COMFORT ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. . . . O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. . . . Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Let those who are engaged in the Master’s service study these eloquent words. What is the object of divine compassion?—The uplifting of fallen humanity. For this purpose messengers from the throne of God are sent to this earth. In Second Kings we read how holy angels came on a mission to guard the Lord’s chosen servants. The prophet Elisha was in Dothan, and thither the king of Syria sent horses and chariots and a great host to take him. “And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not; for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray Thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”
Angels of God came down in mighty power, not to consume, not to despise, not to rule or exact homage, but to minister to those who should be heirs of salvation. They came in mighty power to encamp round about the Lord’s faithful servants.
Depend on this: If you study the Word of God with a sincere desire to gain knowledge, God will fill your soul with light. The mysteries of heaven will become the treasures of your mind. Your work will be approved by God, and your influence will be a savor of life. Never complain. Let not your lips utter perverseness. Do not talk darkness because appearances are against you. We are in a world of sin and crime. As we work for the Master, we shall feel pressure for want of means, but God will hear and answer our petitions. Let your language be, “The Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”
Look on the bright side. If the work is hindered, be sure that it is not your fault, and then rejoice in the Lord, even tho the experience through which you are passing may be hard and grievous. Heaven is full of joy. It resounds with the praises of the One who has made such a wonderful sacrifice for the redemption of man. Should not the church on earth be full of praise? Should not Christians publish throughout the world the joy of serving Christ?
The Lord desires us to be strong in His strength and joyful in His love. Thus we reveal the power of redeeming grace. We may triumph in the keeping power of the Redeemer. Through faith in Him we may gain victory after victory over self.
Those who enter heaven must learn on earth the song of heaven, the key-note of which is praise and thanksgiving. Only as they learn this song can they join in singing it with the heavenly choir.
My fellow-laborers, never let your courage fail. The Christian always has a strong helper in the Lord. When because you are unable to obtain the needed help you come to a pause in your earnest efforts, cast your burden on the Lord. Be content to leave it there, knowing that He is faithful who has promised. The What and How of the Lord’s helping we know not; but this we do know: The Lord will never fail those who put their trust in Him. When He has fully proved His workers, He will bring them forth refined as gold tried in the fire.
The lessons that God sends will always, if well learned, bring help in due time. “Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
Put your trust in God. Pray much, and believe that in His good work the Lord will guide you step by step. Trusting, hoping, believing in the Lord, holding fast the hand of Infinite Power, you will be more than conquerors. In God you will have victory and success. You will see the salvation of the Lord.
Work in faith, and leave the results with God. Pray in earnest faith, and the mystery of God’s providence will bring its answer. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” At times it may seem that you can not succeed. Hindrances will come. You will be tested and tried. But work and believe, putting faith and life and hope and courage into your work. After you have done what you can, wait for the Lord, declaring His faithfulness, and He will bring His word to pass. Wait, not in fretful anxiety, but in undaunted faith and unshaken trust.
“For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” MRS. E. G. WHITE.
God’s Patient Work of Teaching
By Augustus H. Strong
If God would reveal Himself, He must not only create and govern, but He must also educate. You can not put the knowledge of God into men's minds at a stroke. Teaching is a long process. . . . And when finite beings are also sinful beings, there is a dulness that requires line upon line, precept upon precept. . . . God is a teacher, and the teacher must condescend to dull minds, and must have endless patience with them. This was one of the griefs of Christ, the holding back what He would fain communicate because of the low intellectual and moral state of His disciples. What a tone of sorrow there is in His words: “I have many things to say unto you; but ye can not bear ‘them now.’”—Augustus H. Strong.
REJOICE, O EARTH!
By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle
REJOICE, O Earth! for the day is come When thy bloody wars shall cease; When thy land shall rest 'neath the banners fair, Of the glorious Prince of peace. Rejoice, rejoice! for the long, long night Shall cease with the coming day, And Right shall sit on the throne of Might Forever and for aye.
