Earlier text: WATERTHE Lord seems to be more touched by the sight of man’s need than by anything else. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” The Lord takes especial delight in making the weak strong, the poor rich, and those who are dead in trespasses and sins to live. It is the Master’s delight to bestow His love and benefits with manifest liberality. Those who were in darkness have seen a great light. We must always keep in mind that the government is upon Christ’s shoulders, and so we do not have the responsibility of running it. We can not properly manage ourselves; we are unable to tame our own tongues. “The tongue can no man tame.” Anything that has to be governed, you will need to let Christ have. We may rebel against His government, but there is a harvest for every rebellious act. If somebody gets up a rebellion, he will be allowed to go on until the harvest, and by and by the Lord will let him reap the products of his own rebellion. Disease germs go along and multiply at a tremendous rate, but by and by they begin to secrete a poison that destroys themselves. Their own mischief-making becomes suicidal to their existence. That is how it is with a person who does not submit to the government of Christ. By and by his rebellious thoughts, acts, purposes, and plans will result in the necessity of God destroying him. Let us leave the government on Christ’s shoulders. “Wonderful.” You would naturally expect our Governor to do wonderful things. That is His name. God always gives people names according to their character. He has a wonderful character. He is a wonder-worker,—a real wonder-worker,—not merely as a show performer to excite curiosity. He works real wonders, wonders that the angels marvel at. The greatest of His wonders is the miracle of saving sinful men and women, transforming their hearts by His grace. “Counselor.” When you need counsel, go to the Lord for it before you go to any one else. Take all your troubles to Him. Do you talk to Him before every move you make? Do you take Him for your counselor? “The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations.” Ps. 33:11. If you get counsel from the Lord it will stand forever. You can build on the sure foundation. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.” Ps. 1:1. The ungodly will always be on hand to give their counsel. They are very free with their counsel, and anxious to tell you what to do. Before you take counsel, be sure to find out whether the advice is the counsel of the ungodly, or of Him who is Wonderful, on whose shoulders is the government. The Wonderful Counselor says, “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire.” The way we buy that gold is by an experience in which our characters are tried in the fire. If you want this gold tried in the fire, you will need to have your character tried in the fire. An Illustration of Faith.— He who has faith does not boast of it. The poor woman with her issue of blood did not reason, “Now if I only had faith, I could be healed,” or, “If I were only worthy, He would heal me.” (See Matthew 9 and Luke 8 for the story.) No; she never thought of either. She thought of Christ’s power and her own need, and her faith unconsciously connected His power with her need. She said, “If I touch His garments, I shall be made whole [“saved,” R.V., margin].” It was no casual or curious touch of the throng; it drew forth Christ’s power. He said, “I perceived that power had gone forth from Me.” The power was not in the faith; it was in Christ. Faith was the trolley which reached up from the needy car and touched the great full live wire overhead, and power came. O, the weakest faith, the greatest need, may lay hold, may possess, and may experience God’s regenerating blessings! NOT since the week of creation had so much of visible personal labor by the Creator been crowded into six days as during the last week of our Lord’s earthly ministry, closing with His crucifixion. These were days and nights of action fraught with momentous results. It was a week in which many important lessons were promulgated, many prophecies literally fulfilled, and many decided victories won for the truth. Beginning with the feast at the house of Simon the leper in Bethany, we have the anointing of the feet of Jesus by Mary. From the commendation of this act by the Lord, we learn that no sacrifice for Him, however great, can be deemed a “waste,” and that no truly benevolent object is hindered thereby. The poor never will suffer thru our gifts to Christ, notwithstanding appearances. From this occasion the real character of Judas began to be manifested in outward acts. Next we have the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an act that, more than anything else, inspired the masses with the hope that He was really to assume the position of King. But the great outburst of enthusiasm on this occasion demonstrated that the masses could only be induced to walk by sight, and not by faith. His action in the house of God, after the public accord of regal honors, shows that the temple of God must be cleansed before He will take up His abode in it. This is a personal lesson. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” 1 Cor. 3:16, 17. During the following four days Jesus was engaged daily in teaching and healing the people, and in controverting the attacks and sophistries of the priests and scribes and other prominent ones among the Jews. Seven of the twenty-eight chapters of Matthew, five of the sixteen chapters of Mark, four and a half of the twenty-four chapters of Luke, and seven of the twenty-one chapters of John are devoted to the record of the work and the teachings of Jesus during that eventful week, together with His trial and execution. Thus more than one-fourth of the entire record of four years (including John’s ministry) is given to this one week’s work. Considering the great stress of labor and anxiety, the contemplation of the awful death that awaited Him, the sleepless nights, the terrible agony in the garden before His arrest, and His deep concern for His disciples and the deluded people of Jerusalem, we may form some idea of the physical strain upon Him even before the brutal abuses that were heaped upon Him after His arrest. But after it all He rested on the Sabbath day. After the six day’s work in creating the world, the record says that “on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.” Ex. 31:17. On that occasion, however, there was no physical fatigue. The refreshing was a sense of satisfaction with His work, an enjoyment of a grand work completed, a work which the perfect Judge could pronounce “very good.” It must have been indeed refreshing to contemplate such an accomplishment. That was a spiritual rest, such as the Creator designed that man should enjoy on the Sabbath day—on each recurring seventh-day. If ever a man needed rest of body and mind, it was Jesus, after the agony of soul and the physical strain thru which He passed during that eventful week that ended with His rest in the tomb. It was a continual conflict with the “power of darkness.” Days of earnest teaching, bodily healing, and controversy with those who were seeking to destroy Him before His work was accomplished, and nights of sleepless watching and earnest prayer passed by in unbroken succession. And strange as it might seem at such a time and amid such surroundings, He also suffered from hunger. His condition of mind is expressed in His pathetic appeal to His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane: “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye here and watch with Me.” And this feeling of depression is emphasized as “He fell on His face, and prayed saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.” Three times He poured forth this impassioned plea, in an agony of soul that caused the weary physical frame to sweat “as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Add to all this the awful experiences of His illegal arrest, His illegal trial, and illegal condemnation, together with the cruel mockings and smitings and scourging, and the crown of thorns pressed upon His aching head, and it is no wonder that He fell prostrate beneath the further burden of bearing His cross. Well might all humanity daily praise His holy name that in all His depression of spirit He remained true to His mission to do His Father’s will. All thru His unparalleled experience as a “Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” there was that determination of purpose, “Not My will, but Thine be done.” Thru the prophet David He had long before said, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart” (Ps. 40:8); and He had personally said to the people, in the earlier part of His ministry, “I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” John 6:38. Shall any mortal fail in expressions of gratitude that the enemies of righteousness were unable to accomplish their purpose to put out His life until He could say of His work, “It is finished?” Tho this Sabbath day’s rest was an unconscious one; tho it was passed in the silent tomb, in “the valley of the shadow of death,” yet He passed into it fearing no evil. Notwithstanding His depression when contemplating the ordeal while in the garden, thru the prayer of faith He had been strengthened for the occasion by the angels of God. All the machinations of the “power of darkness” could not deter Him, and His last words were words of faith: “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” He had finished the work of overcoming the world (John 16:33), of condemning sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:3); He had been obedient even till it cost Him His life, even unto the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8), and now He passes into the temporary sleep of the righteous that He might take away for His children the terrors of the grave. Great and very encouraging to the disciples of Christ, are the lessons and victories of that eventful week. “MORE AMPLE OPPORTUNITY.”
