p. 9 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 33. (8/23/1910)

Out of Babylon to Zion By Prof Lucas A. Reed

XX. Visions of the Golden Candlestick and the Flying Roll

Zech. 4:1 to 5:4

ALTHO God's people were beset by enemies, altho might and power had been used against them to compel cessation from their labor on the walls and the temple, they were not to assert their own physical might against the might of their enemies, and thus enter into contention with them to the loss of spiritual calm and strength of soul. Their present difficulties were to cultivate faith in God; they were to rely upon the overruling providence of God.

Jacob of old, when confronted with the wiles of his father-in-law, met him with conduct of the same kind, trick for trick, might for might. But at the brook of Jabbok, with his lamed strength, he had learned the lesson that human wrestling accomplishes nothing and the contestant is forever weakened by the effort. The only means of true success is to cling and plead with the Mighty One of God.

The Meaning of the Symbols

So now to God's people is shown in the vision of the candlestick the real might of Israel. The oil is the Holy Spirit; and ministered by the anointed ones that stand in God's presence, it bears its light-giving, light-sustaining power into the life of the servant of the Lord. As the consecrated ones receive this oil, it causes the Word in them to be a light and an influence in the earth.

According to Revelation, the two olive-trees are the two witnesses that have power to judge the enemies of truth. They are the two prophets, and are manifestly the two portions of the Word of God, the Old and the New Testament. The seven candlesticks are the seven churches.

Leading to each lamp there is a separate pipe carrying the oil directly to that lamp, showing the connection of each individual or church to the Word of God by the Spirit of God. And the churches made up of their consecrated members receiving the oil from the Word, shine as lights in the earth. Matt. 5:14. They thus hold forth the Word as a light.

"That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life." Phil. 2:15, 16.

Now note minutely the vision with a view especially to its explanation by the angel.

"And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord." Zech. 4:1-5.

What then is the answer returned to this query? What is the answer to the question, "Knowest thou not what these be?" The prophet confesses his ignorance, and then the angel explains. He does not minutely explain what each instrument in the vision signifies, but he gives him the lesson of the whole. This vision of the candlestick teaches reliance upon God's Spirit as a power, yes, as a world-power, if you please, rather than upon the arm of civil or human power.

The Only Source of Power

"Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it." Verses 5-7.

Here is no turning to law, or civil enactments, or state, or earthly power, not the power of army or navy; all physical power is interdicted. Reliance upon God's Spirit is to be the secret of success, the assurance that the temple will be built, the means by which, indeed, it is to be accomplished. Thus the mountain of opposition is to become a plain before the prince of God's people. He, standing before God as the nation, is to bring forth the headstones by God's grace. It is not to be by his works, lest he boast. But he is to ascribe all that is done, to the ministration of God's Spirit; he is to shout the victory and achieve success by the one method of grace, grace, the grace of God.

And lest there might be some who would say that the work, being God's, would be done sometime, but years from their time, God gives a definite statement. The temple is to be completed in their generation.

"Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent Me unto you." Verses 8, 9.

The Antitype

Just as in the days of the second coming out of Babylon — the present exodus from spiritual Babylon — there is a definite generation by whom the work is to be completed, so was it then. The preaching of the Flood by Noah and his associates took place in the one generation; the promulgation of the Gospel of a crucified and risen Saviour went to all the world in one generation; and the Gospel of the second advent of Christ is to be preached in all the world as a witness in one generation. So in those days God defined the time in which His work of grace was to be completed. The temple was finished in B.C. 515, less than twenty years after the prophecy. It was thus dedicated within the lifetime of Zerubbabel, just as God promised and prophesied. Ezra 6:14, 15.

By the aid of the plummet of Christ, who is the Word, and who is the guarantee of the Spirit, and the One whom the Spirit brings, that work was trued and built and finished. And in the same way all God's spiritual building in every age is to be done.

"For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth." Verse 10.

All the work of Zerubbabel was to be merely an instrumentality of God. He was to hold the plummet of God to all the work. He was entrusted to act as the Lord's servant to see that all was built according to the plan. And in that plummet are the omniscient eyes of God. He sees all, He knows all. How precious the privilege of laboring with One who knows all the meaning of what we do, who seeing the end from the beginning, directs all to such a purpose that nothing fails, each act bears its part, and more comes out of our labor than we saw or ever dreamed.

