We have had the promise from many pulpits and platforms, and from the press, both secular and religious, that the nineteenth century would close with the dove of peace hovering over the entire world. But it would seem very clear now that these predictions are the very farthest from any possible fulfilment. The last century closed with the whole of Europe engaged in war; it looks quite possible now that this century may close, not with Europe, merely, in arms, but with the whole world marshaled for a terrible conflict. There can be no disguising the fact that the spirit of militarism has completely taken possession of the people of this age. And there is an intensity and almost maddened frenzy that characterizes this war spirit that is simply inhuman.
At no previous period of the world’s history have there been so many men engaged in military and naval preparations as to-day, nor has there ever existed a body of men so well clad, equipped, and armed, so thoroughly schooled, disciplined, and prepared for war. There are now on the continent of Europe nearly four million men whose lives are devoted to military preparations. At least one hundred thousand of these are employing all the modern appliances of machinery, steam power, and electricity in the construction of the latest military implements, ranging from the enormous armor-piercing, high-power cannon, which throw a distance of twelve miles a projectile weighing 2,000 pounds, capable of puncturing twenty inches of solid steel, down to the rifle of smallest caliber, throwing a bullet with such5energy as to penetrate six feet of solid wood.—General Nelson A. Miles, in April Forum.
General Miles is a scholar as well as a soldier. And when he says that “at no previous period of the world’s history have there been so many men engaged in military and naval preparations as to-day,” he speaks from the standpoint of a man who has had every opportunity of knowing what he is talking about.
VIEW OF THE WRECK OF THE BATTLE-SHIP MAINE, AMIDSHIPS.
Just consider for a moment what is comprehended in the fact that “there are now on the continent of Europe nearly four million men whose lives are devoted to military preparations.” And, further, that “at least one hundred thousand of these are employing all the modern appliances of machinery, steam power, and electricity in the construction of the latest military implements.” Think of it! Four million men on the continent of Europe alone whose lives are devoted to military preparation. And is it any wonder that four million men are required to devote their lives to “military and naval preparations,” when we take into account the great battleships, armored cruisers, monitors, torpedo-boats, torpedo-boat destroyers, etc., that all the nations are building for their navies, and the guns and other accoutrements needed for their armies?
England alone has sixty-six battle-ships, one hundred and two cruisers, sixty-seven armored vessels, and two hundred and seventy-eight smaller fighting craft. On the occasion of the queen’s jubilee last year she had thirty miles of war ships in her naval parade. And France, Russia, Germany, and Japan have each their large and expensive navies. All of these nations, as well as the weaker ones in both Europe and Asia, are putting forth every effort to build and equip more and still more vessels that they hope will enable them to assist in “disputing the supremacy of the seas,” and protecting their coasts.
The average cost of a battle-ship is about $3,000,000; an armored cruiser costs about $1,000,000, while the smaller boats cost from $800,000 on down. The largest cannon, together with their emplacements, cost as high as $500,000. And it takes the strongest and best of machinery and the most skilful men to construct them. And then there are all the smaller guns, torpedoes, military mines, etc., that have to be manufactured. And with Europe’s 25,000,000 men in her armies and navies, is it any surprise that another 4,000,000 would have to devote their lives to the one work of building the necessary ships and guns? And certainly 100,000 of these would need “all the modern appliances of machinery, steam power, and electricity” to assist them in their colossal task.
And not only do we have the greatest armies and navies, as well as the greatest guns and battle-ships that the world has ever seen, but the most wonderful explosives have been invented. The artist furnishes us a section of the battle-ship Maine as she appeared after she was blown up in Havana Harbor. When we consider that this now world-famed ship was built of the best of steel, and that her steel armor was 12 inches thick; that she was 318 feet long and 57 feet beam; that her mean draft was 21 feet, and that her displacement was 6,682 tons—well may we be astonished at the terrific force that had to be exerted to rend and twist this great floating fortress into a mass of tangled débris.
Out of this “Maine disaster,” combined with the “Cuban question,” has grown the war between the United States and Spain. Men have told us in the past that modern fighting implements had become so terrible that nations would be held back from war, because they would fear to risk the appalling slaughter. But the facts do not fulfil this prediction. With a full knowledge of what modern warfare means, the United States finds no difficulty in securing all the men she wants. Indeed, there is an eagerness to enlist in the army and navy that, to say the least, is fully equal to anything that the past can produce. The press, and the pulpit as well, is resounding with the call to arms. And not only men are pressing into the service, but women also are urging that they be allowed to shoulder the gun and march to the field as soldiers.
