If a solemn act of legislation shall in one point define the law of God, or point out to the citizen one religious duty, it may with equal propriety, proceed to define every part of divine revelation, and enforce every religious obligation, even to the forms and ceremonies of worship, the endowment of the church, and the support of the clergy.—Senate Report, 1829.
Theologians and the Bible
By Rev. S. I. Curtiss
THE Bible has suffered much at the hands of the theologians, both orthodox and liberal, who have first put their theories into the Bible, and have then drawn them out again.—Rev. S. I. Curtiss.
The Minister’s Place
By Rev. Frank Crane
THE minister’s place is pre-eminently in the pulpit. He has no business managing societies, and mixing with finances, and regulating the temporal economy of a church. He will have enough to do thoroughly to equip himself for the spiritual leadership of his people.—Rev. Frank Crane.
THE STORY OF A CARPET.
By Mrs. Henry N. Cobb
I used to read to my children from that most delightful of children’s books, Hans Anderson, the story of the magic carpet, which would carry its owner anywhere in the world.
I want to tell now of a carpet just as wonderful. An old, old carpet, which has been transformed by some magic into one bright and beautiful.
This is how it came about.
I am a housewife, and enjoy having things as pretty and fresh and suitable as most housewives do.
On the stairs, first-floor stairs, too, was a carpet, once good, as well as beautiful, but now shabby, worn—yes, I have to confess it—fearfully old. For a year or more it had been an annoyance and mortification, but the time never seemed to come when something else was not more necessary, so it was made to “do.”
At last it was pronounced as past that period. It could not be made to “do” any longer, and money was appropriated for a new one.
Just then the appeals for foreign work came home with more and more force, and there was a mental struggle. “The carpet was a necessity.” “It was no longer respectable,” etc., etc.
Well, the board got the money, and I really thought I had made a sacrifice.
Not so! the fairies have been at work, and my carpet is broidered all over with beauty.
As I go up, step by step, it speaks to me. Here is a worn spot where the pattern is almost invisible, but it says, “Precious truths have been woven in the heart of some girl in Japan, which will make her life a perfect pattern to be followed by the women of that nation, so earnestly, so enthusiastically striving for a higher life; and your little self-denial has done this.”
Here are other bare places which look as tho a troop of rosy, rollicking children had been rushing up and down, with feet none too daintily shod for outdoor play.
These say: “Think of your children now, just entering on Christian manhood and womanhood, and then of the little ones of China, unwelcome at birth, with little feet tortured and bound in youth, and of the aimless, ignorant, hopeless lives of maturer years. The day is coming, and perhaps a little more speedily through your sacrifice, when ‘these from the land of Sinim’ shall be the free and merry children of a Christian land.”
I step on; here are long, bare places, worn by the ceaseless tread on the edge of the steps; and another voice, a grateful voice, reminds me of “the little child widows of India, ceaselessly trodden under the iron foot of custom, until all the bloom and beauty and freshness of their young lives are crushed and worn into one long, weary, dull round of suffering; and, perhaps, by your small sacrifice, relief is one step nearer the poor little child widows of India.”
And so my old, worn carpet has become bright with beautiful lessons. Fair flowers of Christian hope and life and light, blossom all over it, and the unintelligible language of these eastern sisters is translated to me by my own heart’s need.
When traveling in these eastern lands by caravan, years long ago, we would arise in the early morning, long before dawn, to prepare for our day’s journey. We would be aroused by the jangle of the bells as the mules and horses were being made ready for their loads—bells of all kinds and sizes and sounds, from the large iron bell, with deep, discordant tone, to the silvery chain hung on the neck of the leading horse of the caravan. Jingle, jangle! jingle, jangle! each of different note or key; each discordant with the other, but all when united, produced most delightful harmony, which I often recall to this day with exquisite pleasure.
So with the voices which speak as I ascend my stair: the deep guttural of Chinese women, the softer tones of fair Japan, and the musical flowing ripple of India’s dusky daughters as they sing:—
“Ni chara na mute, nam mitte, nam mitte,
Ni pada mule, battiti battiti.”
“Thy refuge would I seek,
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus.
Thy mercy-giving feet would I clasp,
Blessed Jesus.”
