Earlier text: General ArticlesIf we would by searching find out God, we must ask him first to search and to find us. He knows us infinitely better than we know ourselves, and he knows whether we truly desire to find him. He who begins Psalm 139 with the words, "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me," ends it with a prayer that God would still more search him and know him (verse 23). He wished to lay his heart open to God, well knowing that it was already before him, and that the darkness of willful concealment, as well as the light of candid confession, were "both alike" to that all-seeing Eye (verse 12). Thus the psalmist knew something of God; he recognized that before Him with whom we have to do all things are naked and open for God had taught him this great truth in his deepest heart, and was ever teaching it more and more in answer to his prayer. When God has thus searched the heart, the man is no longer left in utter ignorance, standing aloof before an unknown God; he has had dealings which he can never forget with his Maker, and having known God as the Searcher, he cannot rest till the Holy Spirit of God reveals him also as the Cleanser of the heart. To know God thus, we must know him in Jesus Christ, who came to reveal him to man. Enlightened by this glorious revelation, we can find God because God has found us.—Selected. Saved From Sin
By Selected
Unless we are saved from sin in this life, we cannot hope to be glorified in the life to come, for nothing impure can enter Heaven. If saved at all, we must be saved by faith in Christ. He is the only Saviour of sinners. We must consecrate ourselves unreservedly to him, and by the power of his Spirit and grace be pardoned and purified, before we are fit to enter Heaven. We must not make any parley with sin. The old leaven of wickedness must be cast out. Christ did not come to cripple but to destroy the works of the devil; and we should not be satisfied with anything else. The Bible makes no allowance for sin, and we should not give it any quarter. It is our great enemy, and we should not be satisfied until we have gained a complete victory over it. This is our privilege, and also our duty. Sin, we are assured, shall not have dominion over us. The strong man armed must be cast out, and Christ enthroned in the heart as Lord of all. Thus saved from sin through Christ on earth, we shall be glorified with him forever in Heaven. The Struggle of Self-Subdual
No conflict is so severe as his who labors to subdue himself. Now read from the word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah:— "I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord. I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests; and them that worship the host of heaven upon the house-tops; and them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham; and them that are turned back from the Lord; and those that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him." Zeph. 1:2-6. Here we learn again that this destruction is not going to be a local affair. Although the prophecy came to the Jews, it was directed not only against those of them that turned back from the Lord and worshiped Baal and the host of heaven, but against "those that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him." In confirmation of this, we read again:— "Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." Zeph. 3:8. We close this list of quotations from the prophecies of the Old Testament, by a portion of "the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi." Says the Lord through this prophet:— "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap; and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. 3:1-5. And after this solemn question and warning, the following view is presented, not only of the destruction that shall attend the coming of the Lord, but also of what shall follow that:— "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. 4:1-3. Thus we have seen, although we have selected only a few instances, that the sure word of prophecy is fairly burdened with references to "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." More extended investigation would reveal the fact that the great body of prophecy was given for the sole purpose of giving instruction concerning either the first or the second advent of Christ. Thus the apostle Peter says to those who are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that it is,— "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ; . . . receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." 1 Peter 1:7-11. What the sufferings of Christ brought to mankind is known to all in so-called Christian lands, and to nearly all in the world. He suffered for sin, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." Through his spilled blood, all who believe on him may be justified freely by the grace of God, receiving the remission of sins; and being thus justified by faith, they may have peace with God. At Christ's first advent, he was made an offering for sin, and he "bare our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24); but when he comes the second time, he comes "without sin unto salvation." Heb. 9:28. Concerning this coming there is less knowledge among men than of the first; yet it brings the consummation of the gospel and of this world's history. Without "the glory that should follow," the sufferings of Christ would be to no purpose. But as we have seen, that glory which the justified and sanctified ones are to share with him (Rom. 8:17), when he comes, will also destroy the wicked. Therefore, since that event is of such overwhelming importance, how true the words that we "do well" to "take heed" to the sure word of prophecy "as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise." This present age is called night. Says Paul, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light." Rom. 13:12. And this he says in view of the fact previously stated, that it is high time to wake out of sleep, because our salvation is near. The dawning of the day, and the arising of the day-star, refer to the coming of Christ, who is "the bright and morning star." Rev. 22:16. So Isaiah, like Paul, tells of the night of darkness, and the coming of the dawn. Looking with prophetic sight down the ages, he says:— "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." Isa. 60:1-3. This is commonly applied simply to the spread of the gospel; but what follows, taken in connection with parallel passages in the New Testament, shows that the prophet saw the triumph of the gospel in the final destruction of the wicked, and the salvation of the righteous in the New Jerusalem. Read the following, and compare with the 21st of Revelation:— "Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despise thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel." "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified." Isa. 60:11-14, 18-21. The dawning of the day, and the rising of the day-star, will be when the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth, and the people shall be righteous. This present time is night because the darkness of sin covers the people. In the midst of this night, our only light is that which shines from God's word. David said: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Ps. 119:105. The lamp of prophecy, lighted from the glory that surrounds the throne of God, sheds its beams amidst the darkness that overspreads the earth, and is the wayfaring man's only guide till the glory of the Lord shall arise in full splendor upon him. Whosoever takes heed to it, his path shall be "as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Prov. 4:18. EXTENT OF THE SABBATH COMMANDMENT.
