By E. J. Waggoner
Editor "Present Truth," London, England.
"HE THAT dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Ps. 91:1. This is the dwelling-place of every true Christian; for God has made us alive together with Christ, and "hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6); and in that we are made alive in Christ, and raised to the heavenly places in Him, we are placed "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion." Eph. 1:21. From this elevated position the Christian has a broad outlook.
First of all, he sees the King in His beauty. "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me." He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High must necessarily see the Lord.
God is the one great object in the Christian's horizon, and it is this continual view that insures his safety. "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Ps. 16:8. With the Lord always before him, he can not fail to obey the injunction, "Behold your God!" "We all, with open [unvailed] face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory." 2 Cor. 3:18.
None of this language is figurative, it is literal and real. "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God"—not only in the future, but now; for nothing but impurity can shut out God from the sight. Wherever there is purity of heart and life, there is the vision of God. His glory is to be seen in the heavens, while every flower reveals some of His beauty. "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord," and therefore the one whose eyes are opened has all the goodness of the Lord continually passing before him.
For the Christian's eyes are opened. Christ is the light of the world, and God "hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." Those who have fellowship with God "walk in the light, as He is in the light," so that we can say, "Whereas I was blind, now I see;" for "the Lord openeth the eyes of the blind." Ps. 146:8. And with his opened eyes the Christian sees "wondrous things" in the law of God. Ps. 119:18. The law is magnified and honorable in his eyes, for he sees it as "the perfect law of liberty," the life of Jesus Christ.
What more glorious outlook could anybody have than this, to behold God and His salvation? for of the one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, it is said, "With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My salvation." Ps. 91:16. It could not be otherwise, since God is his salvation. The Christian, therefore, beholds the arm of the Lord revealed,—the arm that brings salvation,—and he rests in Him.
From his safe retreat in the Lord, the Christian looks out upon the earth; and, having been made a new creature, he sees everything with new eyes. He that sits upon the throne says, "Behold, I make all things new," and He begins with the man who abides in Him. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. 5:17. Looking beyond that which to the mere physical eye seems to be all there is, he sees all things transformed, and tastes even here the power and the joy of the world to come. In every stream of pure water, in every shower of rain, and in every sparkling dewdrop, he sees the "pure river of water of life, clear as crystal." What matters it to him if others say that they can see nothing? He whose eyes are opened must needs be a seer, and the universe of God will reveal to him wonders that are hidden from those who "have eyes, but they see not." He has in earth a heaven in which to go to heaven.
Some one may object to the statement that the Christian can see the river of life, saying that is spiritual. Very well, have we not the assurance that "the things of the Spirit of God" "are spiritually discerned"? 1 Cor. 2:14. And, further, "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Rom. 8:9. God Himself is a spiritual being, yet He is revealed to the pure in heart, to the one who is spiritual. As to seeing the water of life, we have in it a daily illustration of how people can have eyes, and can look directly at an object, and not see it. Read the following from Ps. 65:9-11:—
"Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it; Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water; Thou preparest them corn, when Thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly; Thou settlest the furrows thereof; Thou makest it soft with showers; Thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness; and Thy paths drop fatness."
There is nothing good that does not come directly from God, and He does not keep any good thing back from us. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17. The rain that falls from heaven, enriching the earth and making it fruitful, is the overflowing water of life from the throne of God, and it comes to us laden with God's own righteousness. Isa. 45:8. All may see it as such if they are dwelling in the secret place of God, the place whence the water of life springs. God does not reserve the right of His glories for a select and specially favored few; but He spreads them out in full view of everybody, so that whether or not any one sees them depends wholly on himself. Whoever walks in the Spirit can daily see wonders that are hidden from the eyes of the one who has only the mind of the flesh.
The Christian, having God continually before him, sees the power of God, which saves; "for the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and divinity." Rom. 1:20, R.V. Thus it is that he sees the salvation of God. Everything that is made, even his own body, reveals the personal presence of the Divine Word that upholds all things, so that he sees victory written on every blade of grass and every leaf of the forest; upon every flower, and in every star. So he is glad through the works of the Lord, and triumphs in the works of God's hands.
