p. 2 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 9. (2/26/1902)

Signs of the Times

Feb 26, 1902

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 26, 1902

TEMPLES THAT PERISH NOT.

A LITTLE to the north and west of York, the county seat of Yorkshire, England, are the famous old ruins of Fountain's Abbey. It was builded not only on the banks of the River Skell, but across it, the buildings being on both sides of the stream. Our illustration presents the west front and tower. It is one of the largest and best preserved in England of the houses of the Cistercian order of monks.

THE Cistercians (named from the original convent in the forest of Citeaux, near Beaune, France) were a religious order, of the rule of Benedict, founded by Robert of Molesme in 1098. When the order began, its devotees exercised more austerity than either the Benedictine or the Cluniac monks. Their fare was at first coarse and scanty, limited a great part of the year to one meal a day; a great amount of silence was imposed; the dress was very plain, the churches unadorned. The order spread rapidly, especially under the influence of Bernard of Clairvaux, till "it governed almost all Europe both in temporal and spiritual concerns." Within a hundred years it possessed 800 rich abbeys in different countries of Europe, each abbey embracing many benefices, that of Morimond alone possessing 700. The parent abbey of Citeaux had dependent upon it 1,800 monasteries and as many nunneries. The rigid rules of the order came largely from Stephen Harding, an English monk.

Its popularity was very great among all classes from princes to peasants. With popularity came great wealth and untold corruption. This was said to be especially true in England, where, in the time of the Reformation, so many of the houses were laid in ruins, the abbots judicially murdered, and the monks scattered. But this has been thought deserving, as Carlisle remarks that nothing is crushed from without that is not ready to perish from within. Certain it is that the order which was founded on the severest ideas of self-denial had waxed rich and luxurious. The house of the head of Fountain's Abbey was said to be "at the time of its erection the most spacious house of a subject in the kingdom, not a castle." The hall of the abbot's house (not the Abbey) measured 70x170 feet; the kitchen 38x50 feet. As Dean Milman declared: "The superior, once

a man bowed to the earth with humility, care-worn, pale, emaciated, with a coarse habit bound by a cord, with naked feet, had become an abbot on his curvetting palfrey, in rich attire, with his silver cross before him, traveling to take his place amid the lordliest of the realm."

BUT the great building made by hands, showing forth the glory of man, is now in ruins. Nave and transept, choir and chapel, tower and cloister, as well as prisons, are now empty and silent, save as the walls echo the voice of curious travelers. It is magnificent in its ruins, and speaks only of departed glory.

IT is well that it is so. It is well that there should be kept before us many of earth's mightiest monuments in ruins. It is well for men to see the ruins, that they may know that the things upon and within which so much of humanity have built their hopes are transitory and perishing. These are God's providential waymarks of warning to the ambitious who come afterward. Why place as a sacrifice upon the consuming altar of such ambition heart and mind and soul, to be consumed for that which so soon perishes? Why make a building that which will be the mausoleum of

all that is noble in man, even tho his body is buried elsewhere?

THERE is a better temple which under God all may build—the temple of enduring character. Its foundation is Christ Jesus. Its stones are noble, love-wrought deeds for the sake of the Master. Its cement is the life-force of divine truth which binds superstructure to foundation rock in one living, growing temple. From base to tower top, through nave and transept, choir and cloister, are the stones of truth, polished with the love of self-sacrifice. The superior of that temple is the Spirit of God. The rules for its members are the words of God. Not always sightly and beautiful is it here in the building; that is true of earth's grandest structures. But it is growing; and in eternity, when the building is finished, it will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of our Father.

