IF the Bible were prized as highly as it should be, if the Spirit that inspired its sacred pages was abiding in the heart, the cost of placing it within our reach would be more fully realized. Its promises are written in the blood of the cross. It plainly sets forth what we are, and what we should be. While it points out our sins, it does not leave us under the painful sting of conviction, but speaks comfort to the sorrowing heart in words of pathos that touch the most hardened soul and encourage the most despondent.
Reader, if you are downcast, if you hardly dare look toward heaven because of the enormity of your guilt, listen a moment to the cheering voice from heaven: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; tho they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:18. The great God in His infinite love invites us to reason with Him. However great our guilt, He certainly has promised to forgive it, and He wants us to take a reasonable view of the matter. He can not lie; therefore we know that He has pardoned, according to this promise, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."
Precious blood! precious promise! These and kindred promises have cheered the heart of thousands, who tremblingly laid hold of them, walked in the path of faith, and were laid away to rest in hope of eternal life. In a little while the Author of the Word will come to gather its fruit. Not until then will we fully realize the love of God in giving us the Bible. Mother and daughter, father and son, brother and sister, husband and wife, whose lives have been prompted by its divine precepts, will meet never to separate. This great, eternal meeting will speak forth the results of the Bible, and proclaim the love of God with greater power than did all the united voices of men through the ages of sin.
Praise the Lord for the Bible, that gathers in its harvest of souls to share eternally the mansions that Jesus has gone to prepare for those that love Him! E. HILLIARD.
Tonga, Friendly Islands, S. Pacific Ocean.
STILL WATERS.
By Bessie Johnson-Bellman
WHAT tho the way be rough and steep,
Thorny and dark, as on I press,
High overhead a beam I keep
To hold my soul in cheerfulness.
This talisman, so gleaming bright,
Illuminates my darkest night:
"Be patient, child; canst thou not see?
'Tis by still waters I am leading thee."
And I earnestly strive to make it plain
To my mortal vision that I am blest;
The lives of others hold more of pain;
The world's wide ways leave small space for rest.
So, whatever out of my life I miss,
Comfort I find when He tells me this:
"On, press on, toward the true and the right;
By waters still thou shalt lie down at night."
BESSIE JOHNSON-BELLMAN.
Howard, Kansas.
THE UNION OF CHRIST AND THE BELIEVER.
THERE is no Bible truth more clearly defined by Christ than the union which exists between Himself and the believer. In the memorable prayer which He addressed to the Father, as recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, this union is brought out very fully. After praying for His disciples then living, He says, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also that shall believe on Me through their word." This request covers all time from the personal departure of Christ from this earth to His personal coming again. And what did He ask for them? Let us read slowly and thoughtfully; for there is unfolded a wondrous truth, which even "the angels desire to look into:" "That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us." And again: "I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one."
The Purpose of This Union.
What reason did Christ give for this request? - "That the world may know that Thou hast sent Me." Verse 22. This union, perfected in the believer, is to prove to the world the divinity of Christ, that He was sent of God. The divine life of Christ is to shine out to the world from the hearts of those who are one with Him. But this is not all: "And hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me." Glorious truth! This love was shown in the gift of His Son to redeem them. Christ was the embodiment of this love; and with Him in the heart of the believer, it will be radiated to the world.
Christ Our Exemplar.
By Mrs. Julia Loomis
The words of Christ are, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." John 12:32. Not drive, not compel, but draw. The same drawing spirit of love is to characterize the work done by the believer, in the vineyard of his Lord. Christ was tender and compassionate. Behold Him weeping over Jerusalem; and no sinner, however degraded, was ever turned away by Him.
But what of His love for believers, those who are one with Him?—He calls them brethren. He loves them "with an everlasting love." "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." So tender is this relation that whatever of good or ill is done to them He counts as done to Himself. Matt. 25:31-45. This truth is illustrated in the case of Saul of Tarsus. At the time of his conversion, a voice spoke to him, saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" Saul answered, "Who art Thou, Lord?" The voice replied, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." Acts 26:14, 15. Jesus was in heaven, and what had Saul done to affect Jesus personally?—Let Paul answer in his own words, which he addressed to his countrymen: I "was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women." Acts 22:3, 4. In persecuting Christians, Saul was persecuting Christ.
