Earlier text: BEAR YE ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENSMEATS THAT ARE GOOD.
By H. H. Burkholder
"Now THE Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer." Dr. Wm. Smith, in his dictionary of the Bible, says of this word: "Meat.—It does not appear that the word 'meat' is used in one instance in the Authorized Version of either the Old or New Testaments in the sense which it now almost exclusively bears of animal food. The latter is denoted uniformly by flesh." Now what about the statement that "every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused"? Doesn't the word "creature" here mean animals? I answer, No. Why?—Because I can not find any scripture that tells me that God created animals for any such purpose. The warning of the apostle is against those who command to abstain from food which God created to be received, which, as we have found does not include flesh. The products of the earth have been sanctified by the Word of God—set apart for the use of man; but no such record can be found in favor of a flesh diet. It is true the use of flesh food has been permitted as a result of sin. God has permitted many things since the fall because of man's lust and hardness of heart. Matt. 19:8 furnishes us an example: "Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so." —H. H. Burkholder, in Welcome Visitor. How They Became Convinced
By Editor
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.] It has been over two years since I accepted the Sabbath truth. At first I could not bring myself to believe that Saturday was the right Sabbath. From childhood I had been trained to observe Sunday, and I, a Covenanter in discipline, was quite obstinate in the matter. But when the truth was clearly expounded to me, a voice whispered, "That is right," and my hungering soul could not resist. I have been scoffed at many times, but I have stood firmly, knowing that there is a crown of glory laid up for me if I remain steadfast unto the end. Mark 15:42 and 16:1, 2 are convincing proof that the "preparation" was the day before the Sabbath, and that the first day of the week is the day after the Sabbath. The same truth is stated in Luke 23:54 to 24:1; also in John 19:31, 42 and 20:1. I was told that Christ had changed the day, but His own testimony is that He came not to destroy even a jot or tittle of the law. See Matt. 5:17, 18; Luke 16:17. God set apart and blessed the seventh day at the close of creation week, to be kept as a holy memorial of His great creative work. See Gen. 2:2, 3; Ex. 20:8-11. This is the day that the Lord calls "My holy day" in Isa. 58:13, and a precious promise is given in verse 14 to those who remember it. This promise is not to the Jews only, but also to "the strangers that join themselves to the Lord, to minister unto Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants." See chapter 56:1-8. With such convincing evidences, such undying testimony, why hesitate? Why halt between two opinions? I must also state that I am more prosperous since I began keeping the Sabbath, and in returning to the Lord His tithe. And it makes me happy to give to the Lord's cause, too. At one time I thought I would refrain from giving so much; but as I stood hesitating, I heard a voice, saying, "The Lord will give you more;" so I freely gave. The Lord is ever near to help those who trust in Him. I KNEW but little about "present truth" until I went to Arkansas, where I met a company of Sabbath keepers, and heard of the commandments of God, as given on Mount Sinai. But I did not make a full surrender until last July, when, for the second time, I heard the Sabbath message at Hillsdale, Wis. There I received a little pamphlet on the prophecy of Daniel and the reasons for Sunday keeping. When I found that I was not keeping the Lord's day, but was honoring the Catholic Church instead, I began to keep the Sabbath and was baptized. I now love the truth and the Sabbath-school, and greatly enjoy the Lord's work. I owe my all to the Lord for His loving-kindness. MUSINGS.
