The one great power for character-building is thought. It lies within the ability of every individual to build a greater character or a minor one. Thought is food for the mind, as meat is for the body. Man’s thoughts should be high and noble, for “as a man thinketh, so is he.” If he studies principles, he builds upon the rock. If not, his structure falls.
A principle is the beginning of all things. It is the foundation upon which to build. The principle that is to-day, was yesterday and will be to-morrow. It was in the beginning; it will exist forever. It stands from eternity to eternity. A principle is a great truth. It is a collection of truths briefly expressed. It is a truth from which many truths may grow.
A principle is like a tiny nut that grows in the forest. It is a little shell filled to the brim with delicious food. If we take the hickory nut and carefully lay it away upon the shelf, it will collect the dust of ages, while we grow lean and die of starvation beside it. So it is with the principle. To reap its benefits, its shell must be broken and the truths therein assimilated. They must become a part of us.
If you would obtain these principles, God’s holy Word is the marketplace. They are to be had in great abundance, free of charge, from this plentiful storehouse. He only who deals in these goods acquires greatness. ’Tis he alone that will sparkle as the diamond. He it is that becomes the notable star.
To stand by principle, how grand a thing and how noble! It was John Huss, a brave and valiant hero, who lifted his little light from beneath the bushel and held it above the Eastern world, until it was smothered by the Egyptian darkness. Yet it was not smothered, for its beacon rays stream forth unto this day. He stood out against the Roman world. Altho he himself was crushed, his influence lives. The venomous, scorching, singeing flame that crisped his mortal body into a cinder was unable to consume the fuel that fed the lamp that was to shed its beams over the earth with the brightness of the sun. Yet he is but one victim out of thousands who have succumbed to that most cruel, unmerciful, and most despotic tyrant, intolerance.
I admire such a character as John Wycliffe, the English reformer, whose ashes were sprinkled upon the waters of the little brook, because he dared to stand firm for principle. I love such characters as John Huss and Jerome, who were martyred at the stake, sacrificing their lives in the flames rather than to sacrifice principle. I honor such a character as Martin Luther, who dared to stand out against kings and pontiffs, in the face of the avenging and murderous throng of the agents of Satan, in the presence of Charles V. himself, to utter truths with a faith that turned the world upside down. Such characters as these are admirable, they are grand, they are indeed noble.
It is to such men as these, in the providence of God, that we are indebted for the principles of our Protestant faith, and the privilege of enjoying them free and unmolested, under the grandest and most glorious government the world has ever known.
But why is our government so grand and so glorious?—It is because of that freedom and that liberty for which she stands. America, now for over one century, has been a synonym for all that is meant by freedom, liberty, and the rights of man. Take these from her, and you take away her glorious name. I glory in the name of America only because of that for which she has always stood. If this be removed, her glory vanisheth like the flying meteor. To-day she is a gleaming spark; to-morrow she is a cinder.
It was in the far-away East that the dismal blackness of the Dark Ages burst asunder before the dauntless approach of golden dawn, when those brilliant morning stars first bathed the land in their soft radiance. As the widening space grew broader that lay between them and the horizon, as nearer, still nearer they approached the zenith, how great was that tidal wave which followed! Nor was it to be checked until it had reached the remotest shores of our own dear land. Arising in Middle Europe, it swept overland through Germany, Switzerland, France, and England, and its culminating height was to be reached in our grand American Republic. Is that wave still advancing? Was it able to pass the gallant Rockies, and proceed unretarded in its onward course? Will it be able to continue to stand at flood tide? It surges, it plunges, it foams. The waters indeed are troubled.6
On the western shores of the broad Atlantic, peerless in her beautiful robe of precious principle, liberty, and equality of man, a new nation arose from her revolutionary birth. The hearts of men were shocked, surprised, and stirred. With amazement and secret admiration, the kingdoms of the Old World watched closely the infant land. Rocked by the waves of the twin seas, in the cradle of the red man’s country, this child of liberty increased in wisdom and stature, for God was with her. She became a refuge for the fleeing, a home for the homeless, an asylum for those who long to be free. With many a sickening pang from the insults of the religious bigot, imprisoned, scourged, beaten, burned, fleeing from the face of death itself, our forefathers reluctantly and with deep sorrow abandoned their sacred and beloved homesteads, the land of their nativity, the play-grounds of their childhood, for a lonely cabin in the trackless wilderness. A thousand times rather would they risk their lives among the wild beasts and the savage barbarians of the dismal forest, face the dangers of cold and hunger amid the cheerless, dreary bleakness of the icy New England winter, than to yield their God-given liberty of worship. Friendless and homeless, they land upon the frozen Atlantic beach. Little hope was there and little warmth in the broad expanse of the drifting snow and in the chilling blasts that drove the stinging sleet against their swarthy, weather-beaten cheeks. But far better die in the frosty wilderness than to become the hopeless victims of the religious tyrant.
