Earlier text: GOD THE PRESERVERA CHILD stands by a pool. The little one chooses a tiny pebble from the sand, and throws it into the water. Gleefully he claps his hands as he sees the little ripple which starts where the pebble fell upon the surface. “See what I did!” he exclaims. Ah, but what did he do? “I made the waves go,” the child explains. Look! the ripple widens out, out, and still farther out, until it reaches the other side of the pool. All the drops in that mass of water are pushed a little closer together because of that one pebble thrown into it by the child. It is said that every word we speak has its influence, either for good or ill, upon some human heart. Altho we sometimes doubt it, this is a true statement. Not that our words influence all the world at once; the pebble did not touch each drop of water in the pool; no, it came in contact with but a few. They in turn pushed against those nearest them; these crowded others, and so on and on. And so we, whose heart fountains have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, whose lips have been touched with the coal from off God’s altar, can not estimate the value of good, kind, loving words. Perhaps in a life’s experiences we mingle with a thousand people. To some, a cheerful word is spoken, with others a word of prayer is offered; again, a thought is dropped which turns a sinner’s feet from paths of sin to ways of righteousness. It may be that the greater number of the thousand souls have been helped—helped by one godly life! And what will they do in their turn? Perhaps give the light which shines into their own hearts to others. True, the impression made upon them may not be lasting; the sinner may return to his sinning; the one may forget the prayer, and the other go back to find his sorrow. But was it of no avail to speak the words from the Christ-filled heart? It is not for us to judge. The fact that a sorrowing, almost despondent soul was turned to cheerfulness, and then, forgetting the cheer, returned to his former unhappy life, is no proof that he did not appreciate the joy which the brother brought into his life. There may come a time when he will remember how sweet joyfulness was, and he may seek after it again until he finds it—the peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. But O how sad, when the words that we speak into the world are from a heart where selfishness reigns. The unkind, cutting cruel words, the sarcastic words, the whisperings of evil,—how they mar, and sometimes wreck, those who hear them, and none the less those who speak them. “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! ‘And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.’” Then how important that the Christian study carefully his influence on those about him, remembering the extent to which his words affect the world. Had you and I never lived, the world would not be just what it is to-day; for we are continually contributing something to its daily history—and that contribution tells for good or for evil. So should we pray with David: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Then, when the purifying work is done, will our words be as they should be; for “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” LAURA L. FISK. TEACHING REBELLION.
By G. B. Thompson
Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for My people, saith the Lord; because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord. Jer. 29:32. “Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord.” Ch. 28:16. It is a grievous sin which calls from the heart of Jehovah such denunciations of wrath. And the sin which calls this forth is teaching rebellion. And surely this is a wicked thing. It is so regarded in nations, and in the government of God it is as much worse as the government of God is purer and better than the nations of earth. To teach rebellion is anarchy, and this wicked thing should be shunned and hated wherever found. “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.” 1 Sam. 15:23. The Saviour stated the same important truth in Matt. 5:19. He says, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” The commandments here spoken of are the moral law, the Decalogue, of which He says that not one jot or tittle shall pass away while the heavens and the earth remain. That law is eternal, as fixed and as unchangeable as the throne of the universe. It not only contains the whole duty of men on this sin-cursed planet, but is the rule of moral rectitude for all the beings on the numberless worlds in space which have never fallen. The kingdom of God takes in all His beings wherever found, and this kingdom has but one law. Ps. 103:19-21. So any revolt against the law of God is rebellion against the divine government. Yet notwithstanding these plain statements from the Author of truth, men do not regard the divine precepts as they should. Regardless of the dire consequences which will surely follow in the wake of disobedience, men openly disregard the law of the Lord, and dare to trample upon the commandments of