It seems to me that if it is our privilege to be instruments in the hands of God of reforming society, of being the salt of the earth, we should know as far as possible, in a clear-cut way, what is involved in this responsibility, so that we may know just at what to aim. Our vessels that were down in Cuban waters won their victories because of their superior marksmanship. Likewise, in order to reform society, we must have a definite aim. I think sometimes that the world is wiser in their plans than we are in ours. The Lord has given us each some definite object toward which to work in the regeneration of society. The Lord has told us what to aim for. These things were written for our admonition. Now if we do not aim our reform work to those things about which the Lord has told us how, can we hope to have success? The Lord does not want us to waste our ammunition, and therefore He has told us certain wrong principles at which He wishes us to direct our efforts.
John the Baptist laid the ax at the root of the tree. Sometimes growth is actually stimulated by trimming the tops of the tree; so there is a way in which you can actually stimulate iniquity by trimming off the top. We must get at the root of the matter.
The great tree of iniquity has just four roots (Eze. 16:49): "Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." There is so much in this verse! It is the key-note to all our work for modern Sodom.
The first thing mentioned is pride. How are we going to cure pride? Not by telling a person to take off this or that ornament. That would be merely trimming the leaves. The one who is proud of his humility has the most dangerous form of pride. The man whom Christ makes humble is humble indeed. Then there is intellectual pride. I used to think the pride of wealth was the worst kind, but I have found that often persons of great wealth are the least proud. The professed Christian people that are proud of their religion, of their goodness, of their humility, I think are far more common than those who are proud of their wealth. The child is educated in pride of intellect from infancy. He will do something, and the people will say, "How cute the little thing is!" Then it will cut up a few more capers, and some one will say, "How smart that little child is!" Thus it becomes proud of its intellect, proud of its shrewdness. When this child gets to be a student in school and advances high in his classes, he looks down upon the others and virtually says: "How mean you are! If you had studied as I have you might have been up here too." But the fact is he has not one thing except what was given him. When we get hold of the fact that every little piece of goodness and all the intellect that we have is given to us, then there will be none of us flaunting it around in other people's faces. We will tell them to go and buy it for themselves, "without money and without price." The real wisdom that Ingersoll has is given him by God. We want people to see that the knowledge they possess is not their own, that it is all given them. As soon as we get a man to appreciate that fact, he is humble; and, furthermore, that the only righteousness we possess, we have by faith. That is the only kind there is, anyway. When you get a man to realize 1 Cor. 4:7, boasting is excluded. "For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" We have no wisdom or intellect but what is given us, and therefore we have no reason to be proud of it.
There was a time for Lot to get out of Sodom, and if he had not left at that time he would never have escaped. Is it going to be any easier to get the masses out of Sodom now? Are people going to be any brighter in this age of the world? If anything, it is going to be harder, for their minds are going to be a little more obtuse. Yet this is to be accomplished in an amazingly short time, because we are going to succeed in making the "vision plain," making it so plain that everybody who has a desire to do so can comprehend it. The angel put his hand on Lot and compelled him to come out. The time has again come for a compelling message. What is going to make it so compelling on our part? We will be able to make it so plain and clear-cut that they can not help but see it. God wants people who can take the truth and so "rightly divide it" that it can be approached from any point of view and yet people will be able to see that it is the truth.
WORTH WHILE.
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
It is easy enough to be pleasant
When life flows along like a song;
But the man worth while is the one who will smile
When everything goes dead wrong;
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
And the smile that is worth the praise of earth
Is the smile that comes through tears.
It is easy enough to be prudent
When nothing tempts you to stray;
When without or within no voice of sin
Is luring your soul away;
But it's only a negative virtue
Until it is tried by fire,
And the life that is worth the honor of earth
Is the one that resists desire.
By the cynic, the sad, the fallen,
Who had no strength for the strife,
The world's highway is cumbered to-day;
They make up the item of life.