Such men should know the price of liberty. Here they could worship God as they chose. Here, it seemed, was to be found no rack, no fagot, no thumbscrew, no stake, no implements to torture out the lives of men, no limbs were to be pulled asunder by horse and chain. The horrible scene of the inquisition had indeed been checked, but the lesson had not been completely learned. The persecuted became, in a measure, the persecutors, and as usual their superiors became their victims. However, the unlearned lesson was not lost. It found utterance in our national Constitution. Until then the principles of civil and religious liberty had been unknown by governments. But now they had become a glorious truth. For the first time in the world’s history a government had come to earth which in deed and in truth recognized God as the Author of our liberties, not in the Constitution but by the Constitution and in the conscience of the individual, and forever should it so remain. The government is a civil machine by which every man should be protected.
“Man is more than constitutions, better rot beneath the sod
Than be true to Church and State while we are doubly false to God;
We owe allegiance to the State, but deeper, truer more,
To the sympathies that God hath set within our spirit’s core;
Our country claims our fealty; we grant it so, but then
Before man made us citizens, Great Nature made us men.”
How happy and fortunate were the American people when their long-sought treasure found expression in these words, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Because of this ungranted privilege did Rome receive her deadly wound. Altho the United States had assumed the rights which Rome had failed to grant; altho she had seized upon the liberties which the ruler of kings and emperors had crushed beneath her bloody heel, no protest was thundered from the Vatican. Her power had received a blow that God’s cause might prosper, and prosperity was the result.
Grand was the work done by the heroes of the Reformation. The way was a long and dangerous one. Snares and pitfalls and beasts of prey were on every side. Through fire and blood they waded, gashed and pierced by sword and spear. Defenseless, yet determined, on they ran. They must scale the rugged cliff, and in spite of hazard and of peril the race was won. They climbed the jagged rocks to the summit of the over-hanging precipice. Breathless from the swiftness of the flight, weakened and trembling from the wounds received at the hand of the foe, exhausted, they sank down to rest upon the bank of the steep descent. Their work was done. They had accomplished their purpose and a reward to them is sure. But where were those to carry forward the great task? In this spot their followers built their churches. During the intervening years, the storms and tempests of time have beaten hard upon the sides of this precipice until, little by little, handful after handful, it has been sprinkled into the abyss below. Many of the churches are toppling over into the chasm whence they came. Many are trembling and tottering upon the verge of destruction, as is plainly manifested by the growing friendship existing between Protestantism and the Papacy. A few straying lambs who could not be reconciled by a life of quiet and ease, have wandered far into the interior. These are they who are to carry forward the reformation. Like all reformers, they are classed with fanatics, destroyers of the peace and safety. What Rome would have branded as a heretic, professed Protestantism has branded as a pessimist. Each is a representative of the same cause. Each tacks the theses upon the door of the orthodox church. By each the same perils must be endured.
It has been said, “Great destructionists are of the past, great constructionists are of the future.” Happy race, if it were but true! But facts declare unto us that inventive genius has made one man of to-day equal to scores in the time of Rome in power for destruction. And the disposition to destroy is not dead; it steadily grows. Behold the scenes in which almost every nation of the globe is acting. Men go forth to murder; blood flows freely, which the earth drinks in with silence, as of yore. Bitter tears, like shining dewdrops, trickle and break o’er the paling cheek. O piteous sight to behold! Yet this is not all; the worst is yet to come. The principles whereby we are free fall into disfavor. It is said, “To these times they do not apply.” Expediency usurps authority. “This is the most unkindest cut of all.”