By Eliza Veeder Dow
Do NOT allow yourself to be heavy-hearted on account of the wrong-doings of your neighbors or the ignorance of the heathen world; but look unto your own soul, and dig out all the evil and jealousies that are there, and see to it that you are not ignorant regarding the common amenities of life; study to make yourself approved by the highest Model given to humanity. Reach out after and eagerly desire spiritual gifts; gifts that make human faces shine with a light indescribable for beauty. SOMETIMES we learn sweet lessons from the birds and little children; sometimes we get touches of divine ministration from the sheen of moonlight upon the ocean. "He prayeth much who loveth much." Live prayers! speak and act benedictions! Washington’s Prayer at Valley Forge
WHEN Washington was in sore straits at Valley Forge, he sought a retired spot in the deep woods and knelt down upon the frozen ground and prayed to God. He lead his army out to victory. Why mention this?—O, just to cause you to think; to make you more pitiful, helpful and hopeful. Respond to Those in Distress
WHEN any human soul appeals to you in an hour of sore distress, turn not away; listen and respond; remembering that God gives you all you have, and He wants you to be kind. Forget Failures and Go On in Hope
FORGET all your failures and go on, on, on in hope and trust. WHAT a book is the Bible! In how many ways it appeals to the thoughtful soul! Its spirit, its subject matter, its object, its proportion, its method, all appeal to the candid, earnest person who looks beyond the present, and who weighs from principle rather than from appearance. The Bible is a serious Book. It does not treat lightly the problems of life. It is neither mawkish nor sentimental. It comes to us in a straightforward, open, manly way, appealing to our sober judgment and common sense. In precept it is serious, in promise it is serious, as befits the problem with which it deals; and he who fails to take it seriously is making one of the most serious mistakes of his life. The Bible comes to you open, honest, serious; receive it as such. It presents before us great serious examples of men and women with something to do. It is Adam with a divine model before him, after which the earth was to be fashioned. It is Noah with the responsibility of a world to be warned and saved if possible. It is a Joseph, true to duty, conducting with equal integrity his work as a bondman in the prison or as prime minister upon the throne. It is a Moses leading, educating, a nation of ignorant erstwhile slaves to nationhood and a kingdom. It is a Joshua, a David, a Solomon, an Elijah, an Isaiah, a Jeremiah, a Daniel, a Nehemiah, a John the Baptist, a Paul, a John, and a host of other mighty men with serious work to do, and who did it faithfully and well,—shining examples of faith, courage, perseverance, and loyalty. And yet these great heroes of the ages are never flattered. No sycophantish Eusebius glozes over with flattering words the deeds a Constantine may have committed against God and man. The weakness of the great Elijah is told; the sins of David and Solomon are faithfully laid open, not alone to coming ages, but by the servant of God to the very men themselves it was said, "Thou art the man." No sins are glossed over, no man is flattered; yet, somehow, from the records of their lives, we come away stronger men, with more faith and heart and hope, and more love for God who made them the men of action they were, the moulders of the ages. The Bible is a practical Book. It deals with the practical things of life. We once met an old Pennsylvania farmer who was prosperous in his farming. Asking the secret of his success, he frankly said that it was all found in the book of Proverbs. Tho not a Christian, he believed the Bible for its practical every-day worth, and he needed no better advice for practical every-day work than he found in Proverbs. The Bible deals with visions, but it is not visionary. The outlook of all that is revealed is tremendously practical. It lays hold of the every-day life. It reveals a religion which includes every practical duty of life, duty to God, duty to our fellow men. No other book in all the world is so practical concerning the life which now is, and the life which is to come. Its right concept brings the life which is to come into the life now. It is a proportional Book. It does not place first some fad or fancy, some dream or unsolvable mystery. First of all it places character. By that, God is revealed. By that, manhood is measured. By character, fitness for the life to come is ascertained. In the world oftentimes business or profit or pleasure or expediency stands first; in the Book of God character, morality, righteousness, in this life here, for this age, in preparation for the life to come. What a simple Book is the Bible in all its fundamental teaching! It makes the great foundation truths stand out clear and strong, so that the simplest may understand them. It enforces these teachings by object lessons with which all are familiar. Everything common in nature and art is laid under tribute to make plain the Gospel of the wonderful Book. So much in brief for the Book as a book. How incomparably superior in all these important characteristics is the Bible! But it is more than this to the humble believer in Jesus Christ. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. 3:16, 17. "Were all the world one chrysolite,
