THE INTERRELATION OF THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. NO. 10.
BY T. H. STARBUCK.
Objections Considered.
1. Can a holy and sinless God be the source of laws that work out sin and death? The answer to this question will not be speculative in any sense if we are willing to accept what Inspiration says about it. It gives an unequivocal reply: “The law worketh wrath.” Rom. 4:15. There can be no transgression where there is no law. “The strength of sin [the sinful nature] is the law.” There is strength to the carnal nature, but it is the strength of the law working through that nature. Sin works death in man by that which is good, or by the law. Rom. 7:13. God’s word plainly says that his law worketh wrath. If the law works wrath for the punishment of sin, then he can be holy and sinless and yet be the source of such laws. He could not be holy if there were no penal force to his laws; for that would make him partner in transgression, inasmuch as the lack of penal force to his laws would perpetuate sin instead of bringing it to an end. He can not be called unholy because sin arises under his moral government; but if for want of executive force to his laws sin were perpetuated, that would show him to be unholy. Natural laws violated bring evil upon the transgressor, and the evil springs from the force of the violated law. Moral laws are of the very same nature. When transgressed they become laws that are not good; and whereby man shall not live; and all the evil comes through the operation of the law.
2. Does not this theory make the punishment for sin spring from the operation of law rather than as a curse direct from God?—It certainly does. The curse pertains to the law; and wrath comes through its instrumentality. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.” Gal. 3:13. The charge of Satan against God’s government, in the origin of sin, was that it is arbitrary. But if wrath comes without the intervention of law, that would show Satan’s accusation to be just; for to send curses through any other channel than that of law would be an arbitrary act. God is not arbitrary in anything that he does, for all that he inflicts for sin is according to constitutional law. This drama of evil, together with the plan of redemption, is developing the fact that Satan’s accusation is untrue. The moral government of heaven is not of the nature of tyranny, but it springs from right principles eternally existing in God. It is so perfect and justly balanced that its operation refutes every charge that evil can bring against it. God is not compelled to set a watch to apprehend transgressors, because the law is his agent for that purpose. It is made for sinners. 1 Tim. 1:9.
3. Does not this view of law make it appear that the forces of nature are God?—It does not. God is a personal being, from whom the forces of nature emanate. They are the revelation of his power. The invisible things of him, even his eternal power and Godhead, are clearly seen in the forces of nature. Rom. 1:20. If he did not manifest his power in such ways, he could not be seen in the light of natural things, and men would have some excuse for their darkness of heart; but through his natural revelations of power they are without excuse for their sin. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men, and that through the operation of his laws. Rom. 1:18. In such manifestations of his wrath he reveals to all intelligences that sin is not in harmony with his nature.
Application of Principle.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Isa. 1:18. Thus the merciful Lord invites us to reason with him about cleansing from sin. But right here an important question arises. How can God dispose of sin in such manner that the integrity of his laws will be maintained, and the sinner stand before him as if he never had been a transgressor? From a few principles of divine law which have previously been elucidated, we shall proceed to make an application to several scriptures which speak of the law in connection with salvation through Christ. In order to enter upon the study of these passages comprehensively it will be well to recall some of those principles:—
1. The laws of God are the living word of his power, and are his agencies to execute his will.
2. There are two phases to their operations, the normal and the abnormal, known in the Bible as the “ministration of the Spirit” and the “ministration of death.”
3. Their normal operation is that which pertains to righteousness.
4. Their abnormal operation pertains to sin only, and all the race of mankind is naturally under this phase of their action.
5. Salvation from sin through Jesus Christ is the act of reclaiming man by removing him from under the abnormal action of divine law and placing him under its normal action.
6. Divine law is itself an instrumentality to bring about this change in man’s condition.
7. The law operated normally through Christ in sinful flesh, to illustrate to the lost world God’s instrumentalities for salvation from sin.
In scriptural exegesis it has been the custom to divide the Mosaic system of laws into two parts, which have been designated as moral and ceremonial. While there are, perhaps, no objections to this general division, the minds of Bible students have been led into many grievous errors by a wrong application of it. To collect those passages which speak of the law, dividing them into two classes, and saying that this class refers to the moral and that class to the ceremonial law6has given rise to much unprofitable controversy, and blinded the minds of men relative to the true nature of the laws of God. And as certain passages seem to speak of the abolition of law, conclusions wholly unscriptural are often drawn relative to the abolition of divine law, which would never have been made were it not for this unsound exegesis.
