Earlier text: Bible Helps and Religious NotesSELAH.
By Friendly Greetings
THE word "Selah," which occurs so often in some of the psalms, and in the prayer of the prophet Habakkuk, which may itself be called a psalm, has been variously interpreted by the learned, and it is probable that in our ignorance of ancient forms of music we have no means of coming to a certainty as to its meaning. But what cannot be explained in words may be understood by the heart. There are "songs without words," which reveal themselves to the sympathetic mind without need of comment; and thus the "Selah," the holy pause of the psalmist, coming after some great truth, or some fresh discovery, requires nothing more. The voice rests; perhaps the harp or the psaltery goes on to repeat in a solemn symphony the latest measure sung to its accompaniment, and our hearts, responding with an inward assent to the truth of God, feel that "Selah" is our, "Amen, so let it be." There are three Selah pauses in the third psalm. Let us examine them as examples of the times when such notes occur. In the second verse: "Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah." This is the Selah of wonder. The child of God starts in amazement at the bare thought of such blasphemy against his God and his Father. No help for him in God! His tongue is hushed, his harp is silent with astonishment. He pauses awhile in horror, then, gathering up his strength, he breaks forth into a burst of holy confidence: "But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head;" a truth to which his own experience bears witness: "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah." This is the Selah of praise. Again the voice of song pauses, and we seem to see the eye of the singer raised in mute adoration. From his own experience he is led to a grand general truth, and in the last verse he cries, "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord; thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah." This is the Selah of triumph. He began with complaint, but he ends with victory.—Friendly Greetings. FIVE SHORT RULES FOR CHRISTIANS.
1. NEVER neglect daily private prayer; and when you pray, remember that God is present and hears your prayers. Heb. 11:6. 2. Never neglect daily private Bible reading. All backsliding begins with the neglect of these two rules. John 5:39. 3. Never let a day pass without trying to do something for Jesus. Luke 5:13-15. 4. If you are in doubt as to a thing being right or wrong, go to your room and kneel down and ask God's blessing upon it. Col. 3:17. If you cannot do this, it is wrong. Rom. 14:23. 5. Never take your Christianity from Christians. 2 Cor. 10:12. Ask yourself, "How would Christ act in my place?" and strive to follow him. John 10:27. CHARACTER AND REPUTATION.
By Methodist Recorder
THERE is a difference between character and reputation. Character is what we really are; reputation is what others suppose we are. A man may have a good character and a bad reputation, or he may have a good reputation and a bad character. The reason of this is that we form our opinions of men from what they appear to be, and not from what they really are. Some men appear to be much better than they are, while others are better than they appear to be. Most men are more anxious about their reputation than they are about their character. This is improper. While every man should endeavor to maintain a good reputation, he should especially labor to possess a good character. Our true happiness does not depend so much on what is thought of us by others, as on what we really are in ourselves. Men of good character are generally men of good reputation; but this is not always the case, as the motives and actions of the best of men are sometimes misunderstood and misrepresented. But it is important, above everything else, that we be right and do right, whether our motives and actions are properly understood and appreciated or not. Nothing can be so important to any man as the formation and possession of a good character.—Methodist Recorder. The Price of Virtue and Vice
Someone has made the distinction, as between vice and virtue, that for virtue you have a price to receive, while for vice you have a price to pay. Sinners of a thrifty turn of mind, who may be moved by this statement of the case, will feel disappointed when they find out that virtue is its own reward, and can only be consoled by the assurance that the wages of sin is death.—Interior. GLORIFY GOD AS GOD.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
THE apostle Paul says of the heathen that they are "without excuse; because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." Rom. 1:21. We have already seen, from the preceding verse, how they knew God. His eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen by the things that are made. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork." Ps. 19:1. Even the unlearned savage sees in nature evidences of the power and glory of God; and history affords abundant testimony to the fact that the ancient heathen philosophers and priests, although they worshiped idols, and taught the people idolatry, did have knowledge of a supreme Deity. Therefore they were "without excuse." The heathen do not need a second probation, in order that they may have "a fair chance." Not a man has ever lived on this earth to whom enough light has not been given either to save him or to witness to the justness of his condemnation. "When they knew God, they glorified him not as God." How could they have glorified him as God? The answer is suggested by the verse which tells how they knew him. How did they know God?