Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Jun 25, 1902
THE TOWER OF LONDON AND ITS LESSONS.
ONE of the most interesting places in England, or for the matter of that, in the world, is the Tower of London, a general view of which appears on this page.
THE present structure dates back to William the Conqueror, who built the White Tower. It was used as a royal residence by Henry I.
The surrounding towers and moat were constructed in the time of Henry III. Nearly all of the great mass, with the exception of the White Tower, has been rebuilt or restored since then. The total area covered by the Tower is thirteen acres, surrounded by a moat, drained in 1843, but which can at any time be flooded from the Thames.
THE great structure is entered by four gates, namely, the Iron Gate, the Water Gate, the Traitor's Gate, and the Lion's Gate. The Lion's Gate, where visitors enter, is so called because a royal menagerie was once kept near it. At the Traitor's Gate the State prisoners were formerly brought. Within the enclosure are the Byward Tower; St. Thomas' Tower; the Bloody Tower, in which it is said the two children of Edward IV. were murdered; the Wakefield Tower, erected in the reign of William Rufus, in which is kept the Regalia of England, and where Henry VI. is supposed to have been killed; the Bell Tower, in which the Princess Elizabeth was confined by her sister, Queen Mary; the Brick Tower, where Lady Jane Grey was imprisoned; Beauchamp Tower, in which Lord Guilford Dudley, husband of Lady Jane Grey, together with his father and brothers, was confined; Bowyer Tower, where the Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV., was drowned in a butt of wine; and more interesting than all, the White Tower, built by the Conqueror in 1078, with its walls thirteen to fifteen feet in thickness. Here Richard II. abdicated in favor of Bolingbroke in 1399; here Prince James, son of Robert III. of Scotland, endured his long imprisonment; here Sir Walter Raleigh was confined when he wrote his 'History of the World.' All these towers help to compose 'the Tower of London.'
TOWER OF LONDON. GENERAL VIEW.
THE Tower has been in turn a royal residence, a fortress, a State prison, an armory, a mint and public record office, a museum. If its old walls could speak, it would tell many a tale of horror and cruelty forever sealed to the human till God's books reveal it. But we know enough. Suffice to speak of the imprisonment of John Baliol, king of Scotland; of William Wallace; of King David Bruce; of the 600 Jews barbarously treated by Edward III.; of Sir Simon Burley, executed for his faithfulness to his young sovereign; of Henry VI., who became insane and died in captivity; of Anne Boleyn, of Catherine Howard, of Sir Thomas Moore, victims of the sensuous and brutal Henry VIII.; of Anne Askew, tortured and afterward burned at Smithfield for denying the doctrine of transubstantiation; of Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, victims of Queen Mary's bigotry; and many, many more, we have not space to mention. Many of these were cruelly tortured, and many were executed, if not in the Tower, elsewhere.
IN the Armory is a wonderful display of ancient armor, both English and foreign, for both horse and man. Here also are seen the instruments of torture, removed from the stifling dungeons below, where can still be seen2the marks in the floor where these inventions of Satan were placed. Here is the block on which some were beheaded, with its ancient ax. Here also are gyves, thumb-screws, and the rack.
WHAT THE WORD OF GOD IS TO US.
By Ellen G. White
GOD has given us His Word as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Its teachings have a vital bearing on our prosperity in all the relations of life. Even in our temporal affairs it will be a wiser guide than any other counselor. Its divine instruction is the only way to success. There is no social position, no phase of human experience, for which the study of the Bible is not an essential preparation.
The Bible is the great standard of right and wrong, clearly defining sin and holiness. Its living principles, running through our lives like threads of gold, are our only safeguard in trial and temptation.
The Bible is a chart, showing us the waymarks of truth. Those who are acquainted with this chart will be enabled to tread with certainty in the path of duty, wherever they may be called to go.
The Bible contains a simple and complete system of theology and philosophy. It is the book that makes us wise unto salvation. It tells us how to reach the abodes of eternal happiness. It tells us of the love of God as shown in the plan of redemption, imparting the knowledge essential for all,—the knowledge of Christ. He is the Sent of God; He is the Author of our salvation. But apart from the Word of God, we could have no knowledge that such a person as the Lord Jesus ever visited our world, nor any knowledge of His divinity, as indicated by His previous existence with the Father.
The Bible was not written for the scholar alone; on the contrary, it was designed for the common people. The great truths necessary for our salvation are made as clear as noonday, and none will mistake and lose their way except those who follow their own judgment instead of the plainly revealed will of God.
