Earlier text: En VoyagePROBABLY most of us waste more time in our activities than in our idleness. It is not the doing of nothing, but the doing of what we need not do, that is the great destroyer of our highest efficiency. We go through six or eight motions to accomplish what could have been done as well with five. We take several hundred words to say what could have been put into fifty. So our time slips away unnoticed, in trickling, wasted minutes, and at the end of a day in which we have been “on the jump” all day long, we wonder why more has not been accomplished. Not idleness but unnecessary activity has been our foe. The person of extraordinary accomplishment may not seem to work nearly so hard as we, nor to be nearly so busy; yet he gets a great deal more done. He simply cuts out the unnecessary words, actions, even thoughts. He not only accomplishes a great deal more, but he has more leisure and margin in his life. “Doing more by doing less” is a secret of efficiency. —Selected. The Sabbath, the Tithe, and the Latter Rain
By Claude E. Eldridge
Were we told that the Sabbath was Jewish and belonged to the Mosaic dispensation, and was done away at the crucifixion of Christ, we should doubtless reply promptly that the Sabbath was made for mankind (Mark 2:27); that it was instituted at creation (Gen. 2:2, 3; Ex. 20:11), hundreds of years before the time of Moses; and that the Bible contains no intimation of its abrogation. But how many faithful defenders of the Sabbath among us are equally faithful in the payment of the tithe? Do we excuse ourselves on the plea that the tithing plan belongs only to the Levitical system of the Mosaic dispensation, and ceased to apply since that dispensation passed? Let us consider this a moment. Hundreds of years before Moses and the establishment of the Levitical priesthood, Abraham paid tithe of all to Melchizedek, “the priest of the most high God.” Gen. 14:18-20. Jesus, while denouncing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in his day, took occasion to commend them for tithe paying (Luke 11:42); and the apostle Paul distinctly teaches that as in the Levitical system they who ministered about holy things lived of the things of the temple, and they who waited at the altar were partakers with the altar, even so the Lord has ordained that they who preach the gospel shall live of the gospel. 1 Cor. 9:13, 14. The minister of the temple service was supported by the tithe (Num. 18:21; 2 Chron. 31:12-15); and “even so [by the tithe] hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live.” The Sabbath existed hundreds of years before Moses; so did tithing. The Sabbath was honored by Jesus; so was tithing. The Sabbath was regarded in the Christian dispensation; so was tithing. The Sabbath, a memorial of creation, was instituted before the Mosaic dispensation, continued down through it, and will continue as long as creation endures. The tithe, pertaining to the priesthood, was with the order of Melchizedek before the Mosaic dispensation, continued through the order of Levi, and continues in the gospel dispensation, during which Jesus, “made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,” “liveth to make intercession.” The Sabbath, having to do with creation, endures as long as creation. The tithe, having to do with the priesthood, endures as long as the priesthood. God gave us the week, with its seven days, but he claims one (the seventh) as his; and we observe it as a token of our recognition of God’s creatorship. Ex. 20:8-11. God gives us ability to acquire goods, but claims a tenth part, or tithe, which we return to him as a token of our recognition of God’s ownership. A blessing is pronounced upon Sabbath-keeping: “Blessed is the man that doeth this, . . . that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it.” Isa. 56:2. A blessing is likewise promised to those who render the Lord his own in tithes and offerings. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, . . . and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Mal. 3:10. The scripture (Isa. 56:1, 2, etc.) which pronounces a blessing upon faithful Sabbath-keeping is specially applicable to the remnant church; for it is introduced by the words, “Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.” Likewise the third chapter of Malachi (with its charge of robbing God in tithes and offerings, and its promised blessings upon faithfulness in tithes and offerings) is distinctly a last-day scripture, particularly addressed to the remnant church. With these thoughts before us, how can we claim to keep the Sabbath because God’s Word enjoins it, and neglect, upon any pretext, the tithe? And yet this cause loses five hundred thousand dollars annually because professed Sabbath-keepers are robbing God. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, . . . and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” The Lord wants us to prove him by paying a faithful tithe, and promises a blessing. What is this blessing? He promises to protect our crops from devouring pests, and not to destroy the fruit of our ground. Mal. 3:11. But are material blessings—the filling of our barns, and the bursting out of our wine-presses with new wine (Prov. 3:10)—all that are promised to the faithful? “I will open you the windows of heaven.” “Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened” (Matt. 3:16), “and the Holy Ghost descended . . . upon him.” Luke 3:22. Not only are there material blessings assured to those who follow God’s plan in the payment of tithe, but there is a direct connection between true tithe paying and the outpouring of the Spirit of God. Not that his Spirit can be purchased (Acts 8:20), but that he who has forsaken sin, and obeyed every known requirement of God (of which tithe paying is one), is in a condition to ask for and receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. “I will . . . pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me . . . from within him shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit.” John 