Earlier text: RECEIVING THE BLESSINGPERILS IMMINENT AND OMINOUS.
By T.
There is no thinking man or woman who does not recognize the fact that there are perils about us at the present time; but most of these express the opinion that the perils we see have reached their worst stage and that conditions will improve as time passes. In this they are mistaken. The worst has not been reached by any means. What we see to-day is as nothing when compared with that which lies just before. What we see about us now is but the gathering of the storm-clouds; the lashing furies of the great social, and political, and atmospheric tornado is yet to burst. We speak positively upon the subject because we know. And we are sure of our knowledge, because the source from which we have derived it has never failed, and, furthermore, it can not fail. The infallible Book of God says: “But know this, that in ‘the last days grievous times shall come. For men ‘shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, ‘haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, ‘slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers ‘of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of ‘pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form ‘of godliness, but having denied the power thereof; ‘from these also turn away.” 2 Tim. 3: 1–5, R. V. Observe that this text says that we are to “know” these things because God reveals them. When the Lord knows anything to be true, and tells us to “know” it, we may stand securely upon such knowledge; for it is not human speculation, but divine certainty. Then we “know” “that in the last days grievous (‘perilous,’ Common Version) times shall come.”7 We “know” also that the grievousness or the perils of these self-same times will be occasioned by the evil traits that shall be manifesting themselves among the children of men. “For men shall be ‘lovers of self, lovers of money,’ ‘without natural affection,’ ‘without self-control,’ ‘traitors, headstrong,’ ‘lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,’” and all the rest of the list that the text gives. We “know” that the seeds for all these evils are being sown. And every one else may know the same appalling facts if he will but open his eyes. And just as surely as these seeds of evil-doing are being sown, just so surely will the awful harvest of “grievous times” soon bear down upon the world with all its weight of terror. Look carefully at what this text from Timothy says we are to “know.” “In the last days,” “men shall be lovers of self” and “lovers of money.” These are the first things mentioned among the sins that shall make the “grievous times” of the “last days.” When men give themselves over to self-love, they have no care for others, except as those others may serve the selfish desires that they are following. With hearts thus calloused by self-love, the possessors care nothing for the crushing burdens that may be grinding others into the dust. The insufferable toil and even the misery of another fails to awaken a chord of sympathy in the breast of the one who cares only for self and who thinks only of self. Unregenerate mankind is naturally selfish, but there is a self-love coming into these last days that is unprecedented in its maddening determination to seize everything that will conduce to personal gratification. And we “know” this. We are not weaving a theory; we are stating the facts of an actual condition. The text says not only that men shall be lovers of self, but they shall also be “lovers of money.” One of the most prominent characteristics of this age is the feverish love for money that is fairly consuming men. In New York City, where the money-god of this country has his chief shrine, the strong men who are breaking down in the forenoon of life are forming a rapidly increasing army. The danger-signal has been sounded by leading physicians, and it is earnestly urged that men stop their wild rush for millions of money, so that they may retain their nerve-power, and avoid the mad-house and prolong their days. This insane love for money is bringing in upon the world some of the greatest perils of our time. Men are not content with the possession of millions, but a few of them are driving furiously in the chase for billions. We may even now say that the billionaire is in sight. It seems incredible, but such are the facts. These men who have secured such vast wealth are not any greater lovers of money than their less successful fellows. By every conceivable turn, whether it be fair or unfair, honest or dishonest, it matters not, the chase for money is being driven. And those who are being left behind without any of the coveted dollars, are forming a great and angry army. Who, aside from the Omniscient One, can venture to picture the scenes when the crashing explosion comes! Another one of the things that are to make these times perilous is the lack