Earlier text: The Power of God's WordHow They Became Convinced
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.] In the year 1898 I left my home in Dundee, Scotland, to come to America. I had been brought up an Episcopalian, but after coming to this country I became dissatisfied with its forms and ceremonies. I was a great lover of books, especially religious ones, and while employed in a certain hotel in Carberry, Manitoba, Canada, when my day's work was done I was given permission by the lady of the house to select any book I wished to read from the bookcase. One day I was looking at the titles of the books, when my eyes lighted on “Great Controversy between Christ and Satan.” I never shall forget how surprised I was, because I never had known till then that there was a controversy between Christ and Satan. When I had read it through, I came to the conclusion that what it said about the seventh day being the Sabbath was true. I never knew that any people but the Jews kept the Sabbath, and I supposed that because they did not accept the Messiah they were deceived in everything else. Well, I simply wished that I could meet a Christian people, who kept the seventh day. I know that the Lord was leading me, because soon after that I became acquainted with two Bible-workers, Miss Sowler and Miss Purdon, who were the means, in the hands of the Lord, of bringing me into the truth. One thing that helped me to accept the Sabbath was that it is the seal of God, while Sunday-keeping is the seal of the “man of sin.” I also learned that “sin is the transgression of the law.” I had been taught that the law, including the Sabbath, was done away when Christ came. But if this were true, there could be no more sin, because “sin is not imputed where there is no law,” and sin still reigned in the earth; therefore the law is still in force. I received a wonderful blessing from the Lord when I fully decided to keep the Sabbath, and I trust that when Jesus comes I may be found among those of whom it is said, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” WHEN Brother Wm. Lewsadder held Bible readings at our house, I could not help seeing that Saturday is the Sabbath, and that I must keep it. So I said that by the help and grace of God I would keep the Sabbath, but it was no little task to do so. Satan tried me in every conceivable way; he told me that my friends would all turn against me, that I could not afford to pay tithes, etc. The more I tried to keep the Sabbath, the darker and more hedged up the way became, until at last I wished that I had not been shown the light on the subject. The more I thought about it, the more I was impressed that I must obey God or be lost. One day while so burdened I was impressed to pray, and as I went down on my knees in prayer to Him who is able to deliver in every time of trouble, I told Him all; and there at that moment I received the victory. Thanks be to God, I have been able to pay my tithes, have had plenty to eat, and some to spare. I have kept the victory in my soul ever since, and I now rejoice that, through prayer and faith in God, I received a joy in my soul that the world can not give nor take away. At one time I endured religion, but I thank God that I am now fully enjoying it. I can not begin to tell the goodness of God to me, and how wonderfully He opened the way for me, both spiritually and temporally. Now I have more true friends than I ever had before. I am determined by the grace of God to stand in the front of the battle and fight for our all-conquering King. Pray for me, that I may prove faithful, and at last meet all the brothers and sisters in the earth made new. MRS. E. M. TOOLEY. Professor Sayce, who began life as a destructive critic, but was converted from the error of his ways by the stubborn facts revealed by archeology, has just published a small book of great value. He sums up his own views of the methods and conclusions of these enemies of God's Word in seven conclusions. They are briefly condensed by the Life of Faith, in this way:— 1. The critics treat the Bible as if it had been written in English, and by English authors. 2. In the case of books in their own tongue, and by known authors; they have failed in every instance to discover and show joint authorship. How, then, in all the world, is it possible for them to dissect an oriental book like the Bible, written in a dead language, a fragment only of which remains. 3. The philological, or language, basis of criticism has again and again been shown by monumental remains to be untrustworthy. The existence of histories, literature, and historic personages of Egypt, Babylonia, and Greece, all categorically denied by the critics as ever having had an existence, has now been established by the monuments. 4. The critics hold we must come to the age of Solomon before the state of literature permitted of the production of the Biblical writings. The monumental facts show that centuries before Moses, writing had reached a stage adequate to all requirements. 5. The two, so-called accounts of the Deluge appear also in the Babylonian tablets. This overthrows the position of the critics. 6. The Law of Moses, which the critics bring down to the time of the exile, shows marked evidences of having been suited to a people who had not attained to a high state of culture and civilization. The book of the Law of Khammurabi, or Amraphel, eight centuries earlier than that of Moses, shows points of refinement and culture in advance of the Mosaic code. 7. The numerous names in Genesis 14 have been found on the monuments, some of them letter for letter. A PROMINENT Unitarian has turned upon us simple people who believe the Bible, to charge against us the increasing evils of the day. He says: “I believe from my heart that most of the infidelity of Christendom, as well as the irreligion of to-day, is to be traced directly to the dictum that the Bible is the flawless autograph of God.” He declares that when the child becomes a man, and finds out the many “discrepancies” in different manuscripts, and that many psalms were written in the days of the Maccabees, he will say, “I wanted the truth, and was taught a falsehood.” As to the discrepancies, they are too trifling to deserve attention. As to the Maccabean origin of the Psalms, that theory is absolutely contradicted by the undoubted discovery of Mr. Thirtle of the meaning of the titles of the Psalms. No psalm could date later than the time of the return from the captivity. No; it is better to take the Bible at its own estimate: as the Word of God, of supreme authority, and of abiding force. Teach it in this way to the children, to the men of mature minds, and to the nations of the world. It is the absence of this teaching which makes infidels.