p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 33.

Earlier text: The Bible Claims of the First Day of the Week

Studies in the Christ-Life at Brother Eldred's

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Fifteenth Evening's Study.

O NCE more our little company has gathered in the pleasant sitting-room at Brother Eldred's, which has begun to seem almost like home to them.

“This evening the study is on the thrilling scenes which cluster around the closing hours of our Lord's life on earth, and of His cruel death at last,” began Brother Eldred.

“Miss Mildred, can you name some of the more important events which occurred just before the betrayal and death of our Lord—something which most impresses you?”

“There are so many; but—well, I love best to read of His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. This seems to be the nearest approach toward according the divine Master the honor and adoration which were due Him by ungrateful humanity for whom He paid such a price,” responded Mildred.

“I love to read the particular directions the Lord gave about finding the humble animal which He rode upon,” interrupted Jack; “for even the little colt is mentioned, and if the Lord had need of that, I feel quite sure He must have some use for boys like me.”

“Well said, my lad,” replied his mother, while Mrs. Field turned to her daughter Blanche and asked her if she would not give the recitation she had prepared on “The Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem.” At once the little circle approved most heartily, while Brother Eldred remarked, as Blanche took her position upon the floor, that he was glad to see the interest which all seemed to feel in the studies.

Far o'er the Mount of Olives' crest, The westerling sun is sinking low, As winding, up the mountainside I see the joyous people go. High over Hinnom's burning vale, The holy city gleams alone, 'Mid shimmering gold and marble pale, Like Orient queen upon her throne, Till royal palace, dome, and spire, Seem glowing with celestial fire. And everywhere the shout is heard; Hosannas reach the very sky; Vast throngs take up the joyous word, And answering echoes make reply: “O blessed is He that cometh,— That cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest! hosanna! Come, echo the glorious word,— Hosanna to the Son of David, That cometh in the name of the Lord!” 'Mid waving palms and victor's shout, 'Mid songs of triumph rising high, Lord hallelujahs glad ring out, And acclamations rend the sky. While at the blessed Master's feet The royal city proudly lies, In tender tones of pity sweet The Son of Mary sadly cries:

“If thou hadst known in this thy day The things that to thy peace belong! But thou hast filled, in haughty ease, The cup of violence and wrong! How oft would I have gathered thee, Jerusalem, My chosen bride; But thou hast turned thy back to Me, In selfish vanity and pride; Ah, didst thou cruelly condemn Thy Master, O Jerusalem!” He weeps; as o'er the city fair He gazes with prophetic eye, And sees upon her lordly walls The Roman banners proudly fly. Her gilded domes grow dim with rust; Her temple prostrate in the dust; Her sons, the screaming vultures' food, And Zion's streets flow red with blood. And well he knows that even they Who join the hallelujah cry, Before another Sabbath day Will madly echo, “Crucify!” 'Tis thus when life's ambrosial cup Seems brimming o'er with nectar sweet, The world comes eagerly to sup, And casts her garlands at our feet. But ah, whene'er life's cup is filled With gall and wormwood to the brim, How oft we hear, with sad hearts chilled, The mocking cry, “Away with him!”

“Indeed, that is very true,” responded Sister Eldred, as she wiped a tear from her eye. “Not only in the experience of the blessed Master, but also in our own lives we realize the sad truth of this last stanza.”

“Tillie, can you tell us where the full account of this scene is given?”

“I think Luke gives the fullest account of it, in the nineteenth chapter; but it is found in Matthew 21, Mark 11, and in John 12.”

“Very good; what was the next event of importance after this, Jack?”

“I believe the Lord's Supper was instituted.”

“Tom, where do you find an account of this?”

“In the twenty-sixth of Matthew, the fourteenth of Mark, the twenty-second of Luke, and the thirteenth of John.”

“Mr. Field, do you remember where we may find an account of the institution of the ordinance of humility?”

“I don't quite understand what is meant by this term,” replied Mr. Field. “I think Tom will answer your question for me, perhaps.”

“John is the only one of the evangelists, I believe, sir, who gives an account of the instituting of the ceremony of feet-washing, which is commonly called the ordinance of humility. This he gives in the thirteenth chapter.”