These all unite in a sweet strain as I pass upward. Mingling with them I hear a silvery voice, which, like a theme in music, now louder, now soft and low, but ever sustained, ever recurring, sings on until, as I reach the last step, it says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto Me.”
This is the magic which has wrought the transformation. This has filled the poor, worn covering with music and beauty.
“Ye have done it unto Me,
Ye have done it unto Me.”
—Mrs. Henry N. Cobb.
THE CLAIM WAS MET.
[Republished by request.]
“No,” SAID the lawyer, “I sha’n't press your claim against that man; you can get some one else to take the case or you can withdraw it, just as you please.”
“Think there isn’t any money in it?”
“There would probably be a little money in it; but it would come from the sale of the little house the man occupies and calls his ‘home.’ But I don’t want to meddle with the matter, anyhow.”
“Got frightened out of it, eh?”
“Not at all.”
“I suppose the old fellow begged hard to be let off.”
“Well, yes, he did.”
“And you caved in, likely.”
“Yes.”
“What in creation did you do?”
“I believe I shed a few tears.”
“The old fellow begged you hard, you say?”
“No, I didn’t say so; he didn’t speak a word to me.”
“Well, may I ask, whom did he address in your hearing?”
“God Almighty.”
“And he took to praying, did he?”
“Not for my benefit in the least. You see I found the little house easily enough, and knocked on the outer door, which stood ajar, but nobody heard me; so I stepped into the little hall, and saw through the crack of the door a cozy sitting-room, and there on the bed, with her silver head high on the pillows, was an old lady who looked for all the world just like my mother did the last time I saw her on earth. Well, I was on the point of knocking again, when, she said, ‘Come, father, now begin; I am ready.’ Down on his knees by her side went an old white-haired man, still older than his wife, I should judge; and I couldn’t have knocked then for the life of me. Well, he began. First he reminded God that they were still His submissive children, mother and he, and no matter what He saw fit to bring upon them, they should not rebel against His will. Of course it was going to be hard for them to go out homeless in their old age, especially with poor mother so sick and helpless; and, O, how10different it might have been if only one of the boys had been spared! Then his voice kind of broke, and a thin white hand stole out from under the coverlid, and moved softly over his snowy hair. Then he went on to repeat that nothing could ever be so sharp again as the parting with those three sons—unless mother and he should be separated. But at last he fell to comforting himself with the fact that the good Lord knew that it was through no fault of his own that mother and he were threatened with the loss of their dear little home, which meant beggary and the almshouse—a place they prayed to be delivered from if it could be consistent with God’s will. And then he quoted a multitude of promises concerning the safety of those who put their trust in the Lord. In fact, it was the most thrilling plea to which I ever listened. At last he prayed for God’s blessing on those about to demand justice.”
Then the lawyer continued more slowly than ever: “And—I—believe I had rather go to the poorhouse myself to-night than to stain my hands and heart with the blood of such a prosecution as that.”
“Little afraid to defeat the old man’s prayer, eh?”
“Bless your soul, man, you couldn’t defeat that prayer. I tell you he left it all subject to the will of God; but he claimed that we were told to make known our desires to Him. But of all the pleading I ever heard, that moved me most. You see I was taught that kind of thing myself in my childhood, and why I was sent to hear that prayer, I am sure I don’t know—but I hand the case over.”
“I wish,” said the client uneasily, “I wish you hadn’t told me about the old man’s prayer.”
“Why so?”
“Well, because I want the money the place would bring; I was taught the Bible straight enough when I was a youngster, and I hate to run counter to what you tell me about it; I wish you had not heard a word about it, and another time I would not listen to petitions not intended for my ears.”
The lawyer smiled.
“My dear fellow,” he said, “you are wrong again. It was intended for my ears, and yours, too; and God Almighty intended it. My old mother used to sing about ‘God moves in a mysterious way,’ I remember.”
“Well, my mother used to sing it, too,” said the client, as he twisted the claim papers in his fingers. “You can call in the morning, if you like, and tell ‘mother’ and him the claim has been met.”
“In a mysterious way,” added the lawyer.
—Anon.
FOR DAILY NEEDS.
