At the recent "Sabbath Association" in Oakland, Mr. Rader, pastor of a Congregational Church in San Francisco, and a prominent leader in the Endeavor movement for "Christian Citizenship," said among other things in his stirring address the following (we quote from the San Francisco Chronicle):—
"The community which lacks sufficient public sentiment to close saloons on Sunday is not politically Christian. Something is radically wrong when full churches and full saloons exist side by side in one city. The open church and the open saloon make a social paradox. The closed saloon and the open church is the ideal condition."
If Mr. Rader and others who are pressing the "Christian Citizenship" propaganda would read the Book of Christianity, the Bible, they would there learn that there is no such condition as "politically Christian." Christianity is a matter not of politics, or of expediency, or of worldliness; it is a matter of life and principle. They would learn also that throughout all the earth things are "radically wrong;" for "the whole world lieth in the wicked one." The saloon is in harmony with many in this world of lost sinners, and they prefer the saloon to any other place. Because of that very thing, the church is here; she is here to save the lost, not by political methods, but to win them by the love and grace of Jesus Christ. The thing "radically wrong" is sin, and only the Gospel received by faith can cure that. The paradox will exist as long as God's people are faithful and sin is present.
Mr. Rader further says that—
"The ground of our opposition is not the influence of Sunday closing upon workingmen, nor the historical Sabbath, sustained by proof texts from Scripture, nor upon the fact that in this State we have no civic sabbath. The open saloon on Sunday is a disgrace, whether labor is profited or not. The economy of the problem is subordinate to the righteousness of it. The open saloon is a menace to sabbath sanctity, whether the Seventh-day Adventists are right or wrong. No hair-splitting definitions of the Sabbath materially affect the broader basal principle underlying the whole question."
But if the Seventh-day Adventists are right, there is no sanctity to Sunday, save the false garb with which ecclesiasticism has clothed it. If Seventh-day Adventists are wrong, and Sunday is holy, no saloon can make it otherwise. In its own intrinsic worth it will stand apart from "the arm of flesh." In fact, it will stand of itself. But Sunday is not of God. It has no holiness in itself, no support in the Scriptures; and it is because of this very thing that the law of the Sabbath, the divine garment woven in the loom of heaven for the seventh day, is stolen to cover the nakedness of "the wild solar holiday of all pagan times," and to endeavor to make it appear that underlying it is a "basal principle" of Sabbath obligation. The men who do this may be honestly deceived, but Satan is not.
What this Sunday-sabbath question is likely to come to is stated by Mr. Rader:—
"Approached on any side a discussion of sabbath [Sunday] desecration opens up every living topic agitating the public mind. It is a hornet's nest, which, once disturbed, brings out every phase of the secular spirit and every form of materialism. It follows, therefore, that the matter of sabbath observance is logically interwoven with the whole problem of the liquor traffic. Temperance men must not fight each other before this institution. Had Sherman's men engaged in personal strife before Savannah, and had they contended for personal opinions, Savannah never would have been presented to President Lincoln as a Christmas present. Firemen, meeting on a hot and trembling wall, representing different companies, must not fight each other, but, animated by a single purpose, fight the raging flames. Our temperance work is sadly divided in the United States. Men are quarreling before Savannah and Richmond; men are fighting on the broken walls, amid smoke and flame and perishing souls."
It may be well to again repeat what we have said so often, that there is no Sunday "desecration," because there is no Sunday sacredness. That which is not sacred can not be desecrated. It may seem sacred to one, but that gives it no intrinsic sacredness, or sacredness of any kind apart from himself, unless it is true that his wish and will should be supreme
Question Corner
By Editor
"Enquire, and make search, and ask diligently."
