DON'T listen to those melancholy souls who tell you there is no rapture in living. Life is neither a sad tragedy nor a worthless farce. We persist in disavowing that miserable pessimism which disfigures much of our modern life.
Some conceited individuals cherish the delusion that if they "ran creation" this old world would be a much more habitable spot. And even true and loyal hearts grow sad and weary because of the burdens which are their daily portion.
"This world is full of pain!" says the mental dyspeptic. Aye, and of joy, too. Why not tell us the latter half of the truth? And how much pain is self-caused!
Yet, even tho pain is with us, it serves its purpose. It is the guardian of bodily safety, conscience, and honor, saying with stern tones to the vicious and profligate, "Thus far hast thou gone; go no farther, lest a worse thing befall thee."
Taken from us, and with its sharp reminders absent, we should rush on to physical and moral mortification. It is nature's signal-light of danger ahead. Well were it for men if they always heeded it and turned from violating our great mother's laws. Pain has these uses, and they fulfil the beneficent Creator's purpose.
"But we are beset with constant and imperious toil. Work! Work! Work! Such is human hap!" mutters the pessimist.
Aye, and it is that very labor which brings man up from the low level of the savage to the higher plane of civilized manhood. God's best gift to man, and man's highest dignity and crown, is the divine necessity of toil. There is no more miserable man than he who is worthless because he is idle.
Then when you have dealt with these objections, the last and most serious yet remains: Are we not the victims of discontent and deep-seated, abiding dissatisfaction?—Yes, and that is the groundwork of progress, the mainspring of civilization, the trumpet call to advance. Our most puissant deeds are born of conscious failure. Contending with difficulty develops our noblest strength. Palissy, the potter, with eager vision and deft fingers, throws aside his ninety-ninth failure that he may found his success upon its ruins in the next attempt he makes to conquer nature. The man was dissatisfied, and it is very fortunate for the world he was so. Depend upon it, the things we are too ready to call evil are only blessings in disguise, and we must not be weary of this grand earth a good God has given us.—Selected.
THE TONGUE.
By William George Jordan
THE second most deadly instrument of destruction is the dynamite gun; the first is the human tongue. The gun merely kills bodies; the tongue kills reputations, and, ofttimes, ruins characters. Each gun works alone; each loaded tongue has a hundred accomplices. The havoc of the gun is visible at once. The full evil of the tongue lives through all the years.
The crimes of the tongue are words of unkindness, of anger, of malice, of envy, of bitterness, of harsh criticism, gossip, lying, and scandal. Theft and murder are awful crimes, yet in a single year the aggregate sorrow, pain, and suffering they cause in a nation are microscopic when compared with the sorrows that come from the crimes of the tongue. Place in one of the scale-pans of justice the evils resulting from the acts of criminals, and in the other the grief and tears and suffering resulting from the crimes of respectability, and you will start back in amazement as you see the scale you thought the heavier shoot high in air.
At the hands of thief or murderer few of us suffer, even indirectly. But from the careless tongue of friend, the cruel tongue of enemy, who is free? No human being can live a life so true, so fair, so pure as to be beyond the reach of malice, or immune from the poisonous emanations of envy. The insidious attacks against one's reputation, the loathsome innuendoes, slurs, half lies, by which jealous mediocrity seeks to ruin its superiors, are like those insect parasites that kill the heart and life of a mighty oak. So cowardly is the method, so stealthy the shooting of the poisoned thorns, so insignificant the separate acts in their seeming, that one is not on guard against them. It is easier to dodge an elephant than a microbe.—William George Jordan.
THE HIGHER LIFE.
THE higher life is not a life on wings. It is not so much concerned with soaring as with sowing. Neither is it life on a dizzy pinnacle above the reach of the tempter. Neither the second blessing nor the fortieth comes in the form of a paid-up insurance policy. We never get to a point of safety above that of the householder who can not completely shut up his house, and who must, therefore, be always on the watch. We can keep the doors of our mouths locked most of the time, but it is needful that the ear-gates and the eye-windows stand open a large part of the day. We can not keep the tempter from approaching us, wherever we may be; and in these days of unspeakable pictures, which will meet the eye at every turn, it is hardly possible to keep him from slipping in at the window now and then, and sometimes he runs in at one of the gates before we can shut them. There is no time in life when the soul of man can turn the key and safely lie down to slumber. We are on the watch till the Master comes.—Selected.
