Earlier text: Questions and AnswersThe Scriptures a Safeguard
By Ellen G. White
God has given us his Word that we may become acquainted with its teachings, and know for ourselves what he requires of us. When the lawyer came to Jesus with the inquiry, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” the Saviour referred him to the Scriptures, saying, “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” Ignorance will not excuse young or old, or release them from the punishment due for the transgression of God’s law, because there is in their hands a faithful presentation of that law and of its principles and its claims. It is not enough to have good intentions; it is not enough to do what a man thinks is right, or what the minister tells him is right. His soul’s salvation is at stake, and he should search the Scriptures for himself. However strong may be his convictions, however confident he may be that the minister knows what is truth, this is not his foundation. He has a chart pointing out every waymark on the heavenward journey, and he ought not to guess at anything. It is the first and highest duty of every rational being to learn from the Scriptures what is truth, and then to walk in the light, and encourage others to follow his example. We should day by day study the Bible diligently, weighing every thought, and comparing scripture with scripture. With divine help, we are to form our opinions for ourselves, as we are to answer for ourselves before God. We should exert all the powers of the mind in the study of the Scriptures, and should task the understanding to comprehend, as far as mortals can, the deep things of God; yet we must not forget that the docility and submission of a child is the true spirit of the learner. Scriptural difficulties can never be mastered by the same methods as are employed in grappling with philosophical problems. We should not engage in the study of the Bible with that self-reliance with which so many enter the domains of science, but with a prayerful dependence upon God, and a sincere desire to learn his will. We must come with a humble and teachable spirit to obtain knowledge from the great I AM. Otherwise, evil angels will so blind our minds and harden our hearts that we shall not be impressed by the truth. Many a portion of Scripture which learned men pronounce a mystery, or pass over as unimportant, is full of comfort and instruction to him who has been taught in the school of Christ. One reason why many theologians have no clearer understanding of God’s Word is they close their eyes to truths which they do not wish to practice. An understanding of Bible truth depends not so much on the power of intellect brought to the search as on the singleness of purpose, the earnest longing after righteousness. The Bible should never be studied without prayer. The Holy Spirit alone can cause us to feel the importance of those things easy to be understood, or prevent us from wrestling truths difficult of comprehension. It is the office of heavenly angels to prepare the heart to so comprehend God’s Word that we shall be charmed with its beauty, admonished by its warnings, or animated and strengthened by its promises. We should make the psalmist’s petition our own: “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” Temptations often appear irresistible because, through neglect of prayer and the study of the Bible, the tempted one cannot readily remember God’s promises and meet Satan with the Scripture weapons. But angels are round about those who are willing to be taught in divine things; and in the time of great necessity, they will bring to their remembrance the very truths which are needed. Thus “when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” All who value their eternal interests should be on their guard against the inroads of skepticism. The very pillars of truth will be assailed. It is impossible to keep beyond the reach of the sarcasms and sophisms, the insidious and pestilent teachings, of modern infidelity. Satan adapts his temptations to all classes. He assails the illiterate with a jest or sneer, while he meets the educated with scientific objections and philosophical reasoning, alike calculated to excite distrust or contempt of the Scriptures. Even youth of little experience presume to insinuate doubts concerning the fundamental principles of Christianity. And this youthful infidelity, shallow as it is, has its influence. Many are thus led to jest at the faith of their fathers, and to do despite to the Spirit of grace. Many a life that promised to be an honor to God and a blessing to the world, has been blighted by the foul breath of infidelity. All who trust to the boastful decisions of human reason, and imagine that they can explain divine mysteries and arrive at truth unaided by the wisdom of God, are entangled in the snare of Satan. We are living in the most solemn period of this world’s history. The destiny of earth’s teeming multitudes is about to be decided. Our own future well-being, and also the salvation of other souls, depends upon the course which we now pursue. We need to be guided by the Spirit of truth. Every follower of Christ should earnestly inquire, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” We need to humble ourselves before the Lord, with fasting and prayer, and to meditate much upon his Word, especially upon the scenes of the judgment. We should now seek