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Signs of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 7.

A Cheerful Spirit Honors God.
Earlier text: A Cheerful Spirit Honors God.

The Armies of the Lord.

By Roswell F. Cottrell

Soon the scene is to be enacted described so vividly and majestically in Rev. 19:11-16: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in Heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
This is a sublime description, in inspired language, of the coming of Jesus Christ, with all the holy angels, as they descend to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. All the wicked of the earth will then be slain, and the saints gathered and taken to those mansions which Jesus has gone to prepare.
But it is of another army of the Lord we would speak more particularly. He has an army upon earth. The Christian is exhorted to put on the whole armor of God, to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and his reward depends on his fighting a good fight and getting the victory over his foes.
Among men those who faithfully serve the Lord, obeying his voice, constitute his army upon earth. He employs them in his work. He enlightens and leads them, so that they fulfill his pleasure. At the present time he has a special work,—the preparation of a people to be redeemed from among men, when the armies of Heaven shall come down in wrath to destroy the enemies of the Lord. For a little more than a quarter of a century he has been enlisting and drilling soldiers to take a part in the last contest between truth and error; and he promises the overcomer a seat with him in his throne. This army must be well disciplined; so that each will be found at his post, and all move in harmony. Enlistments are still in order. Who will take a part in this service?
A great work is before us. The Lord is soon coming; and the world is to be warned. In Ps. 68:11 it is written: “The Lord gave the word; great was the army [margin] of those that published it.” The number of those who are publishing the closing message of the gospel, though small, is increasing. The word of God will not fail of accomplishing its design.
Now who will sacrifice time and means to do the Lord’s work and save men? This work of the Lord is a work of sacrifice and self-denial from beginning to end. The Son of God gave the example—the key-note. He left Heaven, and his high and glorious command. He gave, not only glory and riches, but himself, to toil, to suffer, and to die to redeem lost men. The mercies of God thus exhibited toward us, demand a sacrifice from us. And is it too much that we should give wealth, luxuries, ease, and riches in that cause for which the Son of God poured out his soul unto death? No; it is our reasonable service to offer ourselves and all that we have to God, to be used in the work of saving our fellow-men. Who will take a part in this closing work? Who will begin now? Soon it will be too late. Now you can do something which God will accept. Soon the war will be ended and the harvest be past—the work done and the reward given.
R. F. COTTRELL.

Do Not Squander Time

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the material of which life is made.

The Lord Will Come.

By W. N. Glenn

THERE is no fact more thoroughly fortified by Bible evidence than that the Lord Jesus will come again, to redeem his people and to punish the disobedient. It has been positively asserted by himself, and by inspired prophets and apostles. Yet it is surprising to see the efforts of even his professed followers to evade the practical recognition of this most important truth. One of the most prolific sources of skepticism on this point is the multitude of mistakes and false theories that have been promulgated regarding the event. Because of these, many refuse to consider the matter at all. But this is a very inefficient way of refuting error.
When the disciples inquired of the Lord concerning his coming, his first warning was, “Take heed that no man deceive you; for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many.” Matt. 24 : 4, 5. Mark, the Saviour did not say that, on account of the many deceptions relative to his advent, therefore they should give no attention to the matter. On the contrary, that was the very reason why they should “take heed.” He is coming, nevertheless. What is it to take heed? Is it to turn a listless ear to the truth upon the subject—the testimony of the word of God? By no means; this is just the way to lay one's self liable to deception. Those who receive not the truth, either through rejection or neglect, are just the ones who will be susceptible to the “strong delusions” of the last days. See 2 Thess. 2 : 7–12. To “take heed” is to study the inspired testimony, that we may be prepared, by correct knowledge, not merely to withstand delusion by a stolid indifference or neutrality, but to discriminate between the false and the true. For just as sure as there are to be false prophets and false Christs in the last days, there will also be true prophets, whom it will not be safe to ignore; and there will come the true Christ.
It should be borne in mind that in the same interview there is another warning given concerning the coming of the Lord, that is equally as important as that above cited. It is the exhortation to “Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” Matt. 25 : 13. Again: “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke 21 : 34–36.
The most common excuse for not watching for this momentous occurrence is, “We can tell anything about it, and it is all folly to be troubled about that which we cannot know.” But this is the very reason why the Lord himself exhorts us to watch; and he has left on record, for our instruction, a parable, specially illustrating this lesson. “For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore; for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Mark 13 : 34–37.
The surest way to take heed against the vagaries of fanatics and false prophets, whose teachings are but the delusions of the arch-deceiver, is to take heed to the instructions of the word of God. Signs have been given by which we may know that the Lord's coming is “near, even at the doors,” and the manner of his coming has been described (Matt. 24; Acts 1 : 11; 2 Thess. 4 : 15–17), for the express purpose of protecting those who will take heed thereto, from the deceptions of the last days. The individual who turns away from all consideration of the subject of the Redeemer's advent, and loves not the contemplation of his appearing and kingdom, is just the one who, in some way or other, will be deceived concerning the event. He may, by wholesale rejection, evade delusion by the false proclamations of time-setters and those who will say, “I am Christ;” but, on the other hand, he will surely be found “sleeping” when the “Master of the house” really comes, in an hour when he thinks not. It is just as important to be ready when the Lord does come, as to be guarded against false alarm. Being ready is the only safe position.
W. N. GLENN.

