Earlier text: THE LESSON OF THE RUINS"GO, WORK TO-DAY IN MY VINEYARD." No. 2.
By Ellen G. White
It is the special work of Christians to help those who have fallen under Satan's temptations. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Those who have the mind of Christ, work in the same lines in which Christ worked. If you see a man who has by yielding to temptation weakened his moral power, do all that you can to help him. Let him that is strong support the weak. Help him by speaking words that encourage faith. By your influence seek to strengthen every good trait in his character.5 The wretched victim of intemperance may refuse to seize the opportunity of regaining his manliness by breaking with Satan. Is it any less your duty to strive to awaken the soul dead in trespasses and sins, by doing all that human effort can do? Remember that you are not dealing with a sane man, but with one who is for the time being under the control of a demon. In the past, Satan has controlled his mind and directed his actions. When he comes to his senses, when he is no longer drunk, do all a human being can do to show him that you are his friend. Do not blame him; for very likely he curses himself; but help him to rise. Without some one to help him, he will go over the same ground again and again. The world has utterly failed to restore the moral image of God in man. Multitudes have been allured to sell their reason for a glass of rum; and the world looks on, without the power to counteract the evil. Shall the priests and Levites see the ruin which Satan is working without making an effort, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, to lift up a standard against the enemy? Shall those who claim to be sons and daughters of God feel perfectly at liberty to enjoy the good things of this life, as did Dives, making no use of that which God gave to be used in carrying out His purposes? Shall the pitying tenderness of the Saviour for wretched, fallen, helpless beings be in vain, for the want of human channels through whom He can communicate His treasures of food and clothing and words fitly spoken? Christ is waiting to exercise His power in behalf of the broken-down victims of intemperance; but few, very few, of those who claim to be His children have co-operated with Him by speaking hopeful words to these discouraged souls, by taking to them, if necessary, the gifts of simple food, unstimulating drink, and clean clothing. Thousands might have been saved if those who have acted as did the priest and Levite had acted the part of the good Samaritan. Who will now awake to their God-given responsibilities? One soul rescued is a soul saved from Satan's grasp. If poor, helpless beings are saved, it will be by arousing in them the sense that it is not too late for them to be men. Those who would act the part of the priest and Levite, may pass by on the other side, saying of the drunkard, It is time lost to work for such a man. But Christ died for that soul. Shall the heavy ransom paid for him be of no account? Let every soul who believes himself to be a Christian strive with all his power to do the work that Christ did. The Lord will use as His instrumentalities those who faithfully act their part. Remember that every soul you succeed in saving will have the life that measures with the life of God. Those whom you are trying to help will be continually tempted to evil; but do not, because of this, cease your efforts. Remember the helplessness of these tempted human beings. Their fellow-men are co-operating with Satan in presenting his bribes. Let all who name the name of Christ arouse, and make determined efforts to save sinners, knowing that Jesus, the great Physician of the soul and of the body, is their efficiency. There are many in poverty who are being driven to ruin. If the large sums of money now devoted to erecting monuments to the dead were used to help the hungry, starving, dying millions that throng our world, God would be better pleased. Is He not a God of the living? In the judgment a strict account will be required for every misused talent. Those who now engage in horse-racing, cricket matches, gambling, are spending money for that which is not bread. Can they receive the benediction, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord"? The cities and villages of to-day are leavened with the principles of evil that prevailed in the time of Christ. "As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." We must proclaim the truth now. We are guilty of fearful sin if we neglect to co-operate with God in His work of salvation. There is work for every one to do. When God's people open the door of the heart to His love, the light of His glory will be revealed in their work, as we have not yet seen it. All around you, in our cities, towns, and villages, there are those who are tired, worn, depressed, whom Satan is tempting to indulge in amusements that pave the broad road which leads to ruin and death. He is offering them the apples of Sodom, which, when they are eaten, will be as ashes. Who will take upon themselves the burden of these souls? By judicious effort many can be reached who are now infatuated by pleasures that drive Christ from the soul. Let us press to the mercy-seat, and in the name of Christ claim the power that has been promised to co-workers with Him. Jesus will work wonderful miracles if men will but do their part. In his own strength, man can never recover himself from Satan's grasp. Only by a union with Christ can this restoration be accomplished. Man must work, he must pray, he must uplift the discouraged and hopeless, by his human endeavor, while he grasps the arm of the Mighty One, and wrestles as did Jacob for the victory. His cry must be, "I can not, I will not let Thee go unless Thou bless me." What was Bunyan before his conversion? Who wrought in him the great change? His