Dark-Skinned Children in Darkest Africa Singing in Beautiful English—Pathos and Soul Expression in the Song
AGRIPPA, the teacher at Batlani's kraal, on the Fish River, is a good singing master as well as school-teacher. His children were lined up on one side of the Kafir hut in which seventy of us were packed that afternoon. The narrow door and the two tiny windows in the mud walls, seemed only to remind one that every law of ventilation demanded that seventy persons should have more breathing space than that hut was giving us.
THE CHILDREN WERE TO SING
But all was expectation; for the children of Agrippa's school were to sing for us—visitors from afar, and fond parents from the kraals. There were children of our Christian believers, and children from the Red Kafir huts round about, where raw and sunken heathenism holds on its way in ignorance and darkness.
At a signal, the children rose from the earth floor, every eye on the teacher.
SCENE ON THE ZAMBEZI RIVER BELOW VICTORIA FALLS
"Will we hear a Kafir song?" I was asking myself, "or will they try an English gospel hymn?"
Agrippa sounded the note on his little tuning harp. The baton dropped, and the air began. "Stop," the leader called; "you have missed the note."
Then again the note was sounded; and this time, at the wave of the leader's hand, in clear, ringing voices, with good enunciation at every word, the hymn rolled out:
"When all my labors and trials are o'er,
And I am safe on that beautiful shore,
Just to be near the dear Lord I adore,
Will through the ages be glory for me."
The first thought was of the strangeness of the song's setting,—the mud hut, with the reed-thatched roof; the English language as the medium among these children of the Fish River, with huts of Red Kafirs all about, and even children from these heathen homes joining in the soul-inspiring gospel song.
But very quickly the serious earnestness of this service of song took away all suggestion of incongruity. The children knew what they were saying, evidently; and most of them, at least, were singing of a Saviour whose love they had but recently learned. This love had changed the lives of fathers and mothers, and had opened the most wonderful door of hope and opportunity before these children.
THEY TOUCHED OUR HEARTS
So the visitors ceased to be mere auditors, and our hearts were touched with a new tenderness by the sincerity of the song, and by the thought of the wonders of redeeming love that had begun a new era in these kraals.
Clear and strong, again, rose the hymn:
"When, by the gift of His infinite grace,
I am accorded in heaven a place,
Just to be there, and to look on His face,
Will through the ages be glory for me."
God grant it you, little children of the mud-walled hut amidst the Fish River bush. Heaven seems nearer, and the love of Jesus dearer, for the view given us of God's wondrous, saving grace in these villages. W. A. S.
South Africa.
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SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS
Our authority for the doctrines we teach is the Bible. Quotations are usually from the King James Version or the American Standard Revised.
SABBATH APOSTASY AND FALSE VIEWS OF THE KINGDOM
By R. C. Porter
Hailstones and Stormy Wind Shall Rend It—Fearful Arraignment—God’s Kingdom and Man’s Views Concerning It at Variance
Last week, Mr. Porter told of the doctrines of old Babylon. He spoke of their very ancient origin, and how they have worked to counterfeit God’s plans in all the ages.This week, he shows how these Babylonian doctrines worked through paganism, before the time of Christ, to supplant the Sabbath of Jehovah, and also to give false conceptions of God’s kingdom.Next week, he will show how these Babylonian principles have worked through the papacy; and the week following, he will present how they are at work through organized Protestantism. He will close with the stirring warning from God against the iniquity and deception of it all.
ELIJAH encountered the Babylonian system, with its four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and its four hundred prophets of the groves. 1 Kings 18: 19. The contest between the two religious systems in the days of Elijah was over the question of obedience to the law of God. “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.”
Elijah’s appeal was: “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.” Verse 21. Obedience is the test of discipleship. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Rom. 6: 16.
Through a most wonderful miracle, the Lord expressed His decided approval of Elijah’s religious system, which maintained a loyal attitude toward the law of God; and He caused all the assembled worshipers of Baal to cry out, “The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God.” 1 Kings 18: 39.
AN INVARIABLE APOSTASY
With apostasy from God to sun worship and to the worship of other deities, there has always been an apostasy from the creation Sabbath, by which the Lord designed to preserve a knowledge of Himself as the true God that sanctifies and saves His people. Eze. 20: 12.
