Earlier text: SAVED BY FAMILIESWe have found, by many infallible proofs, that at the beginning of the Millennium, the earth is made utterly desolate, with “not a man” left to “dwell therein;” and so it remains during the Millennium, “until the thousand years are finished.” And this is for a purpose: it is for a purpose even beyond that to which reference was made last week,—that it should lay desolate during the thousand years, to make up for the sabbaths, of which, through the six thousand years, the earth has been robbed by the curse. This further purpose is shown also in one of the ceremonies of the Levitical priesthood. There, in the great day of atonement, two goats were presented before the Lord, upon which lots were cast; “one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.” Then the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell was offered in sacrifice, and his blood was used in the cleansing of the sanctuary and the making of the atonement for all Israel. And when the high priest had “made an end of atoning for the holy place and the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar,” then the live goat was brought, and the high priest laid “both his hands upon the head of the live goat,” and confessed “over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat.” And then the scapegoat was sent away alive “by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness, and the goat” bore “upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited.” See Lev. 16:5–22. Now the word here translated “scapegoat” is a proper name—“Azazel.” And so the Revised Version runs: “Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat upon which the lot fell for the Lord, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell for Azazel, shall be set alive before the Lord, . . . to send him away for Azazel into the wilderness.” Who, then, is Azazel?—Since one lot was for the Lord, and the other was for Azazel, it is plain that Azazel is a personality as really as is the Lord. And since only one lot was for the Lord,—the other being for Azazel,—it is also plain that Azazel is the opposite of the Lord. And as God is Spirit, and all this represents spiritual things, it follows that Azazel, being the opposite of the Lord, is a spirit personality, who is the opposite of the Lord. And, plainly, that is Satan. In a note to the passage, the Polychrome Version describes Azazel as “an evil spirit, supposed to dwell in the wilderness.” McClintock and Strong’s Encyclopedia says: “Ewald agrees with Gesenius, and speaks of Azazel as a demon belonging to the premosaic religion. Others have regarded him as an evil spirit, or the devil himself. In the Apocryphal book of Enoch, Azazel is among the chief spirits by whose doctrine and influence the earth was corrupted. The same title among the Gnostics signified either Satan or some other demon, on which account Origen did not hesitate, in the passage of Leviticus in question, to understand the devil as meant.” “Among moderns this view has been copiously illustrated. The following are the arguments used in its support: (a) The contrast of terms (‘to the Lord,’ ‘to Azazel’) in the text naturally presumes a person to be intended, in opposition to, and contradiction from, Jehovah; (b) the desert, whither the consecrated goat of Azazel was sent away, was accounted the peculiar abode of demons (Isa. 13:21; 34:13, 14; Matt. 12:43; Rev. 18:2); (c) this interpretation may be confirmed by the early derivation of the word, signifying either strength of God, if referred to a once good, but now fallen, angel, or powerful against God, as applied to a malignant demon. Hengstenberg affirms, with great confidence, that Azazel can not possibly be anything but another name for Satan.” That service of the high priest in the earthly sanctuary was representative of the service of Christ our high priest in the heavenly sanctuary. Hebrews 9. When our great High Priest shall have blotted out all the sins of his people in all ages, and shall have cleansed the heavenly sanctuary from all their transgressions in all their sins, then shall be57 brought Azazel indeed, Satan, the originator of all sin, and by our High Priest there shall be laid upon him all the iniquities of all the people in all their sins, putting them upon the head of Azazel. Then shall come the great and mighty angel of Rev. 20:1, having “a great chain in his hand,” and shall lay hold on Azazel, “the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan,” and shall bind him, and shall cast him into the wasted and desolate earth, and shall shut him up, and set a seal upon him, for a thousand years. And thus Azazel “shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited.” Read Lev. 16:15–22; Rev. 20:1–3; Isa. 14:22–27; Jer. 4:23–27. And this is the great purpose of the desolation of this earth at the coming of the Lord and through the thousand years. This earth at that time will be the only “land not inhabited” that Satan has had anything to do with. And that this desolated earth is certainly the very “land not inhabited” into which Azazel, the real scapegoat, is led, is made plain by the fact that the word translated “bottomless pit” in Rev. 20:1–3 is the identical word which, in the Septuagint, in Gen. 1:1, is translated “the deep,” and which refers to this earth in its waste, void, dark, and desolate condition, as it first existed. The Revised Version translates the word in Rev. 20:1–3 by the term “abyss.” Jeremiah’s description of the earth in this time makes the connection between Rev. 20:1–3 and Gen. 1:1; for, in describing the earth in the thousand years, Jeremiah uses almost the very words of Gen. 1:1. Read: “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.” The word in Genesis is “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” And Revelation 20, using, with reference to the earth in that time, the very word that is used by the Septuagint in Gen. 1:1, not only settles the fact that this earth during the thousand years is in a condition of darkness, wasteness, and desolation comparable to that “in the beginning,” but also settles the fact that it is in this waste and desolated earth that Satan is confined during the thousand years, and that this is “a land not inhabited,” and this is the real Azazel led into it, which were typified in the ceremonies of the earthly sanctuary and priesthood. And this is the Millennium upon the earth. Don't Make Rules for Yourself
Don't make any rules for yourself, then you will not be found making any for others. ABRAHAM DID PASS THROUGH.