life reveals the power of the divine Physician. He was dead in trespasses and sins, but Christ re-created him. He took his mind under His control, and showed him wonderful things, enabling him to place them in such a form as to be the means of enlightening many in regard to the Christian warfare. Bunyan was redeemed from profanity and reveling, Newton from slave-dealing, to proclaim the uplifted Saviour. These cases show God's love for humanity. They show us that the God of nature is above nature in His deep and inexpressible love for man. By His power He causes the dead in trespasses and sins to hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth. Do not forget that a Bunyan and a Newton may again be redeemed from among men. Just as wonderful miracles will be wrought upon human minds in the future as have been wrought in the past. Man is dead, without God, and without hope in the world. But over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, Christ proclaimed, "I am the resurrection and the life." Not only will all who are in the graves hear His voice and come forth, He is to-day the Restorer of those dead in sin. To-day Jesus is working His miracles. The great Physician stands by the side of the faithful worker, saying to the repentant, discouraged soul, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." "I WAS IN PRISON, AND YE CAME UNTO ME."
By W. S. Sadler
"I WAS in prison, and ye came unto Me." Then they shall answer, "Lord, when saw we Thee . . . in prison, and came unto Thee?" This scripture suggests that many of those who visited Christ in prison had done so unconscious of the significance of their visit. Their ministrations were not confined alone to their brethren who were in prison as the result of persecution for Christ's sake. And on that last great day Christ will say to those on His left hand, "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me." Matt. 25:45. Our fitness for eternity seems to turn on the question of practical benevolence. Those on the right hand are there because they have ministered unto Christ in the person of needy humanity,—because they have visited the Master in prison, in the person of the prisoner. Those on the left hand are there because they failed to do these very things. Very little is being done to help the 100,000 prisoners who are at present occupying cells in the various penal institutions in this country. Is the prisoner entitled to the Gospel? Do we have a duty to perform in giving him an opportunity to see its precious rays? Have we done and are we now doing all we can to enlighten the darkened souls confined behind prison bars? Perhaps a thought like this comes up in the minds of many, "O, well, these people are criminals; they were born criminals!" Again, it may be you believe in the idea of "once a criminal, always a criminal." This is wrong. Crime is not hereditary, altho a certain tendency to lead a criminal life may be transmitted as a legacy from parent to child. Criminals are made, educated, trained; they are not born. Dear reader, let your innocent children be subjected to the same soul-and-mind-destroying influences that pervade the slums of a great city, and it will require but a very brief training to make them thorough-going criminals. It must be borne in mind that criminals are not all illiterate and uncultured. The sons and daughters of highly respectable parents are incarcerated behind the prison bars of almost every jail and prison in this country. Again, many men and women are arrested, convicted, and sentenced, even for long terms, for the most trivial offenses. I know of a man who was sentenced, if I remember correctly, to a term of five years in a State prison for stealing a ten-cent water-melon. I know of another well-meaning man, who is now working in one of our institutions in Chicago, who was sentenced to prison in an adjoining State for four years for taking and pawning a watch worth $1.50, during one of his spells of periodical drunkenness. Thus it will be observed that some are sent to prison for a comparatively small crime in the eyes of the world; while others who defraud and swindle their fellow-men out of thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars, are allowed their freedom. There is a mistaken idea abroad that prisoners are not deserving an effort for the betterment of their condition. There are many souls in prison who will respond to the first effort made to help them. And are the most desperate of criminals not worthy of at least a chance? Did not Christ live and die for them, as well as for the more hopeful cases? Could the reader have the privilege of seeing the many hundreds of letters which we have received as the result of the special Prisoners' number of the Life Boat, issued about a year ago, he would be thoroughly convinced that there are many sincere souls behind prison bars who are longing for light and truth. Let us extend a helping hand of tender sympathy to the prisoner. Take him by the hand, and bid him rise. Shall we take an interest in the prisoner, or shall we leave this great work for others to do? The third angel's message leaves out no class of men or women. Christ said, "I was in prison, and ye visited Me not." One of the things which Christ Himself makes the basis of the final test in the judgment is not too insignificant for us to take hold of. This entire paper might be filled with the encouraging results which have attended our efforts to reach the prisoner, but we can not say more now. My prayer is that you will do all you can to reach out a helping hand to these unfortunate souls. W. S. SADLER. Fidelity and Business Success
By Paston
FIDELITY is seven-tenths of business success. "THERE is only one person you need to manage—yourself." Weakness Revealed by Anger
"To be angry with weak men is to prove our own weakness." ELIJAH AND HIS PROTOTYPES.
