"I am that bread of life. . . . This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die." John 6:48-50.
"He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him." John 6:56.
THE meat-offering, also, was always offered with the burnt-offering and the peace-offering, and so could not be offered until the others which preceded it had been brought. It was the last of the offerings, always accompanying the peace-offering. The soul that participated spiritually in its meaning, must already have spiritual knowledge of the crucifixion of the sin-offering and the trespass-offering, the consecration of the burnt-offering, and the joy of the peace-offering. The meat-offering, therefore, represents the highest and sweetest and final experience of the soul in the knowledge of sacrifice.
The meat-offering consisted of fine flour, "bruised small." Oil was poured upon it, salt was always mingled with it, and frankincense was put upon it. Leaven and honey were by positive command always excluded. A "handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof" were burned upon the altar, with the burnt sacrifice, for "a sweet savor unto the Lord." The remainder of the meat-offering the priests ate in the "court of the tabernacle of the congregation. . . . It is most holy unto the Lord."
What does all this mean?—Like all the other offerings, it means Christ first, and also the Christian. Christ, who reached the uttermost possible heights of spiritual experience, fully experienced its meaning; the Christian does so more or less imperfectly. Of the meaning of this, as of all other spiritual truth, the life of Jesus is, to us, the highest interpretation. If we would understand the meaning of the meat-offering, we must look to Him.
One of the highest missions of Jesus was to reveal God. Man had lost the true knowledge of God, and, losing this, had lost eternal life; for "this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God." It was the oft-repeated words of Jesus, "I am come that ye might have life." "He that hath the Son, hath everlasting life," etc. He gave this life by restoring that knowledge of God which is "life eternal."
He revealed God, however, not so much by teaching, as by being. He was, and is, Emmanuel,—God with us. He taught the truth of God, but, better than that, He lived the life of God here on earth, where men could see it. He lived this life in sinful flesh, and He did it so perfectly that He could say, "He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father." Thus His life was given in the similitude of the highest of all sacrifices,—as a meat-offering,—that men might feed on Him and thus know God.
How plainly He states all this: "I am that bread of life." "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. . . . Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him." The Jews would not have found this so hard a saying if they had not lost the spiritual meaning of the meat-offering.
Jesus said, "As the Father hath sent Me into the world, even so send I you." We too are to be revelations of God, not only in our teaching, but also in our being; not only in our words, but also in our lives. The world is hungry after God, even tho it knows it not. He is the desire of all nations. There are today, however, as of old, many who will not look up to find God. They never look that way except with nebular hypotheses and astronomical glasses. They will not, first, even look back nineteen hundred years to find God. There is one place, tho, where they do always look, even without asking,—look, too, it must be confessed, often with the bitterest disappointment; that is, to the lives of Christ's professed followers.
Nor are they forbidden to look here. It is the right and privilege of the unbeliever to look to the Christian. Christians are put here to be "living epistles, known and read of all men." Unbelievers are expected to receive the human witness of God first, but they are cautioned not to remain satisfied with that only. We read, "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater." The reason given is that the witness of God is within. "He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself." Most people who come to know God, do so first through seeing Christ in others,—through feeding upon their lives. The only wrong, sad thing about it is that so many stop there without ever having the witness within,—without ever knowing God for themselves by a personal experience. The Christian should look higher than this to find God. For men to compare themselves among themselves, and satisfy themselves by being as good as others, is sin. They should look only at the ideal as seen in Jesus.
Now all this is the meaning of the meat-offering and its relation to the other offerings, standing as it does the last of the offerings, a revelation of the final and highest experience of the soul in the knowledge of sacrifice. When the flesh is crucified, burned without the camp as unholy; when the life is offered in the merit of Jesus, to be renewed by His power; when the whole regenerate being is freely given to God, to be consumed by His own sacred love-fire on the altar of sacrifice,—the peace-offering burning, too, on the burnt-offering,—then that life comes up as a sweet savor unto God. Then, too, men can feed on that life and find Christ, and, finding Him, find the Father also.
