CIVIL law is an authoritative expression of human rights. Man has a right to defend his own or the property of another, and a full right to arrest the career of the despoiler. He has a right to defend his own or the life of another against any attack and he is in duty bound at least to endeavor to restrain and confine any person who becomes dangerous to the lives of others. Failing to do this, he becomes under some circumstances partaker in the crime committed. He has a right to defend the chastity of his own or another's family against all attacks. He has a right to defend his own or the character of another.
These and other rights associated with them exist before all law, and law is but a civilized agreement in regard to an expression of these rights.
The right to defend and protect includes all law and all police regulations.
The questions of relationship to God are not a matter for human regulation. I have no right, nor has the other man, to tell any man how he shall use any portion of his time or life for which he is alone accountable to God, so long as he observes the rights of others before referred to. I have no personal right to regulate any man's conduct toward any day of rest or worship, nor has any man a personal right to regulate my conduct in reference to a day of rest or a time for worship. He has a right to defense against disturbance, so have I, whether it be rest for worship or rest for recuperation.
Now when we elect men to go to the halls of legislation to formulate laws, we delegate to them the rights which we each possess, and when they make laws protecting life and property and reputation and chastity, they are simply doing for every man what each in himself has a right to do if left to himself. But when this same Legislature undertakes to make laws regulating our conduct toward a day of rest or worship, except for the equal protection of all in their personal right to rest or worship when, where, or how they please, we begin to inquire whence they derive this right. The individuals whom they represent had no rights in this respect to delegate. They dared not tell another how to rest or when to rest for worship. So this Sunday legislation becomes a matter of usurpation pure and simple,—a mere matter of a few priests or self-appointed promoters of some religious belief, bringing to bear influences on legislators to induce them to overstep the bounds of their delegated authority and thus force some of the community into a course of conduct for which there was only a usurped human authority. This was the origin of all religious and Sunday legislation in civil government at a time when the “divine right of kings” was interpreted and controlled by priests and prelates. And these religious laws have been copied into the more civilized codes of modern times without stopping to question the source of their authority. In the very nature of the case they have no right to existence in the statute books of a civilized representative government.
Let this be stated in other words: Of all the twenty millions of men in the United States of America, the personal right to command other people in regard to the observance of a day of rest either for worship or for physical ends is represented for each by zero. Now find the sum of twenty million zeroes and you get simply zero. So when their representatives meet in legislative halls to formulate laws for the people, their delegated power and rights to make laws concerning a day of compulsory rest for any purpose is represented by nothing greater than zero. If men could get the idea that nothing to nothing makes nothing, even to a million nothings, they would understand the utter lack of authority for legislation concerning a rest day, and they would sense the utter nothingness on which all this modern furor for religious legislation rests.
Limitations of Civil Power.
None of all those who clamor for these laws dares claim the right to command his neighbor in this matter as he would in any of the matters of right mentioned in the opening of this article. The grand jury that indicts for Sunday labor, the district attorney and witness who prosecute, the jury that renders the verdict of guilty, the judge that sentences, and the supreme court that sustains the verdict,—any and all these are as devoid of any personal right to command Sunday rest as they would be to compel attendance at the Lord's Supper or to order a man baptized. But either or any one of them would have a perfect right to physically restrain a man from violating life or property or any other human right. How hollow and contemptible is the civilized force that permits this game of Sunday laws to be revived and played in this century of progress, to the disgrace and discomfiture of everything that may be called Christian. The Master said, "If any man hear My words and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." But these short-sighted persons seem of late to be developing an anxiety to please their religious constituents by getting everything prepared, precedents all established, machinery of the law all in running order, so as to place men who have the courage of their convictions to follow the word of God in the role of outlaws and if possible to subject them to fines and imprisonment. The spirit of intolerance is not yet dead, and no amount of logic and appeal or of lessons from the past seems sufficient to antidote its baneful virus.
