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Signs of the Times, Vol. 7, No. 32.

General Articles

Signs of the Times

Aug 25, 1881

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 25, 1881

General Articles.

By Mrs. E. G. White

CHRISTIAN LOVE.

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
THE Spirit of God will not abide where there is disunion and contention among believers in the truth. Even if these feelings are unexpressed they take possession of the heart and drive out the peace and love that should characterize the Christian church. They are the result of selfishness in its fullest sense. This evil may take the form of inordinate self-esteem, or an undue longing for the approbation of others, even if it is obtained undeservedly.
Self-exaltation must be renounced by those who profess to love God and keep his commandments, or they need not expect to be blessed by his divine favor.
We call God our Father. We claim to be children of one family, and when there is a disposition to lessen the respect and influence of one another, to build up ourselves, we please the enemy and grieve Him whom we profess to follow. The tenderness and mercy that Jesus has revealed in his own precious life, should be an example to us of the manner in which we should treat our fellow-beings, and especially those who are our brothers in Christ.
God is continually benefiting us, but we are too indifferent to his favors. We have been loved with an infinite tenderness, and yet many of us have little love for one another. We are too severe upon those we suppose to be in error, and are very sensitive to the least blame or question in regard to our own course.
Hints are thrown out, and sharp criticisms of each other, but at the same time the very ones who do this are blind to their own failings. Others can see their errors, but they cannot see their own mistakes. We are daily recipients of the bounties of Heaven, and should have loving gratitude springing up in our hearts to God, which should cause us to sympathize with our neighbors and make their interests our own. Thoughts and meditations upon the goodness of God to us would close the avenues of the soul to Satan's suggestions.
God's love for us is proved daily, yet we are thoughtless of his favors and indifferent to his entreaties. He seeks to impress us with his spirit of tenderness, his love and forbearance; but we scarcely recognize the marks of his kindness, and have little sense of the lesson of love he desires us to learn. It is a wicked pride that delights in the vanity of one's own works, boasts of one's excellent qualities, seeking to make others seem inferior in order to exalt self, claiming more glory than the cold heart is willing to give to God.
The disciples of Christ will heed the Master's instruction. He has bade us love one another even as he has loved us. Religion is founded upon love to God, which also leads us to love each other. It is full of gratitude, humility, long-suffering. It is self-sacrificing, forbearing, merciful, and forgiving. It sanctifies the whole life, and extends its influence over others.
Those who love God cannot harbor hatred or envy. When the heavenly principle of eternal love fills the heart, it will flow out to others, not merely because favors are received of them, but because love is the principle of action, and modifies the character, governs the impulses, controls the passions, subdues enmity, and elevates and ennobles the affections. This love is not contracted so as merely to include "me and mine," but is as broad as the world, and as high as heaven, and is in harmony with that of the angel workers. This love cherished in the soul sweetens the entire life and sheds a refining influence on all around. Possessing it, we can but be happy, let fortune smile or frown. If we love God with all the heart we must also love his children. This love is the Spirit of God. It is the heavenly adorning that gives true nobility and dignity to the soul, and assimilates our lives to that of the Master. No matter how many good qualities we may have, however honorable and refined we may consider ourselves, if the soul is not baptized with the heavenly grace of love to God and one another, we are deficient in true goodness and unfit for Heaven, where all is love and unity.
Some who have formerly loved God and lived in the daily enjoyment of his favor, are now in continual unrest. They wander in darkness and despairing gloom. This is because they are nourishing self. They are seeking so hard to favor themselves that all other considerations are swallowed up in this. God, in his providence, has willed that no one can secure happiness by living for himself alone. The joy of our Lord was in enduring toil and shame for others that they might reap a benefit thereby. We are capable of being happy in following his example and living to bless our fellow-men.
We are invited by our Lord to take his yoke and bear his burden. In doing this we may be happy. In bearing our own self-imposed yoke and carrying our own burdens, we find no rest; but in bearing the yoke of Christ there is rest to the soul. Those who want some great work to do for the Master can find it just where they are, in doing good and in being self-forgetful and self-sacrificing, remembering others, and carrying sunshine wherever they go.
There is great need that the pitying tenderness of Christ should be manifested at all times and in all places; not that blind sympathy which would gloss over sin and allow God's cause to be reproached by ill-doing, but that love which is a controlling principle of the life, which flows out naturally to others in good works, remembering that Christ has said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
During the earthly ministry of Christ the sick and afflicted were special objects of his care. When he sent out his disciples he commissioned them to heal the sick as well as to preach the gospel. When he sent forth the seventy, he commanded them to heal the sick and next to preach that the kingdom of God had come nigh unto them. Their physical health was to be first cared for, in order that the way might be prepared for their minds to be reached by those truths which the apostles were to preach.
The Saviour of the world devoted more time and labor to healing the afflicted of their maladies, than in preaching. His last injunction to his apostles, his representatives upon the earth, was to lay hands on the sick that they might recover. When the Master shall come, he will commend those who have visited the sick and the afflicted.
We are slow to learn the mighty influence of trifles, and their bearing upon the salvation of souls. Those who desire to be missionaries, have in our world of need a large field in which to work. God does not mean that any of us shall constitute a privileged few, who shall be looked upon with great deference, while others are neglected. He was the Majesty of Heaven, yet he stooped to minister to the humblest, having no respect to persons nor station. Our Lord, after performing the most humiliating office for his disciples, recommended them to follow his example. This was to keep constantly before them the thought that they must not feel superior to the lowliest saint.
Those who profess our exalted faith, who are keeping God's commandments and expecting the soon coming of our Lord, should be distinct and separate from the world around them, a peculiar people zealous of good works. Among the peculiarities which should distinguish God's people from the world in these last days, is their humility and meekness. "Learn of me," says Christ, "for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls." Here is the repose which so many crave and in vain spend time and money to obtain.
Instead of being ambitious to be equal with, or higher than another in honor and position, we should seek to be the humble, faithful servants of Christ. This spirit of self-aggrandizement made contention among the apostles even while Christ was with them. They disputed who should be greatest among them. Jesus sat down and called the twelve and said unto them, "If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all."
When the mother of two sons made a request that her sons should be especially favored, one sitting on the right hand and the other on the left in his kingdom, Jesus impressed upon them that the honor and glory of his kingdom was to be the reverse of the honor and glory of this world. Whoever would be great must be a humble minister unto others, and who would be chief must be a servant even as the Son of God was a minister and servant unto the children of men.
Again, our Saviour taught his disciples not to be anxious for position and name. "Be not ye called Rabbi, neither be ye called Master; but he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whosoever exalteth himself, shall be abased." Jesus cited the lawyer to the sacred law code, given from Sinai: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." He told him that if he did this he should enter into life.
"Thy neighbor as thyself,"—The question arises, "Who is my neighbor?" His reply is the parable of the good Samaritan, which teaches us that any human being, who needs our sympathy and our kind offices, is our neighbor. The suffering and destitute of all classes are our neighbors, and when their wants are brought to our knowledge it is our duty to relieve them as far as possible. A principle is brought out in this parable that it would be well for the followers of Christ to adopt. First meet the temporal necessities of the needy, and relieve their physical wants and sufferings, and you will then find an open avenue to the heart, where you may plant the good seeds of virtue and religion.
In order to be happy we must strive to attain to that character which Christ exhibited. One marked peculiarity of Christ was his self-denial and benevolence. He came not to seek his own. He went about doing good, and this was his meat and drink. We may, by following the example of the Saviour, be in holy communion with him, and in daily seeking to imitate his character and follow his example, we shall be a blessing to the world, and shall secure for ourselves contentment here, and eternal reward hereafter.Lord, ...

THE FIG MERCHANT.

