ON the canvas of a physical world, the Master Painter has touched into a radiant vision of beauteous glory the revelation of His holiness, His forbearance, and His care. By the dusty roadside, beauty smiles up at us from the face of the humble weeds, whose flowerets, closely viewed, ravish us with wonderment and awe. Over the arid desert arch skies of unwonted purity, where gorgeous sunsets and star-spangled heavens vie with each other in entrancing the reverent soul. A mere mite of diatomaceous earth peeps up at us through the microscope, revealing a world of beauty, startling our imagination, and baffling our wisdom.
THE PLEDGE OF GLORIOUS PERFECTION
The sunlight of the arctic flames in the icy caverns of the mighty glacier, to shame the magnificence of kingly palaces; and the turquoise blue of their cold crystals warms the heart with their deep appeal.
The sunshine of the tropics irradiates in wondrous splendor from the iridescent plumage of brilliant birds; and huge flowers, orange and scarlet, flash in contrast with the vivid greens of their luxuriant foliage.
The rolling, plumy clouds have for us uncounted thoughts of beauty as we look up through the airy aisles of angelic chapels into "the shekinah of the blue."
Even that which has been cursed and degraded by sin, still manifests some token of beauty, some hope of the attainment of perfection. On the thorn bush blooms a profusion of beautiful blossoms, and in the sweetbrier's perfume we breathe ourselves into an unconsciousness of briars that disturb and annoy.
Beauty in the world is but the shining there of the brooding love of God. It is God's pledge that where beauty now rests shall some day be seen the full reflection of the Creator's glorious perfection. Beauty is an earnest of the glories yet to be. It is a promissory note from God that on some glad to-morrow the world shall be all beautiful and glorious forevermore. We receive here a portion of beauty to prepare us for the effulgent glories of the coming kingdom of the eternal world.
God gives us beauty as we toil at our tasks, to illuminate life with thoughts of His love and care, that we may not be so bound down with a sense of duty as to lose the sense of beauty.
SWEETNESS OUT OF TRIAL AND TOIL
The earth is cursed with sin — we doubt it not. In dust and grime, in sweat and blood, in pain and sorrow, in sickness and death, in darkness and gloom, in cold and storm, in calamity and crime, in ruin and degradation, we read the unchanging mandate, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake."
"Cursed!" A hard word that, disheartening and abhorrent; but even so, it is for our sakes that the earth is cursed — not to dishearten and degrade, but to discourage sin, and educate to righteousness. All the sad, unpleasing things of life are ordained for our betterment, if we will but have it so. Even the thorns and the thistles, the difficulties and trials of life, are appointed for our good. All work for us "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" when we accept in resignation these appointments of His love.
There are thorns upon the roses, but the roses are not thereby hindered from being most beautiful. In spite of thorns, they bud and bloom to full perfection, and throw their fragrance without stint upon the summer air. They teach us that the sweetest things of life come out of the greatest trials and difficulties. They teach us that the rarest, sweetest characters are the products and triumphs of the life of trial and toil.
They are but living samples of that ever mysterious working by which Golgotha, the place of death, became Calvary, the place of life; by means of which the rock-hewn sepulcher was but the gate to immortality. They speak to us ever — these roses from amidst the thorns — of that love which has ordained for us "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," that God may ever be glorified through a power by means of which "He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself."
CAME NOT BY CHANCE
And if perchance we should miss this message of the beauty of God's holiness mirrored for us in the world about us — if we miss the message in the clouds and in the rain, in the springing grass and the radiant flowers, in the care-free song of the birds and the soft sighing of the summer breeze — we may not mistake the message revealed for us in the life of the Son of God, a message brought to us from the far-away land — the message of the nearness after all, and the goodness beyond all, of a yearning Father, and His tender love and care for the children of men.
As borne to us by the radiant angels over the glory-lighted hills of Judea, we know that the message of heaven to earth is one of "peace" and "good will."
God is the fountain from which all beauty and glory and love and tenderness flow. The beauty of the wayside weeds did not originate in themselves. The matchless splendor of the skies did not come into being of itself. The throbbing of love in the breast of a bird, and the thankful warblings of its joyous heart, did not spring spontaneously out of its little life.
The beautiful painting, breathing, in color and form, the nobility of its art, is not a work of chance; it is the wonderful product of a marvelous genius, brought to its excellence only after years of painstaking labor and purposeful toil. And as truly, the beauty of the world is the direct result of God's purpose and thought for us.
