A DIRECTION post is good, but if a man is lame, he may lie all day at its foot, and be no nearer the city after all. But Jesus Christ’s life imparted to us makes the lame man leap as an hart. “This do and thou shalt live,” says Law, says Morality, says that which some call Religion. Live and thou shalt do this, says that Gospel which proclaims Christ for us that we may not die, and Christ in us that we may live.
In the Christ, dying once and living forever on the throne, and in the Christian spirit, is the pattern of all morality, the motive for reproducing and the source of power to reproduce it. If we know that Jesus died for us, we shall be drawn to copy the Lord who has set free the springs of love in our hearts; if we know that He lives in us, we shall be aware of a vitalizing, impelling, elevating, purifying energy, which entitles us to hope that it will one day triumph over all our evils, and make us fully participant of His glorified life.
Surely, if ever there was a time that needed a larger infusion into its Christian consciousness of these truths which I have tried to emphasize, it is this time. And that, not merely in the interest of a symmetrical development of the whole contents of the Christian revelation, but in the interest of a deepened spiritual experience, and of more efficient Christian service.
Life is the root of work, and so is more important than work. And it is open to doubt whether the abundant works of the churches at present are the outcome of life, or whether they are not, in some cases, galvanic movements that stimulate vitality and mask death.
Martha has it all her own way now. We hear a dozen exhortations to service, for one to sitting at Jesus’ feet in blessed receptivity. There can not be too much work, but there may be too little communion; and if so, the work may be vigorous and self-sacrificing, but it will have little success with men and little benediction from God. The power of the dynamo must be increased as the number of lamps it has to feed with electricity is multiplied. The more we abound in labor for Christ, the more prolonged and intimate should and must be our communion with Christ. We are in danger of building so many mills and factories on the river’s bank, each requiring to draw off some of the water to drive its machinery, that the stream will all be used up and its bed dry.
This busy age needs to obey the invitation: “Come ye yourselves apart.” He who is to prepare the way for Christ must be “in the desert” till the day of his showing unto Israel, and must often withdraw there to recreate and strengthen his soul, to renew his impulses, to purge himself from low motives and to feed on the truths he speaks. Then, and only then, will he be unmoved in will and word—an iron pillar, not a reed shaken by the wind. Then, and only then, will he be lifted clear above suspicion6of seeking ease or material well-being, silken garments and delicate fare. Then, and only then, will he be a prophet, and more than a prophet, and have the supreme honor of fading away in the light he loves.
The river that is to bring fertility to half a continent must rise high on the mountains of God, and be fed from the upper springs.
If it is true that Christ is the active life-principle in the believer, it follows that our chief task and true wisdom is to keep the channels clear by which that life may enter, and to increase the measure of it which we possess.
Receptivity is the all-important thing. Christian mysticism has been called “quietism,” and the name is accurate, in so far as it lays the greatest stress on what the early Friends used to call “waiting on the springing of the life,” but it is not accurate, inasmuch as that “waiting” is by no means passive inaction, but is the result of intensest energy. How much force is expended in standing still, when strong forces try to move a man! Concentrated effort of the whole nature goes to produce that “waiting” which brings the life of Christ into the still soul, as surely as the sun-beam fills the cup of the flower, opened wide and turned to its light.
The life must be first received, and then the holinesses, which are its results, will follow. But just as the communication of the life is no magical imparting without the effort of faith, so the life produces Christian character in its recipient by no magical process independent of his effort. The first word of Christian mysticism is, “It is God that worketh in you;” its second is, “Work out your own salvation.”
First receive, then use, the life. Then we can feel the intensest consciousness of our personal existence, and at the same time feel that it is truly and consciously blended with the all-quickening, all-producing, all-uniting life of Him who is “the Life,” and our experience will express itself in the blessed paradox, which to the simple heart is a felt truth: “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”—Dr. MacLaren.
How They Became Convinced
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.]
LXIII.
