Earlier text: SUN-WORSHIP(Concluded next week.)
By W. S. Sadler
THE SACREDNESS OF OPPORTUNITY.—NO. 2.
INSTEAD of taking opportunities in hand at their eventime, let us seek the mind of Christ, and have our eyes anointed, that we may see as Jesus, in passing, saw the blind man. Then as time passes day by day, we shall see the opportunities heaven has designed for us to grasp. Then, embracing them early,—at their dawn,—we shall be able to use these opportunities to accomplish the greatest amount of good for our associates, and in the development of our mind, body, and souls; and instead of crying because the harvest is past and the opportunities are lost, we shall be able to say with Paul, altho recognizing that we have made many mistakes, and fallen far short, “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course.” Of such it will be said, as of the woman of old, they have done what they could. The Master can say nothing more to us; and we should not be satisfied to have Him say anything less. How important, then, as we rise in the morning, to pray, “Lord, ‘teach us to recognize the dawn of human opportunity.’” Opportunities may be born that day which are fraught with soul possibilities. Opportunities will be born, which, if seized by us, may make us firebrands for God in the earth; but which, if we pass them by that day, will pass into oblivion. A light that might have guided other souls into the harbor of safety, is put out ere it was hardly lighted. The dawn of a new day should bring opportunities to touch hearts, to sow seed, which, altho we may not be able to observe it all the time of its growth, will by and by yield a harvest of souls on the eternal shore. Do we realize that the only kind of treasure that is translatable to heaven is the human soul? We can take nothing over there but the souls of those in whose hearts we have sown the seed of eternal truth. We lay up treasure for ourselves over there by laying up souls. May the Lord help us day by day,—this coming day, this coming week,—to recognize opportunities, an opportunity to say a kind word that may turn the balance of a soul, and save some unfortunate creature from plunging into the slough of despond. Who knows? The kind word unsaid, the downward course is continued, and the soul that might have been saved sinks beneath the waves to rise no more. Opportunity is the gateway of Providence through which we enter in to make ourselves a part of God’s kingdom. Opportunity is that by which we identify ourselves with the forces of heaven in their working down here to save that which is lost. “Human agencies are the hands of heavenly instrumentalities.” Opportunities are the rungs of the ladder up which we climb to usefulness; not to get away from that which needs our help, but to lift higher and higher with us that which is influenced by our life. The rungs of the ladder are just the same. The next rung above where we are to-day is not bronze, nor silver-plated, nor is it of gold. The only difference between the rung above and the rung we are on to-day is that it is higher; that is all. So we must climb on, recognizing small opportunities as they come and go with the moments of time; and it is these small opportunities, when grasped in sincerity, that often resolve themselves into great opportunities. Great opportunities are not born in a moment. They grow out of the success that accrues in the small opportunities of life which we embrace. Therefore, let us ever watch for the small opportunities, for they are all around us. Let us recognize the sacredness of physical opportunity, both to improve the condition of our own bodies and the bodies of others. To relieve pain is as grand a work as human beings can do in this world; for the life that humanity lives is the life of the Son of God. The pains of humanity, the sickness, the sorrow, and the pangs of all, are those that Christ is suffering Himself. To relieve pain, to alleviate suffering, is to do a work for Christ. Therefore He says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these ‘My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.’” God gave His life to Adam, but Adam lost it. And the life that this world has since lived is the life of Christ. If you can relieve the infidel of his pain, you have done a work for Christ, and one which is certain to have its reward. If you can relieve his conscience, too,—well; but the physical is, as a rule, the point of contact; and if we can not recognize the sacredness of physical opportunity and physical law—if these things are passed by as unworthy of attention, can we hope to be able to recognize and improve the greater spiritual opportunities? W. S. SADLER. Making God Our All
By Matthew Henry
THOSE will soon come to make nothing of God that will not be content to make Him their all.—Matthew Henry. IN the Sabbath-school lesson in this issue is considered the subject of the judgment. An article in another column deals with ‘God’s System of Judging Men.’ In both the judgment is considered as a whole, the blotting out of sin as the work of Christ in the courts above, in the books of which all the records of character of earth’s children are written. Solemn and important indeed is that work, when God’s professed children of all ages pass in adjudication before that Court whose decisions are final, and from which there is no appeal. Solemn indeed the moment when the last case is decided, and the irrevocable sentence goes forth: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22:11, 12. There is another phase which we wish to consider here that is of still greater importance to each one, and that is individual cases in which each one is interested specifically. It is true, for the Word declares it, that every deed we do, every word we speak, every thought we dominantly cherish, is recorded in the books of heaven, and that we shall be judged by the things that are written in the books. But the writing in the books is no arbitrary writing. The sentence of God is no arbitrary sentence. God’s scribes only write what we have before written. The sentence of the Judge utters only that which we, as individuals, have before decided. For it is not God’s pleasure to condemn. Jesus Christ was given of heaven—gave Himself—that we might not be condemned. “As I live, saith the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.’” Eze. 33:11. But God is a God of truth, and He must, in the passing of that final sentence, declare what is as it is. He sets before us His reasonable requirements—His holy law, the law of life, the only law of living in which life continues indefinitely. He makes the living of that law possible to every sinner through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Outside of that law of love and life in Christ Jesus is death. The transgression of that law is sin. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” The transgression of that law, or obedience to that law, is not written in the books of heaven till we, you and I, reader, write it on our heart, interweave it among the very fibers of our being, make it a part of our very character. The man who looks upon gold and gain as his chief object in life becomes covetous, sordid, grasping, oppressive, miserly. The man who worships at the shrine of sexual lust writes on every fiber of his being bestiality and licentiousness. It is so with every sin cherished and indulged; and recording angels write in the books of heaven the sins which we have written in our characters. On the other hand, the mind that dwells on the true, the honest, the just, the pure, the lovely, the good, as seen in all their perfection in Christ Jesus, engraves upon his heart’s tablets the eternal life of God; by beholding he becomes changed into the same image. And in his case, also, the shining scribes above write in the scrolls of heaven what the noble child of earth has written in his character. It is logically true that the blotting out of the record of sin on high will follow because, and only because, it has been blotted out by our choice here. When the blood of Jesus Christ (and the fountain is always open and flowing) washes from our heart and character, by our own choice, every stain of sin, it will be blotted out in the books on high. God will say, “He that is righteous, let him be righteous still.” And when we, by our choice, retain the sin and reject the cleansing, the God of truth will be forced to say, “He which is filthy, let him be filthy still.” How important, then, how infinitely important, dear reader, that you and I shall know that the sin is cleansed away, that day by day God’s law of life is being written by the Spirit of life and light in our characters. The only records that holy Heaven would eternally keep of sin is the marks of the crucifixion and the everlasting brotherhood of Christ’s eternal sacrifice of love. The only record that Heaven would keep of its children is their own living characters of light, forever shining forth the manifold beauty of God’s glory. We are nearing the time of Christ’s coming, when man must stand in strong, perfected character, “without spot or blemish,” “without fault,” before God. That he may do this, he must have the Spirit in its glorious fulness. But God can not so give His Spirit when sin still lingers in the heart. He can not honor sin. In fact, if His Spirit were given in its fulness to the soul in which sin was written, that soul would die, as did Ananias and Sapphira. God will not give His glory to another. How may we obtain the cleansing, the Spirit? Listen to His Word: “Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus.” Acts 3:19, 20, R.V. Where does every one need and desire the refreshing?—In his own heart. Where must the sins be blotted out, before the fulness of the refreshing comes?—In his own heart. O soul, judgment-bound, longing for cleansing and power, put away the sin; let Christ cleanse the heart, and blot out the sin, that you may have a fellowship with Christ Jesus never before known. Who Is That Prophet Like unto Moses?
ARE MR. DOWIE’S CLAIMS TRUE?—NO. 3.
Who Is That Prophet Like unto Moses?
IN Mr. Dowie’s own paper, of June 8, published over his own signature, are the following declarations and claims:— For more than two years we have taken the responsibility before the church and the world of being the Messenger of the Covenant. . . . The Scriptural and logical issue of our action was the declaration as Elijah the Restorer, which we made in the Chicago auditorium before about seven thousand persons last Lord’s day afternoon. . . . The “restoration of all things” was to be accompanied by the prophet, of whom God spake to Moses in Deut. 18:15–22. The Messenger of the Covenant, and Elijah the Restorer, and that Prophet of whom Moses spake, are all one and the same person. The declaration that we are that person is either . . . a great blasphemy, or a tremendous fact of the utmost importance to the whole world. Which is it? These claims naturally raise the following questions:—- Who is the Elijah that is to come? and how is he to come?
- Who is the Messenger of the Covenant?
- Who is that Prophet like unto Moses?
- What does restoration of all things include?
- What are the Biblical credentials?
In the last two numbers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES the first two questions have been answered, our readers must themselves judge with what success. We plead only this: Take no man’s dicta; rely wholly on the Word of God. What does that teach? Who Is That Prophet Like unto Moses?