But the virtue that conquers passion,
And the sorrow that hides in a smile—
It is these that are worth the homage of earth,
For we find them but once in a while.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
A Message of Hope Through Time
BESIDES the throng on the shores of Gennesaret, Jesus in His sermon by the sea had other audience before His mind. Looking down the ages, He saw His faithful ones in prison and judgment-hall, in temptation and loneliness and affliction. Every scene of joy and conflict and perplexity was open before Him. In the words spoken to those gathered about Him, He was speaking also to these other souls the very words that would come to them as a message of hope in trial, of comfort in sorrow, and heavenly light in darkness. Through the Holy Spirit, that voice which was speaking from the fisherman's boat on the Sea of Galilee, would be heard speaking peace to human hearts to the close of time.—Desire of Ages.
"GOD IS OUR REFUGE."
THE Forty-sixth Psalm is not written for a time of outward calm. It can not be uttered in its fulness in times of sunshine, outward peace, or prosperity. It is a song expressive of triumph in the midst of strife; of safety in the midst of peril; of strength in the midst of weakness; of a safe refuge when the very foundations are giving way. But all this assurance is in God.
"God is our refuge." He is the "Clefted Rock," opened that man may find shelter from the blasts without. He is the great Rock which lifts its refreshing shade in a "weary land," and from which bursts forth the living fountain in the parched desert. He is the City of Refuge to which the red-handed sinner may flee and find safety from his cruel master, Satan. He is a "fortress," a "high wall," a "strong tower," which no Gatling or Krupp gun can batter down; which no ancient or modern explosives can demolish. God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is our refuge.
He is our refuge. It is good to know that there is a refuge; it is blessed to enter its inclosing walls, secure from the danger without. And all the fitness He requires is a sense of our need of Him—simple faith to cast all upon Him, to leave all and come to Him. Here is the door; it stands wide open. Flee to it and be safe. Know that God is "our refuge," by knowing that God is my refuge, the Saviour in time of trouble.
He is our refuge because He is the Mighty One. "God is our refuge and strength." Nothing is too hard for Him. He is infinite in power, the Omnipotent. Of all the shining, rolling spheres it is said, "For that He is strong in power not one faileth." He is "the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the earth," and He "fainteth not, neither is weary." "The Lord is my strength." "He giveth power to the faint, and to those who have no might, He increaseth strength."
And "God is our refuge and strength" not occasionally, not now and then, not rarely; no, He is "a very present help in trouble." He is always at hand. If we have not been helped, it is because we have refused His help. We have turned to the Babylons and Egypts for help and found only trouble, when God desired to help us, when He had made provision to help us in Jesus Christ.
And this is true even in the greatest trouble, for the divine psalm continues its assurance:—
"Therefore will we not fear tho the earth do change, and the mountains be moved in the heart of the seas."
God is good for all time. In the last great cataclysms, which will convulse the earth to her very center, and in which the mightiest works of men will be brought low, God will be the safe, sure refuge of His people.
Then, O soul, why not trust Him now? If you can not trust Him in the little things, how will you trust Him in the great things? If you grow weary in your own strength running with the footmen, how will you run with the horses? And if in the land of peace and plenty you yield to doubt and discouragement, what will you do in the swelling of Jordan, in the time when all outward perils are multiplying a thousand-fold? The time to trust God is now. He is not a future but a present help, "Today if ye will hear His voice." "Behold, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation."
THE MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY.
By T.
“FOR we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory. This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts; knowing this first that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:16-21.
The knowledge of “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” does not rest upon “cunningly devised fables.” It has always been a trick of the heathen priests and oracles to present prophecies, and to give information concerning the hidden and unknown in such “cunningly devised” language that, no matter which way things might turn, they would claim that their predictions were fulfilled. But we are following none of these “cunningly devised fables” when we make “known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In the words already quoted the apostle calls attention to the fact that they were “eye-witnesses of His majesty,” when they were with Him in the “holy mount,” and they heard the voice of the Father, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” They actually heard this voice and saw the majesty of the Saviour's transfiguration. And yet, after all of this strong evidence, Peter says, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy.”