I was brought up a Methodist. I strongly opposed my people who had accepted the Sabbath, and I was honest in my opposition. I looked upon the new faith as a delusion of the devil, so I wanted nothing to do with it. In the summer of 1878 I was cutting wood in Alma, Gratiot County, Mich. One day in June I went to work on the Sabbath as usual. It was an ideal day; the birds were singing; everything seemed to be praising God. I was chopping a very large maple tree. As I struck into its trunk, a voice said, “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” I supposed some one had seen me chopping and thought to have a little sport. I looked around, but could find no one, so returned to work. But I had struck only a blow or two, when the same words were repeated, and with more earnestness. The voice was distinct, yet I could not tell where it came from. Returning to work, I had not struck a half dozen blows when the voice came again, but with very much more force. I searched more diligently, but without finding any one. I sat and began to study the matter. It was getting serious. I presume more Bible went through my head in the next five or ten minutes than had in years before, but that “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” would upset all I could bring in support of the first-day Sabbath.
Then I began to comprehend that it was more than man who was speaking to me. I desired to do right; I was living a good Methodist life; but when I understood that the Lord was speaking, I said, “Lord, if the seventh day is the Sabbath, and You want me to keep it, all right, I will do it.” Such a change came over everything. The birds struck a higher note, the sky took on a deeper blue, the trees a brighter green, and my heart was filled to overflowing. I hardly know how I got home, but when my wife saw me coming, she met me at the gate very much frightened. She was sure I was sick or hurt. After we got into the house, I put my ax and dinner-pail away, and taking a chair, I sat down by the side of my wife, and said, “You can go on as you always have; but as for me, from this time on I keep the seventh day for the Sabbath.” She replied, “I am very glad; for I have kept the last two, but did not dare say anything to you about it.” And this is the way the Sabbath came to FRED J. HALL.
Graysville, Tenn.
LXIV.
AT the age of thirteen I was converted, and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. I was very happy in the Lord, and kept Sunday strictly, believing it to be the Bible Sabbath. When a young man, I became superintendent of three different Sunday-schools each Sunday. Soon after I was appointed Sunday-school missionary, and while traveling as such, I listened to the reading of the tract, “Who Changed the Sabbath?” I was displeased, but resolved, then and there, that if the tract truly represented the Roman Catholic doctrine on the Sabbath question, I would never keep Sunday again. Procuring a copy, I went to the office of the Catholic bishop of the diocese, where I was permitted to examine authorities quoted. As a result, briefly stated, I had entered that library a Sunday-keeper, but went out a Sabbath-keeper in purpose. I then asked counsel of the superintendent of Sunday-school missions, an aged minister, who said in response, “Let your convictions rest, and don’t act upon them, and in time they will wear off.” I was astonished at his answer, and his inability to prove Sunday sanctity. I then studied encyclopedias on the Sabbath and Sunday question, and finally the catechism of the M. E. Church. But at every effort Sunday sanctity sank lower and lower in the quicksands, while the seventh-day Sabbath appeared founded upon the eternal rock of Bible truth. A. SMITH.
Grandville, Mich.
Grace and Truth.
By H. G. Butcher
“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” John 1:17. In Eph. 2:8, 9 we learn that grace is the gift of God, and that salvation came by grace, and not by works. Salvation was necessary for those who first sinned, so since the first sinner grace did much more abound. The so-called Christian dispensation, or any other, could not limit the grace of God. Many people have been taught that God saved people at one time in one way, and at another time in a different way. But the law of circumcision did not avail the people anything if they were not obedient to the law of Ten Commandments; neither does it avail the people at this time anything to observe the ordinances of the Lord’s house, if they are not obedient to the law of Ten Commandments. “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matt. 19:17. The ordinances and the law centered in Jesus Christ. In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” This was not only true at that time, but it always was true; and no person ever has come to the Father, but by Christ. “I do not frustrate the grace of God; for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Gal. 2:21. Neither does grace frustrate the law; for the law is truth. See Ps. 119:142, 172. And grace is made effective to the individual by faith, concerning which the apostle says, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.” Rom. 3:31.
