Signs of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 36. (7/16/1894)

Signs of the Times

Jul 16, 1894

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 16, 1894

The Great Strike—Foretold in Prophecy.

There is no movement likely to affect the world's destiny, there is no nation or government having a moulding power upon the world, there is no principle threatening the destruction of good government, causing extensive suffering in the world, or likely to corrupt the church of Christ, but that God has clearly foretold it in his word, has faithfully forewarned against its dangers, and has presented a sure antidote for its evil.

All this is true in the present strife between Labor and Capital. God knew that this strife would increase during this dispensation, and would be one of the paramount issues of the last days, just prior to the second coming of Christ. He knew that men would become so corrupt that there would be a great want of truth, and honor, and justice, even among those professing better things. God knew all these things, and because he knew them, and loved the children of men, he has revealed them in his holy word.

Here is one picture written of that time just before the "Redeemer shall come to Zion" (Isa. 59: 20):—

"None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth; they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. . . . And Judgment is turned away backward, and Justice standeth afar off; for Truth is fallen in the street; and Equity cannot enter. Yea, Truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey; and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment." Verses 4-15.

Here is another picture of the last days, drawn from the New Testament:—

"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts, in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous one; he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord." James 5: 1-7. Revised Version.

The truthfulness of the above will not be denied. Men have "heaped treasure together," have laid it up "in the last days." By overreaching, by unscrupulous methods, by perversion of law, by the purchase of municipal councils, State Legislatures, national congressmen, jurors, and courts of justice, by oppression of the poor, by the reduction of wages, by the "freezing out" and crushing out of smaller merchants, tradesmen, and manufacturers, by taking advantage of the necessities of the common people, by stockjobbery, by unlawful combinations, by unholy trusts, by oppression, by fraud, by threats, by bribery, by theft, by the use of men as mere machines, heartless rich men, and great, greedy, grasping, soulless corporations have "heaped treasure together in the last days." And there are no worse corporations, no crueler foes, to the body politic, to the poor of the land, to their homes, to body, mind, and soul, to interests temporal and eternal, than the great devil-fishes of whisky rings and trusts, which are pouring their baleful poison into the homes of the world.

There have been plenty of places where much of this wealth—well gotten and ill gotten—could be used for the betterment of mankind, the latter first of all restored to those from whom it was wrongly taken. Thousands are constantly in need. "The poor ye have always with you." Thousands more have been in need during the last year. A few dollars have been doled out by the wealthy, but the greater part of the beneficence of the past winter has come from the poorer classes, the artisans, the farmers, the smaller tradesmen and workingmen. It looks big—the donation of a thousand loaves of bread—but to the giver it was proportionally not so much as one loaf to the poor man who gave twenty or more. A half million seems a great gift for the endowment of a university or the building of an observatory, and it is heralded all over the world as an act of wonderful beneficence, by the religious press as well as by the secular; but it does not mean so much to the one who gave it as the amount given each and every year, for religious or charitable purposes, by many poor men whose worth is not regarded by mortal, but whose names are written in heaven. The pride of some religious people is greater for having a Rockefeller, or a Pullman, or a Stanford, than in possessing Jesus Christ, but it is all because they do not know Christ. The wealth is used, or some of it. It is used in building and furnishing marble palaces, while men who help produce it die in hovels. It is used in champagne suppers, which cost thousands, while the poor starve with the odor of the costly viands in their nostrils. It is used for gorgeous apparel, while those who make such wealth possible go in rags. Millions are thus wasted; millions more are hoarded till cankered or corroded from disuse.

Let us not be understood as condemning all the rich; some of them are honest, prudent, just, temperate, benevolent, magnanimous, generous. Some of these have during times of depression kept their business running at a loss, or absolutely at no profit, in order to give employment to their men. They have searched out the poor and needy, and have truly helped men to help themselves. But these are noble exceptions. The greater number of the rich have, during the most distressful times, "lived in pleasure upon the earth, and been wanton," responsible to God not only for the evil they have done, but for the good which they failed to do. See many other scriptures where God has plainly spoken concerning these things.

