THE grandest and longest parliamentary debate on the question of the separation between the state and the church has now been going on at the Palais Bourbon in Paris for two months and a half, and is far from being concluded.
The committee made its report on March 4, through its secretary, M. Aristide Briand, who read as an introduction an extensive historical sketch of 138 columns, covering the relations between France and the Papacy for the last thirteen centuries. Extremely interesting in itself, this sketch grows more so from the fact that it is an official document; that it was read before the French Chamber; and that it contains the government's reasons for the great reform which is taking up the attention of the French legislators, and, in a certain sense, of all the civilized world.
Constantine's Perversion of Christianity.
M. Briand began by stating that "Constantine's adhesion to Christian ideas opened a new era in the history of Christianity. From the time in which, after being the sovereign pontiff of Paganism, he styled himself emperor and doctor, king and priest, the tendencies of the religion of Jesus were deeply changed, and the words of the Galilean, 'Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and unto God the things which are God's,' lost all their application." Rome became a temporal and political power, and, as such, a necessary factor for the establishment of the barbarian kings on the soil of old Gaul. This was demonstrated at the conversion and baptism of Clovis and his 3,000 Franks and by his subsequent victory over the Arian Burgundians and Visigoths. Later on, Pepin was crowned by Pope Steven II., and, in 756, he made the pope a present, consisting of the keys of twenty-two cities taken from the Lombardians.
From here to the arrogant supremacy claimed by Gregory VII., the road was short and direct. His name, he claimed, was unique in the world. He could be judged by no man. He could dethrone emperors, and the church which he ruled had never erred, and could never err. Henry IV., of Germany, Philip I., Philip the Handsome, and Charles VII., of France, resisted the prerogatives of the Papacy under popes Gregory VII., Innocent III., and Boniface VIII. By these kings the pope was accused of "very grave usurpations, heresy, blasphemy, and simony."
Protestantism and Persecution.
Then came the Reformation. "French Protestantism began among the Humanists, who were struck by reading the Gospels found among the Greek and Latin authors. They were accustomed to a religion which attached a capital importance to observances, rites, and practises, and which claimed their devotions for the virgins and the saints. They read the very text of the New Testament, and all this vanished; Jesus Christ alone was left; He, always He!"
Persecution did not wait long. "The edict of 1551 was a veritable code of persecution which regulated even the denunciation of those who read the Bible." Oct. 17, 1685, came the revocation of the edict of Nantes, which cost 100,000 Frenchmen and 60,000,000 francs out of the country, ruined its commerce, and strengthened foreign navies by 9,000 seamen, and their armies by 600 officers and 12,000 soldiers.
A New Era.
But a new era was arising: "No human power could henceforth stay the coming on of the philosophy of the eighteenth century, which looked upon persecutions as odious, which weakened the faith of the upper and middle classes, and rejected, not only the infallibility of the pope, but also all revealed religion."
The first attempt of the Revolution against the Papacy was to wrest the clergy from its domination. A series of laws called the "Civil Constitution of the Clergy" was therefore issued, which made the priests directly responsible to the people and not to the pope. The clergy, of course, rebelled, and the National Assembly resolved to bring them violently to terms. The king refused to endorse the decision of the Assembly, and thus became the first victim of the fearful storm which began to rage against the church and its defenders.
Futile Struggle with the Papacy.
Ten long years the Revolution fought against the priests, who remained faithful to Rome, only to find out its utter impotence. Then came Bonaparte, who tried his hand at it. He gave the Papacy many advantages and concessions, and signed the concordat of 1801 with Pope Pius VII., to whom he gave back his estates. But Napoleon had craftily kept back some "organic articles" by which he meant to keep the pope within proper bounds. When the pope learned the trick, he denounced the whole affair in disgust. Napoleon appointed a committee to straighten the matter. Nothing succeeding, he called together a grand council of bishops to which he endeavored to impose his own ideas. The bishops refused to be forced in their deliberations. Bonaparte got angry, and ordered the pope brought to Fontainebleau, where he overawed the old man, and got from him what he wished, only to lose it when the pope returned to Rome.
