"AMONG the guests at a recent college alumni dinner in New York City was Frank Hinkey, Yale, '94, the famous left end of Old Eli's football team of that year. He told what his listeners said was the best hazing story they had ever heard:—
"'It happened,' he remarked, 'in 1892. Some sophomores noticed that two poor country boys had begun their house-keeping in a room on the ground floor of one of the college halls, with a miserable apology for a bed, no carpet, no table, and only two chairs as the sum total of their outfit. They proposed to board themselves, but had only a few dollars for their food during the term. They expected hazing, and were not disappointed.
"'One night the trembling youths were summoned by a sophomore, who was not over-courteous, to go to a room up-stairs. They obeyed, pale with fear. They were detained about an hour, but were only quizzed by the circle of students in the room. Then they were released. Entering their own apartment, they were dazzled by a new carpet, a tasteful bedstead, fully equipped, a study table, easy-chairs, a handsome drop lamp, a bookcase, partly filled with books, a stove, pictures on the walls, rugs, etc., while in a closet were enough provisions to last a week.
"'That,' declared Hinkey, in closing, 'was hazing to a blessed purpose, but, alas! I fear it has no parallel.'"
RIGHT ABOUT, FACE!
If you and I have set our lives in the wrong direction, the stroke of the clock at the midnight hour is not going to stop us. If we have been sowing bad seed in the field, it will spring up and bear an evil harvest as sure as the winds blow and summer days overlap night. The main question is not, What o'clock is it? but, Which way am I headed? There will never be a century born which can make us good, useful, or happy unless we take the matter in hand ourselves. Time can never drop the word "repent," and to the end of days the prophet must shout to the man who is going the wrong way, "Right about, face!"—The Advance.
RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN PORTO RICO.
By Mrs. Ida M. Fischer
[Mission Board Correspondence.]
"ARISE, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." It is hard for us to grasp the meaning of this text when associated with an enlightened class of people. But since coming to this field, our thoughts have turned to it repeatedly, especially during the latter part of January, when Mayaguez, a city of fifteen or twenty thousand inhabitants, celebrated her most important "fiesta," or feast. The whole city was in an uproar for nine successive days. I will quote from the leading paper of the island:—
On the 23rd Mayaguez commences the Fiesta de Candelaria, which lasts until Feb. 2. A very complete program has been prepared. There will be balls at the theater, casino, and centro Espanol; receptions at the city hall and elsewhere; concerts and fireworks every night, athletic contests, and other things. The committees are striving to make this celebration eclipse any of the past.
The athletic sports on the 24th will consist of an obstacle race, gymnastic and boxing exhibitions, and several American games of skill will be introduced. This takes place on the 24th on the plaza, assisted by the band.
On the 25th a thousand school children will parade. A program will first be rendered at the theater; then each pupil will be treated with dulces [sweets] and refreshments. The procession will form at four o'clock and march to the plaza, where patriotic airs will be sung and appropriate remarks made by the professors.
On the 26th bicycle races will be held near the plaza.
On the 27th the scene of diversion will be transferred to the plaza.
On the 28th the parade of masqueraders will take place on the plaza.
On the 29th there will be games and amusements, and fireworks at night at the upper town, or Balboa.
On the 30th there will be games at the plaza in the afternoon. At 10 o'clock P. M. a gold medal will be awarded to the best local poet and writer.
On the 31st there will be a grand procession of horsemen and racing. Various prizes will be awarded.
Feb. 1st a charitable commission will visit the schools, and a dinner will be given to the inmates of the poorhouse. In the afternoon a firemen's drill will take place with prizes to the best squad.
Feb. 2, Diana; 9 o'clock high mass; at noon six sewing-machines will be given to widows and orphans of the poorer class. In the evening there will be a concert at the plaza, with fireworks, a society ball at the centro, and a dance at the casino.
MISSIONS
Citizens are asked to assist by decorating their houses, and a cordial invitation is extended to neighboring towns to come and help in the merrymaking.