NOTE.—We wish those who ask questions to take particular notice: (1) Only such questions will be answered here as we believe to be of general interest and information. (2) We can not undertake to explain from four to a dozen scriptures, as in one sentence we are often requested to do. (3) Do not ask to "explain" a certain text or passage. State clearly the point in question. (4) Give full name and address, not for publication unless desired, but as evidence of good faith, and to give us the privilege of replying by letter if deemed best. (5) Unsigned communications of any kind find the quickest way to the waste-basket. (6) It is always well to inclose stamp. (7) "Foolish and unlearned questions avoid," also those that minister to mere curiosity. (8) Study the Scriptures yourselves.
Foreknowledge—Why?
No. 583. Foreknowledge—Why?
IF Jesus foreknew the false character of Judas, which is indicated in the last supper, why did he previously call Judas to be one of his disciples? J. T.
The Lord calls every one to be his disciple. He called Judas because he loved him and wanted to save him. He gave him responsibility, and placed him under the best instruction and example the world ever knew, that he might overcome his sins, but Judas would not be taught. He coveted money, stole what was given to the poor, and finally sold his Master. Had he been placed in other less favorable circumstances, he would doubtless have failed just the same, because he cherished that which caused failure. The Lord gave him the grandest opportunity to overcome, but Judas would not. Was he responsible?—Yes; for he himself demonstrated this when he returned the money to the priests, and then hanged himself. Yet in endeavoring to help Judas the Lord fulfilled Scripture.
Translation or Death?
By Editor
No. 584. Translation or Death?
PLEASE explain Phil. 1:23. Does the apostle mean to be translated? or does he mean to die and wait until the Lord come?
He meant that he did not know which to choose—life or death—but he did have a desire to be with Christ by translation, which was "far better." See SIGNS No. 21, question 577, for a fuller answer.
Sanctification
No. 585. Sanctification.
DOES sanctification mean that we come to a state of grace that we can not sin? "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." J. R.
Yes and no. If is meant no desire to sin, yes; but if a physical impossibility to sin, no. "Sanctify" means to set apart, to separate. He who is truly sanctified is set apart to the service of God and separated from the world. This is done by his own choice in receiving God's Word, and by the cleansing power of the Spirit in that Word. Every true saint is a sanctified man. He may fail, even as have saints of old. He may let the truth of God, the only power which will keep him, leak out of his heart. He can sin if he desires; what he does not wish to do, God will enable him not to do. But the holiness that any saint has is not his holiness; it is the holiness of Christ by faith. Neither will any true saint boast; in the glory of Christ will he see his own unworthiness, and in the righteousness of Christ will he glory.
Heath in the Desert
No. 586. Heath in the Desert.
Does the people who are like the heath in the desert, inhabiting a salt land (Jer. 17:6), refer to the Mormons in Utah?
It refers to many of them, doubtless, and to everybody else "that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." Verse 5. All who do thus, whether Mormon, Methodist, Catholic, or Seventh-day Adventist, "shall be like the heath in the desert," etc. His soul will become dried up, even as heath in a desert of salt!
Will you please explain the parable of the marriage of the king's son in Matthew 22? If Christ is the Bridegroom and the church is the bride, who are the two classes of guests? some had on the wedding garment and one had not.
The marriage set forth in this parable is not designed to prefigure the union of Christ with his church; for that comes through faith on the part of each believer. Rom. 7:4. What is set forth in the parable is the reception of his kingdom by our Lord, in which he is represented as the Bridegroom and Everlasting Father. The city of the New Jerusalem, standing for the entire kingdom, is represented as the bride, and the mother, while the people of God are the children and guests. Read in this connection Isa. 54:1-5; Gal. 4:26, 27; Isa. 62:1-5; Rev. 21:2, 9, 10. The coming "in to see the guests" represents the judgment, where a profession of religion will not pass as possession, and the Lord will cast out all those who are not clothed with his righteousness.
HOW IT CAME OUT.
By Parrie L. H. Roberson
BARTHOLOMEW BIGGS was an honest old farmer; and, more than that, he was a Christian. He could shout, "Glory, hallelujah!" louder than any one else; and even Mr. Dodge, the minister, could not pray more fervently than he.
Mr. Biggs was a deacon in the church, the old gray church on the corner, which he always faithfully attended, regardless of the condition of the weather.