of “natural affection.” Nature is thrown overboard, and the tenderness of mother for child, the love of the father, the affection of brother for sister, and the blending endearment of husband for wife will be swept away, as before a deluge, in this age of self-love and money-love. Added to this condition of things is the statement that these persons will be “implacable, slanderers, ‘without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good.’” These are not the words of the writer of this article; they are not words presenting a human theory: they are the infallible words of Him with whom it is impossible for a mistake to be made. And we know that these words vividly describe the growing conditions of to-day. If we have any controversy in the matter, it must be with the Infinite; for it is He who is responsible for this prediction that so accurately describes present conditions. A further striking statement in this wonderful description of the present days is that the people are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; ‘holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof.’” The rush for money to-day is only equaled by the race for pleasure. Men and women who have the money with which to do it spend their days in seeking excitement and pleasures of every form and in every land. And those who do not have the money to gratify their desire for pleasure are bending every energy to get it, and are fairly wild with exasperation when they do not succeed. The duties of life from the standpoint of living to do others good are pushed aside. It is self, self, and more and still more pleasure. And with all this medley of sentiments and characteristics that are so absolutely and strikingly the exact opposite of the life of the Christ, these self-same persons hold to “a form of godliness.” It is unnecessary to go into details to show you that the conditions so strikingly described in these verses quoted from Paul’s letter to Timothy are plainly seen all about us to-day. We know that there is no lack of “a form of godliness.” Our cities and the country places are full of Christian churches. But where is the Christ-power of the Christ-life? The gnawing pangs of hunger, and the blasting degradations of squalor, as seen in the packed tenements of the back-alley poor districts of every city, go unrelieved, notwithstanding the fact that the professed representative of Christ passes and repasses these scenes every day. If the real power of the real Christ-love was in the life of a tithe of those who profess to follow Him who “went ‘about doing good,’” every bit of this misery that is due to poverty and neglect would be swept away. But each one is so intent on loving himself, he is so absorbed in his quest for money and pleasure, that he has neither time nor strength left to do the work for which his Christian profession calls. Now we “know” that these conditions, taken as a whole and in parts, are preparing the world for an indescribable harvest of peril and distress. And the reason why we “know” it is because God has told us to know it. And when He tells us to know a thing, we may know it for an absolute certainty. The Lord does not reveal these coming conditions of the world in order to terrify us. He tells us these things so that we may seek refuge from the muttering storm. Let us learn to understand the significance of the things the Lord has bidden us to “know,” and let us commit ourselves to His keeping. He both can and will bring us through safely, no matter how threatening the perils. T. There is one war to which the Christian is called, and in which there is no furlough nor discharge till the war is ended and final victory is won. This conflict is not against human beings. It is not against other Christians, tho diverse in creed or practise. It is not against Mohammedans, nor against Parsees, nor Buddhists, nor idolaters, nor infidels. “For our wrestling [fighting] is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Eph. 6:12, R.V. Our warfare being spiritual, against the invisible spirits of evil, it is not waged with carnal weapons. “For tho we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh.” 2 Cor. 10:3, 4, R.V. The Christian’s armor is spiritual, even as his foes. “Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; withal take up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication.” Eph. 6:13-18, R.V. But this spiritual armor is not the less effective because invisible and intangible to mortal, fleshly touch. Nay, it is the only effective armor; it is “the armor of God,” “mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds.” 2 Cor. 10:4. The principal field of the warfare is the flesh of the warrior. “For I know,” says one of the most stalwart ones in God’s army, “that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” Rom. 7:18. Base passions there strive for the