1 Peter 3:19: "By which He went and preached unto the spirits in prison." Give explanation. J. J. W.
Our correspondent, like many others, refers to the wrong text. The quotation is 1 Peter 3:19. Let us question the text.
To whom does the "He" refer?—"Christ." Verse 18.
To what does the "which" refer?—The Spirit; "Christ . . . made alive in the Spirit." Verse 18.
Who were the spirits?—The souls shut up in the prison-house of sin, with no power to save themselves. For this Christ came. Compare carefully Gal. 3:22; Isa. 61:1. What put them in prison?—Sin; "that aforetime were disobedient." Verse 20.
When did He preach to them?—"When the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing." Verse 20.
Through whom did He preach by His Spirit?—"Noah," "a preacher of righteousness" "by faith." 2 Peter 2:5; Heb. 11:7.
What was the result of the preaching?—"Few, that is, eight souls, were saved." 1 Peter 3:20. That preaching also "condemned the world,"—those who did not believe. Heb. 11:7.
1634.—Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.
Please explain through your paper the case of the rich man and Lazarus. How about his torment? How about the gulf? How about Lazarus going to Abraham’s bosom at death? F. M. S.
In the first place, the story is one of a series of parables spoken by our Lord to teach certain lessons; and it is a well-settled rule of interpretation (1) that no parable should be used as a basis for doctrine. It is used to enforce truth established by plain scripture, but is in itself not designed to establish or reveal truth. Oftentimes it is in itself pure fable or allegory, in which inanimate things are made to act and speak, tho in reality they may not even be alive. (2) Parables should not be made to "go upon all fours." Certain features must be brought in to make the parable consistent to itself, but these things often have no part in enforcing the lesson for which the parable was given.
The parables of the supper, the ninety and nine, the prodigal son, the unjust steward, and the rich man and Lazarus were all given to rebuke the indifference, the pride, the selfishness, the unfaithfulness, the exclusiveness, of the Jewish people, and set over against all these, the all-comprehending love of God.
In the last of this series Jesus uses the belief of the Jews, erroneous tho it was, to show, according to their own view, how utterly unreasonable was their pride of wealth and contempt of the poor and their national pride and contempt of the Gentiles.
1. The belief of the Jews at that time, according to Josephus, was that Hades was a subterranean region "not regularly finished," in which none of "the light of this world shines," a region of "perpetual darkness." Here souls are taken by the angels, "who distribute to them temporary punishments." Here also is a lake of unquenchable fire, in which as yet no one will supposedly be cast till the judgment day. As the souls go into Hades the wicked are "dragged" to the left hand by the angels, within the very sound of hell itself; while the righteous are taken to the right hand, a place of happiness. "This place we call Abraham’s bosom." Between the two classes there is a great gulf which can not be crossed by souls on either side. All this we know is neither true nor Biblical. When man dies, he dies. "In that very day his thoughts perish." His love, his hatred, his envy, are all perished till the resurrection day. Yet Jesus used this erroneous belief to show the Jews how utterly inconsistent they were, and what their judgment as individuals would be according to their own theory.
By and by the rich man dies. Lazarus dies. According to their own theory, he who had lived for himself, must suffer. He who had trusted God, according to the same theory, was placed in Abraham’s bosom. The fixing of characters prevented forever any change in their condition. Such, according to their own view, would be their ultimate fate.
But Jesus taught more than this. In the light of all the prophets they rejected Him of whom all the prophets spoke. They counted themselves as children of Abraham. John 8:33, 34. According to their view, which Jesus on another occasion used, they counted the Gentiles as dogs. Mark 7:27. Lazarus (whom God aids) well represents our Lord, who came to His own personally and in His apostles, but "His own received Him not." Since that very time facts have demonstrated the truth of the parable. The Jewish people have been in trouble, in pain, in anguish, but still holding between them and the Christ of God the great gulf of their own national pride and exclusiveness and self-righteousness, elsewhere symbolized by the veil upon the heart. They want Lazarus to relieve them, but He must come in their way. They are still in "torment" (basanos, trial, testing), yet unwilling to yield and cast themselves wholly upon His mercy. His salvation will not span their unbelief. They can not cross upon it to Him. And God will work no marvelous signs while they refuse to believe His word. John 5:41-47. For fuller exposition on this parable see chapter on the subject in "Christ’s Object Lessons."
