Earlier text: THE STONING OF STEPHENFALLEN ANGELS.
By Augusta W. Heald
THERE is much obscurity in the popular mind as to the origin and nature of Satan, and as Scripture is its own interpreter, a few passages on the subject of “fallen angels” may give a ray of light to those who desire it. Evil angels were not created as such, but fell from their first estate through sin: “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” 2 Peter 2:4. The instigator of this revolt was the most exalted angel in heaven, second only to the Son of God. To him it was said: “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. . . . Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so. . . . Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Eze. 28:12–15. The sin of Satan was pride: “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty.” Eze. 28:17. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! . . . For thou hast said in thine heart, . . . I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.” Isa. 14:12–14. In consequence of Satan’s sin, there was war in heaven: “Michael [Christ] and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.” Rev. 12:7, 8. They were cast out into the earth: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Verse 9. They never repent, but are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” Jude 6. Satan sought in vain to destroy Christ on earth. See Matt. 4:1–10. He now shows his enmity toward the Son of God by accusing and persecuting those for whom Christ shed His blood. See Rev. 12:10, 17. “In all their affliction He was afflicted.” Isa. 63:9. Satan and fallen angels will finally be destroyed, together with wicked men: “Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matt. 25:41. They will be cut off, root and branch: “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.” Mal. 4:1. THE NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE.
God’s great love to fallen man is manifest in long-suffering. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. It is God’s long-suffering, prompted by His love, that led Him patiently to open in man a revelation of His will toward him. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. He not only gave His Son, revealing Himself through Christ, but has also revealed Himself to man through the Scriptures. Of this revelation He says: “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me.” John 5:39. Nature can not do for man what he needs in spiritual things; nor can the Scriptures do for man what he needs in natural things. God reveals Himself in both. The influences of nature, in their manifold variety, are incapable of elevating humanity into a true knowledge of the Creator. Some of the most distinguished philosophers who have confined their studies to the book of nature, have remained in comparative ignorance as to its Author. The world by its wisdom has not known, and can not know, God. It was the purpose of God that man should acquire a correct knowledge of Him through nature. But by falling into sin, man’s moral capacity became too feeble and indisposed to receive correct views of God from this source. Intellectually, man is able to appreciate the influence of nature, and turn it to an intellectual use. But intellectual competency will not suffice for the moral development. The intellectual can grasp the things of nature, but man needs to become acquainted with the God of nature. The eye of the intellect may discover wisdom, power, and goodness in the works of creation, but is unable to discern the Source whence they emanate. In losing innocence, man lost this innate knowledge of his Creator: The light which was in him became darkness. In this darkness he wandered into regions of thought and experience, in which he found no God except such as he evoked from his own vain imaginings and foolish desires. In this condition, man had neither the disposition nor the means within him of creating light which could reveal to him that he had a divine Father, and that he was His lost child, wandering from Him, nor was there any power in nature that could do this. There was a necessity for supernatural light, if man would again find God. This light must not only be such as would reveal God to man, but such as would reveal man to himself. It must reveal his loss of God and of his own integrity. It must open up to him the way of recovering both, as by these alone he could regain the image of his Maker. It must also show that the God whom it reveals, and to whom it guides, is the God who speaks in nature; thus satisfying man that there is but one God, the Author of all things, and the Redeemer of man from his fallen condition. Such light is in the Scriptures. Of the nature of these Scriptures, we are informed that they are powerful, and contain light. “For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb. 4:12. God’s Word represents Himself, therefore it stands for all there is in its Author. It represents Him, because it is full of life and power. It is a living and a powerful Word. In receiving this Word of life, we are to receive it “not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God.” 1 Thess. 2:13. We are not to put our own construction on the Scriptures, but receive them as words spoken to us. We are not to form our own ideas of what we think God will do, and then select isolated passages to sustain our theories. “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim. 2:15. To do this requires heavenly wisdom, which is promised to all who ask for it. LOOK UPWARD.
