p. 727 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 46. (12/2/1913)

Earlier text: CAUSES OF WORLD-WIDE UNREST

The People of the Valleys

By H. H. Hall

Their Extensive Educational System—It Was Strongly Organized—It Reached Even to the Training of the Youngest Children—A Source of Perplexity to the Papacy, and the Foundation of the Reformation

By H. H. HALL

BIBLE-LOVING missionary people is always an intelligent people. Therefore we should expect education to be a part of their life and practise. While our records of the Waldensian educational system are somewhat incomplete, they are not disappointing.

STANDARD OF THEIR PASTORS

The following are some of their rules for those aspiring to the ministry:

“All such . . . as are to be received for pastors amongst us, notwithstanding they remain yet with their parents, are to entreat us to receive them to the ministry, and that we will be pleased to pray unto God for them that they may be made capable of so great a charge. Which the said suppliants do to no other end, but to show their humility.

“They are to learn certain lessons, and to learn by heart all the chapters of St. Matthew and St. John, and all the epistles which they call canonical, a good part of the writings of Solomon, David, and the prophets.

“Afterwards having good testimonies of their learning and conversation, they are received with the imposition of hands into the office or function of preaching.”—Perrin’s “Waldenses,” part 1, book 1, page 53.

A SCHOOL IN ITALY

IN 1229

The earliest schools of which the writer has seen a record were in Lombardy in 1229.

“In the year 1229 the Waldenses were spread abroad in great numbers throughout Italy. [In] Valcamonica only they had schools, and from all parts of their abode they sent money into Lombardy for the maintenance of the said schools.”—Perrin’s “Waldenses,” part 2, book 2, page 137.

SCHOOLS IN GERMANY

IN 1230

When they left their valleys and took up their abode in other countries, their school system went with them; for in Germany, where there were Waldenses in 1230, the record says:

“In these times the Waldenses had in the diocese of Treves many schools, wherein they caused their children to be instructed in their belief, and notwithstanding all the inquisitions and persecutions executed upon their flocks, yet they adventured to preach, calling their assemblies by the sound of a bell.”—Perrin’s “Waldenses,” part 2, book 2, page 129.

“MORE SCHOOLS THAN THE THEOLOGIANS”

The monk Reinerus, who wrote between the years 1230 and 1250, complains bitterly of their missionary activity and their schools as follows:

“In all the states of Lombardy and Provence [the Waldenses lay between the two], and in the other kingdoms and lands, the heretics have more schools than the theologians, and more auditors; they hold public disputations, and convoke the people to solemn discussions; they preach in the market-places, and in the fields, and in private houses, and there is nobody who dares to prevent them, on account of the power and numbers of those who favor them.

“In my examination of heretics, and according to a computation made by them, I find there are forty-one schools in the diocese of Padua, and ten in a place called Clemmate.

“These also are the places where the heretics have churches and schools.” And he then proceeds to make a calculation of forty-two.

“They have translated the Old and New Testaments into vulgar tongues, and so teach and learn them. I myself have seen and heard a clownish layman who could repeat the whole of the book of Job by heart, word for word, and many who were perfectly acquainted with the whole of the New Testament.

“They reject whatsoever is taught, if it is not demonstrable by a text in the New Testament.”—Gilly’s “Waldensian Researches,” pages 115, 116. Quoted from Reinerus, Bsh. Patr. 13, page 299.

“NUMEROUS SCHOOLS” IN 1650

That their educational system was a permanent one and had an extensive influence is indicated by an edict of February 20, 1650, which called upon the Waldenses to “shut up the numerous schools maintained by them, elsewhere than in their own territory.” (“Israel of the Alps,” volume 1, page 330.)

For four hundred twenty-one years, therefore,—from 1229 to 1650,—their educational system had continued. And this edict would indicate that it was stronger than ever, for there were now said to be “numerous schools” outside the valleys themselves. Two hundred years later they were still maintained, for their liberation order of February 17, 1848, includes this significant clause: “No change, however, is made as to the exercise of their worship and their own schools.”