TRUTH VS. ERROR.
By Clarence Santee
TRUTH will shine the brighter for being questioned; in every effort to overthrow, will stand more firm; bears the light; "crushed to earth will rise again;" is everlasting; never has called for, nor will accept of, the support of the sword; will never cause a pang to the possessor; makes a man like its God.
Error brooks not to be questioned; with every effort to make it stand more firm, is nearer its overthrow; will cry out if lifted from darkness; will die with its possessor; clamors for the support of the sword; will take peace from the heart; makes a man like its god. "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve."
CLARENCE SANTÉE.
Comfort for Suffering Souls
"NEVER should we pass by one suffering soul without seeking to impart to him of the comfort wherewith we are comforted of God."
Man's Fatal Choice
LIFE AND IMMORTALITY. No. 4.
Man's Fatal Choice.
THE test of this earth's happiness devolved upon man, its prince. As shown in previous articles, his character, as with all character, must be tested by choice. That he might wisely choose, he was given every advantage. He was placed in a beautiful garden of divine planting. Everything that could charm the eye or delight the perfect sense of mankind was found there. Blooming flowers and fragrant ripened fruit permeated the air with their refreshing odors, and various-hued birds in sinless ecstasy flooded this delightful creation of God with sweetest melody. In the midst of this paradise was the tree of life, typical of the Creator Himself, giving forth of its life in fruit and leaf to man, who in turn was to minister to all by his side and below him.
But one thing of all this glorious life and beauty and abundance did God reserve to Himself. By the side of the tree of life grew the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Upon this man could look. Under its shade he could rest. Upon it he could see inscribed the handwriting of Him who made it all. But of its fruit man was not to eat.
No visible wall protected it. No cordon of angelic police guarded it. It was God's wish that man should not eat. It was to rest with man whether he would eat or not. His free will could wall in the tree from himself, or he could eat and die.
The consequences of a wrong choice were placed before him. If he continued to obey the law of God's life, he would possess that life forever. If he disobeyed, he perverted the channel of God's life to selfishness, and death would result. And so the Lord declared, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen. 2:17. He might choose disobedience and death; but if he did, he should not do it unwarned.
All of Faith.
"But should not man know the knowledge of good and evil?"—Yes, but not experimentally. God designed that he should know it in the only true way, by faith in the word of his Maker. Whether, after the development of perfect faith, all could partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we know not, but this we do know, he must first learn it aright by faith. He must learn to love God by the obedience of faith, every test of which endured would reveal more and more of God's goodness and wisdom.
"Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Heb. 11:6. This is an eternal truth. Its opposite is, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin"—it is missing the mark of God's glory. Rom. 14:23. "For by grace are ye saved through faith." Eph. 2:8. "The just shall live by faith." Heb. 10:38; Hab. 2:4.
There is a profound philosophy which underlies all this. If man could work out his own salvation of himself, if he could perfect character in himself, if he could in himself and of himself attain perfection, he would glory in himself, he would boast of his own powers, he would be limited by himself to his own narrow sphere. So it would be with each; and each, priding himself in himself, and boasting himself of himself, would incite in each and all, envy, division, and strife. Each of himself would make a god. Each, self-limited in spiritual vision, would believe that all should pay homage to his god, and so polytheism and everlasting strife of extermination would inevitably result. And man, gathering all to himself, would stagnate and die.
Faith in the great, infinite God takes man out of himself. It opens his heart, his mind, his whole being to the infinite. It gives him breadth of vision, such as self could never know. It lifts him from the low, miasmatic slough of self to the high mountain of God. It reveals to him God's greatness, God's goodness, God's love—till all his own "comeliness" is seen to be "corruption," and there is created within him an infinite longing to be like God.
