The New York World reports that the Jewish Daily News has received a special letter from a prominent Jew who was sent to Stockholm from Russian Poland by the Jews to transmit to the people of the United States accounts of the horrifying persecutions through which they are passing. The native Polish populace is bitter toward the Russians, and they are circulating the story that every Jew in the land is a Russian spy. Many stories are put into circulation to create suspicion, prejudice, and hatred against the Jewish people living in that unfortunate land. These stories are said to be either exaggerations or else downright falsehoods, and the report tells of hundreds who have been cruelly put to death as a consequence of the sentiment that has been created.
We rise in indignation over such reports coming to us from Poland; but if we will stop and reflect upon the matter a bit, we11will readily call to mind that such plans of manufacturing sentiment against opposing factions is very common. Charges of that character have been made again and again in this country between the opposing battalions of capital and labor. The capitalist will affirm that the laboring man is circulating false stories in order to create prejudice against him, and on the other hand the laboring man will make the same assertion concerning the wealthy capitalist.
Now it is not necessary, for the purposes of these paragraphs, to consider the truth or the falsity of any of the claims set forth, either among those people in America or any other part of the world; but it is apparent to every one who reflects, that this plan is creating hatreds and strifes, and the war spirit in the world is a manifestation of it. Why is it that men can not see that conditions are ripening everywhere for unprecedented rioting and revolutions? And it is just such things as this that God has told us in His word would come in this generation. But the populace seem to be blind to the fact, and are rushing headlong into evil conditions. And while all of this is progressing, they are proclaiming at the same time that the world is becoming more peaceable and better. Only blindness can keep people from seeing things that are so plain.
THE PAPACY IN PROPHECY
By R. C. P.
Is to Dominate the World Again — The Last Milepost of Prophecy
It is always interesting to the student of prophecy to observe in current history the minute application of predictions made by prophets millenniums in the past.
It is well known to all Bible students that the papacy is a subject of prophecy. Its location among the ten kingdoms of Europe, the time and manner of its rise, its position of supremacy as a spiritual power, its reign of terror during the days of the Inquisition, are all clearly outlined in Daniel 7 and Revelation 17.
THE DEADLY WOUND IS HEALED
There is a very extraordinary prediction made in prophecy about the overthrow of the temporal supremacy of the papacy. It is declared that when the temporal supremacy of the papal power is overthrown, it will be accomplished by the infliction of a deadly wound. But after this, when that hierarchy is supposed to be dead, it is to arise and command the world’s admiration and worship. “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” Rev. 13: 1-3.
THE MOST STRIKING SIGN
The fulfillment of this prophecy constitutes a most striking sign of the end of the world. When, under the influence of the Reformation, the French republic captured the pope in the city of Rome, in 1798, and carried him prisoner to France and declared that city a republic, the temporal supremacy of the papacy was completely broken. The deadly wound was inflicted. The world said, The papacy has had its day and has passed into history.
The prophet had predicted not only that the papacy should still live, but that as a spiritual power it should again so arise to supremacy that all the world should in amazement be captivated by her power, and bow to her authority. Revelation 13. Not only so, but it is as emphatically stated that she shall as a last act before her final overthrow by the King of kings at His second advent, again attempt as of old to compel, through religious persecution, the worship of the whole world.
A SPIRITUAL WORLD-EMPIRE
The world has recently very unexpectedly read the news of the death of the pope of Rome, Pius X. In reviewing his life, and the history of the papacy during the last century, it was stated, in connection with the announcement, that “the papacy at the outset of the twentieth century possessed a vigor that it was far from possessing a hundred years earlier. There can be little doubt, although the curia would not admit it, that the spiritual power of the papacy has been greatly increased by the loss of the temporal power. The pope is no longer a petty Italian prince, but the monarch of a vast, admirably organized spiritual world-empire.” (Italics mine.) (The China Press, August 21, 1914.)