WALDENSES NOT “RUDE AND BLOCKISH”

A writer quoted by Perrin bears testimony to the high spiritual attainments and faithfulness of their pastors and teachers, and then adds:

“Neither are they so rude and blockish, but that they have divers amongst them that can read, and deliver their minds in good terms, especially they that travel sometimes into the lower countries for their commodities. They have schools wherein their children are taught and nurtured, neither do they want anything they think necessary to advance the glory of God amongst them.”—Perrin’s “Waldenses,” part 2, book 2, page 17.

THE LITTLE CHILDREN WERE INSTRUCTED

This same writer does not overlook the children, of whom he speaks as follows:

“Taking His word for the rule of their faith, and His law for the rule of their obedience. And in this design it was, that they have been blessed of God, above all Christian people throughout Europe, insomuch that their infants were hardly weaned from their mothers’ breast, but their parents took a singular delight to instruct them in the Christian faith and doctrine, until they were able to confound many persons dwelling elsewhere well stricken in years, and overwhelmed with ignorance.”—Perrin’s “Waldenses,” part 2, book 2, page 16.

THEOLOGIANS PUT TO FLIGHT BY CHILDREN

About the middle of the sixteenth century, the bishop of Cavaillon, southern France, sent a divine among the Waldenses in his district, thinking he might convince them of their error. But the priest came back perplexed, saying he had never profited so much in the Scriptures in his whole life as he had in those few days’ conference with the Waldenses, in examining the articles of their confessions by passages of Scripture cited by them.

“This bishop, not being satisfied by this trial, sent a company of young doctors, that came lately from Sorbonne, to confound them by the subtlety

of their questions. But one there was among the rest that said, at his return, with a loud voice, that he had learned more touching the doctrine necessary to salvation, in attending to the answers of the little children of the Waldenses, in their catechizing, than in all the disputations of divinity which he had ever heard in Paris.”—Perrin’s “Waldenses,” part 1, book 1, page 30.

THEIR EDUCATIONAL HEADQUARTERS

Like every well-ordered institution or system, the education of the Waldenses had its headquarters. It was the college of Pra del Torre, or “Meadow of the Tower,” away up in the heart of the Alps. It was located on the Angrogna torrent, in a circular valley entirely shut in on every side by towering mountain peaks. A narrow rent in an apparently solid granite wall, permitted the torrent to rush through; while half way between the river below and the summit above, a ledge so narrow that in some places but two people could walk abreast, connected the secluded school with the plains on the outside. “It was here, in this sanctuary of the brave and the pious, that the ancient college of Angrogna stood, from which the intrepid preachers used to sally upon their sacred missions and to seminate those lessons upon which afterwards were founded the doctrines of the Reformation.” (Gilly’s “Excursions,” page 133.)

Of this college and its valley another author says:

“From its secluded position, rendering it almost inaccessible to a hostile force, the Angrogna has been, in all ages, the ‘holy valley’ of the Waldenses. . . . Within this region was the spot, the ‘Shiloh’ of the valleys, where in former ages the Waldensian Synod often met, and where, above all, was their ‘school of the prophets.’ In the Pra del Torre, very high up towards the loud waters of the Angrogna, secure from interruption, their young men, from the earliest ages of which we have any account of them, were accustomed to assemble from the different valleys, to pursue, under the direction of competent pastors, such studies as would fit them to preach the gospel. It was perhaps a rude institution, as compared with the well-appointed theological seminaries of this day. But it sent forth many noble bands of missionaries, to preach the pure gospel of Christ, long before the period of the Reformation, and when the rest of the Christian world was enveloped in thick darkness. Whilst, in the monasteries and the theological schools of the rest of Christendom, the Bible was a forbidden or an unknown book, the simple-minded young dalesmen of the Pra del Torre prepared themselves for the work of the ministry mainly by committing thoroughly to memory the entire Gospels and the epistles.”—“The Waldenses.” Presbyterian Board edition, pages 21, 22.