"IN the name of the Prophet, figs!" Through the drowse of the noon afar Came droning the Arab vender's cry, As he threaded the thronged bazar. With the courage that comes of faith, He neither had thought nor care, Though the lip of the scornful Greek might curl, Or the insolent Frank might stare.
"In the name of the Prophet, figs!" A traveler, loitering near, Half screened in a niche's deep recess, Turned languidly round to hear. But scarce had the Arab passed, Ere a ripple, that seemed a sigh, Blurred faintly the calm of his lip, and broke In a haze on his dreaming eye.
"In the name of the Prophet, figs!" He listened with downcast face. "This Moslem," he said, "is brave to own His creed in the market-place; While I, with supremest trust, And a hope that can know no shame, Not once in the midst of this multitude Have thought of my Prophet's name.
"'In the name of the Prophet, figs!'" No vagueness about the way He honors the slow muezzin call, When his hour has come to pray. It matters not where he be, His worship his faith reveals; Would I have the manhood, amid these crowds, To kneel as the Arab kneels?
"'In the name of the Prophet, figs!'" It sinks to an echo sweet, Yet floats to me back with a pungent sting Of reproach, in this foreign street. It bids that, with faith as bold As the Moslem's, I bravely do All things whatsoever, or great, or small, In the name of my Prophet too!" —Independent.

IS SIN ETERNAL?—NO. 14.

