WHILE the Scriptures of truth throw much light on the coming of the Lord, the spirit of inspiration has not seen fit to reveal the exact date when that event will take place. Our Saviour says, "That day knoweth no man." In supposing that the exact time of the second advent was revealed in the Sacred Writings, serious mistakes have been made by Bible expositors in the past. Such a mistake was made in 1844 by William Miller and his colaborers. Mr. Miller's mistake, however, was not in his compilation of the prophetical periods. The 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14, upon which the movement of 1840 and 1844 was based, did end in the autumn of 1844. The science of neither mathematics nor logic can disprove this fact. The mistake of Mr. Miller and his coworkers was in supposing that the cleansing of the sanctuary, which the prophecy says was to take place at the end of the 2,300 days, was the cleansing of this earth by fire instead of the opening of the investigative judgment in the courts of heaven above. Since that period many fruitless attempts have been made to fix upon some date when the Lord will be revealed; but every effort has proven a failure, and has served to bring discredit upon the subject of the second advent. All such attempts in the future will likewise prove failures. The time when earth's history shall close is known alone to the divine mind. And if He in His wisdom shall ever see fit to reveal it to the human family, we are confident it will not be this side of probation's hour.
The day of the Lord is approximately one thousand years in length. Beginning with the close of probation, which but shortly precedes the second coming of Christ, the one great, central event of the day-of-the-Lord period is the second coming of Christ to this earth. The events of the day of the Lord will be taken up more fully in future numbers; hence we make but meager reference to it here.
The beginning of this period (i. e., the day of the Lord), the Scriptures plainly declare will come upon the great mass of mankind
As a Thief in the Night.
Upon this point we read in 1 Thess. 5:2, 3: "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them; . . . and they shall not escape." Please note that the class upon whom the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night, is denominated by the pronoun "they," or those who are crying "peace and safety." But now the apostle turns to the children of the Lord: "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness." The reason why the day of the Lord does not come upon the brethren as a thief in the night, is indicated by the expression found in the first verse of this chapter, "But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you." There was no particular occasion for Paul to address the church regarding the times and seasons of the Lord's coming or of the day of the Lord, from the fact that they regarded the times and seasons relating to these things. They were of the day; and in their soberness and watchfulness, they would pay attention to those indications, while upon the careless multitudes, in their indifference and love of sleep, with the cry of "peace and safety" upon their lips, the day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night.
Hence, we must conclude from this scripture that God is willing for His church to know something of the times and seasons. This is further demonstrated in the reference made to this same question by our Saviour in His discourse recorded in Luke 21. In verses 25 to 27 He speaks of the signs of the day of the Lord which would be seen in the heavens above, in the physical world, and among the nations of men. Then He says, "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." This statement He follows with this forcible illustration: "Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand." The conclusion stated in these words is made more forcible as expressed in Matthew: "So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it ["He," margin] is near, even at the doors."
Then it is the blessed privilege of the children of God to know something about when the Lord Jesus Christ will return to this earth.
They may not know the hour, the day, or the year; but as the result of the fulfilment of the signs mentioned, they may know at least in what generation Christ will come. For our Saviour adds in the above chapter cited, "This generation"—that is, the generation which sees these things—"shall not pass away until all is fulfilled."
It is for us, in looking at this great question,6to avoid both extremes. We are not to be among those who will run without a message, or who, basing their faith upon mystical interpretations or wild calculations, reach extravagant and fanatical conclusions from their false premises. But while we do not hold fellowship with this wild element, we must be as careful to avoid the stereotyped conservatism which has fastened upon the minds of so many, leading them to believe that it is not for us to know anything of the time when the Lord is to return to this earth. Adopting the medium position, we must study faithfully the Scriptures of truth, depending alone upon the Lord and His Spirit for guidance, and reducing to practise in our experience every ray of light that God sends to us. The Lord will not permit a single trusting, believing soul to be deceived. The promise is that if we do His will we shall know of the doctrine. God will lead every sincere follower aright. May He grant us grace to walk in every ray of light which He shall reveal. By thus doing we shall come to enter the fulness of His salvation. In subsequent numbers we will state more fully what the signs of Christ's coming are and the point we have reached in their fulfilment.
