THE professed people of God in the days of Judah and Jerusalem passed through some varied and trying experiences. With the history of the Lord's mighty dealings before them in bringing them out of the land of their captivity, and in spite of the wonderful deliverances wrought for them, they forgot the Source of their strength, and turned to the worship of heathen idols and deities. Had they obeyed the Lord, he would have made them a beacon-light to all the nations of earth. It evidently was his purpose to send forth forever his law from Jerusalem, and make it the center of the world's evangelization. He says, through his prophet, that if his professed people had obeyed his voice, and refrained from polluting his Sabbath, the city would have stood forever. Jer. 17: 24, 25. But he further threatened that if this was not done, he would destroy the city of David, and carry away the people into captivity. The people forgot the Lord, and the woe pronounced was poured out. The city was besieged and laid waste. The wretched inhabitants were carried into bondage.7
It seems that in the captivity and in the eventful years following, they learned, though imperfectly, some severe lessons. It is natural for the mind of man, if not balanced by sanctified judgment, to go to extremes. And the man who takes one extreme to-day will quite likely be found advocating the opposite extreme to-morrow. Thus it was with the Jewish nation. From the laxity and looseness pervading their observance of the Lord's Sabbath under the life of their own government, they had swung in the days of Christ clear around to the other extreme, and had surrounded the Sabbath with such exacting requirements and superstitious mummery and self-righteous regard as to wrest it from the place appointed of God quite as much as when they pursued the opposite course.
In the observance of the Jewish ritual, the Lord's day had ceased to be a day of delight. Its requirements were burdensome and exacting. Christ, the world's Teacher, began his work. His efforts for reform were thorough and far-reaching. He found the day made and set apart by his own divine hand at the creation of the world, torn from its holy setting, and instead of fulfilling its holy purpose of lightening the burdens of men and bringing them joy and blessing, proving a curse in making the service of God distasteful and oppressive. Regardless of the opposition he would encounter from the rabbis, he did not hesitate to reform the practise of the people regarding Sabbath observance. By precept and example, by acts of charity and mercy, he proved that the Sabbath was designed as a boon to the human family, a day in which mankind should seek good and do good, a day for unloosing the bands of sin, undoing the heavy burdens, and letting the oppressed go free. The lame man, by the exercise of Christ's power on the Sabbath, was enabled to take up his bed and walk. The man with the withered hand on that same day felt new life and vigor coursing through the fibers of his disabled member.
The Jewish teachers stood aghast. In their misconception of the requirements of the law of God, they thought this course of action on the part of the Saviour was a violation of the divine precepts, and that it was a stroke made against God's sovereignty and authority. But the Saviour refutes this teaching. He shows them that the law of humanity implanted in their natures would lead them to loose an ox and lead it away to water, or to lift a sheep from the pit where it had fallen. And if the law of nature would lead them to do this, how much more would the demands of this same law lead them to go to the succor and relief of those made in the image of their Maker. And in conclusion he adds, "Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." See Matt. 12: 1-12.
Thus did he, the same as they, recognize the existence of the law of God in all its binding obligation, and teach that his observance of the Sabbath day, in making it a day of blessing, was in keeping with the truest and highest requirements of that law.
Even previous to this conflict with the Jewish teachers, in the memorable sermon given on the mount, Christ had declared emphatically the relation of his mission to the law of God, divining, doubtless, that there were in the multitude assembled on that occasion those who thought that his attack on Jewish customs and prejudices was antagonistic to the divine requirements. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. 5: 17, 18.
Thus Jesus Christ, the world's creator and redeemer, the man who spake as no other man spake, before nor since, the teacher of all divine truth, recognized the existence of the divine law, and the existence of the Sabbath commandment as a part of that law, and gave his own example and practise as a model of true and proper Sabbath observance.
Before closing this paper, we can not forbear contrasting the methods of Christ in his work of Sabbath reform with the methods of so-called Sabbath reformers of the present day. Christ sought no political alliances, invoked no aid of sword or spear, but depended alone on the power of truth and the work of the Holy Spirit.
In the work of false sabbath reform to-day the methods of Christ have been revised. The arm of the civil power is invoked. The power of the civil law is called into requisition. The policy is to compel men to do what the Spirit of God does not prompt, nor their desires lead them to perform. And instead of holding out the one true Sabbath to men as a sign of Christ in creation and redemption, a false sabbath, a usurper and counterfeit, is urged upon men's regard, and too often backed up by civil requirement.