He who is one with Christ will manifest the same spirit of love and tender sympathy for his brethren, by whatever name they may be called. This love for the brethren is given by our Lord as a test of discipleship. He says, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." John 13:35. That little word "if" means a great deal. He who is one with Christ will not persecute. This is shown in the case of Paul. He was not a Christian when he did those wicked deeds. In doing them he was acting out his fallen nature; they were the fruit of the natural heart.
But what of Saul after he was converted, born of the Spirit, one with Christ? Did he turn around and persecute his Jewish brethren, because they did not believe as he did?—No, verily. He had no need for carnal weapons then. He knew from his own experience that the Gospel of Christ "is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." He preached to them "Christ, and Him crucified." He related his experience to them,—how he had been "brought out of darkness into His marvelous light." He entreated them. He prayed for them. Rom. 10:1. His heart yearned for their salvation. Listen to his words: "I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Rom. 9:3. He was willing to be an outcast from God, and forego all the joys of eternity, if need be, to save them.
This is the fruit of the Spirit. May we all, as Christians, seek earnestly for this union with Christ, that we may be His true representatives before the world. MRS. JULIA LOOMIS.
Training the Mind in Christ’s School
"ANY young man is wanting in his duty to himself if he fails to meet the purposes of God by improving and enlarging his faculties. The mind is the best possession we have; but it must be trained by study, by reflection, by learning in the school of Christ, the best and truest educator the world has ever known."
Love for Christ and Doing Good
"He who loves Christ the most, will do the greatest amount of good."
ROME'S PROOF OF INFALLIBILITY.
A Contrast.
ROME'S proof of the infallibility of the church, the Roman Catholic Church, if you please, is in herself wholly. She is the only, sole witness. Here it is, stated by the editor of the Catholic Mirror, in his issue of April 29, 1899. Replying to a question as to whether Catholics do not reason in a "vicious circle,"—proving the church by the Bible and the Bible by the church,—the editor replies by quoting three expressions from Matthew relative to the church of the Lord, namely, Matt. 16:18; 18:17; 28:19, 20. This testimony of what Christ said the editor takes as only human testimony, but assumes, merely assumes, that it applies to the Roman Catholic Church. He then concludes the Roman Catholic Church to be infallible, so that "if she fails to teach the truth, it is the combined failure of the Holy Trinity, of the Father, who sent His Son and Holy Spirit to create her and establish her, and of the Son and Holy Ghost, who, in case of her failure, would have falsified all the pledges and promises made by the Son of God for Himself and the Holy Spirit. The infallibility of the Deity is therefore her infallibility, so that whatever she teaches they teach."
The editor thus states his conclusion:—
We have availed ourselves of the writers known as evangelists as contemporary witnesses of what they narrate, as mere men, as we would any thoughtful profane historians in their narration of facts when fully accredited as such.
Through them, presupposing our common belief in the divinity of Christ, we reach with infallible certainty the existence of an institution created and formed by the Son of God, endowed with attributes which, if the Son of God speak the truth, place her above the possibility of even teaching falsehood, thereby betraying the purpose of her existence. We here accept her as God created and endowed her. We feel convinced that the abiding presence of her Creator and the Holy Spirit with her, while time lasts, precluded the possibility of her even being smirched by contact with error. Hence we glory in the discovery of an infallible guide and teacher, whose deliveries are to us the teachings of the Son and Holy Spirit.
But this newly-found, infallible teacher now informs us that the historians whose truthful narration of the Son of God are not only truthful historians, but were inspired by the Holy Spirit to furnish the world with what they have written as the amanuenses of the Holy Ghost in the premises. Thus, after we have reached the church of Christ with all her divine prerogatives, through human writers endowed with the attribute of truth, we now learn from the church, as the mouth-piece of the Holy Ghost, that these writers were not actuated by merely human motives in their biographies of Christ, but were under the direct influence of the Holy Ghost in the prosecution of their narratives. Through them, as truthful human historians, we reached the infallible church of Christ, who, in turn, by virtue of the permanent abiding of the Son of God and the Holy Spirit within her, pronounces the (to us) human writers as under the divine influence whilst inditing . . .
