HE concurring witness of God's word and works lends material for large development; and we propose, before this series is entirely ended, to present other evidences upon this great phase of the subject, perhaps by other writers. We will content ourselves, however, at this time, with mentioning one other great and mighty evidence which God has given us concerning the inspiration of His word; and in this, as in the last, we appeal to the heavens, which "declare the glory of God." In that constellation which the imagination of the ancients pictured as a wagon driver called Boötes, also called "the Bear Keeper" because near the Great Bear, shines one star of resplendent beauty known as Arcturus, made famous by its mention in classic lore, and especially in the 38th chapter of Job.
In our last study we quoted from Job's own words, but in this we have the words of the Almighty Himself to Job His servant. Job had been pleading that God would give him some evidence and some reason as to why He thus dealt with him; and finally we have God represented as speaking to Job, placing before him some of His works in the heavens and in nature, showing by these things which Job viewed daily, things which came under his continual observation, how little he knew; and carrying the necessary inference that if this was true in the material world, would it not be also in the spiritual world? And if Job could trust the great God who did all these things so far beyond knowledge, why could he not also trust Him regarding the things that pertained to his own life? At any rate, the revelation of God to Job was convincing, and it brought Job in humility before the great Creator. Among the questions which Jehovah asks of His servant are these:
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences ["the cluster"] of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?" Job 38:31, 32.
Passing by the wonderful openings of truth and evidences of inspiration concerning the cluster of the Pleiades, bound together by the mighty power of God through all the ages, and the marvelous constellation of Orion, in the depths of the nebula of which is one of the most wonderful revelations in the skies, we note the question in the last part of verse 32:6
"Canst Thou Guide Arcturus with His Sons?"
As before remarked, Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation of Boötes. Men have for many years endeavored to obtain its parallax so as to get its distance, and many conflicting measures of this parallax have been made. Dr. Garret P. Serviss has told us that the very latest made at Yale seem more probably correct than their predecessors. They fix the parallax of Arcturus at sixty-six thousandths of a second of arc. If this be correct, the distance of the star can be quite easily computed. Based on that parallax, the estimated distance of Arcturus is 290,000,000,000,000 miles. It would take three million times the distance between the earth and the sun to measure it. That is to say, if our measuring rod was 92,800,000 miles long, we would have to lay it down three million times to span that distance.7
After the distance is once known, men can compute the amount of light shed by Arcturus, and what its actual brightness is as compared with that of our own sun, on the supposition that they were at the same distance from us. Arcturus at that distance away, with the light which it now gives, if it were brought as close to us as our own sun, would shine 2,500 times brighter than ours. In other words, it is equal to 2,500 of our suns. If conditions were such that it poured forth the same amount of heat as does our sun, we are told that all life would disappear from the surface of the earth as if swept by a blast of inconceivable heat. Summer temperature would arise to tens of thousands of degrees. Oceans would boil away and evaporate. Vegetation would be burned in the twinkling of an eye. The eyes of living creatures would be charred in their sockets. Plains and mountains and rocks would burst into flame, and minerals would run in molten streams. Under present conditions in this world, there would be no comfort in living nearer to Arcturus than about four billion miles.
On an Abnormal Basis
Of course all this reasoning is from the basis of conditions in our own world. Astronomers and scientists reason from how things are, and not as things were and will be in God's normal universe. The curse of sin has reached to the utmost bounds of the creation of God. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together." In God's normal universe, the beneficent light from the various planets and suns would not harm His intelligent creatures, who were sinless and immortal.
But it is not the wonderful size or light-giving or heat-giving power of Arcturus that we wish to discuss in this article, but the two thoughts that are expressed in "Canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?" First, "his sons." It has been found that Arcturus was so tremendously large, of such mighty attractive power, that there were other suns which were swung into its train, held and controlled by their mighty chief the same as our own sun holds and controls the planets of the solar system. Men did not know it in Job's day. They have only learned it in later years with the precise instruments which inventive science has provided. But God knew it then, and God by His Spirit foretold the fact in the question which He asks of His servant Job. It is God's word witnessing to a great fact in His works.