The Vision of the Flying Roll

The flying roll which Zechariah saw is the sacred roll of God's Word. As we have seen in previous studies, it flies swiftly enough even to overtake the transgressor. God already had asked, "My words and My statutes, . . . did they not overtake your fathers?"

"Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it." Zech. 5:1-3.

Well may we quote from another writer: "Against every evil-doer God's law utters condemnation. He may disregard that voice, he may seek to drown its warning, but in vain. It follows him. It makes itself heard. It destroys his peace. If unheeded it pursues him to the grave. It bears witness against him at the judgment. A quenchless fire, it consumes at last soul and body."—"Education," pages 144, 145.

"I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of Hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by My name, and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof." Verse 4.

The Word disobeyed will destroy not only the transgressor, but it will also destroy his evil work; all his house, and even the material of his house, shall perish.

"Remember the Sabbath" When?

By Ada M. Learned-Leavett

IT was Friday afternoon of a hot July day. William True and the boys had been working faithfully all the week gathering in the abundant harvest of golden grain. At four o'clock father's welcome, cheery voice called out:

"Well, boys, let's quit. Time to straighten up for the Sabbath."

They unhitched the tired horses, rubbed them down briskly, and turned them into the pasture. John and Charles placed the various pieces of farm machinery and implements in their proper places, and put the farm yard in order. Henry proceeded to feed the chickens and gather the eggs. So early in the afternoon, you ask? Yes, one day in the week; for all work that could possibly be done was attended to before the Sabbath drew on.

At the farmhouse, mother had carefully planned, and had her work well in hand. About three o'clock that afternoon she had called the children, Elsie, Julia, and little James, and proceeded to give them their "preparation-day bath," as grave little Julia solemnly referred to it. The children had been trained not to romp and play in the dirt after donning their fresh, clean clothing. There were yet many errands to do and many steps to be taken on this busy farm; but "the Sabbath is coming, and we will be careful," said Elsie.

"The Sabbath is coming, and we will be careful,"

Mother also found time to freshen up; and when father and the boys came in, the improvised bath room of their modest dwelling was at their disposal.

Mother was spreading a simple, wholesome lunch (no hot supper on this warm summer day), consisting of plain bread and butter sandwiches, fresh berries which had been gathered that morning, and some of "mother's Sabbath buns."

There remained time after lunch for every trace of crumb and soiled dish to be removed, while father and John milked at the usual hour, six-thirty o'clock. By slipping on fresh overalls and jumpers, they kept clean, and soon the household was in order.

By seven-thirty, as the twilight hour drew on, the entire family, in cheerful, peaceful frame of mind, ready for the Sabbath blessing both physically and spiritually, welcomed "another day of rest."

"I don't see how Will True can afford to waste so much time on Friday afternoon," remarked Ezekiel Profess. "Eze" (Easy) his neighbors called him, for obvious reasons. "I am sure every minute of my time is occupied by work until sundown."

Let us take a glimpse of the home of Ezekiel Profess.

They are busy harvesting, too; but instead of stopping early, even if every load is not in, they work steadily, hurriedly on, until six o'clock. A forgotten errand, seemingly necessary, comes to mind, and George is commissioned to hurry to the town two miles distant. Mr. Profess sees a neighbor passing by, and must—simply must—stop him and inquire about the proposed county road; and before he realizes, half an hour has slipped away.

Mrs. Profess had spent the day canning fruit, besides endeavoring to do some extra Friday work; and as a consequence, evening finds her very weary and irritable. But she prepares a "good, big supper," for "men will eat," she argues. The younger children busy themselves, and "keep out from under foot," as they have learned.

"Men will eat,"

"Keep out from under foot,"

By the time supper is over, the dishes washed, the hens fed, and eggs gathered, and the milking attended to, the clock is striking eight; and tired and dusty, the family sink down on the back porch for a breath of cool air. No welcome Sabbath song, no pleasant family talk, no uplifting of thankful hearts to their heavenly Father, emanates from this household.

Reader, do you think that William True's family wasted their Friday afternoon?

Follow their example, and decide by actual experience.

Our Bible Reading

The Sabbath as a Twofold Sign

1. In speaking of God's greatness, of what does the psalmist assure us?

"His work is honorable and glorious: and His righteousness endureth forever. He hath made HIS WONDERFUL WORKS TO BE REMEMBERED." Ps. 111: 3, 4.

