1 Peter 1:1, 2: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied."
1. By whom was this epistle written? and by whom is it addressed? Note 1.
2. According to what are we elected or chosen?
3. Through or in what are we chosen? Note 2.
4. What is the benediction pronounced upon us?
II. The Living Hope; the Tried Faith.
1 Peter 1:3-7: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold temptations, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire, might be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
1. For what does the apostle bless God?
2. According to what has the living hope been given?
3. Through what event does that hope come? Note 3.
4. Upon what does this hope lay hold?
5. How are those kept for whom this inheritance is reserved?
6. How do they obtain this power of God?
7. What does this faith lead them to do?
8. What sometimes causes seasons of heaviness?
9. Why are these temptations permitted? Note 4.
10. How does God regard this faith?
11. For what purpose is it tried?
III. Love and Joy.
1 Peter 1:8, 9: "Whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."
1. In whom do this faith and hope center?
2. What has this faith put in the heart? Note 5.
3. What do this faith, hope, and love cause?
4. In what glorious event does faith culminate?
NOTES.
1. Sojourners of the Dispersion.—This expression is thought by many to refer to Israel according to the flesh; but while believing Jews are doubtless included, it is very evident that the epistle is addressed, and comes with peculiar force, to Gentile believers. See chapter 2:10. As we proceed in the study of the epistle, it will be seen that while it has been a blessing to the church through all the past, it has special application and force in the last days. See chapter 1:13; 4:7, 12, 13, 17.
2. Elect of God.—The elect of God primarily is Christ himself (Isa. 42:1), and all those who are Christ's are therefore also the elect of God. They are chosen before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), according to the foreknowledge of God (1 Peter 1:2), chosen to be holy and without blame (Eph. 1:4), chosen to salvation (2 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 2:10), chosen through the belief of the truth, the sanctification of the Spirit, and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus (2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2); they are to give diligence to make this election sure (2 Peter 1:10). God stays the hand of persecution for their sakes (Mark 13:20), holds against them no charge which any power can make (Rom. 8:33), and will wholly avenge every wrong and answer every prayer put up by their earnest faith (Titus 1:1) during the long centuries of the past (Luke 18:7). All God's blessings are for his elect, and such are we if we are Christ's.
3. Living Hope.—Faith is based upon God's word, let that word be narrative or prophecy, prose or psalm, warning or invitation, precept or promise. God says it; faith says it is so, and so it is. Hope is based on God's promise. The one all-embracing promise of God is that relating to the seed, Jesus Christ. (See Gen. 3:15; 13:16; 22:17, 18, and other passages.) This hope centers in the death and resurrection of Christ. To this Paul refers as "the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers." Acts 26:6. This hope included the resurrection of the dead (verse 8; 24:15); it is the "hope of Israel" (28:2); of the Lord's coming (Titus 2:13); of eternal life (3:7); of salvation (1 Thess. 5:8); of the incorruptible inheritance (1 Peter 1:4); of the gospel (Col. 1:23); it is Christ our hope (1 Tim. 1:1), Christ in you the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). We are begotten again unto that hope by the word of the gospel (1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18), but that word of the gospel is the living word, Christ in the word, who demonstrated his power over sin and death by his resurrection (Acts 2:24). This hope in Christ is therefore a "living hope," ever growing brighter, bigger, stronger, as we appropriate more and more the living word.
