EMPEROR FRANCIS JOSEPH has established the Order of St. Elizabeth in memory of his recently murdered wife. In mentioning this fact a newspaper put in display type the line, “The Empress is St. Elizabeth Now.” The Catholic Mirror speaks of this as an “absurd blunder,” and says that the one who made the head-line “could scarcely have had much reading or he would have known that kings and emperors do not make saints. It is a matter in other hands, and the process is very slow and difficult, and often reaches over centuries. Much more than a simple decree is required.”
Now the Mirror is quite right in saying that “kings and emperors do not make saints;” it is right in saying “it is a matter in other hands;” but it is far out of the way in the expression that “the process is very slow and difficult, and often reaches over centuries.” The Scriptures plainly indicate that the servants of God are all saints, whether they be the angels of heaven or His people on the earth. See Deut. 33:2, 3; Ps. 145:10–12; 149:1–5; Rom. 12:13; Eph. 4:12; Col. 1:2; Jude 14; Rev. 5:8, and other texts.
The matter is not in the hands of kings and emperors, neither is it in the hands of pope and cardinals. It lies between God and whosoever will yield himself to the will of God. As to the time occupied in the process, that depends upon the time the individual takes after hearing the Gospel, to surrender and become reconciled to God. There were three thousand saints made on the day of Pentecost, and where the Spirit of God is allowed free course, unhampered by the traditions of men or the stubborn resistance of the carnal mind, the process is neither “slow” nor “difficult.”
This “slow and difficult” process, of which the Mirror makes mention, probably refers to the Roman efforts to make saints of dead people. We most heartily assert that such a “process” is “slow and difficult,” so much so that it would be better expressed by the term impossible. As no one can be made a saint against his will, it is certain that no one can have this honor bestowed upon him after he has passed the probationary period of this life. For then he can have no will in the matter; the Word of Inspiration assures us that “the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.” Eccl. 9:5, 6. So that, if they were not saints before death, the making of them saints afterward would be impossible; and if they were saints in this life, the addition of any human effort after death to insure such an honor is not only superfluous but blasphemous, in that it assumes a prerogative of God.
However, the attempt to make men saints without their knowledge after death is paralleled by the attempt at arbitrarily making Christians by means of civil law or court decision. The latter is as unscriptural, and therefore as futile, as the former. Both ideas are streams from the same fountain. W. N. G.
ASKING
By Eugene Leland
“Ask, and it shall be given you; . . . for every one that asketh receiveth.” Matt. 7:7, 8. Ask for what? No one would think of asking for a thing which he already possesses, and so when we are admonished to ask, it is for things that we do not already own. But are there not other things for which we should ask aside from the things which we desire to possess, and which, perhaps, we ought to possess? Should we not ask for wisdom to know how to dispose of what is already ours as well as for what we do not have? It is as important to ask what disposition shall be made of what we already have as it is to ask for things which we do not have; for what we have is simply intrusted to us as stewards, and we are to dispose of it according to the mind of Him whose it is, and not according to our minds.
It is not, then, so much the things of this world for which we are to ask as for wisdom to know what disposition to make of what is already given into our hands. But the Lord says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” So, tho we may have a barrelful of flour in the house, yet the Lord has taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” But why ask for that which we already have? That barrel of flour ought to supply us with bread not only for this day, but for many days besides. Ah, but it belongs to us only as stewards; and if the Lord wants us to dispose of it for the benefit of some one who needs it more than we do, we are to hold it in readiness to be given! In this way only can we consistently ask, “Give us this day our daily bread,” when we have bread enough in the house for many days.
The Lord wants His people to trust in Him for their daily bread, and not in a barrel of flour, or a bin of wheat; for “it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The fire may burn up that bin of wheat. The flood may destroy the standing grain. The dishonesty of men may deprive you of your hoarded treasure; for “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the Word of the Lord endureth forever.” The Lord is just as able to give wisdom in regard to the disposition that should be made of the barrel of flour as He is to give us flour; but someway we seem to find it much easier to ask for the flour when we really need it than we do to ask what disposition shall be made of it after we get it; and especially is this true when we don’t happen to need flour.
