There had been a bleak storm of rain and sleet, and in the early morning everything was crusted with ice. The sun had not yet appeared, but increasing light in the eastern sky announced his speedy coming. Where a low hilltop and the near horizon seemed to blend, a wide-spreading apple-tree stood, a little taller than its fellows, just in the track of the coming orb of day. It caught the sun’s rays while all around awaited the dawn; and it stood transfigured, illumined, radiant, glorified; there seems no word to express the exceeding beauty that gleamed from the icy tree, bathed in the crystal light of coming day.
This fleeting radiance of a winter morning suggests a thought of that “blessed hope” which, in these latter days, stands out from the sacred page with ever-increasing clearness, illumined by heavenly rays emanating from the great Source of all light. This hope, so precious to the church in all ages, is founded upon the Saviour’s words: “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there ye may be also.” John 14: 2, 3.
Already have appeared the signs which herald the approach of the King of kings, and the ushering in of that glad morning when the light of God’s eternal day will dawn on this dark world of sin and sorrow; when our eyes shall “see the King in His beauty,” and “behold the land that is very far off.” Isa. 33: 17. Blessed are those servants whom their Lord shall find watching His coming. For them the pearly gates will open wide, and in the “many mansions” of the “Father’s house” they will be received into “everlasting habitations.” Luke 16: 9.
We may not say the doctrine of the Saviour’s soon-coming eclipses all other Bible truths, but rather that it includes them all. In contemplating this divine theme, faith, hope, and love find fullest and freest scope. This grand event which we are anticipating will be far more glorious than anything this world has ever witnessed. Our Saviour once came as the helpless babe of Bethlehem, born of woman, cradled in a manger. He came as the Son of man; but now He comes accompanied by all the holy angels; He comes a King, to claim His own, to reward His servants, and to destroy His enemies. As He ascended from Olivet, “and a cloud received Him out of their sight,” even so He will return “in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” “having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle,” wherewith He will reap “the harvest of the earth.” Acts 1: 9; Matt. 24: 30; Rev. 14: 14, 15. And the saints, as ripened sheaves, “will be gathered into the heavenly garner.”
The coming of the Lord is of like solemn import to both the living and the dead. When the Lord descends from heaven “with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God,” “them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” 1 Thess. 4:16, 14. Whence does God bring them? from the courts of heaven?—Surely not; for even “David is not ascended into the heavens.” Acts 2: 34. They who “sleep in Jesus” are yet in the dust of the ground, awaiting the call of the Life-giver. His voice will pierce the sepulchral chambers of death to earth’s remotest bounds, and the “dead in Christ” will come forth.
O, who can picture that hour, when the silent cities of the dead shall be peopled with living souls? From shaded valley, from sunny slope or bleak mountain side, from rock-bound caverns or lowest depths of ocean, the redeemed of the Lord shall come. We shall see again the loved and lost of other years; with bitter anguish we laid them in the silent grave; death’s icy hand had chilled the loving heart and frozen the life-current; but now the grim destroyer is vanquished, and they come again from the land of the enemy,—not pale with suffering and disease, as we last saw them, but radiant with the bloom of immortality, ransomed from the power of the grave, and heirs of eternal life. O, the blissful moment when we will clasp them to our hearts again, and know that they are ours forever! But blessed, thrice blessed, the delight of meeting our dear Redeemer! He who has passed for us thru the gloomy vale of death, and bids us live again forevermore.
“We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed;” for “the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Cor. 15:51; 1 Thess. 4:16–18.
But there is another class to whom the coming of the Lord will bring naught of joy,—the wicked, who have said in their hearts, “We will not have this Man to reign over us.” Luke 19: 14. To them His coming will be a day of destruction from the Almighty. They have served the mammon of unrighteousness; they may have gained riches and worldly honors; but what do these things avail them now? Their riches are corrupted, being the wages of sin. Their gold and silver are the price of oppression, and will be a swift witness against them. In the great day of the Lord men will cast their idolized treasures “to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, . . . for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth,” even crying out to the rocky crags, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Isa. 2:20, 21; Rev. 6:16, 17. The wicked will have just reason to fear the righteous indignation of the Almighty; for they have despised His Word and slighted every offer of mercy; and when at last their day of probation is ended, “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” Heb. 10: 26, 27.
The day of probation is not ended. As yet mercy calls, and we may every one be of the number who will greet the coming King with joy, exclaiming: “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” Isa. 25: 9.
