Signs of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 31. (8/14/1884)

Signs of the Times

Aug 14, 1884

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 14, 1884

General Articles.

By Ellen G. White

Striking Examples of Prayer.

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

PRAYER has been made the means of obtaining blessings that would not otherwise be received. The patriarchs were men of prayer, and God did great things for them. When Jacob left his father's house for a strange land, he prayed in humble contrition, and in the night season the Lord answered him through vision. He saw a ladder, bright and shining, its base resting on earth, and its topmost round reaching to the highest Heaven. At its top stood the God of Heaven in his glory, and angels were ascending and descending upon the mystic ladder. The Lord comforted the lonely wanderer with precious promises; and protecting angels were represented as stationed on each side of his path. Afterward, while on his return to his father's house, he wrestled with the Son of God all night, even till break of day, and prevailed. The assurance was given him, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men."

Joseph prayed, and he was preserved from sin amid influences that were calculated to lead him away from God. When tempted to leave the path of purity and uprightness, he said, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"

Moses, who was much in prayer, was known as the meekest man on the face of the earth. For his meekness and humility he was honored of God, and he discharged with fidelity the high, noble, and sacred responsibilities intrusted to him. While leading the children of Israel through the wilderness, again and again it seemed that they must be exterminated on account of their murmuring and rebellion. But Moses went to the true Source of power; he laid the case before the Lord. He knew that Israel had provoked divine wrath, and were deserving of punishment; but he could not bear the thought of their being rejected of God.

Moses pleaded the words of God with an earnestness and sincerity which mortals have never equaled: "And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty. . . . Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now." And the Lord said, "I have pardoned according to thy word."

Here is an example of intelligent prayer,—an appeal to the reason and the sympathy of Jehovah; and Moses' prayer was answered, because God is reasonable and compassionate. The sorrows of his people touch his heart of love; and will he not hear our prevailing prayer? Will not our very urgency be regarded? His loving-kindness faileth not. As a kind Father, he does not mock the miseries of his children. And will he not avenge his own, who cry day and night unto him?

Daniel was a man of prayer; and God gave him wisdom and firmness to resist every influence that conspired to draw him into the snare of intemperance. Even in his youth he was a moral giant in the strength of the Mighty One. Afterward, when a decree was made that if for thirty days any one should ask a petition of any God or man, save of the king, he should be cast into a den of lions, Daniel, with firm, undaunted step, made his way to his chamber, and with his windows open prayed aloud three times a day, as he had done before. He was cast into the lions' den; but God sent holy angels to guard his servant.

In the prison at Philippi, while suffering from the cruel stripes they had received, their feet fast in the stocks, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praise to God; and angels were sent from Heaven to deliver them. The earth shook under the tread of these heavenly messengers, and the prison doors flew open, setting the prisoners free.

There are two kinds of prayer,—the prayer of form and the prayer of faith. The repetition of set, customary phrases when the heart feels no need of God, is formal prayer. "When ye pray," says Christ, "use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." We should be extremely careful in all our prayers to speak the wants of the heart, and to say only what we mean. All the flowery words at our command are not equivalent to one holy desire. The most eloquent prayers are but vain repetitions, if they do not express the true sentiments of the heart. But the prayer that comes from an earnest heart, when the simple wants of the soul are expressed just as we would ask an earthly friend for a favor, expecting that it would be granted—this is the prayer of faith. The publican who went up to the temple to pray is a good example of a sincere, devoted worshiper. He felt that he was a sinner, and his great need led to an outburst of passionate desire, "God be merciful to me a sinner."

In order to have spiritual life and energy, we must have actual intercourse with God. Our minds may be drawn out toward him; we may meditate upon his works, his mercies, his blessings; but this is not communing with him. To commune with God we must have something to say to him concerning our actual life. The long, black catalogue of our delinquencies is before the eye of the Infinite. The register is complete; none of our offenses are forgotten. But He who wrought wonderfully for his servants of old will listen to the prayer of faith and pardon our transgressions. He has promised, and he will fulfill his word. Then why should not the desires of our hearts go out after him, and the attitude of our souls ever be that of supplication?

