IT is quite common to hear people plead that bad law should be enforced until it is repealed. It was a President of the United States, now dead, who said, "The best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it." And now a contributor to the Brotherhood Star argues that "if a law is bad, it should be enforced until it is amended or repealed." But the trouble is this argument is usually advanced as a pretext for urging the enforcement of some particular bad law. The one arguing from this standpoint usually has in mind a pet enactment that he knows works hardship on some individuals or on some class. To meet objection to its character he becomes very tenacious of law in general, and makes a pretense of being religiously law-abiding, making a virtue of the plea that the law—even if it be bad—must be enforced for the sake of patriotism, or some other good sentiment. But such a logician never sets up this defense of a law to which he is opposed; it is always a covering for some particular statute in the enforcement of which he is especially interested.
However, in this, as in all other matters, it is well to inquire what the Lord teaches on the subject. For instance, when His people Israel were in Egyptian slavery, there was a law enacted that all the male children should be put to death at birth. "But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive." Now why was it not best to enforce the bad law until such time as it should be repealed?—Simply because to do so would be sin against God. Those who were charged with the execution of the law feared God; therefore they evaded the law, altho that was a crime against the State. They were placed between two laws antagonistic to each other; which should they obey? They chose to obey God, and God vindicated their choice. He chose and providentially provided for the care of a child preserved in violation of this civil law, and made him leader of Israel, to deliver them from Egyptian bondage.
Another notable instance is that of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, when the law commanded all the officers of Babylon to worship a certain golden image. Great stress was laid upon this law; in the mind of King Nebuchadnezzar it was of world-wide importance. Then, if a certain very small minority did deem it a bad law, why not let it go, and have it faithfully executed until it should be repealed? The reason is that it contravened the law of God. Therefore those who feared God ignored the king's decree, regardless of consequences.
Later on, the prophet Daniel was confronted with a law signed and sealed by the Medo-Persian king, Darius. This law forbade the offering of prayer to any one but the king, for a period of thirty days. Here was a law that could not be repealed, for the reason that the laws of the Medes and Persians were unalterable. The king himself could not alter his own decree after it had been signed and sealed. Then this particular law would expire by limitation in thirty days. Therefore, if any bad law could be acknowledged and borne by those who knew it to be bad, surely this one might. It could not hinder any one from praying in secret. But Daniel feared God, and he had been in the habit of praying with his window open toward Jerusalem. This law forbidding prayer to any one but the king had been framed on purpose to stop this practise or to entrap the Hebrew officer. But the fear of God would not admit of any compromise with a law that conflicted with His law. It would not admit of even the appearance of evil, by even changing his accustomed attitude and position in prayer—not even for thirty days. To have yielded in this would have been an encouragement of further proscription. Therefore Daniel gave no heed to the law of the land, and God sustained his wise choice, miraculously delivering him from the evil design of his enemies. Here was another emphatic expression of God's opinion of the enforcement of bad law.
Still another instance is worthy of note in this connection. In the days of King Ahasuerus, his prime minister, Haman, secured by intrigue a law that at a certain time all the Jews in the empire should be put to death, and their property confiscated. Now if the principle of enforcing bad law until it be repealed is good to-day, it was always good, and it was just as good for that law of the Persian Empire as for any other. But that law could not be repealed; then why should it not be enforced without reserve? The common argument on that side of the subject is that law, however bad, is sacred while it is on the statute-book. The reason that the law instigated by Haman should not have been enforced is because it was in violation of the law of God; and the Lord again showed in a signal manner His disapproval of the principle under consideration. In answer to the prayers of His people, He brought about, not a repeal of the obnoxious decree, but a means of resisting its execution.
Thus we have repeatedly demonstrated in the Word of God that any unjust law is antagonistic to His law, and therefore can not in anywise meet His approval. Hence the enforcement of any unjust law is sin, and to advocate the execution of such law is to advocate that which is sinful. And there can be no majority of men large enough to make injustice right in the sight of God. There can be no majority large enough to make unequal law justifiable in any way. The whole principle of man's true attitude toward law in general, is given in Peter's reply to the Jewish council at Jerusalem,—"We ought to obey God rather than man." Acts 5:29. The same principle had been enunciated long before, in the Scriptures of truth: "Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." Eccl. 12:13.