We also learn from these scriptures that the oppressed and the lawless will rise up against the oppressor. "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl, for your miseries that are coming upon you." Their very prosperity and oppression breed revolution. Says another prophet, while looking forward to this same time:—

"Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people. Shall not all these [that is, those whom he has oppressed] take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay ["with wrested property," Spurrel]! Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness [margin, "gaineth an evil gain"] to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he

may be delivered from the power of evil! . . . Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!" Hab. 2: 5-12.

Thus has Infinite Knowledge set before us the crimes of the rich, and the judgments which shall rise up against him from the oppressed and lawless. These times are now here. The worship of mammon has entered every avenue of life, with its corrupting, soul-destroying influences, and many of the professed worshipers of God are bowing down to the calf of gold. Against this, frequently, in blind rage, the masses have risen. They are doing it again. Verily we see fulfilled the signs of Christ's second coming, given by himself:—

"And there shall be signs . . . upon the earth, distress of nations, with perplexity; . . . men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21: 25-27.

The Remedy.

But God does not excuse acts of violence or lawlessness. Trampling on the rights of men is not justifiable either in the rich or poor. Causing the innocent to suffer is as bad in the poor as in the rich. Rising up in rebellion against law and order, oppressive though those laws may be, to some extent, is not the antidote of the poison, is not the remedy for the evil, is not the cure of the disease. Lawless triumph is in the end the worst of defeat. The worst government the world ever saw is better than anarchy. God declares it, and all history proves it.

The political remedy in a republic ought to be by peaceable means; but it is neither our province nor purpose to point that out. The eternal remedy, the remedy of God, is simple faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the word of God as it is in him. That faith will lead men to break away from all sin. It will lead to obedience to all the laws of the land. It will lead men to turn from intemperance in intoxicants and narcotics, worse foes to humanity than the cruelest plutocracy which ever existed. It will lead men to regard the rights and liberties of all, whether rich or poor. That faith will lead men to do as Christ did, commit all judgment unto God, who will render to every man according to his deeds.

Do not think, reader, that you must execute God's judgment. Do not think that you cannot afford to wait his time; that is your only safety. A war of classes will but increase the evil and the bonds of law. Leave the hatred of the rich, or of his ways, to God; leave all the difficulties and differences which cannot be peaceably adjusted, to him. You cannot afford to do otherwise, and if you will give up all of these, all of self, and accept of Jesus Christ for what he wants to be to you,—Redeemer, Saviour, Friend, Example, King,—you will not want to do otherwise. In him is all fullness. Having him you have all—all the eternal riches of his glory, with eternal life in which to enjoy them. The wicked may seem to triumph for a little while, but it shall be short. Strength is better measured by endurance. God endures.

The trial of faith may last a little while, then Christ will come. He knows that every feeling of righteousness is outraged by the injustice we see on every side, but leave it with him. It is the Christian's work to heal by the gospel of peace and love. Leave vengeance and wrath with God. He says: "Be patient [patiently endure], brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." "The Judge standeth at the door." He will plead your cause better than you can do it. He will decide more justly, for he reads the hearts. He says:—

"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. For I am the Lord, I change not." Mal. 3: 5, 6.

Do not make the mistake of losing both worlds when you may have all things in Jesus Christ. Listen to the word of the Lord:—

"Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Jer. 17: 5-8.

Reader, your decision is of eternal import. In whom is your trust? Whom will you serve? Will you heed the counsels of unprincipled and selfish men, who can promise life and peace, but cannot perform? or will you heed the word of the eternal God? Will you imitate the ways of the oppressor? or will you follow the Golden Rule of Jesus Christ.

REAPING THE WHIRLWIND.