2. By what means has He made His creative works to be remembered?

"REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY," to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: . . . for in six days THE LORD MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: WHEREFORE the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex. 20: 8-11.

3. Of what great work is the Sabbath a sign?

"I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I AM THE LORD THAT SANCTIFY THEM." Eze. 20: 12.

4. By what power does God redeem or sanctify His people?

"I am the Lord, your Holy One, the CREATOR of Israel, your King." Isa. 43: 15. "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and His REDEEMER the Lord of Hosts." Isa. 44: 6. "If any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE [a new creation]." 2 Cor. 5: 17.

NOTE.—One of the special things emphasized all through the Scriptures is the creative power of God; and that because He is Creator He has power to redeem. This is not only true of the Father, but is also emphatically true of the Son. See John 1:1-3; Col. 1:14-18. The Sabbath therefore becomes not only a memorial of God's creative power in the past but a sign of His creative power in redeeming and sanctifying man in the present.

5. What is said of God's redeeming power when He brought His children out of Egypt?

"For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, SINCE THE DAY THAT GOD CREATED MAN upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been ANY SUCH THING AS THIS GREAT THING is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Or hath God essayed to GO AND TAKE HIM A NATION from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?" Deut. 4: 32-34.

6. And why did God manifest all this power?

"Unto thee it was showed, that thou MIGHTEST KNOW THAT THE LORD HE IS GOD; there is none else beside Him." Verse 35.

7. Besides the memorial of God's creative works, what did the Sabbath become to this people who were thus redeemed?

"Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD THY GOD BROUGHT THEE OUT THENCE through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: THEREFORE THE LORD THY GOD COMMANDED THEE TO KEEP THE SABBATH DAY." Deut. 5: 15.

8. With the wonderful creative power of God manifest in the redemption and salvation of Israel, what did Nehemiah say of that time?

"Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: and MADEST KNOWN UNTO THEM THY HOLY SABBATH." Neh. 9:13, 14.

NOTE.—No careful, unprejudiced student can take into account the wonderful manifestations of God to Israel as they were brought out of Egypt, without seeing the remarkable place which the Sabbath has in God's great plan. It was not only made to the world a memorial of His creative works, that God (Elohim) by the power of His Word created heaven and earth, consequently gave to the world His law; but the Sabbath as a memorial of that creative power became in a very special sense a sign of God's redeeming, sanctifying power to the children of Israel; and so ought it to be to every soul of His children who are redeemed from the Egypt of sin; for every one who truly accepts Christ becomes one of the Israel of God outside of which there is no redemption. It is to Israel alone that the covenants and promises are made.

9. What then does the Sabbath become to the Israel of God forever?

"Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a SIGN BETWEEN ME AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL FOREVER." Ex. 31: 16, 17.

Christian Discontent

By J. G. Holland

ASPIRATION, worthy ambition, desires for higher good for good ends—all these indicate a soul that recognizes the beckoning hand of the good Father who would call us homeward towards Himself—all these are the ground and justification for a Christian discontent; but a murmuring, questioning, fault-finding spirit has direct and sympathetic alliance with nothing but the infernal. — J. G. Holland.

The Leading of God

By Editor

IT is an oft-repeated prayer of the Scriptures that God will lead. He leads by His Spirit, by providential circumstances, by His Word. And the test of circumstances, impressions, visions, and spirit, is the Word. "To the law and to the testimony" is a divine injunction. "Quench not the Spirit," and "Despise not prophesyings," are needed for these days of heart-hardening influences; but the sentence which follows immediately is not the less needed in this age of counterfeits: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." And the standard is the law and Word of God.

Then let God lead. His truth is progressive. "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." It ought to be like the rising sun growing from the dim day-dawn to the glorious noontide. But let God lead. Men may help, men may be God's teachers, but let the men be tested by the Word. They are not above it; they themselves should be led by it.

Above all things else do not be held back in the light and truth of God by dead hands. It is not a pleasant thought; but it is literally true that the church of God, or great portions of it, at least, have been held back by the hands of the dead. Men like Luther, Calvin, Knox, Augustine, Wesley, have written what they saw, what inspired their souls, and died. The writings, the teachings, the institutes, the articles of faith, the creeds, express great and good things, but they also contain error, and the truth they express is often fragmentary or incomplete. Yet some body of Christians have sworn to the creed. Light, glorious light from God's Word shines upon their pathway; but the dead hands which penned the creed reach out from a dim and cloudy past and hold in unliving, cold, unloosening grasp souls and consciences.