a deep and living experience in the things of God. We have not a moment to lose. Events of vital importance are taking place around us; we are on Satan’s enchanted ground. Sleep not, sentinels of God; the foe is lurking near, ready at any moment, should you become lax and drowsy, to spring upon you and make you his prey. Many are deceived as to their true condition before God. They congratulate themselves upon the wrong acts which they do not commit, and forget to enumerate the good and noble deeds which God requires of them, but which they have neglected to perform. It is not enough that they are trees in the garden of God. They are to answer to his expectation by bearing fruit. He holds them accountable for their failure to accomplish all the good which they could have done through his grace strengthening them. In the books of heaven they are registered as cumberers of the ground. Yet the case of even this class is not utterly hopeless. With those who have slighted God’s mercy and abused his grace, the heart of long-suffering love yet pleads. “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, . . . redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” When the testing time shall come, those who have made God’s Word their rule of life will be revealed. In summer there is no noticeable difference between evergreens and other trees; but when the blasts of winter come, the evergreens remain unchanged, while other trees are stripped of their foliage. So the false-hearted professor may not now be distinguished from the real Christian, but the time is just upon us when the difference will be apparent. Let opposition arise, let bigotry and intolerance again bear sway, let persecution be kindled, and the half-hearted and hypocritical will waver and yield the faith; but the true Christian will stand firm as a rock, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, than in days of prosperity. Says the psalmist: “Thy testimonies are my meditation.” “Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.” “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom.” “He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” The Sabbath in the Bible
By Ahva J. C. Bond
The Sabbath in the Old Testament
The first appearance of the Sabbath in Israel's recorded history. Ex. 16: 1-30. (The manna given. The Sabbath appears as an established institution.) The Sabbath in the decalogue. Ex. 20: 8-11. (It occupies a central place in this world-recognized moral code.) Its place in the amplification of the ten words. Ex. 31: 12-17. (The severest penalty followed its violations.) Moses makes known to Israel the commands of God. Ex. 35: 2, 3. (The weekly Sabbath mentioned first.) Laws for the governing of Israel, including the Sabbath. Lev. 19: 1-30. (These are not ceremonial, but ethical.)7 The Sabbath and other sacred festivals. Lev. 23: 1-38. (The Sabbath has first place. From it others are dated.) The Sabbath a time for worship. Lev. 24: 5-9. (The character of the worship in keeping with the times.) An instance of the recognition of the Sabbath. Num. 15: 32-36. (The penalty administered according to the law.) Sabbath worship again. Num. 28: 9, 10. (A special offering for the Sabbath day.) The Sabbath law in Deuteronomy. Deut. 5: 12-15. (Another version of the ten words.) One purpose of the new temple is Sabbath worship. 2 Chron. 2: 4. (In Solomon's time Sabbath worship was taken for granted.) In the time of Elisha the Sabbath was recognized. 2 Kings 4: 23. (Incidental references the strongest kind of evidence.) The temple guards are changed on the Sabbath. 2 Kings 11: 4-12. (Another incidental reference to Sabbath recognition.) Amos condemns Sabbath breaking. Amos 8: 4-10. (Amos holds high ethical standards. The sins condemned are not ceremonial.) Neglect of the Sabbath among the fatal sins of Israel. Isa. 1: 2-20. (The prophet breathes out the condemnation of Jehovah.) The Sabbath must be hallowed. Jer. 17: 19-27. (Sabbath keeping is a test of loyalty. So in many instances.) A poetic expression regarding Judah's loss of the Sabbath. Lam. 2: 6. (Judah is nonreligious, having no Sabbath, etc.) Ezekiel rehearses the wilderness history of Israel. Eze. 20: 10-26. (Israel was disloyal in failing to keep the Sabbath.) The Sabbath in Ezekiel's new temple. Eze. 46: 1-5. (Ezekiel was both a priest and a prophet.) Ezra reads the law to the people, including the Sabbath. Neh. 9: 14. (The book of the law had just been found.) The keeping of the Sabbath law enforced by a pledge. Neh. 10: 31. (Commercial interests must not encroach upon the Sabbath.) The law more emphatically enforced. Neh. 13: 15-22. (Time of the beginning of the Sabbath incidentally indicated. Lev. 23: 32.) A psalm or song for the Sabbath day. Psalm 92. (Title of the psalm.) The Sabbath in the New Testament
Jesus teaches on the Sabbath day. They feel his authority. Mark 1: 21f; Luke 4: 31f; Mark 6: 2f. (They were in the habit of meeting on the Sabbath day; the quality of the teaching was unusual.) It was the Master's custom to attend Sabbath worship. Luke 4: 16f. (The Old Testament was the basis of his teaching, and he knew how to interpret it.) The grain-field experience, and Sabbath healing. Matt. 12: 1f; Mark 2: 23 to 3: 6; Luke 6: 1-11. (In the eyes of the Jews these must have been “border line” acts on the part of Jesus.) The Sabbath and the resurrection. Matt. 28: 1; Mark 16: 1; Luke 23: 54f. (The devout women, the Master's closest friends, kept the Sabbath according to the commandment.) Jesus speaks of the Sabbath in connection with the fall of Jerusalem. Matt. 24: 20. (No reference to any change.) The epistles. (The epistles, which were written earlier, for the most part, than the Acts and the Gospels, were written largely to correct doctrinal differences in the churches, or to explain matters concerning which there was misunderstanding. Comparative silence on their part regarding the Sabbath would indicate that in this matter the churches were agreed.) An Unsung Hero
