Earlier text: The Lord’s PrayerAn Impending Conflict
By L. A. S.
The status of the labor controversy in the United States at the present time is this: the labor unions have been met by the formation of employers’ unions, and the issue around which the controversy now centers is that of the “open shop,” by which expression is meant the recognition of the right of the employer to employ non-union men in his industry, and to hire and discharge men at his own discretion. The labor unions are determined to oppose the recognition of this right on an employer’s part “to the last ditch,” and it seems that a tremendous struggle between the unions and6 employers—greater than anything this country has yet known—is inevitable. The reason for this determination of the unions to fight the open shop to the bitter end, and to win at any cost, is, as stated by Mr. William English Walling, who is an authority on the facts of the situation, that “the open shop means the destruction of the unions.” In a recent article contributed to The Independent, describing the existing situation, Mr. Walling says:— The whole employing class of the United States is lining up for a new campaign against the unions. In this fight it is backed by the press, the middle classes, public opinion generally, and the highest labor arbitration tribunal in the country. The struggle is momentous. It will decide not only the industrial, but the social and political future of the United States. If the employers’ campaign is successful, it means the elimination of the trades unions as a factor in American industry. If it fails, nothing short of direct government control can prevent the unions’ steady progress toward industrial domination. Answering the question, What is the open shop? as the unions view it, Mr. Walling says:— Fortunately an official interpretation of the open shop has been given to us by the highest labor arbitration court which we have ever had—a court appointed by the president of the United States and accepted by the nation. The Anthracite Coal Strike Commission was not only our most important labor arbitration board, but it has left behind it the most important “trade agreement” in industry. The commission’s award was of course in general terms, and first of all provided for an umpire to decide disputes arising under it. Col. Carroll D. Wright, head of the Bureau of Labor, has been appointed umpire. The Anthracite Commission decided for an open shop. In a recent decision that has alarmed and antagonized the whole labor movement, Colonel Wright defines the open shop as follows:— “There can be no doubt that the employer has a perfect right to employ and discharge men in accordance with the conditions of his industry; that he is not obliged to give any cause for discharge. . . . This right to discharge must be maintained. Any other view of the case . . . would compel employers to employ men whether they had work for them or not, and whether the men were competent or not, and would thus stagnate business and work to the injury of all other employers.” President Roosevelt approves of the award of the Anthracite Commission. His appointee, Commissioner Wright, shows that this award has as its very basis the right to discharge without cause. The right to discharge without cause is the feature of the open shop against which the unions will fight to the last ditch. . . . To admit the right to discharge without cause is, the unions believe, to sign their own death warrant. If the employer can discharge a man “who does not suit him,” to quote Colonel Wright again, he can discharge a union man for the simple reason that he is a union man. Nor is the employer’s promise not to discriminate sufficient. To fall back on the promise of the employer is to bring the workman back to the same condition of servile dependence he occupied when he had to ask for better wages as an individual favor, instead of demanding them through his union as a right. The employer who can “discharge without cause,” can deprive the workman of his means of subsistence and the union of its members. No organization can continue to exist longer than it is able to protect its individual members from outside attack. For a “labor” organization to protect its members it must first of all keep them at work. To a union man permanently out of a job a union card is a bit of pasteboard, and a union agreement for better wages is not worth the paper on which it is written. The employer who can “discharge without cause” has the power to use war measures in times of peace. By locking out union men one at a time he can wage a quiet war of extermination as effective as a general lockout, and much less expensive. Under arbitration and the trade agreement he can do exactly what he does in an open fight—he can wield against the unions the whole reserve army of labor, the great body of the unorganized and the unemployed. It is clearly the intention of the unions, therefore, to repudiate arbitration and the “trade agreement” which represents the decision of the Anthracite Strike Commission. And as this Strike Commission was the last resort to obtain peace in the great conflict which caused such general disturbance and trouble throughout the country, the repudiation of the decision of this body makes it clear that the unions have decided to take matters into their own hands, and fight against the open shop until either they shall have won or been hopelessly beaten. They mean war, to