GARNISHED THE UNINHABITED PLACES WITH BEAUTY
Men have come upon beauty in strange and unexpected places. They have for the first time looked through the microscope, and been startled by the vision that through all the ages had been hidden from the eye of man. They have sounded the fathoms of the ocean, and come upon splendors and glories that for all the centuries had not been seen or imagined. Men have paced the trackless wilderness, where human foot had before not touched, to find there beauties beyond the appreciation of human heart.
Thinking then truly, man sees that beauty is not merely a message to man, but the manifestation of the Creator's life and character. As a painter delights to picture his conceptions of beauty and nobility, so God delights to make the works of His hands transcendently glorious.
As He loves beauty, He has sown the uninhabited places of earth with a rich profusion of plants and flowers. In the Alpine valley of the Andes He has lavishly strewn the gorgeous blossoms of rare and varied orchids, and even along the296ridges of almost inaccessible mountains; and in the deep caverns of earth and sea He has dropped, with rich bounty, rare and priceless gems. He has shown His matchless grace by perfect forms and ravishing colors in soundless deeps of the ocean, by splendid sunsets over unvisited seas, by enthralling landscapes in savage wilds, and brilliant auroras of unearthly radiance around the untrodden pole.
APPROACHING THE WORLD OF SPIRIT
God is the same. Whether known or understood or appreciated, He is nevertheless the same. He is a lover of the intrinsically beautiful. Whether other eye ever shall see or other heart appreciate, He has made all things beautiful in their times.
And so the beauty of the unseen places of earth lights up the beauty of the unseen God of heaven, bearing witness to the constancy of His character, and the tender faithfulness of His love toward all that He has created.
For manifestly this beauty is as intentional, as directly purposed, as the beauty of the artist's creation. The beauty of the world is not accidental. Beauty is merely the material world approaching, through the will of God, as nearly as is possible, the world of mind and spirit; and the purpose of this approach is for the feeding of the souls of men. How varied, too, is this approach!
Before we could have lumber and wood, we had beautiful forests, giant trees, witcheries of festoon, dancings of light and shade. Before the linen was woven into the cloth, there were the perfect blue flowers of the flax, and its charming linear leaves. The corn grows in the field with the poppies and the wild verbenas, the ivy-leaved morning-glory climbs its stalks, and the mint perfumes its roots. In the grass bloom the daisies and the clover, the buttercups and the violets. And before the fruit of summer and autumn, there came in the springtime the clouds of blossoms and their swinging censers of perfume.
All these things teach us that labor and use are not ends, but means. The peas and the beans may feed our bodies, but their butterfly blossoms feed our souls.
Shall we fail to grasp the logic of this array of beauty? Does it not say that since God has provided the seemingly unnecessary and superfluous things, He will also provide the necessary and the soulful things?
THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS
The blossom is the promise. It says to us, "If God provides me, a seemingly unnecessary thing, will He not provide after me the food seed, the necessary thing?"
When we see a home set around with beautiful flowers, trees, and all elements of beauty, we know that the owners are not so poor but that they can spend enough time to make home beautiful. Thus in the lavish beauty in the world displayed, we read the infinite wealth of God. We receive the message, "If God can do all this which merely gives pleasure and delight, will He not do all that we really need and long for?"
Man is not to live by bread alone, but by every thought of God. If man's life does not partake of the higher things, it will be but a partial and impoverished life.
But the beauty which God displays is not merely an outward shining. It is the manifestation of a beautiful character. In the Bible, it is called "the beauty of holiness." Beauty, glory, is but the visible outflow of God's character, which first of all and most important of all is "all glorious within."
It is this beauty, the beauty of holiness, that we should love and live. It is this beauty, the beauty of holiness, that shines as a partial manifestation from the physical world. And it is this beauty, the beauty of character, that we should seek to put upon and within mankind.
In the life of Christ, the beauty of God's holiness shines forth undimmed, though veiled in sinful flesh.
It is well for us to read the message of beauty in the clouds and in the rain, in the bursting forth of vegetation, and the vocal melody of the birds. All, however, are but whispers of a harmony that, full rounded, swells into the chorus anthem of the Christ life, declaring that God is love.
CENSORING OUR FREE PRESS
By L. E. F.
A Deeply Significant Undercurrent of Feeling Coming to the Surface
DURING the present session of Congress, there have been three bills introduced that, should they become law, would place in the hands of the postmaster-general alone the power to censor the American press. One of these bills was introduced by Mr. Isaac Siegel, of New York, and is known as House Bill No. 491. It reads as follows:
THREE DANGEROUS BILLS
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever a complaint in writing shall be filed with the postmaster-general that any publication making use of or being sent through the mails contains any article therein which tends to expose any race, creed, or religion to either hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy, he shall forthwith cause an investigation to be made under his direction, and shall within twenty days after receipt of such complaint, if the facts contained therein are true, make an order forbidding the further use of the mails to any such publication; but nothing herein contained shall be deemed to prevent the postmaster-general from restoring such use of the mails to any such publication whenever it shall be established to his satisfaction that the publication has ceased to print or publish such prohibited matter, and given him satisfactory assurances in writing that there will be no further repetition of the same."
