LET honesty be as the breath of thy soul; then shalt thou reach the point of happiness, and independence shall be thy shield and buckler, thy helmet and crown; then shalt thy soul walk upright, nor stoop to the silken wretch because he hath riches, nor pocket an abuse because the hand which offers it wears a ring set with diamonds. —Franklin.
“CHRIST THE END OF THE LAW.”
For What?
NOT once but many times are we referred to Rom. 10:4 when anything is said concerning the claims of God’s holy law. But almost invariably only this is quoted, “Christ is the end of the law.”
The text is a blessed one—a conclusion from all previous argument in that wonderful Gospel treatise, the Epistle to the Romans. The apostle surely does not mean by it that the law is come to an end, that it is no more. Notice what he has already shown:—
1. That the law will be the standard of judgment of all that have known it, in the last day. Rom. 2:12, 16.
2. That the law is identical with the will of God; for he who is instructed out of the law knows God’s will, approves the things most excellent, and has in the law the form of the knowledge and the truth. Verses 17–20.
3. That “the doers of the law shall be justified” before God. Verse 13.
4. That none in the world have kept the law, and therefore all are condemned by the law. Rom. 3:19.
5. That the law can not, therefore, save them; it in fact reveals that they are totally unfit to be saved; that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” and that the knowledge of all this comes by the law. Verses 20, 23.
6. But that God in His goodness brings to man, who can get no righteousness from the law, on account of his sinfulness and weakness, righteousness in Jesus Christ by faith. “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ into all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference.” Verses 21, 22. But to this righteousness the law bears blessed witness.
7. That this righteousness does not, can not, turn man from the law, because it places it in his heart; for whereas, previous to his reception of righteousness by faith, he was out of God’s way, after it the law is established where it before was not, namely, in his heart. Verse 31. To this agree the words of the Lord thru the prophet: “And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.” Eze. 36:27.
8. That while grace takes us from the dominion of sin, from under the condemnation of the law, it grants no privilege to commit sin, or transgress the law; for “to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.” Rom. 6:16.
9. That we are made righteous by Christ’s perfect obedience to that same law, in order that He might live in us, bringing forth fruit to God, and fulfilling in us the righteousness of the law. Rom. 5:19–21; 8:4.
10. That what is taught in general in chapters 1 to 6 is given as the apostle’s own experience in chapter 7. He found himself condemned and slain by the law, but the law was not therefore bad, nay, it is holy, just, and good, and slew Paul only because he was a sinner. Its holiness revealed to him his utter weakness, sinfulness, and lost condition, with but one avenue of escape,—“Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak thru the flesh, God [did by] sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin [that He might take it away], condemned sin [by His own glorious obedience] in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3, 4.
The law, therefore, still exists. It is alive to slay the old man of sin and to witness to the genuineness of the righteousness by faith. It is established in the heart of the erstwhile sinner, and is fulfilled in his life. It has not come to an end.
What then means the text, “Christ is the end of the law”? One of the meanings of the word “end” is object, purpose: as, for instance, “The end [object, purpose] of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned” (1 Tim. 1:5); or, “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end [object, purpose] of the Lord” (James 5:11). No one believes that the above texts speak of the abolition of so good a commandment, or that the Lord has ceased to exist.
So with Rom. 10:4, “Christ is the end [purpose, object] of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” The law is our schoolmaster, pedagog, to lead us unto Christ. It can not give the sinner righteousness; the sinner can not get it from the law that condemns him; but thru God’s mercy the very condemnation leads him to Christ Jesus, shuts him up to that only way of escape. And he who believes finds in Jesus Christ the righteousness which the law demands. But he who seeks Jesus Christ for any other purpose will find Him not. He is the end or object of the law, but only for righteousness, to every believing soul.
SOUND AN ALARM.
IT is not pessimism to tell Mr. Brown that his property is in danger when we see the swollen waters of the river breaking thru the dikes which protect his land. And if he should say, “O, I am an optimist, it will all work out right!” when a few hours of vigorous labor would have saved his crops, his neighbors would call him a fool.