Constancy in Prayer.

By Austin Phelps

PRAYER as a state of holy living is abundantly recognized in the Scripture. “Pray without ceasing.” “In everything by prayer ... let your requests be made known.” “Continuing instant in prayer.” “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same.” “Praying always, with all prayer and supplication.” Anna continued in prayer day and night. St. Paul’s ideal of a Christian widow was one who continued in prayer night and day. For St. Peter in prison, prayer was made by the church without ceasing; and far back in the elder dispensation, David said: “Evening and morning and at noon will I pray.” Constancy of devotional desire is inborn in the spirit of holy living.
Such continuity of devotion gives large place in a godly life to ejaculatory prayer. St. Augustine, Madame Guion, John Tauler, President Edwards, Edward Payson, and a host of others, were often overheard in fragmentary colloquy with God. Professor Stuart used to hallow his most learned researches by interspersing chantings of psalms in the original Hebrew. Such moments of holy utterance were the feeders which supplied to such men their spiritual strength. Luther indulged with such freedom of speech in this sort of converse with God that in almost any other man it would have been irreverent. Zinzendorf used to write notes to “the Lord Christ.” So strong was his faith in Christ’s personal friendship, and his own need of that friendship as a daily solace, that once on a journey he sent back his companion that he might converse more freely with the Lord, with whom he talked audibly. Thomas à Kempis says: “He alone is a thousand companions; He alone is a world of friends. That man never knew what it was to be familiar with God, who complains of the want of friends while God is with him.”
We need this state of prayer as a counteraction to the state of temptation in which we are always living. In such a world as this, life itself is one long temptation. The defense needs to be proportionate to the peril. The spirit of our age is skeptical of the reality of Satan. Few have the vivid faith which our fathers had in his personality as the chief of a malignant empire. We have reason to believe his subject angels to be a great multitude. A legion of them once held possession of one soul. They give to temptation a fearful force and perilous ubiquity. We have to contend with principalities and powers. No man is beyond the reach of their malign enchantments. Here, there, and everywhere, now, then, and always, personal and mighty foes are at hand to allure men to ruin. If spiritual attributes give any advantage over minds inclosed in fleshly forms, tempters have that advantage in this world of ours. We do not know that they ever slumber or are ever absent. That saintly woman was a wise one who taught her children to take example from the devil as the most industrious being in the created universe. There is but one refuge for a mortal man living under such conditions of spiritual trial. It is to live in a state of prayer as constant as the peril. God has ordained no other means by which we can summon from unseen worlds spiritual allies to reinforce our conflict with spiritual foes.
Luther may have had an exaggerated estimate of the attributes of Satan, and of his liberty of access to human souls. His imagination realized the presence of the adversary in visible and audible signs. He heard voices threatening or seductive over his left shoulder. “Ha! you are there, are you?” was the salutation he once gave, in response to an evil thought which he believed to be a suggestion from the devil. The spot in Luther’s cell at Erfurt is still exhibited to the curious, where he threw his inkstand at what he thought to be a visible form of a fiend. This may have been a strained and unnatural fancy, but that is not certain. The Reformer lived in an age in which Satan was at large in great liberty. Abnormal manifestations of his presence may have been becoming to the crisis, as they seem to have been in our Saviour’s life-time. At all events, Luther’s extreme, if it was such, was a safer error than the incredulous security from malign enchantments in which men of our times are living. Spiritual perils are the more fatal for being unseen and unheard. Odorless malaria is the most destructive to life. Burglars enter our homes in velvet slippers, and in the dark. Their dark-lanterns do not waken us from our slumber, though held at our bedside. So do invisible tempters creep stealthily upon us, and around us, night and day. Our unbelief in their existence is their safety from detection. Every man has an unseen enemy at his left shoulder. Better is Luther’s credulity than our dead faith. Such a continuous state of peril demands a continuous state of prayer as its offset and counteraction. “Continue in prayer, and watch,” is the password of safety.—Austin Phelps, D. D., in S. S. Times.