F. M. WILCOX.
HE IS COMING AGAIN.
By Litmon Cleshar
COMING again is the Prince of salvation;
Coming again all His own to receive;
Coming again, not in earth's degradation;
Coming, glad tidings to all who believe!
Nevermore tempted in desert wilds dreary;
Nevermore weakened by fasting and fear;
Nevermore burdened, and nevermore weary;
Nevermore anguish, and nevermore tear.
Gone the Gethsemanes, known again, never;
Gone the mock trial, with no hand to save;
Gone are the cross and the Calvarys, ever;
Gone, and forever, the power of the grave.
Saving e'en now from the power of the devil;
Saving the trusting forever and aye;
Saving from sin and the powers of all evil;
Saving for life in eternity's day.
Coming again in transcendent glory;
Coming again forever to reign;
Coming again, repeat the glad story,
Jesus, our Saviour, is coming again.
Saving His people from every temptation;
Saving to life He has given so free;
Saving forever from earth's degradation;
Saving to home-land forever to be.
Coming, soon coming, the heavens declare it;
Coming, soon coming, declareth the Word;
Coming the kingdom to give; will you share it?
Coming, all earth with its import is stirred.
Reigning forever in glory supernal;
Reigning in righteousness ever to be;
Reigning in kingdom of peace that's eternal;
Love fills it full as the waters the sea.
Oakland, Cal. LITMON CLESHAR.
The Sabbath and the New Testament
By G. E. Fifield
THE LORD'S DAY
DID CHRIST OR THE APOSTLES CHANGE THE SABBATH?
WE have seen that the Christian Sabbath is, or was, the blessed and sanctified seventh day. It was Christian because it was Christ who created it by blessing and sanctifying it, and giving it to the race. It was Christian also, because it was the sign of Christ's everlasting covenant, and of the soul's submission to His divine will.
Perhaps the majority of the nominal Christians of the day would not criticize or deny these propositions if we use the past tense was, instead of the present is. It is the teaching of the church that Christ, while incarnate on the earth, changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, in commemoration of His resurrection on that day; so that all, and more than all, that the seventh day was to the Jewish church, the first day now is to the Christian church.
This leads us directly to the study of the New Testament record concerning the relation of Christ and the Sabbath.
But before we enter upon this study, which will be the theme of the next article, let us ask the New Testament record what authority there is for this assertion that Sunday has taken the place of the Sabbath as the day for Christians to observe. It is boldly declared that the record shows plainly that Jesus made the change, and that the apostles and the early church observed the first day of the week, not the seventh.
We agree that if such change was made by Christ, and observed by the apostolic church, the New Testament record must make it clear and plain. It is here, and here only, that we can look for divine authority for the observance of Sunday.
With the Sabbath it is far different. If the seventh day is the Christian Sabbath to-day, it is so because Christ created it and gave it His benediction of blessing to the race in the beginning. Because He also enshrined it in the heart of His sacred law, spoken in awful solemnity from the summit of Sinai, and written not on perishable parchment to pass away, but on the flinty adamant to stand forever. It is the Sabbath to-day because Christ is "the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." One "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." It is so to-day because Christ, as He said, came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil or obey it, and therefore because the example of His life confirms the keeping of the seventh day. If the seventh day is the Christian Sabbath, it is not necessary that the New Testament should give its origin, any more than it is necessary that it should repeat the Old Testament account of the creation of the world. Not so, however, with the Sunday. All agree that before the time of Christ, Sunday was a heathen festival, or, as the North British Review calls it, "the wild, solar holiday of all pagan times."
As such a festival, it was a mark of apostasy from the worship of the true God, the Creator, with no claim whatever to the observance of the faithful.