Dear reader, may Jesus be the Way, the Truth, and the Life in you; and He will cause you to walk with Him in His Father’s commandments, and they are not grievous. “And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” Make this truth your own, He hath given it to all. Receive it, and be blessed. H. G. BUTCHER.
Haddonfield, N. J.
THE WISER AND BETTER CHOICE.
By H. N. Tolton
“THERE is not enough pleasure in religion for me.” “I must have some enjoyment before I settle down.” “Some day, when I am older, but not yet.”
How often we hear these excuses given by the youth of to-day. And in this age when the truth of God has been turned into a lie, and men are serving the creature more than the Creator (Rom. 1:25) this specious reasoning is bearing its terrible fruit. Christ says (Matt. 13:15): “This people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” Oftentimes in nature the real appears unreal, and the evanescent present is grasped instead of the eternal future; and the day is not far distant when the fires of God will make manifest which is real, which is lasting.
So we find it in our world to-day. Men have partaken of the pleasures of sense until they look upon them as being the real, the desirable thing, and are willing to risk eternal welfare to obtain them. But God and they who are His see it differently. He has declared His purpose, not only to make an end of sin, but of its originator as well. Eze. 28:18, 19.
How very many are willing “some day” to do the will of the Lord, but for a little, present, so-called enjoyment are continually thrusting that day farther and farther into the future, until desire ceases and a soul is lost! “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:14); and they will be in that condition at the time when “sudden destruction cometh upon them.” 1 Thess. 5:3.
The true enjoyment is defined as that which is beneficial or pleasurable use or possession; satisfaction; delight; pleasure. Is it a beneficial or pleasurable use or possession of your body to overwork it, to abuse it by dissipation, ministering to your so-called enjoyment, when it ought to be storing strength? And do you expect it to furnish the brain with proper nourishment under such treatment? Is it satisfaction when, after a night’s carousal, your whole nature revolts against your course, and the stomach is on fire? Is it a delight to know that you have used that which is the temple of the living God (1 Cor. 3:16), your body, to satisfy your lusts, and thereby dishonor God by your sins? Isa. 43:24. Is it a pleasure to know that you are not only misusing your body, but are destroying your brain as well? Unclean thoughts are the ruin of both body and brain. Clearly, these things are not true enjoyment, and we have all seen the sorrowful end of the career of those who have gone in pursuit of such “enjoyment.”
So let us desert the phantom of this world, called enjoyment, and seek the true enjoyment which reaches its culmination in the world to come. Let us give up the unreal for the real. What greater pleasure could there be than to live as God wants us to. In doing so the mind will gain control of the body, and the body, being supplied with non-irritating, healthful food, will supply the brain, in turn, with healthful nutriment. Then we will gain a healthy mind, capable of lofty and deep thinking. Then God will be able to work through us, and “the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail.” Deut. 28:13.
That which is to perish is not the real. Do not seek it. Those who do will finally be among that number that will call for the rocks and mountains to fall upon them, and hide them from the burning glory of the coming King. Rev. 6:15, 16. But let us live so that when we see our Savior coming, we can look up and say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us.” Isa. 25:9. For such all the glories of the eternal inheritance are held in store; for such that home of glory is prepared; and let us remember that “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” 1 Cor. 2:9.
Healdsburg, Cal. H. N. TOLTON.
THE STUDY OF PROPHECY.
THERE are two books of the Bible which hold a pre-eminent place in the prophetic field, especially in symbolic prophecy. These are the books of Daniel and the Revelation. By successive symbols, and in brief, the wonderfully comprehensive discourse, is spanned the entire history of this world, including the rise and fall of empires, and their relations to the people of God.
In all these prophecies is shown God’s overruling power, restraining evil to His glory (Ps. 76:10), teaching the world the evil, and the end, of sin, and the glorious fruits of righteousness. God’s sovereign majesty, omnipotent will, and omnipresent love exercised always for the good of those who honor Him, are the lessons He sought to impress upon the actors in the scenes, that they might “know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men;” that they might know that His “dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation; and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” Dan. 4:17, 34, 35. This is the lesson God would teach those who lived when the prophecy was given and began to be fulfilled. This is the lesson that He would teach us by the record of these things; “for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Rom. 15:4.