As a rule these controverted scriptures, while they speak of the law, teach the profoundest and most precious principles of the Gospel of salvation. In our remaining space in this series of articles some of these scriptures will be considered, for the sake of a better knowledge of the principles of law and Gospel which they contain.
“Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know the law), how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death; but now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” Rom. 7:1–6.
The principles of divine law elucidated in this series of articles are clearly indicated in this scripture. There are four things considered in the apostle’s illustration,—the law, the woman, the first and the second husbands. Reference is made to the law of God, for it is that which binds a woman to her husband, and its binding force ceases when the husband dies. The woman allegorically represents any sinner who is “under the law.” The first husband is the carnal nature; and so long as it is alive, the law binds the sinner to that nature, and sin is the fruit of the union. The second husband is Jesus Christ, and the same law which bound the sinner to the carnal nature now binds him to Christ after the death of the carnal nature; for the same law which binds a woman to her first husband also binds her to the second. When the individual becomes united to the Saviour, to restrain self, that union is righteousness. As long as that nature survives, the law holds dominion over it, and the bond is unbroken, and sin is the natural result. Union with Christ is not legitimate till the sinful nature dies. The fruit of the union in either case will correspond to the nature of the husband. While the first husband (carnality) survives, the fruit is unto death. Verse 5. The object of the second union is that the dominion of sin may be broken, so that the life may be fruit unto God. Verse 4; chapter 6:14. Deliverance from the law comes through the death of the carnal nature; but it has before been shown that the law slays the carnal nature.
If farther study upon this point is desired, the reader will find it stated four different times, in verses 9, 10, 11, and 13, and also in Heb. 4:12. In slaying the carnality the law makes the individual free from sin and death, just as stated in Rom. 8:2. Thus it is made clear in Paul’s reasoning that the law converts the soul. It also works wrath, that is, it works sin and death, when it operates through the carnal nature. Verse 6. This is a logical result, for the law is vital, moral force from God, but the carnality in man turns that force out of its legitimate channel into the ways of sin and death. Sin can work out no other results but death, but the law is the force by which it holds dominion over its subjects and destroys them. 1 Cor. 15:56. Under the second union, or marriage to Christ, it is also the force which constrains the individual to live for God. The law is love, and love is the fulfilling of the law; but the love of Christ constraineth us. 2 Cor. 5:14.
DISCIPLES OF CHRIST “NOT OF THE WORLD.”
By W. N. Glenn
BY W. N. GLENN.
MR. LAWRENCE HARRIGAN, of the St. Louis police, said, “A man who doesn’t believe in God ought not to be on the police force.” Is not this true of all civil offices? This is the Bible rule.—Christian Statesman.
No, this is not true of all civil offices; it is not true of the police force. Hunting down and punishing offenders is in no sense Christian work. No more efficient detective ever lived than Jesus Christ could have been, for he knew the hearts and crimes of every one. No man could have had more power in arresting criminals, for all power was at his command. If such an idea as civic reform by the enforcement of civic law had been at all contemplated in the mission of Christ, he certainly could have been the greatest detector of them all. If detecting and punishing criminals had been in any sense a part of the Gospel commission, certainly the apostles would have been masters in the profession. They manifested great personal courage on many trying occasions; they were conversant with every language by miraculous gift, and they had the gift of the discerning of spirits to a remarkable degree.
But so far was the work of Christ and his followers from anything of the national or municipal reform idea that they never made formal complaint against any individual in order to secure an arrest or punishment of any character. Christ proclaimed against sin in the abstract, and pointed out sin in individuals; but it was always that men might be led to repentance and forsake their evil ways, that he might save them. He was cognizant of plots to take his life; he was cognizant of infractions of the civil law on every hand; he even knew that Judas, one of his own company, was a thief; yet he never made a single effort to bring an offender before a civic tribunal. When the mob came to the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest him, although he knew the act was the result of a foul conspiracy to put him to death, he merely showed them that he had power to successfully resist them, and then permitted them to take him. Although every step in his trial, condemnation, and execution was illegal, and he could have pointed out and convicted the instigators of the great crime, he brought no charge against any of them with such intent.
