Will you please show the harmony, either in the “Question Corner,” or by letter, in the following scriptures: Ps. 37:25 and Luke 16:19-25? L. H. C.
Ps. 37:25 reads, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Luke 16:19-25 is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, in which the beggar Lazarus is represented as laid at the gate of the rich man and longing—doubtless begging—for crumbs. (1) The record is only a parable and does not deal in an actual transaction of this sort. It would be revolting and contrary to Scripture so to conclude. (2) David does not aim to declare a universal truth; but what he himself had observed, or had not observed. (3) We have no evidence to show that the beggar was the seed of the righteous, even tho he was good. To meet the result expressed in the psalm, the father should do in all things righteously, and the seed should follow in his steps. Lazarus may have been suffering from his father’s sins physically. (4) The parable is an illustration, it seems clear to us, of Jews and Gentiles.
1683.—Voice in the Streets.
Will you kindly harmonize these two Scriptures, Isa. 42:2, and Luke 14:21? In the first scripture Christ’s voice is not heard in the street, and in the next scripture it would seem as if the Lord would here sanction meetings on the streets of our cities. Is it proper or not to hold open-air meetings on the streets? W. T.
The meaning of the first scripture, we take it, is that our Lord would not be a ranting, noisy agitator. One translation is, He shall not “raise a clamor.” He would not foment discord or seek to create disturbance or discord. Yet, street preaching, properly conducted, is all right. Let the Lord lead. It may be well to take collections even; but let everything be done decently, and let the dignity and sweetness of the Christian religion characterize it all.
1684.—King of Tyre.
Is it the King of Tyrus, or is it the devil, that is spoken of in Eze. 28:12-19. Some say it is the devil. If so, what proof is there for that? Please answer in the SIGNS. E. A. O.
He is both King of Tyrus and the devil, while the earthly King of Tyre is spoken of in the first part of the chapter as the “prince” of Tyre. The prince is under the king. The ruler of Tyre was under the ruler Satan, who was the real King of Tyre. So Lucifer is spoken of in Isaiah 14 as the King of Babylon, because the earthly rulers of Babylon were serving him. Again, the very language of Eze. 28:12-19 could apply to no mortal man, while it does fit the great apostate angel.
RECENT RELIGIOUS TENDENCIES IN ENGLAND.
By M. Ellsworth Olsen
(From Our Own Correspondent.)
A cursory survey of English religious life during the last three or four years reveals three distinct tendencies which may be taken as determinative. First, there is developing, on the part of the laboring classes, a marked indifference in matters of religion, and a feeling almost of hostility toward the clergy. Secondly, all classes of society are assuming a more favorable attitude toward Roman Catholicism. (I am not now referring to the Ritualistic movement, which is a thing apart, having really nothing to do with the tendency noticeable throughout Great Britain to-day to look with a sympathy, almost amounting to admiration, upon an ecclesiastic organization red with the blood of millions of martyrs.) Thirdly, English religious thought in recent years has shown a very strong tendency toward Rationalism, using the term now in a large sense, to include various cults within and without the pale of the orthodox churches, all of which, however, are alike in producing a sort of devitalized Christianity, a Christianity bereft of its distinguishing characteristics, of its vital power, a Christianity, in short, without Christ.
Growth of Rationalism.
The third of these tendencies has shown a marvelous growth in the last few years, and occupies to-day a strongly-fortified position right in the heart of popular Christian thought. To deal with it at all satisfactorily will require a separate article. I therefore turn to a consideration of the first two tendencies named.