mastery. Hatred, lust, covetousness, pride, envy, laziness, love of ease, gluttony, desire of praise, and a hundred other things hold hellish revel or wage fierce battle to enthrall forever him in whose flesh they dwell, and that is every soul of earth. Satan shoots his fiery darts into this inflammable material and sets it “on fire of hell.” His agents do all in their power to destroy by suggestion and temptation. His slaves, other humans, are, willingly or unwillingly, thrust into the conflict. But he who is clad in God’s armor wins. Faith puts Christ between him and the darts of the enemy. The righteousness of Christ covers the erstwhile sinful heart. Truth binds the armor to the man. Hope makes of none effect the bludgeon blows of malice and hate. The sword of the Spirit, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, puts to death the evil desires which rise up for the mastery. Heb. 4:12; Rom. 8:13. Watchfulness and prayer with such an armor render the soul invulnerable, and do what no warrior of earth has ever done—“casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Cor. 10:5. The armor and its various pieces are symbolical of what is within. No man puts on God’s breastplate unless righteousness is enthroned in the heart. No man can wear God’s helmet who does not possess an intelligent hope of salvation. No soul can wear the shining girdle who is not demonstrating in his own life the sanctifying power of the truth. No man becomes an ambassador of peace to those alienated from God who has not first made peace with his King. No soul will be able to use the shield of God’s panoply unless faith has wrought its purifying work within. “But what about the people who oppose the Gospel of Christ?” asks a militant Christian. “What about those who trample down our Sabbath, use its sacred hours in sporting, gambling, revelling? What about those who massacre our missionaries?” The Christian soldier’s mission to them is peace, “peace to them that are far off, and to them that are nigh.” “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” All these foes are slaves of sin and Satan. The message of Christ to them, through every soldier of His army, through every ambassador of His court, is peace. God is not at enmity with them. He loves them. His children love them. They are at enmity with God. Only love will beget love. Beseech them in Christ’s stead to be reconciled to God, to accept Christ Jesus as an all-sufficient personal Saviour and Friend, mighty to the uttermost. This is, in brief, the warfare to which is called the Christian. If he strive lawfully for his King, Christ Jesus, he will wear the eternal crown. 2 Tim. 2:4, 5. Victory is eternally assured in Christ Jesus. Such warfare contracts no bonded debt, save that of love to God, the burden of which strengthens. It leaves behind it no devastated land, no orphans’ cries, no widows’ wails, no graves, save those of our sins, buried forever in the great lost sea of oblivion. O soul, unsatisfied with the disappointing pleasures of earth, whether rich or poor, free or bond, God calls you to this warfare. He is asking recruits for the army of Prince Immanuel. Will you not enlist, and that forever? “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” We studied this in part in our last, and we found that tho we could not see by physical eyes the way or its end, we could see by faith farther than physical sight can reveal. He who sees by physical vision is limited by his perverted mortal sense and knowledge. He sees but the present in the light of human experience. But he who sees by faith, views matters in the visions, or seeings, of God. But when God gives no such vision, how shall the pilgrim go forward? Let him do as do the physically blind,—feel his way. God cares for His children. Tho they can not see the way, He can see. He remembers them wherever they are, and longs that they shall seek God, “if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, tho He be not far from every one of us.” Acts 17: 27. Then, dear soul, passing through the dark night, seemingly shut in by impenetrable clouds, reach out the hand. Let your heart be in that reaching with infinite longing, and you will more than feel the literal touch; you will feel that “underneath are the ‘everlasting arms.’” Learn from the little child. How often have we seen the almost ill, timid little boy awake in the night, startled by some untoward dream, fearful of the darkness, seeing nothing, almost ready to cry, perhaps uttering his fear in baby fright, the next moment cuddling down to such sweet, confident feeling of rest as the strong, loving hand of the father clasped the little hand in his. So God reaches down with infinite tenderness and love to take the hand of His child, and lead him or her where even faith can not see. And let God clasp your hand. Do not be content with touching or grasping His. “Let me take your hand, my