The Book of Daniel.
The alphabet of all these symbolic prophecies is found in the second chapter of Daniel, under the symbol of a great metallic image. It begins with the history of the great world-empires, and reaches to the everlasting and universal reign of Christ. Other lines of prophecy in the book of Daniel, recorded in chapters 7 to 12, expand and fill out in detail what is not told in chapter 2, bringing out many new and characteristic features. And yet the book of Daniel is not complete. In later times, this side the coming of the Messiah, whom Daniel predicted, God has7given us a complement to the prophecies of Daniel, and Ezekiel, and Zechariah, filling up what was there left incomplete. The especial part of Revelation similar to the chapters of Daniel above referred to, includes chapters 12 to 22, but the symbols are largely found in chapters 12, 13, 17, and 18.
Elsewhere we begin the study of Revelation 12, and the wonderful truths found therein. We wish again to call the reader’s attention to some primary considerations in its study which may be of help, and anew urge our readers to study these prophecies of the Revelation.
1. God has given His Word, prophetic, didactic, devotional, as a lamp to the feet and a light to the path (Ps. 119:105) of all those who are willing to be taught and guided by Him; for “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant;” for “the meek will He guide in judgment; and the meek will He teach His way” (Ps. 25:14, 9.) He, therefore, who would understand God’s Word must come with a meek heart and humble spirit, in the fear of God, with a desire that he may know, not man’s way, but God’s truth, in order that he may do the truth. To such it is that God will reveal His prophetic word, and verify what He has said through prophet and apostle:—
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7.
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19.
“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand.” Rev. 1:3.
These are promises of God concerning those things which He has revealed through His prophets for the benefit of His people. May the reader ever come to the study of His Word in such a spirit that he may indeed receive the blessing promised.
2. The prophetic word deals with those kingdoms which have had connection with God’s people in the world, and through which the moulding influence upon the world came. For instance, China is a great country and the Chinese are a numerous people, and yet, as a nation, it has never had great connection with the people or cause of God, and never exerted a moulding influence upon the world, and, hence, is rarely mentioned in prophecy, and but little in history, while Babylon and Rome are frequently referred to in the prophetic word, and history concerning them abounds.
3. In these prophecies, notably in the Revelation, we have three classes of powers symbolized, and their working and spirit revealed: (a) The spiritual or supernatural forces, both good and evil, invisible to mortal eyes, but working through visible, tangible agencies; (b) ecclesiastical organizations, churches both pure and corrupt, through which the greater supernatural or spiritual forces work and influence for good or evil the minds and hearts of mankind; (c) the civil governments of earth, under limited control of Satan, but over which is the restraining hand of God. All this will be manifest to the reader, if he will go with us in these studies. He will be able to read aright the history of the world in prophecy, and see more and more the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
PRESENCE OF GOD.
LOVE GOD. Be devoted to Him, and to Him supremely. Have no affection apart from Him. Delight to do His will. In all ways strive to grow into closer intimacy with God and into accord with His mind and Spirit. There are blessed results flowing from a life thus spent in the practise of the presence of God. Such practise is the secret of peace. It is the secret of a life of happiness and joy. It is the secret of living a life of love and highest usefulness in the world. Guidance amid life's perplexities, wisdom for life's decisions, cheer for life's sorrows, and help over life's hard places come with it. Knowledge of God and resultant transformation into His likeness come with it. It is worth our while, both in view of the present and future blessedness it brings, to “practise the presence of God.”—Dr. G. B. F. Hallock.
JESUS IS COMING AGAIN.
Do you know it? There will be one class who will not know. Of them the apostle says: “The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape.” This class go to destruction because they fail to heed the warning against the “wrath to come.”