This is the prophecy of Moses:— “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken. . . . And the Lord said unto me, . . . I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.” Deut. 18:15–19. We are not left in doubt as to its application. The apostle Peter makes very clear the meaning of the prophecy. In preaching Christ to Jews, he exhorts them to “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” Acts 3:19, 20. Now when and by whom was Jesus before preached unto them? Peter tells us in these words: “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul which will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.” Verses 22, 23. Peter further emphasizes this by saying that all the prophets have likewise “foretold of these days,” of Christ Jesus; that God promised unto Abraham—“In thy Seed [Gal. 3:16] shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed,” and concludes by saying: “Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” Verses 24–26. There is not one reference to John the Baptist, or to anybody else save the Son of God; the whole discourse of the apostle focuses upon the one central object,—Christ Jesus the Saviour of men. That prophet was to be a man. From among thy brethren, like unto me, said Moses. These words can not refer to Jesus. He was not raised up “from among men.” He came down from heaven, and was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the sinless womb of a sanctified woman, Mary, who became His blessed, holy, virgin mother. Jesus was not “like unto Moses,” for, as the apostle says, “The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came by, or in the person of, Jesus Christ.” Moses was a medium of God’s power. Christ is Himself the Power and Wisdom of God, being God Himself manifest in the flesh. The prophet of whom Moses spoke was to be one whose message came from God, who, Himself said, “I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him.” But Jesus Christ our Lord did not speak the words that were put into His mouth, for He spake by His own divine authority, which was that of the indwelling Father and Spirit; words which were in themselves divine, and He declared these words to be in themselves “spirit and life.” In the case of the prophet, the words were imparted from without to fallible man, altho they were infallible words; for God said, “Whosoever will not hearken unto My words, which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.” 1. It is not even intimated in the prophecy by Moses that the Person to come was to be like unto Moses in all things. The likeness pertained to but one thing,—the prophetic gift,—the receiving, the imparting, the authority. Moses was a prophet like no other. God spoke not to him by dream or vision, as He did to other prophets, but face to face, as a man talks with his friend, revealing to His servant His similitude. Num. 12:6–8; Ex. 33:11. In him God placed authority. From Moses’ countenance beamed forth the indwelling glory of God’s word received by faith, but a glory to the sinful overawing and fearsome. Deut. 5:31, 32; Ex. 34:29–35; 3:10, 14; 4:15, 16; 7:1. The passages here cited, and many others, teach us clearly that God used Moses as His own spokesman, and as He used no other. And in that office of Moses there was the very authority of God. To receive it as from God meant life; to reject it meant death. Deut. 30:15–20. Our Lord bears witness to the same fact. In speaking of the unbelieving Jews, He said: “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one that accuseth you, even Moses in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?” John 5:45–47. Christ’s words were received from God the same as those of Moses. If they had received the words of Moses as from God, they would have received in those words not mere law, but grace and truth, even as believers receive in Jesus Christ. 2. Mr. Dowie says that Jesus was not raised up from among men. But the Word reads of Him: “And there shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, which shall stand for an Ensign of the people. . . . His rest shall be glorious.” Isa. 11:1, 10. “His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” Rom. 1:3. “Born of a woman, born under the law.” Gal. 4:4. “For both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one; for which cause He [Christ] is not ashamed to call them brethren.” “I [Christ] will declare Thy [the Father’s] name unto My brethren.” As His brethren trusted in God, so did He. “I will put My trust in Him.”7 “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same. . . . In all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren.” Heb. 2:11–17. He “hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David.” Luke 1:69. “And the child grew,” and “increased in stature.” Luke 2:40, 52. All these truths show conclusively that Jesus was raised from the midst of His brethren. 