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Signs of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 42.

General Articles
Earlier text: General Articles

Necessity for the Reformation.

CORRUPTION IN THE CHURCH.

(Concluded.)
THE rural districts were the scene of numerous excesses. The abodes of the clergy were frequently the resorts of the dissolute. Cornelius Adrian, at Bruges, the Abbot Trinkler, at Cappel, imitated the customs of the East, and had their harems. Priests consorted with abandoned characters, frequented the taverns, played dice, and finished their orgies by quarrels and blasphemy.
The council of Schaffhausen prohibited the clergy from dancing in public except at weddings; from carrying two kinds of weapons; and decreed that a priest who should be found in a house of ill-fame should be stripped of his ecclesiastical habit. In the archbishopric of Mentz they scaled the walls in the night, committed disturbances and disorders of all kinds in the inns and taverns, and broke open doors and locks. In several places the priest paid to the bishop a regular tax for the woman with whom he lived, and for every child he had by her. A German bishop who was present at a grand entertainment, publicly declared that in one year eleven thousand priests had presented themselves to him for that purpose. It is Erasmus who records this.
The higher orders of the hierarchy were equally corrupt. Dignitaries of the church preferred the tumult of camps to the service of the altar. To be able, lance in hand, to compel his neighbors to do him homage, was one of the most conspicuous qualifications of a bishop. Baldwin, archbishop of Treves, was constantly at war with his neighbors and vassals, razing their castles, building fortresses of his own, and thinking only how to enlarge his territory. A certain bishop of Eichstadt, when dispensing justice, wore under his habit a coat of mail, and held in his hand a long sword. He used to say he did not fear five Bavarians, provided they would but attack him in the open field. Everywhere the bishops were engaged in constant war with the towns, the citizens demanding freedom, and the bishops requiring implicit obedience. If the latter triumphed, they punished the revolters by sacrificing numerous victims to their vengeance; but the flame of insurrection broke out again at the very moment when it was thought to be extinguished.
And what a spectacle was presented by the pontifical throne in the generation immediately preceding the Reformation! Rome, it must be acknowledged, has seldom been witness to so much infamy.
Rodrigo Borgia, after living in illicit intercourse with a Roman lady, had continued a similar connection with one of her daughters, by name Rosa Vanozza, by whom he had five children. He was living at Rome with Vanozza and other abandoned women—as cardinal and archbishop, visiting the churches and hospitals—when the death of Innocent VIII. created a vacancy in the pontifical chair. He succeeded in obtaining it by bribing each of the cardinals at a stipulated price. Four mules, laden with silver, were publicly driven into the palace of Sforza, the most influential of the cardinals. Borgia became pope under the name of Alexander VI., and rejoiced in the attainment of the pinnacle of pleasures.
The very day of his coronation he created his son Cæsar, a ferocious and dissolute youth, archbishop of Valencia and bishop of Pamplona. He next proceeded to celebrate in the Vatican the nuptials of his daughter Lucrezia, by festivities, at which his mistress Julia Bella was present, and which were enlivened by farces and indecent songs. "Most of the ecclesiastics," says a historian, "had their mistresses, and all the convents of the capital were houses of ill-fame." Cæsar Borgia espoused the cause of the Guelphs, and when by their assistance he had annihilated the power of the Ghibelines, he turned upon the Guelphs, and crushed them in their turn. But he would allow none to share in the spoils of his atrocities. In the year 1497, Alexander conferred upon his eldest son the duchy of Benevento. The duke suddenly disappeared. That night a faggot-dealer on the banks of the Tiber saw some persons throw a corpse into the river; but he said nothing of it, for such things were common. The duke's body was found. His brother Cæsar had been the instigator of the murder. He did not stop there. His brother-in-law stood in the way of his ambition. One day Cæsar caused him to be stabbed on the stair-case of the pope's palace, and he was carried, covered with blood, to his own apartments. His wife and sister never left him. Dreading lest Cæsar should employ poison, they were accustomed to prepare his meals with their own hands. Alexander placed guards before his door, but Cæsar ridiculed these precautions, and on one occasion when the pope visited him, dropped the remark. "What cannot be done at Cæsar may be at supper." Accordingly, he one day gained admittance to the chamber of the wounded man, turned out his wife and sister, and calling Michilotto, the executioner of his horrors, and the only man in whom he placed any confidence, commanded him to strangle his victim before his eyes. Alexander had a favorite named Peroto, whose preferment offended the young duke. Cæsar rushed upon him; Peroto sought refuge under the papal mantle, clasping the Pontiff in his arm; Cæsar stabbed him, and the blood of the victim spirted in the Pontiff's face. "The pope," adds a