By John N. Loughborough

BY ELDER J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, OF SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND.
The Canon says that in the time of Christ "The patriarchs were living in hades." He quotes as proof the words of Christ to the Sadducees, or rather the words of God to Moses from the bush, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead but of the living." Matt. 22:32. The Sadducees did not believe in a future resurrection. Mr. Hartrell Horn, for this reason, says, "The word rendered DEAD in this text is equivalent to eternal annihilation." Our Saviour set himself to prove that there will be (contrary to the doctrine of the Sadducees) a literal resurrection to life, but if there is no such resurrection, then the dead are eternally annihilated, as above. God is not the God of those eternally annihilated, but he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; not because they were then alive in hades, but because they are to have a future resurrection to life. St. Paul, in speaking of God's promises to Abraham, says, "God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were." Rom. 4:17. Then God is the God of these patriarchs, "The God of the living," because they are sure to have a resurrection to life.
The Canon presents, as another proof that hades is a place of consciousness, the souls of the martyrs who were represented as crying from beneath the altar (Rev. 5:10). It must be borne in mind that this is a vision of St. John, relating to events then future—to persecutions under the power of the Papacy—and so these souls were not in actual existence at the time of the vision. They are mentioned again (Rev. 20:4, 5) as being raised from the dead: "And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, nor in their hands; and they lived [came to life] and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished."
These souls then were dead martyrs. The psalmist has plainly told us that the dead do not remember God. "In death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave [sheol] who shall give thee thanks?" Ps. 6:5.
When Abel had been slain by Cain, the Lord said to Cain, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." Gen. 4:10. Surely none would reason from these words that the blood of Abel was intelligent and had a voice. The blood upon the ground, however, proclaimed the fact that a life had been taken. So the blood of these martyrs, who fell under the cruel persecutions of the Papacy, called to Heaven for vengeance. As expressed by the Rev. Albert Barnes, "We are not to suppose that this literally occurred, and that John actually saw the souls of the martyrs beneath the altars—for the whole representation is symbolical. . . . . Every persecutor should dread the death of the persecuted as if he went to Heaven to plead against him; every cruel master should dread the death of his slave that is crushed by wrong; every seducer should dread the death and cries of his victim; every one who does wrong in any way should remember that the sufferings of the injured cry to Heaven with a martyr's pleadings, saying 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood?'" Barnes' notes on Rev. 6:10.
The Canon in his discourse presented the fact that there is implanted in the heart of men a desire for immortality, as one of his strong proofs of the present immortality of all men, and that death and destruction cannot mean the actual cessation of existence (annihilation, as he has been pleased to term it). It seems to me, this is claiming too much. It is true, God has implanted in his creatures a desire for life, but does this prove that they are now immortal? This desire may be in our heart for two purposes. 1. With reference to the natural or rather temporal result; it leads us to supply ourselves with those things needful to maintain life here, and to persevere in watchfulness against known causes which produce death. 2. If this desire be allowed to accomplish God's higher design in us, it will lead us "by patient continuance in well-doing to seek for glory and honor and immortality," that in the resurrection we may receive "eternal life." Rom. 2:6, 7. The fact of this desire being planted in all, does not prove that all now possess endless life. God has made provision through Christ that all who will may have life "more abundantly." John 10:10. "The gift of God is eternal life [not by creation, but] through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.
The case of the rich man and Lazarus is used by the Canon as proof of consciousness in hades and also of repentance there. Each of these positions we will notice. First, then, we will quote the case in full. "There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day; and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom; the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell [hades] he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house; for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham said unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them, and he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Luke 16:19-31.
That the above language is that of a parable is evident from the fact of its being in a chapter with another parable, and a part of that same discourse in which our Saviour is showing the fatal result of the eager pursuit of worldly riches and pleasures. The Canon says this is only a parable, and "We must ever be cautious in building theories on a parable," but he says, "our Lord's graphic allegory of Dives and Lazarus seems to point to the fact that there is but one hades in which all souls, good and bad, await the resurrection,though there is described a great gulf—a gulf not of locality, but of condition, fixed between the disembodied soul in consciousness of its sin and the disembodied soul in consciousness of its rest."