Another of the bills, introduced by Mr. John J. Fitzgerald, also of New York, reads as follows:
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever it shall be established to the satisfaction of the postmaster-general that any person is engaged, or represents himself as engaged, in the business of publishing any obscene or immoral books, pamphlets, pictures, prints, engravings, lithographs, photographs, or other publications, matter, or thing of an indecent, immoral, scurrilous character, and if such person shall, in the opinion of the postmaster-general, endeavor to use the post office for the promotion of such business, it is hereby declared that no letter, packet, parcel, newspaper, book, or other thing sent or sought to be sent through the post office by or on behalf of or to or on behalf of such person shall be deemed mailable matter, and the postmaster-general shall make the necessary rules and regulations to exclude such nonmailable matter from the mails."
On March 27, the latest of these bills was introduced by the Hon. James A. Gallivan, of Massachusetts, and is entitled "A Bill (H. R. 13,778) Authorizing the Postmaster-General to Exclude from the Mails Certain Publications," and reads as follows:
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the postmaster-general shall make the necessary rules and regulations to exclude from the mails those publications the avowed and deliberate purpose of which is to attack a recognized religion held by the citizens of the United States or any religious order to which citizens of the United States belong."
The first one of these bills gives the postmaster-general the power, "whenever a complaint in writing shall be filed," to exclude from the mails any publication with "any article therein which tends to expose any race, creed, or religion to either hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy." It should be borne in mind, in considering measures of this kind, that false religions are the only ones that ever seek to enforce their doctrines and notions by civil law. There is only one apparent exception to this rule, and that is that perversions of the true religion of Jesus Christ have also sought for the same thing. But these perversions of the true religion of Christ would also come under the name of false religions; so, in reality, there is no exception to the rule.
It should also be remembered that not only Catholics, but Protestants as well, have secured the control of the civil power in many instances, and have persecuted, even to the death. Because a man is a Catholic, it does not necessarily follow that he will persecute; and because a man is a Protestant, neither does it follow that he will refrain from persecuting. But the false conception of the religion of Jesus Christ, in either a Protestant or a Catholic, will lead him to violate the great teaching of the Master, and turn persecutor.
The Master said, when He was here: "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another." Matt. 24: 9, 10.
TRUE CHRISTIANS WILL BE PERSECUTED
On another occasion, we find the Master saying: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them and the gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." Matt. 10: 16-22.
The Bible is full of assertions that the follower of Christ will have persecution, that he will come under the oppression of men who would misuse the civil power; but nowhere do we find the follower of Christ authorized to join in forming combinations or federations that would enable him to control the civil power and seek to suppress those who might differ from him. Christ says to His followers: "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." John 16: 2.
UNLIMITED ONE-MAN POWER
The religion of the individual should be more highly cherished than any other treasure on earth; but to have some one merely speak against that religion does not hurt it in the least. To place in the hands of one man, the postmaster-general, a power that would permit him to say what men should publish, is a thing that is attended by so many dangers that whether we be Jew or gentile, Catholic or Protestant, we ought to rise up against it.298
The measure introduced by Mr. Fitzgerald, allowing the postmaster-general to exclude from the mails "obscene or immoral books, pamphlets, pictures, prints, engravings, lithographs, photographs, or other publications, matter, or thing of an indecent, immoral, scurrilous character," is dangerous not because it would exclude indecent and immoral publications from the mails, but because it places so much power in the hands of one man.
The United States is already abundantly provided with laws against the circulation, through the mails, of indecent and obscene publications. A measure of the character of this Fitzgerald bill has something back of it that is more far-reaching than the mere closing of the United States mails against what everybody would recognize as immoral literature. What is really designed is to get a central power in Washington that can be persuaded that publications are both "immoral" and "scurrilous" if they undertake to show that certain religions are out of harmony with the Bible.
TOO PROFOUND FOR HUMAN LAWS
Mr. Gallivan’s bill would exclude from the mails all publications that "attack a recognized religion held by the citizens of the United States or any religious order to which citizens of the United States belong." Why ask for such a law? Christ, as abundantly shown in the scriptures already quoted herein — and many like texts could be added — forewarned His followers that they would meet persecution, that they would be spoken against; but nowhere does He instruct them that they are to seek to get laws that would compel others to yield to their views. The religion of Jesus Christ is too deep and profound ever to be touched by human law.