contemporary and witness of these atrocities, "loves the duke his son, and lives in great fear of him." Cæsar was one of the handsomest and most powerful men of his age. Six wild bulls fell beneath his hand in single combat. Nightly assassinations took place in the streets of Rome. Poison often destroyed those whom the dagger could not reach. Every one feared to move or breathe lest he should be the next victim. Cæsar Borgia was the hero of crime. The spot on earth where all iniquity met and overflowed was the pontiff's seat. When man has given himself over to the power of evil, the higher his pretensions before God, the lower he is seen to sink in the depths of hell. The dissolute entertainments given by the pope and his son Cæsar and his daughter Lucrezia, are such as can neither be described nor thought of. The most impure groves of ancient worship saw not the like. Historians have accused Alexander and Lucrezia of incest, but the charge is not sufficiently established. The pope, in order to rid himself of a wealthy cardinal, had prepared poison in a small box of sweetmeats, which was to be placed on the table after a sumptuous feast; the cardinal receiving a hint of the design, gained over the attendant, and the poisoned box was placed before Alexander. He ate of it and perished. The whole city came together, and could hardly satiate themselves with the sight of this dead viper.
Such was the man who filled the pontifical throne at the commencement of the age of the Reformation.
Thus the clergy had disgraced religion and themselves. Well might a powerful voice exclaim: "The ecclesiastic order is opposed to God and to his glory. The people well know it; and it is but too evident, from the many songs, proverbs, and jests on the priests, current amongst the common people, as also from the figures of monks and priests scrawled on the walls, and even on the playing cards, that every one has a feeling of disgust at the sight or name of a priest." It is Luther who thus speaks.
The evil had spread through all ranks; a spirit of delusion had been sent among men; the corruption of morals corresponded to the corruption of the faith; the mystery of iniquity weighed down the enslaved church of Christ.
Another consequence necessarily ensued from the neglect into which the fundamental doctrine of the gospel had fallen. From the darkness of the understanding resulted the corruption of the heart. The priests having taken into their own hands the dispensing a salvation which belonged only to God, had thereby secured a sufficient hold on the respect of the people. What need had they to study sacred learning? It was no longer their office to explain the Scriptures, but to grant letters of indulgence; and for the fulfilling of that ministry, it was unnecessary to have acquired any great learning.
In country parts, says Wimpheling, they appointed as preachers poor wretches whom they had taken from beggary, and who had been cooks, musicians, huntsmen, stable boys, and even worse.
The superior clergy themselves were sunk in great ignorance. A bishop of Dunfeldt congratulated himself on never having learned Greek or Hebrew. The monks asserted that all heresies arose from these languages, but especially from the Greek. "The New Testament," said one of them, "is a book full of serpents and thorns. Greek," continued he, "is a modern language, but recently invented, and against which we must be upon our guard. As to Hebrew, my dear brethren, it is certain that whoever studies it immediately becomes a Jew." Heresbach, a friend of Erasmus, and a respectable writer, reports these very words. Thomas Linacer, a learned and celebrated divine, had never read the New Testament. Drawing near his end (in 1524) he called for it, but quickly threw it from him with an oath, because his eye had caught the words, "But I say unto you, Swear not at all." "Either this is not the gospel," said he, "or we are not Christians." Even the school of theology in Paris did not scruple to declare before the Parliament, "There is an end of religion if the study of Hebrew and Greek is permitted."
If here and there among the clergy some learning existed, it was not in sacred literature. The Ciceronians of Italy affected a great contempt for the Bible on account of its style; men who arrogated to themselves the title of priests of Christ's church translated the words of the Holy Ghost into the style of Virgil and of Horace, to accommodate them to the ears of men of taste. The Cardinal Bembo wrote always, instead of the Holy Spirit, "the breath of the celestial zephyr;" for remission of sins he substituted the "pity of the manes and of the gods;" and instead of Christ the Son of God, "Minerva sprung from the brows of Jupiter." Finding one day the respectable Sadoletus employed on a translation of the Epistle to the Romans, "Leave these childish productions," said he; "such puerilities do not become a sensible man."
Behold some of the consequences of the system that then weighed down Christendom. This picture no doubt exhibits in strong colors both the corruption of the church and the need of reformation. It is for that reason we have sketched it. The vital doctrines of Christianity had almost disappeared, and with them the life and light which constitute the essence of true religion. The internal strength of the church was gone, and its lifeless and exhausted frame lay stretched over the Roman world.—D'Aubigné's History of the Reformation.