Which is the true Sabbath, the one enjoined by Christ, or the one commanded by men? And which are the better methods, those employed by the great Teacher, or those prompted by worldly policy and political measures? "What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord."
Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy
The Hand of God in History — No. 16
Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy
The "Two Witnesses"
ONE of the outlines of prophecy covering the 1260 years of papal supremacy, deals particularly with the warfare of the evil one against the Holy Scriptures.
The great apostasy was a turning away from the Word of God to human tradition. The Scriptures bore constant witness to the departures from the truth. As the "man of sin" stood revealed, exactly answering to the description of the prophecy, it was only natural that the apostate church should seek to hide away from the common people this divine witness to its fallen character.
But, though for the allotted period the saints and times and law of the Most High fell under the persecuting and perverting power of the Papacy, the witness of the Holy Scriptures among the people could never be wholly silenced. The Lord Jesus had declared in the revelation to John concerning this period of papal supremacy: —
"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days [the 1260-year period], clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive-trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth." Rev. 11: 3, 4.
These two living witnesses to Christ are manifestly the Old and New Testaments. In the days of his first advent Christ said of the Old Testament witness: "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." John 5: 39. And now in apostolic days Inspiration had given the further witness of the New Testament. These are the two ever-living witnesses of Jesus. They are the olive-trees pouring forth the oil of divine grace; for the Scriptures are "the word of his grace." These are the two light-giving candlesticks; for the Holy Scriptures are the lamp unto the feet and the light unto the path.
In the further description of the two witnesses, additional features are given, identifying them with the word of the Lord spoken by inspiration through his prophets: —
"And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will." Verses 5, 6.
It was the word of the Lord, by his servants, that in old time shut the heavens from rain, turned water into blood, smote the earth with plague, and brought down the consuming fire. And that living word of God will assuredly in the last day speak the condemnation of all who fight against it. "He that rejecteth me," said Jesus, "and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." John 12: 48. Then shall "that wicked," the "man of sin," be consumed "with the spirit of his mouth" — the living word that is sharper than any two-edged sword.
With one voice the Holy Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, bore witness for the Lord Jesus and against apostasy all through the dark days of papal rule. Power was given to these two witnesses to endure. Their enemies could never destroy them; for they are "the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." 1 Peter 1: 23.
But they bore their testimony clothed in sackcloth, or mourning. Truth was being trodden underfoot. The Papacy was wearing out "the saints of the Most8High." Friends of the Bible were put to the torture and the death. Copies and portions of the Book itself were diligently sought out and burned.
The church council of Toulouse (southern France), held in the year 1229, forbade the people to possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in their own tongue. Inquisition was made for any portions of Scripture hidden in the homes of the people. But still the light was never quenched, nor the voices of the witnesses silenced. One frank old Inquisitor, Reinerius, has told how the Waldensian, or Vaudois, missionaries carried the treasure of the blessed Word to the people when it meant death to the missionary if caught by agents of the Inquisition. He says: —
"The heretics cunningly devise how they may insinuate themselves into the familiarity of the noble and the great; and this they do in manner following: They exhibit for sale, to the lords and ladies, rings and robes, and other wares which are likely to be acceptable. When they have sold them, if asked whether they have any more goods for sale, one of these traveling pedlers will answer: I have a jewel far more precious than these, which I will readily give you, if you will secure me against being betrayed to the priests. The security being pledged, the heretic then proceeds to say: I possess a brilliant gem from God himself; for through it man comes to the knowledge of God; and I have another, which casts out so ruddy a heat that it forthwith kindles the love of God in the heart of the owner. In like manner proceeds he to speak of all his other metaphorical gems. Then he recites a chapter from Scripture or from some part of our Lord’s discourses."
The reader will recognize in this account the basis of Whittier’s poem of the "Vaudois Teacher." A few of the poet’s lines we must quote alongside these of the ill-natured Inquisitor. After the pilgrim trader from the Alpine valleys has effected a sale to the lady of the castle, he says: —
" 'O lady fair, I have yet a gem which a purer luster flings
Than the diamond flash of the jeweled crown on the lofty brow of kings,—
A wonderful pearl of exceeding price, whose virtue shall not decay,
Whose light shall be as a spell to thee and a blessing on thy way!'
'The lady glanced at the mirroring steel where her form of grace was seen,
Where her eye shone clear, and her dark locks waved their clasping pearls between;
'Bring forth thy pearl of exceeding worth, thou traveler gray and old,
And name the price of thy precious gem, and my page shall count thy gold.'
'The cloud went off from the pilgrim's brow, as a small and meager book,
Unchased with gold or gem of cost, from his folding robe he took.