the death of one side or the other. What further convinces the unions of the necessity of such action is the fact that employers’ associations are preparing to deal with their employees through a “blacklist.” “Employers’ associations,” says Mr. Walling, “are everywhere installing the Employment Bureau. By this means the employees of all the members of an association are registered, and their records, including always their records as unionists, are kept. In each shop the employer naturally gives every preference to loyal and obedient non-union men. By means of the Employment Bureau these same loyal individuals may be preferred by the associated employers in the distribution of jobs in the season when work is scarce. The union workmen may find themselves not only discriminated against while employed, but given employment in inverse ratio to their loyalty to their union. The Employment Bureau gives a whole industry the information, the means, and the opportunity for discrimination against union men.” “Employers are taking a final stand against the unionization of industry by fighting the battle of the non-union men.” In conclusion, Mr. Walling inquires, What is to be the result? and says:— One thing is clear. In dealing with labor, employers will act as a unit. They have already united on the open shop. The open shop leads to the Employment Bureau, the Employment Bureau to the National Labor Bureau. The blacklist will be practised on a national scale. The unions also will act not locally and by separate trades, but nationally and in concert. The sympathetic lockout they will fight with the sympathetic strike. To the national blacklist they will reply with the national strike. Labor conflicts are to become a community affair. The most vital concern of the nation is to be the labor question. If the coming struggle is won by the employers, it will only be after a long and bitter contest on the part of the unions, waged with an intensity born of the conviction that they are fighting for their very existence, and that to lose the battle is to lose all. If the unions win, on the other hand, the control of the nation’s industries, which means the control of the nation itself, will pass into the hands of the unions,—into the hands of organizations neither constituted by vote of the people nor representative of the whole people nor responsible to the people. And that will mean the end of all semblance of free, republican government in this country. Experience is not wanting to show what would become of individual rights and liberties under a government by labor unions. Such prospective strife arises from the selfish, warring propensities of the unregenerate heart, and would naturally continue as long as human nature remains what it is, and what it has been since the fall of Adam. What but the coming of the Prince of Peace can bring permanent peace upon the earth? Happily, it is the privilege of peace lovers to rejoice in the assurance that that event is at hand. L. A. S. Loan Your Books
By G. B. Thompson
I was interested lately in an experience related by a sister in visiting among the people, and loaning them our denominational books from her private library. Many expressed great appreciation for them, and wondered why they had not received them before. Why is not the plan worthy of imitation? Why should not scores of our people do this same thing? Some call for literature with which to do missionary work, and do not use that which they already have in their homes. Others excuse themselves from doing any special work for their neighbors on the plea that they are not able to purchase the literature, yet have a whole library of our good denominational books in their homes scarcely soiled.7 These books will all burn up in the fires of the last day, like other books, and now is the time to put them in circulation, rather than let them be hid away in the bookcase to be dusted at the annual house-cleaning occasion. Having read them ourselves, we should pass them on for others to read and enjoy. But you say, The books will become worn, and some of them will never be returned. Very likely; but you will feel better in the day when your Lord is seen coming on the cloud, if your books containing the message of salvation are worn out by your neighbors reading them instead of being shelf-worn. And suppose some of them are lost? They will be in the homes of some poor, judgment-bound souls as a witness that you made an effort to bring the light of truth to their homes. Loan your books to your neighbors and friends, and then visit them with your Bible in your pocket, and prayerfully help them to understand the points that are not clear to them, and the Lord will water your own soul, and will give you souls as a reward. We should of course exercise caution, and not try to give them the whole message at one visit, but patiently lead them step by step into the light shining from the Word of the Lord. Butchers Seek Compulsory Sunday Rest