It might seem at first thought that what we both see and hear would be the very strongest possible evidence. And this would be true if our faculties were all in the perfect condition in which we were created. But we have been so long accustomed to sin and all of its imperfections that we are liable to both see and hear things incorrectly. So the Lord does not allow the evidence of the power and coming of His Son to rest alone upon what men have seen and heard during the ages of the past, even tho they may have had the exalted privilege of seeing the majesty of the Saviour's transfiguration and hearing the voice of the Father direct from heaven.
He gives also “the more sure word of prophecy,” in which there is no possible place for mistake. Men may get mistaken ideas about the prophecies, the same as they may be mistaken in what they see and hear, but there is no mistake in the prophecy itself. The error, if there be such, is in the warped and prejudiced mind of the individual.
In the “more sure word of prophecy” we have that which “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” They spake, but they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God hovered over the prophet and “moved” him to write the prophecies accurately. God gives His prophecies to help men. His prophecies must not be after the manner of the predictions of heathen oracles. They must not be cunningly devised fables, but they must be the solid and sublime truths of eternity.
God's prophecies do not deal merely with something that is to transpire within the space of a few years; but the prophet of twenty-five hundred years ago was enabled by the Holy Spirit to cast his eye down to the end of time. He was bidden to see the rise and fall of kingdoms, empires, and republics; He was given a view in particular of all the leading features and characteristics of the last days, and then in minute detail He was moved to write it out.
Nothing short of a perfect knowledge of the future will do in giving such prophecies. They must be perfectly accurate. For they are not only to stand as a secure foundation for those who choose to rest their faith upon them, but they must endure the sharpest fire of the keenest and most unreasonable criticism. Nothing but truth can stand such a test. The Father in heaven must have His prophecies correct. For none of His children who trust Him implicitly, and who are searching His prophecies for light, must ever be confounded because of a single failure in the great prophetic Word.
If you are studying the more sure word of prophecy, you not only know the deep and precious truths of God's Word, but you also have a knowledge of the power and coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And if you know this great truth, you are filled with joy and rejoicing all the day long. For there is nothing that so stirs the soul to its depths, and fills us with such indescribable delights, as the certain knowledge that Jesus is coming soon. Have you heard of His coming? Are you ready to meet Him? If so, you know this joy of which we speak.
T.
WITNESSES FOR CHRIST.
By T.
A WITNESS simply tells what he knows. He does not prosecute the case, neither does he conduct the defense. He takes the stand, and under oath gives his testimony.
The testimony of the witness is not all contained in the mere words that he speaks while answering the questions that may be propounded to him in court. What is known of his past life and character comes in for consideration. The court not only takes into account what he says, but what he is. If he has a reputation for honesty and truthfulness, his word is received with respectful consideration; but if his record is that of a dishonest man and a liar, his word is not given much credence, if, indeed, it is not thrown out altogether.
Christ's life while here upon earth was a7simple testimony to the love of His Father for fallen mankind, and also a living expression of His Father's perfect character. Christ did not seek to present Himself, but to witness truly for His Father. "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." John 4:34. And concerning the matter of witnessing the Master said, "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen." John 3:11.
"We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen," says the Saviour. And such is the testimony of every true and faithful witness. He simply tells what he knows. He is under no obligation to prove what he says. He simply affirms the truth of his testimony and leaves it for all that it is worth. Truth is power in itself, and any witness who is bearing testimony to the truth leaves an irresistible conviction upon all who hear him. Hence Christians should testify for the Lord both by their words and by their lives, and then they will not feel any necessity of indulging in heated discussions for Him.
John the Baptist said of Christ, "What He hath seen and heard, that He testifieth." John 3:32. And Jesus tells where He learned the things of which He testified. He says, "He that sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him." John 8:26. And again, "All things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you." John 15:15.