This is precisely what is predicted of the papacy in Rev. 17: 3-8: “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication; and upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
“I SIT A QUEEN”
It is here plainly foretold that just before the papacy goes into perdition, as she has been drunken with the blood of the saints and martyrs in the past, she will arise to drink the blood of saints and martyrs again. This hierarchy which was a persecuting power, but for a period after the overthrow of the temporal power was seen shorn of that power, ascends again to her former position as a persecuting power before her final visitation of divine judgment. At that moment of exaltation she will say: “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” Rev. 18: 7, 8.
THE LAST WAYMARK
No panorama ever more fully revealed any historic scene than statements of current history present the rise to world supremacy of the papal power in her spiritual-political relation to the nations of the world. The end is not yet. She is fast rising to the climax of the prophetic scene when she will assume world supremacy in the spiritual realm as she did during the Dark Ages. That is the last waymark before the second coming of Christ as universal King of a clean universe. We are now facing the close of earth’s history and the ushering in of the everlasting kingdom of Christ. These prophetic signs were given as warnings by which the world should be aroused to preparation for the judgment of God. Every thoughtful reader should pause, consider, and prepare.
R. C. P.
Question Corner
By Milton C. Wilcox
Conducted by MILTON C. WILCOX
Professor of Biblical Exegesis of the Faculty of the College of Medical Evangelists
Loma Linda, California
NOTE.—This department is for the purpose of helping Bible students. Answers must of necessity be brief, often only suggestive, never exhaustive, never infallible except as they agree with the infallible Word. Such questions only will be answered as seem to the editors to minister to the mission of the paper. Questions of the same import can not be answered repeatedly in the same volume. Name and address must be given, not for publication, but as evidence of good faith and to insure reply by letter if thought best. It is well always to inclose stamp, not stamped envelope, unless answer is desired by letter alone.
68—Making Things Right
One writes to us that he was once not always honest; but since he found Christ, he desires to make all things right. And this he has done so far as he knows, except a small sum which he names. But the two persons to whom this sum belongs he can not find. He asks what to do, inasmuch as he does not wish to keep the money, for it is not his.
Instruction regarding restoration of anything not belonging to us is given in Lev. 6: 2-5; Num. 5: 6-8, and elsewhere. The text in Numbers clearly shows that after the man to whom it belonged, it went to his kinsman; but if he had no kinsman, it was to be given to the Lord, for some purpose of the Lord's work. It might be used to feed the poor, sent to famine-stricken sufferers in China, or for some such purpose. Thank God for the tender conscience, the awakened desire, the holy, unswerving purpose to do right. Let our brother keep on. He will find it a way of blessing, as would thousands of others who have failed in similar ways. May God hear his prayer for His afflicted ones.
If a man is satisfied in his mind that Sunday is all right, why is it not as much right as Saturday, a Jewish law? By the Times, all men will be lost unless they keep Saturday. Paul says, “Judge not.” Why not put more time and work on saving souls, instead of converting them to Saturday?
T. N.
We can not answer questions in “the next paper,” to our correspondents; for that is made up and oftentimes printed between the time when their letter is written and when it reaches us. Then, too, there are always many questions on hand.
Col. 2: 16 was explained in our issue of September 15, before T. N.’s letter reached us. But Rom. 14: 5 involves the same principle. We reply briefly:
1. This paper does not teach that all men will be lost unless they keep Saturday. God alone knows who will be lost and who saved. He judges justly by the light men follow or fail to follow.
2. We desire, above all things, that all whom we can reach shall be converted—not to us, but to God. It is against God that “all have sinned.” Rom. 3: 23. “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6: 23. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” John 3: 4. “Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7: 7. The last scripture quoted decidedly proves, as does also James 2: 8-12, that sin is the transgression of the Decalogue, commandments of which are quoted. To save man from death, God must save man from sin and sinning. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1: 21. “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity [law-breaking].” Titus 2: 14. Jesus therefore saves not only from past sins, but from present sinning. He pardons that we may be loyal. He cleanses that we may by His grace remain clean. Would our brother have the Lord forgive a thief, and would he then tell the thief to go back to stealing if in harmony with his mind? The faith that makes us a “new creature” is the “faith which worketh by love” (Gal. 5: 6); and love keeps all God’s commandments (1 John 5: 3).
