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By Editor
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SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS
Our authority for the doctrines we teach is the Bible. Quotations are usually from the King James Version or the American Standard Revised.
IS SECULARISM NECESSARILY INFIDELITY?
By Alonzo T. Jones
IS secularism infidelity? Is a secular institution necessarily a godless and dangerous institution? That such is the case is the impression conveyed by some who urge that religion should be taught in the state schools.
But these attach a very erroneous meaning to the word "secular." They use the word in a bad sense, as though it meant only what is godless, and as though it were utterly opposed to, and at war with, religion. They make little or no distinction between secularism and atheism.
But as a matter of fact, there is not necessarily any relation between the words "secularism" and "atheism." The word "secular" is defined thus: "Pertaining to this present world, or to things not spiritual or holy; relating to things not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly."
It is true that that which is secular does not pertain directly to that which is spiritual. But it is also true that it is not essentially opposed to the spiritual, nor does it inevitably lead away from that which is religious.
SECULAR, BUT NOT WICKED
Instruction in the sciences, in music, poetry, and art, is secular instruction. Schools that give such instruction only, are secular schools. But they need not by any means be wicked institutions. Nor can they be classed as infidel and godless institutions simply because religion is not made a part of the daily instruction.
A secular school is no more opposed to religion than is a mercantile store, a boot shop, a bank, or any other lawful place of business. And it would be as reasonable for parents to insist on having prayer and religious services in all government offices and places of business with which their sons and daughters are connected, as to demand that the state shall teach their children religion in the public schools. All are alike secular.
The state is not a religious institution. It is not ordained for the promotion of religion. In entering the domain of the spiritual, it leaves its natural realm. In attempting to impart religious instruction, it attempts to do more than it ought, more than it is ordained to do. The result of such attempts is thus forcibly and truthfully stated by Lord Macaulay:
"It may be laid down as a universal rule that a government which attempts more than it ought will perform less." "Governments which attempt things beyond their reach are likely not only to fail, but to produce an effect directly the opposite of that which they contemplate as desirable."—Review of Leigh Hunt.
Let none, then, attempt to force the state to do this sort of work.
A. G. D.
GOD'S LAST APPEAL
By R. C. Porter
A Message of Hope—Triumph and Joy Are Offered
This is the concluding one of four articles by Elder Porter on the general theme of the seal of the living God contrasted with the mark of the beast, as set forth in the prophecy of Rev. 14: 9-12. In his first article, Elder Porter showed what the symbol of the beast in that prophecy referred to. The second article pertained to the seal of the living God, which is offered in contrast to the mark of the beast, that the apostate powers of earth propose to enforce under the pains and penalties of death. Last week he gave evidence to show the meaning of the mark of the beast. His article this week presents God's appeal for us to stand on the side of Christ, regardless of any of the terrifying efforts of men to overthrow us.
WE are living in the last days. Time is almost finished. The coming of Christ, for which the church has long looked as the consummation of her hopes, is soon to be realized.
The message is hastening to all the world. Its mission is to save the lost. Its transforming work is presented in Rev. 14: 12: "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." The impatient man cannot excuse his impatience; he must be transformed into a patient man. The sinner can make no acceptable apology for his sins; he must repent, and be changed into a loyal keeper of the commandments of God. The unbeliever cannot be accepted on the plea that he is a cautious man; he must be changed to a child of faith, even "the faith of Jesus."
A MESSAGE OF HOPE
This message is to lift men from worldliness and sin, and fit them for the kingdom of God. It is the hope of the perishing in the last generation. Every phase of it is equally important. God is now calling upon His people to arouse from their indifference, put away their sins, and reach a higher standard of consecration. The church must arise to her position, "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." She must stand "without fault before the throne of God," in preparation for the finishing of the work and the coming of Christ.
Commandment keeping is a prominent feature of the message. With too many, this is formal, and falls far below the standard of preparation for the Judgment. The purpose of God in developing a commandment-keeping people is, to develop a people who will dwell in love. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. 13: 10. The law is an expression of the character of the kingdom of God. "He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." 1 John 4: 16. "Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit." Verse 13. This is more than an occasional visitation of the Holy Spirit. The text applies to a people who are so constantly controlled by that indwelling Spirit that they are wholly transformed into the spirit, or disposition, of Christ. "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." There is no basis for hope unless we constantly live in the Spirit of the Master. "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of Judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world." 1 John 4: 17.
THE OPENING HEAVENS REVEAL HIM
Soon the opening heavens will reveal the coming of the Son of man. Unless we have become like Him in our daily lives, we cannot be trusted to enter His kingdom, lest its love and harmony should be broken by our unsubdued spirits and our lack of love and kindness.