Great destruction it seems is of the present, and the prospect is ominous for far greater destruction in the future. The destroyer of principle is worse than a murderer. Not only does he cause thousands of hearts to still their muffled throb, but the peace, the happiness, the joy, and the freedom of millions is ruthlessly swept away by a restriction of their liberties. Curtail the rights of your fellow-men, and you strike a death-blow to your own. Remember this when you would rule a people against their will, or enforce a religious statute. Was not the truth well spoken by that English diplomat, Edward Thornton, who said, “Englishmen now understand that in the American revolution you were fighting our battles.” This was then the truth, and time has not changed it. Profit by the experience of the past. Jump not into a chasm whose depths have not been sounded.
While our attention is called across the sea; while we are so intently watching the rapid changes that are taking place in swift succession in the political world; while we are so busily engaged in combat with a foreign host, a traitorous, a cunning deceiver, a more deadly foe, is stealthily pillaging our camp at home. Posing as our friend, he demands better laws; laws with forced obedience to some religious dogma. He demands a religious qualification for office, in other words, Christian citizenship, a new name for the old Roman statutes enforced by the inquisition. By some, these points are considered of little moment, but great and dire will be their results. Does not the past contain enough of these, or shall we willingly close our eyes to the facts and allow the scenes of the Dark Ages to be repeated before us? A thousand times easier is it to prevent evil than to eradicate it after it has once taken root. “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.”
The day has already dawned, in which you and I shall be compelled to stand for truth or for error. The conflict will be one in which the principles pertaining to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness will be at stake. Many and suggestive are the fearful omens that foretell the coming danger. “The wind has long been blowing from a direction that indicates approaching storm.” “Stability of government is no longer a fact. Traditional principles are losing their sacredness. Change is in the atmosphere.” Destructive raids have already been made upon both the civil and the religious rights of man, while he stands defenseless and unheeded. Yesterday the life of our nation was a placid, smiling river. To-day we see the boiling rapids of a plunging torrent. To-morrow what abyss shall hold her remains?
O Columbia! the bigot’s cruel hatred invades thy sacred realm. The galling shackles of the chain-gang bruise the ankles of thy most honorable and law-abiding children. Prison bars keep close the most thoughtful and considerate, yea, the loyalty of thy long-honored race. Kind and loving fathers breathe the poisonous air of thy dungeon cell. Death has been the result. Tears of agonizing grief, a widowed mother’s aching, bleeding heart, sobbing children’s wounded joy, fill the lonely, saddened homes. Fines take the place of bread for the hungry. Fire sweeps away the property of those peacefully at worship, while a minister of the Gospel, a leader of the Christian mob, addresses his followers in the light of the crackling flame. Religious laws are proposed with death as their penalty, and the council-building trembles with applause. All this, O Freedom, beneath the protecting folds of thy beloved banner, in “the land of the free, and the home of the brave.”
The tidal wave is receding to her home within the sea; but the precious pearls lie glittering on the beach. I know the pearls are scanty, but they glitter in the sunlight; the drift-wood is abundant, but it floats; it is the star that firmly stands and shines while the dark clouds roll heavily by.
“Men longed, O Freedom, that thy budding flower
Might bloom for aye, but e’er its petals op’ed
A worm was gnawing in the bud. By power
Of good example men had fondly hoped
To see the world affirm thy fair control,
And everywhere beneath thy vaulted sky
Mankind be free. Alas! the sacred scroll
Thy hand had penned is now proclaimed a lie.
Farewell, great Constitution of the free,
And Declaration of the rights of men.
Thy thankless offspring would be rid of thee
And turn to king and colony again.
The nations once had looked and wavered. Thou,
Columbia, their ensample, couldst have led
Them then to nobler heights, but canst not now.”
For lo! the day seems going to rest. Its light-bearer appears to be weary. He languisheth. His day’s work is almost done. He is darting his final beams o’er the land of the free. Long and kind has been his service, and happy the lives of those he served.
“It was in the grand old Independence Hall,
That Franklin decided of the picture on the wall,
That its sun was a rising sun.”
But now he has wheeled his golden circle through the azure arch, and is rapidly veiling his face from our view.