Mr. Field smiled incredulously, as he turned to the place indicated.

(To Be Continued.)

Prayer.

By Kathrina Blossom Wilcox

Its Victories.

WE have called the attention of our readers to some of the most striking examples of prayer and its remarkable answers recorded in the Old Testament, but we must not fail to mention, among New Testament examples, the Lord's Prayer, the prayer our Saviour taught to His disciples, and which has been passed down thru all the ages, and is known throughout the world. This prayer expresses, in brief, all the essential requisites of a daily morning prayer—praise to God, petition for daily needs, prayer for forgiveness, for guidance, for deliverance from temptation, unto Him whose "is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever."

The prayer of Christ for His disciples, and for us, His followers, recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, is the most beautiful in the Sacred Record. Not for Himself did He pray, tho He knew that the cross was just before—but O, how His great heart of love yearned for His disciples! even tho He knew they would forsake Him and flee, and that one of them would deny Him. He loved them, as He does us, with an everlasting love, and with loving-kindness He drew them to Himself. How He pleads that they may be kept from the evil in the world, and that their hearts may be filled with love for God and for one another, even as He had loved them and the Father loved Him!

Nor can we pass over the night in Gethsemane with its agony of supplication, so full of sweet submission. While the heart of Jesus was wrung with anguish, and the weight of the sins of the whole world was resting upon Him, hear that prayer as the bloody drops stand out on His forehead, revealing something of the intensity of the struggle within—hear the words from a heart so full, a frame so weak, with all the hosts of darkness hovering near, almost triumphant in their seeming victory; and all heaven silently, longingly, watching the struggle.

"O My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass." It seems that He can not bear it—alone, forsaken, despised, rejected of men! Yet hear Him still—"Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done."

How heaven rejoices at that prayer, so full of sweet submission, so utterly empty of self. How the angels honor their noble Captain, how they long to strengthen and encourage Him! Three times this yearning petition ascends to the Throne above, and then a heavenly messenger is sent to strengthen Him. He has prevailed with God; He faces the foe, meets the test of the ages, and later rises triumphant, the victorious, glorified Redeemer.

Do I hear some one say that these answers came hundreds of years ago? Is not God the same yesterday, to-day, and forever? What He has done for others, He will most certainly do for us; for He is no respecter of persons.

We quote from Dr. Daniel March:

"There is no joy, or duty, or conflict, or sorrow of life for which we can not be better prepared by prayer. If the child would be kept from the

paths of the destroyer while his heart is tender and his mind is not skilled to discern between good and evil, let him pray. If the young man [or the young woman] would pass in safety thru the dark scenes of trial and temptation, let him pray. If the weary, anxious, hard-working man of business would not be wholly given up to a life of care and endless disappointment, let him pray. If the aged pilgrim would find the last days of life the best, and enter the valley of the shadow of death in peace, let him pray. If any one does not know by personal experience how much of heaven's promised rest can be secured for the soul even now by prayer, he had better leave every other lesson of life unlearned until he has mastered that. The mightiest man on earth is the man who has the most power with God."

KATHRINA BLOSSOM WILCOX.

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IMMORTALITY QUESTION

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Rich Man and Lazarus ............... (B. S. L., 146) 1.00

Is Man Immortal? .................. (A. G. L., 86) 1.00

SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

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The Eastern Question ............... (B. S. L., 144) 1.00

We Would See Jesus ................. (B. S. L., 173) 1.00

The Gospel Message ................ (B. S. L., 188) 1.00

Waymarks to the Holy City ........... (B. S. L., 189) 1.00

Signs of the End .................. (B. S. L., 194) 1.00

Coming of the Lord ................. (A. G. L., 40) .50

Heralds of His Coming ............... (A. G. L., 85) 1.50

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Jewish ........................... (B. S. L., 69) .50

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New Testament Sabbath ............... (B. S. L., 137) 1.00

Who Changed the Sabbath ............ (B. S. L., 187) 1.00

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Sunday in a Nutshell ............... (A. G. L., 88) 1.00

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Food: Its Mental and Moral Value.. (A. G. L., 68) .50

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Demons' Council .................... (A. G. L., 80) .50

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Our India Mountain Mission Home.