It is not pessimism when you see Mr. Smith’s house blazing with fire, the rafters falling in, to arouse him in his bed on the ground floor, and tell him that no power can save his house from destruction, but that he must summon every energy to save himself and family. If you in your “optimism” should fail to warn him, or he in his “optimism” should fail to arouse when warned, you would be denounced as a wicked sinner, and he as an optimistic fool.
If the watchman of God see evils, which he knows from Revelation and all the history of the past to issue only in destruction, eating right into the vitals of a city, a nation, a government, a people, and he fail to give them warning, believing, hoping that somehow, somewhere, good will come out of it, he is a wicked criminal, and the blood of the people of that city will God require of him. But if he give warning, he does his duty, and the people neglect it at their peril. Optimism will not excuse him nor save them.
If the watchman of God see the increasing tides of sin rolling high, see the weakening dikes of moral character in people, in church, in State, thruout the earth, see the great multitudes slumbering on in seeming security, and fail to do all in his power to warn them, he is a criminal, a traitor to his high trust. People may croak, “Pessimism,” to his faithful cry; in optimistic security they may slumber on; but the break of the last barrier against destruction dooms them to death, and they perish, victims of foolish fancies.
The old world is in sin. It has been in sin for six thousand years. In the face of ever-increasing knowledge and light, it is piling up its mountains of sin and wrong, combustibles for the fires of the last day. The great tides of evil are breaking thru the human dikes of creed and covenant and compromise. The earth is waxed old as a garment grows old. God is about to change it. Its doom is nigh. Nor optimistic dreams, nor resolutions of peace congresses, nor proclamations of church councils will stay the tides or avert the destruction. The salvation of earth is thru its purifying fires. The salvation of men is in the cleansing, keeping, ruling power of Jesus Christ. God’s message to the world is, “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression;” “blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Now this may be called “pessimism,” but it is a merciful, honest, sensible, divine, saving message of salvation to all who believe.
That Professed Christian Teacher
That professed Christian teacher who declares that God does not mean what He says in the fourth commandment of the Decalog, is saying to the lustfully inclined that God does not mean what He says in the seventh commandment; is saying to the covetous that God does not mean what He says in the tenth and eighth commandments; is saying to the hater of men that God does not mean what He says in the sixth commandment: and thus as a teacher he is breaking down all moral restraint. Thus divine prophecy has spoken of this class: “What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth? seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest My words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.” Read Ps. 50: 16–22.
“THE LAW IS SLACKED;” THE TIMES “PERILOUS.”
Another Reason.
Last week in these columns was considered the topic at the head of this article. That a weakening of moral fiber, a breaking over of moral restraints, a veritable flood of iniquity, are manifest is, in the light of God’s Word, evident to the careful, devout student of the times. The New York Independent is well known as one of the most optimistic journals, and yet increasing evil is so evident that that paper of recent date has the following:—
“Juries are becoming more and more loath to hang murderers; lawyers invent new delays and appeals; judges impose shorter sentences on bank-crackers, house-breakers, and forgers; Presidents and governors tumble over themselves in their eagerness to pardon the worst scoundrels on half-expired sentences; trade unions put a stop to remunerative labor in State prisons, as one important step in their program of reducing useful service to a minimum throughout society; politicians and legislators who go to bed every night of their lives wondering what strange fortune has hitherto kept their own precious persons outside of prison walls, aid and abet all these efforts to ameliorate the condition of the unlucky ones, who, in spite of everything, get caught. And all the while the strenuous work of robbery, assault, and murder goes industriously on.”
This is a fair sample of abundance of evidence which might be given. Who or what is responsible? Does not the greater share of the responsibility lie at the feet of the professed church of Christ?