—Watchword and Truth. THERE are many who go through the form of prayer, but never pray. Prayer is to them a sort of superstition. If they fail to go through the form of words, they fear that “ill luck” will follow them. In short their prayers are a sort of fetish in which they are trusting, instead of trusting God. Bailey has well said,— “Prayer is the spirit speaking truth to Truth.” He who truly prays lays the heart open before God, and the prayer becomes the all-controlling desire of the soul. That our prayers may be answered—the one desire for which the petition is offered—there are always certain essentials. 1. We must come to God honestly. We can not hide from Him. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked.” Open the whole soul so that the light of God shall penetrate every part. However much we may have endeavored to deceive self, and have deceived self and others, we can not deceive God. Do not attempt it. 2. Let us go to Him with praise and thanksgiving in our heart and upon our lips; not to thank God that we are not as other men are, or for our goodness in any way; but thank God for His goodness and mercy and wisdom and power, and for the love which has placed all these at our service despite our sinfulness, nay, more, because of our sinfulness. The Most High says: “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me.” Ps. 50: 23. There is a true philosophy in thus coming to God. He who sees himself in any aspect as the great thing interposes a veil of darkness between himself and God. If he feels that he is about right in himself, his self-righteousness prevents God from helping him; for whatever help he received he would credit to himself, and God can not give His glory to another. If the soul looks upon his own black sins alone, he will come to God discouraged and darkened, and can not see the blessing which Infinite Love holds out to him. But if we see only God’s goodness and power and wisdom pledged to help us because we are unworthy and needy, we will come to the mercy-seat with confidence; we will expect answers to prayer. 3. But with our praise we will come humbly, confessing our sins, acknowledging our utter need. We will keep back nothing. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Surely He can not prove “unfaithful” and “unjust.” If our sins are not forgiven, it is because we still cherish them. 4. For true confession of sin implies the forsaking of sin; and the forsaking of sin means the yielding to obey. He who names his sin before God, and turns from the mercy-seat to indulge the same sin, has never forsaken it, has never truly confessed it. He still loves it, and prefers it to its opposite—obedience to God. Only the willingly obedient may expect answers of blessing and rest. “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” We may not have been obedient hitherto; that should not keep us from God. Are we now willing? Have we broken with sin? Is it our will to do His will? If it is, if we choose His way whatever crucifixion to the flesh it may involve, we may know that God will hear, and that He accepts us just as we are, and clothes us with His own robe of righteousness. “This is the will of God, even your sanctification.” “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us, and if we know that He hear us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” Then ask, and receive. 5. “But”—for the enemy always suggests “buts”—what of our habits of sins, our continual falling, the impatient disposition, the inherent love of sin, the hardness of heart. Well, God is able to save us from all these. “Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger forever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” 6. But—and it is well to consider this “but”—we cannot expect God to help us to overcome covetousness when we are indulging our covetous disposition. We must yoke up with Him in self-sacrifice and generosity. We must not expect Him to subdue in us the love of stimulants or tobacco when we are feeding the very appetite on food which demands the stimulants. We must not expect Him to subdue our impatience, when, by intemperate work, bad air, and bad diet we are making it impossible for His Spirit to work in us. We must not expect a sensitive conscience and tender heart when we are feeding upon fiction, or neighborhood scandals, or the sensations of the daily press, while we are neglecting prayer and the food of the soul—the Word of God. God sanctifies through His truth received and lived (John 17:17), not slighted and rejected. One class of food means death; the other, means life. We prize eternal life as we regard His Word. Jesus says, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” 7. Pray for the Spirit; “because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.” “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find. . . . If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? . . . If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” Pray for the Spirit that the hard heart may be softened, that the sin may be burned away, that love for all things good and pure may prevail, that you may seek to do, long to do, love to do, God’s will in all its fulness. God hears; God will answer. GOD'S WORD THE ONLY PROOF.
