THERE is no warm nor bright color here; all is grim and gray except the blue tiles in the Mosque of Omar. The shadow of the Crucifixion rests on the place forever; a strange stillness reigns, and laughter would seem like laughter beside an open grave. Women, veiled in white, glide thru the dark, crooked alleys like tenants of a city of specters, and even the children, subdued by the overwhelming gloom, are silent beyond the wont of Orientals. Ruins, ruins at every hand! Well has the prophecy been fulfilled, “Jerusalem shall become heaps.” The very stones of the streets are dismal, worn away with burdens borne since they rang with the tramp of legions and glittered with the brassy armor of the masters of the earth. Men may come and men may go, but never since the Omnipotent Hand stretched the north over the empty space and hung the world upon nothing has there been a race like the race descended from that wolf brood on the Tiber. Outside the walls—saddest sight where all is sadness—are ancient Jews come merely to die in the land of their love. A few in whom there is much guile, offer for sale talismans, gems of magic, rings of occult power. The greater number sit in the sun, motionless as statues, without the dignity that should accompany age, in poverty past telling, dreaming away the day and night, apparently without hope, except to have a little holy dust laid on their eyelids when they shall have closed them to sleep with patriarchs and seers in the valley of Jehoshaphat.—Ladies’ Home Journal.
A SHORT BIBLE SERMON.
By G. H. Heald
God’s Purpose
The Lord is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9),
His Power
and He is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24).
His Part in This Work
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies hath He reconciled to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight;
Your Part of the Work
if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel (Col. 1:21–23); which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast (Heb. 6:19).
Assurance
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. Heb. 10:35. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Heb. 3:14.
G. H. HEALD.
A WONDERFUL EXAMPLE OF FAITH.
The Thief on the Cross.
ALL along the course of Sacred History there stand out some wonderful examples of faith, examples clear, salient, strong, to inspire the heart of the student in the various conflicts of life.
Not the least of these is the figure of a malefactor limned against an oriental sky in the afternoon of a vernal day in the year A.D. 31. There were three figures there, hung on brutal Roman crosses. On one side was a hardened malefactor, who died with curses on his lips. In the center was the Anointed of God, the Innocent One, dying as a malefactor, condemned as guilty of blasphemy by His own nation, as guilty of sedition by Rome, and yet innocent of both.
On the other side of the Innocent One was another malefactor, justly condemned, but penitent, in the light of the patience and meekness of Christ.
Doubtless in his marauding career, mingling in the great gatherings of the people, he had heard Christ preach. Being a Jew, he recognized Him as a prophet. But in the light of ancient prophecies fulfilling in the life and character of the One by his side, he saw in Jesus the Messiah foretold, and that His kingdom was of the future. So when his companion in crime cursed, he turned to Jesus with the prayer, “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.” Luke 23:42.
1. His request was pre-eminently Scriptural. Jesus truly affirmed, “My kingdom is not of this world [cosmos];” that is, of this earth in its present sinful state. Neither is Christ’s kingdom on high. He there occupies a throne, but it is the Father’s throne of grace. See Heb. 8:1; Rev. 3:21; Ps. 110:1. There Christ will sit as priest-king till His mediatorial ministrations are finished.
2. When Christ’s priestly work is past, when the last human sheaf has been garnered, when the last subject of the eternal kingdom has been sealed, when from the Father the Saviour of men has received His right to reign eternally (Luke 19:11, 12; Dan. 7:13, 14), then Christ shall lay aside His priestly attire, put on the regal robes, and come to claim His own from “the land of the enemy,” and begin His eternal reign. “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” Matt. 25:31. Then shall “the kingdom of the world . . . become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.” Rev. 11:15, R.V.
3. It is at the second coming of Christ that the dead shall be raised and rewarded. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” See 1 Thess. 4:15-17; 1 Cor. 15:51-54. “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works.” Matt. 16:27; Rev. 22:11, 12. It was to Christ’s coming and kingdom, and the resurrection and reward of the righteous, that the prayer of the penitent thief had reference, “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.”