To him this old gray church was the only true temple of God upon this sinful earth; and no one had ever been able to persuade him to attend religious services outside of the walls of it. But one summer some people came and pitched a big white tent in the little old fashioned village of Deadwood. And soon many strange opinions were formed and queer stories circulated concerning these peculiar strangers.
Some said they were trying to run a circus and camp-meeting hand in hand. Others said they were only a set of religious cranks, while a few thought they must be blasphemers. General curiosity was at once aroused; but Deacon Biggs was not a man to run after new things. In fact, he seldom read the newspapers save for the purpose of ascertaining the price of hay or wheat; and he usually learned these important items from his old friend and adjoining neighbor, Caleb Munson.
Now "Barth" and "Cale," as they were known to each other, had grown up from boyhood together, and what one knew the other soon found out. Accordingly, when Caleb heard how these queer tent-dwellers were talking and doing, how they observed "Saturday" as a sacred day of rest instead of Sunday, and were advocating other doctrines as "terrible," he went over to have a talk with "Neighbor Barth" about the impropriety of allowing such conduct in their midst. He verily believed there should be a protest from the church people of Deadwood.
Now when Deacon Biggs heard these direful reports, he felt that it was more than his righteous soul could endure to remain silent and know of such doings among a people who called themselves Christians. It certainly did not seem right for them to be openly profaning the day which he and his father and grandfather had always kept as holy, and trying to influence others to forsake the religion of their fathers. Why, this would never do. It would be giving the enemy peaceful possession, and he for one felt determined that such evil influence must be speedily removed, tho he said but little to Mr. Munson at the time.
But what followed may be better appreciated if told in Deacon Biggs' own words as he told it to his friend out behind the barn on the following Monday morning.
"I tell you, Cale," he began, "I felt sorter riled up the other day, when you told me about how them there folks down at that tent was talkin' an' actin', an' I jest made up my mind that somethin' must be done to nip sech doin's in the bud. So after eatin' a bite of supper, I put out fer the pars'nage to have a talk with Brother Dodge about matters, feelin' shore that he'd land in an' rout 'em quick enough.
"Well, when I got there, he was settin' at his desk writin' out what I tuck to be his sermon. It didn't take me long to interduce my business; an' starin' at me sorter pestered like fer a minute, he said he'd heerd of sech a people long 'fore they made their appearance in Deadwood. But he kinder leaned to the idy that the best way was to keep shy of 'em till they pulled up an' got out. But said I, 'Everybody won't keep cle'r of 'em, an' next thing we know, some of the young folks will be led off after their ways; an' the peace an' quiet in our neighborhood on Sunday will be spiled.'
"Well," said he, "the best thing we can do is to warn people agin 'em; fer," said he, "it ain't safe to venture onto the devil's ground to fight him, and fer my part, I don't keer to run the risk."
"Well now, Cale, you don't know how I felt when I see our pastor seemed so kinder feared an' speakin' so nettled like. Now that's not my way of doin' things, an' seein' I couldn't expect any help from him to rout 'em, an' recollectin' what the Bible says about not givin' place to the devil, I jest settled it in my mind then an' there that I'd go down an' jump afoul of 'em myself; fer I felt it was somebody's duty to perfect the morals of Deadwood society.
"But in the first place I had to get a holt on 'em, so I could hist 'em out; an' seein' I know'd so little of their reel doin's, I see the only thing left fer me to do was to go down an' see an' hear fer myself. So I jest struck a bee-line from the pars'nage to that tent, expectin' to hear blasphemy and sech things.
