p. 156 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 10. (3/17/1914)

Earlier text: Both the Sign and the Time Foretold

ALL OF CREATION GROANS AND TRAVAILS

By L. A. R.

Nature Is Ever Hampered and Hindered—She Is Subject to Vanity, and Yet Ever Triumphant—The Complete Emancipation Is Coming

"We know," says inspiration, "that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." What a graphic representation of the work of nature! Wherever there is to come forth fruit, before the perfected harvest, before the reaping can crown the effort, there must have been much of labor, and even of groaning. This of itself shows that there are interferences, obstructions, difficulties, obstacles, that which would prevent life from bringing forth its perfect fruit; but life triumphs. Of course there is much of waste in energy and in results; but despite the labor and the groaning, nature triumphs — triumphs often enough and continuously enough to keep the earth supplied with bread, and death does not completely devour life.

THE CONTINUOUS BATTLE

The cause of this labor is sin, whose wages is death; and this groaning and travailing shows that the seeds of death are within. They are opposing life and its destined production of perfected fruit. The tree is so feeble in its life current that it can not produce everywhere twigs and branches, and there result many thorns. But in spite of the thorns, the leaves put forth and the fruit ripens, though it may be against many obstacles. There are thorns upon the roses; but notwithstanding the thorns, the roses bloom, and we rejoice in them, and are refreshed by their odor and gladdened by their beauty. Codling-moths attack the apples, curculios seek to destroy the plums; in the vegetable garden there are cabbage-worms above the earth, and grubworms in the ground beneath. Nevertheless, as we toil and labor, the earth brings forth, and produces even bountiful harvests.

Everywhere there are the evidences of death shown in decay and waste. It is a picture of the consequences of sin. It is permitted by the Creator as a reflection of man's rebellion against his Maker. If we supposed that it was because God could not do otherwise, it would be to dishonor His character, to limit His power, and to cloud His glory. In the crowning day that is coming, God will exert His power, will show that these things are foreign to His will, by banishing them entirely from His universe; but He will not banish them until He banishes the cause and the root of it all — sin in the heart of him He put here as ruler over the earth.

MILLIONS OF CHANCES WITH FEW FRUITIONS

But everywhere there are tokens of waste and decay to show us the death that lingers in consequence of transgression. To meet the enormous waste, to overcome in the struggle of life, so-called, the cod, and the mullet, and the horsehair eel must produce eggs running up into the millions. If every egg of the cod hatched, the ocean would be one solid bank of fish; but it is impossible for them all to hatch. Thousands perish. Only a few survive.

If bacteria were allowed to increase without hindrance, they would fill the oceans in a month. Think of the rate of increase of codfishes if they were allowed unhindered to propagate and grow without any waste or destruction whatever. A single codfish has been found to contain eleven million eggs, and a single mullet has been found to contain thirteen million eggs.

Referring to the tremendous fecundity of flies, Linnæus has said, "Three flies will devour a dead horse as quick as a lion would." It is estimated that there are one hundred trillion flies in the world to-day. In three months one pair would produce as many. Should each fly have the most favorable environment, no one could escape the plague of flies. It is estimated that there are ten million birds in England. Yet fifty million birds and birds' eggs die every year.

The horsehair eel is said to lay several million eggs. For the sake of illustration, let us say five million. Why is there this enormous fecundity? — It is because the chances of the eggs' coming to maturity as eels is so small; there are so many that will be wasted, will be destroyed. In order to keep the species in existence, two in five millions, if the sexes are of equal numbers, must succeed in escaping all the dangers that beset the eggs and the young in the brook, and then succeed in finding, near the brook, crickets or grasshoppers into which they may penetrate. These grasshoppers must escape their enemies and survive the depredation of the horsehair eels until the latter reach maturity, when they must escape near enough to a brook to find their way there and meet horsehair eels of the opposite sex.

The chances are two in five millions, under these circumstances, and so the creature has been adapted to lay five million eggs. If it averaged but four millions, the race would in a few years become extinct. If it averaged six, the creatures would multiply in a few years beyond all bounds. But the species remains, and their permanency for so many years demonstrates the accuracy with which the Creator has proportioned fecundity to the slimness of its chances in this falsely called struggle for life.