Jehovah. Everywhere we see the precepts of the Lord, which were handed down amid the thunders of Sinai, broken and scoffed at. And worse still, there are some, even so-called ministers of righteousness (I write it with shame) who from the pulpit advocate the doctrine of antinomianism, and open the flood-gates of lawlessness through teaching that the law is abolished and no longer binding on mankind. Some do not go so far as this, but teach that one command, which says that the seventh-day is the Sabbath of the Lord, has been abrogated, and a day of pagan origin has taken its place. But the Lord, who uttered the predictions quoted at the beginning of this article against teaching rebellion, has not changed, and tho vengeance against an evil work be delayed, it will none the less surely come now as well as then. All the precepts of the Lord stand fast forever (Ps. 111:7, 8), and to the obedient the Lord promises that they shall eat the good of the land, and feed on the heritage of Jacob our father. Isa. 1:19; 58:12-14. G. B. Thompson. Who are the sons of God? Is it true that all—irrespective of character or vital relationship—are sons of God? So Satan would have men believe. So would he lull them to sleep with the further argument that “God will not ‘destroy or suffer to be lost His son. You are His ‘son because He is the Father of all; therefore it is ‘well with you whoever and whatever you are.” It is true that in the sense of original creation, in constant provision, God may be called the Father of all. If man had never sinned, God would have been the eternal Father of all. But sin has been permitted to pervert for a time God’s design, and the otherwise sons of God became sons of the wicked one, “children of disobedience.” Let this truth be forever fixed in the heart and mind: It is character which God desires. It is character which He requires. It is character which He designed before man was created. It is character like His own, wrought out voluntarily in faithful obedience to His will. It is of these characters that God is the eternal Father. These are blessed verities. True, they do not make every one a child of God in fact; but they do reveal that every one is a possible child of God; more, a possible eternal son of God. For the man in his sin forfeited his sonship, God in His goodness did not disavow or repudiate His Fatherhood. In His love He gave His only-begotten Son that men might know the depth of that Father’s love, in order that they might be won back to sonship again. For, dear souls, sonship is a life relation with God, dependent on us. We may be the sons of earthly fathers who are dead. They once gave us life, in a sense; we possess the same life as they, and more. But God ever liveth. He gave not only the life which man has perverted through sin, but He continues that life, that man may “lay hold on ‘eternal life,” and so come into direct vital relation to Him. This relation comes simply by faith, by giving up voluntarily, freely, our will to Him, that He may mold our character like His own. And so we read: “As many as received Him [Christ Jesus, the manifestation of God’s love and character], to them gave ‘He power [right, privilege, authority] to become ‘the sons of God, even to them that believe on His ‘name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12, 13. “Name,” in God’s nomenclature, indicates character. Believing on His name is accepting His character, is receiving Him. It is taking His character as the only sure foundation in all the universe; it is choosing His will above any will of man howsoever desirable it may seem. It is preferring life-union with God above all human desires of the flesh, above all earthly descent or titled or honored pedigree. It is receiving Christ Jesus for all He longs to be for us, Teacher, Sacrifice, Example, Redeemer, Saviour, Lifegiver, Eternal Friend—all the fulness of God. That is sonship with God. Again: “God is light, and in Him is no darkness ‘at all.” With Him dwelleth the morning and the day. Men by sin have become sons of darkness, children of the night. God in His goodness makes it possible for every soul to become a son of light. Therefore said Jesus to those in darkness to whom light had come, “While ye have the light, believe in ‘the light, that ye may become the sons of light.” Turn the eye singly to the radiance of God’s brightness, open door and window of the heart, and let the light shine in. All that light asks is place to shine; let it shine into your heart and dissipate the darkness. All that life asks is an opening by which to flow into the dry, dead, barren ground of sin-hardened hearts, and heal and restore them. All that love asks is a channel by which it may enter a loveless existence, and be shed abroad by the life of the Holy Spirit. O soul, child of darkness, of doubt, of sin, of death, receive the Lifegiver, the Light of the World, the Beloved One. Let faith yield all and receive all, and so become in character, in deed, in life, in faithful, loving service, a son of God through Jesus Christ. IS OBEDIENCE NECESSARY?