By Alonzo T. Jones
THAT statement was wrong that I made two weeks ago in connection with God’s covenant with Abraham, in saying that “only God passed through” between the parts of the sacrifices offered by Abraham. Abraham also passed through. This fact, however, is not stated in Genesis. It is given in Jer. 34:18: “I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, where they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof, the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf.” This was spoken to the people in the days of Zedekiah; and the only way in which it was possible for them to have passed “between the parts of the calf” was in the fact of Abraham’s having passed through; just as in Heb. 7:9, 10, it is said that Levi, “who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham.” I have many a time used Jer. 34:18 to show that the people in the days of Zedekiah were included in God’s covenant with Abraham: I do not know how it slipped my mind in the article of two weeks ago, unless it was that my mind was just then absorbed in discovering and describing what God had put into that blessed covenant. This is the more singular, too, from the fact that many a time I have read, even in the galley-proofs, the words in “Patriarchs and Prophets,” to which a brother in Illinois has just now called my attention, that, when Abraham had arranged the sacrifices according to the divine direction, “This being done, he reverently passed between the parts of the sacrifice, making a solemn vow to God of perpetual obedience;” and “as a pledge of this covenant of God with men, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, symbols of the divine presence, passed between the severed victims, totally consuming them.”—Page 137. Since writing that article, I have found the following account of an incident in the journey of General Grant around the world, which more fully, and in great beauty, illustrates the meaning of the “passing between the pieces.” The General was to be entertained at the house of an official, Wassef Khayat, at Assiout, in Egypt; and the account says: “When General Grant alighted at the consul’s house, he was detained from entering until a beef, beautifully garlanded with flowers, had been brought out. It was killed, and cut into two pieces, which were laid on either side of the doorway. Then the consul invited General Grant to enter his home with him. They stepped over the blood on the threshold, and between the pieces. By this act they entered into the most solemn covenant known to the Oriental,—the blood covenant,—and thus became “blood brothers,” a relation which outranks every other relation in life. One blood brother can not ask anything that the other will refuse.” These things show that Abraham “passed between the pieces;” that when he did so, all his children also passed between them; and that since we, being Christ’s, are Abraham’s seed, WE PASSED BETWEEN THE PIECES, and thus became “blood brothers” with the Lord; that we can not ask of him anything that he will refuse, and that he can not ask anything of us that we will refuse. John 14:13, 14; 15:7, 16. STUDIES IN GALATIANS.