Dr. Muston, who spent fifteen years in gathering up material for his “Israel of the Alps,” a two-volume work of over one thousand pages, makes the following significant statement:

“Here the ancient Vandois had the school of their barbes, or pastors, the secret source of those vivifying missions which they sent to both extremes of Italy.”

Yes, the Waldenses had a system of education based upon “the doctrine necessary to salvation,” as the surprised monk announced after his talk with their children. And that system included, in the cases of at least selected persons, the higher courses which enabled them to mingle on a plane of equality with and successfully persuade the great of earth. Their educational system went hand in hand with their missionary activities, and the results were truly marvelous. Is not such a system worthy of our consideration to-day?

His Words Can Not Fail

By H. G. Thurston

His Promise to This Generation—The Power of Righteousness to Shorten the Work

By H. G. Thurston

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” Matt. 24:35.

These words are most remarkable. So important are they that three of the inspired writers record them. This fact is truly significant. A grave condition must here be foretold which would arise to turn men away from believing God’s word; and it would seem that faith itself would be almost baffled. When? Jesus says it is in the days just preceding His return in glory to reap the harvest of the earth. Matt. 24:30-35.

The condition set forth must be such that to all human appearance the teaching of Jesus’ return within the appointed generation would not and could not be accepted; and to all worldly reasoning, the event of all events, even our Lord’s return, could not possibly take place at the time foretold. Evidences given which were to convince men that the great day of God is near seem to be contradicted by circumstances; and to human minds, these circumstances appear weightier than Bible statements and promises.

The supposed evidence of these contradicting voices would take fast hold of the minds of men. Jesus foresaw this, also the fatal danger in not believing and thus not being “ready.” With divine assurance that His words shall be fulfilled, He most solemnly utters the language of the text, and directs that it be recorded three times. What more could He have said! What more, as the Great Shepherd of His people, could He say to establish faith in His words, and comfort the hearts of His children!

COMMANDED TO WATCH

Connected with His solemn words comes the command to “watch.” Matt. 24:42. To “not watch” is to “not know.” Rev. 3:3. He is coming back to this earth again (John 14:1-3), in person (Rev. 1:7), to bring rewards to men as their work shall be (Rev. 22:12).

The return of our Lord is the central picture in each of these texts. It is the event to which many signs foretold in the Bible now clearly point with unerring and living finger. The wonderful prophetic panorama of evidence is now seen spread out upon many pages of the written Word; and who can say that the rapidly moving reel of occurrences in our day is not fast filling in the final details of that panorama! Who can say the great reality is not just before us!

A FEW OF THE SIGNS

With an increase of knowledge hitherto unheard of, causing almost constant revision of authorities and figures among the learned (Dan. 12:4), comes the news of wars and still greater preparations for war among the mightiest and most civilized nations of earth. Joel 3:9. Crime, like a black, blighting scourge, appears in many places, and so dense and awful in the great cities, that it is unexplainable except by the fact that God has said it would be thus when His Spirit’s pleadings are ignored, and men and women choose their own ways. 2 Tim. 3:13. Graft and oppression boldly walk hand in hand, and seem to paralyze the arm that would oppose them; and many men who cry “Graft” are among the most selfish. Violence and injustice and the sins of Sodom are calling down the retribution of Heaven upon the continued despisers of God’s mercy.

Notwithstanding all these things, many great men are now trying so to tune God’s alarm trumpet (Joel 2:1) that it will only sound the notes of peace. Micah 4:1-3. Talent and wealth are devoted to the cry, “All is well,” even upon the very brink of destruction. 1 Thess. 5:1-3. Who has ever beheld a time when men and women found it so easy to transgress as now? Surely there never was but one before, and that in the days of Noah. “Even thus,” the Saviour declares, it will be at the time of His return. The world, with its pride and lust, has well-nigh captured the entire human family, and to-day destruction and death are only waiting to complete the ruin.

