Earlier text: General ArticlesThoughts on Daniel.
By Eld. U. Smith
CHAPTER XII.—CLOSING SCENES.
VERSE 1. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. A DEFINITE time is introduced in this verse: "At that time." What time? The time to which we are brought in the closing verse of the preceding chapter, the time when the king of the north shall plant the tabernacles of his palace in the glorious holy mountain; or, in other words, when the Turk, driven from Europe, shall hastily make Jerusalem his temporary seat of government. We noticed, in remarks upon the latter portion of the preceding chapter, some of the agencies already in operation for the accomplishment of this end, and some of the indications that the Turks will very soon be obliged to make this move. And when this event takes place, then, according to this verse, we look for the standing up of Michael, the great prince. This movement on the part of Turkey is the signal for the standing up of Michael; that is, it marks this event as next in order. And to guard against all misunderstanding, let the reader note that the position is not here taken that the next movement against the Turks will drive them from Europe, or that when they shall establish their capital at Jerusalem, Christ begins his reign without the lapse of a day or an hour of time. But here are the events, to come, as we believe, in the following order: 1. Further pressure brought to bear in some way upon the Turk. 2. His retirement from Europe. 3. His final stand at Jerusalem. 4. The standing up of Michael, or the beginning of the reign of Christ, and his coming in the clouds of heaven. And it is not reasonable to suppose that any great amount of time will elapse between these events. Who, then, is Michael? and what is his standing up? Michael is called, in Jude 9, the archangel. This means the chief angel, or the head over the angels. There is but one. Who is he? He is the one whose voice is heard from Heaven when the dead are raised. 1 Thess. 4:16. And whose voice is heard in connection with that event? The voice of our Lord Jesus Christ. John 5:28. Tracing back the evidence with this fact as a basis, we reach the following conclusions: The voice of the Son of God is the voice of the archangel; the archangel, then, is the Son of God. But the archangel is Michael; hence Michael is also the Son of God. But the expression of Daniel, "the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people," is alone sufficient to identify the one here spoken of as the Saviour of men. He is the Prince of life, Acts 3:15; and God hath exalted him to be a "Prince and a Saviour." Acts 5:31. He is the great Prince. There is no one greater save the sovereign Father. And he standeth for the children of thy people. He condescends to take the servants of God in this poor, mortal state, and redeem them for the subjects of his future kingdom. He stands for us. We are essential to his future purposes, an inseparable part of the purchased inheritance; and we are to be the chief agents of that joy in view of which Christ endured all the sacrifice and suffering which has marked his intervention in behalf of the fallen race. Amazing honor! Be everlasting gratitude repaid him for his condescension and mercy unto us. Be his the kingdom, power, and glory, forever and ever. We now come to the second question, What is the standing up of Michael? The key to the interpretation of this expression is furnished us in verses 2 and 3 of chapter 11. "There shall stand up yet three kings in Persia;" "a mighty king shall stand up that shall reign with great dominion." There can be no doubt as to the meaning of these expressions in these instances. They mean, to take the kingdom, to reign. The same expression in the verse under consideration must mean the same. At that time Michael shall stand up, shall take the kingdom, shall commence his reign. But is not Christ reigning now? Yes, associated with his Father on the throne of universal dominion. Eph. 1:20-22; Rev. 3:21. But this throne or kingdom he gives up at the end of this dispensation; 2 Cor. 15:24; and then he commences his reign brought to view in the text, when he stands up, or takes his own kingdom, the long-promised throne of his father David, and establishes a dominion of which there shall be no end. Luke 1:32, 33. Into an examination of all the events that constitute, or are inseparably connected with, this change in the position of our Lord, it is not necessary that we here enter. Suffice it to say that then the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. His priestly robes are laid aside for royal vesture. The work of mercy is done, and the probation of our race is ended. Then he that is filthy is beyond the hope of recovery; and he that is holy is beyond the danger of falling. All cases are decided. And from that time on, till the terrified nations behold the majestic form of their insulted King in the clouds of heaven, the nations are broken as with a rod of iron, and dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel, by a time of trouble such as never was, a series of judgments unparalleled in the world's history, culminating in the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel. Thus momentous are the events