By Alonzo T. Jones
“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, can not disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” We have seen that Israel made the mistake of putting in the place of God’s covenant the things which the Lord gave to them to aid them in arriving at the full light and blessing of the covenant. There is another great mistake that Israel made, and the same mistake is made to-day by thousands of persons concerning Israel; and that is that the things which God gave to them were for them alone, not for the people of the world in general. Israel, thinking thus, naturally shut herself away from the nations, and made all these things specially her own. Thus she separated herself from all the nations, and held herself aloof from, and above, the nations, as being holier than they, and, because of this special holiness, as more highly regarded by God than were the other nations. Yet this whole conception of things was an utter mistake, and was a perversion of the intent of the things that God had given. Everything that the Lord gave to Israel was for the benefit of the whole world. Israel was to be the missionary people who should extend to all nations the light and blessing given to her, in order that all nations might enjoy the light and blessing of God, as revealed in the Abrahamic covenant, to the full knowledge of which all these things that were given were to lead Israel, and all people. We again set down here, for study, the passage from “Patriarchs and Prophets,” which was quoted in last week’s article:— If man had kept the law of God, as given to Adam after his fall, preserved by Noah, and observed by Abraham, there would have been no necessity for the ordinance of circumcision. And if the descendants of Abraham had kept the covenant, of which circumcision was a sign, they would never have been seduced into idolatry, nor would it have been necessary for them to suffer a life of bondage in Egypt. They would have kept God’s law in mind, and there would have been no necessity for it to be proclaimed from Sinai, or engraved upon the tables of stone. And had the people practiced the principles of the ten commandments, there would have been no need of the additional directions given to Moses, The sacrificial system, committed to Adam, was also perverted by his descendants. Superstition, idolatry, cruelty, and licentiousness corrupted the simple and significant service that God had appointed. Through long intercourse with idolaters, the people of Israel had mingled many heathen customs with their worship; therefore the Lord gave them at Sinai definite instruction concerning the sacrificial service.—“Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 364. It was the apostasy of mankind in general that was the cause of God’s calling Abraham, and setting him as a light to the nations. It was the unfaithfulness of the descendants of Abraham that caused them “to suffer a life of bondage in Egypt.” In Egypt, amid its darkness of every sort, the ideas that they had received in descent from Abraham were more and more obscured until they were practically lost. And thus, “in their bondage the people had, to a great extent, lost their knowledge of God, and of the principles of the Abrahamic covenant.” As they had thus lost the law of God from their minds, all this must be renewed. But, having no true conception of the law of God as in the Abrahamic covenant, this had to be taught them. Therefore God proclaimed his law with his own voice to all the people, then gave it in written form, that they might, under his guidance, discern its deep, spiritual principles. And that this might the better be done in their obscurity of mind, the principles of the ten commandments were drawn out in detail, in the writings of Moses, which the people had in their hands, and which they were to study constantly until these words of God and these holy principles should be engraved upon their hearts, imbedded in their souls, and written in their minds; that is, until they had attained to the glory of the covenant with Abraham. Now, since all this was necessary to Israel because of her unfaithfulness and the confusion of Egypt, it is certainly plain enough that all these things were necessary to the people of Egypt and the other nations that were in darkness, as she was, that these might find the knowledge of God and his salvation. Then, in the very nature of things, all these things, and all this teaching that came to Israel to bring them to the light of God, were intended by the Lord to be passed on by Israel to the other nations, that these also might be brought to where they should walk in the light of God. Thus it is perfectly plain that the law of God in all its forms—as spoken from heaven, as written on the tables, and as drawn out in detail in the writings of Moses—was just as much for the nations of the world as it was for the people of Israel. And both Israel and the nations made the mistake of thinking that it was only for Israel,—Israel thinking so, and confining it to herself, and shutting it away from the nations; and the nations thinking so, and therefore despising it. And the nations were, indeed, helped in their mistake by the attitude that was assumed by Israel in her mistake. For when, in her self-righteousness, Israel shut herself away from the nations, despising them, this only resulted in the nations seeing her as shut away from them in self-righteousness, and