'Here, lady fair, is the pearl of price, may it prove as such to thee!
Nay—keep thy gold—I ask it not, for the Word of God is free.'"
Sometimes the very paper leaves of the Holy Book seemed instinct with life, as providentially the printed page was guided here and there to bear the witness. We are told how, in the days of Bible burning in Hungary, a zealous count gathered out of his estate all the Bibles and Scripture portions to be found. They were heaped up in a pile in his courtyard, while he sat in state to watch the flames consume the precious volumes.
As the fire leaped upward, a gust of wind swept in and caught up one of the curling leaves, dropping it, with edges blackened and scorched, into the count’s lap. As he looked down upon it, his eyes read the words, —
"For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth forever."
Startled and dismayed by the accusing voice from heaven at such a moment, he rose from his chair and forsook the courtyard.
W. A. S.
(To be concluded)
Unwilling to Be Warned
By C. M. S.
THE backslidden church behaves much like the backslidden individual. It prefers to stay where it is. The Lord, speaking through Jeremiah, says even of Babylon: “We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed.” She did not wish to be healed. She did not realize that she had been wounded unto death. She preferred to go on in the way of her own carnal desires. So the Lord was compelled to abandon her.
Just so it will be with the “daughters of Babylon” in the last days—the creed-bound, world-loving churches. The Lord will be compelled to leave them to their own ruin, even as he was compelled to leave the great mother in ages past. Occasionally one of the Lord’s servants speaks out in warning. A few may hear; but the pleasure-loving throng press on, and not infrequently they seek to hush the voice that sought to warn them.
An instance of this kind is witnessed in the setting aside of Bishop Foster, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He did not take a roseate view of the spiritual conditions in that church body, and in the hope of bringing the church-members to a sense of their true condition, he published a warning in one of the organs of the denomination. There is food for thought in what the bishop said to his fellow church-members; and the fact that he was set aside when he had uttered his warning, makes the hopelessness of the condition all the more apparent. He said:—
“The church of God is to-day courting the world. Its members are trying to bring it down to the level of the ungodly. The ball, the theater, nude and lewd art, social luxuries, with all their loose moralities, are making inroads into the sacred enclosure of the church; and as a satisfaction for all this worldliness, Christians are making a great deal of Lent and Easter and Good Friday and church ornamentation. It is the old trick of Satan. The Jewish church struck on that rock, the Romish Church was wrecked on the same, and the Protestant church is fast reaching the same doom.
“Our great dangers, as we see them, are assimilation to the world, neglect of the poor, substitution of the form for the fact of godliness, abandonment of discipline, a hireling ministry, an impure gospel, which, summed up, is a fashionable church. That Methodists should be liable to such an outcome, and that there should be signs of it a hundred years from the “sail-loft,” seems almost the miracle of history; but who that looks about him to-day can fail to see the fact? . . .
“Formerly every Methodist attended class, and gave testimony of experimental religion. Now the class-meeting is attended by very few, and is, in many churches, abandoned. Seldom the stewards, trustees, and leaders of the church attend class. Formerly nearly every Methodist prayed, testified, or exhorted in prayer-meeting. Now but very few are heard. . . . Worldly socials, fairs, festivals, concerts, and such like, have taken the place of the religious gatherings, revival meetings, class- and prayer-meetings of earlier days.
“How true that the Methodist discipline is a dead letter! Its rules forbid the wearing of gold or pearls or costly array; yet no one ever thinks of disciplining its members for violating them. They forbid the reading of such books and the taking of such diversions as do not minister to godliness, yet the church itself goes to shows and frolics and festivals and fairs, which destroy the spiritual life of the young as well as of the old. The extent to which this is now carried on is appalling. The spiritual death it carries in its train will be known only when the millions it has swept into hell stand before the judgment.”
Now, this bishop’s statement of conditions in his own church is just as true of the other large church bodies in general. It is the real condition of the great church world to-day—a form of godliness with the power lacking, and the zeal and love that once were so evident now waxing cold, while the easy professor turns to pleasures and pursuits of his own liking. Seeing the conditions as they exist now, and knowing that they are divinely foreshown as indications of the last days, how can the child of God turn to the allurements of the world, and refuse to believe that the coming of our Saviour draws nigh? We must heed the warnings, we must press the battle to the gates, we must divest ourselves of every clog of selfishness, every tie that would bind us to the service of the world.
“The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”
The Midsummer Offering
By A. G. Daniells
Another Opportunity to Advance Our Cause
THE most important and the most precious thing in the world to-day is God's message for to-day. That is the third angel's message of Revelation 14.
