Earlier text: Religious and Social ConditionsGIVEN FOR OUR LEARNING.
By The Watchman
IN reading and studying the Scriptures it is needful to keep in mind the practical purpose of divine revelation. It was given, not to gratify curiosity, not to set before us the men of old time for us to sit in judgment upon them, but to teach God's will concerning us. Instead of asking whether a given personage sinned in a certain case, and whether it was a conscious and deliberate sin, let us ask whether, in the light of the gospel, it would be right for us to do the like; and if we decide that it would not be right, let us be thankful that "the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth." If in the twilight of an imperfect dispensation good men did things which are now so evidently wrong that nobody would think of justifying them, this is evidence, not against those men, but of God's forbearance and tender mercy. Yet we should sin against his mercy if we took counsel of self-will, and presumed to do with our eyes open what those men of old did in partial darkness. It is for us to ask for ourselves, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" instead of asking what is the judgment to be passed on this or that man for what he did. To this impertinent question the Judge answers: "What is that to thee? Fear God and keep his commandments for thyself." While the Bible is very frank in disclosing the imperfections of good men, it never justifies their wrongful acts, nor encourages us to do so. At the same time it as little calls for our censure. It bids us consider ourselves, and while recognizing their good traits, look above them to the perfect example of Christ, conformity to whom is the crowning promise of the gospel. No charge against the Scriptures could be more preposterous than that of sanctioning immorality. Their effect, when believed, has uniformly been to elevate and purify and sweeten the morals of men and of societies. Unbelief may pervert them, but the resultant evil is to be ascribed to the unbelief and not to the word. "You say," said a skeptic to a minister, "that 'the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.' Well, I have heard and read it, and I never felt anything of that power." "You do not quote the whole verse," said the minister. "It is 'the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.' You do not believe." And he was a stranger to the saving efficacy of the gospel, not because as presented to him it had parted with any of its proper efficacy, but simply because his unbelief put it from him. We live in an age of prevailing unbelief, and, for that reason, of prevailing indifference to the gospel.—The Watchman. GUIDED BY FEELINGS.
By S. S. Times
Because we recognize the truth that "feeling [is] deeper than all thought," and because the having of "feelings" is an indication of a sensitive, refined, and higher nature, we are liable to believe that our feelings are to be our guide and master. If a person writes to another: "I am never tranquilly sure whether I shall gratify or offend you, but whichever it be, I would not vary my writing if I knew, because I must write what I feel," that correspondent doubtlessly considered himself as exhibiting a loyal spirit toward what was regarded as his rightful master—his feeling. But if one must write and speak what one feels, simply because one feels so, then one's feelings must be always right; for no one ever must do anything but the right thing. Must one scold because he is cross and ill-tempered? Must one indulge in backbitings, in slanders, in insults, because he feels like it? If one feels like sulking, must he sulk? If one feels like stabbing with cold steel or hot words, must he wound or kill? There are right feelings and there are wrong feelings; and it is because feeling is so deep that it is so necessary to distinguish one from the other. It is only half the problem to ask whether you feel like saying this or doing that. The other and more important half is, Ought you to feel so, or ought you not? —S. S. Times. REVERENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD.
LACK of reverence for the place where God is worshiped is easily and very naturally transferred to the worship performed there, and the next step is a lack of reverence for him in whose name the worship is performed. Yet without this reverence no worship is acceptable. Therefore our churches should always be regarded as holy places, set apart from all unhallowed or common uses, for the worship of Almighty God; and this specific use necessarily excludes all other uses; and while there is no sanctity in the materials, the wood, brick, and mortar of which the houses are made, yet there is a power in association that influences us greatly, and the feeling of reverence for the place and the worship should be carefully maintained and cherished all the time, and everywhere, and that too for our own personal benefit.—St. Louis Christian Advocate. Ready Tools, Ready Work
By Charles Kingsley
HAVE thy tools ready; God will find thee work.—Kingsley. THE IRON IN GOD'S SAND.