THE TEMPTER AND THE TEMPTED:
By G. T. Wilson
or
The Personality of Satan.
[By the late G. T. Wilson; republished from the SIGNS of April 21, 1898, by request.]
HE who is now called Satan, adversary, was once called Lucifer, a being of perfection and highest order in heaven. He was created perfect, but little by little perverted his wisdom and might, and became the leader of the great controversy between good and evil. Isa. 14:12-17; Eze. 28:12-19; Hosea 4:1; Jer. 25:31; Eph. 2:1-3; 6:11, 12.
2. Satan, or Lucifer, as he was then called, wanted to be above the Son of God; Christ must not have authority over him; so he started the controversy in heaven, but was cast out, taking with him about one-third of the angels of heaven, who with him had rebelled against God and His holy law. This made them sinners. Rev. 12:4, 7-9; Isa. 14:12-14. "I will be like the Most High." These were the words of Satan. He would not bow to Christ. This is further shown by the way Satan acted toward Christ in the temptation in the mountain, when he tried to get Christ to fall down and worship him. Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-8. His desire was still to be like the Most High. See also 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6.
3. Satan was once in the truth, but did not abide there. John 8:44. With him murder and lying began. 1 John 3:8. Had Satan no personality, he could not be called a liar and murderer, as he is in the text in John 8:44. Pride separated his soul from God, and caused his casting out of heaven. Said Christ, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." Luke 10:18.
4. Satan carried the Saviour bodily to a pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, and tried to get Him to cast Himself from that dizzy height, because of his malicious desire to destroy the Son of God. He next took Christ to an exceeding high mountain, and there he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory in a moment of time, and promised them to Him if He would worship him. How could he have done all this if he had not been a person? Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13. He found no answering chord in Christ to his temptations. John 14:30. Christ was tempted, but not overcome. He knew no sin. He never yielded to Satan.
5. Satan is called the prince of devils, or demons, and Christ recognized that Satan had a kingdom. Though a fallen angel, he is still a being of great power and glory, and all his perverted wisdom he uses to pervert the truth of God, His law, and His Gospel. With these perversions he corrupts all his subjects, and turns them against God. Matt. 12:24, 26; Rev. 12:9-12; 2 Cor. 11:3, 12-15; 4:4.
6. He goes about seeking, like a hungry lion, whom he may devour. He at times brings storms and fire and thieves to destroy our property. He often meets with the people of God when they meet, and does all he can to destroy souls by catching the Word out of their hearts. Job 1:6-11; 2:1-7; 1 Peter 5:8; Luke 22:31; Rev. 12:12; Matt. 13:19; Mark 4:15.6
8. Satan is back of every false interpretation of prophecy, as when he spoke through Peter to tell Christ that He should not be delivered into the hands of sinners and put to death at Jerusalem. It was Satan who put these words in Peter's mouth; that is why Christ used the form of rebuke He did. Matt. 16:6, 17, 21-23.
9. Those who are under the power and control of Satan are called his children. John 8:44. Satan "is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Eph. 2:1-3. He is "the god of this world." 2 Cor. 4:4. He deceiveth the whole world. Rev. 12:9.
11. Those who accept Christ and His glorious kingdom of light, leave the black banner of Satan, and his kingdom of darkness, and are subjects of the kingdom of God's dear Son. Col. 1:12-19.
12. Satan loves war, and he is gathering the kings of this world, and their hosts, for the battle of the great day of God. Rev. 16:13, 14.
13. If persons came into the apostolic church and still practised as the subjects of Satan's dominion, they were to be delivered over to Satan again; for they would not be subject to Christ. The object was to let the individual see where he stood, so that he would recover himself out of Satan's snare, repent, and turn to the Lord, and by dying to his fleshly lusts, become alive to Christ, and a subject of His kingdom. 1 Cor. 5:1-13; 2 Cor. 2:1-11; 7:8-12. In this way they carried out the advice of Christ to His disciples. Matt. 18:15-18. In 1 Cor. 5:5 a case is mentioned where a man was cast out of the church of Corinth, that he might see that the church of God did not sanction his vile course. This act led to his repentance and reformation, and he was forgiven by the church, and by Paul, and so recovered from Satan's snare.