"Well, when I got there they was singin' somethin' about searchin' the Scriptures. Thinks I, that don't sound bad; an' when I got inside, the next thing was prayin', an' bein' as I'm a Christian an' didn't want to appear heathenish, I knelt down, not knowin' how long I'd stay there. But, Caleb Munson, I listened close to that prayer an' I never heerd a blasphemous expression, an' afore I know'd it, I'd hollered out, 'Amen!' Then after we'd riz up, they sung another song that kept askin', 'What says the Bible?' an' tellin' us to keep the commandments; an' that was mighty differ'nt from what I'd expected to hear. And the next thing after we'd set down, a pleasant-faced feller got up an' read some out of the Bible where it tells about them beasts that Daniel saw in vision. And I ain't here if he didn't have pictures of some of the outlandishest-lookin' brutes you ever see in yer life; an' when he begin to talk, thinks I, Young man, you're gittin' into pretty deep water an' if you cain't swim, you'll drown shore.
"But, sir, he could swim. Why, he handled them beasts as handy, an' seemed as used to 'em, as I am to old Bill an' Hobble! An' that terrible beast that had iron teeth, that devoured an' broke in pieces an' stomped the residue with its feet, that had ten horns with a little one in the middle with a man's head on it—you know what I mean, it's the one that old Timothy Greene allowed was a thrashin' machine—well, he made it fit in fer what he called Rome under the Papacy.
"He went on to tell that the Sabbath had been changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, which he said was Sunday. Now I often wondered when lookin' in the almanac how it was that they allus put Sunday fer the first day of the week, when the Bible says the seventh day's the Sabbath of the Lord, so you better believe I listened to see how he'd fix it. Well, he went on an' proved by the Bible and hist'ry that that little horn was the Roman Catholic power, the Papacy; an' the Papacy's the very critter that took it on itself to tamper with the perfect law of God an' set up the first day instead of the seventh day of the week fer the Sabbath. Jest think of it, Cale, we've been obeyin' that horn beast all our lives by keepin' Sunday, when we thought we was obeyin' our Creator. It beats all how blind we've been.
"Well, of course I never could tell it like he did; but it was plain enough to me when he told it. I wish you'd a ben there, Cale, it was interestin'—nothin' flowery 'bout it, specially; but he tuck up sech parts of Scripture as you an' me, an' our preacher too, fer that matter, never dared to meddle with, an' made 'em face about an' explain each other. And it jest come to me that the understandin' of the sealed prophecies is like the handlin' of chestnut burs. It's no trouble at all to git at the inside when the right time comes, fer they'll open theirselves when they're ripe enough; an' then the rest of the job is easy enough if we know what chestnuts is when we see 'em, an' keer ter pick 'em up an' crack 'em. An' that's what them10people are doin' down at that tent; they are crackin' the chestnuts with the Gospel hammer, an' offerin' them to the people of Deadwood, an' if we don't git our share of the kernels of truth, it's our fault.
"Well, the long and short of it is that I felt mighty different when I left that tent from what I did when I started there. The meetin' broke up it seemed right in the middle of it, fer I was that interested I wanted to hear the rest of it; an' when the speaker invited all to come ag'in, the next evenin' I knowed Barth Biggs would be there; fer what I'd heerd had fetched about a hankerin' in my soul fer more; an' thinks I to myself, Brother Dodge don't know what he's missed; so I'll go over to-morrow an' tell him how mistaken we all was concernin' these folks, an' he will be glad to go along an' kinder git an insight to makin' the Bible explain itself; fer I see how that kind of preachin' dispelled doubt concernin' the inspiration of the Scriptures an' made everything mighty plain an' interestin'.
"But, sir, when I named it to him, he flared up in a way that showed me that he'd ben 'round them at some time an' place or other, an', dashin' in to fight 'em, he'd grabbed the fire poker at the wrong end an' burnt hisself. He didn't seem a bit surprised to hear about the Sabbath bein' changed either; but said he: 'I'll rejoice when the Sunday law is enforced in this place like it is bein' done in some places, then these fanatics will have to suffer fer their impudence in comin' in an' disturbin' an' tearin' up other churches. The last one of 'em ought to be in jail.'
