A great many people are not Christians, not because they do not believe the Bible, but simply because they are putting it off until what they think will be a more convenient time. They reason that they can go through life casting all their influence on the side of Satan, and then when they get old and find they are about to die, turn to God, repent, and be saved. This is a fatal delusion. The Bible is against it. The Bible says: “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”
Dear reader, if you are not a Christian, doubtless the thought has come to your mind that you ought to be one, that you ought to do differently; this is the voice of God speaking to your soul, and the Lord says, “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” To neglect to heed the voice of God, to resist the drawing of His love, is one way of sinning against the Holy Ghost; and of such Christ says that they have no forgiveness, neither in this world nor the world to come. The Spirit of God persistently resisted is at last withdrawn, and the sinner is left to the way he has chosen. O, terrible condition!
“Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all My counsel, and would none of My reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me.” Prov. I:24–28.
“O, where is that mysterious bourn
By which our path is crossed,
Beyond which God Himself hath sworn
That he who goes is lost?”
“How far may we go in sin?
How long will God forbear?
Where does hope end, and where begin
The confines of despair?”
“An answer from the skies is sent:
Ye who from God depart,
While it is called to-day, repent,
And harden not your heart.”
The exhortation, “Harden not your hearts,” comes with as much force to the professed Christian as to the open sinner. God is now sending light to the world. He is having the fact proclaimed that Jesus is soon coming, and that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Many are receiving the light, but many more are rejecting it. Dear reader, what is your attitude toward this great question? It may be that the Lord has impressed your mind upon this subject.
Now we beg of you do not resist the light that God has been pleased to send you. But if you do, what may you expect? Will not the same result follow as with the open sinner who rejects light? If not, why not? Is God a respecter of persons?
“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 7:21.
“Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets: Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in nowise believe, tho a man declare it unto you.” Acts 13:40, 41.
GRANT PRIDDY.
Bastrop, Louisiana.
A SIGN OF FORGIVENESS.
By Phillips Brooks
THE true sign of forgiveness is not some mysterious signal waved from the sky; not some obscure emotion hunted out in your heart; not some stray text culled out of your Bible; certainly not some word of mortal priest telling you that your satisfaction is complete. The soul full of responsive love to Christ, and ready, longing, hungry to serve Him, is its own sign of forgiveness. Must there not be sorrow for sin? Must there not be resolution of amendment? Surely there must, but it is not sorrow for sin for the sake of the sorrowfulness that Jesus ever wants. He wants sorrow for sin only that it may bring escape from sin.—Phillips Brooks.
THOUGHTS
By C. F. Ladd
WE are not home yet.
God wants to use you.
Thank God for the Comforter.
We need to be more of “one accord.”
God sends only to those who seek.
God requires us to be a prepared people.
Christ is the light. We are the reflectors.
Sin makes man a cripple. Christ can heal.
Our lives should be daily hymns of thanksgiving.
The reward is for him that endures to the end.
True repentance for sin is shown by turning from it.
It is not the “silent Christian” that is filled with the Holy Ghost.
Some Christians leave their pocketbooks at home when they go to church.
If we would be Christ’s friend, we must say, “No,” to the world.
Where there is strife and jealousy, there can be no power.
“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.” “This same Jesus . . . shall so come.”
Let us not preach so much to bring people to astonishment as to repentance.
The brighter the fire burns within us, the brighter will our light shine out.
If we want to see people converted, we must hold up Christ, not self. C. F. LADD.
Jersey City, N. J.
“YOU HAVE BEAT ME.”
By Wm. Penniman
Rendering Good for Evil.
WHEN in Pennsylvania some time ago, I talked with an old gentleman on this subject, and was much pleased with an anecdote he told me. The man who told the circumstance never made a profession of religion, but believed in the Golden Rule, or that of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us.
But some seem to think that instead of doing unto others as they would wish to be done by, they will do unto them as they ought to be done by. This is not God’s way; He is much better unto us than we deserve. “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” Therefore we should love even our enemies, and do them good as we have opportunity.
As to the man in question, it seemed to do him good to do a kind deed to one who had refused to do one for him. He was not like the man who said, “We are taught in God’s Word to render good for evil, but I must confess it is not very refreshing.” But it seemed to refresh this man to do a deed of this kind.