4. The proof of your faith.—That which shows that faith is genuine, that is, tested faith, approved faith. It is not the proving which is more precious than gold, but the faith. Every day brings its trials of faith, every temptation puts faith to the test; but to him who has genuine faith there is never any more danger of faith's failing under the one test than another. It matters not how great the test; power awaits on faith sufficient for every need. It is not a matter of the strength of the person tempted, or the strength of the temptation brought; it is a matter of simple faith in Christ. Faith puts Christ in our place, and Christ is equally able to meet all the armies of Satan as one of his lowest minions. He who thus endures temptation proves in every trial that his faith is genuine, a precious experience indeed here, but more precious when found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
5. Love.—Faith begets love by continually proving God to be what he is. The Christian therefore knows Christ, though having never seen him. Faith has brought him into the heart (Eph. 3:17), put him into the life (Gal. 2:20), and proved him to be love in all places, under all circumstances, and the soul loves him with an ever-growing love. Again, the Spirit of God is given to those who ask in faith (Luke 11:9-13; Gal. 3:14), and to the sons of God (Gal. 4:6), and by that Spirit is the "love of God shed abroad in the heart" (Rom. 5:5). The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of love; for Christ is but the manifestation of God (2 Cor. 5:19), and "God is love" (1 John 4:8). Faith, hope, love are the trio of Christian graces, the greatest of which is love (1 Corinthians 13); and faith and love, in which hope is necessarily included, form "the gold tried in the fire" which Christ freely offers to all (Rev. 3:18). These graces, which are manifested in and through the believer, for God's glory, result in the end or object of faith, the climax of all, the salvation of the soul.
WORD THOUGHTS.—Sojourners (verse 1) means persons staying for a brief season in a strange country. Christians are citizens of the coming country. Phil. 3:20; Heb. 11:13, 14. Hope (verse 3); this word meant in the classical Greek expectancy, either good or bad, because they knew not what to look for from their gods. To the Christian it always refers to some good thing, for God brings good things only. Reserved (verse 4), laid up and kept, is the thought, under God's special care. Guarded (verse 5), literally, garrisoned. The term is military. God surrounds us with his hosts. Power of God (verse 5), faith in the "word of his power" (Heb. 1:3; Ps. 17:4). Manifold (verse 6); for manifold trials, God gives manifold grace and wisdom (see chapter 4:10; Eph. 3:10). Temptations (verse 6), better, "trials," as margin. Not only solicitations to sin, but all things which test or strengthen character.
News and Notes.
FOR THE WEEK ENDING JUNE 12.
RELIGIOUS.
—Enthusiastic Sunday-closing advocates urged President Cleveland to close the World's Fair gates on Sundays and have them barred with the Stars and Stripes and guarded by soldiers.
—The Christian Statesman says: "The mayor of Everett, Mass., is compelling druggists to stop their Sunday sales of candy to sabbath school children, who are thus led to embezzle missionary money."
—A noted Missouri highwayman and train robber named Sam Wilson, now in jail at St. Louis, has declared his intention to reform, and to join some church as soon as his term of imprisonment is over.
—The National Committee on Sunday Closing of the World's Fair proposes to raise a large fund to fight the battle in the courts and through the press. A national conference is to be held in Indianapolis on the 13th and 14th insts.
—The latest: "The Ben Hur League of the New York Avenue Methodist Church would like to hear from all church baseball teams in Brooklyn who would like to join an inter-church league and play scheduled games for a pennant." What next?
—A New York dispatch of the 6th inst. says: "Notwithstanding the many assertions that Dr. McGlynn has sailed for Rome, it is known by his closest friends that he is in a retreat in a monastery near Lexington, Ky., and will stay there some time, doing penance. After this he will probably go to Rome."
—The Polish Archbishop Sembratowicz, (Greek Church) was recently mobbed by forty students at Lemberg. He recently visited the pope at Rome, and the Poles deemed this action treason to the Greek Church. A bishop who attempted to defend the archbishop was also severely bruised. After a lively skirmish with the police, nineteen of the students were arrested.
—The Missionary Review of the World says: "In spite of the emphatic protests of the papal nuncio, the bishop of Madrid, and thousands of aristocratic Catholics, a Protestant church at Madrid has been consecrated with the consent of Premier Sagasta. The consecration ceremony had been postponed repeatedly because the approval of the conservative premier, just succeeded by Sagasta, could not be obtained."
—The "Christian nation" theory becomes more and more absurd in the light of the admissions of the church lights themselves. A prominent Presbyterian minister, in a discourse recently delivered in Washington City, said that seventy-five per cent of the people of this country manifested no interest whatever in religious affairs. We have the same testimony from ministers and religious papers regarding many localities.
