Earlier text: PALM-TREE CHRISTIANS"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"
A YOUNG man accepted the position of organist in one of the principal churches of a Texas city. He was a fine musician, but being blind, was unable to read in the faces of his audience the great pleasure his music was giving. He was master of the organ, and his caressing touch on the keyboard sent out through its great pipes the songs of his soul—his cry to his kind. They listened enchanted, and would talk to each other about the beauty of his harmonies, the uplifting influence of his symphonies. At first he played as one sure of himself. There was no hesitation in his touch. Then there pealed forth splendid pæans of praise, and cadences of majestic sweetness and power. As he played Sabbath after Sabbath they noticed that the erstwhile triumphant strains of voluntaries and recessionals had given place to delicate, sorrowful improvisations to plaintive minor fugues. The people listened in rapture, and often the sweetness of the harmonies sent tears adown furrowed cheeks of those who had lived and suffered—who by the blind man's music were comforted. But alas! they never thought to tell the player; they did not know for what his heart was longing. One morning it was announced that he would play no more after that service; that his decision was final, and another organist must be secured. After the service, a lady who had enjoyed all his music thoroughly went up to him, and said, very earnestly: "I am sorry you will not play for us longer. I have enjoyed your music so much. It has helped me greatly; it has soothed and comforted me when I sorrowed. I have thought many times I would tell you what an inspiration I have received through your music. I thank you for it." The young man's voice faltered, and the tears rushed to his sightless eyes, as he whispered, "O! why didn't you tell me? I, too, needed comfort and inspiration."—Baltimore Methodist. GOD IS LOVE.
By William Brickey
[By WM. BRICKEY, in Southern Watchman.] "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8. There is nothing, either in the world or in the Bible, more conspicuous to the Christian than the love of God; but those who are of the world can not realize that God is love. The fact that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners—enemies—is set forth as a proof and a commendation of God's love to us. Indeed, it was absolutely necessary to our salvation that He should die for us while we were yet sinners; for we are not reconciled to God but by the death of His Son. If Christ had waited for us to become friends before He died for us, we were indeed lost; for the "carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:7. We talk about love for our neighbor or brother, but much of our love is a manifestation of selfish friendship. The love of Jesus is a love beyond our comprehension. No wonder the angels desire to look into it. Such a manifestation of love ought to melt our hard hearts, and call forth in response the best impulses of our nature. O, if we could only make the world believe the truthfulness of the statement that "God is love"! COUNTERFEIT CHRISTIANS.
By C. H. Yatman
Looks don't count. Many a deception these days. Men and women alike are counterfeit. I handled a queer five-dollar bill the other day. It had done a heap of good—paid the widow's rent, bought food for the hungry, squared up three or four bad accounts that had been worse than cancers for worry, made a church treasurer happy when he found it on the plate, and made the sexton happier when his back salary was partly paid by it; but, in due course of time, it came to the bank whose name it bore, and lo! the teller threw it out. "What's wrong?" asked the depositor. All its good deeds did not make it pass the bank, where its real character was discovered. I'm thinking of another day that is yet to come. It may be that some have done a heap of good, plenty of people pass them on for genuine Christians. They looked all right; sat in the pew like saints; scattered dollars like dew; but they have no God. He does not dwell in their heart. They have His name, but not Him. There are counterfeit Christians, just as there are counterfeit bills, both are bad, in spite of looks.—C. H. Yatman. No Good Deed Dies
By Canon Farrar
No GOOD deed dies; be it a rejoicing river, be it but a tiny rill of human nobleness, yet, so it be pure and clear, never has it been lost in the poisonous marshes or choked in the muddy sands. It flows inevitably into that great river of the water of life, which is not lost save—if that be to be lost—in the infinite ocean of God's eternal love. Neighbors Measured by Influence
"NEIGHBORS are not measured by miles, but by influence." BARNACLES OR BALLAST—WHICH?