7:37-39. “The water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14. He promises to give to us such “a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” This is the blessing God wants us all to have,—the outpouring of his Spirit, anointing us for service, filling us with a love for perishing souls, thus impelling us to labor to bring to others the salvation that we have accepted. For more than half a century this people has been looking for the latter rain of the Spirit of God, a time of refreshing which is to carry this truth with more than pentecostal power, cutting the work short in righteousness. Do not our hearts thrill within us as we think of that time of glorious triumph, and of the coming of our blessed Saviour in the clouds of glory? Then let us bring ourselves into perfect harmony with Heaven on every point. Let us put away covetousness, which is idolatry. Let us bring all the tithes into the storehouse, and prove the Lord, if he will not open us the windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. No Good Thing Withheld
By T. E. BOWEN
“THE Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Ps. 84: 11. What a blessed promise! Read that text again. Think what it means to you—no good thing withheld. And this is a promise of God. He holds in his hand absolutely all good gifts, every good thing of which the human mind can conceive. But God must be the judge. He it is who must decide what the good thing for us shall be. And we must have confidence in him, leaving it with him to decide. It may be pain. It may be a walk through some humiliating valley when we think we ought to be on the mountainside. It may come in some disappointed hope, some shattered plan. Yet every day, whatever the experience, here is this promise for you and me: “No good thing will he withhold;” also, “The Lord will give grace and glory.” But upon what condition?—That we “walk uprightly.” And what does this involve? “Upright.—1. In an erect position or posture; perpendicular. 2. Morally erect; having rectitude; honest; just; as a man upright in all his ways. 3. Conformable to moral rectitude.”—Webster. “Morally erect; . . . honest; just”—that is what it means to “walk uprightly.” And such a one has God’s unfailing promise that no good thing shall be withheld. Why not actually believe it, and act every day as if we did? By looking up, talking faith, praying humbly for God’s guidance and grace, and walking uprightly, we shall not only encourage and help others, but in this effort we ourselves shall be forming right characters, thus getting ready to receive from God the best of all good things reserved for us, even the gift of everlasting life with him in heaven. Different Kinds of Courage
HUMAN experience affords the manifestation of several kinds of courage. There is the courage of physical force, an obstinate, unreasoning animal determination that does not stop to take into account circumstances or to count the cost or forecast results. Akin to this, but of a higher order, is the courage of pride, the possessors of which refuse to yield or turn back even though the pursuit of their purpose is confronted with danger and difficulties, fearful that in doing so their bravery will be called into question. Then there comes the courage of inspiration. This in the majority of cases is the courage of the world's heroes and heroines. Some great and worthy cause enlists their interest: A mighty impulse sways their emotions. The inspiration of the hour, the praise of men, the knowledge that others are looking to them for leadership, lead them to press resolutely forward. It can not be denied that to results of this courage the world is indebted for much of valuable leadership and example. But even this must take second place to that true Christian courage which moves from principle rather than from impulse or caprice; which fully counts the cost, the personal sacrifice involved; recognizes the darkness through which the path may lead, the obstacles to be surmounted; and yet through faith in God and trusting him for guidance and for final deliverance, accepts the call of duty. It was this courage which led the great Jewish statesman and prophet of the Lord, Moses, to choose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” Heb. 11: 25, 26. It was this kind of courage that led the great apostle to the Gentiles to declare regarding the sacrifices he had made for the Lord, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Phil. 3: 8. It was this courage which was enjoined upon Joshua as he was about to undertake the conquest of the land of promise. “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” Joshua 1: 9. To the exercise of this quality of character we are exhorted by the prophet Isaiah: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isa. 41: 10. This courage is needed by the soldiers of the Lord on the spiritual fields of battle. It is needed by ministers and missionaries, by those who go out and sell our publications from door to door, by the teachers in our schools, by the managers in our institutions. It is needed as well by the fathers and mothers in the home, by those engaged in life's ordinary conflicts. Let us be brave in God, strong and courageous to fight his battles. His eye is upon us. He takes account of the part played by every soldier in his army. Wherever the providence of God has placed us, whether it be to work in the darkness or in the light, in the valley or upon the mountaintop, before the multitude or within the confines of a quiet home, let us be strong and of good courage. “True courage is not the brutal force
Of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve
Of virtue and of reason. He who thinks
Without their aid to shine in deeds of
arms,
Builds on a sandy basis his renown;
A dream, a vapor, or an ague fit
May make a coward of him.” “He holds no parley with unmanly fears,
Where duty bids he confidently steers,
Faces a thousand dangers at her call,
And, trusting to his God, surmounts
them all.” Deceiving the World
By C. M. S.
