Earlier text: Our Publishing WorkWealth, Poverty, and National Character
THINKING men are talking very plainly concerning the condition of things in this country as disclosed during the past two years. Speaking at Cornell University, President Jacob Gould Schurmann said:— The idle rich are an excrescence in any properly organized community. And in a democratic republic, in which every man has a vote, be assured that the rights which convention grants to property would be swept away if the propertied classes become idle, luxurious, selfish, hard-hearted, and indifferent to the struggles and toils of less fortunate citizens. The vice of the age is that men want wealth without undergoing that toil by which alone wealth is created. The love of money and the reckless pursuit of it is undermining the national character. Stewart L. Woodford, formerly minister to Spain, in an address at the commencement exercises at the Northwestern University, said:— It is not in the slum, the tenement-house, the fetid atmosphere of the places where the poor half live, that anarchy and socialism are bred. It is the way that you and I treat the poor—the way we spend our money, make use of our money, the disregard of law on the part of great corporations, the business principle that might makes right—that fosters these creeds and endangers the state. . . . Were not our forefathers more scrupulous in the matter of their social duties than we? Is there not in this generation a growing disposition to construe the law for one's self, to obey it when it suits our purpose, to disregard it when it inconveniences our ambitions? Reverence for law is the corner-stone upon which all our commerce is founded. If it falls into decay, the nation is in peril. Mr. Woodford might have added that regard for God's law is the basis of regard for civil law, and that the contempt cast upon God's law, in which many ministers have led, has done more than any other one thing to bring all law into contempt. The harvest of past sowing is now being reaped. At the commencement exercise of Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler is reported as saying that the protests now being made are not confined to the visionaries, but that many of the most cautious classes have begun to distrust the capacity of society as now organized to protect itself against freebooters and to prevent law and justice being made powerless before the greed for gain. E. A. Hitchcock, the secretary of the interior, in an address at the Harvard University commencement dinner said:— While it is historically true that this is the home of the physically brave, it is a question in my mind whether it is not too much the land of the free and too little the land of the morally brave; in other words, whether or not in various directions license has taken the place of liberty, and corruption has run riot at the expense of patriotism. These are serious statements by men who think seriously. Their unintentional testimony to the fulfilment of the prophecies concerning the last days is very forcible. Their views read like a commentary upon James 5:3, 4: “Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” The rich are taking just the course to bring confusion and destruction upon the world. Buddhist Thought and Christian Humility
The advocates of Eastern philosophy recognize the fact that their doctrine is permeating the thought of the Western world. This is plainly declared in the following paragraph taken from The Buddhist, published at Colombo, Ceylon:— The great influence which Buddhist thought is exercising upon the Western mind is clearly indicated by the manner in which Buddhist ideas are treated in the writings of modern Western scholars. Buddhist conceptions have evoked not merely literary interests in the West, but also a significant desire to adopt them as affording a better and a more reasonable explanation of the problems of life than is found in Christian philosophy. The central idea of all heathenism is self-worship. Self-exaltation is the very essence of heathenism. The doctrine of the divinity of humanity, which is being advocated so persistently in one form or another among the professed leaders of religious thought to-day, is only a variation of that bald self-worship which is found in the East. In marked contrast with this satanic doctrine is the true spirit of humility which is the essence of Christianity. The divine Saviour of men said: “I am meek and lowly in heart.” The psalmist David gave expression to right principle when he said: “My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.” The true Christian philosophy is taught through the apostle Paul in these words: “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.” Professed Christians should repudiate heathen philosophy. Priestly Intimidation of Voters
A LITTLE insight into the hold which the Catholic Church has upon its members politically is given in a case at law in Leipzig, Germany, decided on July 9, in which a Catholic priest was fined twenty dollars for threatening a voter, during an electoral campaign there, with denial of the sacrament if he did not vote for the Center Party candidate for the Reichstag. An appeal had been taken by the priest from a lower court; but the Imperial Supreme Court sustained the action of the lower court in fining the ecclesiastic. How much of this kind of electioneering is being done it is impossible to determine; for it is very evident that there are few Catholics who would dare to hale their confessor before the court even in a matter of this kind. This unchristian tampering with politics and intimidation of voters is but a natural outgrowth of the church-and-state idea, whether openly expressed or covertly maintained under a different name. To teach, to preach, to minister to the sick and sorrowing—these are the legitimate fields of the followers of Christ. To strive for worldly or political preferment, to threaten, to coerce—these are the occupations of the kingdom of darkness. Sincerity in Christian Example