As WILL be seen by our report on another page, we have received $428.32 toward the one thousand dollars still needed to complete our Mountain Mission Home in India, and have it dedicated free from debt.

Our oldest minister, Elder J. N. Loughborough, came into our office a day or so since and left $20 with us to help this mission. He stated that this was a part of some of the effects left by his wife. Some time before her death they had signed a paper together in the which each one was instructed, in case of the death of the other, that the surviving one was to place all of the belongings of the deceased in the treasury for the advancement of the work of proclaiming to the world the message of the soon coming of Christ. Brother Loughborough said that he thought his late wife would have her desires carried out in giving a part of the funds for the establishing of this worthy mission.

As has been stated from time to time in these columns, this mission is for the purpose of affording our missionaries a retreat in the cool mountain climate, away from the debilitating and health-destroying heat of the lowlands of India. A number of our most devoted and efficient missionaries have been placed in their graves in India because they did not have any way of escape from the climatic effects of the lowlands until their health was broken beyond recovery. The mountain retreat is just what they need in that country. The devoted men and women who leave home and friends to spend their lives in carrying the Gospel into those dark lands should have all that is necessary in the way of facilities for keeping their health.

There is no more worthy enterprise, and we will be glad to receive donations till the small amount still needed is made up. Send your donations to the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, Cal.

CONTAINED IN THIS ISSUE

WITH OUR INQUIRERS

Page

Questions, Nos. 2180 to 2184 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

It Is Said; but That Is Not Proof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

SABBATH SYMPOSIUM

The Law of Jehovah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Attempt to Change the Sabbath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

The Perpetuity of the Sabbath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

GENERAL

The Christian Endeavor Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

EDITORIAL

Two Significant Movements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The Sabbath a Perpetual Monument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

The Bible Claims of the First Day of the Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

LITERARY NOTICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

OUTLOOK

A Great and Purposeful Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

MISSIONS

Religions of Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

THE HOME

Studies in the Christ-Life at Brother Eldred's . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

POETRY

The Day Breaketh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

The Next Week's Paper.

THE resurrection of the dead is an event toward which all good people for ages past have looked forward with anticipations of joy. The fact that this great day is right before us should thrill every heart with intense delight.

In connection with the resurrection day there is the judgment day, also. Hence the importance of knowing what the Bible teaches concerning the judgment. Because of the importance of this subject, the paper next week will treat the "Judgment Message" quite fully. This is one of the most thrilling, interesting, and helpful themes of the Bible, and may be studied with great profit by every one. The nature of the subject, and the great issue involved will lead every one of our readers, we are sure, to not only study for themselves the articles that will appear, but also to give the widest possible circulation to this great truth among their friends and neighbors.

Training the Forces for the Conflict.

The problem of problems in the world has ever been that of how to govern the lawless element of society. This lawless element does not always consist of straightforward outlaws; but frequently the most lawless persons are found in the high places of life, and using the influence of their positions to further their selfish ends. This latter class of persons will, when not held in check, sooner or later bring about a state of things that ends in revolution. It has been the history of all the past and it will always work in that way.

Since the war of the rebellion in this country, there has been an especially marked tendency on the part of certain men to get hold of all the property of the nation, and they have been quite successful in the progress they have made. And in doing this they have not scrupled to bribe and debauch courts and legislatures throughout the length and breadth of the nation. The consequence has been that we have a great army of trained "grafters" that have so taken hold of the vitals of the country that it seems impossible to shake them off.

The city government of San Francisco is a striking example of what has been accomplished in the last half century in this form of corrupting education so that men might win to themselves vast fortunes. Strong men are working heroically with the right on their side in trying to clear the city of the "boodlers" and "grafters," but it seems well-nigh impossible. They are met at every turn with quibbles and technicalities to retard their work. Our fathers and grandfathers would have stormed such unprincipled quibbles with a sweeping disgust that would have annihilated them instantly.