THERE are many good souls that are always worried and troubled over their burdens. Sometimes these burdens are infirmities of body, perhaps long and sore sickness. Sometimes it is having sickness in one's family. Sometimes, on the part of a Christian man, it is a wife who is not spiritual, who does not sympathize with him, or his work for God, who demands unduly his attention and service, who in one way or another would lead him to compromise principle or violate conscience. And sometimes a wife is similarly afflicted. Sometimes it is but the little, untoward incidents of life that lead to self-sympathy and selfish mourning. Now God suffers all these to come, and it rests with us as to whether they shall profit us or not. Shall they be to us barnacles or ballast? Shall we have them inside or outside? Shall they prove helpful or hindering? "Behold the ships;" they have their lessons. You have seen some noble craft carrying full sail, or steam, with easy load, barely creeping along a smooth sea, making, perhaps, but three to five knots an hour. What is the matter?—Her bottom is foul; she is covered with barnacles. Millions of little crustaceans, or shell-fish, have fastened themselves to that part of the ship below the water, forming great, rough, irregular masses and protuberances which greatly impede her progress. That ship needs to go into dry dock, and be scraped and cleaned. It is poor seamanship to go on in that manner, and we would call it worse still if all that mass of barnacles was broken from the ship and piled on the deck till the ship became so top-heavy that she foundered in the first storm. Yet there are human craft that do that very thing. Again, you see a beautiful, clean boat tie up to some wharf, and take on tons and tons of worthless rock, stowing them away in the deepest part of the hold. She sinks lower when she leaves the wharf than when she came, and you wonder why she loaded up with stone. The secret is revealed when she meets the severe storm at sea. Then she rides safely. That worthless stone is ballast, needed to keep her upright and to enable her ever to right herself in time of storm. It rests with us to say whether our burdens shall be barnacles or ballast, whether they shall hinder or help. It rests with us whether they shall, in self-sympathy or boastfulness, be exploited as great burdens, and prove our destruction, or whether we shall let them come clear down into the secret places of our hearts, taking them as permitted of God; perhaps precious burdens sent of God, but, by His grace, always blessings, to keep us humble and upright; yea, loadstones through which the magnetism of His goodness draws us upward and onward toward the eternal goal. O, to learn the lesson, "We know that to them that love God, God worketh all things with them for good"! Shall the burden be barnacles or ballast? THAT FALSE CRY OF "PEACE."
A PROMINENT bishop in an Eastern state lately preached a sermon which has received quite extended notice, because of the hope expressed that sometime in the future there will be more peaceful times in this world. His expectation is based on an expression in Micah 4:3: "He [the Lord] shall judge between many people, and shall reprove strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." R. V. In common with a multitude of Bible readers, the bishop fails to see the import of this scripture. The words quoted are not the words of the Lord, but an utterance of professedly righteous nations "in the last days." The pride of self-exaltation and self-righteousness is a special characteristic of "high-minded" Christians endowed with imaginary "riches" in the last days (2 Tim. 3:1-5; Rev. 3:14-18). Through the restored church-and-state principle of "national reform," the church makes her declarations through religious legislation and national decrees. In the pride of her influence, she is "exalted above the hills," and, church membership being so popular, "peoples shall flow into it." The idea of just flowing up such a height clearly indicates that the cross has been removed from the Christian profession in this exalted church. Now the prophecy says that "many nations shall go and say," etc. Note that, not the Lord, but "many nations," say, "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord," etc.; "out of Zion [the church] shall go the law." After all this boastful proclamation, which it is claimed "the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken," ending with verse 5, the Lord does speak, and says: "In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven away, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation; and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever." In the day of the self-exalted church's imaginary triumph through the support of the governments of earth, the Lord will gather His humble, persecuted, scattered