4. It was marvelous faith on the part of the thief. Christ’s own people, especially the learned and reputedly wise, had rejected Him, had denounced Him as a false prophet, and condemned Him as a blasphemer; His own disciples had forsaken Him and fled; He had suffered untold ignominy and insult; He was dying upon the cross, with His mission a seeming failure. Notwithstanding all these appearances, the thief believed. His faith pierced the gloom-cloud of the cross, and saw the eternal triumph and glory beyond.
5. The reply of Jesus meets with royal assurance the strong faith. “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee to-day”—“to-day,” when all looks so dark to eyes of unbelief, to human vision; “to-day,” when seemingly I have no power to perform My promise; “to-day,” the very eve of the death-struggle and sealed sepulcher and the rejoicing of the powers of darkness; even “to-day,” as thou hast had faith to believe, I have the authority to promise, “shalt thou be with Me in Paradise,” in that day when I come into My kingdom. How glorious the promise that meets the faith!
6. “But did not Christ mean that the thief would be in Paradise with him on the day the words were spoken?” asks one. “Does not the comma preceding ‘to-day’ indicate that?”—Not at all; for, (a) the thief, in all probability, did not die that day. Sometimes the crucified lived two or three days. (b) Paradise is “the third heaven,” where the tree of life is before the throne of God the Father. 2 Cor. 12:2, 4; Rev. 2:7; 22:1, 2. Jesus did not go to Paradise on that day; for the third day after He said to Mary, “Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father.” John 20:17. Jesus, therefore, did not go to Paradise on that day. (c) As to the comma, it is not a matter of inspiration; it has been in use only a few hundred years. It was placed before “to-day” because the exigency of theology seemed to demand it. There are other instances of misplaced commas. A parallel expression to Luke 23:43 is found in Zech. 9:12: “Turn ye to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope; even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;” that is, at the time of their deliverance. And so Jesus assured the dying thief on that day of Satan’s seeming triumph, thru which faith saw the glory beyond, that when He came into His kingdom, at His coming, He would remember the faithful sleeper, and save him to His eternal kingdom. The incident is a glorious illustration of the triumph of faith.
Self-Denial and Christianity
Of course it is not hard to get men to join a club when they are given cards, billiards, and cigars each evening, a monthly “smoker” social, at which are speeches from distinguished men, five dollars a week if ill, coal at lowest wholesale rate, a half dollar a member if a wife dies, and the family a dollar a member if the husband dies. This is the plan of a minister in New York to reach men; it only establishes a prosperous co-operative society. But this isn't Christianity. Men join this for purely selfish reasons; but self-denial is the very foundation of Christianity. The Christian gives himself and his all, and holds his possessions as a steward of God. The spirit of the world and of the natural man seeks to get. There is a vital difference.
WHAT SHALL I DO TO SECURE ETERNAL LIFE?
By T.
EVERY sane man or woman is possessed of an inexpressible desire to live to all eternity. Men in all ages have queried: “Shall we live eternally? Will we ever be immortal? Are we immortal now?”
With this thought, or desire, of eternal life in mind, and being away from the light of the Bible, the groundless doctrine of the immortal soul’s dwelling in man was invented. Men for ages have argued that we have a soul that can not die. But still the question is unsettled. Its most ardent advocates are not positively sure that their reasonings upon the subject are sufficiently strong to silence the inner questionings that arise, despite all that has been said.
A clear statement in regard to the immortality doctrine is made by Paul, as follows: “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. I charge thee in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and of Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession; that thou keep the commandment, without spot, without reproach, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; which in its own times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can see; to whom be honor and power eternal. Amen.” 1 Tim. 6:12–16, R.V.
In the foregoing words we are exhorted to “lay hold on the life eternal.” We are also plainly told that “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords,” is the One “who only hath immortality.” Since God plainly tells us that He only hath immortality, it is clear that only those can lay hold on eternal life who accept it as a proffered gift from our heavenly Father.
