p. 15 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 17. (4/24/1901)

Earlier text: THE HORSE AS A SCOUT

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The Word of God, What Is It?

The Word of God, what is it?—The long arm of His love reaching down and out into the wilderness of sin to guide back into the light of life every lost soul that is willing to be led; it is the light of God shining down into the night of sin that the sleepers there may be awakened and flee before the thunderbolts of God's judgments are let loose upon the world; it is the key to the storehouse of the eternal riches—the key that will open to man the gate which sin had locked against him, the gate to the garden of God.

Many voices are heard in these days calling for church unity. We often hear of meetings of preachers and other leaders in various denominations, both Protestant and Catholic, to discuss ways and means by which they can come closer together. It is said that we want to smother these differences that have separated us, and unite on certain things upon which we all agree. Such sentiments should be strongly commended in so far as they express the real longing of the heart that is seeking to come into harmony with God. But since we can not know men's hearts, we must watch the results of these efforts to see what fruit they bear. If the work results in uniting individual hearts in the bonds of true Christian fellowship, the more of it we can have the better. But if in the place of true Christian union it results merely in a confederacy, we should be on guard against it. For the Word of God has warned against confederacies that shall be formed in these last days. It has bidden us, “Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.” Then we should conclude that every true effort and sentiment for real union should be encouraged, for such sentiments are right because they come from Christ, the Master. But anything that has the marks of a confederacy should be carefully avoided, because it comes from the source of all evil. Men may confederate together to carry out some common interest that pertains wholly to the things of this world; and such a federation may be not only harmless but beneficial. But God, being all-powerful, is not in need of any confederation, and has declared Himself against it in the words already quoted. Nothing short of absolute unity will answer the purposes of God and His work. And a confederacy can never be a perfect union.

The Social Problem and Coming Trouble

The “Summer School of Theology” of the Harvard Divinity School will spend its session the coming summer in the discussion of the social problems of the day. It is stated in the announcement that “Protestant Episcopal and Roman Catholic teachers will join with Trinitarian and Unitarian Congregationalists in the common study of a contemporary problem.” It is recognized that there are problems before the world that are omens of danger. There is not a subject to-day that receives more attention than the “social problem.” It is true that sociology has ever been a favorite subject for philosophers of a certain turn of mind, but it has never been a subject for so general study all over the world as it is to-day. The subject was studied keenly by men in France and certain other portions of Europe something over a hundred years ago, and it is a striking fact that the problems that had to be met in France then are the same problems, only more aggravated, that are before the whole world to-day. The outcome of the discussion at that time was a revolution that had its “reign of terror.” The end of this difficulty in these times will be a greater “reign of terror” than anything that has ever been known in all the world. The reason we know this is because the Word of God, speaking of these times that are just ahead of us says, “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.”

General Conference Work Reorganized

Most encouraging reports are coming from the General Conference. The prospects are cheering. The work is being reorganized on much broader lines, commensurate with the undertaking of giving the message of the soon coming of Christ to every creature on the earth. The Editor, who is in attendance at the meetings, gives a brief survey on pages 6 and 7 of what was done at the opening meeting.

The Call and Qualification for Service

“Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” John 4:35. “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.” Matt. 9:37, 38. “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send; and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me.” Isa. 6:8. The one who answered thus had had his lips touched with a live coal from the altar, and was conscious that his iniquity was taken away. Verses 5-7. Such is the call for volunteers, and the qualification for service.

A DARK PICTURE.

By C. M. S.

A CABLE direct from Berlin to the New York World speaks of the moral conditions in Germany in the following words:—

“In Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, and Aix-la-Chapelle trials are proceeding of a scandalous character, which throw a horrible light on the morality of the well-to-do classes in these places. The offense in all cases is the employment of girls under fourteen years of age for immoral purposes. The Cologne cases are particularly bad. Here quite a company of wealthy shop-keepers and merchants are implicated, and a number of arrests have been made. In Aix-la-Chapelle, it is stated that a highly placed official in the civil service has been arrested in connection with a similar case. It is the universal testimony of statisticians, pastors, and physicians, that sexual morality in Germany, in the country as well as in the large cities, has never been at so low an ebb as now.”