EACH temple of character, a beautiful, holy structure of itself, is but a constituent part of the greater, everlasting temple of Jesus Christ, of which He is the glorious Head, and of which the individual temples of character of all ages form the body and members. The great Master-Builder has been gathering out the stones from all the quarries of earth,—hewing, cutting, turning, testing, smoothing, polishing, by trial, by furnace heat, by heavy blow, by long, continuous, adverse environments, by obstacle, by all the various vicissitudes of life, by co-operation, till each reflects His beauty. Soon, praise God, the work will be over; the last shining stone will be fitted for its place; and His temple, His church, reflecting in herself all His glorious beauty, will be presented before the Father "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but" "holy and without blemish;" not to fall into ruin, but to be an everlasting living monument of Christ's triumphal glory over sin.

SOUL, you may have a part in that glorious structure. "Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost?" God so designed it, a dwelling-place for Himself. Will you fill the temple of God with idols? Will you place Self on the throne of Love? Will you let Unrighteousness rule in the place of Righteousness? Will you choose Belial or Christ? O, in the light of all God's blessed promises, "let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." Let Christ Jesus in; let Him build, hew, polish, test, refine, till His beauty and life show forth from every side. So shall you be an eternal temple of beauty in a world that shall know no ruins.

THE DISCIPLES SCATTERED.

By J. O. Corliss

IN the council that condemned Stephen to death, there sat one who was destined to figure more largely than he knew in the propagation of the Gospel. The name of this person was called Saul ('asked for') while associated with his earlier connections. As soon, however, as he was converted to the Gospel, he assumed the name of Paul (little), and counted himself 'less than the least of all saints.' Eph. 3:8. Under the first name he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious. 1 Tim. 1:13. Just how much this confession of his meant, we may learn by reference to the record in which he is first brought to notice. There we are told that he consented to Stephen's death, that is, he gave his vote in favor of it. Acts 8:1. In order to emphasize this feeling of hatred for all Christians, he stood by at the time of Stephen's murder, and held the clothes of those who stoned him. Acts 22:20.

This was his method of manifesting zeal for the traditions of his fathers. So strong was this feeling, that he outran all his associates in persecution. Gal. 1:14. This is related by Luke when telling of Saul's work immediately following the death of Stephen: as follows, 'As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.' Acts 8:3. This expression, 'made havoc,' occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. In the Septuagint (Ps. 80:13), and in the classical Greek, it is applied to the actions of wild boars when uprooting a vineyard. This idea is also sustained by what the people of Damascus afterward said of the course of Saul when he was preaching Christ: 'Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem?' Acts 9:21. The original of this word 'destroyed' is a strong one, strictly applicable to an invading army which scathes a conquered country with fire and sword. In describing his own work, Paul said: 'Beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it.' Gal. 1:13.

It is not so strange, therefore, that the church became entirely scattered from Jerusalem, each member going his own way to witness for Christ. Little did the great persecutor of that day realize, when forging fetters for the church, how forceful was the truth which he afterward uttered: 'We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.' 2 Cor. 13:8. His 'outrageous madness' against the work of God resulted in spreading the truth far more widely than deliberate calmness could possibly have done; for in the later case the church would have quietly remained in Jerusalem, satisfied with the comfort they were personally deriving from their connection with the Holy Spirit of power.

As it was, the church was divided up into innumerable parts, and so carried the Word of God with power into all the surrounding region. Among those who were thus forced abroad was one of the seven deacons chosen shortly before to minister to the church. When the church was dispersed, he went to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ to its inhabitants. We may well regard this as a hazardous undertaking, considering the state of feeling then existing between the people of Jerusalem and Samaria. John 4:9. It was even dangerous for any living on one side of the line to be found on the other, the lives of many having paid the penalty of such temerity. But to Samaria Philip went, accompanied by the Spirit of God, and instead of being set upon by infuriated mobs, he was reverently regarded, and his testimony diligently heeded by all. Acts 8:6.

This was solely because the Spirit of God had prepared the field for reaping just such a harvest, and this was the guarantee of successful labor for the consecrated disciple. Could those who now desire to be missionaries have the same fulness of the Spirit, their testimony would bring more tokens of God's co-operation. But unlike those early missionaries, modern evangelists depend more upon worldly plans for success, than upon that special requirement,—the Holy Ghost. As the result we hear nothing of the miraculous demonstrations recorded of those first laborers.