Still more, the one who dwells with God, sees His ways, and learns how to live. "Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures20forevermore." Ps. 16:11. So, instead of going about feeble in body and mind, the Christian has before him the prospect of renewed youth and fresh, joyous life, which, beginning now, will continue without interruption throughout eternity. Surely no outlook could be more pleasing and encouraging than this. Everybody who has ever been ill—and how few there are who have not suffered more or less from disease—knows how dark is the outlook when the vitality is low. It can not be otherwise, even though one hopes in God for a final release from pain. But God provides for us a glorious view, and invites us to enjoy the reality of it here and now. "The life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us; that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." God wishes all of His children to be healthy and happy, and He provides the means to that end.
If the Christian looks ahead, he sees before him a time of trouble such as never was, when plague and pestilence—the outbreaking of the plague that is in the hearts of all who have not turned to the Lord—will ravage the land; but in that time of trouble he sees deliverance for "every one that shall be found, written in the book." Dan. 12:1. Though a thousand fall at his side, and ten thousand at his right hand, he has no fear that any plague will come near him. Where others see nothing but darkness, he sees only light, "because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth."
In short, the Christian, "looking unto Jesus," "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all," in whom all things consist, and beholding God, "who is over all, and through all, and in all," sees only perfection, for his eyes are turned away from beholding vanity. He beholds Christ crucified before him, and glories in the cross, by which the world is crucified unto him, and he unto the world. He sees the new creation in the cross, and knows no man after the flesh, so he begins the life everlasting, living in this world just as he will continue to live throughout eternity, for he lives now in the secret place of God, as close to Him as he can possibly be. Taking refuge under the shadow of God's wings, he sees light in God's light, and drinks continually from the river of God's Eden." Ps. 36:7-9.
And so, with Christ and His power and goodness filling the whole range of our vision, we look forward with glad anticipation to the time when we shall see Him come in the clouds of heaven, even as He left this earth (Acts 1:11); for we shall behold His face in the righteousness which He imparts, and shall be satisfied with His likeness.
HOW MAY WE KNOW?
"YOU say," says a candid questioner, "that the end of earthly rule is nearly over, and that Christ’s coming is near. How may we know?"
It is a candid question, which demands a candid reply. But in this issue of the SIGNS we can answer it only in brief. The evidence is in general twofold.
1. The Great Lines of Symbolic and Literal Prophecy.—There are not less than one dozen of these found in the Word of God, as follows: (1) The great symbolic message of Daniel 2; (2) the four beasts of Daniel 7; (3) the kingdoms and 2,300 days of Daniel 8 and 9; (4) the kings of the north and south of Daniel 10 and 11; (5) the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3; (6) the seven seals of Revelation 5 to 8; (7) the seven trumpets of Revelation 8 to 11; (8) the two witnesses of Revelation 11; (9) the great dragon of Revelation 12; (10) the agents of the dragon of Revelation 13; (11) the apostate church and earthly powers of Revelation 17 and 18; (12) the end of the age, and Christ’s coming, of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. There are still others. The converging lines of these great highways of time bring us almost to the focal center, the second coming of Christ.
Did you ever stand upon the Arch of Triumph of the Star in Paris and note the eight (we believe, twelve we will suppose) great avenues leading from all parts of the beautiful city, converging in the one center at your feet? Suppose that on a certain night twelve torch-light processions should start at the beginning of these avenues, a procession in each avenue. Suppose it was authoritatively said that when all these processions, marching oftentimes at different rates of progress, reached the terminal point, the Arch of Triumph, the doom of the republic was sealed. We can imagine the interest the citizens of Paris would take in the event. Many would note one procession in one avenue; they would mark its rate of progress, and would thus conclude that the fatal moment would come at such an hour. They would make a mistake. Their field of vision is too limited. Others would endeavor to learn the progress made by two or more; they would arrive at certain conclusions, but their field also would be too limited, their vision too circumscribed.
He above all others who could obtain accurate information would be the watchman on the great central Arch. He could see the movements of all. He could note their progress. He could appreciate their approximate nearness to the end by their distances apart on the converging avenues.
Even so it is with the servant of God. The Master calls him up into the mount with Himself, and reveals through the eye of faith the “visions [seeings] of God” concerning the kingdoms of earth, their soon utter destruction, and the glorious reign of Jesus over all. And he can say with Peter, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the Day Star arise in your hearts." 2 Peter 1:19.