despising them, and consequently, further resulted in their despising her, and all that was given to her for their benefit. And that same thing continues to this day concerning those things in the Bible which were given to Israel for all the nations. This is true, not alone of the moral law, but of the ceremonial law—the sacrificial system—as well. Before Adam left Eden, the sacrificial system was instituted. By Noah it was observed. Thus the sacrificial system pertained to all mankind: it was simply the means of expressing faith in God’s sacrifice, which he had made to save man from sin. As God has given the firstling of his flock, the best that he had, so every soul who accepted that gift of God, and would show his faith therein, would, in very gratitude to God, offer the firstling of his flock, the best of all that he had. That was true faith in God, and in the Lamb that he had given. “By faith Abel offered unto God” his sacrifice, “the firstlings of his flock,” “by which he obtained witness that he was righteous.” Thus Abel’s righteousness was true righteousness by faith. And that was the way for all mankind. But as the nations apostatized, and came more and more under the darkening influence of Satan,58 they began to look upon God as, like themselves, a stern, forbidding, exacting Judge, who was angry with them, and waiting only for opportunity to punish them for their evil doing. Therefore they thought they must offer sacrifices to appease him; and the more precious and costly the sacrifice, the more favor they should gain; and so they were led to sacrifice their own sons and daughters. Thus the sacrificial system, which God had given to Adam, and which was observed by Noah, and which was included in the covenant with Abraham, was altogether perverted and lost sight of in this apostasy of the nations. And the descendants of Abraham, in their unfaithfulness, through their association with the nations, and amid the darkness of Egypt, also lost sight of the true, the simple, and the significant service that God had given to Adam, and had continued with Abraham. Accordingly, when they came out of Egypt, the Lord renewed to Israel the sacrificial system, with definite instruction in it, that they might, according to his own direction, offer his sacrifices in purity, and according to truth; that they might see in these the true meaning that God put there at the beginning, which was the sacrifice that he had made,—the offering of his only begotten Son,—the firstling of his flock,—the best of all that he had. Thus it is plain that the sacrificial system that was given to Israel was for the enlightenment and instruction of all the people of the world as certainly as it was for Israel; because it was Israel’s likeness to all the other nations in their darkness that made it necessary that this should be given to them. God has no favorites, and never had any. All that he ever had is free to all people. All that he ever gave to anybody is free to all others, and he gives to any only that they may pass it on to all others. And those who receive, and do not pass it on to all others, but confine it to themselves, lose that which God has in truth given, and can cling only to the empty form of the truth, absolutely dry and barren. This principle is present truth to-day, to the people of the Third Angel’s Message. There is positive danger, and there has been for years, that these shall repeat the history of the Jews. MARK THAT “THIRD DAY.”
By Uriah Smith
There is a suggestive prophecy in the book of Hosea, which seems to be entitled to especial attention at the present time. It is found in Hosea 6: 1-3, and reads as follows: “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” Often a prophecy, which, in its general terms, is somewhat obscure, furnishes data in a single particular that constitutes sure ground from which to draw conclusions governing the other portions of the record. Many queries have arisen as to the meaning of this prophecy, especially as to what the three days are that are referred to, and what time they cover. The last clause, if we rightly apprehend, gives the key to the solution of this question. This is a promise of the former and the latter rain,—not a literal rain, but spiritual blessings; for it comes down upon people; and it comes from the presence of the Lord. “He shall come . . . as the rain.” By other scriptures we know when this rain is to come. It is the outpouring of the Spirit upon the church in the last days,—the refreshing promised to crown the closing work of the church as the final time of trouble comes upon the world, and probation ends. James locates it in unmistakable language: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” James 5: 7, 8. There can be no question, therefore, as to the application of this portion of the prophecy. The latter rain is an event that is distinctly located, and from which it is safe to draw conclusions as to the other portions of the prophecy. The last work of the church is to give to the world a warning of the second coming of Christ, in a threefold message, or, as represented in Revelation 14, in a message introduced at first as three distinct messages. And, in the closing portion of the last of these messages, the outpouring of the Spirit is to be given; and this is the “reviving” spoken of in the second verse of Hosea 6; but this reviving is to be in the “third day.” What relation, then, has this