You have a thousand dollars deposited in the bank, and you are thinking of buying an addition to your farm, or of building another barn, or of getting some new furniture for your house; and that is all right if it is what the Lord would have done with that thousand dollars. But, remember, that money belongs to the Lord, and He wants you so to use it that His cause will be advanced. In short, the Lord wants to work in you to will and to do of His good-pleasure concerning the disposition that shall be made of that thousand dollars. He wants you to ask Him what disposition He would have you make of it, and then He would have you ask Him for grace to enable you to dispose of it in just that way.
This point is just where lies the danger of making a mistake. Your mind is so fully decided on having this addition to your farm that you have no doubt but that the Lord also wants you to have it, and so, instead of asking if it is His will that you should have those additional acres, you ask Him to speed the triumph of the Gospel in all the world, to send out laborers and keep them from getting discouraged, to bless the poor and the needy, and to relieve the wants of the distressed; but not one word do you ask concerning the disposition of that thousand dollars, a sum which would go a long way toward doing the very things you have asked the Lord to do. You have already disposed of that in your mind. You have decided to secure the addition to your farm, when the Lord knows, and you know too, that you already have so many cares and perplexities in consequence of having so many acres to look after that you can hardly spend time to worship Him as you ought.
“But then,” you reason, “if I only had those additional acres, I could make so much more money, and thus be able to help the cause of God along, and to relieve the distress of the needy.” Would you, tho? After you had secured those additional acres, you would need to say, “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And you would need to pull down your barns and build greater. Besides, how do you know but that your soul will be required of you this night; “then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” Will the Lord get back His own with usury? Or will you let your life-work be lost to the cause of God in this world, and yourself be lost to the world to come?
And then to think that one should sell himself so cheap when he can get so much simply for the asking! The Lord paid an infinite price, even the life of His own Son, simply for the purpose of granting us the privilege of receiving eternal life, with all its attendant blessings, and only upon the condition of asking. “Ask, and ye shall receive.”
EUGENE LELAND.
Bethel, P. Q.
WAITING
By Doris
Has the upward way grown so hard and steep
That you long to kneel at the Saviour’s feet,
And plead for hope and help and grace,
And for a glimpse of His blessed face?
Then listen, dear heart, with never a fear;
For the still, small voice you will surely hear.
For the overcomers who fight the good fight,
There are heavenly mansions and robes of white;
There are starry crowns and the victor’s palm;
There is music that falls on the heart as balm;
There are rainbows and angelic faces fair;
And the tree and the river of life are there.
O weary one, will you patiently wait,
When you know that soon He will open the gate?
Soon the east will glow like countless suns,
As He comes to gather His waiting ones;
And never again from Him shall we part—
O, can not you wait for this, tired heart?
Doris.
THE SURE FOUNDATION.
READER, whoever you are, you will admit these truths: (1) That a building should have a good foundation if it would endure; (2) that the most important thing a man is building is his house of character. Character is the only thing about a man which is of real, enduring worth. Every one, the lowest criminal as well as the most scheming business man, appreciates a person who is faithful, one whom he “can tie to,” whom he can depend upon.
The important questions now are, Do you want a good character? Do you want it built on a foundation which will endure? Christ offers you both. Listen to the words of the great Teacher:—
“Every one that cometh unto Me, and heareth My words, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood arose, the stream brake against that house, and could not shake it; because it had been well builded [margin, “founded upon the Rock”].” Luke 5:47, 48, R.V.