By Roy L. Smith
A LECTURER had been speaking in a town in northern Iowa to a large company of people, and his remarks for the most part had been an appeal to young people for effective service in the home community. During the lecture he emphasized various things that made for success, and among them the fact that it did not make very much difference in what line of work a man busied himself, the important thing being the manner in which he worked. At the conclusion of the lecture, an old man, stooped and bent with years, came up to the rostrum with slow and trembling gait. He reached up his hand and said to the lecturer, “Young man, I have something I want to say to you,” and his voice shook with ill-concealed emotion. “The things you said tonight have touched me in a wondrous way. I came to this community forty years ago with an ambition to help make it a great country. It was all new then, and we were just settling it up. I hoped that I might be able to preach or teach, and at times I even dreamed of some political prestige. Years sped by, and it seemed that I was not educated enough to preach, and there was no room for me as a teacher. Somehow it never occurred to the people to elect me to any office in all these forty years. As I looked about me I found that there was one thing that needed to be done, and I could do it. No one else seemed to be doing it, either. I could make good butter and cheese. At once I started in, and from that day to this I have been doing that one thing. No pound of butter and no bit of cheese has ever left my establishment that was not the best I could produce. Perhaps there are others who could have done better, but I could not. For forty years this town has been getting my best service. It hasn’t been much of a business, but it has been my life work.” It has been said that success is “doing something that no one else is doing, and doing it in such a manner that it does not need to be done over.” This must be true, and the old man in Iowa had achieved success. Perhaps it was not in the line which he might have chosen, but it was at least in the line of his fitness. There are many in that community who have been enjoying the results of his labor for these many years, and it may be they never thought of him as having a vision as he worked; but the old man was happy because he had given his best. Was it not a calling? Who will say that he was not as much called to his work as the minister was to his? or who can say that his work was not as acceptable if he was as faithful? — Roy L. Smith. An Unmitigated Evil
By Harvey W. Wiley
A most interesting discussion has lately taken place respecting the advisability of eliminating brandy and whisky from the pages of the Ninth Revised Pharmacopœia of the United States. As chairman of the pharmacopœial convention and a member of the committee on revision, I have been greatly interested in this matter. The arguments which have been advanced in favor of the deletion of these articles are in my opinion sound and convincing in so far as principle is concerned. In brief, the argument is as follows: Brandy and whisky are no longer used as medicines in sufficient quantities to warrant their retention by the pharmacopœia. This fact has been ascertained by consulting large numbers of acting practitioners, who have responded in such a manner as to show that brandy and whisky are rarely found at the present time in the prescriptions of the most progressive physicians. What the final decision on this matter will be, of course I am unable to say; but at any rate, I may say that if brandy and whisky are retained in the pharmacopœia, it will be on the ground that there are a few physicians who sometimes prescribe them, and hence, as they are sometimes used as medicines, it would hardly be fair to remove them from the pharmacopœia, where they have found a place for many years. Aside from the practice of medicine, what is the general trend of scientific thought on this question? I may answer that in my opinion the great weight of scientific evidence and the force of scientific opinion at the present time lead to the conclusion that alcohol in its various forms is an unmitigated evil. Personally I should be glad to see nation-wide and world-wide prohibition. While I am not a teetotaler, I am a prohibitionist. I am firmly convinced that the evils produced by alcohol so far outweigh any of its supposed advantages as to lead logically to but one conclusion; namely, the absolute prohibition of the use of alcohol for any but industrial purposes. — Harvey W. Wiley M. D., in Sunday School Times. John Wesley’s Family Prayer Training
JOHN WESLEY and his brothers and sisters were carefully trained to be quiet at family prayers; and this was the secret of good behavior in the house of God. “A Kingdom Which Cannot Be Moved”
By W. A. S.