No truly intelligent Bible Christian who candidly investigates the subject will cling for a great while to the pagan doctrine of the soul’s inherent or natural immortality. How can he, when the Bible does not teach any such thing?
Altho the Bible does not teach the soul’s immortality, yet should we be comforted; for it offers us something far better than any of the human theories about the immortal soul. It gives us the positive promise of an unending life. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36. Language could not state a truth more clearly. Every one who “believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” The promise is sure to all such, but there is no promise of eternal life to any others. Contrariwise, there is the unequivocal statement, “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life.”
Another text upon this subject is equally clear. It reads: “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:11–13.
That person who has the Son of God has accepted the character of the Master. All the virtues and lovely and lovable traits of character presented in the Sermon on the Mount are woven into the life of the individual who has the Son of God. He lives on the high plane of divine morality, and such an one God esteems worthy of eternal life. The heavenly Father can not intrust an eternity of existence to one who is immoral, impure, dishonest, debased. Only those who accept and love the true way of righteousness can enter into the real joys of an eternal existence.7All evil-doers would do as they ever have done: they would pervert the good things of the Lord, and, turning them into a wrong channel, would cause them to be a curse rather than a blessing.
God will not immortalize sin. He gives us the present opportunity to turn away from sin, but if we neglect the proffered salvation, there stands the decree, “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. And death is death. It can not be made to stand for eternal life in a state of misery. Such a condition could not be called death. It would be a miserable, torturous life. The Lord is not a tyrant, that He should inflict endless torture upon any, no matter how vile they may have been.
Then, as we would prize an eternal existence, let us make sure that we go to the Source from which it may be obtained, and not be deceived by the doctrine that immortality inheres in sinful man. If we would live forever, we must receive the gift of eternal life from the Son of God. Otherwise our mortal life that we now hold will soon pass into the oblivion of eternal death. T.
Rebuked by the World.—
It is very remarkable how the secular papers are beginning to rebuke the church for its lamentable departure from the simplicity that is in Christ. The Providence Telegram has never been noted for its pious utterances or friendship for Christianity; but it has recently published an editorial worthy of the serious consideration of all leaders in church work and methods:—
“Spiritual declension, the absence of aggressive work, the diminution of accessions to the churches, and the loss of a ‘grip’ upon the consciences and presence of the masses of men, have kept pace with secularization of the pulpit, the introduction of purely national questions in sermons, the multiplication of societies, the increase of committees, the enlargement of conventions, the frequency of religious junketings, and the invention of many sorts of ecclesiastical devices and machinery. Is it not true that as these things have forged to the front, spirituality has been relegated to the rear; and as these things have gone up, the church’s spiritual life has diminished? Is it not proper now for the Protestant portion of Christendom to consider the question of returning to its old methods, its old message, and its old-time simplicity? To an interested observer it seems that many Protestant churches have been degraded to the level of a ‘man of all work.’ Thoughtful and conscientious ministers are often burdened with the Sundays set apart for temperance, the hospital, for municipal reform, for Sunday observance, and for a dozen other ‘reforms,’ so that little time is left to preach the Gospel committed to them when they took holy orders. So much money has to be raised for these secondary agencies that the primary work ordained by the Founder of Christianity, as interpreted by the apostles and rigidly adhered to by the devout and pious of all ages, has to go to the wall. Hence the empty treasuries of mission societies and the curtailing of all the aggressive work in missions.”—Watchword and Truth.
THE ORDINANCE OF HUMILITY.
IN all the ordinances left by our Lord for His church there are continual and useful lessons. The empty form of even the ordinances of Christ are in themselves nothing. Performing them in faithless round is but an empty mockery. It is hoping for life from a dead form.
The ordinance of the Lord’s supper is designed to be an occasional emblem of a continual living fact. Christ is the true bread. His blood is the true life, which, except a man eat thereof, he shall not live. But His flesh, His blood,—His life,—are but setting forth in other terms His Word and His Spirit; for “it is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63. The true child of God is continually feeding upon the Word, continually drinking in of the life, which Christ died to give. The Lord’s supper is only setting forth in beautiful symbol to all beholders what the believer continually knows, “the Lord’s death till He come.”