Mark these specifications:—
1. “Every one.” Then no one is excluded; “Every one” who will come to Christ; and He declares, “Him that cometh unto Me, I will in nowise cast out.” Men may reject you as unworthy; they may cast you out from their associations; your crimes may bar you from human society; your sins may discourage and overwhelm you in their blackness and magnitude, yet you may “come” to Jesus Christ and He will in nowise cast you out. Nay, He will receive you graciously. He purchased you just as you are. He knew your sinfulness, misery, wretchedness; and in His great love He bought you; He gave Himself for your price, that He might redeem you from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. He would take away your sins and give you His sinlessness. He would take away your unrest and misery and wretchedness, and give you His peace and rest and assurance forever. O, will you not come?
2. “That heareth My words.” This is your part, to listen to Christ. Will you not do it? We know that the voices of the world are insistent and loud and constant. Fleshly lust calls clamorously. Pleasure sings her siren song. Enmity and hate goad you by fierce words in the mad competition of the selfish world. Honor, fame, and poverty, cold, and nakedness, wealth—all add to the confused din and babel of voices assailing you on every side, till ear and mind become confused. And yet, O soul, the very best of all these calling can bring you only temporal good with ultimate disappointment! But amid all the din there is another Voice calling to light and righteousness and life forever more. Listen! Oftentimes the Voice is still and small, but it ever speaks to the heart, and appeals to all the nobler impulses and longings of the soul. Listen, and you shall hear. His Word is light, and it “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”
3. “And doeth them;” that is, that doeth the words of the Master; that follows where He leads. You may say that you can not do His words, you can not keep His commandments. But you can do this—you can will to do; you can submit to do whatsoever He requires. And the promise is, “If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God.” God will furnish the strength; for every precept of God is an implied promise. In every command is the strength to him who submits to do the command. Submit to do, and you will know that all His ways are pleasantness and all His paths are peace. Can you find a better law than His law? Can you develop a better character than His character? Can you find better associations than those of Heaven? You know you can not. Why then delay to do His commandments?
4. The result. If you come and hear and do, you will be like the man who digged deep and laid the foundation of his house on the rock. Then dig deep. Go below human traditions, and all the error and rubbish of ages, and make your foundation of character, that which no man can lay, but which is already laid, the living Rock. “For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 3:11. Build on Him, and you will find that the life from the living Rock will bind you to Him, and enable you to stand forever. O soul, whoever you are, it is your privilege to build on the Rock of Ages!
THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT.
Prophecy.
LET us ever remember that God gives freely His mighty, blessed Spirit to all those who ask Him in faith; to those who are emptied of self to receive it; to those who will yield to do His service. And through the Spirit are the gifts of the Spirit, or spiritual gifts, bestowed.
Too, let us never forget that we should not be ignorant concerning these gifts; for thus writes the apostle “to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord”—
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant . . . Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, who worketh all things in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal. . . . Dividing to each one severally even as He will.” 1 Cor. 12:1–11.
God would have these gifts which He has “set in the church” known and recognized by all His children. In fact, these gifts must be known and recognized before the church reaches that preparation which fits her for translation, because it is by these gifts that she is perfected. Christ gave them “for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body [the church] of Christ; till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” See Eph. 4:11–13. Just as truly as the church has not reached that condition yet (and it is evident to all she has not) so truly are the gifts of the Spirit necessary that she may reach it. And as Christ “set” no unnecessary thing in His church “when He ascended on high,” so surely are all the gifts necessary still. The unbelieving and pleasure-loving professor of religion may repudiate and ridicule them; the formulist may reject them; the overcautious may be fearful on account of many counterfeits; but the true child of God, the loyal soldier of the Lord, will follow where the Word leads, and will be content with nothing short of all that God has promised. And the true church will be content with nothing less than all the gifts that God has “set” in her, nothing less than all the “members” He has given her, that she may “come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ;” that she may be indeed a “glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” See 1 Cor. 1:4–9; Eph. 5:27.
With these preliminary considerations and elementary truths in mind, let us consider another important gift of the Spirit which God has placed in the church. “God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets.”