By Editor

For the last half century there has been growing disrespect for God's word and law among the religious teachers of our land. While nearly all Protestant creeds acknowledge the Decalogue as the great moral standard, that which points out sin, that which embraces within itself the sum total of all righteousness, and condemns all sin or lawlessness, many of the Protestant clergy have ceased not to cast reproach upon that infinite code, counting it as "obsolete," "Jewish," "abrogated," "defunct," etc.

The reason of this is that they have been faced with a mighty problem, easy of solution to the heart which is submitted to God, difficult indeed to those who have chosen their own ways in preference to the way of the Infinite. They have found themselves and their practice called in question by one of the precepts—the fourth—of that law. Questions innumerable have come to them from members of their churches. They have attempted, honestly, no doubt, to meet these questions by holding to the integrity of the law, while attempting to justify their discordant practice. But the words of the law condemn both practice and argument, and this has of late been admitted by many. Therefore, to justify themselves, instead of yielding

to God, they have declared the law abrogated, repealed, changed, done away. They have said in effect to all their hearers, God's word is not to be respected; he does not mean what he says; his law, in this one respect, at least, is subject to the desires, the exigencies, the environments, and the practices of an apostate church.

This has been the teaching of many of the Protestant clergy. Two denominations, one of no small influence, have committed themselves wholly to this position. They have in so doing struck directly at the very foundation of the government of God, and so of all governments; for men have reasoned, and logically, too, that if one precept of God's law is not to be obeyed, if God does not mean what he says in one thing, the other nine precepts of his law are valueless, and may be violated with impunity. And from such teaching and such reasoning come disrespect, disloyalty, and irreverence toward God, and general lawlessness is everywhere rampant.

Witness the socialism, the anarchy, increasingly prevalent in this land of plenty. Witness the lawless mobs of strikers in the various parts of the country during the last few months. Witness the not less lawless, or at least iniquitous, corporations, many of whose members find honored places in various churches. Witness the present lawless railway trouble, which is destroying property, driving therefrom its owners, ruining hundreds, and causing unmeasured loss and suffering upon untold thousands who are not in the remotest sense parties to the controversy in question. The lawless mobs take forcible possession of property not their own. Peaceable men are driven by threats or forced by violence from honest employment. The police and municipal authorities command these lawless hordes to disperse, and they refuse to obey. The military authorities, in order to protect property and life and uphold the peace and dignity of the State, call out their forces, and the military forces are persuaded to leave to lawlessness the field. The crowd cheers, and some of the great dailies and political parties hark them on. The tension tightens. Men and women live weeks in days. The world suffers, but lawlessness abounds, and the very machinery of government seems as powerless as the "dead" engines on the rusty and oiled track of some of our great iron thoroughfares.

We are not defending wrong. Our sympathies are with all workingmen who suffer from the oppression of the great, greedy, soulless corporations. Let these corporations answer to the people in the legitimate way. But our principles are with the government always when government confines itself to its own sphere of civil law and order. The worst government the world ever knew is better than anarchy. And those who are lawless now will, in their triumph, reap a bitterer harvest than in their defeat.

But we are not writing this to discuss the bone of contention between employers and employed. That is one thing. Legitimate methods of settling differences are proper.

But the repeated and various acts of lawlessness, whenever opposition is met from owners or civic officers, is quite another thing, which should alarm every lover of law, order, and true liberty. What we desire to point out in this article is that: (1) These very things are evidences of the approaching end of the age, and Christ's everlasting reign; (2) God has predicted them as such; and (3) these things are the legitimate fruit of the seed sown by the professed ministers of the word, those who should have stood most loyal to God and his government, but who, instead, have sanctioned all lawlessness by repudiating God's law and the plainest instruction of his word. Now for the proof. The fiftieth psalm opens with the following sublime declaration:—

"The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth (that he may judge his people). Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; for God is judge himself."