All this will be still more plain when we consider the materials that enter into the meat-offering, and those that are excluded from it. This sacrifice was composed largely of "fine flour bruised small." From such flour all the chaff had been excluded, and the wheat had been made fine and smooth by much beating. So, too, that life that is to be a revelation of God must be freed from chaff, or purified; and then, as was the life of Jesus, it must be "bruised," and so made tender and "perfect
through suffering." Upon this fine flour were poured the oil and the wine. Oil is ever a symbol of the Spirit, and of those divine graces which the Spirit only can bestow. So, too, the wine, the unfermented juice of the grape, is the symbol of the pure truth, just as the poisoned or fermented wine,—the wine of Babylon,—is a symbol of that mixture of truth with error which spiritually intoxicates. So Christ's caution to His church under the third seal, in the age of apostasy, was, "See thou hurt not the oil and the wine." The life, then, upon which men are to feed to find God, must possess the graces of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, and faith; and it must also be "sanctified through the truth."
Leaven was excluded from the meat-offering. "Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." "Purge out therefore the old leaven." "Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." It is plain, therefore, what leaven means. There must be none of this corrupting power, none of this hypocrisy, malice, or wickedness, in a life which men are to feed on, to find God; in a life which is to come up as a sweet savor before the Father. There must be salt there, the preserving power, the opposite of leaven, the corrupting power. Yes, there must be salt there, for salt is the symbol of eternity, and the Christ-life is the eternal life, and "salt is good," and "ye are the salt of the earth."
Honey was rigidly excluded from the meat-offering. Honey is indeed beautiful to the eye, and sweet to the taste, until it touches the fire; then it is spoiled and creates a stench. The life that can reveal God must stand the fiery trial as did Christ's. Instead of the honey, put there the frankincense,—frankincense, a compound of sweet gums and spices,—which, tho sweet all the time, was so blended as to give up the sweetest fragrance in the flame. Such must be the life which comes up as a sweet savor unto God, because it reveals His love and His goodness unto others.
In this sacrifice of the meat-offering, only a little of the fine flour and oil and wine was burned upon the altar for a sweet savor unto God, while the priests ate the remainder. So that life is most pleasing to God that is the greatest blessing to others. "He loves God best who serveth most his fellow-man, and mine."
But while most of the other portions of this sacrifice were consumed by the priests, all of the frankincense, the sweetest part of all, and the part that exhaled its fragrance in the flame, was offered up to God alone. Consider for a moment what this means. On that last evening before the trial and the crucifixion, Jesus said to His chosen and most intimate disciples, "I have many things to say unto you, but ye can not bear them now." The sweetest, ho-liest thoughts of all, therefore, Jesus never expressed to any earthly friend. So far as human fellowship was concerned, He had to live that innermost life entirely alone. These thoughts were the very fruit of suffering. Like the frankincense, they yielded up their sweetest fragrance in the fiery trial. Yet, tho no human ear heard, tho no human heart understood, in these experiences Jesus was not alone, for the Father was with Him. These thoughts ascended to the Father only. They were the sweetest of all the sacrifice that went up to God alone. After days of contact with the blindness, bigotry, and prejudice of the scribes and Pharisees, and with the doubt and unbelief even of His disciples, Jesus found rest, peace, and6strength in those nights of prayer and communion with the Father.
It will be so with us. There will be thoughts and feelings born of trial and of suffering, of which we can not speak to another. If we should speak of them to any human friend, he would perhaps not understand. Perhaps he would entirely misunderstand. He has not been in the furnace that gave them birth. The Father knows, however, and these are to Him the sweetest thoughts of all,—the very frankincense of the sacrifice that gives forth its fragrance in the flame. No one else can understand, but there will be no secrets or misunderstandings between us and Him. He will give unto each of us "a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." "Name" means experience. When Abram, Jacob, and Saul each got a new experience, they each got, also, a new name. So we shall receive a new name; and, tho no other man will know, we shall know, and so also will He know that gave it to us. In this we must be content. It is ours to rejoice that He knows, to dwell here, and to revel in His love, and to wait, if need be, the eternal future for that close fellowship with our brethren for which all noble souls long. Then we shall see not only eye to eye, but also heart to heart.