In the Catholic Mirror of February 2 is the letter of the pope extending the year of jubilee. It is printed in Latin, and “so much as concerns the faithful is given” in English. It is headed: “Leo, Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God, To All the Faithful Who Shall Read These Letters, Health and the Apostolic Benediction.” After referring to the year just closed, the pope says:— “Following the example set by our predecessors on such occasions, we now intend to enlarge still further the bounds of Apostolic charity by offering a more ample opportunity for obtaining the favors of heaven. We have determined to throw open to the faithful in all parts of the world during the first six months of the next year that treasury of sacred indulgence which has been intrusted to us, and which has been put within the reach of the faithful in Rome during the last twelve months, for this design will, we think, serve greatly for the revival of Christian morality, for knitting men’s hearts more closely to the Holy See, and for obtaining for the people at large those other blessings of which we spoke at length when we first proclaimed the Great Jubilee. It will also be a fitting dedication for the opening of the new century, for we know of no better way in which mankind can initiate a new century than by availing themselves abundantly of the merits of the redemption of Christ.” Now, what “more ample opportunity for obtaining the favors of heaven” can Leo XIII. give than God in Jesus Christ has already given? Christ says, and the invitation is good for all time and all places: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matt. 11:28, 29. The apostle Paul tells us: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God thru our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Rom. 5:1, 2. Isaiah voices the same assurance of the Spirit of Christ: “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.” Isa. 45:22. And in the very closing of the blessed Book we read: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Rev. 22:17. What “more ample opportunity” to obtain heaven’s favors can be given than is given by the great loving Infinite God? The pope tells us further:— “We have determined to throw open to the faithful in all parts of the world, during the first six months of the next year, that treasury of sacred indulgence which has been intrusted to us.” But Jesus Christ tells us: “I have set before thee [“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches”] an open door, and no man can shut it.” Rev. 3:8, 13. He has not closed it. No man, be he pope or peasant, can throw open the door of God’s favors. The door is set open to all, and all that is divine is saying, Come, Come, Come! Moreover, “God is no respecter of persons.” Over and over He tells us this. His blessings, the deepest and most spiritual, are for “whosoever will;” the child of clearest faith and humblest love, who may have Christ dwelling in his heart by faith, and thus “being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,” and “be filled with all the fulness of God.” Eph. 3:17–20. And all this God will work in the believer, thru faith. It is not under the control of any man, whatever his assumption. It is the very fulness of God’s blessings. What more has the pope intrusted to him? What more have the “faithful” in Rome enjoyed the past year? Once again: If these abundant blessings are intrusted to Pope Leo XIII. to dispense at his good pleasure, is it not the acme of selfishness to withhold them from a needy world? Why should not the door have been thrown open to the world as well as to Rome the last year? O souls, by whatever name you are called, the above-quoted paragraph is not Christianity! It may be thought to be such by the pope; we will not question his sincerity. It may be believed to be Christianity by millions of others; we will not condemn them. But it is not Christianity. It is putting man in the place of God, and representing God as selfish and narrow, having abundant blessings hoarded away, only occasionally opening them to mankind, when He has poured out the fulness of heaven’s blessings, “the merits of the redemption of Christ,” and invites all to partake. They are all ours in Christ Jesus. In the Papacy these riches are made dependent on the will of the pope, the giver. In God they are purchased by the blood of Christ, are given in Him, and all that prevents the great world or any man from receiving them is his own obstinate will and unbelief. PROMISES THAT ARE FACTS.
By T.