The sun a golden ball,
And diamonds all the stars of night,
This Book were worth them all." "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation." Isa. 28: 16. In 1 Cor. 3: 11 we have a further reference to this foundation. The apostle says, "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Then Jesus Christ is the tried, or tested, stone upon which the church, or kingdom, of God is built. He is the "chief Corner-stone," as Peter puts it in quoting the prophecy of Isaiah. Now the record shows a very thorough testing of this foundation. He was tested as creator. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." John 1: 1-3. "By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." Col. 1: 16, 17. The success of this work is attested by the Spirit, in that the Record says, "And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Gen. 1: 31. The work was so good that then and there a perpetual memorial of it was established. "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made, And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." This memorial is to continue throughout the life of this earth and of the new earth. Ex. 31: 16, 17; Isa. 66: 22, 23. Of Christ's work as creator, the Spirit further says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork." Ps. 19: 1. There was no failure in that great test. Christ, being the Son of God, and being associated in all that pertained to the position, was God. The Word that was made flesh was God (John 1: 1, 14); and the Father calls Him God (Heb. 1: 9). But in passing from the "bosom of the Father" to the nature of man, He did not come the whole way at one step. He first became an angel and was tried, or tested, in that capacity. In delivering Israel from Egypt, the Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud (Ex. 13: 21), but He was the Angel of God (chapter 14: 19). God told the people that He would send His Angel before them to keep them in the way. He was one of whom God said, "My name is in Him," and He was one who could forgive sins. Ex. 23: 20-23. He is also called the Presence of God (chapter 33: 14), and the Angel of His presence (Isa. 63: 9). As an angel He successfully delivered the people from bondage, overcoming their enemies. When the natural sources of water failed, He brought water from a rock. When food failed, He fed them with bread from heaven forty years. So successful was His career as angel that He was the chief, or Archangel. Jude 9; Dan. 12: 1; John 5: 25; 1 Thess. 4: 16; Rev. 12: 7-10. When the appointed time came, the ultimate step in the humiliation of Christ was taken, and He was made "a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death." Heb. 2: 9. He was born in Bethlehem of Judea (Matt. 2: 1), "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom. 8: 3). In this nature, He was tested as a child, tested as a youth, tested as a young man, as a workman, as a neighbor, as a member of the church. He was tempted, or tried, in all points just as other human beings, from childhood to manhood, yet He never failed. Heb. 4: 15. With all the weakness of sinful flesh against Him, He met the personal temptations of the adversary Himself, and came off conqueror. As minister of the Gospel He spake as never man spake before or since. As physician, He never lost a case. Of the multitudes of afflicted who came to Him, "He healed them all." Even as a man, He could feed the hungry thousands in the wilderness. No disputant could "entangle Him in His words;" or present any problem that He could not solve. He could endure hardness without discouragement; and was long-suffering with His erring disciples. He could suffer and die like a hero, and forgive even those who nailed Him to the cross. No scheme of men or devils could swerve Him from the commandments of God. Such is the foundation of the Christian's faith. In every sphere of intelligent existence He has been tried, having met and conquered the enemy of souls. In every sphere, He has shown His ability to create, to sustain, and to redeem. In every trial He has stood the test, and fulfilled every trust reposed in Him by the Father. He has been willing to make every sacrifice which His loving purpose required; hence His marvelous success. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. 2: 9-11. And He is now in the heavenly sanctuary, making intercession for those who seek the favor of God, being "able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." Heb. 7: 25. Is it not reasonable, then, to build our faith and hope upon such a tried and sure Foundation? Is it not the part of wisdom to build upon that which has been tested to the utmost? THE CALL—THE RESPONSE—THE RESULT.