I have counted a thousand seeds in a single seed pod of the trumpet-creeper. I have found thousands of seeds on a single plant of the sow-thistle. But God has decreed that thorns and thistles should the earth bring forth; and because there are so many enemies, so many destructive agencies in the earth — the slimness of the chances for existence being so great — they are met by a corresponding measure of fecundity, of life potentialities. Yet thousands of these seeds will never germinate and grow. Some will find no suitable soil, some will be eaten by birds and other creatures, and the few, enough to keep up the existence of the plant, will spring forth into the perfection of its life.

GROANS IN DECAY, AWAITING DELIVERANCE

Here is waste, decay, vanity, just what inspiration declares the creation is subjected to (Rom. 8: 20); and thus subjected to vanity, to waste, to unprofitableness, to corruption, it labors and groans in pain, waiting for the time when it "shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God."

There is to be a perfect order in it all. First, Christ the first-fruits, the perfect Man, the glorious Son of God, will appear. Then all those who are His shall appear with Him, following in their order — first Christ, and then His children, and after that the whole creation shall spring forth anew, glorified and made splendid again, as in the days of old — a glorious Lord, a glorious people, and a glorified earth, each in its order.

But until that day, we groan and labor, waiting in hope "for the manifestation of the sons of God." It is a blessed hope, and he "that hath this hope in him purifieth himself," even as Christ is pure. L. A. R.

INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE CONTRASTS

How Does the Future Look to You?

ONE of the greatest skeptics of modern times, a man who spent a great deal of his energies in ridiculing the Bible and the blessed Christ, in some of his sober moments gave utterance to the following words:

"In man there is more wretchedness than in all the other animals put together. He loves life, and yet he knows that he must die. He spends the transient moments of his existence in diffusing the miseries which he suffers; in cutting the throats of his fellow creatures for pay; in cheating and being cheated; in robbing and being robbed; in serving, that he may command; and in repenting of all he does. The bulk of mankind are nothing more than a crowd of wretches, equally criminal and unfortunate; and the globe contains carcasses rather than men. I tremble at the review of this dreadful picture, and — "I WISH THAT I HAD NEVER BEEN BORN."

In contrast with the foregoing, another man, who had tasted of the joys of salvation, and who was looking toward the eternal future with indescribable pleasure, wrote:

"I shall shortly get a very different sight of God from what I have ever had, and shall be made meet to praise Him forever. O, how I wonder at myself that I do not love Him more, and that I do not admire Him more! What a wonder that I enjoy such composure under all my bodily pains, and in the view of death itself! What a mercy that, having the use of my reason, I can declare His goodness to my soul! I long for His salvation. I bless His name. I die rejoicing in Him. O that I were where He is! If there be such a glory in His conduct toward me now, what will it be to see the Lamb in the midst of the throne?"

"BLESSED BE GOD THAT EVER I WAS BORN."

Infidelity, or any other false religion or false doctrine, can never bring satisfaction, contentment, and hope to the soul. There is just one individual in all the universe who has the power to say: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matt. 11: 28, 29.

Have you found this rest? The Lord Jesus Christ loves you so dearly that He actually died in order to bring that love and this rest within your reach. There is no treasure in all this world that can be compared, in its precious value, with the rest and the hope that come to the soul who actually knows the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and his personal Friend.

Question Corner

By Editor

WE can not answer repeatedly in the same volume questions upon the same scripture. The name and address must accompany question. It is well always to enclose stamp for reply.

4277—"UNQUENCHABLE FIRE"

Please explain Isa. 66: 23, 24, especially verse 24.

This text reads as follows: "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."

Verse 23 shows that every month, at the time of the new moon, and every Sabbath, the inhabitants of the new earth shall go up to Jerusalem, the holy city, to worship the Lord. The fact that God's people in their redeemed state will spend every Sabbath in worship to God shows, as one commentary remarks, that the Sabbath "is therefore perpetually obligatory on earth."