We have seen men become angry and be greatly disturbed because some one worked on Sunday, but it was not a righteous indignation because there was no right infringed in the matter, and possibly at the same time the wrathful individual might be riding on a Sunday railroad train or Sunday street-car or riding in a Sunday livery rig and regarding his own conduct and surroundings with something akin to admiration. This has been the trouble all thru the ages: somebody has been angry because some one else differed from him and did not respect his religious opinions enough to adopt them but rather showed a disposition to exercise his own God-given privileges.
Cain took this matter in his own hands. His sin and condemnation are on record. The more modern method is to create laws in the civil code which will condemn differences of religious beliefs and then in the sequel to excuse themselves and their church from all responsibility when the law is executed. If all modern Christians were as tolerant of others as they demand others to be toward them, they would not be desirous to set in motion legal methods which will cause a repetition of all the cruel persecutions of the past. It is but a generation or so since the ancestors of the leading religious bodies were undergoing the greatest indignity and persecutions just because the principles of personal religious freedom were not regarded, which gives to every man full freedom before God to worship unmolested at any time or in any manner he may choose and not be compelled to honor the other man's religion further than to scrupulously refrain from in any way molesting the quiet of his worship.
But how soon are the lessons of history forgotten! If some of our zealous Protestant religionists were compelled to bare the head or bend the knee when the Catholic bishop of some South American diocese was passing or take the flings and jeers and perhaps the stones of the mob, it might have a slightly sobering effect on their unwonted religious zeal.
The appeal of the Methodist Clergy of Chicago in 1894 to high Catholic dignitaries and even the pope himself in reference to the then existing intolerance manifested by that church toward Protestants in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, asking for the same religious freedom for Protestants in those countries that Roman Catholics enjoy in this country, was treated with silence by some of those dignitaries and with evasive replies by others. This experience ought to shame Methodists at least into a proper sense of the rights of that minority in this country who desire to obey the fourth command of the law of God as all Christians profess to obey the other precepts of that law.
A sense of decent regard for personal rights or compliance with the Golden Rule must prevail or we shall be compelled to conclude that Christianity has been replaced by Popery. Let men of clear heads and true hearts tremble at future prospects, and prepare to sound the warning against all intolerance and usurpation.
Steps with Christ.
By H. A. St. John
THE sinner, when converted, enters upon a new life. So great is the change that he is said to be born again; to be a new creature in Christ Jesus; to be delivered from the bondage of sin and Satan into liberty; to be taken from the mire and clay, and his feet planted upon a rock; all his ways established; and a new song put in his mouth, even praise to God. Being redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, he then opens his mouth and sings:
"Redeemed! how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed thru His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am."
This new-born Christian pilgrim may well be exceedingly happy in his new-found peace with God. The narrow way upon which he has now entered is lit up by the rays of divine light that come from the Sun of Righteousness, who is now his dearest Friend and loving Saviour, seated upon the throne of His Father, ever ready to hear his prayers, and bestow grace and help according to his daily need. Hence he may well continue his song:
"Redeemed and so happy in Jesus!
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell."
This delightful service—this warmth and ardor of first love—ought to continue, and even increase, and abound, more and more. But such is rarely the case. The deceptive power of the wicked one, whose service the Christian pilgrim has renounced, together with the attractions and fascinations of the world, too often have the effect of causing a degree of backsliding, and the once happy soul finds himself, like the prodigal, in a strange land, starving for the heavenly manna. 'Tis then he comes to himself, resolves and sings:
"O Jesus, full of grace,
To thee I make my moan:
Let me again behold Thy face,
Call home thy banished one.
And freely my backsliding heal,
And bid me sin no more."
Having again planted his feet in the narrow pathway from which he had well nigh slipped, a fresh evidence of God's long-suffering and tender mercy fills all the avenues of his soul, and he goes on his way rejoicing, the stronger to resist temptation, because of his recent trial and victory. Now when the world with its attractions invites him to turn aside and enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, he looks up and sings:
"Blessed Jesus, heavenly Lamb,
Thine and only Thine I am:
Take me, body, spirit, soul;
Only Thou possess the whole.