Hence the charge against the church of reasoning in a vicious circle has no foundation, when she proves the infallibility of herself from contemporary human, but fully accredited veracious historians, and then the inspiration of the same historians from the authority of an infallible tribunal, viz., herself.
We have no particular interest as to the "reasoning in a vicious circle," one way or the other. The editor has doubtless to his own satisfaction proved that he does not so reason. What we wish to point out is this: According to the editor's own showing, the Roman Catholic Church has only her own "infallible" (?) testimony that she is the church of God; for the testimony of the apostles or contemporaries of Jesus merely speak of a church, or the church of Christ. A mere claim of being that church is not sufficient evidence. Mormonism claims that the true church is that of the Latter-day Saints; the Orthodox Church of Russia makes the same claim; and so with the Church of England. The claim is, of itself, apart from other absolutely conclusive evidence, worthless. Matthew may declare that Christ spoke of a church, a church which should endure, which should not be conquered, with whom the Lord would be to the end, but Rome's claim to be that church must, to stand, have a more substantial basis than a mere claim.
Moreover, the above basis of reasoning, or proving, reverses the divine method. God has substantiated all His Word in the Word itself. That is, by that Word and in that Word God will prove its infallibility to any one who will comply with its conditions, conditions so simple that any or all may put them to the test. God's witness is twofold at least. "In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established." In other words, God writes His Word at least twice concerning everything of which He has spoken, in fiat, command, or promise, and again in fulfilment; and the second proves the first.
Jesus Christ did not say, "The prophets as mere men spoke of Me, and predicted My coming; and now I am that One they predicted." His claim would have been worthless. Jesus gave the two witnesses. One of these witnesses was the written Word, covering a space of over a thousand years, and repeated even down to John the Baptist:—"Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they that bear witness of Me." This witness had been recorded for centuries. The Man Jesus could not have given it or altered it as written in the scrolls of the prophets. He could not, nor did He wish to, interpret that witness to fit Him. He came to do God's will, and God would supply the second witness in Jesus Himself. "For the works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me." Here are the two witnesses: God's Word written in Moses, the Psalms, the Prophets; God's Word written in the life, the character, the works of Jesus Christ.
The two witnesses, thus testifying, are absolutely unimpeachable—God's Word first, and then the witness which demonstrates the second writing of that Word. John bore witness of Christ and His work. Yet in prison the faithful servant grew doubtful whether Jesus was the One to come, and he sent his disciples to ask Him. In reply, Jesus went on with His God-given work, and told the disciples of His faithful forerunner, "Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see." This was sufficient. God was writing John's testimony again in the works of Jesus Christ.
Two hundred years before Babylon reached the height of her glory, the prophet Isaiah predicted both her rise and ruin. Two centuries later God in His providence wrote the words of the prophet again in Babylon's greatness and magnificence, and her utter overthrow.
On the Mount of Olives Jesus foretold His second coming, and said that previous to that event the sun and moon should be darkened and the stars should fall. Eighteen centuries later God wrote that same word in the darkening of the sun and moon, May 19, 1780, and in the falling stars of Nov. 13, 1833.
So, also, God has spoken through Christ and prophet and apostle concerning His church. He has shown her origin, her character, on what conditions she should remain His, the vicissitudes through which she should pass, how she would be spoiled, led away captive, persecuted, almost lost sight of by the world, go into Babylon, and yet come forth a glorious victor through His power and grace. He has written all of this in prediction and promise many times in the Bible; He has written much of it already in the history of His church during eighteen long centuries; and the last is soon to be fulfilled.
Now the question is, Is what God has written in the Bible concerning His own true church and her character and history to the present time true of the Roman Catholic Church? Has He providentially or directly written the prediction and character again in that church herself? Has He made her a second witness by making her the living Word repeated? We believe not, and our belief is founded, not on Rome's claims, but on the twofold witness of the infallible Word. "To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them."
Study the Word, reader, and the Word's methods of finding out.
THE TRAPPINGS OF PRIDE.
ALL the outward manifestations of pride are but the indications of the selfishness that reigns within. We expend brain and nerve force in preparing fine clothes in order that we may outshine our neighbors. We put on jewels and diamonds so that it may be said of us that we outshine every one about us.