The great heroes of God are to be honored for their work's sake, but they are not to be enthroned as demigods. To honor them truly is not to magnify or exalt their knowledge, but to imitate their faith. Their knowledge was imperfect, but their faith grasped God and followed all the light of His Word which they saw; and their followers do them the greatest honor when they do likewise. The earnest Pilgrim, John Robinson, grasped the great thought. When he bade affectionate farewell to the little band as they left Leyden for America in the Mayflower in 1620, he said:

"I charge you before God and His blessed angels, that you follow me no farther than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ. If God reveals anything to you by another instrument, be as ready to receive it as you ever were to receive any truth by my ministry; for I am verily persuaded, I am very confident, THAT THE LORD HAS MORE TRUTH yet to break forth out of His holy Word. For my part, I can not sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed churches, who are COME TO A PERIOD IN RELIGION, and will go at present no farther than the instruments of their reformation. The Lutherans can not be drawn to go any farther than what Luther saw; and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things.

"This is a misery much to be lamented; for tho they were burning and shining lights in their time, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God, but were they now living, would be as willing to embrace further light as that which they first received. I beseech you, remember it as an article of your church covenant that you be ready to receive whatever truth shall be made known to you from the written Word of God."

And we too may say that God has yet more and more light to break from His living Word.

"There are mines of truth yet to be discovered by the earnest seeker." When any branch of God's people refuse to go forward, they settle down into dead formalism or disintegrate. But progress does not mean worldliness or skepticism. It builds on eternal foundations. Liberty does not mean license. Different views for a time in the development and unfolding of the Scriptures ought not to mean envy, or enmity, or hatred, or opposition. It is a time for reverent study before God, with bared feet and bowed head and humbled heart. It is a time to press together and settle all differences by the Word of God and in all charity toward those who differ.

Not to believe that God will lead as He has always desired to lead is lack of faith. To hold that any man or men have fixed or can fix the living truth of God is unbelief. It is putting man in the place of God. It is attempting to steady the ark, jolting upon the cart of the creed. It is an attempt to limit the living, infinite truth of God to cold, dead forms of men; it is to place, in seeming times of peril, the form of the Anointed of God in a rock-hewn sepulcher. But this can not be. To those who look for God's living truth in the limitations of men God's angel declares now as he did on that far, fame-fraught morning, "He is not here; for He is risen. . . . Behold, He goeth before you." "O send Thy light and Thy truth; let them lead me."

Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth, the Life

"JESUS saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." John 14:6. The whole system of human redemption is set forth in this scripture, and volumes could be written in explication thereof without exhausting it. No one comes unto the Father but by Christ.

The words take for granted man's lost condition. He is fallen, separate from God. By sin he has defaced God's image originally stamped on his character, and has erected the throne of self in the heart. The only means by which he may become united to God, the only way by which he may become acquainted with God, is through Christ.

"No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any may the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." Matt. 11:27. But Christ came to reveal the Father. John 14:1, 10. The only way, then, to become acquainted with God, whom to know is life, is through His Son Jesus Christ.

Christ the Way

Christ is the way to God. It is true, too, that the only way is the way of God's commandments (Ps. 119:32, 33), the way of peace (Ps. 119:165), which is the way of righteousness (Ps. 119:172). But all mankind have transgressed the way of the Lord, have perverted their own ways, and therefore "the way of peace have they not known," for "there is no fear of God before their eyes." Rom. 3:17, 18. And this is the case with all men of themselves, for "all have sinned," and, at the very best, "come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:19, 23. Christ is the way back to holiness, the only way by which man may be reconciled to God. He is the ladder seen in Jacob's dream, with one end reaching to heaven and the other resting on the earth. He came down to the very lowest depths of sin, death; and in His righteous character, developed in perfect obedience to God's perfectly holy law, as well as by His birthright, He lays hold upon the throne of heaven, and thus bridges the chasm which sin has made.

To him who yields himself to God — and that is what faith is — his sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, the righteousness of God in Christ is placed upon him, and he is accepted in the beloved. See Rom. 3:21-26. The sinner becomes complete in Christ (Col. 2:9, 10), a saint in Christ's holiness (1 Cor. 6:11), a child of God (John 1:13; 1 John 3:1). He is accepted just as tho he had never sinned.