3. The above scriptures, and others also, clearly evidence that there was no immaculate conception, as Mr. Dowie indicates. To be born, not of the holy woman, but of “a woman,” one of a class, to be “made” of “the seed of David according to the flesh,” to be “in all things” “like unto His brethren,” shows that He bore the same flesh, having the same desires and tendencies as theirs, but over which His faith was ever triumphant. In this is our hope. By the unscriptural theory of an immaculate conception, Christ is put far away; and this error is supplemented by a second, that there must be saint or priest or overseer as a go-between to enable the sinner to get to Christ. It is a soul-destroying, man-glorifying falsehood. Sinner, Christ came clear down to you, was made one with you physically, that you might be made one with Him spiritually. He was as truly man as He was truly God. He was as truly the Son of man as He was the Son of God. He says, “Come unto Me.” That means, O sinner, that you, by virtue of Infinite Goodness, can come yourself even unto, in actual touch with, Jesus Christ, not less your Brother than your God. 4. The message of Christ came not forth from Himself, but from God, for the very reason that He did not manifest Himself, but the Father. He “emptied Himself.” He said, “I can of Mine own self do nothing; as I hear, I judge. . . . I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which sent Me” (John 5:30); “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me” (7:16); “I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” (12:49). And true belief in Jesus the Prophet and Teacher must reach beyond the Prophet to the One who sent Him. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life.” John 5:24. The great Prototype, Jesus, met in every respect the great archetype, Moses, but was as much greater and fuller as He was more perfect than “Moses, the man of God.” “Unto Him ye shall hearken,” declares Moses. Deut. 18:15. “Him shall ye hear in all things,” said Peter. Acts 3:22. “Hear ye Him,” said the Father, speaking from heaven. Matt. 17:5. But Mr. Dowie takes this prophecy of Moses, which so clearly applies to Christ Jesus as teacher and prophet, and applies it to himself, that he may fasten his fallible, unscriptural teaching on those who will listen to him instead of the Word, or who will take the Word as strained through his autocratic coal-sack. Who was the Prophet like unto Moses? All the scriptures that have any bearing upon it answer emphatically, Christ Jesus our Lord. Whether, therefore, Mr. Dowie has announced a great fact, or perpetrated an ignorant blasphemy, let the reader judge. “What does the restoration of all things include?” and “What are the Biblical credentials?” we will answer next week. THE LACK OF SERIOUSNESS.
By T.
A LITTLE more than two years ago David Starr Jordan, President of the Leland Stanford Junior University, said, through the columns of the New York Independent: “As a people we have a very ‘fine sense of humor, and it is exercised impartially ‘in all things. In our journals, corruption and inefficiency appear as a joke. A newspaper cartoon ‘tells us the story, and with this it ends. As cartoons are easily made, and may be as unjust as any ‘other form of criticism, they cease at length to be ‘taken in evidence at all. An administrative crime ‘has no adequate punishment. We do not know ‘whether it has taken place or not, and in the hopeless good nature of the American people, whether it ‘has taken place or not, it is equally and speedily ‘forgiven.” This “hopeless good nature,” will not be aroused until it is forever too late for a general reform. God has given warnings in His Word, and these warnings have been sounded widely, and in very many ways. God has led men who did not particularly view the threatening evils from the religious standpoint, to sound the note of warning. Others who have seen the situation from the viewpoint of the prophetic Scriptures have given the alarm. Thus has the Lord provided that every class of mind might be reached. But by the great mass of mankind these warnings are not taken seriously. As Professor Jordan says, the whole matter is treated “as a joke.” The world has fallen into the habit of putting intensity into its furious drive in business and excitable pleasures, and as a relaxation, serious problems are made the foundation for joke and caricature. All who can be induced to give thoughtful consideration to these conditions, must see that the unvarying rules of human philosophy are sufficient to make it plain that the world is approaching not merely a crisis, but a crash. THE SUPREME TEST OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH.
By W. N. G.