Fairer than the sons of men;
Do not let me turn again,
Nor the Fountain-head of bliss,
Leave for creature happiness."
But as this happy pilgrim continues his journey, he finds that at times it is a battle as well as a march. The great enemy of souls will occasionally engage him in the severest kind of combat. But he has put on the whole armor of God, has taken the sword of the Spirit, and hence he is invincible, and mighty thru God. He is a good soldier of Jesus Christ, able to endure hardness, and in every conflict comes off more than conqueror thru the Captain of his salvation, and sings:
"He leadeth me! O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate'er I do, where'er I be,
Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me."
So step by step He leads us on.
H. A. ST. JOHN.
Our Bible Reading
By Augusta W. Heald
Mountains.
1. Mountains are a symbol of stability.
"They that trust in Jehovah are as Mount Zion, which can not be moved, but abideth forever." Ps. 125: 1.
2. Mountains are a type of God's care for His people.
"As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so Jehovah is round about His people from this time forth and forevermore." Ps. 125: 2.
3. God delivered His holy law from Sinai's sacred mountain.
"And Mount Sinai, the whole of it smoked, because Jehovah descended upon it in fire." "And God spake all these words," the Ten Commandments. Ex. 19: 18; 20: 1.
"Thy righteousness is like the great mountains." Ps. 36:6. "Which by His strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power." Ps. 65:6.
4. Christ resorted to the lonely mountain-side for secret prayer.
"And it came to pass in these days, that He went out into the mountain to pray; and He continued all night in prayer to God." Luke 6: 12.
5. Christ gave His life a sacrifice on Calvary's mountain.
"And when they came unto the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left." Luke 23: 33.
6. From the Mount of Olives, Christ ascended to the Father.
"And when He had said these things, as they were looking, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight." "Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet." Acts 1: 9, 12.
7. Mountains have afforded a refuge for God's people in ages past.
"Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed." "Then let them that are in Judea flee unto the mountains." Gen. 19: 17; Matt. 24: 16.
8. Mountains will again be a refuge in the perils of the last days.
"He shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; his bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure." Isa. 33: 16.
9. The mountains will be removed in the last great day.
"The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at His presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein." "And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." Nahum 1: 5; Rev. 16: 20.
10. Yet God will have mercy upon His people.
"For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but My loving-kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall My covenant of peace be removed, saith Jehovah that hath mercy on thee." Isa. 54: 10.
11. Christ will again appear upon Mount Olivet to establish His glorious kingdom in the earth.
"And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." "And Jehovah my God shall come, and all the holy ones with Thee." "And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth." Zech. 14: 4, 5, 9.
12. In that day the redeemed will stand with Christ on Mount Zion above.
"And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the Mount Zion, and with Him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having His name, and the name of His Father, written on their foreheads." "These were purchased from among men, to be the first-fruits unto God and unto the Lamb." Rev. 14: 1, 4.
13. "The mountain-lines" will again appear, and stretch before us in the glorious new earth.
"I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be exalted." Isa. 49: 11.
"Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing; and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." Isa. 55: 12.
"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith Jehovah." Isa. 65: 25.
AUGUSTA W. HEALD.
Nobody Outgrows Scripture
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
MANY books in my library are now behind and beneath me. They were good in their way once, and so were the clothes I wore once when I was ten years old; but I have outgrown them. Nobody ever outgrows the Scripture; the Book widens and deepens with our years.—C. H. Spurgeon.
Our Mission and Message.
By Editor
THE mission of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES is to herald to the world the everlasting Gospel of God in the setting of that Gospel for this age, for these times.
It is ever the same Gospel, "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." It is ever the Good Tidings of an Infinite Love which has spanned sin's chasm and saves the victims of transgression. It is ever based on the love of God and the sacrifice for man which love has made. It presents, as ever, justification by faith as the very basis of Christian life and character. It is the unchangeable, everlasting Gospel.