This is not published as being a pleasant item for those who chance to read it; for none but the gross and brutish can find pleasure in it; and none but such can fail to be struck with horror at the terrible revelation. And yet Germany does not alone offend. The daily press of America often reeks with just such revolting facts. What a record is continually being made by such cities as New York, Chicago, New Orleans, St. Louis, San Francisco with its polluted slave girls, London, and Paris; and were these all, the weight of the world’s woe would be a thousand times less than it is; but it is not all, it is not a thousandth part of the whole story. The old world is polluted to the core. The putrefying mass is nearly ready for the fires of the great day. Christ declares, “As it was in the days of Lot, even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:28-30. We know how it was in the days of Lot, when the Lord destroyed the Sodomites in their wickedness; but every nation now is dotted with its Sodoms and Gomorrhas; every city and every nation is ripening for its overthrow, and every evil influence in the world is focusing to that point. The point is nearly reached, and the consummation will be soon and sudden.

C. M. S.

THE OMENS ABOUT US.

By T.

THERE can be no question to the student of the Word of God in regard to where we stand in the world's history. The Lord has given us signs by which we may “know” when the end of all things is at hand. The world is becoming loaded with these evidences. The events of the past week have been especially portentous. As may be seen from our “Outlook” pages and items chronicled elsewhere in this paper, wars and rumors of wars, vices and crimes, rioting and feebly suppressed revolts, in various parts of the world make up the most of the news of the time. The man is indeed blind and insensible to all his surroundings who can not see and sense the force of the clear indications of an impending world-wide revolution.

As we look at these things alone, the picture is a dark one. But the Lord does not want His children so to look at this picture. Satan is truly stirring the world to do every violent and evil thing imaginable, and the darkest hours are not here by any means. But the Lord has told us of all this hundreds of years in advance, and has assured us that when we see “all these things” in the land, then are we to “know” that the coming of the Saviour is right at hand.

The coming of the Saviour! How does the thought of it thrill us with delight! And how does this blessed and glorious hope shine thru every one of the dark shadows that are around us, and fill the soul of the believer with restfulness and the deepest joy!

IS IT THE WORD OF LIFE TO YOU?

The Word of God, the Bible, is not a dead book. It bears in it the creative, regenerating power of its Author. It is not a book of another age; it is a living, present power now.

The everlasting might of God is working in His Word. “For the Word of God is quick [living], and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb. 4:12. Jesus said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63. And the angel declared, “No word from God shall be void of power.” Luke 1:37, R.V.

We may not recognize this in the blindness of our unbelief, nevertheless it is true. He who will yield to that Word will find it the word of life. He who will set his will counter to the current of its working will find it the way of death. If he yields to the will of God expressed in that Word, he will find it to be the word of cleansing and keeping and fruit-bearing unto God and eternal life. “He that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”

America’s Place in the New Century

Professor Molden of Vienna, in the Allgemeine Zeitung, predicts the factors in the world's history in the present century, just beginning, and has this to say of America, according to the translation in the Literary Digest:—

“Her two most powerful forces in the new century will be Russia and the North American Republic, and, to a great extent, the fate of the English Empire will depend on what these countries do, or do not do. Of these two colossal empires, the American Republic occupies a favored position. In population it does not indeed equal Russia; but it surpasses that country in energy and practical intelligence, and is the superior of all other nations numerically, having more than forty per cent. more inhabitants than Germany, and a still greater lead over England.”

He goes on to speak of America's immense resources, of her isolated position, of the fact that she needs no standing army; and he concludes that America will soon be a formidable antagonist to even Britain on the seas, and that before long; and also that America is bound to possess Canada. He believes that America, Germany, and England should unite. The nations now fear America; but O, how much greater good could she do if she had remained aloof from the great world of politics and war, and held true to her original ideals! As she pursued her arts and occupations of peace, with freedom for all and malice toward none, she would have led the world toward those ideals. Now she is glorifying greed and gold.