Not only did Elijah meet this Babylonian system with decided rebuke in the name of the Lord, when it sought by intrigue and force to introduce its system of polytheism instead of the worship of the true God; but Ezekiel gives the following scathing denunciation of the Babylonian system, and its attempt to lead the people away from the true Sabbath, and hence away from the worship and service of the true God, which the Lord’s Sabbath always enjoins:
A DIVINE AND STIRRING WARNING
“Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
“Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God. And Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of My people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God. Because, even because they have seduced My people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar: say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it? Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in My fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in Mine anger, and great hailstones in My fury to consume it. So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.” Eze. 13: 3-14.
FEARFUL ARRAIGNMENT
This is a fearful arraignment of those who were making a gap in God’s law, and building up a wall in place of the gap they had made. To evade the truth, these apostate Babylonian priests had dodged from one position to another, as foxes in the desert dodge to avoid the trap of the hunter. When they saw their wall falling under fair and candid criticism, they would come to the rescue, and daub it over with untempered mortar.
In what particular part of God’s law was the gap made and a new wall built?—The Sabbath precept, which announced and enjoined the worship of the true God by a perpetually recurring weekly memorial. This is no sophistry or guesswork. Let the prophet speak, as he spoke to the teachers in ancient Israel, in terms too plain to be misunderstood: “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey: they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” Eze. 22: 23-26.
THE MOST PROMINENT MEN REACHED
This apostasy to sun worship and observance of the day of the sun reached even some of the most prominent men of Israel. “And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east.” Eze. 8: 16. With the apostasy from the true Sabbath to the day of the sun came the demand for Sunday enforcement by civil enactment.11
Webster says of Sunday, “So called because anciently dedicated to the sun and its worship.” The North British Review calls it “the wild solar holiday of all pagan times.” The observance of this “venerable day of the sun” was made compulsory by a decree of Constantine A. D. 321. See “Encyclopædia Britannica,” article “Sunday.”
APOSTASY FROM A RELIGION OF LOVE
In giving the history of the cruel oppressions of the nations under the Babylonian system, Jeremiah says: “Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.” Jer. 50: 17. Daniel presents the oppression of the people of God under this persecuting system, as seen in the compulsory worship of false gods in the cases of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel 3.
In Dan. 6: 1-24 is described the passing of a law the sole purpose of which was to entrap Daniel, who was prime minister of the kingdom and a worshiper of the true God. The law was passed under a pretext altogether different from the purpose for which it was designed. This is the custom of this Babylonish system in laying its foundation for persecution.
The persecutions in the days of Nero, when many Christians were torn by wild beasts in the amphitheater, and the early disciples suffered imprisonment, torture, and death at the hands of pagan Rome, are too familiar to require extended comment.
A FALSE VIEW OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Ever since his fall, Satan has determined to overthrow the kingdom of God. Failing in this, it has been his fixed purpose so to misinterpret that kingdom as to inculcate false views, in order that men may be prevented from preparing to inherit it. Through the pagan division of the Babylonian system, instead of the humility and simplicity of the kingdom of Christ, he established a system of self-exaltation, which was an entire perversion of the principles of the kingdom of God. With satanic skill and cunning he sought to satisfy the minds of men with forms of religion without the power.
THE BABYLONIAN CREED
The doctrines of baptismal regeneration, or infant sprinkling, justification by works, purgatory, and prayers for the dead, and the sacrifices of the mass, followed by idol processions, relic worship, the clothing and crowning of images, the rosary, and the worship of the sacred heart, lamps and wax candles, and the sign of the cross, with the religious orders of vestal virgins, nuns, monks, priests, and sovereign pontiffs, and multiplied holy days, constitute the great body of the pagan system. See “Two Babylons,” pages 128-224.
Instead of looking for the coming of a King who was “just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass,” they looked for the coming of a mighty temporal monarch, who should dethrone all earthly kings, and place himself at the head of a universal dominion. Herod in fear issued an edict that all children two years old and under, living within his jurisdiction, should be slain at the time of the birth of the promised Messiah, in order to slay the infant King and save his kingdom. But the Child of promise escaped into the land of Egypt, and was safe. Matt. 2: 13-18.
