THE loss of dear friends by death seems the hardest of all hard things to bear. Who at such times has not, under the sense of utter loneliness, longed to receive from the departed an old-time look of recognition, or to hear some familiar word of friendship? But how impossible is such a thing! The lost one may be appealed to by voice, but gives back no response; he may be caressed, but the pale face returns no look of recognition. Every sense of the once animated organism has been suspended, and the form once so active and companionable, is in the rigid embrace of unconsciousness. That which causes uncontrollable grief at such times is the thought that no earthly skill is available by which to restore the lost senses to consciousness, and that they will no more be responsive to the environments of earthly attractions.
Under such circumstances there is but one source of consolation,—the never-failing Word of truth, which calls for all to refrain from weeping for the dead, in view of the fact that they will 'come again from the land of the enemy.' Jer. 31:16. Until that glad day we have only to trust the Lord's Word, and wait for their return from the 'land of forgetfulness' (Ps. 88:10-12), that country where 'the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest;' where small and great are alike free from oppression and care (Job 3:17-19), and where no one has any concern about what takes place in earth or heaven (Job 14:20, 21; Eccl. 3:19, 20; 9:5, 6; Ps. 115:17; Isa. 38:18).
With a moment's candid thought, free from the bias of modern theological theories, these scriptures will seem reasonable and right. When one lies down at night, to be wrapped in quiet, profound slumber, his brain ceases to act, and he has no knowledge of or concern about what goes on during his sleep. He is entirely unconscious, unless disturbed in some way; then his thoughts again begin their course of action. This being true of natural sleep, it is not strange that in the sleep of death one should be dispossessed of the power of thought, and consequently of knowledge. The inspired Word, in fact, says of those who die, 'They are as asleep.' Ps. 90:5.
Of these the Lord says again: 'But man dieth, and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up; so man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.' Job 14:10-12. When the water fails from the sea, it ceases to exist; when the flood dries up, it is gone. So it is with man when he gives up the life power by which his brain had produced thought; he has fallen asleep, and all his senses are suspended until life re-enters his inanimate body to revivify it, and clothe its brain with energy again to think. In this way alone is consciousness restored to those who have fallen under the power of death, which is the exact opposite of life, because it is the cessation of life.
In life alone rests the ability to think and appreciate environments. It has one source only, and that is the Author of the universe.
With Him is 'the fountain of life.' Ps. 36:9. Man's possession of life depends wholly upon this infinite fountain. He holds life purely as a gift of God, only so long as he uses it in a way to glorify its Author. Life being the only possible means through which man can enjoy the things of God, and so be able to render thanksgiving to Him as the Creator of his blessings, it follows that this must have been the object in first bestowing life. 2 Cor. 4:15; Rev. 4:11. A failure on man's part to render the required tribute would of course separate him from his Benefactor, and so from the source of life. This would cancel the gift of life to man, and so prevent him from using the highest power of heaven in the service of God's greatest enemy.
After sin separated man from the Source of his life, a plan was put in operation whereby man could continue his existence for a time, in order to give him opportunity to decide whether he desired the perpetual continuation of life or not. This expression of God's infinite love for the poor unfortunate race was seen in the gift of His only-begotten Son, that whosoever would believe on Him 'should not perish, but have everlasting life.' John 3:16. This is to say that those who do not receive Christ do not have everlasting life, but perish, and that in their own corruption. 2 Peter 2:12.
To believe in Christ, then, is to accept the renewed gift of life, which Adam forfeited for the race while in Eden. John 3:36. Notwithstanding, the decree of death visited upon the human family must be endured by all, and so all must go down into unconsciousness. 1 Cor. 15:22. But when the voice of Christ wakes the sleeping ones in the last great day, there will be two sorts of resurrection: one to life, and the other to condemnation. John 5:28, 29. Every one will come up in his own order, however,—those who are Christ's at His coming (1 Cor. 15:23), and those who are not will wait for a second resurrection (Rev. 20:4, 5).