He sees God as He is—not an arbitrary ruler exacting of his creatures abject subjection and profitless doing; but he sees Him as the great, loving Heart of all the great universe, from whom pulses forth currents of love and life to all His creatures—giving Himself for all. So seeing God, faith leads man to give of himself for the woes and needs of God's creation,—to let God make of him a channel of His everlasting mercies and blessings. He forgets himself as worthy only of forgetting in the service of others. He knows by faith, he realizes by service, that all good comes from God, and to God he gives all the glory. So it is with every child of faith in God's universe; and if faith had always ruled, each would have found delight in serving all, in glorifying God, and each would have found himself forever served of all.
No one in such a world could be unhappy. No one could stagnate, become dwarfed, or die. Life from the great Fountain would have flowed its eternal rounds, unperverted in its channels, unpoisoned by the malaria and miasma of pestilential self. Each and all would have glorified God, and would be continually glorified of God. Such is the simple, blessed philosophy of faith in God.
Perverted Good.
But for man to partake of that which is of itself good, contrary to God's will, is to take himself from the free current of God's life, and throw his fleshly nature across the power of life's working. We may let the little river flow on and on, carrying blessings every mile of its course, or we may dam it with "shale and straw," and find at last that its bursting has destroyed crops, towns, and people. God "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." In the current of that loving will there is life to all God's children; but its almighty power perverted to selfish channels means destruction to the perverter.
The record does not tell us how long man lived God's life, and basked in the joy of the divine presence. But it tells us that into this paradise of beauty came the tempter, he who in the beginning of evil perverted God's life. He said to man, "Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil." Gen. 3:4, 5, R.V.
The serpent promised them augmented knowledge apart from God, and infinite exaltation. "Ye shall know," "ye shall be as God;" and his words implied that God had in arbitrary selfishness withheld all from man. With such sophistries and delusions he has ever deceived mankind, perverting every blessing and blighting every hope. And our first parents believed the tempter, took of the forbidden fruit, and ate, and "brought death into the world, with all our woe."
As man was, under God, prince of this earth, the dispenser of God's blessings to all creation under him, it follows that when man fell there fell also upon all creation the curse of sin. "And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast harkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. 3:17-19.
And thus it has been from that day to this. The thorns and the thistles have cursed the earth. Hate, cruelty, and malignity have perverted the disposition of the animal creation. The earth does not yield her strength. Mountains vomit fire; the ground quakes and heaves; desert wastes spread over fruitful sections; fearful storms ravage the world. The great giant is groaning, and straining at its bonds of sin. As the apostle expresses it: "For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity [sin, death], not of its own will, but by reason of him [man] who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." Rom. 8:19-22, R.V.
The hope and the ground of the hope will be considered in future studies.
FULFILLING PROPHECY.
By Editor
THE prophetic Word says of this nation that it should say "to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Rev. 13:14-17.
The beast is the Roman power, in which7Church and State are united. An image to the beast involves the same evil union. The mark of the beast is the spurious sabbath which the man of sin has sought to elevate to the place of the Sabbath of the Creator, and its reception is receiving it—in the light of the knowledge that it has no place in God's Word.
This government is doing these things. By her present attitude she is saying to the nations of the world that separation of religion and State is not a matter of importance. She is committing herself to Sunday laws, the very beginning of the Dark Ages, the foundation of the persecutions of the Papacy. She has in this present year of grace appointed through Commissioner Peck three delegates to the International Sunday Rest Congress, held in Paris under the auspices of the French Government. Among these is Dr. W. W. Attebury, secretary of the New York Sabbath Committee, and one of the most ardent Sunday-law advocates in the United States. His associates we believe stand with him. What is this but saying to the nations of earth, Receive the mark?
THE CHRISTIAN'S LAMP.
By G.
THE psalmist says, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Ps. 119:105. Peter says of believers that "ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9. How could they find their way out of darkness, even when called? The same apostle points us to a guide that is "more sure" even than the sight of the eye or the hearing of the ear in their natural comprehension. After referring to the wonderful vision on the mount of transfiguration, and the wonderful words heard on that occasion, he says, "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." 2 Peter 1:19.