—By his works. Then it is evident that to glorify him as God, would have been to honor him as Creator. God has "made his wonderful works to be remembered," for it is by remembering them that men remember him. And the one thing which he has given as the memorial of his creative power is the Sabbath. Thus the fourth commandment says:— "Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it." Ex. 20:8-11. The fact that Jehovah made the heavens and the earth is that which distinguishes him above all false gods. See Ps. 96:4, 5; Jer. 10:10-13. And the seventh-day rest is the one thing which he has given to enable man to remember that it is he that made all these things, and that he alone is worthy of worship. Therefore it is evident that only by keeping the Sabbath according to God's commandment could the ancients have glorified him as God, and retained their knowledge of him. The Scriptures state this fact very clearly. In the song for the Sabbath-day (Ps. 92) the psalmist says: "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High; to show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound. For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this." Verses 1-6. The fool does not consider the works of God's hands, therefore he says in his heart, "There is no God." When God chose Abraham from among the heathen, as the one to be the father of the faithful, it was because Abraham alone served him. Afterwards he made the Israelites the depositaries of his law, because, of all the nations, they alone cared to know him. All others had lost the knowledge of God, and like Pharaoh could say, "I know not Jehovah." Yet to his own chosen people, who had the knowledge of his wonderful works to the children of men, the Lord said: "Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." Ex. 31:13. The Sabbath alone stood between them and heathenism. If they had kept the Sabbath according to the commandment, they would never have gone into idolatry; when they did join the nations round about them in their corrupt practices, it was only after their neglect of the Sabbath had resulted in their forgetting God, whose mighty power and goodness it commemorated. Thus all the punishment that came upon the Israelites, and all their captivities, were declared to be because they did not keep the Sabbath. Forgetting the Sabbath was a synonym for forgetting God, and indulging in the abominations of the heathen. Nowhere is this more clearly set forth than in the twentieth chapter of Ezekiel. So plainly does the Lord there show the connection between Sabbath-breaking and the abominations of idolatry, that a simple reading of the passage is about all that is necessary. Speaking of the children of Israel, the Lord says:— "Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my Sabbaths they greatly polluted; then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols. Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness. But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols; I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you; that ye may know that I am the Lord your God. Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against me; they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my Sabbaths; then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness." Eze. 20:12-21. From this it is evident that Sabbath-breaking always led to idolatry. The twentieth verse plainly states that the Sabbath was the means by which the Israelites could retain their knowledge of God. They could not by any possibility keep the Sabbath and be idolators at the same time; neither could they be idolators so long as they kept the Sabbath as God commanded them. The Sabbath, therefore, as the safeguard against idolatry, is the mark of true religion. In the proper observance of the Sabbath, we find the highest expression of Christian life. Without the observance of the Sabbath, there can be no real worship of God; for he who does not worship God as the Creator of all things, does not glorify him as God; and the Sabbath is that by which we acknowledge him as Creator. It is often stated by the people who call themselves National Reformers, that the Sabbath is the only safeguard against heathenism; that if a nation ceases to keep the Sabbath, it will inevitably run into heathenism. This is true, as we have shown; but it is not true as they say it, because by the word "Sabbath" they refer to Sunday; and Sunday, instead of being a safeguard against heathenism, is the "wild solar holiday of all pagan times." There is nothing in the observance of Sunday that can show anything whatever about God. Only the seventh day can be the memorial of creation, for only on that day did God rest, and it was that day only that he blessed and set apart. The first day cannot, as it is claimed, be the memorial of the resurrection of Christ; for it was never appointed as such a memorial, even as it could not appropriately commemorate such an event. Besides, in baptism we have the divinely appointed memorial of the death and resurrection of Christ. So, as before stated, there is nothing about Sunday which can show the power of God, any more than could be shown by Monday or Friday. The form of idolatry which has existed almost universally from the most ancient times, is sun-worship, for which Sunday stands. This was the day dedicated to the sun, and observed by the heathen, not as a sabbath, but as a day of wild, unbridled, sensual indulgence. And so, as sun-worship, with all its attendant abominations, stands as God's great rival in the allegiance of mankind, Sunday stands opposed to the Sabbath, as the holiday universally observed by men when they ceased to glorify the Creator as God. E. J. W. SLAVE, SON, FRIEND.