“The golden light is fading upon the mountains gray,
And twilight’s purple shading falls o’er the dying day.—”
O patriotism! why hast thou forsaken thy people? Art thou fled to the islands of the sea? Art thou on a tour to Central Asia?—No. No evidence of patriotism is found in such movements. These are only crusades to crush with cruel tyranny the patriotism that would peacefully dwell upon a foreign shore. Then where hast thou hidden thy face?
O fathers of the American soil! thou art sleeping. AWAKE! I call unto you. Behold the threatening cloud impending. Intolerance bold already tramples down the helpless. Put on thy helmet of truth. Gird on thy armor of precious principle that characterized the founders of our nation, and with the keen sword of protest arise against the on-coming foe. A handful in the cause of right can subdue a world of evil. Yea, we must conquer. And with God as our commander, CONQUER WE WILL. E. S. EDWARDS.
Kokomo, Ind.
THE PRAYER OF THE CHURCH.
By Geo. E. Price
How long, O pitying Jesus, must I wait
For Thee to come and take me home with Thee?
The anguish of delay I would relate,
An humble suppliant on bended knee.
Haste, haste, from earthly spot my soul to free;
From proud exultant foes that press me sore.
Thy face, long lost, could I but once more see,
And at Thy holy feet my homage pour,
These miseries of my mortal lot could never vex me more.
The long, drear years upon my memory press,
Years that my nearing bridal may not drown.
The world so long has smiled at my distress,
Its ear has grown accustomed to my moan;
It knows no hope, no pleasure but its own,
And through the ages in its pride of power
My hope, my joy, my life it did repress,
With force and tortures varied to the hour;
And now its final fiercest struggles o’er me lower.
Near threescore years ago, before my eyes,
Enraptured, rose Thy glorious morning star.
Desire hailed it as Thyself, the prize
That Hope has ever pictured from afar;
But Disappointment did that promise mar,
For tardy Time still turned his weary wheel,
While dark Despair was ever at my ear
The ribald jeers of a pert world to seal,
While fainting Hope no more the future dare reveal.
But duties new upon my vision rose,
Duties neglected and forgotten long;
These ’twixt myself and Thee would interpose
To be performed before the mocking throng.
I dare not face Thy throne with such a wrong
Staining my garments; but Thy sacred Word
Performing, straight my soul grew strong;
And in my ear Thy promise sweet I heard,
Which every halting purpose of my spirit stirred.
“Hold fast the faith; perform the daily task,
And herald through the world My coming reign.
To all, the terrors of that day unmask,
And bid them wash their robes from every stain.
The labor of thy love shall not be vain,
For I shall keep thee from temptation’s hour.
The victor’s crown shall thy devotion gain,
When on the world, with Pentecostal power,
The blessings of the closing Gospel thou shalt shower.”
I took Thy Word and hasted with the work;
And o’er this land Thy message did proclaim.
The perils of my task I did not shirk,
Thou knowest, for Thy trials were the same.
Have I not preached the message in Thy name?
O Saviour, why delay Thy coming more?
Have not our souls sufficient borne the flame
To mirror back the image we adore,
Or must I take this Word to every heathen shore?
Awake, my sluggish soul! Hark to the din
Re-echoing from the confines of the world!
The nations now with angry words begin
An empire to despoil; and each has hurled
The gauntlet down, but still with banner furled
She clasps her own and eyes her neighbor’s prize.
Ere this, why has the crimson tide not swirled
Above their heads, commingled with the cries
With which an aged, sleeping empire wakes and dies?
But not alone the cradle of the morning
Resounds with millions mustering for the fight;
Each nation is her ancient home adorning
With furbished sword and buckler polished bright;
My soul with horror sickens at the sight.
How long thus on each other shall they glare
In deadly hate, forgetful of Thy might,
Ere Ruin shall his cursed trumpet blare?
Hast Thou forbid the conflict that they still forbear?
Thy work I shall complete, till every nation
Has heard this Gospel in its purity.
The mighty may in rage and desperation
Unfurl their banners in grim majesty;
The desert savage may before them flee;
The dying nations may before them fall;
But I shall labor in security;
Tho distant mutterings may the soul appal,
They do but clear a path for me to speak to all.
But must I wait till all these lands are pulsing,
With this vain culture mortals now revere,
While every sin this modern world convulsing
Echoes with tenfold clangor in my ear,
And worse their last state than their first appear?