In the language of her professed Master, she is set to be “the salt of the earth,” “the light of the world.” Salt is a preservative. In the light of some recent scientific investigations, it is salt in the blood which keeps the heart beating, by which the life pulses to every part of the body. The church is the salt of the earth, the essential element which keeps it from decay and distributes its life. But if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is cast out, and the thing which is preserved must fall into rapid decay.
The church is the “light of the world.” Light is life and growth and warmth and power. But if the light of God be hidden under the bushel of worldliness, or enshrouded in the fogs of tradition and skepticism, how can the great dark world be benefited? “If the blind lead the blind, shall they not both fall into the ditch?”
The light of the church comes from Christ, “the Light of the world,” thru the Word. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Ps. 119:105. “The commandment is a lamp; and the law is light.” Prov. 6:23. “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” Ps. 19:8.
We pointed out last week that a great part of the professed Christian church had made the all-sufficient Saviour of none effect by the repetition of the old Galilean, Pharisaic, Babylonian heresy, that something else is necessary to salvation. In effect it says that God’s plan is good, but—and the “but” precedes the works of the flesh, penances, offerings, works of supererogation, sacrifices, priesthood, intercession of saints, etc.; forgetting that all, all that is needed for the expiation of the past or the fruitage of the present is found in the sacrifice and life of Jesus Christ. Likewise the all-sufficient Word has been deemed insufficient; and creed and tradition have come in to supplement and bind about the living testimony of God. That which is termed the necessary additional is ever exalted above that to which it is often meant to be auxiliary, and the human is made to hide the divine. Men are haled before tribunals for heresy, generally because of departure from the “creeds” and “standards” and “confessions” and “disciplines,” rather than because of departure from God’s Word.
But the exaltation of human works of merit on the part of the Roman Catholic, by which Christ is made of none effect, and the exaltation of tradition above the all-sufficient Word, by both Catholic and Protestant, by which the Word is made of none effect, are only one cause of the disregard of moral principles everywhere manifest.
The Bible, in both Old and New Testaments, presents man as sinful, having fallen from a state of innocence. It presents as the basis of sinful man’s hope, the mercy and love of God in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. It presents as the basis of man’s hope of change of character, the regenerative, creative power of God. It presents as the evidence and assurance of that creative power the ever-present fact that God by His word created the heavens and the earth. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” “For He spake, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Ps. 33:6, 9. “Now ye are clean thru the word which I have spoken unto you.” John 15:3. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,” “created in Christ Jesus unto good works,” “created in righteousness and true holiness.” 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10; 4:24. “And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.” Gen. 1:3. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts.” 2 Cor. 4:6. As the eternal Son of God by His word in the beginning transmuted the earth from the chaos of darkness and wasteness to the cosmos of light and beauty, so by His word He can change in the heart of the sinner the chaos of sin and doubt and despair and death to the cosmos of righteousness and faith and hope and life.
But many, very many, a growing number in the church, are counting the books of Moses as religious myths, or, at the best, but mere traditions. The record of creation is not a fact, but a mythical poem. So also is the story of the fall. The uncertain science of geology, built on human hypothesis, is allowed to set aside the Word of God. “Evolution” supersedes creation; and the “Origin of the Species,” by Darwin, is preferred to the “Books of Moses” on which the faith of Jesus Christ rested.
What is the effect of all this upon the masses? upon those who sit from week to week under the “droppings of the sanctuaries,” from which such teachings continually filter? upon those who read the religious publications that blaze abroad the falsehoods and strengthen doubt?
It is this: Those who look to these spiritual guides for instruction have lost faith in the Word of God, have lost faith in God’s moral law, do not believe in the fall of man, question the atonement of Christ, and are in literal fact without hope or God in the world. What wonder that men commit sin? The fear of God is not before their eyes. They have put Him far away. They measure Him by themselves. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself,” says the Lord thru the psalmist. What wonder that the strenuous work of robbery, assault, and murder goes industriously on? And an important question is, How much of the responsibility of all this belongs to the church? If she was the light God designed she should be, even men of the world would be awed by her presence. Directly her own influence would be for righteousness, and indirectly the world would have been made susceptible, not to scientific skepticism and idolatry of evolution, but to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
The remedy?—It is simple faith in the living Word of God thru Jesus Christ. Preaching that, brethren, involving the cross tho it does, there is hope for the sinner. In evolution there is none. The “missing link” will be ever wanting. But in the Gospel Jesus Christ is the living stairway from the lowest of earth’s depths to the eternal glory of heaven.