By M. C. W.
THOSE who are Christ's are designated by three terms, which we wish to notice, namely, servants, friends, sons. These terms are, by some, said to refer to steps, or degrees, in the Christian life, but they do not; they express relationship from different standpoints. The word "servant" in nearly all cases comes from a Greek word meaning "slave," or "bond-servant." The word indicates the relation of the individual to Christ as the individual should view it. Christ purchased the sinner with his own precious blood, and the sinner lays down the arms of rebellion and yields himself to Christ a willing slave. It is not the term which the Lord uses to show the relation, but it is the term by which every truly converted soul will express his relation to God so far as all the powers of his being, his wealth, his all, are concerned. He is Christ's servant, a willing slave. But he who with all his heart yields himself to be Christ's slave, "is the Lord's freeman." 1 Cor. 7:22. Jesus does not now say, Ye are slaves. He lifts up the one who has yielded in humble submission his all to God's service, and makes the sinner that was, his friend. I am your willing slave, says the forgiven sinner; for you have redeemed me. I will make you my friend, says the divine Redeemer. "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." John 15:14. But the word friend is designed to express another relation. A king would not naturally make a confidant of a slave. One so regarded becomes more than slave; he becomes friend. It is to this relation Christ exalts his followers, because of the precious things revealed to them, which human eye cannot see, human ear cannot hear, human heart cannot conceive; but God has revealed something of them by his Holy Spirit to those who have yielded themselves his bond-servants, whom he has exalted to the relation of friends. "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." John 15:15. The term "son" expresses family relation and heirship. It is the highest exaltation possible to be called a son of God. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!" 1 John 3:1. "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Gal. 3:26. "And if children [sons], then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be279 that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." Rom. 8:17. No language can convey to mortal mind how wonderful these relationships, how great the blessings! While they will not exalt the true Christian in his own estimation, they will exalt him above sin. While God calls him friend, and adopts him as a son, the faithful disciple will ever consider himself but a learner at his Master’s feet, a willing slave purchased at an infinite price, to whom the doing of his Redeemer’s will is the highest pleasure. And so while he regards himself but a willing bond-servant, bound by love, Christ regards him as his bosom friend, and exalts him to a son of the living God. THE SABBATH FOR MAN.
By C. P. B.