Victories for the Papacy.
Louis XVIII., Louis Philip, and Napoleon IV., resumed and concluded the negotiations in quite a different spirit. This enabled the hierarchy to take up its work with renewed energy. In 1864, Pius IX. proclaimed the Syllabus, in which all the modern liberties were anathemetized; and in 1870, the pope was declared infallible at the Vatican council.
Since then the power and wealth of the Catholic Church have been growing steadily in France, until the priests were found everywhere; on the school board, in the army, in the navy, and in the prisons as chaplains, at the public and national ceremonies, controlling, as it were, every part of the government.
On the other hand, since 1870, the republican party has grown in power, and has set up a decided and firm opposition to Rome's influence over French affairs. Various measures have been taken by the government to which such men as Gambetta, Jules Ferry, Paul Bert, Goblet, Waldeck, Rousseau, and Combes have attached their names. Every one knows how all non-authorized congregations, the Jesuits first of all, have been expelled within the last two years, and how the question of separating the churches from the state has been suddenly sprung by the protest of Pope Pius X., after M. Loubet's visit to Rome in 1904.
In my next letter I will endeavor to give some idea of the spirit in which the memorable debate is being conducted at the Bourbon Palace.
RIGHTEOUSNESS, OR OUTWARD FORM?
By S. A. Holden
The Rev. George Elliot Cooley, in speaking before the Methodist Conference upon the results of law evasion, used the following significant language:
We are coming more clearly to see that it is impossible to bring in the kingdom of God by legislation; yet, as earnest men, we are anxious to determine upon the best method in dealing with the intemperance evil. May it not be possible that in the effort to prevent this evil by law, we are fostering greater and more insidious evils? Respect for the courts has been undermined by the wholesale disregard for law, confidence in judicial processes has been destroyed by so many miscarriages of justice; the oath has been invalidated and perjury promoted by the effort to enforce a law which many feel under no moral obligation to observe.
The condition of things thus brought about ought to be appalling to the teacher of morals and the advocates of law and order.
Thus speaks a close observer of the effect produced by attempting to make men righteous by outward force, and it must of necessity be so. Righteousness consists in living principles rather than outward forms. Rom. 14:17. They work from within and are seen in outward acts.
That power that works from without to make a man righteous creates a feeling that he is being deprived of his liberty, and sets him at work to resist the effort with all his powers. It leads him, weak as he sees himself to be, to use such means as are at his command to defeat the effort. When as the result of these methods he sees justice perverted, he loses respect for the courts that have been established as God's means of preserving order. Rom. 13:1-6.
Then, according to Mr. Cooley, the attempt to make men righteous by legislation not only fails of its object, but actually results in making them worse, a state of affairs deeply to be deplored. Well may its advocates stand appalled at the results of their work. But how are conditions to be bettered?—It is by the foolishness of preaching, but a preaching which is actuated by the power of God , that power which changes the nature of men by setting forth the principles of the kingdom of God. S. A. HOLDEN.
THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY.
By Editor
THE restoration of the temporal power of the pope was advocated by Roman Catholic Bishop William Stang, of Fall River, Mass., at a Roman Catholic mass meeting in Carnegie Hall, New York, on the evening of May 28. The mass meeting was in connection with the tenth annual meeting of the Federation of German Catholic Societies. The bishop declared with reference to the temporal power and the pope: "It was stolen from him, and a thief is a thief whether he wears rags or a crown." He didn't state who the pope stole his temporal power from, and that a thief is a thief whether he wears rags or a tiara. He urged in this connection "liberal contribution to Peter's pence," as "it will do much to aid the pope." On the same occasion Archbishop Farley, of New York, said:
This century has opened up wonders. The world outside of the church has cut loose and has drifted out on a stormy sea. It has trampled under foot the Holy Scriptures, cast God out of the schools, torn asunder the bond of matrimony, and even authority has now been assaulted. Socialism is rampant. And the men who have caused this cataclysm are now looking around for a haven of safety. They see only the pontiff in Rome. You must by your lives, private and public, show the way.