Why all this military spirit at a time when we have been so assuringly promised that war was vanishing before the on-coming columns of diplomacy and universal peace? The roar of the cannon amid the world-wide battle cries and the tread of colossal armies, makes the hollow nothingness of this boasted freedom from war all the more apparent. The Saviour says that “ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars,” and that “nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Matt. 24:6, 7.
There is no promise in the Word of God that the carnally ambitious natures of men in this world will ever become so pacific as to bury out of sight the instincts of war. But we are told that—
“They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.” Jer. 6:14.
And again:—
“Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in My name; I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them; they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart.” Jer. 14:13, 14.
These plain words of Scripture need no interpretation. Study them carefully and see how plainly they tell that the prophecies of peace are a “false vision,” and that “wars and rumors of wars” are to continue. God has spoken on the one side and man on the other. You can readily see who is correct.
There is another most solemnly important prophecy that we desire to leave with the reader. It is as follows, and we ask you to think of it candidly:—
“And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” Rev. 11:18.
It seems hardly necessary to call attention to the fact that the foregoing scripture most vividly brings to view the great judgment day. And how clearly does this Word show that one of the things that enables us to know when the judgment day is near is the fact that “the nations were angry.” The nations of earth present a warlike attitude to-day which is without a parallel in history. Are not these shouts of the warrior the fulfilment of this prophecy? And do we not see before us to-day in these fearful armies and navies one of the unmistakable signs that the judgment day is almost here?
Consider the matter well. We will have more to say on the subject next week.
T.
Pastoral Sympathy for Human Frailty
Tho a pastor speak with the tongue of an Addison or a Webster, and hath not sympathy, tender human sympathy, for human frailty and sorrow, he hath become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.—Cumberland Presbyterian.
Discover and Fulfill Your Purpose
“SET yourself earnestly to see what you were made to do, and then set yourself earnestly to do it; and the loftier your purpose is the more sure you will be to make the world ‘richer with every enrichment of yourself.”
TRUE COMFORT.
Sentiment or Truth.
WHEN a beautiful, captivating sentiment comes to us so as to impress itself upon the mind, it is well before entertaining it to ask, Is it truth? If it is not, reject it. Error in the guise of beautiful sentiment leads captive many souls. In no field of thought is this more manifest than in that respecting the future, and the condition of the dead. Not long ago a gifted unmarried woman wrote to a friend just bereaved of a child:—
How much richer are you than I! Here I sit alone without a child to die, while you are a mother to an angel.
This would naturally appeal to a mourning mother who was not acquainted with the Scriptures; but it is not true. The angels of the Bible are not dead humans, but are ministering spirits from God, antedating in their existence the creation of man. Neither do the dead live, else are they not dead. The comfort which the infinitely loving and all-wise Father holds out to the weary, mourning ones of earth is not that the dead immediately enter Paradise, or that they then enter upon their reward. How does God comfort His people?—Here are His words: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him [that is, with Jesus, from the dead, Heb. 13:20]. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” I Thess. 4:13-18. In what, then, is the hope of the dead and the mourning living?—In the resurrection of the dead at the second coming of Christ. “Then shall He reward every7man according to his works.” Matt. 16:27.
“PEACE, PEACE.”
WE would not be among those that cry, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace,” nor would we say, “Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.” But when God has spoken peace, then would we proclaim peace.
There is no peace in this world, for simply one reason: “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” Isa. 57:21. Wickedness is rebellion against God; and there is no peace where there is rebellion. Men in Cuba and the Philippines have been in rebellion for years; there is no peace between them and the home government, Spain.
The world, and every one who chooses its perverted ways, are in rebellion against “the God of peace.” There can be, therefore, no peace to the wicked. “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it can not rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.” Isa. 57:20. Having cut loose from God, men have no stay, no staff, no anchorage; but, like the waves of the sea, they are driven by the winds of desire and false hope and unsatisfied ambition, and longings of carnal security; but peace and rest never come.
And yet in the midst of all earth’s turmoil, false prophets, professedly of God, cry, “Peace, peace,” even as of yore. Says the Lord, “They say still unto them that despise Me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.” Jer. 23:17. Even thus it is to-day. The world is preparing for the great battle of Armageddon, but the false prophets are falsely saying that the “Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace.” There is no peace to the wicked; and the wicked know it, if they would not be willingly deceived by those still blinded by sin, albeit they are called ministers of God. The false cry of peace to a sin-laden world in times of peril has ever been characteristic of false prophets.