FAITH being based on the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is necessarily preceded by the preaching of that Gospel. The purpose of the Gospel is to proclaim a way of peace with God for a disobedient race, the condition of peace being faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as a Saviour from sin and its penalty. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Rom. 10:17. Believing, yielding to, the Word of God is faith, and obeying the Word is the proof of faith. “Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Luke 6:46. “He that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.” Verse 49. God not only provides the way of salvation, but He calls the sinner’s attention to it, and gives him the necessary help to walk in the way. “Despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” Rom. 2:4. No sinner ever can of himself exercise true repentance. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor. 2:14. Then because “the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” Ch. 1:21. Paul tells us that the Gospel was preached unto Abraham. “The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” Gal. 3:8. That was the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Abraham; for “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse [penalty] of the law, being made a curse [having suffered the penalty] for us; . . . that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles [nations] through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Verses 13, 14. The Gospel was preached to Abraham by promise and by type. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Verse 16. “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Verse 29. So we come into the benefits of the promises not through Abraham, but through faith in Christ. We come in just as Abraham did, by believing the promise. “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness,” and that is the only way in which any one can get righteousness—by the obedience of faith. So much for the Gospel by promise to Abraham. The prototype of the true seed was Isaac; the seed was Christ, and in Christ the true seed, or posterity, are called. The Lord’s word is, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” Then Isaac was a type of Christ. He was also the one through whose line of descendants Christ should come according to the flesh. Paul asks the question, “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?” Rom. 4:1. It is evident that he did not find anything as “pertaining to the flesh;” for he was one of those of whom it is said, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Heb. 11:13. Abraham’s experience was pre-eminently a series of trials of faith. He was led from faith to faith, and his seed were to be the children of faith in the promises made to him. The supreme test of his faith was his call to sacrifice his son Isaac. “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only-begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” Heb. 11:17, 18. “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform.” Rom. 4:20, 21. Abraham had come to this point of faith, where he “staggered” at nothing, by repeated tests. It had been about fifty years since his first call to come out from his country and his kindred. He showed faith from the very start, but it took a long schooling, and slow and steady growth, like the great oaks amid which he lived at Mamre, to prepare his faith for this crowning ordeal. Here he was called to realize to some degree what it means deliberately to give up an only-begotten son, and so prove his faith in God’s power, and wisdom, and justice. But this trial was not for Abraham alone. The promises were to him and to his seed, and so are the trials of faith. We of to-day ought to be able to undergo greater trials of faith than Abraham. We have before us those who in every age were noted for their faith, and the manner in which God has both expressed and manifested His pleasure at their endurance. We are not called to sacrifice an only son; but we are called to self-sacrifice, to “put off the old man with his deeds.” And this is not to be done “in a figure,” in the hope that the things to which we are inclined to cling so tenaciously will be restored. This sacrifice is to be real and permanent, and no one can undergo the ordeal with any less faith than Abraham had. Fanatics and superstitious heathen have sacrificed their children through a mistaken idea that they were exercising faith, when they were ignorant of the merest rudiments of faith. Abraham’s righteousness consisted in his obedience, which was the proof that he believed God. “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.” 1 Sam. 15:22, 23. Men will do some notably conspicuous thing, when they will scorn some apparently small thing, when the latter carries with it a far greater exercise of faith. The case of Naaman the Syrian is a case in point. 2 Kings 5:8–14. The story of Abraham’s faith, and God’s imputing it to him for righteousness, was written for us. “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” We are now confronted with conditions, and still more stringent conditions are awaiting us in the near future, that tend to make the keeping of the commandments of God exceedingly trying to the faith of those who fear the edicts of man more than the Word of God. “When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” is a question that the Lord has left for each one of us to answer on personal account. W. N. G. Mormon Polygamy in Wyoming
A TRAVELING salesman in Wyoming reports that in an interior settlement of that State there are many Mormons living in polygamy, having from two to seven wives. The obscurity of the region enables them so to live in comparative safety from exposure. There is no doubt that Mormonism in principle, if not in open practice, is spreading in all directions from Salt Lake. The missionaries of that faith all represent that polygamy is no longer a tenet of the faith of that church; but their pioneer agents always kept that feature of their religion in the background. THE SENSIBLE THING TO DO.
By T.