THE Bible deals in types. Adam is a type of the race. Cain is a type of evil men; Abel, of those who have faith in God. Noah in his name and work is a type of Christ. Abraham is a type of the faithful. Babel is a type of an attempt of organized self-salvation. Moses is a type of the great Teacher. And so we might enumerate throughout the Scriptures. Here is a picture, brief and imperfect, of the kingdom of Israel nine centuries before Christ: On the throne was weak and wicked Ahab, more weak than wicked. He was molded and led by the crafty, strong, utterly unprincipled Jezebel, a Zidonian princess, and a devotee of Baal, the Phenician sun-god. As a result of her influence over Ahab, he "went and served Baal, and worshiped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove [the Asherah]; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." 1 Kings 16:31-33. And the prophets of Baal numbered 450, and the prophets of the Asherah, that ate of Jezebel's bounty, 400. 1 Kings 18:19. All Israel was carried away by the idolatry. All the precepts of the Decalogue were transgressed, more especially those forbidding idolatry, Sabbath-breaking, and adultery. The worship of Baal and the Asherah included all the nameless abominations of licentious nature-worship. Against this flood-tide of iniquity God sent the prophet of the wilderness. With the suddenness of a lightning's flash, unheralded, unattended by visible escort, he appears upon the scene. From mountainous Gilead, where he dwelt as in the very presence of his Master, he appears before the startled king with the words, "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." 1 Kings 17:1. He was God's messenger to reprove and warn sin-blinded Israel, and evidently among his earliest hearers was the king. There were but few who listened and fewer still who heeded the prophet's strong denunciations of sin and his earnest warnings of the sure harvest of wrath. The drought came, and the people of Israel reaped the harvest of their own sowing in the bare fields, the dry waterbeds, the dying herds, and the famine-stricken inhabitants. But instead of perceiving that they themselves were a cause of the suffering, they still worshiped the helpless gods of wood and stone. More than this, Ahab, who represented the State, stirred up by Jezebel, who represented the church, persecuted the prophet, hunting for him not alone throughout Israel, but among the adjacent nations. But God heard and delivered the prophet, and finally took him to Himself. Nor was Elijah's work vain. It seemed so to him at times, yet God had called out His faithful remnant, the 7,000 loyal souls, who had bowed not the knee to Baal, nor kissed him. God's judgments finally overtook both Ahab and Jezebel; they died in miserable dishonor. Almost a millennium later we find the Jewish nation, not sunken in Baal-worship, not led by the libidinous priests of the Asherah, but cast in a mold of dead formalism, enslaved to erroneous and elaborate tradition, and divided into various schools and sects. Formalism and hypocrisy cloaked a multitude of sins, and tradition had made void the commandments of God. One of the chief rulers in Palestine, Herod Antipas, a professed Jew, was a votary of pleasure and debauchery, led on by his mad infatuation for his guilty paramour, Herodias, the legal wife of Herod Philip. Ruler and people were as guilty before God as were Ahab and his subjects of old; and Herodias possessed all the malignity of Jezebel, if not her brilliancy and intellect. As of old, God sent His prophet to warn His people. Nay, more, He prepared that prophet in the wilderness as He had before prepared Elijah. He sent forth John the Baptist to reprove, rebuke, and warn Israel, and so to prepare them for the Coming One. Many heard his words; few heeded them. From the enslaved soldier to King Herod, conscience was aroused. But because of his message of reproof, the Jezebel of Herod put to death John the Baptist. How fitting was the type of Elijah! The backslidden people, the weak, wicked king, the skewed, crafty, scheming, ambitious woman, the bold prophet with his soul-stirring message, and the persecution which followed, of nine hundred years before Christ, were all more or less reproduced in the days just preceding the first advent of our Lord. Neither did John meet the type in its fulness. The prophet declares: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers with the children, and the heart of the children with their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Mal. 4:5, 6, R.V., margin. The great and terrible day of the Lord has not yet come; but all the indications of its coming, given of God in His Word, show that it is near and hasteth greatly. What is the condition of the professed Christian world?