Then the desert drear shall be glad for thee,— The wilderness dark with gloom,— And the saints shall stand on the crystal sea, And the rose and the lily bloom. Make strong the hands that are feeble now, And the hearts that are faint and weak, Raise up the forms that in weakness bow, And the glorious tidings speak.
Soon, soon shall the lame man leap as a hart, And the tongue of the dumb shall sing, From the parched ground shall the waters start, And the streams from the desert spring. And the ransomed blest shall return and come To the hills of Zion fair, And the Master's heart shall be satisfied, When we meet Him over there.
MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.
GOD'S CURE FOR ANARCHY.
By S.
Austria, Russia, and Italy are laying upon England and America the blame for the spread of Anarchy, because of the greater liberty granted to men in England and America, and because Anarchists have found shelter in these countries when they have been outlawed in their own.
Anglo-Saxon writers, in turn, put the blame upon those countries in which Anarchy or Nihilism was first organized, viz., Russia, Italy, and Austria, and declare the cause to be the lack of liberty, the oppression, under which the subjects of those nations suffer.
Italy, Austria, and Russia are supposed to be responsible because of the harsh laws which they maintain, and the rigorous punishments inflicted for their infraction. America and England are supposed to be responsible, because hunted Anarchists flee to their shores, and are thus beyond the reach of punishment for being Anarchists.
Canadian papers lay upon capitalists the blame for Anarchy's presence in America, the capitalists having imported the Anarchists among the cheap laborers brought over to America from the hot-beds of Anarchy.
Certain English papers regard Anarchy as the outgrowth of the present unsatisfactory social conditions that exist throughout the world, and propose that the various governments begin at once to remedy these conditions, and thus effectually snuff out Anarchy.
The pope is reported to have declared, in effect, that upon American liberty rests the blame for the crime of Czolgosz.
The remedy of some is, better the condition of the oppressed; of others, arrest, fine, whip, imprison, banish, all who give vent to their feelings of discontent; of others, restrict the liberties of the people—the freedom of the press, the liberty of speech, the liberty of opinion.
Now, in the countries where liberty has been most restricted, Anarchy was organized; in the countries7where punishments have been most severe, Anarchy has honey-combed every part of the nation, and has often stalked into the chambers of royalty; and in the countries where liberty has been greatest, Anarchy storms, and fumes, and raves, and it finds its victim in the representative of the nation that had given the most liberty.
What is there left then, to which we can look for the cure of Anarchy? We are told that the nations must better the conditions of the depressed and down-trodden and poverty-stricken; that in that they will lay bare the root of Anarchy and pluck it out of the world. Let us examine the prospect along this line. What are Italy, Hungary, and Russia doing to alleviate the distress and poverty of the discontented who swell the ranks of Anarchy?—Heaping on taxes, and banishing, whipping, and imprisoning the discontented, thereby increasing the discontent and the occasion for punishment. What is being done by the legislative departments of other nations to alleviate the suffering of the masses?—Enacting legislation in the interests of the powerful—legislation which makes it possible for great monopolies, or syndicates, to grasp and control the wealth-producing industries of the countries, and thus increase the cost of living for the purpose of piling millions on millions. This certainly does not better the condition of the poverty-stricken and down-trodden, but heaps upon their backs a load heavier than the one which they had been bearing before. Look over the legislative acts of Congress and the Legislatures, and you may be surprised to see how few of them are in the interests of the unfortunate and depressed. Great affairs of finance, and great state, national, and international affairs consume almost the entire attention of the law-making bodies. The legislative bodies of the world will furnish no lotion capable of healing the raw sore of Anarchy. It is useless to look to them for any such soothing balm.
Is there, then, no hope for the cure of Anarchy?—None in the way in which the world is looking for it. Nations can not legislate hate out of the heart, nor love and contentment into it; neither can men drive out hate by the sting of the whip and the fear of banishment and death; and while nations and individuals are striving for mastery and for gold, the cry of distress and oppression will continue to go up unheard or unheeded. Hasty and unwise laws may be passed against Anarchy, out of pure personal fear for what the Anarchist may do, and in the hope that the law may deter him; but legislation will never reach and eradicate the root of that perennial and pernicious weed.