One day he called on a minister to get the use of his horse for half an hour or so. The preacher refused, saying he was not in the habit of lending his horse, so the man politely bade the preacher good day, and walked off. In the course of a few days, he happened to find the preacher trying to borrow a one-horse buggy, so he offered him his, but he hesitated much about taking it; but, after much urging, he consented and remarked to the lender, “You have beat me.”
Doubtless the preacher did not refuse to lend his horse after that. It is not right to lend a horse or any animal to one who will mistreat it; for the “righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.”
There are many such cases in which men have been beaten in this way, and even worse than if they had been beaten by a whip; but this case is enough to illustrate the principle.
Christ says (Matt. 5:44, 45), “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Again, Paul says (Rom. 12:20), “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.”
In the illustration given, the man who refused to lend was not an enemy to the borrower, but the principle is the same.
It has been said by a certain writer that “to render evil for evil is man-like, to render evil for good is devil-like, to render good for evil is godlike.”
Therefore let us all be like God, and render good for evil. Wm. Penniman.
The Gift of Making Friends
BLESSED is the man who has the gift of making friends, for it is one of God's best gifts. It involves many things, but above all is the power of going out of one's self and seeing and appreciating whatever is noble and loving in another man.—Hughes.
BAPTIZED INTO HIS LIFE.
It would be the same were we to say, “Baptized into His Spirit.” We have used life, because of the ideas associated with it,—power, action, growth, fruitage; but we would not by any means disassociate the life of God from the Spirit of God. “The Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
How may we obtain that Spirit, that mighty power of God? What are the requisite steps in the experience of the child of God? These questions may be answered in various ways and from different view-points; we will at this time consider the subject from the words of Jesus in Matt. 28:19: “Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” R.V.
This is not a mere formula. The performance of a ceremony which includes these words may be the veriest mockery, tho performed by a minister or a priest who may be able to trace his priestly succession or ceremonial lineage to the apostle Peter or Paul. There is a vital truth involved in the words, which both the administrator and candidate should in a measure, at least, realize.
“Baptized” means immersed, whelmed, plunged. It involves a complete enfolding in the element. It involves in its spiritual significance a burial of the old life of sin and arising to walk in a new life, abiding therein continually. Rom. 6:3–6.
“Baptized into” a name means a swallowing up by that name, bearing that name, living in that name.
“Name” in Scripture signifies character, especially the names of Deity and the names given by Deity. Jacob meant “supplanter,” and that was the character of the unregenerate son of Isaac. But after his struggle with the angel at the Ford Jabbok, the “Supplanter” became the “Prevailer,” and Jacob became Israel.
The name of the Father means the character of the Father. When Moses besought God to show him His glory, the Lord replied in such a way as to show that His glory was His goodness, and that this wonderful fact was revealed in His name. Said Moses, “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.” The Lord replies, “I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee.” Ex. 33:18, 19. And in fulfilling this promise, “the Lord descended in a cloud, and stood with him [Moses] there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.” And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “Jehovah, Jehovah, a God full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth; keeping mercy for thousands [of generations, Deut. 7:9], forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty.” Ex. 34:5–7, R.V.
Here is the character of God, so infinitely holy that He can not overlook unconfessed and cherished sin, yet infinitely merciful and compassionate. “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.” Ps. 145:17.
To be baptized into the Father’s name is, therefore, to be baptized into His character, to possess His righteousness or holiness. But man has not this righteousness of himself. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory [goodness] of God.” Rom. 3:23. “There is none righteous, no, not one.” “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.” “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”
“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.”
These are divine photographic views and descriptions of the human heart in its sinful condition, by nature. Every man and woman who have looked within, in the light of eternity, and who will be honest between their own soul and God, will admit the truthfulness of the picture. And every one who thus sees himself and the sure and fatal end of such a course, will cry out in his agony and desire of deliverance, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
Praise God, the physician who has made the diagnosis with the divine X-rays of the piercing Word, is also a healer. He who so perfectly declares the disease furnishes also the remedy, for He is the mighty Life-giver.
All that He requires on our part is absolute submission to Him. Of course this means the giving up of our own way absolutely, unconditionally, and forever. “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he can not be My disciple.” But why retain our all or any? It has brought us only bondage and misery. And why not give all to Him which He has purchased—our sin and selfishness with the rest—and take what He has to give?