14. Alexander, the coppersmith, left the faith, and Paul says he delivered him over to Satan, that he might learn not to blaspheme. That is, he was cast out of the church, and deprived of the sanction of the church authority, by which he was upheld when in the church, to speak against the doctrines which his brethren held. He would learn that he stood outside, and this would teach him that he could not further oppose Paul and the brethren under church sanction. 1 Tim. 1:19, 20; 2 Tim. 2:16-18; 4:14, 15.
15. In James 1:14, 15 we read: "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Lust is a perversion of the natural powers and faculties that our Creator bestowed upon man; but by yielding to Satan's suggestions in Eden, our first parents were overcome, and perverted in their natures, so that since that time the human race have been easily led into sinful indulgences. See 1 John 2:15, 16; Gen. 3:1-15. Christ was tempted, but He had no devil in Him. To be tempted, therefore, does not make a man a devil, but if he yields to the temptation, he becomes subject to Satan's control so long as he continues in that sinful practise. Rom. 6:16.
16. God tells us: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." James 4:7. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it." "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices." "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." God grant us grace to labor with such gentleness for the souls who have fallen into Satan's snares, "that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." 2 Tim. 2:24-26.
HERESY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
The Church Has No Excuse to Offer for Suppressing It to Save Society.
[From the Catholic Mirror of Oct. 14, 1899; translated from La Quinzaine, for the Catholic Mirror.]
FOREMOST among the objections raised against the Catholic Church is her attitude toward heresy in the Middle Ages. Her apologists have seized upon excuses and theories somewhat confusing by the fact of their contradicting one another. Some deny altogether that she ever was severe. Some go to the other extreme of attributing to her a right over life and death in defense of her dogmas, while others adopt a middle course, by throwing most, if not all, of the blame upon the State, which suppressed heresy as a crime against itself, often without the approval of the church. A safer position would seem to be the following: The church claims, and has always claimed, the right of punishing heresy, as is evident from the teaching of the greatest of theologians, St. Thomas, and from her canonical legislation, such as the decrees of popes and the acts of councils, all of which prove that the church believed in her duty to repress heresy, and impressed the civil authorities with the same duty, boldly holding herself responsible for whatever wrong or right there was in such repression.
Allowing, of course, for occasional excesses, in general, the church took this stand against heresy, because the chief heresies of the Middle Ages were subversive of society, and, therefore, the church in destroying them saved society from anarchy and even destruction. In proof of this, it may be pertinent to consider the fundamental characteristics of those great heresies, such as those of Bogomil, Albigensian, Cathari, Vaudois, the Fraticelli, Wycliffe, and John Huss.
Most of them were impregnated more or less with the old Manicheanism, whose fundamental principle was the eternal co-existence of two sovereign powers, one good, the other evil, the latter being the creator of matter, which is in consequence hopelessly evil and corrupt, especially in woman, its chief representative. The social consequences of such a false principle were immediate and terrifying. The Bogomils condemned marriage and child-bearing, because by them matter or evil was perpetuated, and hence they considered lawful the most hideous immoralities. In a word, suppression of life in this world, extinction of society, was the means of attaining to glory in the next. The extinction of the family, the very basis of society, was their cardinal doctrine, a doctrine all the more dangerous because its devotees actually formed themselves into convents, like those of Catholics, the better thereby to escape detection.
Another characteristic was the denial of the right of individual property; of the binding force of an oath; of the right of any power, civil or ecclesiastic, to punish disturbers of the peace; of the right of the State to enlist soldiers, the latter in consequence being justified in deserting and otherwise betraying their country.