It is at the risk of being considered narrow-minded, bigoted, and unintelligent that a man in these days rejects certain findings of “science” relative to geology, astronomy, and evolution, and holds to the Bible as his basis of belief. Some of the findings of science to which we refer are given space in some of the most widely read church papers of the world, as if it were the business of teachers and periodicals claiming to be Christian to set before the world in a commendatory way ideas directly at variance with the plainest teachings of the Bible. One of these influential religious journals permits a college professor to declare through its columns the triumph of Darwinism over all that the wisest and best men of the past have believed, previous to this century; that the controversy over the “missing link” has been settled in favor of such a creature having existed; that the educated have espoused the evolution theory; and such believe that man has lived upon this earth tens of thousands of years. This indicates plainly and forcibly the trend of modern thought, and the lack of faith on the part of the masses and many of the teachers of the masses. It is one of the sure indications that we are living in the time of the Lord’s preparation. “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” is one of the most pertinent questions that can be asked of this generation. It matters little that men who are indeed scientific men dispute the existence, at any time, of any such creature as that indicated by the term “missing link,” and dispute the correctness of many or most of the Darwinian hypotheses, uneasy religious teachers, writers, and speakers accept and spread abroad that antichristian doctrine until the faith of the masses is being severely shaken, and many are yielding to the claims of those theorizers. These unproved theories are being rapidly incorporated into the text-books of schools and colleges, and the young are taught them along with pagan mythology. Is it any wonder that youth so schooled come to manhood and womanhood skeptics, agnostics, and infidels? The pulpit, which should stand as an unyielding wall against the invasion of the citadel of truth by these hosts of error, is far from being a unit in the defense of truth. In fact, a large portion of the clergy might justly be charged with “giving aid and comfort to the enemy” in this particular matter. A minister in writing to one of the leading weeklies goes so far as to say that “if the preacher assumes, in an argument or appeal, that the stories in Genesis of the creation of the world and of man, of the temptation and fall, and of the deluge,” give us historical events, then the “intelligent and scholarly portion of his congregation lose their respect for the pulpit.” But the “respect” of such is not the pivot upon which the course of the minister of the gospel should turn. “To the word and to the testimony” should be his motto. Can he afford to throw aside the plain declarations of the9 Word of God, and take his stand upon the theories of men, which have ever been at variance one with another? It is a question that each preacher, and each teacher, and each individual must decide for himself; and he must remember also that in the decision which he makes, he may be deciding not only the destiny of his own soul, but that of many another who may be influenced by his course to do as he does. The world is being deceived; God has told us in his Word that the world would be deceived. That Word declares that strong delusions will come; they have come, and are continuing to come. The falsehoods that destroy souls are being expounded by the pulpit and through the press, and souls are deciding for eternity. “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” The agencies of Satan are doing all they can to make the answer No; but they who would meet Christ in peace must be able to answer Yes, and answer truly so. Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy
By W. A. S.