3. We desire to convert no one to Saturday. The mere laying off from work twenty-four hours has in it no merit or witness. It is Sabbath-keeping that God calls for. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Ex. 20: 8-11)—not to make it holy, but to keep holy what God has made holy; and only a man whom God has cleansed can keep holy God’s holy Sabbath. We labor to bring souls to Christ, that in Him they may become in faith obedient followers of the Master. Needless were His grace if it did not make us loyal.
4. It is not our mind that we are to seek to satisfy, but God’s mind. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 2: 5. Jesus kept all God’s commandments. John 15: 10. “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” 1 John 2: 6. No one questions as to our Lord’s keeping the seventh day, the Sabbath. Have we any other example?
5. Sincerity will not save us. An honest man may unwittingly pass a counterfeit greenback or coin. The note is counterfeit still, so is the coin. But when it is revealed to the good man that the coin is counterfeit, he will not pass it. Sunday is a counterfeit of God’s Sabbath. The genuine is better.
6. The apostle is speaking to those in whose hearts faith has established God’s law. Rom. 3: 31. In Rom. 14: 5 he is speaking of the ceremonial days, like the Passover, the day of atonement, etc., which men might observe or not. Let every man do as seems good. Judge him not. But if he is transgressing God’s law, teach him the better way.
7. Conscience is good if it is regulated by God’s law. It is utterly unsafe otherwise. Keep it up to the standard by the grace of God. It will not then call “Jewish” that which the Bible calls “the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” It is the law which shall judge us in the last day. James 2: 8-12; Eccl. 12: 13, 14. We plead with our correspondent to go with us in the good way of living faith.
In Isa. 66: 24 we read, “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me.” In Mal. 4: 3 we read, “And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.” Do these two scriptures refer to the same condition? and how do they harmonize?
H.
These scriptures in a general sense refer to the same period, at the end of the thousand years, the former preceding the latter. The final destruction of the wicked will be the glory of the Lord’s presence. And as the saints go forth from the holy city (Zech. 14: 4; Rev. 20: 9), they will see these carcasses before they are consumed. When they are consumed, they will mingle with the soil, of course, and will be trodden underfoot. Both scriptures clearly and strongly teach the destruction of all who are identified with sin. Both could be true in a short period, though not instantaneously occurring.
71—Repentance after Probation
If there is no repentance after probation ceases, and our fate is sealed before the plagues begin to fall, what difference is it going to make how we withstand those last trying ordeals? He has withdrawn His Spirit, and we stand alone. How will we be held responsible if the Judgment is over?
M. S.
When that time comes that there is no more true repentance, there will be no desire for true repentance. The heart has hardened itself against the mighty love of God and the most persuasive pleading of the Spirit, and has by choice identified itself with sin. Man may be sorry because of consequences and fruitage, but not sorry for the sin. God is not arbitrary. If the devil sincerely repented, God would forgive. His mercy endures forever. When plagues are poured out, God will not withdraw His Spirit from His people. They will be Spirit-filled. The Spirit will be withdrawn from the wicked because they have rejected it. Those who stand for God till the end, will find His supporting power through the plagues to the end. If we are true to Him now, we may leave all the rest to Him then. There will be no Mediator for sin, but there will be Spirit-kept souls.
Our Lord seems to be talking of the work of grace in establishing God’s dominion over the heart. That kingdom within does not come with a “Lo here! or, lo there!” It does not come with pompous show. In our Lord’s day, the very One who could establish the kingdom was already “among” them (margin). See John 1: 26. It was not in those Pharisees. They wanted an outward show, but they needed the inward work, and He then among them could establish it.
73—Christmas and Easter
What is the significance of Christmas and Easter?
J. C. O.
It depends on who we are and whether they mean anything to us. To some persons, the former is the anniversary of the birth of Christ; and the latter, the anniversary of His resurrection. Biblically and historically the days have no religious meaning to a true Christian. Both were heathen festivals,—the former, one of the days of the old Saturnalia, the week closing about December 25. It was a day of feasting, gluttony, excesses; and it is such still. It is not required now; it never was. In all probability our Lord was not born on December 25.