We pride ourselves upon our ancestry. We like to have it understood that it is no common blood that is flowing through our veins. We lift our heads in admiration of ourselves at the thought that we belong to the titled nobility, or that great and noted men were our fathers.
But there is no love in any such things, except it be a selfish love. While in such a condition, we have no regard for any one except those of our own privileged class. And even then, if adversity comes to one with whom we have been accustomed to associate, we cast him away from our society as a disgrace to us. All of this is simply because of pride, and pride is but another name for self-love.
The individual who is filled with self-love has no love at all for any one else. At first you may be inclined to think that such can not be the case. But do not be hasty in your decisions. Just think a moment.
The person who is full of love for himself7may think that he loves another, but let him analyze his motives, and he will be horrified to find that what he had supposed was love for another was only love for himself. He seems to love the other person, but the motive back of it all is a desire for some personal pleasure, gain, or advantage. Let the personal element be withdrawn by taking away all hope that the individual may get any enjoyment or gain for himself, and he finds at once that all his supposed love is gone. And this should show him that what he had so fondly hoped was love for another is, after all, only love for himself.
This will readily explain how it is that what seems to be such glowing love may all be quenched in one short hour. We see the young husband and wife. They seem to be fully devoted to each other, and the bonds of pure, true love seem to securely hold them. But reverses come. The husband is no longer able to dress his wife so that she can appear as the finest of any in the neighborhood, and then the seeming devotion is gone. Her pride is touched. She has come of one of the best of families, and why should she endure such humiliation? And some passing whim may just as suddenly and also permanently turn away the husband's apparent love for his wife.
Many a professor of Christianity may be awakened also to find that his supposed love for Christ, or for the members of the Master's household, is only a selfish love. He may be professing the name of Christ solely for the purpose of gaining heaven for himself. "O, if I were only sure I would be saved!" is an exclamation that we often hear. But such words come only from the heart of faithlessness and self-love. The individual may profess the name of Christ and join the church with the object in view of helping his business. But what a selfish act that is! He may join some particular church so that it will give him a better standing in society, but how self-centered and full of pride is such an act! He may join the church that has the finest house of worship, and the most eloquent preacher, and the most attractive music, and the most wealthy members. But this is another one of the trappings of pride, and is all for self.
Contrast with all this the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly he was the most truly noble being that ever came into the world. He was the "Son of the Highest." He was not merely a king, but He was the King of kings and Lord of lords. He was the Creator and Supporter of the whole universe. He could have come to this earth surrounded with such glory that no human eye could have endured it. But did He do it?—No, by no means. He came as the lowliest of the most lowly. He was born in a stable among the cattle. He was reared in the most despised little village of all Palestine. He worked at the common trade of a carpenter. He chose for His earthly parents no higher nobility than the commonest peasants of Nazareth. He chose to be reared without a single one of the trappings or luxuries of the so-called royal nobility.
What a wonderful lesson there is for humanity in all this! He who commanded all the great storehouse of all the power, and all the vast resources of all the worlds, came to us with no sounding of trumpets or none of the insignia of pride that so dazzle and attract the attention of the world. His was a true, pure, unselfish love for humanity. He loved men on their own account, and not on His personal account.
He saw how pride and vanity would cultivate the hateful seeds of selfishness, and He did not put a single thing into His life anywhere that could be so construed as to minister to pride and self.
It is pride and self-love that have been the ruination of the world, and the Master has ever sought to open our eyes to this great truth, and to win us away from the destroying evil. Will we let Him teach us the lesson? T.
INVULNERABLE ARMOR.
THERE is nothing that the world seems to be more interested in to-day than the subject of arms and armor. As soon as armor is secured that seems incapable of being pierced by shot or shell, it is at once undertaken to devise a still more destructive gun in order to break through the improved armor.
It may be interesting to know that some ancient records disclose a kind of armor that is so very strong that no enemy's shaft has ever yet pierced it. There are a few who believe that it is able to withstand the most powerful weapons, even of these modern days of marvelous inventions in the arts of war.