Thus the Word of God shows that Jesus was a witness to what His Father is. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." John 1:18. In bearing His testimony to the world the Son of God was faithful and true. He never staggered; He never faltered; He never stumbled; He made no mistake; His life was wholly given to the one great work that had been assigned Him of the Father. And to the perfection of that work He gave Himself with devotion and without reserve. He was the faithful and true witness.
When Christ was about to ascend to the Father, He was in conversation with His disciples, and it is said of Him, "Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures." Luke 24:45. And among His closing words to them is the responsible charge, "And ye are witnesses of these things." Verse 48.
Now we should never forget the fact that the work of a witness is to tell what he knows. He is not to spend his time speculating about things that he don't know anything about, and perhaps never can know in this life, but he is to tell his personal experience in the real facts of Christianity. If we are Christians in deed and not in name merely, we have a definite knowledge of Christ, and can bear a definite and positive testimony to the world. We will have no time to spend in arguing with people about religious dogma, for all our energies will be absorbed in testifying of the things that we have positively learned of Christ and that we know as actual truth.
There is a natural earnestness that is inseparably connected with a witness in a great cause, provided the witness is inwardly conscious of the truth he is telling, and his life is in harmony with the truthfulness of his testimony. And where you find a life that is patterned after Jesus Christ you will always find a life that bears a positive testimony for good.
What the world needs to-day is men and women who are truly acquainted with the power of the life of the Master, and are thus fitted to bear testimony to the truth. Long sermons and tedious prayers are not needed nor essential, but witnesses who can tell what the Lord has actually done and is still doing for them are needed everywhere. Those who know that they have been freed from the power of sin, and who can tell with assurance of the power and love of God, have a message to bear to the world. And their message will not be a dry theory about some old traditions or musty theological problems, but it will be a message that is full of the vitality and power of a new life.
To be a living witness for the Master is the grandest thing to which men and women may be called. And if you truly know the Lord, you are surely a witness for Him. But if you openly deny Christ, or if you are merely a professor of Christianity without knowing the power of God, then you are just as surely witnessing against Him. There are no neutrals. You are on one side or the other.
T.
"BEHOLD, THE JUDGE STANDETH BEFORE THE DOOR."
By T.
"BEHOLD, the Judge standeth before the door." Such are the thrilling words of the apostle James in the ninth verse of the fifth chapter of his epistle. And the most sublime thought that could come to the mind of a mortal is the certain fact that the Judge of all the earth is even now standing at the door. The judgment day has been spoken of in all past ages as being an event that will be reached a long way in the future. But this can no longer be truthfully said. "The Judge standeth before the door." The judgment day is right at hand. It is a blessedly solemn thought.
We still have a little more probationary time, and this time should be regarded by every one as more precious than gold-dust or diamonds; for while the Judge is still standing before the door, we have the opportunity of making whatever preparation is still lacking in order to have our cases favorably presented at court. And then, while the preparation of our own cases is going on, we have a work to do for others. There are many who do not know that the great judgment day is right at hand. They do not know that "the Judge standeth before the door." All such are to be told of the solemn realities of this great truth, and exhorted to prepare to meet their God. And the earnestness of our own preparations should be a constant stimulus to every one around us. And surely every one who really believes that the Judge of all the universe has arisen to judge the people of this planet can not be otherwise than intensely in earnest in this work of preparing for that great and final day of judgment.
Do you ask how we know so positively that the judgment of every son and daughter of Adam is at hand? The answer is clear and easy. Every one of the prophecies points to the fact, plainly, clearly, and truly, that the last days are here, and that the judgment day is right upon us. All of the dangers, the perplexities, and the evils that have filled the stoutest hearts of this day with apprehensions of foreboding calamities have been faithfully predicted by inspired apostle and prophet. And so definitely accurate are the fulfilments of every one of these prophecies that we know that "the Judge standeth before the door."