The ordinance of baptism is the marriage ceremony, uniting before the world the believer to Christ. But unless there is crucifixion of the believer with Christ, unless there is the grasping, the appropriating of the resurrection life of Christ in the victorious life of the believer, the baptismal ceremony is an empty form.
There is another, a forgotten ordinance by the great part of Christendom; and that is the ordinance of humility, or feet washing, set forth in John 13. Its lesson is the humble, loving service of true soul fellowship in Christ Jesus. It is not now practised except by a few who wish to be loyal to their Lord. It is considered by scholars a mere act of hospitality. The Sunday School Times, in its issue of January 12, thus states what is generally held:—
“In Palestine, in the days of our Lord, feet washing was a necessity, and was an act of common courtesy, to an extent that we can hardly understand now. There were no pavements. None wore stockings. Shoes were removed and were left at the doors of the houses. The hot limestone or chalk dust made the feet burn and feel the need of cooling baths. Therefore feet washing was a necessity; it was so long before the days of Jesus, and one who would consider the comfort of his guests must either have his servant bathe their feet as they entered, or bathe them himself. This never seems to have been deemed a sacrament, as did at all times the sharing of each other’s life, in taking blood or its substitute. But it was an act of considerate regard for the comfort of one’s fellow in the land where it was common and needful. Within those limits it certainly is well to observe it still.”
But is this all the chapter teaches? Was our Lord only performing an act of ordinary hospitality? The briefest consideration of the words of the evangelist will show most clearly that the act then performed of Christ meant much more than that.
1. The disciples had all bathed with scrupulous, Jewish fidelity for the Passover occasion. “He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet,” that is, to take part in that ordinance.
2. Peter supposed that Jesus was simply acting as a subservient, kindly host, and told our Lord that He should never wash his feet. Jesus said, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” Verse 7. Now Peter did know if it was only the common act of hospitality that Jesus performed; but if it was the foundation of a new ordinance, he did not know.
3. That it had spiritual significance beyond any mere act of hospitality, is shown in our Saviour’s words to Peter, when that impulsive disciple said, in his regard for his Lord, “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Jesus replied, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.” Verse 8. Surely He would not have told Peter this for the mere act of refusing an act of hospitality.
4. The positive words of our Lord indicate that the act was more than mere hospitality; they show in fact that His act was but the first of a series in the church. “So when He had washed their feet, . . . He said unto them, Know ye what I have done unto you? Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you. . . . If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them.” Verses 12–17. “Ought” signifies obligation.
Feeling the force of all these, we do not wonder that the editor of the Sunday School Times closed his reply with the following words: “Moreover, it is better to overdo ten times in an attempt to conform to the teachings of our Lord’s example than to fall short in one thing where we might do as we have been directed.”
But to one who believes in the simple words of Christ, to one who believes that His example means something, there need be no question as to the teaching of John 13.
If its teaching had ever been followed, there would have been no castes, no classes, no lord bishops, no reverends and right reverends, no invisible, impassable walls of separation between the professed disciples of the lowly Nazarene. “As often” as they followed His “example,” “as often” as they obeyed His “ye ought also,” there would have been holy, equal fellowship, members of the same body, having the same care one for another.
O brethren, come back to the Word, the example, the life, the power of the Gospel of Christ!
Was the Reformation a Mistake?
This question springs spontaneously to the mind as we read the report of a meeting of Methodists in Los Angeles—Methodist ministers and Methodist students in a Methodist university—addressed by Roman Catholic Bishop Montgomery, the popular Roman prelate of Los Angeles. Of that meeting the Los Angeles Herald of January 16 says:—
“Round after round of applause from Methodist ministers and from students of a Methodist university greeted Bishop Montgomery, of the Catholic Church, yesterday evening at the conclusion of his lecture at the University of Southern California on ‘The Cause of Church Disagreements.’ The bishop’s lecture, lasting nearly two hours, was listened to with the closest attention by the audience.”