It has its various settings. It was first sounded in Eden, marred by transgression, and its symbol of faith was the blood sacrifice. For one hundred and twenty years Noah gave it to the antediluvian world with the warning of the destructive deluge to come. It was a different setting, but it was the same Gospel, demanding the same faith, repentance, and acceptance of God's plan and God's setting of the plan.
To Abraham came the same Good Tidings, but the setting again tested the faith of the patriarch. That faith must lay hold of a special promise and of local conditions of which Abel and Noah knew nothing. But it was the power of God unto salvation to the believers who grasped the Gospel as it came.
To Israel in Egypt the same Gospel was preached, based on definite prophetic time of the deliverance of God's people, and demanding the same faith in God's word of grace and the setting which He gave it.
John the Baptist brought that Gospel to the world in a new setting. The Jewish church was sunken in dead formalism and lifeless tradition. John came preaching repentance and living faith in the Saviour about to be manifested. Humanity was as the grass and its flower, frail and perishing; God's word was everything. The glory of man was laid in the dust; God's glory was exalted. John himself was content to be a voice of one crying in the wilderness, predicted seven centuries before. He knew his message and mission, knew its setting and time, and God justified his work in the salvation of souls. Soon Jesus came; the setting of the message changed, but the Gospel was still the same, potent with all the life of God to save the souls who believed.
God's Message for To-day.
And God's message for to-day is that of the same everlasting Gospel. It comes to the same wicked selfish world that it saw at the deluge or first advent. Sin has often changed form, but it is still transgression of God's law, and its wages and consequences are still misery and death. The message finds a church divided into a Babylon of sects and creeds; a church clamoring for political power in the lobbies of legislative halls; a church wedded to human creed and tradition, or weakened and disintegrating by the corroding power of "Higher Criticism" and German rationalism; a church professedly Protestant and Biblical, but many of whose leaders reject the great basic facts of the Gospel—the Incarnation, the Atonement, the Resurrection. The eternal law of Jehovah is set aside by many, the coming of Christ is spiritualized away, and the basic principles of Christianity—man's utterly lost and helpless condition and God's free grace—are buried under a mass of formalism. The prophecies of God's word are ignored and despised, and professed heralds of the King are without messages, and the lost world is left to slumber in sin and drift on to everlasting ruin.
Yet God has not forgotten. A setting more definite than that of John the Baptist, foretold in a multitude of prophecies predicting the current conditions of church and world to-day, is to be honored by the preaching once more of the everlasting Gospel of God, laying again the glory of man in the dust, and calling every soul to "fear God, and give GLORY to HIM; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship [serve] Him" who created all things. Read it in Rev. 14:6-12.
It comes as of old to the individual. It brings every soul face to face with his God. It tells the truth of the Babylon of churches, fallen from power because of union with the world. It warns against the unholy combinations of church and state, which seek to control conscience in the place of God. It brings those souls who believe to stand where God can say of them, "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12.
This in brief is, we believe, God's Gospel message for to-day. It is of infinite interest to every one. It is the mission of this journal to herald it to the world, and we plead with our readers to study it with us.
Studies in Romans
No Power Can Separate Us from His Love.
‘And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren: and whom He foreordained, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.’
‘What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written:’
‘For Thy sake we are killed all the day long.’
‘We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’
‘Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors thru Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Rom. 8: 28-39.
‘We know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to His purpose.’ This is a most comforting statement. According to this text there are no mere happenings that cross the pathway of the Christian to work harm and evil to him. ‘All things work together’ for his good. Everything that passes into the life of a Christian is working for his good. Every trial, every hardship, every suffering, indeed ‘all things’ that the Christian will ever meet in all his life are so woven into his experience that he comes out of the ordeal a stronger and better man. This, of course, does not apply to mere professing Christians; they who actually love God are the persons spoken of in this text.