And not only do we know that the great event of the ages is right at hand, but you are convinced of it yourself if you will only take the time to consider it. God has filled the world with the evidence of it by sending His Spirit to every heart. And as you see the calamities that are crowding upon the earth, that faithful Spirit of God is there to whisper in your ear the meaning of all these things. We do not ask you if you have heard the whispering of the divine Spirit. But are you heeding Him? Are you allowing Him to prepare you to meet your God at the searching bar of divine justice? There can be no quibbling nor resorting to technicalities in that court of final resort. Every one must meet the record of his life just as he has lived it. The exact truth will then be caused to stand out clearly.
"Behold, the Judge standeth before the door." Yes, He is even now standing before your door, and very soon your whole life is to come before Him in review and your eternal destiny will be forever fixed. Are you ready for the grand and solemn assize? T.
Question Corner
922. "The Children of the Kingdom."
By Editor
WILL you kindly explain the following scriptures?
1. Matt. 8:12 reads: "But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." I am unable to reconcile the above verse with the one preceding it.
2. Luke 14:26 says: "If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he can not be My disciple." Are we to understand the word "hate" as it is commonly used modernly?
1. It is not our part of the work to "reconcile" texts of Scripture. We are to study them until we see the perfect harmony that is always in the Word of God. The Jews of the time of Christ's first advent called themselves the "children of the kingdom" of God. They posed as the chosen and favored people, but they had so far departed from God that He no longer recognized them as His. And so these children "shall be cast out," and others who are willing to accept the righteousness that God gives are taken in their stead. And when the "children of the kingdom" realize, in the great and final day, what they have lost, the text says "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." The keen disappointment because of the realization of their loss—and the loss, too, of what they have had urged upon them but they have refused—is doubtless the cause of the greater part of their "weeping and gnashing of teeth."
2. In the very nature of things God would not command us to "hate" anything or anybody in the sense in which we now use the word. The use of the original word from which "hate" is here translated will bear us out in the statement that the Master's teaching is that we are not to suffer father, mother, sister, or brother to stand between us and the kingdom of God. But we ourselves could not enter God's kingdom while hating any one in the sense in which we commonly speak of hatred. The whole tenor of the Scriptures from beginning to end shows this to be so.
923. Who Spoke to Saul?
Who spoke to Saul claiming to be Samuel? See 1 Sam. 28:15, 16. EARNEST READER.
That deceiver of all time, the devil. Samuel was dead. God answered Saul no more in His appointed ways. 1 Sam. 28:6. One of the reasons why Saul was left to destruction was because he sought this interview with the deceiver. 1 Chron. 10:13.
THE DANGER SIGNAL.
By Editor
DURING the latter part of March, at a meeting of Methodist preachers in Chicago, two papers were read which have attracted considerable attention. One was by Albion W. Small, head professor of sociology in the Chicago University, and the other was by Judge E. W. Burke, of the Chicago bench. We are informed that both of these gentlemen are Methodists, tho not preachers.
Among the things that Professor Small said, we find the following: "You are aware, as well as I, that there are clouds on the social horizon already bigger than a man's hand, foretelling changes of which no one is wise enough to predict the end. If present tendencies continue, it will not be very long before the man whose business it is to communicate ideas will be gagged by those who publish ideas, and the publishers will be shackled by the makers of paper, and the paper manufacturers will be held up by the transportation lines, and the transporters by the producers of steel, and the steel industries by the coal operators, and the coal miners by the oil producers, and the oil magnates by the stove makers, and the cook-stove men by the sugar trust, and the sugar interest by Wall Street, and the stock brokers by the labor unions, and the labor unions by the farmers, and the farmers—God help them—by everybody."
The subjoined significant paragraphs are taken from Judge Burke's paper:—
"Storm centers of labor and capital are gathering over against each other, threatening the very integrity of the industrial firmament of man. The late appearances of the hitherto unsuspected intellectual and physical forces but add Titans of unknown strength to the conflict toward which all the world is consciously or unconsciously rushing. He who observes and reflects on matters of Church and State feels this condition in the very pulsing ether, the like of which history does not disclose.