There will be another class who will know, not the day and the hour of His coming, but the time when that coming is near. Of this class the apostle thus speaks: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief: for ye are all the sons of light, and sons of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” See 1 Thess. 5:1-5. And Jesus makes the knowledge of His near coming a duty. In speaking of the signs of His near coming to be seen everywhere in the world, Jesus says: “When ye see all these things, know ye that He is nigh, even at the doors.” Matt. 24:32.
In which of these classes, reader, do you stand? Will you be among those who, under the siren song of peace, float on to destruction? or, will you be among those who heed the warnings, who wait and watch for His coming, and will rejoice when He appears? The choice is thine.
THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER.
By G.
Dr. Rankin, of Denver, Colo., gives as a reason why the Sunday newspaper should be suppressed, that,—
“It is a violation of the Fourth Commandment. This commandment is a part of creation, and is engrafted on man's nature. It is as binding as any other. The Sunday paper violates it.”
The Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment is the seventh day; that is the Sabbath that was and is “a part of creation,” and “engrafted on man's nature” before he became a sinner. But when the man sinned by transgressing the law of God (1 John 3:4) the grafting was destroyed. The man became carnal (1 Cor. 3:1-3), and “the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8:7. Therefore when the man is truly converted to God, he is no longer carnal, but spiritual. He is at peace with God, and is thus again brought into harmony with His law. Consequently the Sabbath is again engrafted on his nature, he being partaker of the divine nature. Redemption is designed to bring man back to where he stood before the fall.
Therefore, if the Sunday newspaper be a morning paper, “it is a violation of the Fourth Commandment,” because a part of the work done on it was performed on the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment, which is the day before Sunday. But a Sunday evening paper, the work being done during that day, is in no sense in violation of the commandment. In neither case, however, has the civil government any right to interfere with the publication, even if it be in violation of the Sabbath commandment; for the civil government has no right to attempt the enforcement of the law of God. The law of God is spiritual, and no man can administer, or execute, a spiritual law. The best he can do, and that only by the help of the Spirit through faith, is to obey it himself. Every one who would see the law of God in force in the earth should make a note of this fact, and remember that Sabbath observance, such as is acceptable to God, can only come through faith in Christ. Heb. 11:6. No human power can enforce faith. G.
IT PLEASES THE DEVIL.
Of a noted Italian brigand it is said that occasionally he caused reports to be circulated that he was dead. When the people began to rest secure and relax their vigilance, the bold marauder made a raid upon the careless people, and gathered much booty. Of course he was pleased at the result of his deception. Even so Satan must be pleased when he can induce people to believe that he is not, or that some of his chief agencies of deception are mere jugglery, legerdemain, etc. It is sad to the believer in the Word, and sadder still when professedly Christian teachers are declaring such things. For instance, the Christian Advocate, one of the ablest edited religious journals in America, has an article in its issue of April 9, on “Spiritism and Its Dupes.” It declares:—
Nothing has ever yet been done by professional spiritual mediums that could not be explained upon natural principles, or detected as jugglery or classified under other things of the same nature that can be paralleled by the use of natural laws.
The trance of honest spiritual mediums, whether spontaneous or the result of mental conditions artificially induced, is a phenomenon that can be explained as well as anything can be that has to do with the brain and nervous system.
The idea is set forth that Old Testament witchcraft falls under the same head, and the inference is that New Testament demoniac possession is of the same sort.
That there is any amount of humbuggery no one will deny. But that there is also superhuman or extra human intelligence and force manifest in many cases is also true. But entirely apart from these spirit manifestations, which have deceived millions, the Word of God has spoken. Jesus Christ, in speaking of the last days, thus warns us: “There shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” Matt. 24:24. The apostle Paul declares that just before Christ’s coming Satan will work “with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish.” 2 Thess. 2:9, 10. And our Lord in the Apocalypse speaks of the “spirits of demons” working miracles or signs, which “go forth unto the kings of the whole world to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.” Rev. 16:14.
Other quotations might be given, but these are sufficient to show that the Bible teaches:—
There are evil spirits in the world, which deceive and influence men.
That these spirits are not mere delusions, but intelligent beings, operating under the general instruction of their chief, Satan.