If it has such claim to-day, therefore it is because, and only because, the New Testament record plainly shows that the seventh-day Sabbath, consecrated at creation, is abolished, and the first day instituted as the Christian Sabbath, to take its place.
Reserving, as we have said, the New Testament record of the seventh-day Sabbath for the next paper, we will now ask, What does that record say of the first day of the week?
The answer is, It only mentions the first day eight times, and six of these mentionings refer to the same first day, the day on which our Lord arose from the grave. Not one of these texts ever refers to it as a Sabbath, or the Lord's day, nor do they give it any sacred title whatsoever. Neither do they in any way show that Christ, the apostles, or the early church considered the day as any other than an ordinary working day.
To show that these assertions are absolutely true, we purpose to quote the eight texts referred to in their order, commenting as briefly as may be necessary.
1. "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher." Matt. 28:1.
This record was written about six years after the resurrection of Christ,—six years after the first day of the week, as we are told, had come to be the Christian sabbath or Lord's day, observed by all Christians as sacred, while the seventh day was now only a working day. Yet the text gives no hint of this change. The first day of the week is still simply the first day of the week, the day following the Sabbath.
2. "And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun." Mark 16:1, 2.
This record was written about ten years after the resurrection, and the remarks on the first text apply here with added force. Sunday is still spoken of as simply the first day of the week, the day following the Sabbath.
3. "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene." Mark 16:9.
Here no comment is necessary.
4. "And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared." Luke 23:56 to 24:1.
Altho this record was written twenty-eight years after the resurrection, still it gives no hint of the change of the Sabbath. Sunday is still simply the "first day of the week," and the text records without apology that the holy women intended to do work on that day that they would not do the day before, because the preceding day was the Sabbath.
5. "The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher." John 20:1.
Here we have a record written sixty-three years after the resurrection,—sixty-three years after the time when it is assumed that the seventh day had ceased to be the Sabbath, and the first day, or the Christian sabbath, or Lord's7day, had taken its place. Yet no hint is here given of such a change. Why did not inspiration say, The first day of the week, which is now the Lord's day, or Christian sabbath? There is but one answer to this question. The early church did not at that time keep the first day of the week. Sunday has no such right to our reverence as is claimed for it.
6. "The same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." John 20:19.
Here it would seem is the time of all times, and the place of all places, when Jesus should have spoken to them plainly on the change of the Sabbath, if it was His design to make such change at all. Surely now Jesus will tell them that His glorious event, which has taken place on this day, must henceforth be celebrated, making the first day of the week the Lord's day, or Christian sabbath, and that this observance will take the place of the observance of the seventh day. But not a word of any such instruction is recorded, either by John or any of the evangelists. This silence is absolutely fatal to the theory that Christ authorized any change of the Sabbath.
7. "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight." Acts 20:7.
There is no word here in the original for "when," this therefore should be omitted.
It would then read, "And upon the first day of the week, the disciples came together to break bread." It is not said that this was their custom. The first day is not called the sabbath, or by any sacred title. It is recorded elsewhere (Acts 2:46) that they broke bread "daily," and "from house to house," so there was nothing in their breaking bread on that day that distinguished it from other days.
This was at Troas. Verse 6 tells us that they had been there seven days. This was a final night meeting, continuing until midnight. It was in the dark portion of the first day of the week, or, according to the Bible reckoning of time, as all authorities admit, on our Saturday night.
In verse 13, Luke and those who were with him, say, "We went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos." Assos was on the other side of the isthmus from Troas. It was nineteen miles from Troas by land, but sixty by water, around the peninsula. These disciples stayed until after the Sabbath, Saturday night, then they sailed to Assos. Paul stayed to hold a final farewell meeting on our Saturday night, which, according to their reckoning, after sunset was the first day of the week. After this meeting he talked until the break of day, and then on Sunday morning he walked the nineteen miles to Assos to meet the others, "for so," the record says, "had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot."