Work as Well as Pray
By John Greenleaf Whittier
THINE to work as well as pray,
Clearing thorny wrongs away,
Plucking up the weeds of sin,
Letting heaven's warm sunshine in.
—Whittier.
AN UNMANAGEABLE BOY.
By E. J. Driver
WHEREVER character is forming there God is waiting to lend a helping hand.
For many years a certain woman had been a member of the church; but somehow her experience seemed blank and uninviting. The cares of an unhappy home took all her time, and life was an endless grind.
This day had been more trying than usual. Everything had gone wrong. She was tired; husband had gone to his night work cross and gloomy; and her boy—it was for him she was anxious—he had acted worse than ever before. He was nine years old now, and nine years of mismanagement had shaped him a very unhappy character. The mother realized how little she herself could do to change it, but something must be done. Her life had been almost a prayerless one, but to-night tearfully she knelt in prayer. O, would God help her, not for herself alone, but for her darling boy!
The next day was wash day. There was much to be done, and the boy was pressed into service to help carry wood and water. All went well till an ice wagon came rumbling down the street. "Ah," thought the boy, "fine chance for fun!" And in a moment he was on the seat with the ice man.
Presently the mother needed wood, but the boy was gone. She was not much surprised, but, then, her prayer! Would God help her, after all?
In a few minutes some one climbed over the back-yard fence, and with downcast eyes came quickly into the house. "I thought of you, mama, and couldn't run away," was all he said; but tears told the story of a struggle.
And that day, as she worked, the woman sang for the first time in years:—
"If our hearts were pure and simple,
We should take Him at His word,
And our lives would be all sunshine
In the sweetness of our Lord."
E. J. DRIVER.
SWEET COMMUNION.
By Bertha Edythe Strelinger
WHEN you woke from sleep this morning,
Tho the hour was rather late,
Did you stay to speak with Jesus—
And His benediction wait?
Did you thank Him for His mercy,
For His care through all the night,
That no evil had befallen—
That no tears now dim your sight?
Did you ask Him for the blessing
Of His presence through the day,
For His leading safely onward,
For His guiding, lest you'd stray?
Did you tell Him that you'd gladly
Go wherever He would lead;
That you'd try to do His bidding,
Helping every soul in need?
If you go without these blessings,
As you start another day,
Be assured your strength will fail you,
And you'll faint along the way.
O, live closer to the Master;
For unless you're very near,
Words of love He whispers to you,
Will not reach your listening ear!
BERTHA EDYTHE STRELINGER.
Detroit, Mich.
"BEAR YE ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS."
By E. J. Burnham
THE apostle exhorts, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Gal. 6:2.
Christ is the great Burden-bearer. The prophet says of Him: "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. . . . And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isa. 53:4-6. In taking upon Himself our griefs and sins, He opened to us the door of hope for this world and the next. And as He has borne our burdens, He bids us follow His example in bearing the burdens of others.
There are plenty of opportunities for burden-bearing.
"Life is indeed no holiday; therein
Are want and woe and sin."
Many a hand is stretched out for aid. "Ye have the poor with you always," the Saviour says. But there are other needy ones besides those who are suffering for the necessaries of life. To many a toiler "bearing his load on the rough road of life," a little help may make all the difference between success and failure.
Our sympathy is called for. The world is full of people with sore hearts.
"Who of us know
The heartaches of the men we meet
Each day in passing on the busy street,
The woes and cares that press them,
Forebodings that distress them—
Who of us know?"
Some appeal for sympathy; others wear a smiling face. They do not like to talk of their own troubles, and are unwilling that others should make even a slight demand on their sympathies. They would forget sorrow. But in any case a few bright, pleasant words will awaken a quick response. The cheerful, sunny sympathy of unselfish love will touch the secret springs of the heart. And every attempt—
"To help to bear the burdens of their care
By tender word, and loving look, and prayer,"
will make the life a little brighter.