Religious Indifference,
on the part of the so-called masses, may be traced to various causes. The conditions of their daily life are not conducive to the cultivation of that outward conformity to religious customs and observances which generally passes for Christianity. The poor are not so likely to do things for effect as their better-situated neighbors. Consequently they seldom go to church, except for religious help on the one hand, or for pure entertainment on the other. As, unfortunately, the average pastor usually has his hands too full of other matters to think of feeding his flock, the really hungry soul soon finds church-going rather unprofitable, and, as literature, politics, and social questions are all treated much more satisfactorily in the newspaper than they could be treated in the pulpit, except by the ablest and most eloquent ministers, it follows that the vast majority of the clergy face a great many empty seats. Some, knowing the general love of entertainment, are resorting to very questionable methods of filling their churches, thinking that, once the people are acquainted with the inside of the church, they will want to come regularly, even tho the special attractions cease; but invariably the audience drops off with the sensation, and the minister finds himself alone with his disappointed hopes.
Hostility to the Clergy.
Of the hostility felt by workingmen toward the clergy, many evidences appear. The attitude of the “labor” press is unfriendly to the church. The socialist element, which bids fair soon to be the predominant party in all labor organizations in Great Britain, is frankly outspoken in its criticisms of church and clergy, whom it regards as leagued with capital.
A curious instance of the strained feeling between the clergy and the laboring class occurred recently. Rev. R. J. Campbell, the successor of Dr. Parker at the well-known city temple, wrote an article for the National Review on “Sunday Observance,” a subject which, in England, is periodically discussed, usually without attracting much attention. On this occasion, however, Mr. Campbell ventured some remarks on the laboring man, describing him as often lazy and unthrifty, and sometimes immoral and foul-mouthed. He added that these statements were “not intended to apply to workingmen as a whole, but to large classes among them, which classes, it is to be feared, constitute a majority.”
The daily press eagerly seized upon this portion of the magazine article, and gave it the widest possible publicity, causing a fierce outburst of popular indignation against the writer, and also his congregation, which was described as made up of “aristocrats, plutocrats, and stock exchange swindlers.” So deep was the feeling of resentment on the part of laboring men that Mr. Campbell saw fit to meet some of them in a large hall in the west of London, with a view of explaining himself; but no reconciliation was effected. Representatives of labor gave addresses, flatly denying the charges made, and Mr. Campbell, on his side, offered no material modification of his strongly-expressed opinions. The breach is wider than ever. The workingman thinks ministers in general blind to the sins and shortcomings of the moneyed classes, who form the chief support of the church, and rather hypocritical toward the less prosperous.
It must be confessed that he has some reason for so thinking. Viscount Mountmones, in a recent paper on “The Failure of the Church,” records his belief that
The Modern Church
has grossly abused her trust, and shown herself incapable of realizing Christ’s ideal. He says that Sunday afternoon, in almost any of the great cathedrals, one finds a little cluster of “well-to-do, well-lunched, comfortable, middle-aged, middle-class Christians, mostly women—” for whose benefit an elaborate service, accompanied by the most exquisite music, is being conducted.
“An air of self-satisfied repose and indolent languor pervades the whole scene. The voice of the minister, as he recites the familiar prayers and admonitions, during the intervals when the white-robed choristers are silent, is carefully modulated in a drowsy cadence, so as not to disturb the spirit of restful peace which fills the congregation.”
“Finally, some venerable and erudite prelate, living a life of comfort and ease, and thoroughly attuned to the harmony of his surroundings, delivers in cultured tones a forty-minutes’ discourse on some abstruse point in tenth-rate metaphysics. He may or may not have the gift of oratory; he may or may not have the power of drawing vividly and brilliantly a narrative picture; he may or may not be capable of touching the emotions of the more sensitive of his audience; but it is certain that, whatever his talent or lack of talent may be, he will studiously refrain from breaking in on the comfortable mood of his congregation.”
“He must on no pretext arouse them or give their mind food for disquieting reflection. He must carefully avoid touching on any of the more serious concerns of life, or referring to any of its unpleasant phases, such as might possibly send his hearers away in a less cosy frame of mind. So, to the melody of a beautiful organ, played by a master of his art, the little group is dismissed to its scandal and its tea.”