At the sound of the Archangel's voice, which is the call of God to His own (Joel 3:16), the dead in Christ will arise to meet Him in the air, and so will ever be with Him (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). The voice of God then uttered will be the word that gives back to His people the life He first bestowed, but which had been forfeited through alienation from Him. As it had been breathed into man from God at the beginning, so the breath of His mouth, manifested in His word of command, must again bestow it, through the union of the once estranged sinner with the Lord Jesus Christ. But this can not be fully bestowed until all who will come to Christ are redeemed from the thralldom of sin, and the curse, which brought death, has been forever removed. Should that life be fully restored while probation remains, it might again be forfeited, as in Adam's case, and so the death of Christ be made of no avail.
It is of no force to say that the redeemed, having been freed from sin, could not be entangled with it again; for we know that Adam, made in the very image of God, and intrusted with life by the breath of God, when left to decide for himself between right and wrong,
chose the wrong and failed. It might be so again were men clothed with the same attribute, amid defiling sin. It is the wisdom of God displayed to withhold that boon from all until the destroying power over man is itself destroyed, when life may be restored to him without danger of it being lost again.
But while on probation men have this life by faith in Christ, who is their life, just as the minor child having property through the will of his father, tho having not entered on the full possession of it, can truly say, by faith in the word left by his father, that the estate is his. He will not come into full possession of it until a certain time stated by the will of his father, but in his faith he claims it, and builds the hope of his future on it.
So it is with eternal life. The will of God provides it for every one who becomes His child through Jesus Christ. As soon as one becomes a child he becomes joint heir with Christ in the promise, and by faith has the life, because Christ has it, and he is in Christ. True, he does not come into actual possession of it for himself until Christ, who is his life, shall appear, but then he will be permitted to appear with Christ in glory. Col. 3:3, 4.
J. O. CORLISS.
[The next article in this series will be entitled "The Necessity of a Resurrection."]
WHICH DAY DO YOU KEEP?
By A. Smith
God declares Himself to be "I AM" (Ex. 3:14), not I Was, or I Will Be. Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." He existed before Abraham, and ever after. What He speaks, therefore, or commands, is the truth coexistent with Himself, unless He expressly declares limitations to His Word.
He spoke all the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai. "He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." James 2:11. So, also, He that said, "Thou shalt not steal," said also, "The seventh day is the Sabbath." "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10.
When we read in the Bible that the seventh day is the Sabbath, it is God's Word to us; but if it is no longer the Sabbath, that Word is not true. It is daring presumption for man to attempt to stultify or contradict the Word of God. God is competent to proclaim His own law, and quite intelligent enough to make His meaning understood without the medium of human interpretation.
After the crucifixion and burial of Jesus certain holy women (Christians) "rested the Sabbath day according to the [fourth] commandment." Luke 23:56. They could not have rested according to the commandment if the moral law had been nailed to the cross the day before, and thereby been abolished. Those, therefore, who read the fourth commandment on that Sabbath day read the Word of God,—"The seventh day is the Sabbath;" and it has read that way ever since. But professing Christians and people of no religious profession say that the first day of the week, or Sunday, is the Sabbath. Will God yield His judgment to theirs? In this matter they just as certainly contradict God as did the serpent who tempted our first parents in Eden.
The commandments of God and the commandments of men, in this matter, stand in antagonism. It is not difficult to understand what the issue will be. Reader, where stand you? A. SMITH.
Grandville, Kent Co., Mich.
"THE TWO COVENANTS."
By Editor
Bondage or Freedom.
WE have been asked for an explanation of the two covenants as illustrated in the allegory of Gal. 4:21-31. It is not an easy matter to discuss in one article the matter of the covenants, which the question opens up; but sufficient we think may be given to make the subject clear. The passage reads as follows:—
"Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory; for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
"Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free."