THE WHOLE WORLD TO BE WARNED

Awful and benumbing are the conditions all around us. But before He can come for His “little flock” who have loved Him, and for those who “look for Him,” the whole world must hear the note of warning. From our view-point, it does look as though we will never live to behold Him coming. With a work so vast in its extent and so complete in its operation, which must be carried to hundreds of millions now sitting in the heathen’s midnight of gloom, and with the church of Christ so far from its primitive zeal and power, our faith is taxed to its utmost as we accept His promise as literal. But He has already spoken the word about “this generation,” and He whispers assurance that His word will be fulfilled. There must soon come a manifestation of divine power to do a mighty and complete work in an incredibly short time, even in the very face of every opposing power. God must again show His great power triumphant, as at the Red Sea.

RIGHTEOUSNESS SHORTENS THE WORK

The definite message of Christ’s second coming in this generation has been believed and proclaimed for more than seventy years. Faithful men have grown gray preaching this doctrine. Will their faith in the sureness of God’s word be unnoted? Are the thousands living and dead, who have given their lives, their all, in proclaiming “this gospel of the kingdom,” mistaken?

But we earnestly inquire, How can the warning message which is to herald His coming, be sounded everywhere before “this generation” passes away? We find in our great Guide-book this sweet promise: “He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” Rom. 9:28. Let us anchor our hope to His unfailing promise, “Heaven and earth shall pass away; but My words shall not pass away.”

With joy we will labor on, in the full assurance of faith, crying out with the apostle, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

Natural Gas Production in 1912

DURING the year 1912, according to the United States Geological Survey, West Virginia produced over $33,000,000 worth of natural gas, and Pennsylvania over $18,000,000 worth.

The Great Judgment-Day

By Clarence Santee

The Standard That Will Measure the Lives of Men

By Clarence Santee

PERHAPS there are few thinking persons who believe in a God—and all do in some way (John 1:9)—but believe that that God will sometime bring them into judgment. They believe there will be a Judgment-day. Acts 17:31. If they will stop to consider, they will also agree that there must be some basis, or standard, by which this Judgment will be conducted. This is reasonable, as there could be no Judge or Judgment unless there were a standard to govern both.

Some one may say, “Christ is my standard, and His life will stand in the place of my life.” It will if it has been accepted. That life is compared to a “robe of righteousness.” “He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.” Isa. 61:10. If I have accepted of that robe, then it has covered me. It will thereafter be seen, not my own robe.

That robe is composed of “righteousness.” What is righteousness? The psalmist says, “All Thy commandments are righteousness.” Ps. 119: 172.

From these texts, it will be seen that the robe of righteousness and the life of Christ are the same. Christ said, “I have kept My Father’s commandments.” John 15:10. That was “the life” that was the light of men. John 1:4. If you have accepted the life of Christ, you have accepted a commandment-keeping life. He had no other to give. And He will work in you the same life that He lived here for you.

If His life will atone for our sins in the Judgment, it must be because He obeyed the law that will be the rule of the Judgment. When our names are called in the Judgment, Christ will respond. When our disobedience is pointed out, He will present His obedience. When the life of the transgressor is demanded, He will present His blood. “The blood is the life.” Deut. 12: 23; Lev. 17: 11.

Christ takes our soiled garments of character, and covers us with His spotless robe.

This exchange must be made before our names are called in the Judgment, or it will be too late. Without the “wedding garment,” when the King comes in to see the guests, we will be “speechless.” Matt. 22: 11-13.