It was not the purpose of God, in sending His Son into the world, to bear to dying men merely a cold, formal message of warning, leaving them in condemnation to perish. He came with a message of love and hope to save the lost. He was the sinner's friend. He came close to the needy with a warmth of sympathetic interest that melted their hearts and won them back to God. "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3: 17.
HIS LOVING-KINDNESS WINS
Christ "loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." Rev. 1: 5. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Rev. 12: 10. On which side are we standing? Hearts that are burdened with sin are not subdued by accusation and condemnation. It is the loving-kindness of the Saviour that wins hearts. Those pierced hands, outstretched to lift our burdens, melt the heart, and create a longing to be like Him.
If the spirit of condemnation comes into the life, it will be manifest in the home. As Christ lived, so should we live in our daily association with our loved ones. No unkind or impatient words should escape our lips. No criticism from us should strike like a dart to the heart of some poor, struggling soul, and add to his burden, and weaken him in his struggle for victory. Words of confidence, hope, and love should the rather be spoken, to lighten the burden, and lift the tempted soul to God.
Are these principles important in our preparation for the finishing of the work of this message? Let Jesus answer: "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another." John 13: 35.
FAIR, CLEAR, AND TERRIBLE
If the love of Christ controls our lives, then will the church go forth on her mission, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." S. of S. 6: 10. Then the light will quickly be carried through the waiting lands.
The Lord is sending out His last message before His coming. Shall we not accept it, and dedicate ourselves and our all to God and to this message, in preparation for Christ's coming? If we do this in the spirit of Christ, and move forward in the faith of Jesus, the world will feel the mighty impulse of a strong forward movement in the work of this message, the work will soon be finished, and the people of God will stand triumphant, and hear the "Well done, . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," from a Master who appreciates their devotion to His work.
HOW MUCH MORE TIME?
By M. C. W.
ONE plea in the last temperance campaign in California was that "we must give the wine men more time;" "we must be just to the wine men who have invested their money;" "we must be fair." And the cafés and wine rooms run on in the cities and towns of the state. There are said to be one hundred of them outside the regular saloons in Los Angeles. What do these concessions to the wine men — these open wine rooms — mean? Let Mr. Wiley J. Phillips, editor of the California Voice, a thoroughly reliable man, answer, as he does in the Voice of August 8:
"I visited some of these one hundred wine rooms and cafés. One night, I visited three of them, and my notes are now before me. In these three, I counted 352 young girls and women, and over 500 boys and men, drinking. On another occasion, on Sunday night after church, I visited four of these wine rooms which it would not be 'fair or just to the wine men to close,' and on Sunday night I counted 391 girls, with a larger number of men and boys, drinking wine and other liquors. The other 93 places, I did not visit. On my visit to the three where there were over 350 girls and women being 'fair' to the wine trust, I saw many girls so far gone in intoxication that they could not leave the place unassisted — in other words, they were beastly drunk. Among the 391 that I counted on Sunday night, was the daughter of one of the pastors of the city who was preaching that night in his pulpit. I could not remonstrate with her, for her father had voted to permit these places to do business. Well, they were doing business, and are doing the same business still.
"In the five places that I visited — five out of a hundred — scores of these girls and young men were not only starting on the way to ruin, but were there — some of them for the first time — almost helplessly drunk.
"Do the fathers and mothers of these boys and girls owe the wine men anything? Would you plead with the 'narrow-minded Prohibitionists' to be 'just' and 'fair' with the wine men, if these were your boys or girls? Always on the outside, autos and taxicabs are waiting for the victims of these cafés and wine rooms.11"Have you, my dear sir, or my dear madam, ever followed them at a late hour to see where the wine-inflamed or drugged and often unconscious daughters of this and other cities where they want to be 'fair to the wine industry,' are taken? Well, I have. If you have not, then come and visit with me some of those living morgues where virtue has been murdered and where suicide and homicide leave shrouded beauties despoiled of its charms — cold and stark, the silent witnesses of man's villainy and money's power. Go with me to the district where reeking bacchanalians hold their midnight revelries and indulge in the drunken, beastly orgies of lust. Go with me and listen to virtue's dying shriek as it echoes through those sin-stained alleyways, where mother love, like an angel of mercy, has sought to enter in quest of a lost child, but has been driven back. Go with me to where the weird and dusky ghosts of lost hopes shave the midnight gloom with somber wings, while specters dance their dance of death upon every thorny pillow where lies the head of some mother's girl who was once rocked in dreams upon that mother's bosom, and then tell me by the authority of what law, human or divine, you claim the right to barter away the girlhood and young manhood of this state for a single day on what you claim to be 'ethical grounds.' If ethics means the exercise of moral principles and humane duty, then my idea of ethics — human duty — in harmony with moral principles, would be to exercise it toward the rising generation rather than toward the millionaire wine trusts of the state."