It is often confidently asserted that the Sabbath "was made only for the Jews," but this is not as the Scriptures teach. Said the Saviour, "The Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:27), and that can mean nothing less than for the race. However, there are other considerations which prove the same thing quite as clearly and conclusively, though not so directly, as do the words of the great Teacher. All will admit that the Sabbath which the Jews kept was enjoined by the fourth commandment of the decalogue, which is frequently referred to in the New Testament as "the law." It will also be admitted that this is the law of which Paul speaks in the second and third chapters of Romans. Thus far all must go, and they who admit that proposition must go still farther, or else repudiate Paul's testimony. In verses 6 and 11 of chapter 2, the apostle says that God "will render to every man according to his deeds;" "for there is no respect of persons with God." He continues: "For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law." Verse 12. Those who "have sinned without law" are the Gentiles, who did not have the written law, while the Jews had; but the justice of their condemnation appears from verse 15, for some of the very things which they themselves allowed to be wrong "show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing" them. "The work of the law written in their hearts" was the enmity (Gen. 3:15) which God put between man and Satan. "God made man upright" (Eccl. 7:29), and after he sinned God gave him some knowledge of right, and this knowledge when sinned against was enough to condemn him, even though he did not have the written law; and, as we have seen, that is just what Paul teaches. Then, too, the justice of God appears in the fact that all will be judged according to the degree of light which they have had,—the Jews, who had the written law, must answer to that law in its fullness; while the Gentiles, who had but a trace of the law, will be judged only by that which they had. Let none conclude, however, that some of the heathen may then be justified and saved upon their own merits; for the apostle elsewhere says plainly that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." And this shows that all have the law, "for sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4); "for by law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20), and "where no sin is, there is no transgression." Rom. 4:15. But as we have seen there may be sin without the written law, for all men have some knowledge of right and wrong, and that knowledge is a trace of the law of God written in the heart. This trace of the law is not written in the heart of men that they may be condemned, but for their own good, and that there might be in the heart of each man something to which the Spirit of God could appeal to move them to a better life; hence, the mercy of God is seen also in the giving of the law; and the fact that all men have some sense of condemnation, and some realization of accountability, is an evidence, as we have shown, in full accord with the Scriptures, of the universality of the divine law. But that all the world, both Jews and Gentiles, are amenable to the law, is further shown by the apostle in verses 19 and 20 of chapter 3. He says: "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight." Here we learn that because of that which the law says, all the world become guilty before God; therefore all the world must be amenable to that law. For "we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law," that is, as Professor Boise translates it, "within its sphere." This is positive proof that the apostle taught that not only the Jews but also the Gentiles were under obligation to keep the law; and, as all agree that the Sabbath was a part of that law, therefore all the world, both Jews and Gentiles, were under obligation to keep the Sabbath. The conclusion reached is certainly legitimate, and cannot be avoided without ignoring the foregoing texts, besides many others; and not only so, but it is abundantly confirmed by the Old Testament. In Isaiah 56 we read: "Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." "Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him. . . . Everyone that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain." Verses 2, 6, 7. "The sons of the stranger" were Gentiles, and this text shows clearly that they could not be accounted as serving God without keeping the Sabbath, and there never has been a time when it was not the duty of all men to serve God. And so the proposition that "the Sabbath was made only for the Jews" falls to the ground before the testimony of the prophets, as well as before that of Christ and the apostles. The words of the Saviour, "The Sabbath was made for MAN," are in perfect accord with every part of the Scriptures; and of the law we may say with David: "Thou art near, O Lord; and all thy commandments are truth. Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them forever." "Thy word is true from the beginning; and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever." Ps. 119, 151, 152, 160. C. P. B. QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
By M. C. W.
A CORRESPONDENT asks the following question: “In Jer. 25:33 I see that the ‘slain of the Lord’ will cover the earth, and understand that this is from the effects of the great battle. Kindly explain how this does not mean the real Christians.” Our correspondent has gotten the wrong idea from the words “slain of the Lord.” It does not mean the slain of the Lord’s people, but those slain by the wrath of the Lord. “For the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. . . . And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth.” Jer. 25:31-33. “But the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.” Joel 3:16. “Please give through the columns of the SIGNS an explanation of Lev. 7:23. Does this text have reference to the Jewish sacrifices? or are we to understand it as given for reasons purely sanitary?” Lev. 7:23 reads: “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat.” This text is explained by Lev. 3:14-17. This passage defines the fat as referring to those parts of the beast which were wholly fat, —(1) “the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards;” (2) the fat upon the kidneys; (3) and in some cases the fat tail or rump of certain sheep which weighed from fifteen to fifty pounds. The Jews were to eat none of this fat. It was a prohibition which referred to the sacrifices; for the fat was a part of “the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savor; all the fat is the Lord’s.” Verse 16. Outside of sacrifices, however, with the exceptions already named, the fat of flesh was allowed for food. See Deut. 32:14; Neh. 8:10. While this prohibition is not of a sanitary character, any dietary is better which excludes a liberal supply of fat, unless it be the dietary of the Esquimau. “Will you be so kind as to give your interpretation of the fourth chapter of Job? Who is the spirit spoken of in the fifteenth verse? and what does this spirit mean by the language used in verse 17?” The fourth chapter of Job is the beginning of the argument of Job’s friends. They held that affliction was always evidence of sin; and therefore Job’s affliction was because he was a sinner, and he did wrong to deny it; that his only proper course was to confess his sins, and God would then pardon. Their advice was good on general principles, but it was wrongly applied in the case of Job. What or who the spirit was, mentioned in verse 15, we do not know. It might have been a good spirit who appeared to Eliphaz in a subsequent vision, or it might have been an evil spirit. Whatever it said, is of no consequence to us. Eliphaz used the words for a wrong purpose, namely, to condemn Job in that which God had not condemned him. The evident meaning of the words of verse 17 is that mortal man, who is a sinner, has no right to make the claim of sinlessness before God, or justify himself before God, when his condition itself condemns him. THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER.