boy, the way is rough and slippery, and you may stumble and fall,” said the strong father. “No, papa, let me take your hand,” said the little boy. “I can hold on.” The next moment the little feet stumbled, the little hand lost its hold, and the little boy fell. Rising again, he reached the little hand up to the great, strong father, and said, “Papa, you hold my hand.” And the great, strong hand encloses the little one in a kind, loving grasp, and the child is safe. Let us learn from the children, and knowing our weakness, pray with one of old, “Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.” Ps. 17: 5. But if one can neither see nor feel, how can he go forward? He may strain his eyes, and see naught. He may reach out his hands, and feel only the thick darkness. No wall nor post nor familiar landmark can be felt. The beaten path is gone. The very earth seems unfamiliar. The pilgrim may be in a frail bark on a pathless sea. What shall he do? Do again as does the physical man in like circumstances,—listen for the guiding voice to a port of safety. But he must know the voice. God often guides His children thus, and He has given us the one true test by which we may ever know His voice. That standard is His holy law, of which He says, “Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice, that He might instruct thee;” and “these words [the Ten] the Lord spake . . . with a great voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them in two tables of stone.” Deut. 4: 36; 5: 22. But the mere knowledge that God gave the Ten Words, that they are His perfect standard of morality and character will not avail. They must be written by the New Covenant life in our heart; our life must by submissive faith come into complete harmony with God, till we can say with Christ, speaking through the psalmist: “I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” “O how love I Thy law! it is My meditation all the day.” Let faith harmonize the heart with the great eternal law of God’s love, and then in the dark, trackless night listen to God’s voice. There are numerous other voices. Satanic agents are ubiquitous, calling, calling, till on every side is heard a very Babel of voices. And we, perhaps, are lost and know not the way. O then, listen. “Be silent to the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” Ps. 37: 7, margin. Among the numerous voices calling the sheep, be assured that the voice of the True Shepherd will be heard. “Be silent to the Lord.” There is no voice like His to His own. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” “I am the good Shepherd; and I know Mine own, and Mine own know Me.” Follow the Shepherd’s voice, and out of the forest and fog, from among the false shepherds, along the rocky, thorny path, through the deserts of drouth, He will lead you to the green pastures and the still waters of the glorious fields of light. O soul, see with His seeing; reach out and let Him grasp your hand; listen and let His voice guide you; ask for the Spirit’s anointing that the senses may be quickened; so shall you walk by faith in a surer, safer way than earth can know. “Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the laws thereof.” “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper.” THE INFLUENCE OF WEALTH.
By G.
NOTHING in this world yields a greater influence in the exposition of real character than the accumulation of wealth. The widely differing dispositions of Abraham and Lot were not manifested until their great property interests were affected. Not until they returned from Egypt to Canaan with great flocks and herds did the contrast of character become so marked as to be deemed worthy of note in sacred history. Then was the submissive, yielding, peace-loving character of Abraham made conspicuous, as also the covetous, selfish, exacting disposition of Lot. The land was all Abraham’s by promise of God. All the right which Lot had was by the sufferance of Abraham; and all the property which Lot had he had gained by virtue of his association with Abraham, and his sharing in God’s special care of His chosen representative. But the time came when their accumulations of cattle made it inconvenient for them to live in one company. “The land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together; for their substance was great.” Gen. 13:6. The first intimation we have of coming trouble is that “there was strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle.” There is a strong inference that Lot himself was disaffected; at least he talked the matter over with Abraham in such a manner as to cause him to reply, “Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.” As before stated, the whole land was Abraham’s by promise, and by right he could have designated which part Lot might occupy. But Abraham was not jealous of his rights. Even “the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled in the land,” and he showed no disposition to dispossess them. He was there first of all as a missionary to them. A strife in the church of the God of heaven concerning the wealth of this world would have been a bad example to set before the heathen. Abraham was not worrying about the land which God had promised him. He just left that to the Lord Himself, “being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform.” Rom. 4:21. His faith made him liberal, magnanimous, toward all; therefore he said to Lot: “Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me; if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.” Gen. 13:9. Lot’s selfishness at once grasped the proposition. It seems that there was not even the customary oriental formality of declining that which he intended to accept. He immediately chose what he deemed to be the best for his financial interest. He chose the plain of Jordan, because it was well watered and consequently favorable to stock-raising. There were also populous cities, affording a profitable market. From Lot’s ungrateful desire to have the best in preference to his benefactor, from the nature of his choice and the reason for it, it is evident that whatever of missionary spirit he may have possessed when he came to Canaan had passed away with his increase of wealth. In such a condition he could not expect to wield a very strong influence over the people excepting in a business way. He could not expect that his family would resist the temptations of gay, pleasure-seeking city life, to which they were gradually subjected. As soon as Lot was separated from Abraham, the Lord appeared unto His faithful, trusting servant again. The promise of a numerous seed and of great inheritance in the earth was repeated, and Abraham continued to dwell in his tents. “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.” Heb. 11:9. His wealth did not turn his head from the main purpose of his sojourn, namely, that of exemplifying the truth of God before the heathen. He did not seek a home in any of the cities corrupted by the evil influences of worldly customs and heathen practises; “for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Verse 10. Abraham maintained his faith, and because of his unselfish use of the means entrusted to him, he was protected in his possession of it all his life, and passed it over to his son. How different the experience of Lot! There was no promise to him, either of land or protection. He went a way of his own choosing. In his quest for more wealth, he too sought a country, but it was a country that promised only worldly gain. He too sought a city, but it was a city which, in great emergency, had no “foundations.” He laid up treasure in the earth, and thieves came and took it all away, together with himself and family. Then Abraham had to take his men and go a long journey to rescue him. But Lot did not learn even by this experience that the things which give the greatest promise of material gain do not yield the true riches. So when the judgment came upon Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain, his property was all included. He was not given time to take any of it away. Instead of following the example of Abraham, and dwelling in tents away from the allurements of vice, he occupied a house in the city of Sodom itself. His children, excepting two, were married to Sodomites, and his wife was absorbed in her home and surroundings. Even Lot himself had to be plucked as a brand from the burning, by the angels of God, and urged to flee for his life. The influence of wealth depends solely upon the use that is made of it. Abraham’s wealth was a blessing to others. He used it to further the interests of the cause of God, and in the support of those who joined themselves to him in the common interest. But Lot’s wealth was used for the purpose of gaining for himself more perishable wealth. Abraham’s property was identified with the interest of the cause of salvation, and therefore came under the protection of God. Lot’s property was identified with the cities of the plain, therefore it perished with them. The influence of Abraham’s wealth was felt in the communities where he lived in honor of the true God and the weaning of souls from idolatry. The influence of Lot’s prosperity did not turn a single soul from the wickedness prevalent in his field of labor. Indeed, most of those who went in with him were left in the awful ruin of his chosen abode. The responsibilities of wealth are very great, and8 (488) few are able to bear them. O, use wisely what God gives you; for there will be a strict accounting in the day of final reckoning. Hence the wisdom of the Saviour’s advice to lay up our treasure in heaven, where no emergency can deprive us of it. And being only a trust reposed by Him, He, too, can have His own when He calls for it. STOCK GAMBLING AND EXTRAVAGANCE.