Secondly, there is more in the question than that, "Canst thou guide?" It was at one time believed that the whole universe was moving in harmonious and uniform revolutions. Men argued this from the few things that they knew. But now astronomers have found that parts of the universe are moving in altogether different cycles, some seemingly in straight lines, or at least with a circle so vast that all observation thus far would seem to make the portions of the ellipse or circle which they are traveling seem like straight lines. Arcturus is one of these. He is rushing on through the universe seemingly in a straight line, holding in his thrall other lesser suns, a wild runaway, so to speak, in the universe of God. And yet it shines on calmly to us, as it has been shining on during all the thousands of years since it was first observed. No damage comes to the universe, so far as mortals know, because of the course which it is pursuing. And the great thought, the mighty challenge, that is in the question from Jehovah to Job, is that the Master is guiding and controlling; that He who created the heavens and the earth by His mighty power, and fixed the very laws of their being, is Himself controlling Arcturus and his sons; and while to humanity they may seem to be doing that which is contrary to the laws that govern other great bodies in the sidereal heavens, yet they are just as truly moved on and on in the path appointed to them by the great Creator as is our own sun, or Sirius, or any other within our observation.
How did the writer of the book of Job (probably Moses) know these things?—He did not. All the knowledge of astronomy of that day held by Assyrians or Egyptians, could not, with the limited appliances which they then had, ascertain the facts implied in the question that is asked. God knew, however; and His Spirit, that "garnished the heavens," inspired the question. Through all the long centuries it has been asking the same question. Men have ignored it. They have called it a poem or a drama. They have told us that its inspiration was not worthy of our regard. It has been analyzed and ridiculed by higher critics. Its allusion to this fact or that has been questioned. The very men who have learned what they have concerning Arcturus and his mighty cavalcade, have not themselves known, perhaps, that the question was in the book; but the prophecy of God's question meets the facts which astronomy has developed and made clear. There can be no collusion between such witnesses. There was no time when they could get together in secret conference and say, We will testify to such and such things.
The star, with its constellation, was brought into existence we know not how long ago. The book itself was written more than three millenniums ago. The great facts implied in the question have been brought out in very recent years, but they testify conclusively and absolutely to the great truth of God's word. In it we may have confidence. In what it reveals con- cerning God's creative power we may take hope. We can turn from such passages as these to those found in that wonderful poem, the 40th chapter of Isaiah, and drink in of the comfort which God has there given to His children.
That chapter opens with a blessed thought: "Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she hath received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins." Evolution knows no pardon, knows no transforming power except that by the gradual process of ages, which is sometimes devolution, retrogression. God speaks to His children, and tells them that there is comfort for them in forgiving power, in regenerating power.
The chapter tells us of the good tidings which are to be borne to Zion, that the same8
Lord God, the Mighty One, is coming again, and coming to reward His children; and then, that they may find rest of heart in these assurances, He tells them of the greatness of His power to bring about the purposes of His love. He has meted out heaven with a span, He has "comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure," and "weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance." He has "directed the Spirit of Jehovah" that "garnished the heavens" and that inspired His holy men. He sits "above the circle of the earth." All its inhabitants, in His sight, or compared with Him, "are as grasshoppers," and all the nations of the earth are "as a drop in the bucket," and "vanity." The heavens themselves are stretched out "as a curtain," seemingly spread out "as a tent" under which men dwell, and yet all that host of heaven has been called forth by Him. He asks His people to look above and "see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; He calleth them all by name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in power, not one is lacking."
Remembering these, they should also remember that God does not forget them. He who is mighty in the maxima of nature is mighty also in the minima. He who has regard for the great things, has also for the little things, and He does not forget His children, those who swing midway between the tiny animalcula and the mighty suns. And then comes the comfort of the thought: "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint."
It is for the comfort with which God comforts His children that these assurances are given us. We may know that His word is true; we have the great, twofold witness of word and work. We may rest upon it. In our saddest, gloomiest, most despairing hours, we can turn from the darkness to the light of God, and in Him find illumination and rest.