"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11: 28. "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. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; tho they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land." Isa. 1: 18, 19. "Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God." Luke 12: 8. "I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord." Ps. 32: 5. "I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue." Ps. 39: 1. "I will praise Thee with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing praise unto Thee." Ps. 138: 1. "I will bless the Lord at all times." Ps. 34: 1. "I will meditate in Thy precepts." "I will delight myself in Thy commandments." Ps. 119: 15, 47. "I will pay my vows unto the Lord." "I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving." Ps. 116: 14, 17. "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes." Ps. 101: 3. "I will declare Thy name unto my brethren." Ps. 22: 22. "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him will I trust." Ps. 91: 2. "I will walk at liberty." Ps. 119: 45.7"I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people." Ps. 3: 6. "I will behold Thy face in righteousness." Ps. 17: 15. "And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Ps. 23: 6. We are now entering upon the time of this world's greatest test. When Satan appeared to Christ in the wilderness with his great array of temptations, he reserved his greatest till the last. He first urged Christ to minister to His own wants by turning the stones into bread. This failed. He then sought to have Christ prove by a presumptuous act that He was the Son of God. This, too, failed. Then came the supreme test. Christ had come to this world to redeem it back from the usurper, Satan. He had come prepared to lay down His life for that purpose. Now comes the tempter—the very one out of whose hands Christ was to win this world and its willing inhabitants—with a scheme by which Christ could gain "all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them," without the necessity of His cruel death upon the cross. Satan's proposition is this: "All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me." Christ could have yielded, received what Satan promised, and then perished with Satan and his world. But the scheme failed; the redemption price was paid; and the earth and its inhabitants are redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Many will not avail themselves of their purchased rights, and so will be lost; but, nevertheless, the work has been done, and the world and the race have been redeemed. But the great test comes, in the hour of greatest physical weakness, over the matter of worship. Christ's answer to the tempter was, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." As that was Satan's great test for Christ, we may expect to see a similar test brought upon the people of the last generation of this world. Christ, in His answer to Satan, has given us the proper ground upon which to stand: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." That admonition is needed to-day as never in the past. How do we know this?—Principally by the fact that God's last great message to this world—to the people of this last generation—is based upon that very matter, the matter of worship. Hear Him: "Fear God, and give Him glory; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters." Rev. 14:7. Had we only this, we would be without excuse for yielding to the last powerful deception of the enemy; but the Lord does not leave it there. The warning continues (verses 9 and 10): "If any man worshipeth the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of His anger." That is a solemn warning. It is not given without a cause. God foreknew that the most subtle deceptions this world has ever experienced would be practiced upon the world in the last days. He foreknew also that that deception would come over the matter of worship. So He not only tells the world who should be worshiped, but who must not be worshiped, and declares the penalty that will be visited upon those who will not heed. In that last punishment there is no mixture of mercy; for all that mercy could do it has done, and those upon whom that punishment is inflicted are those who will go down into eternal death. The Word has directed our attention to that power which is to demand worship from the people of this age. The Revelator designates it by the term "beast." "And they worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority unto the beast; and they worshiped the beast. . . . And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain. . . . And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like unto a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight. And he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose death-stroke was healed, . . . saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived. And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed." Rev. 13:4-15. Here, then, we have two great powers whose principles are opposed the one to the other, and both having to do with worship. God is telling men their duty toward Him in the matter of worship, and warning them against the worship of the "beast" and his image, declaring to them that eternal death will be the penalty for disobedience. On the other hand stands the "beast" power and the "image," demanding the worship of men, and proclaiming sentence of death upon all who refuse that worship. Beyond question that "beast" power is the Papacy. An "image" to it in this hemisphere is now in the process of making; and the time is not distant when these will work as one in demanding the religious obedience, the worship, of the world, under the penalty which has been named. This will be accomplished by the influence which these powers will wield throughout the world. Plans are fast being consummated in this country which are to bring about that "image" of the Papacy, the union of church and state. With that accomplished, the road is easy and the distance short, to the accomplishment of all that the prophet predicts in this matter. But there will be those who will stand loyal and true to God through all the days of this most fearful test and trial. Of them it is said: "Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. One