—It is just this: (1) A sad lament comes from the spiritual in all denominations that backsliding and apostasy and infidelity and cold formalism have honeycombed the church. Hypocrites, without number, are masquerading under the garb of piety. Traditions of the Dark Ages, having no foundations in the Word of God, such as that child of apostasy the heathen Sunday, make void the law of the Most High. The rulers of the present—the Ahabs of the State—are being beguiled by the apostate church, the Jezebel of the present, to unite more closely and to confirm by statute law the traditions of men. The times of Elijah are lived again in our generation. Will God again send a message? He did in the apostasy of Ahab. He did in the apostasy of the Herods and the Annases. He will in this generation. One man was sufficient for the type—Israel. His voice could be heard throughout the little typical land. One man was sufficient for later Israel. It was the same land, and the children of the same people. But the last message must be world-wide. It must reach the church of all lands. Through the church it must go out to all the nations of the earth. One man can not give the message, Elijah must be multiplied. Men in every land, in every clime, humble before God, seeing Him who is invisible, conscious of His presence, knowing His word and power, imbued with a love for souls, clothed with the Holy Ghost, must go forth in "the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts" of young and old to Christ and His salvation, as a refuge from the second death, the fruit of sin. These messages will be given:— "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand." Joel 2:1. "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." This "everlasting Gospel," with its faithful reproofs and warnings, will be given to the world, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. In fact, it is now being given to the world. God's searching, reproving, condemning, saving truth will be preached. It may cost some their lives, as it did John the Baptist. It will cost many persecution, as it7 did Elijah. But it will be given—given to save men. Only the lovers of sin will reject it. Those who desire to do right, and all may, will heed it and be saved. They will turn from Baal to Jehovah, from the "traditions of men" to "the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." And, as that message, with its hammer blows and fire-searching truths, comes to us, we must not say, We are the church; we are the children of "the fathers;" we are "sons of Abraham;" for, as of old, God is able of the stones of the desert to raise up children unto Abraham. Even now, as then, the ax is laid at the root of the tree; and every one that beareth not good fruit will be cast into the fire. But there is eternal salvation for every one in Christ Jesus who will heed the message. "Come on now, and let us plead together," is Christ's invitation to the sinner. This is Lowth's rendering of Isa. 1:18. The thought is not that God wants to argue with the sinner. The case is this: the sinner is sick, full of wounds and bruises and festering sores. From head to foot he is a mass of corruption, the outbreaking of the deadly virus of sin. His sins are scarlet and crimson, and he can not wash out the colors. The broken law condemns the sinner. He fears to approach his God, who gave the law. He has no standing at heaven's court. His sins have disbarred him forever. He is doomed to certain death. But even as he waits and contemplates what seems his certain doom, a glorious Being, with kindly face, clothed in the shining robes of righteousness, takes the leprous, disconsolate sinner by the hand, and in loving, hearty, assuring tones says, "Come on now, and let us plead together." He has standing at the court of heaven. He has met all the demands of the Judge. He has passed through all in which we have failed, and issued spotless. He wrought all His work for us. He is the only one whose life can condemn us; and He pleads that life in our behalf. O sinner, will you not heed His voice? Will you not accept His invitation? He says, "Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live." “GENERATION OF VIPERS.”