In these few words are set forth the majesty of God, his coming again in Christ Jesus to execute judgment, the witnesses of heaven and earth to his judgment, and the declaration by the heavens of his righteous law, the rule of judgment (Rom. 2: 12; James 2: 8-12), which men have trampled underfoot, and deemed unworthy to be obeyed, albeit honored by the Lord of glory. In the latter part of the psalm God speaks of those who thus degrade his law and dishonor his government, and yet who profess to declare his statutes:—

"But unto the wicked, God saith, What hast thou to do, to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedest with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou gavest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son." Verses 16-20.

But these religious teachers may ask, How have we consented with the thief? How have we been partakers with adulterers? How have we hated instruction, or framed deceit?

In these ways: (1) The same law which said, "Thou shalt not steal," and, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," says also, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. . . . The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Now he who transgresses the fourth precept of God's law, or teaches its abrogation, thereby justifies him who transgresses the seventh or eighth precept, and can protest with little force against him who transgresses the sixth. Thus it is that the professed preacher of the gospel makes Christ the minister of sin, consents with the thief, and is a partaker with adulterers. (2) He frames deceitful arguments and theories to justify his position on God's law, and thus belies a brother in his own church, mayhap, who is framing contradictory theories, equally deceitful, for the same purpose. (3) He refuses the instruction which is shining from God's word with reference to the true Sabbath and its restoration. And while doing these things, because of multiplied numbers, God's blessing and prosperity are claimed. This the Lord foreknew, and thus he warned:—

"These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver." Verses 21, 22.

Much more might be said on this scripture, but we present another. Says our Saviour, in speaking of the end of the gospel age:—

"And because iniquity [lawlessness] shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." Matt. 24: 12, 13.

The apostle Paul thus writes of the last days:—

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, . . . trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, . . . traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away." 2 Tim. 3: 1-5.

It will be noted that these sins exist among those who profess godliness—who affect its form, but in their lives deny its power. Do we not see these things now? and are they not signs of the last days? Again the Lord says:—

"Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane [common], neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them." Eze. 22: 24-26.

"O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith, and the Lord hath not sent them; and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken? . . . Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life." Eze. 13: 4-22.

These are only a part of what God has said in his word of these times and of the responsibility which rests upon religious teachers. Here are the words of God; here are the conditions predicted. Are they not counterparts, the one the prediction, the other the fulfillment?

Disrespect, irreverence, disobedience of God and his law, beget disrespect and disobedience of parental authority, and governmental authority, and surely breed disorder, treason, anarchy, and destruction.

Of course these results were not designed by the teachers and leaders. The crop is not expected when the young man sows his wild oats nor takes his first drink, but it surely comes. As is the sowing so the reaping. These men who claimed to be the voice of God "have sown the wind;" they are already beginning the reaping of the whirlwind. Is it not time?—Yea, "it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you."

The Message Is Onward.

There never was a time when the Third Angel's Message, the preparatory message to Christ's second coming, was going to the world as rapidly as at the present time. This message embraces the entire gospel, given of God to restore sinful man to obedience to all God's righteous precepts. In the very center of this message is prominent the great truth of the Sabbath, the true Sabbath of the Lord, which stands for the sign of the only true God and Saviour. On the other hand, opposed to this message is the work of apostasy, the object of which is to draw men away from the truth of God, from faith in the gospel as the power of God, and from the obedience of faith of God's commandments. The very center of this apostasy is the counterfeit sabbath, the Sunday of papo-papal origin. This institution in its so-called Christian aspect was born in apostasy, cradled and nurtured by increasing apostasy, and will be enforced in the last struggle by a still greater apostasy, because from greater light. Friend, on which side do you stand? It is not a mere matter of days; it is Christ or antichrist, loyalty to God or treason to his government.

A Terrible Monster.