The first two sentences of the above, and the first clause of the third, are emphatically true. The second sentence states the result of tramping under foot the Holy Scriptures, especially by Protestantism. The world is in doubt. It has no religion; but more and more it is turning to the Vatican and the Roman Catholic religion as the one consistent thing, the only assurance. Socialism is the present foe of Romanism; but Socialism rejecting the Bible, will come in its search for rest to the Roman Catholic hoped-for refuge. Protestantism ought to have stood for the hope of the nations, but she has rejected the Bible. The great world, drunken with the wine of Babylon, will yet rush to Rome, but they will find that her haven of safety is the abysm of death. The only hope, the only haven of safety, is Christ Jesus and His Gospel as revealed in the great threefold message of Revelation 14.
AN INIQUITOUS PRINCIPLE AND ITS FRUITAGE.
WHEN we admit the principle of religious legislation, we admit the rightfulness of the grounds upon which the Catholic orders of France refused to obey the law of associations. That law required that the various orders declare the full purpose of their organization. The Jesuits and others held that to obey the law would be to admit the existence of a power above the church.
The claim that to obey the law of associations would be to recognize a power higher than the church, is a claim that can be made only by those who believe in the union of church and state—not a union even in which the two are equal, but one in which the state is completely under the domination of the church. Any law based on the independence of the state is, to those holding such belief, a law which makes the state a higher power than the church, a law which makes the state a usurper of the church's prerogatives. To them it is the right of the church to control in all the affairs of men, civil and religious. Civil liberty is to them rebellion; the separation of church and state, treason; and religious liberty a heresy not to be tolerated in any place or in any degree.
Stern, unyielding, dictatorial, and illiberal as this is, it is all perfectly logical, if we admit that it is the business of the church to control in the civil affairs of men. And that is what we do admit, when we admit the principle of religious legislation. If it is proper to legislate on one religious question, it is equally proper to legislate on all religious questions. Legislation upon any religious question is legislation in the interests of some church or religion. The moment that any government legislates in favor of any religion or any church, that moment it becomes a director in the affairs of that religion or church, and so a union is formed in fact, if not in name. And the moment that such union is formed, church interests assume the controlling hand, the church becomes dominant and the state subordinate.
It is true that those who are working for religious legislation do not admit that the logic of their demands is seen in the history of Jesuitism. It is a fact, nevertheless. At first they demand religious legislation only in a few matters; but, in yielding that, the state allows the principle, and opens the gate to any and every matter that the church may fancy is for the good of the people or for its own interests. Insofar as the state permits itself to legislate at the behest of the church, it is permitting itself to be controlled by the church, to be made a tool of the church in carrying out its purposes. In that is seen the injustice of the assertion that the state, and not the church, was responsible for the persecutions of the Dark Ages. The church controlled the state during that epoch of affliction, and those who suffered martyrdom suffered it because that fallen church adjudged them guilty of heresy. The condition was possible only because the state had admitted the principle of the right of religious legislation, and had allowed the church to carry it through to its logical result.
Notwithstanding Christ's own declaration in the matter; notwithstanding all the persecutions which the world has been called to witness because of the failure of men to believe and follow Christ's teachings in this matter; and notwithstanding the further fact that the liberty and enlightenment and prosperity of this great country are due to its acknowledgment of the true principle of religious liberty,—we are drifting, rapidly drifting, back to those unchristian practices from which the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were the expression of a righteous revolt. The epoch of decline in real religious liberty began when the Supreme Court threw open the door to religious legislation by declaring this a Christian nation. The nation has started on that road, at whose terminus stands the Jesuit and cruel religious persecution. It must come to that before this nation could come its subjects to worship. See Rev. 13:15. The Jesuit has been driven from France, but the principles that made the Jesuits possible are being forced upon our own fair land by the advocates of religious legislation. The Jesuits are the ripened fruit of that un-American principle; but that un-American principle has been already planted in this country, and will soon bear its own ripened fruit.
INVENTIONS AND NEW PERILS TO LIFE.