By G.
WHEN John the Baptist “saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Matt. 3:7. When speaking to this same class of people, Jesus used the same expression, “O generation of vipers,” and added the significant question, “How can ye, being evil, speak good things?” Chapter 12:34. In quoting these expressions of Jesus and John, in both instances the Revised Version reads, “Ye offspring of vipers.” The idea is the same as in John 8:44, where Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” In contrasting His teaching with that of the Jewish teachers and rulers, Jesus had said, “I speak that which I have seen with My Father; and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.” Verse 38. Now when we reflect that the devil is Satan, “that old serpent” (Rev. 12:9), who induced our first parents to disobey God, and thus imbued the whole race with a spirit of disobedience, we have the clue to what constitutes a “generation of vipers.” Sin was brought into the world by a disregard of the law of God (1 John 3:4), and that law was the Ten Commandments (Rom. 7:7). It was the existence of the law that made sin possible; “for without the law sin was dead.” Verse 8. That the law existed before it was repeated on Mount Sinai is briefly shown by two other scriptures: “The wages of sin is death” (chapter 6:23), and “death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression” (chapter 5:14). Then the generations before Moses were the generations or offspring of “vipers,” being children of the devil. Those who were faithful to God were individual exceptions to the general rule. In the time of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ the Jewish people were the recognized custodians of the oracles of God. They not only professed to be His people, but ceremonially they were so recognized. Then how could John and Jesus call them the “offspring of vipers,” the children of the devil?—Because they had made void the law of God by substituting their own traditions. They did not formally reject the law, but they perverted its purpose by their own construction of its terms. It was in this that they followed in the way of Satan, even to the extent of putting Christ to death. This was a generation that brought upon themselves special condemnation. Their rejection of Christ brought upon them “all the righteous blood shed upon the earth.” Matt. 23:35. If in all the ages of the past, the persistent violation of the law of God constituted men the “offspring of vipers,” and made them the children of the devil, what shall be said of those who do the same things to-day? If the advocacy of human tradition instead of the law of God could lead men to crucify the Lord of glory in times past, to what extremes will they be led who, in a time of far greater light, ignore His perfect, unchangeable law? If in that time such rejection of the righteous law would bring upon them also the results of their fathers’ wicked deeds, what shall be the consequences to those who do the same thing under greater light and more favorable circumstances generally. Here is the principle which Christ laid down to the “offspring of vipers” who in His day claimed to be children of God while making void His law:— “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation [offspring] of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Matt. 23:29-33. These are the warning words of Christ; and such are the consequences of being led away from His plain law by the traditions of men who ministered in sacred things. In these last days, when it has become so common to teach the abolition of the law of God, and to set up human institutions and ordinances in lieu thereof, it is high time that the warning be earnestly repeated. Spiritual Decline.