AUGUSTA W. HEALD.
A GOD OF LOVE.
OMNIPOTENCE may build a thousand worlds and fill them with bounties; Omnipotence may powder mountains into dust, and burn the sea, and consume the sky, but Omnipotence can not do an unloving thing toward a believer. O, rest quiet, sure, Christian, a hard thing, an unloving thing from God toward one of His own people, is quite impossible! He is as kind to you when He casts you into prison as when He takes you into a palace; He is as good when He sends famine into your house as when He fills your barns with plenty. The only question is, Art thou His child? If so, He hath rebuked thee in affection, and there is love in His chastisement.—Anon.
EVERY PERSON A SERVANT.
Every person in this world is a servant. No matter how great his wealth, or how high his position, he is a servant. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Rom. 6:16. Then every one is either a servant of sin or a servant of obedience. Here sin and obedience are put to contrast. Sin is disobedience; the character of the disobedience is shown in the declaration that “sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. To be a servant of “obedience unto righteousness” is to be a servant of God; and this is the highest ideal of freedom. Many people think the law of God a bondage; but Jesus says, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Matt. 11:30. And Solomon (who well knew by experience) says, “The way of transgressors is hard.” Prov. 13:15. Then “choose ye this day whom ye will serve.”
IS IT UNION?
There is an earnest longing coming up from all parts of Christendom for unity among the professed children of God. Argue as men will for diverse bodies of Christians, they feel in their very souls that the present condition is not right; it is not normal; it is not in harmony with the prayer of Christ recorded in John 17.
There is hardly a meeting held by any of the great religious bodies, but that the idea of Christian unity is advanced. As an instance of this, we note the recent meeting of the Congregational Association of New Jersey, in Baltimore, April 23 to 25. Between 150 and 200 delegates were present. One of the chief topics of discussion was Christian or church unity. The principal speakers were Bishop Paret, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Rev. Oliver Huckel, Roman Catholic, representing Cardinal Gibbons, and Dr. William Hayes Ward, editor of the Independent.
The paper of Father Foley, read by Dr. Huckel, according to the Baltimore American of April 25, contended that the essential features of a Christian church, “unity, and visibility, and the power to teach with authority,” are found in the Roman Catholic Church only. She must say what is revealed truth, she must give its interpretation, and she has authority. In his concluding remarks are these:—
“In the Roman Catholic Church of the sixteenth century, when Luther went out from her, these great requisites of Christian unity were found, and they are found as well in the Roman Catholic Church of to-day; elsewhere I fail to find them.
“In separation from the See of St. Peter, the center of Catholic unity, I see only discord.”
Bishop Paret said:—
“The beauty of Christian unity we acknowledge, but how are we to seek it? It is oneness that we want, not the union of a bundle of faggots. It was unity our Lord prayed for, and I know that it is possible and will come in time, and yet we are far from it to-day.
“We do not want a new union, said the Bishop, in conclusion, but we do want to repair the breaches and restore to Christendom its original unity. It is unreasonable for any of the denominations to expect the others to accept unconditionally its doctrines, and we must look for that hoped-for unity on the basis of the first 300 years of Christianity. I hope; but the fruition is in the far distance.”
Dr. Ward well represented the differences in Christendom in the following:—
“What I have to say is so simple, so axiomatic, that it seems to me to need no defense. Christians are very badly split up; not merely split, but split unsympathetically. There is a difference in the amount of good or ill will, but between the large bodies of the church there is no fellowship. They do not recognize each other’s clergy or sacraments; they deny each other’s rights as churches, and gloat over their stolen sheep. This concerns not merely the vagaries of the little sects, but the large denominations—Baptists, who refuse to recognize other churches because of a difference of opinion as to who shall be baptized and how; Episcopalians, who refuse to recognize other churches because their clergy are not ordained in the way they think wise. The Roman Catholic and Greek Churches are equally intolerant, and the Roman Church has just declared the Church of England schismatic, while the Protestants answer Roman excommunication with excommunication, and choose bad words out of the Apocalypse wherewith to insult the largest and most venerable branch of the Church of Christ.
“This condition is most odious. It is an insult to our Lord’s last prayer for His disciples that they might be one. The explanation of this odious condition is the arrogance with which we hold our own opinions and our intolerance of others.”