By Oliver Wendell Holmes
If anyone should give me a dish of sand and say there were particles of iron in it, I might look with my eyes for them, and search for them with my clumsy fingers, and be unable to find them; but let me take a magnet and sweep it, and how it would draw to itself the most invisible particles by the mere power of attraction! The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find in every hour some heavenly blessings; only the iron in God's sand is gold.—Oliver Wendell Holmes. A FOUNDATION-STONE OF THE TEMPORAL MILLENNIUM.
By Milton C. Wilcox
WERE the doctrine of the spiritual millennium, or conversion of the world prior to the second coming of Christ, supported by God's word, we would gladly accept it, and labor for the happy consummation which those who advocate it predict. Did the history of the human race warrant us to expect the golden age, we would, in the absence of Bible testimony, regard the doctrine with favor. But the history of mankind does not warrant any such future, and the evidence of the word is positively against it. And however much we might desire that reign of peace, surely it is not best to cling to error and delude ourselves with Utopian visions of the future, which will prove at the last but a mirage, while the perils of the last day find us unprepared. Better to face the facts, and prepare in God's strength to meet them. Error is always a source of weakness. One error, though harmless in itself, often becomes potent for evil by giving birth to others, or by hiding important and essential truths. While the theory of the temporal millennium is based upon what seems to be plain and emphatic declarations of Holy Writ, it is, we believe, based upon a misapplication of those declarations. Its foundation-stones are those promises and predictions respecting the earth; and it is assumed that these promises and predictions are fulfilled during the thousand years of Revelation 20. And while the foundation-stones are perfect for what they were designed by the great Architect, they can never be used for the superstructure of the temporal millennium. They are of too heavy and substantial a material to be transported from that position in the history of the world where Infinite Wisdom has placed them. It is upon a wrong application of these texts that, we apprehend, the temporal millennium theory is chiefly built. Starting out with the theory that the righteous receive their everlasting reward "beyond the bounds of time and space," and that the full blessedness of this reward is entered upon at the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the just, the only application which they can consistently make of the predictions of earth's glory is that they are to be fulfilled during the thousand years. This period of time is to be marked by great spiritual and temporal blessings. The earth is to be "filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea;" "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb;" "they shall not hurt nor destroy;" the people "shall not build and another inhabit," etc., etc. There are many texts which refer to this happy condition of things. We believe in these precious promises most sincerely, but we earnestly contend that their application has reference not to the earth in its present condition, not to the gospel dispensation, not to the thousand years of Revelation 20, but to the earth renewed, and the eternal ages beyond. Let us examine some of the declarations of the Bible concerning the earth. That it was created by God for mankind, that man was given dominion over it, that he lost that dominion and it passed into the hands of the usurper, Satan, will probably be denied by no devout Bible reader. This is evident from several considerations. It is expressly declared that man was given dominion; that he is sold under sin; that the purchased possession must be redeemed; that our Saviour came not only to save sinners, those who were lost, but "that which was lost." Hence Satan is called the "god" and "prince" of this world. He presented its dominion before the Son of man as a temptation. But all this is to be changed. The Stronger than the strong man will come, bind the strong man, and spoil his house. That creation which was pronounced "good" by its Author, which has been marred and cursed by sin, will yet bloom in more than its Eden beauty. The way in which this change is wrought is plainly set forth by the apostle Peter in the third chapter of his second epistle. He presents the earth in three phases: (1) "The world that then was," the antediluvian world, which, being overflowed with water, perished; (2) the present condition of the world, or "the heavens and the earth that are now," which are "reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men;" and (3) the "new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness," for which the people of God look according to his promise. See Isa. 65:17. Was the antediluvian world literal?—None will deny it. None but those who "willingly are ignorant" will deny the flood. Are the heavens and earth that are now literal? Then the new heavens and earth are also literal. "The heavens and earth which are now" are the same as those which "perished" by the flood, differing only by the additional curse which came because of increased sin through the upheavals of that terrible event. The new heavens and earth are the same earth purified and renovated by the fires of judgment, with the curse of sin removed. Purchased by the precious blood of Christ, it returns to its rightful Ruler, the Son of man, the second Adam, its Creator and Redeemer. Where the curse has rested (and none will deny that the earth is that place), it will be said, "And there shall be no more curse." Thus also the wicked will receive their final punishment in the judgment fires which shall purify the earth. 