introduced by the standing up of Michael. And he thus stands up, or takes the kingdom, marking the introduction of this decisive period in human history, for some length of time before he returns personally to this earth. How important, then, that we have a knowledge of his position, to be able to trace the progress of the work, and understand when that thrilling moment draws near which ends his intercession in behalf of mankind, and fixes our destiny forever. But how are we to know this? How are we to determine what is transpiring in the far-off Heaven of heavens, in the sanctuary above? God has been so good as to place the means of knowing this in our hands. When certain great events transpire on earth, he has told us what events, synchronizing with them, transpire in Heaven. By things which are seen, we thus learn of things that are unseen. As we "look through nature up to nature's God," so through terrestrial phenomena and mundane movements we trace the occurrence of heavenly scenes. When the king of the north plants the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain, a movement for which we already see the preparatory steps, then Michael our Lord, stands up, or receives from his Father the kingdom, preparatory to his return to this earth. Or it might have been expressed in words like these: Then our Lord ceases his work as our great High Priest, and the probation of the race is finished. The great prophecy of the 2300 days gives us definitely the commencement of the final division of the work in the sanctuary in Heaven. The verse before us gives us data whereby we can discover approximately the time of its close. In connection with the standing up of Michael, there occurs a time of trouble such as never was. In Matt. 24:21, we read of a period of tribulation such as never was before it, nor should be after it. This tribulation, fulfilled in the oppression and slaughter of the church by the papal power, is already past; while the time of trouble of Dan. 12:1, is, according to the view we take, still future. How can there be two times of trouble many years apart, each of them greater than any that had been before it, or should be after it? To avoid difficulty here, let this distinction be carefully noticed: The tribulation spoken of in Matthew is tribulation upon the church. Christ is speaking to his disciples, and of his disciples, in coming time. They were the ones involved in that trouble, and for their sake, the days of tribulation were to be shortened. Verse 22. Whereas the time of trouble in Daniel is not a time of religious persecution, but of national calamity. There has been nothing like it since there was (not a church, but) a nation. This comes upon the world. This is the last trouble to come upon the world in its present state. In Matthew there is reference made to time beyond that tribulation; for there was never to be any like that upon the people of God in the future, after that was past. But there is no reference here in Daniel to future time, after the trouble here mentioned; for that closes up the world's history. It includes the seven last plagues of Rev. 16, and culminates in the revelation of the Lord Jesus, coming upon his pathway of clouds in flaming fire, to visit destruction upon his enemies who would not have him to reign over them. But out of this tribulation every one shall be delivered who shall be found written in the book—the book of life; "for in Mount Zion . . . shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." Joel 2:32. VERSE 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. This verse also shows how momentous a period is introduced by the standing up of Michael, or the commencement of the reign of Christ, as set forth in the first verse of this chapter; for the event here described in explicit terms is a resurrection of the dead. Is this the general resurrection which takes place at the second coming of Christ? or, is there to intervene between Christ's reception of the kingdom and his revelation to earth, Luke 19:12, in all his advent glory, a special resurrection answering to the description here given? One of these it must be; for every declaration of Scripture will be fulfilled. Why may it not be the former, or the resurrection which occurs at the last trump? Answer: Because those who are then raised are all righteous. Those who sleep in Christ then come forth; but the rest of the dead live not again for a thousand years. Rev. 20:5. So then the general resurrection of the whole race is comprised in two grand divisions; first, of the righteous exclusively, at the coming of Christ; secondly, of the wicked exclusively a thousand years thereafter. The general resurrection is not a mixed resurrection. The righteous and wicked do not come up promiscuously at the same time. But each of these two classes is set off by itself, and the time which elapses between their respective resurrections is plainly stated to be a thousand years. But in the resurrection brought to view in the verse before us, both righteous and wicked come up together. It cannot therefore be the first resurrection, which includes the righteous only, nor the second which is as distinctly confined to the wicked. If the text read, Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake to everlasting life, then the "many" might be interpreted as including all the righteous, and the resurrection be that of the just at the second coming of Christ. But the fact that some of the many are wicked, and rise to shame and everlasting contempt, bars the way to such an application. It may be objected that this text does not affirm the awakening of any but the righteous, according to the translation of Bush and Whiting; namely, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, these to everlasting life, and those to shame and everlasting contempt." It will be noticed first of all, that this translation (which we by no means hold above criticism) proves nothing till the evident ellipsis is supplied. This ellipsis some, therefore, undertake to supply as follows: "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, these [the awakened ones] to everlasting life, and those [the unawakened ones] to shame and everlasting contempt." It will be noticed again that this does not supply the ellipsis but only adds a comment, which is a very different thing. To supply the ellipsis is simply to insert those words which are necessary to complete the sentence. "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake" is a complete sentence. The subject and predicate are both expressed. The next member, "Some [or these] to everlasting life," is not complete. What is wanted to complete it? Not a comment giving some one's opinion of who is intended by "these," but a verb of which these shall be the subject. What verb shall it be? This must be determined by the preceding portion of the sentence which is complete, where the verb "shall awake" is used. This, then, is the predicate to be supplied: "Some [or these] shall awake to everlasting life." Applying the same remarks to the next member, "Some [or those] to shame and everlasting contempt," which is not in itself a complete sentence, we find ourselves obliged to supply the same words, and read it, "Some [or those] shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt." Anything less than this will not complete the sense, and anything different will pervert the text; for a predicate to be supplied cannot go beyond a predicate already expressed. The affirmation made in the text pertains only to the many who awake. Nothing is affirmed of the rest who do not then awake. And to say that the expression "to shame and everlasting contempt" applies to them, when nothing is affirmed of them, is not only to outrage the sense of the passage, but the laws of language as well. And305 of the many who awake, some come forth to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt, which further proves a resurrection to consciousness for these also; for while contempt may be felt and manifested by others toward those who are guilty, shame can be felt and manifested only by the guilty parties themselves. This resurrection, therefore, as already shown, comprises some of both righteous and wicked, and cannot be the general resurrection at the last day. The Sabbath-School.
By Charles L. Boyd
North Pacific S. S. Association.
THE fourth annual session of this Association was held in connection with the camp-meeting, three miles north of Salem, June 14-20. First meeting was called by the President, Eld. Wm. L. Raymond, June 16, 9 A. M. Opened with prayer by Eld. J. H. Waggoner. Delegates called for, and the following-named schools were represented: Salem, Jno. Donaldson and Sister Almira Starbuck; Beaverton, Sister P. K. Miller and Sister M. A. Danks; Damascus, James Chitwood; East Portland, J. H. McCoon and Wm. Atkins; Coquille City, Eld. Wm. L. Raymond; South Bend, Lyman Hicklin. A motion was made and carried to invite Eld. J. H. Waggoner, and Eld. C. L. Boyd and wife, to act as delegates and assist in the business and deliberations of this association. The following committees were appointed: On nominations, Jno. Donaldson, T. H. Starbuck, Wm. Atkins; On Resolutions, J. H. Waggoner, Sister Boyd, and Sister Starbuck. An itemized report from the Secretary was read, which called out some remarks from Eld. Waggoner on the importance of corresponding with the different schools. Treasurer's report called for and read, a summary of which showed the following:—
Cash on hand at commencement of year, $9.46
Received during year from tithes,
donations, etc., 2.42—$11.88
Expended for postage, blank reports, etc., 3.28
Cash on hand to balance 8.60— 11.88 Second meeting called at 4 P. M. June 16. No business particularly done excepting making preparation for a Sabbath-school to be held on the coming Sabbath. At 9 o'clock Sabbath morning, June 17, a school was held, in which six schools were represented. Many were present who were not connected with any school, making the school about as large as last year, about 150. A third meeting was called June 19, at 9 A. M. The Nominating Committee presented the following names: For President, Eld. Chas. L. Boyd; for Secretary, R. D. Benham. These were unanimously elected. Committee on Resolutions presented the following by their chairman, Eld Waggoner: "Resolved, That we show our faith by our works instead of our resolutions." This was unanimously adopted without remarks. Meeting was then adjourned sine die.