SINCERITY is the preacher’s hope of success; for example goes farther than exhortation, and patterns are more powerful than preachers. “Be thou an example of the believers,” Sunday Observance and Roman Catholicism
The movement in behalf of the better observance of Sunday in England, in which the Roman Catholics have united with Protestants, is, as we expected, leading some persons to do some sober thinking upon the matter. The following paragraph from Present Truth (London) deals with one such instance:— While many are calling out in alarm at the rapid increase of Roman Catholic institutions in England, they themselves are helping to establish one. The Rev. W. R. Mowll protests that in seeking the help of the Church of Rome in the campaign for Sunday observance, the Church of England is asking aid of her “deadliest foe.” This is true. The Sunday is an offspring of the Church of Rome, and in working for the Sunday, Protestants are working for the interests of the Church of Rome. The alliance will lead them away from the Bible, and away from every principle of Sabbath-keeping. In the days of ignorance, men could keep Sunday honestly, believing that they were obeying God, but the light is shining to-day. Those who are found on the side of Sunday when the present conflict shall close, will have committed themselves to the cause of Rome. Aggressive Work to Be Done
By Ellen G. White
To Ministers and Physicians,— There is a heavy burden resting on my soul. I pray the Lord to impress the hearts of his people with the solemnity of the time in which they are living, and with the necessity of making straight paths for their feet. Some who have long known the truth are confused by leaders who have been walking in false paths. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” Christ declares. “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Those who have a living connection with Christ will reveal it by their works. “Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” We have reached an important chapter in our experience. We have advance movements to make. Straightforward work must be done. Faith without works is dead, unproductive of good. Faith works by love, and purifies the soul; faith must be revealed and substantiated by works. There is a spurious faith, which does not work to the point, because the heart is decidedly opposed to the truth. Some may take comfort in the thought that God will number them with his people because they make a profession. We may have a measure of faith, a knowledge of the theory of truth, but unless self dies, unless we live Christ's life of obedience, our profession is worthless. Nothing can take the place of obedience to a “Thus saith the Lord.” Knowledge that does not lead to a practise of self-denial and self-sacrifice, to a daily walk in the footsteps of Christ, but rather to self-exaltation and self-sufficiency, is opposed to practical godliness. God calls for obedience. Self-sufficiency, exercised in a family or an institution, means great injury to the work of God. It is destructive to the spiritual life of those who cherish it. True faith leads away from selfish plans and from the self-pleasing life. Obedience, in order to be acceptable to God, must be the whole-souled obedience that Christ ever offered to the Father. In response to the question, Who shall enter the kingdom of heaven? Christ says, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” What must we do to inherit eternal life? The answer is, Keep the commandments. To the question, Who are the blessed? Christ answers, “Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it.” “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. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” The theories that lead to unbelief in the Word of God and to a lack of the faith that works by love and purifies the soul, are theories of the enemy. They may be very pleasing, and very attractive, but they develop into strange doctrines, which unsettle faith in the past experience of God's people, and take away the foundation pillars. These theories have come in among us, and have been a seductive power, robbing some of the faith that enables human beings to see where they are living in the history of the world. They are false theories, leading away from the truth into subtle errors. When physicians are diligent students of the Scriptures, when our ministers live in accordance with the Word of God, making this Word their text-book, then the truth will be proclaimed with power, and souls will be converted. Christ, our divine Teacher, and the greatest Medical Missionary that ever trod this earth, came to our world at great sacrifice to show human beings the correct light in which to regard God. He has given his life as our example in all things. I have been instructed that those who in the daily life heed not the instructions of the Bible, do not know God or