2 Peter 3:9; 2:9; Mal. 4:1. Prov. 11:31 will be literally fulfilled, not in this life, but in that which is to come. The wicked will receive the execution of their sentence at the close of the thousand years, when they are raised from the dead. Revelation 20. But where are the righteous during the millennium?—They are with Christ in heaven. At the second advent they are "caught up" "in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess. 4:16, 17), and taken by him to those "many mansions" (John 14:1-3) which he has prepared for them. There they "reign with Christ a thousand years." During this period the earth, which was broken down and desolated by the presence of the Lord, lies forsaken and empty, reduced to a chaotic condition. At the end of this period, as above remarked, the fires of the last day will purify the earth, and destroy the works of wickedness. And from its ashes will spring "new heavens and a new earth." The New Jerusalem, the capital city, will descend with that innumerable blood-washed throng to take possession of Eden restored. Earth's history does not end in the blackness of darkness. "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited." Isa. 45:18. So the faithful are called to the inheritance of that kingdom prepared for them "from the foundation of the world." Matt. 25:34. So "the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." Ps. 37:11. There will be no more sighing or sorrow, no more pain or woe, no more sad partings, no more death. "Jerusalem which is above," "the mother of us all," will be inhabited by her children; the everlasting Father, our adorable Redeemer, will dwell among them with his own glorious presence; the children, once captives of sin and Satan, are freed, and all at home. No longer will death claim them as his; the shout of the conqueror is theirs: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" No longer, in the "land of the enemy," will Israel hang their harps on the willows by the rivers of Babylon; but the "ransomed of the Lord," from every land and nation and age, "will return and775 come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Yes, God's purpose concerning the earth will be fulfilled—it will be inhabited by the faithful of all ages, whose blood has cried to God for justice to the oppressor, and whose prayers are recorded in heaven. Long has the usurper ruled and blasted earth's fair domain; long has creation groaned and traveled under the curse; long has the agonizing cry, 'How long, O Lord, how long?' been forced from the lips of those who, laboring for sinners, have enriched the soil with their blood and watered it with their tears; long has the world been a vast charnel and lazar-house for the victims of sin; long have the careless, reckless, pleasure-seeking, world-loving mass of humanity passed heedlessly on over the graves of those who have gone before, recking not of the doom that awaits them; long have the faithful few lived and labored, prayed and preached, endured and died, for God and his truth; long—but not for aye! There succeeds to the long dark night of sin a brighter morn than earth has ever known—a morn whose ascending sun shall never know decline, whose day ends not with night. We firmly believe that the wrong conceptions held by the mass of Christians concerning the final home of the people of God, form the chief part of the foundation of the world's conversion theory. Had the church adhered to 'the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers,' which relates to the inheritance of the saints in light, and which is so plainly revealed in the word of God, the fascinating fable of the temporal millennium would not now be blinding so many of her children in regard to the coming of the day of God. At some future time we may examine another foundation-stone of this baseless fabric. Every Duty Omitted Obscures Truth
By John Ruskin
EVERY duty omitted obscures some truth we should know.—Ruskin. IN the action of Ezra as he was about to go up to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, there is a lesson for those who at the present time are asking the aid of civil authority in favor of Sunday observance. He had received permission from the king to go up to Jerusalem, and had gathered together a company of his people for that purpose. But the country through which they were to pass was hostile, and they were not men of war, and could not defend themselves. The king was well disposed toward them, and would no doubt have given them a guard of soldiers if they had desired it. But Ezra would not ask help from the king; "for," said he, "I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way; because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him." Ezra knew that if he should ask for assistance, the king would think that the Lord was not with them, or else that they were afraid to trust him. So he proclaimed a fast, that they might afflict themselves before God to seek of him the right way. Ezra 8:21. And the result is summed up in these words: "So we fasted and besought our God for this; and he was entreated of us." If Ezra had not been convinced that he was doing the work of the Lord, he would not have trusted in the Lord, but would have asked the assistance of the king. In every instance where people ask for human protection in matters pertaining to religion, it is because there is a belief in their hearts that the Lord is not with them. If there was Bible evidence of the sacredness of Sunday, would its friends ask for a human law in its favor?