By Alexander McLaren
It is wise for us to look at the dangers, to be fully aware of the perils, to be tremblingly conscious of our own weakness; but it is folly and faithlessness to look at the danger so exclusively, or to feel our own weakness so keenly, as that either one or the other, or both of them combined, shall obscure to our sight the far greater and confidence-giving truth of the knowledge, the sympathy, and the extended protecting hand of our Brother and our Lord. We belong to Him if we have yielded our hearts to Him, and He will not “suffer His holy one to see corruption,” here or hereafter. If you look down from the narrow ledge of the Alpine arrete to the thousand feet of precipice on either side of the two or three inches where you have your footing, you will get giddy and fall. If you look up, you will walk steadily. Do not ignore the danger nor presumptuously forget your own weakness; but “when I said, My foot slippeth, Thy mercy held me up.” Recognize the slippery ice and the feeble foot, and couple with them the other thought, “The Lord knoweth them that are His.”—Alexander McLaren. Comparing the Old and New Testaments
To regard the Old Testament in the light of the New, and to view the New Testament in the light which the ancient prophets have cast upon it, is to compare “spiritual things with spiritual;” and this we are commanded to do. The threads our hands in blindness spin
No self-determined plan weaves in;
The shuttle of the unseen powers
Works out a pattern not as ours. Ah! small the choice of him who sings
What sound shall leave the smitten strings;
Fate holds and guides the hand of art;
The singer’s is the servant’s part. The wind-harp chooses not the tone
That through its trembling threads is blown;
The patient organ can not guess
What hand its passive keys shall press. Through wish, resolve, and act, our will
Is moved by unseen forces still;
And no man measures in advance
His strength with untried circumstance. As streams take hue from shade and sun,
As runs the life the song must run,
But, glad or sad, to His good end
God grant the varying notes may tend. Difference in character does not rest in appearance, manifestation, or pretension. A balloon may be bigger than a substantial house or a rock; an inflated bladder larger than a block of gold. The balloon may be more shapely and more beautifully adorned, but few would prefer it as a permanent dwelling to a house. The balloon would be more attractive to the great mass, unless at a time when there was a general realization of peril and need of shelter. The gently swaying motion of the great balloon would attract the crowd, while the modest house would be passed by unnoticed. The balloon would make way for itself as truly as a house. Its swaying and veering in the wind would make for itself a wider field than would be demanded by its dimensions if it were quiet. The house modestly assumes to possess no more ground than that on which it stands. Finding the house in his path in a field, one would turn out of its way barely enough to pass. Finding the balloon swaying in the wind, held by anchor and guy-ropes, one would give it a wider berth. The house pretends to nothing that it is not; the balloon to much more than it is. The difference in true worth between the two lies in foundation and material. The house has for its foundation the enduring rock. Rains may descend, floods may come, tempests may blow; but the foundation remains secure, its security all the more evident. The foundation of the balloon is mere air, soft and cushiony, but fitful and fickle, at one time a calm then a storm; now a gentle zephyr, anon a tempest of destruction; and the balloon, resting upon it for a foundation, may this minute be safe and the next blown to destruction. The material of the house is tested wood, iron, stone, and brick. Bit by bit it has been builded up, the superstructure advancing no more rapidly than the parts below were made secure and solid. When the top is reached, it is a solid, strong structure, capable of resisting the strongest winds and withstanding the fiercest tempests. How many times we see these two types of character manifest among men. The one is like the splendid balloon, presenting a gorgeous appearance, manifesting itself gloriously, making great pretensions. To-morrow it is a heap of torn and tattered silk and a mass of tangled ropes, while those who trusted in it are mangled corses. The other is like the modest house, standing firm year after year, a refuge in time of storm, a shelter from the heat, a home for the way-wandering, enlarged from time to time as needed, on the same plan, of the same material. We admire for a moment the one; we trust in the other. God has revealed in a word the difference between the two characters: “Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth,” or to put it in simple Anglo-Saxon, “Knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up.” The man of knowledge is “proud in that he knows so much.” He assumes to instruct all, and looks down upon those of humble pretensions. He coruscates, shines, sparkles, gleams, arouses admiration, enthusiasm, and is gone like a brilliant comet, leaving behind only a fading trail of nebulous dust. But to the man who loves God, Christ the all in all. Love drinks in the sunshine of His promises, the refreshing showers of His Spirit, and gathers out the living stones of His truth; and so, atom by atom, stone by stone, mass by mass, the character is builded, growing by Love’s life into a living temple for the eternal habitation of His Spirit. Knowledge makes a brave appearance in gentle breezes of prosperity, as it sweeps majestically along, but in the time of the fierce tempest it collapses. Love only binds the Foundation Rock the closer and stronger by the mighty life-clasps till it becomes a very part of the Eternal Rock. “Love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own. Love never faileth; but . . . whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. . . . But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love;” for