And here is Dr. Ward’s plan of union:—
“The only way to bring the fragments of a church together is to be entirely tolerant. All Christians agree on things of Spirit, love of God, His Son, His Holy Word, and His church. All such are Christians, and should not be kept apart. The only way to bring them together is to bring them together tolerating each others’ ways. It is by seeing the difference between what is essential because spiritual, and what is merely important because formal. Only righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost is essential.”
Now what can we expect from the above theories?
1. The Roman Catholic is consistent with his false basis, and unswervingly loyal to it. But to accept his basis of unity, his interpretation of the Bible, is to transgress the very Word of life. Take, for instance, the teachings of the Word concerning free grace and the Sabbath, and compare with the Catholic doctrine of works and holy days. Those who accept the Catholic basis of unity must yield freedom of conscience, relinquish personal faith in God thru the Word, and deny all the work and blessing of the Reformation.
2. Bishop Paret speaks truly when he says that we do not want the union of a bundle of faggots. That is all that creeds can do—tie men together. It is true that the “original unity” of Christendom is needed; but to spread the basic field of this unity over the first three centuries is to invite more division and confusion. For there is scarcely an error or outrage which has cursed and disgraced and weakened the Church of Christ thruout the centuries, but can find some ground for its existence in the first three centuries of the Christian Era.
3. What better is Dr. Ward’s? He gives us correct diagnosis of the patient’s condition, but no effective remedy. To be “entirely tolerant” is to invite baleful, soul-destroying error into the very citadel of Christian truth. And the fruit of this, Congregationalists are reaping to-day.
The Only Basis of Union.
The only basis of union is the Word of God, not as a mere book, not as a creed, but as the Word of life from God. The only thing that will or can unite Christians is the life, the Spirit of God. No theory can accomplish this. No federation will make hearts one. The only way is the way for which Christ prayed: “Sanctify them thru Thy truth; Thy Word is truth.” “That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us.” “I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.”
There is no other way. This means the casting away of human dogma and creeds, decisions of councils, presbyteries, conferences, bulls, and rescripts, and the acceptance of the Word of God and the example of Christ alone.
THE PROPHETS PREDICT A TRUE SABBATH REFORM.
By T.
If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isa. 58:13, 14.
The foregoing text from Isaiah gives some of the richest promises in all the Bible. One can not read them without having a flame of delight kindled in the soul. But do not fail to observe that these promises are based upon Sabbath-keeping. That you should “turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,” is the first condition laid down. Then there are those who have their feet on God’s Sabbath day, and He is calling them to reform. He wishes them to know what the Sabbath really is, for He tells just how it should be observed. And to every one who is not keeping the day God commanded, and who is not keeping it in the manner He has prescribed, He sends these trumpet calls for repentance and conversion to the right.
Think carefully about the expression, “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.” In our article last week on the attempted change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, it was shown that a power was to “think to change” God’s times and laws. It was stated in that article that the Papacy has not only “thought” to change the Sabbath from the seventh day, commonly called Saturday, to the first day, commonly called Sunday, but that this church triumphantly boasts of having7made this change, and taunts Protestants for following them in it. Any well-informed Catholic priest will confirm our statement of the fact that the Catholic Church has attempted this change in God’s day.
But we ask Catholics and Protestants alike, Was it right to attempt such a change? And can we be right in setting aside a day that the Lord Himself has commanded, while we take up the observance of a day that has only the authority of man to sustain it? To answer these questions we need only to read again the text at the beginning of this article. The Lord calls us to turn our feet away from His Sabbath. Men have led us first to have false ideas of Sabbath-keeping, and then into observing a day that is not the Sabbath. The Lord does not recognize this change that men have thought to make in His day of rest; and if we view it right, the text (Isa. 58:13, 14) already quoted in this article, is a strong prophecy of a great Sabbath reform. True Sabbath-keeping will come to the front, and become the theme of earnest discussion. God, in asking us to turn our feet from His rest-day, is loudly calling for this Sabbath reform, and we may be sure it will come.
Another text in Isaiah speaks of this Sabbath reform. It reads:—
“Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from His people; neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep My Sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant; Even unto them will I give in Mine house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant; Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar; for Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to Him, beside those that are gathered unto Him.” Isa. 56:1–8.