church, and set them on high. Now note further what the Lord says of these "many nations" that have spoken so exultingly. To His people He says: "And now many nations are assembled against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye see its desire upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they His counsel; for He hath gathered them as the sheaves of the threshing-floor." Just at the time when the combined political church and religious state have climbed to that high eminence where they assume to speak for the Lord, He says that they do not know anything about His thoughts or His counsel; that their gathering, instead of being on the "mountain of the Lord," is to the threshing-floor. And as to the peace that they are proclaiming, the Lord gives us a message in directly opposite terms:— "Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together; thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about." Joel 3:9-12. Are not the great war preparations of to-day, and the war spirit that pervades all nations and peoples, more in keeping with this forecast by the Lord Himself than with that of the people who speak presumptively in the name of the Lord? Look, for instance, at Russia, that was first to suggest a much-lauded peace proposition, through the convention at The Hague, and is now deep in a most destructive war. These optimistic dreams of peace fulfil the words of Jeremiah, "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace." WHAT does the missionary seek in the highways and by-ways of heathenism—the souls of the heathen, or the propagation of his country's influence? In other words, Whose ambassador is the man who goes to teach among the heathen "the unsearchable riches of Christ"? If he is Christ's ambassador, he will represent Christ and His kingdom, and all else will be subservient to that. If he has forgotten the import of his commission, he is almost sure to glorify the country from which he came and extol the merits of his peculiar national civilization. But the true Christian, the true ambassador of Christ, is a Christian without respect to nationality. Christ's ambassador can not represent Him and any earthly government at the same time. The ambassadorship of the Christian is of sufficient importance to engross the whole time and attention and energies of the man who undertakes the high responsibility. His business is to teach the people the salvation of Christ, to represent, in this earth, this foreign country, King Emmanuel and the sovereignty of heaven. He can not take the time to represent any other power, for the business of his Sovereign is urgent. The sovereignty of earthly powers must pass away, but the sovereignty of God is from everlasting to everlasting. Representing an earthly government, or extolling its merits among the heathen, is too small a business for7him whom Christ has sent out in His name. Such work would be a double failure; Christ is not honored, and the earthly government is involved in difficulty with the people among whom he has sought to work. The Christian, if he understands the meaning of his call, knows that he is abroad to represent the interests of the kingdom of heaven. His business is to seek the salvation of souls, and, when in danger, he will seek the protection of the One who sent him forth. The missionary should weigh well the question, Am I seeking the souls of men? or am I seeking the extension of an earthly government's influence? Am I seeking to serve two masters, or one only, and that Christ? THANK God that Jesus Christ is accessible to every soul. Common souls could not reach the Czar of Russia, the Kaiser of Germany, or the King of Britain without influential friends to introduce them. Men have thought that God was like themselves, and so have fixed up the doctrine of intercession of saints. Do we wish God's favor? We are told to ask the priest to ask the Virgin Mary to ask Jesus to grant us favor. The Catholic Mirror, speaking of the Virgin Mary, says, "The same assurances that she is influential with Him, makes all Catholics, princes or peasants, educated or simple, European or American, seek the intercession of the holiest, fairest, and tenderest of women." But our God is love; He is merciful and compassionate; and all the love or pity the Virgin Mary ever had, all that any saint ever had, was given them of God through Jesus Christ. We may come to Him boldly. He will in nowise cast us out. He is the Shepherd that seeks the sheep. He is the Shepherd that died for them. He is the great High Priest that pleads for them. All love for souls that any heart possesses was born of Him. How could He be influenced for us? He can not be. He is always for us. He always will be. His words are as true now as when He walked the earth: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." A GREAT VICTORY OF FAITH.