Christ, whom he has sent. Those who have not lived the Scriptures will invent sophistries to occupy the mind and absorb the attention, and teach things that the One who owns men—body, soul, and spirit—has not said should be taught. Just before his ascension, Christ gave his disciples a wonderful presentation, as recorded in the twenty-eighth chapter of Matthew. This chapter contains instruction that our ministers, our physicians, our youth, and all our church-members need to study most earnestly. Those who study this instruction as they should will not dare advocate theories that have no foundation in the Word of God. My brethren and sisters, make the Scriptures, which contain the alpha and the omega of knowledge, your study. All through the Old Testament and the New there are things that are not half understood. “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, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 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.” The giving of this message is our work in the world. Those of our people who are living in large centers would gain a precious experience, if, with their Bibles in their hands, and their hearts open to the impressions of the Holy Spirit, they would go forth to the highways and byways of the world with the message they have received. There is aggressive work to be done. Evangelistic work, opening the Scriptures to others, warning men and women of what is coming upon the world, is to occupy more and still more of the time of God's servants. Regarding the messages he had written out, John the Revelator declared: “I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things,”—to lessen the force of their meaning,—“God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.” Many will make the words of the Revelation a spiritualistic mystery, robbing them of their solemn import. God declares that his judgments shall fall with increased dreadfulness upon any one who shall try to change the solemn words written in this book—the Revelation of Jesus Christ. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein; for the time is at hand.” “If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?” Study these words. Study the instruction found in Matt. 25:14-46. Compare this instruction with your life record. Let every man put away his boasting. Self-sufficiency is a fearfully dangerous thing for any one to entertain. It leads men to make of no effect the words of Christ. Let us walk in the footsteps of Christ,9 in all the humility of true faith. Let us put away all self-trust, committing ourselves, day by day and hour by hour, to the Saviour, constantly receiving and imparting his grace. I beg those who profess to believe in Christ to walk humbly before God. Pride and self-exaltation are an offense to him. “If any man will come after me,” Christ declares, “let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Those only who obey this word will he recognize as his believing ones. “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.” “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” O, wonderful condescension! The Prince of heaven, the Commander of the heavenly hosts, stepped down from his high position, laid aside his royal robe and kingly crown, and clothed his divinity with humanity, that he might become the divine Teacher of all classes of men, and live before human beings a life free from all selfishness and sin, setting them an example of what, through his grace, they may become. “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.” Praise God for this wonderful statement! The possibilities that it presents seem almost too great for us to grasp, and put to shame our weakness and our unbelief. Let us praise God that we can see our Saviour by faith. Let us grasp the great gift. Our only hope in this life is to reach forth the hand of faith, and grasp the hand outstretched to save. Daily we are to “behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” If we would look away from self to Jesus, making him our guide, the world would see in our churches a power that it does not now see. To Be Alive
By Henry Sept Sutton
“How beautiful it is to be alive!”
To wake each morn as if the Maker’s grace
Did us afresh from nothingness derive,
That we might sing, “How happy is our case!
How beautiful it is to be alive!” To read in God’s great Book, until we feel
Love for the love that gave it, then, to kneel
Close up to him whose truth our souls will shrive,
While every moment’s joy doth more reveal
How beautiful it is to be alive!” Rather to go without what might increase
Our worldly standing, than our souls deprive
Of frequent speech with God, or than to cease
To feel, though having wasted health or peace,
How beautiful it is to be alive!” Not to forget, when pain and grief draw nigh,
Into the ocean of time past to dive
For memories of God’s mercies, or try
To bear all, sweetly hoping still to cry,
How beautiful it is to be alive!” T. E. BOWEN
By T. E. Bowen
Lessons From the Life of Judas — No. 3