There are burdens of another kind that we must bear in some way, whether we will or not. The kinks and knots of human nature are past understanding, except by Him who "knoweth our frame," and "remembereth that we are dust." These infirmities of temper and disposition cause untold bitterness and heartache, and to meet them in the right spirit, a divine patience is needed. But we do not know "life's hidden forces." If we did—
"Could we but draw back the curtains
That surround each other's lives,
See the naked heart and spirit,
Know what spur the action gives,"
often we should pity and forgive where now we blame.
Deep, tender, impartial sympathy is not natural to the human heart. There are human loves that are "strong as death," and capable of great self-surrender, as the love of a mother. But the strongest love, if it is not refined and quickened by divine grace, may be blind and partial, and fall into serious errors; for it has only human wisdom as its guide. The results of misguided parental love are too often seen in the marred and deformed characters of the children; dispositions are formed that are a lifelong pain to those who must suffer from them.
In Christ we have an example of ideal love. There was no admixture of selfishness in the pity that led Him to exchange the peace and joy of heaven for the strife and hate and cruelty of earth. And He says to us, "Love one another as I have loved you." When we have this divine love in our hearts, we shall know how to bear "one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."
E. J. BURNHAM.
Sanctified Afflictions
"Sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions."
BETWEEN STATIONS—"THE RELIEF-VALVE."
By Darius Dale
"ALL aboard!" shouted the conductor, as he gave the signal to the engineer to start. The bell rang, and there was a general rush for the train; good-bys were said; and a great hissing of steam told that the "overland" was pulling out from the station.
The drive-wheels of the engine made half a turn, stopped, and the great train lay motionless. Half an hour later the conductor came forward to where the engineer was busy taking apart a little piece of the engine scarcely larger than an oil cup.
"The despatcher wants us to report to him before pulling out," he said.
"I'll tell you when I'm ready," gruffly replied the engineer, who was out of humor at the delay.
It was nearly an hour after this when the engineer reported that he was ready. They soon had a message from the despatcher to proceed.
What was the matter?—Just a simple little piece of machinery called the relief-valve was broken. It was unimportant-looking, and its duties were not very great as compared to those performed by some parts of the locomotive; but it blocked the wheels of that great train, with its hundreds of passengers anxious to get to their destination, and of the other "overland," waiting a few miles up the track at the accustomed passing-place.
"Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" James 3:5, last clause.
My friend, are you looking after the "relief-valves" of your character, or are you neglecting them? Know you not that they are liable to break, and block the wheels of an unfinished career? Are you daily drawing "coal and water" from the unfailing storehouse of God's wonderful Word and the living stream of the Fountain of Life? Do you go carefully over the engine of your soul every morning before going out on your usual run for the day?
"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1:13.
DARIUS DALE.
THE PARTING INSTRUCTION OF JESUS.
By G.
WHEN any master, or leader, or employer, or head of a household, goes away for a time, his last instruction to those who are left to look after his affairs is deemed very important. His words are usually words of anxiety and solicitude for the success of his representatives in the conduct of his business. The directions or commands on such occasions are always the result of careful thought, after a minute consideration of even the minor details, as well as of the expected ultimate result. If the charge be of unusual magnitude and importance, there will be earnest consultation; and the last words of the chief will be carefully noted and remembered. Moreover, if the one or more representatives be faithful to the trust, they will be unusually watchful of the interest at stake because of the absence of the head of affairs.
When Jesus was about to ascend to heaven, He held several interviews with His disciples, in order that they might not only understand the reasons for His going away, but also the nature of their duties in His absence. His last instruction was both a promise and a charge—a promise of power commensurate with their responsibilities, and plain directions as to the use they should make of that power. This instruction was: “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8.
The next verse says, “And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” And we learn from Luke 24:50, 51 that He was parted from them while in the act of bestowing His blessing upon them.
The leading thought, however, in the parting instruction of the Lord is that His disciples are to be witnesses for Him in all the earth, and that power direct from on high is essential to such witnessing. Notwithstanding all the experience and previous instruction of the twelve, under His personal supervision, they were not yet qualified for efficient witnessing in all the world. They still lacked the power, and He had told them to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until endued with power from on high. They were endued with this power on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon them; and there and then they began their powerful witnessing.