"For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people." Ever since 1509, darkness has covered this part of the world. Since Porto Rico was founded by the Spaniards, these "fiestas" have been celebrated in honor of the patron saints of the different towns and cities. Each town or city has its own patron saint, who is supposed to have a special care and protection over the town he represents; and aside from this each individual has a patron saint.
There are over two hundred fiestas in Porto Rico. Not only the natives of this island take part in the festivities of the church, but the Americans are falling into line with them. What greater compromise could be asked for, when the public schools take part in them? Invitations have been issued to missionaries of different denominations to take part, and not only have one or two sanctioned this festivity of the Roman Church, but all the missionary teachers of one of the leading missions were present.
A boxing contest between two American soldiers was exhibited. This was so repulsive to the people that the alcalde of the city refused to let the second one come off; the one in charge of this part of the program was an American in good standing here.
The public-school program was superintended by those having charge of public-school work.
Is it any wonder that the natives feel no need of a change of heart? They say, "I am as good as the Protestants. They believe in many of our feasts; what is the need of a change of religion?" Only the other day, in talking with a doctor about their feast-days, he said, "We have the same feast-days that they have in the United States,—New Year's day, Christmas, Washington's birthday, and Fourth of July. And there is Sunday; this feast-day is recognized by all the Christian people of the world; so we are just the same as other people."
I said, "I beg to differ with you there, doctor; for there are some people who do not attach any importance to Sunday whatever, but consider the seventh day of the week, Saturday, according to the fourth commandment, still binding."
"Well," he said, "I know, the Jews."
"O, no," I said; "they are not Jews; for they are followers of Jesus Christ."
He soon dropped that question. Many other points were talked over, and finally he said, that, altho a stanch Catholic, he would read. Boarding at the same place is the Catholic priest of the town. The doctor wanted to know if he should return the tracts I gave him, or pass them on. I told him to pass them on, only so he didn't burn them or give them to others to burn. I am confident that the priest will read some of them, if only from curiosity.
In talking with a native about Jesus' coming soon, he stated that he was ready for Him to come. These people can not or do not seem to realize any of the glory associated with God or His Son. This of course is because of a lack of the study of the Word of God. Some are reading, and seem to grasp what they read. You have to work with them as you would with small children.
An instance comes to my mind of a woman of middle age, with a fair education for Porto Rican women, who was reading "Patriarchs and Prophets" in Spanish. She had reached the chapter on Israel receiving the law. Several times she laid the book down, but could not leave it; there seemed to be a power drawing her to it. She read a few lines aloud in reference to the Sabbath and Jehovah, then she asked me who Jehovah was. I told her, and asked her if she understood what she read, and if it was plain to her about the Sabbath and which day was God's day. She said it began Friday evening and lasted until Saturday evening.
It became well understood along the street where we lived that the Sabbath is different from other days. As the sun sank in the West Friday evening, our little girl was called in from her play; her toys were laid aside, and we were then ready for worship.
Her playmates sometimes came, and asked for her toys even if she did not play; but she would tell them, "No; in the evening you can have them." This alone was a constant reminder to the people of the requirements of God's law.
At the present time there is but little Spanish literature circulated among the people. Aside from works on Spiritism, "Lives of the Presidents," and a paper on evolution, published in the States, the majority have but little reading matter. The other denominations are doing nothing in this line. We have an open field before us. The canvasser just about has his own way. It is true that there are many obstacles in the way; but in a short time one can gain enough knowledge of the language to enable him to sell books.
In a short time the American people will take advantage of the open field, and all kinds of Spanish literature will be placed upon the market. And besides fighting the superstition and ignorance of Rome, we shall have to battle against the terrible evil that is sapping the life and intellect of the enlightened nations—the novel and immoral literature. Are we awake to these things? Where are the canvassers who will enter this open field, and put up with the hardships that are found in all countries where darkness exists? Are we to sit idle, and let others enter these fields?