—Professor C. A. Briggs, who has been the cause of so much turmoil in the Presbyterian Church, has written a letter to the New York Evangelist, in which he takes the ground that the majorities which have ruled against himself and Professor Smith, of Cincinnati, are the enemies of Presbyterian liberty. He expresses hope that the Assembly of 1894 will blot out the action of the past three Assemblies with reference to the questions in dispute.
—The Christian Statesman says: "A six-day law similar to that of France and California, decreeing a weekly rest day but not specifying the day, is pending in Illinois. We fear it is only a disguised attempt to repeal the Sabbath law." But let us go back a little. When that California law was enacted a few months ago, the Statesman called it a "Sabbath law," and the American Sabbath Union and W. C. T. U. representatives claimed it as a victory.
—The arrival of the Baptist mission car "Emanuel" in San Francisco, last week, calls out the fact that while this one and the "Evangel" are the only chapel cars in use, two others are being built at Dayton, Ohio. The "Emanuel" is seventy feet long, will seat 140 people, and cost $7,500. Rev. Wheeler, who is in charge, was formerly a railroad man and is now acting as conductor and brakeman. He has permission to hitch onto any train and go where he pleases.
—A Columbus, Ohio, dispatch of the 11th inst. says: "For the first Sunday in a great many years Columbus ceased to-day to be a 'wide-open' town. Yesterday the new Chief of Police, Pagets, issued an order to the police that hereafter saloons must be closed at midnight on Saturday night and remain closed until 5 o'clock Monday morning. Not only the front but the back doors must be locked Sundays, and policemen who winked at the disobedience of this ordinance would be summarily discharged. Gamblers and poolroom keepers were notified to quit business, and billiard halls are also closed. The Sunday theater must go, too; no performances will be allowed. An edict has also gone forth that baseball will not hereafter be permitted."
—Prof. Charles A. Briggs was, for heresy, indefinitely suspended as a minister in the Presbyterian Church, by the General Assembly. The report adopted found that "Charles A. Briggs uttered, taught, and propagated views, doctrines, and teachings contrary to the essential doctrine of the Holy Scripture and the standards of said Presbyterian Church, and in violation of the ordination vows of said appellee, which said erroneous views and doctrines strike at the vitals of religion, and have been industriously spread [and this General Assembly] does hereby suspend Charles A. Briggs, said appellee, from the office of minister in the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America until such time as he shall give satisfactory evidence of repentance to the General Assembly of violation by him of said ordination vows as herein and heretofore found."
SECULAR.
—The Mataafa and Malietoa factions in Samoa are again at war.
—Edwin Booth, the world-famous tragedian, died in New York City on the 7th inst.
—A new discovery of very rich gold deposits is reported in Fremont County, Wyoming.
—A San Francisco court has decided that no more than five dollars can be collected on retail liquor accounts.
—Three firemen were killed and one seriously injured by a falling chimney at a fire in San Francisco on the 7th inst.
—The Marine Hospital service at Washington has received information that yellow fever prevails at Limon, Costa Rica.
—Governor McKinley, of Ohio, has been renominated by the Republicans. There was no opposition, and the nomination was by acclamation.
—Official notice has been received at Washington that the Russian Government intends to raise its mission to this country to the rank of an embassy.
—A recent press dispatch from Guthrie, Oklahoma, relates the fact that a police judge left the bench to assault an attorney, and a fierce fight was the result.
—Six men held up an express train eight miles from Columbia, Illinois, on the 8th inst., and secured $10,000 in money besides other valuables of considerable worth.
—Fifty convicts employed in quarries near Cairo, Egypt, revolted against their guards, last week, and attempted to escape. As a result thirty-nine of them were killed.
—A representative of the Associated Press reports President Cleveland as stating that Congress will be convened early in September to consider the financial situation.
—The Spanish Government has declared a quarantine of five days against all vessels arriving from Cette, on the Mediterranean coast of France, and from Hamburg.
—A Vienna dispatch says that over 2,000 iron and coal mines at Kladne, Bohemia, have quit work, and the strike is spreading. Troops have been ordered out to the mines.
—The river Czeremosz, in Austria, last week submerged Wischnitsa. The town has a population of 4,000 and many were drowned. Scores of houses were demolished.