" 'Brother Dodge,' says I, 'I am worse mistaken in you than I was in them what you're pleased to call fanatics. When I went down 'mongst them last night, my ears was cocked up to hear only evil, that I might find occasion against 'em. But my disappointment come when I heerd 'em condemnin' the wickedness of breakin' the law of God, an' admonishin' everybody to exalt it by keepin' it, even to the risk of losin' their property or the givin' up of their lives. Now,' says I, 'that's the kind of religion that's worth havin'. But I come here to tell you the Bible news that I heerd there, thinkin' that you'd be glad to hear an' enjoy it too, bein' as you're a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments," an' "a new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you." Then to find you ready to jail these who're tryin' to keep his commandments an' searchin' the Scriptures an' tryin' to git others to—it don't look right to me, an' I feel powerful disappointed in you.'
"But seein' he didn't want to talk on the subject I bid him good-day an' went home feelin' kinder—well, I can't tell you jest how I felt—but I went ag'in to the tent meetin' that night an' the next night, an' come home feelin' certainer every time I went that both the warp an' the fillin' of their doctrine was solid Scripture, an' Satan an' his agents might pull an' twist at it all they're a mind to, but they'd not tear it in two; fer I see that it was wove by the hand of God long ago. I tell you, Cale, there's real heavenly manna fallin' right from the vessels of heaven fer us, an' I want you to git your share, an' I'm goin' to fetch Car'line out to-night if she ain't too tired from her washin'."
"Wal, wal," drawled Mr. Munson, as his friend paused for a moment, "'tis surprisin' how things change about sometimes. That day I went over an' told you what I'd heerd of them people, you was ready to mount yer high horse and drive 'em out the kentry. An' now you come beggin' me to go an' hear 'em; an' knowin' you as I do, I should judge it's no common nonsense you've struck down there. But it'll do to be keerful, Barth, an' not let yer ears git to itchin' fer new docturns. You know what Paul says about sech things."
"Now, Cale, you know it's not me to run after new things," was Deacon Biggs' quick rejoinder; "I've allus found old things the best, an' I've allus followed the old fashions, an' I'm ag'inst everything that's new an' fickle; an' let me tell you that's jest why I'm so mighty interested in this doctrine. Why, it's no new affair at all. It's what God handed down to the prophets, an' it's the religion that our Saviour lived while here upon earth, an' what he wants to find us livin' when he comes ag'in. Now it's no use to argy, but go an' heer fer yerself."
Bartholomew Biggs attended the meeting that Monday night, accompanied by Mrs. Biggs and his friend, Caleb Munson; and there, for the first time in all their uneventful lives, they heard it proclaimed from the Gospel stand, and made sure by the Word of God, that when a man dies he is really dead and not more alive than he was before his death. They, like many other good people, had been taught that the body and the soul were two separate beings; that when death came to a man, it simply meant a separation of the two; the body was left to decay, while the soul—if a righteous one—immediately ascended to heaven, there to join in the songs and pleasures of the angels. But if a sinful soul took its departure, it descended to an ever-burning hell, there to writhe in increasing heat through eternity.
The speaker read from his Bible: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." The text did not say that God breathed or thrust a soul into man, but breathed life into him, thus changing him from a lifeless soul to a living soul, or living creature. Breath gives the soul, or mind, power, or spirit, to act, just as steam applied to an engine causes it to spring into action. When man dies, the breath of life, or his spirit, returns to God who gave it. And the soul or mind being left lifeless, has no power to think or act. Man is only mortal and corruptible, and immortality is obtainable only through faith in Christ at the resurrection of the just. "When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." But the unjust, who will be raised at the second resurrection, a thousand years later, shall be forever destroyed; like the stubble or the fat of lambs, they shall consume into smoke and ashes.
Thus the speaker continued to read and reason from the Word of God, showing the wisdom and mercy of the divine plan. To the people of Deadwood this was a vital point being strangely dealt with; and Caleb Munson, for one, was not inclined to renounce his former belief concerning the state of the dead. And that night on the way home he suddenly broke the sullen silence which seemed to have bound the grizzled trio, by asking Mrs. Biggs this gloomy question:—
"Say, Car'line, what d'ye think of God lettin' yer poor little Rachel's soul lay an' rot in the cold, damp groun' all these years when you wuz so shore she wuz in heaven?"
