A GREAT crisis awaits the people of God. A great crisis awaits the world. The most momentous struggle of all the ages is before us. Events which for more than half a century we have, upon the authority of the prophetic Word, declared to be impending, are now taking place before our eyes. An amendment to the Constitution restricting liberty of conscience, has long been urged upon the legislators of the nation; and the question of enforcing Sunday observance has become one of national importance. Are we ready for the issue involved in the Sunday movement?
Many who are working for Sunday enforcement have never understood the claims of the Bible Sabbath, and the false foundation on which the Sunday institution rests. And they are blinded to the results of Sunday legislation. They do not see that it would be a blow against religious liberty. But any movement in favor of religious legislation is really an act of concession to the Papacy, which for so many ages has steadily warred against liberty of conscience. Sunday owes its existence as a so-called Christian institution to the "mystery of iniquity;" and its enforcement will be a virtual recognition of the principles which are the very corner-stone of Romanism. When our nation shall so abjure the principles of its government as to enact a Sunday law, Protestantism will in this act join hands with the Papacy; it will be giving life to the tyranny which has long been eagerly watching its opportunity to spring again into active despotism.
As this struggle progresses, it may appear to human sight that Satan is triumphant and that truth is overborne with falsehood and error. In the country which has been an asylum for the conscience-oppressed servants of God and defenders of His truth, religious freedom may be placed in jeopardy, and the people over whom God has spread His shield, may meet suffering and trial. But God would have us recall His dealings with His people in the past, to save them from their enemies, and trust in Him. He has always chosen extremities, when there seemed no possible hope for deliverance from Satan's workings, for the display of His power. Man's necessity is God's opportunity.
While the Protestant world is making concessions to Rome, and danger is increasing on every hand, let us arouse to comprehend the situation, and to see the contest before us in its true bearings. Let the watchmen lift up the voice, and give with clearness the message which is present truth for this time. "For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" Let us show the people where we are in prophetic history, and seek to arouse the spirit of true Protestantism, awakening the world to a sense of the value of the religious liberty they have so long enjoyed.
THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT, AND ITS COUNTERFEIT.
By L. A. Phippeny
IN the days immediately preceding the second coming of Christ, a remarkable energizing of the spirits of all flesh is to take place.
For "it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh." Acts 2:17, cited from Joel, and in harmony with the glad promises of all ages. Placing the time more definitely, it means now.
At the beginning of the Gospel dispensation there was witnessed a special outpouring of the Spirit. For a like manifestation, tho far exceeding the former in glory, the expectation of God's children is transferred to the end of the age, the days in which is consummated the Gospel message of salvation. And, therefore, the present world-wide spiritual activity is one of the striking signs that prove the proximity of the end of the age and the unparalleled events that are grouped around it. Then the solemn but grand truth follows that already there has been poured upon all flesh a measure of vitalizing power from on high. Not alone upon the earnest seekers after divine grace is the refreshing shower falling, but upon saint and sinner.
Do not stumble at the thought that all flesh is receiving the gracious drops from above. It is God's truth, for all flesh is a thirsty land, and needs it. You must have felt the operation of the unseen power upon your own heart. Then for your soul's sake and for eternity yield to its gentle pleading. Were you looking for signs and miracles to follow the outpouring of the Spirit? Well, they will follow where God wills, but it possibly may not be your lot to witness them. Leave that to God, and to Him also leave the responsibility of distributing the gifts of the Spirit where and when and upon whom He wills.
Again, remember that the office of the Spirit is to convince of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, and not every soul—far from it—to whom the reproof and the conviction come will turn from the pleasures of sin to the joys of life everlasting. But this reproving, convincing, convicting, is pressing upon the conscience of every living soul of mankind, with power. Therefore, as this is the office of the Spirit, and this work is now actually being accomplished, the Spirit is being poured upon all flesh, according to the Word.
You may ask, What is the means by which this work is being done? And the answer is, By the Word of God. By the Word of God only can His Spirit possibly be revealed, or made known, and thus as it were poured upon a needy place; just as God Himself is made known by means of His Word. "But what saith it? The Word is nigh12thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the word of faith, which we preach. . . . For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? . . . So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." And so through a knowledge of the Word, the Spirit works upon the heart.
But there are the heathen, in the midnight of ignorance and degradation. Untold millions of them have neither the printed nor the spoken Word, and know not God. But they have the Word in nature, and nature is but God’s thought expressed by means of His creative Word in the forms we behold about us. And the Word in nature tells of the One who spoke it. "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse."