Neither signs, nor dreams, nor self-improvised tests of any kind are proof, one way or the other, on the Sabbath question. The Lord has given us His plain word on that subject, and to ask Him for other proof is to distrust His word. To make any other test the basis of belief is to deny His word. The commandment of the Lord says distinctly, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.” The first day is not the seventh day, and no system of conjuring with the days can make it so. The Lord has told us distinctly that in six days He “made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.” He also tells us what He did on each day, beginning with the first. The first day was, and the seventh day was not, occupied in this manner. When the record comes to the seventh day, it says, “He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made” on the previous six days, which, of course, included the first. Then, for this reason, because the Lord rested on the seventh day, He “blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it.” He never has done so with any other day, nor has He ever removed the blessing from the seventh day. This is all plainly written in the Word of God, and what must He think when an individual asks Him for some kind of special sign to show which is the Sabbath day? He tells us what He7 thinks: “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.” The great deceiver deals in signs and wonders for the accommodation of those who prefer them to the Word of God. 2 Thess. 2: 8-12; Rev. 13: 11-14. Then those who seek for signs aside from the plain commandments of God, put themselves at the mercy of the enemy, and lay themselves open to his deceptions. The Sabbath day is itself a sign between God and those who obey His commandments—His spiritual Israel—“forever.” Ex. 31: 17, 18; Rom. 2: 28, 29; Phil. 3: 3. The Word of God is the only standard of doctrine. No matter how many signs or dreams or visions one may have concerning the Sabbath, or any other scriptural doctrine, these must themselves be tested by the Word. HUMANITY AT THE BAR OF ETERNITY.
As the Word of God is true and can not fail, we are nearing the time when every one must render account for the life he has led upon this earth. In the beginning, man was placed upon the earth with a code of morals essential to his existence—a code of morals in whose spirit rested the government of the whole universe. Man broke that law, that moral code, that principle of eternal right-doing, and brought upon himself the penalty which the breaking involved. But before that penalty fell upon the race, the life of Christ was interposed, and the possibility of eternal life was again held out to man. Then the eternal Son of God became the Advocate of the prisoner at the bar, and the Father and Ruler of the universe became the Judge upon the bench of ultimate justice. Now what is man’s case? and what is his hope of acquittal or pardon? Is his case safe in the hands of his Advocate? and what is the standing of his Advocate in the court of last resort? Speaking of those who had professed His name, the Lord declares, “They have transgressed My covenant, and trespassed against My law.” Hosea 8:1. The prophet of the Lord declares, in Ezra 9:6, “Our iniquities have increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.” Inspiration declares that we were “dead in trespasses and sins.” Altho that is our condition in His sight, yet the record that is kept of all our doings is not a prejudiced or partial one. Faithful are they who write it down, and faithful is He that must pass upon the records. “Thou tellest my wanderings; put Thou my tears into Thy bottle; are they not in Thy book?” Ps. 56:8. Along with the record of the wanderings goes the record of our sorrow for sin. We can not change the record by anything that we can do; for “tho thou wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord.” Jer. 2:22. As soon as man sinned, he made necessary a salvation that must come through another; for his own misdeeds merited death. “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. “And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12. In such a condition, with such a penalty hanging over his head, unable to save himself (to say nothing of saving others), what foundation has man for hoping to escape that death from which there is no awaking? Ah, there comes in that glorious provision voluntarily made by the self-sacrificing Son of God. He might have stayed in heaven, refused the humility of the human, escaped the torturing death of the cross, and still have retained the glory which He had with the Father “before the world was.” But He did not choose thus to do. Speaking of Him, the Word says, “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb. 12:2. In fact, He emptied Himself of His own glory that He might restore man to the glory which he had lost. He “became obedient unto death,” that He might provide a way whereby man could triumph over death. He died, the Just for the unjust; rose again, because He could not be holden of death, and thus became the “Captain of our salvation.” Because man had sinned—because we had sinned—Christ, to bear the penalty which we deserved, was made “to be sin for us,” while He Himself was sinless, that we might appear, in the eyes of the law, blameless as He. He did all this while we were yet in sin, yet in rebellion against the authority of Heaven—died for us while we were still standing with our backs turned upon Him, spurning the offers of His grace. He has even engaged to present man’s case in the court of last resort. That blessed fact is announced in the following unmistakable language: “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” That Advocate is able to save to the uttermost all who will come unto God by Him. “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven.” The awful earnestness of that work is shown in the following: “The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which can not be uttered.” Rom. 8:26. The only thing that now stands between man and life everlasting in the kingdom of God is man’s refusal to repent of sin and accept the proffered pardon, putting his case in the hands of One who is at once his Friend, his Brother, his Redeemer, and his Advocate, at the bar of eternity. Our case is now at that bar. Our crucified and risen Lord is the only One who is able to carry it through. The all-important question for each of us is this: Is my case in the hands of the one Advocate who has a right to plead for me there? BABYLON'S “WISE MEN” AGAIN TESTED.