THE butchers of New York City want Sunday rest, but do not want it enough to be willing to take it at the expense of any loss in trade. They are perfectly free to rest on Sunday if they choose to, so far as any law is concerned. The only obstacle is the knowledge that while their shops were closed, some one else would be getting Sunday trade, and the thought of such a thing is unpleasant. So they have decided to force all butchers to close up on Sundays in order that those who wish to close may enjoy their rest undisturbed by the thought that some one else is taking in money by keeping open. The New York Times states that “a vigorous protest” against Sunday selling will be made to Police Commissioner McAdoo “by a committee of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America and the American Federation of Labor, in accordance with a resolution passed by the Kosher Meat Cutters’ Local Union No. 399 at a mass-meeting held on Monday night. William C. Wellman,” it is stated further, “who is business agent for local unions Nos. 50 and 399, said yesterday that unless the protest to Commissioner McAdoo resulted in compelling the offenders to suspend work on Sunday, the unions would place a boycott on those who are disregarding the law.” Sunday enforcement is henceforth to be more and more associated with the labor unions and the boycott. Reconstructing American History
A CHAIR of American secular history is to be established in the Catholic University at Washington. To this end a donation of fifty thousand dollars was recently made to the university by a Catholic organization—the Knights of Columbus. The purpose of this new chair will be to reconstruct American history in the interests of the Catholic Church. It will be, says the Catholic Mirror, to undo the work of Protestant historians, who “have been at work for generations misrepresenting the church and the part her sons have taken in advancing the cause of our country.” The works of these Protestant historians are, says the Mirror, full of “misrepresentations” and “malicious fabrications.” The nature of this reconstructive process which will be undertaken may be inferred from the statement made in Washington not long ago by a Catholic orator that “the American government is not only the most, but the first real Catholic government in history.” A good deal of reconstruction will be necessary to establish such assertions as this, and the process will necessarily involve the task of eliminating the great truth that the American government was founded on the Protestant principle of the separation of church and state. THE leading French military organ, Armee et Marine (Paris), in a recent utterance descriptive of the present military outlook, expressed its view of the idea of a coming disarmament and millennium of peace, by saying:— Haunted by ideas more generous than practical, a social school which has adepts in all lands soothes itself with the beautiful dream of general peace. Disarmament and arbitration are the catchwords fondly repeated in a special press and a special literature. But the facts of all ages and the life of all mankind belie at every step the possibility of such a universal accord. THE following, which appeared among press dispatches of recent date, is, if true, a remarkable tribute to the efficacy of strict cleanliness and faithful, persevering observance of sanitary laws, in overcoming disease:— NEW ORLEANS, May 24.—For the first time in history, it is said, a leper will be ordered from a lazaretto completely cured. This week the Louisiana lepers’ home at Indian Camp will discharge one of its patients, a creole boy, a native of New Orleans, aged fifteen, who has been afflicted with leprosy for four years, and who has been under treatment at Indian Camp for nearly two years. When he went to the asylum, his body was the color of coffee, and was covered with leprous ulcers; his face was blotched, puckered up with open sores; he had no eyebrows nor eyelashes. Now he is clean to look at; his face is clear, with a slight touch of color; his eyebrows and eyelashes have grown, his eye is clear instead of glassy, and he has regained control of his facial muscles. Five more patients are on the road to recovery, and will be discharged within a year. It is said that the treatment which has caused such results is nothing new, but simply the persistent application of the treatment used for leprosy since the world began. The only difference is that in the Louisiana home the disease has been treated steadily, systematically, and constantly. Absolute cleanliness, pure food, and pleasant surroundings as far as possible are provided. Papal Punishments for Heretics
The following testimony in proof that the persecuting spirit which caused so many martyrdoms in the Dark Ages is still retained and justified by the papacy, was printed recently by a leading Catholic journal of Cologne, Germany, being quoted from a book written by a Jesuit, Father Lucca, and which appeared in Rome as late as 1901:— The church has decided on various punishments for the heretics: (1) The secular government must, at the command and by the direction of the church, inflict the punishment of death on heretics, and can not refuse to take charge of those who have been handed over to the secular arm by the church for death; (2) this punishment is to be inflicted not only on the adults who have fallen away from the faith, but also on those who have been baptized, and with their mother's milk have imbibed heresy, and when grown up pertinaciously adhere to it.—“Institutiones Juris Ecclesiastici,” Vol. I, page 261. German Catholics are now trying to establish the claim that this statement does not correctly represent the position of Rome to-day. But if such a principle of procedure was right in former times, it must be right now; and it is the boast of Rome herself that “the church never changes.” Naval Battles and Wounded Sailors
By L. A. S.