"If ye abide in me," says Christ, "and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." There are some who do not abide in Jesus, and his words do not abide in them, and these make little of prayer. They talk of praying in secret, but not in public nor in the family; but such ones seldom pray at all. Our Saviour taught his disciples: "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." This was not said to forbid public prayer, but to warn the disciples against praying as the Pharisees did, in the corners of the streets and in the market places to be seen of men. Jesus prayed, sometimes alone, sometimes in the presence of his most intimate disciples, sometimes in the presence of the twelve, and sometimes in the presence of the Jews. Jesus promised a special blessing on united prayer. After his death, the disciples often prayed together in the place where they assembled for worship; they also resorted to the temple at the hour of prayer. Paul exhorted the Ephesians to pray "always with all prayer." He who loves to pray alone, as did Daniel, may be assured that in public prayer his motive is not to be heard of men.

Oh that we could impress on the minds of all the great willingness of God to help and strengthen every one who looks to him in trusting prayer. The oil and wine of consolation will be given to those who seek for it; the importunate soul will know him as the One who hears and answers prayer, the One who "comforteth those that are cast down." He is a God over all the earth, exercising over the whole human family an unwearied and solicitous watchcare which nothing can escape. Every moment he grants audience to those who lay their wants and desires before him; and every moment he is ministering to the necessities of thousands who live upon his bounties, yet yield him no tribute of grateful praise, give no token that they realize their dependence upon him.

After we have offered our petitions, we are to answer them ourselves as far as possible, and not wait for God to do for us what we can do for ourselves. The help of God is held in reserve for all who demand it. Divine help is to be combined with human effort, aspiration, and energy. But we cannot reach the battlements of Heaven without climbing for ourselves. We cannot be borne up by the prayers of others when we ourselves neglect to pray, for God has

made no such provision for us. Not even divine power can lift one soul to Heaven that is unwilling to put forth efforts in his own behalf. The unlovely traits in our characters are not removed, and replaced by traits that are pure and lovely, without some effort on our part.

As thus step by step we ascend the shining ladder that leads to the city of God, oh how many times we shall be discouraged, and come to weep at the feet of Jesus over our failures and our defeats. In our efforts to follow the copy set us by our Lord, we shall make crooked lines, and leave many a page blotted and blistered by our tears of repentance. Yet let us not cease our efforts. Heaven can be attained by every one of us if we will strive lawfully, doing the will of Jesus and growing into his image. Temporary failure should make us lean more heavily on Christ, and we should press on with brave heart, determined will, and unfaltering purpose.

We should be continually loosening our hold upon earth, and fastening it upon Heaven. Soon we must render an account to God for all the deeds done in the body. This accountability extends to our minutest acts, words, and thoughts, and even reaches to the unconscious influence that breathes out from our life like the fragrance from a flower. We must give an account, not only for what we have done both of evil and of good, but for what we might have done, but have neglected. Viewed in this light, life is a sacred trust. It is not mere play. Every moment of it is intensely real, fraught with eternal interests. Let us, then, realize our great need of Christ and our dependence upon him; and let us thank God that help has been laid upon One who is mighty to save.

THE THREE LESSONS.

By Schiller

THERE are three lessons I would write— Three words as with a burning pen, In tracing of eternal light, Upon the hearts of men.

Have Hope. Though clouds environ now, And gladness hides her face in scorn, Put thou the shadow from thy brow— No night but hath its morn.

Have Faith. Where'er thy barque is driven— The calm's disport, the tempest's mirth— Know this—God rules the host of Heaven, The inhabitants of earth.

Have Love. Not love alone for one, But man, as man, thy brother call, And scatter like the circling sun Thy charities on all.