The latter—Easter—has its origin in the worship of nature in the goddess Eastre, a spring goddess, worshiped with flowers, eggs, etc. God asks us to obey His commandments, walk in His ways, and not follow a multitude to sin.
Religion in the New China
By Francis E. Stafford
Spirit of Freedom Struggling for Supremacy—Confucianism and Religious Liberty—“China for the Chinese”
By Francis E. Stafford
Religion in the
In two preceding articles, Elder Stafford has told of the mighty transformations in China, and the suddenness with which the old dynasty was overthrown and the new republic set up. In his articles this week and next, he will give more particular attention to the religious controversies and changes that are involved in the revolution. The next article is especially valuable because of the information it conveys regarding the confederating of both the heathen and nominal Christian religious organizations. That men who have gone as missionaries to China, would so lower their standards as to attempt to put Confucius on the same foundation with Christ, is both sad and significant. There is in these days much that has the name of Christianity, which the Master would not own.
Editor.
In Dan. 4:25 we read that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will.” Two years ago, I had occasion to quote these words with reference to China. I stated then, and firmly believe now, that God took China away from the rule of the Manchus, and restored it to the Chinese people. And for what purpose? Was it merely that China might develop into a great and glorious nation, and her people all live in peace and prosperity?—No. Laudable and good as that ambition is, we know that the real reason why the Lord interfered in the government of China at that time was to open the way for the people of China to hear the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom in this generation, and give them a chance to prepare for the end of the world and our Saviour’s return. With 400,000,000 people to warn, and only a handful of God’s servants to do it, time was too short to complete the work under the old regime of superstition and despotism.
The Country Opened for a Great Purpose
And so the world looked on with wondering eyes while the Lord did a marvelous work in the Orient. The mighty giant of the Pacific, which for centuries had slumbered in ignorance and darkness, suddenly stirs, and behold, in a moment, as it were, stands erect. Her fetters fall at her feet; and with hands lifted to heaven, imploring the aid of the Almighty, she steps forth, and in one day takes her place in the great sisterhood of nations which to-day are proclaiming from every side of the globe the word “Liberty.”
We see the country open to foreign trade, and seeking the aid of foreign capital and the advice of foreign statesmen. We hear the sound of the hammer, and the tramp of thousands of workmen as they seek with feverish haste to link up the four corners of the nation with bands of steel railroads. We see great projects launched to tame the rivers, and open highways of travel to every isolated hamlet. We see telegraph and telephone wires spinning a mighty web over the face of the country, and reaching clear up into Tibet.
What does it mean? Listen: A dispatch yesterday from away on the border line of the clouds, from what has been called the top of the earth, that place which until a few months ago has been a hidden country, where no white man was allowed to set foot, and from the mountain chasms of which few travelers ever returned, says, “No less than 2,000 families in the Dawa district [Tibet] have recently notified the missionaries of their desire for Christian teaching.”
Spirit of Freedom in the Whole Orient
The Orient is open to the gospel. From the shores of Siberia on the north, down through Japan, Korea, China, Siam, the Straits Settlements, to the Philippines in the south, there is no place where the gospel messenger who puts his trust in the Almighty can not go; and in most of these places, the people are seeking for light, and imploring for aid.
Now is the time to work in this field. Now, while the angels of God are holding back the winds of strife and destruction until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads, let us put in the sickle and reap on Asia’s shore that which is indeed white for the harvest. Now, while the war clouds are gathering, about to break with devastating, blinding fury upon the fair lands of Europe; while the kings of the earth are beating their plowshares into swords, and preparing for the last great Armageddon; now, while America is groaning under the strain of mighty combines of capital, labor organizations, and ecclesiastical federations,—now is the time to give attention to the great unworked fields of the Orient.
Laborers, you who may find your home fields closed before you, when you can no longer work where you are, turn your eyes to the mighty Orient; and may the Lord give you wings to fly swiftly to this part of the world, to answer the heart calls that are going up from thousands for light and salvation, before it is forever too late.
The present opportunity will not last long. Already we see the forces at work that will eventually close the doors on this side of the world, and lead the Asiatic nations to join in the last great battle of the day of the Lord God Almighty.