“Money mania,” the recent country-wide speculations may be called. “Stock craze” it has been denominated. But the speculation in stocks, reaching the vast total of nearly $15,000,000 in five days of the second week in May, culminating on the 9th, when from 60 to 80 per cent. was paid for money on call, and Northern Pacific stock climbed from $170 to 1,000 a share, was because it promised to the speculator money. This number of shares was less than one-tenth of the whole number dealt in during the entire year of 1900. “Millions of dollars’ worth of stock passed from one owner to another in an ‘instant,’” says the Christian Advocate. “Immense fortunes have been made. We are informed on good authority that one man made $2,700,000, and is now practically a nervous wreck, trying to get himself in readiness to go to Europe for recuperation. Another acknowledges that he made $750,000.” The Springfield Republican tells us that it was the biggest “gamble” ever known, and that “the craze” “embraced pretty much the whole country.” All classes were in it,—clerks, sewing girls, tailors, waiters, butlers,—people of all sorts and kinds. “Men who have made anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 since election,” says one account, “are almost as common these days in Wall Street as ‘flies are in August.’ Great numbers of people are furiously plunging into the golden flood, bent on a rapid accumulation of wealth. Women throng excitedly some of the brokers’ offices. . . . Clerks and accountants are working eighteen hours a day, and they sleep down town at night, rather than go to their homes, in order to get an early start at the office in the morning. The down-town hotels are crowded these nights to their utmost capacity, solely because of the speculative furor. Some of the rooms have three beds, while cots have been put up in the parlors. Such is the frenzied race for wealth by the short and easy cut of stock gambling.” And many lost their all. Old men and women, poor men and women, hoping to increase their little store by gambling in stocks, were plucked of all their feathers, and left financially naked. “In its demoralizing consequences,” says the last-named journal, “it can only be compared with the operations of a thousand Louisiana lotteries, under which $10,000 prizes are being drawn in all parts of the country, and held up to general view to excite a crazed cupidity among all classes.” And all this breeds extravagance. New York City, it is said, was never living so high. Demand for the most expensive gems and jewelry has not been so great for a long time as in the last quarter year. The restaurants and hotels are full of hilarity, and the choicest wines and costliest luxuries are demanded. The manager of the Hoffman House is thus reported:— For the past four or five months the money which has been in circulation has been simply prodigious. For instance, we have a number of private dining-rooms for the use of persons who wish to give dinner parties. Since the first of January these rooms have been engaged for nearly every night in the week, except Sundays, weeks in advance; and there have been only a few Sundays when they were not in use. That would not strike me as being so particularly remarkable, were it not for the kind of dinners which those leasing the rooms desire. I can remember the time, and it was only a mighty few years ago, when a dinner, given at a hotel or restaurant which cost $10 a plate, was considered a pretty swagger sort of a dinner. But now, a $10-a-plate dinner simply isn’t in it. Just the plain, ordinary dinners cost $15 a plate, and from that up. This, of course, takes no account of the floral decorations and the music. These are all extra, and if you want to know something about the extravagances people are running to in flowers for dinners, go and ask some of the first-class florists. One florist says that he is selling more cut flowers than in all the years of past business: “It is a common thing for us to have a standing order now for enough cut flowers to fill vases in half a dozen rooms in a house every morning. Formerly we got these same orders not more than two or three times a week. In the way of dinner decorations, never have so costly flowers been used in this or any other town as have been used since the first of the year. American Beauty roses used to be considered luxuries. Now, while there is, of course, a demand for them, our customers must have orchids, or quantities of violets or pansies and the like, all of which are floral luxuries at the time of the year when dinner-giving is in vogue.” “There are undoubtedly more stunningly-dressed women in New York to-day than ever before in its history,” says the Republican; “for they naturally go with diamonds, cut flowers, and $20-a-plate dinners. The expensive automobile is gaining a great vogue. Extravagance of the wildest description is the example now set by the commercial metropolis to the country at large. . . .” “Prosperity is glorious—would that every one really shared in it! But the moral effect upon the country of such a spectacle of speculation, gambling, and riotous living as is presented in our financial and commercial capital, in this climacteric of the national fatness, can not be a cause for special congratulation.” And of this the prophet speaks: “Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon My people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. And the songs of the palace shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God; there shall be many dead bodies in every place.” The overabounding extravagance and luxury will be as ephemeral as summer fruit. “And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth; and behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we shall die.” PROSPERITY AND ADVERSITY.