Any promise is no stronger than the ability of the one making it. A promise may be made, and the individual who made it may desire, more than he desires his life, to fulfill that promise; but thru some unforeseen complication of circumstances he may be rendered unable to do it. Then he must go to the one to whom the promise is made, and plead the inability to do what he said he would. But nothing of this kind ever happens in connection with the promises of God. Every one of God’s promises can be taken as a literal fact; and instead of looking at what God has said as something that may possibly be accomplished, we should look at it as the statement of great truths,—great, living, acting deeds of our heavenly Father, that are always in process of fulfilment. God’s promises are alive; they are in motion—in positive action all the time; and just as soon as an individual steps into the current where God is working, he finds, to his everlasting7 joy, that what God says is really true, and that His words are working all the time. With these thoughts in mind, let us read together the words of the first of the Psalms. They are as follows:— “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Ps. 1:1-6. These words of the Lord are more than promises. In the first verse the fact is stated, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” This text positively says that the man is already blessed who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. The Lord has pronounced a blessing upon all such, and He has so fixed His laws that as soon as a man comes into the conditions, he receives the blessings that are already flowing there. Our omnipotent heavenly Father has pronounced the blessing, and it can not fail. It has all the power of His ever-living presence to keep it in action. And it has all the infinite goodness of Him who alone is perfect to make Him ever mindful of His promise, so that every trusting child will always find the currents of heavenly blessing when he moves into them. What solid comfort there is in knowing these things! But perhaps you are ready to say that you have tried the plan of walking in the counsel of the Lord, as this text suggests, and you have not had the blessings that you looked for. If such is your statement of the case, you have not been working on God’s plan, no matter how much you may have thought you were doing so. The Lord desires above everything else that we may be just right. And if we are seeking to follow Him and do not find the blessings that we wish, it is either because there are lessons for us to learn so as to fit us to receive those blessings, or else what we are looking upon as blessings are not such in reality, and so a wise Father is kindly withholding them. In the school of Christ we are to accept the facts that our great Teacher gives us in His Word, and study out the principles that underlie them. We are not to make a little temporary trial of them, and because, in our haste, we do not see the workings we expect, then cast them aside. No; by no means should we do anything of this kind. If things are going wrong with us, it is because there is something wrong in us, and the Lord is permitting us to pass thru the trial so that we may be refined and purified. Even Job was not perfect until he went thru his great trial. The Lord would not have permitted all that sore distress to come upon him just to please the curiosity or malice of Satan; Job needed just such an experience so as to make him perfect, and so that we might look back to his example and take courage in the Lord. Notice that the second verse of this first psalm says of the man whom God is blessing, “His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” And then observe the results that follow this course of righteousness. They are described in the third verse and read thus: “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” These second and third verses taken together describe the action of a positive divine law. The man who truly meditates in the law of the Lord all the time will have prosperity. “Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” The Lord has decreed this, and it is decidedly true. This prosperity from the Lord comes as a result of doing the right, and it carries with it also all the blessings and benefits of a righteous reward. “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.” Isa. 32:17. But the individual who thus meditates in the law of the Lord does not do it to get the reward of prosperity. He does it because he desires to do the right, and to stand with God in the right. And the Lord in turn sends him the “effect of righteousness,” which is not only quietness and assurance forever, but is also prosperity. Remember that “whatsoever he doeth” is to prosper. The greatest blessing in all the world is to learn how to realize on God’s promises; and if you are not doing it, you are missing the only thing worth living for. ONE of the difficult texts of the Bible to those who believe in the justice and love of God is Matt. 25:46. It reads as follows: “And these [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.” This punishment is believed by many to be everlasting misery, or torment and anguish without end. The arts of rhetoric and logic have been exhausted in attempting to picture before the sinner his fearful doom. He is told that an ant would, by carrying one grain of sand at a time, after millions of years be able to carry away a mountain, but this time would be as nothing to the time the sinner would spend in ceaseless anguish. Others in the God-given justice of their souls have revolted against the idea of a God who could so punish poor mortals, placed here by no will of their own. Some who have thus revolted have become infidels, some Universalists. Others have rejected the inspiration of the Scriptures, and looked upon this teaching as an error. These have all accepted the assumed doctrine that the soul of man is immortal, and hence can not die. Others still, a smaller class, have been led to examine anew the nature of man and his relation to God, and have found great relief and blessing in the true doctrine of the Bible, which in brief is this:— God is the Fountain of life; all life comes from Him. God’s life is inseparably connected with His character of righteousness. “In