ALTHOUGH there is no limitation either in the Sabbath commandment as spoken from Mt. Sinai, or as recorded in Gen. 2:1-3, the fact that many claim that it was limited in its application, makes it necessary for us to consider the question, For whom was the Sabbath sanctified? or, in other words, who were commanded to keep the Sabbath holy? When we consider that the day was sanctified, i. e., appointed or commanded, in Eden, there can be but one answer: The commandment was given to those then living. It is not possible that it could have been otherwise; that the account here is anticipative, and that the Sabbath was then sanctified for the use of some future generation. For to every command there must be two parties: the one commanding and the one commanded. A command cannot be made unless someone is present to receive it. In this case God issued the command, and Adam and Eve were the ones to whom it was directed. But they represented all who should afterward live upon the earth. See Gen. 3:20. It follows, then, that the Sabbath commandment embraces the whole world; all who have descended from Adam and Eve. In harmony with this conclusion we have the words of our Saviour, in Mark 2:27, "The Sabbath was made for man." This can mean nothing less than the whole human race, for the word "man," when used without any limiting word, means "mankind; the totality of men." When the word is limited, it means man to the exclusion of women; and no one will claim that the women of whatever race or class of people to whom the commandment is given are not under obligation to keep the Sabbath. No one will be found bold enough to claim that the word "man" in Mark 2:27 has a different meaning from what it has in Gen. 1:27; 2:7. It is also most evident from the Scriptures that God designed to have the Sabbath kept by all men in all parts of the world. Christ said that "the Sabbath was made for man," and the inspired apostle declared that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." Acts 17:26. The God who made the round earth, and made all men to dwell in all the face of it, also made the Sabbath for man—all men—to keep as his holy day. What further evidence is needed to show that God designs that "all men everywhere" should keep the Sabbath?7 This being the case, it is manifestly improper to speak of the Sabbath as the "Jewish Sabbath," for it belongs to no special class of men. It belongs to no man at all, but is the property of God; he claims it as his own. See the commandment, also Isa. 58:13. If men, regardless of the commandment, choose to rest on some other day, they may call it their Sabbath, or give it any name they please; but "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord." There is just as much difference between keeping man's Sabbath and the Sabbath of the Lord as there is between worshiping man and worshiping God. We see that the commandment, as given at creation and renewed on Sinai, furnishes no warrant whatever to the idea that the Sabbath was to be local, or was given simply to the Jews. Not only this, but even in the Old Testament it is expressly stated that the Sabbath was not designed for the Jews alone. Thus we read: "Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. . . . Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar, for my house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." Isaiah 56:2, 6, 7. The position of the commandment in the law of God is also enough of itself to convince anyone that it is binding upon all men. Even profane persons will admit that it is wrong to take God's name in vain; and none claim that there is any privileged class who may swear with impunity. The fifth commandment is almost universally disregarded, yet no one thinks of asserting that its obligation does not extend to all mankind. The sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth are admitted to be of universal obligation, yet they are no more emphatic than the fourth, and the penalty for disregarding them is no more severe than that for violating the Sabbath commandment. It is true that the Sabbath rests solely on the commandment. This is urged by some as an objection. They say that it was always wrong to kill or to steal, but was not always wrong to break the Sabbath, since the Sabbath did not always exist. Hence they claim that the Sabbath is not moral. To this we reply (1) that the Sabbath has existed ever since day and night existed; (2) that God has always been the Supreme Being, and it always has been wrong to disobey him. Therefore, whenever he issues a command it is man's moral duty to obey. (3) The Lord claims the Sabbath as his own; he calls it "my holy day;" he has set bounds about it, and forbidden man to trespass upon it; he warns us not to venture to take it for our own use. Now