That is just what light is for, to shine in a dark place. It is not needed anywhere else. So the Scriptures are given as a light in this dark world of sin, as a light to the darkened understanding of the sinful mind. It would be useless to call a man who is in the dark without giving him some means of finding the way out. How long does this light shine in a dark place?—"Until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." Then as long as God is calling sinners to come "out of darkness," the Word of God and the Spirit of prophecy must be kept shining into the "dark place" to enable them to find the way out. And it is only by the aid of these that the "peculiar people" are enabled to "show forth" for the benefit of others the practical workings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is why the adversary of Christ, the enemy of all righteousness, is so anxious to put out the light of God's Word. It is to this end that he would lead men to discredit some portions, to eliminate other parts, or to mutilate its history and confuse its teachings in a way to pervert and destroy the whole. It is for this purpose that even earnest, well-meaning men are led to declare against the perpetuity of the law of God and the continuance of the Spirit of prophecy in the church. "But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. . . . For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 4:3-6.
Paul's caution to the church at Ephesus is timely for the church to-day: "Let no man deceive you with vain words. . . . For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children of light; . . . and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Eph. 5:6-11. How reprove them? "The commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life." Prov. 6:23. Note also a final contrast displayed in the light of the Christian's lamp: "The path of the just [on which the lamp of God's Word shines] is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." But "the way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble." Chapter 4:18, 19. "The light of the righteous rejoiceth; but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out." Chapter 13:9. In the Word of God "light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." Ps. 97:11.
THE BLESSEDNESS OF PERSECUTION.
By G.
THE Lord Himself has pronounced this blessing. It is one of the many encouragements He left on record for His people to buoy them up during their pilgrimage in a world of sin. It was while He was Himself amid the experiences of persecution that He gave the assurance, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Jesus knew what persecution meant, that it was a ruse of Satan to discourage and deter men from following in the footsteps of Christ, and thereby being saved. If they can be lured to destruction by flattery, and by the prospect of pleasures in this life and hereafter without the cross of Christ, they will not be persecuted for the truth's sake. If Christ had yielded to the blandishments of Satan's temptations in the wilderness, He would have had no persecution. But, failing to win over the world's Redeemer by guile and fair promises, the arch enemy at once sought to hedge up the Saviour's way by inciting the church to persecute Him.
However, having overcome the temptations solely through the power of the Word of God, —"It is written,"—He was also proof against the terrors of persecution. By that same Word He was apprized of the overcomer's reward. The psalmist had spoken by the Spirit concerning Him, "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." Ps. 2:2, 3. By the same Spirit he shows the outcome: "Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Verses 6-9.
Jesus knew that every possible pressure would be brought to bear upon His followers to turn them from the Way. All the fair promises of a deceptive world,—wealth, honor, pleasure,—would be displayed before them; and, these failing, as also the snares of perverted scripture, persecution would be the last resort. For "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Tim. 3:12.
Knowing all this by the Spirit of prophecy as well as by personal experience, the Lord gives us the comforting encouragement that there is blessing in the worst that the enemy can do against us. We are not to fear even death itself. "Yea, tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." Ps. 23:4, 5. It was from this table that the Saviour had eaten when He said to His disciples at Jacob's well: "I have meat to eat that ye know not of. . . . My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." John 4:32-34.
When those disciples had learned more of Christ, when their understanding was opened to an understanding of the Scriptures (Luke 24:45), when they had been baptized with the Spirit with which He was filled, then they could eat from the same table in presence of the bitterest persecution their foes could devise. They could "endure hardness as good soldiers" in the strength of present blessedness and in the faith of future glory. Peter and John, when cruelly beaten for their faith, could go on their way "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name." In this same spirit of faith Paul could admonish the brethren at Rome, "Bless them which persecute you; bless, and curse not." Rom. 12:14. Paul did not merely admonish, but he had set the example, and his testimony was, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Chapter 8:18.