love builds an eternal habitation. Every person has a case on the docket of the Supreme Court of the universe. Each case is of a criminal nature, for every one has violated the law. “All have sinned” (Rom. 3:23), and “sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. The fact that “every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12) shows that God is the judge before whom every case will be tried. Again it is said that “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Eccl. 12:14. It is possible, however, for each person to have his case “settled out of court,” so that when it shall be called, it will be dismissed at once without prosecution. We have Christ presented in this connection in a quadruple capacity. (1) He occupies the throne with His Father (Heb. 1:3; 8:1; Col. 3:1; Rev. 3:21), and is therefore associate Judge. (2) He is an advocate for all who will entrust their cases to His care. And He is the only Advocate who is qualified to practise in that court. “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:1, 2. See, also Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; 9:24. (3) Christ is a kind of court commissioner in the cases of all persons who seek settlement out of court, or prior to the calling of the case in court. Up to this time “the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” John 5:22. All are given time and opportunity to avail themselves of this manner of settlement, and thus to avoid prosecution, by virtue of Christ’s pardon. Christ has authority to settle all cases thus filed with Him, and settlement of which is sought through faith in Him. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” Verse 24. To allow one’s case to go on into court without employing the Advocate, and without previous settlement with the Court Commissioner, is to come into condemnation. After such neglect, there is no chance for acquittal. All acquittal from this court is based on pardon, and pardon must be secured before the case is called in court, else conviction follows by default. “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” Heb. 2:3. The power and authority of the Court Commissioner is tersely stated in two other texts: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9); and “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.” Heb. 7:25. Those who confess their sins and those who do not are represented in this wise: “Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.” 1 Tim. 5:24. (4) Christ will finally execute the judgment of the great Supreme Court of the universe. “As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.” John 5:26, 27. Also Matt. 25:31–46; 2 Thess. 1:7–10; Jude 14, 15. It is also the privilege of every individual to have a prominent part in the judgment of his own case. The Word says, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” 2 Cor. 13:5. We have before noted that neglect to place our own cases in the hands of the Advocate, is to finally suffer the condemnation that is already passed upon sinners. John 3:18. But there is “now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:1. Of the sons of God the apostle says, “When He [Christ] shall appear, we shall be like Him.” 1 John 3:2. But this achievement must have been reached beforehand; for “as He is, so are we [true disciples] in this world.” Ch. 4:17. And there never was any righteous condemnation of Christ at any time. Here is a test that the Lord has given us by which to examine ourselves: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” Ch. 3:14. And the love of the brethren is a test of our love toward God. “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?” Ch. 4:20. The love of the brethren in the light of God’s law (Matt. 22:37–40) will connect one inseparably with God. For “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.” 1 John 4:16, 17. We need not have any fear with reference to our cases when they are called in the judgment, if all our sins have gone before unto judgment, if they have been before our Mediator in time for pardon. In such case, when the name is called, the Advocate will simply present His righteousness in behalf of the individual, declaring the case previously settled, and the Court will pass on to the next case. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Man is more than mere matter. He is more than the earth, which supports millions of him. Therefore, in the very beginning, before man was created even, God gave to him and all intelligent creatures of the universe an object-lesson of His power to save. Just when “in the beginning” was, we do not know; it is needless for us to know. How long the condition of earth’s material was in its wasteness and voidness, enswathed in deepest darkness, as recorded in Gen. 1:2, we do not know nor need we know. Inspiration records the great fact: “The earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” R.V. Formless, empty, dark—what a fitting description of sinful man! The Spirit of life entered the darkness, and brooded over the waste of dark waters. God said, “Let there be,” and there was. Ten times in the six days He spoke to matter; ten times matter responded to the voice of its Maker; chaos became cosmos; confusion became order; wasteness became fruitfulness; voidness became fullness; and ugliness became beauty. Then God made man to enjoy it all, giving him, as his first lesson, the wonderful power of God in speaking into all the waste, void mass of matter His glorious beauty. Sinner, God is speaking in that lesson to you. Your life may be a wretched, desolate waste, void or empty of all good. The dark waters of despair may cover it in unfathomed depths. But your case is not hopeless. Let the Spirit of life in to thrill through and through with new vitality and motion the sin-poisoned mass. Yield to the voice of God saying, “Let there be light!” “Let there be expansion;” “Let there be firm ground;” “Let there be fruit-growing.” Then, “He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Ps. 33:9. He spoke then to the earth, and it did not resist