By Editor

Have you heard of it? "Christian" men in a "Christian" paper declare that it "compels an army of men and boys to labor;" "it invades many Christian homes, in defiance of law and of the express decision of the Supreme Court," and it prevents many persons from going to church. Certainly it is evil. Why does not this army rise up against this monster and destroy it? Why do not Christian homes bar their doors? Why do not men go armed to church if need be? What is this monster? Well, a committee of the Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, United Presbyterian; Baptist, Disciple, Methodist Protestant, and Reformed Presbyterian Churches of Alleghany County, Pa., twenty-eight in number, have, after careful consideration, . . . agreed that the "Sunday" newspaper is the most potent influence at work in our midst for the destruction of the Lord's day as a day of rest and worship. It not only compels an army of men and boys to labor on the Lord's day but it openly hawks its wares on the streets, and invades many Christian homes, in defiance of law and of the express decision of the Supreme Court, and is the means of keeping many persons from the house of God.

But this army works voluntarily; the many Christian homes not only open their doors willingly, but pay for the privilege of having this monster come in; and those who keep from the house of God prefer the monster to the sermon. And, therefore, these men, these homes, and all parties concerned, must be compelled by Sunday laws to do what they do not want to do, and these Sunday laws enforced by "Christians"!! Verily, "the church has fallen." The language of the true servant of Christ is, "We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Let these Pennsylvania ministers "preach the word." But they desire a quicker way,—Rome's way.

"THIS DO, AND THOU SHALT LIVE."

By Mrs. E. G. White

"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

With breathless attention the large congregation awaited Jesus' answer. The priests and Pharisees hoped to find something against him, and listened, that they might take advantage of his words, and interpret them in such a way as to bring upon him condemnation. But Christ, the true searcher of hearts, understood the intents and purposes of his enemies. He turned the matter over to the lawyer who had asked the question, saying, "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" The Jews accused Jesus of making too little of the law, but he turned the question of salvation the lawyer had asked to the keeping of God's commandments. And the lawyer said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right; this do, and thou shalt live."

The lawyer had asked a plain, decided question, and the answer is equally plain and decided. The scribes, priests, and Pharisees could find nothing by which to put him on trial for his life, except through the testimony of false witnesses, who accused him of violating the law. They had thought to entangle Jesus by having the lawyer ask this question, but the answering of it is required at the questioner's hand. Christ knew that the lawyer was not satisfied with the position and works of the Pharisees, and, by the answer that he made to his own question, it is evident that he had been studying the Scriptures with a desire to obtain their real meaning. He had a vital interest in the matter, and asked in sincerity, "What shall I do?" The answer of the lawyer, commended by Jesus, and coming from one well instructed in the law, placed Jesus in such a position that the priests and Pharisees could not find occasion against him. In answering the question, "What is written in the law?" the lawyer passed over all the mass of ceremonial and ritualistic ordinances as of no value, and presented only the two great principles on which hang all the law and the prophets, and Jesus commended his wisdom, and said, "This do, and thou shalt live." Jesus presented the law as a divine unity, and showed that it is not possible to keep one precept and break another, but that man's position in the courts above will be according to his obedience to the whole law.

In his sermon on the mount Jesus had presented the truth concerning his estimation of the law. He had said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For . . . except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."

The views entertained by the scribes and Pharisees are still in vogue in the world, and men think that by a partial obedience to the law, they will be cleared from sin; but Jesus taught that if any man offended in one point, he was guilty of breaking the whole law. The commandments are connected one with another as links in a chain, and if one link is broken, the chain is worthless. It is impossible for a man to obtain eternal life and break the commandments of Jehovah. Men cannot obey one commandment without rendering obedience to all the commandments. We are to regard the whole law as holy, just, and good. The first four precepts reveal the duty of man to God, and the last six reveal the duty of man to his fellow-man. On these two great principles hang all the law and the prophets; and when they are carried out in the life, they constitute the righteousness of their keeper.