But what has He to give?—“All things which pertain unto life and godliness.” Listen to some of His precious promises—all negotiable at the Bank of Heaven on demand—to sinners:—
“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Isa. 55:6, 7.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; tho they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” Isa. 1:18, 19.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.
“Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” Rom. 3:22–25. This is the character God gives in exchange for our sins. It matters not how He can do it, or by what divine alchemy He makes the change; suffice to say, He makes it. He has made it for myriads in the past. He is making it for many to-day. He will make it for you. If you hate sin, if you will give it all up to Him for Christ’s sake, He will take it all away, and count you as righteous as tho you had never sinned.
This is being baptized into the Father’s name. There are no back debts lingering over you in this transaction to burden and harass. Jesus Christ has canceled them. Will you not accept this gift?
What a blessed exchange! What a glorious name to bear! Swallowed up in God’s name, in His character! This is the first step to the fulness of His life, His Spirit. Have you taken it? If not, why not?
A CHRISTIAN CITIZEN.
By T.
A CHRISTIAN citizen must needs be a Christian indeed. If he is only a sham and make-believe, he is merely a hypocrite and no Christian at all.
To be a Christian indeed is to be a follower of Christ, and it is perfectly evident to any one who will think about it, that no man can be a follower of Christ without diligently studying Christ in His Word. And he who decides above everything else to follow Christ, will do what that Word says, regardless of preconceived notions or surrounding prejudices. He will not go to men to see what they think, nor will he be governed or unduly influenced by their opinions. He will go straight to the Word of God—the fountain-head—and what it says will be his rule of life and guide.
In the law that governs the Christian citizen there occurs this statement:—
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” Matt. 5: 38-42.
The foregoing is very plain and direct instruction to the Christian citizen, and every one should know that there is not a single act in all the life of Christ that is out of harmony with His words. The man who has faith enough in the Master to believe that all He says in His Word is for the best, will have no other thought in mind but to carry it out just as He gave it. He will not quibble over the precepts of the Bible, and say that they mean this and they don’t mean that; but he will take the Book of God for just what it is; and what it says is what it is. How can any one tell what the Bible means if it does not mean just what it so plainly says?
To be sure, there are parables and figures used in the Bible, but the Bible itself explains their meaning, and the Spirit of God impressing the Bible’s own explanation of its own words upon mind and heart, is the only source to which the Christian citizen will look for the meaning of the Sacred Book of God. The meaning is in the words themselves. Where else could it be? Then the Christian citizen will study that Word, because the Master has breathed divine life and power into it.7
But there are other precepts laid down to govern the Christian citizen:—
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? and if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matt. 5: 43-48.
Can the Christian citizen ignore these precepts of the Master?—Certainly he can not and still retain his Christian citizenship. He may make a profession, but that is not the question. It is one thing to make a profession, but it is altogether something else to be in possession of the actual realities of Christian citizenship.
Men may and do make light of these principles of Christian citizenship. Yes, even those who profess Christianity will ridicule the idea of literally carrying them out in practical life. But there are the Bible precepts addressed to all Christian citizens, just the same. How can their plain statements be avoided?
Do the citizens of this world “resist not evil”? When they are smitten on the right cheek, do they turn the other also? Do they love their enemies? Do they offer blessing when they are cursed? Do they do good to them that hate them, and pray for them that despitefully use them? This world has been running on for quite a time, but no place yet has been found where the citizens of any of its countries exercise such kind and unselfish principles.
There are, it is true, nations that call themselves Christian, and there is no denying the fact that the Christianity of men in those nations has done the wonderful things that have been accomplished in uplifting and civilizing their citizens. But these nations, as such, still fight their enemies. When they are cursed, they curse back, and when they are smitten, they smite in return. It has always been thus with the nations of this world, and in the very nature of things it must be that way to the end of time. Wars and rumors of wars, we are assured in the Word of God, will continue till the Son of man appears in the clouds of heaven to put an end to this reign of sin.
Then can the Christian citizen be a citizen of this world? Can he completely affiliate as a citizen in countries where enmity and the sword are rife? Can he be a follower of Christ and not heed these precepts of the Master? And if he loves Christ above every other person or thing, will not his whole aim be to do just as Christ said? In a word, is not the real Christian citizen a citizen of the heavenly kingdom? And is not his work to look after the interests of that kingdom, and keep himself free from the entanglements involved in the politics pertaining to citizenship in this world?