The Word of God strikes at every wrong trait of character, moulding the whole man, internally and externally, abasing his pride and self-exaltation, leading him to bring the Spirit of Christ into the smaller as well as the larger duties of life. It teaches him to be unswerving in his allegiance to justice and purity, and at the same time always to be kind and compassionate.
The appreciation of the Bible grows with its study. Whichever way the student may turn, he will find displayed the infinite wisdom and love of God. To him who is truly converted, the Word of God is the joy and consolation of the life. The Spirit of God speaks to him, and his heart becomes like a watered garden.
A Strengthener of Intellect.
There is nothing more calculated to strengthen the intellect than a study of the Bible. No other book is so potent to elevate the thoughts, to give vigor to the faculties, as the broad, ennobling truths of the Bible. If God's Word were studied as it should be, men would have a breadth of mind, a nobility of character, that is rarely seen in these times.
No knowledge is so firm, so consistent, so far-reaching, as that obtained from a study of the Word of God. If there were not another book in the wide world, the Word of God, lived out through the grace of Christ, would make man perfect in this world, with a character fitted for the future, immortal life. Those who study the Word, taking it in faith as the truth, and receiving it into the character, will be complete in Him who is all and in all. Thank God for the possibilities set before humanity.
"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all." "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth forever."
The time devoted to a study of God's Word and to prayer will bring a hundred-fold in return.
The Word of God is the living seed, and as this seed is sown in the mind, the human agent must give diligent care to the successive stages of its growth. How is this to be done?—After the Word has been prayerfully received, it is to be cherished, and practised in the daily life. It is to spring up and bear fruit, putting forth first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.
The Spirit Necessary.
It is not enough to study the Bible as other books are studied. In order for it to be understood savingly, the Holy Spirit must move on the heart of the searcher. The same Spirit that inspired the Word must inspire the reader of the Word. Then will be heard the voice of heaven. "Thy Word, O God, is truth," will be the language of the soul.
The mere reading of the Word will not accomplish the result designed of Heaven; it must be studied, and cherished in the heart. The knowledge of God is not gained without mental effort. We should diligently study the Bible, asking God for the aid of the Holy Spirit, that we may understand His Word. We should take one verse, and concentrate the mind on the task of ascertaining the thought which God has put in that verse for us. We should dwell on the thought till it becomes our own, and we know "what saith the Lord."
There is but little benefit derived from a hasty reading of the Scriptures. One may read the Bible through, and yet fail to see its beauty or to comprehend its deep and hidden meaning. One passage studied until its significance is clear to the mind, and its relation to the plan of salvation is evident, is of more value than the perusal of many chapters with no definite purpose in view, and no positive instruction gained. Keep your Bible with you. As you have opportunity, read it; fix the texts in your memory. Even while you are walking the streets, you may read a passage, and meditate upon it, thus fixing it in the mind.
The life of Christ, that gives life to the world, is in His Word. It was by His word that Jesus healed disease and cast out demons; by His word He stilled the sea, and raised the dead; and the people bore witness that His word was with power. He spoke the word of God, as He had spoken to all the prophets and teachers of the Old Testament. The whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ. It is our source of power.
As our physical life is sustained by food, so our spiritual life is sustained by the Word of God. And every soul is to receive life from God's Word for himself. As we must eat for ourselves in order to receive nourishment, so we must receive the Word for ourselves. We are not to obtain it merely through the medium of another mind.
Yes, the Word of God is the bread of life. Those who eat and digest this Word, making it a part of every action and of every attribute of character, grow strong in the strength of God. It gives immortal vigor to the soul, perfecting the experience and bringing joys that will abide forever.
MRS. E. G. WHITE.
THE ONLY WAY TO RISE.
OPPOSITION is an aid to him who is in God's service. A hindrance is in many a case a help. Progress is made in every-day life by encountering and surmounting barriers. It is thus that one mounts, step by step, a lofty flight of stairs, or that one climbs to a lofty mountain summit. Father Tabb emphasizes this truth in the use of a familiar figure, when he says:—
"Resistance to its pinions light
Uplifts the bird in airy flight.
Resistance to the wingèd soul
Uplifts it to the lofty goal."
Let us thank God for the help He gives us heavenward in the obstacles which He summons us to surmount.—Sunday School Times.
Success in Preaching Scripture
By Joseph Parker
JESUS CHRIST'S success as a preacher was attained by His profound exposition of the Scripture. That is the only success worth having—a success that comes up out of the Scripture that abideth forever will partake of the quality of the Scripture and will endure long. Jesus Christ's expositions of Scripture were always new. How we mistake that matter of novelty! Our want is always new, our sin is always fresh, our hunger is always a novelty. —Joseph Parker.