We wish to add a few words now about the forces that are working in China.
Confucianists Try to Hold Their Power
Before the new government had been fairly started, before the president had been elected, or the Chinese republic had been recognized by the nations of the world, we find in the dispatches from Peking a statement which said that the senate had a long and heated debate as to whether Confucianism should be made the state religion of China.
Now Confucianism is not a religion, and never was claimed to be before now. It is a system of moral ethics, and as such has undoubtedly done as much as any other man-made system of ethics toward the welfare of the human race; but centuries of adoration and subjection to this system by the Chinese race, have shrouded it in a kind of glorified halo, so that it has come to be regarded as nearly sacred as anything that the Chinese call by that name.
When the embryo of the new government was still in the making, several of the leading spirits believed that in order to make a strong government, a state religion must be adopted. What to adopt was the next question. It was argued that Christianity was believed by very few, and was unsuited to the majority. Buddhism, while having a large following, was in disfavor, as it is13regarded as a foreign religion, having been introduced from India. Taoism, on account of the character of its priests and adherents, has fallen into such disrepute that it was rejected with disgust. There was nothing left but Confucianism; and this had many points of favor, not the least of which was that it was distinctly Chinese.
The Struggle for Religious Liberty
The fact that the above dispatch stated there was a long and heated debate shows that many among those in power at Peking were enlightened enough to see the dangers of adopting a state religion, and vigorously fought it. The debate was not so much on what to adopt, as there seemed to be a feeling that Confucianism was the only thing if they were to have a state religion; but there was a strong sentiment in favor of religious liberty.
Vice-President Li Yuan-hung said, “I believe that the moral teachings of Confucius, and the virtues which he held so high, should be taught to students in our public schools; but I do not believe that it would be wise to make Confucianism or any other religion a state religion of China.”
Antiforeignism
When it became known that the subject was under discussion in Peking, a new situation developed at once among the people of China. Prominent Confucianists everywhere took up the campaign. Confucian societies were organized at all important centers, and soon produced a large following. Many of the literati of China who had never before expressed any opinion on religious matters, being merely passive elements, under the influence of this great movement soon became zealous Confucianists. Not a few who had made nominal profession of other religions were also induced to join the movement. At a celebration of Confucius’ birthday held at Canton, it is said that four graduates of the Canton Christian college sang Confucian hymns, which were set to music from the Methodist hymn book.
China for the Chinese
The speeches of these leaders, and the literature circulated by their societies, are extremely radical in character. They breathe of the “China for the Chinese” spirit, and have actually stirred up antiforeign sentiment of a violent character in certain districts. We quote from one of their publications:
“Why do the foreigners say that Confucianism is not a religion? Can there be any doubt that Confucianism has been for China exactly what the Anglican Church is for England, in spite of the great number of Catholics living in Ireland and Scotland, and what the Presbyterian Church is under President Wilson for America, in spite of the innumerable other shadings of Christianity existing in that country? The question is clear. If Confucianism fulfills the function which the Anglican and the Presbyterian Church fulfill in England and America, no honest observer can deny that Confucianism is the one of the religions of China.”
“But unfortunately, it is true that there are only very few honest observers [this means foreigners] in China, and most people say Confucianism is not a religion, because it does not fit the definition of religion which they have brought from home. This procedure of judging a thing after a measure which does not suit the thing, is a fault of thinking which the Occident, in spite of its youth, ought sometime openly to recognize as a fault—as the most childish fault a thinking being can commit. [Not much left for the unfortunate Occidental after this.] How can even missionaries [here they are bolder, and say right out whom they are talking about] who find special delight in such cheap spiritual fireworks, believe that such a fragile construction will last? Do they not realize that one day the public opinion of Europe and America will force the governments of the Occident to put an end to the missionary campaign in the Orient, if that campaign is carried on with means which are condemned in Europe and America?”
This campaign culminated in the sending of a long petition to Peking, strongly urging the government to adopt Confucianism as a state religion, and stating that “under no circumstances could they acquiesce in the article of the constitution giving the people freedom as to religion.”
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