[The next topic of this series will be "God's Word Twice Written in Prophecy and Fulfilment."]
Photographed at the Yerkes Observatory
The Doom of the Impenitent
1. What is the wages of sin?
"The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.
2. For what purpose did God send His Son into the world?
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:16, 17.
3. Will the wicked see life?
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36.
"He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." 1 John 5:12, 13.
4. To what time are the wicked reserved for their punishment?
"The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:7.
5. Since, according to the foregoing text, the wicked are to be destroyed when this earth receives its baptism of fire, how complete will be that destruction?
"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for 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.
"But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." Ps. 37:20.
6. How clearly does a New Testament text also express the fact that the wicked will be completely burned up in a lake of fire?
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:12-15.
God’s Promises and Precepts
GOD'S promises are as sure as His throne; so are His precepts. His honor is at stake in both. If we depend on the former, ought we not consistently to regard, to submit to, the latter? To claim to believe God's promises and not His precepts is not faith; it is the rankest presumption. He who thinks that he trusts one, and does not yield to the other, will find his hope but a rope of sand. Faith in God regards both promise and precept.
Good Things and Best Things
"Do NOT let the good things of life rob you of the best things."
"Eventide"
By Madalin M. Wallen
By Madalin M. Wallen
Day is dying; softly fall
Twilight shadows over all;
In the west, the evening gray
Slowly pales and fades away.
Night is near.
Darkness spreads her wings above,
Zephyrs whisper of God's love,
Bringing to the weary breast
Comfort, hope, and peaceful rest.
Night is here.
Duluth, Minnesota.
For the Master
Because the Master is not here with His own hand to-day
To feed the hungry multitudes that throng life's busy way,
He gives the task to you and me; He bids us hear their cry;
He says that if we turn from them, we also pass Him by.
Our eyes are blind. We only see an outcast at our door;
Yet said He not Himself that they who feed and clothe His poor
Give unto Him? Then day by day, for such a royal Guest
Shall we not bring with willing hands our choicest and our best?
— Anon.
A Thought for the Quiet Hour
"Jesus of Nazareth . . . went about doing good."
Acts 10:38.
Follow with reverent steps the great example
Of Him whose holy work was "doing good;"]
So shall the wide earth seem our Father's temple,
Each loving life a psalm of gratitude.
— J. G. Whittier.
Terrified by a Ghost
By T.
SOME of the very dignified Eastern papers are surrendering a good deal of space to accounts of a ghost that has been making its appearance in one of the seaport cities. There seems to be quite an excitement over the matter in the immediate locality where the apparition is said to be observed. The supposition is that it is the spirit of a dead girl who is not satisfied with some things that are going on, and hence the ghost. A desire for "just vengeance" is said to be the only motive assigned for the visit of this uncanny spiritual being.
Now if people would take time to study their Bibles upon the subject, they would know perfectly well that the spirit of a dead individual can never return to this earth. God has specifically said that "the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything; neither have they any more reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Eccl. 9: 5, 6, 10.
And again that Word declares: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146: 3, 4.
The Scriptures speak of the dead as being asleep, but they speak of this sleep in such a way that we know that it means absolute unconsciousness, because all sleep is a state in which the individual knows nothing whatever of what is going on about him. These Scriptures also show that when they speak of man in death as being asleep, they wish to convey to us the idea that he is actually dead. One of these texts may be taken from the writings of Paul, and is as follows:
"I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." I Thess. 4: 13-18.
Note that the apostle desires to have us comfort one another with the thought that our reward is at the second coming of Christ. He points forward to His coming and to the resurrection, when we are to receive life and immortality. There is no promise in the Scriptures that we receive our reward before that time; neither is there any statement in the word of God anywhere that there is an immortal, undying part within the individual, that survives the death of the body. The foregoing scripture is perfectly plain in communicating to the mind of the reader that death is an unconscious sleep, and nothing short of the infinite power that is manifested in the voice of the Son of God at His second coming can awake these sleepers from that death.