By Editor
A FRIEND renews his subscription, and writes us that he does not wish to lose a number of the paper; that he greatly enjoys reading it, and then says:— I have always agreed with you on the Sabbath question. But we are under subjection to those who have the rule over us. God certainly will not condemn us for obedience to His Word. We do not ignore the law, but feel that whatever day we keep in remembrance of God’s rest from the creation is the Sabbath. Yet I will admit that I would prefer to keep the seventh day. These are “a shadow of ‘things to come, but the body is of Christ.’” Col. 2:16, 17. Yours in Christ Jesus. We notice this candid letter because it represents other minds in similar perplexities. 1. We are glad that our correspondent agrees with us; rather, we are glad that he agrees with God; for the making, the appointment, the sanctification, the law of the Sabbath, is not of us; it is of God through Jesus Christ. He it was who created; He it was who rested on the seventh day; He it was who declared, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; . . . ‘the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.’” And when God in Jesus Christ revealed Himself to the world in the flesh, He kept the same Sabbath day. It is therefore God’s Sabbath and law, and we are glad our friend agrees with it. That is good so far. 2. How are “we under subjection to them that ‘rule over us’?” Let not our friend be deceived here. God has ordained civil government, because without government, anarchy would exist; and the worst of government is better than anarchy. The Lord also tells us to “submit yourselves to every ‘ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake’” (1 Peter 2:13); “to be subject to principalities and powers, ‘to obey magistrates’” (Titus 3:1); “wherefore ye ‘must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also ‘for conscience’ sake’” (Rom. 13:5). All this is true, and every Christian will obey all truly civil laws, not merely because they provide penalties for transgression, but because it is God’s will that he thus do. But God has ordained civil government only for things civil. This is a fundamental truth. The Jews, who wished no other nation to rule over them, came to Jesus with the question, “Is it lawful to give ‘tribute to Cesar, or not?’” They thought Him to be effectually trapped. Should He say “No,” they would accuse Him of sedition. Should He say “Yes,” they would prejudice the Jews against Him. He said, “Show Me the tribute money;” “bring Me ‘a penny, that I may see it.’” They brought it. He asked them, “Whose is this image and superscription?” And they said unto Him, “Cesar’s.” Then Jesus said, “Render to Cesar the things that are ‘Cesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’” Mark 12:15–17, and parallels. This is a universal and eternal principle, by which we may separate between duties to God and man; God’s claims and Cesar’s realm. It is duty to be civil to others, to respect the life, property, chastity, and reputation of others, to pay taxes to government. It belongs to the government to suppress outward incivility for the protection of its subjects, and to collect taxes or tribute for its support. It may unjustly oppress, yet the Christian will obey, providing he can conscientiously do this without contravening his duty to God. To Cesar—earthly government—belongs only the outward, overt act of things between man and his fellows. Man’s duty to God is another thing, lying wholly between the individual soul and its Maker. The first duty of every soul is to love the Lord his God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. Mark 12:29, 30. God has given us many illustrations of this. For instance, the Lord said to one heathen king:— “I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come; and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.” Jer. 27:5–8. And yet, when Nebuchadnezzar assumed authority which belonged to God, and commanded men to worship the image he had made, God’s children refused, and the Lord honored them in their refusal. They said, “We will not serve thy gods, nor worship ‘the golden image which thou hast set up.’” See Daniel 3. When the kingdom was taken from Babylon, and the throne came to the Medes and Persians, the same battle was again fought. Daniel dared to disobey, and again the Lord honored His own. (See article in first part of this paper.) The same test came to the early church. Men assumed to direct in man’s duty to God, and here are apostolic answers to their demands:— “But Peter and John answered, . . . Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.” Acts 4:19. “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29. Every slain martyr of God has gone down because he obeyed God rather than men. It is not “obedience to His Word” to disobey Him that we may obey man. It is disobedience to Him not to render to Him our first, best, and whole-hearted service, even tho all of earth oppose. 3. If we accept nine parts of God’s law, and reject one part, what is our attitude toward Him? Are we not saying that we accept the nine parts because they meet our mind, even as we reject the one part because it does not meet our mind? What, then, are we serving but self, but man, and that in the nine parts as truly as in the one? But if it be said, “We recognize the principle of the one part,—the Fourth Commandment,—but we keep a different day;” then are we not again judging the law and condemning the Lawgiver? Are we not saying to all, in effect, that God made a mistake in selecting the seventh day instead of the first, but that we are wiser than He? Did not He know which day was best? Did not He see all this from the beginning? Did He not say that antichrist would think to change His law, the law that Christ gave and kept, dying that we might be forgiven its transgressions, and be enabled to keep it as a “law of liberty”? Did He not know that His loyal ones would be tested as between His service and the service which is not of Him? Will He not give grace sufficient, and more joy in the obedience of persecution than in the disobedience of a purchased peace? Our correspondent prefers the day God gave; why not keep it with Christ Jesus? 4. Only those things are shadows which came in in consequence of sin, which, in their very nature, must pass away. Such were the yearly feasts and sabbaths of the Jews. See Leviticus 23, especially verse 38. The Sabbath came in before sin, and will be kept by God’s people throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. Rev. 22:14; Isa. 66:22, 23. It commemorates not only God’s creative power; it is an ever-present pledge of His creative power in regeneration through Christ Jesus. The Law of God and the Laws of Man
THERE is a wide difference between the law of God and the laws of man. There is, however, one principle common to both, namely, every man is supposed to know the law; at least ignorance of the law is not accepted as an excuse for its violation. But this principle in a great measure requires an impossibility on the part of many as regards human law; for the reason that but comparatively few can know all of the laws of man. One who knows whereof he speaks, says, “To read all the laws of Congress and ‘of any one State, and the decisions thereon, would ‘require perhaps twenty years at ten hours a day.” Yet the law of God, which contains “the whole ‘duty of man,” is comprehended in ten brief commandments. And even these were concentrated into two short statements by Moses and our Lord. Thus we see that the requirements of God are never unreasonable nor impossible—if there be the will to obey them. “TO SAVE MUCH PEOPLE ALIVE.”
By G.
WHATEVER may be the varied designs of man according to circumstances, the one purpose of God in the earth is to save. Whatever comes in the way of this purpose will, sooner or later, have to give way. One illustration of this fundamental truth is found in the selling of Joseph into Egypt by his brothers. They hoped to get him and his dreams forever out of their way, but God overruled their action so that it was made a means in His great work of salvation. When Joseph made himself known to his brothers in Egypt, he said to them, “Be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life. . . . God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” Again, when Jacob died, Joseph’s brothers were fearful that he would now have his revenge, and they earnestly and humbly appealed to him for mercy. They could not yet see that he was not at heart such a one as themselves; they were still judging him by themselves. Notwithstanding his great kindness to them, they evidently thought that his vengeance, like that of Esau, was only restrained through respect for the feelings of his father. But Joseph again allayed their fears by speaking kindly to them. He said, “As for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” When our first parents yielded to the tempter, they brought sin and its consequences upon themselves and all their posterity. Then the great plan of salvation was introduced in order to save all who would accept it. Ever since that time all heaven has been engaged in the work of salvation, not of destruction. “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10. “The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” Ch. 9:56. The principle of the plan of salvation was illustrated in the antediluvian age. Immediately after the fall, the Gospel was preached to Adam and Eve, to save them from the penalty of their