By New York World
INVENTION is the promoter of progress. It is also the general agent for new forms of death and fire.
With the railroad came fresh prosperity and the opening of a frightful record of killing and maiming. With trolley cars came the wholesome expansion of dwelling areas and the beginning of a long series of street-crossing fatalities. The automobile, a creation of large promise for purposes both of business and recreation, is already a daily instrument of destruction to human victims. Even the refrigerating plant designed for apartment-house health and comfort revealed menacing possibilities through a night explosion that made a sensational news item of the week just passed in New York.
Modern life is lived literally "In the midst of alarms." If we escape peril ourselves our neighbor is fatally caught. Almost we come to envy the man of the old forest life, that security to life and limb which was broken chiefly by the few accidents of nature. A tree might fall upon him, fire or flood overtake him, a hungry beast make an unexpected spring. To us has come the artificial multiplication of profitable dangers.
"TAINTED MONEY" FOR RELIGION.
What a Prominent Secular Journal Says.
THE Argonaut, of July 3, referring to Mr. Albert Shaw's defence of the reception of Mr. Rockefeller's gift to missions, remarks:
But we regret to say that Mr. Shaw is not alone in finding excuses for the church for its acceptance of the tainted money of Rockefeller and men of his type. The Rev. Dr. Broadus, as we read in the Raleigh Biblical Recorder, is of the opinion that Rockefeller's "simple piety and humility are as marvelous as his great prosperity," and his money ought not to be refused by the church. The Rev. J. Wesley Sullivan, of Philadelphia, sweetly says that "Mr. Rockefeller has lived too close to his religion to have obtained money in any sinister way. It is sadly unjust even to pause before accepting these church gifts." The Rev. A. N. Wheeler recently introduced a resolution before the North Indiana Baptist Association affirming that Rockefeller was never "either directly or indirectly connected with conduct that is out of line with the highest morality."
What a vast impassable gulf is there between such views as these of "Christianity" and those upon the righteousness of Him who scourged the money-changers from the temple and set the gift of the widow's mite, above all that were cast into the treasury, albeit "many that were rich cast in much?" What churchly avarice is it that blinds these ministers of God to the fact (which every candid reader of Miss Tarbell's arraignment of Rockefeller in McClure's must admit) that he is a sanctimonious hypocrite, a crafty lawbreaker, the very type of man of whom the Scripture speaks as "devourers of widows' houses," and who, "for a pretence make long prayers?" "These," says Scripture, "shall receive the greater damnation." But to-day the church crawls servilely upon its knees before them, shamefully begging alms, and calling them "Christian!" "Things have changed," says an interior journal, "since Christ scourged the money-changers from the temple, and to-day there is so little difference between the church and the world that to whip the money-changer out would be to destroy modern religion."
Is it true? Has the church, sold itself utterly to mammon? Are the scribes and pharisees in its high places?
We have some slight respect for a plain, ordinary highwayman who frankly robs, but none at all for those sanctimonious rascals who try to bribe their way into heaven with paltry fractions of the money they have stolen. Like Dr. Patton, of Princeton, we "hate to see a cold-blooded right-living rascal who has his $400,000,000 and can teach Sunday-school regularly and drive his hard bargain every week, always keeping just within range of the law," and like Dr. Patton, also, we think Rockefeller "lucky not to be in jail." And as for the argument of many stately clergymen that the thing to do is to take Rockefeller's money but preach against him—it is an infamous suggestion. Take the gift with one hand and strike the giver with the other—could baseness further go than that!
Let the clerical waverers of this tainted money question ponder this passage from the Gospel according to St. Matthew:
"Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? See thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful to put them in the treasury, because it is the price of blood."
The money of John D. Rockefeller is stained black with blood and rusted red with the tears of the children of the poor. Let the church touch it not, for thereby it is defiled beyond all purification.
PREPARE WAR.