No doubt this description would not apply to some churches; but, in the main, it indicates truthfully the general drift of church activity in this country. The poor are largely left out of account. Their struggles, hopes, longing desires, their sufferings, their fierce temptations—these are not taken account of in the modern sermon. It is a repetition of the old saying,—“Depart; be ye warmed and fed,” while nothing tangible is done to bring about a better state of things.
That Spirit of Commercialism
in the church which is so vividly pointed out in the 18th chapter of Revelation, is, sad to say, only too evident. Self-denial is conspicuous by its absence. Church-going has come to be merely one of the proprieties of good society. The church is a species of club, whose members form a social clique. If money is to be raised, resort is sure to be had to the bazaar, with all manner of unchristian amusements and forms of petty overreaching, which virtually amount to swindling. One is glad to admit that some serious-minded people, both pastors and lay members, feel that these things are wrong, but they seldom have the courage to rebuke them, and so ultimately become reconciled to them.
Meanwhile a very large class of well-fed, prosperous, worldly-minded Christians persist in saying that the world is growing better. God grant that their eyes may be opened to see things in all their stern reality before it is too late.
Of the Poor and the Laboring Classes
generally it may be frankly admitted that what Mr. Campbell said about them is not untrue, tho, on the other hand, perhaps not more applicable to them than to society in general. As the poor are usually more frank and open, so their sins come more quickly to light than do those of their richer and more prosperous neighbors; but it must be remembered, also, that their general environment is a most unfavorable one, and their opportunities narrow and cramped in the extreme. In the light of God’s Word and the teaching of our Saviour while here upon the earth, the chief responsibility for the wrongs of society must rest with those who are in positions where they could do much to right matters, but whose selfish indifference to the sufferings of others leads them to do nothing.
In classing the laboring class with the poor, I am governed by conditions prevailing here in the old country which are essentially different from those one finds in America. There the laborer gets a sufficient wage, as a rule, to enable him to live in peace and plenty. Here in London, on the other hand, it has been found by careful investigation that thirty per cent. of the entire population live below the poverty line—in other words, they are not earning enough to decently feed and clothe themselves and their families, even when work is fairly easy to get. Suffering and hardship is their common lot; they know nothing different. When they go to church, they do not find there the sympathy and spiritual help that it should be the joy of their better-situated neighbors to give them. Therefore they stay away.
The Sympathy with Rome
is one of the remarkable developments of the present day, and bids fair to become a most powerful factor in the political, social, and religious life of the twentieth century. It is shown by rich and poor, educated and ignorant; one meets it in newspaper and magazine, and in platform utterances, as well as in social converse. There is no doubt that Rome is growing in power and influence at a rapid rate, and that in the face of conditions supposedly contrary to her best interests. Stationary, in some cases almost seeming to lose ground in Catholic countries, she is far outstripping her strongest rivals in all so-called Protestant countries, and displaying a marked ability to make the most of the situation.
Just why Roman Catholicism should be gaining ground so rapidly in Great Britain, I am not prepared to say. In an age of so-called liberal thought, one would think that the whole tendency would be in another direction. But prophecy points out that the Papacy is to regain much of its lost power in the latter days, and, together with apostate Protestantism, once more manifest the persecuting spirit. This prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes. Rome will yet occupy a position in the world little dreamed of by those who think her day is past. And Rome, let it be remembered, does not change.
London, England. M. ELLSWORTH OLSEN.
An Oversight.
Speaking of the various “congresses” convened at the St. Louis Exposition for the discussion of prominent industries, Prof. Edgar L. Larkin says: “There is one glaring oversight in the Exposition. No world’s congress was called to crush out the world-wide curse of patent ‘medicines.’ The exploitation of secret nostrums has assumed the dimensions of a national plague here in our own country and in Europe. In many cases the ‘medicine’ in the bottle costs less than the empty bottle and labels. The demon alcohol lurks within many of them.” There is, perhaps, nothing that is doing so much to encourage the alcohol habit as the patent medicine fad.