Compulsion a Necessity.

NECESSITY, it has been said, is the mother of invention. Men will perform work when necessity is laid upon them which, under other circumstances, they would not attempt. When pressed by difficulties, they will devise means of accomplishing their purposes which otherwise never would have occurred to them. It takes trying circumstances to develop men and call forth their utmost strength. Many men have risen to great eminence because the difficulties of their position have stimulated them to the greatest effort, and other men have remained in obscurity who, if placed in similar circumstances, would, perhaps, have developed equal greatness. But few men tax themselves to the utmost of their ability, unless compelled by necessity to do so. We are apt to complain when necessity compels us to the utmost exertion, when we should rather be thankful that the proper incentive to action has been afforded. We should not shrink from difficulties, if duty calls us to encounter them, for by properly meeting them we shall develop and strengthen our powers, and rise to a higher plane of excellence and usefulness.—Methodist Recorder.

The Neglected Study of Prophecy

By Old Testament Student

Of the many departments of Bible study, the department of prophecy is most generally neglected. How many students enter the ministry with clear and defined notions on the subject? How many ministers in the pastorate know, really, anything about it? And yet how extensive is the prophetical element in Scripture. How frequently and how emphatically is this element referred in both Old and New Testaments. Will any one dare to say that these prophecies were not intended for us, that they have served their purpose, and are a thing of the past? Then let us regard the whole Bible as a thing of the past. If Isaiah's words are out of date, so are Paul's.—Old Testament Student.

LESSON FOR THE PACIFIC COAST—MARCH 14.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

The Inheritance of the Saints.