INCREASE OF INTEMPERANCE.
Canon Farrar, the noted English churchman, in the Homiletic Review of January, speaks of intemperance as “a frightful, clinging curse, which of all others might the most easily be gotten rid of forever, but which seems to be ever increasing in the deadliness of its effects.” But he tells us that, while the remedy is known, “it has not been listened to, because the greed of gain, the various pleas of self-interest, and the demon force of a self-created temptation, have utterly drowned the voices of reason, of religion, and of conscience.”
Of the temperance movement in England he says: “In spite of long-continued efforts, the liquor traffic is not only bloated with enormous wealth, but has managed, to our political infamy, so completely to terrify, hamper, and sophisticate the government, as to leave us no immediate hope of real improvement. A short time ago our conservative chancellor of the exchequer warned us, not without a sense of astonishment, that—including hosts of total abstainers and millions of children—we are spending on drink every year no less than £3 17s. and 6d. [$18.87] per head, and shortly afterward a Liberal ex-chancellor proved by statistics that more beer, more stout, more wine, more ardent spirits of every kind were consumed in England than in any other country on the surface of the globe. Let us judge of the disastrous consequences from the drink statistics of a single city. In 1895, 1,905 persons were convicted of drunkenness in Birmingham; in 1898, no fewer than 4,040.”
And in the close of his stirring article, he writes, “May God avert the omens of our crimes; but if things are allowed to go on much longer as they now are, it will soon be too late for repentance or amendment.”
And what better is America? There are earnest souls who are doing all in their power—sometimes wisely, sometimes otherwise—to stay or limit the appalling plague, which is sweeping to destruction its many myriads every year, and corrupting Church and State. Truly, it seems as tho the blindness of death was upon the great mass of mankind or they would arise as one—liquor dealer and all—and sweep away the blighting curse. But it is increasing and its feeders,—narcotics and milder stimulants,—are also increasing. When will the power of appetite end? And when will the greed of gain cease to sacrifice bodies and souls, property and character, for blood-stained dollars? “How long, O Lord, how long?”
Question Corner
1122. Questions on the Law.
“(1) Why did Paul call the law written in stone the ministration of death? (2) Moses put a vail over his face so that the children of Israel could not look to the end of that which was abolished. 2 Corinthians 3. What was abolished? (3) Does Christ become the end of the law to every one that believeth? (4) Does Paul know what he was talking about when he says the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (Gal. 3:24)?”
1. To every one who receives the law or any other truth only outwardly, that is, in the mere letter, it is the minister of death. Only as it becomes a part of our very life does it minister life; and this is what the law does, received thru Christ Jesus. Rom. 8:2.
2. The glory of condemnation, that which pointed out their sin; it was glorious, but beyond that glory was the greater glory of justification or righteousness. Moses saw beyond the sin, the condemnation, the ministration of death, to the glory of righteousness and life in God’s presence. The children of Israel thru unbelief refused to do this and requested Moses to vail his face. That vail represented their unbelief. It is just the same to-day as then.
3. Christ becomes the end (purpose, object) of the law for (unto) righteousness to every one that believeth. See article on “Christ the End of the Law,” in another column.
4. We do not know what Paul knows now. Unless he has been raised from the dead, he does not know, for “the dead know not anything.” Nevertheless, Gal. 3:24 states the truth, and every one who has passed thru the experience knows it true. See article “Under the Law,” in the SIGNS of January 30.
1123. J. F. S. “Who changed the Sabbath? And how? and when?”—See article in this issue, or Bible Students’ Library, No. 107.