Anarchy means against law, without law—law-less. It began with Lucifer in heaven; it will end with Lucifer in the consuming fires of God's judgment. Rev. 20:7-10. Anarchy will come to its end, but that end will be only when the twin sisters, selfishness and sin, are burned out of the world with all the results which they have brought into it. That burning will be the burning of the great day of God. 2 Thess. 2:8; 2 Peter 3:10-12; Mal. 4:1-3. Then Anarchy, the revolt against law, will have compassed its own destruction, will have suffered the result of its own misguided course.
But there is a cure for Anarchy. It is not a human cure; it is not brought about by legislation. It comes through the great Physician and through Him alone. It will not only cure Anarchy, but it will save the Anarchist. It will do this in the individual; but only in the individual who allows it to be done for him. There will be no compulsion about it; there will be no salvation of Anarchy in mass, or as a society. That work of cure must go on in the heart until every root of bitterness is eradicated, until every selfish impulse is banished, and submission to the will of God is complete. Satan was the first Anarchist. He revolted against the law of God. He sought the overthrow of government. He sought the exaltation of self. Now the cure for Anarchy must be the very opposite of that, and we find it in Christ Jesus. This is the all-important admonition: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” That mind which was in Christ Jesus led Him to lay down his life for those who had merited death through the breaking of God's law. Thus was the majesty of the law upheld, and at the same time a way opened that men might be saved from the results of their own anarchistic course.
The heart of the carnal man is the heart of Anarchy; for we read: “The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God.” Then, in the regeneration of the heart of man, is the cure for Anarchy; that is, letting the mind of Christ displace the carnal mind. That takes Anarchy out of the individual; that saves the individual; and it is the only thing that can. That is Anarchy's only cure. And in the application of that cure, submission to the will of God is the only true and perfect liberty. S.
IS IT SO?
Does Belief in Christ's Soon Coming Take Away Hope or Cause Zeal to Flag?
An editorial writer in a much-esteemed contemporary, the Sabbath Recorder, deprecates the setting of time for Christ to come, and we agree with him, because the Word forbids it. But we see no reasons for his conclusions, stated in the following paragraph:—
Two almost wholly opposite views are taken by good Christian people respecting the future outlook of the world. To one, the view is enshrouded in darkness; the world is growing in wickedness; crimes are more frequent; the Christian church is becoming more and more worldly; the heart of man is waxing worse and worse, and there is no hope of victory for the truth under the present Gospel dispensation. This is pessimism. The other view is more hopeful. While admitting the existence of wickedness, the worldliness and errors of the Christian church, the alarming increase of many evils, the selfishness and corruption of the human heart, as seen in many business transactions, enormous monopolies, and combinations of men for purposes of wealth and power; still, there is unwavering faith in the ultimate success of the Gospel of Christ; the world is really growing better rather than worse. This is optimism, and is the result of believing that God is more powerful than His enemies; that everything in nature is His work, and being under His direction, will eventually work out the greatest good. This faith rests upon the declarations of God's Word, and upon the guarantees of many unfulfilled prophecies. My word shall “not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isa. 55:11. “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.” Dan. 2:44. That kingdom was undoubtedly set up more than nineteen hundred years ago, and is now extending its benign influences and its power more rapidly than at any previous time in the world's history. The pessimist has little or no courage for work; and to him the battle is well-nigh lost. The optimist labors on hopefully and effectively; to him the victory is certain.
1. To the consecrated Christian, who is looking for his Lord to come, there is light, abundant light. He experiences the truth of the apostle's words: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief; for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” I Thess. 5:4, 5. Those who are looking to Christ single-eyed, single-hearted, will be filled with light. Those who look to the world will find darkness; for “darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.”
2. Those in darkness are those who do not heed the Word of light. They hope for something good; that out of the turmoil, the strife, the abounding lawlessness, man will grow better, and the world will be converted. But such are deceived by their own desires; and the apostle tells us emphatically, just what God has repeatedly declared in divers words and by divers prophets: “For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” I Thess. 5:3. This very cry of so-called “optimism,” in itself is evidence of the prevailing obscurity.