When Christ sent out his disciples in the various cities of Judea, where no doubt municipal corruption was rife on every hand, they were to be “wise as serpents” but “harmless as doves.” No language could better express the character of their mission. If any city was so corrupt as to utterly reject the offer of salvation through the preaching of the Gospel, what were the preachers to do? Were they to start a municipal reform crusade, get some of their followers on the police force, raid the dens of infamy, and bring offenders before the magistrates?—Nothing of the kind. They were simply to shake off the dust of that city from their feet, and go on to others with their message of love and mercy. Says Christ: “If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” John 12:47, 48. “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Chapter 3:17. A man once sought his intervention in a case of dishonest dealing, but he replied, “Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” Luke 12:14.
Civil government was instituted for a sinful world, to be conducted by the people of a sinful world. It was a temporary arrangement because of the rejection of the government of God. It was ordained in the providence of a merciful God for the protection of men in the exercise of their natural rights, for the regulation of common affairs during the temporary probation of the race. It is not “the Bible rule” that the people of the Lord should hold the offices in civil government. We read in Dan. 4:17 that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” God brought the Pharaoh of Moses’ time to the throne (Ex. 9:16); he gave the idolater Nebuchadnezzar dominion over the whole earth (Dan. 2:37, 38); all the idolatrous rulers of Babylon, of Medo-Persia, of Grecia and Rome, reigned under the same ordinance of God establishing civil government among men and setting over it whom he would. Said Christ to Pilate, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.” John 19:11. Even in the typical theocracy of Israel, many of the kings were “the basest of men.” Jeroboam, who “made Israel to sin,” was given by direct decree of the Lord the rule over ten tribes of Israel. And of all the kings that reigned over the ten-tribe kingdom not one was loyal to God. All through the existence of that kingdom, from Jeroboam to Zedekiah, idol worship was officially supported. With few exceptions, the kings of Judah were no better. Of Manasseh the record says, he “made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen.” 2 Chron. 33:9. Yet Manasseh was permitted to reign longer than any other of the kings of the theocratic government, almost twice as long as his good father Hezekiah.
Christ has expressly said, “My kingdom is not of this world;” and of his followers he says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” He has also laid down this rule of action: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” Matt. 7:12. But no man can follow this rule and be an efficient policeman. The great mistake of popular reformers is in their theory that in some way the work of God can be done through human law, and the human interpretation and execution of God’s law; that the kingdom of God is to be human government7made perfect by human effort. But the Bible teaching is that when Christ sets up his kingdom, all the kingdoms of the world will be “broken to pieces together,” and become “like the chaff of the summer threshing floors,” carried away of the wind, and no place will be found for them. Dan. 2:35. The kingdom of Christ “shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Verse 44.
In all the preaching and other acts of the apostles, there is no record or intimation that they ever sought to have any one arrested, or to have any civil law enforced against evil doers. They suffered many indignities, and saw much municipal and national corruption, but their commission was to preach the Gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.” 2 Tim. 4:2. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.” 2 Cor. 10:4. The police officer must use carnal weapons in certain emergencies. But in “the whole armor of God” there is not a single implement of a carnal nature. See Eph. 6:10–20. In short, the Christian is to follow the Master’s example, who “went about doing good,” but never sought to execute the law, or in any way to manipulate the civil affairs of men.
THOUGHTS FROM THE GREEK VERSION.
By F. D. Starr
BY F. D. STARR.
From that ancient version of the Scriptures, called the Septuagint, the Greek translation, used so largely by New Testament writers, and which was the first translation of the Scriptures ever made, we will present a few thoughts that may be helpful to the Bible student.
Eve, Zoe, Living, Life.—Concerning the mother of the race it is said that “Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.” The margin has for Eve, “Living.” The Septuagint has Zoe, meaning life. This is the same word that we find in Luke 16:25, “Son, remember that thou in thy life receivedst thy good things.” (“Life” is really the correct word in this instance, as “time” does not occur in the original.) It is from this word Zoe that zoology, the science of animal life, is derived. The fact that mother Eve was called “Life,” makes the Scripture statement in Job 14:1, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble,” more significant.