The word of God is living, active, and "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Heb. 4: 12, 13.
It is the living word of the living God which can discern "the thoughts and intents of the heart." It alone is able to come into the life of the individual, and give him a religion and a Christian experience that will pass the test at the bar of God. No forbiddings of the state, in the way of prohibitive laws, can keep this religion from him; but such laws may be the means of persecuting and afflicting him. The true followers of Christ, in whatever ranks they are found, whether they may be marching under the banners of nominal Protestantism, or whether they may be looking to the triple crown in the city of Rome, must recognize these living principles of the living God.
We must recognize the great fact that there is no "creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do," and our consciences must be made conformable to His will, and we must recognize Him as our leader, and trust in His power and guidance, and not depend upon the broken reeds of the laws that men may make.
THE PRICE OF LIBERTY
The people of this nation have been educated to believe that freedom to speak and to publish our views through the press constitutes one of the chief foundation stones of liberty. Whenever or wherever people have been deprived of these God-given rights and privileges, despotism and tyranny have invariably been manifested. The only way that the liberty and freedom of acting and doing can be preserved is by allowing freedom of thought and of expression on the platform and through the press.
It would seem that these fundamental principles of liberty had been so well established in our nation that it ought never to be necessary to consider them as debatable questions; but, as one of our greatest American statesmen one time said, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." If we would maintain our liberties, we must be on the alert to protect and to defend them. We must ever be awake to the fact that the
liberty we possess to-day may not be ours to-morrow, unless we keep the great altar fires of freedom continually alive.
It is a well-known and recognized fact that history is ever seeking to repeat itself. The conditions of to-day, the sentiments and the feelings of the people, are very much as they have always been throughout the history of the world; and when the feelings and sentiments of humanity get into wrong channels, we have always had tyrannies, oppressions, debaucheries, and everything that goes along with degradation. Then strong men have had to arise and sacrifice themselves to turn the course of history into the channels of freedom and liberty again. Is the pendulum swinging backward? Is the race seeking to make again some of the experiments of the Middle Ages that gave us despotisms in both church and state which every enlightened person recognizes as intolerable?
WORLD-EMBRACING RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM
Such bills as are quoted in the foregoing paragraphs would not be introduced in the United States Congress unless there was a sufficient sentiment back of them to warrant men in introducing them. It is scarcely ever the case that such measures come to the surface unless there is a deep undercurrent of feeling to push them out and to the front. And well may we raise the question, Are we to have another religious despotism in this twentieth century that will be world-embracing?
Those who are carefully following their Bibles, and believe the divine truth of that sacred Word, will readily call to mind that the great "beast" persecuting power of the Apocalypse is represented as having received a deadly wound; but "his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" Rev. 13: 3, 4.
The latter part of this thirteenth chapter of Revelation represents a great power coming into action right at the close of time, that gives this "beast" with the "deadly wound" its support, and the whole world is drawn under the delusions of its miracle-working despotism. These prophecies should be studied as never before in the world’s history; for not only in the book of Revelation, but elsewhere in the prophecies of the Bible, do we find the facts brought out that the history of the Middle Ages and of all former persecuting times will be repeated, and that, too, in the face of the great enlightenment that men have thought would be a protection against it.
TIME FOR VIGOROUS ACTION
These same men thought that our enlightenment and civilization would protect us against war; but how the bloody scenes of Europe and of Asia ought to dispel that delusion! And how such things ought also to dispel this other delusion,—that our civilization cannot be drawn into the place where it will persecute and seek to tyrannize over men’s consciences!
The unregenerate humanity of to-day is just like the unregenerate humanity of the Middle Ages, and we need to be on our guard. Liberty-loving people, regardless of creed, in every part of this nation, ought to feel it incumbent upon them to write earnest letters of protest to the congressmen from their respective districts, against the passage of any such measures as the three bills quoted herein. And not only should these letters be written, but petitions should be circulated and sent to Congress, uttering our protests, so that we may prolong our tranquillities of religious freedom as long as possible.