In the fourth chapter of Daniel we have a testimony to the greatness of the “high God,” by King Nebuchadnezzar, that breathes more of a spirit of meekness than is manifest in his decrees in honor of the God of heaven recorded in the second and third chapters. This testimony was written by the king after a most humiliating experience, which is also recorded in the fourth chapter. It reads as follows:— “Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are His signs! and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation.” Verses 1–3. The humble, subdued spirit manifested in these words is in marked contrast with his former utterances. There is no threat of vengeance upon those who shall “speak anything amiss against” the God of the Jews. He speaks to the people like an apostle of Christ, saying, “Peace be multiplied unto you.” Then he says that he “thought it good to show” them what God had done for him. That was a real Gospel testimony, just what the Lord would have all men do—tell what He has done for them. He doesn't want any human laws to enforce respect for His name, nor any threats of penalty toward those who believe not. When Christ was on earth preaching the Gospel, He said, “If any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” John 12:47. And that is the spirit of every true disciple. In a former testimony, Nebuchadnezzar had conceded that the God of Daniel was “a God of gods, and a lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets;” but that concession contemplated only the time being, there was no admission of everlasting superiority; in fact, the king almost immediately set about enforcing his own designs in defiance of the “Lord of kings.” And after the wonderful manifestation of power in connection with the fiery furnace, the king’s submission was not marked by a spirit of meekness or true humility. His acknowledgment of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was accompanied by threats of cruelty against his subjects who should speak against that God. This was merely his own subservience to One in whom he recognized a superiority of power, and a desire to enforce in others a like superstitious dread of his own power and authority. But in this third testimony the king humbly confesses that the kingdom of the “high God” is “an everlasting kingdom,” and that His dominion is continually in force—“from generation to generation.” In this connection, in telling how this marked change of heart was brought about, Nebuchadnezzar incidentally reveals another failure of the wisdom of Babylon’s “wise men.” The utter unwisdom of their assumed wisdom is again exposed by means of a dream. In the providence of God they were tested and exposed through the medium of dreams because the interpretation of dreams was their special pretense. The king says:— “I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace; I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers; and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.” Dan. 4:4–7. The reader will notice that the king did not, as on the former occasion, ask them first to tell him the dream. He had proved, and they had acknowledged, their inability to tell what a dream was unless it were revealed to them by the dreamer. They had confessed that their gods did not dwell with flesh, and therefore could not render them any help in that respect. See ch. 2:11. This time the king takes them on their own former proposition, that if he would tell the dream, they would show the interpretation. He was still anxious for some pretext for recognizing the wisdom of Babylon. He was loath to admit her inferiority in any respect. He would give the men he had once condemned another chance to demonstrate the superiority of Babylon. He would not be so unreasonable this time as to ask of them what, as they said, no other king ever had asked, namely, to tell off-hand what some man had dreamed. So he told them the dream; but, even then, they could not make known the interpretation, and the king was obliged to turn again to Daniel, the captive prophet of the God of heaven. In a future article we will consider the dream and its fulfilment, which caused the king to so alter the temper of his testimony regarding the “high God.” 1558.—Keeping the Sabbath Holy.