It will not do to base a doctrine on a parable. This parable seems to be introduced by our Saviour to enforce, first; the folly of neglecting the future world to pursue earthly pleasures. And, second; if men will not accept the instruction God has given in his word nothing would persuade them. The Canon, speaking on this parable uses the term "disembodied souls" as freely as though he had found such language in the parable. I fail to see the words "disembodied soul" here or elsewhere in the Scriptures. According to the concluding words of the parable there was no living, disembodied soul to send to the rich man's brethren; before any one could go, there must needs be a resurrection. "Neither would they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." It seems the scene supposed in this parable is represented as transacted "in hades." We have already seen that hades is a place of utter unconsciousness and silence where the occupants are devoid of memory or sense of any kind. It will not do to make this parable teach what is elsewhere pointedly contradicted.
In regard to inferences it is well to observe the instructions of Archdeacon Blackburn, who says: "But if the proposition is not expressly revealed, the right of inferring is equal on all sides; and surely those conclusions which are inferred from what is expressly revealed, should be at least as just and as strong, as those which are inferred from what is not."
Let it then be borne in mind that the ground of inference in this parable, that the dead in hades are conscious, is based on the fact they converse together; this inference however is not admissible because it conflicts with the plain statements of Scripture which show us that the occupants of hades "know not anything." Eccl. 9:4-6, 10. We saw in our examination of Gen. 4:10, in the case of Abel, and of those martyred by the Romish church, Rev. 6:10, that blood was represented as crying, showing that God took cognizance of such oppression as though a voice spoke to him.
There are other instances in Scripture where inanimate objects are represented as speaking, to show that God regards the unjust and oppressive dealings of men. St. James says, "Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, and which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth." James 5:4. Money is here represented as crying with cries that have entered God's ears. Surely no one would claim from this that gold and silver were conscious entities.
In the prophecy of Habakkuk we read, "For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." Hab. 2:11. Stones and timbers are not conscious entities, yet the prophet chose that form of speech to show how God regarded him that "crueted an evil covetousness to his house." Verse 9.
Again, we have a parable of Jotham by which he reproved the people who had slain his brethren, the sons of Jerubbaal, he says, "The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon." Judges 9:8-15.
No one would draw a conclusion from this that there was conscious intelligence in the trees. No, because this is a parable. Yes, and the case of Dives and Lazarus is a parable. In Jotham's parable, trees which never had any consciousness, and never will have, are represented as talking. In this case beings that were once alive and conscious, who will live again at the resurrection, are represented as being in hades—sheol—where there is no knowledge nor remembrance of God; talking over the contrast of this life and that to come, and the importance of following God's revealed word now, lest we get to the place of torment at last. This parable is not to prove that these persons are not dead and gone "down into silence," but to show of how little worth are the honors and pleasures of this world, sought in the way of sin, when they shall be tested in the scales of God's Judgment; and how those who may be despised and down-trodden here, and suffer alone, if they are Christ's members, shall at last be borne to the "city" of "foundations" on which the hopes and affections of Abraham centered. Heb. 11:10.
Secondly, we will notice the Canon's claim that repentance after death is taught in the case of Dives and Lazarus. He seems to see, in the words addressed to Dives, "Son remember," that they are there remembering their evil deeds on earth; that this is the suffering of hell which will cause them to repent and accept Christ.
In many cases, illustrated by the Scriptures, when the judgments and punishments of God have been, in past times, inflicted on the ungodly, instead of being softened thereby to repentance they seemed to grow harder and harder. This we instance in the case of Pharaoh as the plagues of God were poured out upon him in Egypt.
St. Paul speaks of those whose consciences are "seared with a hot iron," and others whose hardened and impenitent hearts are treasuring up unto themselves "wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Rom. 2:5. In the apocalyptic vision of future plagues, (Rev. 16) it is positively stated that they "repented not," and that they "blasphemed God because of their plagues." It seems then that these plagues, some of which are similar to those on Egypt, will have a similar effect, the sinners being hardened in sin and blaspheming instead of repenting. I do not know why we should conclude that fire and brimstone will have any different effect upon the same class. The wise man says, "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Prov. 29:1.
HERE