By Canon Wilberforce
LORD, for to-morrow and its needs
I do not pray:
Help me from stain of sin
Just for to-day;
Let me both diligently work
And duly pray;
Let me be kind in deed and word,
Just for to-day;
Let me be slow to do my will,
Prompt to obey;
Help me to sacrifice myself,
Just for to-day.
Let me no wrong nor idle word
Unthinking say;
Set Thou Thy seal upon my lips,
Just for to-day.
So for the morrow and its needs
I do not pray;
But keep me, guide me, hold me, Lord,
Just for to-day.
—Canon Wilberforce.
The Sea of Galilee
By H. P. H.
JOTTINGS FROM PALESTINE. No. 4.
The Sea of Galilee.
From the Mount of Beatitudes we descend southward, and in twenty minutes join our coach on the main road leading from Nazareth to Tiberias. This was doubtless the main route of travel between the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem in the days of Christ; hence Jesus and His disciples must have oft wended their way over these hills and through these valleys.
As we descend, we have before us a fine panorama of the sea and surrounding hills. There being much soil and few stones in this vicinity, the roads are good, and per exception our horses can trot. From the beginning of the descent we have an excellent view of nearly the whole sea; how peaceful and quiet it lies, nestled among the mountains! Stripped of all its sacred memories, the scene is one of interest still by virtue of its natural beauties. This was an agreeable surprise to me; for the idea obtained from descriptions and pictures of the Sea of Galilee was far short of the reality.
The Sea of Galilee has a deep depression; the surface of the water is over 600 feet below the surface of the Mediterranean. Hence the valleys of the country round about, which are somewhat above the level of the Mediterranean, are highlands compared with the surface of the Sea of Galilee. So from the valley which we have just traversed at the foot of the Mount of Beatitudes we have a steep descent of nearly a thousand feet to the shore of the lake.
Our point of destination is Tiberias, the only place on the Sea of Galilee where travelers can find accommodations, except in monasteries at the ruins of Capernaum and other places. All along the descent we had a good view of Tiberias; it is compactly built, and surrounded by a wall, and is still classed by the Turkish Government as a fortified town; hence, as in ancient times, no buildings are allowed outside the walls, much to the inconvenience of modern builders.
As we drive through the narrow gate, at our left stands a new hotel finished; it is the first regular hotel put up in Tiberias. Heretofore, travelers were accommodated at the Catholic hospice. Most of our company go to the hospice; but our Jewish friend decides to find other quarters, so I accompany him. As we pass along the narrow, crooked street, we see a sign which looks as tho it had been painted with the end of the finger instead of a brush: “Hotel Tiberias.” We enter and find a few small, poorly-kept rooms, with hard beds, having soiled coverings; the only thing modern about the hotel is the price; so I here take leave of the Jewish professor and accept quarters with the rest of the company at the hospice. The monks in charge receive us kindly and furnish respectable rooms. As fleas are not my special enemies, I will leave it to others to tell what a terrible torment they are in Tiberias. The Arabs claim that the king of fleas holds court here.
Having deposited my baggage at the hospice, I hasten out to view the town, and for the first time walk the shores of Galilee. Tiberias having been built on the plan of a fortified town, the streets are narrow and crooked and filthy, and the buildings dilapidated. Most of the people I meet are Polish Jews, easily distinguishable by their black felt hats and long curly lock hanging down in front of the ear. I never saw a town composed of such pale, squalid-looking people. With neglected person, and ragged clothes, they look like a company of beggars; and, indeed, many belong to this category; for a large number of the Jews of Tiberias live on charity.
Next, I walk through the market, to see what are the prospects for a wholesome diet. Like people, like market. With the exception of oranges, most of the articles offered for sale are well calculated to make a well man sick.
Tiberias was built during the lifetime of Christ by Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. It was Herod’s purpose to build a new and splendid capital, and, to court favor, he named it after the reigning Roman emperor, Tiberias. He began the city A.D. 16, and finished it about A.D. 22—but a short time before Christ entered upon His ministry. Hence, while Christ taught on the shores of Galilee, Tiberias was a bright new city. From this city, the Sea of Galilee was afterwards often called Tiberias. John 6:1. But the city was not at first popular with the Jews; the Graeco-Roman style of its architecture was an abomination to their conservatism; and when building the city, a burial-place was disturbed; for this cause many of the Jews could not be induced to live in Tiberias, as contact with a grave made them unclean seven days. As a result, the city was at first peopled mostly by strangers and unprincipled persons.