In verse 24, the expression, "Their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched," is sometimes taken to mean that they will never be consumed, but this is not the correct interpretation. After a fire has consumed all the substance upon which it was feeding, it goes out of itself—it is not quenched. And thus complete shall be the annihilation of the wicked—"their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched,"—they are utterly destroyed. "They shall be as though they had not been." Obadiah 16. "The day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." "They shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. 4: 1, 3.

Notice that it does not say that the wicked shall be as ashes, nor does it introduce any comparison here whatever, but plainly states a plain fact, that they shall be ashes under the soles of the saints' feet. Not that the saints will literally tread on ashes; but the wicked, having been reduced to ashes, like all other sin-polluted things, are incorporated into the substance of the new earth, which the saints are evermore to inhabit, as it emerges from the renovating fires of the day of the Lord.

In the earth made new, as it comes forth from the hand of God, redeemed from the curse, there is no room for a great receptacle of fiery torment, where an innumerable company of human beings shall burn and blaspheme and sin and suffer forever and ever. There is no room, in this great song of joy, for the discordant and hopeless wailing of the damned. There is no provision made for an eternal rebellion against the government of God, and eternal blasphemy against His holy name. Only those "who by patient continuance in well-doing" have sought "for glory and honor and immortality" will possess eternal and immortal life, and those who have rejected it will be remanded to the original elements from which they sprang.

Note that the text does not say that these men are alive. They are carcasses of the men who have transgressed. The word "carcasses" in this passage is translated from the same original Hebrew word as that rendered "corpses" in Isa. 37: 36, and "dead bodies" in Jer. 31: 40 and Amos 8: 3. In Matt. 3: 12 John tells of One who shall come after him, "whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

An instance of this "unquenchable fire" is found in Jer. 17: 27, where the Lord utters a warning against those who desecrate the Sabbath, saying that He will "kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." We quote from "Here and Hereafter," page 285, as follows, on this text:

"This fire was not to be quenched, therefore it was unquenchable. But it was to be kindled in the gates of Jerusalem, and devour the palaces thereof. It was therefore literal, natural fire. But how could a fire of this kind, thus kindled, be supposed to be a fire that would burn eternally? They certainly would not so understand it. No more should we. Moreover, this threatening of the Lord by Jeremiah was fulfilled. 2 Chron. 36: 19: 'And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.' Verse 21: 'To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah.' Thus Jerusalem was burned according to Jeremiah's prediction that it should be consumed in unquenchable fire. But how long did that fire burn?—Only till it had reduced to ashes the gates and palaces on which it preyed. Unquenchable fire is therefore simply a fire that is not quenched, or does not cease, till it has entirely consumed that which causes or supports it. Then it dies out of itself, because there is nothing more to burn."

In the earth in its renewed state all unlovely and unpleasant things will be eliminated. There will be nothing to mar, for the former things "shall not be remembered, nor come into mind," and this would be impossible if there were a place of torment constantly open to the gaze of the inhabitants of the new world. And it is incompatible with the character of a merciful God to permit any of His creatures to suffer thus in endless torment.

4278—INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC

Please explain Amos 6: 5; and do you think it wrong to have instrumental music in church?

This scripture in Amos is speaking of a wrong use that is made of music. There are other scriptures that speak of the wrong use made of food. Good food, if eaten at wrong times, or if eaten without restriction, is detrimental to health, and under such circumstances it is wrong to eat it. And so it is with music, and with almost every other legitimate diversion. Eccl. 3: 1 states that "to everything there is a season," and verse 4 says there is "a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance." "Dance" is here often translated "sing." In this chapter in Amos, the Lord is reproving the people for their indifference to the prophecies which had predicted their debasement and punishment for their apostasy. Instead of repenting and trying to avert the threatened downfall, they spent their time in reveling and self-indulgence. Instead of singing and playing on instruments, they should be mourning and deprecating the doom which awaited them.