AT BETHLEHEM.

By T. L. Cuyler

A VISIT TO THE SCENE OF THE SAVIOUR'S BIRTH.

WE set our faces for the pools of Solomon, halting for a few moments at the tomb of Rachel by the roadside.
The small structure was crowded with Jews, some of whom wore phylacteries, and all were wailing as they wail beside the remnant of the temple walls.
One old woman was weeping and pressing her withered cheek against the tomb with as much distress as if the fair young wife who breathed out her life there forty centuries ago had been her own daughter.
We found the enormous pools of Solomon (the longest of which measures 580 feet in length) were about half filled with pure water.
We rode beside the aqueduct that leads from them all the way to Bethlehem.
Down among the black and barren hills we saw the deep, fertile vale of Urtas, filled with gardens and fruit-trees.
It is cultivated by the European colony planted by Mr. Meshullman.
For a half hour we feasted our eyes with a view of beautiful Bethlehem perched on its lofty hill, and surrounded by olive orchards.
So many new edifices have been erected for convents and other religious purposes that Bethlehem has almost a modern look.
As we rode through its narrow streets we saw no Ruths, but an ancient Jew in turban, long robe, and flowing beard, quite answered to my idea of Boaz.
We rode on to the convent adjoining the church of the Nativity, where a rather jolly looking monk furnished us an excellent lunch.
He then took us into the venerable church that covers the subterranean chamber in which tradition has always held that our blessed Lord was born.
The chamber is probably the remnant of an ancient khan once belonging to the family of Jesse and of king David.
I expected to be shocked by a sham mockery when I entered the church, but a feeling of genuine faith in the locality came over me as I descended into the rocky chamber and read, around the silver star, “Here Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary.”
The threefold argument for the authenticity of this site is drawn from unbroken tradition, from the fact that Bethlehem has never been overthrown in sieges, and from the other fact that the learned St. Jerome, in the fourth century, was so sure of the site that he came and spent his long, laborious life in the cavern close by the birth-spot of our Lord.
I entered with deep interest the cave in which this devout scholar meditated and prayed and wrought the Vulgate translation of God's word.
My visit to the church of the Nativity was tenfold more satisfactory than to the church of the Holy Sepulchre in this city.—T. L. Cuyler, in N. Y. Evangelist.