the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof is no death.” If man had ever lived God’s righteousness, he would have forever received the eternal life of God, and would never have died. Man was not created immortal, but was a candidate for immortality. Not till the incorruptible character was reached could the physical man be made incorruptible, and character requires testing. Sin is the perversion of righteousness, the transmutation of life into death. It is, in other words, cutting off from life, the separation of the soul from God. As long as there is hope, as long as the creature can be used to the glory of the Creator and the good of the universe, God permits him to live. He does not cut him off from the great Fountain of life. He still pours it out, as He does the rain, upon the just and the unjust, that he may win the unjust to Himself and enable the righteous to live His life. As to the condition of the race, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Life is continuance of being. Death is cessation of existence. The text above states the ultimate of these two conditions. Let us consider it a little. 1. The adjectives applied to punishment and life are the same in the original, and are thus translated in the Revised Version: “These shall go away into eternal punishment; but the righteous into eternal life.” Both are eternal in their duration. The reasons for these results are thus stated by Paul: “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life thru Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6:23. 2. It is evident that what is meant by death in one case is meant by eternal punishment in the other. Death is extinction of life. It does not mean living in a different condition. It does not mean life in misery. For unless the end is extinction of life, a wicked man has eternal life as truly as the righteous. The punishment is therefore death, the extinction of life. 3. Note also that it is punishment, not punishing. It is a completed work. If after a million of years the punishment were only begun, then the wicked could never receive his just sentence, the reward of his deeds, the wages of his sin. The punishment is completed; it is death. 4. It is also eternal. From that death—“the second death”—there is no resurrection. It is eternal in its duration, in its result. 5. This is the more clearly evident in the definition of the Greek word kolasis rendered “punishment.” Liddell and Scott say: “A pruning or checking the growth of trees.” Kolazo, the verb from which it is derived, is defined, “To curtail, dock, prune.” The primary idea of the word is therefore a cutting off. “These shall go away into everlasting cutting off.” From what are they cut off?—From the life of God. “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.” But when that time comes that man can not be won to righteousness, where he is wholly identified with sin, God leaves him; he is cut off from life forever. 6. This is also clearly stated in other scriptures. Of the wicked the Spirit says thru the psalmist: “They shall soon be cut down as the grass, and wither as the green herb.” “For evil-doers shall be cut off; but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be.” “They that be cursed of Him shall be cut off.” Ps. 37:2, 9, 10, 22. “Who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction.” 2 Thess. 1:9, R.V. God gives us our choice as to which it shall be. We may identify ourselves with sin, and let that sin cut us off forever from the great Fountain of life and righteousness and gladness, or we may receive God’s righteousness and eternal life thru Jesus Christ our Lord. Civil Government and Conscience
Let the people say as to how the people shall be governed in matters civil; but in the realm of conscience and religion the people have no jurisdiction. Salvation Through Christ’s Creative Power
Forms or ceremonies will not save man; resolutions or mere outward observances will not save. The only salvation for man is in the creative power of God in Jesus Christ. All apart from Him ends in destruction and death. An address to “the forty State Legislatures now in session or soon to meet,” says that the National Reform Association “is composed of many thousands of Christian men and women in all States of the American Republic who seek to promote and to maintain whatever is Christian in the laws and institutions of our government.” Interpreted by the constitution of the association, this means enforcing the observance of all Christian laws, institutions, and usages upon the people by the secular government. Then, according to the address to which we here allude, there are many thousands of Christian men and women in all the States of the Union seeking to compel the consciences of men by human law. That is, they are seeking to have the government compel all the people to observe certain outward forms of religion; in other words, to make hypocrites of all who do not believe in those forms, and to punish by fine or imprisonment all who will not yield their conscientious convictions. The address further states that “good citizens of all parties, and of all Christian denominations, Catholic and Protestant alike, are engaged in this movement and represented in this association.” We would not be understood as antagonizing the idea of uniform marriage and divorce laws in all the States, which this particular address especially advocates. It is the main object of the association—the enforcement of religious observances by secular law—to which we would call the attention of the public as being exceedingly dangerous. The address takes advantage of an appeal for a possibly good move to advertise the association as a general benefactor. Thus many thousands of “good citizens” and “Christian men and women” may be unwittingly drawn into the support of the general work of the association. It should not be forgotten that its leading spirits have not hesitated to boast that when they shall have acquired in the government the power which they seek, the disfranchisement or even the banishment or death of dissenters would be a logical probability. Therefore we say that the addition of “many thousands of Christian men and women in all the States” to the support of such an association is a bad outlook. NOT FEDERATION, BUT UNION.