The Hand of God in History — No. 22
Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy
The Era of Bible Circulation
AGAIN, one of the secretaries of the Bible Society tells of the arrival of a ship in the Society Islands, in 1816, bringing the paper from the society for the printing of the Gospel of Luke in Tahitian. The islanders had but turned from cannibalism within a few years, and “the stones which had been used in human sacrifices the missionary employed for his printing-press.” Mr. Canton says:— Now was not this a marvelous thing, that in 1800 a little barefoot girl went fifty miles over the Welsh hills for a Bible, and that in 1816 some portion, if not the whole, of that Sacred Book had reached the ends of the earth—that the Eskimo read it under the glow of the northern lights, and the Hottentot child spelled it under the pear-tree in the Clough of Baboons, and the Negro learned it by heart on the sugar plantations, and the Red Indian carried it in his breast as he threaded the forest or paddled on the Great Lakes, and that the society had sent it to the seaports of South America and the Australian settlements, and was having it translated into the languages of India and China and the Malay Archipelago?—“Little Hands and God’s Book,” page 49. When, in 1852, the missionary, Mr. Buzacott, returned to Rarotonga with the printed Bible for which the people had waited,— a rush was made for the boat when it approached the shore; the crew jumped out, and the boat, with all on board, was lifted onto the shoulders of the people, and carried up the beach toward the house—the men shouting, the women weeping, for joy. . . . The heavy packages were brought through the surf over the reef, and the happy “sons of the Word” lightened their labor with a song in their own tongue:— “The Word has come,
One volume complete!
Let us learn the good Word!
Our joy is great!
The whole Word has come!
The whole Word has come!”
“It is enough,” said Papehia, when the books were distributed,—Papehia, the old native teacher, who first landed on Rarotonga thirty years before, when the people were savages and cannibals,—“my eyes have seen what my heart has so long desired. I say with Simiona, ‘Now, Lord, let thy servant depart in peace!’”—Id., page 105. Space fails to tell of long journeys made through wildernesses to secure the precious book. “In the West Indies an old gray-headed slave trudged fifty miles to obtain a Bible in order that it might be read to many of his friends; and at the end of three months he returned, as he had promised, with the price of it, which had been collected among the slaves.” Thus to hearts in darkness in all parts of the world has come the blessed “dayspring from on high.” One of the treasures of the Bible House Library, in London, is the “buried Bible,” in the Malagasy tongue, from Madagascar. The wicked Queen Ranavalona I had turned against the Christians. It was in the year 1835. To be found with a Bible was punishable with death. Search was made for the books. How this copy now in London was saved by the Christians of one village is told by the organ of the society, The Bible in All the World:— A little to the northeast of their village was a hill, near the foot of which stood a cluster of large boulders. Inside that cluster from ten to thirty of the converts used to hold a service each Sunday. Underneath one of the largest of the boulders at the foot of the hill, the people had dug out a cave to serve as a smallpox hospital for the village; in a dark corner of this cave their Bible was hidden between two slabs of granite. The queen’s officers arrived at the village to search for the Bible and other Christian books which the queen and government believed, from the reports of spies, were to be found there. A search was made in vain in the huts of the suspected and in the rice-fields; and then the officers made straight for the cluster of boulders on the hillside. When they were actually on the point of entering the cave where the Bible lay, a villager said, “I suppose you know that this is the smallpox hospital.” “We did not,” they said, starting back in horror. “Wretch! Why did you not tell us sooner? Why did you let us come so near?” The officers beat a hasty retreat—and the Bible was safe. It was not the words of man about the Book, but the inspired words themselves that had the power to let the light into our dark hearts. Of the planting of one Bible in the heart of the Dark Continent, the late Henry M. Stanley, the African explorer, told the following story:— Janet Livingstone, the sister of David Livingstone, made me a present of a richly bound Bible. Not liking to risk it on the voyage round the Victoria Nyanza, I asked Frank Pocock, my companion, to lend me his somewhat torn and stained copy; and I sailed on my way to Uganda, little thinking what a revolution in Central Africa that book would make. We stayed in Uganda some time, and one day during a morning levee, the subject of religion was broached, and I happened to strike an emotional chord in the king’s heart by making a casual reference to angels. Kings and chiefs were moved as one man to hear more about angels. My verbal descriptions of them were not sufficient. “But,” said I, “I have a book with me which will tell you far better, not only what angels are, but what God and his blessed Son are like, to whom the angels are but ministering servants.” “Fetch it,” they eagerly cried, “fetch it now! we will wait.” The book was brought, opened, and I read the tenth chapter of Ezekiel, and the seventh chapter of the Revelation from the ninth verse to the end; and, as I read the eleventh and twelfth verses, you could have heard a pin drop; and when they heard the concluding verses, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat,” I had a presentiment that Uganda would eventually be won for Christ. I was not permitted to carry that Bible away. Mtesa never forgot the wonderful words, nor the startling effect they had on him and on his chiefs. As I was turning away from his country, his messenger came, and cried: “The book! Mtesa wants the book!” It was given to him. To-day the Christians number many thousands in Uganda. They have proved their faith at the stake, under the knobstick, and under torture till death.