Now the sole duty of the believer while in the present life is to witness for Christ. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Rom. 10:9, 10.
God brought Israel out of Egypt that they might be witnesses unto Him before all the world. And His mighty power that accompanied them was manifested before all Egypt, and before all the nations with which they came in contact. The tabernacle which Moses built in the wilderness, according to the pattern which God showed Him in the mount, was the “tabernacle of witness;” for all the services of the tabernacle were services of witnessing for Christ. As long as the Israelites were obedient, the power of God was with them to do efficient, faithful witnessing.
David shows the logical results of true conversion in consequent witnessing, when he says: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a Rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God; many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” Ps. 40:1-3.
John the Baptist was “filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15), “and the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit” (verse 80). Of him we have this further testimony: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through Him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” John 1:6-8. On one occasion, as John saw Jesus approaching, he said to the multitude, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Verse 29. “And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him.” Verse 32. Again he says, “I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.” Verse 34. The burden of John’s witnessing was that the people might “repent” of their sins, and thus “prepare” the way of the Lord, that He might be properly received.
Jesus Christ came into the world as a witness. He was the “faithful Witness” (Rev. 1:5), and “a faithful witness will not lie” (Prov. 14:5), “a true witness delivereth souls” (verse 25). “Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.” Isa. 55:4. He also was “full of the Holy Ghost;” was “led by the Spirit” (Luke 4:1), and was endued with “the power of the Spirit” (verse 14). Moreover, He was obedient to the commandments of God. See Matt. 5:17, 18; John 15:10. Herein lies another essential to true witnessing. “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.
We sometimes hear one say, “I am doing the best I can,” or, “I am serving the Lord in my poor, weak way.” Such service is not acceptable to God. He wants His people to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” Spiritual weakness is unbelief. “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Tim. 1:7. Says Paul, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Rom. 1:16.
Faith, obedience, and the power of the Spirit (and these three are one) are necessary to a “faithful witness” and a “good confession.” Let us keep in mind the parting instruction of our Master, and strive to be faithful witnesses till His return. G.
THE RESULT OF INGRATITUDE.
By G.
HUMAN nature is naturally ungrateful. One of the characteristics of the last days is unthankfulness. 2 Tim. 3:2. The reason of this is that there is more of the Satanic spirit in men than in any former age. In the last times sinners resist and reject greater light than in any former time. The coming of Christ is “after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thess. 2:9-12.
Satan did not appreciate his exalted position in heaven. He became ambitious and jealous, and desired to be “above the Most High.” When he prevailed upon the head of the human race to disobey God, as he himself had, man became imbued with his ungrateful nature. This spirit reaches its climax in the individual heart with the final rejection of the Holy Spirit. Matt. 12:31, 32. God has mercifully offered pardon to all who will repent and turn back to Him; but, in the main, men have ungratefully spurned the proffered boon of eternal life, and the One who gave His own innocent life that sinners might be saved.
With succeeding ages God has given an ever-increasing light on the way of truth, but, notwithstanding this fact, “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” 2 Tim. 3:13. Then because they persistently reject His overtures of mercy, and refuse to be persuaded, God eventually withdraws His protecting Spirit and leaves them to their choice and its consequences.
Men take “pleasure in unrighteousness,” and at last the pleading Mediator and His striving Spirit step out of the way and let the erring ones have unrighteousness to the full, and all that follows in its train. They choose to follow “all deceivableness of unrighteousness” until God gives them up to their hardness of heart, and lets them have the “delusions” they love so well. His Spirit strives to persuade and induce men to accept truth, but when persuasion fails utterly, there is no compulsion to abstain from unrighteousness. God’s sending “strong delusion” consists in His allowing it to come because it is sought after and preferred to His truth and love. In the end, the punishment of the wicked will be simply the logical result of their unbelief of God’s Word and their ingratitude for His merciful kindness.
“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.”
“O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!” Ps. 107:8. G.