The Battle for God and Truth

By Editor

The battle for God and truth goes on. Let those who would reign with Jesus by and by in peace, suffer with him now, and array themselves on his side, which is the cause of truth and righteousness. The battle may be bitter, but the peace of Christ is precious. We have a foretaste of it now, in the midst of the turmoil. "What will it be to be there?" Only the overcomers will ever experience the reality.

Prerequisites to Understanding the Law.

By W. N. Glenn

To obey any law perfectly, it is first necessary to understand it. When one has learned the letter of a statute, he has not necessarily learned all the various ways in which its provisions may be violated. When men have any great worldly interest at stake, they spare no pains to inform themselves of all the legal requirements in any way touching that interest; and one would naturally suppose that those who claim to have an eternal inheritance in view, would manifest an equal desire to understand the law of God, which directly pertains to the promised possession. Surely the necessity for such an understanding is pressing at the present time; therefore it seems proper to note some necessary steps in this direction. Be it remembered that the commandments, though brief, are "exceeding broad" (Ps. 119: 96), and that through them we may be made wiser than our enemies (verse 98).
Although the law itself is framed in brief sentences and plain language, it has ever been the all-wise policy of its Author to employ teachers specially gifted and endued with his Spirit for the work of expounding its very comprehensive terms. It was the business of Aaron and his descendants, as also the Levites, to teach the law to the children of Israel. See Lev. 10: 8-11; Deut. 33: 8-10; and Ezra had a pulpit made in Jerusalem, and the people stood around him while he "read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." Neh. 8: 1-8. Eventually the Saviour, in person, assumed the duty of teaching the people, as it became necessary in order to divest the law of the traditions that had been thrown around it by a degenerate priesthood, and to portray its requirements in their original purity. Matt. 15: 3, 6; Mark 7: 5-13. He not only fulfilled the law in his own life (Matt. 5: 17), but he pronounced a special blessing upon all who should do and teach it (verse 19). Thus he magnified it and made it honorable, as Isaiah had prophesied he would. Isa. 42: 21. The apostles were teachers of the law, and established it through the preaching of faith. Rom. 3: 31. We have, then, the entire Scriptures as a result of the labors of those appointed of God to teach the word. And these Scriptures of truth were given, as Paul says, "for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (the commandments, Ps. 119: 172). But should the objector to the law urge that Christ and his apostles were sent to preach the gospel, his claim is freely admitted; and this is just wherein they magnified the law and made it honorable, for the necessity of the gospel of Christ arose out of the integrity of the law. It was the infallibility of the law which rendered an atonement necessary to satisfy its demands and save man from irretrievable loss.
Having found that inspired teachers are essential to the student of the law, notwithstanding its apparent plainness and brevity, it may be well to note some further qualifications on their part. Aaron and his sons were required to discern the "difference between holy and unholy, and between clean and unclean," and to this end they were to abstain from wine and strong drink. But we find a marked example in the case of Ezra. He obtained royal permission and assistance to come from Babylon to Jerusalem to teach the law to the people; and it is said of him that he "had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." Ezra 7: 10. Thus we find that so godly a man as Ezra deemed it not only a head work, but a heart work, to seek, as well as to teach, the law of God.
It will hardly be deemed a digression to note the utter ignorance of the Jewish teachers in the time of Christ regarding the gospel. When Jesus told Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God," this ruler of the Jews could not understand it. Here was a spiritual matter, and he could not comprehend it. Jesus wonderingly inquired, "Art thou a teacher in Israel, and knowest not these things?" It was not unreasonable to expect of the teachers of God's people that they should know the gospel; and why did they not understand it? Because they had lost sight of the spirituality of the law. Instead of teaching the people to praise God by obeying the law in all its spiritual purity, they had sought the praise themselves by utterly beclouding the law with their traditions. Matt. 15: 6; 23: 5; Luke 20: 46, 47. Had they, like Ezra, prepared their hearts, instead of their heads only, to seek and teach the law, they would have also been prepared to understand the gospel.
We learn from Paul's first letter to Timothy that an important qualification for teaching the law is a "good conscience," and "faith unfeigned," and that the teaching of such as swerve from these becomes mere "vain jangling." "Desiring to be teachers of the law," they understand "neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm." 1 Tim. 1: 5-7. Now if the qualifications herein set forth, which all spring from a preparation of heart, are essential in a teacher of the law, it follows that the same are necessary in the one who seeks to know the law. For certainly the student could not be expected to comprehend its requirements with any less assistance than would be necessary for the teacher's understanding. Then a preparation of heart is as essential in the learner as in the teacher.
On the point of preparation, however, it may be necessary to illustrate a little more practically. Let us turn again to the time of Ezra. When he came to Jerusalem and was about to begin his labors as teacher of the law, he discovered that the people were in a most deplorable condition morally. They had, from the rulers down, been intermarrying and otherwise mingling with the nations around them in forbidden alliances, until they were completely demoralized. The good man was greatly astonished and ashamed, and immediately humbled himself before the Lord in supplication for the people. They could not be taught the law while they were in such a lamentable condition. When the people saw his great humiliation and earnestness in their behalf, they began to gather around him, to realize their situation, and to make confession.
Then, before anything could be done in the way of enlightening the church, a regular course of practical separation from the world was instituted. There was a general agreement to put away the strange wives and other heathen abominations, and a committee was appointed to whom each individual should come to have his case inquired into, and have a decision as to what he should do. And this work of practical separation from the world, preparatory to being taught the law, occupied two full months. A detailed account of the transaction may be found in the ninth and tenth chapters of Ezra. We learn, then, from the Scriptures, God's great text-book, that a thorough preparation of heart is essential to a proper understanding of the law; and to this end there must be a complete separation from the world, and a determination to do his commandments. When the ear becomes dull of hearing the law, and the eye is closed to the proprieties of life, it is because the heart is waxed gross. Matt. 13: 15. In short, it may be set down as an axiom that ignorance is the result of wickedness. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." And it is a characteristic of the last days, that God will "send them strong delusion" who receive not the love of the truth, that they may be saved. 2 Thess. 2: 7-12. "Great peace have they which love thy law." Ps. 119: 165.
W. N. GLENN.