The Tower Chapels
THERE are two chapels of note, but not renowned for the Gospel there preached. One—St. John's—is noted as being one of the finest specimens of Norman architecture in the country; the other—St. Peter ad Vincula—for having buried within its chancel rail not less than twelve eminent persons, every one of whom was beheaded. There is buried with them, the only one with his head on his body, a constable of the Tower, whose name we do not now recall. Macaulay well says of this place: "In truth there is no sadder spot on earth than this little cemetery. Death is there associated with . . . whatever is darkest in human destiny, with the savage triumph of implacable enemies, with the inconstancy, the ingratitude, the cowardice of friends, with all the miseries of fallen greatness and of blighted fame." And the chapel well represents the whole Tower. Upon its wall are still the pencilings of despair, and now and then a sentence of hope in the blest hereafter.
Lessons of the Tower
THE Tower has its lessons. It tells of the inconstancy of man and the futility and uncertainty of all hopes built upon him. It tells us that no profession of religion, held by lowly or great, is of any worth unless Christ be within. It tells us more, that such a formal religion is the cruelest of persecutors if it but have the occasion, the power, and the daring. It tells us of the fortitude, the bravery, the faithfulness with which the principle of faith in Jesus Christ can inspire and gird poor mortals, making them strong and steadfast. And yet how good it is to be able to look away from the sad scenes of the result of earthly ambition, hate, greed, plotting, conspiracy, envy, and cruelty to the liberty of later days which followed, liberty born of a free Gospel. But O, how much better it is to look from these sad memories and relics to the glorious living kingdom of Jesus Christ, so soon to come, and that shall never know aught that will press from the eye a tear or the lips a groan.
The Coming of the Lord
By L. A. Phippeny
BY L. A. PHIPPENY
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS AND REMARKS.
WHAT Lord?—The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Second Adam, Lord of lords, and King of kings. Coming from where?—From heaven. Coming where?—To this earth. Coming why?—To put an end to sin, and to establish righteousness. Coming when?—Soon. Coming how?—Literally, personally, visibly.
If the sentiments expressed in the above paragraph were truly believed by every professed Christian,—truly believed, I mean, with a belief that moulds actions as well as moves lips,—all that might be hoped or dreamed of accomplishment by these articles, vanguarded, accompanied, and rewarded by the Spirit of God, would shortly be done, and that, too, without them, and the world would wait but a few days for the tremendous change that will in any event not delay long.
The phrase at the head of this article is not new to Christendom, but to many it really means little. To some it savors of credulity, and belongs either to a past age or to the dim and distant future; still others interpret it this way and that. It shall be the aim of these articles to examine some of the various interpretations most commonly held, and some Scriptural testimony concerning this great event, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why Should the Lord Come?
Why should He not come? Put the question as you will, it sets one to thinking, and the reasons why the Lord should come press in throngs to the front. Is it to banish sin?—Then there is a world of reason for His coming! Is it to establish righteousness?—Then the united voices of earth ought to send a shout to the gates of heaven for Him to come soon!
Where shall we begin in the enumeration of reasons? With sin, because it is so easy to see sin? There are some who say the world is getting better. There are just as great and good men who affirm that it is getting worse. One brief sentence from the Word of God ought to settle the point. It is this: "In the last days . . . evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse." It is not the purpose particularly of this present article to prove that the days of these months in which we live are the last days of this world, to which this sentence refers. That really does not have to be proved for a man who believes the Word of God. If the world is getting better, then its last days will be its best, if it has last days. But if it is growing worse, then "in the last days . . . evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse." The Scriptures affirm that there will be "last days" for the world. Then there will be a "last day," and then there will be an end of this age. And then, according to the Word, the Lord will come. If there is much probability that the world will grow worse than it is, then there may be a little while yet before that event. But if you do not know the exact position of the mercury in the world's moral thermometer, would it not be well to make preparation for that event this day?
When the Lord comes, we shall look for a beginning of peace on earth. But as the words stood for contraries in these days, the word "peace" conjures up in the imagination a troop of ideas as nearly related to the pure meaning of peace as is charcoal to snow. There was a "peace congress" of nations, and almost if not fully every important nation represented was not only perplexed over the problem of greater and stronger defenses, vaster armies, and deadlier weapons of destruction, but was at the moment of the congress continuing with unabated energy plans looking to the acquiring and perfecting of implements of war.
Are They Making for Peace?