The foregoing scripture plainly speaks of the “outcasts” that shall be gathered to the Lord, and of the others “beside those that are gathered unto Him” that shall be brought to His “house of prayer.” This ingathering from among those who were not Jews, who were not reckoned as the chosen of the Lord, finally brings about the result that the Lord’s “house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.” This is one of the many prophecies that tell of the Gospel going to the Gentiles, to gather them to the Father in heaven as well as to gather the Jewish people to Him.
Woven all thru this prophecy of the gathering in of the Gentiles is the call to recognize and observe the Lord’s Sabbath. “Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.” God here pronounces a blessing on the man that “layeth hold” on the Sabbath. What we already hold, we can not “lay” hold of. The Lord thus emphatically points to the great letting go of the Sabbath, and invites men to lay hold on it again. And in laying hold on the Sabbath, we not only take hold of a day that the Lord has specially blessed, but in this great Gentile Sabbath reform we have the Lord’s special blessing upon the man that does it.
The fifty-sixth chapter of Isaiah is filled with the promises and blessings that God offers in this time to those who will take hold of His Sabbath. It will pay you to study them much more closely than space will allow in this paper.
There is still another Scripture prophecy that should be presented here concerning this predicted Sabbath reform. It reads: “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17. The “woman” in this symbolic prophecy, as any one can see who closely studies the entire chapter, represents the New Testament church. And not only do the people of this church “have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” but they also “keep the commandments of God.”
The commandments of God are the “Ten Commandments,” the “Decalog.” Every one who knows the Bible at all knows this to be the truth. And the fourth commandment of these ten says most explicitly that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Then those who “keep the commandments of God,” will also keep the Sabbath of the Lord.
This prophecy of a Sabbath reform in the book of Revelation was given sixty years after Christ was crucified; therefore it must apply to the New Testament dispensation. Furthermore, it is the “remnant” of the seed of the woman, the symbol chosen to represent this New Testament church, that the Lord tells us will not only have “the testimony of Jesus,” but will also “keep the commandments of God.” The “remnant” is the last part of anything. Therefore the church that will stand for God in the closing hours of time, in other words, the church that will be living and acting upon earth when Christ comes the second time, will be keeping His Father’s commandments. And as already stated, God’s commandments can not be kept without keeping His true and only Sabbath.
The majority of mankind keep Sunday instead of the Sabbath; but these prophecies show that there is to be a reformation, and those who respect God’s Word above tradition and everything else of the kind, will be called upon to return to their heavenly Father, leaving every vestige of error behind. This call is even now being made. It is not the call of man, but God’s voice, thru His infallible Word, is resounding thru the land, and in no uncertain language He is making it plain that He is not the author of any change in His Sabbath day. It stands now as it has ever stood, His great memorial of His creative power. In the Sabbath reform that God is presenting before you thru His Word and by His Spirit’s power, where will you stand? Where are you standing now? If on the wrong side, listen to the Spirit’s earnest pleadings with your soul, and honor God by doing what He requires. T.
THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
WHAT is the Spirit of God? Let it suffice for this study to say that whatever it may mean more than this, it is the life of God.
By that Spirit primeval chaos became cosmos, order, arrangement, beauty. And when sin has desolated, seemingly forever, God’s wondrous creation, God sends forth His Spirit of life; “they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth.”
“By His Spirit He garnished the heavens,” and created the earth. By it man is born again, is sanctified and kept and made immortal. By that Spirit he is reproved, taught, comforted, strengthened, as attested in numerous scriptures. It is the great outflowing life of God pulsing forth from the great Central Fountain to all parts of the mighty universe, giving life to every living thing. Now, here are three obvious facts, which ought to come home as lessons of infinite importance to every soul:—
1. That Spirit flows out from God in harmony with the character of God. The character of God is the law of His life, or Spirit. The written law is but the expression of that Spirit’s working. In its positive side it is all expressed in one word—LOVE. In its both positive and negative aspect, it is expressed in the Ten Words of the Decalog.
2. The creature that receives God’s life out of harmony with God’s law receives a perverted life. The perversion or transgression of God’s law is sin. The perversion of His life is death. And the selfish, the sinful, the wicked, are continually perverting that life; continually crossing its current with carnal desires, purposes, ambitions, lusts; continually changing it to death. It is only because God in His mercy pours out so abundantly of His life that the existence of sinful creatures is extended.