Willful Unbelief.

By E. Hilliard

We look back to the days of our Saviour and marvel at the unbelief that existed at that time when so many wonderful demonstrations of his power were manifested. Let us go to the grave of Lazarus. Around his sepulcher a large multitude had gathered. Jesus, the central figure of that age, stood beside the grave weeping. He shed not those tears in sympathy with Mary and Martha only, and because he loved Lazarus, but he looked down through the ages upon the countless line of tombs; he heard the sobbings, and saw the tears of the mourners; he saw millions of human forms crumbling back to dust; with this scene before him, he wept in sympathy with all who weep at the portals of the dead. More than all, he wept at the unbelief that he knew would hinder the sorrowing ones from receiving that help and comfort which he alone could give.
How careful he was to direct the minds of the people toward Heaven. After the stone was rolled away from the sepulcher, he raised his voice to his Father in prayer: "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me; and I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me." How his anxious heart ever yearned over the people whose minds were darkened by sin. How desirous he was of convincing them of that which would prove their highest interest. He knew that they must believe on him or perish. "For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we may be saved."
With what eager eyes they must have watched him to see if he could call back to life him who had already begun to decay. As his voice rolled out in thunder tones, "Lazarus come forth," it jarred upon the ear of the dead, and the sleeper arose. After he had performed this great miracle, did they all believe that he was the Messiah? No; the wicked Pharisees immediately held a council how they might destroy him. They said, "If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation." Their unbelief was willful. Their saying that "all men will believe on him," was an acknowledgment that such evidence as they had just witnessed was sufficient to produce belief in any reasonable mind.
When men reject such clear demonstrations of truth, they seem to be given over to the full control of Satan, and it is astonishing to see to what lengths in sin they will be impelled. Satan was the originator of sin and death. It is his work to get men into the tomb, and he is offended when they are taken out. These wicked Pharisees were actuated by him to lay plots not only to destroy Christ, but to kill Lazarus. They very well knew that as long as Lazarus lived he would be a living monument of Christ's Messiahship; hence their plot to place him again in the tomb. Willful unbelief may always be detected by the way in which it receives overwhelming evidence. Instead of accepting it joyfully, it will seek to remove the evidence. Then when this is done, or the unbelievers have shut their eyes to the proof, they will say, "I see nothing; if I could only see convincing evidence, I would believe; the Lord will never condemn a man for unbelief when he has no evidence." Such unbelief can have but one end. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soeth that shall he also reap."
E. HILLIARD.