THE WORLD'S FAIR.
By R. C. Porter
BY R. C. PORTER.
A Century of Progress.
Perhaps the most valuable lesson to be learned at the World's Fair, is that of the world's progress within the past century. “On every hand there are evidences of the marvelous advance in art, science, agriculture, mining, manufacture, and in that agent which brought them all together and made them possible—transportation.”
Commencing with agriculture, we are impressed with the marked advance in machinery in every department of agricultural work. From the tedious primitive cotton-gin, we are brought to the automatic feed and cleaner, Cheesman gin of to-day, with a capacity of over three bales per day. Six of these machines can be operated by one person. Likewise in the plow exhibit. Side by side stand a plow forged in 1837, and the latest improved four gang-plow, and disc gang-plow. The old single shovel in contrast with the two-row corn-cultivator, the hay-loader, the corn-planter, corn-sheller, thrashing-machine, hay-baler, road engine, the scientific feed grinder, corn-binder, and tool sharpener, the grain-thrasher with its weighing, bagging, and loading attachments, the self-feeding clover-hullers and grain-thrashers, the Tennessee improved horse pea picker, hay-stackers, corn-huskers, and cream-separators. All these pass in review to remind the observer that we are living in an age of remarkable progress.
The most striking contrasts seen in this department were the wooden plow used by Daniel Webster on his father's farm, standing by the side of an enormous eight-gang steam plow; and a Western steam harvester and thrasher and auto mower, in contrast with the old fashioned grain-cradle and scythe.
The exhibit in the United States Government building, where the century's progress in harvesting machinery was collected and in actual operation in miniature form, was one of the most interesting.
In the Transportation building the primitive two-wheeled ox cart stands in contrast with the rapid transit, elegant and comfortable automobile carriage. The quaint little Dewitt Clinton train of 1831, the first run in America, consisting of a crude engine and tender and three omnibus-shaped cars, running at the rate of fifteen miles an hour between Albany and Schenectady, was seen in contrast with the Empire State Express running a mile a minute, the fastest long-distance train in the world, its coaches veritable palaces of convenience and comfort. It would have taken the Dewitt train twenty-nine and one-third hours to run from New York to Buffalo. The Empire State Express makes the run in eight and one-quarter hours. All this change since 1831.
Near by stood an old fashioned iron teakettle-shaped engine, a production from Sir Isaac Newton's Description in 1680. This was the first-thought-of propulsion by steam on land. The first locomotive used in America was built in England in 1829. It had two pairs of drive wheels, and ran on a wooden track, with iron rails laid flat and screwed to the wood. From Murdock's working model 1780, tricycle type, nearly a score of various patterns from different countries were exhibited, showing the evolution of invention in that period, when it was supposed to be next to impossible to attempt to run engines and pull loads overland.
“As long ago as 1811 Chancellor Livingston, who was associated with Robert Fulton in the invention of the steamboat, received a letter from some ‘wild, hair-brained individual,’ asking his opinion of the practicability of railroads. After giving the matter due consideration, the worthy Chancellor replied that, besides too dangerous, it would be impossible to build rails that would sustain so heavy a weight as you propose, moving at the rate of four miles an hour on wheels.”
Place this statement in comparison with the St. Louis engine which had no peer in the great Exposition for weight. This engine has six pairs of driving wheels; its weight with tender is two hundred and forty tons. It works on the compound principle, with two high pressure cylinders on the rear section, and two low pressure cylinders on the front section. It is a mammoth machine and in remarkable contrast with the early types of engines standing in a cluster near by.
The present century shows machinery applied to every conceivable purpose. The ingenuity now applied to the invention of new machinery is incalculable.
Pumping machinery occupied a prominent place at the Exposition. The water for the cascades was pumped by electric turbine pumps against a head of one hundred and fifty-nine feet, each pump handling 35,000 gallons per minute.