THE penalty of the law for the violation of the king's decree was executed upon Daniel in due form. He persisted in praying to the God of heaven in face of the order that no petition should be offered to any one but the king, for the period of thirty days, and was accordingly cast into the den of lions. But that was the extent of the legal penalty—the extent of the power of the law in that respect. The king's decree did not provide that the lions should kill Daniel, and could not have enforced such a penalty. The king having sorely repented of his unwise decree, now expressed faith that Daniel's God would deliver him, and Daniel's trust was in his God, whether he was delivered or not. After Daniel was securely imprisoned with the lions, and the door of the prison was made fast and sealed with the king's signet, the king betook himself to fasting. He denied himself all pleasure that night, and even his sleep went from him because of his deep concern for the safety of Daniel. Then, very early in the morning, he went in haste to the lion's den. On reaching the place, he "cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel," saying, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?" We may imagine something of the relief from soul anguish which the king experienced when he heard the response of his prime minister: "O King, live forever. My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me; forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt." The king lost no time in having Daniel released from his prison, and then it was made manifest that "no manner of hurt was found upon him," and no one doubted that it was "because he believed in his God." But this fact was further demonstrated in a most convincing manner. "The king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den." It seems like a cruel decree on the part of King Darius to have the wives and little children of the conspirators executed in this manner. But their fate illustrates a principle—the families of those who worship other gods, and persecute the worshipers of the true God, have no assurance of, or special claim to, the protection of the God whom they ignore or defy. When Daniel came out of the den of lions, the angel of God came out also. When Noah was shut in the ark, the protecting care of the Lord was withdrawn from all outside the ark—men, women, and children. When Lot went out of Sodom, the angels of God went also; every one else, old and young, was destroyed. When Korah and his two hundred and fifty fellow rebels in the camp of Israel were destroyed by the Lord, their wives and children, and all their belongings, were swallowed up with them by the opening earth. The angel of the Lord could not abide in such company, hence there was no protection for them. When Jerusalem was destroyed, only those who heeded the previous warning of Christ (Matt. 24:15-20; Luke 21:20-21) escaped the general doom. The men who take a decided stand against the truth of God imperil also their families. Daniel's unwavering faith on this occasion not only saved his own life, but it convinced the king of the great superiority of the God of Daniel, and drew forth a proclamation to all the world to that effect: "Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for He is the living God, and steadfast forever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions." Excepting the "National Reform" idea of making men righteous by civil law, this was a remarkable presentation of the truth. Under the customs of kings in those days, and their crude notions respecting worship, we could hardly expect anything from a Medo-Persian king other than in the form of a peremptory law of some kind. But, under the far greater light of the Old and New Testaments, men of to-day ought to know better than to put Gospel preaching in the form of human law. There is another lesson in this incident for Gospel adherents of to-day, and this is that, through the influence of a practical life of faith in God, the expense of a world-wide proclamation of the Gospel was voluntarily met by the king. So it would seem that the most effective means of securing a quick transmission of the Gospel of the kingdom to "all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth," is to serve God faithfully and "continually," regardless of consequences from any source, and leave the result to Him. The Spirit of God can operate upon the minds of influential men in the world and make them instruments in His great work, if His professed disciples will refrain from hindering His purpose by inconsistent example. Daniel's unswerving faith and consistent life worked a powerful influence for good. "So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian." A CURIOUS condition of things exists in the city of Rome, Italy, brought about by the antagonism between church and state. Both the pope and the king claim the exclusive right of