Then "who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Verse 35. Shall any child of God forego the blessings that accompany persecution for the truth's sake? Shall we turn aside because of "our light affliction, which is but for a moment," knowing that it "worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory"? 2 Cor. 4:17. "It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him [by shrinking from the trials and sufferings], He also will deny us." To reassure us in this matter, as it were to emphasize the promise to the persecuted ones, the Lord has told us through special "revelation" to His servant John that "to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." Rev. 3:21. G.
God’s Unchanged Sabbath
God has told us which day is His Sabbath, and He has never taken it back.
WEALTH AND IMPERIALISM.
PROF. GOLDWIN SMITH, who will not be accused of socialism, speaks thus of the plutocratic tendencies in this government: "The resources of the continent, marvelously developed, and financial speculation have bred a body of wealth having its center in the East headed by a fabulous multi-millionairism, intrenched by a multiplicity of great corporations and trusts, daily absorbing money and extending its influence, feeling more and more the general unity of its interests, and threatening, if its ascendancy be not moderated, to dominate the State."
The Springfield Republican remarks:—
"This tremendous power is past the stage of timidity; it boldly grasps the scepter of government."
Professor Smith further says of this wealth power:—
"It may buy legislatures, judiciaries, municipalities, perhaps even churches. . . . It may command the public journals and thus control public opinion. It may kill commercially any one who opposes it. Even universities fed by its bounty, may fall under its political influence. A limit can hardly be set to the extension of its power in an age in which the universal object of desire is money, with the enjoyment which money provides."
Its education, its trend toward imperialism, is thus stated:—
"At heart it sighs for a court and aristocracy. It is even introducing the powder-headed footman, while he is going out of fashion in England. Its social center is shifting more and more from the United States to monarchical and aristocratic England, where it can take hold on the mantle of high society, get more homage and subserviency for its wealth, hope perhaps in the end to win its way to the circle of royalty, and, if it becomes naturalized, to obtain a knighthood or even a peerage. It barters the hands of its daughters and its millions for aristocratic connection."
And there is much more, but one more remark of the professor will suffice:—
"The republic of Florence, without change of its political forms, was effectually enslaved by the wealth of the Medicis. Florence was small, it is true; but so was the wealth of the Medicis compared with the collective fortunes of the United States."
How aptly all this, without such a thought on the part of the writer, coincides with divine prophecy—prophecy which Prof. Goldwin Smith does not believe. In James 5 God has told us that the rich men have heaped up their treasures "in the last days." Habakkuk personifies this wealth power, and declares that he is a "haughty man, and that keepeth not at home; who enlargeth his desire as hell, and he is as death, and can not be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all peoples." See Hab. 1 to 2: 5, R.V. But these prophecies also warn of the evil time which this wealth gathering will provoke among the poor and oppressed until the rich shall "weep and howl." And the prophet asks of this all-grasping money power, "Shall not they rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?"
All these to the Christian are omens of the better day, when Christ shall come. To the oppressor they are solemn warnings.
BAPTISTS AND THE CHURCH EXEMPTION AMENDMENT.
By G.
LAST year the Central Baptist Association of California, which met in this city, passed a decided vote against the proposed amendment to the State constitution exempting church property from taxation. This year the association met in Alameda, and, during an afternoon session, when the attendance was small and mostly composed of women, a vote was taken which reversed that of last year. One strange part of the proceeding was that a Methodist minister was called in to advocate the amendment, which is to be decided at the November State election. That of itself was an acknowledgment that to advocate and support the measure was a departure from time-honored Baptist principle. A lay brother took exception to the idea of a Baptist association's being obliged to call in an outsider to tell them what to do. He thought Baptists ought to be able to decide questions involving church principles for themselves.
Ordinarily, the body would have agreed with him, as they did last year on the main question. But he was overruled. But the pocketbook influence seems to have been at work during the year, and “the god of this world” overcame Protestant principle in the minds of some. This was virtually admitted by one leading minister, pastor of the church in which the association was held. Until recently he had strenuously opposed the amendment, being opposed to any mixing of Church and State. Admitting that he had changed his views since a year ago, he gave as the most convincing reason to him, that the heavy taxes paid keep many societies from building better churches, and resulted in a very poor style of architecture. When we are confronted with the spectacle of Protestant ministers deliberately yielding Protestant principle for monetary and architectural considerations, the “image to the beast,” noted in Revelation 13, passes from prophecy to a literal condition in our very midst.