Conybeare and Howson, in their "Life and Epistles of Paul," distinctly say of this meeting that "it was in the evening which succeeded the Jewish Sabbath."—Page 520. On page 522 they as distinctly say that it was on Sunday that he took this walk of nineteen miles to meet the others who had gone before to Assos.
Then you have apostolic example for doing common travel on, and not for keeping, that day.
The other disciples, after the Sabbath, spent the night in the sail to Assos. Paul, knowing that he should see their faces no more, spent the night in holding the only religious meeting that the New Testament ever records as having been held on the first day of the week. And even this was only on the first day according to Bible reckoning, and not according to our present Roman reckoning.
8. "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the church of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." 1 Cor. 16:1, 2.
These collections for the poor saints often consisted of clothes and provisions, as well as of money. They were to be laid by—in store—by each person, on the first day of the week, according as he had been prospered during the week that now had passed. This was not a public collection. The expression is unmistakable, "Let every one of you," not every church, or every congregation, but "every one of you, lay by him in store." Other translations render it "with himself at home," and "at his own house at home."
The expression, "That there be no gatherings when I come," does not refer to public gatherings of the people for worship, for Paul always had these when he came. It refers to the gathering of these goods and cash, preparatory to sending them to the poor at Jerusalem. This was to be all done before Paul came, by each man each week, on the first day, reviewing his prosperity or adversity of the previous week, and laying by him in store accordingly. When Paul came all these stores thus gathered in each house were brought to him, and sent by him to those in need.
Concerning this text Kitto says: "The regulation has been supposed to have reference to the tenets of the Jewish converts, who considered it unlawful to touch money on the Sabbath. In consideration for them, therefore, the apostle directs the collection to be made on the following day, on which secular business was lawful, or, as Cocceius observes, 'They regarded the day [Sunday] not as a feast, but as a working day.'"—Kitto, Cyclopedia Bib. Lit., art. "Lord's Day."
Thus no one of the eight texts which mention the first day of the week, furnish any authority whatsoever for its observance as the Lord's day or the Christian sabbath. Instead it is plainly shown that the apostles and the early church did secular work on that day which they would not do on the day previous.
No one can, from any of these texts, learn anything concerning the Sabbath, other than that the Sabbath day, blessed and consecrated by Christ at creation, is still the Sabbath, and that the first day of the week is the day after the Sabbath,—an ordinary working day.
At what date the Sunday or first day of the week began to be generally used by Christians as a stated time for religious meetings, we have no definite information, either in the New Testament or in the writings of the fathers of the church. By none of the fathers before the fourth century is it identified with the Sabbath, nor is the duty of observing it grounded by them either on the fourth commandment, or on the precept or example of Jesus or His apostles.—Chambers' Encyclopedia, art. "Sabbath."
That all this is true will appear more fully in the next article, when we study the relation of the life of Jesus to the Sabbath institution.
G. E. FIFIELD.
I AM NEVER ALONE.
By Marcus Rainsford
Now, IF the Lord Jesus Christ has had His prayer answered—I suppose no one will doubt it—and all who believe upon Him are, according to the Lord's Word and His Father's Word, in union with Him, then see the consequences that follow. I never—I never can be alone. I have joys. I never can have them all to myself. He rejoices with me. I have sorrows. I can not monopolize them. Jesus knows them, sympathizes with me in them. I have temptations; He is touched with the feeling of them, for He was in all points tempted like as I am, yet without sin, that I might have a merciful High Priest, and might go to Him with confidence and present my petition to Him.
In this life I can be in no position of loneliness. Where I am, He is with me. Lying down on my bed, He is beside me. Rising in the morning, He is with me. Walking through the weary paths of life, He is with me—can not be separated from me. Otherwise this union is not true. As nothing that concerns me can concern me alone, even so nothing that concerns Jesus concerns Him alone.—Marcus Rainsford.
MIKE AND THE PRIEST.
SELDOM has a better answer been made than that of a poor Irishman to a priest, while defending himself for reading the Bible.
