WHATEVER object you have in life, seek Christ first. Receiving Christ in the heart and holding close fellowship with him is the one important and the all-important event of life. No life is complete without Christ. He is the one thing needful. He is the good part which shall never be taken away. Your worldly success may be brilliant, your worldly honor be heralded in triumph throughout the globe, you may reach the pinnacle of fame, but if that is all, and the light of your life goes out without a vital interest in the blood of Christ, then those terrible words of our Saviour applied to Judas, those words which compass a whole and never-ending eternity of sorrows, are equally applicable to you, "It had been good for that man if he had not been born."
Are you about to enter manhood? Seek Christ. You will need him. No man is safe without him. Afflictions may come. Christ is the true friend of the afflicted. "The Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me." Trials may come, and you will cry, "My heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." Christ is that Rock. Seek him now. He is the true Friend. He is the Brother on the throne, mighty to save and mighty to compassionate. He has passed through all suffering. He knows every storm that will assail you, and he freely offers the protection you need. Death will come. As Christ is your need in life, he is equally your need in death. Without him death is a dark future, so terribly dark no Christian would desire to look into it. With him you can look cheerfully beyond the grave, for he will guide you by his counsel, and afterward he will receive you to glory—his glory, Christ's glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father. Oh, the depths of that joy which comes from a life hid with Christ in God! Trust Christ, his love, his faithfulness. He is the Son of God; his companionship is pure; his love is holy; his friendship is eternal; His manners the desire of all Christian hearts.
May we all seek Christ first, and thus make God's home our home, and our home the home of God through his beloved Son.—Christian at Work.
BRIGHT CHRISTIANS.
By Theodore L. Cuyler, D. D.
THE houses of the people of Palestine, in ancient times, were not lighted by candles; therefore the translation of the fifteenth verse of the fifth chapter of Matthew in our common version is not correct. In the house of the poorest peasant was a lamp. A small cup or other vessel was filled with oil, a bit of linen rag or a wick was set afloat in it, and the simple contrivance was set on a lampstand. To put it under a couch or to hide it under a grain-measure would be absurd. Our Lord, in his sermon on the mount, alludes to the familiar lamp in every dwelling, and then says to his followers, "so let your light shine before men." This is the manner in which every Christian should be luminous. The word "so" refers back to the previous verse. The motive for doing this then follows, viz., "that men may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." Not for mere ostentation and self-glorification were they to make a display of their religion; neither were they to conceal it by either indolence or cowardice. To turn the outside of their character in would be as harmful as to turn the inside of it out.
The crying want of the times is more bright Christians. There are quite too many church members who were kindled for a little while—perhaps during the heat of a revival season—and then have either been smuggled into a dark lantern, or else allowed to die down into a feeble glimmer, barely visible through the smoke. For no mere selfish purpose does Jesus Christ bestow his converting grace upon any man or woman. He did not make you a Christian, my friend, either for your own enjoyment in this world, or to save you from perdition in the next. He touched your heart with his illuminating grace, chiefly that you might impart the benefit of your light to others, and glorify him. He commanded the light to shine into the darkness of your sinful soul, that you might give the light of the knowledge of God as seen in the face of Jesus to all with whom you come in contact. You may not be a magnificent Fresnel-burner like a Chalmers or a Wesley in their day, or like a Spurgeon or a Shaftesbury or a Moody in our times. But the properties of light are the same in a household lamp that they are in the huge luminary that flashes from the tower at Sandy Hook; and in your little circle there is just as much need of a bright Christian as there is in the most conspicuous pulpit of Christendom.
If you neglect to let your light shine, however humble it be, not only will your own character suffer, but somebody else will be the worse for it. The simple failure of a signalman to swing his lantern at the right time, has sent a railway train into deadly ruin. Your failure to utter the right word, to do the right thing, or to exert the right influence may be sending some others off the track in the same fatal fashion. I know of certain households—perhaps yours may be one—in which the lamp smokes more than it shines. That son would not be so troubled with skepticism if he saw a more attractive living evidence of Christianity in the daily conduct of his professedly Christian parents. Another son would not be seen so often on his way to the saloon, or some other dangerous haunt, if the torch of both warning and example were held up faithfully and lovingly. It is almost hopeless to expect conversions in some families. One reason is that there is a lamp of profession there which smokes foully instead of beaming brightly. The light that is in that house is fast becoming darkness. The oil has given out. Love of the world, or the greed of selfishness, or some other sin, has extinguished the love of Christ. The real cause of all spiritual declension is the lack of a Christly love and loyalty in the heart. When people are full of any subject they will speak out; they cannot help it. When your soul is on fire with the love of Jesus and of your fellowmen, you will burn and shine unconsciously. Probably the most effective good which most genuine Christians do is in the way of steady, silent, and unconscious reflection of Jesus Christ in their daily conduct. To preach a sermon, or teach a mission-school class, or distribute Bibles or bread among the needy, is a direct, premeditated act of lamp-bearing. But to live along day after day luminously reflecting Christ in word and deed, at home, in the store, in the shop, and everywhere else, is just "letting the light shine" of its own sweet accord. That is the sort of religion that tells. And however glibly Brother A may speak in the prayer-meeting, or however brightly Sister B may shine in her Dorcas Society or "holiness meeting," yet if they end in smoke at home, theirs is but a dark and dreary dwelling. Trim the household lamp, good friends. A revival of thorough home piety is the most needed revival in these times, for the well-being of both church and commonwealth.