C. L. BOYD, Pres. The Perils of Ministerial Flattery
MANY a young man has preached a sermon not fully in accord with the doctrines and usages of his church, and yet, in his impetuous thought, seeing strongly one side of the truth, he believed his position to be right. Then came the tempter in the form of numerous words and letters of approval from "leading citizens," the burden of which was their great pleasure that he had the "manhood and independence to speak out what all know to be the truth," etc. And, yielding to this flattery from men who were not in their hearts humble and in harmony with God, though respected moralists, he let this confirm his hasty and unsound judgment, till he could not see any other side of the truth, and thus soon found himself growing in popularity, but getting further and further away from the godly judgment of his older brethren and his church, and even from the words of the Scriptures themselves. A short road lay before him, and ruin at its end. The truth is that the world is at enmity with God; and the fact of pleasing those who are not spiritually minded ought always to cause a minister to look upon his own course with grave alarm. God himself, and those whose lives are humbly surrendered to God, are better counselors.—Golden Censer. A Minister Disarms His Critics
A NEWLY-SETTLED Methodist minister, who was not warmly welcomed in his appointed parish, took a very pleasant and effective method of disarming criticism. Instead of resenting it, or settling in despondency, he remarked as follows in his opening sermon: "I hear that you say I am not much of a preacher. Very well, I know it. And if I could preach first-rate, you know I never would have been sent to this community." The people took very kindly to their pastor, and said no more about it. The Sunshine Series. Stories for little ones, in ten small books, adapted to children from the ages of four to ten years. In glazed paper covers, 320 pp. 50 cts. Golden Grain Series. A choice collection of instructive stories suited to the wants of children from eight to sixteen years and older, illustrated and beautifully bound in three volumes. THE HARD WAY, 160 pp. 40 cts. THE SCHOOL-BOY'S DINNER, 160 pp. 40 cts. GRUMBLING TOMMY, 160 pp. 40 cts. Golden Grains in Ten Pamphlets. The same reading as in the first two volumes, without pictures, in ten pamphlets of 32 pages each, 320 pp. 50 cts. Sabbath Readings for the Home Circle. In four volumes, containing moral and religious reading for the household; carefully selected, and compiled for the use of Sabbath school and family libraries. Each, 75 cts. The Child's Poems. Containing Little Will and other stories, teaching beautiful lessons of temperance and virtue. Bound in cloth and richly embossed in gold and black. 128 pp. 30 cts. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. Simplicity of Manner.
By Editor
AFTER all the rules and directions which we or others may prescribe for the teacher's guidance, a multitude of difficulties will arise which will call for the exercise of judgment and prudence, without reference to rules or the experience of others. We avail ourselves of the following very useful suggestions, from an intelligent, practical teacher, on a few points not distinctively presented in the preceding pages. "I strive," he says, "to keep out of view my office as an examiner or lesson-hearer, and appear to propose the questions as if for my own information, or for a mutual discussion of the passage. I avoid asking leading questions on casuistical and other points, thinking it best, in every instance, to obtain the actual sentiment of the scholars, that, if erroneous, they may be shown to be unreasonable or contrary to revelation; and that, as far as possible, their minds may be brought to coincide with the principles of the Bible and to acknowledge the unerring wisdom of God. Cant terms and epithets, and all the ordinary technical language of theology, are avoided, that the children may understand what is spoken, by receiving it in a dialect which they are accustomed to hear. The greater part of my duty consists in oral instruction. If I see evidence that the lesson has been carefully studied, I find it the most effective plan to make a direct moral and religious improvement, not by a formal address but by an easy conversation, in which the duties of religion are presented as matters of actual importance, and as much interwoven with our interests as any of the functions or occupations of life. I find that the common declamations on the subject of sin and piety, make no perceptible impression, but that the attention of boys of all grades of intelligence, is best secured, and their feelings most interested, by plain, appropriate reasoning. It seems to me of great importance to avoid artificial manners in speaking to them on these topics. The (in most cases unconscious) affectation of discoursing on religion in peculiar tones, and with a sanctimonious countenance, has always appeared to me a serious disadvantage in all the methods of inculcating Christian truth, whether in the pulpit, the Sunday-school, or in conversation. The claims of God are reasonable, and they should always be exhibited in that light; they are plain, and should not be mystified. Of course there should be no departure from strict sobriety of manner, and the pious teacher will not be guilty of levity and flippancy in endeavoring to treat the subject familiarly. His manner and language should always manifest that this subject is transcendent in magnitude, and that the Bible is to be opened and examined with reverence. Children are rational beings, and should be treated as such." —The Teacher Taught. SMITH'S COMPREHENSIVE DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE.