THE effect of modern rapid-fire and heavy guns in a battle at sea will be such, concludes a United States naval surgeon, Dr. H. D. Wilson, that it will be impossible for the medical attendants on board a ship, unless their number is largely increased, to give attention to more than a small number of the wounded during an engagement, and the great majority of those injured must be left to look after themselves, thus greatly adding to the horrors of a naval conflict. Dr. Wilson bases his conclusions on the results which attended the fight between the Russian cruiser “Variag” and a Japanese squadron, off Chempulpho, at which time he was stationed on the United States gunboat “Vicksburg,” in Chempulpho harbor. Although the rapid-fire batteries of the ships were not used at all during the action, the distance between the ships being too great, and the firing lasted only twenty-five minutes, over one hundred men on the “Variag” were disabled by the fragments of shells which struck and burst about the ship. L. A. S. Trust God
By Minnie E. Parker
TRUST Him in the darkness;
Day is near at hand;
Trust him on the ocean,
He will bring to land. Trust him in the daylight;
Snares beset thy feet,
But his watchful presence
Makes the journey sweet. Trust him on the water,
Trust him on the land,
Trust that he will guide thee,
Let him hold thy hand. Trust him as a Father;
Trust him as a Friend,
He will guide and keep thee
Ever to the end. He will share thy sorrow
Through this vale of tears;
Thou shalt share his glory
Through eternal years. The Great Medical Missionary
By Ellen G. White
In the days of Christ there were no sanitariums in the holy land. But wherever the Great Physician went, he carried with him the healing efficacy that was a cure for every disease, spiritual and physical. This he imparted to those who were under the afflicting power of the enemy. In every city, every town, every village through which he passed, with the solicitude of a loving father he laid his hands upon the afflicted ones, making them whole, and speaking words of tenderest sympathy and compassion. How precious to them were his words! From him flowed a stream of healing power, which made the sick whole. He healed men and women with unhesitating willingness and with hearty joyfulness; for he was glad to be able to restore suffering ones to health. The Mighty Healer worked so incessantly, so intensely,—and often without food,—that some of his friends feared he could not much longer endure the constant strain. His brothers heard of this, and also of the charge brought by the Pharisees that he cast out devils through the power of Satan. They felt keenly the reproach that came upon them through their relation to Jesus. They decided that he must be persuaded or constrained to cease his manner of labor, and they induced Mary to unite with them, thinking that through his love for her they might prevail upon him to be more prudent. Jesus was teaching the people when his disciples brought the message that his mother and his brothers were without, and desired to see him. He knew what was in their hearts, and “he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” The enmity kindled in the human heart against the gospel was keenly felt by the Son of God, and it was most painful to him in his home; for his own heart was full of kindness and love, and he appreciated tender regard in the family relation. But with their short measuring-line his brothers could not fathom the mission that he came to fulfil, and therefore could not sympathize with him in his trials. Some of those whom Christ healed he charged to tell no man. He knew that the more the Pharisees and Sadducees and rulers heard of his miracles, the more they would try to hedge up his way. But notwithstanding his precautions, “so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.” Again and again he was followed by the priests, who expressed their violent sentiments against him in order to stir up the enmity of the people. But when he could no longer safely remain in one place, he went to another. In doing medical missionary work we shall meet the same opposition that Christ met. He declares: “Ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” The life of Christ and his ministry to the afflicted are inseparably connected. From the light that has been given me, I know that an intimate relationship should ever exist between the medical missionary work and the gospel ministry. They are bound together in sacred union as one work, and are never to be divorced. The principles of heaven are to be adopted and practised by those who claim to walk in the Saviour’s footsteps. By his example he has shown us that medical missionary work is not to take the place of the preaching of the gospel, but is to be bound up with it. Christ gave a perfect representation of true godliness by combining the work of a physician and a minister, ministering to the needs of both body and soul, healing physical disease, and then speaking words that brought peace to the troubled heart. Christ has empowered his church to do the same work that he did during his ministry. To-day he is the same compassionate physician that he was while on this earth. We should let the afflicted understand that in him there is healing balm for every