sovereignty in the city of Rome. One class recognizes the claims of the king, while the other considers him a usurper there, and declares the "Eternal City" the "sole property of the pope." The regular representatives of the powers are accredited to the court of the king, but many of these same powers have representatives also accredited to the court of the Vatican, and these two classes of representatives hold no communication with each other. Should the reigning government be overthrown by the Papacy, the powers would still be represented at the court of the ruler without any further appointment. There is significance in this fact when considered in the light of the prophecy of Rev. 17:12, 13. The power and strength of the nations are one day to be given to the papal power ruling at Rome, the seven-hilled city mentioned in the ninth verse of Revelation 17, that great "city which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Verse 18. Of no other power than that of the papal see could that be said. Rome alone claims jurisdiction over the kings of the earth; she alone claims the right to rule the subjects of other kingdoms. But her absolute authority will be short—one hour, prophetic time—and her end sudden and terrible. The willingness of the powers to recognize the claims of the pope by appointing representatives at his court shows that it is no impossible thing that, at a certain time, they should give to that power their strength and authority, reigning with it for a time. A late despatch from the Rome correspondent of the London Times contains an item of news which is in direct accord with the foregoing. It says: "Emperor William has conceived, and is attempting to execute, a master stroke of policy by bringing into the orbit of the Dreibund (or Triple Alliance) the Vatican, hitherto its most persistent foe, thus bringing within measurable distance the realization of the emperor's life-long dream of a revival of the Holy Roman Empire—in fact, if not in name, under Hohenzollern leadership." To bring the Vatican into the Triple Alliance would give to the pope greater prestige and influence than he has ever had among the nations of earth, and clearly open the way for the fulfilment of the prophecy above referred to. The very agitation of such questions is adding to the weight of the pope's prestige among the nations of earth, and this is leading directly up to the accomplishment of that event which the prophet has foretold. Will you please, through your columns, explain Eze. 39:8-16? Does it apply before the millennium, or in the "little season" of a hundred years after the millennium? We believe that the right view of Ezekiel 38 and 39 includes a comprehensive view of chapters 36 to 48, inclusive. The promises were given to Israel then and there. In that restoration from captivity, at the end of the seventy years in Babylon, God would have given to Israel, at that time, all the promises in these chapters, if Israel had yielded to God. God's people were not "ashamed;" they did not truly and fully repent; hence, according to His word, God would not then do all that is promised by the prophet. Read the entire prophecy in the light of Jer. 18: 7-10. Now as Israel, acording to the flesh, did not yield to God, these promises concerning the true Israel will be fulfilled, but not according to the details such as described in Eze. 39: 8-16, but rather according to descriptions in later revelations. See Eph. 3: 3-5; Revelation 19, 20. These principles were more fully discussed in an article entitled, "The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones," in the SIGNS of June 29, which see. In this view, all the details given in the scriptures never will be fulfilled, because of Israel's failures; but the future glory will be given, the fulness of the immortal inheritance will come to the faithful in the fullest measure. 1580.—Chronological and Calendar Questions.
Many who ask questions of this character would be greatly helped by securing Perry's Universal Standard Calendar, the price of which is only 25 cents. It is a monthly calendar for every month in the year, in either Julian or Gregorian time, for 2,800 years, or any multiple therefore, B. C. or A. D., indefinitely. Address, H. H. Perry, Pacific Press, Mountain View, Cal. INTERNATIONAL PURE-FOOD CONGRESS.
By Edgar L. Larkin