TO LEGALIZE GOOD FRIDAY.
By C. M. S.
A BILL was recently introduced into the Legislature of Massachusetts, providing that Good Friday be made a legal holiday in that State. The reason for the introduction of this bill, as given by the Boston Pilot (Catholic) is this: "As the closing of liquor saloons is compulsory in Massachusetts on legal holidays, it would be a satisfaction to right-minded Christians that the chance to desecrate Good Friday by the vice most repugnant to its spirit should be reduced to the minimum." Which is, in other words, a demand for State aid in the popularizing and promulgation of a religious custom. It is not an appeal for the protection of the people from the ravages of the liquor traffic; for they need that protection on one day as much as another, on work days as well as on religious festivals. Nevertheless, such demands are usually backed by the argument that compliance with them will elevate the moral condition of the people; when the fact in the case is that the morals of the people are a secondary consideration, and the elevation of a day, or religious observance, to a legal position is the object primarily sought after. A compulsory recognition of a religious ordinance is the end to be accomplished by such a law. If it result in reducing intoxication on that day, then the reduction of intoxication is used as a convenient lever to help pry the day into power and prominence. If the lessening of intoxication were the thing sought, it would be sought on every day of the week.
The Pilot states that the provisions of this bill are already "approved by many Protestant bodies." Their approval has been shown by their demand that sanctity be legislated into Sunday to help the morals of the people, to reduce intoxication, and, ultimately, to get people to church. The argument is the same in either case. If Sunday, an institution of the church, has a right to State aid in maintaining its assumed sacredness, Good Friday has the same grounds for such assistance. Protestants should not deny to Catholics the legal sanctity for Good Friday which they themselves claim for Sunday. If one demand is right, the other is right; but both are wrong. And if intoxication is a menace to morals on Sunday and Good Friday, then it is a menace on every day of the week—and it is. And if the saloons can be closed on Sundays and Good Fridays, they can be closed every day in the week. If men and women desire the closing of the saloons, it is not necessary to make every day a church holiday in order to accomplish it.
The saloon is an unmitigated evil; but to use it, open or closed, to make legal or compulsory an ordinance of the church, is an evil also. Close the saloons, close them every hour of the day and every day in the year, but do it because of the curse they are, and not to create or perpetuate another evil in the form of compulsory religious observances.
C. M. S.
FLOCKING TO THE CITIES.
By T.
THE United States census so far as completed for 1900 shows a large increase in the population of the most of our leading cities. Toledo stands the highest, with an increase of 61 per cent.; Chicago comes next, with an increase of 54 per cent.; then comes Cleveland, with an increase of 46 per cent.; Buffalo and Greater New York each show an increase of 37 per cent.; while Baltimore has passed the half million mark, with an increase of 30 per cent.
This large growth of the cities indicates a dissatisfaction with country life, which is the natural life for man. It is altogether unnatural and unscientific for individuals to be herded together in large cities. There is sure to be a lack of work in these cities, and the idleness that is consequently enforced upon individuals who are there, breeds all sorts of crime and vice.
There is a certain excitement about city life that draws a great many individuals. They love to spend their time at the theaters, at the race tracks, and the other places of questionable amusement. All of this costs money, and the individual is tempted to risk what little he may have in betting, in order that he may get more. But if he loses, then he is still further tempted to resort to almost any kind of fraudulent work, even going to the depths of the basest crimes, in order to get money by means of which to indulge himself in the excitements and the amusements of the place.
Then there is another stratum of society in these large cities that descends to the lowest depths of slum life, and, living in this sphere, every ray of hope for a better condition of things is forever shut out. Individuals in this condition settle themselves down to lead the most miserable kind of an existence.
Some of the large cities are rivaling each other in their desire to increase their population, but, looked at from the true standpoint, it is no very flattering condition to think that so many of our large cities are doubling themselves, and some of them even more than doubling, in ten years. There is a time just a little way ahead of us when the angry forces of capital and labor will clash, and when that time comes the degraded and discontented, debased element that is filling all our cities will break loose, to murder, plunder, and burn.