Thus grave these lessons on thy soul— Faith, Hope, and Love—and thou shalt find Strength when life's surges rudest roll, Light when thou else were blind.

—Schiller.

Martyrdom of Anne Askew.

Long, indeed, is the list that might be given of those who suffered for the truth in the fires of Smithfield. Perhaps the most interesting victim was the celebrated Anne Askew. She had been singled out by the crafty and ambitious enemies of Queen Katharine Parr and the godly ladies of her court, to be the instrument through whom they might find an accusation against the queen for holding the faith and the principles of the Reformation. Anne Askew was the youngest daughter of Sir William Askew, of Kelsey, in Lincolnshire. Her eldest sister had been engaged to marry a gentleman of the name of Kyme, a harsh and bigoted papist; but the sister died, and she was compelled by her father to take her sister's place, and become the wife of Mr. Kyme. It had turned out a most unhappy marriage for poor Anne Askew. Her education had been superior to that usually given to her sex, and she was a woman of enlightened mind, unlike in character and disposition to her morose and narrow-minded husband. She seems to have been a child of God from her earliest years, and to have searched and prized the Holy Scriptures, which had made her wise unto salvation. Her love of truth, as it is found in its purity and freshness in the word of inspiration, had given great displeasure to her husband, and she was cruelly driven from her home. Being compelled to come up to London to sue for a divorce, the persecution of her husband and the papish priests followed her, and she fell into the toils which they had laid for her.

Two objects were plainly manifest in all the examinations which she underwent: The first was to make her criminate herself, the second to lead her to criminate the queen and those of her ladies who were suspected of holding "the new learning," as the eternal truths of the gospel were termed by the papists.

We read that she was examined and questioned concerning her opinions by Christopher Dare, and Sir Martin Bowes, the then lord mayor, and their brother commissioners. With inimitable simplicity did she reply in the conversation which is recorded to have taken place between the lord mayor and herself.

But we pass over these examinations, in which the patience of those adversaries, who could not overcome her patience, was at length exhausted. These bold and crafty men were determined to spare neither threat nor violence, by which they might extort from her some word or other as a ground of accusation against the Lady Herbert, who was the queen's sister, or the Duchess of Suffolk, and so at last Queen Katharine herself. As yet they discovered nothing. Rich, and another of the counsel, came to her in the Tower, where she was then confined, and demanded that she should make the disclosures which they required concerning her party and her friends. She told them nothing. "Then they did put me in the rack," she relates, "because I confessed no ladies or gentlemen to be of my opinion; and thereon they kept me a long time, and because I lay still and did not cry, my lord chancellor and Mr. Rich took pains to rack me with their own hands till I was nigh dead." These two wretches, it is recorded, provoked by her saint-like endurance, ordered the lieutenant of the Tower to rack her again. He, Sir Anthony Knevitt, "tendering the weakness of the woman," positively refused to do so. Then Wriothesly and Rich threw off their gowns, and, threatening the lieutenant that they would complain of his disobedience to the king, "they worked the rack themselves, till her bones and joints were almost plucked asunder." When the lieutenant caused her to be loosed down from the rack, she immediately swooned. "Then," she writes, "they recovered me again." After that, "I sat two long hours reasoning with my lord chancellor on the bare floor, where he with many flattering words persuaded me to leave my opinion; but my Lord God, I thank his everlasting goodness, gave me grace to persevere, and will do, I hope, to the very end." And she concludes this account to her friend by saying, "Farewell, dear friend, and pray, pray, pray."

She gives her confession of faith, and concludes it with this beautiful prayer: "O Lord! I have more enemies now than there be hairs on my head, yet, Lord, let them never overcome me with vain words, but fight thou, Lord, in my stead; for on thee cast I my care! With all the spite they can imagine, they fall upon me, who am thy poor creature. Yet, sweet Lord, let me not set by them that are against me; for in thee is my whole delight. And, Lord, I heartily desire of thee that thou wilt of thy most merciful goodness forgive them that violence which they do, and have done, unto me; open also thou their blind hearts, that they may hereafter do that thing in thy sight which is only acceptable before thee, and to set forth thy verity aright, without all vain fantasies of sinful men. So be it, O Lord, so be it."