His will. Now, He speaks to you; O do not resist His will, His word of life. So shall the chaos of sin, and lust, and death, and destruction of your life be changed, not by long ages of evolution, but immediately, if faith so takes Him, to a life of righteousness, and devotion, and fruitfulness, and joy. Jesus Christ is the Creator to save from sin. And He gave us the Sabbath, the perpetual reminder that His power to bring into being is His power to save from the destruction of being that sin would without Him inevitably accomplish. Listen to one more story in confirmation of this blessed Gospel. When He through whom God spake this earth into being and glory came to earth, there came to Him a waste and void man, and the dark waters of sin enshrouded his life. He was a leper, the most loathsome of all objects, from contact with which the great crowds shrank instinctively. See him now. He bows before the Master with the almost doubting plea, not as to Christ’s power, but His willingness, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” And the blessed Lord puts forth His unpolluted hand, and touches him, and says, “I will, be thou clean: and immediately his leprosy is cleansed.” The Gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Only believe by yielding all to Him. The Fleming H. Revell Company publish, among other things, a tract called “Immortality,” and others by D. M. Canright. At the beginning of the tract it is said, “The author of this tract was an Adventist twenty-eight years.” Now, in the name of truth and common sense, what has this to do with the question of “Immortality,” or the Sabbath question, or what Adventists believe? The mere length of time a man has been connected with truth or error determines absolutely nothing. There are scores of abler men than the above who were for years members of Protestant churches, now in the Catholic Church. They have become perverts to error. Are they better qualified to show the errors of Protestantism? Lucifer was, for we know not how long, one of the nearest angels to the throne of God. Is he therefore better qualified to show the “mistakes” of heaven? Does his apostasy make him the more credible? Are we to accept his word when he says that he tried heaven for so long, and it was a failure for him? One of these tracts declares: “The author of this tract was a prominent writer and preacher of Adventism for twenty-five years, hence he knows of what he affirms.” Similarly every apostate from Christianity to Spiritualism can declare; so also every pervert from Protestantism to Romanism. We have known men who were perfectly sane for a long period of years, and during that time well-qualified to speak upon questions they understood. But they became mentally unbalanced, with faculties deranged. They felt themselves in this latter condition better qualified than in the former; but were they? Paul counted all his years in Judaism loss; Mr. Canright seems to count all his years in Adventism (which he declares to be error) gains. The lesson is this: Whether Mr. Canright is in error or not, is not the question. Whether Adventists are in error or not, is not the question. Mr. Canright’s twenty-five years in truth or error can not settle it one way or another. The great question is a personal one to each soul, What is truth, what is saving truth, according to God’s Word? Is the first day or seventh day the Sabbath of the Lord? Has man immortality of himself, or is it the gift of God, “who only hath immortality”? Is the man who keeps the law “under the law,” or the man “under the law” who transgresses it? Are we to take the Word of God, or Mr. Canright’s superficial sophistry, unsupported argument, and persistent misrepresentation? To those who have known Mr. Canright, labored for him, prayed for him, his course is not strange. His declaration when he left his former associations that he was going out to save souls, is yet unfulfilled. He is shorn of the power for good. But it does seem strange that a reputable, undenominational publishing house of evangelical literature should lend its influence to such means. What Mr. Canright seeks to make gains, his publishers will sometime find to be losses. So let our correspondents worry not; men can do nothing against the truth. [From time to time we will reply under this head, if deemed advisable, to such candid inquiries as may be sent us. Correspondents wishing a reply to their questions must give their full name and address, not for publication unless they wish, but as an evidence of good faith on their part, and to give us opportunity to reply by letter if deemed best. It is always well to inclose stamp. Let the questions be short and pointed, and such as may be answered in limited space. The questions will be numbered continuously.] In Isa. 65:20 the astonishing statement is made that sin, death, and the curse shall be in the new earth, apparently a most painful and violent contradiction of every other portion of the Sacred Word of God, and the only contradiction in all the Inspired Word for which I have no explanation. Please give me one. W. G. W. Seeming contradictions are sometimes a matter of limited understanding, sometimes the result of wrong perspective. What to the experienced musician may be perfect harmony, to the untrained ear may be discord. God's Word, when rightly translated, is harmony. We may not see it or feel it, yet it is there; and if we wait the fuller experiences in the needful things, light will dawn in time on all the places erstwhile dark. There will be no sin in the new earth; for “there shall be no more curse.” Rev. 22:3. For “curse” Etheridge's Syriac translation reads “falling away.” There shall be no more pain, tears, nor death. All these, the inevitable consequences of sin, will be no more, because sin is no more. Rev. 21:4. But to our querist Isa. 65:20 seems to contradict this; it is a discord in the harmony. The text reads:— “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die an hundred years old, and the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.” R.V.