A prophet is one who speaks for another. In the Hebrew it comes from nabi, from naba, to bubble forth as a fountain, as in Ps. 45:1: “My heart is bubbling up a good matter.” In the Greek it means the interpreter, from pro, phemi, to speak forth for another. Thus Aaron was the prophet, or spokesman, of Moses. Ex. 7:1. God’s prophets are spokesmen for God, filled with His Spirit, speaking His words to the people. David said, “The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His Word was upon my tongue.” 2 Sam. 23:2. And so we read of the words spoken by David, “As the Holy Ghost saith.” Heb. 3:7; Acts 4:16. And Peter declares: “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 1:21.
We have in the Hebrew Scriptures, besides the word nabi, the words roeh, “seer,” from raah, “to see;” chazeh, “seer,” from chazeh, “see.” The seer, one who saw the revelations of God; the prophet, he who proclaims and interprets God’s will.
Prophecy, therefore, does not always mean to predict, or foretell future events, but is the proclamation of divine truth, which may have reference to the past, present, or future, with present practical lessons.
God did not always reveal Himself or His will in the same way to “His servants, the prophets.” Sometimes it was by vision or dream. Sometimes the Spirit came upon them as they opened their mouth to bear God’s message. Sometimes God talked with the prophet face to face, as with Moses and Jesus. Thus the Lord speaks: “If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude [form] of the Lord shall he behold.” Num. 12:5–8.7
The prophet of God was not uncertain of his message. He spoke the word of God, and knew that he did. Read in the records of the prophets: “The Lord hath spoken,” “Hear the word of the Lord” (Isa. 1:2, 10); “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord” (Jer. 7:1); “The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel” (Eze. 1:1), and similarly in many other places. “Which things also we speak,” declares the apostle Paul, “not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.” 1 Cor. 2:13.
The infallible interpreter of God’s will is, therefore, the Spirit of God speaking through His prophets and servants.
This does not mean that the instrument is perfect, or the judgment of that instrument infallible; but it does mean that God sends infallible messages by His infallible Spirit through imperfect instruments who are perfectly submitted to Him. His Word is the infallible Word, inspired of the Spirit of God. The prophet is the human instrument through whom God sends His message to other humans.
Its Importance.
The importance of the gift of prophecy is therefore evident. It is, so to speak, the eye of the church, seeing the hidden snares, the invisible dangers, the unseen foes which menace the Christian, beholding the land that is far off, and the ever-present forces of God which enable the child of God to reach it, despite the foes and dangers. It is the voice of the Spirit, warning, reproving, instructing, admonishing, cheering, encouraging, building up the children of God in their pilgrimage through the enemy’s land. It draws lessons from the past; it lightens the dark future with the radiance of divine certitude, and makes the living present pregnant with the importance of God’s work.
He who rejected the prophet’s word rejected the message of God. God is identified with the messenger He sends. He may be the patriarch Enoch or Noah, the learned Moses, the priestly Ezekiel, the royal Daniel, the herdman Amos; he is God’s messenger, and speaks the word of God.
In Our Day.
“Are there prophets in the church of God now?”—If not, there ought to be. Who has ever said that the gift of prophecy should cease to be operative in the church of Christ? Surely if the church ever needed eyes, she needs them now in this time of unparalleled darkness. If she ever needed to be instructed in the way, warned, reproved, encouraged, it is now. If she ever needed uniting, it is now. But the most efficient agent in these things is the spirit of prophecy.
That it has not always been in exercise proves nothing. If the people of the world should for a hundred years fail to use their right hand or eye, that would not prove that it should not be used. Rather, it would show that the people were foolish, and living below their privilege. Even so the non-use of the gift of prophecy is not evidence of its non-existence. When Jesus Christ ascended, He “gave gifts unto men,” “set” them in the church, and this gift of prophecy is among them, waiting for the church to receive it, use it, and profit by its teaching.