—It is officially stated that cholera has broken out at Bagdad, and is spreading amongst the Arab settlements and also at Red Sea ports. Twenty deaths a day are reported at Bassorath.
—The Great Northern Railroad has greatly reduced freights on merchandise between Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and North Pacific Coast points. So much for competition.
—Spanish Camp, Wharton Co., Texas, was wrecked by a cyclone June 4. Six reported killed, and many injured. The cyclone at Hope, Ark., May 30 left 5,000 people homeless and destitute.
—There seems to be a good prospect for a midwinter commercial exposition in San Francisco the coming winter, the principal materials for the exhibition to be furnished by the exhibitors at Chicago.
—A fire in the Lackawana Steel Company's establishment at Scranton, Pennsylvania, on the 29th ult., caused a loss of $125,000. The works will necessarily be idle several months, and 1,200 men are thrown out of employment.
—Striking workmen on the drainage canal at Lemont, Illinois, attacked the contractors and laborers at work, last week, and a general fight ensued. Two of the attacking party were killed, twenty wounded, and thirty-two taken prisoners.
—Ville Marie Convent, at Notre Dame de Grace, two miles north of Montreal, the largest establishment of its kind in America, was almost totally destroyed by fire this afternoon. The total loss will amount to more than $1,000,000.
—Peace has been established in Nicaragua, and Salvador Machado selected to head the new government. United States Minister Baker was instrumental in opening and conducting the negotiations through which peace was secured.
—The premier of Austria recently expressed such sanguine hopes regarding the amicable relations between his government and Russia that the German papers accuse him of designing to cut loose from the alliance with Germany and Italy and to join with Russia.
—A large amount of treasure has been found in the City of Mexico which had been hidden by the Emperor Maximilian. Certain old documents were discovered which revealed the place of hiding. The value of gold and jewelry is said to approximate $2,000,000.
—A bank at Bentonville, Arkansas, was robbed of $12,000 last week, and the sheriff's posse, which pursued the bandits, had five horses killed and six wounded in the fight which ensued. One of the robbers was afterward found dead, while the others escaped to Indian Territory.
—It is said that in the University of Oklahoma the students are taught that civil government is based on the ten commandments. Reference is made to the Justinian Code and to the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that this is a Christian nation.
—A disastrous fire occurred at Fargo, North Dakota, on the 7th inst. The result was an estimated property loss of $3,000,000 and 3,000 people left homeless. The fire was caused by someone carelessly throwing hot ashes on some loose paper in the rear of a store. Report says that six persons were burned to death.
—The new fast train on the Southern Pacific, the Del Monte Limited, between San Francisco and Monterey, broke all Pacific Coast records in her maiden trip, June 3. Her fastest speed was at the rate of seventy-two miles an hour. The fastest on the New York Central is one hundred twelve and one-half miles an hour.
—Official reports show that not more than 13,000 Chinese have registered under the Geary Exclusion Law. The total Chinese population is considerably over 100,000. Secretary Gresham denies the published statement of a prominent attorney for the Chinese Government, that notice of retaliation had been formally given by the emperor.
—The route finally selected as the most feasible for a submarine cable between California and the Hawaiian Islands has its termini at Monterey, Cal., and Honolulu, H. I. This route comprises the advantages of minimum length, even bottom, and favorable soil. The length of cable required is 2,107 miles, estimated to cost, for manufacturing and laying, $1,200 per mile.
—An express train is now run daily between Chicago and New York, which makes the trip in twenty hours. It is called the Exposition Flyer, and on some sections of the route has attained a speed of ninety-one miles per hour. Fifty years ago scientific men would have argued that it was impossible for human beings to survive such rapid transit, even were it possible to acquire it.
—A Visalia, Cal., dispatch of the 11th inst. announces that officers had another fight with Evans and Sontag, the noted bandits, who have been at bay in the Sierra Nevada for nearly a year. One officer was wounded in the leg, and it was thought that Evans was killed or mortally wounded. Only Sontag was seen to escape, but close search for Evans had not been made when the report was sent out.