The bishop is quoted as saying:—
“When a man goes to study the world around him he finds order, but when he begins to study the Christian faith he finds only a chaos of beliefs.”
But this depends upon the student’s text-book. If it is discordant creed-bound sects—Catholic or Protestant—of course there is disorder, the same disorder which we find in the political parties of the world. He further said:—
“I believe as you do that the New Testament is the revelation of the divine will of God. How are men to know that revelation? Here comes the dividing line between our beliefs. We all agree that Christ left some authority, but we disagree as to where that authority is. We Catholics say that authority is not a book, but a body deriving its authority from God. Truth unites, error disunites. Christ wants His people to be one.”
“Bishop Montgomery closed by expressing the earnest wish that the churches might unite, and declaring that he for one would be willing to sacrifice some things if unity could be secured.”
Now all may know and all should know that Bishop Montgomery or any other Catholic prelate will sacrifice not one scintilla of his belief. Rome holds herself to be infallibly right, and conversely holds Protestantism to be entirely wrong, having no foundation, no hope outside the Roman fold. Now we do not blame the Roman Catholics for teaching that; for they doubtless believe it, and believe in using every opportunity to propagate it, even from Protestant platforms. But where is the Protestantism of Methodists who will listen to the utter repudiation of Protestantism by a Catholic without a single protest or word of dissent? Nay, it is worse than this: “round after round of applause” is given by professed Protestants in honor of the one who presents before them their faith as baseless. What would John Wesley think? And what respect can Bishop Montgomery have for Protestant faith? Would he give a Methodist bishop the privilege of as free talking in some of the Catholic schools in his diocese? And would he cheer decided Protestant sentiments if he heard them elsewhere?
It is just such exhibitions of Protestant weaknesses as this that lead Walter Elliott, one of the leading Paulist fathers, to say in the Catholic World the following: “The collapse of dogmatic Protestantism is our opportunity. Denominations and ‘creeds,’ and ‘schools,’ and ‘confessions’ are going to pieces before our eyes. Great men built them, but little men can demolish them. This new nation can not but regard with disdain institutions hardly double its own short life, yet utterly decrepit. . . . The dogmas of older Protestantism are fading out of our people’s minds, or are being thrust out.”
The remedy?—It is to return to the ægis of Protestantism, of Christianity, the Word of God. That will demolish creeds, but it will give us Christ, in whom all fulness dwells.
RIGHTEOUSNESS IS PERSONAL.
By G.
THERE can not be even one Christian without a change of heart; yet we are confronted with a growing mania for making the masses Christian by some kind of legal enactment, some merely human ordinance. There can not be even one truly righteous man except he be imbued and endowed with the righteousness of Christ; yet our modern reformers are loudly clamoring for “civic righteousness,” which means a professed righteousness enforced on the masses by civil law. There are half a score of societies seeking reform along this line, in the name of Christianity. Their votaries include the leading ministers and religious workers, men and women, in the country. There is far more earnest than fruitless effort put forth by professed Christians for promoting community righteousness, thru the medium of politics and political methods, than there is for the proclamation of individual righteousness thru Christ. However, it is refreshing to hear an occasional expression of the true doctrine even from the ranks of such societies. Here is one from a W. C. T. U. field secretary, as given in the Pacific Ensign:—
“The real defenses of this nation consist not in the size of its standing army or the strength of its navy, but in the virtue and intelligence of its citizens. The citizen is the unit of the political structure. Whatever helps to develop and strengthen virtue and intelligence in the citizen, strengthens and perpetuates the government. Whatever hinders the citizen in the development of his best self is a hindrance to the highest development of the government and a menace to our national life.”