There is a great work for Christian citizens to do in the world and for the world, but still they are not to be of the world. The Lord states these points very clearly in His Word. Which will we follow, the Word of God or the precepts of men? Do not take a superficial view and act hastily, but think of these things.
T.
ORIGIN OF SUNDAY.
In an article in the oldest and leading Presbyterian journal of America, the New York Observer, of June 30, the question is asked, “Is Sunday a common holiday?” It discusses the question of the day in respect to “its history” and “the character of its observance.” After speaking of the intermittent and “partial” observance of the day in the earlier centuries, the writer, the learned Marcus Dods, D.D., says:—
But at length the imperial throne itself was Christianized, and that observance of the day which had been difficult, interrupted, and partial was made regular and universal. In the year 321, while the Emperor Constantine was tending towards Christian belief and was already desirous to legislate favorably for his Christian subjects, he issued the following decree: “On the venerable day of the sun (i. e., Sunday) let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in the work of cultivation may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.” This edict issued by Constantine would take effect throughout the Roman world—virtually wherever there were Christians. It is in this imperial edict that we find the earliest express and definite institution of the first day of the week to be a weekly holiday. . . . And he appointed the first day of the week to be thus observed because already the Christians, wherever they could, observed this day by meeting for worship. In other words, the world owes this day not to nature, not to enlightened legislation or out of consideration for man’s physical well-being, but to a Christian sentiment.
But if Dr. Dods will carefully read Constantine’s decree, he will fail to find the shadow of a proof for his allegation that Constantine “appointed the first day of the week to be thus observed because already the Christians . . . observed this day.”
Notice: (1) Constantine was an idolater and a sun-worshiper. All who have read the history of those times, know this.
2. It was the day of the sun, not “the Lord’s day,” or “the first day of the week,” that he appoints. It is appointed in honor of the sun.
3. The decree shows that it was not a new institution appointed or ordained. It was old, the “venerable day of the sun.”
4. He does not mention Christians or remotely refer to them. “The venerable day of the sun” was to be kept in cities, but husbandry was to go on in the country. Did the Christians then regard the day in the city, but not in the country?
Dr. Dods tells us again:—
The early Christians did not cite the fourth commandment, nor did they go back upon any example, Jewish or Gentile, for the observance of the day.
This is true in this respect, that the day had no Biblical command or example for its observance. It did, however, on the Gentile side have “the wild solar holiday of all pagan times.” This was the origin of the day. It was purely heathen. It was upheld by heathen and apostate ecclesiastical law.
Can an institution with such an origin ever obtain a strong hold upon a good Biblical conscience?—Never. It has always had to seek the support of civil law; it is seeking it to-day. Man may endeavor to surround it with the glories of the resurrection, he may clothe it in the stolen livery of the law of God, but it will ever remain heathen in origin, and in nature, standing, if at all, on the heathen doctrine of civil force. And that is why men are now clamoring for Sunday laws.
HE DID NOT KNOW HOW.
The following old story, in which there is a lesson for the Christian, is thus revived by Success:—
“Tout est perdu, sauve qui peut!” (“All is lost; save himself who can!”) shouted the soldiers of Marshal Victor at Merengo when, after sustaining with Lannes for four hours the fierce onslaught of superior Austrian numbers under General Melas, his men gave way and fled.
But Lannes formed his men into hollow squares, and with the Consular Guard, also in squares, they slowly fell back, moving like “living citadels” over the field of battle, sinking by hundreds under the destructive fire of the enemy, but still shielding Victor’s disorganized troops.
At this juncture was seen advancing over the plain, with banners waving and trumpets sounding, the head of the columns of Desaix, who had heard the cannonading a score of miles away, and in advance of orders had hastened to the relief of Napoleon.
“Beat a retreat!” said an officer to one of the drummers of Desaix, who had just reported to his chief.
“Beat a retreat!” repeated the drummer, as he looked upon the French army rolling back in a broken mass, and noted the impatience of some of the soldiers at the silence of his drum; “I do not know how to beat a retreat; Desaix never taught me that; but I can beat a charge—O! I can beat a charge that will make the dead fall into line. I beat that charge at the Pyramids. I beat it at Mount Tabor. I beat it at the bridge of Lodi. May I not beat it here?”