This is not saying that we do not need other workers, for we do. This is a needy field in all lines; but, brethren and sisters, we must push our literature forward, and while we are doing this, other lines of work will open before us. We earnestly trust and pray that the Spirit of God may move upon the hearts of some to offer themselves for this work, that they may know for a certainty that God has called them to this field. Then when hardships and perplexities arise, they will not doubt that they are pressing forward in the line of duty.
Pray for the work here, that the Gentiles may come to the light, and kings to the brightness of its rising. Isa. 60:1-3. MRS. IDA M. FISCHER.
Mayaguez, Porto Rico.
MISSIONS, HOME AND FOREIGN.
No CHURCH is a truly missionary church, no church is a live Christian church, which neglects either home or foreign missions. The Spirit of Christ constrains him who possesses it to labor for all. No church or Christian who is able can shirk responsibility of foreign missions by saying, "There are heathens enough at home." There are, of course, heathens enough and too many everywhere, but God has called us, in Christ, debtors to those afar off as well as those who are near.
But God will never call us to foreign fields till we are willing to work in home fields. In fact, the best preparation for foreign work is home work. In other words, the best preparation to fit one to labor for souls is to labor for souls, and it is less expensive to prove the gift of the Master at home than it is abroad.
But what great need is there of work at home?
This is what a writer says of moral conditions in Chicago:—
Six thousand saloons, with a daily income of $316,000, and employing about 31,600 persons. In one saloon were counted, on a Sunday evening, 524 men; within two hours 480 more entered, until they stood about the gambling-tables six deep.
Thirty-one theaters, most of them open on Sunday. At seventeen of these, on a Sunday evening, were counted 17,160 men between the ages of fifteen and forty-five, to say nothing of older and younger men and women.
Houses of impurity abound. In a single ward there were counted 312, with 1,708 inmates. A thousand men are engaged in alluring men into these dens. Fully 50,000 men—one in nineteen of the men of the city—are directly engaged in public places of resort whose influence is demoralizing and tends to crime.
The school census gives Chicago 873,247 young people under twenty-one years of age, of whom 594,343 are under fourteen years, and 626,516 are between six and twenty-one years. We have about 182,000 Protestant Sunday-school members, leaving us nearly 700,000 young people under twenty-one years not in Sunday-schools, or enough to make 1,400 Sunday-schools of 500 each.13
Robert E. Speer gives us these statistics concerning the country at large:—
Of the 76,622,250 people of the United States, according to the census of 1900, 6,324,702, ten years of age and over, or 13.3 per cent, could not read and write. But in Louisiana the percentage of illiteracy was 45.8 per cent, and among the negroes of New Mexico 80.6 per cent.
And the same census gave the total church-membership of the country as 20,612,806, of whom 6,257,871 were Roman Catholics. There is room enough for the church's growth. Have you done anything to promote it? Have you been the means, during the past year, of bringing one into the church? "Of the 7,516 Presbyterian churches, 2,141 went through the entire year without a solitary addition to their membership by confession of faith. Almost, if not quite, as appalling, is the fact that of the remaining 5,375 churches, 2,599, or almost one-half, reported five or less additions each; for the 2,141 may be said to represent the dead churches of the denomination which long ago should have been swept off the list,—churches without pastors, organization, membership, loyalty, or life of any sort, stranded and extinct. But the 2,599 embrace the large body of ordinary or typical churches, outside of favorable conditions and of leadership quality. Of the 2,766 churches receiving five or more, 1,171 received ten or less, leaving only 1,605 that reported over ten accessions during a whole year. No one could claim that this is a healthy spiritual condition." Yet this is probably illustrative of the condition in other denominations also.
Surely there is work to do at home. But if the church of Christ were awake to home conditions, she would multiply her foreign workers by a hundred. It is time now to work.
O GIVE ME LIGHT ONCE MORE.
By Benjamin Phillips
O COME, great King, and give me light!
Give back to me one blissful hour;
Sweet faith did vanish from my sight,
So I must seek again Thy power.
Renew the joy that now is gone,
Great King, whom I adore;
Replant sweet trust within my heart,
O give me light once more!