Light is a combination of many rays, and each white ray a combination of many colors. If you apply the spectrum to a bright Christian, you will find that he sheds out various graces. Chiefest of all is the ray of love. This is the supreme grace which most completely reflects Christ Jesus, and which imparts the golden effulgence to a true, fervent Christian life. It is not a flash of sentiment, or fitful gush of emotion, but a steady anthracite flame which glows all day and all night because the divine fire is burning in the soul. "So have I loved you," saith the Master; "continue ye in my love." Where this lamp beams, the humblest home will be brightened, the hardest pillow will be softened, the coarsest fare will be sweetened. Love is the best grace Christ can give us, for in it he gives himself; it is the best we can return to him, for in it we give ourselves. . . .
Here are a few of the rays which a bright Christian will reflect, while he is reflecting Christ. Trim your lamp, brother. Feed it afresh with prayer for more oil, and with fresh inlettings of Jesus into your soul. Carry your lamp always with you, as the miners carry theirs on their hats, not only to work by, but to help their neighbors work. The world may discover Jesus Christ in you when they would find him in no other way. Light other people's lamps. A bright Christian is a ray shot from the throne of Heaven into this dark world. "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning."
ROMANISM IS HEATHENISM.
It has been charged that Romanism, in order to make itself acceptable to heathenism, readily appropriates large portions of its religious worship from the latter on its own field. Whether this charge can be substantiated or not, can probably be determined by the statement of a few things common to the religious worship of Buddhism and Roman Catholicism, especially in China, and which the former cannot have borrowed from the latter. In both systems there is the worship of pictures. The Buddhist readily worships the picture of Jesus, knowing his place in the Christian system. Both Buddhists and Romanists pray in an unknown language, the former in Sanskrit, the latter in Latin. Both use candles and incense in worship. Both have purgatories, or places from which souls can be released by the prayers of priests offered for a pecuniary compensation. Both Buddhists and Romanists use rosaries for counting their prayers. Both use "vain repetitions," the substitute of the Buddhist for the "Ave Maria" of the Romanist, being O-me-ti-fuh of the Buddhist, which is sometimes repeated twenty or thirty thousand times a day, and for the repeating of which ten thousand times a person gains one degree of merit. Buddhism and Romanism both hold to works of supererogation—more good works by persons than are required for their own salvation—both maintain the celibacy of priests, and have nuns and nunneries; both adore relics; while Buddhism adores Buddha's bones, it pays them no more adoration than Romanists pay to the alleged wood of the cross, the alleged coat of the Saviour, which is kept in the church at Treves, or hundreds of other relics. Again, priests from India and France both adopt the heathen rites of the Chinese. On a Catholic altar in Shanghai, the dragon, the emblem of China and its State church, is found united with the cross. Both Catholics and Buddhists claim miraculous cures in modern times; both lavish money upon processions; both worship saints; and Mary finds her complete counterpart in Kwankin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy.—Interior.
THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST. NO. 2.
By W.
THE next point to be considered is what is actually involved in this claim that all men are by nature immortal. We state as a proposition, that the claim that men are by nature immortal actually implies nothing less than that they are equal with God, and independent of him. This proposition we shall now prove.
1. Immortality belongs to God alone. Paul speaks of "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto." 1 Tim. 6:15, 16. Christ, as the only begotten Son of God, shares this attribute with the Father: "For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." John 5:26. Angels are immortal, but only because God has given them immortality; men may obtain immortality, but only as the gift of God, bestowed on them through Christ, only, however, to those who seek it by patient continuance in well-doing. Rom. 6:23; 2:7. Now for a man to claim one of the attributes of God, is virtually to claim all of them. Especially is this true if the attribute claimed be immortality; for the possession of life involves everything else. To claim immortality is to claim the very highest attribute of Deity. God's most sacred name is Jehovah,—the One who is,—and when he would give Moses the highest possible credentials, he said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." Ex. 3:14. So for a man to claim immortality as his own by right is to claim for himself equality with God, or at least to claim that he is a part of God.