By C. P. B.
Speaking of the London Sunday edition of the New York Herald, the Christian Union says:— “The incident gives occasion for restatement of the objection to the Sunday newspaper. This is not that it entails Sabbath work, for it does not entail as much Sabbath work as the Monday newspaper; nor is it because it sets the newsboys at selling papers, for Sunday labor is no more demoralizing than Sunday loafing, and the newsboys do not attend worshiping assemblies on Sabbath morning in any very great numbers; nor is it because worshipers sometimes stay at home from church to read their Sunday paper, for it will do the ministry no harm to be subjected to a little healthful competition, and the church which depends for its congregation on the fact that they have nothing else to do than to come to church would better stir about and get some other and better dependence. The objection is that the daily paper intrudes into the Sabbath rest the toil and burden of the weekly life, and so despoils the Sabbath of its mental and spiritual restfulness. This is not, in our judgment, an evil which calls for legislative interference. So long as the law prevents that public hawking of the newspapers in the streets which interferes with the restfulness of those who do not wish to read the Sunday newspapers, they have no political right to ask for more.” Of course by Sabbath the Christian Union means Sunday, and it is pretty generally known that that day has no title whatever to the name. But aside from that fact there are several points in the extract worthy of note. It will be observed that the argument that the Sunday paper deprives the printers of Sunday rest is abandoned, as is likewise the argument that it deprives the newsboys of “their Sabbath.” And not only so, but it is admitted that “Sunday labor is no more demoralizing than Sunday loafing,” and this is certainly stating the case mildly, for loafing is utterly demoralizing, and people who are idle one day each week from no higher motive than simply because others are, would better be at work. And just here is one important reason why the observance of any day ought to be left to the consciences of the people, for to compel those who have no conscience in the matter to be idle one day each week is to compel them to loaf, and “Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.” The demand for Sunday laws springs really from the disposition so common among men to compel others to conform to their ideas. Men are naturally intolerant, and intolerance is diametrically opposed280 to the spirit of true Christianity. Certain it is that all the legislative interference which anybody ought to demand in religious matters is that the law shall guarantee to all, even as it now does in all the States, the right to worship God according to the dictates of their several consciences. Possibly the hawking of Sunday papers on the streets may be a nuisance in some quarters, but if it is so simply because it cuts across the religious convictions of some, it is not a proper subject for legislation. C. P. B. WHO IS EXALTED?
By M. C. W.