Coming down to the close of Christ’s work, the last night the Saviour spent with his disciples, the crisis is reached in the life of Judas. When he had decided in his own mind not to identify himself so fully with Christ and his cause but that he could easily get out of it, in case it did not succeed,—and his was the worldly standard for success, sure failure in the spiritual,—he opened the way for his last terrible work of betraying his Lord into the hands of his enemies. He already had bargained to deliver Christ into the hands of the chief priests for thirty pieces of silver. But he did not consider this as a very wicked thing to do. He reasoned this way: He keeps saying that he must go up to Jerusalem and die. If he does that, then his work is a failure anyhow—no deliverance for Israel as the Scriptures have plainly foretold [misapplied scripture]. If he is really the Messiah, then my delivering him over into the hand of the chief priests will only give him another opportunity of manifesting his divine power, as he so many times has done in the past, in escaping their hand. In this case the cause will be ahead thirty pieces of silver. In either case, I shall be safe myself, and whichever way it turns, I shall have the glory. Anyhow, I will bring the matter to a decision. With all this in the mind of Judas, and the betrayal bargain made, Jesus and the disciples assembled for the passover feast. No one but Jesus knew that it was the last night he would spend with them. He had told them he was soon to leave them, but they were so bent on getting the most honorable place that they heeded not what was said. This contention and strife made the heart of the Lord very sorrowful. He would give them one more lesson in true greatness—true humility. Judas had pressed to what he supposed the highest place next to Christ. John was on the other side. Jesus then arose, and, as a servant, began to wash Judas’s feet. The heart of Christ longed for Judas. Divine love was loath to give him up. “When the Saviour’s hands were bathing those soiled feet, and wiping them with the towel, the heart of Judas thrilled through and through with the impulse then and there to confess his sin.” Had he done so, life and forgiveness would have been his. “But he would not humble himself. He hardened his heart against repentance; and the old impulses, for the moment put aside, again controlled him. Judas was now offended at Christ’s act in washing the feet of his disciples. If Jesus could so humble himself, he thought, he could not be Israel’s king. All hope of worldly honor in a temporal kingdom was destroyed. Judas was satisfied that there was nothing to be gained by following Christ, . . . and he resolved to complete the work he had agreed to do in betraying his Lord.” Had Judas yielded then while Jesus and God’s Spirit were yearning for his soul, his sin would even then have been forgiven him. Again they gather around the table. Every eye is upon the Lord. All are impressed with the solemnity of the occasion. With trembling lips Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.” The disciples in consternation look from one to another, and ask, “Is it I?” until all have spoken but Judas. Seeing that all were looking at him, he, too, repeats the question, “Is it I?” Let it be noted that up to this crucial moment Judas had passed as one of the twelve, not one of the disciples thinking him disloyal to the cause and work of Christ. Still Judas might have broken down and confessed his awful treachery. “He it is,” Jesus said, “to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas.” Then, his treachery being exposed, Judas gave himself over to the enemy, and the record says, from that time “Satan entered into him.” When Judas closed the door behind him, he shut himself forever away from the pardoning love of Christ—simply because he had refused it—and went out into night—that awful darkness and night of a ruined, lost soul. The next we see of Judas, he is at the head of a mob with swords and clubs and torches, bent on the arrest of Jesus. Think of the awful gulf spanned by Judas between the time when he decided, after hearing Jesus tell those about him that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, that he would not too closely unite his interests to the cause of Christ, and the time when he is standing at the head of this murderous mob. Little did he think then that it would come to this, and yet this was all in that other decision he had made when none but God knew. Without much trouble on Judas’s part they find the Saviour. They are greeted differently than they had expected. No fight, no struggle, but with a calm bearing, Jesus meets the mob with the question, “Whom seek ye?” “They [the mob] answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.” Notice, the work of Judas was all unnecessary after all. He was along with the mob for the express purpose of identifying Jesus. This was all they wanted of Judas. They knew that he knew him, and they were very anxious not to get the wrong man, so Judas was hired to point him out. How foolish Judas must have felt as he stood there, with the mob, and yet without a single thing for him to do. Christ gave himself up, but asked protection for the eleven that were standing with him. When Jesus finished saying, “I am” [the word “he” being supplied], a mighty angel, that one who had just strengthened the Lord, passed between the mob and the Saviour. Instantly they, and Judas with the rest, became as dead. When they came to and had risen to their feet, they were again met with that same question, “Whom seek ye?” Judas, then thinking of his forgotten task, approaches the Lord. As he did so, Jesus made it plain to him, as well as to all who heard, that he read his heart; for he asks, “Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?” But the traitorous kiss is given, and quickly the mob seize upon their coveted prey. When Judas beheld his Master meekly permit his hands to be bound, again he was surprised, for he expected to see Christ perform a mighty miracle and release himself. Thus worldly policy and wisdom again fail. The human is sure to err. The wisdom of earth becomes foolishness when arrayed against the purposes of Jehovah. Judas knew nothing of that terrible experience through which his divine Lord had passed the night before, which brought the Son to where even he could say, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” He was a stranger to all this.10 It was now seen by all, that when Jesus had been talking of the approaching hour of trial, he knew of what he spoke. And had they listened to him and taken heed to his word, they, too, might have been prepared for the trying hour. A Macedonian Call