2. The great, and, indeed, the only reason why we should serve the Lord with all our heart, and with all our power, is because he has created us, and we live only by his favor. Said the holy beings in Heaven, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things." Rev. 4:11. And Paul, in proving to the Athenians that God alone should be worshiped, used only the argument that "he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things," and that "in him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts 17:25, 28. Now if it were true that we are immortal, and that our life, either present or future, is not dependent on the special favor of God, but that we shall continue to exist forever, no matter what our character or condition, then it would be true that we would owe no allegiance to God nor to anyone else but ourselves. The claim that man is by nature immortal is virtually a claim that he is independent of God. So again we see that for men to claim immortality for themselves is to make themselves gods, or, at least, a part of God.
3. If man were immortal, like God, then, as stated above, he would be independent of God, owing no allegiance to anybody but himself; and in that case he would, necessarily, be his own law-giver and his own judge. Each man would determine for himself what his course of action should be, and right would be for each individual whatever his nature should prompt him to do. These conclusions are self-evident, and prove the main proposition, that the claim of natural immortality for man is virtually a claim that men are gods, having all the attributes that the Bible ascribes to the one only true God. And this again shows that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is inspired by the spirit of antichrist, for Christ is God. John 1:1. Whatever dishonors either the Father or the Son dishonors the other.
Having thus briefly but positively shown that the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul is of the very essence of the spirit of antichrist, we shall proceed to show (1) that modern Spiritualism, the foundation-stone of which is continued existence for man, does most positively deny both God and Christ; (2) that all teaching having natural immortality as its basis has ever been opposed to God; and (3) that the teaching that man is by nature immortal always leads directly and surely to immorality,—that it is indeed the cause of all the wickedness that has ever disgraced this earth. We quote first the statements of leading Spiritualist writers.
The editor of the Golden Gate, which is probably the ablest and most respectable Spiritualist journal in the United States, in his issue of November 27, 1886, said:—
"As Spiritualists repudiate the horrible doctrine of election, as taught by certain branches of the church; as they believe in no Satanic personality, and have no use for an eternal hell, in an orthodox sense, they would naturally be regarded by those who still adhere to those old traditions as outside the pale of redemption,—as indeed they are, vicariously, but not in reality; for they realize that if they ever attain to happiness in this life or the next it must be through their own efforts, in response to the aspiration of their own souls."
"When a man learns that the only Satan in the universe is his own ignorance and the evil propensities and appetites engendered thereof; and when he learns that in all of God's great plan of creation there is no one but himself to answer for his own iniquities, it would seem, if he stops to think, that he would 'seek the better way,' and cease to do evil."
In this passage the editor makes reference to "God's great plan of creation," yet he claims for man absolute independence of God, making man and not God the judge of right and wrong. Again, in the Golden Gate of July 2, 1887, we find the following editorial statement:—
"The spirits also teach us that there is no atonement or remission of sin except through growth; that as we sow, so also must we reap. They have not found God, and never will, except as they find him in their own souls."
Still more direct is a statement made by a correspondent of the Golden Gate, in the issue of September 10, 1887:—
"When the truth was made known to me that 'God is life, love, truth, intelligence, substance, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, and there is no evil,' I became glorified in myself as a part of that God."
Light in the West, a Spiritualist paper published in St. Louis, Mo., contained the following, August 14, 1886:—
"Man is a part of God, a spark thrown off from the Great Spirit."
W. J. Colville is considered one of the greatest of Spiritualist lecturers. He lectures wholly by "inspiration," and is held in as high esteem by Spiritualists as Christ is by Christians. In a lecture delivered in Oakland, Cal., June 19, 1886, he used the following language in answer to the question, "Where and what is Heaven, and where and what is hell?"
"The mind of man is the original creator both of that heaven and that hell which your own individual mind or spirit may realize; and no matter what your theological premises may be, the creed you espouse or the doctrines you favor, you cannot obliterate human conscience; and so long as you cannot obliterate human conscience, you will know hell until you are reconciled with conscience, and as soon as you are reconciled with conscience you will know heaven. There can be no heaven unless there be a perfect reconciliation between the impulses of man's highest soul and his outward life; there can be no heaven until your individual life is guided by the divine within you, that ever points out to you the road which is the perfect way."
—Golden Gate, September 3, 1887.