Then, unclean spirits, crying out in their malignity, were called forth from those 'possessed,' palsied bodies were quickened, and the lame made to walk, through the power of the preached Word. Verse 7. By the miracles thus wrought, all could see that a supernatural power attended the message of truth, and many hastened to attach themselves to it. But some peculiar questions force themselves forward at this juncture, which are these: First, was it necessary for men to be so clothed with power from on high at that time, in order to do successful Gospel work among the heathen? It must have been, or God would not have troubled to manifest Himself so miraculously. Second, are heathen any less heathen now than then? If so, then why is it not just as necessary now, to have the same demonstrations of power by which to reveal to these benighted souls the power of Jehovah's salvation?

Something seems wrong somewhere or somehow. In the Gospel commission, Christ assures all who go out to witness for Him that He will be with them to the end of the world. Matt. 28:19, 20. Was He with the early disciples? And were the miracles performed by them the result of His presence? If so, why does not His presence now manifest itself in the same way? Has He changed, so that He does not now do those miracles? Or have His professed followers assumed an attitude that prevents Him from attending them as formerly? Why may not all so diligently consider these questions as to decide them correctly, one by one, and then know God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent?

The power of God which accompanied the early witnesses for Christ, brought great joy to believers, even in dark Samaria. Verse 8. But there was one there who saw in those demonstrations something more genuinely attractive than the tricks of sorcery, with which he had beguiled the people, and held them under his spell so long. He had been named the 'great power of God.' But the people saw in the miracles wrought by the Holy Ghost the real power of God, and were glad to exchange that which had before seemed right, for the pure Gospel power, which they now knew to be true. These attested their faith in Christ by offering themselves for baptism.

The power that attended Philip's ministry in Samaria was indeed so great that even Simon the sorcerer could not withstand it. Sunken so low in deceptive arts as almost to sear his conscience, yet the Holy Spirit penetrated his heart, and he, too, yielded to the convicting agency, submitting to the ordinance of baptism in token of his faith in the power of God shown in raising Christ from the dead. Eph. 1:19, 20; Col. 2:12.

Glorious Gospel of the Son of God! Little wonder that it is called the 'power of God' unto salvation. Rom. 1:16. But how little of the genuine Gospel is now seen amid the labors of so-called Gospel workers and other professed believers. The Gospel being the power of God, it follows that all Gospel workers should be power-of-God workers. Is it so? If not, why not? J. O. CORLISS.

ANGELS AS TEACHERS.

By F. D. STARR

IN the German translation of Job 33:23 we have this rendering: "If an angel intercede for him as mediator, one among a thousand to make known to man how to do right." Our Revised Version reads: "If there be with him an angel, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man what is right for him." We have here an additional confirmation of the fact that angels are sent forth to minister unto those who shall be heirs of salvation, and we see also that they act as instructors, to teach man what to do. It is a great consolation to know that these heavenly campers (Ps. 34:7) will be our teachers.

F. D. STARR.

Columbia, S. Dak.

The Rich Man and Lazarus.

THERE is one other scripture which, while not using the term soul, speaks of the conditions of certain persons after death in such a way as apparently to lend the support of the Master Himself to the idea of perpetuated conscious existence in death. This is the parable of Dives and Lazarus. Luke 16: 19-31. Remembering that this is a parable, it would hardly seem necessary to do more than ask the reader to go over again what we have just written concerning the interpretation of prophetic symbols. The same is equally applicable to parables.

Aim of the Parable.

But tho we may agree that it is not wise to dogmatize on metaphors, some very natural and proper inquiries will arise.

Where did Jesus get this idea of the condition of the dead, if He did not draw on His superhuman knowledge of what lies behind the vail?
If Jesus did not intend to recognize the truth of this idea, why did He adopt the form?
What is its teaching?