Unable to walk or stand, from the tortures she had suffered, poor Anne Askew was carried in a chair to Smithfield, and, when brought to the stake, was fastened to it by a chain which held up her body; and one who beheld her there describes her as "having an angel's countenance, and a smiling face."

At the very last, a written pardon from the king was offered to Anne Askew, upon condition that she would recant. The fearless lady turned away her eyes, and would not look upon it. She told them that she came not thither to deny her Lord and Master. The fire was ordered to be put under her, "and thus," to use the words of John Foxe, "the good Anne Askew, with these blessed martyrs, having passed through so many torments, having now ended the long course of her agonies, being compassed in with flames of fire, as a blessed sacrifice unto God, she slept in the Lord, A. D. 1546, leaving behind her a singular example of Christian constancy for all men to follow." Her crime was the denial of the mass. "Lo, this," she wrote, "is the heresy that I hold, and for it must suffer death." She kept the faith to her God; she kept the faith to her friends, for she betrayed no one, enduring shame and agony with meek, unshaken constancy. None but Christ, none but Christ could have made the weakness of a delicate woman so strong, the feebleness of a mortal creature so triumphant!

And thus the square of Smithfield, which was made, in the reign of Henry the first, "a lay stall of all ordure or filth," and the place of execution for felons and other transgressors, has become not only drenched with the blood of martyrs, but hallowed by the faith and patience of the saints, by the witness of their good confessions, and by the breath of their dying prayers and praises.

But why bring these horrible details forward? Because, if ever there was a time when it was right to show the real character of popery, it is now. The principles of popery are beginning to spring up throughout the length and breadth of the land, openly in some parts, covertly in others; and men whose Bibles might have taught them other things, are beginning to be enamored with the delusions and ensnaring allurements of a system which can appear to be anything or everything, in order to suit all times and all circumstances; a system which, in the doctrine of tradition, opens the door to the most unbridled license, and finds a cloak for every enormity. We are told that those deadly superstitions, those savage persecutions, those inhuman tortures, were rather the fruit of those dark ages than peculiar to popery. I cannot agree to this. Popery contains in itself the germ of all the deadly errors and dreadful practices which have ever been inseparable from bigotry and superstition.—Memorials of the English Martyrs.

Superficial Religion.

By R. F. Cottrell

THE world is full of superficial religion. The breaking-up plow of true repentance has gone out of use. The surface is stirred with exciting stories, and then the invitation is made to come forward and get salvation; and people are encouraged to believe that only faith is required, and that it is a very easy matter. Entire consecration is talked of, and the "rest of faith," which seems to mean perfect satisfaction with one's self, a knowledge of acceptance independent of a knowledge of the truth.

If ever the people needed instruction in the very rudiments of the religion of the Bible—the moral law—it is now. The wound is not probed, but healed slightly. That by which is the knowledge of sin—that instrument that shows how deep the wound is—does not enter thoroughly into the work of conversion. It will not do to deal thoroughly with the law of God in these days; too many would be condemned, and so it is that little is said and taught of God's perfect law, only in a general way. It seems to be taken for granted that those who are almost wholly unacquainted with the Bible, know as well what is right and wrong as their teachers; therefore there is but very little teaching. A conscience formed by tradition and custom is supposed to be an infallible guide, and the truth of God is but little sought.