sin. They had been told that in the day that they should eat of the forbidden fruit, they would surely die; so their salvation must be immediate, if at all. Death was then the penalty of sin, and so it is to-day,—“the wages of sin is death.” And as to-day “the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord,” so it was when the Gospel was proclaimed to Adam. Adam’s acceptance of the Gospel procured for himself and his posterity a probationary season, and tho Satanic influences have been at work to destroy, God has used this period to “save much people alive.” God destroys only sin and its consequences. He will purify the earth of the curse that came because of sin. All who cling to sin and its effects will be destroyed because they refuse to let go of that which must inevitably perish. God does not willingly destroy them. He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” But God’s purpose being a renewed earth and a clean universe, this probationary time, with Satan and his adherents running riot in the earth, must necessarily have an end. The time will come when men will no longer listen to overtures of peace, and then there will be no further occasion for offers of salvation, no further need of tolerating sin and its effects. The tares have been allowed to grow, lest in pulling them up some wheat might be destroyed. But when the harvest shall have become fully ripe, the tares must be gathered for burning, and the wheat gathered into the garner. The Spirit of God will no longer strive with man, when it is known to Him that further striving would be useless. The Gospel was preached through the patriarchs in the antediluvian age until it would no longer be heard. God knew the hearts of men; He “saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Then what would a continuation of such conditions mean, as viewed by all the universe? Would it not appear that God was unable to put down the rebellion in the earth? and that He was unable to conquer sin and annihilate its effects? It would certainly appear that sin was being tolerated without a purpose. In the eyes of heaven and earth the authority and power of God was at stake. Yet even under such untoward circumstances, “the long-suffering of God waited” another period of one hundred and twenty years. And during this time, “while the ark was a preparing,” the Spirit of Christ through Noah preached the Gospel to those “spirits in prison,” in the bondage of sin. This was a special appeal to them in view of the coming judgment, and a witness against them in the eyes of angels and of the inhabitants of other worlds that had not fallen under sin. A like message—the last appeal of mercy to a dying world, the Gospel of the soon-coming Christ, our Ark of safety—is going to the world to-day. The world to-day is “as it was in ‘the days of Noah;’” it is “filled with violence,” and God is still anxious to “save much people alive” from the impending “famine for the Word of God,” and the sure destruction of sin and its appurtenances that will swiftly follow. In the days of Noah men deliberately destroyed themselves through unbelief of the Word of God. His long-suffering love would have saved them “to the uttermost” if they had but heeded the call to come unto Him who was able to save them. But they rejected the offer of salvation. There was the coming flood, and there was the ark. They scoffed at the ark, and chose to take chances on the flood. There was righteousness on the one hand, and sin on the other; they chose the sin, and necessarily reaped its consequences. When one purposely takes poison and refuses an antidote, we say that he commits suicide. So, knowing that “the wages of sin is death,” the one who deliberately inoculates himself with sin and refuses to apply the cleansing blood of Christ, verily destroys himself. When the earth is purified by fire, and the works that are therein are burned up, he will have placed himself in the devouring flames. His destruction will be naught but suicide. When sin is finally eradicated from the earth, its victims will go down as the logical result of their refusal to be saved. God does not willfully destroy sinners; He simply can not save them against their will. Said Christ to the Jews of His time, “Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” Also these words: “This people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” And the same spirit prevails to-day toward “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” But when “they that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . shall be punished with everlasting destruction,” it will be the result of their own choice, and not the will of God. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” G. DEPARTURE FROM THE CONSTITUTION.