1. The answer to the first question is, briefly, as we learn from Josephus and other sources, it was a common opinion held by the Pharisees. But that makes it no more probable than some other opinions they held, such as that an oral law had been given by Moses along with the written, of equal authority with the latter, and not infrequently superseding it. Another general opinion with them was that the soul pre-existed!

2. As to why Jesus used this form of teaching, there are several very natural replies.

a. He employed a parable for the same common-sense reason that any one else would. He took a notion to. b. It was the current method in His day, used by all the rabbis in their teaching. c. He followed a very common Biblical example. The Old Testament has numerous instances of this kind. Similar illustrations may be found in Isa. 14:9-20; Eze. 31: 15-18; 32: 17-32. The whole Song of Solomon is a metaphor. d. Any of these reasons would be sufficient to justify the use; but there is another that is exceedingly strong if adopted, but one we do not emphasize, since it rests on an interpretation which may not appeal with the same force to all minds. We shall merely outline it here. In the twenty-second chapter of Acts we have an account of Paul's last visit to Jerusalem and his last sermon there. He stands on the steps of Antonio Castle, and relates the circumstances of his conversion to a large crowd of his countrymen. In verse 21 he reaches the trance he had in the temple, and the commission given him by the Lord to go as a missionary to the Gentiles. "And they gave him audience unto this word"—Gentiles—then pandemonium began; a frenzy seized them, and they demanded his blood. Why?—Simply because he had suggested that God intended to save any one but a Jew. Such was their prejudice and spiritual conceit.

Jesus also recognized this when He sent out the twelve to preach. He said, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Why?—Because if they first went to the Gentiles and Samaritans, no Jew would ever listen to them, and the Jews might possibly seek to kill them. Now we suggest that, if one of the things Jesus wished to teach in this parable was the naturally favored condition of the Jewish nation (compared to Dives), theirs being the oracles, the covenants, the promises, everything (Rom. 9:4, 5), and the naturally hopeless situation of the Gentiles (compared to Lazarus), without God and without hope in the world (Eph. 2:12), and if He wished to show how the Jews would be rejected and the Gentiles accepted, it would have been an exceedingly dangerous thing for Him to have told them in plain language. We leave this phase of the question, but believe it will be a source of much profit to any one who will follow it out.

3. Some of the teachings of this metaphor are plainly stated; while, like all Scripture, being the wisdom of God, it may have, and doubtless has, depth beyond depth of glorious meaning.

One of the main purposes of the parable, as stated in verse 31, is to show the hard-heartedness of the Pharisees. You would be doing the same thing exactly if you were to tell a Roman Catholic that he would not repent even if his brother, after suffering in purgatory, came back to warn him; the only difference being that Jesus, by His divine insight, knew whether His hearers would repent, while you do not.

Another error held by the Pharisees, and one which the Saviour here combats, was the belief that riches were a sign of God's especial favor. It will be noticed by reading the lesson, that the rich man was guilty of nothing but his riches, and the good things they brought him in this life. The perception of the Master's meaning on this point would lead them naturally to apply the principle in the view given above to their own spiritual riches as the chosen nation of God.

The whole truth seems to be that Jesus gave them profound lessons by here assuming the truth of their view—for the sake of the argument, as we sometimes put it. In our "Retrospective Vision," a little back, tho we have expressed the sentiments of the Romish Church, we have not necessarily given them our assent nor sanction; no one would think of pretending that we have accepted them. Is it therefore necessary to believe that Jesus was teaching the conscious condition of the soul in death simply because He used what, to His hearers, would be a familiar illustration? We confess that to us such a conclusion seems entirely gratuitous.

A Few Questions.

We will promise an interesting time to the believer in soul-consciousness after death, if he will attempt to reconcile the account of the souls under the altar (Rev. 6:9-11) with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. To assist in the study, we would humbly suggest a few queries.