To make it clear that we are fully warranted in saying that the Scriptures speak of those who are really dead as being asleep, we may read the following account of the raising of Lazarus:
"Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) Therefore his sisters sent unto Him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, He said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
"Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was. Then after that saith He to His disciples, Let us go into Judea again. His disciples say unto Him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee; and goest Thou thither again? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. These things said He: and after that He saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said His disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that He had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him." John 11: 1-15.
Following these verses is the account of Jesus' return to Bethany and of His raising Lazarus from the dead. It will be seen, from the mere reading of the verses, that at first He told His disciples that Lazarus was sleeping; and they, knowing that Lazarus was sick, believed that sleep would be good for him, and questioned the concern of the Master over Lazarus' taking rest in sleep. Then He plainly said to them, "Lazarus is dead." This is one among the conclusive scriptures which show that death is spoken of as a sleep; and the evident reason why it is spoken of in this manner is that it is a part of God's plan to raise every individual from the dead. The Word says:
"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5: 28, 29.
And since it is a part of God's plan, that the dead shall live again in the resurrection, He speaks of them between death and the resurrection as being asleep. Then those who are not prepared for immortality at His coming are spoken of as being consigned to the second death; and the second death is not spoken of as a sleep, because that ends their existence eternally.
These things are clear in the Scriptures; but why is it that men and women who claim to believe the Bible, will nevertheless be led astray by the superstition that some mysterious thing within the individual survives the death of the body, and that it may come back to us in the form of ghosts and terrify us? There is absolutely no possibility of the dead returning. When an individual is dead, he is perfectly harmless. Even his ghost can not return. But there are fallen angels that, in the form of unseen beings, may be about us at any time; and they may impersonate the dead. But God has said that if you resist the devil, he will flee from you; and so the Christian has nothing to fear either from devils or from ghosts. T.
Coming Up from the Apes
THE Sunday magazine sections of our daily papers in some parts of the country very frequently have a page setting forth some of the nonsense that has been brought forth in the world by those who teach and pretend to believe that man has developed through the apes from a very much lower order of life. In addition to these Sunday magazine articles, of course, the papers and magazines of the world are full of these theories. These people talk very learnedly and apparently very knowingly of what was the condition of things ten thousand and twenty thousand years ago, and they even go farther to tell us about how things must have been a million years ago, and so on.
These writers should be credited with having very vivid imaginations, but the imaginative feature is all there is to it. There is no fact whatever connected with it. God's word declares that the infinite Creator formed man, and he was a perfect being when he was formed. That Book shows that since man sinned he has been degenerating, and all of the evidence is to the effect that man has been degenerating through the ages. There are no men on the earth to-day that can correspond in strength and physical prowess to the giants of the times before Christ. There is no evidence that man has been evolving upward. The evidence is all the other way. It will be found that those who adhere to the strict teaching of the9Word will be in the right, because the great Creator is back of this Word, and there is nothing scientific in departing from the teaching of the Divine Book.
The Christian Minister
If it be the duty or privilege of the Christian to enter the political field, is it not the duty of the Christian preacher to instruct his flock in respect to that duty? In other words, is not the field of teaching on the part of the Christian minister as broad as the field of practise on the part of the Christian in general? Paul, speaking as a Christian minister, said: “I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house.” “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” Acts 20: 20, 27.
He labored “to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” And yet he nowhere tells us that it is by “the gateway of politics” that the nation becomes Christian or the disciple does his duty. On the contrary, he clearly sets forth that “our citizenship is in heaven,” that here we are “pilgrims and strangers,” that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,” that the foes we are to fight are principalities and powers, and spirits of evil.
Husbands and Wives
Chapter 5, Verses 22-33, A.R.V.
Questioning the Text
1. What are wives enjoined to do?
"Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." Verse 22.
2. What is the husband said to be?
"For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, being Himself the Saviour of the body." Verse 23.
3. What example of subjection is given?
"But as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their husbands in everything." Verse 24.
4. What is the husband's duty toward the wife?
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it." Verse 25.
5. Why did Christ give Himself for the church?
"That He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Verses 26, 27.
6. What conclusion is therefore drawn?
"Even so ought husbands also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his own wife loveth himself." Verse 28.