The ancient document in which this armor is described seems to have been written about 64 A. D. by a very scholarly man who was temporarily stopping in the city of Rome. The original writing is so clear and vivid in its description that we can do no better than to give it in its own native beauty, according to one of the best English translations of it at our command. The language of the writing that describes this wonderful armor reads as follows.—
"Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."
The foregoing quotation bears the inscription of the apostle Paul and is found in chapter 6, verses 10 to 20 of his letter to the Ephesians. It is well worthy of the most careful study. Every sentence and every word should be thoughtfully and frequently pondered.
We are to "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." "The power of His might" is almighty power. Just think of what is comprehended in the one word, almighty. All the might of the whole universe is embraced in it, and all this power belongs to our God. The Heavenly Father inspired His apostle to invite us to "be strong in the Lord." What a gracious invitation! and how real and infinite the power!
"Put on the whole armor of God." This is the Lord's invitation. He sees us subject to all of the temptations and destructive vices of this evil world; He sees our dangers on every hand; He sees that we need protection. And so He says, "Put on the whole armor of God." It is the armor of God. It is not armor made by the Lord for us merely, but it is God's own armor; it is the power that surrounds the Infinite One. It is not merely the limited amount of power that each one of us could use with our finite faculties. Neither is it merely the power that could be put within us; but it is power put upon us. We are in the power of God; we are in the power of His might; we are in His armor, for He has invited us to put His armor on: and if we have His armor on we are in it.
God's armor is power. It is all the power in all the universe. There could be nothing too great for it, neither could there be anything beyond its reach. And the Christian is clothed with this armor of power. He has it on. Our Father who art in heaven has invited us to put on His whole armor, not a part. Do not make the mistake of reading God's Word so narrowly. He bids us put on the "whole" armor.
O, the solid comfort and the sublimity of the thought of being bathed continually in such infinite seas of power! We look upon our earth and see the wonderful manifestations of power in the life of plant and tree and animal; we think of the might that holds this rolling orb so securely under our feet. We look out to the moon, the sun, and all the hosts of planets and stellar worlds in the boundless depths of space, and we are lost in the contemplation of the ever-present power that supports and guides them in their stately onward march.
We think of the power of steam and electricity, of heat and cold. We see these things too often as mere commonplace matters. But they are the mighty forces that our God has placed within the folds of what we so glibly speak of as "nature." But these things are not nature, only as we see in nature the mighty power of our God, the Omnipotent One, God's power is everywhere and in everything. And God's power is the Christian's armor.
God's Word is the medium of His power. But here again do not get the narrow idea that His Word conducts His power to us as electricity is conducted over the wire. God's Word is not a wire that merely conducts power. But "the Word of God is quick, and powerful." Heb. 4:12. It is "quick," that is, it is living; it is so sensitive with life that it is called "quick." And it is "powerful;" that is, it is power-full. It is full of power. And this Word of God, instead of being a mere wire-conductor, is the boundless ether through which the throbbings of life and power pulsate from the infinite God, from the tender Father, to every creature. How divinely fitting, then, are the words of the apostle quoted at the beginning of this article, "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."
We see a craft riding upon yonder sea, and they tell us that she is one of the greatest battleships afloat. They tell us of her big guns, and her powerful steel armor. But how insignificant does this mere speck in the waters seem when we are contemplating the all-pervading power of God.
Receive God's Word! Receive God's power, and then you have God's impregnable armor! Do you have it? If not, do you want it? God has already given it to you, and now it is all yours just as soon as you take it.
SUNDAY PAPERS IN LONDON.
By T.
THE action of several of the leading dailies of London in starting the publication of a Sunday issue has been heralded around the world, and quite generally and variously commented upon. And now the archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Established Church in Great Britain, has called a conference of his bishops for the purpose of taking steps to suppress the obnoxious Sunday paper.
All of this discussion in regard to the Sunday papers is helping the cause of God's truth; for it serves to make the fact more manifest that Sunday is not the Sabbath. God's Word makes it perfectly plain that the seventh day, commonly called Saturday, is the only day that our Father in heaven recognizes as His holy rest day. And He has given, in the utterances of the prophets, the assurance that the apostasy from the Bible Sabbath shall be fully exposed.