‘For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.’ Many people read this text in order that they may formulate some new quibbles or arguments about the old doctrine of foreordination. But in all your studies of the subject of ‘foreordination’ had you observed that God has foreordained that those who accept Him are to be conformed to the image of His Son? By the power of His word the divine Father has spoken worlds into existence, and with the same power He has decreed or foreordained that His believers shall be conformed into the image of His Son. This mighty work can not be accomplished without the co-operation of the believer; it can not be done against his will. But, praise the Lord, it has been foreordained that every one who will cooperate, every one who will accept Christ, every one who will have faith in the Saviour of the world, will also be conformed into His image.
Then there can be no doubt or uncertainty in regard to the salvation of the one who places his trust in Jehovah. The all powerful decree has been issued that will produce the image of the perfect Christ in every life that is surrendered to Him. It is not a question that hinges on human weakness; salvation rests upon the solid foundation of omnipotent power, and therefore it can not fail.9
All this being true, let the apostle’s question ring out: ‘What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?’ Since God is for us; since God has decreed that we shall be conformed into the image of His Son, and thus have perfect characters; and since, as learned in former studies, we are to be joint heirs with Christ Himself, who can stand against us? Where is there a power that can overthrow us? Where is there a power that can cope with the mighty power of Him who loves us, and has given His Son to die for us in order that He might convince us of that love? Our God is seeking to impress us with the mighty fact that He is an impregnable fortress.
‘Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.’ Does any one seek to lay something to our charge? Our reply is, It is our God that justifies, or makes us righteous. The workmanship is His. We have placed ourselves in our Father’s hands, and He has undertaken our salvation; and now if any one has any charges to make, he will have to prefer them against the great God Himself. He is the One that will have to be met with the complaints and charges. The Lord Jesus is our Advocate before the Father’s throne, and He is the Mighty One who pleads our cause. With all these powerful influences working in our behalf, what can possibly affect us? Surely we have a fortress that no enemy can ever break thru.
Then, since the Lord has manifested His love toward us so abundantly, may we not say with deep earnestness and gratitude, ‘I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’?
T.
The Worth of a Religion of Sense.
THERE is a good example of the unworth of a religion of sense in the fourteenth chapter of Acts. The people of Lystra saw a cripple healed. Without regard to the principles of righteousness involved, the people at once concluded that the workers of the miracle were divine, and proceeded with much pomp to render them worship. This, of course, the true messengers of God refused. A little later some shrewd enemies of these men of God came to Lystra, circulated evil reports, and then these men of Lystra stoned the healer, and he was dragged out of the city supposed to be dead.
Such is ever likely to be the fruits of a religion of sense,—of feeling and of appearance. There will yet be seen in these days of multiplying delusions manifestations of this sort of sense religion. Those who have accepted of the true religion from the emotional side will in times of trial, when principle only will hold, see greater manifestations or appearance of power among the false religions, and will yield as tumultuously as did the people of Lystra; and many of those who have been deceived by the healings of "Hypnotism" or "Christian Science," believing it to be "the great power of God," will as readily yield to some other delusions. Many stand as did the Jews to whom Jesus said, "Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe." The only religion which will hold in these days is that which is founded in the simple truth of God, entirely apart from all manifestations, save the fruits of the Spirit, implicit obedience to God.
Our readings for this week carry us thru the wonderfully interesting historical book of Chronicles, from the beginning of the reign of Joash to the Babylonian captivity. We need not take time to detail each chapter in itself. There is nothing in the record, so far as we know, but what our readers can understand. If they have time, it would be well to compare with a parallel account in 2 Kings, and so obtain fuller information. There are certain lessons, most important and precious indeed, which we may learn from this record. God deals with principles, and gives us concrete examples to enable us to understand the working out of the principles. This thing has been shown in past lessons, and is shown in the lesson for this week. Let us keep with us one of the lessons of last week; of God's earnest regard for man, His searching, so to speak, to use the language of the human, for those who are longing to do His will. This thought is expressed in 2 Chron. 16:9, "For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro thruout the whole earth to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him." It is the perfect heart which He desires, and no soul with longings to do God's will is unseen or unnoticed of the King of the universe.