This temporal view of the kingdom was so general that although Christ from first to last protested that His kingdom was not of this world, in the very last audience He held with His disciples, they still raised the question, “Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1: 6. Thus the minds of men were led to look upon Christ as a temporal king in place of a Saviour from sin; and His mission left them unbenefited, because they were wedded to a false creed.
A CREED AGAINST CHRIST
The climax of the iniquitous Babylonian system was reached when Christ came from heaven to save a lost world. Through the government of Rome, a creed was established, by civil enactment, that no man should have particular gods of his own. In Israel, Jewish tradition required worship only according to Jewish custom. But He came proclaiming a particular God, and introducing customs which were innovations on Jewish traditions. With this creed He was confronted. Having repudiated it, He was brought before the judgment bar of Pilate, tried, condemned, and crucified. The object sought was the dethronement of the King, and the usurpation of His dominion. They said: “This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.” Mark 12: 7.
HALTED WITH CONSTERNATION
With what consternation they beheld Him rise from the dead the third day, as He had predicted before His crucifixion! Then in the majesty of resurrection power they saw the gospel of this crucified and risen One march through the length and breadth of the earth, conquering and to conquer. The world halted, and for a time beheld “the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1: 14. Public sentiment for a time turned so favorably toward Christianity that the very Jews who had said, “His blood be on us, and on our children,” now cried in consternation, “Ye . . . intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”
Heaven could make no mightier appeal than had now been made for the recovery of the pagan division of the Babylonian system from apostasy. There might have been a universal reformation if those hearing the call had accepted it and surrendered their hearts for salvation. Thus the Lord said, “We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed.” Her rejection was due to having persecuted her benefactors and forsaken and crucified the only One able to save her. R. C. P.
Will you please explain this passage in the Question Corner? J. N.
It is almost too much to undertake to explain the eleventh chapter of Revelation in the Question Corner. We would like to cite our querist to the book "Daniel and the Revelation" or to "Great Controversy." In brief, God's two witnesses are His word in the Old and the New Testament — His word in prediction and fulfillment, His word as He gave it, and His word as it is carried out or fulfilled when the time comes.
When the atheistic power of France arose, spiritually "called Sodom and Egypt" (1793-1796), it put forth special effort to destroy the word of God, here personified as two living persons; and at one time appearances indicated that France would banish from the earth God's word. But they failed.
At the time that they put forth their effort, some of the leading men boasted that in a little while there would be no such thing as worship of God upon the earth, the Christian religion would be mentioned as a far distant tradition; and they rejoiced and made merry over it.
But not all the people of the earth fell under the spell of France. There were true souls in England and elsewhere who still held up God's word. And the very revolution against God's word worked itself out; it was self-destructive, so that after that revolution had spent its force, men began to look to God after all. A short time after that, the great Bible societies were organized, and the word of God grew and increased. In other words, His witnesses were brought to life again. God raised them up, gave them a position that is indicated in verse 12 as ascending into heaven — that is, lifted up in the sight of their enemies, according to their true worth.
The whole passage refers to men's effort to destroy God's witnesses in His word, and the utter futility of their efforts.
151 — WINE FOR THE LORD'S SUPPER
Please give the Bible texts that unfermented wine should be used for the Lord's Supper. R. P. W.
First, the very account of the supper itself. We do not have the term "wine" even mentioned. The only thing mentioned is "the cup" and "the fruit of the vine." But "the fruit of the vine" would be wine freshly pressed from the grapes, would it not? Consequently it would not mean fermented wine. That of itself would clearly show that the wine was not wine which would make men drunken.
Secondly, the occasion was in connection with the Passover. But at the time of the Passover, there was nothing used that had to do with ferment. The bread itself must be unfermented bread. The Jews faithfully searched their houses, at the Passover season, to take from them or destroy anything and everything that spoke of ferment or leaven; consequently the wine they used at the Passover feast would not be fermented wine. The pure juice of the grape, or "fruit of the vine," was the only thing that could fitly represent the blood of Christ shed for mankind.
HOW TO KEEP HEALTHY
By David Paulson
Some Choice Health Hints — Simple Means for Keeping Well
By DAVID PAULSON, M. D.