EVERY good thing can be abused. From the perversion of the good comes the evil. One of the blessings brought to this country through the influence of Christianity, vouchsafed by the fundamental law of the nation to every citizen, is that of free speech. The fathers of the republic were very anxious and careful that it should be preserved. The first amendment to the Constitution, reported we believe by ten of the original thirteen States, and adopted by all, reads as follows:— Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or of abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievance. These same guarantees are secured in the constitutions or bills of rights of most of the States. A few years ago these rights were thought to be eternally secure. But since 1892 dawned, Congress has committed itself to the principles of religious legislation. The same principles have been approved by the executive and judiciary branches of the government. A Supreme Court decision of February 1, 1892, makes Congress the censor of the press, and thus takes from the alleged offender in this respect the right of trial by jury. Now, and especially since the greatly-to-be-lamented death of President McKinley, the doctrine of freedom of speech is vigorously attacked. Old Virginia has repudiated it. Few men dare defend it for fear of being called “anarchists.” For instance, as democratic a paper as the New York World (September 30) quotes approvingly a strong utterance against it by Bishop Henry C. Potter of New York. License is one thing; liberty is another. The fathers of the republic did not contemplate the Constitution’s sanctioning treasonable and incendiary utterances against the government, or property, or the advocacy of violence against persons. All this is license, not liberty. What is vouchsafed in the Constitution is the God-given right freely to discuss principles of government and of religion, with none to molest or make afraid. The danger now is of suppressing all discussion of principles held by a dominant political party or the majority of the people religiously. If against the principles and policy of the former, one is by many coming to be regarded as an anarchist. If one is against what the majority hold to be Christianity, he is regarded as unchristian, infidel, or a disturber of the peace, who should be suppressed by law. And yet the opposer of the principles of the government may be the truest patriot, and the opposer of the religious dogmas of the majority may be the most loyal Christian. War with principles, not men. Let men be converted to principles, and vice versa, by the fullest, freest discussion. This is one thing; treasonable, seditious, incendiary, homicidal speech is another. But those who attempt to suppress the truest, fullest freedom of speech as taught by Christianity and guaranteed by the Constitution, will find that repression and suppression will spread and foster anarchy instead of uprooting it. The most autocratic government on earth to-day, where the press censor is ever in evidence, is the very breeding-ground of Nihilism and Anarchy. This tendency to imperial rule in the subversion of fundamental, God-given right is one of the growths of the last days, and forebodes the doom of earthly government. A LONG WAY FROM GENUINE PROTESTANTISM
ORIGINAL Protestantism was founded on the Bible. It had no doubt of the verity, the inspiration of the Book. From the Word of life it drew its power. By the life of Christ it measured character. But there are not a few ministers in Protestant orthodox churches who frankly express themselves otherwise at the present. For instance, Zion’s Herald, a Methodist Episcopal paper of Boston, in view of the Methodist Ecumenical Conference in London, asks of Methodist ministers, “What changes, if any, ‘have occurred in your theological views, purposes, ‘or methods in the last ten years?” One clergyman, Charles H. Stackpole of Melrose, to quote the Springfield Republican, “is convicted of ‘the newer ‘and more rational theory of the inspiration of the ‘Scriptures;’ he no longer holds to ‘Paul’s dogmatic theology, founded largely on an untenable ‘view of Genesis;’ he is open to evolution; no longer ‘holds any theory of the atonement, save that Christ ‘is the supreme expression of God’s love; and ‘all ‘the awful knowledge of the past . . . misrepresents the character of God and is destined to ‘perish from the mind of man.’” A clergyman, George S. Butters, of Somerville, says:— The theory of the inspiration of the Scriptures which I once steadfastly held, I have been obliged to discard, holding strongly to the fact of inspiration with a satisfactory theory. Ten years ago I was strictly Wesleyan on the question of entire sanctification. To-day I do not regard that theory either Scriptural or practical. These are representative of the belief of many Protestant ministers to-day. They surely voice the fulfilment of the apostle’s words to Timothy: “For the time will come when men will not endure ‘sound doctrine.’ That time is here. Ears itch for novel things, and are turned from the truth to fables. But this drift also emphasizes the necessity of the apostle’s charge: “Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, with all long-suffering and doctrine.” Brethren, true ministers of Jesus Christ, now above all times, Preach the Word; be true to God. The Cause Makes the Martyr
It is the cause and not the death that makes the martyr.—Napoleon. THE BALLOT-BOX OR THE GREAT COMMISSION.
By S.