We can not help contrasting this person, who was given the name “Life,” with another Being who took the same appellation, and who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and of whom it was said, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” “Christ is our life.” In him we have life. It will be noticed that the name “life” was given to Eve after the fall. The life that comes to us through her can be but a brief existence, the same as she herself at that time possessed, but the life that comes through Him who is our life must be unending, as His life is also without termination.
The Cataracts of Heaven.—In speaking of the flood, in Gen. 7:11, it is stated that “the windows of heaven were opened.” The statement in the Greek is that “the cataracts [katarraktai] of heaven were opened.” Many have had opportunity to witness a cataract, or waterfall, and certainly must have been awestruck with the sight; but what a minute affair would even a Niagara be by the side of these cataracts of heaven that poured out from the sky their immeasurable volumes of water, and thus flooded the earth! It sometimes seems difficult to understand how the highest mountains could have been overflowed with water, but when we think of waters pouring down from the heights above with the volume of these immense cataracts, we can easily perceive that the results stated would very naturally follow, and the highest mountains on earth be covered.
The Separation of Abram and Lot.—Gen. 13:5, 6 states that the flocks and possessions of Abram and Lot were so numerous that “the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together; for their substance was so great.” A Greek term is used in this verse, the application of which throws light upon an expression found in John 21:25, which verse reads as follows: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” A great many inquiries are raised concerning this statement, and the imagination stretches itself out indefinitely to try to understand how this can be. Some can only think of books piled up as they are in a book depository, in one solid mass all over the globe as high as the sky, and that, even stored in this manner, still there would not be room enough on earth to contain these books. We will just notice that in the expression in Gen. 13:6, translated “was not able to bear them,” the same Greek term is translated bear that is rendered contain in John 21:25. We can easily understand the situation in reference to the herds of Abram and Lot—that there was not ground enough in the surrounding country to properly sustain these numerous animals, but no one would get the idea of cattle, and sheep, and horses literally packed together like a pile of stones or wood. There might be a few of these to the acre and still the land not be able to bear them. Just so the capacity of the world for making a proper use of inspired books is so limited that it could not contain or rightly apply all the voluminous history that might have been written concerning Christ’s work, and the Lord saw fit to have merely that amount handed down to us that was necessary and profitable for our use.
Abram’s Reward.—In Gen. 15:1 is the statement that the Lord said to Abram, “Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.” The Greek rendering of this is, “Fear not, Abram, I shield thee, thy reward shall be very great.” It will be noticed that in this chapter particular and definite promise is given to Abram of an heir, and of the inheritance for his seed. Of this inheritance Paul states in Rom. 4:13 that the promise was “that he should be the heir of the world.”
Purity of Heart.—In Gen. 20:5, 6 we have an account of the transaction in which the Lord rebuked King Abimelech for his course toward Sarah, the wife of Abraham. Abimelech stated that in the integrity of his heart he had done this. The Lord replies to him that he knew that he did it in the integrity of his heart, and he says, “I also withheld thee from sinning against me.” The Greek expression for “in the integrity of my heart” is “with a pure heart,” or “a clean heart.” It is the same expression as that used where the psalmist prays in Ps. 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” We may from this be encouraged to understand that there are those upon whom God looks as having clean hearts, for he said to Abimelech that he knew that he had done what he did with a pure heart; and this condition is introduced, as it would appear, in the case of a so-called heathen, and under circumstances in which most of us would doubtless have been quite free to condemn a man as having a very impure heart. The heart is seen and known by God alone, and the circumstances as well as the motives are often misunderstood by us. There is only One who knows the hearts of all men. Acts 1:24.
A SIGN OF THE TIMES.
By J. O. Beard
BY J. O. BEARD.
The last fifteen years have been years of active, persistent work on the part of temperance agitators. The work has been of two kinds: First, to secure laws against the liquor traffic, and, secondly, to educate the people as to the nature and effects of alcohol. In the line of legal work, Maine already had a prohibitory law, and Kansas, Iowa, and the two Dakotas put such a law into operation during this period. Washington, also, while a territory tried prohibition for a short time. Also in many other states laws have been enacted that were intended to restrict the traffic in liquid ruin, and especially to keep the youth from forming the awful habit. This work has chiefly been done through the old political parties. But in states where they have refused or hesitated, a prohibition party has been organized, and a national prohibition party has regularly placed its candidates before the people.