First of all, let us urge the reader not to consider the subject as one involved and difficult to be understood. We may tangle with careless hands, if we will, the most beautiful skein of silk, or with proper care and right desire we may find the clue and rewind its glossy threads. So it is with this allegory.
The solution lies not in some preconceived theory of the covenants, symbolized by the two women, but in a knowledge of the simple facts on which the allegory is based. These we will find fully recorded in the Scriptures.
1. When God called Abram out from his country, his kindred, and his father's house, He declared that He would bless Him, make his name great, and that "in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Gen. 12:1-3.
2. After the manifestation of his unselfishness with Lot, respecting choice of land, the Lord again told him: "Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." Gen. 13:14-16.
3. Abram, seeing that he had no son, and, according to all human calculation, would have none, concluded that he must adopt his steward Eliezer as his heir. To correct this idea, the Lord renewed His promise the second time. "And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This [Eliezer] shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them; and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness." Gen. 15:4-6. And then God confirmed this by a solemn covenant. But Abram's faith was yet to be tested. Sarai was humanly barren; and, as she and Abram questioned over the matter, they concluded in their unbelief that some other way besides the legal way must be devised for God to work. So Sarai concluded she would have to bear a son by proxy, and she gave her handmaid, a bondwoman, to Abram to wife. Abram, in unbelief, adopted the arrangement, and took Hagar to wife, who conceived a son, and in the vainglory of unbelief, despised her mistress. For this she was by Sarai driven out. Sarai laid the blame at the door of her husband. And, truly, if Abram had simply continued to believe, the unholy arrangement would not have been made. Genesis 16.
4. Again the Lord appears to Abram, enjoins upon him a perfect walk before Him, and the fourth time promises to "multiply" him "exceedingly," to make him "a father of many nations," changes his name to Abraham, and yet again declares, "And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." Gen. 17:1-7. Then follows the ordinance of circumcision, the sign of God's covenant.
5. Once more the Lord promises, and this time with reference to Sarai: "And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son of her; yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her." Gen. 17:15, 16. Abraham's faith could not quite grasp this, and he reverts to his human arrangement: "Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!" Verses 17, 18. Once more the Lord in His goodness declares that Abraham might know that the arrangement was not of human ordering, that salvation was not by fleshly schemes. "Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. . . . My covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. And He left all talking with him, and God went up from Abraham." Verses 19-22. Surely the Lord has made it plain that the seed, which meant salvation, must come in His way, and by His power.
6. Once again to confirm his faith and rebuke Sarah's unbelief, the Lord comes to Abraham and Sarah and promises the seed at a certain time. Gen. 18:9-15.
7. At the time declared Sarah bore the promised son, and rejoiced greatly in God. He was duly named Isaac, and was circumcised. At a feast made when Isaac was weaned, Ishmael, the son of Hagar, mocked him. Abraham yet seemed to feel that in some way Ishmael, the fruit of his doing, the son of a bondwoman, should share in the heirship. Sarah's perception was clearer; she saw that such ideas would break up the home, and pervert the blessing of God. She therefore said to Abraham: "Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son." But Sarah was right; for "God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, harken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called." See Gen. 21:1-12.
Surely this is clear that the seed must be through the lawful wife, the free wife, according to God's law, and by the power of God. To demonstrate all this, and to perfect the faith of Abraham, came the great trial of Abraham's faith, recorded in Genesis 22, in which Abraham, in figure, received his son from the dead.
Now for the lessons, or some of the lessons, which the Lord would teach by this history.
1. The son born of the bondwoman was after the flesh. His mother was a bondwoman, unregenerate. So was her son. He was of the flesh. "They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh;" and "the minding of the flesh is death." Rom. 8:5, 6, margin. "They that are in the flesh can not please God." Verse 8. "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die." Verse 13. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit. . . . Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Gal. 5:17-21. To be born of the flesh is, therefore, to be born in the bondage of sin.