—“Modern Mission Century,” page 95. The psalmist said: “He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.” Ps. 147:15. In this time of the end the printed Word has been running to and fro through all lands. The greatest circulation has been in Christendom, and by the whole army of missionaries abroad; but Bible colporteurs are carrying the book into thousands of the most remote corners of the earth. Last year’s report of the work by the eleven hundred colporteurs of the British Society says:— You meet these colporteurs along the highroads and foot-paths of the world, visiting lonely homes and scattered hamlets, and mixing with the crowds at markets and festivals. Last year, for example, they were selling the Scriptures on the slopes of Vesuvius, in railway stations and barrack-rooms of Siberia, in the banana plantations of Guatemala, in the diamond-mines at Kimberley, and in the rice-fields of Bengal. They were busy at Oberammergau during the passion-play, and at Nijni Novgorod during the great fair. They have offered their books among pilgrims to the holy places at Jerusalem, pilgrims10 to the grotto at Lourdes, pilgrims to Buddhist shrines in Ceylon and in Japan. They have boarded hundreds of ships in the harbors of Port Said and Naples and Chefoo and Singapore. One colporteur finds shelter in a camp of Kirghiz Tartars. Another in south India is mistaken for a wizard, from whose magic words the people flee. Another in the Sudan crosses the desert with camels, and when he halts by the wells, must keep a fire burning all night to scare off lions. At a heathen festival in Upper Burma a colporteur was beaten, and his books thrown into the Irrawaddy. On the frozen river at Astrakhan a colporteur’s sleigh broke through the ice, both his horses were drowned, and he himself narrowly escaped. Last year these wandering Bible sellers sold more than three million copies of the Scriptures, spreading far and wide the revelation of God’s redeeming love.—“The Hundred and Seventh Report,” page 6. In the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, the angel said to the prophet Daniel:— “Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Generations and centuries ran on, until more than two millenniums had passed. Empires had risen and fallen; and the Papacy, the great apostasy of the prophecies, had built up its predicted kingdom of darkness. All the time that word to Daniel stood written on the page, waiting the hour. And when the hour came,—at the close of the prophetic period,—how wonderfully was the “sure word of prophecy” fulfilled in the spreading to and fro over the earth of the era of increasing light and knowledge. “The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Isa. 52: 10. W. A. S. The World's Unrest—No. 1
By F. M. W.
THIS is an age of unrest and disquietude. A spirit of revolution possesses the minds and hearts of men. There is a departure from the old-time and long-recognized standards of truth and practise, and a reaching out after new ideals. A new pace is being set for the world's march. At the very foundation of this revolutionary process are the marked changes to be seen taking place in religious belief. Doctrines long regarded as constituting the framework of Christian faith are being set aside as antiquated and illy adapted to the present times and civilization. The miracles of Christ are laughed out of court; his virgin birth and resurrection are derided; and the entire Book of God is discredited in some important particular. This attitude is by no means assumed alone by the open skeptic, but by the professed friends of Christianity, and by the accredited representatives of the gospel. Naturally the rank and file of the people are unsettled. Seeking light, they are led by blind guides into darkness; craving rest and assurance, their minds are distracted by those who should be messengers of peace. They thus become the prey of every fantasy, the disciples of deluded and designing teachers. The Bible makes evident reference to these last days in which we are living, when it says:— “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Tim. 4: 3, 4. Quoting this scripture, the Christian Witness of Oct. 3, 1912, says:— That time has certainly come. Whenever it has been true in the past, or wherever, or shall ever be in the future, it is certain that such a time is now with us. The Witness then quotes with approval the words of a leading Christian teacher:— Unless all the signs of the times fail, the true church of Christ is about to enter upon the most serious struggle of her history. She is no longer called merely to fight an open foe without, but as Dr. Green, of Princeton, has well expressed it, “the battle rages around the citadel,” and she is forced to fight the traitors within. The real