Especially dangerous were the anti-social teachings of Wycliffe and of his disciple, John Huss. The former's anti-social teachings sprang from his peculiar theory of the connection between grace and power. He argued that since all power is from God, he who is in the state of mortal sin is by that fact incapable of exercising any power whatsoever. But, since no one except God Himself can say when a ruler is or is not in such a state, it necessarily follows that the legitimacy of the power actually exercised by any ruler is doubtful, thus leaving a constant excuse for rebellion. From such a thesis equally follow the communistic theories so common to all these sects, as well as those involving betrayal of one's country.
In answer to these charges, the historians hostile to the Catholic Church have urged the exaggerations of Catholic writers; the theoretical characters of the heresies named, and the favor accorded to the heretics by reigning princes, who would not be likely to protect heresies if they fomented anarchy or threatened the State.
That Catholic authors did not exaggerate the answer is furnished in the writings of these sects, and that the character of the heresies was not theoretical is seen in the sanguinary commotions excited by the teachings of the Albigensians, the Fraticellis, the Lollards, and the Hussites, which forced the church, as the guardian of society, to suppress them with severity. If sometimes these heretics were favored by reigning princes it may be answered that princes like the Counts of Toulouse, Louis of Bavaria, Edward III., and Richard II., did actually protect them for a time for no other reason than because the anti-social teachings of the heretics were at first directed only against the goods of the church, which thus fell an easy prey to the State, and blinded the State to its own danger.
The church in the Middle Ages did persecute heresy often with extreme severity. It did so legitimately, because these heresies meant social anarchy, the ruin of the family, and the commission of crimes which to-day are repressed by civil punishments, often death itself, in every civilized country. The church saved society by repressing heresy in the Middle Ages, and she has, therefore, no excuse to offer for her action beyond an occasionally misdirected zeal of her officers.
WHERE ALL ARE EQUAL
By John Greenleaf Whittier
BENEATH Thy broad, impartial eye
How fade the lines of caste and birth!
How equal in their suffering lie
The groaning multitudes of earth!
Still to a stricken brother true,
Whatever clime hath nourished him,
As stooped to heal the wounded Jew,
The worshiper of Gerizim,
By misery unrepelled, unawed
By pomp or power, Thou seest a man
In prince or peasant, slave or lord,
Pale priest or swarthy artisan.
—Whittier.
Principles Live Eternally
"Men soon pass away and are soon forgotten, but principles live eternally."
THE CONDITIONS.
UPON Mal. 3:8-12 Dr. Alexander MacLaren, in the Sunday School Times, has the following pertinent remarks:—
"And then we have a gracious invitation, which is often wrenched out of its connection, and made to buttress false teachings. "Prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
One has often heard these words quoted as inducements to earnest prayer, but what was the "herewith" by which God was to be proved? Not prayer, but bringing "the tithe into the storehouse." Emptying pockets, not bending knees, is the way to prove God. If we will give all we can, and do all we can, then—and not till then—we can take this, His
own word, to Him, and ask Him to be as good as His word. Then—and not till then—has He pledged Himself to prosper our planting, to curb every kind of destroyer, locust, caterpillar, or blight, and to make our toil fruitful, so that the world shall recognize how fair a heritage they have who love God and offer all their works to Him.
IS IT TRUE?
CARDINAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, in his letter to his nephew, Mr. Mozeley, declares that, notwithstanding all the mistakes of the church, all the corruptions and changes, "still the ethos of the Catholic Church is what it was of old time, and what or whoever quarrels with Catholicism now quarrels, virtually, and would have quarreled, if alive, eighteen hundred years ago, with the Christianity of apostles and evangelists."
Upon this Mr. Mozeley thus comments: "The question, it will be seen, is this—and truly it is an important one—whether the spirit of St. Peter and St. Paul can be shown to differ, in any material respect, from the spirit of the Church of Rome at the present day."
To him who knows the Word of God there can be no question.
To the early church, as represented by the apostles, man and man's work was nothing; Christ was all in all. But in the Roman system the good works of men are an important part of the salvation of men. With the apostles man did good works because he had faith and was saved; with Rome man must do his works in order to be saved.
To the early church, Jesus alone was all sufficient—a merciful, present, helpful, personal Saviour and Friend; but to Roman Catholics He must be approached through human merit in penance and through saints and popes, bishops and priests.