Dr. Inskeep, an able teacher in the denomination, noted the appearance of the resolution's being “railroaded” through, and asked that the time for its consideration be extended. But those who had the matter in hand evidently were aware of their temporary advantage, and refused the request. This action rather demonstrated Dr. Inskeep's fears in the matter. The “railroading” feature was still further manifest in the fact that the Methodist minister who was called in to advocate the measure was given half an hour's time, and then the remainder of the entire discussion was limited to fifteen minutes, speakers to have two minutes each.
Col. J. L. Lyon, a prominent layman of the First Baptist Church of this city, takes exception to the action of the association as representative of the sentiment of the churches represented. He expresses the opinion, through the Oakland Enquirer, that had the vote been postponed until the evening session, when the brethren could be in attendance, the result would have been the other way. We are also informed that several of the brethren are highly indignant over the manner in which the action was taken, feeling that, as Baptists, their true position has been sadly compromised. G.
THE LESSON OF THE TIMES.
By C. M. S.
WITH every new day there come new evidences that the world is now in feverish preparation for its last great battle. There never was so much energy, skill, genius directed at one time in one direction as to-day being used in the preparation for war. The most skilful men of every country are devising weapons of war. The man of genius is busy concocting new schemes for the destruction of life. It would seem that the inventor had declared war on the race. It is also true that no inventions are so well paid for as those which are capable of killing the largest number of men in the smallest amount of time. The principal concern of governments at the present time is that they shall be ready at a moment's notice to strike their antagonist a mortal blow before he is ready to strike them.
Perhaps no man is better able to speak authoritatively upon the topic of progress in war preparation than Mr. Hiram Maxim, for whom the Maxim gun was named. We quote from an article by this inventor which appeared in the New York Independent of Oct. 11, 1900, on "The Future of High Explosives." After telling of the rapid progress made in producing high and dangerous explosives, Mr. Maxim outlines their uses as follows:—
"Perhaps the field where the greatest changes will be wrought in present methods by the increased use of high explosives lies in naval and military operations.
"We may often aid our reason in dealing with a complex problem by considering it in a simple and analogous form.
"Suppose there existed in the sea an enemy of the whale, a hundredth part of his size, and capable of traveling at three times as great a speed; and suppose this fish were capable of inflicting a mortal blow upon the whale whenever he could get within range. It is obvious that the whale would soon become extinct.
"Over a large area in South Africa there exists a peculiar fly, whose bite is mortal to the ox. How obviously helpless becomes the sluggish beast in the face of such an enemy!
"Place in the sea, where the ponderous armor-ribbed whale—the battle-ship—rides, large numbers of swift battle-ship destroyers, costing only a tenth as much as the unwieldy monster and of three times its speed, which will be able to strike a mortal blow whenever they can get in range, and the swish of the search-light would be as impotent in the defense of the battle-ship as the swish of the tail of the ox against the African fly. The naval leviathan would necessarily become extinct.
"The writer has perfected a material termed motorite, composed of the most powerful high explosive compounds, but which has been tempered so that it can not explode, and its combustion may be controlled and regulated with the greatest nicety. He has also perfected means for utilizing the heat of the products of combustion for the evaporation of water,—the steam and the products of combustion being combined for driving a turbine. By this means a torpedo-boat may be provided with such a reserve of propulsive energy as to travel with almost any speed which might be desired.
"A torpedo-boat of this kind would be able to carry sufficient motorite for its propulsion at the rate of a mile a minute for half an hour.
"The motorite torpedo-boat, sighting a battle-ship at a distance of ten miles, going at a speed of twenty miles an hour, would be able to overtake it at the rate of forty miles an hour. This would bring the torpedo-boat upon the battle-ship within fifteen minutes.
"The battle-ship would be entirely helpless. The torpedo-boat, traveling at such high velocity, with its lookout turret only a speck above the surface, would be comparatively safe under the very guns of the battle-ship.