THE Standard, a Baptist paper of Chicago, in referring to the Sunday-school lesson of January 13, “A Sabbath in the Life of Jesus,” remarks:— “After all, does not the Sabbatarian unwittingly, but none the less effectively, exalt Moses at the expense of the Christ? The Lord’s day is God’s testimony in history to the greatness of the Christ.” Does the Standard believe in keeping the first, or third, or fifth, or sixth commandment? It would doubtless reply, Yes. But in doing that do they not “unwittingly, but none the less effectively, exalt Moses at the expense of the Christ?” To this the Standard would render an emphatic negative. Then why, we ask, single out one commandment, one essential, constituent part of God’s law of ten words, and say that the keeping of that “exalts Moses at the expense of the Christ”? If the keeping of one of the words of the decalogue does this, the effect would be the same in keeping other parts of the same law. God classed the law of the seventh-day Sabbath with nine other immutable, moral precepts. Who has the right to tear it from thence? He who does this sits in judgment on the Lawgiver; like the priests of old, he is “partial in the law.” Mal. 2:9. The second sentence quoted above is pure nonsense. The testimony which God has given to the power and greatness of Christ, is the regeneration of sinners, or the bringing of carnal hearts into perfect harmony with the law of God. In this new life of the Christian, the power of Christ is manifest. “Sin is the transgression of the law,” and salvation from sin is salvation from transgression. He, therefore, who truly keeps the commandments of God, who turns from transgression to obedience through the grace of Christ, thereby exalts Christ and his power. But he who turns from the commandments of God to another source, exalts that other source above God. The seventh-day Sabbath originated with the great Jehovah. Jesus and his Father are One. He who exalts that commandment, thereby exalts Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath, and also honors God. Sunday is a pagan institution. It has no support in the word of God. Those who honor Sunday do not exalt Christ, but the pago-papal tradition in which Sunday had birth. And all service and laudation in honor of that day is only will worship, of which the Lord can well inquire, “Who hath required this at your hand?” Is not the Standard seeking to draw attention from the weakness of its own position, by casting reflection on that of others? THE WORK IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.
By George C. Tenney
Our interest in the startling phases which the work has assumed in America is not small, since we have, with others, been looking for these very movements to mark an important era in the history of our work. We have all thought that when the real work for the incorporation of Sunday laws into our national enactments should be begun this would be a signal for us to arouse at once for the closing effort which will seal the eternal destiny of all. No doubt, however, that there are thousands to whom this time will seem as nothing out of the ordinary, and any considerations to the contrary will be easily explained to the satisfaction of their drowsy and worldly minds. How many I have heard remark, "When I see this movement secure a change of the Constitution and a national Sunday law, I shall then know that you are right and shall be with you." But it is safe to predict that among such people not one in a hundred will ever feel the impulse they had anticipated. It is an easy thing to doubt and disbelieve the work of God. All these things can be explained without the necessity of a change of the position chosen by the carnal mind. How often do the words of Dan. 12:10 come to mind: "None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." The influence of the present position of affairs has had its effect upon the people here, and we watch with much interest the developments. The work of the Lord is not local. That which affects it in one part of the earth affects it equally in every part. Besides this we have here in Australia very much the same condition of things to meet that the truth has to meet in America. It is the expressed ambition of these colonies to develop the "happiest and freest nation in the world." They have the elements of progress and conservatism combined to a certain extent. At first the Established Church of England was to quite a degree the protégé of the public funds in the colonies. But this charge has happily been discarded, and it is claimed that the Government is unsectarian in its respect for religious bodies. But it does not take a very acute observer to discover that the consideration of popularity weighs heavily in favor of any aspirant for public favors, and that the power and influence of the popular religious bodies are by no means insignificant. Religious declarations in public places are very usual, and the principles of religious obligation are everywhere recognized, even by officials whose private characters are blackened by flagrant immoralities. It is but the remains of a long-established custom with many who have never felt for a moment the real power of the truths they acknowledge. How much of hollow mockery and of blasphemy comes up before a holy God in these forms and ceremonious displays of a religious nature, offered by the hands of the vilest sinners. It is bad enough in America, on this score, but there are many men there who will not display a religion they do not believe. But here it is different, for infidelity is not popular. A celebrated infidel offered himself as a candidate for election to Parliament in one of the