So far as the Bible record goes, Jesus did not visit Tiberias. Perhaps this was because of Herod’s attitude towards the work of God. He had imprisoned and beheaded John the Baptist; when Jesus heard of this, he departed into Galilee; and, later, according to the report of the Pharisees, Herod thought of taking the life of Christ. Luke 13:31. It was on this occasion that Jesus referred to Herod as a “fox.” Under these circumstances it is not surprising that Jesus should choose another part of the lake as the scene of His activity. He was mostly in the vicinity of Capernaum, at the north end of the sea, while Tiberias is on the west side, a little south of the center.
The city of Tiberias is but once mentioned in the Bible. John 6:23. Soon after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, Tiberias became the chief seat of the Jewish nation; the Sanhedrin and school of the Talmud were located here, and in the beginning of the fourth century, the Jerusalem Talmud came into existence here. The Jews still hold Tiberias as one of the sacred places of Palestine; the present population, of about 4,000, is two-thirds Jewish. There are ten synagogs here; on the Sabbath, nearly all shops were closed, and the town was remarkably quiet.
In 1837, Tiberias was visited by a terrible earthquake, which destroyed nearly half the population. The ancient city was much more extensive than the modern, the ruins of the ancient walls extending far beyond the present town.11Half an hour’s walk to the south of the town are several hot springs, one of them having a temperature of 143° Fahr. Quite extensive but poorly-kept baths are located here.
Besides Jews, the population is mostly Mohammedan, there being only a few Catholics and Protestants. The Free Church of Scotland has a fine hospital and mission buildings at the north end of town, on the shores of the lake. Between the buildings and the lake are fine gardens filled with tropical plants, and fig, olive, orange, cypress, and palm trees. From the verandas is a fine view of nearly the whole lake, and surrounding mountains. This garden furnishes an illustration of what the whole shore must have been in the time of Christ.
The Scotch hospital is well patronized by both Jews and Moslems, tho the former do their utmost to keep their members away. Open conversions are very few; but much is being accomplished in enlightening and lifting up the people, and illustrating the difference between Christianity and false religions.
Sea of Galilee and City of Tiberias.
Our first day on the shores of Gennesaret having passed, we will here close our account, and continue with our stroll on the morrow.
H. P. H.
A SOLEMN DUTY.
It is especially fitting, aye, more than that, it is the duty of every American man and woman to free their own minds from ancient hatred and hereditary prejudices, and to instill in the minds of their children the humane principles that underlie our civil State. Let them bear in mind that just so sacred as religion is, so is every one's right to choose the one by which his hopes and his aspirations shall be guided, and that very distinction and proscription based upon the denial of this sacred right is as much in conflict with true religion as with true democracy.—Hon. Oscar S. Strauss, in “Religious Liberty in the United States.”
Mankind Are Unco Weak
By Robert Burns
MANKIND are unco weak,
An' little to be trusted;
If self the wav'ring balance shake,
It's rarely right adjusted.
—Robert Burns.
A PRESENT HELP.
By Whittier
We may not climb the heavenly steep,
To bring the Lord Christ down.
In vain we search the lowest deep;
For Him no depths can drown.
But warm, sweet, tender, even yet
A present help is He,
And faith has yet its Olivet,
And love its Galilee.
—Whittier.
MONTHLY REPORT OF THE HELPING HAND AND MEDICAL MISSION.
By S. N. Curtiss
The following is the report of the chaplain of the Mission for the month ending May 31:—
Sermons preached . . . 31
Bible-readings given in chapel . . . 58
Persons requesting prayers . . . 90
Persons professing Christ . . . 15
Men furnished employment for one or more days . . . 862
Garments distributed . . . 108
Persons using laundry . . . 691
Medical treatments given . . . 220
Garments fumigated . . . 4,496
Baths given . . . 693
Beds occupied one night . . . 2,434
Penny lunches served . . . 27,351
This is a very encouraging report, as it shows an increase in several items at a time of the year when such would not be expected.