1124. How Free from the Law. “When Christ fulfilled the law He was free from the law, and therefore above the law. Now when a sinner repents, and believes in Christ Jesus, is he not free from the law, or above the law in Christ Jesus? Therefore he is not under obligation to keep the seventh day under the old law, but is under obligation to keep the Christian Sabbath under grace, which is the resurrection day or Lord’s day. Rev. 1:10.”
“Under the law” does not mean amenable to it, in duty bound to obey it, but under its condemnation. Of course the sinner would not or could not be condemned by a law that he was not in duty bound to obey, but “under the law” in contrast with “under grace” (Rom. 6:14, 15), means under the law’s condemnation. “Free from the law” in the true sense is not freedom from obedience to its holy and just demands, but freedom from its condemnation. No, Jesus was not above the law. He tells us thru the psalms just what His relation to the law was: “I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Ps. 40:8. He therefore obeyed it. John 15:10; Matt. 5:17. So also will those in Christ Jesus. 1 John 2:6. If Christ dwells in the heart by faith (Eph. 3:17; Gal. 2:20), the law will also be there; for the law is in Christ’s heart. God gives the sinner a new spirit by placing His Spirit within him, and by that Spirit writing the law in the new heart. See Eze. 36:26, 27; Heb. 8:10; Jer. 31:33; 2 Cor. 3:3. The Bible knows no such term as “Christian Sabbath,” and the only Lord’s day “is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” See Ex. 20:10; Isa. 58:13; Mark 2:27. It did not take a day for Christ to rise; why should a day be set apart? Well may the Lord inquire, “Who hath required this at your hands?” and well may Jesus say, “Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.” Nothing but the spirit of antichrist will impel any person to set himself above God’s law.
HOPEFULNESS
By T.
Why look on the gloomy side of things and become pessimistic, morbid, and morose? What if things are going wrong in the world? There is a Father in heaven who lives and reigns, and He has cheer, and hope, and comfort for every soul that will come to Him.
He earnestly invites us all to come, but He will coerce no one. He presents the reasons why we should come, He urges us to accept the shelter that He provides, but He can not compel us to enter. To do that would be to deprive us of our freedom, and He will not do that.
The hearts of some who will read these lines will be failing them for fear. If you ask why we know this, the reason is at hand: We are living in the very time when the prophetic Word of God says there shall be “upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” Luke 21: 25, 26.
There are things coming on the earth to-day that are causing men's hearts to fail. God said that it would be so, and we see that it is truly the case. Some are distressed because of the wars that are springing up in every part of the world. They eagerly and anxiously ask, What does it mean? Has peace departed from the earth nevermore to return? Will all the world be involved in war, and our homes be broken up by the storming of shot and shell?
But do not be disturbed by these things. Do not become gloomy and pessimistic. The Lord Jesus Christ is the rightful Ruler, and He holds the reins of power in His hands. His kingdom is the kingdom of peace. There will be no shade of anything in His fair domain that will in any degree savor of war or strife or bloodshed. And He tells us that this war spirit that is in the world to-day, is nothing more than the last great effort of Satan to destroy as many as possible. But the Lord will shield every one who trusts Him, and while He is thus shielding us, He is pointing us forward to the glories of His own soon coming in the clouds of heaven, at which time He will destroy every bit of this war evil, and bring in the reign of peace. Is it not grand to think of it, and to know that instead of the war in the world to-day being a necessary omen of destruction, it is a sign to us of the end of strife and the near approach of the time when Christ is to be crowned King?
A letter from a friend a day or so since asked the question, “Is crime as rampant in your part of the country as it is here? Things are in a terrible condition in this place. Murders and robberies and evils of every sort are filling the days with terror. What are we coming to?” When we think of the crime that is being committed in these days, and consider the possibility of our being victimized by it, it does indeed put a gloomy aspect over the world unless we know the significance of it. But if we know that all these crimes are the result of Satan's last malignant effort against Christ and His cause, and that soon the Lord will come in person to put an end to all this evil, then the gloom is completely driven away.