"But," said the priest, "the Bible is for the priests, not for the likes o' you."
"Ah! but, sir," he answered, "I was reading in my Bible, 'You shall read it to your children;' and, sure, the priests have no children."
"But, Michael," said the priest, "you can not understand the Bible. It is not for you to understand it, my man."
"Ah! very well, your reverence. If I can not understand it, it will do me no harm; but what I can understand does me a heap o' good."
"Very well, Mike," said the priest, "you must go to church, and the church will teach you. The church will give you the milk of the Word."
"And where does the church get it but out of the Bible? Ah! your reverence, I would rather keep the cow myself."—Selected.
SPIRITUALISM.
WHAT is Modern Spiritualism?
The belief that disembodied spirits can and do communicate with the living.—Century Dictionary.
2. Did this belief exist in ancient times?
"There shall not be found among you any one . . . that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord." Deut. 18:10-12. See Lev. 19:31; Mal. 3:5.
The phenomenal aspect of Modern Spiritualism reproduces all essential principles of the magic, witchcraft, and sorcery of the past. The same powers are involved, the same intelligences are operating.—J. J. Morse, in Practical Occultism, p. 85.
3. With what is witchcraft classed by the apostle Paul?
"Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies; . . . I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Gal. 5:20, 21.
4. What should one do if asked to inquire of a familiar spirit?
"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards that chirp and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead?" Isa. 8:19, R.V.
"To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." Verse 20.
5. What says the "law and the testimony" about the knowledge which the dead have of what is occurring among men?
"Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:20, 21.
"For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything. . . . Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." Eccl. 9:5, 6.
6. Then when miracles are performed by spirits purporting to be those of our dead friends, to what may we attribute them?
"For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Rev. 16:14.
7. What is one of the characteristics of last-day apostasies?
"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." 1 Tim. 4:1.
8. How will Satan deceive the people?
"And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness." 2 Cor. 11:14, 15.
9. Will Satan try to counterfeit even the coming of Christ by signs and wonders?
"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matt. 24:23, 24.
10. After these signs and wonders are shown, what will take place?
"The Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming; even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceitableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." 2 Thess 2:8-10.
11. What will be said by those who have rejected the deceptions of Satan, and maintained their love of the truth?
"And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." Isa. 25:9.—Oriental Watchman.
Homes of Unity
By Frederick W. Farrar
THE sweetest and happiest homes—homes to which men in weary life look back with yearnings too deep for tears; homes whose recollections linger round our manhood like light and the sunshine and the sweet air, into which no base things can intrude—are homes where brethren dwell together in unity; where, because all love God, all love their brothers also; where, because all are very dear to all, each is dearer to each than to himself.—Frederick W. Farrar.
What Shall We Call This?
By Editor
The United States paid Spain $20,000,000 for the Philippines, which Spain did not own nor could not deliver. The native inhabitants are counted insurgents and rebels because they will not yield to a government of which they were never subjects; and thousands of them have died for liberty. But there is a tribe of Mohammedan Sulus on the islands, the sultan of which possesses a harem, and holds slaves. In other words, slavery and polygamy are established by law. He has negotiated a treaty with this government, whose "subject" he is under the purchase from Spain, by which this government has the right to garrison certain seaport towns, said to be of "no consequence to him, and he is promised that this government is not to interfere with his sovereignty or with slavery or polygamy, but is to pay him a subsidy of $6,000 a year, agreed upon by Spain before she sold him out to us." The question is put, Why not buy Aguinaldo's allegiance? Would it not be cheaper than the price now being paid?
DRUNKENNESS AND LUNACY IN FRANCE.
LAST December Le Temps, published in Paris, said:—
"According to the official figures, the Department of the Seine contained in 1867 7,805 lunatics; in 1896 there were 21,700; in 30 years the number of insane persons in Paris and the suburbs had tripled.
"To what must we attribute this terrible increase? No doubt there are several causes, but the medical men say that the steadily-increasing habit of alcoholism is the most fruitful one.