Simple, personal faith in Christ, leading to obedience to every precept of God, was the ethics of the early church; obedience to the church and the perverted law of God is what the Roman Catholic Church now requires.
The "real presence" of the early church was "Christ within" every individual believer, "the hope of glory;" the "real presence" of Roman Catholicism is an alleged presence of Christ in a dead wafer.
The early church knew and kept the Sabbath of the Lord, the sign of God's power to recreate and regenerate; the Roman Catholic Church has substituted a heathen festival, the sun's day, in its stead.
The children of God in the early church were buried in baptism, immersed, truly typical of faith in a dead, buried, and risen Saviour; the Roman Church has substituted sprinkling or affusion.
The early church knew no organic or living relation with politics or the State, knew nothing of the doctrine of force, compulsion, or corporeal punishment; but the Roman Church, since the days of Augustine and Justinian, has not ceased to show its zeal in uniting with the State when possible, plotting with politics when profitable, and hectoring and persecuting heretics when permitted.
The lowliness, the meekness, the separation from the world, the self-denial, of the apostles as compared with the proud claims of the man on the Tiber need not be mentioned.
In Rome may be found the perversion of the true church, but perverted truth is error. A corrupted woman is not the pure. Union with the world is not union with Jesus Christ.
What is wanted is the ethics and the power of Jesus Christ.
NEVER SETTLED TILL SETTLED RIGHT.
By Editor
SAYS the Kansas City Star of October 15, a copy of which has been sent us:—
The Sunday question, which has been discussed since man divided time into other than natural divisions, appears to have been pretty well settled. The theories of society differ, but the practise of humanity is rapidly approaching a certain unanimity. The best portion of the human race, that which is conscious of a soul and a body to be saved, believes in a day of rest, and has fixed, probably from the influence of a custom beginning early in the life of man upon the earth, on one day in seven as this interval of rest.
The greatest existing religions seem to recognize this division of time, which is undoubtedly older than any of them. All of them trace its origin to the will and Word of God, spoken and revealed as soon as man had organized a society—primarily a labor society—and had need of rest.
It would seem that years ago there was more strenuous and bitter controversy than there is now about the particular day of the seven when this rest should be taken. There seems to be a drawing together in favor of the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday. It is objected that the name is heathen; that it was the sun's day, when that luminary was a god. Then it was esteemed the best day, for when the shining sun was god there was none like him. It would not be surprising if the world yet elected this old sun's day as its common day of rest and worship, a universal and happy thought.
Now the above contains several points worthy of notice:—
1. It speaks for a large class who ignorantly and indifferently look upon the Sunday question in about the same light as the editor.
2. It recognizes that the Sabbath thought and practise originated in "the will and Word of God."
3. It contains a prophecy of the future, which, tho not known to the writer, is as true as the Word; for the "sure word of prophecy" declares that the Sunday question will be one for world-wide decision. Sunday will become the mark of world-worship, State-worship, national worship, as opposed to the Sabbath of the Lord, the mark and seal of the individual heart and soul worship of God, the Creator and personal Redeemer.
To this only would we call the attention of our readers. The Sabbath is of God. He commands that the Sabbath, the seventh day, shall be kept holy. The integrity of His government is involved in the integrity of His law and its ultimate triumph. Therefore it matters not what a society, or church, or the whole world, may settle as expedient or best, that matter is not settled till it is settled right. And the only way to settle it right is to settle it God's way. We shall be judged not by what men think, but by God's law. Rom. 2:12; James 2:8-12. And of all things contrary to that law Jesus says, "Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." Matt. 15:13.
"Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision," says the prophet of this time. Which way, reader, are you deciding?
MORNING HYMN.
By Geo. E. Price
[Tune: "Lead, Kindly Light," "S. D. A. Hymns and Tunes," No. 777.]
THE morn has ushered in another day;
Take Thou my heart.
During these hours, O, grant I never may
From Thee depart!
My will unstable drives me to despair;
Take Thou this feeble will beneath Thy care.
My soul, receiving all Thy tender care,
Knows not the key
In which Thy heart transmitteth from above
Its love for me.
Through all this day the guidance of Thy hand
Help me to trace, teach me to understand.