FROM FAITH TO INFIDELITY.

By Elder R. F. Cottrell

BY ELDER R. F. COTTRELL.

THE descent from faith to infidelity is very commonly made by the following four steps:—
  1. The day of the Sabbath has been changed.
  2. The Sabbath has been abolished.
  3. The ten commandments have been abolished.
  4. The Bible is abolished, superseded, and is of no more value than a last year's almanac.
To leap at once from faith to infidelity would be fearful. But by the use of these four steps the descent is made easy, the distance from step to step being so small that a person walking in sleep (as most are) would not be awakened by the slight jar. The fourth step is no longer than the first; for the first is a denial of the truth of revelation.
The descent is perfectly natural too. To a person standing on the first step, it is much easier to descend the remaining three, than to climb up the one to the platform of truth. Wanting Bible evidence to sustain him where he is, he takes the second step. He finds it easier to say that the Sabbath is abolished than to prove that it has been changed. He now claims Bible testimony, for he finds the word "abolished" in the Bible. 2 Cor. 3. But the testimony says nothing of the Sabbath, only as it was one of the precepts "written and engraven on stones;" therefore he must take the third step, and say the ten commandments are abolished. This is but a short step; for if one of the ten is dead, why not all? And now, having plucked away the very heart and vitals of the Bible—its only moral code—and finding no evidence that any one of the commandments has ever been re-enacted, it is but a very little step from this to deny the Bible in toto.
Reader, are you standing upon the platform of truth? Have you faith in the word of God, believing it means what it says, and practicing in accordance with the same? If so, hold fast; for you are built upon the rock. But are you standing upon one of the steps below? let me entreat you, as one who loves you, to make a mighty effort, imploring help from God, to reach the platform above. It will require a mighty effort; for, though the distance from step to step is small, the platform is very high above them all. It can only be reached by "repentance towards God," whose holy law you have violated, and "faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ," through whom alone you can find pardon and acceptance. Do be persuaded to make the effort. The lions which you see in the way will vanish at your approach, while by faith you walk steadily forward.
And Oh, the prize! the rich reward! Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Have faith in God! for this is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith.

CHRISTIAN HUMILITY.

"THERE was a strife among them which should be accounted the greatest." This "strife" was not confined to that early period. Our age is laden with decorations, certificates, and double class honors; there is an earnest thronging towards the chief seats. It may be well for us to study the teachings of Jesus upon this subject; to consider the principle which regulates authority and position in his church. He said, "Except ye be converted"—take an opposite course—"ye cannot so much as enter into the kingdom of Heaven, much less have any position in it. We thus learn that the conquest of self is the indispensable condition, not only of authority in the church, but of actual entrance into it. In this, as in all else, Christ is the example. "He made himself of no reputation;" he humbled himself; he washed the disciples' feet. The true Christian is that man in whom the dominion of self is broken; so long as the fraction is held to be greater than the whole, the heart is at a great distance from Jesus. This principle has important applications in all the relations of life. The man who works only for himself may be a theologian, but he is not a Christian; he is not working on the line which terminates in the cross; the spirit of self-crucifixion is not in him. Christ will excuse ignorance and pity weakness, but he cannot endure vanity. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart."
—Parker.

REASONING SKEPTIC.