John Bunyan tells how “Christian,” on his way to the celestial city, as he entered the narrow way, received a suit of clothes, left for such travelers by the king of the country whither he was going. As he journeyed, two loud, arrogant men came from another way, and began conversation with him. He was not pleased with their boisterous ways, and drew to one side. Upon seeing this, they began to make light of him. They accused him of wearing some other man’s clothing. Meekly he answered that the clothes were not his own, and that they did not fit him as well as might be desired, but that he consoled himself with the thought that when he reached the country to which he journeyed, the king could not deny his own clothes. So he who has accepted the garment left by the King, and has put it on in place of his own, will have no cause to fear. As he faces the King in the Judgment, he can know that the King can not deny His own clothes.

Some one will say: “The law was abolished at the cross. Now we are under the law of Christ.” How much would this change, if true, involve?

In the “American and English Encyclopedia of Law,” page 755, I read:

“When a statute prescribing the punishment for a crime is repealed after such crime has been committed but before final judgment of conviction, though after a verdict of guilty, no punishment can be imposed, because the act must be punishable when judgment is demanded, and authority to render judgment must still reside in the court.”

Again, “American Decisions and Law,” page 596:

“It is well settled that a party can not be convicted after the law under which he may be prosecuted, has been repealed, although the offense may have been committed before the repeal.”

“The repeal of a law imposing a penalty, is of itself a remission of the penalty.”—Page 398.

These legal decisions are strong and just. We will apply them. “The repeal of a law imposing a penalty, is of itself a remission of the penalty.”

This agrees with the scripture, “Where no law is, there is no transgression.” Rom. 4: 15. “Sin is not imputed when there is no law.” Rom. 5: 13.

If the law was repealed, abolished, at the cross, all who lived before, even though the worst of sinners, must be saved; because “the repeal of a law imposing a penalty, is of itself a remission of the penalty.”

Further: Christ died for the transgressions of His Father’s law. If that law was repealed, the repeal itself freed every sinner who had lived before it was repealed, and Christ need not have died. And if we are now living, as some claim, under the “law of Christ,” we have no offering to atone for our transgressions of that law. Therefore as “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9: 22), those living this side of the cross must be lost without mercy or remedy.

No, God does not change. The same law that governed the angelic hosts (Ps. 103: 20), will be the rule in the Judgment. Eccl. 12: 13, 14. Of that law, spoken by God Himself, He says, “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips.” Ps. 89: 34. “All His commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever.” Ps. 111: 7, 8.

God says that He will write His law in the hearts of those who come into the “new covenant” relation with Him. Heb. 10: 16.

That law is a law of love,—love to God and love to men. No wonder that the wise man, when used by the Spirit of God, exclaimed, “In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.” Prov. 12: 28. We have seen that “all Thy commandments are righteousness”; therefore in the way of His commandments is the path that leads to the city of God, where there shall be no death. And the passport into that city is given in Rev. 22: 14: “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

The Sabbath and Its Blessing

By G. W. Wells

GREAT blessings are involved in the observance of the Sabbath, and God desires it to be to us a day of joy.

The Sabbath was instituted at the close of creation week. In the very beginning of human history, yea, when our first parents were less than one day old, God gave them—and in them the entire race—the Sabbath, that by its weekly recurrence they might always remember Him as the Creator. Heaven and earth were filled with rejoicing. “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Job 38:7.

The Sabbath of the Bible is a divine institution, having for its foundation the blessing and the command of God. He “blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it,” and He has never taken this blessing from the seventh day. “For Thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed forever.” 1 Chron. 17: 27. God has never sanctified another day as a weekly Sabbath.

He who would obtain the fulness of joy, God’s Holy Spirit as witness within, and a consciousness of sweet rest and peace in following the blessed Master, would do well to remember that it was He who rested the seventh day, it was the seventh day that He blessed and sanctified.

When the law was given by the voice of God, the observance of the Sabbath was enforced by the fourth commandment. The reason for its observance, as well as the date of its sanctification, is clearly stated. The Lord made heaven and earth in six days, and rested the seventh. “Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” The seventh-day Sabbath, then, is a standing and enduring memorial of God’s act of creation, and God designed that by its observance a knowledge of Him as the Creator and personal Saviour should be preserved. “Hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Eze. 20: 20.