And so in this momentous time God is speaking a last message of warning, conviction, reproof, invitation, to every soul, by the printed Word scattered as the autumn leaves; by the preached Word; by precept; by example; by the revelation of His power in nature—but always through the Word in some form accessible to the individual to whom He speaks and comprehensible by him. And thus His Spirit is being poured upon all flesh. Therefore, preach the Word. And the angels of God are impressing all hearts to receive of that Spirit, and turn, and be saved from the impending destruction.
But the descent of this reviving power from above is the signal for the onslaught of all the hosts of hell. With an energy born of inexpressible hatred, and with satanic determination to fight to the bitter end, the legions of evil are plying their diabolical arts, to induce mankind to reject the message of salvation as it comes through the Word of God. As the Spirit of God is refused by the soul it has aroused, the spirit of Satan takes possession, and cunningly deceives the individual, and leads him to believe that error is truth, and that the zeal he feels and the power he witnesses are verily the "great power of God."
And with the doctrines of error there is a power,—a power that works miracles, and signs, and wonders. And the universal claim is that the spirit and power thus manifested are the Spirit and the power of God. And if you have not already heard, you will hear the claim made by those who profess to be led by the Spirit of the Lord, that the Spirit has led them into great light independently of the Bible. And you now know of those who make this high profession of divine guidance, who profess great reverence for the Word, but reject certain portions of it. Be not deceived, as you value your eternal happiness. Tho your natural eyes may be unable to detect the false as it stands by the side of the true, pray God to apply the divine eye-salve, that your spiritual eyesight may be undimmed. Apply the infallible test, tho the claimant to divine power be clothed with the panoply of heaven. This test is the Word. "If they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." They will profess to speak according to it. But let this principle be eternally fixed in your mind, that only by the Word is God’s Spirit revealed, and only in harmony with that Word will His Spirit ever be manifested. Know where you stand, and denounce the error boldly and fearlessly.
Now is the time pre-eminent of "lo here’s" and "lo there’s." But they are not all of sudden preparation. Satan is a profound student of prophecy, and has foreseen the end and the final conflict as men have not. And so through the ages he has fostered and developed error and deception, until to-day we stand in the midst of the elaborations of all sin’s history. False religions and systems and isms of whatever designation claim their millions,—the vast majority,—and new errors and science, falsely so called, add daily their theories and speculations and observations. But there is no soul satisfaction in them, for the divine light has flashed across men’s visions, and left its impress of truth and purity. Consequently, there is intense but blind groping after the ideal, while a sense of impending calamity, and an eager looking for some world-revolutionizing event, agitate the minds of all men, of every nation and creed. The very atmosphere quivers with intensity, for the life-giving energy from above is met by the deadly downpour of the spirit and power of Satan.
And the crying, and heart-rending, and saddest fact of all—unless it be the other, that the deceived do not realize their condition—is that the Spirit and power of God are being grieved away from a large portion of His professed followers. And so surely as the night follows the day, a spirit not of God takes possession of the house once swept and garnished for the indwelling of the holy Presence. Have you felt the divine quickening? Then "grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption;" for that day is at hand.
L. A. PHIPPENY.
COLUMBIA, Where Leadest Thou?
By C. M. Snow
God set a nation on a hill. He trimmed
The light He put within it; and He set
A guard to keep it day and night. Undimmed
It shone for one full century; and yet
That beacon burns no more. The guard is old
And broken with the weight of years. The greed
For conquest, subject people, and for gold
Has drowned the finer sense of noble deed
In those who follow him. He strives again
To keep his charge, and trim anew the light;
For ships drive on with freight of living men—
He fails, the breakers roar, and all is night.
The storm is on; the beacon light is dead;
And round the lighthouse surge a careless host.
The ships before the gale are swiftly sped.
And fog shapes mock them like a taunting ghost.
"Where is the light?" the storm-tossed voyager cries.
"Where is that beacon lit by hand divine?"
A crimson glow lights up the leaden skies.
Columbia, blush! That beacon is not thine.
Thy guard is old; thy children have forgot
The glorious doctrines of thy liberty;
Forgot the boon for which their fathers fought,
And slumber long beneath the Upas tree.
The fog-draped ships that speed toward thy shore
Shall stranded lie upon the wreckers’ beach;
Thy voice be hushed amid the breakers’ roar,
And foreign tongues thy children’s course impeach.
Land of the free, where is thy Bill of Rights?