In all the instructions of Jesus, he presents before us the character of God. We are called upon to love God with undivided heart. We are not to render to him a formal service, a barren faith, to acknowledge his superior power in a casual way, but we are to render to him praise and thanksgiving, and make it manifest that we are under his rule and dominion. He will accept nothing but the whole heart, the supreme love. There must be nothing that will draw the mind away from him. Anything that interposes itself between God and the soul, assumes the form of an idol. Every other thing that can attract the heart is inferior to God, and no man can serve two masters whose interests are at variance. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

Jesus found himself surrounded by scribes, Pharisees, and lawyers, and the lawyer asked him, "Who is my neighbor?" To this question Jesus presented a parable that laid bare the sanctimonious pretensions of priests and Levites. With fearlessness and fidelity he exposed the false doctrine of those who taught the traditions of man, and disregarded the commandments of God. He illustrated what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves. But he also showed that this love will never be exercised by those who do not keep the first four precepts of the law. Where love to God is practiced, natural self-idolatry will not exist. No man can love God supremely unless he loves his neighbor as himself. "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen?" Love to God is the golden chain that binds the ten precepts of Jehovah together.

To answer the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus presented the parable of the good Samaritan. He knew that the Jews included only those of their own nation under the title of neighbors, and looked upon the Gentiles with contempt, calling them dogs, uncircumcised, unclean, and polluted. But above all others they despised the Samaritans. They cursed them, and would have no dealings with them. Jesus himself had been taught, both by precept and example, thus to regard this hated people, and the lawyer had been educated by the same kind of teaching. Yet Jesus said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead."

In journeying from Jerusalem to Jericho the traveler had to pass through a portion of the wilderness of Judea, and the road led through a wild, rocky ravine. It was here that robbers attacked the traveler, stripped him of all that was valuable, wounding and bruising him, and leaving him half dead by the wayside. As the sufferer lies thus, a priest passes by, but merely glances at the wounded man; and, as he does not wish to be put to the trouble and expense of helping him, he passes by on the other side. Then a Levite passes. Curious to know what has happened, he stops and looks at the sufferer; but he has no feeling of compassion to prompt him to help the dying man. He does not like the work, and, as he thinks it is no concern of his, he too passes by. Both these men were in sacred office, and claimed to know and to expound the Scriptures. They had been trained in the school of national bigotry, and had become selfish, narrow, and exclusive, and they felt no sympathy for anyone unless he was of the Jews. They look upon the wounded man, but cannot tell whether he is of their nation or not. He might be of the Samaritans—and they turn away. Had they not read of Job, who said, "The stranger did not lodge in the street; but I opened my doors to the traveler"? Had they not read of Lot, when the two angels came to Sodom, how he bowed himself to the ground, and said, "Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways"?

Jesus, enshrouded in the pillar of cloud and fire, had taught them a very different lesson from the lesson they had received from bigoted and exclusive teachers. The merciful Saviour of the Gospels was the One who had instructed the Hebrews in the wilderness; and, had they read the Scriptures correctly, and practiced the teaching he had given, they would have pursued a very different course of action from the one they did pursue. The weightier matters of the law

were judgment, mercy, and love. The stranger was to be treated with kindness, and it was to be understood that strangers were under God's special protection. Directions had been given to Moses for the children of Israel to this effect: "If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help him." And was not a man better than an ox?

(Concluded next week.)

ABIDE IN ME.

By Mrs. K. F.

BY MRS. K. F.

"Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God." "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." 1 John 4 : 2, 4.

It is not enough for me to know That once, near Galilee, Thou cam'st in flesh long years ago And dwelt by that fair sea.

It is for me by living faith To grasp the promise free, "If any ask I will come in And he shall dwell with me."

Dear Saviour, wilt thou dwell in me All through the scenes of time, That I, at last, may dwell with thee In that fair, heavenly clime?

By faith thy words in me abide; By faith I dwell with thee; And what I ask thou wilt provide To all eternity. For in thy name we ask, we hide, And reap our victory.

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