districts of Melbourne, when a public meeting was called and his candidacy was declared to be an "insult to the constituency." All heterodox ideas are classed together, and anything that is not popular is heterodox, especially so if it conflicts with a custom of the Fathers. And here is where we find the Sabbath truth located. The agitation of the question is sure to bring it to the front, and when the weakness of the Sunday cause from a scriptural standpoint becomes evident, there will be a popular demand for legislation that will quickly place the work in advance of where it now stands in America. We cannot say that the image to the beast exists in Australia, but we know that the spirit of the dragon is here, and that opposition to the popular will, will soon arouse it. The rights of the minority do not trouble the majority. There is the inflexibility of iron in the character of the people, which they have inherited from their grandmother kingdom, Rome, that does not prevail naturally in the hearts of Americans toward an opponent. We are glad, notwithstanding this outlook, to be able to state that we believe the issue to which this work is sure to lead is approaching. We have been able to accomplish comparatively but little, and yet the agitation of the Sunday-Rest question is becoming one of considerable importance. Opposition papers are advertising extensively the writings of one who has lately apostatized from our work in America. These advertisements are accompanied with warnings against our works, and "patent medicine-like" claims of what this remedy and its authors are capable of doing. These sound very familiar to those who have read similar things on the other side of the ocean. We have no manner of fear of this step, and believe it will help us to reach many who would not otherwise become interested in the truth. The meetings of Brother Curtis in Adelaide are resulting in bringing quite a number into the ranks of present truth. Twenty-five have thus far signed the covenant, and the end is not yet reached. Brother Israel in Tasmania is having an interesting experience and a good hearing, though the congregations are not large, as the community is small. A few have decided to obey, and the work still continues. At Bismark, about twenty miles from Hobart, Brother Steed, who was licensed at our Conference, is holding meetings, with good attendance. We are still looking forward to the completion of our building at the Echo Office, which has been, unfortunately, delayed. It will be perhaps two months yet before it will be finished. And then we hope to be able to more effectually prosecute the work both locally and in general. It rejoices our hearts to hear of the gracious visitation of God's blessing enjoyed in many places in America, and we feel to reach out for some of the same here. We have many evidences of divine help, and believe that if we are faithful to our trusts God will help us to triumph with his people at last with the work accomplished to his glory. THE LOGIC OF FACTS.
By M. C. Wilcox
NATIONAL REFORMERS profess to be working for a Sunday law to favor the poor, worn laboring man, the fathers of families, etc. But the facts are that the laboring man has not been consulted in the matter. Their object is to promote the religious observance of the day by whatever penalties are necessary. The majority of laboring men prefer to spend Sunday as they wish. As an instance of this we refer to the agitation for a Sunday holiday in the celebrated Comstock Mine, Nevada. "The middle-aged miners, and those with families," says the Daily Examiner of April 19, "who are not church-members, are opposed to having a holiday one day in every seven, as it will curtail their pay from $16 to $20 per month; but the young miners are unanimously in favor of losing a shift on Sundays. The superintendents and managers are indifferent as to whether the mines decide for or against losing a shift every week." The strange feature, says the Examiner, is that the preachers and saloonists are both in favor of closing the mines on Sunday, the former having inaugurated the movement. A strange medley,—sport-loving young men, saloonists, and preachers,—and all genuine National Reformers! And why not? Is not the motive the same in all? The young men want pleasure, the saloonists want gain, the preachers want patronage. The churches are preferable places to saloons, it is true; but the methods employed by the Sunday-law movement, in which many ministers are engaged, are as iniquitous as the schemes and work of the saloonists. Many of these men may not realize the logical outcome of their work, but sincerity in evil does not make evil good. The married men have the human right to work on Sunday if they wish; all above human lies between them and God alone. M. C. W. PEACE is not a feeling or an emotion, but a condition. We are not at peace because a pleasurable, self-satisfied feeling reigns within, but because we have complied with those conditions which bring peace. So is our peace with God. Many look in a wrong direction for peace, and do not know it when it comes. God is not at enmity with us; it is the carnal mind which "is enmity against God." Rom. 8:7. But when the sinner capitulates, lays down his arms of rebellion, when he renounces the carnal heart, and yields himself to God's law, in short, when he complies with the conditions of peace,—repentance toward God and faith in Christ,—he is at peace with God. He has naught against God, and the Lord has naught against him. There is naught between them. Whatever joy or sadness is present in the individual, there is peace between him and God. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."