A charity, falsely so-called, is highly esteemed; a charity which ignores the truth, instead of rejoicing in it, as Paul taught. 1 Cor. 13. Union is much talked of, which is only a confederation of discordant sects. Agreement in truth as a foundation is not thought of; and he that can cover the greatest number of conflicting creeds with a broad mantle, is esteemed the most pious as well as liberal. And so Protestantism has come to fellowship popery. And why not, since truth is no test? Ignorance is cherished; and all is made to depend upon the vain thought that "the heart is right."

R. F. COTTRELL.

Hungering for Righteousness.

By R. F. Andrews

THE last days were to be noted by the existence of a class of very degenerate professors of religion. 2 Tim. 3:1–5. The great mass would be satisfied with the form without "the power." Instead of earnestly seeking to know what God would have them do, they were to busy themselves in climbing "up some other way;" and "having itching ears," they were to "turn away their ears from the truth, and be turned unto fables." 2 Tim. 4:3, 4. It is evident that the time described by Paul has arrived, and that the perils of the last days are upon us. How men and women professing godliness can cling to the hoary-headed traditions and corruptions of that power which was to think to change the law of God, and to exalt himself above God (Dan. 7:25; 2 Thess. 2:4), after their attention has been called to the matter, is truly wonderful.

Our adorable Saviour has said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." Matt. 5:6. Righteousness! What is it? John says, "All unrighteousness is sin," 1 John 5:17; and "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. This being the truth, of course righteousness would be the opposite, and is obedience to the law. That this is the exact truth is most clearly proved by the Scriptures. "Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law." Isa. 51:7. "All thy [God's] commandments are righteousness." Ps. 119:172. "Let no man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is righteous." 1 John 3:7.

Notice, it is not he that believeth righteousness, professeth righteousness, or even teacheth righteousness, but he that doeth righteousness. Again, the Lord by Isaiah says, chap. 48:18, "O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." "And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God." Deut. 6:25. Hence, righteousness is right doing—a righteous life is a life in conformity with God's holy, just, and good law.

Hunger and thirst are very strong terms. It has been said that "hunger will break through stone walls," and it often has. Men, urged on by the keen gnawings of hunger, have dared to imperil their lives to get food. Women have even cooked their own children to satisfy the intense feelings of hunger. 2 Kings 6:29. How anxious the weary traveler is, as he marches under the burning rays of the summer's sun, for a cooling drink from the sparkling fountain to quench his thirst! See that look of distress, bordering almost upon despair, depicted on the countenances of the passengers on board that noble ship, in mid-ocean, as they hear it announced, "Our water is spent, there is no more fresh water on board the ship." As thirst presses upon them, they become more and more anxious. There is no carelessness, there is no indifference among them.

Dear reader, do you so hunger and thirst after the commandments of God, after righteousness? Are you as anxious to know what God commands as the famishing person is to get food, as the individual perishing with thirst is to obtain a refreshing draught from the cooling fountain?

If you have been a reader of this paper for any length of time, you know the position is not only taken, but sustained, that Sunday-keeping is a human tradition that makes void one of the commandments of God. How do you feel over this matter? Do you acknowledge that the arguments are conclusive, and the proof clear? and are you still saying by your actions that it makes no difference whether you respect the commandment of God or the tradition of men? "If the Lord be God," why not respect his authority? Oh! why not bow to his will? "Behold to obey is better than sacrifice." There is nothing so acceptable in the sight of God as a cheerful, faithful, willing, complete obedience to his holy will. How can you give "sleep to your eyes and slumber to your eyelids," until you have ascertained the will of God in this matter?

Be entreated by one who loves you, and would seek your best good, even your eternal interests, do not carelessly, and indifferently, turn away from an investigation of this solemn matter. It involves the weekly violation of one of the ten precepts of Jehovah. "As the hart pants after the water brooks," so may you desire to know what God would have you do; and then lovingly do it. Some people claim they are investigating for truth, when they are only seeing how many objections can be raised against it, and if there cannot be some argument that will offset one in favor of it. May you not be of that class who labor to find something to excuse them from obedience to God. But may the prayer of your heart be like that of David: "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Ps. 119:18. "Show me thy ways, O Lord; . . . lead me in thy truth and teach me." Ps. 25:4, 5.