Must all the world one homogeneous mass
Become, grown prouder with each passing year,
And every trait resembling Thee, alas,
Blighted with luxury as by the fire the grass?
E’en that blest home of freedom in the West,
Where first my right to worship was allowed,
Has joined my ancient foes in the request
That I must worship as the fickle crowd.
My children there have grown as vain and proud
As she who scourged me in the long ago.
The dazzling dreams of science them becloud,
And color all the future with their glow,
Till on Thy message all their scorn they now bestow.
I can not wait so long, My Bridegroom dearest.
O hasten to fulfil Thy marriage vows!
So long hast Thou now tarried, that the clearest
Tokens of Thine approach, are to my foes
Morsels of sweet on which their mocking grows;
Grim specters of their rage before me glower
Straining to break the leash Thy promise throws
About their steps to keep me from their power.
O Saviour, shorten soon this darkly trying hour.
Tracadie, N. B., Canada. GEO. E. PRICE.
True Forgiveness
“I CAN forgive, but I can not forget,” is only another way of saying, “I will not forgive.” A forgiveness ought to be like a canceled note, torn in two and burned up, so that it never can be shown against the man. There is an ugly kind of forgiveness in this world—a kind of hedgehog forgiveness, shot out like quills.—Beecher’s Life Thoughts.
“I AM COME DOWN TO DELIVER.”
By G.
WHEN the Lord takes hold of any work, something practical is accomplished. There is power in His Word and wisdom in His way, and in His time the work goes on in spite of opposition. The promise that Israel should be brought out of Egypt was made to Abraham long before Jacob was born. The Lord knew that Abraham’s posterity would bring affliction upon themselves by their apostasy, and that only a long and rigorous service to their heathen masters would cause them to return to the God of their fathers. But God’s time to help erring man is when the erring ones have become willing to be helped. So the Lord patiently waited such a time for the deliverance of Israel. On His part everything was timed for that condition, even to having a leader in readiness.
There were all the time witnesses for the Lord in Israel, faithful ones who did not depart from the truth; but the masses were influenced by their surroundings, and had not faith to believe that there was anything better within their reach. The father and mother of Moses had faith in God. They knew that Moses was destined to be a leader of the Lord’s people; and Moses knew it also. But the people as a whole “understood not.” When Moses was forty years old, he thought the time had come for him to enter upon the work of delivering his people. The Lord had not told him this was the time, but he reasoned from human appearances. He was of mature age; he had been educated in “all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” and was renowned for his achievements “in words and in deeds.” He considered himself equipped for the leadership, and expected to find the Israelites prepared to co-operate in all his plans.
But Moses’ first effort was a failure, for God was not in it. Moses had reckoned without the Lord as a director, evidently expecting the heavenly blessing on his own efforts. But the expected blessing did not come, and his career as a self-imposed deliverer was not only short, but disastrous, from a human standpoint. The sequel disclosed Moses as a fugitive from Egypt, and engaged as a shepherd in Midian. So much for human effort when unaccompanied by the co-operation of heaven. Moses was fortunate to even escape with his life. This part of the transaction was in the providence of God.
Then Moses began to be taught of God in the way of humility and of faith. His experience took away his confidence in himself, and he began to unlearn some things that he had learned amiss. The following extract from the work entitled, “Patriarch’s and ‘Prophets’ (published at this office), is a lucid exposition of the situation:—
Moses was not prepared for his great work. He had yet to learn the same lesson of faith that Abraham and Jacob had been taught,—not to rely upon human strength or wisdom, but upon the power of God for the fulfilment of His promises. And there were other lessons that, amid the solitude of the mountains, Moses was to receive. In the school of self-denial and hardship he was to learn patience, to temper his passions. Before he could govern wisely, he must be trained to obey. His own heart must be fully in harmony with God, before he could teach the knowledge of His will to Israel. By his own experience he must be prepared to exercise a fatherly care over all who needed his help.
Man would have dispensed with that long period of toil and obscurity, deeming it a great loss of time. But Infinite Wisdom called him who was to become the leader of His people, to spend forty years in the humble work of a shepherd. The habits of caretaking, of self-forgetfulness, and tender solicitude for his flock, thus developed, would prepare him to become the compassionate, long-suffering shepherd of Israel. No advantage that human training or culture could bestow, could be a substitute for this experience.