7. What evidential proof is given of this?
"For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the church." Verse 29.
8. What are Christians declared to be in their relationship to Christ?
"Because we are members of His body." Verse 30. 9. What scripture is quoted to show the relationship between husband and wife, and Christ and church?
"For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh." Verse 31.
10. What is this called? and what application is made?
"This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church." Verse 32.
11. What practical application is made of all this?
"Nevertheless do ye also severally love each one his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she fear her husband." Verse 33.
Note and Comment
She should look to her husband, as the stronger one and the proper one to lead, for help and comfort and counsel. We know no other normal plan, no other regulation, no other setting forth of the true relationship between husband and wife, than that given in the word of God. We believe if the man is a normal man, and the woman is a normal woman, such relationship as that will be natural. The love of the wife on the part of the husband will be whole-hearted, spontaneous, helpful, kind, tender, uplifting, respectful. The love of the wife toward the husband will lead her to do everything in her power to be to him a help. One of the great examples that God has given us of this (see 1 Peter 3:6) is Abraham and Sarah. We are told there that "Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord;" but in reading the history of Abraham and Sarah, we find no quarrels, no demands for lordship or ladyship, simply a happy, normal married life, so far as they themselves were concerned. We find Abraham seeking her counsel and following it; and at one time when he did not wish to follow it, the Lord was on Sarah's side, and told him that she spoke truly, and he ought to follow it. All these matters will be settled by the husband's being a noble, strong, manly man, who will do what is right, and regard his wife as a help meet from the Lord, his own equal, and one who stands in her sphere as he does in his, preeminent. The Spirit of God in the heart of each one will fully settle the matter, and settle it in the right way.
Religion and Morality
An article in the San Jose Morning Times of April 14, by the Rev. H. M. M'Quilkin, truly says that "religion is the mother of morality." He further says that "James Russell Lowell reminds us that the Ten Commandments have not been repealed. . . . The judge, the crusader, the poet, all join in declaring that God's holy will is the ground of all human morality." Speaking of San Jose, he says:
"Vice festers in our midst. Immorality stalks abroad at noonday and is not afraid. The watchdogs of justice doze or have their teeth drawn so that their faint bark does not sound alarm to the pilferers of righteousness and decency."
And the picture which he draws of San Jose is a fairly good picture of nearly every other city of the same size, and larger, in the United States; yet how he can say, in the face of this, that "morality has become epidemic in the nation," we do not know. The things that he refers to in support of this,—"reform congresses, vice commissions, vigilance committees, reform associations, leagues, and societies,—all these crowd upon one another,"—instead of proving that there is a "tidal wave" of reform, prove just the opposite. They are spasmodic or half organized efforts to meet a tremendous tidal wave of iniquity. A generation or two ago such things as these were not needed to stay immorality. There was a real moral sentiment at the base of society everywhere, and the fact that all these organizations are forming, and are multiplied, is evidence that the thing to be met has grown to be so colossal that almost anything and everything that promises results is swung into line to meet it. The Rev. Mr. M'Quilkin too faintly suggests what he ought strongly to declare the only thing that there is which can meet it, and that is not any crusade of organizations, but a revival of religion which will change the moral sentiments of the individual heart.
Vice-President Marshall, in a speech before the Federation of Churches, December 6, 1912, truly said: "If there is a weakness in the church organization of to-day, that weakness springs from the fact that too many of the followers of the Nazarene are more interested in some particular phase of evil in civil life than they are in proclaiming the original sin of mankind and its only sure remedy—an undoubting, unqualified, and everlasting hold upon the gospel of the Galilean." The only power that will meet the vice of to-day is regeneration in Jesus Christ. Men may suppress vice by law, and doubtless that is duty in most cases, but the vice is still there. They may elect reform city councils and legislatures; but the whole great, vicious system will go on unless man is regenerated from above.
Atlantic Airship Prize
$250,000 in all is offered in prizes for the first air-ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Men who are experimenting with air craft are quite vigorously working to capture not only this prize, but the honors that go with it.