My life, O Lord, is not attuned with Thine!
My untrained ear
Its discord with Thy harmony divine
Can plainly hear.
Its wishes and its purposes, O, take,
And from its chords sweet harmony awake!
Too often has self touched the tender strings
With hands unskilled,
And restless discontent that failure brings
My heart has filled.
The tones I hear and fain would imitate
Taunt my poor soul more than I can relate.
My brain, my heart, I consecrate to Thee,
Thy will to do;
And thus the love Thou dost bestow on me
I may bestow.
Ages ago Thou dwelt on earth 'mong men;
Incarnate in my life return again.
GEO. E. PRICE.
Marysville, N. B., Canada.
Bad Acts and Worse Excuses
"We often do a bad act and make a worse excuse."
"THE GOD OF THE THEOLOGIANS."
By Editor
THE Catholic Mirror of Oct. 22, 1898, printed the following:—
Prof. Carroll D. Wright, the United States Commissioner of Labor, writing for Munsey's Magazine, says:—
"I used to feel that it was mere idolatry or absence of refined feeling that led the Spanish and Italian peasants to kneel before the image of the Virgin Mother. A deeper appreciation of the inspirations of the human soul removed that feeling from my mind. . . . The peasant can realize and bring into his own heart in this way the whole idea of the Mother, when he could not, even with the estheticism of religious devotion, reach the God of the theologians. It has been through the innumerable representations of the Madonna that religion has received in many lands its most stimulating influence."
There is just the trouble—"the god of the theologians," plainly the only god that many persons know, or they would not so speak. But this is not the God of the Bible. He is more loving than a brother, more tender than a mother. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." Greater, and comprehending all true, pure loves, is the love of God, "broader than man's mind," deeper than hell, higher than heaven. It was because the theologians separated man from God that the heart demanded an intermediary. Christ came down to be Immanuel, God-with-us; but the theologians have separated Him by a great gulf from man, and put a mortal in His place.
The words of Mr. Wright are good Catholic doctrine, but, O, how far short of Biblical Protestantism do they come! Christ's love—O, tell it to all—is more than a mother's! Christ's willingness to personally help every soul is more than any mortal's, living or dead, of the past or present, can be. He is a divine-human Saviour, the all in all to every soul.
A CRUSADE AGAINST VICE AND CRIME.
THE Christian Endeavor Societies in an Eastern city have been making a crusade in their locality against vice and crime.
A crusade against vice and crime is something that all Christians should be engaged in at all times. But it should be clear to those who study their Bibles that—
"Tho we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." 2 Cor. 10:3-5.
And again the Word tells us:—
"Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." Eph. 6:11-18.
How clearly do the foregoing texts say that the Christian does not war "after the flesh," even tho he walks "in the flesh;" and "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds"!
And we are exhorted to put on the "whole armor of God." Mark it! Not the armor of men, but the "armor of God." The Lord provides His own strong armor for His faithful soldiers.
And He does not leave us in doubt as to what that armor is. The first thing is to have the loins girded with "truth;" and we are to have on "the breastplate of righteousness;" the feet are to be shod "with the preparation of the Gospel of peace" (not of war and strife); then comes the mighty shield of "faith," and the "helmet of salvation," and the "sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."
What a perfect and powerful armor this is! There is no carnal power in it. Carnal power can not fight in such armor. Only the power of God can use it. But he who will yield himself to be clothed with God's armor will find that he is not left to the weakness of the fitful power of men, for the Lord gives His own almighty power to accompany His divine armor.
We are sorry that our Christian Endeavor young friends who are making the crusade alluded to, should have overlooked this armor and power of God in their work, and should have leaned rather upon the power of mere human, civil law. The chairman of the Endeavor meeting said:—
"During our investigations we have come upon a shocking and startling state of affairs. The ——— Club, situated in the ——— building, in which one of our prominent public officers has his place of business, was found to be a resort of the very worst kind, a veritable hell on earth. Our investigation disclosed the fact that its proprietor was selling liquors to all comers, without a license; that it was frequented by colored men and women, and white men and women, and that the utmost freedom of conduct was allowed. Both sexes, white and black, drank together, danced together, and became drunk together. Swearing, fighting, filthy conversation and actions, gambling, and other vices were fully indulged in. Worse, if possible, could be charged, but out of respect to you I refrain. And all this within a stone's throw of our city hall, and in the same building in which our mayor has his business office. Further, it was apparent that, as this place was used for political purposes, it felt safe in its traffic."