God's Wrath upon His Church.

By Howard Crosby

THE narrative of the call of Samuel is a most important lesson of God's ways with his church. If the church makes a god of its forms, he breaks those forms to pieces. When the brazen serpent became an object of adoration instead of a memorial of God's grace and symbol of his salvation, he caused it to be destroyed. So when priest and people settled down satisfied with the ritual of the tabernacle, and were careless of their conduct, indulging in all sin, he sent the Philistines to plunder the tabernacle by capturing the ark and carrying it into a foreign country. When the ritual priesthood failed in their duty, he punished them, and set up an order of prophets above them to be the interpreters of his will. Samuel is thus a witness to God's demand for a spiritual religion in contrast to mere form.

There is no more mistaken notion than that the religion of the Mosaic covenant was a ritualistic religion. It had a ritual, certainly, brimful of Messianic symbol, but its whole core was spiritual. The love of God and one's neighbor was the inward principle which formed its heart. God, as a merciful Saviour providing a substitute to bear the sins of Israel, and calling for their grateful love and service, was constantly exhibited to them in every ceremonial, and the words of exhortation from God to them, in the law, were most touching and tender. To compare such a religion with the mere outward rites of paganism and Romanism is to compare light with darkness. God is a holy God, and he will have his people holy; and if they substitute a ceremonial for holiness, his holy wrath will certainly fall upon them; and in this blow, not only those will fall who, like Eli's sons, commit gross wrongs, but those also who, like Eli, through indulgence or apathy, fail to rebuke and resist the evil.

Let us take this lesson to ourselves to-day. The church of God is to-day courting the world. Its members are trying to bring it down to the level of the ungodly. The ball, the theater, nude and lewd art, social luxuries with all their loose moralities, are making inroads into the sacred inclosure of the church, and as a satisfaction for all this worldliness Christians are making a great deal of Lent and Easter and Good Friday and church ornamentation. It is the old trick of Satan. The Jewish Church struck on that rock. The Romish Church was wrecked on the same. And the Protestant Church is fast reaching the same doom. God will not bless a church that drags down his heavenly things into the dust—that gilds vice, calls it Christian, and then indulges in it. But vengeance will come and strip such a church of its pride and make it eat the bread of affliction.

It is not only that people who come to the Lord's table go away to gamble and cheat and lead loose lives, but the ministers of Christ, the Elis, whom God has set to be watchmen to warn the people, yield to the tide of worldliness, and, instead of urging the people to a closer walk with God and a holier heart, give pulpit lectures on philosophy or art, or make ad-captandum harangues on the political questions of the day, or show off smart sayings that may raise a laugh, and then servilely seek the patronage of the rich and fashionable, when they ought, even if they have to wear only a rough garment and a leathern girdle like Elijah, to be sounding into the ears of these false Christians the words of the prophet: "A people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters; they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward." Ezekiel saw the six men, every one with a slaughter-weapon in his hand, going through the midst of Jerusalem, slaying utterly (at God's command) the old and young, and beginning at the temple; and when the prophet exclaimed, the Lord replied, "Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head." In this vision God showed Ezekiel that he would bring down his fearful and unsparing wrath upon his own church, which had gone away from him and identified itself with the world. The vision is meant equally for us. God never changes. He will treat the Christian Church as he treated the Jewish. His fierce anger will be felt both by ministers and people who turn his truth into a lie, and use the Christian name as a cover for lust and greed.