And yet it can not be said that those who possess this perverted life have the Spirit of God. That Spirit comes to them, impresses them, reproves them, draws them; but they do not have that Spirit as the indwelling presence of God, the uplifting power of an endless life. He nowhere speaks of that life as His Spirit or His life. God’s life is received thru the sinful flesh, and the flesh perverts it to another life, even as His holy law to a law of sin.
3. But it is also true that the soul who will submit to God’s law; who yields himself to be all that God desires him to be, will receive the Spirit of God—not as a perverted life, but as the “endless life,” the “eternal life,” given to all who believe. That Spirit comes to the sinner as endless life; but right there, at its entrance, the flesh perverts it. But that Spirit comes into the true child of faith as the “power of an endless life.” It comes thru the Spirit into the flesh, and becomes a vitalizing power to the mortal body. Rom. 8:9-11; 2 Cor. 4:10-12. Sinners are “alienated from the life of God” (Eph. 4:18), but believers are in harmony with the law of its operation.
Reader, this is no fancy theory. God’s life, God’s blessed Spirit of truth and love and power, desires to enter your being to cleanse, to uplift, to give you everlasting victory. It is a practical thing. It is a matter of choice with you. Shall your life still continue a perverted life, issuing ever in death? or shall it be the life of God, issuing in incorruptibility of character and immortality of being?
“TO THEM THAT WAIT FOR HIM.”
By C.
The concluding verse of the Sunday-school lesson in this paper reads: “So Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for Him, unto salvation.” Heb. 9:28, R. V. The common version reads, “them that look for Him.” Both ideas imply expectancy. Waiting for anything signifies a readiness to receive it. The thought has been aptly illustrated by a person’s waiting for a railroad train. The would-be passenger does not “wait” until after he has arrived at the station, has purchased his ticket, has secured a check for his baggage, and feels sure that everything is ready. The one who waits at the station is one who has considered the matter of time, and who began in time to get ready, and made sure to be ready by taking time by the forelock.
Waiting has special reference to time. One may be waiting for an event, and be ready and looking for it at a definite time, because a time has been set for it. Again, he may get ready and look for or wait for something that is expected, but for which only an approximate time is set. Or he may be ready and watching for an expected occurrence just because he does not know the time when it will take place.
The Lord has left on record warnings for those who live just before and at the time of His coming. “Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” In the days of Noah they went right along with their business and pleasure-seeking and profligacy, and “knew not until the flood, came and took them all away.” Why did they not know?—Because they did not believe the Word of the Lord preached by His servant Noah. To this Christ adds, “So shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Based upon this fact is the further warning, “Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” See Matt. 24: 36-42.
Is there to-day any likeness to the days of Noah? How was it in the days of Noah? The Word says that the earth “was filled with violence.” And that is just the condition to-day, and the nations are all bankrupting their treasuries and the masses of the people by preparations for greater violence by land and sea. Yet the people are being deceived by their leaders, both religious and secular, with the assurance that “the world is growing better.” Both the condition and the deception are evidences that we are nearing the Lord’s second coming; for His coming is “after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” 2 Thess. 2: 9, 10.
The apostle Paul gives us further means of knowing that we are now in the last days: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” Of these classes he further says that they are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Tim. 3: 1-7.
To this we add the testimony of James: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. . . . Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.” James 5: 1-5.
All these prophecies concerning the last days are now in most conspicuous fulfilment all around us. And in view of these things the apostle adds the significant admonition: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.” And again: “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” Yet again he emphasizes it, saying, “Behold, the Judge standeth before the door.” Verses 7-9. And of this time the Lord has told us thru His prophet John: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.”
Is it not time, in view of all these evidences of the approximate time of our Lord’s second coming, that those who believe the truth should be looking for Him, yea, ready and waiting for Him? Is not this really a test as to whether we do believe the truth? Do not they who ignore these plain evidences virtually say in their hearts, “My Lord delayeth His coming”? The apostle Paul says that the crown of righteousness is laid up for all them that love the appearing of the “righteous Judge.” 2 Tim. 4: 6-8. Then those who believe the truth will gladly seize and rejoice over any scriptural evidence that the Lord’s coming “unto salvation” is near, even at the door. If we really believe that Christ as our High Priest is now appearing for us in the heavenly sanctuary, “an High Priest of good things to come,” will there not be an earnest desire to have Him return to receive us unto Himself (John 14:3), that we may enter into the enjoyment of those “good things”? C.