"Well, I dunno," was conservative Caroline's only reply.
But the lamp of reason was trimmed and burning in Deacon Biggs' soul, and addressing his friend he said:—
"Fer my part, it seems a heap better than to think of her singin' 'round mongst the angels, tantalizin' your poor Joe that you've believed has been sufferin' in the flames of hell all these sixteen year. I've often wondered how heavenly bein's could be so hard-hearted as to rejoice at so torturin' a sight, an' then the idee of keepin' a man sufferin' fer years an' years before judgin' him. It seems a heap more like it to let him lie over in prison till after he's judged an' then give him his reward, an' done with it. An' another thing I never could quite see wuz why the Creator would want to gather up all the happy, shinin' spirits in heaven an' saddle their old bodies onto them when they had got along so nicely without 'em fer so long. An' still another pesteration wuz to see how the wicked could die the second death if they wuz allus dyin' an' yet could never die at all. I never dared to say much about it before; but you better believe I done some mighty thinkin' about that kind of wisdom an' mercy. But I see now that our heavenly Father is as merciful as the Bible says he is; an' fer my part I feel more like servin' him than ever before."
After this speech from Deacon Biggs, silence again held sway until they reached Mr. Munson's big gate, where he bade his neighbors good-night with a promise to his friend Barth to accompany him to the tent meeting the next evening.
As for Mrs. Biggs, she said she didn't think she would go any more, for she felt too old to be trapsin' about at night.
What all happened during the following week we need not tell. But, according to Mrs. Biggs' story, one very strange thing did happen. It was the first time Hannah Munson had called on her for almost a week and this is what Mrs. Biggs told her:—
"I don't know what Barth heerd at that tent last night, but it must 'a' been somethin' curious; fer this mornin' when I went out to feed the pigs, there in the filth of that hog-pen lay his pipe that he's smoked fer night onto twenty year, an' the last two plugs of terbacker he had about the place; an' Barth's no hand to waste things either."
Well, one strange thing followed another; and when Deacon Biggs arose in the prayer-meeting in the little old gray church on the following Wednesday evening, he said:—
"Brethren, I, fer one, feel determined to serve the Lord as never before, an' I want to tell you that the Saviour has done a great work for me durin' the last two weeks. The cobwebs have been swept from the winders of my soul, an' I declare I have made a junk-shop of my mind jest long enough. Why, brethren, I never knowed how full of old rubbish it was till the bright light of the Gospel come in an' showed me the cleanliness and beauty of the law of my Creator. An' I've asked him to write this law in my heart so that I could keep it. I never knowed how before. I've been but little better than a heathen an' didn't know it. But Jesus is at work cleansin' my heart, an' by his grace I am doin' all I can to cleanse myself. By that grace of God I have been enabled to throw away some of the most precious idols here lately, because I saw they wuz keepin' me from my Saviour. [This gave a little light on the mystery in the pig-pen, so Caroline said.] Truly the Lord is good an' greatly to be praised, an' I want to be ready when he comes to gather his people home. He's comin' soon, brethren, he's 'even at the door.'"
Not one friendly response was heard at the close of this heartfelt testimony, but a death-like silence fell upon the little congregation, and the meeting closed with but little ceremony. On the way home that night Mrs. Munson said to her husband:—
"Don't it cap the climax how Barth Biggs has flopped over to that there crazy new docturn?"
"There's nothin' new ner crazy about it, Hanner; it's older'n the hills, an' all that troubles me is that I ain't got the courage of my convictions to live it out like Barth has."
But the time soon came when not only Caleb Munson found courage to obey the truth as it is in our Lord Jesus Christ, but Hannah and Caroline found it pleasant to walk with their faithful companions in the straight and narrow way that leads to life eternal, even tho the doors of the beloved old gray church on the corner were closed to them forever.