2. The Special Signs of the End of the Age and Christ’s Coming.—If the people of Paris were told that when these great processions had well passed a certain point of distance from the center, a certain number and street from the Arch, various signals of noted character would occur in the triangles between the numbered street and the avenues, and they then might know that the end had nearly come, how intently would they watch for these signals! How eagerly and anxiously would they note each feature to see if it bore the stamp of what was told them! And how surely would they know that the doom of the city was nigh! Every high eminence would be covered with anxious-eyed citizens.
Well, God has given us, not alone the lines of prophecy, but the special signs and warnings.
According to several prophecies, the time of the end began in A.D. 1798. Since that date God has given a score or more of special prominent signs, telling to all the world that we are living in “the last days,” and that the coming of Christ is “nigh, even at the doors.” In reply to a question asked by His disciples as to what should be the sign of His coming and of the end of the age (Matt. 24:3), Jesus said: “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Luke 21:25-27.
Everywhere are these signs to occur, that men may see and know that the day of the Lord is at hand. We note some of these many signals, assuring the reader that all are predicted in the Word of God:—
(1) The waxing old of the earth, manifest in increasing calamity, drought, flood, famine, plague, disease, earthquake, cyclone; (2) increase of knowledge; (3) increase of crime and wickedness; (4) increase of riches, and that by oppression; (5) Mormonism; (6) Spiritualism; (7) last-day confederacies; (8) last-day scoffers; (9) spiritual declension; (10) peace-and-safety cry; (11) great war preparations; (12) signs in the heaven; (13) “perplexity of nations,” rejection of God’s law, the last Gospel message, etc., etc.
All these things are fulfilled or fulfilling before the very vision of all. They are not in a corner. Some of them are world-wide. And Jesus says, “When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” Luke 21:31.
The foregoing are some of the evidences in brief whereby we know that the coming of our Lord is near. The year, the day, the hour He has not revealed, but He has given us the watching, waiting, praying, working time.
Signs of Christ’s Coming
CONCERNING the signs of His coming Jesus gave this parable: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near; so ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.” Mark 13: 28, 29.
The Bridegroom Cometh
By H. H. Winslow
"And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh."—Matt. 25:6.
1. A voice upon the night is heard, A cry of warning loud and clear;
By trumpet sound all hearts are stirred, To those who wait, a note of cheer,
To all a call, "Prepare, prepare," While ring the words upon the air,—
2. While slumber on in darkness deep Men called of God to joy and light,
Some, touched by truth, to new life leap, With hearts made clean and garments white;
And quick they turn and raise the cry, As Jesus' coming draweth nigh,—
3. Stand forth, ye servants of the Lord, While mount and hill repeat the strain,
While heav'n and earth in grand accord Proclaim the King who comes to reign!
Awake, arise, shed forth God's light, And shout, triumphant in His might,—
REFRAIN.
"Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; Go ye out to meet Him!
Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; Go ye out to meet Him!"
Copyright, 1900, by H. H. Winslow
IS IT COMFORT TO YOU?
IN Isaiah 40 God commands His servants, "Comfort ye, comfort ye My people." He sends His messenger out into the broad wilderness of the world with the message of comfort, commanding him, "Cry!" The messenger responds, "What shall I cry?" And here is God's answer, the essential part of His message of comfort, which Peter declares to be the Gospel, the glad tidings of God:—
"All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the breath of the Lord bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand forever. O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!"
How contrary is all this to the spirit of the world, to much that is manifest everywhere in our nineteenth-century Christianity! It is not comforting to the carnal man who believes himself to be somebody to tell him that he and all his fellows are grass. It is not flattering to the high official in State or Church, who has been educated in the old Satanic lie that he will not die (Gen. 3:4), but will be as God, to tell him that all his glory is as the flower of the grass, visible to-day, gone to-morrow, blown away by the breath of God! He feels insulted. It will not do for the politician to say to his constituents, "The people is grass."
Our modern civilization, boasted as Christian, can not bear these plain truths. Deputations of prominent citizens go to high officials with flattering, fulsome words in order to win their smiles. Politicians fawn upon the people; pastors, who are looking to their flocks for support, pander to the whims of the populace. They do not see in this Gospel message God's words of comfort.
And yet only in knowing it is there comfort, true comfort, for the soul. Humanity has tried, faithfully, persistently, eagerly, sincerely, and in anguish to redeem itself, to put away its sin, to regenerate its character, to change the corrupted face of nature. But over all its well-meant, wholly human efforts may be written, "All is vanity." Scarcely does the deceived and deceiving speak his fulsome speech, ere "the glory has departed," and the flower of another head of grass appears.