Christ the Truth

Christ as the way is gladly accepted by many, but Christ as the truth by few. God's "Word is truth." It is by obeying the truth of that Word — through faith always, of course — that we are purified (1 Peter 1:22); it is God's Word by which we are sanctified — that is, separated from the world, and set apart to His service (John 17:17). In fact, it is through that same Word of truth that we are begotten (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23), that we grow (1 Peter 2:2), that we are built up unto eternal life (Acts 20:32). How important, then, is this Word, and yet how few are willing to accept it! How many there are who are more willing to accept of human perversions of God's Word, of human traditions, of human opinions and practises contrary to the truth of the Bible, rather than by simple faith to receive the Word! And yet he who truly receives Christ receives the Word, for Christ is the Incarnate Word.

God's Word is among men's words just what Christ is among men, both human and divine, reaching man in the lowest depths and lifting him to heaven by divine power.

Christ is the Word (John 1:1-3), for all the Word of God came through Him. It was He who commissioned His evangelists

and apostles, it was His Spirit which spoke through the prophets. 1 Peter 1:10, 11. And therefore to reject that Word is to reject Christ Jesus. We can not accept Him as the way and reject Him as the truth. Neither can we accept Him as the truth and reject the Word which came through Him. It is by the truth that He builds our character (Acts 20:32; Matt. 7:24, 25), and by which He keeps us to the end (Ps. 17:4; 91:4; 2 Thess. 2:12, 13). Then receive Christ Jesus, not alone as the blessed way back to God, but as the truth in all its fulness, which will keep us there.

Christ the Life

Fewer still accept Christ as the life, the only life of the world. They accept of the way nominally, because they desire to be saved at least from the consequences of sin. They professedly embrace His truth for the same reason, and yet pervert it by making its standard of interpretation human opinion. But to say that Christ is our life, is to admit that we do not have life ourselves; and poor humanity does not wish to reject the lie told by the old deceiver to our first parents, "Ye shall not surely die." Yet men do die, and the only proof we have that they do not is that reiterated lie of the ages. But the Truth declares, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." He also declares that "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." He tells the unyielding sinners, "Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life." John 5:40.

Yet to know Christ is not mere life as we now possess it, as the sinner possesses it; but "this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." John 17:3. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. . . . And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." See 1 John 5:10-13. And he who lets Christ live His life in him, will at Christ's coming be given immortality, but not till then. See 1 Cor. 15:51, 54. But it all comes through Christ. The life is the accompaniment of the righteousness He gives (Rom. 8:10), and both righteousness and life come by faith in the Word of truth. Why not take Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Life, as a whole Saviour?

Weekly Bible Reading Schedule

By Editor

Schedule for Week Ending September 3, 1910

Sunday,	August 28	Zechariah 10-14
Monday,	“ 29	Nehemiah 1-4
Tuesday,	“ 30	“ 5-7
Wednesday,	“ 31	“ 8-10
Thursday,	September 1	“ 11-13
Friday,	“ 2	Psalms 73-77
Sabbath,	“ 3	“ 78, 79

THE first day of the week finishes the prophecy of Zechariah. This also is covered in the series “From Babylon to Zion,” so that we will not use space for notes upon this important and interesting book. Four days of the week our readings are upon the book of Nehemiah, covering a period of time from about 446-408, the last reform on his return to Jerusalem. The book itself tells us who Nehemiah is and the work that he did, working always with the highest good of Jerusalem in mind; impatient toward the people because of their slackness in doing the work of God; indignant toward those who were sinning against God in uniting with the heathen peoples, even bringing them into the very temple itself. Sometimes the zealous reformer’s manner was not one that we should like to copy, and yet when we take all the circumstances surrounding him into consideration we can not feel to condemn him. He was there for God; the city was the Lord’s city, and the people were the Lord’s people.

NATIONAL REFORMERS are wont to take the last chapter as justification for their demand for Sunday laws, utterly regardless of the fact that Nehemiah was doing his work under a theocracy guided by God and His prophets, in a nation and city belonging to the Lord and the Lord’s special people alone, while they have no such credentials to present. The theocracy ended with Israel, when Israel came to that place where deliberately they declared, “We have no king but Cæsar.” God does not set up His kingdom on earth by might or by power, but in the hearts of His people, by His Spirit. The literal earthly kingdom will not be established until He Himself comes. There is one thought in the sixth chapter that is worthy of consideration; it embodies a principle which ought to be with God’s servants always,—that when the enemies of the Jews came and did all in their power through craft and art and dissimulation to hinder the work, asking Nehemiah to leave that work and counsel with them with a view to compromise, he could reply to them four times over, “I am doing a great work, so that I can not come down.”