All the workers at the Mission are of good courage and united heart and hand in the work of saving souls. We hope that all who have contributed to the support of the Mission, as well as all others who are interested in its success, will remember the work and the workers in their prayers. We have recently been favored with some liberal cash contributions, the total amount received up to June 21 being $1,899.80.
S. N. Curtiss,
Secretary and Treasurer.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
EIGHT members were recently added to the church at Shelby, Mich.
THE local camp-meeting at Paw Paw, Mich., was not largely attended, but six were baptized.
SAYS the Bible Echo (Melbourne) of April 18: “The new three-story addition to our office building is now completed. It contains 11,650 square feet of floor space, thus affording considerable accommodation for increased facilities.”
APRIL 17, initial steps were taken in the North Fitzroy church (Victoria) for the organization of the medical missionary and benevolent work in Australia on the same lines now in vogue in various parts of America.
A RECENT report of Elder J. B. Goodrich notes the addition of four to the church at East Washburn, and three at Burleigh, Me.
A GOOD work is being done with the SIGNS in Wheeling, W. Va., by Brother Noffsger and wife. About two hundred copies are being circulated each week. They took thirty orders in one day.
BROTHER J. W. RAYMOND reports the organization of a church of thirty-eight members at Corning, New York. Also the addition of five members to the church at Gas Springs, and two to the church at Hornellsville.
ELDER M. G. HUFFMAN, formerly of Maine Conference, has been laboring for some months in Florida, not far from the prospective battle-fields. He writes to his former conference paper, the Vineyard, concerning the work, and says: “We have a Sabbath-school at Punta Gorda, with a membership of about thirty-five, and another school at Fort Ogden, with a membership of between thirty-five and forty. About forty-five meet at this latter place every Sabbath. Thus you can see that we have much for which to praise the Lord. We are having greater victories than either Dewey or Sampson; but this should be no marvel, from the fact that we have a more powerful fleet than they. Our weapons of warfare are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. . . . We are almost within hearing distance of the great carnal weapons, but, notwithstanding all this, the Lord has and still is blessing us in the presentation of his truth.”
THE thirty-fifth annual session of the Iowa Conference was held in connection with the camp-meeting at Des Moines, May 27 to June 5. The officers elected for the ensuing year are: President, Clarence Santee; secretary, Mrs. L. Flora Plummer; treasurer, C. F. Stevens; conference committee—C. Santee, C. F. Stevens, P. A. Hansen, J. W. Dorcas, L. F. Starr. Eighty-five persons were baptized. Fifty churches were represented, with a total membership of 3,353.
BROTHER G. B. THOMPSON, president of West Virginia Conference, attended the recent camp-meeting at Harrisburg, Pa., and in course of the meeting he wrote as follows to the Monitor: “We have a beautiful location, and the weather is fine. The Lord has come in in power. On Sabbath a call was made for those to arise who desired to more fully consecrate themselves to the Lord. Nearly every one arose. Seats were brought forward, and many came to fill them. Nearly every child and grown person on the ground came forward weeping. It was a glorious day, never to be forgotten. The work is deepening, and we look for a powerful outpouring.”
FROM the report of Brother J. A. Strickland in the Virginia Messenger we learn that four names “have been added to the list of colored Sabbath-keepers” in Norfolk, and that “there is a growing interest manifested.” The possibilities for work there are illustrated in the following bit of experience: “The day-school we were running had grown from fourteen to fifty-seven pupils; but I was compelled to close it, because I could not longer pay its expenses from my earnings at canvassing.” It is sad to think that such an opportunity for missionary work should have to depend upon the earnings of one individual for support, and have to stop when that support fails.
SISTER VESTA J. FARNSWORTH, secretary of New Zealand Conference, writes, under date of May 24, that Elder E. W. Farnsworth was then in the extreme south of South Island, where he found one family of Sabbath-keepers. He reported that he had gone “into the synagog of the Presbyterians and sat down, and the master of the synagog said to him that if he had any word of exhortation to say on; and that being just what he wanted to do, he preached to them.” He was having a good interest in a country place. Sister Farnsworth wrote from Christchurch, and further says: “God is working for us here. Seven more were added to the church two weeks ago, and the interest to hear is now greater than ever before.”