San Francisco is no worse than most of the other large cities. The plague is being exposed there now so that we see it, but there is plenty of evidence that it may be seen in other cities just as much, if it is looked for by men of the same ability as those who are uncovering the frauds in the metropolis of the Pacific.

The wealthy men of the country may not realize it, but whether they do or not, they are training for a conflict of violence that will pale the bravest hearts. Just so surely as the harvest is of the same character as the seed sown, just that surely will the fruitage of violence follow the sowing that has been, and that is still being, done.

God's word points out the outcome and the meaning of all this. Are you studying to know about it?

India’s Continuing Plague

The Plague in India.—Notwithstanding all that the English Government has done and is doing, the awful plague is again raging in India. A cable despatch from London, under date of July 13, declares that from January to May 31 there have been more deaths from plague than any year since the appearance of the plague in 1896. In 1904 there were 1,022,299 deaths. This year the first six months toll off 991,003. Last year there were 332,181. The total deaths from plague in India from 1896 to May 31, 1907, was 5,402,245. Bad as the plague is, the sin and superstition is worse still. What a great, needy mission field India is!

A Shower of Frogs.—It does not take much force to kill frogs. Boys do it very easily. Yet a heavy rainstorm sometimes drops them from the clouds alive, as it did near Nolin, Ky., July 12. They were said to have fallen as thick as grasshoppers in a newly mowed hay-field over a territory two miles square. They were very lively, too. How did they get into the clouds? What held them there? Why were they not killed when they fell?

The Haywood Decision.

The trial of Haywood for the murder of Governor Steunberg ended last week in his acquittal by the jury that tried his case. This case has attracted world-wide attention, and as is usual in such cases, some are saying that they think the decision was right, and others are saying that they think it was wrong. Judge Wood, who presided in the case, gave such instruction to the jury that it was stated in the papers in advance of the verdict that it was plain what his conviction was. Whatever the exact truth in the case is, it is not in the province of this paper to express a conviction, even if we had one. The jury did not feel justified in rendering a verdict of guilty because the main testimony for conviction was given by Orchard, who confessed to such an unspeakable list of crimes that they thought it would be easy for him to add another to the list by trying to get Haywood condemned to death.

But since so much has been said on both sides of the case, it shows a state of feeling in society that is decidedly ominous. The strong utterances both for and against Haywood show the revolutionary spirit that is in the very air. And when that revolution breaks out, it will not be like any of the revolutions in the past from which we could hope for better things after the storm was over; the social upheaval that is before the world now will be such a display of disorganized violence that nothing short of the power of the Son of Man in His coming can stop it. This is the clear forecast of the prophecy, and we see the events that are so rapidly shaping themselves in that direction.

A Paper in Italian

The address of Pastor John F. Jones is changed to Delaware City, Del.

A Paper in Italian.—The workers in New York, especially the Greater New York Conference, have found it necessary to start a paper in Italian. The first copy is before us. It is called L'Ultimo Messagio ("The Last Message"), has 16 pages, is published monthly, and is 50 cents a year. It is full of the message, especially on the Bible and the Lord's coming. Our Italian brethren and those in the vicinity of Italians, ought to use this paper in missionary work. Address all communications to L. Zecchetto, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, Stati Uni.

Our Cover Design

Our Cover Design.—Have you studied our new cover design by Mr. Pedro Lemos? It is worth while. It is a sermon in itself in its symbolism. At the foot of the page is a suggestion of the basis of all true government—of universal government—the two tables of the Decalogue, God's eternal moral law. By it lies the scroll, the revelation of God, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. These reveal to man that he is a sinner, and that the wages of sin is death, that the way of life is Christ Jesus. Running out from the law, and upon either side of the climax of the cross, is the passion flower, the symbol of Christ's suffering for us, which met its climax at the cross. In His death we find forgiveness of sin; in His resurrection, symbolized by the lily above the cross, we find life. Beyond lie the crown of glory and crown of thorns, which should have been transposed, the the thorns often follow the glory. Beyond, above all, is the suggestion of the holy city, the eternal kingdom of God, which we must all reach by the way of submission, the cross, and the resurrection life.