The greatest gift, the greatest blessing, that can come to any one to-day is a saving knowledge of the third angel's message. Those who receive it are brought under great obligations to God and humanity.
This is the view that was taken by the pioneers of the cause set on foot by this threefold message. They reckoned themselves debtors to all men. They abandoned the pleasures and riches of the world, and addressed themselves to the one great task of making the message known to all the world.
Their view was right, and it must still dominate this people. The supreme question of the hour is the proclamation of the third angel's message to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.
When the pioneers began this work, they scarcely realized the proportions to which it would grow. It is one thing to read that the message must be given to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, and quite another actually to give it. To give it means the consecration of life and possessions to the service of God. To give the message means sacrifice and toil. There is no other way.
The knowledge we have of this message makes us debtors to our fellow men who know it not. "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." 1 Peter 4:10. One way of ministering this blessed gift to others is by giving our means to the cause of missions. This is as practical, effective, and acceptable a ministry, in its way and as far as required, as any that can be performed. The apostolic church recognized this when they laid down all that they had at the apostles' feet for distribution to others.
The consecration, the sacrifice, the toil, must be continuous and expansive. Not until the work is finished may our labor and gifts cease. And until it is finished, our service and gifts must enlarge. The work started in a little corner is to expand until it encircles the earth. Hence every step taken prepares the way for another. Every missionary sent abroad is a sure token that two more will be called for. Every dollar given to missions is a signal for five more. This must be so in the very nature of things, and it is true in our experience. To change this would be to destroy the movement with which we are connected.
Our usual midsummer offering is to be taken this year on Sabbath, July 27. All that is given by each church in this offering is applied on the Fifteen-cent-a-week Fund. A great effort is now being made by all the conferences to raise the full amount of fifteen cents a week for each church-member.
A large offering is greatly desired by all the conferences, and also by the missionaries in the foreign fields, so that we may have the means required to answer the pressing calls for more help. So once more we ask for a liberal offering.
A. G. DANIELLS.
Note and Comment
By Editor
Rome's Publicity Campaign
IN the active propaganda upon which the Roman Catholic Church has now entered, no agency will be left unused that will contribute to the accomplishment of her purpose. One of the latest methods she is employing, and that, too, with far-reaching and rapidly accelerating success, is that of the Publicity Bureau. Speaking of the purpose of this bureau and the work which it seeks to do, the editor of the Christian Herald, of June 12, says:—
It is organized and controlled in the interest of the Roman Catholic Church, and it sends out regularly a service of considerable volume to a large number of publications, mainly secular newspapers. Its work is skilfully done so that it may not give offense to the general public, and that their suspicions may not be awakened to the real purpose. It is a well-planned campaign for the education of the American people in the religion of Rome. This is a wholly new line of tactics in the great campaign which Rome is now conducting with the ultimate object of securing religious and political ascendancy in the United States.
Of the great advantage the Roman Catholic Church has in its fight for supremacy, as compared with Protestantism, and of its far-seeing policy, the Herald continues:—
Protestantism has its struggling factions and its rival denominations, with their varying and ofttimes conflicting interests, while the Roman Church has the tremendous advantage of solidarity, the whole body working as a unit for a single purpose. Moreover, Rome plans its campaigns not to last for a week or a month, but to extend over a period of years. It is willing to plod patiently and persistently, knowing that in the end the constant attrition will smooth down opposition and bring about the desired result.
Of the methods that the church employs in advancing its claims, the editor states:—
First, it means to familiarize the millions of American non-Catholic readers with its version of contemporary history from the Roman point of view; next, to impress them with the power and dignity of the princes of the church, who, it has openly claimed, are entitled to outrank all save sovereigns. It presents in deferential yet positive phrases the ancient claim of Rome's priority and spiritual supremacy. It gets the average mind accustomed to reading the descriptions of gorgeous ceremonials, of impressive masses, and of the pomp and splendor of the church in America; and thus it is steadily sowing in the minds of old and young the seed which is trusted to bring a harvest of popular toleration and appreciation. It hopes in time to bring our people to the point of accepting the idea of an American pontiff.
The Herald raises the question as to what plans the great Protestant churches of America have to counteract this new agency. It wonders how the Men and Religion Forward Movement proposes to meet the situation. It believes the time has come that "American Protestantism must unite its forces, and its denominations must stand shoulder to shoulder, if it means to maintain its integrity and retain its hold upon the faith, the confidence, and the support of the people." It concludes its strong arraignment of this great religious menace as follows:—
Neither the creed of Rome nor the personality of its leaders is now in question. It is the Romanist campaign for political and religious supremacy in the nation that must be considered as a whole. That there are many Catholics who take little or no interest in such a plan, and who may even mildly disapprove, is not to the point. The plan exists; it is already working; and it will continue to work practically without opposition, until Protestantism is awakened to the seriousness of the situation.