We may well know that Christian believers living in lands torn and shaken with war cling yet more closely to the blessed hope of “a kingdom which cannot be moved,” eternal in the heavens. Beyond all the strife and the suffering and the loss, that kingdom remains secure. And the gospel of the kingdom still speaks in the same spirit to people of all nations, inviting sinners to be reconciled to God. In his appeal for civic neutrality on the part of citizens of this country in relation to the European conflict, President Wilson suggested the desirability of refraining from public discussion of the merits of the claims of contending nations, with all of which this country is at peace. Of course he had his mind upon the fact that, with the millions of European-born persons now citizens in this country, no little feeling might be aroused by acrimonious discussion. There are ten million people living in the United States who were born in countries now at war, to say nothing of the many millions of children of parents foreign born. For civic peace and harmony the president spoke his word of caution. The ground of humanitarian neutrality is still broader. Speaking for the Red Cross movement, the Washington Post said recently:— The Red Cross is the spirit of peace that hovers even over the battle field. It is visible evidence of the better part of human nature that cannot be quenched even in blood. It is the holiness of home, carrying to feverish lips the freshness of peaceful waters, and wafting frenzied brains back to a time when war was not. German, Belgian, Frenchman, Austrian, Serb, Russian — all are one when stricken down, and the Red Cross knows not one from another. It sees only the agony to be relieved. It is deaf to cannon, blind to searchlights, immune to bullets. It knows no enemy, no boundary line, no politics, no quarrel. It knows only humanity. Intrigue cannot involve it, corruption cannot come near it, censorship cannot silence it, officialism cannot thwart it. All honor to the nurses, surgeons, and helpers who make up the international army of the Red Cross! It is they, and not the helmeted soldiers, who are winning glory on the battle fields. It is they who are fighting for humanity. This humanitarian movement keeps itself on this high plane in order that it may help all in times of need. Surely Christians may learn good lessons from all these endeavors to minister to the cause of peace and helpfulness. Christian neutrality is on a yet higher plane. With all that must be said concerning the progress of fulfilling prophecy in current events, we certainly need to be guarded in speech, both in public discussion and in our press, and watchful that in our own hearts there shall be maintained the spirit of the kingdom, with none of the spirit of this world’s prejudices and preferences and rivalries. Pledged for the carrying of Heaven’s gospel of salvation “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” it surely is not within the gospel commission to deal with the relative merits of political issues for which contending peoples may stand. Questions that might harmlessly be discussed in the abstract in quiet times, may in times of war become inappropriate and inexpedient topics for discussion by the gospel messenger. The representative of the everlasting gospel is equally at home in delivering the saving message in any part of the world, among any people, under any form of government. Wherever he may be, he is bound to “fear God” and “honor the king,” “to be subject to principalities and powers,” and to pray for the peace of that city or country whose soil his feet may press as he goes with the message from Heaven. In any time it must certainly be in harmony with the spirit of the heavenly kingdom that the church shall not copy the world’s attitude toward any people. At a conference of representatives of the great missionary societies, not long ago, no little discussion was given to the great hindrances to mission work in Turkey, created by the constant appearance in the European and American press of slighting remarks regarding the non-Christian people of that country, certain of these ungodly political phrases often creeping into the religious press. The missionary representatives from that land protested against it very earnestly. The world’s rivalries, racial and commercial, are always the same through all the ages, friendship turning to enmity and enmity to