What will England's bishops do to stop the Sunday papers? Will they undertake to show that Sunday is God's holy day, and that labor upon sacred time is sin, and then appeal to the journalists and reading public to refrain from such immorality? —Hardly. They will merely call attention to the general custom of keeping Sunday, urging that their long-standing traditions be maintained, and then resort to human law to compel the observance of the man-made institution.
Human institutions require human laws to secure their recognition. But divine institutions rest upon no such a flimsy foundation. The power of the infinite God is the support of all His institutions, and He compels no one. He earnestly invites us to come to Him, but He compels us never. T.
"NATIONAL REFORM" ILLUSTRATED.
By W. N. G.
THE so-called National Reform Association is increasing from year to year the effort to have the United States Government assume a religious aspect. It is first one proposition and then another, all to the same end. One time it is a constitutional amendment formally recognizing God in the fundamental law. Another time it is an educational amendment, providing for governmental religious instruction. Again, or rather all the time, it is enforced Sunday observance by the national government, as well as by the States and municipalities. The association has secured various allies of varying degrees of influence, the most notable and energetic being the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. Now both of these associations have ample fields of usefulness without extending their energies to the work of the National Reformers in the effort to cripple both Christianity and the State by an adulterous alliance.
As a most striking illustration of what the formal assumption of religious functions by an American republic may logically lead to, we refer the National Reform allies to the case of Ecuador. The following document speaks for itself, being the culmination of efforts (like those of the National Reformers in the United States) to make the State subsidiary to the church:—
"PREAMBLE.—Considering (1) that the Third Provincial Council of Quito has by special act consecrated the Republic of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, placing it under His protection and patronage;
"(2) That the Legislature should join in name of the nation in the approval of an act so satisfactory to its sentiments of eminent Catholicity, as it is also the most efficient medium for the conservation of the faith and the realization of progress and welfare of the State; therefore, the Senate and Chamber of Deputies of Ecuador, in Congress assembled, decree:—
"ARTICLE I. The Republic of Ecuador is consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, declaring Him its patron and protector.
"ART. II. The feast day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus shall be civic, with assistance of the first class, celebrated in all the cathedrals of the republic with the greatest possible solemnity by the prelates of the dioceses.
"ART. III. In all the cathedrals an altar will be erected dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the purpose of heightening the zeal and piety of the diocesans.
"ART. IV. In the face of each of these altars shall be engraved, at the expense of the government, the present decree.
"G. GARCIA MORENO, President."
"Quito, Ecuador, Oct. 8, 1873."
National Reformers scout the idea that the United States would ever go to such an extreme. Neither did Ecuador take such a step in the beginning of its career as a republic, on gaining independence from Spain. But this whole State-religion principle is a Roman Catholic principle, in so far as it aims to affect the Christian religion; and when the first step is taken, consistency and the precedent of that first step lead to and impel the final step. The underlying so-called evidences adduced by the Supreme Court in the declaration that "this is a Christian nation," would be far more potent in support of the claim that this is a Catholic nation. Then if the religious legislation sought by the National Reformers be consistent with the principles of our republican government, there can be no logical reason for our not adopting such a measure as that in vogue in Ecuador. We should not take the first step unless we are prepared to endorse the last step, to which the precedent of the first naturally leads. People who are being importuned to aid the National Reform cause would do well to ponder the possible outcome. W. N. G.
MOB REASON AND LAW.
By Editor
WE have no words to express our abhorrence of the low, brutal, lustful crime of the Georgia negro, committed the other day. But, however brutal and devilish it was, it was no excuse for his barbarous, savage, fiendish execution by the mob. One Southern gentleman truly remarked that after mutilating and burning their victim they ought to have eaten of his flesh, and the savage picture would have been complete. Then, even worse than this, on the unsupported testimony of the poor wretch they burned, they hung another man, a negro preacher, whom his employer declared to be, in his belief, innocent, and who till he died averred his own innocence. His employer was willing that the man should be imprisoned; but asked only that he should have a fair trial. This the mob once promised, but a word fired them again, and the poor fellow was hung, from mere mob prejudice. That such a spirit is not confined to the South is evidenced by the work of the mad mob of strikers in Warden, Idaho, who shot wantonly their own friends, supposing them to be non-union men. They then blew up with dynamite the property of the mine-owners to the value of $250,000. And all this was done simply and solely because those on whom the mob wreaked its vengeance did not agree with the mob. The miners had asked for a raise of wages, and the mine-owners had granted it, but the mine-owners would not discharge the non-union men at the demand of the union. In the South it was a "nigger" who fired the mob by an atrocious double crime; but in Idaho it was mere disagreement with the union, and, even tho a non-union man were shot, what matter? he is only a "scab."