And the great, troubled, sad, moaning sea of humanity, weltering in its misery, dying of sin, is no whit nearer the kingdom. They have trusted in the various schemes of the "reformers" of flesh for centuries, but they are not reformed.
But God comes to them in His messenger, with a right, honest message, and tells them just what all their experience of the past has demonstrated to be true, namely: "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away." All the ages have proved it. All our own experiences have convinced us of its truth. O, why will we not believe it?—Simply this: It is too humiliating to the proud, carnal heart.
But God's message would be void of comfort did it stop here. It diagnoses our case with straightforward, honest truth, assuring us that it is worth listening to, and then it rings, with all the power of the Infinite, "The Word of our God shall stand forever."
There are strength and comfort in that. God's word created the heaven and earth. He upholds all things "by the word of His power." There is glory in it. By His word has He beautified the heavens. It was His word which made Jesus Christ the perfect Man, the Saviour of men. It is that Word which cleanses the sinner, changes the heart, renews the life, keeps from falling, raises the dead, changes to immortality. All comfort is found in the everlasting, all-embracing Word of God.
And only they who learn this Gospel message of comfort can tell the glad tidings to Zion and Jerusalem, can say to longing ones, "Behold, your God." Nay, unless men can look upon God, they will give glory to men. But if they can see His glory, if they will but set Him always before their face, they will not stop to glorify poor, vain man. They will preach to the world the great comforting message of God,—salvation through the living Word in Jesus Christ alone.
O reader, is there not comfort in this for you?
"WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT?"
By Editor
SUCH is the question which the sojourner in Seir asks of the prophet of God. In the Scriptures the long millenniums of this world of sin are likened to the night, in which the drunken, the reveler, the gay, find thoughtless, sensuous pleasure, but where the reflecting, the thoughtful, seeing the misery, the wo, the transgression, the death, long for the breaking of morning. "Watchman, what of the night?" Must its deeds of darkness forever go on? or are we nearing the morning? Is the day about to dawn? Thousands are asking such questions as these, and it is to answer them in part that this number of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES is issued.
We should not ask the question lightly. We may not answer it carelessly. In this teeming earth and its outcome are involved the eternal fate of nations and empires and the eternal destiny of countless thousands.
What of the night? It is dark to the great majority. The political, misanthropic pessimist sees only trouble and destruction and darkness of despair. The hopeful optimist, sitting by his abundant table, looking in the light of his own fire at the visions to which his wishes have given being, sees only a roseate future, and declares, "To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant." Isa. 56:12. The careless, heedless pleasure-lover says mockingly, "Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we shall die." Isa. 22:13.
We may not judge the time from immediate events or present environments. Circumstances may have placed us for a time in a low valley where our vision is indeed limited by not distant mountains. It may be the valley of our household, where all is sunshine and prosperity; the dear ones are kind and well; there is plenty to eat, drink, and wear; the black shadow of evil or death has never entered our door, and our hearts do not wish a change, and we will not look beyond our limited horizon. Such a vision is intrinsically selfish.
Sometimes our valley is that formed by a business river. It winds its way through the mountainous country, dashes impetuously down the narrow gorges, bursts out into broader valleys, rich in natural products, gathers strength and volume from tributaries and confluents, turns the wheel of many a mill, and we are content to bound our vision by its immediate limit, and see only prosperity. In some river valleys the reverse of all this is seen.
Sometimes our point of outlook is that of the politician's knoll, looking only for what will give "our party" success and what will hinder our opponents, and viewing nothing with certainty "beyond the election."
Sometimes we climb the hill a little higher. We look at earth's turmoil as a statesman, a patriot, a historian; we confess, as do earth's greatest to-day, that we know not what next, but we hope for the best.
There is a better view of this earth's condition than any or all of these combined. The only true outlook of worldly things is from the watch-tower of God. The vision of the mortal is absorbed by the strong lights and shadows of the things which immediately concern him. He loses the outline of the important. His perspective is at fault. The nearer, smaller, insignificant objects of vision obscure or hide the great and essential. The little sluggish canal of his own digging seems greater than the mighty stream of time on which empires are floating to eternal wreck. A mere partisan measure of to-day shuts from our view the eternal moral principle. A name and deed of some high-lifted human hero hides the great God and our duty to Him. The worldly view is always a present view. It is the view of the sensuous, the covetous. It is the view of the mere brute.