M. C. W.
166 — UNTIL THE LAW
By Editor
Please explain Luke 16: 16. Why the word "until" if the law is still in force?
The scripture reads, "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it." Our querist will notice that the verb "were" is in italics, a supplied word. It is necessary, in the translation, to supply, but enough has not been supplied. The ellipsis has not been filled. What should have been supplied is, "were preached." The law and the prophets were preached until John. From that time, the kingdom of heaven is preached. That was the fullest light that the older messengers of God had — the preaching of the law and the prophets; but when John came, he had another message, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Therefore the gospel of the kingdom of God began to be preached at that time, and souls pressed forward, struggled, gave themselves to God, that they might enter it. The thought is not that the law was done away at that time. Even those who believe in the repeal of God's law, do not generally hold that it was repealed before the time of the crucifixion, two or three years later than the last preaching of John. In fact, God's law is still obligatory, and faith establishes it in the heart. See Rom. 3: 31, and many other scriptures of the same import.
The thought of the text is that the ministers of God preached the law and the prophets up to the time when John appeared, then God's message took a new burden, "The kingdom of God is at hand;" just as the sacrifices and belief that Abel held, were preached right down to the time of the Flood; but when Noah began his message, that gave an added note to the gospel at that time, and the coming Deluge and the refuge in the ark were preached.
The scripture reads as follows: "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better."
The apostle speaks of two things concerning which he cannot choose. He is in a strait between them. He does not know which to make his choice. One of these is, to live; and the other is, to die. Christ will be magnified either by life or by death. Paul does not know which of the two to choose. If he should live, it meant suffering and trial — conflict. If he should die, it would mean a cessation from these, but he would also lose his joy in the work of God; so he does not know which to choose, life or death. He does, however, have a desire for another thing, and that is to be with Christ; and he himself clearly tells us when this will take place — not when he dies, and not while he lives, but when our Lord Himself comes. Therefore we read in this same epistle of the Philippians, chapter 3: 20, A. R. V., "For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory." That is what the apostle longed for. Again, in 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17, we read: "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." That is the thing the apostle Paul desired — to be ever with Christ. That was the thing which he thought was "far better" than either life or death. Of course, if he should die, it would be but a moment to the unconscious sleeper in Christ; but the apostle did not long for that sleep. He desired what waits beyond death — life forevermore with Christ.
168 — THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE
What day did the psalmist refer to in Ps. 118: 24, "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it"?
He referred to the day of Christ's triumph, the fulfillment of so many of the prophecies and types of the Old Testament. He did not refer to any day of the week, to any twenty-four hour day. That is not the thought of it. He referred to the day in which the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ should go to the world, based on the great good news of His death for our sins, and His resurrection for our justification. "The stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." Verses 22, 23. Now the Lord certainly does not design that His people shall be glad merely one day in the week, but every day in the week, and this great day of salvation is the day in which they are to be glad. The term is used in a similar way in 2 Cor. 6: 2: "For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6: 2.
169 — THE PEOPLING OF THE EARTH
If Adam and Eve had lived, or remained faithful to God, and had not eaten of the forbidden fruit, would they have brought forth children or not?
They would. The command to them to "multiply, and replenish the earth," came before sin entered at all. It was God's plan that this whole earth should be peopled from one family. All would then be related. All would be bound together in the same family ties. All would be children of God through Adam their father, who was "the son of God." Gen. 1: 27, 28. But they sinned, and for that reason many more children would be born into the world. So the Lord said to Eve, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception." Gen. 3: 16. However, not by human birth are we saved now to the kingdom of God, nor do we by human birth become inheritors of the glorious new heavens and new earth. We are made heirs only by being born from above by our Lord Jesus Christ. If man had never sinned, when the earth became filled there would have been no more born into the world. We could not conceive that the earth would have been too full, overpopulated. Under our Lord Jesus Christ, the great work of salvation of souls and new birth of souls will go on until the requisite number is made up, and then work for man will close.
Study the Bible Itself
IN studying the Bible, we should be sure that we study the Bible itself, and not what some person has taught about the Bible. We may use the help that men can give us in the study of the Bible; but we must be sure that our faith reaches clear through any of the sayings of men, and lays hold on the Word itself.
ECCENTRIC
By J. O. C.
WHEN Paul was before Festus, he was interrupted in his testimony on Christian lines with the charge, "Paul, thou art beside thyself." Paul was an "eccentric" in the eyes of his opposer.
But what is an eccentric? — It is a wheel which does not turn in the same circle with other wheels. Its motion is different from that of the regular set of wheels, because it describes a changing curve, unlike any ordinary line of a mathematician. It is therefore called an eccentric.