Responsibility of Christian Liberty

REFERRING to the responsibility attached to Christian liberty, Rev. Phillips Brooks recently said to his congregation: "Strive that you may be worthy of your time. The thought that you are responsible for yourselves should lead you to control yourselves. God has given you your life to-day; therefore you ought to get close to him, that you may live in it."

The Sabbath-School.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

LESSON FOR THE PACIFIC COAST—NOV. 29.

  1. What do the afflictions of this life work for us? 2 Cor. 4:17.
  2. Under what conditions will they accomplish this result? Verse 18.
  3. By what means do we behold unseen things? Heb. 11:1.
  4. While looking (by faith) at unseen things, of what are we assured? 2 Cor. 5:1.
  5. What is meant by "our earthly house of this tabernacle" being dissolved? Compare 2 Pet. 1:13, 14 with John 21:18, 19.
  6. What does Paul say that we earnestly desire while in this earthly tabernacle? 2 Cor. 5:2.
  7. Why do we desire to be "clothed upon"? 2 Cor. 5:4.
  8. Then to what is being "clothed upon with our house which is from heaven" equivalent?
  9. What do these two "houses" represent? 1 Cor. 15:44.
  10. Which of these is first? 1 Cor. 15:46.
  11. When is the spiritual body bestowed? 1 Cor. 15:42-44.
  12. Whence does this spiritual body come? 1 Cor. 15:49.
  13. When is it that corruption puts on incorruption, and mortality puts on immortality? 1 Cor. 15:42, 51-53.
  14. Then when is it that mortality shall be "swallowed up of life"?
  15. And to what is this equivalent? 2 Cor. 5:4.
  16. Who hath wrought us for this thing? Verse 5.
  17. What is it for which God hath wrought us?
  18. As a pledge of immortality, what does he now give to us? Verse 5.
  19. If when this earthly house is dissolved, and we are "clothed upon" with our heavenly house, mortality is swallowed up of life, what opposite conditions do the two houses represent?
  20. Then in what condition are we while in this earthly body?
  21. And while "at home in the body," from whom are we absent? Verse 6.
  22. When is it that we shall be with the Lord? 1 Thess. 4:16, 17.
  23. And what do we "put on" at that time? 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 2 Cor. 5:2-4.
  24. Since death is the dissolving of this present body, and we are not "clothed upon" with our spiritual body till the resurrection, in what condition are we between death and the resurrection? 2 Cor. 5:4.
  25. Is that a desirable state?
  26. What do we desire rather than this? 2 Cor. 5:8.
  27. Quote three texts to prove that we can be "present with the Lord" only at his second coming.
IN the portion of Scripture covered by this lesson the apostle sets before us the ground of our hope. No matter what we may be called upon to suffer, we are to be of good courage, and trust in the Lord; for this is what is meant by 2 Cor. 4:16: "But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." In the next verse he tells us why he is thus hopeful: "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Surely if we believe this, we could, with the apostle, "glory in tribulation."
IT is not, however, for every one, nor under all circumstances, that afflictions accomplish this result. It is not to all that afflictions seem light. Each person is inclined to feel that his own trials are the most severe of any; but certainly there are none that have to endure more than Paul did. Now what was the means by which he lightened them? "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." And thus it is that everybody can make their own trials light or heavy, just as they please. If they choose to look only at the present time, and think of their trials, they will appear enormous; but if they look at eternal things—the world to come, and its joys—earthly sorrows will be entirely lost sight of. Who would not endure a moment of pain to secure a year's pleasure? If during an entire year we should suffer pain but a single second, would that instant of pain be remembered? Certainly not; it would not attract our attention. Well, a second of time is infinitely greater in comparison with a year, than a life-time is in comparison with eternity. So, then, if our entire life were filled with pain, it would not be remembered in eternity. Now in order to get the benefit of this comparison now, and make our present affliction seem light, we have only to transport ourselves, by faith, to the eternal world, looking so steadfastly at it that what it has to offer appears real to us. Christians are to live not alone in the present, but in the future—"for we walk by faith, not by sight."