third day to this third message? Does it not denote simply one and the same time and the same thing; namely, the message, and the time covered by this message? If this is so, then the time covered by the two preceding “days,” the first and the second, is the time which precedes; that is, the two preceding messages, the first and the second message; and the conclusion inevitably follows that the three days of Hosea 6: 3 are the periods covered respectively by the three messages of Revelation 14. In harmony with this application, we find the word “day” often used in the Scriptures to denote a period of duration, of greater or less extent. Thus we read, in Heb. 3: 8, “Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.” Here the word “day” covers a period of forty years. Christ said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8: 56); and in this language he refers to the period of his incarnation here upon the earth. Again, the gospel dispensation is referred to by the same term, as we read, in Heb. 4: 7, “Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day: after so long a time; as it is said, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” In the same way the periods covered by these special proclamations, the three messages of Revelation 14, may each be called a “day” when spoken of in their individual capacity. And the application of the three days of Hosea 6 to the time of the three messages of Revelation 14 harmonizes well with what is said to occur in the first verse of Hosea 6: “Come, and let us return unto the Lord.” The condition of the religious world at the time of the beginning of the great Advent movement of the last century, was such as to call for a returning to the Lord. “He hath torn,” continues the prophet, “and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.” The churches of the Reformation failed to follow the advancing light of God’s word; but some were ready to receive new light, which, as others failed to receive it, led to the still further division of the church, by the formation of new bodies. But every advance movement in the right direction was a rebuke to those who preferred to cling to their previous errors, and so remain behind, though it resulted in still further divisions in the religious world. Thus it came to pass that when God undertook to lead his people fully out from the darkness and superstition of the Romish church, the perversity of men so marred the work that the Protestant world found itself torn into unhappy sections and divisions, and smitten with discord and confusion. This rending needed to be bound up, and this confusion to be healed. It was the design of God, in that first Advent message, to remedy this state of confusion among his people; and this would have been its result if the people would have received that message. “We would have healed Babylon,” said the prophet; “but she is not healed.” Jer. 51: 9. But this prophecy of Hosea shows what the Lord would have done if they would have turned to him. He stood willing and waiting to bind up and heal. And what he would then have done for all, if they had accepted his reproof, and moved onward with the advancing message, he will still do for all those who will obey him, and walk forward in the light; for his purpose can not fail. So, “after two days,” after the first and second messages have been given, he will revive us. “In the third day,” in the third message, he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then the next verse tells how this will be accomplished. It will be by his coming unto us, as the former and latter rain unto the earth. What is it, then, to live in his sight?—Heb. 10: 37, 38, gives us an answer to this question: “For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” Living in his sight is certainly to be living by faith, which will be the life of the church in their closing experience. “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.” What kind of knowledge we are to have, and by what means we are to know, we read in 1 John 2: 20: “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” This is called, in verse 27, “the anointing.” This is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which is the “latter rain;” and it is also the abiding with us of the Comforter, promised in John 14: 26, who is to teach us all things. “His going forth,” says Hosea, “is prepared as the morning.” In the morning, the light increases more and more, until, at length, the full illumination of the day is spread upon the land. Peter speaks of the same thing; for he says the time is coming when the day-star shall arise in our hearts, and the day shall dawn. 2 Peter 1: 19. And then our knowledge will be such that we shall no longer need the word of prophecy, which now, as a light that shineth in a dark place, sheds its beams along our pathway. In this “third day,” then, where we now are, under this third message, we are to see a church “revived,” “raised up,” living by faith in the Lord’s sight, sharing the latter rain, or outpouring of the Holy Spirit, enjoying the unction from on high to teach them all things, and emerging from the long night of error and sin into the light of the dawning day. The latter portion of this third day is now here; and this condition of things is now due. Shall we see it soon in all its fulness? and shall we share in its blessings? So may it be. U. S. “THE TIME AUSPICIOUS” FOR SPIRITUALISM.
By A. J. B.
