Earlier text: IT IS I; BE NOT AFRAIDTHE INTENT OF PROPHECY.
By J. F. Shuler
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. Before visiting the world with judgments, God has always sent warnings to enable the righteous to escape His wrath, and to witness against those who heeded not the warning. In order to do this, God reveals His designs to the prophets. When such revelation has been made known to others by the prophet, it then becomes a prophecy, and belongs to all the human race as a gift from God. The prophecy is, then, no longer a secret, but a revelation from God to man, that he may know what the future will be, and thus be prepared to meet it. Thus the design of prophecy is to point out the dangers and perils to which we are exposed. The old proverb is, “To be forewarned is to be forearmed.” In view of this fact, whoever pays no attention to the prophecy, and is overtaken by any disaster which the prophecy pointed out, will be held guilty by Him who revealed the danger. Then is it not of great importance that we give heed to the prophecies? Prophecy is also a remarkable proof of the inspiration of the Bible. God sets it forth as a proof that He is God. “I am God, and there is none else; I am God, . . . declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.” Isa. 46:9, 10. See, also, Isa. 41:21-23. Thus the prophecies and their fulfilment prove the existence of a God who continues to live, and rule all the affairs of both heaven and earth. God foretells the rise and fall of nations before they come into existence. History bears witness to the fulfilment of the prophecies of the Bible with unerring accuracy. When a prophecy is fulfilled, it strengthens faith in God’s Word, because the prophecy was given sometimes ages before its fulfilment. The prophetic Word was given that “we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” The prophecies and their fulfilment are living witnesses against infidelity. Thus prophecy becomes a grand testimony to the inspiration of the Bible. If we throw aside the prophecy, we can not prove that the Bible is the Word of God. These facts being true, it is exceedingly strange that so many people give little or no time to the study of the prophecies. The ability to foretell future events, and the force of their fulfilments, are proof of the divine origin of prophecy, and show the power of the Lord above all the gods of the heathen. Isa. 48:3-7. From the words of Christ to His disciples we can learn one of the objects of God in giving prophecy. Telling them of the one who would betray Him, which was Judas, He said, “I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He.” Prophecy occupies an important place in the Bible. It is a deception of Satan to make men believe that prophecy can not be understood; for by thus doing, he may keep them ignorant of the fate of his kingdom, and also of the soon coming of Christ’s glorious kingdom. ALMOST PERSUADED.
By F. M. Corbaley
When Paul was brought before King Agrippa to answer for his faith, he feared not to stand before him, because he had a clear conscience. He believed and was persuaded that he was in the right. None of the buffetings to which he was subjected caused him to doubt or waver, and at every opportunity he spoke the word with power. Then King Agrippa said to him, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” The king’s heart was touched, and as the words of Paul pierced home to his heart, there was doubtless a strong impulse urging him to accept the teachings of Paul. Thus this man who was to judge Paul, was almost persuaded to stand with Paul; but his position made him proud. He loved position and notoriety, and allowed himself to stand disloyal to God. The things he loved were dearer to him than life. He was being weighed; God was calling him for the last time; he had the opportunity, and was almost persuaded. Almost means much. In this case it meant the throwing away of eternal life. How many have heard words such as Paul spoke, and are almost persuaded to consecrate all their life, their means; almost persuaded to pay an honest tithe; and almost persuaded to keep all the commandments; and yet allow to come in pride and the fashions of the world, allow themselves to become lovers of pleasure, and refuse to go out in the great harvest field, with Bible in hand, saying to the world that Jesus is soon coming! If we are almost persuaded, we are standing where King Agrippa stood. His almost availed him nothing. Paul stood before the king a prisoner, a man condemned by men; but he failed not to do his duty, and give his message. He labored night and day, and, when he had finished his work, he said, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” We are not now standing before King Agrippa, but before God, who is Judge of all,—a Judge who never made a mistake. Then let us be fully persuaded to fight the good fight of faith to the end, for almost will not avail. We can not now afford to hesitate, as did the king, and lose all. We are almost home; let us be fully persuaded, accepting Christ for all He is, and triumph with His all-conquering Gospel. The Growing Burden of Sin