By Editor
On the face of it it seems a good thing for the churches to get together. In England the nonconformists, or the Evangelical Free Churches, those not connected with the State, have been working to that end for several years. A church congress was organized in 1892. At the second congress the basis of further congresses was made territorial instead of denominational. The representatives, therefore, now attend not as Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Salvationists, or Friends, but as “Evangelical Free Churchmen.” There are now 600 local councils, several county councils, and the national council. The objects of these councils, according to the Outlook, are “(1) To cultivate closer organization in united evangelistic work, (2) to consider questions relating to the moral, intellectual, and social welfare of the people.” One of the noticeable effects of this union seems to be not simply the wearing away of sectarian prejudice—a good thing, by the way—but the wiping out of denominational conviction. For instance, Baptists and Congregationalists are said to be coming together, the Congregationalists being willing to “concede” “that the New Testament contains no trace of infant baptism,” while Baptists are not so much sticklers for form as they once were or are now in this country. The Outlook remarks that “the union of these two bodies, divided now, as one might say, only by a drop of water, can not be very far away, when leading men on both sides are earnestly desirous of effecting it.” But this means the utter yielding of that kind of principle which has made Baptists what they are. The Congregationalist may be honest; that is one thing. Let not the Baptist condemn him. “To his own Master he standeth or falleth.” But when the Baptist yields his distinctive convictions of Bible truth, he is taking a perilous step. In America the “Federation of Churches” started in New York City in 1895. In 1900 a National Committee was organized with central office at 83 Bible House, with E. B. Sandford, D.D., as secretary. New York State Federation was organized last autumn. In Philadelphia on the 5th and 6th of last month a national conference was held, delegates being present from nine “evangelical” denominations. Greetings were interchanged with the National Council of Free Churches of England and Wales. The outcome of the Philadelphia Conference was the organization of the “National Federation of Churches and Christian Workers,” with Mr. Cleveland J. Cady, of New York, as President, supported by eleven Vice-Presidents representing territory from Boston to Kansas City and as far south as Washington. The main object of the federation is “to secure co-operation among churches and Christian workers throughout the United States for the more effective promoting of the interests of the kingdom of God.” Its arms are opened wide, providing that “any ecclesiastical body, or any federative organization existing for religious or moral purposes, may, on approval of the Executive Board, send delegates to this body.” Any local church or any individual may become a member by paying an annual subscription. All this is very broad and indeterminate. Neither Roman Catholics nor Unitarians are excluded, and the “interests of the kingdom of God” are very elastic, including in many minds the use of political legislative machinery for the effecting of their purposes. We wish to say that we have no condemnation for the sincere men connected with these movements. They doubtless believe that they are doing good. But we do wish to say, because we believe it our duty, that evil instead of good will grow out of this movement, especially thru the connection of the church with social and political un-Gospel means and methods, and the stultification of conscientious convictions over the simple teaching of Bible truth. True union—the union enjoined by Paul, and prayed for by Christ—is union in truth. Therefore, in His wonderful supplication for union Christ prayed the Father: “Sanctify them thru thy truth; thy Word is truth. . . . And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified thru the truth; . . . that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” John 17:17–21. Every union formed on different principles than that for which Christ prayed, will lower clear, conscientious conviction, will lessen regard for the Word of God, and will make of Jesus our Lord in the eyes of the people a mere time-server, holding to expediency rather than principle, regarding with indifference the very truth for which He died.