The chapter treats of the rejection of an ungodly people and the call of the Gentiles, the final division on character lines, and the ultimate rewards. Verses 17 to 19 promise a new heaven and new earth, and a new Jerusalem in which will come no “voice of weeping.” All that has then passed away. Rev. 21:4, 5. The thousand years are over, and the wicked dead have been raised; the organizing of them by Satan into armies during the “little season” (Rev. 20:3, 7-9), and their destruction, is then past. John does not tell us how long this “little season” is. We may justly infer from Isa. 65:20 that it is one hundred years. The verse therefore states that in that new earth there will be no more thence an infant of days, etc., such as we see here; for in that “little season” old and young who have rejected God will die, while God's people shall dwell in that better land forever. Their labor for God here has not been in vain; their rearing of godly seed here has not been for trouble; God has saved them from it all and for all time. The hundred years of sin beyond the millennium, end with the dawn-break of the eternity of righteousness and immortality. Individually it means the severing of every relation in life, of every cherished ambition, of every cherished desire which would be offensive to God, or cause ourselves or others to stumble. In the church it would mean the separation of those who were stumbling-blocks even tho they might seem as necessary as the eye. See Mark 9:42-50. 1209.—Different Baptisms.
Please explain in your Question Corner Matt. 3:11. Are the baptism of the Holy Ghost and the baptism of fire administered to the same ones? S. H. T. Baptism means immersion, submersion, whelming. Baptism of the Spirit is a complete yielding to the Spirit, absolutely under the Spirit's control. It was well illustrated on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2. Baptism by fire is to be submerged, whelmed, immersed in fire. That will be when the fire of God's personal presence consumes all of sin and all that is identified with sin. Then will He be “revealed from heaven . . . in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints.” They will be consumed with “the spirit of His mouth,” and be destroyed literally “by the forth-shining of His presence.” 2 Thess. 1:8-10; 2:8. See also Isa. 30:27-30; Rev. 20:9, 10, 14; 2 Peter 3:7; Isa. 33:13-17. God's presence consumes sin. If we will admit His presence by His Spirit, He will consume the sin in our hearts, and leave us free and holy in Him; but if we will not, when He comes in unveiled glory, we shall be destroyed with the sin with which we have identified ourselves. He who is free from sin will be made immortal, and no element can destroy him. He who chooses sin will perish with it. The baptism of the Spirit pertains to the one class, the baptism of fire to the other. Read Matt. 3:11, 12 in connection:— “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
He is speaking to and of two classes,—the wheat and the chaff. Applying Paul's discourse on charity, is it not proper to salute those of other denominations, according to Rom. 16:16? J. F. S. In all matters of this kind, not only Christian love should guide, but wisdom, prudence, discretion, and common sense. Such a salutation might be wholly distasteful to some. “Let not your good be evil spoken of.” “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without.” “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, . . . understanding what the will of the Lord is.” Dear Sir: Are you in harmony with the following on tithing by R. A. Underwood, Bible Students' Library, No. 145, “Will a Man Rob God,” and found on page 54 last paragraph, and reads as follows: “The wages paid to hired help is not the income of the employer, but the employed. The latter should pay the tithe on his wages; hence the amount paid out for hired help to produce the product, whatever it might be, would be deducted from the amount received before tithing the same.” We are in harmony with it. It is simple justice, and a just Lord requires no more. That one word expresses in negative form the normal state of the living Christian. It does not mean that he is dissatisfied, despondent, despairing, longing, wishing, hoping for something else. He is not dissatisfied in possessing Christ; he is unsatisfied because he knows not more of Him. Alexander Pope, in His “Essay on Man,” expresses the following sentiment, which many treasure as a wonderful thought:— “One self-approving hour whole years outweighs,
Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas.”