2. This arrangement with Hagar, who bore the son after the flesh, is a figure of "the covenant of Sinai, which gendereth to bondage." What was the covenant at Sinai? It was a mutual agreement between God and Israel, in which the Lord made certain clear declarations as to what His will was concerning His people, and the people promised to obey. Here is the account: "Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine; and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord." Ex. 19:5-8. It is an obvious fact that as a chain is no stronger than its weakest link, this covenant is no stronger than its essentially weakest promise.7That promise was the promise of the people. They promised of themselves, after the power and wisdom of the flesh, to be all that God wished them to be. The same element of self-salvation was in it that was in Abraham's arrangement through Hagar. Abraham reasoned that the Lord, of course, would fulfil His promise, but He needed some of his human help after all; and so the unholy arrangement with Hagar was made. It gendered to bondage.
At Sinai, Israel after the flesh simply said, Let the Lord do His part, and we will do ours. They did not know God; they did not know themselves. They wanted the material blessings, but their hearts were not in harmony with God's voice and law. "The carnal [fleshly] mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:7.
That this was the condition of Israel is shown by subsequent events. When, three days afterward, God's voice was heard and His law was given, the people said to Moses, "Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die." Ex. 20:19. Within the next forty days they were bowing to a calf of gold. Yet, if the people had known God, if they had been free from sin, His voice would have been the sweetest music. Instead of praying, "Let not God speak with us, lest we die," they would, like Moses, have been hungering and thirsting for more of God, pleading with a clear faith, "If Thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence;" "We beseech Thee, show us Thy glory." The Lord knew the people needed a new heart. He knew that in their sins they could not bear His glory. His feelings were thus expressed: "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!" Deut. 5:29.
What was the result of the people's promises?—Bondage, a deeper bondage in sin than ever. In themselves they had no power to do God's will. In himself man has no power to work righteousness. He is "impotent," "without strength," "is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Read the third and seventh chapters of Romans, and learn, reader, if you do not know it by sad experience, that man of himself is powerless to cleanse himself or work the righteousness of God. And every effort to save himself, or to help God out by human device, is of the Sinaitic covenant, and genders to bondage. For even Jesus, our Brother in the flesh, said: "I can of Mine own self do nothing." "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." But he who persistently builds upon his own foundation, or places as materials in his building the wood, hay, and stubble of human devising, is building a hopeless prison, under whose ruins he will be crushed.
"The Flesh Profiteth Nothing"—
That is the great lesson God would have us learn, first of all, by simple faith in His Word; but, if necessary, by the sad failure of all our flesh-laid plans.
4. So Jerusalem, of earth, stands a monumental failure of earthly, fleshly hopes. It stands for Abraham's effort to supplement God's promise; it stands for man's side of the covenant at Sinai; it stands for the king which Israel, after the flesh, would have; it stands for the utter rejection of Christ and God for Barabbas and Cæsar; it stands for the utterly baseless hopes of those who are looking for the kingdom of Christ to be set up in Palestine through the return of the Jews; it stands for the utter hopelessness of all salvation by human works. This is the great negative lesson of the allegory.
5. "He [that was born] of the free woman was by promise." Whose promise?—Not man's in any way, but God's. It was wholly of God—in purpose, in plan, in arrangement, in power, in result. He was not a child of the flesh. The flesh had no power to bring him forth until the all-powerful word of the Creator was given. He was begotten of the Word. He was born of the Spirit. He did not bring forth Himself. There were no politics or expediency in it; the human instruments were simply willing subjects to God's working, cooperating by yielding, blessed by receiving, bringing forth the living fruit, not carving dead, cold forms by human effort.