of these commandments reads, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me;" and another, in part: "Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them;" and another reads, in part: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto Jehovah thy God." Those who yield to the "beast" power will be breaking these commands; for they will worship the beast and his image, and they will keep as a sabbath the day which that power has prescribed. But upon such will be poured out the unmixed wrath of God. Against the other class, who have refused to yield to the deception of the enemy, who have worshiped and served God only, stands the menacing decree of the "beast" power; but the prophet assures them that their names are written in the Lamb's book of life. They have stood the great test, and have triumphed in the name and power of Christ. To such is this promise of the Saviour: "He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne." Rev. 3:21. In the time of Christ's greatest physical weakness that greatest of Satan's temptations came to Him. Just so in the time of this world's greatest weakness come Satan's greatest deception and greatest demand. With "all deceivableness of unrighteousness" we may expect to see that deception worked and that demand insisted upon; but God has faithfully warned the world; and, when the great test comes, and the demand is made by that heaven-defying power for the worship of men, "see thou do it not," for the most priceless interests of the soul are at stake. IF the "Lord's day" in Rev. 1:10 means the first day of the week, why does not John, in chapter 20: 1, 19 of his gospel, which he wrote two years after writing the Revelation, give some hint of it? This is the substance of a pertinent question asked by a minister of one of his denominational editors. The reply given is:— We do not know. Perhaps John meant by "the Lord's day" the same thing as Paul did by "the day of the Lord." But Paul says of "the day of the Lord" that it "so cometh as a thief in the night." Is that true of the first day of the week? Do not all classes of men know when the first day of the week is to come, just as they know the definite approach of other days? Peter gives the same testimony, and adds that in that day "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." And this is to be immediately followed by the new heavens and new earth. 2 Peter 3:10-13. Then it could not have been "the day of the Lord" to which John refers in Rev. 1:10, when the Lord appeared to him, eighteen hundred years ago. The "day of the Lord" to which Paul and Peter allude is the day of the Lord's coming to execute judgment upon the wicked, as is also shown by the prophet: "The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. . . . I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord. . . . Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy; for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land." Zeph. 1:14-18. Please explain verse 10 of chapter 12. Does it mean that a greater part of the Jews would repent and be restored to the favor of God? S. The book of Zechariah dealt with things present, things near to come, and things afar off, of which the present and near future were types. The people of God then were types of the people of God later on. Judah and Jerusalem were types of God's people and cause in later times. If the center of worship had then been known as Bethlehem, and the central ruling tribe as Dan, under these types God would have spoken of His people in time to come, whether those people came of the literal seed of Abraham or were born of Gentiles. Neither made them the true Israel of God. Prevailing faith alone was needed. Zech. 13:1 speaks of the fountain to be opened for sin and uncleanness. This is the blood of Christ. But before the sin could be cleansed there must be repentance. This is what Zech. 12:10 refers to. This was true in literal Judah and Jerusalem when Christ came. Great companies of the Jews, priests and people, yielded to Christ. This was not a national work. Families mourned apart, wives and husbands apart. The mourning in the valley of Megiddo was for Josiah. 2 Chron. 35:20-24. Greater than this would be the mourning of those who truly repented of sin, each feeling that his sins pierced the crucified One. The names then used are typical of the truly repentant which should come after. All Jews who then returned did, or whoever will return must, yield to the conditions mentioned in Rom. 9:6-8; 10:11-13; Gal. 3:27-29; Eph. 2:11-22; 3:3-5. Those who contend for a literal restoration of the Jews ignore the plainest instruction in the New Testament. Does this have reference to the last generation? And does the "time" here referred to mean a year, as in symbolic prophecy? This scripture has its application to the persecutions of the Dark Ages and the people who should suffer those persecutions. The time of the end began in 1798, when the 1,260 days of persecution ended. "The [not "a"] time appointed" means that the very period of that persecution was fixed. The word sometimes means a year, and sometimes simply a fixed period before appointed. “WHAT SHALL THE HARVEST BE?”
An unchangeable law, operative in morals as in agriculture, is, “Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” If the sowing be to righteousness, the reaping will be strength, security, life, and prosperity. If the sowing be to the flesh, to falsehood, to lust, to greed, to the baser passions and principles, the sure reaping will be corruption, decay, disintegration, crime, destruction, death. What will the world, the church, society, political organizations, reap from the present sowing? Men may look at mere high professions, at great wealth, at outward prosperity, at the institutions founded by gifts which cost no sacrifice, and predict a soon-coming millennium; some one of the various cults abroad may persuade man that he is divine—is Deity; and that out of humanity is coming somehow, somewhere, certain righteousness and triumph, and the world will roll on through a millennium of peace and prosperity. It is the predicted cry of “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” The condition of society is simply fearful, and thoughtful men feel it and know it. It is almost impossible to run amiss of