—The four floors of the old Ford's Theater building, in Washington, where President Lincoln was assassinated, fell through to the ground on the 9th inst., carrying down some 400 government employees. The building was occupied by the Records and Pensions Division of the Surgeon General's office, and had been officially pronounced unsafe for a long time. Twenty-two are reported killed, and twice as many more or less injured.
—After one death from cholera in Hamburg the disease shows no signs of spreading. In the department of Morbihan, France, there have been 40 cases, 23 of which were fatal. From May 21 to June 1 there were 14 cases and 11 deaths in Marseilles. Throughout all Russia there is reported 2,288 cases and 733 deaths. The great remedies against the spread of the disease are absolute cleanliness, and the use of freshly boiled water and cooked food.
—A facsimile of the style of ship used by the old Norsemen vikings (pirates) has just crossed the Atlantic from Norway on voyage to the World's Fair at Chicago. This particular specimen carries a crew of twelve, and is no doubt more comfortably arranged than the ancient specimens. The viking ship has one mast, and is in part propelled by oars. It is claimed that one Lief Ericsson, with a crew of thirty-five, crossed over to America in one of these ships 500 years before Columbus' time.
The World's-Fair-Sunday-Opening-Closing Muddle.
By Editor
From the principles which have been followed, or rather lack of principle, we would naturally expect just such a state of affairs as has been manifest in the Sunday strife in connection with the World's Fair. The Sunday law of Congress was begotten in religious error, superstition, and bigotry; it was born of the government through fear of these same religious elements; and it must live, if it lives at all, by the same means. It is contrary to justice, to constitutional right, to the whole genius of American liberty, and, more than all else, contrary to the gospel of Christ. On the other hand, the majority of those who fought the Sunday bill did so from selfish and mercenary principles instead of basing their opposition on the broad and sure ground of constitutional right.
The present state of the case is about thus: The Superior Court of Illinois, through Judge Stein, granted an injunction against closing the Fair on Sunday. The United States Circuit Court granted an injunction June 8 to close the Fair. The judges sitting were Woods, Jenkins, and Grosscup. The first two (like many Sunday preachers) took widely different grounds, but came to the same conclusion, to grant the injunction to close the Fair. Judge Grosscup dissented. The case was immediately appealed to the United States Court of Appeals. June 10 this injunction to close was suspended by order of Chief Justice Fuller till a decision is rendered by the United States Court of Appeals. The hearing is set for Thursday, June 15.
It has been truly said by the Examiner of June 10:—
This is a much more serious matter than the mere question of Sunday opening of the World's Fair, important as that is. If the Federal Government can close Jackson Park on a particular day of the week, it can close Golden Gate Park. It can prevent the people of San Francisco from going to baseball games on Sunday. It can punish everybody who stays at home from church.
The Examiner thinks that the Supreme Court of the United States will not sanction this reckless invasion of the rights of localities; but in view of the decision rendered by the Supreme Court on February 1 and 29, 1892, what have we to hope for from it? The Sunday law and worship will be carried through as it has begun. The Examiner fittingly concludes thus:—
It is worth mention that the opinion of the Circuit Court against Sunday opening was read by Judge William A. Woods, of Indiana, the distinguished jurist who reversed himself to keep Blocks-of-Five Dudley out of jail and was promoted by Mr. Harrison as his reward. With Quay for their leader in the Senate and Woods to back them up on the bench, the Sabbatarians [Sunday-law people] hardly need the assistance of Providence.
If they were assured of the help of Providence for Sunday they would never ask for the aid of civil law. It is because they know that there is no help in God to support or promote the "wild solar holiday" as his holy day that they seek the aid of the State. God is not in it; and though it will seem to triumph, its short-lived triumph is but the prelude to its everlasting destruction.
A SPECIAL correspondent writes in the Independent of May 4 that there is great commotion in Andover Theological Seminary, a Congregational institution.
Two members of the senior class which graduates this month, have openly gone over to the Unitarian denomination. Another stood ready to do so, but he had been invited to take charge of a Congregational Church in Minneapolis; he stated his belief to the official board, saying that he was willing to serve them as pastor if they were willing to accept him. "They decided, in the language of the poet,
'With all thy faults I love thee still,'
and so that man is saved, at least for a time, to Congregationalism."