In a lecture delivered by the "inspirational lecturer," J. J. Morse, at the Spiritualist camp-meeting held in Oakland, June, 1887, the following statement was made:—
"Truth is the voice of God speaking through the human soul."
Now take the gist of all these statements, and we find it to be that man himself is God, and that every man is a law unto himself. Recall the statement of the Spiritual Magazine, that Spiritualism "recognizes a continuous divine inspiration in man;" the utterance of the editor of the Golden Gate, that men cannot find God except as they find him in their own souls; and that of Mr. Colville, that a man is in Heaven only when he is "reconciled with conscience," and "guided by the divine within;" and the last one quoted, namely, that "Truth is the voice of God speaking through the human soul," and what must we conclude? Simply that Spiritualism teaches that man must follow the impulses of his own nature, and that, wherever they may lead him, he is answerable for his actions to no one but himself. To show that this conclusion is warranted, we make a few more quotations. In a Spiritualist paper called Lucifer, published at Valley Falls, Kansas, in an article entitled "Marriage and Free Love" (July 15, 1887), we find the following:—
"I acknowledge the presence of a power which we call Nature, and whatever Nature approves I encourage, and whatever Nature punishes I try to avoid, such rewards and punishments being measured by the increase or decrease of personal happiness. It matters little to me whether moralists or reformers approve or condemn free love or marriage; the only question before me is to find out if Nature rewards one more than the other."
Hon. J. B. Hall, in a lecture reported in the Banner of Light of February 6, 1864, says:—
"I believe that man is amenable to no law not written upon his own nature, no matter by whom it is given. . . . By his own nature must he be tried—by his own acts he must stand or fall. True, man must give an account to God for all his deeds; but how? Solely by giving account to his own nature—to himself."
Now in order to know the consequences that will result from holding that man is the sole judge of his own actions, and that a man's natural inclinations are but the voice of God, and are to be followed, we have only to ascertain what is the nature of man. Christ, who "knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man" (John 2:24, 25), spoke as follows concerning what men are by nature:—
"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evil things come from within, and defile the man." Mark 7:21-23.
Solomon says of the heart, that "out of it are the issues of life." Prov. 4:23. Therefore when Jesus mentioned "all these evil things," and said that they proceed "from within, out of the heart of men," he meant that men naturally exhibit just such traits in their lives. The apostle Paul bore witness to the same thing when he wrote:—
"There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace have they not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes." Rom. 3:10-18.
This is the uniform testimony of the Scripture concerning all men, for Paul simply quoted what had been written by other inspired men. One more quotation will suffice to complete the picture of the natural tendencies of mankind. The man who is unrenewed by the Spirit of God is said to be "in the flesh," and the "works of the flesh" are thus enumerated:—727"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like." Gal. 5:19-21.
This is a picture of the natural impulses of the human heart. It is a description of what will be done by all who, unrestrained, follow the leadings of their own nature. And this is not spoken of one man or of any particular set of men, but of mankind universally. The king on the throne, the beggar in the hovel, the learned scientist, and the ignorant peasant, the pious Doctor of Divinity, and the blasphemous ruffian, all have one common human nature. The natural impulses of each heart are essentially the same. A godly ancestry will often give one less of evil to contend with than another, but this does not disprove the general statement; it is simply one of the restraints that God has provided, only the restraint operates before the individual is born, instead of after.
It is true that all who believe that they are their own judges do not exhibit in their lives all the vices above enumerated; but it is only because there are certain restraints imposed upon them. But let them be in a country where the authority of God was wholly disregarded, and where all believed in following their own impulses, and they would prove the truth of the words of the Bible.
Now let us trace our argument backwards: 1. The tendency of the human heart is evil, and only evil. 2. Spiritualism teaches that each man is to follow the leadings of his own nature, and is to be the sole judge of his own actions. 3. This teaching of Spiritualism is a legitimate and necessary consequence of its teaching that there is 'a continuous divine inspiration in man,' and that man himself is God, or a part of God. 4. And the idea that man is a part of God, necessarily goes hand in hand with the idea that he is possessed of an immortal, indestructible nature. So we say that the natural tendency of the teaching that man is by nature immortal is toward unrestrained vice. When Spiritualists teach that all the god that men will find is in their own natures, they directly deify vice and crime. But Spiritualism is simply the doctrine that men have a continued existence without any break at what is called death. Therefore we repeat that the doctrine that man is by nature immortal, tends directly to immorality, and to that alone. If many who believe in that doctrine do love truth and right, and do live moral and upright lives, it is only because they have not yet followed that doctrine to its legitimate, ultimate results. God grant that such may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil before it is too late.