"Last year, at Ville Evrard, out of 100 new patients 22 were there through alcoholism, that is to say, nearly 25 per cent.
"We must not imagine that this increase of lunatics is peculiar to the neighborhood of Paris; it is the same in Picardy, in Normandy, in Bretagne, and in the center of France; even in the South, which seemed to have escaped until recently, the same phenomenon is recorded. Almost all the departments are complaining of the insufficiency of the asylums. Alcoholism—this is the enemy."
In line with the foregoing, Dr. Laborde, of the French Medical Faculty, says, in his recent book:—
"Unless something is quickly done to remedy the present state of affairs, within a relatively small number of years, the whole of the working class will have become habitual drunkards."
The foregoing facts in regard to the condition of things in France emphasize the degrading influences that are so actively working there. We have more than once called attention to these things through the SIGNS, and would earnestly invite our readers to ponder well what they signify. And your personal observation has shown you that France is not alone in this plunge downward. The whole world is being filled with corrupting influences, that are not merely filling the prisons with criminals, but are filling public offices and various places of trust with men who are both dishonest and vile. And while the criminal class is being greatly increased, the asylums are being crowded with lunatics, and the plague of suicide is spreading everywhere.
Is righteousness increasing? Or, on the contrary, is not the Word of God being fulfilled which tells us that the last days shall be made perilous because of abounding evil? Ponder these things. Think carefully upon the evidence that God gives in His Word as to the meaning of the events of this time. Make no mistake in drawing your conclusions. The eternal issues are now upon us.
THE STRENGTH OF A MOB.
By T.
A DESPATCH to the Chicago Times-Herald is authority for the statement that a mob took charge of a court in Johnson Springs, Va., and compelled the plaintiff in the case to withdraw his suit. A Mormon elder had been assaulted in the vicinity by a number of persons and fatally injured. His brother Mormon elder, who was with him, brought suit against a farmer who was the leader in the assault. But as soon as the farmer was arraigned for trial, a mob of 200 mounted and armed men surrounded the courtroom, and detailed a committee to notify the court that the proceedings must stop. A second committee was sent to the Mormon elder, to tell him that if he did not withdraw the proceedings and leave the country they would lynch him then and there. Fearing that they would carry out their threats, the Mormon complied with their demands.
There is no one that can speak too strongly against the great plague of Mormonism, that is sweeping over this country, and from here extending to all parts of the world. Certainly any fair-minded person who is not contaminated with the evil, will be ready to raise the warning and exert his influence against the cunning deceptions of this pernicious doctrine.
But is any evil so great that it ever becomes right to take charge of courts and undertake to dispense justice through the medium of mobs? Mob law, however, is usually brought into vogue in new countries and anywhere else when courts are hard to reach, or when they are slow in action, or subject to corruption by bribes, etc. And it is come to be the prevailing opinion over all the land that
courts and juries can be bought by any one who has the money to do it, and so men are apt to take things in their own hands. But, while the mob may sometimes mete out justice to a culprit, yet it is likely to take the innocent much oftener than it does the guilty. And once mob violence is set fully to working, there can be no conjecture as to where it will end.
Mobs are becoming more and more frequent and violent. The Lord has told us that "as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." Luke 17:26. The condition of things in the days of Noah is very fully described in the sixth chapter of Genesis. Verse 11 says, "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence."
It became necessary for the Lord to overthrow the world in Noah's time, because of its "violence" and "corruption." How long can a just and true God endure the violence and corruption of these times before He raises the arm of justice to strike the blow that will end in the world's destruction? These are indeed times that are weighted with serious import. T.
THE PURPOSE OF CRUELTY.