—Never. God has intrusted his truth to men for them to disseminate, but he has never authorized them to use carnal weapons in its behalf. The commission is to teach all nations; but it is not said that the disciples must force all nations to believe. If anything is really of God, all man has to do is to observe it and teach it, calling on the Lord for help, and the Spirit of God will convict men of sin. If the advocates of Sunday observance really believe that it is of God, let them teach it with all diligence, asking God to guide them. If it is of God, he will not let it suffer, but will vindicate his truth. But when they ask the aid of politicians, worldly men, these men will help them from worldly considerations, and not as a matter of religion. They will not believe that God is in the movement; but they will identify themselves with it, because they will expect to derive personal advantage from it. And this is the only consideration that will move politicians and men of the world; so that if the movement really were of God, it would be dishonored by such advocacy. God is able to take care of his own truth and people, without the aid of weak and sinful man. WHAT IS THE APOSTASY?
By M. C. W.
WITH the following extract from the Christian Cynosure, not long since, we have no fault to find. We do not agree with the writer, however, that the great apostasy which is threatening Christianity is lodge worship, although we have no defense for the lodge. There is truth in the extract which is worth heeding, and to which the Cynosure itself is blind. The writer says:— “The Jews were always nominally worshipers of Jehovah. At their period of lowest declension they never formally renounced their allegiance; and by numerous passages in the prophets we learn that the temple service was kept up on a magnificent scale, even when secret false worships were degrading the morals and spiritually debauching the whole people. Christianity is in no danger of being superseded by any other religion. The principles of Buddhism may be taught as a fashionable “craze,” and infidel lecturers like Ingersoll may gain admirers and disciples; but the mass of the people will never become Buddhists or infidels. The peril is rather in the mixing of false religions with the true. A mixture of rites and doctrines borrowed from heathenism, and superadded to the true worship of God, made the great Roman Catholic apostasy; and Protestantism is on the way to an apostasy equally terrible.” By “Christianity is in no danger of being superseded by any other religion,” the writer evidently means Christianity professedly. Of course when Christianity becomes so mixed with other religion as to lose its distinctive characteristics, it is no longer Christianity; it is a false religion. It may have a name to live, but it is dead. And this is truly the danger that threatens Christianity to-day; and the very journal from which the above is taken is, heel and wimple, helping it on to the danger. It may warn against some evils, but it is nourishing others still greater. In fact, all National Reformers denounce, as does the Cynosure, the coldness, weakness, and backsliding of the church. But how is it to be remedied? The remedy proposed is religious legislation, or legislation in behalf of religion, acknowledging God nationally, accepting Christ as King, etc. But what is this but apostasy? The way of propagating true Christianity is to “preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15); to “persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11); to beseech men to be reconciled to God (verse 20); the Christian’s weapons are “not carnal” (2 Cor. 10:4), but spiritual (Eph. 6:13-17); he is not to dominate over men’s faith, but to be helpers of their joy (2 Cor. 1:24). Being reviled, Christians are to bless; being persecuted, they should suffer it; being defamed, they are to entreat. 1 Cor. 4:12, 13. This is a little of the Bible evidence as to how Christians should propagate Christianity, and comfort themselves when opposed. But how do the National Reformers propose to do? They propose to be ministers, not of the gospel, but the law; to compel men with carnal weapons, not persuade them; not by such teaching as will help men into the faith, but to dominate their faith; being reviled, they would prosecute; being persecuted, they would retaliate; being defamed, they would count it worthy of imprisonment. This is National Reform government. If this be not apostasy, we do not know what apostasy is. And yet the government would be Christian! Why not? has it not been voted so? National Reformers are ministers of Christ to dispense law! Why not? have they not been voted so? The pope of Rome is Christ’s vicar, self-constituted. May not National Reformers be the same in the same way? But woe be unto this nation when it is blessed with such a dominant Christianity as that. And yet papers like the Cynosure, the Christian (?) Statesman, and the Christian (?) Nation, consider this fearful apostasy the highest type of Christianity. Even so Rome did in the Dark Ages. But Jesus has said, “Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” Great and ambitious men have been deceived in the past; human nature is the same now. Christ has promised all power to propagate his gospel in his way, the way of peace and mercy and love. He who turns from that way to the gospel of force denies Christ and degrades the divine to the level of the human. M. C. W. JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN BAPTISM.