By Editor
The Christian Advocate, the organ of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in reviewing what it calls the best statistics of the kind ever spread before the Methodist Episcopal Church, tells us that in the whole period of four years the entire church has increased but four per cent., or one per cent. a year. The white conferences of the South have increased five and five-tenths per cent., and the foreign conferences twenty-eight per cent. The Middle States have increased but two and six-tenths per cent., or only a little more than a half per cent. per annum for the four years. The colored conferences show less increase than the Middle States. . . . The figures conclusively prove that conversions are declining. And even some of the conversions reported are questioned by the Advocate. We are told, what every one familiar with many modern revivals knows, that some in response to a question as to whether they wish to become Christians, simply ask people to raise their hands. Those responding are counted as conversions. Some pass through the Sabbath [Sunday] school, taking the names of children that are willing to join upon probation, and, without serious examination or certain knowledge that the children are aware of what they are doing, further than that they acquiesce in the suggestions of their teachers and pastors, report them as converted. It is not a difficult matter to get a “show of hands” after a warm exhortation in almost any place. We have seen such manifestations repeatedly in jail work. After setting forth the sure result of sin and the love of Christ in saving sinners, a whole company of hardened men, moved for the moment, would raise their hands, on being asked if they desired to be Christians. But neither conviction nor desire is conversion. We have reached that time foretold by our Lord: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matt. 24:12, 13. The superficial, false revivals of the present day are well described by the prophet: “They have begotten strange children; now shall a month devour them with their portions.” Hosea 5:7. “Your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.” Hosea 6:4. “Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people [the world]; Ephraim is a cake not turned.” Hosea 7:8. The Christian Advocate truly says that “the human element is so strong that only the protracted test of future life can show whether the convert gave his heart to God, to the pastor, or to the society.” But it would not be if men preached not themselves, but “Christ Jesus the Lord.” What power is represented by "the king" in Dan. 11:36-39? and is "a king" a proper translation? S. I. A. 1. To answer the last question first, "a king" is a rendering by no authority or translation with which we are acquainted. The Hebrew reads "the king." Both the King James Version and the Revised Version read "the king." The Septuagint reads, "And he shall do according to his will, and the king [ho basileus] shall exalt and magnify himself," etc. The Douay Bible reads, "the king;" so also Boothroyd, who has been cited on the other side; Spurrell, who follows Wintle, the same; the Bible Commentary italicizes "the definite article 'the king,'" as without question. Scott, Clarke, and others are the same. There is not only no dissent from the regular rendering, but in some cases it is incidentally confirmed, and with none is there an intimation that another reading or rendering is admissible. 2. We know of but one power in which the specifications are met, and that is the Papacy, the apostasy of the Dark Ages. Certainly, the Papacy has done "according to his will;" he has exalted and magnified himself above every god, "above all that is called God, or that is worshiped" (2 Thess. 2:4); he has spoken marvelous things ("great swelling words," Septuagint, see Dan. 7:25) against God; he has prospered, and will till the end (Dan. 7:21, 22). Having exalted himself "above all that is called God, or that is worshiped," he has shown no regard for the true God, the God of the apostles, whom he claims as his fathers. He has not regarded "the desire of women," or "wives," as some render, having shown this in the vows of celibacy of the priesthood and of perpetual virginity. He has brought in new objects of worship. He, contrary to Christianity, of which the Papacy is a corruption, has honored the god of "forces," of war, of conquest, in converting the world, placing them on a level with God. Boothroyd renders: "But in his state together with God will he honor the protecting powers [the demons, under the names of saints, martyrs, and angels]; even together with God will he honor those whom his fathers knew not, with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and desirable things. Thus will he do; to the defenders of these protecting powers, together with God, whom he will certainly acknowledge, he will multiply honor, and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain." All of which has been fulfilled in adoration of saints, in Mariolatry, in the honor given to the defenders of this worship, giving to them and their monasteries, convents, and orders, the best and richest part of all lands wherever that power ruled. Every specification of the prophecy is met in Papal Rome and in no other power. In Dan. 11:36-39 is set forth the character of the power which does the work of persecution mentioned in verses 33-35. See also Dan. 7:8, 11, 21, 25; Rev. 13:5-10; 2 Thess. 2:3, 4. RESULTS OF THE ECUMENICAL MISSIONARY CONFERENCE.
By L. A. P.