THERE are continually coming to the ears of the outside world reports of cruelties practised upon the ignorant natives of "Darkest Africa" by armed whites who have been sent among them, or by cruel white rulers of certain portions of the interior country. These cruelties are not restricted to any one class or to the representatives of any particular nation, nor are the guilty ones acting under orders in afflicting the natives as they do. The responsibility for the dark deeds lies secondarily with the individuals themselves, and primarily with him whose only thought is for man's eternal ruin. These armed emissaries of civilized governments, sent out to claim the territory by right of discovery or to maintain title thereto, are serving another purpose while spying out the land. That purpose, tho not avowed, is none the less real. That purpose, tho not recognized by those who are carrying it out, is as surely working through them as tho engrossed in indelible letters on the scroll of the commission they carry. That purpose is to plant the seeds of hate in the breast of every Afrikander against the white man and all that he may bring to them—including the Gospel of Christ the Lord. It is not the governments that are purposing this; it is not the men who are performing it. That purpose was conceived deep down in the heart of humanity's arch-enemy, for the purpose of impeding, at every step, God's work in that benighted land. He who learns, through the things which he suffers, to hate the white man and his ways, has an almost impassable gulf placed between himself and the white man who comes to him under the banner of Christ, bringing the blessings and promises of the Gospel with him. That is the purpose which is being worked out now in Africa's deadly swamps and jungles, along her sluggish rivers, and around her fever-breeding lakes, where swarm the untamed, devil-worshiping tribes of a country that must yet learn to know God and the power of His salvation. Satan's purpose is to hinder that work as long as he has power so to do. God's purpose is to make a speedy work in the earth. Where are those who will teach these wronged and untamed people the love of God and His purpose concerning them?
s.
"THE BICYCLE MASHER."
A FEW days since, the New York Sun told of a champion bicycle "masher" who made the Riverside Drive the scene of his adventures. He was a "nice-looking" fellow, who, by his flattering speech and suave manner, succeeded in luring young women to places of refreshment, where he drugged them and robbed them of their money and jewels.
Many of the fashionable "drives," "promenades," and "summer resorts" are used by Satan to lure young people into trouble and frequently into ruin. At the "resort" the usual reserve of young women toward strangers is largely broken down, and this laxity opens the way for evil.
Any true gentleman will always exercise becoming reserve toward a lady. He will tolerate in himself such manners only as would be readily recognized as perfectly fitting and proper anywhere. And any young woman who has been carefully and properly trained at home will promptly and intuitively resent any unwarranted advances that may be made, even tho it be under the relaxing influences of the "resort." The stranger, even tho he be the so-called "masher," who would invite her to join him in partaking of refreshments, would be very decidedly spurned.
Indeed, is it not true that the purest type of lady-like young girls will seek to avoid allowing young men to treat them to refreshments, at least to any great extent? No girl who regards herself as she should will give any occasion whatever for the charge that she seeks to have young men be constantly giving her candy, ice-cream, soda-water, and the numerous other things that are misnamed "refreshments."
Girls can be womanly and yet be full of pleasantness and good cheer. They can be respectful and courteous to strangers, and yet be surrounded by an atmosphere of solid moral worth that produces a perceptible chill in the professional "masher." Womanly self-respect can not disguise her contempt for such fellows, and the more they flash with diamonds and otherwise display a real or pretended wealth, the more decisively will they be repelled.
Mothers should spare no pains in properly training both their boys and girls along these lines. T.
Sanitarium for Consumptive Soldiers
So prevalent has become that scourge of the race, consumption, and so imperative the demands for some treatment which will prevent its ravages, that the Secretary of War has deemed it advisable to take some action to impede its progress in the army. Those who enter the army are supposed to be in perfect health at the time they enlist; but many of them soon develop the symptoms of tuberculosis, the germs of which were no doubt in many cases in their systems. The Secretary of War has therefore ordered that a sanitarium for the treatment of consumptive soldiers and officers be established at Fort Bayard, New Mexico, under the personal supervision of Surgeon-General Sternberg; and the newest developments in the treatment of tuberculosis will be introduced. The necessity for such an institution in the army only serves to show what fearful strides disease is making in these, the last days of a worn-out, plague-smitten earth.