More than this: the Lord has expressly declared that in the closing days of the Christian dispensation the gifts will be especially manifest, among them that of prophecy. “Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 1:6, 7. “And the dragon [the devil] was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed [the last of the church], which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17. “Worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Rev. 19:10. Note, too, that those who are said to have the spirit of prophecy in Rev. 19:10 are called prophets in Rev. 22:9. All of which demonstrates that the people who compose the “remnant” church, who are found “waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” have among other gifts the gift of prophecy; and it is in part the knowledge given by this gift that arouses against the remnant church the wrath of the dragon.
“But there are false prophets as well as true; how may we discriminate between them?” This will be considered in our next issue.
WHAT MADE AMERICA GREAT.
In What Has Her Best Influence Been Exerted?
We take the following from Our Dumb Animals. It is credited in that earnest little sheet to Rev. C. E. Jefferson, D.D., of Broadway Tabernacle, New York City. When so many are attributing great influence to America as the result of this war, it may be well for the faithful student of affairs to think a little on the other side. Certainly Dr. Jefferson has presented some food for thought in the following:—
· America has been a great world power for years. How did she become such? By her army?—No. By her navy?—No. By dabbling in diplomacy?—No. By colonies and dependencies?—No. By the cultivation of the arts of peace. By attending to her own business. By building colleges and schools and churches. By developing free institutions. We started poor and without a friend. We are to-day one of the richest of all nations. We have not fooled away our time in drilling and marching. We have worked. We have not squandered our money on armies and navies. We have built it into schools. And to-day we are a power in the world. It is absurd to think that a nation can not be a great world power without an immense army. “A great naval power,” in many a circle is a phrase to conjure with. “A great Christian power,” to my ears sounds much better.
A battle-ship is more attractive even yet to millions than the Man who hangs on the cross. But that Man on the cross sways the future. He alone holds a scepter that shall not be broken. After the towers of Westminster Abbey have crumbled to dust, the kingdom of Christ will still be young. Of the increase of His government there shall be no end. It is earnestly questioned whether England has not already reached the zenith of her greatness. As Captain Mahan says, “She is gorged with land, and her statesmen are weary of looking after it.” She has dependencies, but, as Disraeli long ago asserted, they are a millstone about her neck. She has a mighty navy, but dearly does she pay for it. Upon her army and navy over one-third of her vast revenues are annually expended, while her paupers increase with the years.
America isolated?—No. Where is there a land which her influence has not reached? Her merchants trade in every market. Her missionaries labor under every flag. Her ideas have touched and thrilled the hearts of men under every sun. She has done more for freedom and human happiness and peace within the last hundred years than any other nation in the world.
This is my ambition for America—that we may found our empire upon love; that we may spend our money on churches and schools, libraries and hospitals; that we may build ourselves in righteousness, so that wherever an American citizen may go upon the earth, he will be honored and loved, not because of our battle-ships, but because he represents a nation which has nothing but justice and kindness for all races of men.
But that time is now past. The arena now is that of war: America’s future influence will be that pressed home behind bayonets. Alas, how are the mighty fallen!
WHAT bearing has the above on the Sabbath? M. T. C.
The scripture above noted reveals simply the contrast between the two covenants and those who hold to them for salvation. The first covenant—in which Israel pledged their obedience, but could not fulfil it—is represented by Hagar, the bondswoman, who bore children to bondage, and by old Jerusalem in bondage with her children, because all who promise to do God’s will in their own strength are bringing themselves under the bondage of sin. Man of himself can not keep the law, therefore the law condemns him, and he is “under the law,” condemned by it. So it is true that every one who wishes to work out his salvation by his works wishes to be in sin, under the law, for the two are the same. All who hate wisdom love death. See Prov. 8:36. So those who love their own deeds and ways, love sin, and are under the condemnation of the law. But the new covenant, represented by Sarah, Isaac, and the Jerusalem above, centers in Christ, who sets us free from sin, “transgression of the law,” and enables us in Him to keep it. The new covenant establishes through Christ the law of God in its every part in the heart of the believer. The free man is the man who keeps the law. The man in bondage is the man who sins, whose heart is carnal. We may be in the class we choose. We may choose God’s way, or mark out some other
In Matt. 28:9 it is said that the Marys held Jesus “by the feet, and worshiped Him,” while in John 20:17 He forbids Mary to touch Him. C. D. M.