By L. N. Muck
Once more I appeal to you in behalf of the blind of this country. We are bidden to go “into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” There are many Macedonian calls yet unanswered, and it seems to me that one of the most important of these is the earnest appeal for the third angel’s message which comes to us from the blind of this country. This call means that you and I, my brother and sister, must bestir ourselves to a fuller and more comprehensive understanding of what it means to give the third angel’s message to the blind. Again the warning comes, “Proclaim to the world that Jesus is soon coming.” We believe that the hour has come for the speedy finishing of this threefold message in the earth. We also believe that the blind are included in the number who are to receive the warning message. The Lord would have us consider the sad condition of the blind. Much has been written in the past setting forth the needs of this class, and I would beseech you to lift up your eyes, and get a glimpse of the great need of the blind. The Lord is ever mindful of the needs of his children, and I believe that he would have us pause and consider earnestly what our duty is concerning the blind. “The eyes of the Lord are in every place,” and I believe that he is watching to see what attitude we are going to take toward the two hundred thousand blind in our land. We read in “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, page 217: “We can not call ourselves true missionaries if we neglect those at our very doors.” The blind are within our reach. They are standing at the threshold of our doors. They are seeking admission. How shall we escape if we neglect to proclaim to them that Jesus is soon coming? We are told that if we neglect this class, their blood will be required at our hands, because we are the watchmen. We have the warning message. The fact is that there are libraries filled with novels and fiction for those who can not see. The ones who have been so eager to provide literature for the blind have forgotten that the blind boy or girl has a soul to save. Let us lift up our eyes, and behold the needs of this great work. I appeal to the president of each union and local conference to consider the number of blind in his field. In the Atlantic Union Conference there are nearly thirty thousand blind, and if the union conference would give two hundred dollars, and each local conference one hundred dollars, hundreds of the blind could receive the message. This is a small amount, and each conference ought to bear its share. All the blind are not willing to hear the message, but hundreds from the Atlantic Union are earnestly calling for the gospel. This is a Macedonian call which should be answered. Do you hear it? There are thousands of unfortunate beings in the Southern Union Conference. And while these weaker conferences may not be able to raise the required amount, let each one do something. And those conferences in the North that are better prepared financially to assist, will be stirred to give of their means to proclaim the message to the blind in the South. Hundreds appeal to us from the Southwestern Union Conference; and while this field has many home calls for the work among those who see, yet God wishes us not to overlook the weaker ones. The blind are among us, and we must not neglect their calls. In the Northern Union little has been done up to the present time for the promulgation of the gospel among the blind; but at the Northern Union Conference held last spring, and at the camp-meetings held in that territory recently, steps were taken to raise funds to supply reading-matter to the blind in that field. The Lake Union and Central Union Conferences have also expressed a willingness to co-operate with us. Several hundred dollars have been pledged by the Lake Union. Here are the fields, and the question is, Do we really mean it when we say, “The time has come for us to sound an alarm to the whole world”? If we do, my brother, I beseech you to co-operate with me in giving the last message to the thousands of blind now ready for it. Send all contributions to Miss Katie Coleman, Secretary, College View, Neb. GEO. O. STATES
By GEO. O. STATES
Lessons From Past Experiences—No. 1