But Moses’ long course in the industrial school of God was now at an end. He had graduated as the meekest man in all the earth. Num. 12:3. Israel’s affliction had brought them to a point where it was possible for God’s overtures of mercy to reach them. The time had come for God Himself to take hold of the work of deliverance, and He appeared to Moses to commission him as visible leader in the great work. Moses met many obstacles, but faith in the wisdom and power of God was sufficient in every emergency. He had been assured of God’s presence, and never found it lacking. When the Lord said, “I am come down to deliver,” it meant success. And so it must be with every other feature of His work. When He takes hold—for He knows just when—then the work will be accomplished. The thing for man to study is to be ready, and biding the Lord’s command to “go forward.”
G.
THE ROOT OF ANARCHY.
By G.
ANARCHISM had its beginning in disobedience of the law of God, and it has its sustenance in the same principle. No one who believes that to “fear God and keep His commandments” is the “whole duty of man” will ever become an Anarchist. Such an one may be charged with anarchism by those who are themselves real Anarchists, but the charge is false. The men who resist the law of God, and teach that it has been abolished, do more to encourage the spirit of anarchy than any other class. Men who will not refrain from murder, and kindred acts of violence, out of respect to the law of God, will be restrained from violating civil law only through fear of its penalty.
When the inclination to commit crime finds opportunity to do so and evade the penalty, if there be no law of God in the way, there can be no conscientious scruples in the matter. Only the law of God can rule in a “good conscience,” a “conscience void of ‘offense’ toward God.” The Christian obeys the law of the land because it is the command of God for him to do so. He has a higher incentive than he who obeys merely to avoid the penalty. But in his conscientious walk he is not unmindful of the fact that God’s own law takes precedence, and that His Word instructs us to “obey God rather than men.”
There are times when the laws of men are in direct contravention of the law of God. The laws of Babylon and Medo-Persia, which Daniel and Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego violated on certain well-known occasions, were of this character. The traditions of the Jewish elders which Jesus ignored were of the same class, as also the commands of the council, that the apostles should not preach in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. The laws of Rome which made it treason to preach any deity not recognized by the State, were of this character; and so are the Sunday laws of the present day, which command the observance of a so-called sacred day, to the utter disregard of the plain commandment of God.
Those who conscientiously adhere to the Sabbath of the Lord, and refuse to obey the human sabbath laws, are sometimes accused of anarchy, and expect to have to answer to this charge more generally in the near future. But in all conscience we ask, Who is the Anarchist, he who ignores the law of man in deference to the commandment of God, or he who follows the multitude to trust in the arm of flesh? In our day and generation this will be a practical, every-day question, and it will be an individual question, too. G.
“NOT A STRANGER.”
If we would meet Christ in joy when we stand before the glory of His presence, we must let Him dwell in our hearts now. Only those who know Him in this earth life as a Saviour and Friend, will know Him then.
Job knew Him here. He could say, “I know that ‘my Redeemer liveth.” Job had tasted of His goodness. He had walked and talked with Him, tho invisible. He had seen God in His works. And so when Christ would come in all His glory, Job would still know Him. He declares: “I know that my ‘Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the ‘latter day upon the earth; and tho after my skin, ‘worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see ‘God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes ‘shall behold, and not a stranger.” Job 19:25-27, margin. Christ and Job were not strangers in the earth life; they will not be strangers when the open heavens shall reveal Christ in all His glory.
The privilege of Job is the privilege of every one. It surely is important that we know Christ there, in that great day of all days, when to know Him not means eternal loss. Paul expressed its importance in the following impassioned words: “I count all ‘things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge ‘of Christ Jesus my Lord; . . . that I may know ‘Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the ‘fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable ‘unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto ‘the resurrection of the dead” (out from among the dead ones). Phil. 3:8-11. He wished to know Christ here, know Him in dying to sin, know Him in living above sin, know Him in all His experience, that he might know Him forevermore from that day when Christ should come and raise the righteous dead.
Christ is coming; every eye shall see Him. Will you greet Him as a friend or a stranger? Do you wish to know the King then?—Let Him reign in your heart now.