Why was it that the rich man (it doesn't say anything about his soul in the account) was checked straight through to hell, while the murderers of the souls under the altar were side-tracked so long that the said souls were forced to pray for vengeance?
Do naked souls have to crawl under an altar in order to nestle in Abraham's bosom?
Was Stephen, the first martyr, one of the souls under the altar? If so, how long after he got there did his dying prayer for his enemies, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge," change into the blood-thirsty scream for vengeance on these souls?
Do all the martyrs change their dispositions so radically when they get huddled under the altar?
If so, what sort of spirit presides in this half-way place?
If the persecutors of the souls under the altar were in the same flames as Dives, the rich man, how much hotter would these pious souls like to see the crucible get before they would consider it "vengeance"?

We trust it will be believed that only the necessity of exposing the absurdity and ridiculousness of the popular interpretations of these two passages of Scripture could lead us to deal with them in a way that might suggest too much of levity for so serious a matter. We have taken so much space for these two Biblical references, not because they really need it for a common-sense inquirer, but because they are so persistently misunderstood by popular expounders.

Thus far the human soul from the scientific standpoint. In this view it can not be distinguished from mind; and just as mind is unknown in itself, so also is the soul. Science defines neither. All the testimony thus far discovered in the records of the past or vouchsafed by living witnesses (exclusive of Spiritualists) gives no hint of an immaterial soul-essence remaining in conscious existence after the vital spark has become extinguished. Nature and science alike declare no difference in that respect between man and beast. "As the one dieth, so dieth the other." "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

The heart may palsy with dread at the thought of passing into nothingness. We may enter the silent city of the dead, but the mute marble slabs are tongueless as the tombs they mark. The wind soughs a hopeless sigh through the yew and the willow; the mourning dove's sad note from yonder cypress is a Rachel's woe, as she grieves over the silent sleepers. We stand by the open grave,— "where, mourned and missed, The lips repose our love has kissed." We cry aloud for one faint sign from the voiceless shore; "but the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry." Affection may refuse to believe that never again it shall know its object; "listening love may hear the rustle of a wing;" sentiment may whisper a prophecy of souls made perfect by escaping from the hindrances of earth; metaphysics may offer a plea for immortality based on the dignity of man and the incompleteness of life; but science and nature only emphasize the epitaph placed by the French Revolutionists over the graveyards of France, "Death is an eternal sleep;" and Dante's warning over the mouth of the Inferno might serve as nature's inscription over the door of the tomb, "All hope abandon, ye that enter here." If God has not spoken, better by far the lot of the blind worm which burrows under ground; for to him is given no mind to torment him with its limitations, no reason to aggravate despair by taunting him with the insolvable problems and perplexities of existence!

The Alternative

Thus are we driven to philosophy or revelation for a knowledge of what lies beyond the grave.

We have already disclaimed any ability to deal with the metaphysical side of the problem, and all intention of doing so. Nor do we think it necessary; God's religion is a religion of common sense, not of metaphysics. If He had intended to save common people with metaphysics, He would have made us all philosophers. As to the use of transcendental speculations in a discussion of this nature, we regard it as safer for plain folk to adopt the definition given by the Blacksmith of Glamis: "Twa folk disputin thegither; he that's listenin disna ken what he that's speakin means; and he that's speakin disna ken what he means himself—that's metaphysics."

The Word in Common Usage.

In common language we find no one, invariable meaning attached to the word soul; but, like other words generally, it is of various import, its position and the context determining the idea to be given it. Sometimes it is the symbol of a reality; sometimes the sign of a conception drawn from the imagination instead of from any scientific source. A few uses may be illustrated:—

a. "Not a soul was saved from the sinking vessel." The context plainly shows that the word here means person. b. "Shylock was a soulless extortioner." The only sense we can here give it is that of feeling or charity. c. "Brevity is the soul of wit." Essence, or substance. d. "Psychology is the science of the soul." Mind.

e. But if in a funeral oration, the orator should speak of a dead man's soul walking the golden streets of Paradise while the body lies mouldering in the grave, he draws heavily on his imagination or his theology; for scientifically he is a forger, offering a check against a fictitious bank account. There is nothing to cash it with. There is abundant evidence to confirm our scientific conclusion that man is not an immortal soul.