disease, restoring power for every infirmity. His disciples in this time are to pray for the sick as verily as his disciples of old prayed. And recoveries will follow; for “the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” We need the Holy Spirit’s power, the calm assurance of faith that can claim God’s promises. We should ever remember that the efficiency of the medical missionary work is in pointing sin-sick men and women to the Man of Calvary, who taketh away the sin of the world. By beholding him they will be changed into his likeness. Our object in establishing sanitariums is to encourage the sick and suffering to look to Jesus and live. Let the workers in our medical institutions keep Christ, the Great Physician, constantly before those to whom disease of body and soul has brought discouragement. Point them to the One who can heal both physical and spiritual diseases. Tell them of the One who is touched with the feeling of their infirmities. Encourage them to place themselves in the care of him who gave his life to make it possible for them to have life eternal. Keep their minds fixed upon the One altogether lovely, the Chiefest among ten thousand. Talk of his love; tell of his power to save. The Lord desires every worker to do his best. Those who have not had special training in one of our medical institutions may think that they can do very little; but, my dear fellow workers, remember that in the parable of the talents, Christ did not represent all the servants as receiving the same number. To one servant was given five talents; to another, two; and to still another, one. If you have but one talent, use it wisely, increasing it by putting it out to the exchangers. Some can not do as much as others, but every one is to do all he can to roll back the wave of disease and distress that is sweeping over our world. Come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty powers of darkness. God desires every one of his children to have intelligence and knowledge, so that with unmistakable clearness and power his glory shall be revealed in our world. See That Thou Build All Things According to the Pattern
By D. H. Kress
THERE is a great significance in the following words of inspiration: “The birth of Jesus Christ, was on this wise.” The instruction was given to Moses, “See . . . that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.” It is evident that God designs ever to keep before man the birth of Christ, his humble parentage and life of toil, as a pattern in planning to carry forward his work. The Saviour of men was not born in a palace, neither was he surrounded with pomp and worldly splendor at his birth. He was born in a stable, at Bethlehem, cradled in a manger, and brought up in an obscure town in Galilee. Though he held the wealth of this world in his hands, he emptied himself, and his great work and mission were begun in poverty, without worldly rank or recognition. This was God's way of revealing himself, of introducing9 and making known saving truth. “Neither are your ways my ways,” saith the Lord. At the birth of Christ the whole religious world was permeated with the idea that splendor, rank, and large, imposing buildings were marked evidences of God's special favor. The religion that could outdo all others in these respects, was considered the true religion. When Christ, therefore, came to his own, “his own received him not.” Truth was rejected because it lacked outward display. Even the disciples of Christ had their minds so filled with the thought that the kingdom must come with outward splendor, that they tried to take Christ by force and bestow upon him worldly recognition and honor as a king. There still exists in human nature a disrelish for any truth that is cradled in a manger. The feeling exists, We must have outward splendor in order to make impressions. But these are no evidences of God's favor, or that the work is of God. It is this spirit that is responsible for many of the massive buildings of modern as well as ancient times. It is responsible for many of our great cathedrals. But outward splendor now, as then, is usually an evidence that the true Shekinah is not within. As a rule truth is not found within massive walls. The massive walls were in Jerusalem, but Christ was in a manger at Bethlehem. In the closing work many will regard such works with a degree of satisfaction, and say, “I am rich, and increased with goods,” but Christ is represented as standing at the door, knocking, unrecognized and unworshipped. The Roman Catholic people look proudly upon their massive structures, and say, “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” but many who are not connected with this church reveal the same spirit. “And all the world wondered after the beast,”—all whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life. Truth is not enclosed in caskets of gold; truth is still to be found cradled in a manger, for “the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.” If “this work be of men, it will come to naught.” When men put their trust in these externals, God has often to dash these in pieces to save the men. When Nebuchadnezzar said, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?” there fell a voice from heaven, saying, “The kingdom is