THOUSANDS of people, from the president down, who do not come in contact with the other side of life, have been congratulating themselves and the country on the abounding, extravagance-breeding, gambling-exciting prosperity. It is well for those who have regard for the future to take broader views—to look underneath, as it were, the veneer of “prosperity.” There is published in the great commercial metropolis of this country a little paper called the City Mission Monthly, edited by Dr. Schauffler. In its issue for April it has these facts to present, which we take from the Christian Advocate:— One intelligent young married woman, with a child to support, makes men's gingham shirts at twenty-seven cents a dozen. One man, with a wife and two children, occupying two rooms on a top-floor tenement, makes children's shoes at three cents a pair, hand-made. They used to get ten or twelve cents a pair, but gradually were cut down to this. His wife walked the floor, carrying the baby, and told how she tried to help along by making muffs. By working all day, and until late at night, she can finish one muff, for which she receives fifty cents. A woman in delicate health, who has a daughter very sick with cancer, makes men's pants at sixteen cents per dozen. This means the putting on of thirty-six yards of braid by hand, and sewing on one hundred and forty-four buttons. They have to work in a cold room, not being able to afford a fire. Another woman makes fine French violets at six cents a gross. By working from sunrise till late at night, she manages to earn thirty-six cents. A woman finishes men's fine coats, hemming down the linings, at seven cents apiece. Another makes cigar cases at one dollar a thousand. Another works on dress-shields for thirty-five cents per gross. The sickness of a day would make any of these paupers, and they are but specimens. Their children are deposited at the Virginia Day Nursery. Is it a wonder that the prophet of God, seeing these things before, declared: “Behold, the hire of ‘the laborers, . . . which is of you kept back by9 ‘fraud, crieth; and the cries . . . are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” James 5:4. And another prophet cries out: “Hear this, O ye ‘that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor ‘of the land to fail.” Amos 8:4. And yet another: “The wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he, and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them.” See Hab. 1:12 to 2:14. “ALWAYS BEFORE MY FACE.”
By T.
How full of consolation and strong comfort are these words of the Lord: “I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved; therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope; because Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; Thou shalt make me full of joy with Thy countenance.” Acts 2:25–28. This scripture is the translation that Peter, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, gives of a portion of the sixteenth psalm. He applies the words to Christ, and thus shows the plan by which the Master was able to overcome while He was clothed, as we are, with all the frailties of human flesh. “I foresaw the Lord always before my face.” What a thought this is! The Lord always before the face. He is not kept before us a part of the time, merely, but He is before the face “always.” Herein is the secret of salvation’s power. We get our strength for victory by keeping the Lord before the mind’s eye every instant—always. And observe the purpose for which He is always before us: “For He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.” The Lord is not there as a detective to catch us at something wrong so that He may punish us. No, indeed! He is there that we “should not be moved.” The Lord is watching over us to supply us with power to stand. “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” 2 Chron. 16:9. The Lord seeks to avert the wrong by inspiring us with His own presence to do the right. What an inspiration! It should set in motion every faculty of our being to think of the great Creator, with all His mighty power and love, standing beside us that we should not be moved. When trials come, think of the One beside us! When temptations come, and we see no hope but to sink beneath them, think of the infinite power that is at our side. When great tasks tower before us, and we see no possible way to accomplish them, then look upon the worlds revolving through space, see the mighty forces that are operating in all nature, and turn to Him who is beside us and duly apologize that we should ever have become staggered by the magnitude of anything He has set before us to be done. Let us keep seeing Him who is always before our face, and thus gain the indescribable experience of knowing that “He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.” T. Greatness in Spite of Evil
What a prominent Western daily designs as a crushing argument, printed in capitals, is the following question: “What really great man can you mention ‘in the history of the world who was a teetotaler?’ and then it remarks: “We should like a list of the ‘great men who have never tasted alcohol; and if no ‘such list is forthcoming, we should like an explanation of the fact that so much has been achieved in ‘spite of the universal popularity of the rum demon.” Now this could be paralleled by such a question as this: What great man can you name in the history of the world who was sinless [not a sinner]? But the sin did not make them great; it hindered them at every step, and finally, with but two recorded exceptions, laid them in the grave. Would they have been better without the sin? Ask the angels who have never fallen. Before the presence of one, 185,000 of the flower of an army turned to death. Greatness and worth and the power and goodness of God work through humanity in spite of evil. How much more might have been done, we do not know, and will not till God’s books reveal it.