I do not speak extravagantly; I have not set up a man of straw to contend against. While it is perfectly true that there are those who fear the Lord and speak often to one another as they think on his name, it is also true that the great bulk of the Protestant Church is identified with the world. It has a name to live while it is dead. It has turned its doctrine into naturalism or rationalism, and its life into selfishness. The old landmarks are gone. Family prayer is given up, prayer-meetings are ignored, worldly partnerships are formed, social sins are connived at, and even excused, the pulpit is made a stage on which to strut and pose before a gaping world, and religion is made one of the instruments of fashion. We may not cure this dreadful evil, but we may ourselves avoid it and its doom. We may look to ourselves and to our own families, that we go not with the multitude of Christians to do evil and to perish in the hour when Christ shall come as a thief to their dismay. We may be among the few in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, walking in white with our Lord.

But we cannot hold this exceptional position without an effort. The fast-rushing tide is all to the world. Anxiety to make money, to be fashionable, to obtain sensual indulgence, amid the thousand avenues of luxury now opened by Satan, is ready to carry away our young people, to their spiritual and eternal ruin. Unless parents by example, precept, and rebuke interfere to check their children, they will only prepare them for destruction. It is in the family that the religious life is nursed. It is by the family God would build up his true and spiritual church. If religion is neglected by the guardians of the family, the stream of posterity is poisoned at the source.

Let us take the warning given us in God's word from Israel's fall and ruin; let us keep ourselves unspotted from the world; and let it never be said of us, as it was of Eli to his condemnation, "His sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not."—Howard Crosby.

Christ, Mahomet, or Confucius?

By Editor

THEY who reject the Bible and the Atonement frequently refer to Mahomet and Confucius as being equally entitled with Christ, if not more than he, to honor and worship.

When persons compare the Koran with the Bible, and place Mahomet on an equality with Christ, we are constrained to think that they have never read the Koran (perhaps not the Bible), and have never inquired into the principles of the divine Government, nor sought to find a way to save fallen humanity, and vindicate divine justice. We have read the Koran with this thought in mind, desiring to find there these great principles and to give it credit for them if found; but did not find them. And from our reading of it, we should full sooner place the story of "Jack the Giant Killer" on a level with the American Encyclopedia, than place the Koran on a level with the Bible.

We shall all be agreed in regard to the infliction of punishment when it answers the end of justice; and that the divine Ruler has a perfect right to choose his own instruments to carry out his own purposes; that when nations become grossly immoral, he may use flood, fire, and tornado, the earthquake, or other nations, to effect their overthrow. When all the nations of earth had become corrupt, it became necessary to choose one family and plant them a separate people, and remove or destroy idolatry from their land, to acquaint them with the truth, and to preserve a genealogy that the world might be assured that the promises and prophecies were fulfilled in Messiah. As God overthrew the enraged Egyptians in mercy to his people, so the nations of Canaan, low sunken in idolatry and sensuality, were exterminated in mercy to the race, to unfold the doctrines and facts of the Messiah's future kingdom. We see the wisdom of God in the Levitical law, for the gradual development of the great plan of salvation, both to make it plain to human reason, and to impress it deeply on the human heart.

The Bible reveals the faults of God's people, but does not justify them. It teaches love, kindness, good-will, humility, self-denial, purity, and all that is "lovely and of good report" in the human character; while it offers the only means to raise and restore the erring to the favor of a just Creator. It offers only joys that are pure, free from vanity and corruption, free from all that is low and sensual. The Koran, on the contrary, leads to hatred, to violence, to bloodshed, without even an effort to make this a mere element or necessity of a plan to eventuate in redemption; it presents the hope of power here, and of lustful gratification hereafter; the hope of overthrowing their enemies here as the best means of enjoying a plurality of wives in paradise! Not one principle of justice to be gained—not one attribute of God honored and glorified. Truly, he must be ignorant or depraved (or both) who compares the Koran to the Bible; and that this is often done we take as evidence of the perverseness of humanity.

