalling devastation. Something like a square mile of houses have been levelled to the ground, and it is estimated that 8,000 native soldiers have been killed.

-One tropical and subtropical variety of sea-weed is known which, when it reaches its full development is at least 600 feet in length.

-A grip epidemic has broken out both in New York and Washington. The death-rate in the former city has alarmingly increased during the past week.

-Spain has greater mineral resources than any other country in Europe, including iron, copper, zinc, silver, antimony, quicksilver, lead, and gypsum.

-The proportionate mortality from cancer is now four and a half times greater than it was half a century ago. No other disease can show any-thing like such an immense increase.

-A trade paper advocates caution in the use of flannelette, as it is sometimes treated with chloride of zinc, which has a cauterising effect upon any portion of the skin with which it comes in contact, destroying the epidermis or creating nasty sores.

-Owing to the great pressure of work in all the locomotive engineers' ships throughout England, due to the arrears caused by the great engineering strike, one railway company has placed an order for twenty engines with firms in the United States.

-In a recent speech of Hr. W. T. Stead, he gave the following figures: "Thirty years ago the Army and Navy expenditure of Europe was ?120,000,000 per annum; now it was ?30,000,000. Thirty years ago the cost in this country was ?21,000,000 a year, but now we found ?42,000,000 inadequate for our defences."

-The development of the science of ordnance has greatly increased the expense of firing guns. It has been calculated that any nation which kept all its guns in action for twenty-tour hours would thereby be reduced to bankruptcy. This is not only on account of the expense of individual shots, but because of the great rapidity with which successive allots can be discharged.

-The financial crisis through which one of the largest firms of Scotch whisky distillers is now passing, is likely to involve a number of business houses. Scotch banks, after a long refusal to lend money on whisky, tea, and other bonded geode, have lately broken through this rule, for as much as eight per cent. was thus to be secured. Some, banks now consequently find themselves heavily involved.

-Last Sunday was observed as Peace Sunday, and many preachers of all denominations urged the duty of supporting the Czar's manifesto. Politicians may be excused for seeing in the Imperial scheme the only chance for peace, but ministers of religion ought to know enough of true peace to understand that it does not come by human means. Peace is unattainable by the carnal heart, whose natural fruit is enmity and hatred.

-The Vatican is very anxious to establish a missionary centre at Khartoum for the purpose of making Roman Catholics of the Soudanese, and is now endeavouring to obtain the consent of the English Government to this move, promising that the mission shall be completely separated from foreign influences. The Pope is persuaded that the British Government will not put any obstacle in the way of the extension of Catholic missions.

-An Association has just been formed for the Prevention of Consumption. Its object is to educate public opinion to the tact that consumption is not necessarily a fatal disease, and that it can be cured if taken in time and properly treated. It is desired to instil into the public mind that the disease may be communicated by means of milk and meat, also through expectoration which dries, turns into particles of dust, and so circulates in any atmosphere. The Association also expects to establish self-supporting sanatoria in England.

"Back Page" The Present Truth 14, 52.

E. J. Waggoner

Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and the life.

The Holy Spirit, who comes in His name, bringing His own personal experience, is "the Spirit of truth." Not simply a truth, but the Spirit of it.

That which sanctifies through the Spirit is the Word of God, which is truth. Only truth can sanctify; error cannot.

"No lie is of the truth." Christ, the truth, is the life. Truth therefore is life; a lie is death. And everything that deviates from the character of Christ is a lie.

The truth sanctifies, and therefore saves. But the holding of no creed or articles of faith, however true, can ever save anybody. For no creed that men can formulate can possibly embrace all the truth. Therefore no man can be sanctified and saved merely through the holding of certain truths.

God does not save men as a reward for their acceptance of certain statements of truth; salvation is the inevitable result of receiving and being permeated and transformed by the truth, the whoIe truth; for that which is true is eternal. Not a few true things, but the Spirit of truth, received in the love of the truth, can save. God desires "truth in the inward parts."

It is not necessary that one should know all the things that are true, that is, all facts, before he can be said to know the truth. If it were, none could be saved, for eternity will be spent in discovering new facts. But, on the contrary, it is by the knowledge of the truth that we are able to distinguish facts from fancies. Only he who really knows the truth, cannot he deceived.

"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus. Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." This is real life. "The Spirit of truth" "is life because of righteousness."

From all this we can see the importance of not simply having, but being, the truth. We must not only have the truth, but we must have no lie. "Speaking the truth in love," is the only way to make real growth in Christ. We must know that whatever we say is the truth. "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God."

On this basis it is easy to see how gossipping, and the repetition of tales which one hears, cannot possibly be in harmony with truth. Many people who would he shocked at the thought of telling a lie, will carelessly repeat things that they hear about others, and which they cannot know are true. Now whoever tells what he does not absolutely know to be true, thereby shows that he does not fear to tell a lie. It is not enough to say that we did not know a certain thing which we told was not true; we must know that it is true, or we must keep silent. Of course "speaking the truth in love" means refraining from repeating many things which we know to be true.

"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."

God requires good works in His people. He wants to have "a peculiar people, zealous of good works," and He desires it so much that He gave Himself for us that the object might be accomplished. When God, who calleth those things that be not as though they were, gives Himself to make us zealous of good works, it is certain that the good works thus secured will be worthy of Him. In other words, God's own works will appear in those whom He redeems from all iniquity.

The only way that this can, he is for God Himself to dwell in men, and work in them to will and to do. "He gave Himself for us." "We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Eph. ii. 10. We are His workmanship by faith. When we cease from our own works and stop all boasting, and confess that it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves, we leave the way open for the Lord to display His own infinite workmanship. We simply show forth His excellencies.

Whoever thus commits His way entirely to the Lord may rest in the knowledge that all is well. The good works which will be required of him in the Judgment, when God, without respect of persons, will judge according to every man's work, are already prepared. Indeed, they are finished; for the works of God were finished from the foundation of the world. We were then created in Christ Jesus, and when we acknowledge this, we know that His works are ours. "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ." Phil. i. 11.

The man who enters into this rest does not live a life of idleness. He is filled with fruit. He can enter confidently upon tasks which the most ambitious would judge beyond their powers, because he knows that, although the work may seem to call for more of ability and endurance than he has ever displayed in the past, it is not impossible of accomplishment, but is already prepared for him to walk in. He does not know how the work will turn out, but he walks in it, and step by step he finds the task accomplished, until when he gets to the end, he sees the completed work. He knows that He has not done it, and so does not glory in himself. He can only thank God for this fresh answer to the prayer, "Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants." Ps. xc. 16.

So the Christian life is made up. There is no fear of the hour of judgment, for those who live by faith are just. This is why the Gospel calls on men to glorify God, "for the hour of His judgment is come," and worship the Maker of all things. Rev. xiv. 7. To give glory to God by allowing Him to reveal His creative power in us, and confessing that it is to Him alone we owe the works thus wrought, is the preparation needed for the hour of His judgment. The rest to which God calls us is so perfect that it is not disturbed by the anticipation of the most searching judgment. "Ye are complete in Him." The perfect love which is shed abroad in our hearts, fulfilling the law, casts out all fear.