But is there not a proclamation of peace? Has not God said, “Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him”?—Yes, God has said this. He is the “God of peace,” and He sends forth messengers shod with sandals of peace, to proclaim “the Gospel of peace.” But God’s peace does not come from the world. Said Jesus, the Representative of the Father, “My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” John 14:27.
What peace then does He give? How does He give it?
“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Ps. 21:1. This is a great foundation truth; all came from God’s hands, all—earth and mankind upon it—belong to Him. Not only is all His by creation, but all is His by redemption. Jesus Christ gave Himself, and purchased back that which man sold into sin, and for which man received only misery and death. Isa. 43:1, 3, 11; 44:6, 24; 1 Peter 1:18, 19; Luke 19:10. All belong to the Lord by creation, all belong to Him by redemption. For all He ordained His holy and immutable law; and all who do not acknowledge His authority and yield to His righteous requirements are rebels, either knowingly, or willingly ignorant. They are therefore not at peace with God.
This ownership, this kingdom of the Lord’s, extends to the closest relations of life. It includes every power of our being. It includes not only our hearts and souls, but our bodies, with their various members. “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Cor. 6:19, 20. God designed that His Spirit, His very life, should reign in us. His kingdom must reign in each individual heart. Before we can truly acknowledge God’s reign in the earth, here or hereafter, we must acknowledge it in our own heart.
But it is right here that man has rebelled. Here Satan entered in the beginning and took possession of Adam’s heart by the key of doubt or unbelief. Adam gave him entrance, yielded the kingdom—his heart—which he held in trust from God, to Satan, the usurper, and sin became incarnated, infleshed, dominant in man. The mind yielded to it, and the mind was perverted, carnalized. And that carnal, or fleshly mind, that perverted mind, which turns all things in to self instead of yielding all to God, that “carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh can not please God.” They, therefore, are not at peace with God. How may that be?
It is thus expressed in the words of the Idumean emir:—
“Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from His mouth, and lay up His words in thine heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.”
It is thus stated by the Hebrew prophet:—
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
It is thus implied in the words of the great apostle:—
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.”
“For He is our peace who hath made both one.”
The story of all is one. They simply mean that we should yield all, give up all, to Him who bought us; yield the sins, the wickedness, the guilt, the despair, the restlessness, that He may take them all; for He died to take away our sins; yield the carnal mind, crucified upon His cross, that He may put within us His own mind; yield the heart to Him, that He may come in and dwell there, bringing the fulness of His peace with Him. This is the meaning of faith.
Thus only by yielding to God, do we come to know Him. We can never know that with which we not in harmony. Praise God, we may be in harmony with Him simply by yielding all to Him, and inviting Him, a welcome King, to reign within us.
Then there is peace in the soul. Strife may rage about us; the din of the world’s fierce contests, combats, and fiercer conflicts may be on every side; but our souls are swept with the divine waves of harmony which flow from the heart of God. In the world we may have, “shall have tribulation.” The threshing sledge of trial will separate the grain from the chaff; the furnace heat will refine the silver and gold and purge the dross; but if we are loyal to God, there abides “peace as a river,” ever flowing on and out to the thirsty, weary, waiting souls of the world.
This is the peace which God proclaims to all, near and far; and there is none other that will satisfy.
Question Corner
“Enquire and make search and ask diligently.”
773. Partaking of the Lord’s Supper.
Should a member in the church who is not at variance with his brethren refrain from partaking of the Lord’s supper when he knows that there are divisions in the church? 1 Cor. 11:18.
ANXIOUS INQUIRER.
The only thing that should keep us from the Lord’s table is variance with God. If we are in harmony with him, the Lord’s table is spread for us. The variance or divisions of our brethren ought not to keep us from God if our hearts are right with Him.
Are divisions in the church (1 Cor. 11:18) the cause of sickness, etc. See verse 30?
The cause lies back of this, in the carnality cherished in the heart. Because of carnality all the evils came, including the divisions, and improper celebration of the Lord’s supper. See 1 Cor. 3:1-3.