THE question of results naturally arises as one reviews this gathering, the largest of its kind thus far convened,—large enough and influential enough to absorb every other great attraction and topic of conversation in a great city for ten days, and to hold the attention of the world for the time being. Its 75 meetings showed an attendance of 163,000; the entertainment of delegates required an outlay of $42,000; while no figures are given of the cost of transportation of the hundreds of representatives from 48 countries of the globe. To the outside observer the general proceedings of the conference appear disappointing. Plans for future work were little discussed, and, indeed, it would be well-nigh impossible for a gathering composed of representatives from nearly all Protestant bodies to outline definite plans of operation. Of necessity these must be left to denominational boards to perfect. Much was said and hinted at concerning comity,—union of operation in fields occupied by different societies,—but while hopes of such a result were vigorously agitated, it was observable that a very determined spirit of loyalty and adherence to denominational methods lay near the surface. It is claimed that one of the results to be expected is “a great acceleration of the cause of missions,” due to the immense advertising given missions by the presence and words of such old and well-known missionaries as Paton and Chamberlain and Taylor. In fact, the advertising feature seems to stand out as one of the most prominent purposes of the conference. And in order to reap the most benefit possible from this feature, and add to the occasion a worldly dignity at least, the program included an ex-President of the United States as chairman of the conference, and the presence at its opening meetings of President McKinley and the governor of New York. It is doubtful if the country and the world would have heard so much through the daily press of the conference, had it not been for the association of prominent men of the nation with its proceedings. And money is needed by mission boards. Hence all the above and more, with all the enthusiasm that went with it, are expected to touch and loosen the purse strings of those who give and those who have not given to mission enterprises. It is doubtless true that money is needed, and that honest souls wait to be sent. Would that many more were fired with the true missionary zeal. But alas for the church when it courts worldly favor and the prestige to be gained by the co-operation of even the highest in official political positions. The idea of country behind the missionaries received its share of discussion and favorable comment. Mr. Deering, of Japan, is reported as declaring that the impression made upon the non-Christian world by this conference would be “most salutary,” and that the holding of such a meeting, graced by the President of the United States, would convince the statesmen of the East—for example, in Japan—that Christianity is not an effete religion. It is a sad day for Christianity when evidence of its living powers is in anywise dependent upon the means cited. Then it is hoped that missionaries now at the front will be much encouraged as they learn of the doings of the conference. No doubt they will be. There were of stirring words a plenty, and statistical information, and appeals,—for speeches were the all-in-all of the program parts. One feature much noticed was a large collection of curios of all descriptions, brought by missionaries from strange lands, and arranged for convenient examination. This collection will remain permanently in the museum in Central Park, to be continually added to. It is not for man to be final judge of this great gathering and of the results. There is One who has observed every act and every motive, and judged all with eternal calmness and precision. Wherein He can use men and methods for the advancement of His kingdom, He will do so. Wherein men and methods are contrary to the spirit of His divine work, He overrules and sets aside. But when the “Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; . . . then shall the end come.” That time hastens. A WAVE of dissension has again struck the ranks of Presbyterians; and, while its main force has subsided, its rise reveals one of the serious evils attending creeds. Not long since, Dr. Hillis, Presbyterian pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church, Brooklyn, gave utterance to his disbelief in the doctrine of the election of a certain and definite number of human beings to everlasting death, which is one of the teachings of the Westminster Confession. Realizing that he could not consistently continue to declare against a doctrine appearing to him hateful, and remain in the church, Dr. Hillis has withdrawn from the Presbyterian denomination. No doubt he should have withdrawn before publicly assailing one of the standard creeds of the church. The episode has given occasion for much discussion pro and con, and it is very evident that the particular doctrine in question is believed by very few who subscribe to it. Objection has been long raised to it, but thus far the majority has refused to change it, preferring to retain the Confession in its entirety as a relic and memory of the rise of Presbyterianism. The remarkable thing is that any man can by any process of mental reservation excuse his action in subscribing to that in which he does not believe. All this only illustrates the evil of the creed idea. But, having once subscribed to it, the minister is morally bound to hold himself to its limits in his teaching, as long as he remains in the church whose doctrines are thus humanly and ultimately defined. A creed is a rut, a high wall, a narrow lane, an iron track. Its Gospel opposite is not anarchy, not lawlessness, not blind wandering, as some conclude, but divinely directed freedom in the great universe of truth, with the Guide the Word of God, which leads from truth to truth. Man may think he has arrived at the safe place to define belief; but he has only begun his journey. It is safe only to testify to the revelation of the hour, and go on, trusting in God.