“What think you of it?” asked Napoleon of Desaix, whose 6,000 men were halted not far away.
“The battle is lost,” replied the hero of Egypt; “but it is only 3 o’clock; there is time to gain another.”
“Forward, then,” commanded Napoleon. “Hold the enemy in check while I rally and reform the army behind you.” Riding among the demoralized infantry of Victor, he shouted: “Soldiers, you have retreated far enough; you know it is always my custom to sleep on the field of battle.”
Meanwhile the boy was beating that stirring charge, and Desaix with his 6,000 was charging the whole Austrian army. “Go,” said he to his aide-de-camp, “tell the first consul I am advancing and must be supported by the cavalry.”
A moment later he fell mortally wounded, but the drum only beat the louder, and his men rushed forward to avenge him. Kellermann’s cavalry charged to support them; the Austrian columns gave way, and were soon a turbulent mass of fugitives.
A greater than Napoleon leads the people of God. Why should His soldiers retreat?
The whole chapter is a prophecy of God’s punishment of the wicked in the great day of the Lord. Idumea, or Edom, upon which the curse of sin has so heavily rested, is taken as the type of the destruction of the earth. “For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” Then follow verses 9, 10, which show that the very things which are supposed to quench fire and stay the work of destruction will but feed the fury of the heat which shall melt the earth, and purify it from sin and its effects. 2 Peter 3:10. These fires shall burn till the earth is purified, and until that is accomplished “shall not be quenched.” During that time, that great day of the Lord, the land shall not be inhabited. But when all sin and its effects are forever destroyed, out from the ashes of the old world God will create new heaven and new earth, wherein the righteous shall dwell forever. See 2 Peter 3:12, 13; Rev. 21:5; also Bible Students’ Library, No. III, “Tormented Forever and Ever,” and No. 65, “The Great Day of the Lord,” pp. 29, 30.
AND HIS DEADLY WOUND WAS HEALED.
By T.
In view of the fact that the pope is liable to die any moment, it is stated that “there is intense excitement in the sacred college among the candidates for the Papacy, and their supporters, and the governments most directly interested. France, Germany, and Austria have ordered their representatives in Rome not to leave the city. The selection of a new pope is especially important in view of the positive action taken by the Roman Catholic Church in connection with the Socialistic movement in Central Europe.”
The prophet says of the Papacy that he saw it “as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast.” The spiritual power of the Papacy was shattered by the Reformation, and Protestantism, when it stood for the pure, free Gospel of Christ, was sanguine in the hope that Roman Catholicism could never regain her footing in the world. Their faith in the complete overthrow of the Papacy was also greatly strengthened when Napoleon’s army entered Rome about a hundred years ago and took the reigning pope prisoner. Victor Emanuel’s conflicts with the pope and his success in finally establishing his capitol in the city of Rome, seemed to be among the final strokes that would forever destroy the temporal power of the Papal Church.
But in the prophetic description the statement is made that this power was “as it were wounded to death.” The wound, to all human appearances, was a deadly blow. But divine foresight expresses it only as an apparent deadly wound. He was wounded to death “as it were” only, and the statement is immediately added that “his deadly wound was healed,” and, furthermore, that “all the world wondered after the beast.”
That Catholicism is gaining in power and influence among all the earthly governments, there can be no question. “All the world” is literally reaching out for her power. And nowhere is this to be more noticed than in the most pronounced Protestant lands. Even Germany, where the Reformation of the sixteenth century had its center and greatest influence, has fell to “wondering after the beast.”
The same prophetic accuracy that foretells the “deadly wound” of the Papacy, also tells of the wound being healed. The history of the wounding has been but recently written. The work of the healing is now going on beneath our literal eyes. Do you see it? Do you know what it signifies? It is one of the very last acts in the world’s history. When the climax is reached, the Son of God will come in person to overthrow the evil which, under all its varied forms, has sought for so many centuries to dominate the minds of men. T.