friendship, whichever way the current of self-interest moves. All the time, and above all the clashing of worldly interests, the voice of the Lord is calling men to prepare for heaven. So long as Christians live in the world they must suffer with it, and be directly involved personally in the storm and the stress; but amid it all, they may keep heaven’s spirit and the hope of the eternal kingdom in their hearts. The more stormy the times get in this world, it is apparent that the greater care will be needed in discussing international affairs in the light of divine prophecy. The “sure word of prophecy” bears its message to all alike. It grants no basis for ministering to national pride or national ambitions. It foretells general conditions in order that men of all nationalities may read the signs of the times and know that the Lord, who created all and who loves all, is quickly coming again to save those who put their trust in him and keep themselves unspotted from the world. Vain Assumptions and Idle Speculations
By F. M. W.
In the September number of the Bible Magazine, there is found an excellent article under the heading “Where Shall Peace Be Found?” In this the editor reviews the arguments which some of the peace advocates have put forward as reasons why the world had passed beyond the stage of active conflict, and shows the manner in which these many theories have been exploded. We copy the larger part of the article:— The reflective reader of history has found his mind returning again and again from the sensational features of the situation and from the immediate issues of conflict to the exploded theories, striking anomalies, contradictions, and surprises incident to the upheaval. Ever since the Franco-Prussian War peace lovers have been giving assurances of the unlikelihood of another great struggle among the nations representing Western civilization, assurances that had come to have almost axiomatic force. What now? The doctrine of the brotherhood of man was advancing, they said; the world was becoming one; a great war would never come again. But the first shot sent race hatred to a white heat, and expressions of national pride became absurdly extravagant. Modern civilization, we were told, was too far advanced to tolerate a great conflict. It was actually found less advanced than the preparations for war. An international peace tribunal, housed in a magnificent peace temple at The Hague, surely marked a distinct stage in the peaceful adjustment of international disputes. Today it is even suggested that9 this newly dedicated edifice be used as a military hospital. But the masses were against war. Despite certain contrary tendencies, peace has never offered the private individual such opportunities as in this age. But it was presently realized that at least some rulers could hardly have incited more popular demands for war if they would, when Austria plainly insisted on humbling Servia. Mass meetings called to protest against bloodshed proved tame affairs. Socialism, with its increasing power, would of course serve as a powerful deterrent. But patriotism in the socialist’s breast quickly smothered his sentiments for peace at any price. The magnitude of international commerce must simply forbid such a disturbance of the world’s business, for were not the affairs of nations chiefly commercial today? Already international trade has lost its tens of millions, but its voice is scarcely heard in the uproar. Since the world’s bankers controlled the “sinews of war,” without their permission armies could not make a hostile move. The armies moved first, and the bankers have been adjusting themselves to the situation as best they can. But there was the balance of power, so completely developed since the Triple Alliance was paralleled by the Triple Entente. The balance was too nicely adjusted; the assassination of one man upset it all. In the presence of such immense armies and armaments what government would dare to start a great conflict? But the burdened nations had come to feel that the only way to rid themselves of the intolerable weight was to settle the question of supremacy by war rather than by the never-ending strain and tension of costly preparation for it. Solemn alliances and treaties between nations should weigh heavily against the opening of hostilities. What became of the Triple Alliance after Germany and Austria became involved with other powers? Did the opposing powers really