Now all the real good there is in any community or body of people is that which is imparted by the Spirit of Christ. All true reform is based upon that principle. Whatever of good impulse the worst man in the world may have is, to that extent, the influence of the Holy Spirit. He may not realize it, he may not acknowledge it; but let that Spirit’s influence be entirely withdrawn from any individual, and the impulse to do good—excepting as he may thereby work ulterior evil—will be entirely obliterated. Therefore the only road to real reform in a community is by the influence of Christ’s righteousness upon individual life. And this never can come thru any grade of legislative action. No reformatory law, however good its intent, ever can be made operative unless backed by the sentiment of the people. And there never can be a righteous sentiment pervading a community or a State unless there be first a righteous sentiment in the hearts of the individuals; and that righteous sentiment must be born of the Spirit of Christ—of the Spirit of the Golden Rule, the “commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”—or it will not be a righteous sentiment at all.
G.
WARS AND GREED.
By T.
The foundation that has given rise to most of the wars that have cursed mankind has been greed. Not always has it been greed for money, but sometimes it has been greed for power, and usually the two are commingled. Neither has the spirit of greed always been strongly manifested on both sides. Sometimes one nation is driven, from true patriotic reasons, to defend itself against the greed of a foreign power. But on one side or the other greed is at the bottom of it.
This greed is the manifestation of one of the worst forms of selfishness. It is a selfishness that will not stop at anything to accomplish its end. It will destroy property, and brutally and savagely take thousands of lives in order to gratify the insatiable lust that is burning in the minds of those who are bringing on the fight.
BIG TRAVELING CRANE IN KRUPP GUN-WORKS.
War is a terrible thing, and it seems to have a superabundance of material on which to work in all parts of the world at the present time. And if you will look at the matter squarely it will be manifest that greed for money or land is at the foundation of the whole of it.
This country was drawn into a war to free the Cubans. The sentiments that were expressed when the war was entered upon were noble and generous. It was the act of a great nation saying to the oppressors of a weaker people that they must desist. But after the war was launched it did not take long for greed to get in his work, and the whole course of things was changed. The war that was started to free the people of Cuba has been turned into a stubborn effort to subjugate the Filipinos.
What is the argument in favor of continuing the Filipino war? “Commerce, commerce,” is the reply. And the interpretation of the meaning of such commerce is that it has degenerated from the noble sphere of friendly and legitimate traffic and trade into the base game of killing all in the Philippine Islands who will not consent to the program of greed.
This selfish greed will continue to get worse and worse, and consequently wars will become more and more numerous and sanguinary. If you ask how we know this, the answer is plainly given in the following words of Scripture:—
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 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.
Note that this scripture says that the “last days” shall be “perilous.” And further note that this peril is occasioned by the self-love and covetousness of mankind among those who profess better things. Where men become such lovers of themselves, so covetous, that they shut out the interest and happiness of others, there is no describing the strife that it will bring about. And these days in which we live are cursed by men who are given over to just such selfishness. We are glad that there are still many men and women who have not yielded, and who will not yield, to such sentiments of evil. If it were not for these, in the various churches, and in the various courts and Legislatures, and in the different vocations of life, who are still standing stoutly for justice and right, the conditions of our days would be past description.
We have the plain language of the scripture quoted in the foregoing to tell us that the “last days” shall be “perilous,” and that self-love is one of the principal causes of the perils. Further on in the same chapter the apostle tells us that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” Then these conditions are to become “worse and worse.” Wars, and the violence of rioting, will become more and more pronounced and terrible. We have the Word of God for it, and any man who will look carefully to the conditions of to-day can see plainly that things in the world are becoming intensely alarming. These evils will grow until the Prince of Peace will be required to come in person to put an end to it.
We are glad to see that so many are studying the difficult problems that confront society. Much of what is said and written upon the subject is good, and helps to stay the flood-tides of evil that are rolling in. But we should not make the mistake of building up theories in these times and holding to them at all hazards. We can not be safe with anything short of the real truth itself. And that truth is given us nowhere except in the Word of God. In that Word all the evils of this time are spoken of, and it is plainly taught that the Master will come in the clouds of heaven, with all His holy angels, to destroy sin and every unrepentant or incorrigible sinner.
The great event of the second coming of Christ is the one thing before the world to-day. To ridicule it will not set it aside. It is coming speedily, and if you do not know about it, it is high time that you examined the evidence so as to know it for sure and for yourself. The evidence is unimpeachable. If you do know of the event, you should have your whole life devoted to giving the glorious news to others. T.