The magazine Liberty, Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C., has prepared a special number devoted to the first two of these bills, and giving a form of petition that should be circulated against them. Get some of the petitions, and circulate them vigorously and earnestly throughout your neighborhood. The social and the political unrest of this time, perplexities into which men are plunged because of these things, are favorable to the introduction of a religious despotism as the only thing humanity can see that will be able to cope with the situation. But the infinite God of heaven is the One alone who is equal to the great tasks of to-day. We should be careful to know that we are standing under His banner, and not trusting in the crumbling strength of human weakness.11
A SPIRIT OF INQUIRY
AN editorial in the San Jose Mercury says: "A few years ago, New York undertook to drive the multitude of clairvoyants out of the city, by passing severe restrictions and imposing high license fees; but it resulted only in the few remaining, greatly increasing their business and amassing tremendous fortunes. Later the lid was lifted, and the city was soon again swarming with these parasites. It is so everywhere — clairvoyancy is more difficult to stamp out than gambling. If they cannot run their places openly, they do so secretly; and whether or no, they have no difficulty in finding an endless stream of men and women patrons. It is a singular commentary on human nature that it seeks the mystic."
There seems to be a spirit of inquiry everywhere. These troublous, perplexing times demand an explanation. How sad to see humanity seeking help from the broken cisterns of earth! To all such, Jehovah issues His challenge: "Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand
up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee." Isa. 47: 13.
Again: "Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of naught." Isa. 41: 22-24.
But the impenetrable curtain of the future has been closely drawn by the hand of the Almighty. His unfailing word and His alone can unlatch the events of future days. "Remember the former days of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure." Isa. 46: 9, 10.
L. E. F.
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SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS
Our authority for the doctrines we teach is the Bible. Quotations are usually from the King James Version or the American Standard Revised.
OPEN DOORS IN THE PHILIPPINES
By J. E. F.
WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITIES EVERYWHERE
HUNDREDS ACCEPTING CHRIST
THERE is perhaps no place in the world where missionary opportunity looms larger, or results for efforts put forth are greater, than in the Philippines. First of all, there are about eight millions of very attractive and intelligent people in these islands. Secondly, these islanders, who have been kept back for centuries from the light and advancement they naturally desired, are now wonderfully awakened educationally, politically, and religiously.
A short time after the American occupation of these islands, Archbishop Aglipay headed a great schism in the Roman Catholic Church, about three million joining him in forming a new church known as the Independent Catholic Church. While the forms of worship were about the same as in the mother church, there was one great advance step taken; namely, giving the Bible to the Filipinos in their own language. This was doubtless in the direct providence of God. Tens of thousands are now reading the glorious truths of the gospel, and many are turning toward the light. Nothing can stop the messenger.
NUMBERLESS MISSIONARY OPPORTUNITIES
At the present time, the opportunities to present the gospel are numberless. Doors are open everywhere, and the calls to our evangelists are so numerous that these calls cannot possibly be filled. To the men who bear the burdens of the work, these conditions become distressing when it is realized that the entering of these doors would mean a large influx of Christian converts. This seems certain; for wherever our workers hold meetings, churches are raised up. Never did it seem truer that "the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few." And the situation thus presented becomes the more distressing when we realize that these grand opportunities to present Christ, which are ours to-day, may pass away from us to-morrow.
On arriving in Manila from Australia, the writer was invited to speak at the Manila Tent Mission, which has been conducted for some time by Evangelists Emelio Manalaysay and Guillermo Dionisio, under the counsel and direction of Pastor Finster, superintendent of the mission. The tent was crowded, and as many more were standing around the outside, all giving the best attention.
Pastor Finster informs me that there are now four companies of Sabbath keepers in the city of Manila, making up a membership of between two hundred fifty and three hundred. Then an equal number are scattered in different parts of the island group.
To visit the different companies, instructing them, and holding quarterly meetings with them, is more than the mission superintendent can possibly do. And he must look after the business interests of the mission, and is also editor of the magazine they publish monthly; and in addition, he must take an oversight of the publication of books and tracts. He must instruct and advise those starting in the work, and give counsel to the older workers. A school must soon be established, and this will take time and careful planning. There is too much for any man to look after. About fifty miles from Manila is the large and prosperous300town of San Pablo. Here another tent has been pitched, and the result has been a wonderful revival. About a hundred and thirty have signified their desire for baptism, and have been instructed accordingly. One of our native brethren, Evangelist Bibiano Panas, is in charge of the effort. He frequently has audiences of a thousand to twelve hundred people; and though testing truths have been presented, the tent cannot contain the throngs of people. What glorious results! May God keep His servants humble, so He can continue to use them.
Wherever we have missionaries located, and wherever our colporteurs go, good results follow. Among the Ilocanos in the north, where Pastor Hay is stationed, and where Evangelist Leon Rhoda has lately gone, a good work is being done. Encouraging words come from the large island of Panay, where Pastor Adams is in charge, as also from the island of Cebú, where Dr. Fattebert is located. "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."