3. Now, Jesus said that when the end was about to come, “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matt. 24:12. Paul says, “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” 2 Tim. 3:13. In the same chapter he mentions not less than eighteen different sins characterizing the last days, among those that have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. Verses 1–5. These sins will be found, therefore, in the professed church. In Paul's day they were characteristic of the heathen world. It is interesting to compare those mentioned in the scripture above referred to with those in Rom. 1:28–31. The wheat and tares, Jesus says, will grow together “until the harvest,” “the end of the world.” Matt. 13:30, 39. We are told in Daniel and Revelation that the beast-power will be a persecutor to the end. We are shown Babylon, the corrupt church, spreading her influence over all the nations of earth, making them drunken with the wine of her fornication, even to their destruction. Is it pessimism to believe just what the Lord has said in His Word respecting these very days?
4. The use of Daniel 2:44 is not a happy one. The most casual reading of the context will note, (1) that the everlasting kingdom is not set up till after the iron kingdom—Rome—is long divided. This division did not begin till the fourth century of the Christian era. (2) The kingdom of Christ, the Stone kingdom, does not convert the kingdoms of earth,—of iron and clay,—but breaks in pieces as fine dust, and utterly consumes them. Surely these predictions are not fulfilled.
5. Truly God's Word will not return unto Him void. He who receives it will be re-created, a new man in Christ Jesus. He who rejects it rejects life forevermore. John 3:36. Says an apostle: “For we are a sweet savor of Christ unto God, in them that are being saved, and in them that are perishing; to the one a savor of death unto death; and to the other a savor of life unto life.” 2 Cor. 2:15, 16. But in both cases God's word does not fail. It did not fail with Sodom or Pharaoh or Belshazzar or unbelieving Israel of old, any more than it failed with Abraham, Joseph, Moses, or Elijah. It did not return void when Christ hung upon the cross, any more than it did when He was transfigured on the mount. God's Word can not fail; and it is because of this very thing that we know that Jesus Christ is coming again. He who believes that Word, who sees in the seeings of God, will see the darkness of earth, will see the increasing evil, will see the many shipwrecks of faith; but above all is shining the light of Christ, is revealed the righteousness by faith, is revealed the life-boat to pick up every shipwrecked soul who longs to be saved.
The above quoted paragraph does not rightly represent those who are looking for the Lord to come. So far as we know, they all believe in “the ultimate success of the Gospel of Christ,” and “that God is more powerful than His enemies.” But does that mean that Satan will be converted? Does that mean that God will save men against their will? Rather, does it not mean that God will do just what He purposed to do when He created this world, namely, people it with an elect number of an elect character, who will glorify Him to all eternity; and will do this despite all the power of evil. He will work out the greatest good for all the universe, and for all in this little earth who are in harmony with Him. And “this faith rests upon the declarations of God's Word, and upon the guarantees of many [fulfilled and] unfulfilled prophecies.”
6. Now, how has this belief in the pre-millennial coming of the Lord affected those who have believed it? Most of the earnest missionaries to foreign lands are said to believe it. Moody, the greatest evangelist of later years, believed it with all his heart. Mr. A. B. Simpson, whose conclusions we can not accept in all things, believes it. Do not all these labor in hope? Are they not in earnest? Do they not, or have they not, manifested as much zeal as those who believe in a converted world?
The simple truth in all this will be found in answer to the question, “What does the Bible say?” If we will receive what it says, we shall have abundance of light, and in that light will see fulfilment of prophecy on every hand, showing that Christ's coming is nigh at hand. We shall see, even in the darkness, the increasing unbelief and wickedness, omens of the coming day, and we will labor on with more earnest zeal to rescue from earth's wickedness and destruction every soul possible.
CHRIST WITHIN
By G.
TO THE Pharisees Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” Luke 17:21, R. V., margin. When He sent out teachers, they were to say to the people, even to those who rejected the message, “The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” Luke 10:9, 11. This was a great blessing to them, altho they did not appreciate it. Yet how much more enduring is the visitation to those who accept the Gospel. “If a man love Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.” John 14:23. This thought is reiterated by the apostle Paul in these words: “Know ye not that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own; for ye were bought with a price; glorify God therefore in your body.”