THE heavier our old load of sin, the lighter do new ones appear at their approach.— Sunday-School Times. RICHES and folly go hand in hand; greed and great loss travel side by side. Inspiration tells us the end of the man who makes the accumulation of riches his aim. “As the partridge that sitteth on eggs which she hath not laid, so is he that getteth riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool.” Jer. 17:11. He has been industriously digging in the mire for something that could not last, while over his head unheeded hung the crown of everlasting life and the pearl of greatest price. At the same time that his greed for gain was consuming his energy he was losing out of his life that which would have made it worthy of everlasting preservation, namely, character. So loss and greed are companions, and the greater the greed, the greater and more rapid the loss. The world has learned to despise the “miser,” as such; but it has failed to recognize that the “miser” is simply one who knows better how to hoard than how to get. The millionaire knows better how to get, and so does not need to be so particular about the hoarding. But the principle actuating both is the same—the love and worship of money. God calls it foolishness, and the scripture declaration is as applicable to the one as to the other; for in each case the glorious gift of eternal life is forfeited for the vanities of the world. The people of the world despise the one and laud and long to imitate the other. God declares that in the end they both are fools. “Riches make themselves wings,” says the prophet; and in their talons they carry captive the soul of the man that has laid aside all else to seek them. This is well illustrated in the case of the “rich young man” who came to Jesus to know what he might do to inherit eternal life. He had great riches, and his soul was knit to them and bound up in them. Jesus touched the cord of his bondage to this world when He said, “Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor.” But the rich young man would not be loosed. He had chosen his bondage because he loved it, and now, with his perishable riches in the balances with the riches of heaven, he chooses still that which is earthly, transient, perishing, and goes away sorrowful, to perish with his goods. “And Jesus seeing him said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” That young man was facing the “day of recompense” with the full knowledge of the fact that “riches profit not in the day of wrath; but righteousness delivereth from death.” Prov. 11:4. He knew also that “he that trusteth in his riches shall fall; but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.” How many there are to-day who are choosing the wealth and the vanities of this world while knowing these positive scripture assurances that the lover of this world’s goods must perish with them. Building on the sands to go down in the overthrow of this world; gathering to themselves hay and wood and stubble, rather than the precious gems of eternity; hunting the fleeting, evanescent pleasures of this world, and tossing aside the promise of an eternity of peace and joy and glorious companionship with a loving Father, with Christ and unfallen angels; how can the verdict of Heaven be other than it is written—“at his end he shall be a fool.” “At his end” that worldly wise man whom this scripture declares a fool will acknowledge his foolishness when he shall call to the rocks and mountains to hide him from the face of the One who had been, during all that man’s life, holding out to him in vain the everlasting riches of heaven. The glamor which the love of riches throws around the getting and hoarding of gold is called by the Saviour “the deceitfulness of riches.” That chokes out the desires of the soul for the better and wiser life, constantly promising what it can never give, until the great and bitter disappointment comes, and the soul realizes the utter worthlessness of the choice it has made. But there is a wealth which it is perfectly legitimate for us to seek after. It is that everlasting inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. To those who “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” there is promised here the necessaries of this temporal life, and over there a life that is purged from every taint or stain of the temporal and perishable things. So while the Christian has this life, it is his business to preach “the unsearchable riches of Christ,” and then share them with Christ in that joint inheritance. THE Lord never asked any person or any people to promise in their own strength to keep His law. He never asks any one to do what he can not do. Whatever He commands any one to do, the command implies that He will supply the power to do it. No one has the power to do the will of the Most High God unless the power to do that will be imparted by the omnipotent One Himself. This principle was fully established in the declaration of Christ, the only-begotten Son of the all-powerful God, when He declared, “The Son can do nothing of Himself.” John 5:19. “I can of Myself do nothing.” Verse 30. Now if Christ Himself, when in the weakness of sinful flesh, could not of Himself do the Father’s will, how can any one else do it? Therefore an unconditional promise to do so is sheer presumption, virtually assuming to do right without God’s help. This was Israel’s great mistake at Sinai, when that “old” covenant was made. God gave them a precious promise, designed for their encouragement at that