[PROF. EDGAR L. LARKIN, in San Francisco Examiner.] STOP to think, consider, meditate, for the adulteration of food and drink has assumed such proportions that an international congress had to be called to devise plans to put an end to the curse. They earnestly discussed the serious problem, and planned ways of securing the enactment of stringent laws by our own and foreign nations. The Pure Food Congress is made up of manufacturers of food products, canners of fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish, dealers—wholesale and retail—chemists, and workers in general. The merchants attacked the canners for putting up impure foods in cheap cans. The canners retorted by saying that trade kept demanding lower-priced goods. Manufacturers of tin used to put four pounds on one hundred pounds of sheet iron. Now it is common to put on two and one-fourth pounds. One heavy canner, from Massachusetts, started a “tinnery” of his own, plated on four pounds of tin to the hundred of iron, and had no goods returned puffed up at the ends from fermentation. One man said he kept some of his canned fruit twenty years, and then ate it himself. He announced that he would not sell anything he was afraid to eat. A mild sensation developed. He did not become ill. The stuff was in four-pound tins. Oleomargarine is continually sold for butter. Tons of glucose are sold for sugar at enormous profits. Saccharine is used for sweetening. Its sweetness is about fifty times more intense than that of sugar. It is made of coal tar. Dr. Charles P. Caspari, of St. Louis, favored its use, declaring that it is harmless. Dr. H. W. Wiley, United States Bureau of Chemistry, said that if it is used, the labeling ought to say so. Wiley is the experimenter who fed young men with food preserved with boracic acid and other chemicals. It’s the women. If only the women would stop demanding red and green and yellow and pink colors in their jellies, soda fountain syrups, salads, pickles, and such, the entire race would advance. But they will have pickles colored bright green with poisons. And then they tax the resources of the aniline and coal tar product workers to color up the stuff sold at many soda fountains. These jellies in buckets and wooden tubs, labeled with the names of all the fruits on earth, in many cases have no trace of fruit. Glucose, gelatine, glue, ethereal oils for fruit flavors, and aniline for colors, dispense with fruit in all snide factories. And the women will have white vinegar, instead of the natural color. A set of rags was on display, colored with “fruit” coloring. The dyes were aniline, and in some colors they could not be washed out. Many manufacturers said they did not want to color their products, for it costs to color; but they had to, for the demand is perpetual. They not only mix stuff with ground coffee, but they have put up a machine that stamps out the coffee beans in precise imitation of the natural. Vanilla is often made from a chemical called vanillin. Pie is made of the most incredible substances. But the wonders of chemistry appear in soda fountain flavors and colors. A whole range of ethers almost exactly counterfeit natural fruit tastes and odors. Ptomaines are deadly poisons that develop in canned meats. They arise first from spoiled meats being canned; secondly, from rust on the outside of the can, which eats through, admitting air. The hole may be so small that it can not be seen, so minute that the contents are unable to leak out, yet enough air enters to set up decay and death. A big vegetarian congress is also in session in another part of the fair. If only men would listen to the speakers there and stop eating decaying animals, what misery would be avoided! For it was shown that meat-eaters are more liable to fall victims to alcohol than vegetarians. Salicylic acid and boracic acid, acetic and sulphuric acids are injurious. But pure fruits, in the four-pound vacuum tin cans, will keep for many years; for tinned goods were put in caches up north for Arctic expeditions, and opened years later in good condition. Glass is better, but the expense is great on account of breakage. The merchants and manufacturers had mild contests during the first two days; but merciless war was raged during the third. It was a first-class baking powder war. The alum men were attacked right and left. A. Cressy Morrison made startling charges. He said distinguished chemists had been heavily bribed by the Baking Powder Trust. He intimated that legislatures had been “bought.” T. N. Barrett, editor of the American Grocer, said he could prove that in some states the state food commissioners had been bought up to not prosecute law violators. Pandemonium reigned. Coming from such a source, the charges had to be met. Loud calls for investigating committees were made. Finally, the congress did appoint committees to probe the entire case throughout the country. Trouble is in sight, and wholesale litigation. The war raged from 9:00 A. M. to 1:00 P. M., and is known as the “alum war.” Formaldehyde in milk got hit from every direction. Whisky simply must have a certificate of good character, stamped by the government of the United States on each label. And can it be said that every package of fruit must likewise be furnished with a certificate? The National Congress at Washington next winter will be deluged with petitions and drafts of laws for enactment. Each congress here at the Fair will send up many demands. INCREASE OF THE GAMBLING EVIL.