What is meant in Mark 9:43, 44, by "their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched"? S.
The word "hell" of the verse 43 comes from Gehenna, a Greek term meaning what is expressed in the Hebrew, as the Valley of Hinnon, also called Tophet (See Jer. 19:6, 11, 13; 7:31, 32). Because of the awful sins of the Jews committed there, it became a place where the offal and filth of the city, the bodies of malefactors, etc., were cast. Upon this mass of corruption worms constantly preyed, and constant fires were kept burning to avert pestilence. Gehenna, with its worm and fire, came to symbolize utter and absolute destruction.
"The fire that never shall be quenched" is an utterly wrong translation of "to pur to asbestos." It ought to be "the unquenchable fire," as in the Revised Versions. "Fire" comes from pur, meaning simply fire. Asbestos means that which man can not extinguish; that which burns up what it preys upon, which does its work; but it does not mean that which shall never be extinguished. For instance, the unquenchable fire burned the city of Jerusalem, and went out. Compare Jer. 17:27 with 2 Chron. 36:19, 21. Unquenchable fire burns up the chaff, a symbol of the wicked. Matt. 3:12. The word is used in a similar way as a symbol of destruction. See Isa. 51:8; 66:24. Observe that in this latter text these destructive agencies prey not upon live men, but upon their dead bodies—carcasses. The hell of Gehenna means absolute and utter destruction.
SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND.
By M. Ellsworth Olsen
Paupers in the United Kingdom.
POVERTY is more general even in America than most people think. In England it presents a problem of national scope and importance, which seems year by year to grow more difficult to deal with.
Some idea of its magnitude may be gained from a comparison. America, with a population of eighty millions, has less than 100,000 paupers to care for. England (including Wales) with a population of about 32,000,000, has over 800,000 such on her hands. In other words, in the states a population two and a half times greater than that of the old country has only one-eighth as many paupers to provide for. The proportion here is twenty as compared with one in the states. But this is not all the advantage.
The Real Suffering
in England is not to be found in the pauper class as such, the large proportion of whom are comfortably lodged and fed in the enormous work-houses. It is with the laboring classes mainly that the most pressing social problems have to do. Careful investigation has revealed the fact beyond doubt that the wages paid a very considerable proportion of unskilled laborers are insufficient to enable them even with careful management to support their families in decency and comfort. In the large cities thousands of little children come to school in the morning too hungry to be able to study, so that it has been found necessary to provide breakfasts for them at public expense. Is this caused by drink? Not always, by any means. The parents may not be to blame. A leading daily offers the following as a typical case:
We will say the father is a carman earning a guinea [a trifle more than five dollars] each week. On this he and his wife and four children have to live. How do they do it? Well, suppose he spends twopence upon his breakfast, another twopence on his dinner, and a like sum upon his tea, that will make sixpence per day, three and sixpence per week. [One shilling equals 24 cents; a penny, 2 cents]. A similar allowance for his wife brings the total for the parents' meals for one week to seven shillings. For the children we will allow three farthings [1 1/2 cents] per meal; this for three meals per day for four children makes another five and threepence, or a total of twelve and threepence. If they are fortunate in getting into a Trust building, such as the Peabody or Guinness blocks of dwellings, they may get rooms for a family of six for five shillings per week, and even then there is an element of charity in the matter. Thus we account for seventeen and threepence of the weekly guinea.
If we set aside 2s. 3d. per week for the clothes necessary for six persons, 1s. 2d. for fuel, we find there remains fourpence each week for luxuries, such as a sick club or a holiday.
It will be noticed that no provision is made in this scheme either for drink or tobacco, and the other items are carefully fixed in harmony with the prices of the various food commodities prevailing in English cities. With such conditions obtaining in times of comparative prosperity, when employment is regular, what must be the case when work fails, or the bread-earner is laid up by sickness? Many, moreover, fail to get decent quarters for five shillings per week, and must pay more. Many, again, in fact most, drink; hence must cut down the allowance of food for themselves and their children in order to buy beer. The average working-class family spends about one-fifth of the weekly wage in the public house.