Rather, that Congregational Church committed itself to the watchcare of Unitarianism. We should say that the church, pastor, and all need saving. When a church professing to be Christian can so compromise the eternal power and Godhead of Christ as to accept of one who can in no sense be called a Christian, that church is by that act no longer Christian.
Another interesting feature in connection with these and other prospective defections is that they come just when the professors of the seminary have been doing their best to establish the divinity of Christ. But it seems also evident that the "Higher Criticism" has had a prominent place in the school. The faculty of the seminary may be surprised, but in our opinion they ought not to be, for the divinity and preëxistence of Christ are inseparably connected with the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. To deny that upon which the credibility, integrity, and infallibility of the Bible depends is to reject the One—Jesus Christ—of whom the Scriptures testify.
IN speaking of the recently held Baptist anniversaries at Denver, the Advance of June 1 says:—
A vigorous resolution condemning the Sunday opening of the Fair, as both a wrong in itself and as a breach of faith, was one of the first things done. The Baptists have taken advanced ground on this subject.
Yes; the Baptists have "advanced" backwards. There was a time, and that not many years since, when Baptists would have protested with all their heart, and soul, and strength against all religious legislation, all interference of the State in religious matters, all appeals of the church for State aid, all union of Church and State. But all these things are involved in this Sunday question, and Baptists, sad the fact, are standing in the front ranks of the enemies of religious liberty and equality. Their "advance" is departure from Christ. Will all Baptists follow?
IF the Sabbath is to be enforced as a hygienic measure, for the good of the public health, why not regulate by law the hours of sleeping and waking? A certain amount of sleep is requisite to health. If a law of rest for one demands a law of rest for all one day in the week, why is not that just as true concerning the hours of the day? Sunday or Sabbath laws from every standpoint would be a roaring farce were it not for the possible persecution and wickedness involved in them.
Fairness and Prejudice in Sunday Persecutions
By Editor
A PRIVATE letter from Elder R. M. Kilgore, written from Nashville, Tenn., under date of June 2, states that the trials of our brethren, Frank Stem and Thomas Dortch, came off June 1, as before determined. The cases were called at 3 P.M., two juries impaneled and sworn, witnesses were called, sworn, and gave testimony, and a verdict of "Not guilty" rendered by the judge himself, by the consent of the juries, all within one hour. There seemed to be no anxiety to "make a case." "Judge Swiggart," says Brother K., "was very fair and just in all his rulings," while Attorney General Lewis did not seem anxious to bring the brethren to punishment. The grand jury of the county has just closed its sittings, but no bill was found against Sunday labor. We are glad that Judge Swiggart sees the injustice of the work which has been done in Tennessee. Would that others could see it before it is too late.
IN marked contrast to the spirit of fairness shown by Judge Swiggart, of Tennessee, is that exhibited by Judge Robinson, of Maryland, lately appointed by the governor of that State as Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals. In a conversation with Elder H. E. Robinson, of New York, he showed that he understood nothing of the principle involved in these Sunday persecutions, and was bitterly prejudiced against Sabbath keepers. He said:—
"Judefind should stay in jail and all the rest of the insignificant sect who believe the same silly nonsense ought to be there too. It is useless to make any appeal on these cases; the law of the State will be enforced, and those who work on Sunday will suffer the penalty."
In the account of this conversation in the Union Record we read: "When reminded that the Constitution forbids laws on religious matters, he declared the Maryland Sunday law was not religious and the State had a perfect right to make it. He said he was sorry he allowed the Baker case to be continued without the condition that no more Sunday work should be done till it was settled. I assured the judge that our people could not conscientiously refrain from labor on Sunday, even though the penalty was death; but this only provoked a sneer for our foolishness." And this is the way that persecutors have ever talked and acted concerning those who possessed sufficient conscience to obey God. But God will care for his own, and his own will serve him, despite all human laws. "The foolishness of God is wiser than man; and the weakness of God is stronger than man." It is worth something to be "foolish for Christ's sake."