BUT what is that unseen thing at which we look, that affords this hope? The first verse of chapter 5 gives the answer: "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." This verse gives the answer in full; the remaining verses are devoted to enlarging upon and explaining this point. The question to be solved, then, is, What are these two houses? and when are they occupied?
THERE can be no question but that by the dissolution of this tabernacle the apostle refers to death. Peter uses the same expression in referring to his decease. 2 Pet. 1:13-15. The fourth verse, being partially a repetition of verse 2, affords data for determining when the second house is bestowed. "For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." Thus we see that when we are clothed upon with our heavenly house, immortality is bestowed, or, still better, that the being "clothed upon with our house which is from heaven" is the same as the putting on of immortality. We have already learned (1 Cor. 15:51-54) that immortality is given only when the Lord comes; so we conclude that this heavenly house is not received at death. This will appear still more plainly hereafter.
BY referring to the 15th of 1 Corinthians, we find still more about these two "houses." In the forty-fourth verse we learn that there are two bodies, a natural body and a spiritual body. These bodies do not exist at the same time, but the first is the natural body, "and afterward that which is spiritual." Verse 46. Verse 49 tells us that this spiritual body is heavenly, thus more fully identifying it with "our house which is from heaven." And now from verses 42-44 we learn that this spiritual, heavenly body is given at the resurrection: "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." Thus we find that the two houses are the natural and the spiritual body; that the spiritual body is given at the resurrection, which is at the coming of the Lord; and that this receiving of the spiritual body, or "putting on immortality," is the same as mortality being "swallowed up of life."
BUT what about the state of death? What house do we occupy then? None at all. Our condition at that time is represented by the term "unclothed." While we are in this house—this mortal body—we groan, "earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven." In Rom. 8:23 Paul says that that for which we groan is "the redemption of our body," thus proving what we have already learned, that the heavenly house is the putting on of mortality. "If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." 2 Cor. 5:3. Now if this earthly house is dissolved at death—which none will deny—and the heavenly house is given only at the resurrection, it must be that there is a time of being unclothed. But this was not what Paul desired; it is not that for which we groan. Death is not given as the object of desire. We groan with the burden of mortality, not that we desire death to rid us of the cares of this life, but desiring that mortality shall be swallowed up of life. Because we do not desire to be thus unclothed, however, is no sign that that may not be our lot. But "we shall not all sleep," some will be living when the Lord comes, and they will change mortality for immortality "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye."
MORTALITY and immortality are then the two houses—the one earthly, and temporal; the other heavenly, and eternal. Now while we are in the first state we are absent from the Lord; for it is only when Christ comes, and immortality is bestowed, that we shall be "forever with the Lord." And since this is the case, we are not only willing to be absent from this mortal state, and be present with the Lord, but that is the thing for which we groan. Our confidence rests in the fact that God has created us for this self-same thing; he designs that we shall have immortality, and to assure us that it will be given, he has given unto us the earnest of his Spirit. So long as we have that, we are sure of our future, immortal inheritance. And our faith in God's promise brings that inheritance so near, and makes it so real, that, in spite of present tribulation, we may be always "rejoicing in hope."

NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.