Are we keeping the Sabbath holy when we drive our stock to church or Sabbath-school on the Sabbath. Ex. 20:8–11; Matt. 24:20. Please answer through the Signs of the Times. S. M. M. As regards the injunction concerning the beasts, it is for the one sole purpose that the animals may rest physically, and not be cruelly treated. Ex. 23:12. “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.” Prov. 12:10. On the other hand, we are told that we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as some do, and so much the more not forsake it, as the day of the Lord draws near. Heb. 10:25. But to meet with those of “like precious faith” is impossible for many of the scattered ones to do on foot. Sometimes they are too far away from the place of meeting; sometimes there are old and feeble ones. We see no transgression of the Sabbath commandment, in the light of Isa. 58:13 and Matt. 12:1–12, in the use of horse or ox or ass in going to church or Sabbath-school, if the beasts are properly nourished and cared for and have sufficient rest through the week. He is not presumedly using the beast for his own profit, but to the Lord’s glory. The priests did double work in the sanctuary on the Sabbath, but they did it for God’s glory. It is possible so to regard the Sabbath as to make it a burden in strictures of our own conception, or to make it a curse by using it as a day for pleasures of the sense; or, on the other hand, to keep it holy, joyfully, gladly, according to His Word and our Lord’s example. 1560.—A View of the Coming Kingdom.
“Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, TILL they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Matt. 16:28. Who is referred to by the phrase, “There be some standing here”? Surely not those to whom Christ was speaking, was it? And, “shall not taste of death TILL they see the Son of Man?” Was this clause intended to be understood, that some would be stricken dead immediately after they had seen Christ coming in the clouds of glory, the second time? S. A. B. 2. They are preceded by a prediction of Christ’s suffering and death, and the necessity of following Him, and are followed by the story of the Transfiguration. 3. Taking the Transfiguration with the lesson it was intended to convey, and the lesson it did convey according to one of the apostles, and we are forced to the conclusion that Christ referred to His own disciples by the “some standing here.” 4. His promise was that they should “see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom (Matthew), “see the kingdom of God come with power” (Mark), “see the kingdom of God” (Luke). 5. The great essential things in the kingdom of God are the King, the subjects, and their condition. These subjects will be made up of two classes when Christ comes, the righteous dead who have been sleeping and are then raised from the dead, and the righteous living who will then be translated. 1 Cor. 15:51–54; 1 Thess. 4:13–17. 6. In the Transfiguration scene we have all these concomitants: there was Christ, the glorious King, whose countenance was altered and whose garments were so exceeding white and glistening as no fuller on earth could whiten them; there was Moses, the representative of those who had died and were raised from the dead (Rom. 5:14; Jude 9); there was Elijah who had been translated to heaven without seeing death (2 Kings 2:11). It was a miniature representation of what Christ’s second coming will be to His people. 7. Peter refers to this very transfiguration scene as the proof that the apostles had not followed “cunningly-devised fables” when they made known “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:16–18. A word further: “Till” does not involve the meaning suggested. The whole scene of Christ’s future kingdom was given to encourage the disciples in their coming trials. 1561.—Old and New Dispensations.
Will you please explain through your paper the difference between the New and the Old Dispensations? Much is said about the superiority of the present age of “free grace”—the age of the “Holy Spirit,” etc., and there must be a great difference some way, since the angels sang for joy at Christ’s birth. But yet the “law,” or commandments, are as binding now as then, and faith was as essential then as now. The righteous men of old were filled with the Spirit as fully as are any now, and people were saved then as now by virtue of Christ’s sacrifice. Of course Christ’s life and death made clearer the character of God and His plan of salvation, but is this all? F. E. A. 1. The word “dispensation” simply means a dispensing, a weighing or dealing out, a distribution, a stewardship. Old and New Dispensations are not Bible terms. If used at all as distinguishing different ages, they would refer to the forms and modes of administration of God’s blessings, not to the character of the blessings. 2. God’s character, and hence His character-requirements, are always the same. He demands obedience to His will, the keeping of His commandments in all ages alike. He appoints the same means of salvation, the sacrifice of Christ, and faith in God. Neither time nor circumstances can change these principles. 3. But there has been a constant development or disclosing of God’s plan in varying degrees throughout the ages; and instructions have grown fuller and completer as the ages have gone by. 4. In the patriarchal times the family was the center around which all worship revolved, the head of the household being the priest and chief dispenser of God’s blessings. More elaborate, more detailed, were the ceremonies and the worship during the Levitical age, and the chief ministers or dispensers of God’s truth were the Levites. All the shadows of the past met the substance in the person and sacrifice of Christ Jesus, and the dispensation of blessing was largely among the ministers and elders of God. 4. But there were “free grace,” and “the Spirit,” of old, and the efficacy of Christ’s offering then availed, as now, and it was necessary to believe God to be saved. 