critical moment; but He placed it on a reciprocal basis; a condition that they should do His will, which is to obey His law. The promise was predicated on what He had already done for them, the great acts which they had witnessed and experienced during the few months just preceding. He said: “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle’s wings, and brought you unto Myself.” Ex. 19:4. With the assurance of this experience fresh in their minds, He gave the conditional promise: “Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine; and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” Verses 5, 6. The Lord did not ask the people to make any promise at all; for He knew their promise would not amount to anything, as was shown a short time afterward, when they worshiped the golden calf. They did not even know what God’s will was until three days afterward, when He spoke it from Mount Sinai. So they assumed the ability and righteousness to do in their own strength whatever the Lord would require. Without any acknowledgment of dependence on the Lord for strength and wisdom to do His will, “all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.” Then, after they had been informed of the Lord’s will, they again promised unconditionally to do all that He had said, and be obedient. It is no wonder the covenant so soon became “old” and worthless, when its support was weakened by the injection of the promises of such a wavering, unstable people. But their unconditional promise was just as good as that of any other people; and promises made in the same spirit to-day are no better than those made by a faithless people at Sinai. How much better was the spirit of David, who, realizing his own weakness, based his promises on help from the Lord. His prayer was: “Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments; for therein do I delight. Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.” Ps. 119: 34-36. So also Solomon, in the prayer at the dedication of the temple, besought the continued presence of God, “that He may incline our hearts unto Him, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers.” As our Saviour, when on earth, acknowledged that He could do nothing of Himself, so He said to His disciples, “Without Me ye can do nothing.” This is not for our discouragement, however; for the Apostle Paul, who had much experience in the things of God, gives this assurance, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Phil. 4:13. Only in the faith of Jesus is the power to do the will of God. But, praise His name, “we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.” Rom. 5:2. DANIEL'S EXCELLENT SPIRIT RECOGNIZED BY KING DARIUS.
WHEN the kingdom of Babylon passed out of existence, and the kingdom of the Medes and Persians took its place, King Darius, the Median, did not overlook Daniel. By some means in the transition of the dominion Daniel's wisdom and statesmanship and faithfulness were impressed upon the new administrator of universal empire. So, in the sixth chapter of the book of Daniel, we read that “it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; and over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first; that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was found in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.” Evidently the Spirit of God had endowed the king with a keen discernment and also with a courage of conviction, to place over his own influential countrymen a man who was only a captive of the conquered kingdom of Babylon. True, he was acting king when they came into possession of the kingdom, but even at that, the men who had been prominent in the victorious power would not expect to hold positions inferior to any of the conquered people, however high their station in the former government. The purpose of putting Daniel over all the princes631 and other presidents in order that “the king should have no damage,” is not only a compliment to Daniel's honesty, but it shows a common trait of oriental princes, namely, a disposition to administer the affairs of their several provinces for their own personal advantage. They would collect all the revenue that they could with safety, in the name of the general government, and then withhold from the imperial treasury all that they dared to. In this way they would make enormous fortunes for themselves at the expense of the people and of the general treasury. It was the business of the three presidents to oversee and revise the financial administration of the provincial princes, and Daniel, as chief of the presidents, was in a position to hinder their accepting bribes from the princes to overlook their peculations. Generally speaking, oriental princes would not rest easy under a surveillance that materially restricted their dishonest practices. So it is not surprising that “the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom.” The fact that there were one hundred and twenty princes and two presidents, all skilled in the art of intrigue, engaged in this effort to pick some flaw in Daniel's administration, was a remarkable test of his ability, his honesty, his integrity. And it is a high tribute to his moral and political character that “they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful; neither was there any error or fault found in him.” Naturally men concerned in such a conspiracy would not readily give up the effort to find occasion against the object of their envy, just as the enemies of Christ pursued Him until they found pretext for His condemnation, altho the charges were sustained only by false witnesses. So Daniel's fidelity to truth was the very medium through which the princes decided that he could be caught in their trap. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. Daniel's loyalty to the law of his God was known to these men, else they would not have conceived the scheme of entrapping him through that means. No doubt they understood that his resistance of the temptations that came to him to make private gain in conjunction with their plots was because the law of his God restrained him. Daniel would not be slow to make this fact known. We are not to suppose that this man who had been so richly endowed by the God of heaven would be a silent witness to the truth in the very country where his people had been sent to proclaim and exemplify it. It would be a grand impetus to Gospel work in our day if all professed representatives were so faithful to the principles of truth and righteousness that all their troubles in this world should be because of this characteristic. To this end the scripture enjoins us, “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you; on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” 1 Peter 4:14-16. This was the course pursued by Daniel, as is manifest by a further reading of the record. In another article we will note the trial of faith that came to him because of his fidelity to the law of his God. “NOT TO DO MINE OWN WILL.”
This is the Spirit of Christ: He came not to be served, but to serve others; not to be ministered unto, but to minister to others; not to save Himself, but to save others. There is an idea quite prevalent that Christ came to organize a new government to supersede the past, a new plan. But all this He expressly disavows. He declared prophetically through the psalmist before He came: “Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Ps. 40:7, 8. When He came, His language was the same: “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.” John 4:34. “I can of Mine own self do nothing; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just; because I seek not My own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me.” John 5:30. “For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” John 6:38. Therefore the Master says of those who profess to be His servants and are not: “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 7:21. Of this class who profess, but do not, He says; “Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” Verse 23. Iniquity is lawlessness, or breaking of law, and the law referred to is the law of God, the will of the Father to which Christ was willingly obedient. Christ therefore taught the integrity and immutability of God’s law, both in precept and example, even to jots and tittles (Matt. 17:20), and we are enjoined to walk in His footsteps (1 John 2:6). He, therefore, also taught no new doctrines, but the same everlasting Gospel issues in obedience to the same immutable law. God’s law stands forever. Keep it through Christ Jesus. If there is a system in the world which could truthfully be called anti-Christ, it is New Thought. The purpose of the Gospel is to convict men of sin, and release them from its bondage, and then clothe them with power and wisdom to bring that liberty to the acceptance of others. The true Christian can not settle down to a life of ease and comfort while he knows that his fellow-men are going on in the slavery of sin to a ruin that is certain to overtake them. He who is desirous of taking another’s life would not warn that other if he saw him going to his death. The ill-wisher would sit down in comfort and complacency. Not so with the man who is desirous of saving that same man’s life. He would hasten to warn him in the utmost earnestness. He would let nothing stand between him and the delivery of his warning message. It would be utterly impossible for him to sit down comfortably and know that friend was walking into the trap of death. It is Satan’s business to prepare death-traps for souls, and his best helpers are they who can induce men to believe there is no danger in the course they are pursuing. Such helpers make his devices all the more certain. They are false sign-posts, pointing “safety,” where greatest dangers lie concealed. They are wreckers, building false beacons that lure life mariners to the rocks of eternal ruin. A prominent New Thought journal says: “Let us be comfortable. Let us seek comfort. The one center toward which all men tend in their thoughts is comfort. . . . Many are questioning what New Thought stands for, and what it will do for them. The best possible answer is: It will make you comfortable.” In that doctrine Satan can lull the world to sleep and captivate it at his will. And this, coupled with the self-sufficiency and self-salvation which that same system teaches, would obliterate Christ and His work and the reason for His work from the world entirely. That also is Satan’s purpose, and in the New Thought system that purpose is being wrought out in every soul that will yield to its seductive teachings. THE FUTURE REAL ESTATE PROBLEM.