This weary world has brought me woe,
And I am worn with aching care;
O King, Thy gracious aid bestow,
And free me from each earthly snare.
I come to Thee, my spirits crushed,
Great King, whom I adore,
And ask to be from pain relieved—
O give me light once more!
My tasks were hard, my way was lone,
And, Lord, without the trust in Thee
My rest was on a rugged stone,
And toil had borne no fruit for me.
Great King, O pass me not to-day,
My vanished bliss restore;
For I have come to seek thy help—
O give me light once more!
Seiad, Cal. BENJ. PHILLIPS.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
By Editor
FIVE candidates were baptized at Bluffton, Mich., on the 10th of May.
A TEACHERS' institute is announced for August 6 to September 2, at Anoka, Minn.
A CAMP-MEETING is now under way at Waynesville, N. C., to close the 13th inst.
TEN converts to the truth at Grand Junction, Col., are reported by Brother L. A. Spring.
OUR German paper, the Herold der Wahrheit, published at Hamburg, has reached a circulation of 25,000 semi-monthly.
A GERMAN camp-meeting was held at Endicott, Wash., June 10-20, and an excellent meeting is reported by the Reaper.
THE Ohio Conference officers have decided to hold the State camp-meeting August 7-18, the place to be announced later.
AT Ruatan, Bay Islands, Brother H. C. Goodrich recently baptized three candidates, two others being prevented by sickness.
BROTHER J. W. WATT, president of Vermont Conference, reports the recent addition of seven members to the church at Johnson.
JUNE 6 a Sabbath-school of eighteen members was organized at Sparta, Wis., in connection with labor by Brother C. A. Telyea.
AT Clarence, Mich., where Brother C. A. Hansen and wife have been laboring, twelve adults and several children have accepted the faith.
THE Indiana Conference has decided to establish an industrial school at Boggstown, Shelby County, and expects to have it ready for work in the fall.
A NEW missionary society has been organized in British Columbia, with headquarters at 609 Gore Avenue, Vancouver. Brother C. F. Enoch is secretary.
BROTHER B. L. HOWE and family arrived in California from Honolulu on the 25th ult. He now takes up the work with "Christ's Object Lessons" for a time.
ON the 21st ult., four members were added to the church at Kansas City, Mo., as a result of labor by Brother and Sister Merrell. Others were to be added the following Sabbath.
THE church-school in this city closed the year's work on the 26th ult., with seven graduates, and ten cents in the treasury after paying all expenses. The closing exercises were encouraging, and the school will be opened again after a two months' vacation.
NOW is a good time to circulate our tract entitled "Labor and the Money Power," by Prof. G. W. Rine, of Healdsburg College. The brethren at Wilkesbarre, Pa., the seat of the coal strike, are acting on this idea. It deals with the subject in an unbiased manner, from the standpoint of history, present conditions, and the Word of God. This is a live question in almost every section of the civilized world. 32 pp., price 2 cents; in quantities of 100 or more, $1.20 per 100.
BROTHER L. R. CONRADI, president of the German Union Conference, writes to the Review that the work is going well in Bessarabia and in the Crimea. Forty-nine were baptized during the quarter, bringing the membership up to 778. The West German Conference has a membership of 1,000. The East German Conference has a membership of 932. The Holland Conference received 47 members the past quarter. The total additions for the German Union Conference the past quarter were 273.
A NEW church was dedicated on the 15th ult., at the new town of Wayburne, Minn. The lot was donated by the Northwestern Railway Company, and the house is the first building in the place. Brethren J. F. Pogue, L. Johnson, and P. A. Hansen were present at the dedication.
FROM Brother F. I. Richardson, of Kingston, Jamaica, we have a corrected report of our church membership in that island. He says there are 18 organized churches, with a membership of 807; also 13 companies with a baptized membership of 198, and 112 awaiting baptism; total, 1,117. This report is dated June 10, 1902.