At the great Episcopal Convention now being held in San Francisco, California, the following resolution was handed to the Committee on the State of the Church, considered by them, recommended to the convention for adoption, and passed to the calendar:— Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That it is the sense of this convention, that good citizenship is a fundamental principle of religion; that the church, mindful of the growing tendency toward unchecked corruption in the conduct of our municipal affairs throughout the United States, the indifference to and covert countenance of immorality, gambling, and vice, place ourselves on record as expecting our sons to take an active part at the ballot-box and elsewhere, as occasion permits, toward the suppression of these pernicious enemies of purity and good government. We also recognize the sad, deplorable conditions to which reference is made in the above resolution. More than that, we recognize that God has faithfully declared such conditions would be; and not only that, but that these conditions would grow worse and worse until the end of time; that when the prophecy concerning these conditions should be fulfilled, the end of time would not be far distant. All this has been pointed out again and again in these columns, until the repetition may have seemed to some like an old story. Now, while these conditions exist, and while God has declared they would exist and grow worse until the end, He has nowhere contradicted Himself by commissioning His followers to take up the work of the reformation of politics. God has never yet set His followers to do a work which He Himself had declared would not be done. God’s declaration being true that the conditions of these times would grow worse and worse, the converse is true, that they would not be bettered, and therefore could not be bettered. That being true, God would be denying Himself, were He to commission His representatives to take up the work of reforming politics. His followers will do all in their power to relieve sorrow and distress, as He did whose name they bear; but, as He could not be forced or induced to interfere in political matters, neither will they. The frequently-recurring demand for the intrusion of the ballot-box into church matters springs from the same sentiment that has counseled and demanded and brought about a union of Church and State. It comes from the old and unchristian idea that it is the business and duty of the church to rule in the realm of both the civil and the religious; the idea that the church must have the support of the civil power in order to obey the commands of God. All of which is a denial of His power and wisdom and foresight. The smiting of Uzzah for presuming to “steady” the ark of God (the symbol of His government) is God’s answer to these demands for the union of the profane and the sacred. But how slowly we learn the lessons of God in the judgments which He brings to pass! “Good citizenship,” this resolution tells us, “is a ‘fundamental principle of religion.’” But there is something that is more fundamental than that, and that is Christianity,—obedience to all the requirements of God. He who has that will be the most peaceable, law-abiding citizen in all the world. Like Daniel of old, they will be able to find no occasion against him, except it be concerning the law of his God. What that requires he will do, in spite of lions, glowing furnaces, autos da fe, or chain-gangs. But the fashion of the present day is to make men appear religious,—act as tho they were religious,—and to bring this about by act of law; to compel men to cease outward immorality by depriving them of public office, or by holding over them the fear of such deprivation. But that is not God’s way; it never has been; it never will be. God’s way is to cleanse the heart; to heal the heart, to transform the heart; and then, out of a clean, whole, converted heart, to get glory to Himself. Out of such a heart will come nothing but what is pure, peaceable, and laden with the love of God; overflowing with love for all mankind. It is the business of Christians to help men into such a condition of life as that. I repeat, that is what Christians are for. In comparison with this, how weak, how cheap, how insignificant is the work proposed by the resolution above! How far short we come of the glory of God when the legacy we leave to those who are to follow us is to make the work of God in the earth dependent on the fickle returns of the ballot-box! The man of the world may and will put his trust in the arm of the civil power; but that power will fail him in time of trouble. The true Christian will say, “The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in ‘God.’” And in that there is no failure, no discouragement, no disappointment. Put alongside of that resolution the declaration of Paul, when the cries of philosophy and politics were sounding on all sides of the church: “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” I Cor. 2:2. There is the true stand of the true Christian at all times. No matter what party is in power, the one who takes that stand is bound to be right; and better still, he is in a position where he can help others to be right in the only way that any one can be everlastingly right, and that is by conversion of the heart and true service to God. It is comparatively easy to vote men out of jobs; but a more telling, more lasting, more Christlike, a deeper, and more far-reaching work, is the work of turning men from the service of sin to the service of Christ, in the way our Lord intended that work should be done. O, that those who take upon themselves the name of Christ might recognize the sacredness of that holy calling,—work for the souls of men, instead of the patronage of the ballot-box; and cease to offer strange fire and foreign incense on the altar of our God.