Where is that compact framed without a flaw—
That sacred writ which every wrong indicts,
And makes amenable unto the law
The children of the prince as well as they
Who speed the plow and labor till the lights
Of heaven are trimmed to guide their homeward way?
O land we love, where is thy Bill of Rights?
Methinks I hear one answer as of old
The guilty pair in Eden spake to Him
Whose sinless face they dared not then behold,
Tho evening shades had made their bower dim:
"Alas, we found us naked, and we hid!"
Forbidden fruit had stripped their glory robe
From off them; and they fled from Him who bid
Them keep the garden; and the groaning globe
Rolls onward with its crying weight of woe.
They found them naked, and a raiment made—
A human garb—of dying leaves. And so,
Proud land, thy children, too, have disobeyed.
Enamored with the glint of gold, the sheen
Of royal trappings, and the pomp and show
Of serried ranks and military mien,
Which lured them on where fruits forbidden grow—
They tasted—ay, they ate the fruit; and then
The robe of glory which the nation wore
Was lifted like a fading cloud, and men
May hear the rustle of its folds no more.
Enrobed in freedom’s garb no more they stand,
But fashion to themselves in bold design
A garb of pageantry for freedom’s land,
Imperial purple in this home of thine.
The nations once had looked and wavered. Thou,
Columbia, their ensample, couldst have led
Them then to nobler heights—but canst not now.
In every land I hear the measured tread,
The hoof-beats of the charger and the fife,
The blare of trumpets and the rumbling wheel
Of moving cannon. ’Tis the voice of strife,
The tongue of war, the argument of steel.
Thy soldiers battle on a foreign shore;
Thou givest gyves to men who would be free;
And in the forum of unreasoning war
Thou smitest those who had appealed to thee.
Men longed, O Freedom, that thy budding flower
Might bloom for aye; but ere its petals ope’d,
A worm was gnawing in the bud; by power
Of good example men had fondly hoped
To see the world affirm thy fair control,
And everywhere beneath the vaulted sky
Mankind be free. Alas, the sacred scroll
Thy hand had penned is now proclaimed a lie!
Farewell, great Constitution of the free
And Declaration of the rights of men;
Thy thankless offspring would be rid of thee,
And turn to king and colony again.
C. M. SNOW.
THE OUTLOOK IN EUROPE
By W. T. Bartlett
By W. T. Bartlett, London, England
IT WAS in “the fulness of the time” that Christ was revealed in mortal flesh. He did not come until it was clear that men of themselves were powerless to save themselves. Four thousand years of moral failure had demonstrated that, without a personal, indwelling Saviour, the race was hopelessly lost, whether under the law or without the law. All that human wisdom or human strength could do had been done, and done in vain; and if the Saviour had not then come, the light of hope for the world would have gone out in utter darkness.
So, also, when the second coming of Jesus Christ shall close up the volume of earthly history, it will be in “the fulness of the time.” A point will have been reached beyond which things could not possibly continue longer. Let us review the present situation in Europe, and see if we are not within measurable distance of such a crisis.
Let us not, however, make the mistake of the Pharisees. Christ could give them no sign that would satisfy their unbelief, because they would not accept what they did not like. The signs of the times were as open to human understanding then as the face of the sky; but, while the Pharisees claimed to read this with certainty, they utterly failed to grasp the import of the signs that surrounded them. Many, like them, are unconscious to-day, but it is not because the signs are not clear enough. It is because these are given to blinded eyes and stubborn hearts.
Like the Jews, men point to the evidences of material progress and advancing civilization, refusing to believe that these are doomed to perish, even before they are consummated. The Pharisees could not conceive that their magnificent temple, on which so many years and so much treasure had been lavishly expended, was not destined to stand for ages, an honor and a pride to their nation. But its sentence was pronounced by Christ before it was completed. So let none fondly imagine to set those things on which the world builds its hopes for the future against the “more sure word of prophecy.”
Not every one will recognize the true import of the signs which God is causing to stand out so prominently, or give them more than a passing thought. Only eight souls were saved in Noah’s day, because the multitude would not heed his warnings; and we are told by Christ that this suicidal indifference will be repeated. Matt. 24:37-39.
If we could take our stand at some point of time in the past, and be permitted to look at the scenes which are now taking place, we could not fail to be impressed with the extraordinary character of a time in which such things could be. Yet so accustomed have we, who live in the rush of events, become to wars, famines, plagues, assassinations, and political and social commotions of every kind, that we neglect to mark how the stream is hurrying on, faster and faster, in ever-increasing volume, and do not stop to inquire, Where is it tending? and where will it end?