By Springfield Republican
How many battle-ships will eventually satisfy the navy? was the question recently put to a naval officer by the Washington correspondent of the New York Evening Post. "Seventy," was the answer, and the necessary disposition of 72 battle-ships was detailed as 16 on the Atlantic Coast, 24 on the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, 16 on the Pacific Coast, and 16 in the Philippines. Seventy battle-ships would cost at prevailing figures about 550,000,000, more, rather than less. It is interesting to note that before we went a-world-powering, a naval board laid down a comprehensive plan of our desirable naval strength, and placed our needs at just 10 battle-ships. Times have changed since then, and the contrast is striking.—Springfield Republican.
News Notes from Russia and Elsewhere
By Editor
The Russian cruiser, Kniaz Potemkine, which has been cruising in the Black Sea for more than a week in charge of a mutinous crew, has surrendered to the Rumanian authorities, and the ship is now in the hands of the Rumanians, who will turn the vessel over to the Russians. It is understood that the crew will be allowed to go where they please, tho Russia is demanding that they be surrendered to her. Insurrections continue in many parts of Russia, and many lives are being lost in encounters between the people and the soldiers. In numerous instances the officers are finding that the troops are hardly to be depended upon owing to their sympathy with the revolutionists or the striking workmen.
A young physician of New York City claims to have discovered a method of curing that mysterious disease, cerebro-spinal meningitis. The treatment consists in drawing off one or two ounces of the spinal fluid as soon as the case comes under observation and as often thereafter as may be necessary, in connection with hot baths, plenty of light, fresh air, and quiet, liquid food at first, good nursing, and no medicine. The fluid first taken from the spinal canal is cloudy and filled with germs.
The 23d annual session of the General Conference of Christian Workers at Northfield, Mass., will be held from August 4 to 20. These summer conferences at Northfield were established by the late D. L. Moody, and are continued under the direction of his son. A large number of men eminent in religious work will assist in the studies to be there conducted. For further particulars respecting the conference address Mr. A. G. Moody, East North-field, Mass.
John Hay, late Secretary of State, was buried at Cleveland, Ohio, on July 5. President Roosevelt and cabinet were in attendance at the ceremony. A memorial ceremony was conducted at Washington on the day of the burial, and another impressive ceremony was held in London on the same date, as a special mark of honor and respect from the English people.
Reports from Italy state that hundreds are falling victims to the intense heat which has prevailed there during the past week. For several days an unusually high temperature has prevailed along the Pacific Coast of the United States. On July 7 the thermometer in this office registered 110 Fahrenheit, in the shade.
Reports from Washington indicate that former Secretary of War, Elihu Root, has been offered, and has accepted, the office of Secretary of State left vacant by the recent death of Secretary John Hay.
A destructive tornado swept through Montague County, Texas, on July 5, causing the loss of 29 lives, the injury of 50, and doing great damage to growing crops.
France has finally adopted the measure which separates the state from the church. The system swept away by this law dates from 1801.
The annual camp-meeting and general conference of the Pentecost Bands will be held at Martinsville, Ind., August 4 to 20.
THE TIME OF TROUBLE.
By R. W. Rogers
BY R. W. ROGERS.
DANIEL has told us that when Micheal shall stand up, the great Prince (Christ) who standeth for the children of Thy people, there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. The time of trouble that is to come upon this age is far more terrible than anything that ever came upon any people of this world. They will drink of the dregs of the cup of wo, and it will be an awful mixture.
Each age has its bitter with its sweet. We are shown that each age has a time of trouble to pass through in its closing days. The first age was "eating and drinking" (feasting and given to strong drink). The people were having "a merry time." They scoffed at the idea of a flood coming to destroy them. Noah could not prevail on them to believe his testimony. He had borne his testimony so long, that it became an old story to them. That is what we hear now, the same old story we have heard since 1844.
But when the heavens were covered with blackness and the thunders pealed forth their awful warnings and the rain began to come down upon them, their spell of unbelief was broken and a time of trouble and sorrow came upon that people such as they had never experienced before. God took care of the ark; all that were sealed into it were safe, and all on the outside were vainly fleeing from that awful storm to save themselves.