In an exhibit with an endless variety of the latest improved machinery from the churn to the forty tons lift machinery crane, covering every phase of invention in every form of industry, but a few special items can be mentioned. Engines reaching the enormous test of 45,000 horse-power in operation so compact and unpretentious in appearance as scarcely to attract attention.
Perhaps the most striking exhibit in machinery, is that of a gas producer and engine which it is said is destined to work a revolution in the production of power for manufacturing. By this invention a low form of gas is extracted from coal, greatly minimizing the cost of the gas fuel. It is claimed that this engine will produce 1,750 horse-power with an expenditure of 1,550 pounds of anthracite coal per hour. No former method has produced one horse-power with less than three pounds of anthracite coal, while this one produces from less than one pound, one horse-power. This engine seems to strike many machinists with the impression that the splendid steam inventions will soon have to succumb to this new invention for producing power.
The flying machine was also in evidence, tho this invention is yet in its infancy, as was steam transportation in 1829. Santos Dumont and other inventors have recently come forward with air-ships that do sail in the air to a limited extent.
No less marked is the invention displayed in firearms for army and navy. From the old bow and arrow, spear, and sword, and battering-ram, we now see the breech-loading rifle, the rapid-fire gun shooting its eight hundred shots per minute. The sixteen-inch cannon discharging its 2,400 pounds of solid cast iron, shot by an explosion of six hundred and sixty pounds of smokeless powder, at a velocity of two thousand three hundred feet per second. The weight of this gun is 291,000 pounds. Its length is 49.25 feet. Its extreme range is twenty-one miles, penetrating forty-six inches of solid steel at the muzzle. It performs on a disappearing carriage, which rises about four feet to make the discharge, then drops back out of sight within the fort. The contrast of weapons of earlier times with these of to-day, overawes. This scene does not impress the beholder that he is on the eve of a millennium, when all will be peace; but rather on the eve of a mighty waking up of nations for war, and these inventions are to be used by man to slaughter his fellow-man. Space forbids entering upon a discussion of many other inventions worthy of consideration.
The remarkable educational exhibit, with its manual training appliances, its methods of instruction for blind, deaf, and dumb, its Indian school system and its general advanced methods of practical instruction, were not behind the progress in other branches of industry.
Then come the electric discoveries and inventions. Since Benjamin Franklin drew from the clouds the electric current on the string of his kite, and Professor Morse taught it to speak through telegraphy, there have come such marked inventions that we now have wireless telegraphy; also an invention, which was one of the most remarkable on exhibit, which sends by telegraph one thousand words a minute over lines one thousand miles in length; while by the ordinary method only about fifty words per minute are transmitted. This instrument can send twenty-five thousand words a minute over shorter lines. There was shown also the electric transmission of writing by the telautograph, by which one writes and a facsimile of the writing appears at the other end of the line. Inventions in telephony bring us now the automatic switchboard and automatic exchanges. We have also Professor Graham Bell's radiophone, a discovery by which is made possible the sending of a verbal message along a beam of light.
The climax of recent discoveries seems to have been reached in the discovery of radium. As an explosive it is said that an ounce of radium would lift both the French and English navies from the water. It is a white crystalline powder composed of several metals, with an illuminating power that far eclipses Roentgen, or X rays. Its rays travel almost as fast as sunlight, and can pierce three feet of iron, burn through metallic cases, and take photographs in closed trunks.
Polonium may surpass radium in some ways, but its possibilities are not yet fully known.