if we violate this commandment, we take that which is not our own, and are guilty of theft, a thing which is admitted by all to be immoral. Many other proofs might be adduced to show the morality of the fourth commandment. But although "the Sabbath was made for man," it does not thereby become his property, to do with as he pleases. It was made for his use, not for his abuse. Paul, in 1 Cor. 11:9, says that the woman was made for the man. He does not mean that she was made to be the slave of man, who could be taken or put away at his pleasure, as in heathen lands, but that she was made as a help, a blessing to man. So the Sabbath was made for man, i. e., not against him; it was designed to aid him both spiritually and physically. A farmer who has hired servants may, in order to lighten their labor, buy certain tools for them. But no one would suppose that the servants would have any right to sell those tools which their employer had thus purchased. All would understand that he bought them for the servants to use, and to use in his service only. On this subject the "Speaker's Commentary" uses the following forcible language:— "On what principle of legislation can it be maintained that, because laws are imposed by the ruler for the benefit of the subject, therefore they may be dispensed with by the subject at his own convenience? This is utterly untenable as regards the laws of man; still more as regards the laws of God." EGYPT was one of the very first of nations to attain to power and civilization. She attained to such a height of power that for ages she was the strongest nation in the world; and to such a height of civilization that "the wisdom of the Egyptians" was proverbial even among the wisest people in the world. It was a commendable qualification in Moses that he "was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." And the Scripture, after stating that "God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore," proceeds to give the measure, or at least some sort of an idea, of it, by adding, "And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East country, and all the wisdom of Egypt." 1 Kings 4:29, 30. Esarhaddon and Asshur-bani-pal, the last of the great kings of Assyria, invaded Egypt, and in fact subdued it, but she soon recovered strength, and not only assisted Babylonia and Media in the utter destruction of the Assyrian kingdom, but also in the division of the empire that followed, Egypt received as her share all the Assyrian possessions west of the Euphrates, with her stronghold at Charchemish on the Euphrates. 2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chron 35:20, 21. In a few years, however, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took all these possessions, even as far as to the very border of Egypt itself. "And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto, the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt." 2 Kings 24:7. This was in B. c. 598. But yet the king of Egypt was "like a young lion of the nations," and "as a whale in the seas," and in 588-586, Ezekiel took up a lamentation for Egypt and declared that her ruin should come as the ruin of Assyria had gone before. Egypt was given to Nebuchadnezzar by the Lord, for the service which he wrought in the destruction of Tyre, and the spoil of Egypt was the wages of Nebuchadnezzar's army, for their work which they did for the Lord in the ruin of Tyre. Eze. 29:18-20. The secret of this was that Egypt had helped Tyre in her resistance. We have not space to notice all the prophecies concerning Egypt, but the following passage of Scripture is worthy of special notice:— "Thus saith the Lord God: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land; and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked; and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers; I the Lord have spoken it. Thus saith the Lord God: I will also destroy the idols; and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt; and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt." Eze. 30:10-13. We have none of the particulars of Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Egypt. It is known, however, that he did invade it twice, and that he was thoroughly successful, and carried large numbers of the Egyptians captive to Babylon. But aside from this there are three points in the above quotation which stand forth in such perfect fulfillment that no objection can justly be made by any man to the faithfulness of the word spoken by the prophet Ezekiel nearly twenty-five hundred years ago. We shall notice them in reverse order, taking the last one first. "There shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt." Although Egypt was subdued by Esarhaddon and Asshur-bani-pal, of