revelations of corruption. The newspapers and magazines teem with them. A few expressions from Lincoln Steffens’ article, “Enemies of the Republic,” in April McClure’s reveal the inward facts of the case. Mr. Steffens has before shown the corruption existing in Minneapolis, in Pittsburg, in Chicago, in New York, in Philadelphia, in St. Louis. The forms are different, but the crime of boodle and graft is everywhere manifest. In “Enemies of the Republic,” Mr. Steffens traces the crime back of the grafters, the boodlers, the bribe-takers, the purchasable politicians, the corrupt city fathers, to the source. He tells us that in his researches into corruption:— Every time I attempted to trace to its sources the political corruption of a city ring the stream of pollution branched off in the most unexpected directions and spread out in a network of veins and arteries so complex that hardly any part of the body politic seemed clear of it. It flowed out of the majority party into the minority; out of politics into vice and crime; out of business into politics, and back into business; from the boss down through the police to the prostitute, and up through the practise of law into the courts; and big throbbing arteries ran out through the country over the state to the nation—and back. No wonder cities can’t get municipal reform! No wonder Minneapolis, having cleaned out its police ring of vice grafters, now discovers boodle in the council! No wonder Chicago, with council reform and boodle beaten, finds itself a Minneapolis of police and administrative graft! No wonder Pittsburg, when it broke out of its local ring, fell, amazed, into a state ring! No wonder New York, with good government, votes itself back into Tammany. And then Mr. Steffens tells us just what every one knows who follows the light of God’s Word, that the corruption is not of the municipal rings, nor of the city, nor a local affair, nor of any political party. He continues:— It’s corruption. The corruption of our American politics is our American corruption, political, but financial and industrial too. Miss Tarbell is showing it in the trust, Mr. Baker in the labor union, and my gropings into the misgovernment of cities have drawn me everywhere, but, always, out of politics into business, and out of the cities into the state. . . . Not the politician, then, not the bribe-taker, but the bribe-giver, the man we are so proud of, our successful business man—he is the source and sustenance of our bad government. . . . The highway of corruption is the “road to success.” And we are told that this is a “System” with a capital S, which ramifies through the entire government, municipal, state, and national, which conducts the government of all three, “not for the common good, but for the special interests of private business.” And the men at the head of the System “are not ‘low down politicians’; they are ‘respectable business men.’” In the St. Louis sink of corruption were many of the biggest businesses of the whole state of Missouri. And Missouri is in the toils now. In her coming election will the people stand with Folk and clean government, or with the business men, the politicians, the System, and corruption? “Both the Democracy and the democracy,” remarks Mr. Steffens, “are on test and out there. But Missouri can not decide alone. ‘Corruption is everywhere.’ The highway of corruption . . . goes far beyond Missouri.” In this mass of corruption in Missouri appears three great national concerns, part and parcel of the system, the American Sugar Refining Company, the American Book Company, and the Royal Baking Powder Company. Connected with these are senators, and the road “leads straight to Washington, where in political infinity, as it were, in that chamber of the houses, the United States Senate, the parallels seem to meet.” From the view-point of Christian morality, the picture is an appalling one. No church can continue to exist and exert an uplifting influence, which fellowships in men, howsoever prominent, such things. It may have a name to live, but it will be spiritually dead. No government can continue when its very essentials are perverted by its leading citizens and officials. It is bound to end in oligarchy, and then anarchy. We are not noting this to call attention to men’s wickedness as such. If no good could come from exposure, better let the whole corrupt mass fester and rot and die in the darkness. But that can not be. The whole body becomes corrupted by it. The great sad thing is that it is already corrupted, so that, appeal as the earnest reformer may, he finds his best efforts thwarted, his best promised reforms aborted. The people as a whole are indifferent; and the professed churches of Christ are indifferent, and growing more and more utterly oblivious of deeds of darkness. Did you know, reader, that these very conditions are what God has predicted for these very times, the last days? that, notwithstanding the great increase and dissemination of knowledge, morality, in the face of it, would be at very low ebb? Read the following, which might be multiplied. Jesus says: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matt. 24: 12, 13. Thus speaks the apostle Paul: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, from such turn away. . . . But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” 2 Tim. 3: 1-5, 13. And the evangelical prophet presents this fearful arraignment: “None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth; they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. . . . For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; in transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity can not enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey; and the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment.” Isa. 59: 4-6; 12-15. The only hope for the world is Christ’s coming, and these sad conditions are precursors of the day dawn. What shall the harvest be?—Destruction of the republic, destruction of the world. There is no other nation left for the world’s salt to stay its political corruption. The “little flock” scattered everywhere in the Babylon of creeds, still stays the plagues of wrath, but not much longer will eternal justice wait. He will come unto His own, and before His forthshining glory all sham will perish.