In the summer of 1853 some meetings were held in a new barn, in Sylvan, for the believers in Jackson County, Mich. This meeting was conducted by Brother and Sister White, and most of the Michigan ministers were present. My mother had but recently begun to keep the Sabbath, and I think was baptized at this meeting. On this occasion Sister White was taken off in vision, and was shown some things relating to the work in Michigan. She had a personal testimony for H. S. Case, which he rejected. In those early days of the message we had no organization, and any one who felt he had a call to give the message would simply get some minister in good standing to give him a written statement to recommend him to our people. In this way there came in among us some poor representatives of the truth they were preaching. In this vision Sister White was shown that some of the ministers were using tobacco, and they were reproved for so doing. One minister got up and argued in favor of tobacco, saying it was a help to him, that some had declared how good one of his sermons was, but the fact was when he preached it he had a piece of tobacco in his mouth that had been soaked in brandy overnight. Brother White remarked that he must have preached under the inspiration of tobacco and brandy instead of the Spirit of God. My mother explained to me about Sister White’s visions, that she was for some time without breathing while her eyes were open, the same as were the prophets in Bible times. Although I was only a child, these things made impressions which are still very vivid upon my mind. As a result of that Testimony, it was decided that the use of tobacco was not in keeping with the message which was to prepare a people to “stand without fault before the throne,” and that hereafter no one would be recommended to preach who used it. Those who cared more for their tobacco than for the truth left us when this test of loyalty to God was brought to bear upon them. The Gospel in the Book of Job
AN Englishman said, to me, “Mr. Moody, did you ever study the life of Job?” I said, “No, I never did.” He said, “If you get a key to Job, you get a key to the whole Bible.” “What has Job to do with the Bible?” He said, “I will tell you. I will divide the subject into five heads. First, Job, before he was tried, was a perfect man untried. He was like Adam in Eden before Satan came in. Secondly, he was tried by adversity. Thirdly, the wisdom of the world is represented by Job’s friends trying to restore him. See what language they used. They were wonderfully wise men, but they could not help Job out of his difficulties. Men are miserable comforters when they do not understand the grace of God. Job could stand his scolding wife and his boils better than these men’s arguments; they made him worse instead of better. Fourthly, God speaks, and Job humbles himself in the dust. God, before he saves a man, brings him down into the dust. He does not talk about how he has fed the hungry and clothed the naked; but he says, I am vile. Fifthly, God restored him, and the latter end of Job was better than the first.”—Selected. Confidence in the New Testament
A MAN must believe the New Testament record about Jesus before he can believe in Jesus. It is a poor sort of logic and a poor sort of faith that professes to hold on to Christ while it discredits the truthfulness of that record. It is readily admitted that it is faith in Christ which saves, but faith in Christ is based upon faith in the Scriptures. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”—Central Baptist. Home Discipline
By C. M. S.
There is perhaps no duty of the parent that is at times more perplexing than the matter of discipline in the home; and while it is so often a matter of perplexity, it is also a matter of the utmost importance. Were it an unimportant matter, it would not have received the attention it has in the Word of God. The admonition to “train up a child in the way he should go” presupposes that the one who is to do the training should know what that way is. It presupposes a wisdom on the part of the parent that is not drawn wholly from human sources. The disciplining of the child should go hand in hand with a study of the Word upon the matter of the relation of parent and child. The parents who make such a study will not be found indulging in a burst of passion, especially in the presence of the children; for such an act on the part of a parent is one of the most forceful kinds of training there is. The training by example is the training most sure to be effective. To set such an example is to train a child in the way he ought not to go. Thus it is seen that the training of the child begins best and most effectively when it begins with that child’s parent. Never let anger, hatred, malice, envy, or jealousy manifest itself in word or tone or expression of the face. As surely as it does, the child will copy it, and take the same means of expressing it. What he sees you do he will intuitively do, especially if that is something that were better left undone. Of precept and example the latter has the greatest training influence. In any controversy between precept and example the latter always finds the greatest number of followers. He who would discipline his children aright must first discipline himself in harmony with the God-given standard. What he wishes to work out in their lives he must work out in his own, so that it will show out in the life he lives before them. It will never do to have his example contradict his teaching; for the words of one’s example are much louder than the words of his teaching, and attract much more attention. To discipline is the parent’s duty; but it must not all be done upon the child. The Hands he Used
By Edith G. Cherry
My hands were filled with many things,
Which I did precious hold
As any treasure of a king,
Silver, or gems, or gold.