In chapters 23 and 24 we have an instance of a king who was strong to do right only when guided by a strong, good man. Just as soon as the good man died, his own heart yielded to evil. Really all the human credit of the good that was done during the reign of Joash should be attributed not to Joash, but to the faithful priest, Jehoiada. Evidently some of the teachings of the ancestors of Joash had taken root in his own heart, so that when the strong hand of Jehoiada was removed, the king went into the way of the house of Ahab.
Amaziah was not the worst of kings, neither was he the best. At times he yielded to the prophet; at times he yielded to idolatry. He followed the best of advice when he separated from the idolatrous Israelites. He did foolishly after he had overthrown the worshipers of the gods of Edom to set up the gods of Edom for his own worship. Nations are doing just that thing to-day. Another of the strong kings of Judah, Uzziah, followed Amaziah, one who marvelously increased the power of the kingdom, and developed the army; but in his pride he became lifted up, assumed to act in the place of the priests, and for his presumption became a leper. Jotham his son was another of the good kings who "became mighty because he ordered his ways before Jehovah his God." His reign was not long, only sixteen years. He was followed by his son who also reigned sixteen years, but who did wickedly.
Following Ahaz comes another of the great kings of Judah, Hezekiah, who reigned five and twenty years, "and he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done;" effected many good reforms, and yet made one of the greatest mistakes. God gave him the privilege of preaching the Gospel to Babylon when they came to inquire of the "wonder that was done in the land." 2 Chron. 32:31. While the king should have shown to the ambassadors the great treasures of the riches of God's grace, mercy, and power, he showed them the material wealth of the kingdom, thus arousing their covetousness and cupidity; and resulting in the end in the complete destruction and despoiling of Jerusalem.
All these chapters should be read carefully. Here is one of the lessons which we may see by careful reading. Hezekiah prayed for an extension of life when God told him that it was his time to die. God granted his request and extended his life fifteen years, and during the fifteen years, three years after he was restored, Manasseh was born, during the time of Hezekiah's great popularity and connections with the kingdoms of the world. Manasseh seemed to partake of their spirit, bred in luxury, doubtless, as were other princes of the world, and went into the most abominable wickedness that was conceivable; into the lowest forms of idolatry, till his reign became a very synonym of wickedness; yet the wonderful mercy of God is shown in his case; how that after all his sin and his trespass, when he humbled himself before God, God heard and was entreated of him.
Following the reign of Amon, the son of Manasseh, came that of Josiah, one of the most devoted of kings. Joash began his reign when young; as soon as the strong hand of his instructor was removed, he went into wickedness. Josiah, too, began his reign when young, but there was developed in him the strength of character that enabled him to stand for God, and put forth every effort to reform the people of himself alone. Following the blessed reign of Josiah, the course of Judah was rapidly downward. Transgression was heaped upon transgression; message after message was rejected, until at last Jerusalem was burned, and the people carried away to Babylon.
"Ezra" was doubtless written by the priest whose name it bears, and who also, in all probability, wrote Chronicles; it is a continuation of the book of Chronicles, showing the restoration from Babylon. The first two chapters are an enumeration of the materials and men that went up from Babylon to Jerusalem, the whole assembly numbering 42,360. What a contrast between that and the time they were called out of Egypt when they numbered more than 601,000!
Our readings in Proverbs will speak for themselves. It is worthy to note that the twenty-third chapter is one that has especially to do with temperance.
The Weakest to Be Protected.
"THE greatest good of the greatest number" is often used by good men in an utter meaningless or pernicious way. It is an end sought, an object aimed at; and in this way it is wholly selfish. There has not been any oppressive system under the sun but what its devotees hoped sometime to have the greatest number, and for their own they have sought the greatest good. The only true purpose in the state is the jealous guarding of the rights of the minority, of the poorest, the weakest. The conservation of the rights of the one means the conservation of the rights of all, and the inevitable fruitage—result, outworking—is the greatest good to the greatest number.