HERE is an excellent illustration of the obduracy of skepticism, and of the unreasonableness of false philosophy. We find it in an exchange but we do not learn its origin. We have an idea it is from Moody :—
“Here is a picture of a skeptic in the Hebrew camp. A friend who has been healed comes to tell him the good news, and urges him, as he has been bitten and is dying, to look and live. But the intellectual sufferer says :—
“‘ Well, if I understood the philosophy of it, I would look and get well.’ ‘Let your philosophy go, look and live.’ ‘But, Sir, you ask me to do an unreasonable thing. If God said just take the brass and rub it in the bite, there may be some-thing in the brass that would cure the bite. Young man, explain the philosophy of it.’ But the young man calls in another and takes him into the tent and says : ‘Just tell him how the Lord saved you;’ and he tells the same story, and he calls in others, and they all say just the same thing. And so it is with the religion of Jesus Christ. One and another tells the same story; how they are saved —by Jesus of Nazareth; no other name; no other way.
“The young man says it is a very strange thing. ‘If the Lord had told Moses to go and get some herbs and some plants and roots, and boil them and take the medicine, there is something in that. It is so contrary to my nature to do such a thing as to look at a serpent, that I can’t do it.’ ‘You can do it.’ At last his mother comes in and says : ‘My boy, I have got the best news in the world for you. I went out in the camp and saw hundreds very far gone; and they are all perfectly well now.’ The young man says: ‘I would like to get well; it is a very painful thought to die. I want to go into the promised land; but the fact is I don’t understand it. It does not appeal to my reason. I can’t believe that I can get well in a moment. And the young man dies in his own unbelief. Whose fault is it?’”

“HARASSED ENOUGH.”

Of all the words of condemnation of minister Cowley, and of the church which whitewashes his iniquitous character, the best we have seen are the following from the Examiner and Chronicle :—
“The committee appointed by Bishop Potter to consider the case of ‘Shepherd’ Cowley has concluded its labors and rendered its report to him. A reporter called to learn the result, and says that the bishop replied, ‘I think that the Rev. Mr. Cowley has, perhaps, been harassed enough,’ and added that it is not likely that the culprit will be brought to trial in an ecclesiastical court. The investigation was made merely as a matter of form, because there is a canon providing for investigation in such cases.
“‘Harassed enough,’ poor fellow! How badly Cowley has been treated. It is true that he ill-treated and nearly caused the death by starvation of the children in his charge, but society made a mistake in holding him responsible for these things. The law was cruel to send him to the penitentiary and brand him as a criminal. The erring man should have been sent on his way in peace, instead of being harassed in this unfeeling way. When one looks at the thing in this light he is a much· abused man. And now to talk of ‘unfrocking’ him is really too bad. Of course Bishop Potter cannot think of ‘harassing’ him any further.
“But when one drops sarcasm and looks at this case seriously, it is an index to an alarming state of lax morality in that part of the community which professes to stand for the highest type of moral character. If the Christian pulpit has any function, if Christian people have any mission in the world, it is to bring men into obedience to both letter and spirit of the law of God. To find the ministry of an influential Christian body indifferent to the fact that one of their number is a justly convicted felon, and to hear a bishop uttering the commonplaces of a maudlin travesty of morality, means a great deal. But it means even more when one finds how large a part of the community secretly cherishes this kind of sentiment. Where their own feelings or interests are in no wise concerned, there are many who are ready to say, Poor fellow, let him go. The interests of society are nothing, the majesty of the law that has been violated is nothing, the repute of the Christian ministry is nothing to these sentimentalists. Let justice be not done though the heavens fall, is their motto.
“After all, we only get back to the point whence we started. ‘The pity of it, O, the pity of it,’ that Christian ministers, instead of standing like a rock against this lax morality, are found encouraging it by precept and example. If the salt of the earth have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? If those who have professed to give their lives to become preachers of righteousness are found preaching unrighteousness, what hope is there for a sinful world?”

Baptist Churches in Mississippi

THERE are nine hundred white Baptist churches in Mississippi with 56,000 members. Of these churches only ten have preaching every Sunday: and of these only six are self-sustaining.—Christian at Work.

Walking Uprightly

"He that walketh uprightly walketh surely."
Continue reading: THOUGHTS ON DANIEL