PARRIE L. H. ROBERSON.
St. Helena, Cal.
Is It Spreading?
By Editor
Is It Spreading?—We have before noticed as a deplorable sign of the times the auctioning of exposed feet of young women to help along some religious or charitable enterprise; the Christian Advocate notes that "two ladies, of different denominations, both teachers of Bible classes of young women, a short time since in conversation stated that the members of their classes proposed that there be a party in which the feet of the young women should be auctioned off for the benefit of the church, the scheme being to expose the feet and sell the owner to the highest bidder as a companion at the supper table. The low social and moral grade of the people where such proposals can be made is a sad commentary on the state of the churches to which they belong and the sphere in which they move." Further comment is needless.
Pope Leo’s Gift to Princess Maud
Pope Leo XIII. sent Princess Maud of Wales, for a wedding present, a beautiful antique gold bracelet, in which was set a Roman cameo, together with his best wishes for her happiness. This was the first wedding gift from the Vatican to the English royal family for two centuries.
Sunday Legislation and Temperance
regulator of others' consciences and acts. But this is popery pure and simple.
But the question, that of legislation to prevent Sunday "desecration," is entering into everything. It creeps into city charters, municipal elections, general appropriation bills, county ordinances, temperance measures, party platforms, public schools, various exhibitions of industries, arts, and natural products, street-cars, ball games, etc., etc. He who seeks political preferment must run the gauntlet of a demand for a Sunday law. Sunday-closing is pressed forward as a "temperance" measure. There is no temperance about it. It closes the saloon one day, and makes it respectable the other six. It should not be interwoven with the liquor traffic any more than it should with laws against theft or murder. If the saloon ought to be closed one day, it ought to be closed seven days. If theft should be prohibited one day, it should seven days. No advocate of a one-day law against stealing would be considered as a determined enemy of theft. And what would be thought of a division officer who would say, "I will fight this rebellion one day in the week, and will count those as opponents and enemies to the Union who ask for six days' fighting"? or of a fireman who would say, "I propose to fight this fire for one minute, and lay off the other six; that is true fire-fighting, and you men who claim to be firemen should unite with me?" Yet this is precisely the position of the "temperance" men who would shut the saloon on one day of the week. The simple fact is that the effort is in behalf of Sunday, not of temperance.
Again Mr. Rader says, after referring to the Sunday defeats in Oakland:—
"In the Sunday question centers the problem of law enforcement and civic reform. The Sunday is the national sun, on the face of which every black spot is visible."
This is what the new reformers are making it. The Sunday banner is the rallying center of the forces of National Reform; Christian Citizenship, Municipal Leagues, Law and Order Leagues, one-day-in-seven Prohibitionists, the political wing of the W. C. T. U., and many other organizations are wheeling into line. Earnest men are behind the movement, earnest, deceived men. They are putting Sunday in the place of the Sabbath of the Lord, and themselves in the place of the Lord of the Sabbath. They do not see that the inevitable outcome will be the utter ruin of Church and State, the persecution of Christ in the person of his saints, and their own slavery to a system which has cursed the world since the days of Babylonian and Egyptian sun-worship. Men who love liberty see dimly the evil in the principles, but think they will not prevail. Here lies the danger; one class is deceived in the principles themselves, another in their power and tenacity, while those who lift a faithful, warning voice are termed by the one anarchist and rebel, and by the other fanatic and alarmist. Yet we "cry aloud," and stay not. Sunday is the false light which lures to destruction those who follow it and turn from the Sun of Righteousness.
KEEP TO THE RIGHT.
By E. C. Townsend
In using the streets, by day or by night,
Wise people will try to keep to the right,
While others who seem of wit quite bereft
Make every effort to keep to the left.
But wherefore complain? There's none to gainsay
That "wide is the gate, and broad is the way;"
And Scripture presents this truth to the light,
That goats shall go left, and sheep to the right.
—E. C. Townsend.
MADAGASCAR.