Below the Poverty Line.
Mr. Charles Booth, after a minute investigation extending over many years, has come to the conclusion that 30 per cent. of the population of London live below the poverty line; in other words, can not, under existing conditions, and with their own natural limitations, earn a sufficient wage to feed, clothe, and shelter their families with due regard to health and reasonable comfort. A similar investigation has been conducted by Mr. Rowntree in York, with a population of about 75,000. He distinguishes two varieties of poverty, namely, primary and secondary. The former term is applied to persons whose suffering arises solely from an insufficient wage; the latter to cases where it is more or less the result of waste. Ten per cent. of the population are said to be in a state of primary poverty, 18 per cent. in secondary poverty. It hardly needs to be added that the waste referred to usually means indulgence in alcoholic drinks. In York we have, then, in times of comparative prosperity, 28 per cent., or more than one-fourth the entire population, suffering want, the children ill-clad, half-famished, and therefore attaining but a dwarfed mental and physical development. There is no reason to suppose that the situation is materially different in other cities.
Outside of the Cities.
How is it in the villages and the country districts generally? This question has also been answered by thorough-going investigation. A little village in Bedfordshire which seemed from all appearances to be typical of English village conditions, was recently subjected to a scientific inquiry in respect of the financial status of its inhabitants. It consisted of 127 families, 40 of whom were found to be living in conditions detrimental to health and decency. That this little village possessed three public houses is somewhat significant.
Right here it may be well to say that the sordid, cheerless surroundings of the poor, and the ill-selected and badly-cooked food that forms their diet, both tend to drive them, women as well as men, to the public house, where there are companionship, cheerful surroundings, and something to take that will, at least for the time being, exhilarate them, and enable them to forget their troubles. The houses in which the English tenant farmers (scarcely one out of ten owns the land he works) live are oftentimes old, dilapidated huts which are hardly good enough for the housing of animals. Moreover, they are insufficient in point of size, country folk mostly having large families. Thus the over-crowding problem applies in England to the country districts as well as to the cities, all because the owners of the land are too indifferent or parsimonious to tear down these wretched hovels, and put up modern cottages.
The Exodus to the Cities.
The bad housing accommodations and low pay of the country largely account for the exodus to the cities which has caused a good deal of concern in recent years. How extensive this movement has been may be judged from the fact that, while the country population of Great Britain has remained stationary, has, in fact, diminished in certain districts during the last thirty years, the urban population had increased by 10,000,000. Can it be wondered at that the young men growing up in sordid squalor should turn with longing eyes to the city, where some at least manage to make a success, and improve their condition in life. Unfortunately they do not know that very many find the city after all a worse place than the country, and after eking out a precarious existence in the slums, ultimately join the ever-growing army of paupers. In the country they can at least have a little garden of their own, and if the housing is poor, the air is fresh and pure out-of-doors; while in the city there is only the street for the children, and the air is thick with noxious smells.
Practical Serfs.
Moreover, while the country laborer is virtually a serf, helpless in the hands of his landlord, the poor of the cities are equally tied down by circumstances. Every man knows that if he loses his job, a half dozen men stand ready to step in and fill his place. Unskilled labor is a drug on the market; so also is clerical help of almost all kinds. Hence a business education is not by any means a solution of the difficulty. Skilled artisans are less likely to come to want, but their wages are usually small, and employment is by no means sure.
Employers and Employees.
A great many clerks and shop hands generally in the large cities are obliged by the firms they work for to board and room on the premises. This is known as the "living-in" system, and it works severe hardships upon many. The accommodations are usually very poor, and the charge correspondingly high, the object being to make this branch of the business pay as well as possible.
In general the attitude of the employer to his employees is much the same as in other countries. Exceptions there are, such as the Cadbury Brothers, who take a real interest in the welfare of their employees, but in the main, business interests count largely to the exclusion of other considerations. Oppression is unfortunately not wanting, and charity is often given out as a dole where justice would be more welcome.