GOOD results of branch Sabbath-school and Sunday-school work are reported from the cities of Des Moines, Iowa, Lincoln, Neb., Kansas City, Mo., and St. Paul, Minn. The latter city has four branches, and nearly all the members of the regular school are in some way interested in the work. They are planning for still further extension. This indicates a live school.
BROTHER W. T. MILLMAN reports the baptism of four candidates at Midway, Mo., and seven at Rolla. Of the latter occasion he says in the Record: "The water was six miles from the place of meeting. When we reached the place, we found about 150 people gathered on the banks of the stream, and they besought us to give them some reasons of our faith, which we did for about forty-five minutes. The best of attention was given."
THE brethren in Missouri Conference are encouraged by the abundant crops in that State. Brother J. M. Rees, president of the conference, reports to the Worker as follows: On the 20th [of June] I came to St. Louis. As I crossed the great State of Missouri I could not help rejoicing as I saw the great contrast between now and one year ago. Then the earth was scorched with heat, vegetation was dried up, and everything blighted. But now the whole land is yielding her increase. It seemed that every foot of land is being cultivated. I never saw the wheat shocks stand so thickly on the ground. All other crops are coming in in proportion. This ought to be one of the best years for the Missouri Conference." Brother Rees is now conducting a series of tent-meetings in St. Louis.
POVERTY IN INDIA.
THE annual report of the Madura Mission of the American Board gives these facts relative to the poverty of the people of India and the narrowness of their lives:—
The extreme poverty of the poorer classes of India makes conditions which are altogether extraordinary. Life is the narrowest and hardest conceivable, with no earthly prospect of any improvement; the necessities of life have been so cut down on every hand that to a Western man, even tho familiar with the poverty of the West, it never ceases to be a wonder how such a delicate and complex organism as that upon which human life is physically dependent can be kept running on the scanty supply afforded. For a family of, say, six persons, there is many an outfit which, including house, utensils, furniture, clothing and all, is worth less than $10. The average income for such a family will not exceed fifty cents per head per month, and will more frequently be found to be very little over one half of that. It may therefore be surmised that not much of this income is spent upon the cultivation of the mind, sanitation, or the appearance of the dwelling and surroundings.
Even the luxury of a bit of soap, some clean water, and a towel are, on the cheapest possible scale, far beyond their means, as soap and towel would take, if regularly used, about ten per cent of the entire income, while as to clean water it can not be afforded even for cooking and drinking. . . . It is this condition of affairs which brings the material condition of the people within the sphere of legitimate missionary activity, and makes any success attained more important than the mere addition of names to the rolls.
"Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people," the Bible tells us. Righteousness makes for prosperity and happiness also, while sin tends to poverty and degradation. It is among the peoples where God is least known and honored that want and misery hold high carnival.
THE CHRISTLESS NATIONS.
THE Christless nations are those in which the Christian religion is not generally acknowledged as the only true religion. The term embraces all of Asia, portions of Africa, and Turkey in Europe. In these nations are included more than one-half of the human race. Most of their inhabitants are believers in and followers of religions that debase and degrade them, or prevent their rising out of their degradation. We are under obligations to study these Christless nations and the religions that dominate them, that we may the better feel their need, and understand how best to present the Christian religion for their acceptance.—Selected.
Growth of Mormonism in America
The total number of Mormons in the United States in December, 1901, was about 310,000. This is an increase of 166,648 on the number in the census of 1890.
Growth of Protestantism in France
Pastor Charles Merle D'Aubigne, writing on Protestantism in France, says that in 1835 Paris had only ten Protestant churches. To-day there are 105 in the city and suburbs. In 1857 there were only 738 pastors in France; now there are more than 1,200.
THE GREAT PERHAPS.