departed from thee.” This was the only way God could save Nebuchadnezzar. When ambassadors came from Babylon to inquire about Hezekiah's marvelous restoration to health, he gave them what he supposed to be the best evidence that he was specially favored of God. It is stated, “Hezekiah was glad of them,” and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver and the gold, etc. “There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.” Only one thing he failed to do, and that was to reveal Christ, and him crucified. The Lord said through the prophet Isaiah, “Behold the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried into Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.” Ambassadors from Babylon are frequently sent to God's people to get a glimpse of Christ. When they depart, it may be well to ask, “What have they seen in thine house?” They may have seen all our appliances and our buildings; but have they seen Jesus? God introduces and carries forward his work in a way altogether different from the way man deems it wise and prudent to carry it forward. “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? . . . Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” The world is still looking for a sign, or outward display. “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.” “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord,” and in nothing else. It is well to remember and to keep constantly before us the humble birth of Christ, to study carefully his life as he walked and labored among men, and build after the pattern. A Warning Message
By George I. Butler
WILL there be a warning message to prepare the world for Christ’s coming? This question admits of but one answer: Of course there will be such a message. The character of God, his mercy and love, his great interest in our welfare and salvation, his justice and compassion for his creatures, demonstrate beyond all question that when their eternal well-being is in jeopardy, he will surely give them warning of their danger. In all the great crises of the past, he has ever done this. When he was about to destroy the antediluvians by a flood of waters, he sent forth his servant Noah, “a preacher of righteousness.” God’s Spirit strove with them one hundred and twenty years. He warned them by preaching; he warned them still more effectually by the preparation he was making to save his own family and the animals and birds that were to be preserved to repopulate the earth. 2 Peter 2:5; Genesis 6. The flood came, and swept away every inhabitant. So it will be when Christ comes. “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” Wicked Sodom and the cities of the plain were visited, even by angels of God, and righteous Lot and his daughters that believed were cared for and rescued. Even proud, wicked, Gentile Nineveh was warned by Jonah the prophet, and the city was spared just because the people believed the message God sent them. So much for faith in God’s word. Have you ever read the book of Jeremiah? If not, read it carefully. It is largely filled with that great prophet’s efforts to warn the Jews of the destruction of their wonderful temple and the city of Jerusalem. The most solemn appeals were made to cease living in sin and rebellion against God. They were plainly told that if they did not, their city should cease from being a city, and lie utterly waste and desolate. Such proved to be the result, and that awful captivity of seventy years followed. Even the Egyptians were fully warned of the results of their sins in oppressing the Israelites. Moses and Aaron plead with Pharaoh, and mighty signs and wonders were performed. These were unheeded, and their whole army was engulfed in the waters of the Red Sea. Christ’s remarkable discourse recorded, in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, was a clear prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem. The Jews heeded not the warning. The siege under Titus was one of the most terrible the world ever saw. Women ate their own children. Hundreds of thousands were carried off as slaves; the nation was scattered, and has never been gathered, and their city was utterly obliterated. But not a disciple of Christ was in the city; all had heeded Christ’s warning, “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” They fled away to the mountains, and were saved. So much for believing God. We see from these references to the past that it is ever according to God’s plan to warn the people of danger. Then those who believe him will be in safety. What, then, shall we say of the greatest event that will ever occur—the second coming of Christ? Will all that have an interest at stake in that solemn event be left in unconscious ignorance of its approach, never know of it or have any chance to know of it till like a clap of thunder out of a clear sky it is everlastingly too late to prepare for it?—O, no, not by any means. God has not so changed in character as this would imply. There will be a warning message proclaimed to the ends of the earth. All who will believe God’s word and make preparation, will have a chance to be ready for it. They will say, when they see him come in his glory with all the holy angels, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isa. 25:9. Did you ever know anybody to wait for a thing that he did not expect? It is impossible. This scripture is positive evidence that God’s people, when the Lord comes, will be looking for him and prepared to receive him. Why?