Those who will not yield themselves to the ways of the Lord's righteousness, in the very nature of things must become the instruments of Satan in filling the world with evil and woe. But Satan can not force the mind or the hand of a single soul. We will have to yield to him before he can fill us with gloom and terror. But, contrariwise, every one who yields himself to the Lord will have his mind kept in perfect peace. He will look at things just as they are and see everything in its true light. He will know that everything will not be allowed to go to pieces, but that God will save, yes, everlastingly save, every soul that will give Him the opportunity.
These are days of gloominess only for those who look to the things as they appear to human eyes. He who reads the sure word of prophecy and knows its glorious meaning has the positive evidence that the glory of all the ages is just at hand. These are the grandest days that have existed since God first spoke the light into existence. The coming of Christ is right at hand, and this is a theme to ravish the soul with the highest and fullest emotions of joy. Every nook and corner of the mind is set to vibrating with delight by the knowledge of the fact that He who is the Friend of sinners, He who is the Prince of Peace, He who is Lord of lords, and He who is King of righteousness, is about to return in person to the earth.
Let the men who can not look above the things of the earth have their hearts harrowed and broken because of the fear of the things that are coming upon this earth. But the child of God should be so filled with the spirit of joy as to carry light and cheer and sunshine with him everywhere he goes. Like his Master he should be able to say:—
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness; the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.” Isa. 61: 1-3.
There is balm in Gilead; there is joy for every mourner; there is comfort for every one who is distressed because of the conditions of this time. Let us receive these blessed assurances from the living Word of the living God, and no longer be among the mourners and the gloomy, pessimistic ones, but among those who are spreading joy and gladness.
T.
EPIDEMICS SWEEPING THE COUNTRY.
By T.
DURING the past few weeks all of Southern New Jersey has been in the grip of a scarlet fever and diphtheria epidemic. In numerous towns and villages, both the schools and churches have been ordered closed because of the prevalence of these dread diseases. La grippe has also been epidemic in many parts of the country. It is estimated that fully 500,000 people have been down with it, and many have died.
Medical and sanitary skill never stood on so high a level as it does to-day. Physicians were never so powerful to combat disease. But despite these things we find diseases that arise and sweep the whole country, or whole sections of the country, and yet there is no skill to stop them. These things are getting worse and worse. The average length of life has been increased some, but this only because consumptives and persons of this class can be kept alive longer by modern methods than by the old régime. In reality these invalids are enabled to live and reproduce their diseases and defects in their offspring, and in the end the average length of life, that for the time being is increased, will soon be terribly diminished.
Do not be deceived by those who tell you that medical skill will soon banish disease from the earth. This skill will greatly mitigate the suffering, but disease is coming in with such an increasing tide that it will be impossible to build sanitary and medical dikes that will stop its sweeping inundations.
If you will carefully read the first chapter of the prophecy of Joel, you will see that the prophet is dwelling upon the scenes of the last days. And in those times the beast of the field is groaning, the crop is being destroyed by the ravages of various diseases and pests, and joy is withered away from the countenances of men. Under such conditions, disease and death will be rampant. It can not possibly be otherwise. But those who understand the meaning of these things will not need to fall under the destruction. The Lord has a shelter for every one who will take it. And instead of joy being withered away from the countenance of the servant of Christ, he will be full of joy, and will be seeking to carry that joy to every one who cares to take it.
T.
WHAT HAVE THE CHINESE LEARNED?