THE last two days of our week are upon Psalms 73-79, beginning, according to the Jewish division, the third book of the Psalms. They are filled with inspiring thoughts of God and His mercy and power to save. The last psalm is very applicable to the time of the captivity, when Jerusalem had been brought low and its people scattered.

God Restrains and Hides

God’s mercy not only restrains the outworking of sin, but it veils God’s glory, lest sinful man seeing it gaze and perish. Jesus Christ was the glory of God—eternal righteousness—veiled in humanity, that man might see the excellence and beneficence of the glory, and so believe without fear and serve without compulsion. Even the glory of heavenly orbs is dimmed that sinful man may not perish; for we are taught that “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.” Isa. 30:26.

Yet in the Lord’s glorious metropolitan city, in the glory of His immediate presence, “the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously.” Isa. 24:23; Rev. 21:23; 22:5.

And yet God’s people, in whom the incorruptible seed of His Word has borne the fruit of His righteousness, “shall see His face,” and rejoice forevermore in His presence.

Natural and Manufactured Food

By Editor

A correspondent writes us regarding the merits of factory foods and natural foods, with the intimation that factory foods are adulterated. That is true many times, and yet on the other hand there are some factory foods that are the very purest foods there are. They are cooked in the very cleanest way; put up in nice, neat shape; great care is taken in all the manufacture to have everything perfectly clean. Nearly always such foods as that are put up in sealed cartons or packages.

On the other hand there is what might be called natural food in the way of fruits, etc., which are exposed for sale in open market, that may be the filthiest and most unwholesome sort of food. Flesh foods may be called natural foods, and yet they may be horribly diseased. The only thing that a Christian or other person can do is to look into matters concerning his foods, and choose that which is the best. The Christian ought to carry it still further than that, and “eat and drink to the glory of God.”

BE noble! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own.

— Lowell.

Rights of Property

By Editor

THE Sunday School Times enters a protest against “the thoughtless practises” of stealing, and tells us how Sunday-school superintendents send to publishers and obtain sample copies of Sunday-school exercises free, exercises that cost the publishers, many times, a great deal of money; multiply the best of these free copies in the school, and thus defraud the publishers. The Sunday School Times says: “The appropriation of another man’s horse or of a peck of tomatoes from the grocery on the ground that no idea of profit entered into such use, but it was for one’s own needs only, would not have great weight in clearing one of the charge of stealing. So in the matter of duplicating for any purpose whatsoever the copyrighted words or music belonging to another without securing permission from the one to do this. It is ordinary theft, and thoughtful Christian people must recognize this if they would have regard for the standards of common honesty.”

What led to the discussion was a question by a Sunday-school superintendent who said that there had been more or less discussion in his Sunday-school as to their right legally and morally to reprint hymns found in the various hymnals, for various services. One publisher of Sunday-school and other religious music writes to The Sunday School Times that those outside of the publishing line probably have little idea of the extent of this practise; and he also tells us that sometimes requests are sent to different publishers, and then the best selections are made from each or all of the sample copies thus secured, and consequently all the publishing houses involved meet with loss.

One publisher says: “There are other cases where Sunday-schools of perhaps one hundred to two hundred members will send fifty-five cents for one dozen services. They find at the top of the second page of our services a strong notice calling their attention to the fact that the entire service is the copyright property of the publishers. They seem to assume that the publisher is willing to spend his money for the poems, the copyrights, the plates, the stock, printing, advertising, office rent, and help hired, simply for the sake of securing an order for fifty-five cents’ worth of the goods thus produced, so that when they have purchased their one dozen copies they feel at liberty to write to the publisher, saying, ‘Kindly send permission for our school to reprint the words of the songs in your service which our school has purchased a supply of;’ and many of these people become indignant when we frankly but courteously advise them that we can not afford to grant the permission which they have requested.”

Now these principles have a great deal broader application than the Sunday-school or the publishers of Sunday-school literature. One very important lesson to instill into the minds of children and older people is a proper regard for the rights of others.

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