ALTHOUGH the manifestations of modern Spiritualism began noticeably to appear about fifty years ago, yet those who believe in them have, until recently, been unable to organize themselves into a permanent, representative body. This belief was attacked on the one hand by all true Bible students, and on the other by unbelieving scientists. However, as scientists should have known long ago, there is no ground whatever for doubting the reality of spiritualistic manifestations. All careful students of the Word agree that there are two forces at work in this world,—one from above, the other from beneath,—and all Bible students also know that miracles, in themselves, are no proof of divinity. However, some of the heretofore unbelieving scientists, having been convinced of the reality of these supernatural manifestations of Spiritualism, now go as far to the other extreme, and believe them to be divine. Such converts to the belief soon lead others to the same conclusions; and thus it is that we find to-day in the ranks of modern Spiritualists such noted persons as Professors Wallace and Hyslop, Minot J. Savage, Mary A. Livermore, the French astronomer Flammarion, Dr. Joseph Parker, of London, and scores of other eminent men and women recruited from the literary and scientific walks of life. Many of these, however, do not wish the fact to be known that they do believe in Spiritualism. Speaking of this class, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, the noted temperance worker, authoress, and lecturer, said, not long ago: “Now I am a Spiritualist. I do not call myself one, as I do not wish to be associated with the charlatanry and odious characters, many of whom profess the doctrine. . . . This class is the bane of Spiritualism. In spite of it there is a great movement coming. The spiritist influence of St. Paul is working, and thousands of refined, educated people are spiritists at heart, but have not the courage to come out openly and say so.” There is no reason to disbelieve this statement that many are being overpowered by the evident59 reality and power of these psychic phenomena, and are secret believers in spiritism. That the times have changed, the Spiritualists themselves are glad to note. One of their leading lights, the author of a book on the subject of psychism, which is sent forth as “the summary of his reflections and investigations of fifteen years, through hypnotic subjects and mediums,” in his preface says: “Most of the pages found in this volume have been written twelve years before their publication in English. This delay was due to personal reasons, and the manuscript quietly remained waiting until the author deemed the time auspicious to put it in print.” When the year 1899 arrived, this author evidently thought “the time auspicious” to publish his book; for, speaking of the opposition to the discussion of psychic matters hitherto manifested by the clergy and scientists, he says that “psychical matters are of such a nature that they may be compared to a set of powerful cogwheels in motion; once the fingers are caught in the teeth, the whole body is drawn in. The movement can not be stopped at present, and scientists, clergymen, and philosophers of all schools will soon be bound to come, volens nolens [willing or unwilling], to an understanding with regard to psychic phenomena.” It is not an every-day occurrence to have a prominent advocate of a certain system of belief thus point out the fatalistic danger there exists in tampering with the same. Ought not a man such as he—one who has delved in Spiritualism and its wonderful miracles for over fifteen years—to know whereof he speaks when he mentions such dangers? If it be asked why this delusion is spreading so rapidly in this generation, we reply that now is the time for “the spirits of devils, working miracles,” to manifest themselves. But, is it asked, how do we know that the “spirits” manifested in Spiritualism are the “spirits of devils”?—Simply by the fruits of Spiritualism,—a disregard for the commandments of God; a disbelief in the divinity of Christ and in the supreme authority of the word of God; and, finally, the logical sequence of these,—the elevation of man and man’s opinions above God and his opinions. The Spiritualist, thinking he has unlimited powers in himself, deceiving himself into the belief that the power which Satan uses through him really lies in himself, soon proclaims, by his actions at least, his utter disregard for the dictates of Holy Writ. Never in the history of the world was this mental putting of the human above the divine so prevalent as at the present day; never was there such a wave of soul-immortality belief, which lies at the very foundation of Spiritualism, sweeping over the earth as at this very day and age of the world. Therefore, it is not at all surprising to read the following prophetic declaration of a leading French Spiritualist, M. Paul Gibier:— The generation which is rising may have to be kept within bounds, so great will be the reaction [against unbelief in Spiritualism]. And we, whom these great gentlemen [disbelievers] disdain, will defend them, and say, as it was said on Mount Golgotha: “Forgive them; for they know not what they do.” How could they know? The time has come when it will not be possible for any person to be, as it were, “on the fence” in regard to Spiritualism and its present-day manifestations. Each one in this world is to be either a whole-hearted believer or unbeliever in the word of God, in God, and in Christ, whom he hath sent. Also, all will be animated by either the Spirit of God or the spirit of Satan,—the true power of God, or the perverted power of God. Are you tempted to examine Spiritualism experimentally—to get your fingers into this “set of cogwheels in motion,” described by a Spiritualist himself as such that, “once the fingers are caught in the teeth, the whole body is drawn in”? If you are to be tempted, please take to heart the warning of the Spiritualist, and also the following admonition from the Spirit of truth, through the apostle Paul: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy.” 1 Tim. 4: 1, 2. Christians are those who, in spite of all these delusions, these miracles and supernatural phenomena will not “depart from the faith.” And remember that the commandments of God are always associated with “the faith” of Jesus, and that those who do not “depart from the faith” will also be those who keep the commandments; for, speaking of the true Christians who are to meet the Lord when he returns to earth, it is written: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14: 12. All, therefore, who “depart from the faith” by “giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils,” will be of those who do not “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Under these circumstances, who “in the latter times” will not be faith-full toward God and his commandments, full of naught but “the faith of Jesus”?