It has respect to the center of God’s worship, anciently the Jewish altar, which stood as the symbol of the whole. It really refers to coming to Christ Jesus, and would certainly have emphatic application to such an occasion as the celebration of the Lord’s supper.
Will you please explain Rev. 2:10? What does the “ten days” refer to? C.
The verse refers to the persecutions and trials of the early Christians; the ten days probably refer to the ten years’ persecution, A.D. 302 to 312, under the emperor Diocletian. Many Christians were then destroyed in various ways.
777. “Save the Souls of Men.”
Why in the SIGNS is the expression used “to save the souls of men,” when we believe that the soul is not a conscious entity? M. S. M.
Soul has two common meanings: (1) The personality, the whole man, as “eight souls were saved by water” (1 Peter 3:20); (2) life, as in Matt. 10:28. The word translated soul in Matt. 10:28 is that which is translated life in Matt. 16:25 and soul in verse 26. Soul always means more than mere breath, or wind. To save life or soul is scriptural language.
1 Peter 1:3-5. What is to be revealed in the last time? Is it salvation? or is it the inheritance? or is it both? ELBE.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” By the mercy of God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ we are begotten unto the hope of the inheritance reserved in heaven for us; we are now guarded or kept unto that salvation (Syriac, “life”) which will insure us the inheritance. It is the salvation which is to be revealed. The inheritance will doubtless follow as a matter of course. God’s children now have salvation, now have heavenly guardians, now are the sons of God, now have the glory of God, but the world can not see these blessings. There will come a time when all shall be rewarded. See 1 Peter 5:1; Rom. 8:18.
In this passage Paul says that tongues are for a sign to unbelievers (verse 22), and later he says (verse 23) that this sign will not convince the unbeliever; but the gift of prophecy (a sign to believers) will convince the unbeliever. What is Paul’s argument? J. N. A.
God gave the gift of tongues for the evident purpose of speaking to those who do not believe, in a tongue they can understand, as on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:7-11. The gift was for evangelistic purposes. In an assembly of the people of God it should be interpreted. See verses 4-13. But this was discouraged by the apostle. It was not using God’s gift to the best purpose nor according to His wise design. In thus speaking, the words would be meaningless to an unbeliever who observed them. But if the church came together and exhorted, instructed, prophesied in the perfect order and grace of the Spirit, the unity and power among them would affect the unbeliever, and bring him to the Lord. That is, men should not seek to talk with tongues to those who already believe. This will not edify the church (unless each speaker interprets), and would seem to the unbelieving observer to be folly. But they should seek to build each other up, and indirectly this will affect the unbeliever. Paul spoke with tongues, but it was evidently among the barbarous tribes who knew not his native speech. When in the church, he spoke the common language. 1 Cor. 14:18, 19. The object of God’s gifts is not display, but edifying. Verse 26.
UNION, TRUE AND FALSE.
The New York Voice, referring to the departure of Professors Briggs, McGiffert, and Shields from the Presbyterian to the Protestant Episcopal fold, without announcing any change of doctrinal views, remarks that “denominational fences do not seem to be in the best possible condition, if we are to judge by the ease with which offended ministers leave one field and go to another.” The Voice further says:—
The Episcopalians are just now discussing, furthermore, a change in the name of their church, the name American Catholic Church seeming to be, of suggested new names, the favorite one. The Independent, commending this name, even intimates that under it the church might even hope to gather all the Christians of America in time to come. Rev. Dr. Parkhurst, in a recent article, declares that denominationalism is “false to Christianity,” and calls, as so many before him have called, for a union of all branches of Christ’s professed followers around the one point of personal fealty to Him. The subject is one of perennial discussion. Yet, despite the very general feeling that the present divisions among the churches are dishonoring to God, the organic division is, if we are not mistaken, increasing rather than diminishing, and every decade finds us with more rather than fewer sects. Why is it?
To this the Voice has no positive reply. It suggests various things, but gives no evidence to show that the writer has any positive convictions drawn from a scriptural basis. The Voice thus concludes:—
There is no hope that the future will see us all thinking alike, and feeling alike, and acting alike on matters that pertain to religion. If we are ever to come together in one church body, there are but two ways to attain that end. One is by retracing our steps and receding to the days of the childhood of the race; and the other way is by advancing, allowing every individual full freedom in choosing his own creed and in changing it, but finding some bond of union other than that of uniformity in creed. Unless such a bond of union can be discovered, the dream of the anti-denominationalists will remain a mirage.