The Spirit of Rome
SPEAKING of the spirit which characterizes the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran of July 4 says:—
The Roman Church does not change. In fact, she can not change any more than can the leopard remove his spots. That Rome is "interested" in politics and watching with jealous eye the trend of political events, the following quotation from the Catholic World of New York bears ample evidence. This authoritative voice of Romanism says: "The Roman Catholic is to wield his vote for the purpose of securing Catholic ascendancy in this country. All legislation must be governed by the will of God unerringly indicated by the Pope. Education must be controlled by the Catholic authorities, and under education the opinions of the individual and the utterances of the press are included. Many opinions are to be forbidden by the secular arm, under the authority of the church, even to war and bloodshed."
As proof of the love(?) of Rome for the Protestant church, we quote an editorial utterance of Father Phelan, clipped from the Western Watchman. He says: "We would like to rack and quarter Protestantism; we would like to empale it and hang it up for crows to build nests of; we would like to tear it with pinchers, and pierce it with red-hot irons; we would like to fill it with molten lead, and plunge it into hell-fire a hundred fathoms deep."
Rome seeks temporal power. She will not be overscrupulous as to the means she employs to secure it.
A Tour in the Country of the Indus
By P. C. Poley
P. C. POLEY
INDIA has shared in the impulse given in recent years to the circulation of our literature. The influence of the printed page, like a stream of widening light, is destined to extend, and to become one of the strongest factors in the work of giving to these unwarned millions a knowledge of this message.
On my last tour, I visited several cities lying along the course of the river Indus. Karachi, situated at its mouth, is a large seaport, having a wheat export trade second to no other in the Old World. Here the canvasser finds himself in the daily heart-beat of a large city, its strong pulsation of humanity being the more interesting to the observer because various races are represented, distinguishable by features and dress. In such a city our books are surely needed to reveal the Creator's claims on those in danger of making a god of the ruling passion of gain.
There are a large number of Goans at this place, a people of Portuguese descent, who as a class are well educated; but they are of the Roman Catholic persuasion. Many of them hold clerkships in the mercantile offices of Karachi. Some are willing to buy our literature, although this is disapproved by the priests. Their unassuming kindness and instinctive courtesy do much to smooth the path of the canvasser. Recently they have built a number of picturesque little bungalows, to form a colony, in one of the suburbs of Karachi, where they are afforded purer air than in their former congested city quarters. The move is favorable for an evangelistic effort among them.
Once, in passing through their location in the cool of evening, I became interested in a juvenile party in progress on an open piece of ground. Here were well-dressed children, happy and pleasant-faced, much like those one would see now in western Europe, whence their ancestors came long ago. A jovial-looking priest and a number of adult members of the community were present, who found pleasure in watching the happiness of the bright-eyed younger folk; but one who could view the scene with the eyes of the Master, would be moved by the thought that they were sheep without a true shepherd. There are many things in India which act as incentives to the missionary canvasser to be faithful in ministering the bread of life.
ROHRI CITY, CANTILEVER BRIDGE, AND THE RIVER INDUS
I labored for a few weeks at Karachi in the latter part of the summer of 1911. The climate is mild all the year, and there is not that migration of Europeans to the hill stations which residents in the hotter plains of the interior are so used to.
Another city visited was Sakkar. The European portion is built on an eminence, having a commanding view of the river at one of its most beautiful points. A lively aspect is imparted to the scene by the interesting type of native craft which plys the waters. Opposite Sakkar is the city of Rohri, on the left bank. The island of Bakkur, almost in midstream, served the engineers in the construction of two bridges. The larger of the two is a steel cantilever bridge, spanning the waters between Bakkur and Rohri. These facilitated my crossing over on several occasions to canvass on the Rohri side.
I shall not soon forget my impressions when I viewed the mighty Indus. I thought of Alexander the Great, who led his army to its banks hundreds of years ago. I felt it a privilege to be a soldier in the army of Christ, carrying its victories to this point and beyond.
Some of these Indian people bear more than the Christian name, and adorn their profession with simplicity of demeanor in imitation of Christ. One is led to pray that these shall not be found wanting when the great test comes which is to reveal the true worshipers of God.