Aptly indeed was the question put by the common sense of the old Persian poet,— "Why, if the soul can cast the dust aside, And naked on the air of heaven ride, Were't not a shame—were't not a shame for him In this clay carcase crippled to abide?" An argument for suicide which has not yet been answered scientifically. [The next, or fifth, article in this series is entitled, "Natural Immortality and Character."]

WHY SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES?

By Augusta W. Heald

1. IN obedience to our Lord's command: "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me." John 5:39.

2. For cleansing: "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Thy Word." Ps. 119:9.

3. As a safeguard against sin: "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." Ps. 119:11.

4. For light and understanding: "The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." Ps. 119:130.

5. For comfort in trial: "Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me; yet Thy commandments are my delights." Ps. 119:143.

6. For proof of the word we have received: "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Acts 17:11.

7. For a reason of our hope: "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." 1 Peter 3:15.

8. For our eternal salvation through faith: "And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. 3:15.

AUGUSTA W. HEALD.

A LESSON FOR MOTHERS.

By Ellen G. White

NOTWITHSTANDING all that God had wrought for His people in the wilderness, the children of Israel, after their settlement in Canaan, continued to walk in their own ways. "They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the Lord commanded them; but were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served their idols; which were a snare unto them. . . . Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred His own inheritance. And He gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them."

While Israel was sorely harassed by the children of Ammon on the east, and the Philistines on the west, the Lord hearkened to the prayers of His people, and began to work for their deliverance. After eighteen years of oppression, they made war against the Ammonites, and effectually destroyed their power. But the backsliding and idolatrous people soon forgot the lesson that Divine Wisdom had so often sought to teach them. As they continued to depart from God, He permitted them still to be oppressed by their powerful enemies, the Philistines.

For forty years the children of Israel were constantly harassed, and at times completely subjugated, by this cruel and warlike nation. They had mingled with these idolators, uniting with them in commerce, in pleasure, and even in worship, until they seemed to be identified with them in spirit and interest. Then these professed friends became their bitterest enemies, and sought by every means to accomplish their destruction.

There were still in Israel true-hearted men and women whose souls were filled with anguish because of the condition of the people. Their prayers of confession, penitence, and faith ascended without ceasing to God. He was not indifferent to their cries, and while there was apparently no response to them, He was preparing help for them. In all Israel there was not to be found a man through whom the Lord could work for the deliverance of His people. The erroneous education given to children, indulgence of appetite and conformity to the practises of heathenism, had greatly lessened physical and moral power.

Godly fathers and mothers looked with gloomy forebodings into the future. Many a mother had secretly cherished the hope that she might give to God and to Israel a son who should deliver His people. But as parents saw their children growing up with perverted appetites and uncontrolled passions, the inquiry arose, What will the end be? What part will these youth and children act in the great drama of life? In the hearts of some parents hope battled against fear; but in many others reigned only discouragement and despair. What could the mother do to avert the threatened evil? How banish the nameless terror that oppressed her soul? "Spare us, O God, spare us," was the oft-repeated prayer. "Let not Thy people perish; let us not see our children a prey to the enemy."

At this time the Lord appeared to the wife of Manoah, an Israelite of the tribe of Dan, and told her that she should have a son. He gave her special instruction concerning her own habits, and also for the treatment of her child. "Beware, I pray thee," he said, "and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing." He also directed that no razor should come on the head of the child; for he was to be consecrated to God as a Nazarite from his birth, and through him the Lord would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines.

The woman sought her husband, and after describing the heavenly messenger she repeated his words. Then, fearful lest they should make some mistake in the important work committed to them, the husband prayed earnestly, "Let the man of God which Thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born."

In answer to this petition the angel again appeared, and Manoah's anxious inquiry was, "How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?" The previous instruction was repeated,—"Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. She may not eat of anything that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe."