Note that Christ, the Head of the kingdom that is now “in the midst of” the people of this world, comes as an unsolicited offering. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” But He can not take up His abode within the individual unless His love be reciprocated. As long as the old man dominates the heart, the new man finds no place there. Two can not walk together unless they are agreed. The condition of Christ’s abiding presence in the heart is love. “God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.” 1 John 4:16. The preceding verse says that “whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.”
The idea of this abiding presence is further, and we might say more fully, shown in Christ’s own experience as a man in this world. He said to His disciples, “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.” How we may abide in His love is illustrated in these words: “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” Here we have the secret of the whole matter; the covenant is a reciprocity of love, the supreme manifestation of which on the part of the Father was the sacrifice of His Son, and on the part of Christ the sacrifice of Himself. The love due from every individual is the same as that which was manifested by the Son of God. It is thus defined: “This is the love of God, that ye keep His commandments.” Having the law of God written in the heart, is having Christ enthroned within, “the hope of glory.”
Christ is to-day standing and knocking at the door of impenitent hearts, and saying, “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.” Will you not open the door, and let Him in? However anxious He is, however much He longs to enter in and give you everlasting peace with God, He can not become an unwelcome guest. He can not come in unbidden.
G.
THE LESSON OF JUDAH’S WOES.
By G.
ISAIAH lived and labored between the two captivities; that is, between the time when Israel was carried away by the Assyrians and the time of Judah’s fall into the hands of Babylon. Through him the Lord gave warnings to Judah of the sure consequences of following in the footsteps of Israel. In the fifth chapter of the book of Isaiah, the unfruitfulness of Israel and Judah is portrayed under the symbol of a vineyard, and this is followed by a series of woes pronounced upon those who so far depart from God.
These woes begin with verse 8, the first being against those who covetously increase their land and houses. A similar woe is recorded in Micah 2:1, 2. To offset the inclination to accumulate great land holdings through sharp dealing, the year of jubilee had been provided. See Leviticus 25. As a consequence of the iniquity of wealth-hoarding, in Isaiah’s time there followed the logical result of dissolute living. The excessive use of intoxicating liquors led to frequent and prolonged banquets, in which music and general carousing mingled in profusion. All of these things were in utter disregard of the law of God and His merciful dealings with His people.
Persistently rejecting admonition, the only possible means of saving any of them would be through discipline. Having no knowledge, because they refused knowledge through the Spirit of prophecy, they were given over to captivity. This meant the abasement and famishing of those who had lived sumptuously and in worldly honor, as also the humbling of all classes, and the death of vast numbers. But the judgment of God in the matter would be vindicated; it would be made to appear holy and righteous, though appearing harsh in human judgment.
A people given over to covetousness and strong drink, with their various concomitants, are prepared to “draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart-rope;”—being actually laden with corruption. And as Judah derided the threatened judgment of God and despised His counsel, what could follow but woe upon woe? In their blindness on account of sin, “strong delusion” (2 Thess. 2:7–12) leads them to “call evil good, and good evil;” to “put darkness for light, and light for darkness;” to “put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” And the Lord says “woe” upon this also.
Prophecy is very specific, especially in dealing with the sins of God’s people. Here we have “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” These are self-deceived, because they wilfully reject light and walk in darkness. It is well in an endeavor to reform people to tell them plainly wherein lie their defects. So in all the counts brought to view by Isaiah, the charges are explicit; the sins to be forsaken are definitely stated. Here is one, however, that is repeated with emphasis: “Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink.”
The sin of intemperance is a root evil; it furnishes inspiration for so much that is corrupting and degrading. To the specification just quoted, there is added, as a strong offshoot, the justification of the wicked for reward—what we commonly call bribery. And the complement of this is, they “take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.” Evidently the reference is to magistrates, who, for a bribe, give unjust decisions, favoring those in the wrong and defrauding the other parties of their dues.