In a sense this may be true; but generally those who like to be pleased with themselves long for the approval of others. Self-approval of work, of accomplishments, of spiritual attainments, is generally a bar to future progress. What artist could sit quietly down and approve himself for one hour in the light of the wonderful glories of nature on sea and sky, on mountain and valley, on flower and leaf, and of the passions and impulses which continually come and go on human faces, yet unlimned on board or canvas? He sees so much to be done that is yet undone that he has no time for self-approval. He is not dissatisfied with the knowledge he has acquired or the skill attained; but he is unsatisfied that he knows and can do so little. And this is just as true in the musical world, in the mechanical world, in the intellectual world, in the spiritual world. It is not the great engineers, inventors, electricians, that sit down to spend an hour in self-approval. They have not time. The last achievement of man, over which a foolish world has gone insane, has only been an opening for him into another unfenced, unexplored field, and he is yet unsatisfied. Marconi’s messages no sooner spanned a channel than he dreamed of an ocean; and the ocean is no sooner crossed than he talks of a world. This unsatisfaction is pre-eminently true of the living Christian. If one has seen Christ Jesus, he has seen perfection. If he has seen God’s law, he has seen perfection. These have revealed the errors, the failures, the sins, the imperfections in his own life and character. He is not dissatisfied with the law. He would not banish his knowledge of the perfection of the Man of Calvary. But he has no place or time to sit down and approve himself. In the light of the Perfect One all the comeliness of the man greatly beloved, was turned into corruption. Dan. 10:6-19. Isaiah, a special messenger of God, in the light of the Divine glory could only cry, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips.” Isa. 6:1-7. The apostle Paul voices the true Christian experience: “Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if so be, that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended by Jesus Christ. Brethren, I count not myself yet to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:12-14, R. V. Praise God for all the victories of the past; preserve in the present a conscience void of offense toward God and man; but never, no, never, sit down for an hour or a minute in self-approval. It is one of the things which makes pygmies of men. Let Christ’s perfection be your goal in all your work. Say with the psalmist, “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.” Ps. 17:15. That will not be till we are made immortal. THE PURPOSE OF THE FEDERATION.
The American Federation of Catholic Societies has established permanent headquarters at Cincinnati, Ohio, where the national executive committee will have its office and conduct its work. The purpose of this organization is to influence legislation in behalf of Catholic claims and demands, to bring to bear upon legislators, both State and national, the combined influence of the Catholic population. It has been so stated by the founders of the organization, tho not in so many words. In this way, from one central office, the whole weight of Catholicism in this country can be thrown for or against any measure which they may demand or denounce. With Protestantism forsaking its principles, and practically apologizing for the very things against which its founders protested, it is not difficult to see the tremendous possibilities before the Catholic Federation. The things which it demands of the legislators will be granted, and continue to be granted, until every Protestant and republican principle has been plucked out of the government. This is no dream. Those principles are already being plucked up at a rate that must astonish even the ones who do the plucking. The establishment of the American Government was a revolt against the papal idea as well as against the monarchial idea. The great trend now is back again toward those very ideas. The principles upon which that government was founded are jeered out of court, and are openly attacked on every hand. The Declaration of Independence is now labeled “the old Philadelphia lie;” and the people do not protest. The principle of the separation of Church and State is being fought more insidiously if less openly; and thus is the ground cleared for the rapid and effective work of the federated Catholic societies. America was instrumental in giving to the papal power its “deadly wound.” When that wound has been “healed,” as it will be, it will be found that America has been a powerful influence in the healing. And Catholic federation and an allied apostate Protestantism will be the right and left arms of the influence that brings it about. With most of the great colleges and great universities, other than State institutions and a few special proteges of very wealthy men, the principal function of the president is to raise money. He is selected with special reference to his influence or skill in this line. Sometimes he is selected because of his ability and willingness to make up from his own purse what he fails to raise from other sources. In fact, the ability to raise funds is in most of such institutions the standard of efficiency. Hon. Seth Low, now mayor of New York City, is said to have given $1,000,000 to Columbia University, and to have contributed annually during his presidency the sum of $40,000 to make up deficits in current expenses. And now Dr. Hopkins of Kansas City, Mo., has been chosen president of Williams College, with the expectation that he will be efficient in adding a much-desired increase to its endowment. The Congregationalist says that Williams has received $1,500,000 in the last twenty years, and its need of funds is now greater than ever. A peculiarity of college finances is, that every endowment stimulates to outlay beyond the income from the endowment, and the burden of maintaining the institution is made heavier9 than before. Competition and rivalry, born of sectional or sectarian ambition, have much to do with college financial burdens. The journal above cited says, “It has become the fashion to select young men for the duties of college president, which have grown more and more arduous as the necessity of raising endowments has become more general and pressing.”