  1. What is the meaning of the word “meek”?
  2. Mention two individuals who possessed this grace in a remarkable degree. Num. 12:3; 1 Pet. 2:21–23.
  3. How was the meekness of Christ manifested? 1 Pet. 2:23.
  4. In thus meekly suffering injury, what did he leave us? Verse 21.
  5. What should we do? Ib.
  6. What will be done by all who abide in Christ, or, in other words, by all Christians? 1 John 2:6.
  7. Then what grace must characterize all Christians?
  8. What is promised to the meek? Matt. 5:5.
  9. By what other term are the meek referred to in this chapter? Verse 3.
  10. What is promised to the “poor in spirit”?
  11. What testimony does the apostle James bear on this point? Jas. 2:5.
  12. What is an heir?
  13. Then if the meek are “heirs,” what can you say as to the time of their receiving their inheritance?
  14. What must the heirs pass through before they can receive the promised inheritance? Acts 14:22.
  15. What class of people in this world are in the best condition? Ps. 73:3–7.
  16. On further consideration, what did David see would be their end? Ps. 73:17–19.
  17. How complete will be their destruction? Ps. 37:10.
  18. What will then take place? Verse 11.
  19. Then what must take place before the fulfillment of the promise in Matt. 5:5?
A MEEK man, according to Webster, is one who is “mild of temper; not easily provoked or irritated; given to forbearance under injuries; soft; gentle; yielding.” The term is specifically used of one who is submissive to the divine will; patient and gentle from religious motives. In Num. 12:3 it is plainly stated that “the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” It is the prevailing impression that meekness is akin to effeminacy, and is worthy only of scorn; but if we recall the history of Moses, we shall see that such an idea is entirely erroneous. He was a great general, and the leader of mighty armies composed of fierce warriors. An effeminate man could have done nothing in the position of Moses, yet while Moses was leading the host of Israel, he was very meek. By reference to Ex. 2:11–17, it will be seen that Moses was naturally of a quick, impetuous disposition, and given to the resenting of injuries. His gentleness and forbearance were the result of communion with God.
NO ONE could think of charging Christ with weakness in any particular, yet he was the embodiment of meekness. Peter describes the meekness that is acceptable to God: “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” 1 Pet. 2:19, 20. This grace is one of the most difficult to acquire, for it is most foreign to our nature. But Christ has set us an example, that we should follow in his steps, and he, the sinless one, “when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not.” 1 Pet. 2:23. As the prophet said, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” Isa. 53:7. We cannot be Christians unless we are Christ-like; and if we are like Christ, we shall be meek. Therefore meekness is the characteristic of the Christian. “BLESSED are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. 5:5. Since all Christians, and none but Christians, are truly meek, this promise must apply to all Christians. In Matt. 5:3 we read, “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” To be poor in spirit is to be just the opposite of haughty, or, in other words, it is to be meek. So this promise is also to the meek. Now by comparing these two verses with James 2:5, we shall see that the same thing is promised both in the third and fifth verses of Matt. 5. The text referred to says: “Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?”
IN this last text we find that those who are lovers of God, humble disciples of Christ, are heirs of a kingdom. Matt. 5:5 shows that such shall inherit the earth, or, in other words, they are heirs of the earth. The inevitable conclusion, then, is that the earth is “the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love him.”
AN “heir” is one who is entitled, either by birth, adoption, or special promise, to succeed to the possession of some property. But the heir is not in possession; when he comes into possession of his property, he ceases to be an heir. So if we speak of any one as being heir to a certain estate, it is understood that the time of his inheritance is still in the future. So the kingdom spoken of in Jas. 2:5 cannot be the gospel and its privileges, or the church, because those to whom the apostle speaks are brethren in the church, and already enjoying the blessings of the gospel. The kingdom which they are to receive is not yet in their possession, because, by virtue of their Christianity, they are heirs of it. Before they can inherit it, they must pass through great tribulation. Acts 14:22.
IT scarcely needs any argument to show that the followers of God are by no means the possessors of this world. Christ says, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” John 16:33. By the “world” is meant here, this present world; not the world in its redeemed state. And it often means wicked people. For proof of this, see John 15:18, 19; 1 John 3:1. Then Christ’s statement in John 16:33 would imply that the wicked now have the ascendancy. It was the contemplation of this fact that caused David to almost lose faith in God. Said he, “I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death; but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.” “Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish.” Ps. 73:3–7. In the twelfth verse he says, “Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.” These things well-nigh caused David’s steps to slip.
BUT when he went into the sanctuary of the Lord, then he understood the end of these prosperous ones. He saw that although they seemed so secure, their feet were set in slippery places. “Thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment; they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.” Ps. 73:18–20. Here is brought to view the utter destruction of the wicked, concerning which we have learned in past lessons. The completeness of their destruction is thus stated by the psalmist: “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” Ps. 37:10. And when this destruction shall have been accomplished what will take place? “But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Verse 11. So we learn that this earth, the kingdom which is promised to them that love God, is not to be inherited until the wicked are consumed from off the face of it. Until that time, the meek are only heirs. E. J. W.

NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.

MARCH 1—ACTS 23:12-24.

Paul’s Escape from Jerusalem.

The dawn of the next day sufficed to prove that his manœuvre in the Sanhedrim had only won a temporary success at the cost of a deeper exasperation. So unquenchable was the fury against him, and so inflamed was the feeling of disappointment that Lysias should have snatched him away from their revenge, that in the morning no less than forty Jews bound themselves with a terrible cherem not to eat or drink till they had killed him. The Jews, like some Christians in the worst days of Christendom, believed in the divine right of assassination as the means of getting rid of a tyrant or an apostate. Their penal blindness had deceived them into the sanctification of religious murder. How dark a picture does it present to us of the state of Jewish thought at this period that, just as Judas had bargained with the chief priests for the blood-money of his Lord, so these forty sicarii went, not only without a blush, but with an evident sense of merit, to the hostile section of the Sanhedrim, to suggest to them the concoction of a lie for the facilitation of a murder. “We are bound under a curse not to touch food till we slay Paul. Do you, then, and the Sanhedrim, give notice to the commandant to bring him down to you, under pretext of a more accurate inquiry into his case. We, before he gets near you, are prepared to slay him.”
So far from rejecting the suggestion with execration, as many a heathen would have done, these degenerate Jews and worldly priests agreed to it with avidity. But a secret known to forty conspirators, and requiring the complicity of an indefinite number more, is no secret at all. There were sure to be dark hints, ominous gestures, words of ill-concealed triumph, and, indeed, so unanimous among the orthodox Jews, and even, we fear, among some nominal Jewish Christians, was the detestation of the man who taught “apostasy from Moses,” that in most circles there was no need for any pretence of concealment. When St. Peter had been in prison, and in peril of execution, the Christian community of Jerusalem had been in a ferment of alarm and sorrow, and prayer had been made day and night without ceasing to God for him; but St. Peter, and especially the St. Peter of that early period, was regarded with feelings very different from those with which the Judaic believers looked on the bold genius whose dangerous independence treated Mosaism and its essential covenant as a thing of the past for converted Gentiles. We hear of no prayer from any one of the elders or the “many myriads” on behalf of St. Paul. He owed to a relative, and not to the church, the watchful sympathy which alone rescued him from murder. He had a married sister living in Jerusalem, who, whether she agreed or not with the views of her brother—and the fact that neither she nor her family are elsewhere mentioned, and that St. Paul never seems to have put up at her house, makes it at least very doubtful—had yet enough natural affection to try to defeat a plot for his assassination.
Most gladly would we have known something further about the details. All that we are told is, that the son of this lady, apparently a mere boy, on hearing of the intended ambuscade, went at once to the barracks of Fort Antonia, and gaining ready access to his uncle, who, as an untried Roman citizen, was only kept in custodia militaris, revealed to him the plot. The apostle acted with his usual good sense and promptitude. Sending for one of the ten centurions of the garrison, he said to him, “Lead this youth to the commandant, for he has something to tell him.” There is a touch of very natural kindness in the way in which the Roman officer received the Jewish boy. Lysias took him by the hand, and, walking with him to a place where they were out of earshot, began to ask him what his message was. The youth told him. Lysias saw the importance of the secret, and instantly formed his plans. He told the youth not to mention to any one that he had given him information of the conspiracy, and, summoning two centurions, ordered them to equip two hundred legionaries, seventy cavalry soldiers, two hundred lancers, with two spare horses, to be ready to escort Paul safely to Cæsarea that very evening at nine o’clock. He was extremely glad to get rid of a prisoner who created such excitement, and who was the object of an animosity so keen that it might at any moment lead to a riot. There was now sufficient pretext to send Paul away swiftly and secretly, and so get rid of an embarrassing responsibility. At nine that evening, when it was dark, and when the streets would be deserted, the large escort of four hundred and seventy soldiers—an escort the necessity of which shows the dangerous condition of the country, and the extent of Lysias’s alarm—stood ready at the gate of the barracks.
Paul was mounted on one of the horses provided for him, and the escort rode rapidly through the disturbed country, in the vicinity of Jerusalem, with a sharp lookout against any ambuscade. After that, being too numerous and well-armed to have any dread of mere brigands, they went at their ease along a Roman road, the thirty-five miles to Antipatris. Here they rested for the remainder of the night. Next day the four hundred legionaries and lancers marched back to Jerusalem, while the mounted soldiers rode forward on the remaining twenty-five miles to Cæsarea. St. Paul thus entered Cæsarea with a pomp of attendance very unlike the humble guise in which he had left it, amid the little caravan of his fellow-Christians. They entered the town in broad daylight, and so large a body passing through the streets must have attracted many curious eyes. How must Philip and the other Christians of Cæsarea have been startled to recognize the rapid fulfilment of their forebodings as they saw the great teacher, from whom they had parted with so many tears, ride through the streets, with his right hand chained to the arm of a horseman, amid a throng of soldiers from the garrison of Antonia! That ride, in the midst of his Roman body-guard, was destined to be his last experience of air and exercise, till—after two years of imprisonment—his voyage to Rome began.—Farrar’s Life of Paul.