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By Cunningham Geikie, D. D., with marginal references to the Scriptures, notes and index. Two volumes complete in one book. Printed in pica type, octavo size. 1,260 pp. $1.75. We have just received the following commendation of this work from an earnest Christian worker in Maine :— HAVING read Dr. Geikie's life and works of Christ, I find it more interesting the farther I read; and when he introduces us to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, one can almost imagine himself present to witness the cruel mockery, and the terrible scenes of Calvary. Although I am not prepared to indorse all that is said in the book, yet I think it the best I ever read of the kind. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week
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In regard to the Sabbath and first day is given. The comparative merits of the seventh and the first day Sabbaths are fully shown. A copious index enables the reader to find the comments on any text, or the statement of any historian. Should be read by everybody. 528 pp. Price, $1.25. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. Congregationalism—What is it?
By Editor
THERE is no other church in the United States which is undergoing such rapid disintegrating process as the Congregationalist. It is almost impossible now to tell what is the faith of the great Congregational body, if indeed it have any peculiarly distinctive faith. We have been aware for some time that a minister could stand well-accredited in that church with any faith he might choose to hold, and almost without any faith at all. The recent wide departure from the old standards, by the First Congregational Church of San Francisco, has been the means of directing much attention to this subject. A clergyman of that denomination writes from San Francisco to the New York Independent, from whose letter we make extracts as follows:— “We have a theological sensation here just now. The First Congregational Church of this city—the first and the largest and richest on the coast, as well; the one so long and ably presided over by Dr. Stone, of Park Street, Boston, and world-wide fame—has taken a new departure. It is ‘a’ if not ‘the’ representative church of its denomination in these parts. It has recently taken to itself, after a long wooing, Rev. C. D. Barrows, of Lowell, Mass., as pastor. It has settled him by advice of a huge council from many States. The church has always had a thoroughly Calvinistic Orthodox Creed, almost identical with that given by Dr. Dexter, in his hand-book of Congregationalism.” “Among the noticed items of a change of base is the following:— “(5.) Even more startling is the fact that this creed, without a doctrine of sin, should also have deliberately eliminated the doctrine of the Atonement. Both word and thing are gone. There is nothing left here but a mere reconciliation, made for all men.” It is far from doing justice to the absence of an Atonement, in “word and thing,” to say “there is nothing left here but a mere reconciliation, made for all men,” for if the Scriptures recognize the possibility of reconciliation for a sinner without a sacrifice to the broken law, we have read the Bible quite amiss. Speaking of the breadth of the new creed the writer says:— “There is nothing in these new creeds that would keep out of this Congregational Church or its diaconate or ministry any average Unitarian, or Universalist, or Rationalist. Rev. Mr. Hamilton, who lately died in his pulpit in Oakland (deposed from the Presbyterian ministry for heresy), and who avowed himself to the writer, a ‘Christian Rationalist’ and a ‘spiritual pantheist,’ said to him, also, that he could accept this creed.” And he further proceeds to predict some of the consequences likely to grow out of this growing defection in the ranks of Congregationalism:— “It has long been a current slur in some circles that the Congregational body is not soundly Calvinistic. The writer, trained a Congregationalist and for years in its ministry, has always repelled that slur as a slander. He remembers Prof. Park’s declaration, at the Boston Council, in 1865, that ‘every man who knew enough to read the New Testament in Greek was a Calvinist.’ Is it true that there is to be such a departure as this from the faith in Congregationalism at large? If so, then beware of a plowshare through the whole body. Is there an element of any considerable importance in the body which is ready, after having won the contest with Unitarianism and Universalism, to go over to the defeated side? Does Congregationalism hanker after another schism, like that which swept over into Unitarianism and Harvard College and the greater part of the church property of Eastern Massachusetts? What, in that case will become of its benevolent and charitable and missionary and educational trusts and organizations? Are we on the point of another great theological conflict, like that of those days, rending churches, severing families, and perverting sacred fiduciary trusts? If this new departure of the First Church here be what it is heralded, then