We would not for a moment charge the entire South with this race hatred or this crime. We are sure if the late Mr. Grady had been at the head of the Atlanta Constitution it would not have justified the mob spirit. Neither would we lay at the door of all laboring unions the fearful crime of the Idaho miners; for we are persuaded that it will not be countenanced by the mass.
We take occasion to point out the increase in mob law, and its foolish, unreasoning action. If the mob ever does justice it is generally in connection with crimes over which there would be no doubt as to the issue in court. The men with money and position, likely to influence courts or juries, are never mobbed. Mob judgment is rarely ever calm or deliberate. This is shown in the hanging of the negro preacher, and the drilled mobs of the miners shooting their own men. The "reason" of the mob is mad, unrestrained, prejudiced passion. In no sense is it Christian in character, tho every actor in its mad work be a church-member. "Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." But the mob does not believe this. They are unwilling not only to trust legal measures, but God. A country that has furnished 127 lynchings during the last year, can hardly be called Christian. And, lastly, all this increase of violence shows, according to the "sure word of prophecy," that we are nearing the coming of the great day of God, when Christ shall take to Himself His great power and reign, and in whose presence all sin and all who have identified themselves with sin shall perish.
"WO TO HIM."
By T.
PENNSYLVANIA is the home and headquarters of the National Reform Association. And quite a strong movement has been started up there of late to secure the enforced observance of Sunday. The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, one of the strongest labor organizations in the country, has allied itself to those that are seeking to force Sunday observance upon every one, and it has resolved to prosecute every mill and factory operator and railway official who violates the Sunday law of Pennsylvania.
At a mass-meeting in Pittsburg, one speaker said:—
"This country is being formed into one vast amalgamated association. Don't be alarmed, for we are all going to join it, and have one vast confederacy and federation; but wo to him who stands up against it! Wo to him who desecrates the sabbath [Sunday]!"
This is a voice from the persecuting days of the Dark Ages. This is the same voice that has sent millions of men, women, and even little children to the cruelest and most inhuman tortures and death. This is the voice that has always stood in the road of progress and religious freedom. And this is the dragon voice that the prophecies have declared will bind men hand and foot in this "land of the free, and home of the brave;" and from here the evil will spread to all the world. All the persecuting horrors of the middle ages will be brought in, and it will be done in an incredibly short time. But when the contest reaches its heights the Master will come in person and break the cruel bondage. This is our hope, and toward that time we fix our earnest longings.
It is certainly a strange sound to be heard in this land for a man to say, "Wo to him who desecrates the Sunday." But why this "wo"?—O, there is to be a universal "confederacy," and if there chance to be those who have convictions that lead them to stand out against it, the effort will be made to crush them! The law will lay hold upon them, and, if need be, persecute them to the death. Can it be that such scenes are just before us?—Most assuredly, The prophecies clearly predict it, and we see how it is coming. These National Reformers used to be a very insignificant little company, but one organization after another is joining them, and their power and influence are swelling.
"For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself, and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread." Isa. 8: 11-13.
Roman Catholicism in New England
By Editor
Roman Catholicism in New England.—Referring to the decay of religion, the decrease of population, and increase of poverty in New England, James R. Randall, writing for the Catholic Mirror, recalls the warning of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who predicted that if the people of New England did not follow God's order of multiplying and replenishing the earth, instead of reversing it, "the descendants of the Celt would trample on the graves of the Puritans." Mr. Randall remarks: "This is being rapidly accomplished, for the prolific, God-fearing Catholic Irish, German, and French Canadians are inheriting the land, and will dominate it in the twentieth century." And he speaks truly.
Poisoning Mania
Poisoning Mania.—A New York paper tells of two persons who received, not poisonous candy in a box, but poisonous serpents—one a big copperhead snake, and the other an Egyptian asp, the bite of which is fatal.