The earlier event is John 20:17. Jesus forbade Mary to touch Him till He had ascended to His Father and His sacrifice and work were accepted. This He evidently did at once. Subsequently He meets the two Marys, and permits them to pay Him the homage they did, for God had accepted Him. He therefore ascended immediately after His resurrection, to be acknowledged of God, and returned again to His disciples. His visible ascension took place forty days later.
878. “Spirits of Demons, Working Miracles.”
HOW CAN I convince people that the spirits of devils are working miracles in the world at the present time?
By the fulfilment of such divine predictions as I Tim. 4:1; 2 Thess. 2:9–11; Rev. 13:13, 14; 16:13, 14. In the latter text the culmination of the works of these spirits is shown. They have before prepared the world, as shown by such texts as Isa. 8:19; I Tim. 4:1, and others. If you can not convince persons by the prophecy and the marked fulfilment before their eyes, you can only pray, and leave them with God.
PLEASE explain Matt. 11:12: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” E. L.
The text is illustrative of the power and influence of John’s preaching. He was terribly in earnest, “Repent,” reform, was his burden. It meant agonizing effort. Men agonized, strove, struggled to enter the kingdom; and the violent, the earnest, the zealous seize upon it, or obtain it, as by force.
“THE WORLD FOR CHRIST.”
By W. N. G.
For several years this has been the slogan of a large class of people who hope to win the world to Christ through political methods and various other schemes of purely human origin. First and foremost in the plans set in operation by the combination of organizations that claim to have this object in view, is the control of legislative bodies. Through these agencies they hope to bring the civil law to bear in a way to enforce the observance of certain religious institutions.
To practically carry out the schemes of this aggregation of unions, leagues, associations, etc., would be giving Christ over to the world, rather than winning the world to Him. Of course it would not be possible to give Christ to the world, for He overcame the world (John 16: 33); but it has been possible to deceive His disciples by religio-political methods and draw them over to the world. And what has been done in the past, in the way of corrupting the church by inducing it to adopt the world’s political measures, can be done again. And there never has been a time when the popular church was more susceptible to the deceptive influences of the adversary than it seems to be at the present time.
The increase of crime, as a result of intemperance, corruption in political circles, and covetousness of power, place, and wealth, regardless of the means used to gain these objects, indicates that despite the cry of “The world for Christ,” the very opposite condition is obtaining at a rapid rate. A plethora of civil law, altho a goodly proportion of our legislators, judges, and executive officers are nominally Christian, does not in any sense improve the political or moral atmosphere in any part of the country. All they that are looking to the law-making powers for the advancement of the cause of Christ are persistently ignoring the divine Word as spoken by Christ and His inspired apostles. What does Christ say of the condition of the world when He shall come again to take His people to Himself? Mark His own prophecy:—
“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17: 26-30.