By Editor
A CORRESPONDENT writes: "I should like to have stated through the columns of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES the difference between Jewish and Christian baptism," and asks if there is any printed work on the subject of Jewish baptism. 1. We will answer the last question first: There may be works on that subject, but there are none that we recall. 2. It is a disputed point as to whether there was Jewish baptism previous to the time of Christ. The evidence, however, seems to point to the affirmative. The tradition of the rabbins, according to Kitto, refer to it as a rite in existence hundreds of years before the Christian era. An evidence that baptism was known to them is shown by the fact that they did not appear surprised at the baptism of John. 3. The ceremony of Jewish baptism is thus described by Kitto: "The ceremony was performed in the presence of three persons who had acted as the instructors of the convert, and were regarded as not only witnesses for his baptism, but, with reference to the idea of a new birth therewith connected, as his fathers. Having stripped himself, cut his hair, and pared the nails on his hands and feet, he went into the water up to the arms; the laws were then read to him, and, having promised to obey them, he immersed himself wholly. Females were attended to the bath by persons of their own sex, while their teachers stood outside the door. After their immersion they received a new name. When a proselyte had young children, these were baptized with their parents. Having been thus by circumcision and baptism received into the Israelitish community, the convert had to celebrate his entrance by the presentation of an offering unto God, without which no one could approach the Lord. The offering consisted of a bullock, or a pair of turtle doves, or two pigeons." 4. The object of Jewish baptism was to show that the proselyte or convert had renounced Paganism, and was purified from its wickedness. It was really only one act of an elaborate ceremony, the other two of which were circumcision and free-will offering. 5. The difference between that and Christian baptism seems to lie in this one fact,—the Jewish baptism carried with it the idea of renunciation, but not that of faith. It did not show faith in a Saviour to come, nor in the resurrection of the dead. Its main idea seems to be that of purification. Christian baptism, on the other hand, not only conveyed the idea of renunciation of the world, but was the manifestation of faith in Christ—his death, burial, and resurrection to an immortal life. To use the figure of a marriage, it is the marriage ceremony which unites the believer to Christ. A FRIEND wishes to know just what Luther's position on the Sabbath was. Some state that he did not hold to Sunday sacredness, while the Lutheran Observer, which swears by the name of the great Reformer, contends that Luther had a strict regard for the Sabbath (Sunday). Which of these claims is correct? Probably both are to some extent. Luther may be quoted on both sides of nearly every important doctrine. He saw not all things clearly. It was some time before he saw the iniquity of the Roman Church. For a long period he was in a transition state, during which time he said many things hard to be reconciled. They should not be used against him nor in favor of erring tradition. He believed that Sunday was in a sense obligatory, but did not consider that much sacredness attached to the day. But Luther's idea of Sunday sacredness was altogether different from the ideas of the Lutheran Observer. The Observer wants the Sunday of the Puritans enforced by medieval law. Luther held that the day was ceremonial. While Luther held to the binding obligation of the law, he also held that obedience to the law must be the work of faith in order to be of any worth. Gilfillan, who used everything which could be used to bolster up Sunday sacredness, says of Luther and his fellows:— "They erred, indeed, as we conceive, by regarding this commandment [the fourth] as partly ceremonial."—The Sabbath, p. 418. The "Confession of Augsburg" (p. 416), drawn up by the Reformers, quoted by the above author, declares: "The general rule abideth still in the moral law, that at certain times we should come together to these godly exercises; but the special day, which was but a ceremony, is free." Luther could see no other way, Gilfillan says, to account for the change in the day. Again: The character of Sunday-keeping in Germany and other Lutheran countries is sufficient to show the mould given it by Luther. It was by the church at that time considered in part, at least, a holiday. And this was as true in England as in Germany. But what difference does it make whether Luther regarded Sunday sacred or otherwise? What difference does it make whether all the world are for Sunday or otherwise? The question a Christian ought to ask, a question all ought to ask, "How776 does God regard it? What day has he given as the Sabbath?" Luther lived in that time when light was but beginning