The Sabbath of the Lord “was made,” the Saviour said, “for man.” It had a real existence before sin, before the sacrificial services, yea, before the law which regulated the sacrifices and offerings was appended. Therefore, when that sacrificial law was nailed to the cross, the seventh-day Sabbath still remained in full force. Not so with the sabbaths of the Jews. That law of ceremonies gave them their only force; and when that ceased, they were abolished.

You will mark the distinction made in the Scriptures between God’s Sabbaths and the holy days, or “the new moon,” or “the sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come.” God assures us, by the prophet, that these latter shall “cease.” Hosea 2: 11. As to His Sabbath, you may judge of its perpetuity after reading Isa. 66: 22, 23, where we are informed of its existence in the new earth. Please read Lev. 23: 24, 27, 32, 39, 40, 38; Ex. 20: 10; Isa. 56: 4, and note the language,—“My Sabbaths” and “her sabbaths.” “Her sabbaths” are associated with “her feast-days, her new moons,” and are “her solemn feasts.” Hosea 2: 11. “My Sabbath,” we have seen, is embodied in the Decalogue, that law of which the Saviour said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one title of the law to fail.” Luke 16: 17. By His coming, Christ did not destroy that law, or lessen one obligation to obey it. He clearly teaches this in Matt. 5: 17-19. We

may safely affirm that the apostles did not disturb what their Lord came to “magnify” and make “honorable.”

The fact that those who had been under His teaching during His ministry “rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment” after His crucifixion, and resumed labor on the first day of the week, shows clearly that they knew nothing of a change. The fact that an apostle writing a number of years after the crucifixion, states that “the Sabbath was past” when the “first day of the week” came (Mark 16: 1, 2), is conclusive that no instruction had been given him with reference to a change of the Sabbath day.

The fact that God has never sanctified the first day of the week shows plainly that it is not sacred time. The fact that He has never required us to rest on that day shows that its observance in place of the Sabbath is clearly making “void the commandment of God” to keep “the tradition of men.”

That sanctified time exists in the gospel dispensation, or, in other words, that there is a day which belongs to God, is clear from Rev. 1: 10. That the Lord’s day is the Sabbath is plainly taught in Isa. 58: 13.

The most precious blessings are promised to those who keep God’s Sabbath. Isa. 56: 1-7. And it is worthy of note that this promise pertains to a period when God’s “salvation is near to come,” and His “righteousness to be revealed.” “Also the sons of the stranger” (the Gentiles) are included in the promise, “every one that keepeth the Sabbath,” and those who “love the name of the Lord, to be His servants.” Of them it is said: “I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.” “Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer.”

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.”

These promises are for God’s people today. They are for us. “The Sabbath was made for man.” Are you keeping it? Will you keep it, and delight in the Lord?

G. W. WELLS.

Overcome Evil with Good

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.—Paul.

The Love of God

By T. L. Waugh

“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4 : 16.

WHO can fathom the infinite love of God to us? He so loved the world that He gave His dear Son to die for those who had rebelled against His laws, and who were therefore justly condemned to eternal death. Jesus came and suffered an agonizing death on the cross that we might live and thus escape the judgments that otherwise would surely have been meted out to us. This is the love that God has to us. And I wonder how any heart can be so hard as to turn away from bleeding mercy, and spurn the only hope there is for poor sinners.

What a theme! The love of God! If it had not been for such love, I never should have been led to seek Him. It is the life of the Christian religion. I can truly say that I love Him, and I desire that others may be led to see the loveliness there is in Jesus. There is an irresistible power in love to melt the hardest heart, to bring back the wanderer from God, to unite the children of God in one bond of union. No matter how depraved, or how vile and polluted by sin, there is cleansing in the blood of Jesus.