Now, while these words of the prophet describe the condition of things in Judah prior to their chastisement in captivity, the lesson is not confined to them. Like the experiences of Israel in the wilderness, “all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Cor. 10:11. So, even to the end of time, we are to expect just such evils among the professed people of God as caused the downfall of typical Israel. But God never has left Himself without witnesses in the earth. In every great crisis, there has always been a remnant saved. And when the last great crash comes, there will be a remnant saved,—a remnant that will be saved “through great tribulation; for the enemy will be making war upon them, because of their keeping the commandments of God, and because of their having the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is the Spirit of prophecy.” Rev. 12:17; 19:10.
When at last Judah was taken captive to Babylon, there were some faithful ones that remained true to the law of God. There were some children of the princes, who, confronted by great temptation and great personal danger in case of refusal, determined not to defile themselves with the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank. These became famous in the world, not only for their ability and fidelity to every trust, but as loyal to the law of God, even at the risk of their lives. There is a direct connection between Christian temperance and the keeping of the law of God. Judah departed from the law of God, became grossly intemperate, rejected the reproof of the Spirit of prophecy, and—fell. Shall her example be repeated by us? or shall we heed the lesson? G.
THEY WILL NOT UNDERSTAND.
By T.
IN the prophecy of Daniel is the interesting statement that “many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Dan. 12:10.
It is not an arbitrary decree that “none of the wicked shall understand.” God supplies both wisdom and understanding. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments; His praise endureth forever.” Ps. 111:10. Another scripture says: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” James 1:5.
Now if a person will not accept these words of the Lord,—if he will not acknowledge this source of wisdom,—he places himself where the heavenly Father can not help him. The wisdom and understanding so kindly offered to all must be accepted and acted upon, if we would receive the benefits that He is seeking to bestow upon us.
This verse in Daniel which tells us that “none of the wicked shall understand” is toward the close of a most wonderfully interesting and important book of prophecy. The rise and fall of kingdoms has been most vividly depicted, and the sublimity of the closing moments of time and of the judgment day have been presented. It is in connection with these topics of absorbing interest that we find this statement of divine truth,—“Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.”
These words of the Lord do not tell of something that may possibly occur; they utter a truth that is based upon a divine law that is as positive in its action as the law of gravity. If we would be wise enough to forsake wickedness and all its consequences and penalties, there must be a positive laying hold on the Word of God. This Word reveals sin and all its deceptions; and it not only reveals the sin, but it puts us in contact with the power to overcome it. T.
Another Testimony
Another Testimony.—Sunday-law people have often told us that California is the worst State in the Union because she has no Sunday-law. On the other hand, noted, fair-minded men from the East are surprised to find that the State is as well or better governed than the States in the East having the most stringent Sunday laws, such as Pennsylvania, for example. For instance, here is what Bishop Saterlee (Protestant Episcopal) of Washington, D. C., has to say of San Francisco, one of the worst offenders in the eyes of the advocates of religious legislation: “San Francisco itself is a great surprise to me, not ‘only regarding its size and its beauty, but also in its ‘charter and in its government. It certainly seems ‘to me one of the best governed, if not the best governed, city in the whole Union, and we in the East ‘can take an example from it.” Of course the truth is patent to every Christian that civil law can not make men better, nor can it aid religion in any way save to leave it alone.
IN THE MODERN CITY.
By S.
The real conditions of the modern city when brought to the light, reveal something upon which no moral man can look without a blush of shame. The general reader knows, in a general way, that wickedness is rife there; but it is seldom that even a portion of the festering sore is uncovered to the general public gaze. It is done at times, however, and a shock of horror and shame goes through the moral, self-respecting citizens.