believe it would hold together when the test came? The neutrality of Belgium and of Luxemburg were additional factors on the side of peace. But the treaties that guaranteed the security of these small states proved as frail as the paper on which they were spread. The explosion of these peace theories will by no means dishearten the advocates of peace. They will continue their agitation to the end of time. It may be that their agitation will succeed in the end. We cannot predict with confidence the outcome of the present struggle. We do not know whether this war will drag along until it finally ends in Armageddon, or whether there will be for a time a cessation of hostilities. Probably the latter. This would seem indicated by the prophecy found in the second chapter of Isaiah. Just how universal peace will be brought about we cannot say. Treaty alliances will doubtless play their part. The pressure brought to bear by federated Christianity will have its influence. By this siren song of peace the world will be lulled into carnal security. Apostate Christianity itself will declare, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” But the day of peace is of short duration. Upon the world and upon the church that has forsaken him the wrath of God will fall. “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine.” The nations of men will come together in the last great conflict—the battle of Armageddon. The wrath of God will fall upon a guilty world. The nations of earth will be broken in pieces. Then the universal reign of peace will be ushered in; but this peace will not come through arbitration or international treaties. It will come after the wicked nations of earth have been destroyed, and every discordant element removed from the universe of God. Then he whose scepter is peace shall reign over a righteous nation and a holy people and a sin-free universe. From a review of the vain assumptions and idle speculations regarding peace, the editor of the Bible Magazine passes to a consideration of the present aspect of the great European controversy:— Yet the amazing aspect of the situation does not end with such a collapse of hopes. The alignments in this war are so unhistorical, so artificial, so lacking in elements of political, commercial, and military permanency, so marked by conflicting policies, that already the forecasters are telling us that one or more struggles must succeed this one for the sake of making a more lasting adjustment. We see the great Teutonic race divided against itself, enlightened England fighting against her German cousins on the side of the great Slav empire, her own rival in Asia. England and France, ancient and natural rivals, march side by side into Belgium toward some sort of Waterloo. Protestant nation wars against Protestant, and Catholic nation against Catholic. Speculate as you will upon the issue of this war, if history can teach anything, what chance has abiding peace in such alliances as these? Speaking of the conditions which create war, this editor continues:— War does not create itself; the fever seizes the patient because the disease is in the system. Nor do armies necessarily precipitate it; peace can no more be assured by disbanding modern armies than crime can be abolished by dismissing the police force. Destroy the latest military equipments, and angry nations would revert to clubs and stones in the hands of mobs rather than yield to obnoxious conditions of peace. Races cannot be ordered by a court to lay aside inherent antagonisms. While there is collective, as well as individual, selfishness, pride, arrogance, ambition, ignorance, and brutality in the world, contention and strife will follow between hostile races and states. Will the nations of men ever arrive at a state of lasting peace? Replying to this, the editor justly concludes:— The world will never reach lasting peace, save through the Prince of Peace. There is no assurance in divine revelation or in human annals that man alone and unaided will ever solve the stupendous problem of saving humanity from the violence of its own passions. The social seer may have his dreams of human brotherhood, and the poet may sing of the furled battle flags,—and we believe with them that these things are yet to be,—but the realization of such hopes will appear only with that absolute monarchy wherein he whose right it is shall reign in reality upon this earth. To Rule the World
By C. M. S.