—Because they have believed the warning message that preceded his coming. What says the apostle Paul concerning this matter? “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should10 overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” 1 Thess. 5:4, 5. The apostle had just been speaking about the world’s being overtaken as by a thief in the night. Why?—Because they believed not the “sure word of prophecy,” which Peter says is a “light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19-21. The dawn of the day is the glorious event of which we speak in this paper—the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to gather his people home. We are now living in the long night of moral and spiritual darkness, where the curse reigns, sin and rebellion against God run riot, and sickness, sorrow, woe, oppression, bloody war, and universal death triumph over mankind. It is not always to be so. The time is soon to come when the Almighty God will say, “There shall be no more death,” no more tears, “neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Rev. 21:4. Thank God, we live now just before the dawning of that day. O weary, sorrowing, sin-sick, perishing souls, look up! The morning breaketh. We see from the “sure word of prophecy” that we are nearing that happy day when life and immortality will take the place of woe and corruption, sickness, sorrow, and death. It comes, O it comes! yea, it is near at hand. Are you ready for the glad transition? Can you say with the beloved apostle, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly”? If not, why not? Ah, do you love this poor sin-cursed world too well—its fashions, its pleasures, its lusts, its wealth? If so, you are without hope and without God in the world. When the world perishes, you will perish with it. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world; and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” 1 John 2:15-17. The world passes away when the morn of eternity breaks at Christ’s second coming. It is near and hasteth greatly. Ah, yes; there is a message of warning going forth to the world even now. Its notes are sounding even as you read this paper. It is the keynote of the whole system of our faith.—Geo. I. Butler, in Southern Watchman. Do You Know?
By Mary C. Wilson
DEAR fellow Christian, are you aware that among the little band of brethren and sisters with whom you have your association there may be some soul who is bowed down in discouragement—some one who, though nearly crushed under the load that he carries, may be now fighting a soul conflict, open only to the all-seeing Eye, so severe, so desperate, that it seems at times as if his feet would be swept off the one true Foundation? He does not shout the victory he might have, because the enemy is overwhelming him with darkness. He refuses to talk of the darkness that envelops him, consequently you do not understand his inward experience. No; you do not know. How can you? How can you know how near to danger stands that precious soul whose purchase price was the life of the Son of God? But are you scattering about you smiles of cheer, words of tenderness, hope, and love? Are you watching to help upward instead of ‘bearing downward by criticism or indifference? Are you bearing those whom you covenanted to help, above earth on the wings of prayer? Do you bring each by name before the Father for his strength and grace? Do you, when you enter your closets where none but God can see, agonize before him for the youth, the boys and girls of your fold, that they may be kept unsullied from the world’s pollutions, and grow strong to labor for the Master? Do you know that Satan is making a special target of these youth, bringing against them a flood so strong that it is almost impossible for them to bear up against the awful current? Are you seeking by every means, by unceasing prayer, to keep them as pure as when heaven gave them into your keeping? Do you say that many of our young people are now lost to the church? that we can no longer interest them in religious things? What! Can it be that you are at ease, enjoying the security of the fold, while the lambs are out on the cold, dark mountains of unbelief? O, hasten to their rescue! But stop! throw down your clubs. You can not drive nor frighten them back. Only gentle means combined with wisdom will avail; but persevere, persevere, persevere. Let your prevailing weapon be prayer. Encircle them with a cheerful spirit of love and good-will, and then hold them up to the dear Father in earnest, unceasing, prevailing prayer, and God according to his promise will hear and save. Sunshine and Sorrow in Character
“THE Arabs have a saying that all sunshine makes the desert. Men often sigh for entire exemption from care and sorrow. If this prayer were answered, they would not be the men they are. In silent, dark hours, character of a certain sweet, tender type is matured. Other kinds of character are brought out by the sunshine. God sends all kinds of weather to the soul which he would develop in his likeness.”