DEATH is not "the great perhaps," as St. Evremond said, but life is. Your life and mine is an exceedingly great "may be." It may be, by God's help and grace, all good, and sweet, and wonderful; it may be, by our carelessness and wilfulness, all petty, and sad, and miserable indeed. There is a "perhaps" of God, and heaven, and exceeding happiness in every life, and there is a "perhaps" of all that is not these things. If this "perhaps" of life be made sure in all the good that is in it, we have faith to believe that death stands fixed in hope and blessing.—Anon.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS
THE SABBATH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL SERIES
LESSON 4.—JULY 26.—LIVING TEMPLES ARE FOUND IN BABYLON.
NOTE.—This series of lessons is entitled, "Studies on the Gospel Message." For introduction and excellent suggestions as to their study, we refer the student to the Lesson Quarterly.
1 "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure-house of his God.
2 And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring in certain of the children of Israel, even of the seed royal and of the nobles; youths in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability to stand in the king’s palace; and that he should teach them the learning and the tongue of the Caldeans. And the king appointed for them a daily portion of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank, and that they should be nourished three years; that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.
3 Now among these were, of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And the prince of the eunuchs gave names unto them; unto Daniel he gave the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abed-nego."
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
1. What two kings are mentioned in verse 1?
2. What invasion by one of these kings is here reported? When did it occur?
3. What was the result of this invasion? Whose will was thus being accomplished?
4. To what country were the vessels from the temple taken?
5. What was done with them there?
6. What command did the king give to his chief chamberlain? Of what rank were these children to be?
7. Name the different qualifications which were required of those who were to be thus chosen.
8. For what purpose were these youths thus selected?
9. What provision did the king make for their diet?
10. For how long a time were they to be thus fed and instructed?
11. For what position was this course of training to prepare them?
12. What young men are mentioned by name as being among those selected?
13. What Babylonian names were given to them?
NOTES.
1. IT would be well to read 2 Chron. 33:1 to 36:7 in order to have clearly in mind the course of circumstances which led up to the Babylonish captivity. The book of Daniel opens with the simple statement of a conflict between the king of Jerusalem and the king of Babylon, and a record of the fact that the Lord permitted Babylon to conquer Jerusalem. We have already seen that it was because of transgressions that this experience came to God's people. 1 Chron. 9:1. Reasoning from the Babylonish standpoint, there was abundant evidence of the superiority of the religion of Babylon over the religion of Jerusalem. Back to the land from which Abraham went forth, the vessels of the temple are carried, and they are placed in the idol temple at Babylon as tokens of triumph. Those whose religion consisted merely in the ritual service of the temple of stone may well feel that they have lost their religion. The real fact was that as soon as their religion became nothing more to them than a ritual service, it thereby became essentially Babylonish in its nature, and even worse in God's sight because of rejected light. Therefore Babylon triumphed over them.
2. THE Lord's purpose that the Gospel shall be preached to all nations through the ministry of those who know the truth is repeatedly set forth. About two centuries and a half previous to the time of this lesson, when Nineveh was the capital of the heathen world, God sent a warning message to that city (Jonah 1:1, 2), and thus saved them from destruction. His purpose is the same for Babylon, and as His people had shut away the Gospel message of life from Babylon, even when they sent up to Jerusalem after it (2 Chron. 32:31), He now sends His people to Babylon in captivity, but sends among them those who will give His message in Babylon. The power of the true Gospel of the indwelling life will reveal itself even under these apparently adverse circumstances. Altho the temple at Jerusalem had been profaned and the typical service interfered with, yet there are those among the captives who will make known the true temple teaching. To open the way for this the Lord stirred up the mind of the king of Babylon to select some of the captives to receive a training to stand before Him. The requirements demanded in these youth could best be met by those who had retained the purity of the Gospel in their experience, and this naturally gave to Daniel and his three companions places among those selected for the king's court.
3. JUDGING from the outward circumstances, the religion of Babylon was the best in the world, the wisdom of Babylon was superior to any other, and, naturally enough, the diet of Babylon would be regarded as best adapted to the needs of those who were to be instructed in the wisdom of Babylon. The king of Babylon seemed to recognize a relation between the physical and the mental, and so he provided the very best diet for these young captives, according to the Babylonish standard. Since Babylon has conquered Jerusalem, who shall say that the Babylonish diet does not develop more and better powers, both of mind and body, than any other diet? It was under these circumstances, when true principles had apparently failed, and those who did not themselves know the experience of true principles were likely to become confused, that Daniel and his companions were brought to the front to bear witness to the truth in Babylon.