After reviewing so many of these stupendous advances in all lines of discovery and invention we naturally inquire what is the great lesson these inventions are designed to teach? Turning to the Bible, the storehouse of all the higher knowledge which this world needs, we read in Daniel 12:4, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Without arguing the question as to the beginning of the period called “the time of the end” (which in chapter eleven, verse thirty-five, is declared to follow the close of the persecutions under the Papacy), I would suggest that we are living now in a time of great running “to and fro.” “And knowledge shall be increased.” The great inventions of which we have spoken tell their own story as to the fulfilment of this prediction in our day. What, then, is the lesson to be learned from this study? We are living in the time of the end. This is a brief period just prior to the end of time. When we see the preparations for war, the death-dealing gatling-gun, the mighty destructive cannon, the destructive submarine boat, the waking up of the heathen and their desperate and bloody part in the conflict now going on, it says to us in the language of the third chapter of Joel, that we have reached the time when the harvest is ripe, and the sickle is soon to gather its fruitage from the earth. But Christ says “The harvest is at the end of the world.” The fulfilment of Joel's prophecy to turn agricultural implements into war weapons, and to wake up the mighty men for war, is before our eyes. Its lesson is, The harvest is ripe; the end of all things is at hand.
A century covers nearly all the inventions and discoveries of modern times. Why were they not made before? The prophet declared that they were reserved as a sign of the second coming of Christ and the end of the world. It is also stated by Christ, in Matt. 24:14, that the people of the last generation upon the earth are to carry the last message of the Gospel to all the world, “and then shall the end come.” Before the chapter closes he tells us this work will be done by one generation, then the Lord will come. What facilities He, who, from the heavens, conducts the work which He committed to men to perform, has provided in our day for the accomplishment of that work! The possibilities of its announcement in all the world surpass all previous historical record. God's great purpose is soon to be accomplished. “My Word shall not return unto Me void.” The Mystery of God is soon to be finished, and the last note of the Gospel sounded. The great day of God is near and hasteth greatly. Are we ready?
Russian Zemstvos Petition for Reform
One of the most striking developments in Russia during recent years was the recent assembly of the Zemstvos representatives to draw up and present to the government the desires of the Russian people regarding alterations in the national government. The memorial recited what the people wished, and was presented to the emperor by the new Minister of the Interior. The emperor's reply has not yet been given. While it is not believed that the desires of the petitioners will be granted, it is considered a great step toward advancement that they are even allowed to petition the throne.
Japanese Advance at Port Arthur
The Japanese have captured one of the most important forts in the outer defenses of Port Arthur, have placed guns now so as to reach all parts of the harbor, and continue their attacks on the stronghold incessantly. Many thousands have been killed or mutilated in this business during the past week. In the north fighting of a desultory nature continues, but without bringing the main armies into combat. The Japanese fleet is being put into condition to meet the Russian Baltic fleet when it shall arrive.
Anarchy in Macedonia
It is said that anarchy now rules in portions of Macedonia, and that many people are being killed by the lawless element.
Football Season’s Grim Record
Fifteen deaths and 296 seriously injured is the record of the inter-collegiate football games for the season.
Another Balkan Revolt Expected in Spring
The insurgents in the Balkans are said to be preparing for another revolt in the spring.
THE GOLDEN RULE IN THE HOME.
By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle
BY MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.
“ALL things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them.”
WHAT a blessed revolution would transform this poor sin-sick world into an Eden of happiness, if every nation and kindred and tongue and people and family would obey this simple command from the lips of the Divine Nazarene, who “spake as never man spake.”
Suppose every one should agree to do this, even for one little year. It would settle every dispute under the sun; it would close every saloon that ever cursed this earth; it would give peace and plenty and prosperity, where now poverty and lust and greed hold sway. It would close every poorhouse and fill the mouths and the pockets of every inmate. It would bury every grievance between man and man. The ships of war would be turned into vessels of mercy and peace. The roar of the cannon would not be heard. The groans of a thousand men torn to pieces on the field of battle would be hushed.
Down with the red badge of war!
Up with the white banner of peace!
No more crime, with its awful record of blood. O, what a year of jubilee it would be! what a time of rejoicing for the sons of men!