“The meek shall inherit the earth.” Ps. 37:11; Matt. 5:5. As yet such a condition has not been known. Even Abraham, “the father of all them that believe” (Rom. 4:11), “sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country.” Heb. 11:9. Altho the promise included the whole earth (Rom. 4:13), he bought of a Hittite the Cave of Machpelah for a burial place. Genesis 23. Isaac and Jacob were heirs with Abraham of the promise, but they all died without receiving it. However, they saw the fulfilment of the promise in the future, realizing that for the time being “they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Heb. 11:9, 13. Moses is noted in the Scripture (Num. 12:3) as being “very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth;” but he did not inherit any portion of the earth as a reward of his meekness. Before he became so meek, he might have inherited the throne of Egypt; but he chose the privation and affliction that pertained to the children of God rather than the treasures of Egypt. Why did Moses make this apparent sacrifice?—Because he saw by faith “greater riches” in the “reproaches of Christ.” He believed that the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob could not be broken, and he looked forward “unto the recompense of reward.” With all his meekness, he could not even go into the typical promised land to enjoy a temporary possession. Then we have before us another example of meekness, one that excelled even Moses, for His life was without flaw. The life of Jesus of Nazareth was the acme of virtue in every respect; even the governor who passed sentence of death upon Him could find no fault in Him. Of His meekness the Spirit of prophecy has said: “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.” Isa. 53:7. And this prophecy was literally fulfilled. Matt. 26:59–63; Mark 15:2–5; Luke 23:8–10. But Jesus did not inherit the earth during His earthly pilgrimage. Matt. 8:18–20. Nor are those who follow His example in meekness and humility noted for their landed possessions, or other evidences of this world’s riches. 1 Cor. 1:26–29; James 2:5–9. But “the Scripture can not be broken;” therefore “the meek shall inherit the earth.” When?—The psalmist says, “Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” Ps. 37:10. Moreover, when the meek shall inherit the earth, they shall also “delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” This must be when there will be no wicked to molest them; for “the wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.” But the Lord knows that the end of the wicked is coming. “The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.” But “their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. . . . For the arms of the wicked shall be broken; but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. The Lord knoweth the days of the upright; and their inheritance shall be forever.” The end of the wicked is thus further foretold: “The wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.” Then the contrast is pointedly repeated: “For such as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of Him shall be cut off.” The meek have nothing to do with the destruction of their enemies; they are commissioned to preach the Gospel and manifest the meekness of Christ in their lives. The Judge of all the earth will execute the judgment upon the enemies of righteousness. All this is because “the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His saints; they are preserved forever; but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever.” The secret of it all is, that “the law of his God is in his heart; [therefore] none of his steps shall slide.” “The Lord shall help them, and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him.” Read the whole of Psalm 37. The last chapter of the Old Testament tells of the utter destruction of the wicked by fire. Matthew 25 tells of the coming of the Lord in glory, when the saints shall be called to inherit the kingdom. The last chapter of Peter’s second epistle tells of the destruction of the present earth by fire, as the world as it existed before the Flood was destroyed by water. To this the apostle adds: “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” The twenty-first and twenty-second chapters of Revelation tell of the appearance of the new heaven and new earth, on which will be permanently located the throne of God and the throne of Christ. On this new earth, purified of every vestige of sin and its consequences, will be fulfilled the promise that “the meek shall inherit the earth.” And the promise comes personally to every creature, “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Gal. 3:29. 1573.—Withdrawing from the Disorderly.