Question Corner
1181. Coming and “Parousia.”
In the last SIGNS OF THE TIMES (October 2) I could not quite agree with Mrs. White. I am no scholar, but I have often studied the Bible on Matt. 24:37: “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Now please look up this word coming, and see if it is not parousia in Greek, and then see if this word parousia does not mean presence instead of coming. Luke 17:26 seems to explain it quite well. This word parousia is translated improperly fourteen times and twice properly in 2 Cor. 10:10 and Phil. 2:12, in the New Testament. Now, dear brother, if we are in the last days, then we are also in the presence of the Son of man, and He has already come. Watch, says the Saviour. Yours in the Redeemer, J. W. B.
1. In the article referred to no specific application was made of the word “coming” by Mrs. White. How does our correspondent know whether he agrees with the writer or not?
2. The word parousia is the present participle of pareimi, to be near at hand. Pareimi comes from para, meaning “near,” “at,” etc., and eimi, a form of the verb to be; the derived word meaning being near, at hand. Parousia means the drawing near, the being near. The Standard Greek Lexicon, by Liddell and Scott, define parousia as follows: (1) “A being present, presence of persons; (2) “arrival;” (3) “the advent.” It means in its completeness “personal, visible presence.” It does not, therefore, refer to a spiritual coming, or Christ coming by His Spirit, but to His personal presence, even as He promised. John 14:1-3; Acts 1:9-11. It therefore involves of necessity a coming. This is seen to be emphatically true by reference to 2 Cor. 10:10 and Phil. 2:12. Paul’s bodily, visible presence is set in contrast with his invisible absence. See also 1 Cor. 16:17; 2 Cor. 7:6, 7; Phil. 1:26, where the idea of coming is in each case involved.
3. The manner of Christ’s coming (parousia) is clearly revealed by Matt. 24:27; 1 Thess. 4:15, 16; 2 Thess. 2:8. He will come as the vivid lightning flash; with the sound of the trumpet will be His coming, and the voice of the archangel; the resurrection of the righteous dead, in martial array; the wicked will be consumed by the forthshining of His presence.
4. The word parousia occurs in the New Testament twenty-three times. It is rendered “presence” twice, and “coming” twenty-one times. See tract, “The Manner of His Coming,” Bible Student’s Library, No. 124, price 1 cent.
1182. Can Men Keep the Sabbath?
Is it possible to keep the seventh-day Sabbath on both sides of the globe? A minister says not. How did the day become changed? Was Sunday regarded by Pagan Rome before Christ? E. W. W.
1. It is not possible for a man to keep the Sabbath (or any other day) at the same time on “both sides of the globe;” for the simple reason that man can not occupy two places at the same time. This is one of God’s beneficent limitations placed upon His creatures. But man can keep the Sabbath when it comes to him, whether he be in Asia or America; in Patagonia or Zululand; in Greenland or Australia. Do men ever have or imagine any difficulty in observing Sunday in any civilized land?
2. The practice of keeping Sunday instead of the Sabbath by the church came in as the church went into apostasy. That backsliding turned the church back to the world and its customs, among which was the observance of the pagan Sunday. All this was very slow and gradual at first. It was developed and systematized by the Papacy, which sought to transform pagan temples, institutions, and customs into Christian. She succeeded in changing the name in many instances of the temples, institutions, and customs, but the great change came in placing upon the church a wholly worldly mold, utterly different in character from the primitive church. The pagan things became Christian in name; the church became pagan in fact.
3. Sunday, as happily expressed by a writer in the North British Review of a number of years ago, is “the wild solar holiday of all pagan times.” As sun-worship is the oldest idolatry, so Sunday observance is the oldest false institutional observance. See Bible Student’s Library Nos. 80 (price 15 cents), 107 (price 1½ cents), 134 (price 15 cents); Apples of Gold Library No. 45 (price 2 cents). All these are good, and give abundance of authority concerning the Sabbath and the Sunday.
Please explain Matt. 27:52, 53. Was it the typical or heavenly city, and did they remain therein? E. E. W.
Evidently they went into Jerusalem. The graves were opened when Christ died. After His resurrection they came forth out of their graves and went into the city. When Jesus ascended, “He led captivity captive” (“a multitude of captives,” margin),—those who had been held captive by death. Eph. 4:8. They are now, doubtless, among His heavenly assistants in His priestly work. Rev. 4:4.