One of the ways in which we are most apt to break this golden commandment is by saying things about others which we would very much dislike them to say about us. How many of us stand condemned in presence of that wonderful verse about not taking up a reproach against our neighbor? Then what shall we say of those Christians who so far forget the Spirit of the Master as to take up a reproach against their own flesh and blood?
“I don’t suppose Jack will stick to his principles very long,” said a young wife to me in presence of her husband. “I believe he would give up his religion to-day, if it were not for me to sort of hold him stationary.”
“O, my friend,” thought I, “you are forgetting the golden rule. Such words as these from your husband’s lips regarding you, would almost break your heart. Such expressions are, to say the least, in very bad taste.”
I turned to see what effect the cruel speech would have upon poor Jack. He was quite distressed and altogether embarrassed; and no wonder. I took him by the hand, and said:
“I have no expectation of your giving up. I am sure I shall never be disappointed in you.”
O woman, woman! If you would receive much, expect much. If you would have your husband discouraged, despondent, disagreeable—aye, back-slidden—let him see by word and action that you have no confidence in him.
Now, if we live up to the Golden Rule at home, it will be easy to do the same away from home and in the every-day business of life. The other day, going down town, I glanced in at the window of a certain office, and saw a very strange motto printed in large letters on a chart, and hanging up on the wall. I looked twice to be sure that my eyes did not deceive me. Certainly it was a very appropriate motto for a business office—but a very unusual one:
“What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Since the gentleman was an acquaintance of mine, I took the liberty to speak to him about the motto; his answer was: “When I can’t live up to that verse in my affairs, I would better quit business.”
“O, here is an example well worth following,” I thought. No danger but this man is trying to do unto others as he would have them do to him.
“But,” says some one whose pocket-book has not yet been converted, “If I really lived up to the Golden Rule, I could not get a living for my family; and you know the Bible says that ‘if any provide not for his own,’ he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” Yes; I know it does; and I have known people who could not—or did not—repeat any other verse in the whole Bible but this one. They forget the verse which says: “Blessed is he that considereth the poor,” and “He that watereth shall be watered also himself,” and that we are commanded to have a care for the stranger, the widow, and the orphan.
Almost from my window I can see a plain, large, roomy house. I believe, if our eyes could be opened, we should see many angels from the glory land watching over that home,—and that it is under the special guardianship of the Most High. Why?—Because it is the home of a man high up in the church? Because the family wardrobe is costly and beautiful? Because they spend much money in converting the heathen?—O, no; in that home are scores of precious little ones gathered from the east and the west,—little ones like those to whom Christ said: “Suffer little children to come unto Me.” Many of these poor little ones have no sweet memory of a tender mother or loving father. Ah, how would we feel, if our own dearly-loved children were thrown on the mercy of a cold and selfish world, with none to care for them. Well, somebody’s children are just in that condition. And so, with a heart filled with the love which is the mainspring of the Golden Rule, the large, roomy home has been prepared.
O, I say, God bless the loving hands of those who minister there! and God bless—and He will bless—the basket and the store of those who help to supply the needs of the helpless. Shall we be so selfish as to forget our duty to these lambs of Christ?—God forbid!
“But,” some one still protests, “I must see to the clothing and the proper education of my own children. I am helping to support the church school. There ought to be a church school in every church,—don’t you think so?”
Yes, yes; I agree with you,—and more. In a church of fifty families there ought to be just fifty church schools and fifty church-school teachers,—tho one hundred is better,—for surely the father should assist the mother in the religious training of the child. And would it not be beautiful for you to teach your own that they must sacrifice for those little ones more unfortunate than they,—and that even Christ pleased not Himself? Then shall the blessing of Him who has said, “Inasmuch as ye would have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto Me,” be yours. It may be a little deed, even a cup of cold water, but it will be remembered and rewarded.