"No human wisdom can say what mean the great and increasing aggregations of capital, now sufficient to buy kingdoms. If these shall be arrayed against the empty hands of labor, then shall mass collide with mass, and who can predict the end thereof? I see no commanding spirit of compromise in these approaching and threatening avalanches, which seem destined to involve the whole social system in universal ruin before the young men of this audience become threescore and ten years of age; so that the church, as it passes into the twentieth century, meets a perfect whirlwind of world forces which overwhelm the statesman, the philosopher, and the historian, and drive them back into the cave of Sinai, while the storms pass the bounds of known law, and rush on to a fate that makes the thoughtful tremble."
The foregoing words of both Judge Burke and Professor Small are not quoted because they are the strongest utterances they made on that occasion, for they are not, but they are simply quoted as a sample of the whole of the paper that each one read before the meeting of ministers.
It was about 2,433 years ago that God inspired the prophet Daniel to say of the "time of the end" that "there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time." Dan. 12:1-4. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES for a quarter of a century has been telling the world that the agencies are now actively working that are about to fulfil those striking words of Daniel's prophecy. And whether they will acknowledge the meaning of it or not, we find that men everywhere are beginning to see that a terrible situation is now confronting the world.
The Saviour tells us that among the signs of His second coming there shall be "upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." Luke 21:25, 26. When the Lord forewarns us of distress with perplexity that shall cause men's hearts to fail them for fear; and when He tells us that a time of trouble is upon us such as never has been seen since there was a nation, we should look out for it, for it will surely come. And now that the time is actually here, so that this trouble is not only seen but felt, we should not allow ourselves to be deceived as to the meaning of it.
God is not bringing this trouble upon the world, but almost three millenniums ago He told the world what He saw was coming, so that when the time is reached we may be led to understand that God sees the end from the beginning, and therefore we may confidently trust Him.
It should not be overlooked that the Lord, in the very same verse where He tells of this "time of trouble," also says, "At that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." Are you written in the book? That is the all-important question now; for "every one" written in the book "shall be delivered."
It is high time to be most thoroughly aroused, for our heavenly Father can not permit the terrible evils of this time to continue much longer. He will soon send His Son in person to destroy it all. T.
IMPERIALISM AND STRICTURES ON THE PRESS.
By T.
THE course of imperialism, indicated by the grasping of colonial possessions in distant islands, upon which the United States has entered, is by no means the only mark of her internal decay. There were certain well-defined principles placed in the foundation of this government that have given it its stability and marvelous success. But when a government stands upon a foundation that is correct, and when the justice and expediency of its principles have been thoroughly tested and proved to be secure, then for that government to depart from its fundamental doctrines means national suicide. It can not be otherwise.
One of the fundamental doctrines of this nation is that all men are created free and equal. But now the government is saying to the poor natives in the Philippines and elsewhere, You can not have your freedom. You can not govern yourselves. You must submit to the United States. And thus the doctrine of freedom that our fathers championed so bravely is laid aside for the old doctrines of tyranny and medieval oppression.
And right in keeping with this despotic doctrine of imperialism do we find the most amazingly marvelous growth of the aristocracy of wealth. Not merely millions but billions are cornered by trusts and combines, and this all in the interest of just a few men. Imperialism and an aristocracy are inseparable, and they both are built upon the power that comes by placing a small number of men in charge of the resources of wealth.
A third link in this imperialistic chain is the effort that is being made in so many parts of the country to restrict the liberty of the press. A man who is doing right has little to fear from the press, and much to give him hope and courage. The press is the mighty agent of freedom and reform. Tyrants and evil men in general have always feared it, and have sought to restrict its liberties. But the true man, he who wishes to see the right prevail, is ever willing to risk any evils that may possibly grow out of the liberty of the press in order that the good it will do may be accomplished.