In what way shall we withdraw from every brother that walketh disorderly, and where is the text found? M. H. The text is found in 2 Thess. 3:6. But as to just how to deal with each and every case it would be as impossible to give directions as it would for a physician to give specific directions for treating every case. The words of the apostle are to the church, not to individuals as such. Study in this connection Rom. 2:1–3; Matt. 18:15–22; Romans 14; 1 Corinthians 5; Rom. 16:17; 2 Thess. 3:14. Seek God for the wisdom which He is willing to give (James 1:5–7), and pursue such a course as shall witness for God and win the sinning soul if possible. Does 2 Cor. 6:14 mean “yoked by marriage”? Does it have reference to the yoke spoken of in Matt. 11:29, 30? Unequally in what way? It means a voluntary yoking up with unbelievers in any way that will compromise the faith of the Christian or restrain his freedom to serve or worship God. Certainly, from all God’s dealings with His people in the past, and from the fact that marriage is the closest earthly relation known, the text must include marriage with unbelievers. The last question is answered in the first. There are certain things which we can do with unbelievers in helping them and others which do not involve a compromise of faith. In these things God’s Spirit must guide. They who yoke up with Christ Jesus must break fellowship with the Master when they yoke up with wickedness or sin of any sort. If Christ be with you, you are safe anywhere. You may die, but you are safe. Men may burn you at the stake; you are safe. “There shall not a hair of your head perish.” With Him is life, not only here, but hereafter. THE CONDITION OF THE TIMES.
By Editor
THIS paper has had something to say from time to time concerning the conditions of the present time, and has been accused of pessimism because it could not see what some profess to see—a glorious, roseate future for this present world. It has brought before its readers from time to time facts concerning the deteriorating process now going on in the world, not because it gloats over the deterioration of the race, but because that downward tendency is itself a sign of a rapidly-approaching event which will, in its outworking, bring in such a reign of peace and righteousness as even the most ardent advocates of this present world's “glorious-future” era have not dared to hope for. To hold to the idea that man, through efforts of his own, will be able to bring order out of this chaos, plant righteousness where unrighteous is flourishing in noxious and luxuriant growth, is to deny the Scripture in toto, deny the second coming of Christ, deny man's need of a Saviour, and seek to make of man that which only God can be. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES is not the only journal that sees the conditions as they are. The following editorial utterances from that widely-quoted journal, the Springfield Republican, show that others see the conditions and fear not to tell of them to the world:— These are times in the American state which should agree with those who enjoy the strenuous life. Let the citizen take up his newspaper of Sunday morning, and note some of the contents: Civil war in Colorado, where people charged with no crime are being driven away from their homes by armed mobs which incidentally loot and smash a co-operative store belonging to union miners; strike riots in Chicago, in which one man is killed and several wounded; strike riots in New York; strikes threatened in the anthracite coal region and in the mills of the United States steel corporation; and a continuation of the race war in the south, extending from Georgia to Alabama, where a negro has been stoned to death. Strikes actually in progress in three or four industries have rendered over one hundred thousand men idle, and impaired the livelihood of several times that number; and the spirit animating the strikers as a rule is shown at Chicago, where a shout of triumph goes up when the city authorities decide that the meat packers have no legal right to house their non-union help within the stockyards, but must compel them to find lodging-places outside, where the strikers can get at them better. “Once out, they will never get back,” is the cry of the strike leaders; and we all know what that means. It has come to be the way in which the average strike nowadays is to be won, if at all, has it not? Thus all about us crop out the manifestations of a prevalent lawless spirit, an impatience with constituted processes, a revolutionary stirring of the feeling of unrest and dissatisfaction, bitter class animosity, and quick readiness to appeal to the power of force and arms. It must be disturbing to the thoughtful and reflecting citizen, however enjoyable it may be to the lovers of strenuousness and the supporters of national policies of the might-makes-right order. We seem to be permitting the Republic to drift into volcanic conditions, fundamentally threatening to industrial peace and social disorder. Over against reports of desperate poverty among riotous strikers at Chicago, and peaceful strikers at Fall River, where no effort is being made to fill their