And all the time that these cities are filling up, the country places are being desolated. There are thousands upon thousands of acres of unused land that might furnish happy homes to these people if they were only encouraged to go out and take it up. The wealthy men who are holding these lands for speculative purposes will find before long in the great upheaval of society that is surely coming, that they have speculated in a wrong way. These men have an opportunity now to encourage individuals to leave the filthy depths of the slums and go out into the beautiful country, with its health-giving and purifying atmosphere, and make for themselves a decent living, and leave behind them their temptations to vice and crime. It may be that not nearly all of them could be induced to go, but there are a great many who, if they were helped a little, would gladly do so. But if this matter is treated with indifference, and the wealthy go on with their pleasures and frivolities as they are doing, it will only be a little while until they bring upon themselves the greatest disaster of all the ages.
These questions are worthy of candid and serious consideration. Men of wealth were never in such awful danger as they are at the present time. They ought to be able to see it, and they ought to be able to see that it is time for them to be taking an interest in something besides debasing pleasures, and the degrading pastime of continually pursuing wealth for the mere sake of having money and still more money. The craze for getting money and the craze for pleasure that are being manifested so strongly in this large increase in the population of our cities, are the seed-sowing that can but produce a bountiful harvest of terrible evils.
Such persons are flocking to the cities because they think a much better opportunity is afforded them there for making money and getting pleasure. Everywhere you will hear it said that there is no money any more to be made on the farm, and that it is simply drudgery to stay there. This is bearing false witness against the soil that God has given us from which to gain our livelihood; and unless this sentiment is changed, the evils that will follow can not be imagined nor combated. We may not hope in the entire mass of humanity to change this sentiment that is so strongly set on going the wrong way, but individuals wherever they are who see the evil that is coming should plan at once to set themselves upon right principles and go in right lines. And especially should those who are wealthy consider the responsibilities that are resting upon them to devote their interests as actively in the direction of alleviating these evils as they have been engaged in the past in the work of amassing wealth.
As already stated, the situation is a serious one and is worthy of most careful consideration. T.
THE SUBMARINE WAR VESSELS.
FOR a number of years past naval experts have been experimenting with submarine boats. In this country perhaps the Holland is one of the best known of this class. In a recent night test in New York harbor two of the ordinary torpedo-boats and the Holland were sent outside the breakwater, soon to be followed by the Leyden. The last-named ship took up a position at the entrance of the harbor. As the torpedo-boats were to make the attack, it was the duty of the Leyden to detect them with her search-light, and that of course being done it would have been very easy for her to have destroyed them. She had no difficulty in detecting the two torpedo-boats that float on top of the water the same as an ordinary vessel, but the Holland made her dive and approached so close to the Leyden that she would have had no difficulty in successfully destroying her with a torpedo; then she went over to where the big cruiser New York was lying and demonstrated that she could have easily destroyed her with a torpedo, and went onto her dock. The Holland was not seen at all by either the Leyden or New York, altho a sharp outlook was kept for her. She did not dive on this trial any deeper than to bring her deck down to the top of the water.
The government has made an appropriation to build several of these submarine torpedo-boats, and in the great time of war that is just before us what terrible work these things will do! How ingenious are men in their work of destruction! And do not these things demonstrate that the power of demons, instead of the will of the Prince of Peace, is filling the minds of men to-day? Christ said, "Put up again thy sword into his place; for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword;" but Satan has ever been seeking to destroy every individual he could, seeking to fill men with a craving for the destruction9of human life. Of course if he can make them believe that it is the right and proper thing for them to do his work, he is all the more successful.
These things should cause serious reflection. The times in which we are living are freighted with omens of evil, even if we look at them from the standpoint of the world, but this is not the standpoint from which they should be viewed. They should be looked at through the light of God's prophetic Word, and that Word clearly shows us that while the world is rapidly filling with evil, yet that evil will not be suffered to continue forever. The Lord Jesus Christ is soon coming in person. He will come with all of the glory of heaven, to put an end to this reign of terror and to establish His eternal dominion as Prince of Peace.