The Master came, and touched my hands,
The scars were in his own;
And at his feet my treasures sweet
Fell shattered one by one;
“I must have empty hands,” said he,
“Wherewith to work my works through
thee.” My hands were stained with marks of
toil,
Defiled with dust of earth,
And I my work did ofttimes soil,
And render little worth.
The Master came, and touched my hands,
And crimson were his own;
And when, amazed, on mine I gazed,
Lo, every stain was gone!
“I must have cleansed hands,” said he,
“Wherewith to work my works through
thee.” My hands were growing feverish,
And cumbered with much care;
Trembling with haste and eagerness,
Nor folded oft in prayer.
The Master came, and touched my hands,
With healing in his own;
And calm and still to do his will,
They grew, the fever gone.
“I must have quiet hands,” said he,
“Wherewith to work my works through
thee.” My hands were strong in fancied
strength,
But not in power divine,
And bold to take up tasks at length;
That were not his, but mine.
The Master came, and touched my hands,
And mighty were his own;
But mine, since then, have powerless
been,
Save his were laid thereon.
“And it is only thus,” said he,
“That I can work my works through
thee.” A CAUSTIC observer says that the devil of indigestion holds full sway in some localities, because the frying-pan has a firm grip on the affections of the people. He complains of seeing tall, gaunt men, with sallow faces like a corpse, having perfect satisfaction with the country, but a lack of high, strong ambitions; women, gaunt, haggard, and hopeless-looking, all traces of womanly beauty long since gone, every line of their faces showing want, privation, neglect of all sanitary laws, and unvaried monotony of unwholesome food; little children, flabby, yellow, pallid, with old faces; and you will be told that this is malaria. But it is the frying-pan. Give them wholesome boiled and roasted foods, abolish grease and boiling in lard, and let them make their meals on fruits, clean vegetables, and cereals, and within a year's time you would not recognize them as the same beings.—The Commoner. Reproved by the World
By C. M. S.
For many years our people have been instructed concerning healthful living, and have been warned against narcotics and stimulants. Many have heeded the advice, and are loyally following the counsel of the Lord. Others have “followed afar off,” or not at all. It may be a matter of interest to know that some of the people of the world are turning away from such beverages as tea and coffee, and are not afraid to give their reasons for so doing. While the injurious effects of tea drinking are not so pronounced where its use has been moderate, still, like any drug, its harm is proportionate to the amount used. The London Lancet thus speaks regarding the use of that beverage:— “Tea has undoubtedly its victims as well as alcohol, though we think that it would be absurd to say that the former beverage shares with the latter any serious connection with crime. Both, of course, may easily be sources of disturbance to health, and immoderate tea drinking is, in one sense, just as physiologically sinful as drinking an alcoholic beverage to excess. Alcohol is, of course, a more insidious poison than tea, and its effects are more drastic and perceptible. Nevertheless, tea may be equally stealthy in disturbing functional equilibrium.” “As a factor in disease excessive tea drinking is very often overlooked, and it does not occur to many persons that tea may be the source of their trouble. At any rate, when the abuse of tea in such instances gives place to the drinking of it in a rational manner and in moderate quantities, the common symptoms of disturbance of the gastric function, such as flatulence and irregular action of the heart, and of the nervous system, disappear.” “In poor families, where the teapot is always on the hob and the worst qualities of the leaves are thoroughly extracted, the imbibition of the poisonous stew being indulged in all day, the effects on the health have many points in common with those arising from the alcohol habit. Such persons are, as a rule, ill-nourished, tea often being taken to stay the pangs of hunger; they are confirmed dyspeptics; gastric ulcer is common among them, and their nervous systems are seriously affected.” By the “abuse of tea” the writer means its excessive use; and yet, when we know the nature of the brew, when we know that tea is a drug and not a food, we need not hesitate to affirm that any use of it whatever is an abuse—an abuse of our own system. As it interferes with the digestion of the starchy foods, it is an injury to the system if taken in any quantity, and might, therefore, be said to be taken in excess when taken at all. These plain statements from men of the world must come somewhat in the nature of a reproof to those among us who have so long been instructed upon this point and still indulge in the harmful practise.