A Promise of Peace.
It was only last year that Europe gathered at The Hague to discuss general peace and disarmament; yet look at the situation in Europe to-day. England has in South Africa the largest army she has ever sent abroad, and nearly sixty thousand of her people have been killed or disabled in a struggle with a white race, the fruit of a war which both parties protested would be unnecessary and wicked. It was generally believed that but for the exposition on her hands, France would have taken advantage of England’s difficulties to seek an awful revenge for her own injuries, real or imagined. Both countries are persuaded that the other only awaits a favorable moment for declaring war. Russia is making steady progress in Asia, and coming gradually nearer to the outposts of England. Germany is possessed with the ambition to take from England her maritime supremacy. Austro-Hungary is ever on the verge of civil war, which no one expects to be deferred beyond the life of the present emperor. At present the great powers are more or less united against China; but the union serves principally to accentuate their national rivalry and distrust. No one power trusts another, and new combinations between them are continually urged or threatened. The description given by Daniel of these kingdoms is strikingly exemplified to-day, “They shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.” Dan. 2:43. No one can be certain for a day that some new issue will not be raised which will involve every nation in Europe in a general war.14
It is noticeable how frequently newspaper writers now use the word “Armageddon” when referring to the great European conflict which is generally considered inevitable. All recognize that it must come sooner or later; but they do not know, because they do not seek to know, that the battle of Armageddon is that one in which the kings of the whole world are gathered by the spirits of devils, to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Rev. 16:13-16. Did they appreciate this, they would not prepare so eagerly for the event; but, urged on by the evil spirits, who find many an editorial and political voice to do the devil's work in the name of patriotism, the nations of Europe are steadily preparing for the last great conflict. The poorer countries, largely made poor by their armaments, already groan under the burdens of conscription and excessive taxation. One well-known writer says:—
The European States are to-day spending in armaments more than £100,000,000 yearly above the amounts they expended thirty years ago. These sums, sweated out of the blood and bone of the workers of Europe, so far from adding to the security of the nations, have already diminished it. The world can bear the strain a little but only a little longer.
Yet every year witnesses a steady increase in naval and military estimates. Hitherto England has been free from conscription; but it can only be a short time before this “blood tax” is levied upon her able-bodied population. It is called for in all directions. A contributor to the Westminster Review says:—
The universality of the cry for conscription, in one form or another, is one of the most remarkable and dangerous symptoms of the age.
The minds of men are filled with false notions of what constitutes glory. Imputing shame to that which alone is glorious, the cross of Christ, they have invested deeds of devilish cunning and ferocity with the titles of glory and honor. This is why the unthinking mob clamors for the establishment of the military despotism which is wrapped up in conscription.
Yet God by His providence has revealed to this generation the true character of militarism with such clearness that all may understand it. The country which above all others worshiped its army as the soul of honor and the embodiment of all manly virtues, has afforded to the whole world an indelible illustration in that army of infamy and corruption. In the Dreyfus case, hidden secrets were brought to light that men might know how false and empty is the glory that belongs to all systems for organizing murder. England, by her attitude against the Boers, has shown that the lesson was lost upon her, and now her own military system has proved a broken reed, and humbled her before the world. Claiming first place among empires, she has almost suffered defeat at the hands of a numerically insignificant people. If others of the powers will not learn the lesson, they too must be humbled; for since the world will not pay heed to the words of God, He must speak to them in a way which they can not escape, no matter how much they desire to. It is He “that bringeth the princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity,” that He may save some at least from the curse that falls on those who put their trust in men and make flesh their arm. Isa. 40:23; Jer. 17:5.
In Socialism.
In social and business life the same spirit that creates unrest among the nations is busily at work. Labor and capital are organizing their forces. Unions among the workmen, and trusts among the large manufacturers, are the means employed by each to protect their own interests and enforce their claims. At the present time the employers are victorious in most of the struggles; but the organizations of the men are being more and more perfected, until they hope to be able to stop every trade if one is denied its claims.
A few wealthy men are heaping together treasure, but it would spoil all their satisfaction to know that it is “for the last days.” James 5:1-4. Numbers of the smaller factories are closing through inability to compete with their larger rivals, and in many places there is distress, enhanced by the great increase in the price of coal.