enemy is to be found in the theological seminaries, in many of the most influential pulpits, and in the religious literature of the day. Thomas Paine, Charles Bradlaugh, and Robert G. Ingersoll, perhaps the three most prominent infidels of the last one hundred fifty years, have passed away. They have had no successors as such who have carried forward their onslaughts against divine revelation, but the evil seed sown by these men and their prototypes has brought forth a baneful harvest, and there may be found many men to-day who, though not posing as infidels or skeptics, are nevertheless doing identically the same work that was done by these out-and-out opposers. The changed viewpoint in so-called Christian theology enables these disseminators still to pose as Christian ministers while they carry forward their pernicious teaching. “Rev.” George Jackson, in a lecture recently delivered in Toronto, said:— Neither Charles Bradlaugh in England nor Colonel Ingersoll in America has had any successor. Again it is safe to predict they never will. And why?—Because our changed methods of interpretation have robbed them of their miserable wares which formed their whole stock in trade. This same thought is echoed by the Free Thinkers' Magazine, which says this of the work now being carried forward by the erstwhile opposers of Tom Paine:— Tom Paine's work is now carried on by the descendants of his persecutors; all he said about the Bible is being said in substance by orthodox divines from chairs of theology. These changed methods of interpretation furnish food for serious thought and concern to many Christian men. William Phillips Hall, president of the Bible League of North America, feels that if the condemnation of Robert G. Ingersoll will be great, the fate awaiting the ministers of this new interpretation will be far greater. In an article in the Bible Student and Teacher he says:— Robert G. Ingersoll told the truth, if he has been correctly quoted, when he said, in substance, that his infidel lectures were no longer necessary to his purpose of faith-destruction, because his propaganda of unbelief had been adopted and was being vigorously pushed by ministers and theological professors! We venture to suggest that awful as poor Ingersoll's fate at the great white throne may be, it will not even approximate in horror to that unspeakably awful fate that awaits those present-day Judas Iscariots who have crucified their Lord afresh, and put him to open shame by changing the truth of God into a lie, and teaching their fellow men to go and do likewise. Nor does this work of demoralization stop alone with the church. Indeed, it would not be found in the church if it had not taken hold of the individual life. It has invaded the sanctuary of the soul. The institution of the home, in common with the church, is threatened. The marriage relationship is being discounted by thousands as a compact no longer sacred. Thousands to-day are adrift in blank, hopeless, wandering unrest, the prey of their own carnal natures, the victims of unreasoning passion and fanciful caprice. Man can not look to his fellows for assurance or spiritual leadership. God alone in these days of spiritual declension is the hope of his people. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. . . . Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” F. M. W. An Attack Upon God
By C. M. S.
Our Lord, in foreshadowing the dissensions that would exist in the world because of the teaching of the truth, declared to his disciples, and through them to us, that “a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” There are no more bitter or disheartening feuds than those which spring up in one’s own family. There is no one who can so soon and so disastrously undermine the good name and influence of a family as one brought up under the family roof. We know this to be true of earthly families. It is equally true of the family of the household of God. Foes in the11 household of heaven caused a multitude of the heavenly host to be thrown under chains of darkness and sentence of death. The key-note of that dissension, that enmity, was pride, and the passing of creature judgment upon creative words and works. The creature exalted himself to the place of judge, and in the presence of his associates sat in judgment upon the Creator and Judge of all the universe. He created dissension by calling in question the righteousness and truth (infallibility) of God. Then came in swift succession the fall of the angels, the fall of man, and the launching of God’s plan for the redemption of man. But now eminent men, bearing the name Christian, declare to us, “Man is not fallen nor falling;” the Bible is “the masterpiece of ancient literature; inspired, but not infallible.” Here is a direct contradiction of God’s whole work and purpose concerning man. If man is not fallen, he certainly needs no savior. Consequently, Emmanuel, who was to “save his people from their sins,” becomes to them a historical myth, and the story of his sufferings for man’s redemption becomes merely a sad, sweet fable. He who will not believe that he has fallen from the high estate in which God placed him, can never see the necessity for the deep heart work required to make him a child of God, nor for the intercession in his behalf of the great Mediator between God and man. The declaration that man is not fallen strikes at the very root of the gospel work, and that is the purpose of him who inspired men to make it. And that other declaration, that