WAR is Satan’s answer to God’s purpose in this world. It is his version of the second table of God’s law. Jesus summarized that table of the law in these words: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Satan’s answer to that is to fill the world with the weapons of slaughter, the implements of war. God’s purpose, as declared by himself and as demonstrated by our Saviour in his life and his teachings, is that love should rule, and that the motto of mankind should be the sacrifice of self in the service of others. He had to contend with the opposite principle among his own followers when they strove among themselves as to who should be the greatest in the Redeemer’s kingdom. Christ taught them that he who would be greatest should demonstrate his fitness for that place by making himself the servant of all. And he, in his own life, thus demonstrated his fitness as leader of the Lord’s hosts. There are two policies now working themselves out in the world: on the one hand the policy of self-exaltation, self-service, and the desire to rule over others; and on the other hand the policy of self-surrender, self-sacrifice, and the desire to minister to others’ needs and others’ happiness. Those policies are personified in Satan and in Christ. Satan, in his rebellion against God, has trampled every precept of the decalogue underfoot. War, the incarnation of Satan’s character and purpose, has trampled upon the same precepts and defied the same law and marred and destroyed the living image of its Giver. And what is it all about? The instigator of war has put it into the hearts of men to lord it over other men, to put other men and their aspirations underfoot and exalt self above all. The trouble in this world dates from Satan’s entry into the Garden of Eden. God had given the world to man to govern under the benign sway of love. Satan, through falsehood and deception, defrauded man and usurped the rulership. Then he put it into the hearts of men to strive and to fight among themselves for that rulership. Every war of conquest is waged with that thought in mind—to obtain more “subjects,” to rule over more territory. Alexander declared to his Persian antagonist that the universe could not have more than one sun nor more than one sovereign. He proposed to be the military sun for this world, and to put all other military luminaries under his feet. But before his day the same purpose was seen in Babylon and Medo-Persia, and after him in Rome. The same purpose was10 active in other governments and other rulers. Napoleon Bonaparte upset all Europe and drenched its soil with the blood of thousands in pursuance of that program. The aspiration to rule the world has not yet been plucked out of the human breast. People and rulers alike still dream of national greatness and expansion more than of self-sacrifice on the altar of service to mankind. They think more of decisive Waterloos to crush their enemies than of tear-wet Gethsemanes and blood-stained Calvarys to save them. This is not so much an indictment of mankind as of mankind’s great deceiver, who has given us bullets and bayonets in place of bread, hatred and malice in place of love, and graveyards and deserts in place of homes. This war of mankind against itself is the most inexplicable paradox of the ages. It had its inception in Satan’s ambition to dethrone the Almighty and make himself the ruler of the universe; and it will have its culmination in the destruction of Satan with the hosts of the deceived when sin and war are wiped out in the fires of the last day. The hosts of Europe that are today piling each other in heaps of dead on blood-wet fields are the victims of that world-old ambition, the rulership of the world. We see their ambitions in their war songs and their national mottoes and popular purposes. The German peasant, factory hand, merchant, and ruler sing with fervent enthusiasm the strains of this song: “Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles, ueber alles in der Welt!” which means, “Germany, Germany over everything, over everything in the world.” The same idea is in “Britannia rules the sea.” She rules more than the sea, and would not object to ruling much more of the world than she does. The same idea is dominant in Russia, handed down in the tradition that the destiny of the Slavic peoples is to rule the world. That is why Russia is today fighting the greatest war of her history to keep the small Slavic nations free from the control of non-Slavic rulers. It was Turkey’s ambition to rule the world, and she still looks upon universal dominion as a prize much to be desired, but now possibly beyond her reach. In spite of American democratic principles, many Americans were elated when the government took over the Philippines and when those islands became in a sense “our dependencies,” and their people “our subjects.” The Roman Catholic Church has always cherished and cultivated the ambition of world rulership, of ruling not only peoples but the rulers of peoples. In her maintenance of that attitude, unbelievers became heretics, and heretics became rebellious subjects, worthy only of death. So that ambition is not the heritage or heirloom of any particular people. It is the heritage from Satan’s triumph over man, when he taught man to override the rights of others in striving for his own selfish ends. It is seen in every effort to unite church and state and place one set of men to rule over the religious convictions and the religious acts of other men. This is all against the purpose of God and out of harmony with his character. His true servants do not strive for the mastery; they will not kill men in order to gain the mastery over other men; they will not seek to exalt themselves by crushing and trampling upon their fellow men. The Saviour of the world was the servant of the world, and his true followers will think more of serving others than of ruling over them. And when the insane folly of war has been wiped out of the world, they to whom the new earth is given will be they who have served others rather than they who have ruled others. The heaps of promising young manhood piled upon the plains and mountains and marshes of Europe, and the devastated homes and bitter heartaches of the people, are the toll humanity pays to the ambition of men to rule the world. How much better to wait God’s time for the restoration of the lost dominion! Those who so wait may share in a victory that is tangible and eternal, a victory that puts in man’s hands again the true rulership of the world once lost to and through him who is the instigator of war.