5. Wherein, then, lies the great difference?—In these chiefly: (a) It was a great step in the development of God’s plan; (b) It demonstrated the power of God over sin in human flesh; (c) In this perfect life of our Lord the world safely passed its crisis (John 12:31), and the doom of Satan and sin was forever sealed; (d) Until that time even the angels had been, if not in doubt, at least in perplexity, but all was settled in the personal triumph of Christ (Rev. 12:10–12). See Rom. 16:25, 26; Eph. 3:3–6; Rev. 5:1–10. Much more might be said, but we have not the space. But our correspondent will see that the glorious confirmation in fulfilment of all God’s promises in Christ Jesus were marvelous events. All these were the manifestations of the mystery of godliness for which the church had been in travail, and the world had been waiting. Not the least of the factors that go to establish the foolishness of war is its enormous cost. Next to the strong drink and tobacco habits, it is the most expensive luxury which humanity indulges. As one item indicating how fast the people's resources may be squandered in this wicked business, we give the following from Leslie's Weekly:— Modern naval warfare is one of the most costly things that can be imagined, and a combat between two fleets means the expenditure of vast sums of money. Some idea of the high cost can be arrived at by taking a Japanese war-ship like the Kasuga or Nysshin, and calculating the number of shots she would discharge, say, at Port Arthur. The first-named ship carries four cannon which cost $30,000 each. One of these guns can fire two shots per minute, and every shot costs $400; thus in five minutes these four cannon can discharge forty bombs at a cost of $16,000. The smaller cannon cost each $18,000, and every shot they fire, means an expenditure of $70. They are very rapid, and it is estimated that in five minutes the twelve cannon could discharge shot to the value of nearly $35,000. Is it any wonder that the “common people” of the world are poor, and that in the so-called “civilized nations,” the so-called “Christian nations”—which are the real supporters of the war and strong drink and tobacco habits—the common people are growing poorer? The war spirit is encouraged in politics, is fostered in the churches, and inculcated in the schools, under the guise of patriotism, until war and the preparation for it is a topic of universal and all-absorbing interest. And the common people not only have to furnish the brawn for the rank and file of the armies and navies, but they have to pay the greater part of the vast expense; while, at9 the same time, they have nothing to gain but to be sacrificed by those who lure them on to further sacrifice to the god of war. Is it Christian?—Hear the Captain of the Christian host, who, when doing the most noble and heroic service that humanity ever beheld, said of Himself, “The Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.” And the Apostle Paul reiterates the principle when he says: “Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds).” What “strongholds” is the Christian army designed to pull down?—“We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” With what weapons is the Christian army equipped, in order to contend with the only enemy (aside from self) against which they are to fight at all?—The answer of the Spirit is, “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” This “whole armor” of the Christian, in all its detail of accoutrement, is specifically given as follows: “Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” Now, if all the professed Christians in the world would adopt the principles and armament of warfare laid down by the “Captain of our salvation,” and would adopt the diplomatic principles embodied in the moral law and the Golden Rule, their influence upon the world would soon do away with the impoverishing expense and demoralizing effect of great armies and carnal warfare. “THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN OF ALL.”
By Editor
The Indianapolis News says:— When the American people undertake reform, they must begin nearest the ground, closest to the great source. If they will insist on an end of violence and murder by labor, and on purity in their legislators, they must first get after the corrupt scoundrels who stand in the background, and poison all sources of public action by their bribes. The principal villain is the man who buys councils and corrupt legislators, the “respected” citizen, the “promoter,” the “manager,” who is clothed in soft raiment, and whose name is writ large. This man, who is to-day sapping the vitality of American institutions, municipal, state, and national, is the one that must first be driven from prominence to obscurity, from respectability to disgrace, from fame to infamy. But the above reform is of a class that no legislation can reach. It has a moral basis, and law does not make morals. The bribing concerns would go out of fashion, if there were no legislators, no councilmen, no corrupt officials to be bribed. All this talk is good, but who will drive out the briber? Surely not the one “benefited” by his bribing? Where will he be driven to? He will find his partners in the bribing business all the way from the top to the bottom, and their name is legion. We would prefer putting this title in a different way, “The Most Alarming Symptom of All.” The easy operations of such men show the whole body politic to be fearfully corrupt. Read what the prophet says: “Their hands are upon that which is evil to do it diligently; the prince asketh, and the judge is ready for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth the evil desire of his soul: thus they weave it together. The best of them is as a brier; the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity.” Micah 7:3, 4.