Assyria; by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; and by Cambyses, of Persia; yet the Egyptians still ruled within the country itself. But in B. c. 344 Ochus of Persia invaded the land with 344,000 troops, the Egyptian king Nectanebo had an army of only 100,000 with which to meet him and 20,000 of these were Greek mercenaries. The king of Persia was wholly successful. "All Egypt submitted to Ochus, who demolished the walls of the cities, plundered the temples, and after amply rewarding his mercenaries, returned to his own capital with an immense booty." "Nectanebo in despair quitted the country and fled southward to Ethiopia," and from that day till this there has been no native ruler of Egypt. Nectanebo was the last Egyptian king that Egypt ever had. "Thus miserably fell the monarchy of the Pharaohs after an unexampled duration of nearly 3,000 years. . . . More than 2,000 years have since passed, and though Egypt has from time to time been independent, not one native prince has sat on the throne of the Pharaohs. 'There shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt' (Eze. 30:13) was prophesied in the days of Apries [the Pharaoh] of Jer. 44:30] as the final state of the land."—Encyclopædia Britannica, art. Egypt. Beside the princes of the monarchy itself there were "local princes" throughout Egypt; these continued for about twelve years, to the time when Alexander the Great took possession of Egypt, and then they too disappeared. "With Alexander the Macedonian dominion began. . . . From this time the Egyptian local princes, who for five centuries, except only during the rule of Psametik and his house, had caused all the divisions of Egypt, disappear from the scene."—Id. Thus the word has been literally fulfilled that "there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt." 2. "I will destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease." This is a most remarkable prediction. For of all nations that have ever lived on the earth, the Egyptians were the most abundantly idolatrous. Bodies heavenly and bodies earthly, bodies animate and bodies inanimate, real and imaginary, fish, flesh, fowl, and vegetable, all were worshiped as gods in Egypt; and it was literally true that in Egypt it was easier to find a god than a man. "The basis of their religion was Nigritian fetichism, the lowest kind of nature worship. . . . The fetichism included, besides the worship of animals, that of trees, rivers, and hills." The principal gods, such as Phthah, Ra, Shu, Isis, Osiris, etc., numbered up into the hundreds. Of the animals universally sacred, the principal were cows and heifers, apes, ibises, cats, hawks, asps, and dogs. Others, whose worship was more local, were lions, crocodiles, wolves, jackals, shrew-mice, the hippopotamus, antelopes, ibexes, frogs, goats, vultures, fish, ichneumons, and others too numerous to mention. Yet as numerous as the idols were, and as base as the idolatry was, the idols have been totally destroyed and the images have ceased utterly. 3. "I will make the land waste and all that is therein by the hand of strangers." All history from the conquest of Egypt by Ochus, before mentioned, till this day, bears continuous testimony to the literal fulfillment of this prophecy. From the day that King Nectanebo fled into Ethiopia till now, strangers have spoiled Egypt of her wealth and drained her of her treasures. When Alexander the Great had defeated Darius at Issus, he was welcomed by Egypt as a deliverer. In the final division of Alexander's dominion Egypt fell to Ptolemy the Macedonian, and he and his successors ruled and rifled it for two hundred and ninety-four years. It fell next under the dreadful dominion of Rome, whose iron hand held it for six hundred and seventy years, until A. D. 641. Then the Saracens took it and spoiled it for six hundred years. In 1250 the Mamalukes seized it two hundred and sixty-seven years, and "if you consider the whole time that they possessed the kingdom, especially that which was nearer the end, you will find it filled with wars, battles, injuries, and8 rapines."—Pococke. In A. D. 1517 the Turks conquered the Mamalukes, and took possession of the whole country, which they still hold. And a hundred years ago, Gibbon, in describing the condition of Egypt under their rule, stated not only what is still its condition, but gave the best statement in existence of the fulfillment of the prophecy. He said:— "A more unjust and absurd constitution cannot be devised than that which condemns the natives of a country to perpetual servitude, under the arbitrary dominion of strangers and slaves. Yet such has been the state of Egypt above five hundred years. The most illustrious sultans of the Baharite and Borgite dynasties were themselves promoted from the Tartar and Circassian bands; and the four and twenty beys, or military chiefs, have ever been succeeded, not by their sons, but by their servants. They produce the great charter of their liberties, the treaty of Selim the First with the republic; and the Othman emperor still accepts from Egypt a slight acknowledgment of tribute and subjection."