By Alonzo T. Jones

NOVEMBER 23—PROVERBS 1: 1-16.
SOLOMON was a very voluminous writer. He spoke three thousand proverbs, and a thousand and five songs. He spoke of trees, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. From all his writings, however, we have preserved to us only the present book of Proverbs, containing about four hundred, one song of which seems to have been the chiefest of all (Song. 1: 1), and the short book of Ecclesiastes. It seems that from all the three thousand proverbs these were selected as being the best, "excluding all that were local, personal, or simply humorous," and retaining those only which fell in with the great moral and religious purpose of God in handing down his will to men. Here the child is taken, and, as it were, introduced to Wisdom herself in all her beauty, who, if he will allow her, takes him by the hand and leads him through the treacherous paths of youth to manhood, and to an old age which is itself a crown of glory because found in the way of righteousness. Chap. 16: 31. Here is instruction not only for the child and the youth, but for husband and wife, for father and mother, for the farmer, the merchant, the rich, the poor, the high, and the low. It is Wisdom's grand summary of instruction to the children of men.
THE purpose of the proverbs is stated in verses 1-4. "To know [give] wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion." "To give subtility"—acuteness, nicety of distinction, i. e., the ability to distinguish the true from the false, to know the good, and to detect the bad; to see the right, and to discover any lurking tendency toward wrong.
"To THE simple."—On this we give the following from Dr. Clarke: "The word simple, from simplex, compounded of sine, without, and plica, a fold, signifies properly, plain and honest, one who has no bye-ends in view; who is what he appears to be; . . . but because honesty and plain dealing are so rare in the world, and none but the truly religious man will practice them, farther than the fear of the law obliges him, hence simple has sunk into a state of progressive deterioration. First it signified, as above, without fold, unmixed, uncompounded; this was its radical meaning. Secondly, as applied to men, it signified innocent, harmless, without disguise. Thirdly, as such persons were rather an unfashionable sort of people, it sunk in its meaning to homely, homespun, mean, ordinary. And fourthly, as worldly men, . . . supposed that wisdom, wit, and understanding, were given to men that they might make the best of them in reference to the things of this life, the word sunk still lower in its meaning, and signified silly, foolish, and there, to the dishonor of our language and morals, it stands. . . . And simplicity, that meant at first openness, plain dealing, downright honesty, is now degraded to weakness, silliness, foolishness. And they will continue thus degraded till downright honesty and plain dealing get again into vogue." "To give subtilty to the simple" therefore signifies, to give, acuteness, tact, and nicety of distinction to the honest-hearted, the upright, the sincere.
"A WISE man will hear and will increase learning." Solomon has himself given us the meaning of wise as here used, "The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright." Prov. 15: 2. The right use of that which we have already learned not only creates a desire to learn more, but it imparts the ability to properly acquire and appreciate more. Such a man will indeed "increase learning;" he cannot help it; and every increase of such learning is an increase and strengthening of his wisdom. Wisdom therefore is not shown in the amount that we know, but in the right use of that which we know, however little it may be. "There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. . . . Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength. Wisdom is better than weapons of war."
"AND . . . shall attain unto wise counsels." Literally, shall make himself a pilot. The cognate word is used thus in Eze. 27: 8. That is he may gain "the power to steer his course rightly on the dangerous sea of life."
"THE fear of the Lord."—Not the slavish fear arising from dread of punishment. But that filial "fear" which springs from respectful reverence, and a fear to offend lest we cause pain to the one whom we have in view; that fears to do contrary to the wish of the one whom we serve, lest we disappoint his expectations of us and forfeit his confidence.
"Is THE beginning of knowledge."—The man who fears the Lord has entered upon a course of knowledge and wisdom, which is limited only by eternity. However little he may have acquired of knowledge, as the world goes, if he have the fear of the Lord, he has eternity before him, in which to increase knowledge. And though he have all the knowledge of all men of all the world, and have not the fear of the Lord, his little life is soon "rounded by a sleep," and all has ceased, all his knowledge is ended. For when he arises from the dead, it is to woeful destruction, and all that he was is brought to naught. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
"If sinners entice thee consent thou not."—Or, as Dr. Clarke gives it, "will thou not," that is have a "will not" for all forms of evil enticement. There is nothing that will strengthen and confirm us in our determination to do right, and at the same time weaken the seducer to wrong, like a firm, decided, "I will not." If one would entice you to take strong drink, meet it with, I will not. If they would entice you to chew or smoke tobacco, or to run with them as "ways that are dark and tricks that are vain," give them a plain, I will not. They may sneer at, and make fun of you, yet in their hearts they will respect and honor you. The Lord says, "Them that honor me I will honor." "If sinners entice thee, will thou not."
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