Paul’s Rejection by His Brethren

THE case of Paul was not the first in which a servant of God had found among the heathen an asylum from the malice of the professed people of Jehovah. In their rage against Paul, the Jews had added another crime to the dark catalogue which marked the history of that people. They had still further hardened their hearts against the truth, and had rendered their doom more certain.
The Saviour's words of reproof to the men of Nazareth apply in the case of Paul, not only to the unbelieving Jews, but to his own brethren in the faith. Had the leaders in the church fully surrendered their feelings of bitterness toward the apostle, and accepted him as one specially called of God to bear the gospel to the Gentiles, the Lord would have spared him to them to still labor for the salvation of souls. He who sees the end from the beginning, and who understands the hearts of all, saw what would be the result of the envy and jealousy cherished toward Paul. God had not in his providence ordained that Paul's labors should so soon end; but he did not work a miracle to counteract the train of circumstances to which their own course gave rise.
The same spirit is still leading to the same results. A neglect to appreciate and improve the provisions of divine grace, has deprived the church of many a blessing. How often would the Lord have prolonged the life of some faithful minister, had his labors been appreciated. But if the church permit the enemy of souls to pervert their understanding, so that they misrepresent and misinterpret the words and acts of the servant of Christ; if they allow themselves to stand in his way and hinder his usefulness, the Lord removes from them the blessing which he gave.
Satan is constantly working through his agents to dishearten and destroy those whom God has chosen to accomplish a great and good work. They may be ready to sacrifice even their own life for the advancement of the cause of Christ; yet the great deceiver will suggest doubts, distrust, jealousy, concerning them, that if entertained will undermine confidence in their integrity of character, and thus cripple their usefulness. Too often he succeeds in working through their own brethren, to bring upon them such sorrow and anguish of heart that God graciously interposes to give his persecuted servants rest. After the hands are folded upon the pulseless breast, after the voice of warning and encouragement is silent, then death may accomplish that which life has failed to do; then the obdurate may be aroused to see and prize the blessings they have cast from them.
There is the same dislike of reproof and correction among the professed people of God to-day as in the days of our Saviour. There is the same disposition to lean toward the world and to follow its mocking shadows. The presence of ambitious, selfish, time-serving members is imperiling the church, whose greatest danger is from worldly conformity. Such members are constantly exerting an influence to unite the church more closely with the world. They are doing the work of Satan. When God sends his servants with words of warning or counsel, these traitors to their holy trust reject the Heaven-sent message, and thus not only slight the grace of Christ themselves, but lead others also to smother their convictions and lose the proffered blessing.—Sketches from the Life of Paul, by Mrs. E. G. White.