COMPULSORY LEARNING OF THE LORD'S PRAYER.
By T.
In a recent issue of the San Francisco Examiner, a person who subscribes himself “Sextus” has the following to say in regard to the compulsory learning of the Lord’s prayer in the public schools:—
“To the editor—”
“It is said that Philip Armour on his death-bed requested his family to recite the Lord’s prayer, but none of these, nor even the attending minister, could do it; that after some hunting, however, they found a Bible and read the prayer to him. This is a sad falling off from the old Puritan days when most everybody knew the Bible by heart. In view of this scandalous exhibition, would it not be well to make the memorization of the Lord’s prayer obligatory in the public schools? We cram such a lot of useless stuff into our children’s heads at these institutions that we do not think it would hurt to teach them something that would inure to their welfare now and hereafter.
“The Legislature is in session and has a glorious opportunity to begin the new century well. They will be somewhere at the beginning of the next century and wherever that may be, we do not anticipate they will find their environment any the worse for this little act of charity, done in the ‘long, long ago.’”
The learning of the Lord’s prayer is something that every one should esteem a privilege. But a little attention to the principles upon which the Lord works will show that it would never be right to compel a public servant to teach children the Lord’s prayer, regardless of their wishes in the matter. The Lord compels no one. His work must all be done by persuasion. He can not compel any one to take the wonderful principles of goodness that He offers so freely to all. To compel us in this way would be to destroy our freedom. And He who is the Author of freedom will not take it away even in an attempt to spread the principles of His own kingdom.
Force and compulsion are necessary things in civil affairs, because of the sins and perversity of men. But if all men were true and right there would be no need of it at all.
In the realm of God’s religious truth to require even so good a thing as the compulsory learning of the Lord’s prayer is to open the way for every form of religious persecution. For if it is a good thing to know the Lord’s prayer, it is also a good thing to be baptized; it is a good thing to regularly attend prayer-meeting; it is a good thing to give to the support of the ministry and for foreign and home missions; but is it right to compel any one to do these things? The principle is wrong. We should not to the least degree follow a wrong principle, for it will involve us more and more in disaster and ruin. T.
OUR SACRIFICE TO THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.
By G.
The following extract from an address by Mary G. Tongier, before a teachers’ institute in Fresno, Cal., appeals to the energy of every lover of country and lover of souls:—
“The walls of America are its public-school system, with its 19,000,000 boys and girls—citizens in embryo—every one of them a brick. But over against this institution so dear to all our hearts—which we have proudly called the citadel of American liberties—stands another equally American, equally sustained by our laws, and more than equally fostered by our politics. It is the legalized American saloon. The commodity it has on sale in varying degrees of dilution, is this same deadly agent, concerning which science declares that in all her realm none other possesses a like power to degrade human beings. Thru its open door the army of drunkards is being recruited from our public schools. Every year this institution lives, one bright boy out of every five must be sacrificed as the price of its continued existence.”
“The liquor dealers are not unmindful of their privileges. At one of their recent State conventions, an official member advised that more saloons be established in the neighborhood of schoolhouses, and urged a more strenuous effort on the part of the trade9to create appetite by means of treats among the boys. I have positive knowledge that this diabolical suggestion is being widely acted upon, and that brandy drops and small sample bottles of beer and wine are being secretly distributed among schoolboys, many of whom are not yet in their teens.”
The death-dealing liquor traffic is ever on the alert, ever awake to its opportunity, night and day, seven days in the week. If professed temperance men were half as earnest and active, its doors would be closed in many a rum-cursed community. G.
Cabinet Changes Under Queen Victoria
QUEEN VICTORIA'S reign witnessed twenty changes in cabinets under ten prime ministers,—Melbourne, Peel, Russell, Derby, Aberdeen, Palmerston, Disraeli, Gladstone, Rosebery, and Salisbury. The two last named are the only survivors.