the Word of God is “inspired, but not infallible,” is the reiteration on earth of Satan’s challenge to God in heaven. When man sets himself up as a judge of the words and works of God, the rebellion in heaven is reproduced in the earth. It is a sorrowful spectacle to see fallible mortals, finite wisdom, sitting in sober criticism upon the wisdom and infallibility of the Wonderful Counselor, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and taking upon themselves the task of sifting the Word to separate its chaff from its wheat. When we stop to consider it, it is a terrible charge which the critics have brought against God in the declaration that his Word is “inspired, but not infallible.” That would make God the inspirer of that which is fallible, faulty, false; for it is only the infallible that is certain and sure. To admit that a thing is fallible, is to admit that it may be false, and probably is, either in whole or in part. Then the makers of that charge are stating to the world that what God has inspired is faulty, and may be false in whole or in part. Surely the adversary of souls has not brought any stronger accusation against God than that. Is it too much to say that there are foes in the household of God, the church? Is it too much to say that the work which such are doing is not the work of God? It is a solemn thing to make the charge. But it is a more solemn thing to be doing that work. The true child of God, whose heart has been touched and regenerated by the hand of God till all rebellion has been taken out of it, will not allow the work of this foe to sever him from the true family of God. But it must be borne in mind that when we take sides with those who deny the infallibility of God’s Word, we become partakers with those who charge God with inspiring that which is untrue; who accuse God of giving to the people of this world a book to direct them in the path of truth and righteousness which is itself untrue in part, and has not pointed out to us what is true and what is untrue that we might know how to distinguish the true from the false in his own book. Truly, such an accusation could be inspired only by the prince of darkness; and when we make that charge against God, we place ourselves in the ranks of the adversary. Note and Comment
By Editor
THIS present time is one of thrilling interest, and of peril as well, to every man, woman, and child. We have indeed reached the times which shall try men's souls. Perils confront us socially, politically, and religiously. Warring elements exist on every side. It is a time for sober thinking, for careful living. Regarding this the California Christian Advocate of May 30, 1912, says:— The time has come when men of sober, thoughtful minds should be heard. The present tumultuous condition doubtless has a reason, but it must not be forgotten that one tumult does not cure another. Society, by the superficial education of the sensational press, has become frenzied. We need progress, but it should be steady, regular, dignified, and righteous. There is no need of being in a wild, frenzied tumult just because every one else is in the rigors of a strange mania. Who are the men who have given us this great, free republic? — Washington, Hamilton, Marshall, Adams, Monroe, and Lincoln. These have all been men who have stood against the storm and tumult. At the close of the American Revolution the confederate colonies were without coherency, and ruin was not only staring them in the face, but it was raging and rioting everywhere. Be careful! this country has millions upon millions of foreigners, uninformed as to the meaning and working agencies of a free country. There is too much inflammable material in this country to be kindling bonfires recklessly. Every Christian citizen should take a moment and do some sober thinking for himself and for his very greatly agitated country. The Men and Religion Movement
It is announced now that an effort will be made during 1913 to carry this movement around the world. Leaders who have taken part in the movement in this country will soon start on their itinerary, which will include Europe and the countries of the Orient. According to the Continent of Sept. 19, 1912, the objects to be attained by this journey are— cultivating fraternal cooperation among the Christian nations, increasing the power of spiritual effort for men and boys, assisting in a better coalition of the evangelistic, educational, nurtural, individualistic, and social methods of Christian service. PRAYER is the communion of the human soul with God. It should be addressed to him. The one who approaches the throne of grace, whether it be in the secret place or in the public congregation, should enter into the secret of his presence conscious only that his prayer is heard of God, and forgetful of every human listener. It is to be regretted, however, that there are many prayers uttered which are addressed to the audience rather than to the great Creator. A prayer made on a public occasion recently in Boston was declared to be “the most eloquent prayer ever addressed to a Boston audience.” The audience approved its beautiful phraseology and well-rounded sentences. In God’s sight the truly eloquent petition is that which comes from an overflowing heart of love and gratitude, which recognizes the weakness of the petitioner, and that salvation and help can come only through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is better always to pray the prayer of the publican than the prayer of the Pharisee.