6. "Ye Must Be Born from Above." Our spiritual birthright is heavenly. The kingdom of the sons of God is eternal. Jerusalem above is its capital city. There is our citizenship. The mother of the faithful brings forth no children to bondage. Her husband is Lord over all. His mighty, creative, and redemptive power sweeps the universe. Whom He "makes free is free indeed." These children may now be clothed in the weakness of flesh, but they are free in God. They may be sleeping in the grave; their record is on high; their life is hid with Christ in God. They may be bound with chains, suffering affliction, but they rejoice in the higher freedom from sin. The mother is represented as looking down upon them, travailing for the fulness of the greater birth, when the children shall all come home. That day draws on apace; the rejoicing is about to break forth. If we desire this freedom, now and eternally, we may find it by yielding all to God. He will do the work.
7. The new covenant is established upon "better promises," even the promises of God. It has no weak links. Every one is forged in the workshop of God, from His eternal power, wisdom, and love. Not one can fail. If the soul will but yield to Him, God will cleanse away his sins, will put within him a new heart and create within him a new spirit, will write His perfect laws by the finger of love upon his heart, and put them in his mind, and thus make him to know—to come into harmony with—Himself. That soul can keep God's law; he loves it. The new covenant brings forth to freedom, to love, to happiness.
"Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." So it is with every one who has been born again. He may and will be persecuted, but this need not move him. Men may deny and blaspheme God; it does not change his love. Others may trample underfoot God's law; he can not do it, for it is enshrined in his heart. He loves the entire law. The Spirit which is in the law has made him a new creation in Christ. He is one with the law.
Praise God for all its blessedness. The child of the free woman obeys God, but it is the obedience of a regenerated heart by faith. He works, but it is God that worketh in him to will and to do of His own good pleasure. He is led of the Spirit, and therefore does not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. He sings, with the psalmist, "O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day." He exclaims, with his blessed Lord, "I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within my heart." With the beloved disciple he says, "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." With Paul he declares, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." And to the power and wisdom and love of his blessed Lord he ascribes all the glory.
These are some of the lessons of the allegory of Galatians 4. Which shall we choose, human wisdom and effort, or God's word of power? bondage, or freedom?
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.
1029. J. F. T.1 Peter 3: 19, 20.—Begin with the last clause of verse 18. Taking all together we have these facts: (1) Jesus was raised from the dead by the Spirit of God—"quickened by the Spirit." (2) This is the "Eternal Spirit," by which Christ preached to those who were "shut up" in the prison house of sin. See Isa. 61: 1; Gal. 3: 23. "He is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." (3) The disobedient ones specially named were those who lived in the days of Noah. (4) It was then that Christ preached to them through Noah, a "preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2: 5), cooperating with the Spirit of Christ (Gen. 6: 3; 1 Peter 1: 11); and all this "when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing." Christ's Spirit strove then; Christ's preacher preached then, using the sword of the Spirit. Christ was in all. The saving of those through the flood, the bringing of them from one world to another, is figurative of baptism, the emblem of the resurrection, the passing from a world of sin to a world of righteousness, from a world of death to a world of life.
1030. 1 Cor. 5: 5.—This scripture applies to the church collectively, acting "in the name of our Lord Jesus" and "with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ." The word "fornication" means in the Bible unlawful intercourse between the sexes, adultery, fornication, incest.
Rev. J. R. Miller, we presume may be reached by addressing him at Philadelphia, Pa.
1031. J. M. W.Rom. 7: 1-3.—The scripture here referred to is not given as a law regulating marriage; it presents a generally understood human law as an illustration of spiritual things. The question of divorce is not brought in. If a woman was legally divorced from her husband for just cause, he is not then her husband. As long as he is her husband, she is bound to sin. She can not legally marry another; if she joins herself to another man, she is an adulteress. As long as the man is united with sin, he is bound by sin. He can not unite with Christ. Sin must be destroyed by the man dying to sin, leaving the sin in the grave, and the new man raised to union with Christ. See the whole matter set forth in Rom. 6: 1-11. He who is united to Christ can not be in union with the world.
1032. J. J. W.Matt. 25: 32.—The scripture has reference first to the separation in the judgment—the examination of cases and the passing of sentence; and (2) to the last great day, at the end of the thousand years, when all shall appear before God. See Revelation 20.