Socialism.
Socially, the English laborer is at a much greater remove from his employer than is the American. This may account in part for his apparent acquiescence in things that to Americans would be simply intolerable. But the English workingman often feels a good deal more than he says. His resentment of wrong is not less keen if it is not openly expressed. Socialism has made enormous strides in England in recent years; the labor element is manifesting its strength in unsuspected quarters; and it becomes increasingly evident that social reforms must occupy a prominent place in the legislation of the next few years. One-fourth to one-third of the entire population of a country can not remain content with squalid quarters, an impoverished dietary, and nothing but the workhouse to look forward to in old age. At the present time three out of four of all the men in England who are sixty-five years old and upwards, are paupers.
The Unemployable—Dementia, Insanity.
A word may be said in regard to the unemployable. Unfortunately this class is growing. Recent investigations show a disproportionately large number of children in the public schools who are more or less deficient mentally, and unable to keep up with other children. Insanity has increased at an alarming rate among the very poor. In 1859 one in every 536 persons was insane, to-day the ratio is one in every 293. This increase has been confined almost entirely to the lower classes. Physical inefficiency is generally prevalent from the army records, which show that only two out of five men who wish to join are physically capable; this altho the standard has been considerably lowered in recent years.
The Underlying Cause.
If we look for the underlying cause of a large amount of the suffering and poverty of England, we must lay it to the enormous expenditures for military purposes, which, in the long run, come out of the pockets of the laboring men. This burden, moreover, continually grows heavier. Indeed, the cost of national defense threatens to double itself within a decade. In 1895, for instance, the cost of the army and navy together was less than $191,000,000; in 1903 it was (exclusive of war expenditure) $322,500,000. An armed peace, indeed!
Of Charitable Organizations
it is true, England has a large number. There are said to be some 30,000 of them, one-third of which are located in London, and they are doing much excellent work. Things would be a great deal worse without them. Nevertheless they can not in the very nature of things deal adequately with the situation. They are at best only palliatives;7they do not cure the disease. Legislation can do something, but it also is subject to limitations. While sin remains in the heart of man, poverty and suffering can never depart from the world in which he lives. The coming of Christ is the only radical cure for many of the social evils of the day.
M. ELLSWORTH OLSEN.
SUNDAY QUESTION IN THE DOMINION SUPREME COURT.
By A. O. Burrill
OTTAWA, Feb. 27.—The Supreme Court rendered judgment this morning upon the reference which had been submitted to it by the governor-in-council, to ascertain the extent of the provincial jurisdiction in the matter of what is commonly known as "Sabbath observance legislation." The first question was framed to ascertain whether a provincial Legislature had authority to enact a statute in the terms of the draft bill laid before the court. Was the bill ultra vires [beyond jurisdiction] in part only? What sections were within their right to enact? The members of the court (Mr. Justice Idington alone dissenting) answered these three questions by a simple negative. In other words, the bill was ultra vires of the provinces from first to last. The terms of the reference went on to ask whether a province were within its powers in legislating so as to prevent any work from being performed within the province on the first day of the week, except works of mercy and necessity. The fifth question asked whether a province had the right to restrict the operations of companies of its own creation to six days in the week. The sixth question asked whether banks, insurance and loan companies, works declared to be for the general advantage of Canada, but authorized to operate within one province only, and other specified undertakings, are subject to provincial legislation regarding Sabbath observance. The seventh question inquired whether the Ontario legislation was within its rights in enacting its prohibition against Sunday games, hunting, controlling the operations of barbers and bake-shops on Sunday, ordering that parks and pleasure-grounds be closed on Sunday, and controlling the Sunday running of electric cars.
The members of the court (Mr. Justices Sedgewick and Idington dissenting) declined to answer these latter questions at all. The effect of the court's ruling, however, agrees with the recent judgment of the Privy Council, which declared a large portion of the provincial Sabbath observance legislation ultra vires. The extent of the Federal jurisdiction was not before the court. To-day's judgment of the Supreme Court, therefore, has no bearing upon the Dominion rights in this matter.—Toronto Mail and Empire.