As a consequence, there is a growing discontent among the poor, and socialism and anarchy find numerous recruits. Frequent attempts are made against the lives of exalted personages, and the Spanish prime minister, the French president, the empress of Austria, and the king of Italy, have all fallen recent victims to the dagger and pistol of the assassin, a fate from which the Prince of Wales and the shah of Persia have had a narrow escape.
If it be asked, “What are the churches doing to warn the people concerning the dangers which surround them and the snares which are set for their feet?” it must be answered that many of them are too much concerned with questions of ritual and politics to trouble about other matters. The religious teachers in Christ's day were not quick to receive His message, and their spirit has descended to their successors. Ministers who openly profess their belief in the Scriptures as God's Word are comparatively few in number. The majority find in it more exercise for learned criticism than for faith.
There is a kind of religion which is very popular. It has mounted the stage, and formed the subject of a most successful play. It supplies matter for several well-known novelists, and the Passion Play at Ober-Ammergau gets more visits than ever; and all these things are commended by many of the clergy as aids to Christianity. The newspapers can find use for such a Christianity as this, and it serves many a purpose. It was especially in evidence when the Transvaal War began, in the columns of the papers which called loudest for war. With a great many the idea of religion has become a mere sentiment, demanding from its adherents a little emotion and outward show, and giving in return its sanction to whatever is desired.
The Only Hope.
Men have been raised up here and there to whom God has revealed principles of truth. They have taught these faithfully, but for all such sentinels, Satan sets his most subtle snares, and too often with success. It is a sad thing to see a man, or a body of men, intrusted with a warning for the people, win a measure of popularity, and, flattered and deluded by it, come at last to take their stand among those who seek to carry out moral reforms by human legislation. Only one thing will save men from the seducing spirits of devils who are now at work, and that is implicit faith in God's Word. By it Christ conquered His spiritual foes, and only by it can we escape. This is why Satan's strongest efforts are bent to discrediting God's Word among those whose office it is to declare it. The attacks on the Bible are one of the most important signs of the times. Yet these attacks are to be met, not in any carnal strife, but by our own individual faith in it. Many are posing as the champions of truth who are sadly misrepresenting it, ostensibly denouncing the errors of infidelity and the abuses found in corrupted churches, but giving evidence that they have insensibly imbibed the spirit of error and adopted the methods they condemn in others.
Do not these things, and many others that are equally well known, show that we have reached the fulness of the time when the world is ripe for the harvest? Only one thing holds back the winds that, left unchecked, would quickly fan the smouldering embers into a devouring flame. Rev. 7:1-3. The servants of God are not yet sealed, and for their sakes to whom the angels minister, those who shall be heirs of salvation, the winds are held. By many a token we may know that they will not be restrained much longer. “Now is the day of salvation.”
W. T. BARTLETT.
A LESSON FOR THE CHURCH TO-DAY
FOLLOWING is the lesson which the historian of the Reformation, D'Aubigne, draws from the death of Zwingle and the defeat of the Swiss Reformers at Cappel. In it is a lesson for Protestants now:—
Thus the Reformation, that had deviated from the right path, was driven back by the very violence of the blow into its primitive course, having no other power than the Word of God. An inconceivable infatuation had taken possession of the friends of the Bible. They had forgotten that our warfare is not carnal; and they had appealed to arms and to battle. But God reigns; He punishes the churches and the people who turn aside from His ways.
We have thus taken a few stones, and piled them as a monument on the battle-field of Cappel, in order to remind the church of the great lesson which this terrible catastrophe teaches. As we bid farewell to this sad scene, we inscribe on these monumental stones, on the one side, these words from God's Book:—
"SOME TRUST IN CHARIOTS, AND SOME IN HORSES: BUT WE WILL REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE LORD OUR GOD. THEY ARE BROUGHT DOWN AND FALLEN; BUT WE ARE RISEN, AND STAND UPRIGHT."
And on the other, this declaration of the Head of the church:—
"MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD."
If from the ashes of the martyrs at Cappel a voice could be heard, it would be these very words of the Bible that these noble confessors would address, after three centuries, to the Christians of our days. That the church has no other King than Jesus Christ; that she ought not to meddle with the policy of the world, derive from it her inspiration, and call for its swords, its prisons, its treasures; that she will conquer by the spiritual powers which God has deposited in her bosom, and, above all, by the reign of her adorable Head; that she must not expect upon earth thrones and mortal triumphs; but that her march is like that of her King, from the manger to the cross, and from the cross to the crown: such is the lesson to be read on the blood-stained page that has crept into our simple and evangelical narrative.