places, stand accounts of how a well-known market operator, high in the financial world, a plutocratic creation of our recent boom period, loses $32,000 at one sitting at a Saratoga gaming-table with impressive nonchalance and equally impressive shamelessness. There is news enough of this character. We have never known it to be so abundant as in recent months. And how little there is of the constructive and conserving kind: how few the evidences of popular awakening to the dangers so obviously present and threatening. The dangers of which that editorial speaks are growing; the conditions depicted are becoming more threatening; the lawlessness mentioned is increasingly prevalent; and at the same time there never was a greater spirit of apathy concerning the consequences of these things. Some tell us it portends a great and wide-spread revolution; but the general public hear this with complacency. Others teach—and the Word of God supports the teaching—that it is a sign of the end of this present world, and the advent of our Saviour. And this solemn truth, pressed home with the “powerful witness of fulfilled prophecy,” finds only a small fragment of this generation willing to listen and heed. Notice these statements of the Republican: “All about us crop out the manifestations of a prevalent lawless spirit.” “There is news enough of this character. We have never known it to be so abundant as in recent months.” “How few the evidences of popular awakening to the dangers so obviously present and threatening.” It is the long-studied design of the enemy of souls to deaden the sensibilities of the people of this last generation lest they should hear and heed and be saved. He is doing his utmost to make the conditions what they are, and at the same time is throwing a curtain of drowsiness over the world, lulling to the sleep of death those who have not laid firm hold of the truth of God for these times. It is high time to awake out of sleep. One of the practices made prominent by the Russo-Japanese War is the idolatry inculcated by the Russian state church in the worship of the sacred images, “icons.” Some of these are believed by the members of the Russian (or Greek) Church to have miraculous powers, and the veneration in which they are held, and the dependence which that people place in them, amount to virtual worship. This form of idolatry, which the Russian state church is doing its utmost to force upon the subjects of the czar, in the attitude it has assumed toward other beliefs, has been termed “iconolatry.” The blind superstition displayed in connection with the worship of these images has evoked the pity of the world. Icons have been bestowed upon the various generals who have been sent to the front, that the favor of the pictured saint might help them to win the battles of Russia. One of the special “miracle-working” icons was sent to Port Arthur to prevent the Japanese capturing that place. General Kuropatkin has been showered with these “sacred pictures” to insure his success. He has not succeeded, and thousands upon thousands of his best men have found graves in far Manchuria, while the proud ships of the czar’s fleet have been scattered over the sea or sunk with their living freight, beneath its waves. Will the Russian people learn, even through these reverses, that God is not honored or pleased with the worship they have been taught to give to the idols set up by that great church? Satan is always pleased when men place between themselves and God the black cloud of idolatry to shut themselves out from communion with God and ultimately from everlasting life. Concerning the prevalence of this “iconolatry” the editor of the Open Court has this to say:— Icons are very extensively used in Russian worship, so much so that every Russian regiment has its patron saint, whose icon is kept in the church of the garrison, which in war time may be a tent, after the fashion of the Jewish tabernacle, and is in charge of a clergyman, a deacon, and other functionaries, who attend to the usual religious duties. The day of the regiment’s patron saint is celebrated by the regiment, and clergymen carrying a crucifix are sometimes present in battle to encourage the wavering and to comfort the wounded and dying. All people who have a desire to be orthodox, especially the people of the peasantry, carry on a little chain or string around their necks, underneath their clothes, a small cross or some sacred image given them on the day of baptism. The icon of a saint is tacitly assumed to insure the presence of the saint himself, and so, since the saint is believed to be a miracle-worker, most of the icons are credited with miraculous powers. Protestantism and, more so, Puritanism, reject them as Pagan, while both the Greek and Roman Catholic churches have sanctioned their use. But in the very face of the state-fostered idolatry of these two great religious bodies stands the plain command of God: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. . . . Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.” The machinery Satan has invented to induce men to break that plain and positive command is ingenious, subtle, dangerous, and far-reaching.