That it is proper to use instruments of music on appropriate occasions is shown by various scriptures which exhort the people of God to "praise the Lord with harp: sing unto Him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings" (Ps. 33: 2); "sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery" (Ps. 81: 1, 2). The psalmist also says that "it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High: to show forth Thy loving-kindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound." Ps. 92: 1-3. "Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King." Ps. 98: 5, 6. The 150th psalm, also, is a psalm of praise to the Lord, exhorting His people to praise Him with the trumpet, the psaltery, the harp, the timbrel, with stringed instruments and organs, with cymbals, etc. Many other texts might be cited, showing that instruments of all sorts were used in connection with the worship of God; but these are sufficient. If the instruments are properly employed, these scriptures certainly show that God approves of their use in the church. Music, however, can be made to work harm in the church, the same as any place else; and at the same time, it is one of the greatest powers for good. All depends upon the hearts of the individuals who are rendering it.

SYSTEMATIC BIBLE STUDY

By Editor

ONE of the great things that we have found in our Bible study this week is that Christ bestows upon us His own glory—"the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one." And then again, we have that supremely wonderful statement in the Master's prayer, that He desires "that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me." John 17: 22, 23. Jesus desires that we shall know that His Father loves each one of us the same as He loves Christ, His only-begotten Son. What an indescribable confidence this is for the Christian! It is worth while to read the entire Bible through in order to find such a great promise. The eighth verse of the first chapter of Acts speaks of the power that is to come upon us after we receive the Holy Ghost. We should form the habit of carefully scrutinizing each verse as we read it, for there are gems of beauty and helpfulness and power in these infinite words of God.

SCHEDULE OF READING FOR WEEK ENDING MARCH 21 Exodus 35 to Leviticus 2 Psalms 74-80 John 17 to Acts 3

Read a chapter each week-day in the portions in Exodus and Leviticus, and on the Sabbath read two. Read one of the psalms each day in the week. Read a chapter each day in the section from John and Acts, and on the Sabbath two.

EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT IN THE HOME

By MRS. MARY ALICE HARE LOPER, M.S.

Innocent children . . . in a brawling atmosphere . . . are surely deserving of pity.

"SLAP, slap, slap! Spank, spank, spank! Whip, whip, whip! Yank, yank, yank! Scold, scold, scold! Threat, threat, threat! Stubborn little 'rebs,' not won yet! "Peace, peace, peace! Calm, calm, calm! Hope, hope, hope! Balm, balm, balm! Love, love, love! Light, light, light! Little rebels won—no more fight!"

HOW sadly inharmonious is the domestic music of many a home, because of discordant wails of grief from dear little heartbroken souls who are keenly conscious of having had inflicted upon them physical suffering by way of punishment which they did not deserve; or having been scolded, and that perhaps concerning some offense of which they were not guilty! Much of the correction given in connection with the home training-school of to-day is given with rising temper, and with little or no previous thought as to what the consequences may be.

Judging from the disastrous methods of correction employed by many whose names are upon church registers, one might be led to infer that the great Text-book of methods contains bits of advice like these: "And thou shalt diligently scold thy children when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou goest to church, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." "Spank upon spank, slap upon slap, here a little, and there a little." "And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Whip!"

I say, if one unacquainted with God's word should accept as a correct interpretation the example of very many of those who profess to follow it, surely the foregoing paraphrases would not be far out of the way. But the fact is, the blessed Bible is entirely silent in regard to such terms as "spank," "slap," and "pull your ears," and many modes of punishment which have crept into the parental discipline of to-day.

Sad as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that multitudes of children are born into the world, of whom it might fittingly be said, "These shall go . . . into everlasting punishment"; that is, into a series of punishments that will be lasting as childhood itself. For many a home is little else than a prison, where helpless children are kept in constant fear of what may be their experience if by any manner of means they shall incur parental displeasure. They seem ever conscious that if they do not keep constantly in a certain sort of treadmill life, punishment more or less severe will be meted out to them, and that without hesitation. I once heard of a mother who made the assertion that it was appropriate to punish a boy at any time; for if he was not already in mischief, he was just going in.

Scolding is the stock in trade of many a home, and its effect upon the tender heart of a child may prove as hardening as that of solar rays upon plastic clay. The wisest man who ever lived has said, "It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house."

It is better to live in one corner of a housetop where true happiness reigns, than to dwell with a quarrelsome person in a spacious mansion. The innocent children who are compelled to live in a brawling atmosphere from one year's end to another are surely deserving of pity.