The other morning I wandered to the top of a high hill from which the whole city can be seen. But it was early, and a hazy mist covered the lower lands. Only now and then the white spire of some church pointed through the mist like a finger toward the sky. But the winding river and the beautiful foliage and the vine-covered cottages could not be seen. They were covered with the mist. And so, I thought; this is a picture of the lives of some. They have done many good works, but nobody seems to know about it, because they are done quietly. No blaring trumpet has announced the generous act or the kind word spoken, and no lengthy column in the newspaper has advertised it. But the Most High has seen it all, and the record of the angels will be read some day; and the mist-covered lives of those who have lived in unselfishness, and who have reflected the Golden Rule of love at home and abroad, will shine in all their beauty.
O, some day, sometime, this sin-cursed earth, over which the thief and the murderer and the selfish money-getter stalk unbound; this old earth, where the Golden Rule is held at a discount, and over which the briar and the thistle,—those marks of the curse,—abound, will emerge from the mists of sin and darkness and evil, and will bloom like the rose,—the fair capital of God’s great universe. O, our God has great things in store for His one lost sheep.
Some day the Rule of Love will be the only rule. Selfishness will be banished forevermore. Sin, sorrow, suffering, forgotten; and those who have followed their Master’s blessed example of utter unselfishness will spend a glorious eternity in His presence. Shall we be there?
OVER AND OVER.
By Olive E. Dana
Over and over and over again
God's harvest falls in the hands of men
And never weary our Father is
Of feeding these clamorous children of His;
Of ripening the grain, and painting the fruit,
And giving the oak its sturdier root;
Of wrapping the corn in its husk away;
Of hiding the seed for the wand of May,
Over and over and over He pours
Into our bins the bounteous stores.
Over and over and over again
God's care broods over the lives of men;
Unfailing, unwearied, tender, and near,
So constant and close we forget 'tis here!
Forbidding mischance, and defending from ill,
And in His refusals enriching us still.
Over and over the heart is made glad,
So clear the sight of God's goodness is had,
So abiding the deep, still sense
Of His gracious sheltering Providence.
Over and over and over again
God sets His hope in the souls of men;
The joy in the joy, the gift in the gift,
The light that enters through sorrows rift;
The swifter days and the starrier eyes,
The strange, deep peace in the heart that sighs;
The thrill that says, “He is very near.”
The trust that owns, “He is now and here;”
Over and over, in all our living,
His mercies come; we will keep thanksgiving.
—Olive E. Dana.
A HEAVEN OF HOME.
Not long ago a man was called to an educational position of great honor, one that involved larger social obligations than he and his wife had been accustomed to meet. She shrank from the new duties which would be laid upon her, chiefly from a sense of not having kept pace, intellectually, with her husband during their years of married life. Their income had been small, and she had been her own housemaid as well as a devoted mother to their three boys. This left little leisure for reading or study, and she was conscious that her husband had outstripped her in mental growth. When she expressed her misgivings to him, he replied, “Never mind, my dear, you have made a heaven of our home.” The answer shows something more than mere conjugal tenderness. It reveals a principle in human development. This woman, no less than her husband, had made solid gains in the years they had lived together. Over against his riches of intellect she could place a wealth of graces in character which fitted her to adorn any social position. In making a heaven of their home she had grown strong in patience, tact, sympathy, unselfishness, and the wisdom which comes from daily communion with God. These qualities have a positive value that is too often overlooked nowadays. Ambition for self-development is characteristic of the modern woman, but she is prone to consider books, travel, and cultivated society as the only means to this end. Yet the making of a home that is like heaven to husband and children is really a more efficient aid to true culture, because it exercises the soul as well as the brain.—Christian, Work.
Turn to the Present
KEEP out of the past. It is lonely
And barren and bleak to the view;
Its fires have grown cold, and its stories are old;
Turn, turn to the present,—the new.
To-day leads you up to the hilltops
That are kissed by the radiant sun;
To-day shows no tomb, life's hopes are in bloom,
And to-day holds a prize to be won.
—Selected.