This statement from the chairman's speech certainly discloses a very bad state of things. But it is not for "Christian" Endeavorers to attack evil by the aid of policemen's clubs, and jails and fines and imprisonments. The Christian is left in this world to do as Christ did. And we have no record of His starting any crusade by the aid of the police. To even faintly imagine Christ doing such a thing as that is repulsive and repugnant to any one who has known Him only as a character in history, and much more should it be so to the person who professes to be a follower of the Prince of Peace.
When the Endeavorers, or any other body of professing Christians, attack vice and crime with the police force at their back, in the very nature of things, they make bitter enemies out of the vicious and criminal classes. These poor, besotted devotees of vice find themselves confronted by professing Christians who are in the attitude of assaulting enemies. And the spirit that is stirred up within them is that of determined resistance. And where is there a possible hope of one such person being converted under such circumstances?
Missions in the midst of these vile people are the barracks and forts that true Christians will be building. And their armor will be that of heaven, and not of earth. And their power will be that of God, and not of men. All who are truly seeking to follow Christ will surely see these principles, for they are revealed in the Word of God with the most unmistakable clearness.
Let us study the Bible for God's own plans of work, and then we need not be swamped by a lot of mere human expedients.
MAZET DEFEATED.
By T.
MR. MAZET'S failure to be returned to office in the State of New York at the recent election there is of more than passing interest to any one who is closely studying current events.
Mr. Mazet has been prominently before the public during the past few months because of his appointment last winter by the New York Legislature as chairman of a committee to investigate the political jobbery and corruption in New York City. This committee, with Mr. Mazet at its head, employed legal counsel, and for the past several months has been investigating and exposing the iniquities and gross crimes of the political bosses and their ring. New York's famous "boss" himself was brought before the committee, and his principal associates were also required to answer for their conduct. Most scandalous jobbery, and frauds and crimes of almost every degree and character, were proven against these managers of the political machine. Gambling, robbery, and fraud are protected by the politicians of the great city, and those who commit these crimes pay for their protection by dividing the spoils with the political ring.
Mr. Mazet could hardly be said to be bringing these evils to light, for any one who knows aught about city politics is aware of the fact that corruption is becoming so bold that it takes but little pains to hide itself. But Mr. Mazet was agitating the matter; he had all the New York papers discussing the subject; the political bosses were being cartooned and denounced; and all of this was, of course, very unpleasant to them. Hence, when he went before the people again for re-election to the New York Legislature, he had all of this political ring against him, and the result was that he was defeated.9
There is food in the foregoing facts for some serious reflection. It is admitted by every one that the boss rule of New York City is shamefully corrupt. Even the leaders in the evil admit it, and calmly ask what can be done about it.
There is a great network of political patronage; there are vast numbers of business men and others who are seeking to secure some advantages,—favorable legislation, or something of the kind,—from the politicians. And these all keep still and do nothing about the evil that they see because they do not want to jeopardize their own selfish interests.
Now when political bosses who are admittedly corrupt and who protect and foster wholesale criminality are able to cast down one man and set up another, what is the internal condition of society? If the few men who are called "bosses" were the only ones who favored such evils, they could not stand for a single day before the withering blast of public sentiment that would be hurled against them. But public sentiment can not be aroused to the point where it will strike more than a very feeble, sickly blow at the crying evil.
History shows that when a nation has become grossly corrupt in its politics it has invariably gone down. The palpable facts are that not alone New York City, but the whole country, and with it all the other countries of the world, are sinking deeper and deeper into the mire of corruption and fraud. Reason should show us that world-wide destruction is right at hand. And the prophecies of the Bible make it sure beyond the possibility of a peradventure that the day of the end of all things is now confronting us. T.