to shine anew from the word which had been long hidden by tradition. God called him to preach justification by faith. Upon others he has laid the burden of reform concerning the Sabbath and kindred truths. Luther is not our example, nor indeed is any man, however great or glorious his work. Neither is Luther's teaching, or the teaching of any man, our standard of doctrine. Christ says, "Follow thou me." And in the Scripture of truth the man of God is "thoroughly furnished unto all good works." The best way to honor Luther is to follow on to know the Lord, to walk in that light which he was permitted to enter only a little way. Great men nor great names will not save us. Neither Paul, nor Apollos, nor Cephas, nor Luther, nor Wesley, will or can redeem us. We may call ourselves children of Abraham, but that will not make us his seed. Faith in Christ, which obeys God with gratitude for the privilege, is the only thing which will avail us in the day of God. LAST-DAY SCOFFERS.
By C. P. B.
THE apostle Peter evidently did not agree very well with some opinions which are quite popular nowadays. For instance, he did not take kindly to the idea that nothing can be known about the second coming of Christ, and that nothing should be said about it. In one of his epistles he says: "This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance; that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour." From this we learn that the apostle thought it worth his while, or rather the Spirit of God inspired him, to write an epistle to stir up the minds of the "beloved," that they might "be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles." But what had the prophets spoken, to which the Holy Spirit desired to call special attention? This question is answered by the verses immediately following the scripture already quoted. We read:— "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." And is not that just what people do say? Do we not hear it almost every day of our lives? and is it not preached from thousands of pulpits, and published in hundreds of papers throughout the land? It is not necessary that in order to be scoffers people should be what the world calls wicked. No, indeed; God calls those scoffers who disbelieve his truth and make light of his word. And so Peter says that they scoff who ask, "Where is the promise of his coming?" But the fact that the Spirit said that this question would be asked shows that some would be saying that the Lord is coming; for if no one said anything about his coming, how could others scoff, and say, We see no sign of anything unusual, "for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation?" But that is just what they do say; and it is just what tens of thousands of people all over the land are saying to-day. They argue that the Lord cannot come for hundreds of years yet; that the world is not all settled yet; that there is still a large supply of coal and oil in the earth; that the gospel has not yet done its work, and that there is not the least sign of the end to be seen anywhere. You point them to the fulfillment of prophecy, and it don't mean anything to them; you tell them of the signs which have appeared from time to time in the sun, moon, and stars, and they say, "Oh, that don't mean anything!" But why do not all these things have any meaning? Says the apostle: "For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water; whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished; but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." That is where the trouble is; they do not see any signs of the coming of the Lord because—there are none?—Oh, no! because they do not want to see them; they are willingly ignorant. But that makes no difference with the fulfillment of God's word. The people in Noah's time did not believe that the flood was coming, and they no doubt reasoned just as people do now; but that did not change the purpose of God; and "the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." And we know that it will be just that way in the last days, only "the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire." People were wicked in Noah's time, and they had not the least faith in the flood; they did not believe a word that Noah said on that subject; and so they kept right on enjoying themselves, "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away;" and, says the Saviour, "So shall also the coming of the Son of man be." But the matter of the surprise is not the only point of resemblance; for says the apostle, of those who shall live in the last days, "They willingly are ignorant," and that is just the way it was with those to whom Noah preached; they did not know the flood was coming. No indeed; if they had there would have been need of a whole fleet of arks. But why did they not know?