Only Noah and his family were saved from the flood; only Lot and part of his family were saved from the destruction of Sodom. In consonance with the prophecy just cited, Jesus also says, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good-pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Chapter 12: 32. The kingdom will be inherited by “the little flock” when Christ comes again, “and all the holy angels with Him.” Matt. 25: 31-34. This is the same occasion referred to in Heb. 9: 28, where it is said that “unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
It will not be the world, nor even the professed Christians who are aiming to win the world to Christ through politics, that will be looking for Him when He comes. Why?—Because those who are working to convert the world with the world’s appliances do not expect Him to come until they have prepared the world to receive Him as king. But this they never can do; for it is not God’s plan of setting up His kingdom. He does not receive His kingdom from men, either through “the gateway of politics” or in any other way. His Father gives Him His kingdom in heaven (Dan. 7: 13, 14); and we learn from Dan. 2: 36–45 that when the kingdom is restored, the King comes to execute judgment upon all the kingdoms of the world. It is the Father in heaven that gives the world into the hands of His Son. Neither the religio-political societies of earth, nor the Legislatures nor city councils, nor boards of supervisors, nor Congress, nor the courts of whatever grade, nor kings, nor emperors, have anything to do in the matter. “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
We are also told through David that the possession of the earth is given to the Son by the Father, and not by any earthly power, religious or political. “I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.” Ps. 2: 7, 8. The “uttermost parts of the earth” comprise all the earth, the so-called “Christian nations,” and all the rest. Then what is Christ to do with them when they shall have been turned over to Him? Are they then supposed to have been converted to Christ? The next verse tells: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
But out of it all will come the “little flock,” out of “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people;” “they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus;” they that have “washed their robes, and made them white [not in the political whirlpool, but] in the blood of the Lamb.”
Turn again to the second psalm for the admonition in view of the doom of the world, and with it of those who link themselves to its destiny, in hope of bringing it bodily to Christ through the mazes of political deception, lighted by the “sparks of their own kindling.” Read verses 10–12, just following the former quotation: “Be wise now therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”
Then when and how can we have “the world for Christ”? Read 2 Peter 3 and Rev. 21: 1–8.
W. N. G.
TRENDING TOWARD CATHOLICISM.
Mr. Kensit, a citizen of London, England, has presented a petition to the House of Convocation, which is a protest against increasing ritualism in the Church of England contrary to civil law. Among the illegal ornaments and practises in use are the following, which we take from The Examiner (Baptist), of October 14:—
“Unlawful ornaments of the minister: (1) The alb; (2) the biretta; (3) the chasuble; (4) the cope; (5) the dalmatic; (6) the tunic or tunicle; (7) the maniple. Unlawful ornaments of the church: (8) A baldacchino; (9) lighted candles when not required for giving light; (10) a stone altar; (11) a cross on or over or in apparent connection with the communion table; (12) a crucifix; (13) stations of the cross. Unlawful ceremonies: (14) Bowing down before or addressing worship to the consecrated elements; (15) the attendance of acolytes; (16) tolling of bell at consecration; (17) making the sign of the cross over the people; (18) hiding the manual acts; (19) elevation of the elements; (20) the use of incense; (21) the ceremonial mixing of water with the wine during divine service; (22) the use of wafers in lieu of bread usual to be eaten.”
The reader may look up the meaning of some of these unfamiliar terms if he wishes to learn the foibles of this idolatrous devotion to priestly millinery—we have not space now to define them. These illegal practises have grown marvelously, we are told, in the last fifteen years. “Thus the use of vestments has increased from 336 cases in 1882 to 1,632 in 1897; the use of incense, from 9 cases to 307; that of altar lights, from 581 cases to 3,568; and the ‘hiding of manual acts,’ from 1,662 cases to 5,964.”
Archbishop Taylor in a recent sermon at Liverpool tells us that 12,000 of the Anglican clergy are in sympathy with the ritualistic movement, and intimates that their success “means the reversal of the Reformation.” All of which points significantly to the trend towards Romanism. Many of what would be called in England the non-conformist churches in both that country and this, are multiplying rites and ceremonies, especially as regards “church days,” and thus show decided advance toward “Broad Church ritualism;” “Broad Churchism” is becoming “High Churchism,” and “High Churchism” is growing more and more ritualistic and Roman Catholic. The end is foretold in the Word of God. Rev. 17:8. But how manifest in all this is the folly of State control in religious matters!