Bishop Sherlock made the following just comparison:—

"Go to your Natural Religion; lay before her Mahomet and his disciples arrayed in armor and in blood, riding in triumph over the spoils of thousands and tens of thousands who fell by his victorious sword. Show her the cities which he set in flames, the countries which he ravaged and destroyed, and the miserable distress of all the inhabitants of the earth. When she has viewed him in this scene, carry her into his retirements, show her the prophet's chamber, his concubines and wives, and let her see his adulteries, and hear him allege revelation, and his divine commission, to justify his lusts and his oppressions. When she is tired with this prospect, then show her the blessed Jesus, humble and meek, doing good to all the sons of men, patiently instructing the ignorant and the perverse. Let her see him in his most retired privacies; let her follow him to the mount, and hear his devotions and supplications to God. Carry her to his table, to view his poor fare, and hear his heavenly discourse. Let her see him injured, but not provoked. Let her attend him to the tribunal, and consider the patience with which he endured the scorns and reproaches of his enemies. Lead her to his cross, and let her view him in the agonies of death, and hear his last prayer for his persecutors: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' When Natural Religion has viewed them both, ask which is the prophet of God. But her answer we have already had; when she saw part of this scene through the eyes of the centurion who attended him at the cross; by him she said, 'Truly, this is the Son of God.'"

Confucius is doubtless entitled to more respect than Mahomet, for there appears to be no evidence that he was an imposter; for he was not a religious leader. And therefore they who put him forth as a rival to Christ are no more entitled to credit than the devotees or apologists of Mahomet. All that is known of Confucius is by Chinese tradition, which to those in any-wise acquainted with the Chinese character, will not seem entitled to any great credit. Holding that all beyond their own borders are barbarians, they shut themselves up in their self-conceit; and from the divine titles and honors paid to their rulers, we may readily and justly conclude that the memory of "the Teacher," as they term Confucius, has not suffered in their hands. They never speak of their rulers without using the most extravagant language; and if their emperor is sick, he can have nothing less than a "celestial disease"! Their literature is generally considered below mediocrity; their educational systems tax the memory rather than the judgment; how then shall we arrive at a certainty as to the real merits of Confucius?

As a specimen of their literature, take the following:—

"The great extreme is merely the immaterial principle. It is not an independent, separate existence; it is found in the male and female principles of nature, in the five elements, in all things; it is merely an immaterial principle, and because of its extending to the extreme limit, is therefore called the great extreme.

"The great extreme is simply the extreme point, beyond which one cannot go; that which is most elevated, most mysterious, most subtle, and most divine, beyond which there is no passing. . . . It is the immaterial principle of the two powers, the four forms, and the eight changes of nature; we cannot say that it does not exist, and yet no form or corporeity can be ascribed to it. From this point is produced the one male and the one female principle in nature, which are called the dual powers; the four forms and eight changes also proceed from this, all according to a certain natural order, irrespective of human strength in its arrangement. But from the time of Confucius no one has been able to get hold of this idea."—Chinese Repository, Vol. 13.

If this were a specimen of Confucius' philosophy (which it probably is not), we could not wonder that A. J. Davis should put him in the "Pantheon;" for the above resembles the philosophy of Davis enough to have been written by his twin brother!

The "Middle Kingdom," a history of the Chinese Empire, contains the following statement:—

"The remarks of Confucius upon religious subjects were very few; he never taught the duty of man to any higher power than the head of the State or family, though he supposed himself commissioned by Heaven to restore the doctrines and usages of the ancient kings. He admitted that he did not understand much about the gods; that they were beyond and above the comprehension of man, and that the obligations of man lay rather in doing his duty to his relatives and society, than worshiping spirits unknown."—Vol. 2, p. 236.

This is quite as good as we could expect from a heathen politician; but that professed reformers, who acknowledge moral relations and moral obligation, should quote him as an oracle, or place him on a level with Christ, and his teachings on a level with the morality of the Bible, is strange indeed. The gospel alone shows how God may be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus; it alone shows the true relative importance of love to God and love to our fellow-men; it alone proclaims, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Continue reading: The Christian Use of Wealth