How sadly often a child is punished when he does not need it; or perhaps receives severe punishment for a trivial offense; or is punished for a certain offense at one time, of which at another time no notice whatever is taken; the matter of punishment seeming to be quite dependent upon the condition of the parent's temper—or possibly his digestion! Often commands are given or requests are made with no particular notice taken as to whether or not they are obeyed.

Perhaps it is just as well that the school-teacher who chases a boy for two blocks does not catch him, for probably she would not know just what was best to do next if she should catch him. How often are heard ejaculations like this: "I have whipped Johnnie, and whipped him, but it does not seem to do one bit of good"! The treatment does not affect Johnnie any more than the command of the man in that time-worn story affected the dog, when he said, "Come here, Towser," and Towser went under the bed; and the master added submissively, "Well, then, go under the bed." Evidently Johnnie's case is one that needs a different prescription.

Treatment that is just the thing for chills and fever, is not effectual in curing cholera morbus. Again, that which will cure a certain ailment in one individual, may not be effectual in curing a like ailment in another individual. And this is as true in the realm of moral ills as it is in the realm of physical ills. In the latter realm, the most heroic treatment is reserved for severe cases. So in the realm of moral ills, the whip should be used only when the offense is of sufficient magnitude, and when the offender's attitude toward that offense is such as to warrant it.

"O, but," says one, "Solomon says to use the rod." Yes, "Solomon says"—poor Solomon! He did not know to what extent his heaven-born wisdom in regard to child-training would be misconstrued and abused by succeeding generations. He did not know how many would seek to hide behind his blessed advice their hasty temper, their unreasonable punishment, their harsh blows, for which his words of wisdom never granted any permission. He says, "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him." The "rod of correction" is the rod that corrects, and is always wielded in love. If the rod fails to correct the fault, then a serious mistake has been made, and the trouble probably will increase.

The idea that a child must be whipped or spanked or slapped or yanked for every trivial mistake he makes, is absurd; and the parent who follows this practise is as unreasonable as the one who keeps upon his medicine shelf a family cure-all bottle, "good for man or beast."

To reach the highest success possible in child-training requires time, patience, and divine grace. But if one will only take the Bible as his guide, he will find the weight of evidence there is always in favor of love as the principle which should actuate every act of life. The rod is never the "rod of correction," such as Solomon recommends, unless it is wielded in love. But how seldom would the rod ever be used, if parents themselves were in harmony with the good Book, and would take time to instruct and govern their children according to the divine method! Many times a few kind words will do what a whip would never accomplish.

"Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." The Bible nowhere, not even in Solomon's writings, permits a parent to deal harshly with a child. It nowhere sanctions punishment of any kind except in tender love. And when, by the miracle of divine grace, all traces of ill temper are removed from parental hearts, somehow the rod does not occupy a place of prominence in the family training-school, and is not considered the cure-all for juvenile moral ills.

Children Afraid of Parents

"It is no use talking about loving God when your children are afraid of you."

Prejudice

By J. W. Lowe

PREJUDICE, although so very tenaciously clung to by a large number of people, is a most unfortunate possession. A prejudiced person often fails to see even the plainest truth when it has been clearly presented; and if he does see it, he will not allow himself to accept it.

Some one has well said that prejudice is like a tightly corked bottle, in that it will not let anything into it, nor permit anything to come out of it. The prejudiced man will not accept truth from any source against which he is prejudiced, and will not give up any of the error he has in possession.

Any person who clings to his prejudices stands in the way of his own advancement, and is thwarting his own best interests. He allows his prejudice to close the avenues through which light and knowledge and truth find their way into the mind and the soul.

Prejudice narrows one down to a few ideas that he has acquired through his early education and training, and causes him to reject everything that is not in harmony with his former teaching and impressions. It will cause the individual to hold to the opinions of his parents or grandparents or earliest instructors, no matter how erroneous or absurd these opinions may be.

A prejudiced person seems to feel perfectly satisfied with what he already has, and actually says in his heart that truth is no better than error. He seems to be of the opinion that whatever he believes to be right is right, regardless of the facts to the contrary. But the time is coming when all prejudiced persons will see wherein they have been at fault, and will find that their prejudice has stood in the way of their personal advancement, and perhaps of their personal salvation.

J. W. LOWE.

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