"It is obvious that a torpedo-boat, propelled at such enormously high speed, would require to be armed with automobile torpedoes, capable, when launched, of traveling at an equal or greater velocity than the torpedo-boat itself. This end can be accomplished only by the employment of motorite for the propulsion of the automobile torpedo as well as the torpedo-boat. In an article of this length, it is impossible to go into minor details of construction. Suffice it to say that the writer has already constructed and tested apparatus which fully demonstrates the practicability and utility of this means of propulsion, and is able to give assurance of the perfect feasibility and practicability of this method. The writer has engaged with him in making calculations and determinations, with a9view to the application of this system to torpedoes and torpedo-boats, some of the ablest mechanical engineers and marine architects in this country.
"There is to-day a greater demand for increased speed for short emergency runs of torpedoes and torpedo-boats than for anything else in naval engineering."
Never before in the history of the world were men rushing to the fulfilment of prophecy with such feverish haste as now. To prepare war and wake up the mighty men is the present burden of the world. The danger to the Christian is in allowing these things, so full of vital consequences, to become to him meaningless occurrences. If Satan can blind our eyes to the real condition of the world and what it means, he has triumphed over us. "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness." C. M. S.
THE CHINESE SITUATION.
A SERIOUS revolt is reported to be now in progress in Southern China, a revolt directed more against the Manchu dynasty than against the foreigners. General Lu reports that his 30,000 troops are unable to cope with this rebellion, and that a force of 100,000 will be necessary. In the province of Kwang Tung this new movement has assumed an anti-foreign aspect, and five missions have been destroyed at Hang King Chau. A despatch from Shanghai states that the Triads have met and repeatedly defeated the imperial troops near Kowloon and Hongkong, and are daily gaining fresh adherents. The general situation in the south of China is regarded as very critical, and some of the troops which England was sending to North China are being diverted to the vicinity of Hongkong. An outbreak is looked for in Canton, near which city the Chinese reformer Sun Fat Sen is marshaling his forces.
England has accepted the proposition of Germany with reference to China, tho making her answer somewhat conditional, and the English press is criticising the attitude of America in the matter of negotiations, claiming that America's course is hindering harmonious action. The American State Department has replied to the French proposition, accepting certain of its sections, and intimating that others would have to be considered by Congress. Great Britain is said to have approved the French proposition also, but with certain conditions.
The forces of the allies, excepting those of America, have started for Pao Ting Fu. The expedition will make a demonstration through a wide territory, probably devastating the country as it goes, and will then capture Pao Ting Fu. Li Hung Chang is now at the Chinese capital prepared to enter into negotiations for peace; but Prince Tuan, whose degradation and removal from office were reported some time ago, is said to be still holding an influential place in the government. He has issued a statement to the effect that the court is now in safe keeping, and urges the Chinese to have patience until winter shall decimate the allies; that they keep the arsenals running until everything is ready for a general massacre of foreigners.
THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT.
By L. A. P.
DR. MAX NORDAU, the noted French Jew, in an interview in the Independent, looks upon the condition and prospects of the Jews in Europe as very hopeless. He says the sentiment against the Jew is increasing rapidly, and attributes this feeling to the peculiarities of religion and customs of his people, and to the fact, in addition, that they are in the minority. They are scapegoats, he declares, for all the evils, national and otherwise, that can not be conveniently shifted elsewhere. In Roumania, and Galicia, and Russia their condition is deplorable, Germany and England grant them greater liberties, but he sees evidences even in the United States of discrimination against the Hebrew. He likens their condition in Europe to that of the foreigner, especially the white man, in China.
Well, this is a very literal fulfilment of the word of the Lord concerning the Jewish nation when they should forsake Him and become like the nations around them. Dr. Nordau asserts that the Zionist movement must succeed, or the Jew must die, but admits that a long time may ensue ere its accomplishment is realized. Others think it will succeed, but it will not in a national way, as they view it. The hope of the Jews is not in return to Palestine, but return to the God of hosts, belief in the prophecies relating to Christ, and a recognition of His efficacies as their only means of salvation. L. A. P.