In the field of education, careful scientific minds have demonstrated that alcoholic liquor used as a beverage prevents the proper assimilation of food, vitiates the blood in the arteries before it has nourished the system, and deadens the nerve power, and that through these injuries almost every function of the body is deranged and threatened with total paralysis. And, further, economists have shown that upon the taxpayer, in the support of prisons, hospitals, asylums, besides the vast sums given in private charities, while at the same time it decreases the ability to bear those burdens. All these facts have been constantly kept before the people by the printed page and by public speakers.
In many states specially prepared books have been placed in the hands of public-school children, that they might know the physiological effects of alcohol upon the human system. What have been the effects of all this agitation? Have the prohibitory and other laws accomplished what was expected of them? Have the young men of our land been saved from drunkenness by the influences thrown around them and the education given them? If not, why not?
Theories and plans for working are necessary. But before they are persistently followed, it is well to pause long enough to see whether they will produce the desired results,8No doubt some, probably many, have been rescued from the gutter, and many youth have been kept from acquiring the fearful drink habit by the efforts of these ardent workers. That the evil tide has not been stayed, or even checked, but that it has swept on, an ever-increasing flood, is very emphatically shown by the following figures, which are furnished by the Statistical Abstract, as copied by Funk & Wagnalls Co., publishers of the Voice, New York City.
The figures marked gallons include all alcoholic liquors that paid internal revenue, whether distilled or fermented; and the population is the United States official estimate.
Year
Gallons
Population
1878
392,165,242
47,598,000
1893
1,207,731,908
66,826,000
The figures given in tables with these show that the enormous increase has been at a quite uniform rate year by year. But while the population increased less than forty per cent from 1878 to 1893, the consumption of alcoholic liquors from 1878 to 1893 was more than two hundred per cent. In other words, while the population in 1893 is not quite one-half more than what it was in 1878, the number of gallons of liquor used in 1893 is more than three times as great as in 1878.
Truly these figures are enough to appall the most hopeful. And there can be but one way of accounting for this increase, and that is that the hearts of very many have become so hardened by continued gratification of their lustful appetites that they have lost all self-restraint, and indulge in whatever they wish, even though they know while doing so that it will surely work their ruin. Must not such results always follow when men attempt to reform themselves? The leopard can no more change his spots, nor the Ethiopian his skin, than when the question was first asked by the prophet. Jer. 13:23. But especially is it true that such efforts will fail in these last days, when men receive not the love of the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thess. 2:10.
Man has not the power to direct his own steps (Jer. 10:23); therefore, when the sustaining and restraining influence of the Holy Spirit is withdrawn from man, as it is when he rejects the truth and work of God, he is left to be led captive by Satan at his will. Then must we not consider the lack of power to restrain self, the utter inability to refrain from that which is known to be not only dangerous but ruinous, as a marked sign of the rapidly approaching time when the Spirit of God will be entirely withdrawn from the world?
CHRIST IN THE CHAIN-GANG IN AMERICA!
By Geo. E. Hollister
BY GEO. E. HOLLISTER.
Can any Christian deny it? Does not Christ identify himself with his followers?—Then just as surely as “the form of the Fourth” (Dan. 3:25) was seen in the fiery furnace, with the three Hebrews who would not bow down to the image set up by Nebuchadnezzar, in the plain of Dura, so surely is there “like the Son of God” with the eight Christian men now in the chain-gang in Tennessee.
They refuse to bow to what is to them “the image of the beast” (Rev. 14:9–12), set up by the civil government of America. For “American law recognizes only that day [Sunday] as the Sabbath day,” so states a resolution of the Denver Fire and Police Board.
This is but the echo of thousands of other notices. Though it may be that the head of the civil government of Tennessee may not have the discernment of the one who sat at the head of the civil government of Babylon, it is none the less true that the Son of God is there, for did he not tell his disciples, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Matt. 28:20. And he has said to every ruler, as well as to every one else, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matt. 25:40.
A word to the wise is sufficient, and that word is recorded in Acts 5:35, 38, 39: “Ye men . . . take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.” “And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this council or this work be of men, it will come to naught. But if it be of God, ye can not overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.”
SIGHT AND INSIGHT.