That these spirits are not spirits of dead men, but separate and distinct from the human.
Now we may endeavor to explain their working, the phenomena connected with them, by psychology, telepathy, or what we will, the fact still exists that God has warned us against them, not as mere delusions, but as evil, malign agents of Satan. “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” How the devil must laugh as he sees God’s church not only disregarding the warnings, but disbelieving them, utterly rejecting them. He who continues to do it long enough will find himself in the snare of the devil, so bound by his delusions that it is impossible to escape. “Take heed that no man deceive you.”
The United States as a Persecutor.
By G.
Religious persecution can be carried out in this country through the machinery of a Federal Court. This has been demonstrated in the Indian Territory. A correspondent tells us of such a case in Okmulgee, I. T., in the Commissioner's Court of the Western Judicial District of that territory. The case is entitled, “United States of America vs. J. C. Carlington,” and the offense charged is that of shaving a man on Sunday. Our correspondent says there is an old law of Arkansas forbidding barbers to work at their trade on Sunday, and that the Indian Territory is under the Arkansas statutes. Hence, the persecution of Mr. Carlington on complaint of another barber. Of course it took a prominent member of the Sunday League to set the act in motion by encouraging the prosecuting witness to make the charge. After a tedious proceeding in the matter of selecting a jury, and a hotly-contested trial—able attorneys being engaged on both sides—the jury failed to agree. So the case will be tried again.
For years we have been pointing out that the United States would become a persecuting power especially in the way of enforcing Sunday observance. We have done so on the strength of the prophecy of Revelation 13. We have also maintained that the State Sunday laws, being relics of the Colonial Church-and-State system, were but the seeds of Church-and-State government, lying in a measure dormant, until the spirit of intolerance would again become strong enough to set the machinery of the Federal Government in that direction. It is in perfect keeping with recent Congressional legislation on the Sunday question—which, until very recently, could not have been secured—that a State statute can now be invoked in a Federal Court for the persecution of men for doing honest labor on Sunday. And the end is not yet. This case also demonstrates the danger of bad laws. Even tho the people may not respect them, they are at any time a ready weapon for unprincipled men, who desire to compel others to conform their action to the spirit of intolerance. If the people desire liberality of government they should not allow illiberal laws to remain on the statute books; for there will surely come a time when over-zealous men will call them into action. G.
Question Corner
By Editor
[From time to time we will reply under this head, if deemed advisable, to such candid inquiries as may be sent us. Correspondents wishing a reply to their questions must give their full name and address, not for publication unless they wish, but as an evidence of good faith on their part, and to give us opportunity to reply by letter if deemed best. It is always well to inclose stamp. Let the questions be short and pointed, and such as may be answered in limited space. The questions will be numbered continuously]
“He sent darkness,” etc. Does this mean spiritual darkness?
No; it refers to the literal darkness which came upon Egypt. See Ex. 10: 21-23. It came upon Egypt as the result of their spiritual darkness, and this came in consequence of their love of sin.
All these texts speak of the slaying of children. Are we to understand them literally?
Yes; we are. They actually slew their sons, sacrificed them to the gods which were no gods. Very much of the ancient pagan worship demanded licentiousness and the offering of human sacrifices; and these have been practised even down to the last century. The Mammon of greed and Moloch of lust demand the sacrifice of children even now, tho in a different way.
The whole psalm recounts God’s goodness. Verse 15 refers (1) to the vine from which come the grapes and their product, the sweet wine; (2) the olive tree from which come the olive oil and olives, rich in fat food which the system demands; and (3) bread-stuffs of all sorts. These are among the common blessings granted of God.
THE BLACKENED CITY.
By Bryn Mawr
A Sign of the Times.
Lessons Suggested by the Shame of Minneapolis.
(Concluded from last week.)
[The first part of the article dealt with the root of all the crimes and sins which blackened the fame of Minneapolis, the love of money, together with the lusts of the flesh.—EDITOR SIGNS OF THE TIMES.]