Now that the Supreme Court of the Dominion of Canada have handed down the above decision, the way is clear for the Lord's Day Alliance to go to the Dominion Parliament for new Sunday laws. We may be sure they will at once improve their opportunities. While this case was pending they could not go to the law-making power to enact more Sunday laws.
We, as a liberty-loving people, ought to send in thousands of names on our petitions to Ottawa, opposing this work of the Lord's Day Alliance. The editor of the Toronto Globe, in an editorial of February 28, extolled the work the field secretary of the American Sabbath Union has been doing of late in this province. Mr. Gamble visited Ottawa and made speeches. I quote from one who heard him, the following:
"After the mass meeting at 8:30, I went forward and introduced myself as the pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist church of Ottawa. He seemed a little disconcerted, and did not have much time for me. He said considerable about Seventh-day Adventists, some bad and some good, and warned the people to look out for us, declaring that we were spreading literature everywhere, and it was dangerous. Mr. Gamble said that they did not pay much attention to our sect until they saw we were getting a strong hold, and were destroying the Christian Sabbath. Then they felt that something must be done, so they went to Congress with 7,000,000 petitions for the better observance of the Sabbath; but the Adventists appeared and turned down every one of their specialists on Sabbath observance. He said they were completely whipped by the Adventists' strong arguments before the committees at Washington. Now they must go deeper into the Sabbath question, and present thorough proof from the Scriptures for the Sunday Sabbath."
I am quite sure that we who have the light of the prophecy, and from that can see what is coming, have resting upon us a grave responsibility in the matter of informing the people of this Dominion what this Lord's Day Alliance work means. The Lorndale Academy Press is reprinting four tracts that were circulated last year for the campaign against the persecuting spirit that is coming forth to deprive the people of God of their religious liberty. These tracts (forty cents a hundred, postpaid) can be secured by addressing S. D. Hartwell, 167 Dundas Street, Toronto, Ont.; B. B. Noftsger, 151 Hunter Street, W. Hamilton, Ont.
A. O. Burrill.
Galt, Ontario.
THE WAR IN THE EAST.
General Kuropatkin's resignation from the command of the army and navy operating against the forces of Japan has been accepted by the czar, and General Linevitch has been given the command in his place. The new commander has a most difficult task if he accomplishes what is expected of him in the reorganization of the Russian army in the face of a constantly-advancing foe who has captured everything before him and is now flushed with victory as never before. Mukden was occupied by the Japanese last week, and Tie Pass, where the Russians expected to make a stand and did attempt to rally, is also in the hands of the Japanese. The Russians are now retreating toward Harbin, where the railroad branches off to Vladivostok. In the demoralized condition of the Russian army, and in view of the great losses in killed, wounded, and prisoners which it has sustained, it is not generally expected that they will be able even to hold this most important position. A defeat here means the cutting off of Russia's only remaining seaport, Vladivostok, and the forcing of the Russians back along the railroad over the wind-swept plains of Siberia.
Notwithstanding her reverses, it is reported that Russian officialdom is determined to continue the war, even tho Harbin should be taken. It is reported also that French bankers are refusing to float a large loan which Russia desired for the continuance of the war.
There are as yet no definite figures as to the losses sustained in the great battle of Mukden and the disastrous retreat which followed. The Russian loss by some is placed as high as 125,000.
The committee of the French Chamber of Deputies into whose hands was placed the bill for the separation of church and state, has made its report to that body. After presenting the relation between the church and state from early days, the report states: "We maintain that the sole solution for the difficulties growing out of the régime of the concordat is a loyal and complete separation of church and state, particularly under the democracy, wherein the existing universal suffrage and sovereignty of the people make the continuation of an official religion such a defiance of logic and good sense that it seems astonishing that the French Republic continued such an equivocal régime during the last thirty-four years." The report states that it is useless to put off the separation until after the popular election, as such a delay would be advantageous to Rome and dangerous to France.