By Sarah B. Cooper
BY SARAH B. COOPER.
It is the truth that forever makes free—not our opinions about truth, but the truth itself. His all-piercing insight into truth made Jesus the great Teacher of teachers. He was the truth; and every one who is of the truth will hear his voice. What is our insight into truth?—All real knowledge is the result of insight. All real education is a process of insight. All the old prophets, inspired of God, persist in saying that they “saw” the word of God, that they “heard” the word of the Lord as it was spoken unto them. Just, for all the world, as if they had eyes behind their eyes, and ears behind their ears. And when they used these spiritual organs, in response to the call of God, it transformed them; it lifted them up into the spiritual realm; it turned herdsmen into prophets; it enabled weak and faltering men to endure as seeing Him who is invisible.
It is a great mistake to suppose that all our knowledge comes through the five senses. Animals have all these. The measure of intelligence depends upon what there is at the other end of the senses. The senses themselves are only reporters. The question is, What is there within to receive the report? As said the grand old prophet, “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” As Jesus said, “Having eyes, why do ye not see? having ears, why do ye not hear?” There is light enough on the outside, but inside all is darkness. “The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
The church needs more spiritual insight. Christians are weak and inefficient because they lack spiritual discernment. How are we to get it?—“If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” We grow in this power as we grow in wisdom and in grace. The pure in heart see God. Whoever lives close to God in feeling, thought, obedience, and love will not miss that wonderful revelation which unfolds the mysteries of the unseen universe. We can only grow by close and constant communion with God. There is so little of inspiration, because we live so far from God. We need to believe more utterly the promise that the Holy Spirit’s guidance will be given to those who eagerly desire it. The Holy Spirit has not abdicated his office. He is still ready to give illumination to those who seek it. We may hear the sure Voice saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it.” And the more obedient we are to that voice, the more mandatory will it become to us. We are living in the dispensation of God, the Holy Ghost. “Ask, and it shall be given you.” If we are faint, and feeble, and powerless, it is because we do not take hold on the infinite fullness. We wait at the broken cisterns of our own righteousness, instead of drinking at the eternal Fountain. God dwelling in man, and man dwelling in God, is the very substance of religion. And to live in God is to have spiritual insight, is to walk by faith and not by sight.—Selected.
THE MODEL STATE.
The Catholic Universe, expressing the hope that a dispute between Ecuador and Peru will speedily be settled by arbitration of the pope, says:—
Ecuador is a model republic, being the only government in the world which grants a subvention to Peter's-pence, and which openly protested against the usurpation of Rome in 1870. Religious orders and all Catholic works prosper there.
Again and again Ecuador has been cited by Catholics as a model state, and so we may know very well what, according to the papal idea, constitutes a well-ordered commonwealth. The priests are the lawmakers, and the country is administered solely in the interests of the church and religious orders. So loose is the administration that no record is kept of revenues or disbursements, and when receipts fall short, an officer with a file of soldiers calls on the merchants of the cities for forced loans. Bible colporters have never been able to get into the country, and no books can be imported save by permission of the Jesuit priests who control the customhouses. No Protestant is allowed to live in Quito, even for purely business purposes. This is therefore a model state in the eyes of Rome, and all Catholic works prosper amid the ignorance and darkness. Some day the light will break even in Ecuador; for the everlasting Gospel must be proclaimed to every nation and people.—Present Truth.
READY-MADE HAPPINESS.
By Dinah Mulock Craik
WE spend so much time getting ready to be happy. The picnic to-morrow, the journey next week, the preparation now, the fulfillment of our desire to-morrow, and the frequent disappointment of our expectations, day after day—this is the true history of many days, is it not? Suppose you try for just one day to be happy in the little things that come without anticipation or preparation. Suppose you take note of your mother's smile, and father's “Good-morning,” and baby's eager chuckle as you appear. Suppose you abandon yourself to a frolic without anxious care for the good time to-morrow. Suppose you give yourself up to the sunshine, and the out-of-doors, and the new book, and the helping father and mother for their sake purely. Suppose you talk to your friends about the pleasant things already yours, and let those of the future wait. Oh, you don't think that “take no thought for the morrow” means you? But it does. Heaven leaves a touch of the angel in all little children to reward those about them for their heavy cares.—Dinah Mulock Craik.