It was so with Paul. His center was to one side of himself. It was distinct from him, and also from the world's center.
Christianity having a peculiar center of its own, different from the moving circles of human policy, it is therefore an eccentricity. The center of Christianity is with God; and because of being hidden from worldly scrutiny, those who have the genuine article are, like the divine Saviour and His ardent follower Paul, said to be beside themselves. That is, they are accounted mad. Would that many more of the present time were truly in the same class! J. O. C.
Borrowing Good Feelings
By David Paulson, M. D.
Grocery Store Commodities That Belong with the Druggist
Warnings from Eminent Authorities Against Their
Use—Burning Up Three Panama Canals
By DAVID PAULSON, M. D.
Medical Superintendent Hinsdale Sanitarium, Hinsdale, Illinois
DR. EVANS, formerly health commissioner of the city of Chicago, wrote recently these sane, sensible words, which deserve careful and thoughtful consideration: "In order that no misunderstanding may arise, I should say that physiologists regard coffee, tea, tobacco, and whisky as drugs in the same sense that opium and cocaine are. . . . The craving for tea and that for whisky, the hunger for a cigarette and that for a dose of morphine, are of the same kind. Each comes of an inborn willingness to cheat in playing the game of life."
SHOULD BUY IT FROM THE DRUG STORE
So every grocer who sells tea and coffee is in the drug business. These articles should be bought from the drug store, the same as other drugs; for, according to Dr. Evans, "coffee is a drug. Those addicted to its use are drug addicts. It is much the most widespread form of drug addiction. The largest number enjoy their cup of coffee, and they care not at all whether it harms them. . . . Does the daily use of coffee as a beverage, continued for a series of years, do harm? — Yes. A horse cannot be whipped daily for years without being harmed. A man cannot be nagged continuously for years without being harmed. The very fact that when fatigue is slowing muscles and brain cells down, coffee will whip them on — the very fact that under the stimulus of coffee, capacity is unduly excited — is proof that harm will come if the process is kept up for a series of years. . . . It is the old question of the cost of something for nothing. When, through the influence of coffee, you become able to do, and do more than you would otherwise, you must settle, sometime or other. That is just ordinary sense."
RED LIGHT OUT AND SWITCH OPEN
Dr. Wiley, of pure food fame, says: "Fatigue is the signal of danger, showing need of rest and recreation. Caffeine extinguishes the red light, but does not close the switch."
Dr. Dixon, commissioner of health for the great state of Pennsylvania, says: "Neither coffee nor tea is to be considered a food. Both are stimulants, and it is this which is responsible for their popularity. As with all other stimulants, there is a continual tendency to overindulgence, because a moderate allowance after a time fails to give the necessary incitement to the nervous system. While the mind is often stimulated to good work for a short time by coffee or tea, any stimulus which they give is transitory, for there is a period of depression following the use of all stimulants. Experiments have shown that overindulgence in both has a tendency in the long run to dull the working of the mind."
But there are many who feel they must have something warm to drink at mealtime. For such Dr. Dixon recommends hot water, or the "cambric tea" — hot water with milk and sugar — of our childhood days.
BURNING UP THREE PANAMA CANALS
Henry Ford, noted automobile manufacturer, and uncompromising enemy of the cigarette evil, quotes statistics to show that we are spending in this country more than a billion dollars every year for tobacco; that we are expending for this evil annually about three times the entire cost of the Panama Canal, or twice the amount spent by the entire country on railroad travel. But the heaviest end of this awful curse is in the blighted manhood, the ruined nerves, the shattered brains, of millions of our boys who have in recent years acquired the accursed cigarette habit.
Has your boy begun to use cigarettes? Plead with God for his deliverance. If he does not use them, show your thankfulness by doing what you can to save some other boy from this devilish curse. No one wants the cigarette fiend in this life, and there will be no place for him in heaven; so the cigarette evil damns not only this life, but the life hereafter.
Caffeine extinguishes the red light, but does not close the switch.
While the nicotine curse falls heaviest on the child's immature nervous system, it does not help the adult. It is only a hindrance to him. Every sensible doctor advises his patients to discontinue the use of tobacco immediately upon the first symptom of heart trouble, kidney disease, high blood pressure, or nervous breakdown. If it is so important to do this after the disease has begun, would it not be far better to have broken off the tobacco habit five years before, and thus helped to prevent the disease?
I have seen a father teach his boy to fly a kite, to ride a bicycle, and to pray; but I have yet to see any man in his right mind teach his boy to use tobacco. That is convincing evidence that away down deep in his heart, no man is proud of the fact that he is a slave to this defiling and disease-promoting habit.
Name or Pedigree Has No Weight
By Stephen N. Haskell
NAME or pedigree, separate from character, has no weight in the records of heaven.
S. N. H.