Question Corner
1150. A. Rev. 13:17. “What is it to be bought or sold? Who?”
The class referred to are those who will not worship the beast or his image or receive his mark. The buying and selling refer to the common ordinary commercial transactions of life. There will be a boycott declared against those who will not comply with the oppressive anti-Christian laws of the beast power.
1151. D. Rev. 14:20 refers to scenes which will be enacted in the great slaughter of the battle of Armageddon.
1152. Earnest Inquirer. The 144,000 are set forth in Rev. 7:1-8 and 14:1-5. They will be found among the living when Jesus comes, for they are “redeemed,” not from the grave, but “from the earth,” “from among men.” Rev. 14:3, 4. Yes, they will be those who receive the message of Rev. 14:6-12. They reject the name of the beast and his worship, and receive the name and worship of God.
THE WALL STREET PANIC.
By C. M. S.
No such panic has been experienced on the New York Stock Exchange in many years as that which occurred on May 8, when millions of dollars were lost or won in a few hours. Men and women became frantic as they saw their wealth increased by leaps and bounds, or being utterly swept out of their grasp, to leave them worse than penniless.
The remarkable boom in stocks which occurred on that day was due to a battle between millionaires for the control of the Northern Pacific Railroad. One party of these giants of finance was seeking to maintain the life of that railway system, while the other party seemed to be seeking to secure enough of the Northern Pacific stock to enable them to gain control of the road and kill it, thus cutting off competition to that extent, and allowing an increase in rates on the other roads.
When the demand for this stock became determined and persistent, brokers and speculators began to buy and sell wildly, and the stocks went up out of all proportion to their real value. Men and women would buy stock, and in a few minutes sell again at a considerable advance. The price continued to rise; they would buy again, and, with the next rise, sell; and so repeat the operation, over and over, their own purchases making the demand greater and the price higher. Then sudden fear seized the speculators; there was a general rush to sell, and the price went down faster than it had risen; and those who had been “gambling on margins” saw the fortunes they thought within their grasp fading, melting away, and vanishing utterly.
During this panic forty-one principal stocks shrunk the tremendous figures of $698,388,407; and had it not been that the great banks of New York came to the rescue and threw $16,000,000 into the market at six per cent., the panic would have been much worse than it was, and would have had a serious effect financially upon the whole country. Another thing that tended to relieve the immediate distress in the Wall Street market was the promise of some of the heavy buyers that they would not enforce delivery of stock on that day. There was also a disposition on the part of some not to require the entire price at which their stock was sold. As it was, however, some of the investors, in the effort to recover themselves, paid as high as forty per cent. for borrowed money. One prominent stock gambler is reported to have cleared $3,000,000, another $2,000,000, and the wealth of many others has been increased by thousands or even hundreds of thousands, while a far greater number have lost corresponding amounts. Many persons of small income, but imbued with the gambling spirit, have been utterly ruined. Clerks had not only invested all their ready money, but had even mortgaged their salaries for months in advance.
One aged lady, on arriving at the Stock Exchange, and finding that her holding of stock had gone down to 87, tottered as if to fall, and while being assisted to her carriage, said to her colored servant, “Jackson, I’m utterly and completely ruined. I haven’t a dollar to my name.” The secretary of one of the largest banks in New York was heard to say to his friend, “Will, this market has done me up. I went into it with every cent I had saved, and every dollar has been wiped out. I’m going home now to make a clean breast of it to my wife, and we’ll try to start all over again. It took me five years to save what I’ve lost in the last three hours.” It was pure gambling all the way thru, and thousands who had staked their salaries or their incomes, or had mortgaged their homes, in the hope of winning a fortune in a few hours, lost as these lost.
What does the panic teach?—It is simply another evidence of the increase of the gambling spirit among the people—the increase of that spirit of getting gain, of heaping together treasure, which was to be a sign to the children of God that the coming of the Saviour was nigh at hand. We see it on every hand, and God has told us what it means. We shall see more of it as the days go by, for the system is being perfected which enables shrewd men to multiply their gain at a phenomenal rate; and as the masses see these enormous fortunes heaped together in a few months, they are seized with a desire to follow the example set.
The Saviour gave His followers a sign anciently by which they might know when to flee from Jerusalem, and escape death in its overthrow. They recognized the sign when it came, followed His instructions, and escaped with their lives. He has given many signs to indicate the approaching end of this present world. They are fulfilling before our very eyes. Will we, like the disciples of old, heed the warning and escape the overthrow? C. M. S.