1034. F. A. A.John 14: 12.—The scripture reads as follows: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father." Just as long as Jesus was in the world, the faith of His disciples centered in His physical person. Their faith was limited by the sight of partial unbelief. When He went away, He poured out His Spirit upon a church with enlarged faith; upon disciples who realized that God had all power to give even to the humblest man. Jesus would have wrought still greater works had not the unbelief of His people hindered. When that unbelief was put away, when the whole being was yielded to God, we have the result manifested in the work of Peter and Paul. Acts 5: 15; 19: 11, 12. And, yet the greatest miracle of all was the conversion of many souls.
CHICKENS DIE OF CONSUMPTION.
By Editor
THE subject of tuberculosis in all its various forms, is receiving a great deal of attention at the present time in medical journals, as well as in the columns of the press in general. It is found that the disease is not only very greatly on the increase in the human family, but also that it is spreading to almost all forms of animal life. That the chicken is subject to the disease is very evident from the following paragraphs that appeared in a recent issue of the Portland Morning Oregonian:—
"CORVALLIS, Or., February 24.—Of striking interest are the results of an autopsy, held in the bacteriological laboratory at the Oregon Agricultural College, on the remains of a chicken. The fowl died of consumption. The heart, lungs, and intestines were a mass of tubercles that ranged in size from as small as a pinhead to as large as a walnut. Each tubercle, of course, was filled with countless numbers of tuberculosis bacilli. The liver, in particular, showed the ravages of the disease. In color and character it was not unlike the section of peanut taffy, the tubercles being represented by the nut kernels in the candy.
"The fowl came from a farm near Corvallis. Half a dozen chickens on the place had died of apparently the same disease. The strange fatality among her fowls interested the owner, and she took the sick chicken to Professor Pernot, at the college, in the hope of finding a name and a cure for the disease. In four days after it was brought to the college, and before the character of the disease had been determined, the chicken died. Professor Pernot at once proceeded to hold a post-mortem, with the results here noted.
"Strange to say, the lungs were found to be but slightly affected with tuberculosis. There were a few tubercles in these organs, but it was evident that the bacilli had reached the lungs, not through the windpipe, but from the digestive and other internal organs. This was the opinion both of Professor Pernot, bacteriologist of the station, and of Dr. Withycombe, vice-director. The deduction that followed was that the fowl contracted tuberculosis from something that it had swallowed as food. Subsequent investigation showed that some time ago a person residing very near the place from which the fowl was brought, had died of consumption. The college authorities believe that the chickens contracted tuberculosis by swallowing sputum expectorated by the consumptive. The case is remarkable on account of the train of speculation naturally aroused as to what might be the results of such cases. Whether chickens affected with tuberculosis, transfer bacilli to their eggs, is said to be an open question.
"Professor Pernot secured photographs of the diseased organs, which will be mounted for use in farmers' institutes as an object lesson, showing the necessity of cleanliness. Portions of the affected parts have been sent to Washington, where, as well as at the local station, careful study is being made of the conditions."
It is the object of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES to keep before the world the great fact that all that belongs to this old earth is rapidly crumbling into decay. Everything points to its speedy dissolution. Such facts as those set forth in the foregoing paragraphs serve to emphasize this most forcibly.
Incidentally a strong admonition is given to depart from the unnatural habit of eating the flesh of birds and animals. A wrong system of education has9taught men that they can not live without animal flesh. But a greater mistake never was made, and it was never so dangerous to continue to propagate this error as now; for all the animal world is groaning under disease, and to eat the flesh of these animals is to invite the most terrible diseases into our systems, and to bring us to a sure and untimely death.
This is not a subject to be turned aside by a little scoffing. It is both serious and vital, and demands our most careful thought and most intelligent action. The Word of the Lord should be studied most carefully in connection with the subject; for it is only by the power of that Word, no matter how correct we may try to be in other lines, that we can be kept through the perilous times upon which this world has entered.