If I should tell my present experience, it would be that I love God with all my heart; and the more I love Him, the more I love my brethren and sisters—and they are all of God's dear children—and the more I love everybody else. I believe it is our privilege to live in the experience of perfect love. And the only way I have ever received this, was by just submitting to the Saviour, and letting Him fill me with His blessed Spirit. It is not by struggling, nor by constant pleading, but rather by yielding to obey. He is more willing to bless than we sometimes realize. Let us be true to Jesus, and seek to please Him in all things.

T. L. WAUGH.

Precious Promises

By John Norton Loughborough

THERE “are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:4. One of these promises of life is found in 1 John 2:25: “This is the promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life.” Of our Father's dealings with men our Saviour thus spoke: “Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” John 17:2, 3.

How great the Lord's promise of divine aid to poor fallible mortals who seek to follow the path of righteousness! The Lord, knowing our weakness, sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, even adopting contrite ones as His children. To accomplish this, He sent His own Son, “in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3, 4.

There are not only “great and precious promises” the Lord has made, but there are a great many of these promises. There was a statement that went the rounds of the public journals a few years ago, that there were thirty-six thousand promises in the Bible. As I read it, I said to my companion: “I do not see how that can be, for I do not think there are so many verses in the Bible. Some of the verses are threatenings of God's wrath on the finally impenitent. Some of them are historical records. And many, as in the Chronicles, are simply names of persons.” A count discovered the fact that there are in the Bible over thirty-one thousand verses.

As I was about to read the Bible through again by course, I said, “I will count the promises, and then I shall know for myself how many are recorded.” I began the pleasant task, and prepared to classify the promises, as those relating to the present life, and those relating to the future. In preparation for this, I lined two columns, heading one “Present” and the other “Future.” Supposing I would need double space for the future promises, I so provided. I had not proceeded far in my work, however, before I had to change this plan, for I found more than three promises of the Old Testament related to the present for every one that referred to the future. Of this disappointment I said: “All right! Here is the field of battle. Here is where we need divine aid. He who has sworn by Himself concerning the future, who has given ‘two immutable things,’ His word and His oath, for the future, will see that what He has promised shall be performed.”

As the result of marking the promises, I found as follows: in the Old Testament, relating to the present life there are 798 promises; relating to the future life, 178; or a total of 976. In the New Testament the promises are more evenly divided. Relating to the present life there are 165 promises; to the future life, 153; or a total in the New Testament of 318. The total of direct promises in the Bible is 1,234. In many of these promises there are several things mentioned. I made a second count to ascertain how many items were mentioned in these promises, and I found in the Old Testament 3,044, and in the New Testament 529 items, or a total of the items promised in the entire Bible, 3,573. Besides these, there are many texts where a promise is implied which is not directly stated. But with all these, the count would fall far below the thirty-six thousand of the newspaper report.

What a treat to study God's “exceeding great and precious promises”!

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

The New Earth

By E. W. Catlin

BEHOLD, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” Isa. 65: 17. “We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3: 13. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” Rev. 21: 1.

Though dark the night of sorrow, and many the hours of grief, yet the sad hearts will beat with delight in response to the graphic description, in God’s word, of the earth made new and clothed in its Edenic beauty expressly for the home of the saints. Then to know that they will build houses and inhabit them, and recognize one another there! For together (1 Peter 3:7), in families, Jesus has provided a way to take them to their eternal home. 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17.

Glorious and grand with radiant splendor, the holy city Zion descends from God out of heaven, henceforth eternally to sit as queen of the new earth. Those gold-paved streets and jewel-decked walls, with perfect squares of living green around the mansions prepared by loving hands, are of far greater worth than to gain the whole world now. Revelation 21.

E. W. Catlin.

Ugandan Women Walk Miles to Learn of Christ

“THE women of Uganda have such a longing to be taught, that they will walk fifteen miles over the mountains for a lesson about Christ, although they know they may be beaten by the chiefs on their return.”

Continue reading: The Mystery of God Dwelling in Flesh