Still there are those who assert in all seriousness that these gigantic preparations for war,—ponderous battle-ships, monster guns, terrible explosives, submarine torpedo-boats, airships for war, ingenious and frightful inventions for destroying life and property,—are all making for peace! This is not a statistical paper, and will not attempt to array figures representing standing armies, reserves, appropriations for purposes of war, and war debts,—figures increasing in their vastness to an extent alarming even to those who constantly observe and study the world situation. Bankrupt nations, nations rapidly approaching the breaking point financially, a world awaiting with trembling and dread and apprehension an untried fray, is the situation. Even those who claim peace as the outcome admit that there must first be fearful bloodshed and untold financial disasters before the desideratum is reached. Is it peace? Does it really look like peace? Is there not need for the presence of the Prince of Peace?
And then there are politics and political corruption, vast aggregations of wealth, gigantic trusts,—machinery unfortunately used in the main for the gratification of insatiable greed, for the lust of this world and its pride and unholy ambitions, and whose logical trend is toward the conditions hinted at in the preceding paragraph. Seemingly a necessity because of the vast combinations of money capital are the federations of trades and the labor-unions, whose sympathetic cords are rapidly binding into one great irresistible power all trades, all occupations of labor from metropolis to city, from city to town and village and country, and the recesses of mountain and forest. Is there anything ominous in the concentration of measureless resources of wealth in the hands of a few, or of one? Is there anything that causes foreboding in the tremendous power of federated labor, the strike, and possibilities related thereto? Which sentiments or emotions rule, peace, love, magnanimity, unselfishness, or selfishness, greed, and growing hatred? Leaving aside the questions of right and wrong, of oppression and fancied or real grievances, does not the situation call for the presence of a master-spirit,—the spirit of Peace and Love?
And apropos further to the subject of the world's becoming better or worse, I will refer merely to the augmenting rate of murders, suicides, divorces, diseases, insanities, robberies, assaults, scandals, social evils and corruptions, and vastly more, as unanswerable reasons why the Lord should come with His correcting power.
The query may arise as to what the Gospel is accomplishing in the earth, if it is the power of God unto salvation, and whether it is not sufficient to correct the evils that have been enumerated, as well as all others, and if it is not seen as the presence and power of the Lord. Yes, the power in the Gospel is able to correct all evils, and does it in the life of every one who wills to have it operate in him. The trouble is not with the Gospel, but with men. The foregoing evils have been enumerated because they are present before the eyes of all, and are striking evidences of the proximity of the event concerning which this paper is written.
There is good in the world. The power of God is working through willing human agencies, and divine purposes will be accomplished. If preponderant evil demands the coming of the Lord, it is to be conceded that were all righteous, then also the Lord could most appropriately come in person. The discussion of this theme will touch this point further on, in its relation to the work of the Gospel. There are other questions concerning the real purpose of the coming of Christ in person to this earth which are perplexing to many. In this article I have referred much to the existing and increasing evil and wickedness, and the critical world situation. Naturally the question arises, What is the cause of all this wickedness? This has an important bearing on the coming of the Lord to this earth, and a few thoughts on this portion of the topic will follow in the next article.
WHY WE NEED FIRESIDE SCHOOLS.
By Hope
It is an acknowledged fact, that in these days the religious training of our children in their homes, is too much neglected. Many parents expect the Sunday-school teacher, pastor, or some one else to do this work. Others are careless and let their daily labor or demands of society make them neglect the souls of their children. Not a few mothers give all their time to feeding and clothing the body, while the soul starves or is fed by Satan.
We should keep the mother and child nearer together. The mother is the God-given teacher of the child. But we seldom have them together, even in the house of God. The children come to the Sabbath-school, and when it is out, the children often leave, and the parents come to the preaching service. If the child can not attend both services, then it had better come with the parent to the preaching service. I do not want to be understood as condemning the Sabbath-school and other helps, but only to say that they are not able, in one hour out of every seven days, to do the great work of the religious and moral training of our children. Indeed, much of this work should be done before the child is old enough to attend the Sabbath-school.
A mother said to me, a few days ago, "Sister Moore, I have brought my children up in the Sabbath-school, and yet they have gone astray." I said, "My dear sister, you could not bring your child up in the Sabbath-school, because it is in session only one hour and a half during the whole week. At home is where your child has been brought up. There is where its character was formed, to a great extent, before it was seven years old."-Hope.
Curiosity and Temptation
"CURIOSITY is one of the most fatal elements in temptation. It has many victims among young people. The soul that is curious about forbidden things is a soul already in danger."