The Tobacco Slave

By Neal Dow

Temperance.

The Tobacco Slave.

THERE is absolutely no gratification whatever coming from the use of tobacco, except this: it relieves the victim from the misery which attacks him from the lack of it. Many years ago I saw a lunatic who had become so much accustomed to a billet of wood that had been chained to one of his legs when he was troublesome and dangerous, that afterwards, when he was quiet and harmless, he could not be easy without that “clog,” and always carried it about with him on his shoulder, though the chain was no longer fastened to him.
The tobacco slave reminds me of that poor lunatic; he carries around with him his offensive burden, by which he often makes himself odious to the persons whom he annoys with the stench of his presence. The tobacco slave is like him; he cannot dispense with his “smoke” or his “chew” without suffering from the want of it. Why does he not remain at home, then, until his craving for tobacco should be satisfied for the time, so as not to annoy others with the stench of it? One reason is that he cannot afford to sacrifice so much time as this would require; and another reason is, the tobacco slave becomes indifferent to the comforts or the rights of others. He poisons the air that others must breathe, and, “if they don’t like it, let them move away!” The tobacco slave always comes to that; his moral sense is lost or dulled.—Neal Dow.

The Saloon Business Defined.

It is a business which is opposed to every clergyman in the country.
It is a business which is the standing dread of every mother.
It is a business which is the constant fear of every father.
It is a business which is the horror of every wife.
It is a business which makes ninety per cent. of the business of the criminal courts.
It is a business which makes ninety per cent. of the pauperism for which the tax-payer has to pay.
It is a business which keeps employed an army of policemen in the cities.
It is the business which puts out the fire on the hearth and condemns wives and children to rags, cold and hunger.
It is the business which fosters vice for profit, and educates in wickedness for gain.
Drunkenness comprises all other vices. It is the dictionary of vice, for it includes every vice. Drunkenness means peculation, theft, robbery, arson, forgery, murder—for it leads to all these crimes.—Sel.

A Curious Will

A CURIOUS will, drawn by Mrs. Sarah Ellen Smith, was filed in the Philadelphia Orphans' Court a few days ago. It provided that her residence be left to Sarah Wilson until she should arrive at thirty years of age, when, if ever, she would “know the necessity of taking care of her means, and not having a husband who uses tobacco or intoxicating drinks.” After Miss Wilson becomes thirty years old, the property is to go to her absolutely, but it is provided that “should she have a husband who can afford to indulge in the use of rum and tobacco, of course he can support her without this bequest, and the house and grounds shall be given to the Society of the Presbyterian Church for the support of Indigent Preachers.” She further instructed her executor to see that none of her estate should be used in any way to encourage the use of rum and tobacco, through which she received her “crowning sorrow.”—Sel.

Health Depleted by Daily Expenses

ONE'S health, like households and empires, is depleted by little daily and useless expenses.

Do What You Can

MEN often do not know what they can do until they make the effort. If they were to try, they might accomplish far more than they or others think them capable of doing. But few men do all they can. Either from indolence, or the fear of failure, they are deterred from putting forth all their strength, or improving as they might their opportunities. We should remember that God has not given us talents to be buried, but to be improved, and improved to the very utmost of our ability. Any man who fails to do this, fails to do his whole duty. No higher compliment could be passed upon any one than Christ passed upon the woman of whom he said, “She hath done what she could.” This is what every one should do. Then do not neglect your opportunities, but be faithful and diligent, and do all you can to glorify God and benefit your fellow-men.—Sel.

A Japanese Lad’s Generosity

A JAPANESE lad, who had recently joined the Sabbath-school, poured out the contents of his pocket-book into the contribution box when it came to his class. On his teacher's expressing surprise, his laconic remark was, “Why! isn’t it a good cause? and if so the more I give the better.” How is this for an example from a heathen foreigner?—Congregationalist.
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