This is the condition now; men do not believe what God has said concerning what shall come upon the world. The Jewish people had drifted away from God's Word and they did not believe what Moses said would befall them, if they departed from God and refused to keep His commandments.
But we find that in the closing work for the Jewish age there came upon the Jewish people just what Moses had said would come. They had a time of trouble and tribulation to pass through, such as they did not believe could come upon them. They were gathered into the city behind those massive walls, and they thought it was impossible for any army to gain an entrance into the city. But we read of the awful condition of that people before the siege was ended, and how they suffered, and how their city fell. The prophecies of Moses and Jesus were fulfilled, and they passed through the greatest time of affliction that people ever had to endure. God lost none of His people in that overthrow, for they obeyed the Lord's admonition and escaped to the mountains.
God has shown that in the last days the world will pass through a time of trouble more terrible than anything that any age of earth ever experienced.
Now in order to get an understanding of this time of trouble we must refer to the land of Goshen in Egypt where God had a people at one time. The experience of that time is a type of our time. God visited upon Pharaoh and his people plague after plague; but God's people escaped again, because they listened to His voice, and He took care of them. Before that last and awful plague, God commanded that the blood of the slain lamb should be put upon the lintels of all the doors where His people dwelt, as a sign for the angel when he passed over, visiting the plague upon the Egyptians. The blood of that lamb was a shield for God's people, as Christ's blood will shield all of God's chosen people when the time of trouble and the last plagues come upon the people of this world. In this last time of trouble God will make known all that are His, for the blood of Christ will protect them. That is what is meant by our Prince standing up for His people. He keeps or protects again the people of God as God did those that were His in Egypt. The unrepentant have set at naught all God's warnings, and now He says of them: "I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as a desolation; and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you."
The 144,000 will be able to sing the song of deliverance, as God's people did after they were delivered from their oppressors in Egypt. They crossed in safety to the other side and their enemies were destroyed. This is a type of our time,—we who are faithful will sing the song on the other shore. Pray that you may have oil in your vessels and your lamps trimmed and brightly burning, ready to go out to meet the Bridegroom at His coming; for He is coming, and His Bride will be ready to receive Him when He comes.
Hennessey, Okla.
FOR LIFE.
If we knew that our choice between right and wrong at this moment settled our eternity, we think that it would be easy to choose. But there comes a time in every life when the choice is the last one, tho no one but God knows when. And every choice between now and the last choice is determining what the last choice shall be. To a man sorely tempted came the thought, "If I knew that my choice at this time settled my victory or defeat for all time, I would not hesitate an instant." Then there went up the prayer, "Father, make this the victory for all time, and I will decide for Thee." Like a flash came the answer, "Eternity depends on your choice now,"—and the victory was won. What reason have we to suppose that we can choose to do wrong to-day, and to-morrow turn from the wrong and take the right? The final decision is not the decision of a moment; it is the decision of a life. To-day you are choosing for life, or for death.—Anon.
FISHERS OF MEN.
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
AND Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. And going on from thence, He saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed Him.
The prompt obedience of these men, without one question, without one promise of wages, seems remarkable; but the words of Christ were an invitation which implied all that He meant them to. There was an impelling influence in His words. He made no long explanation, but what He said had a drawing power.
Christ would make these humble fishermen, in connection with Himself, the means of taking men out of the service of Satan, and placing them in the service of God. In this work they would become His witnesses, bearing to the world His truth unmingled with the traditions and sophistries of men. By practising His virtues, by walking and working with Him, they were to be qualified to be fishers of men. They were to be His prime ministers. But He did not tell them to go to worldly schools, to obtain the advantages of worldly cultivation. He did not tell them to go to the Jewish synagogues to learn of the rabbis their customs and traditions, in order that they might be prepared for the work He had for them to do as His evangelists. They were not to be teachers after the manner of the Jewish educators. "Follow Me," Christ said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
Thus the first disciples were appointed to the work of the Gospel ministry. For three years they were workers with the Saviour, and by His teaching, His works of healing, His example, they were being prepared to carry on the work that He began.