"In my opinion," said the late Mr. Gladstone, "there can be no words too strong for denouncing suitably the abominable practise of gambling." A sweeping assertion, truly, yet no one who has studied the subject can regard it as a degree too sweeping. To-day the gaming problem threatens us with a graver menace than perhaps ever before. Never before has it so permeated the whole of our national life; never has it stood so safely under the protection of the law as it does to-day. Recent judicial decisions have given professional gamesters freedom which even ten years ago would have seemed incredible. In the early part of this century the betting mania was confined within comparatively limited circles; to-day it burns like a fever in every vein of the body politic. There is hardly a class or a section of the community that does not, week by week, almost day by day, yield its tribute of ruined lives, of blasted honor, of broken reputations, of shattered homes, to the craze. The foremost gentleman of the land is the leading patron of the turf; members of the Privy Council take chief part in the committee of the Jockey Club; more than one of our great judges are noted for their regular attendance at all the important race meetings. From the highest to the lowest it is much the same in every class. There is hardly a workroom or office in which betting is not one of the two principal subjects of conversation. In East End Street you see the ragged babies seated on the curbstones, with their shoeless feet in the muddy gutters, playing with toy cards for farthing stakes. The older boys amuse themselves with pitch and toss, carefully delegating one of their number as watchman, to proclaim the approach of a policeman. In the factories of the North and of the Midlands, girls and women are the most earnest and enthusiastic gamblers. The growth of the working-woman gambler is one of the saddest features of all. A few weeks ago a woman was arrested as a book-maker. Every now and then a case comes into the police courts of a domestic servant who stole her master's money to "have a bit on her fancy." Recently it was shown in court that a woman had sold her very clothes to gamble. The gambling business is organized as perhaps no other business in this country is. There are at least ten thousand book-makers who live off it—parasites on our national life. They have their touts inside or outside of every workroom, who literally force themselves on the young mechanic or factory hand. In government departments, such as Woolwich Arsenal, it has been found necessary to take the most elaborate precautions to stop the work of these touts, so patent is the ruin they effect.—The Puritan, London, England. The constant increase which the writer of the above article notices in England is also plainly discernible in this country. It has invaded the homes, like the plagues of ancient Egypt; it has found its way into the exclusive circles of the fashionable churchgoers; it has invaded every department of public life. The spirit which is underneath the gambling mania is the same spirit that is actuating the bribing of senators and members of the legislatures of the various states. That is the spirit of covetousness unbridled, which urges men and women on to the grasping of riches without regard for the methods by which they are obtained. The increase of that spirit is but one of the many evidences of a moral breakdown beyond the powers of man, to withstand. There is an increased weakening in moral fiber and moral stamina, with an increased strengthening in all the forces bent on accomplishing the ruin of the race—another evidence of the culmination of the age. The only hope of the race is in accepting the salvation which Christ is now offering to the world, and being strengthened by His strength to withstand the assaults of the forces of evil until the opening heavens shall reveal the coming Saviour. That day is hastening on apace. DEATH PENALTY FOR VIOLATION OF SUNDAY LAWS.
NATIONAL REFORMERS, as our readers know, are an organized body who have for more than thirty years been zealously working to unite church and state in this country, or to secure a religious amendment to the Constitution and more uniform and drastic Sunday laws. While the National Reform Association has not grown greatly, its educational work has been great, and its principles of religion by law have taken deep root in various religious organizations and educational institutions. The Rev. J. M. Foster is one of the leading advocates and exponents of the association. He is qualified to set forth its aims, having been for years one of its approved field lecturers. At a National Reform convention held in New York City, Mr. Foster said:— We sometimes think the Pilgrim Fathers were too severe in their legislation against immorality. There was a law in the colonial statutes of New England that, for a flagrant violation of the Sabbath, the offender should be hung. We may say this was wrong; but let me ask, Were they nearer or further from the moral law as interpreted by the Mosaic legislation than we are? Under the Mosaic law a man guilty of idolatry and Sabbath-breaking was to be executed; and I apprehend that we ought to return to that order of things to-day, and execute the penalty for the violation of moral law. A man who openly and violently blasphemes the name of God has forfeited his right to live under the God whose law he has broken. Others may not be as free so to express the ultimate conclusions of the church and state propaganda; but Mr. Foster’s utterance embodies the inevitable logic of the National Reform idea. That is in it, and it has been permitted to work out in past generations. The Dark Ages were dark for the people of God because this very National Reform dogma was carried to its ultimate. The Dark Ages were red with the spilled blood of Christ’s faithful ones because men had power to enforce that tenet of a distorted faith. The true Christian will leave with God the punishment for sin, nor seek to inbrue his hands in the9 blood of his fellow-men who may differ from him in matters of faith. Christ came to give life, not to take it. His followers have no warrant for executing upon any the penalty of death.