The words spoken to the wife of Manoah contain a truth that the mothers of to-day would do well to study. In speaking to this one mother, the Lord spoke to all the anxious, sorrowing mothers of that time, and to all the mothers of succeeding generations. Yes,

every mother may understand her duty. She may know that the character of her children will depend vastly more upon her habits before their birth and her personal efforts after their birth, than upon external advantages or disadvantages.

"Let her beware," the angel said. Let her stand prepared to resist temptation. Her appetites and passions are to be controlled by principle. Of every mother it may be said, "Let her beware." There is something for her to shun, something for her to work against, if she fulfils God's purpose for her in giving her a child. If before the birth of her child she is unstable, if she is selfish, peevish, and exacting, the disposition of her child will bear the marks of her wrong course. Thus many children have received as a birthright almost unconquerable tendencies to evil.

But if she unswervingly adheres to the right, if she is kind, gentle, and unselfish, she will give her child these traits of character.

Very explicit was the command prohibiting the use of wine by the mother. Every drop of strong drink taken by her to gratify appetite endangers the physical, mental, and moral health of her offspring, and is a direct sin against her Creator. The command forbidding the use of strong drink was made by the One who made man, and who knows what is for his best good. Dare any one regard it with indifference?

Unwise advisers will urge upon the mother the gratification of every wish and impulse as essential to the well-being of her offspring. Such advice is false and mischievous. By the command of God Himself the mother is placed under the most solemn obligation to exercise self-control. Whose voice shall we heed—the voice of divine wisdom, or the voice of human superstition?

The mother who is a fit teacher for her children must, before their birth, form habits of self-denial and self-control; for she transmits to them her own qualities, her own strong or weak traits of character. The enemy of souls understands this matter much better than do many parents. He will bring temptation upon the mother, knowing that if she does not resist him, he can through her affect her child. The mother's only hope is in God. She may flee to Him for grace and strength. She will not seek help in vain. He will enable her to transmit to her offspring qualities that will help them to gain success in this life and to win eternal life.

Fathers as well as mothers are involved in this responsibility, and they too should seek earnestly for divine grace, that their influence may be such as God can approve. The inquiry of every father and mother should be, "What shall we do unto the child that shall be born?" By many the effect of prenatal influence has been lightly regarded; but the instruction sent from heaven to those Hebrew parents, and twice repeated in the most explicit and solemn manner, shows how the matter is looked upon by the Creator.

MRS. E. G. WHITE.

THE BURDEN-BEARER.

By C. M. Snow

WHEN the heart is chilled with a nameless dread, And the burden of sorrow unceasing grows, With an empty room in the aching heart For the one low lying under the snows, 'Tis well we learn that the biting smart In the inmost soul from that cruel dart Has a lotion sweeter than Gilead's balm, And the struggling soul may have sweetest calm, If we lift the heart and the drooping head To the light of God on our pathway shed.

'Tis a heavy load they are bearing here, In the heat of the day, who have never learned Of the cooling streams from the well of life, And the heart of love that has leaned and yearned Toward their troubled soul in the stress and strife That have cut their heart like a jagged knife, But that heavenly blessing has hung above That throbbing head like a shield of love; And heaven has noticed each comfortless tear That fell where we followed some fond hope's bier.

Man's Burden-Bearer is stooping low, And the load you carry He longs to bear. With a heart of love He is calling you Away from your grief and your cloud of care To those blossoming fields under skies of blue, Where hopes are bright, and where hearts are true, Why plant more flowers to droop and die Round the grave of our hopes where our idols lie, And add new weight to this old earth's woe, Where joy should have tenanted long ago?

If your heart would leap, and your tongue would sing, With a joy more rare than the rich can know, Then lift the load from your aching heart To His great, strong arms who will bear your woe, Who will heal the hurt of the sharpest dart, And the richest blessings of peace impart. O, it is not fancy's flickering breath That buoys our hope in this race with death; 'Tis the word of our risen, ransoming King That makes the halls of our glad heart ring. Oakland, Cal. C. M. SNOW.

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