His treasure of knowledge was put into earthen vessels. By the simplicity of faith, by pure, humble service, the disciples were being educated in the school of Christ to carry responsibilities of the same kind that He was bearing.
Certainly Christ chose the foolish things of this world, those whom the world pronounced ignorant and unlearned, to confound the wise. The disciples were unlearned in the traditions of the rabbis, but with Christ as their example and their teacher, they were gaining an education of the highest order. Christ was9preparing them to proclaim truths of the highest order.
Requisites to Preaching Christ.
Those who preach Christ must learn daily of Christ, in order to understand the mystery of saving and serving the souls for whom He died. They must bring into their work no pride or self-indulgence. In thought, word, and deed they are to reveal the spiritual refinement, the Christlike courtesy, that connection with the Saviour gives. His love and compassion are constantly to be manifested in their lives.
"Follow Me," said the great Teacher, "and I will make you fishers of men." Those who obey this call must work with hearts filled with Christlike love for souls. In all things they must follow the example of the Saviour, sharing His tender compassion and His sternness against all evil working. Christ is the great Pattern for all. We are to be workers together with Him. Those who are in His service are to separate from all business entanglements that would tarnish their Christ-likeness of character. The fishermen that the Saviour called straightway left their nets. Those who give themselves to the work of the ministry must not entangle themselves in business lines that would bring coarseness into their lives, and hinder them from making advancement in spiritual things.
In this closing work of the Gospel there is a vast field to be occupied; and more than ever before, the work is to enlist helpers from the common people. Both the youth and those older in years will be called from the field, from the vineyard, and from the workshop, and sent forth by the Master to give His message. Many of these have had little opportunity for education; but Christ sees in them qualifications that will enable them to fulfil His purpose. If they put their hearts into the work, and continue to be learners, He will fit them to labor for Him.
He who knows the depths of the world's misery and despair, knows by what means to bring relief. He sees on every hand souls in darkness, bowed down with sin and sorrow and pain. But He sees also their possibilities; He sees the height to which they may attain. Altho human beings have abused their mercies, wasted their talents, and lost the dignity of godlike manhood, the Creator is to be glorified in their redemption.
The burden of labor for these needy ones in the rough places of the earth, Christ lays upon those who can feel for the ignorant and for such as are out of the way. He will be present to help those whose hearts are susceptible to pity, tho their hands may be rough and unskilled. He will work through those who can see mercy in misery, and gain in loss. When the Light of the world passes by, privilege will be discerned in hardship, order in confusion, success in apparent failure. Calamities will be seen as disguised blessings; woes, as mercies. Laborers from the common people, sharing the sorrows of the whole human race, will by faith see Him working with them.
THE DAY OF GOD IS FAST APPROACHING.
By F. A. Lorenz
BY F. A. LORENZ.
MANY signs are indicating
That the Day of God is near.
Are you ready, yearning, waiting,
Praying that He may appear?
Restless like a mighty ocean
Are the nations of to-day,
War and strife with great commotion
Constitute the sad display.
Whirlwinds cause despairing terror
Through their devastating force,
And mankind, wrapped up in error,
Void of heaven's intercourse,
Grope in darkness worse confounded,
Doomed, outside of safety's tow'r,
In God's truth they are not grounded,
Nor are trusting in His power.
Here is chaos, dire confusion,
Such as seers of God foretold,
Haunts of latter-day delusion,
Babylon, the tempter's fold;
Boisterous, like a roaring thunder,
Or yet silent at the hearth,
Satan's force with lying wonder
Sweeping swiftly through the earth.
Millions glide along in slumber,
Drifting downward unawares,
While our foe seeks to encumber
Every mind with worldly cares.
Rearing from earth's wisdom's tables,
Where but foolishness holds sway,
Cunningly-devised fables
Lead the multitudes astray.
Brethren work, while time is lasting,
Push with might the Lord's campaign;
Hasten on with prayer and fasting,
Each one in his own domain.
God's resource is not depleted,
He has great supplies in store;
But the laborers are needed,
Needed now as ne'er before.