By all these agencies, social safe-guards are well-nigh destroyed, and the home, which in truth is the real human bulwark of the nation, is at the mercy of the exclusively criminal class, and of these the chronic political class is the most dangerous. This class includes, sooner or later, all who make politics their profession and its emoluments their aim in life. This is as true of the “big ones,” as of “small fry.” The average voter does not appreciate his opportunities or power, and so becomes as “potters’ clay” in the hands of the expert politician, whose lead they follow foolishly, and whose favors they court ardently. Then the “big ones” get the “plums,” the “little ones” get the “crumbs,” the residue or greater mass of voters get “left,” which is one of the chief probabilities of political life.
The liquor business enters largely into these political issues, exerting a great and baleful influence on all parties. And we are sorry to aver that many alleged ministers (?) of the Gospel defend the hideous, soul-destroying business.
That which has happened to Minneapolis has befallen her sisters, and in older cities has been often repeated, and these conditions and experiences will continue to develop in their more aggravated forms unto the end.
This cleansing of municipal atmospheres is neither permanent in result nor lasting in effect, “for evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” Why stand afar off and gaze at your church steeples, and cry aloud, “The world is growing better!” Your cry is false. And if you do not know it to be false, it is because you are willingly ignorant of the Word of God, or do not believe its teaching. Go down into the midday shadows of your magnificent edifices and learn for yourselves that these things are true, and behold for yourselves the daily fulfilment of the prophetic Word of God. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” Are not these days and these times here now? “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, BLASPHEMERS, disobedient to parents, unthankful, UNHOLY, WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, TRAITORS, heady, high minded, [HAUGHTY], lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; . . . for of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts.”
Politicians may plead guilty to every count in this indictment without violating their conscience, outraging their honor, or waiving any constitutional right. When politicians want to elect a desirable bad man, they secure the nomination of an undesirable worse one on the opposition, and the former’s election is assured.
Minneapolis does not stand alone
In any of her undesirable experiences. The same elements of degradation permeate every municipal organization. She has many model homes (so have the sister cities) where integrity is conserved, and righteousness rules in the ordinary courses of life. She has citizens of high character, who are deeply shamed, and who feel intensely her disgrace. These walk after the Spirit in “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law.”
But these are never the ruling class. If they go into politics at all they seldom get “behind the scenes,” but when they do, one of two things happens; they either give up their politics or their Christianity. One who resigned some time ago said: “I resign, because I can not consistently be a politician, and a Christian at the same time.” And, indeed, one who follows the master can not accept a place at Cæsar’s Court.
A passing glance at the life of Jesus and His apostles shows this, for when Matthew was called, he gave up his political preference to become a follower of Christ. The same record shows that it was an envious, turbulent gang of politicians who compassed the humiliating trial and disgraceful death of Jesus. And the man who takes His name, and enters the political arena “crucifies Him afresh, and puts Him to an open shame.” A strong man of ordinarily decent character at the municipal helm, and our city would have been spared this humiliating experience! The dupes and “cat’s paws” would not now be serving behind the bars, or walking her streets with a felon’s sentence hanging upon their names, and the archest Jekyll of them all, a fugitive from justice, wearing a crown jeweled with felonious indictments, an abhorred object of both pity and execration, and yet making a fight to escape the consequences of his iniquity. And he has a certain following of “fellows well met,” who willingly assist him in evading his just deserts, not for his innocence’ sake, but for fear of a smirching. Surely the old prophet saw our city when he said: “Justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street.” Isa. 59:14. “The way of transgressors is hard,” and “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
The classes have joined hands in excessive lawlessness, and all the physical and social energies of mankind are devoted to depraved indulgences, and the maelstrom of sin engulfs the whole world.
But amid this seething, restless, ever-moving sea of human vileness that is hastening to the final cleansing, there are a few, “a little flock,” the “salt of the earth,” for whose sakes it is spared for yet a little while, patiently waiting the coming of the Lord, enabled by His Word to discern in this superabundant wickedness of mankind, “heralds of the coming King.” BRYN MAWR.