In view of the agitation over the taking of Indian funds for the support of Catholic schools, the matter was brought up in the Senate on February 28. A bill was finally passed, forbidding the use of any Indian trust funds for the support of sectarian schools among the Indians. An amendment was finally passed, which permits any individual Indian to direct that any portion of principal or interest coming to him from such funds may be used for the education of his children in such schools. It is felt that this was a compromise, and makes a loophole through which virtually the same object will be attained, namely, the use of Indian trust funds for the support of Catholic schools.
As an illustration of the power wielded by lobbyists over Legislatures, the following is to the point. The Delaware House of Representatives, on March 16, voted to refuse all lobbyists the privilege of coming upon the floor of the Legislature. This action was taken because of the fact that, for several days, the lobbyists seemed to be busier on the floor than did the legislators themselves. On the same day the lobbyists held an indignation meeting, and adopted resolutions demanding the floor privileges. The resolution was sent to the House, and the exclusion resolution was at once rescinded, and that almost unanimously.
The Legislature of Colorado, in joint convention, has ousted Governor Alva Adams from his office, and given the office to the former governor of the state, James H. Peabody. The latter had contested the election of Adams. On a recount the vote of a number of precincts was thrown out as fraudulent. However, the normal Republican majority was not given to the unseating of Alva Adams, and it is reported that the change could only be carried through on the promise that Peabody would resign in favor of the Lieutenant Governor.
A drug trust is now in control of the whole drug business of the country, selling only to its favorites, and boycotting those who meet its disapproval. Wholesalers and retailers alike are subject to its tyranny. Testimony in the matter has been brought out before special commissioner Sanpsell for the Federal Government. The testimony will be turned over to attorney-general Moody, looking to prosecution under the Sherman law.
The engineering committee of the Panama Canal Commission have declared in favor of a canal at sea level, thus eliminating the locks that would otherwise have been necessary. It is estimated that such a canal will cost $230,500,000.
Scientists have at last discovered a method of making artificial hair and artificial silk. The latter is made from cellulose, obtained principally from carded cotton, altho it may also be obtained from corn and some other grains.
Heavy and continuous rains in the southern part of California have resulted in the complete suspension of railway traffic, owing to the resultant destruction of roadbeds and bridges, and to numerous great landslides in the mountains.
A number of Japanese cruisers have arrived at Singapore, and are lying in wait for the Russian warships. The latter, however, are believed to be on their way home.
Delaware has decided to do away with the pillory. The old torture machines will be broken up; but wife-beaters will still be whipped in public.
A report from Venezuela states that President Castro is now preparing for war with various foreign powers, including the United States.
Special agents of the government are now investigating alleged land frauds in the state of Utah, which promise to rival those of Oregon.
A REVERSE PROPOSITION.
An active advocate of political religion says:
God holds man individually responsible to Him in the three principal relations of life, viz.: the family, the state, and the church. The two former of these relations are founded in man's nature—God created man to occupy them in obedience to His authority and law. The latter is founded in grace. Until sin had ruined man in the two natural relations, the domestic and the civil, God did not provide for him the ecclesiastical. Embraced in God's design when He instituted the church, after man's fall, was this; that man, redeemed by grace, might in the church be fitted for again discharging his duties to God and man in the home and in the state.
This is a marked illustration of getting the cart before the horse. The state, and not the church, is the result of man's fall. It was because man ignored God's law, or government, that a temporary human government, or state, became a necessity. God governs willing subjects by His law of love; but when man sinned, and became "enmity against God," refusing to be subject to His law, he must needs be governed by force. When men gave way to the spirit of selfishness and covetousness and envy, they had to be restrained by force from intruding upon one another's rights.
All human government is essentially of force, aptly symbolized by "Cæsar" and "the sword." But through it a measure of order is maintained while the work of redemption is carried on, and there is gathered out of the sinful mass all who are willing to return to the authority and government of God—not to the state, as the "reformers" would have us believe.
When redemption shall have been completed, and Christ will have gathered out of "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people," such as will be saved, every vestige of human state government will be annihilated (Dan. 2:31-45). But the "church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven," will be the subjects of His everlasting kingdom, governed by His unchangeable, indestructible law of love. The whole National Reform theory is based on a reversal of cause and effect.