But to the student of God’s Word this has a meaning. The wickedness of the world that brought about its destruction by a flood of waters is working in the earth to-day. The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain are duplicated, added to, multiplied in the great, steaming pools of sin which our modern great cities are. Listen to the hopeless plea of a young Jew of New York City, when a well-known speaker had finished exhorting his hearers to higher ideals for the betterment of society:—
Now you go to your quiet home in a decent street, where no harm comes to you or your wife or children in the night; for it is your home. And we—we go with our high resolves, the noble ambitions you have stirred, to our tenements, where evil lurks in the darkness at every step, where innocence is murdered in babyhood, where mothers bemoan the birth of a daughter as the last misfortune, where virtue is sold into a worse slavery than ever our fathers knew, and our sisters betrayed by paid panders; where the name of home is bitter as mockery; for, alas! we have none. These are the standards to which we go from here.
That young Jew was familiar with the evils of the tenement-house, where immorality was allowed to carry on its work in the same buildings occupied by the families of the respectable poor; where children were reared in the very atmosphere of vice and pollution; where young boys and girls were made familiar with the lowest forms of vice, and enticed or forced into the ways of wickedness. That is but one of the blasting influences prevalent in the great cities of to-day. It is not confined to New York City; it is not confined to America; it is the scourge of the world. We hear terrible accounts of the conditions that prevail in the cities of the Old World, where school children have been forced by their own parents into lives of the lowest vice in order to add a few more thalers to the family income; where officials have winked at or participated in, for a consideration, crimes which can not be told in print. And then our attention is called back to the conditions in our own land by the revelations of a Lexow Committee, the startling declarations of a Dr. Parkhurst or a Bishop Potter, and the bringing to light of deepest wickedness by the investigations which they started. Listen to the indictment which Mr. Riis, in The Outlook of October 26, brings against the municipal government of the city in which he lives:—
“There is a class of landlords who can be absolutely counted upon to follow the fortunes of the Hall [Tammany]. They are the ones who have sold their souls, as their houses, to the devil, and take his wages. They have a grievance, for the law which they hate now puts a fine of a thousand dollars upon the tenement that harbors prostitution with the knowledge of the landlord. We have heard it until it has made our hearts sick, how they traffic in virtue, these vultures, that their pockets may bulge and their diamonds blaze while mothers weep; how girls are snared for the bagnio, and sold by their seducers into a slavery from which death is the only escape; for while they live, they must help fill with the wages of their shame the bottomless coffers that buy elections and our liberties. There came in my mail to-day a reprint of a paper read before the American Medical Association by the assistant surgeon of the Good Samaritan Dispensary. It tells of the new horror of children of tender age coming to the hospital with unnamable diseases; and I know that it is all true, for I have seen it. Mr. Riis declares that the political issue of the day for that city is not whether New York shall build bridges, railroads, or public libraries, but whether it shall longer stand before the world as a silent partner of the most infamous conspiracy of any day, to which nothing is pure, nothing sacred; which drags down with one polluting hand innocent womanhood, and with the other collects blackmail impartially from ‘the prostitute it has made, the friendless peddler, the sweeper in the street, the policeman on his beat. On the very buttons on his coat they have set a price which he must pay, or pay the penalty.’”
New York is not alone in this. In some degree it is carried on in every large city, and in many of the smaller cities and villages. To add to the distressful situation, the inhabitants of rural communities are migrating to the more populous centers, overcrowding the labor market, and adding another depressing influence to those already at work against morality. The increase of the large cities at the expense of villages and rural districts is not imaginary, but is proved by statistics to be continuous and rapid.
Is it not true, then, that evil men and seducers are waxing worse and worse? The Lord has declared that they would do so in the last days. 2 Tim. 3:1-7, 12, 13. They are doing so now as never before. Where are we, then, in the history of the world? Are we warranted in assuming, as many do, that there is a glorious temporal future before this and succeeding generations? If that assumption be true, God’s Word can not be. In the days of Noah the world was filled with wickedness. It was destroyed by a flood of water. Christ has told us that the days of Noah would be duplicated at the time when He should return to the earth. Matt. 24:37. We see the duplicate now. We are living to-day in the most solemn hours of this earth’s history. The moral conditions of the world, together with what God has said concerning them, show beyond the shadow of a doubt that the time of Christ’s return is near at hand. The very wickedness of the world is a warning to its inhabitants that the end of sin’s dominion is about to be proclaimed.