The latter will be found in a world-wide confederacy over some extra-biblical doctrine, like the pago-papal Sunday. This is false union, union of selfish interests. Such a union will be a federation of churches, but not a union of individuals.
The only true basis of union, Christian union, is Jesus Christ—not Jesus Christ merely as a man, nor as a sufficient Sacrifice, nor as the world’s rightful King, but Jesus Christ as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Yielding all to Him and His Word makes us one with Him.
This is the union which men are to seek—oneness with Christ. This is primary and essential. When two are thus united to Christ, they are united to each other, and Christ, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” forms the bond of union. It is thus set forth by our Lord, who prayed: “That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us. . . . I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.” John 17:21–23.
Union, oneness, between denominations or men will never come by seeking that primarily. There can be no true lasting union among men or sects apart from individual union with Christ. That means the utter abolition of human rules, creeds, and doctrines, and the acceptance of the Word of God.
Comforted by the Words of Truth
Better to be comforted with the words of the God of truth than with any words of erroneous sentiment, however beautifully expressed.
«THY KINGDOM COME.»
READER, you frequently hear this prayer recited, read, prayed. In many churches it is read or said every week. In many family circles it is repeated in unison once a day. Perhaps you say it. What do you mean by it? What is meant by the prayer?
Many have this idea, that it means a time of peace and good-will, that wars will cease, and the Lord will reign in the earth. Surely this would be desirable. By some it is believed that the petition means that we should pray for the everlasting kingdom of Christ, where and when there will be no more sin, no more results of sin, no misery, no death. The prayer doubtless includes this. But he alone who repeats the prayer for any of these objects apart from himself, does not really pray the prayer.
“Thy kingdom come”—where? In the world?—Yes. In the church?—Yes. In the home?—Yes. But closer than all this,—in our own heart, and life, and flesh. “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Cor. 6: 19, 20. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” For “know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.”
It means all this to truly pray, “Thy kingdom come.” “Thy,” God’s, kingdom, means His reign, His rule, His holy law, in every respect, in every detail. He who rejects one commandment rejects the King. “Thy kingdom come—in my heart, in my mind, in my soul, in every member of my body.” It means, Let God rule everywhere in me.
Reader, do you pray this prayer, or only say it? Only those who truly pray it will have a part in His eternal kingdom.
THE BUBONIC PLAGUE IN THE ORIENT.
By T.
Reports come to us of 150 deaths in Hongkong from the bubonic plague, from January to April of the present year. It is also stated that the bubonic plague is spreading in the eastern part of Asia, and that rigid quarantine in places is maintained against it.
The bubonic plague is simply an epidemic of the worst form of syphilitic disease. We read of the disgusting sensuality of the Sodomites. But we have no account of their grossness producing sexual diseases that became epidemic. And when licentiousness reaches that point where it produces epidemics of the most loathsome diseases it is certainly about as deep in the pit of corruption as it can get.
It should be borne in mind that the Lord has told us that one of the signs of the last days is that the sins of Sodom will again pervade the world. How much farther will she have to go to produce the vile corruptions of old Sodom over again? And from whatever standpoint we view the situation to-day it must be apparent to all that the final reckoning with this world for sin and crime can not be much longer delayed. T.
“MEN RUN TO AND FRO.”
By T.
The Northwestern Christian Advocate of April 27 says:— “Men run to and fro, and knowledge has been increased throughout the earth. Specialists write books and edit or write for trustworthy magazines and papers. The time has gone by in which knowledge was confined to the few. Tongues have been loosened, and freedom of speech has destroyed the prohibitive tariffs upon intelligence. Education is now so much within the reach of all that it is a discredit, if not a sin, to be an ignoramus. The table-lands of intellectual continents have risen far above the old sea level, and the general surface of popular information occupies the space once invaded alone by the few mountain peaks among men.”
The foregoing is a very clear statement of the great dissemination of knowledge so characteristic of this age. And while the Advocate does not put the expression in “quotes,” yet it evidently would have us understand that it is repeating the prophetic words of Daniel when it says, ‘Men run to and fro, and knowledge has been increased.’
Nearly twenty-five hundred years ago the prophet said, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Dan. 12:4. As set forth by the Advocate, we have reached the time of “running to and fro,” and when “knowledge has been increased.” But observe that the prophecy says that this takes place at the “time of the end.”