GOOD health is a good form of life insurance. When you sell health for money, you exchange wealth for trash. If you want to preserve your health, you must fight those things which cause disease.
FRESH AIR AND SUNSHINE
Your lungs cannot be washed, but they can be aired.
There is no fresh air trust. No one has a "corner" on the air market.
You would not offend your stomach with dirty water. Then why fill your lungs with filthy air?
A flood of sunshine in the home may fade carpets, but it puts the bloom of health upon your cheeks. Take your choice.
An open window is better than an open grave.
Warm, stuffy rooms have killed more people than ever froze to death.
If you sleep out-of-doors, you can get along with an hour's less sleep than otherwise. You save that much time by breathing fresh air.
One of the most certain ways of producing unhealthy blood and also unhealthy mucous membrane is to poultice the lungs sixteen times a minute with impure air. Why not do the heroic thing — that is, screen your veranda and fit it up for an outdoor bedroom?
DEEP BREATHING
You will live longer if you take longer breaths, for you will have better blood.
You ought to practice deep breathing until it seems as natural as saying your prayers, and then you are not far from the kingdom of health.
Deep breathing improves the digestion. Practice it frequently during the day. More die of air starvation than of food starvation.
After each meal, breathe as deeply as you can, ten times in succession, then breathe naturally for a minute, then take ten more deep breaths. Increase this by one round every day until you take from three to four hundred deep breaths daily as a regular habit.
DIETETIC SUGGESTIONS
Do not eat a morsel between meals.
If you keep your digestive mill constantly grinding, it will soon wear out.
Food must be well relished in order to be well digested.
Avoid iced foods and drinks.
Do not make a cold storage plant of your stomach.
Many a man feels "put out" because of what he "takes in."
Fletcherize. If you taste your food before you swallow it, you will not have to taste it afterwards.
Chew for your lives. If you chew long, you will live long; and you will not need to eat so much.
Eat your bread with gladness.
Some one has well said, "Do not eat when you are mad, or bad, or sad; only when you are glad."
It is not only necessary to bring a good appetite to the table, but it is also important to come with a good state of mind.
When one eats in an ugly, dissatisfied, contemptible state of mind, he is sinning against God, and is wrongdoing himself. The correct ideal is to thank God at the beginning of the meal, and then continue feeling thankful during all the meal.
Do not eat between meals. Children should not be permitted to piece at all hours of the day. Nature does everything in regular rhythm. When we persist in breaking into that, we speedily break down the digestive system.
Eat more natural foods. Such green garden truck as cold-slaw, lettuce, spinach, and carrots cleanse the alimentary canal by their bulk, and the blood by their "vitamines" and mineral salts.
Do not fry starch foods in grease. In frying them, the grease percolates down through, and covers every little particle of starch with a coating of fat, so that it is bomb-proof to both mouth and stomach digestion. The digestive juices cannot get at it until the food reaches the small intestine, and the bile cuts off the grease.
Genuine, old-fashioned Graham flour is better for the health than white flour, because God has put the "vitamines" and much of the mineral in the covering of the grain. The same is true of natural brown rice. Fowls that were fed exclusively on polished rice for three weeks, began to be paralyzed, and suffered other symptoms of disease. When they were fed on whole rice, they were soon restored.
It is a mistake to suppose you must eat flesh in order to be strong. The ox does not get its strength by eating another ox. Corn is not improved by being changed into pork; in fact, it may have trichinæ or tapeworm added to it. There is no advantage in eating secondhand food, any more than there is in wearing secondhand clothes.
DRUGS, SPICES, AND CONDIMENTS
"Avoid patent medicines as you would a pestilence."
Intemperate eating is much more common than intemperance in drinking.
Tea and coffee are drugs, not foods, and should come from the drug store instead of the grocery.
Use salt sparingly. Condiments should be wholly discarded, because they irritate the stomach, tending to produce gastric and intestinal catarrh.
Foods that taste hot when they are cold, continue to be hot after they are swallowed.
Mustard plasters may be applied externally, but they should not be used internally.
It is because we have so little scientific cookery that so many have to resort to crude flavors that give the palate a "twist," but that also injure the nervous system.
WATER DRINKING
Do not drink while eating, nor eat while drinking.