God calls all mankind—possible immortals—up into the mount with Him. He would have us see as He sees—"visions [seeings] of God." He would place us "upon a very high mountain," and in "visions of God," as recorded in His Word, He would reveal to us His own workings among the kingdoms of men despite the kings, even to the glorious consummation. He would say: "Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee; for to the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought hither." Eze. 40:2-4. "O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain." Isa. 40:9, R.V. So only may we know "what of the night."
In the prophetic Word, God has revealed to us the birth, the course, the end of earthly empire. All the great events of earthly rule, opposed tho they be to righteousness and truth, are under His guiding or restraining hand. "The wrath of man," says the psalmist, "shall praise Thee, and the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain."
"Watchman, what of the night?" And the watchman replies: According to His unerring Word we are nearing the end of earthly rule. "The fulness of time" is nearly reached, when Christ shall take to Himself His great power and reign. Over the darkness of moral night the bright beams of the glorious Sun of Righteousness is about to arise. "The morning cometh."
A VITALLY IMPORTANT QUESTION
ONE of the most important questions before the world to-day is the Sabbath question.
This statement may be ridiculed, but ridicule will not change the fact. Priest, preacher, publisher, and legislator may endeavor to keep the question in the background, but it continually thrusts itself upon the attention of all with ever-increasing persistency. It can not be set aside.
The Sabbath question is important, because among other things it involves in its comprehensiveness,—
(1) The veracity, not to say infallibility, of Holy Writ;
(2) The authority of God's Word as against tradition and apostasy;
(3) The existence of Protestantism;
(4) The future of civil government.
1. As Regards the Veracity of Holy Writ.—Do the Scriptures speak the truth in the account given in Genesis as to the origin of the septenary cycle and the Sabbath? The Sabbath stands there, and in the Ten Words of Exodus 20, as God's memorial of creation, to call to the constant remembrance of His creatures His almighty power, manifest in speaking into existence and form in six literal days the things of Gen. 1:3-31. "He spake, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast." "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made." Is the Record true, or shall we believe the fanciful abstractions of evolution, which either denies the Word or explains away its creative power by its hopeless hypotheses? Did God make the earth in six days by the mighty power of His Word, or did it "evolve" through countless ages?
The Sabbath is the sign between God and His people, that they may not only know that He is God, but that He is Jehovah that sanctifies them. Eze. 20:12, 20. But the Sabbath is nothing to the evolutionist. To hold it as God gave it would be a denial of His hypotheses.
Again and again God encourages the weak and sinful soul to believe that He is able to cleanse, save, and regenerate now, and He offers as the proof of this His power in speaking the world from chaos to cosmos. See John 1:1-12; Isa. 42:5, 6; Col. 1:13-19; Isa. 45:17, 18, etc. Does He mean this? Jesus said: "If ye believed Moses, ye would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?" John 5:46, 47.
2. The Sabbath Question Involves the Authority of God's Word as against the Tradition of Apostasy.—For only apostasy pleads for tradition; the true will be satisfied with nothing less than the original source.23Now the only weekly Sabbath, or Lord's day, which the Bible knows is the seventh-day Sabbath. All Sabbath laws, precepts, promises, and blessings center in that. That Sabbath was constituted, by God's rest, blessing, and sanctification, by which He placed His own presence in the seventh day, a constant pledge of everlasting rest through the power and love of Jesus Christ. Gen. 2:2, 3. Its law is one of the immutable Ten Words spoken by God's voice, written by His own finger on tables of stone: Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:22. It was observed by our divine Exemplar, Jesus Christ, by whose "obedience" to the holy law we are made righteous (Rom. 5:19), and by faith in whom the law is established in the heart (Rom. 3:31). "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."
Opposed to this is a day which, in the position it occupies in the septenary cycle, could not be a Sabbath, could not be a memorial of creation. It has no authority in the Word of God. It is only by unwarranted inferences, hallowed by tradition, that it is made to seem to have any Biblical authority at all; and it is safe to say that if the professed people of God were not now keeping it, they would utterly reject as unworthy of a sabbath basis the insufficient and often contradictory evidence put forth in Sunday's behalf.