Only a few months since, New York was threatened with a law that would have abridged the work of the press in that State very materially. But, by the earnest and vigilant efforts of the New York papers, the law was defeated. Much of the same kind of legislation was attempted here in California during the recent sitting of the Legislature; and some of the unrighteous matter has been enacted into law, as noted elsewhere in this paper.
Now put these three things together, and if there was nothing else, how strongly does it show the backward and dangerous tendencies of these times! The United States is fighting in the Philippines, not to uphold her principles of freedom, but to enslave men that the Constitution declares to be free. Then we have the rising aristocracy of wealth, and also the efforts that are being made to throttle the press. And yet there are some who do not see the dangers and evils of these times. They seem blind to every evidence that can be presented.
Not only this country but all the world is standing on the very brink of the most alarming dangers. Satan is working ruin everywhere he can, and as fast as he can. Personal uprightness and integrity are becoming more and more rare, and with the decay of personal honor the foundation of governments is gone. This earth will soon be a total wreck. It is high time to escape for thy life. If we have our hope fixed in heaven, we are secure. But if not, we are in danger of soon plunging into the everlasting ruin that is now by the brittlest thread hanging over our world. T.
A Public Official Refuses a Bribe
By T.
Attorney-General Monnet, of Ohio, has received a good deal of attention through the newspapers because he refused a bribe of $400,000 from one of the leading monopolies of the country. By some it is considered a most wonderful thing that such a large fortune should be spurned, even when it is offered as a bribe. Is it because public officials who refuse bribes are so scarce that they are to be thus wondered at? This is indeed a seriously sad commentary on the condition of these times. T.
A FAST-DAY PROCLAMATION.
By T.
A FEW days ago Governor Rollins, of New Hampshire, issued a fast-day proclamation, in which is contained the following significant paragraph:—
"The decline of the Christian religion, particularly in our rural communities, is a marked feature of the times, and steps should be taken to remedy it. I suggest that, as far as possible, on fast day union meetings be held, made up of all shades of belief, including all who are interested in the welfare of our State, and that in your prayers and other devotions and in your mutual counsels you remember and consider the problem of the condition of religion in the rural communities. There are towns where no church bell sends forth its solemn call from January to January; there are villages where children grow to manhood unchristened; there are communities where the dead are laid away without the benison of the name of Christ, and where marriages are solemnized only by justices of the peace. This is a matter worthy of your thoughtful consideration, citizens of New Hampshire. It does not augur well for the future."
The governor also stated that he thought something should be done to awaken the religious interests in the rural towns throughout Maine and Vermont, as well as in his own State. But why should the governor be the first to feel the need of a religious awakening? What is the matter with the ministers in New Hampshire that they are not looking after their work, and allowing the governor to confine himself to his legitimate affairs of State?
It is a serious condition of things if Christian worship is on such a low plane in New Hampshire as is indicated by the governor's proclamation. But it marks the spirit of these times. The church as well as the world is given to the frivolities and follies of the age. And is it to be wondered at that so many, in consequence of the manifest worldliness of the church, should throw off the religious mask entirely and devote themselves wholly to the vanities of this life?
But when the State steps in and attempts to revive an interest in spirituality by proclaiming fasts, it is only making bad matters worse; for the end of such a course is a still worse formality than already exists. The forms of religion are not what are needed. A Luther, or a Jerome, or a Wesley, filled with the power of the Holy Ghost, is what is needed. The world has been cursed enough with religion promulgated and fostered by the State. Let us rather seek the Lord for His power because it is right that we should, and not because the State proclaims a fast.
Some of the religious papers, in commenting on Governor Rollins, proclamation, say that the deplorable lack of spirituality that he mentions is not confined to New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, but that it is very general throughout the country. Did it ever occur to you that there was a vital connection between this lack of Christian life and the Saviour's statement, "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8. The subject is worthy of serious thought. T.