—Decline and Fall, chap. 59, par. 20. And that is exactly as the prophet of God, nearly twenty-five hundred years ago, said it would be. The statement of these facts has prepared the way for us to give in a few words the fulfillment of another notable prophecy concerning Egypt. After the scattering of the people by Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord said: "I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations." Eze. 29:14, 15. In view of the fact that that nation has been so sold into the hands of strangers, and so spoiled by them, it is easy to see how that, from the wisest of nations, she could become the basest of nations. A hundred years ago Volney wrote this:— "In Egypt there is no middle class, neither nobility, clergy, merchants, nor land-holders. A universal air of misery in all the traveler meets, points out to him the rapacity of oppression, and the distrust attendant upon slavery. The profound ignorance of the inhabitants equally prevents them from perceiving the causes of their evils, or applying the necessary remedies. Ignorance diffused through every class, extends its effects to every species of moral and physical knowledge. Nothing is talked of but intestine troubles, the public misery, pecuniary extortions, and bastinadoes." Thirteen years ago, Dr. Robert Patterson wrote this:— "The wretched peasantry are rejoiced to labor for any who will pay them five cents a day, and eager to hide the treasure in the ground from the rapacious tax-gatherer. I have seen British horses refuse to eat the meal ground from the mixture of wheat, barley, oats, lentils, millet, and a hundred unknown seeds of weeds and collections of filth, which forms the produce of their fields. For poverty, vermin, and disease, Egypt is proverbial." "I have seen the population of several villages forced to leave their own fields in the spring, to march down to an old, filthy canal, near Cairo, and almost within sight of the gate of the palace, men, and women, and little boys, and girls, like those of our Sabbath-schools, scooping up the stinking mud and water with their hands, into baskets, carrying them on their heads up the steep bank, beaten with long sticks by the task-masters to hasten their steps; while steam dredges lay unused within sight." And only last year Mrs. Susan E. Wallace wrote of Egypt and her people, as follows:— "The valley of the Nile produces three crops a year; and sowing, plowing, reaping go on at the same time. Women worked in the fields with the men, each wearing one loose garment. There was no machinery but the shadof, like our old-fashioned well-sweep, the most primitive of pumps, and a rush basket. Swinging the water-tight basket, they moved with machine-like precision, these forever oppressed Egyptians, without recollections of a great past or ambition pointing to a better future. Their very souls are enslaved by centuries of grinding tyranny, knowing no change but a change of task-masters. The locomotive gives them no impulses, and they do not lift their heads as the herald of a new civilization, a chariot mightier than Pharaoh's, rolls past. Among the low-bending figures we saw the tattooed faces and painted blue lips, forbidden by the Levitical law. "In a slow, heart-broken way they moved steadily, swinging the rush basket, in the hard service of the field named in Deuteronomy, drawing up water from the river and emptying it on the fields in the higher levels. Sometimes the passer-by may hear a dull, droning sound from the unpaid toilers, a melancholy chorus chanted by gangs of boys and girls degraded unspeakably, who are set to work together along the Nile banks. The Arabic scholar tells us these are the words of the slow, sad song:— GIRLS.
'They starve us, they starve us!'
BOYS.
'They beat us, they beat us!'
CHORUS ALL TOGETHER.
'But there's someone above,
There's someone above,
Who will punish them well,
Will punish them well.' "Another burden in full chorus is:—
'The chief of the village,
The chief of the village,
May the dogs tear him, tear him, tear him!'" There is no more a prince of the land of Egypt; the idols have utterly ceased; the land is wasted by the hand of strangers; Egypt is the basest of the kingdoms; the prophecy is literally fulfilled; and this word which Ezekiel wrote, as he dwelt among the captives by the river of Chebar, two thousand four hundred and seventy-four years ago, is the WORD OF GOD. "Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper." J.