EVERY one recognizes the fact that a great crisis stares the world in the face. And this can mean nothing less than a crisis for each and every individual. Multitudes will perish in the crash; some will be saved from going down in it; and all might be saved, if they would only give the necessary heed to the right thing to do under the circumstances. The large cities of all the world have become storm centers for strife. Strikes and lock-outs have become the order of the day. In places where everything was prosperity five or six weeks ago, all is turmoil and uncertainty to-day. For instance, the outlook a month ago in all the region around San Francisco Bay was exceedingly bright. There was a good crop prospect for most of the farm, garden, and orchard products, and the prices for the same were much better than the average. There was an abundance of work, and everybody was employed who cared to be. But strike has followed strike, until everything is unsettled. Fruit, which is one of the leading crops in this section, is rotting by the hundreds of bushels in the orchards, or on the wharves, or at the railroad stations, and all because the teamsters’ strike has so tied things up that neither produce nor anything else can be delivered to the merchants to be sold. Such a condition two months ago, amid the universal song of prosperity, hardly seemed possible; to-day it is an appalling reality. These conditions will get worse and worse. Workmen in the cities, thinking that they have permanent employment, will undertake to buy themselves a home on the instalment plan; but suddenly they become involved in a strike, their income is cut off, and they lose everything. To-day all is joy, the heart being cheered by the dream of plenty and the blessings of comfortable circumstances; but to-morrow every hope is gone by reason of a clash between employer and employed. The conditions in all our large cities, and in many of the smaller ones, too, are such that the most violent rioting will soon be seen. We might as well say that to throw fire into powder would not cause an explosion, as to say that a reign of terror will not be produced when the hostile camps in the great centers of population open their batteries on each other in living earnestness. Now, the sensible thing is for every man whose duties do not bind him to the city to lay his plans right off to get himself and his family into the country just as soon as he can. We do not ask you to take our say-so for this, but take a clear view of the situation yourself, and be assured of what is before those who remain in the cities. Those who go to the country to live must make a study of how to live within themselves. That is to say, they must study to raise everything they need to supply their necessities, and thus be independent of all the multitudes of combines that are being formed to control everything. Of course every one who is intelligently studying the prophecies knows that the Lord will soon come to destroy all who persist in this terrible course of evil; but there is a work yet to be done to reach all who can be persuaded to turn to the right; and while the Lord, through his various agencies, is carrying this work forward, it is best for all who can to seek the most quiet and peaceable places of abode. When Paris and other leading cities in France were having their Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, there were whole sections of the country districts that were not disturbed. They knew but very little of the horrors that were consuming the great cities of the unhappy nation. And the same will be true in this time just before us, in which not the cities of France alone, but of all the world will be involved. In the more secluded country places, the greatest peace and quietness will be found. It is our earnest prayer and hope that many will seriously consider these things, and seek the shelter that God provides against the social and political storm that is so angrily gathering. Not that we should be content to seek alone the shelter in country retreats, but in order to be safe even there, we must also find the sheltering bosom of our heavenly Father’s great pardoning love. THE OPPRESSION OF THE POOR.
By W. R. G.
WHATEVER may be the reason for labor strikes, as a rule it is the poor who suffer—the laboring class bears the burden. The most short-sighted feature of the strike principle is that those who have no grievance quit work because others in a different part and in different lines of work have done so. A man or a firm is giving wages and allowing time that is satisfactory to his employees, and they are dependent upon his employ for a living; yet they will give up their own places at the risk of ruining the employer’s business, just because some other class of laborers is dissatisfied. In San Francisco the strike of certain teamsters calls out men of other lines of labor. The longshoremen, for instance, will not work nor let others work. In consequence, the produce of farmers in no way concerned in the controversy rots on the wharves. The food is needed by the families of all classes in the city, and the money for it is needed by the farmers, who have a hard enough time at best. Yet this loss and suffering is caused by a few men who imagine that they are striking a blow at the rich. Why do men “strike” and quit work?—Just because some so-called labor officials order them to do so. They think they are being oppressed by capital, and there is that tendency; in some places and in some institutions oppression is actual and grievous. But why should laboring men combine to make matters worse? Their own self-elected agents, by a word of command, are often their worst oppressors. Thousands of men are made to strike who do not want to do so. They are satisfied with their employment, but they have given away their liberty by joining some organization, and have obligated themselves to throw up their means of support at a moment’s notice, at the beck of some autocrat whose tyranny is beyond that of the most powerful combination of capital. Thousands of men in the strikes now agitating the country deplore the situation, but they are bound in the fetters of the associations to which they are united, and they fear to leave them. They are led to believe that there is protection against the growing encroachments of the rich upon the rights of the poor. They are led to believe that relief lies in placing their liberties in the hands of agitators who can do them no good, and seem to care only for easy positions. The man who joins a labor union for protection against the heel of capital, only flies from one evil to a worse one. In his imaginary refuge he is but a piece of machinery; he can do absolutely nothing unless the whole machine goes. Whatever opportunity might offer in case of need or emergency, he must first get the sanction of some leading functionary before he can help himself. If he ever again dares to assert his natural rights as a man for the purpose of providing the necessaries of life for himself or family, he is at once subject to the persecution of his former clan. The black-lists of the great corporations are not a whit worse than the viciousness of a labor union toward a “brother” who should seek honest labor that had been black-listed by the union. We are not discounting the divine prophecies concerning the terrible times that are even now upon us because of the greed of wealthy men and combinations. Their oppressions of the poor are plainly foretold in no uncertain language. But these things ought to teach the laborers that they can not evade the evil by putting themselves under the lash of other oppressors whose course only hastens the evils which their combinations seek to avoid. Why should honest, innocent employers have their business ruined? why should honest producers have their products destroyed? why should poor laboring men be deprived of work, and their dependents become paupers—just because a few irresponsible officials decide that such is the best way to redress grievances against certain classes of employers? Surely the treatment of the poor at the hands of the rich, foretold in the Word of God, is bad enough without the poor themselves forming associations for their own oppression. W. R. G.