LITERARY NOTICES.
“PAUL AND HIS FRIENDS:” A Series of Revival Sermons by Louis Albert Banks, D.D., pastor First M. E. Church, Cleveland, Ohio. Cloth, 12mo, 347 pp. Gilt top, cover design by George Wharton Edwards. Price, $1.50. New York and London: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
This is volume three of a series of revival sermons, the two preceding being entitled, “Christ and His Friends,” and “The Fisherman and His Friends.” “Paul and His Friends” contains thirty-two sermons which were preached in the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Cleveland, Ohio, during January, 1898, in a series of evangelistic meetings. The themes had been selected two years before, and illustrations had been gathered during all that time; but each sermon was finally outlined and dictated to a stenographer on the day of delivery. A most gracious revival is said to have accompanied their delivery.
While the reader may not agree with the Platonic theology now and then expressed in these sermons, he will be impressed by their originality, earnestness, and practical character. Here are some of the suggestive titles: “The Voice of God,” “Kicking against the Goad,” “A Cry for Help from Silent Lips,” “Burning the Bridges in the Rear,” “Obedience to the Heavenly Vision,” “The Emphatic Date in Human Life,” “The Squandered Birthright,” “A Friend Who Never Fails,” “The Sword that Cuts Both Ways,” etc. It is a helpfully suggestive book to12the Sunday-school teacher and Christian worker. Here is a passage taken almost at random from the first sermon:—
“People who live on their record never amount to much. The dead line runs through that hour of a man’s life in which he is satisfied with himself and looks with self-complacency on what he has accomplished. It is the hungering, thirsting soul for which there is waiting still greater abundance.”
Again from the second sermon:—
“The Bible is a whole. You can not carve it in pieces and take out here and there a section to suit your taste or inclination. Blot out the Old Testament, and the New Testament is untranslatable; but keep both together, and it is the simple story of God’s conversations with His children.”
Would that more of the religious books of the world were like this.
What a Young Man Ought to Know
“What a Young Man Ought to Know” (Self and Sex Series), by Sylvanus Stall, D.D., associate editor of the Lutheran Observer, and author of “What a Young Boy Ought to Know,” and other works. 281 octavo pages, neatly bound in cloth. Price, $1.00. Vir Publishing Company, Philadelphia, London, Toronto.
Dr. Stall is an earnest evangelical worker, who desires to help young men. A key-note of the book is its motto, “Abstain from fleshly lusts.” The book contains sixteen chapters, among which are the following: “Equipment for Life,” “Personal Purity,” “Physical Weakness,” “Evils to be Shunned and Consequences to be Dreaded,” “Right Relation to Women,” “Marriage a Divine Institution,” “Who Should Not Marry,” “Early and Late Marriages,” etc. So far as we have perused the book, it seems to be eminently helpful and greatly needed. It is given to the public, indorsed by eminent clergymen, physicians, and educators. It is written in the fear of God, with a directness which can not be misunderstood, and yet with delicacy and chasteness of language. The author denounces the popular evils of to-day with no sparing pen, and eloquently exhorts to a pure, noble, strong manhood. We do not believe, as the writer claims, that danger from some of the dread contagious diseases is decreasing. And we are surprised to see the following sentiment in a Christian book: “The only proper study of man is man. The only way to arrive at the correct knowledge of human nature is by a study of human nature.” It is the old heathen idea of turning one’s thoughts inward. The only true way to know one’s self is by knowing God. This is the true end of man. See Job 22: 21, 22; 28: 28; John 17: 3. And yet the public may be thankful to Dr. Stall for the faithful warnings and earnest exhortations he has given to young men in this little book.
Guesses at the Riddle of Existence
“GUESSES AT THE RIDDLE OF EXISTENCE, AND OTHER ESSAYS ON KINDRED SUBJECTS,” by Goldwin Smith, D.C.L. Finely printed; 244 octavo pages; cloth, $1.25. The Macmillan Company, New York and London.