all this is coming.” But the writer makes too much of this case. He treats it as if it were quite exceptional—far in advance as a departure from the old faith. It may be this so far as the action of an entire church—and a large and influential one—is concerned, but as far as evident defection from the old landmarks is concerned, it can be found all over the land, affecting every part of the great Congregational body. The following from the Detroit, Mich., News, gives pointed evidence on the same subject:— “The Rev. Mr. Merriman, formerly President of Ripon College, ‘one of the ablest and most scholarly ministers in the Congregational ranks,’ was recently examined by a tribunal of his church, preliminary to his installation as pastor of the Congregational Church at Somerville, Mass. It turned out that as regarding hell he was a Universalist, and in respect to purgatory he was a good Roman Catholic. That is to say, he refused to believe in eternal punishment, and substituted a condition of probation after death, in which the soul would be purged from its impurities preparatory to entering Heaven, which probation he thought might be mitigated by the prayers of Christians still in the flesh. The doctrine of prayers for the dead was the particular popish bete noir of the early Puritan—indeed, of the Puritan of twenty years ago—but its acceptance by Mr. Merriman did not prevent his installation as the pastor of Somerville. What is Congregationalism, anyhow? It authorizes Beecher to set aside half the Bible and lets Mr. Merriman abolish hell and set up purgatory. Isn’t it wide enough to let in Mr. Ingersoll?” The interest attaching to this subject is wider than the bounds of the Congregational Church. It is a sign of the times. It is not possible that there should be so wide-spread departure from the accepted faith in so great a denomination, and its influence be confined to that denomination. It shows itself more readily there because that church is more lenient with dissenters than any other. We hardly think there is another church in the land, having a reputation as “orthodox,” which would install a minister over a church in an important locality, whose creed was a mixture of Universalism and Roman Catholicism. To this it has been coming for some time. A body which could tolerate the ranting vagaries of such men as H. W. Beecher can very consistently tolerate anything professing to be religion, however far it may be removed from genuine Christianity. But the Methodist Church is tainted through and through with that which would have been considered rank heresy by Wesley and Fletcher, and their associates. Great and important changes have taken place in that church in the last half century. We are far from insisting that no changes should be made; oftentimes they are right, and necessary to the healthy growth of a religious body. There may be progress in religious knowledge as well as in any other. But when changes do become necessary, when they are made, we hold that it is just and right to announce them. Then they may be vindicated, and all may see their reasonableness. Only in this manner can “the unity of the faith” be preserved. And only in this manner can healthy changes be made. If suffered to grow “gradually and silently,” as Dr. Scott says the practice of Sun-day-keeping came into the church, the change is quite as apt to be wrong as right; perhaps more so, because it is not attended with that open investigation which is the surest means of separating the chaff of mere opinion from the solid grains of truth. But change, the work of disintegration, is going on in all the churches. They read their creeds and subscribe to them, but they do not preach them fully, and only hold to them with an abundance of “mental reservations.” We presume the time was when this Jesuitical casuistry was confined to the Church of Rome; but it is not so now. Inasmuch as it is an injustice to one’s self and to the public to profess that which is not fully believed, we regret the present state of things. But as far as it indicates a breaking away from that slavery which has been suffered to hold in its chains the minds and consciences of so many of our fellow-men, it is not to be regretted. That this restlessness, so extensively manifested, will work ruin to many, cannot be doubted. But it has already gone too far to be restrained. To a few—a choice few—it will bring religious freedom; a firmer faith in “the Bible alone;” and a higher standard of, and experience in, Christian life. With the mass it will result in that which is called “freedom of thought,” “liberalism,” “advanced Christianity,” but which is no less than reckless individualism, growing into actual freedom from restraint, or lawlessness. By reason of these the way of truth is evil spoken of; 2 Peter 2:1, 2, and by their influence will be augmented the perils of the last days. 2 Tim. 3:1-8. The Poverty of Mere Wealth
Though a man without money is poor, a man with nothing but money is poorer. Worldly goods cannot bear up the spirits when trouble comes, any more than headache can be cured by a golden crown, or toothache by a chain of pearls.