By Editor
IN the last annual report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, is given a very discouraging account of affairs in Madagascar, owing to the advent of French rule. From this report we cull the following:—
“The circumstances of the country are very peculiar, and in some degree very depressing. There is a bitter feud between the Hovas and the Betsimisaraka. The latter, after long years of oppression, have revenged themselves on the heretofore dominant Hovas. Passions once let loose have broken into fury; all the idle and dishonest in the land have seen their opportunity for rapine, robbery, and bloodshed, and made the most of it. With the advent of the French, the Jesuits have taken heart, and, with the civil power at their back, have been guilty of many acts of aggression on the other missions. Sites and mission buildings, even hospitals, supposed to have been secured by covenants and treaties, have been seized and appropriated to other uses. Scarcely any of the Church [of England] natives have made shipwreck of their faith; others, through fear of consequences, have yielded themselves to the persuasions and bribes of the Jesuits.”
It can not be said that all the disasters and the change in religious influences are the fault of the French Government; it is more the result of church dependence upon the civil arm. The government under the Hova or native régime had favored the Protestant missionary enterprises to the detriment of the Catholics, and when the French came into power, there was a change, and advantage was taken by the Jesuits to retaliate upon their old opponents. Thus from both sides we have illustrated the disposition of a State-supported church to use its government prestige to discommode those who follow not with it. The Church of England and Lutheran missions in Madagascar are suffering from a principle to which they both adhere, namely, a dependence on the State for defense.
The presence of war in any country, and especially where the government has been overturned, gives for a time unbridled license to disorderly classes promiscuously. And when uncivilized or half-civilized people, altho nominally Christian, find encouragement to begin depredations, they are very apt to go beyond what any hostile church or even a professedly civilized army would indorse. So the fact that those who encourage ruthless retaliation against opponents sometimes suffer from the same hands, is not proof that they did not set the ball in motion. Nor is it surprising that churches which have adhered to false principles of support and defense should sometimes become the victims of their own false ideas.
The natives in Madagascar, when once fairly started in the game of depredations on missions as well as upon other classes, have not been over-
TREATMENT OF INDIANS.
THIS is what Rev. E. Ryerson Young, Jr., says of the treatment of the Indians in Canada:
"The great Fur-trading Company often make the boast that they never sold liquor to the Indians; but the missionaries illumined their treacherous schemes, and revealed many ways of darkness that were horrible to be known.
"O, no, the liquor was not 'sold' or 'bartered,' but it was 'presented' and 'given' in curious ways! The fine hunter with his splendid pack of furs would come in, his naturally keen sense of bargaining all alert, and his body in healthy condition after the chase. This strength of body and alertness of eye are not pleasing to the trader, but with all the suavity of a tempter, he 'treats' his hunter to a cup of rum, and plies him with more and more, till the glistening eye is drowsy, the natural sense abated. Bargaining begins and ends very quickly. The poor Indian gets very little for his valuable furs, and then with his purchases he stumbles to his wig-wam, abuses his wife, and falls into a heavy slumber, of which he will have to have a good many ere the effects of the poisonous fire-water are at all, if ever, eradicated from his body. It is a wonder to missionaries that the Indians, when they have recovered from their debauch, and comprehended their treatment, have not12scalped more traders than they have. There are records of a few of these scoundrels reaping a just harvest of their sowing. But in many, only too many, cases the innocent ones in the wigwams suffer the blows, while the traders get the fur, and the stupid Indians only clamor for more fire-water."
HIS FLESH AND BLOOD.
By C. M. Snow
"Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life. . . . For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed." "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:54, 55, 63.
WHILE life eternal is the boon,
To eat, why will we shrink?
While freely flows the fount of life,
Why hesitate to drink?
Lead on, O Saviour, as Thou wilt,
And cleanse from every sin;
Write, Lord, Thy just and holy law
Our heart of hearts within!
Tho long and dark the way appear,
And hosts of error frown,
There wait for those who falter not
A mansion and a crown.