The book is a blow against the orthodox creeds, and the Bible. The author states a known truth when he says that “liberal theologians have at least resigned the belief in miracles, rationalizing whenever they can and minimizing where that process fails;” and that these same “liberal theologians,” and others “not ranked as liberal, if they are learned and open-minded, have given up the authenticity and authority of Genesis. With these they must apparently give up the Fall, the Redemption, and the Incarnation.” And this is both fact and logic as regards the theologians, but not as regards the Book. Professor Smith doubts, doubts, doubts, Old Testament, New Testament, Prophecy, Miracle. And yet he calls the truth which Christ preached “the Word of Life.” He pleads for freedom, but binds himself about with the shackles of a doubting egotism. The Master may well say to him as to the philosophers of old, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.” If Professor Smith and the ultra critics and doubters knew these, doubt would vanish, and they would see in the Word of God the revelation of the all-imperfect human, and the mighty regeneratory power of God. Christianity is not a system of theology, but a life. It is received and appropriated not by intellectual dissection and analysis, but by faith in God through Jesus Christ. The Book will stand when the puny hands of those who would smite it, as well as the despairing hearts of those who doubt it, are moldered into dust.
“THE SPANIARD IN HISTORY,”
by James C. Fernald. 12mo, cloth, 144 pages. With colored maps of Spain and Cuba. Price, 75 cents. New York and London: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
The publishers and author of this work bespeak for it worth, readability, and accuracy. From a socialistic, literary, and political view point it is timely. It shows the enterprise of the firm, putting a book on the market a month ago which prints in its closing chapter Commodore (now Admiral) Dewey’s despatch of May 4. The book is not designed to be a history of Spain, but to show by salient features at critical times in Spain’s history the real character of the Spanish people. We see the Spaniard of Roman times; then the Visigothic conquerors so irresistible in their onslaught, so feeble in their decline. We find developed among them, even in that early day, a bitterness of religious persecution such as was then shown nowhere else in Christendom. The book sketches briefly, rapidly, yet clearly, the Rise of the Spanish Monarchy, the Inquisition, Conquest of Granada, Expulsion of Jews and Moors, and the Spaniard in the West Indies in Mexico and Peru, on the Throne, in the Netherlands, in the Philippines, in Cuba, and on the Sea. How much Spain’s character might have been changed had another religion than the Roman Catholic found place in her dominions, the author does not say. It will be of interest to the reader of this little book to keep this question in mind. We do not know that there can be found in any other single volume so comprehensive and clear a review of the essential facts of Spanish history as illustrating Spanish character, developed largely under Roman Catholicism. The author has fortified his positions throughout by constant quotation and citation of standard works on the different divisions of the subject. It is an excellent little book of reference, of painstaking accuracy and justice.
THE TALENTS
By M. C. Wilcox
By M. C. Wilcox. A brief essay on “The Parable of the Talents,” showing that the talents represent the various gifts of the Spirit which God bestows as he will upon those who are consecrated to him, with the duties and blessed privileges involved therein. Bible Students’ Library, No. 77; 16 pp., price 2 cents.
The “Signs” Free Five Years
By Editor
Would you like to have your subscription to the SIGNS OF THE TIMES paid up for five years in advance without any cash outlay on your part? If so,
YOU CAN HAVE IT
Read this offer and see how it can be done. We propose to give to the first 5,000 of our readers who will send us five new yearly subscribers to this paper at $1.00 each, a
FIVE YEARS’ SUBSCRIPTION FREE
Any one can, in a few hours’ time, secure five subscribers for the “Signs” by showing copies of it to their friends and neighbors. If we knew all your friends and could send samples and circulars to them, this offer might not be necessary. But we don’t, and we want to enlist your services to help us reach them and thus push our circulation up to 100,000 copies weekly. To accomplish this, and at once, we offer the equivalent of
$10.00 FOR $5.00
Does this interest you? If so, write at once and send us your name and address, and say that we can count on you for five new subscribers, but do not send us any subscriptions until we notify you. Then if there are a sufficiently large number who respond to warrant us in going ahead with such a liberal offer, we will advise you, and you can then send on your subscriptions. Don’t delay, but write us to-day. Address