—Simply because they were willingly ignorant. And that is the way Peter says it will be in the last days. You just speak of the coming of the Lord, and see how incredulously most people will look at you; even many professed Christians will almost pity you because you are so foolish! They do not believe it, and they are surprised that anyone else should. But willing ignorance is sin, and so in the last days people will be wicked; and that too is just as it was in the days of Noah, for we read of the days just before the flood, that "the wickedness of man was great;" and everybody knows that the same is true of the world to-day. No, everybody does not know this fact, for some are willingly ignorant even of the condition of their own hearts, and they imagine that the world is growing better, when they are simply growing more like the world. They close their eyes to present facts, and their ears to the truths of God's word, and whereas the Bible says that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived," and that "as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be," they say that the world is growing better; that erelong everybody will be converted, and the world enjoy a thousand years of peace and safety before the coming of the Lord! But in this they are willingly ignorant, and their ignorance only furnishes another evidence that "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." C. P. B. RARE VIRTUE.—It was said of Archbishop Cranmer: "Do my Lord of Canterbury an ill turn and he will be your friend forever." The opposite may be safely affirmed of the average church member,—do him an ill turn and he is your enemy forever. PROHIBITION AND SUNDAY LAWS.
By M. C. W.
THE California Prohibitionist not long since contained a letter from a once subscriber who said he could not support the Prohibition party as long as it was connected with religious legislation. And, by the way, many other honest, far-seeing, fair-minded men are coming to the same conclusions. To the reasons vouchsafed by this man, the Prohibitionist replies, a part of which we quote:— "The [Prohibition] party declares through its platform: 'For the preservation of the Sabbath as a civil institution without oppressing any who religiously observe the same on any other than the first day of the week.' The commandment of God directs us to 'remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.' The two are certainly in accord, and it seems passing strange that a 'minister of the gospel' should object to a party which stands by the Lord's commands." With all respect to our esteemed contemporary, we say that the two are certainly not in accord. And this we think will be plain to anyone who will give it a moment's fair consideration. 1. The command of God is spiritual and spiritual only. It can only be kept by those who render obedience from a grateful and regenerate heart. It covers not the mere outward act but includes the spirit, the animus, the motive, as well. Without this it is nothing. To keep the Sabbath holy he must be holy who keeps it. Only willing, unselfish obedience is acceptable to God. 2. But human law can only compel outward obedience. Instead of compulsory obedience being favorable to holiness of heart and mind, it tends the other way, and becomes thereby a yoke of bondage. 3. Such a Sabbath law makes men hypocrites. As the outward pretension is all there is from which men may judge, and as the most arrant hypocrites will proclaim their piety the loudest in order to curry favor with the dominant religio-political party, so these mere mouthers and hypocritical demagogues will be given the highest places in government in upholding so-called divine law. And as others see how these obtain position by great pretensions, the dishonest and scheming will in turn become pious in order to gain power. Thus such a government will, as such a government always has, breed hypocrisy, greed, and every baleful fruit. 4. Neither will it be God's law enforced by civil statute, but men's interpretation of God's law. And whether those men are right or wrong in that interpretation, they have no right to compel others to do what they believe to be duty to God. We give not an account to men, but every one of us must give an account to God. The Sabbath belongs to God, and to God alone; to him alone we must give an account of what day we keep, and how we keep it, or whether we keep no day at all. There is a seeming surface plausibility in all these demands for a Sunday law, but that plausibility, like the whited sepulchres of old, covers all kinds of rottenness and corruption. We are surprised to see our hitherto fair-minded contemporary on that side. Is the ecclesiastical influence too strong for it? NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR GOD.
God is not exhausted nor the gospel worn out. What we need is faith—a mighty faith to project God and this gospel in the fullness of their power on the world. Forty years ago Dr. Morrison was addressing, in a locked inner room, two or three Chinese, who listened in peril of their lives; now there are in China some 50,000 converts. "Do you think," asked the captain of the ship which took him out, "that you can make an impression on the 450,000,000 Chinese?" "No," he answered, "but God can."