Upon the one side or the other of this question the world must choose. One is of God; the other is against Him, whatever it may have seemed or does seem to be to honest the uninstructed thousands. A counterfeit bill never becomes genuine by passing as current money, tho it may have been used as such by thousands of honest people. Error never becomes truth, however many honest people may have believed it. The Sunday-sabbath, or Lord's day, according to the Bible, God's great Detector, is a counterfeit, a hoary error; and Jesus tells us, "Every plant which My heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up." Matt. 15:13. Which shall it be, the eternal Word of truth, or lying and perishing tradition?
3. The Sabbath Question Involves the Existence of Protestantism.—For Protestantism is founded on the Bible, and the Bible only; but when Protestantism knowingly comes face to face with truth and rejects that truth for tradition, or holds to received tradition in the light of opposing truth, she, by so doing, as Dowling well says, steps down from the Protestant rock, passes the line which divides Protestantism from popery, and can give no valid reason why every doctrine of the Papacy should not be received on the same basis. In this Sabbath question now before the world Protestantism is facing the very question of its existence, and by it she stands or falls.
4. The Sabbath Question Involves the Future of Civil Government.—Why?—Because the friends of Sunday all over the world are under various pleas pressing upon the governments of earth, contrary to the teachings of Christ, the duty of the State to enforce the observance of Sunday by law. But Christ's "kingdom is not of this world." Control of conscience and of faith and religion belongs to God alone. Every government that has set itself against truth and liberty in the past has fallen. As long as civil government, however imperfect it has been, has progressed toward liberty, God has suffered it to continue. But when, in the face of light, government sets itself against God, or assumes to act in God's stead, its fall is certain.
By the pressure now being brought to bear upon civil governments, legislators, rulers, local, national, and international, decision must soon be made. Popular governments will go with the prevailing human influence, and this will probably be to enact sabbath laws. But to yield to such demand is death to any government; it is departing from the law of its life.
This in brief shows the importance of the Sabbath question. O soul, on which side will you stand? Will it be with error, tradition, civil law, and death? or will it be with God and righteousness and truth and life?
THE MEANING OF MILLIONAIRES
By T.
CHAUNCEY DEPEW says that capital and labor is the century-vexing problem. And there are a great many persons who are very naturally casting about for the best reading matter upon the subject. An ancient author by the name of James, whose writings have not been studied nearly so much as they should have been, has given us a genuine classic on this labor-and-capital problem, and it will not be very difficult to see from its perusal what will be the sure outcome of it. His most significant utterance upon this theme is in the following words:—
"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth, and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and He doth not resist you." James 5:1-6.
This scripture very plainly tells of the miseries that are coming upon the rich because their "riches are corrupted" and their "gold and silver is cankered;" because they "have heaped treasure together for the last days," and caused the distressing cry of the laborer; because they "have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton," and have "nourished" their heart "as in a day of slaughter." It matters not what view mankind may take of this capital-and-labor question; the Lord Jehovah, in the thrilling words quoted in the foregoing, gives the correct and real truth. The Lord directly tells us that treasure shall be "heaped" together "for the last days." And those who have amassed this great wealth will be living in hilarious luxury, while an army of helpless poor will be crying out for the necessities of life.
Three-quarters of a century ago a millionaire was a great rarity. A London gentleman of about sixty-five years recently said:—
"I well remember, in my boyhood, my father's reading in the Times an account of the death of a man (a merchant, I think) who had left a fortune of a million, as something altogether marvelous, which he had never heard of before."
But now there are scores of them in England and Europe, and in this country it is estimated that there are about two thousand. In England the estimated earnings of the whole people is £1,350,000,000, and one million of the population get hold of more than twice as much of this income as the remaining twenty-six millions, while in America there are 4,047 families who own about five times as much of the property as the remaining 6,599,796 families.
Mulhall's statistics give $7.20 as the average weekly income in England. The skilled mechanics get much more than this, hence there are thousands of families that do not have more than about half that amount to live on.
Last year two thousand corporations were chartered in New Jersey, authorized to issue stock to the amount of $3,500,000,000. Six hundred of these were capitalized at a million or more, while fully one hundred of them were absolute monopolies.
Every one knows that all the wealth of the entire world is being "heaped" together by a few men. And can you not see that it is a literal fulfilment of what the Word of God tells us would take place "in the last days"? Are you prepared for the issues that are even now before us?