If you do drink at mealtime, you should drink between the mouthfuls instead of with the food.
Drink a glass of water on rising and on retiring, and as frequently as convenient during the day.
During the winter, many people almost forget to drink water. Such should be reminded that water drinking is simply bathing on the inside. The average mortal would live much more comfortably if he drank a larger quantity of water.
EXERCISE
When we are resting, two thirds of the blood is in the internal organs; when we are exercising, two thirds of it is out in the muscles. Active exercise is the best means to relieve internal congestion. The benefit remains a long time after the exercise has been taken.
There is no better all-round exercise than vigorous, energetic walking. It should be taken with the head erect, chest up, abdomen drawn in, breathing deeply through the nose, maintaining at the same time a cheerful state of mind, trying to be in harmony with nature and nature's God.
A capital way of strengthening the abdominal muscles is to sit well forward in a chair, and then tilt forward and backward, raising the knees each time. Do this a few times a day, when you have nothing else to do, and you will be astonished, in a short time, to find how it strengthens the abdominal muscles; and it is far more important to have strong abdominal muscles than it is to have strong muscles in the arm.
The prevailing athletic mania, which is so "highly esteemed among men," we may be sure is an "abomination in the sight of God." Luke 16: 15.
The United States Public Health service says "that the champion athlete often dies young. It recommends moderate exercise outdoors every day. Walk to your business. Walk for the sake of walking. Keep chickens, make a garden, wheel the baby, take two hours' outdoors exercise every day."
The present athletic craze is unquestionably of the devil; the "work cure" is of God. Take your choice.
RELIGION AND HEALTH
Health and happiness result from obedience to God's laws. Misery and unhappiness result from disobedience.
We shall make but little progress in this campaign for better health until our souls429are gripped with the great truth that the laws of health are the laws of God, that sickness and suffering are directly or indirectly due to the violation of these laws.
If we coöperate intelligently with God in the restoration of health, making use of such opportunities as are within our reach, discarding such things as God has clearly shown us are wrong, God will give us all the health that He sees, in His infinite wisdom, we will put to good use in this life; and He will bless
to our own good and to the good of His work whatever infirmities He permits us to retain, just as He did in Paul's case. In other words, He will make them work together for our good.
Every invalid should heed the divine injunction, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest," and have implicit, personal faith in the God who upholds the universe, and has promised He will never leave us nor forsake us.
The Untrammeled Joy
By Worthie Harris Holden
By WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN
For the aching limb and the tired heart,
There is rest that will nevermore depart;
For the longing soul, with its vague desire,
There is every goal to which hearts aspire;
For the tears, the suffering, and the pain,
There is joy and health and a glad refrain;
For sin and death 'mid this night of woe,
There is love and life that His beams bestow.
O, the undreamed bliss and peace that waits,—
The untrammeled joy within the gates!
To live in its sunshine forever there,
Will be hope fulfilled that each life may share.
To live e'en here with His earnest given,
Is a foretaste sweet of our home in heaven.
No Change of the Sabbath Possible
By Adolphus Smith
By ADOLPHUS SMITH
THE seventh-day Sabbath was given to man before sin entered our world. See Gen. 2: 1-3.
The Sabbath, therefore, could not be Jewish, Christian, nor gentile; but God calls it His, and it is universally binding. If the Sabbath had not existed in the law from eternity, it could not have been drawn out of it into the fourth precept of the Decalogue. See Matt. 22: 36-40.14The Ten Commandments were not a new law given at Sinai, but were a drawing out or ultimate application of the basic law of God. Of what God has once spoken He says, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips." Ps. 89: 34. See James 1: 17.
God declares His law, of which the fourth commandment is an integral part, to be perfect, and ever enduring. See Ps. 19: 7-11. But man has thought to change the law of God, thereby undertaking to stultify the act of its Author in its enunciation, and to exalt human judgment above that of Jehovah. See Dan. 7: 25.
No man or church is competent or has authority to read into any precept of the Decalogue any wording or meaning not embodied therein by the Author of the law.
God Himself will not nor can He change the Sabbath, without confessing His original law to be imperfect. What folly, then, for man, like Lucifer, to exalt himself above the wisdom of God!
