A New Chart—Matthew Twenty-four
By Editor
By keeping this one thought of the pre-eminence of character in mind, it will greatly help us to solve many of the problems of Scripture. When the creation of this world was determined, it was made for man; but it was not made for man apart from character. A perfect number of a perfect character would inhabit it. Those characters were foreordained from eternity, written in the Lamb's book "from the foundation of the world." Rev. 13:8. These characters were chosen in Christ Jesus, holy and without blemish, Eph. 1:3, 4. God's perfect plan demanded a perfect number, a perfect blending, a perfect harmony, and that to all eternity. If sin had never entered, that perfect number would have been made up one by one as children were born in this world. But man yielded to sin. And redeemed tho humanity has been in Christ Jesus from that sin, many, very many, have chosen the sin in preference to the sinlessness, and turned from the great salvation He brought them. God foresaw this, and predicted it in this prophecy: "I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception." Gen. 3:16. Yet, in sin tho they were, God called and still calls one by one, soul by soul, to these glorious, eternal characters of eternal persistence. If we yield to His call the eternal wisdom and power and love of Heaven is pledged to make us all that character calls for, to make us that character itself. He counts us that. He sees that character in us. He makes every trial, every temptation, every evil thing Satan and his minions may do against us, all tell for our good as they shall for His glory; for "we know that to them that love God, God worketh all things with them for good." Rom. 8:28, R. V., margin. He will, if we are willing, perfect all "to the praise of the glory of His grace." Eph. 1:6. God's everlasting purpose is concerning these characters, His children. All who will yield to Him fall within this purpose. All who will not, take themselves out of His purpose, and plan, out of His life, out of the working of His grace, and perish in partaking of the fruit of their choosing. And yet none need do this; there is welcome for all. And those who yield to God need never be discouraged. In the words of Wordsworth:— "One adequate support
For the calamities of mortal life
Exists, one only,—an assured belief,
That the procession of our fate, howe'er
Sad or disturbed, is ordered by a Being
Of infinite benevolence and power,
Whose everlasting purposes embrace
All accidents, converting them to good." Then, child of God, be not weary. Jesus reigns, and will reign unto the end. Be a part of His purpose. A New Chart—Matthew Twenty-four.
We have received from F. E. Belden, Battle Creek, Mich., a chart on the above subject. It is printed on cloth 3x4 feet, and combines in a sword diagram the words of our Lord in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. It shows that the Dark Day came historically just where our Lord placed it prophetically. The chart shows the relative positions of the sun, moon, and earth on that date, and the positions that would have been necessary had an eclipse then occurred. The chart helps more clearly to show that these signs were supernatural. The "falling away" of the church in the early centuries is indicated, the change of the Sabbath, the 1,260 days of persecution, and many other things worthy of note. It will prove a great help in Bible teaching. It will be sent with Belden's booklet, "At the Door," containing 50 illustrations, for 90 cents, postpaid. "At the Door" explains the chart. There is truth in the following comment taken from a secular paper, The Public:—
Some parts of the Decalogue are not exactly industrial. Yet it is quite true that other parts, if divested of paganistic interpretations, would make the best possible labor platform. "Six days shalt thou labor," would be a good principle to insist upon, unpopular as it would be with the elegant leisure classes. And, "Thou shalt not steal," would be the best of all for labor purposes. Let stealing cease—of all kinds, institutional and legal plundering as well as petty larceny—and the labor problem would be solved. There would be no chattel slavery, no economic slavery, no monopoly, no interferences of any kind with industry, if the commandment against stealing were faithfully observed. To ignore Jesus of Nazareth and talk about a resurrected Christ in humanity is not to know Christ at all. What much of the talk about Christ to-day means is not a personal Saviour, but a condition of soul, an inherent life within. It is the exaltation of humanity, and the hiding of the real Christ of the Gospel. Character versus Smartness.
One of the common things seen nowadays is the exaltation of smartness, brightness, ability, on the part of young men. These are good qualities if they are governed by morality; but the sad fact is that morality is counted secondary. If one "gets there,"—is successful,—the how of the getting there is little questioned. Sins are of less account than business "mistakes." But in the last great day, at the bar of God, the one thing to be weighed above all else, and the standard of which will determine eternal destiny, will be character. The perplexity of nations and the corruption of city life are two prominent signs of the times. These are tersely shown in the following brief extract from a letter in the Minnesota Worker from Brother L. H. Christian, of Copenhagen, Denmark. He says: "Europe is very much astir over the war now, just begun in the East. Even little Denmark is arming, so as to be ready for any complication that might arise. There is a feeling of fear and unrest among all the smaller countries of Europe. They are afraid of the larger powers. Denmark and Holland expect some day to be gobbled up by Germany, Norway and Sweden, by Russia. But this dread makes some at least willing to hear God's Word. These are stirring times. How rapidly prophecy is fulfilling! How fearfully great is the increase of infidelity, sin, and vice! Twenty-five per cent of the children born in Copenhagen last year were illegitimate. The wickedness and wo of our modern large cities certainly beggar description. To God's people these things are trumpet-calls to service."