This is indeed a most momentous truth. There can be no room for doubt as to the literal fulfilment of this prophetic utterance. And this prediction of Daniel is not alone in pointing to the time of the end. All the signs of our times show that the great day of final judgment is almost here. Are you ready for the issues? T.
HER THREE TEN-THOUSAND-DOLLAR DOGS.
By T.
A WOMAN in an Eastern city, according to the New York Journal, has three French bulldogs, valued at $10,000 each. And it is quite likely that if the truth were known, this woman would not sell her dogs at any price. These dogs are not valuable for any practical usefulness, but they have certain “marks of good blood” that classes them among the canine aristocracy.
And in order that these “high-born” dogs may enjoy everything that pertains to their “station in life,” their owner provides them with a footman and maid. These servants of the favored dogs must be ever ready to give them all the attentions usually bestowed upon human lords. They have their bath in perfumed water every morning, their maid having this part of the program in charge. The dogs have breakfast, luncheon, and dinner from the same expensive viands that are supplied to their owner. Their footman takes them for a walk three times a day, and on returning they are each time carefully rubbed down. One of the most skilful physicians in New York City is their medical attendant. They wear massive collars that are worth a small fortune. Their wardrobe, mostly of foreign importation, is bought quarterly and costs about $100 per dog, or $400 a year each. And among some of the rest of the expensive luxuries that these dogs, of noble birth tho they be, can hardly appreciate fully, may be mentioned a painting of them by a celebrated artist.
It seems passing strange that full-grown women of mature years could so fully give themselves to such daily rounds of devotion to dogs, and that, too, at a time when all our cities and much of the country as well, are filled with the greatest want and destitution. And if one woman only was devoting herself to such expensive nonsense, it would hardly be worth mentioning. But there are hundreds of the very wealthy who are expending their money in this way. It is hard to think that those who are doing it are so far gone that their consciences do not continually upbraid them for such a waste of time and money.
And how literally are these things fulfilling that most remarkable prophecy of James in regard to the “rich men” who are “heaping treasure together for the last days.” Of them he says, “Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.” James 5:5.
Certainly those who are so lavishly spending their means on dogs are “wanton” in the extreme. And by comparing the first few verses of this fifth chapter of James with the doings of our time, one must be impressed that one of the evidences that we are in the “last days” is very clearly being fulfilled. Sensible men have no patience with such wastefulness when so many are in distress because of a lack of the mere necessities of life, and how must the just and merciful God view it? The limit of His forbearance must soon be reached, and then the end will come. There is no time to lose in warning the world of its approaching doom. T.
THE FAULT OF THE PUBLIC.
By T.
In the Literary Digest of April 23 may be found the following significant statements:—
“Mme. Modjeska made a little speech at the Twelfth Night Club benefit in New York a few weeks ago which has called out favorable comment. In speaking of the degeneracy of the stage, she said: ‘I appeal to the women of the stage and to the women off the stage, and in particular to those who form our audiences. Can we not exert a common influence to remedy this state of affairs, both from the inside and from the outside, the former—the actresses—to elevate the standard of our art so as to have it afloat together with the other emblems of higher civilization, and the other, our sisters from the outside, to help us in the struggle by exerting their own refining actions in order to protect what is best and to taboo what is unclean or unartistic in the theatrical world?’”
“With Modjeska’s speech for a text, The Commercial, Louisville, makes the following pointed comment: ‘If there are plays on the stage that are not fit to be seen, it is the fault of the public as much as of the actors and the managers of those actors. The people always get the plays they demand and deserve. . . .”
“A theatrical manager who was in Louisville not so long ago summed up the whole matter without thinking of it. Speaking of his star, he said she had played bad women all her life, and had had great success. This season she had played the part of a good woman, and had lost money.’”
The theater is intended for the amusement of the “public.” The manager of the theater will of course have to cater to the “public” in order to make his business a success. And when it has to be acknowledged that the actress must play the “bad woman” in order to succeed, whole volumes of truth are proclaimed in regard to the condition of our world to-day.
The Bible tells us that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse” and that the “last days” shall be made “perilous” thereby. We are further told that the sins of Sodom will be a leading characteristic of the days just before the second coming of Christ. We are surely in that time. And all who still have the pure sentiment left in their minds that would lead them to cry out against these sins, should join in the work of proclaiming the good news of the Messiah’s return.
When He comes, all this sin will be destroyed, and the everlasting reign of righteousness and peace will begin. T.