The Examiner of the city of the Golden Gate, has two articles on “The Chinese Christian.” The first is written by a missionary who knows in his experience of years that there are Chinese Christians. The other is a criticism of the missionary’s article, saying that the missionary sees but one side of it. After raising all the doubt possible as to the sincerity of any profession which the Chinese might make, the writer pens this paragraph:—
“So much in preface for the information of the reader abroad, and perhaps for the enlightenment of the doctor himself on one or two points. As for the average San Franciscan, it would be as difficult to tell him anything new about the Chinaman as it would be to tell the Chinaman anything new about him. Each knows the other for all he is worth, when it comes down to business—business, the omnipotent errand that brought the Oriental here and has kept him here for years, a mass of unconverted paganism in the very heart of Christianity, 6,000 miles from the inspiration of his own faith and a generation removed from the personal recollections of his fatherland. What an opportunity to convert him if he were convertible—if he were susceptible to any permanent change from the ingrained, eternal superstition of his race! Here we have him, and have had him for an age, at our mercy, profitably pocketing our insults, thriftily tolerating our attacks upon his religion, opulently blinking his inscrutable eyes while simultaneously we have persecuted and patronized him.”
Yes, in a business way each knows the other. “The average San Franciscan” has learned that the Chinaman is wily, false-hearted, two-faced, cruel, vicious, etc., etc. But what has the average Chinese learned in this “very heart of Christianity” in San9Francisco? Is it that which would inspire confidence in Christianity? The writer intimates in the above paragraph that the Chinese has been treated meanly—“here at our mercy,” so tender at times has it been! He has been “insulted” and “persecuted;” and all this right “in the very heart of Christianity.” What must he think of the municipal government and the political bosses and rings of this “very heart of Christianity,” if that government and these bosses and rings are only half as bad as the papers say? What must he think of the “Christian” police who are bought by Chinese gamblers? What must he think of the “Christian” lawyers who defend the law-breakers in the courts? What must he think of the “Christians” who frequent the gambling-shops, opium joints, and worse places? This is another point of view, isn’t it?
Are there Chinese sinners?—Yes, many of them. Are there American sinners?—Yes, in abundance,—gamblers, false-hearted, insincere, cruel, and selfish by nature as any “heathen Chinese.” But the grace of God has made many of them Christians, not by education, but by regeneration, by recreation. And the grace of God is just as able to regenerate a heathen Chinese as it is a heathen American. By nature there is no difference; the manifestations of nature differ, all are under sin; but “the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon Him, for, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Those who talk of even the best conditions of American cities as “the very heart of Christianity” do not know what Christianity is, and are not extremely well fitted to recognize a Christian Chinese if they should meet him. We do not say this as a fling of any sort. It is a cold fact, resting in the very belief that this is a “Christian” country and nation, when it is as sadly wanting as Capernaum of old.
A VIGILANT COMMITTEE OF FIVE THOUSAND
It is reported that a vigilant committee of 5,000 is being formed in New York under the direction of Bishop Potter for the purpose of hunting out dens of vice and reporting them to a central committee that will apply means to have them closed up. Bishop Potter thinks that there ought to be a large committee in New York, similar to the committee of 25,000 in San Francisco. It is to be hoped that the bishop's committee of 5,000 will be more successful in New York than the committee in San Francisco has been; for, while the bishop was talking of this committee for New York and comparing it with the one in San Francisco, vice had become so flagrant in some quarters of this latter city that the mayor recommended that it be allowed to go on in the open, and that the city put a revenue tax upon it to keep it within certain bounds. This was suggested as a means of keeping from corrupting the police thru the bribes that this vicious element is continually giving them to avoid being arrested.
Let the men of the world seek in any way they think best to reform the evils that are filling them with alarm, but the Christian, and above all the minister of Christ, should be so familiar with his Bible that he knows that we are very near the end of time, and that vice and crime will be so outbreaking on every side that it will fill the days with peril and the nights with dread for every one who is not under the protection of the heavenly Father. The thing for us as Christians to do is to point men to the shelter from the approaching evils, and tell them that there is no hope anywhere else. The furies of the coming storm may be held somewhat in check by these reform efforts of good men, but let it be known far and wide that the only thing to hope for is to lead as many individuals to Christ as possible, and in this way to save some. Every one who does not rest under the protection of the Almighty Father will be soon swept into the whirlpool of destruction.