INTERNATIONAL SERIES THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON 3.—JULY 20.—THE TEN COMMANDMENTS—DUTIES TO MEN.
12 "Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
13 "Thou shalt do no murder.
14 "Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 "Thou shalt not steal.
16 "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
17 "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."
Golden Text.—“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Matt. 19:19.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) What is enjoined in the fifth commandment? What promise follows a faithful obedience of the command? Verse 12. Note 1. (2) What is the sixth commandment? Verse 13. Note 2. (3) How much is involved in the commandment? (4) What is the seventh commandment? Verse 14. Note 3. (5) How much does it mean? (6) What is the eighth commandment? Verse 15. Note 4. (7) What must always precede stealing? (8) What is the ninth commandment? Verse 16. Note 5. (9) What is the tenth commandment? Verse 17. Note 6. (10) How many of the commandments are connected with the tenth? (11) Would there be any worship of false gods if it were not for unlawful desire? (12) Would we keep any other day as the Sabbath save that commanded of God if it were not for some unlawful desire? (13) Would we kill if our desires were right? (14) Would we commit any sin if all our desires were in perfect harmony with God's law?
NOTES.
1. "Thy Father."—In considering the commandments of God, it must be remembered that "the law is spritual" (Rom. 7:14); therefore our Heavenly Father is the first to be considered in the honoring of parents. If we dishonor our earthly parents, it is the transgression of the Heavenly Father's law that makes it sin. Rom. 4:15; 1 John 3:4. The sin which caused the downfall of the race was Adam's disobedience of his Father. Thus his days were shortened in the land which the Lord had given him, while the promise for obedience is a lengthening of days. This is "the first commandment with promise." Eph. 6:1-3. But let it be remembered that the one most responsible for obedience to this commandment is the parent.
2. Murder is not confined to the actual taking of human life, or to any mere physical act. The hatred of a brother is charged in the ledger of heaven as murder. See Matt. 5:22; 1 John 3:15.
3. A look may be a sufficient outward act to constitute adultery (Matt. 5:28); but back of this is the lustful thought, of which the Word of God takes cognizance (Heb. 4:12). From Rom. 7:1-4 we learn that when the professed Christian longs after the things of the world more than after the life of Christ, he is reckoned as an adulterer. See also James 4:1-5 and 1 John 2:15, 16. So the church becomes a harlot.
4. The stealing of property from a fellow-man is not all that is contemplated in the eighth commandment. The withholding of the Lord's tithe, or tenth of one's income, is a feature of robbery so heinous in the sight of God that He has pronounced a curse upon those who are thus guilty, as well as a special blessing for faithfulness in this duty. Mal. 3:8-12; Luke 11:42. The theft of the time due to God in the observance of His holy Sabbath day according to the commandment, is also an unwarranted usurpation of that which belongs to Him.
5. It is not keeping the law to refrain from witnessing falsely against a neighbor just because of the injury it may do him. The spirit of this spiritual law is obedience to God. If this is overlooked, the duty to man will also be lightly esteemed. The carnal mind can not keep the law of God (Rom. 8:7), so any attempt to observe this command just for man's sake will surly fail to fulfil the spirit of the law. Silence at times may have all the effect of outspoken falsehood; just as silence at the opportune moment may be a virtual denial of Christ.
6. The tenth commandment is last, yet coveting seems to be the beginning of all outward sin. Lucifer coveted higher position (Isa. 14:12-15); Eve coveted the fruit of the forbidden tree (Gen. 3:6); and Paul says, "I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Rom. 7:7.
For Special Helps see article on page 7 entitled, "Thy Commandment Is Exceeding Broad;" and "Patriarchs and Prophets," pages 308, 309.
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