A Farmer’s Prospects and Responsibilities
An agricultural paper, the Orange Judd Farmer, in its issue of July 23, gives an annual review of the agricultural situation. It predicts coming prosperity for the farmer, and surely he needs it. Among other things it says, “There is a brilliant promise for the largest tonnage of crops this year ever produced in America.” The value of the wheat crop for 1896-97 is estimated at $861,000,000, as against $460,000,000 for the year previous. For all staple crops the returns are estimated at $100,000,000 more this year than last. But expecting prosperity from solely natural sources frequently leads to disappointment. There are many vicissitudes between the sowing and reaping, and the reaping and the harvest. The prudent farmer will use economy and wisdom in the use of means which God is now giving him in trust. Next year is uncertain. Let him take the Lord as his senior partner.
THE OUTLOOK
“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what He will speak with me.”
The New York “Voice” presents as a part of the record of a prominent senator in Congress a list of twelve victims of his fraud, greed, and conscienceless career. Some of these were imprisoned, some forever disgraced who were not incarcerated, and some are in their graves as suicides and drunkards. It might be well to note that this notorious politician was one of the most active in securing Sunday-closing of the Chicago World's Fair, advocating the measure on a religious basis. And so it will be manifest more fully when religion becomes more fully connected with the State and politics. A religious measure, actively and loudly advocated, will do much toward whitewashing an unseemly career.
Conversions to Roman Catholicism.
Upon conversions to the Roman Catholic Church the Catholic Mirror has this to say, which is worthy of note: “The notable conversions to the Catholic faith and unity that find their way into the public press, are only a minute fraction of those that are taking place daily if not hourly, all over the world. Were it not for the bad example or shameful indifference and sloth of a majority of those who call themselves Catholics, the separatists would be returning to Holy Unity by millions instead of by scores. Wo to those bad and negligent Catholics when they are called to give an account to their Maker for the souls lost through their instrumentality or neglect!” But greater wo to those Protestants who have failed to hold up the advancing light of the Gospel!
PLAIN PREACHING.
By H. C. Patterson
[Rev. H. C. Patterson, in the Christian Standard of July 30, 1898.]
PAUL, in his letter to Timothy, said: “Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” If I am not mistaken, we have come to that time spoken of by the apostle. There is very little regard for the Word of the Lord against the demand of the world; the ministry is the same as that in the days of Isaiah, when the people said, “Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” The ministry has heard the request, and in numerous instances are preaching a smooth and broad way into heaven, so that, according to their preaching, the many are saved and the few are lost. A man lives out of Christ, makes a profession on the death-bed, and is preached into glory; or men and women live in adultery (unscripturally divorced) unrebuked, and dying are preached into heaven. People join the church without being taught that repentance embraces restitution, which is never made, and they flatter themselves that they are on the way to heaven. Others live entertaining hatred in their hearts, and often known to the pastor, and yet they go on unrebuked, and at death are declared safe in heaven. . . .
In a meeting recently held I so preached [that repentance embraces restitution]. A young married man came to me, saying: “I intended joining the church yesterday, but you extended no invitation; now, I’m glad that you did not. I see my duty as I never did before.” He went at once to the home of a merchant, called him out of bed, confessed that he burglarized his store two years before, taking $50. He threw himself upon the mercy of the merchant, saying, “Do as you think best with me; I will pay you every cent taken.” He was forgiven, and the next night came into the church rejoicing in peace of conscience.
In a sermon a few nights before, I said to a man who had mistreated his wife and children, “Thou art the man who, by thy mean and contemptible disposition, hast made the lives of thy family miserable.” People said the sermon was too pointed—too direct—and that he would not come back. But he went home, took his bed, sent for me, confessed his sins, and said by the grace of God he would do right in the future. That night he united with the church, to the delight of his family. . . .
We need more men like John the Baptist, who hesitated not to say to those asking for baptism, “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance,” and said unto Herod the king, “It is not lawful for thee to have her.” Brethren, John’s faithfulness cost him his head, and loyalty to God and the truth may cost us our place and the loss of friends, but we should remember the declaration of Holy Writ, that he who will be a friend of the world is an enemy to God.
Our churches are being filled up with divorced and unrepentant people, and if we ever intend to speak out against it, now is the time—the opportunity will soon be gone. Let us hear the voice of the Lord, who says if thou speakest not “to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” God grant that we may all be able to say, with Paul, “I am innocent of the blood of all men.”
