p. 8 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 35.

OUR GREAT TREASURE-HOUSE

By Mrs. E. G. White

By MRS. E. G. WHITE

XV. THE VALUE OF TREASURE.

LET none think that there is no more knowledge for them to gain. The depth of human intellect may be measured; the works of human authors may be mastered; but the highest, deepest, broadest flight of the imagination can not find out God. There is infinity beyond all that we can comprehend. We have seen only the glimmering of divine glory and of the infinitude of knowledge and wisdom; we have, as it were, been working on the surface of the mine, when rich, golden ore is beneath the surface, to reward the one who will dig for it. The shaft must be sunk deeper and yet deeper in the mine, and the result will be glorious treasure. Through a correct faith, divine knowledge will become human knowledge.

No one can search the Scriptures in the Spirit of Christ without being rewarded. When a man is willing to be instructed as a little child, when he submits wholly to Christ, he will find the truth in His Word. If men would be obedient, they would understand the plan of God’s government. The heavenly world would open its treasures of grace and glory for exploration. Human beings would be altogether different from what they are now; for by exploring the mines of truth, men would be ennobled. The mystery of redemption, the incarnation of Christ, His atoning sacrifice, would not be, as they are now, vague in our minds. They would be, not only better understood, but altogether more highly appreciated.

The Saviour saw that men were absorbed in getting gain, and were losing sight of eternal realities. He undertook to correct this evil. He sought to break the infatuating spell that was paralyzing the soul. Lifting up His voice, He cried, “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” He presents before fallen humanity the nobler world they have lost sight of, that they may behold eternal realities. He takes them to the threshold of the Infinite, flushed with the indescribable glory of God, and shows them the treasure there.

The value of this treasure is above gold or silver. The riches of earth’s mines can not compare with it.

“The depth saith, It is not in me! The sea saith, It is not in me. It can not be gotten for gold, Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It can not be valued with the gold of Ophir, With the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal can not equal it; And the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls, For the price of wisdom is above rubies.”

This is the treasure that is found in the Scriptures. The Bible is God’s great lesson-book, His great educator. The foundation of all true science is contained in the Bible. Every branch of knowledge may be found by searching the Word of God. And above all else, it contains the science of all sciences, the science of salvation.

In His prayer to the Father, Christ gave to the world a lesson which should be graven on mind and soul. “This is life eternal,” He said, “that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” This is true education. It imparts power. The experimental knowledge of God and of Christ transforms man into the image of God. It gives man the mastery of himself, bringing every impulse and passion of the lower nature under the control of the higher powers of the mind. It makes its possessor a son of God and an heir of heaven. It brings him into communion with the mind of the Infinite, and opens to him the rich treasures of the universe.

This is the knowledge that is obtained by searching the Word of God. And this treasure may be found by every soul who will give all to obtain it. “If thou criest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasure; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”

TWENTY-EIGHT SECONDS.

By H. A. St. John.

APRIL 18, 1906, will long be remembered as the day when a long list of calamities, by earthquake and fire, occurred in various localities of Central California. These all took place simultaneously, the cause being an instantaneous shock, without a moment's warning, and lasting but twenty-eight seconds. Not less than five hundred, perhaps a thousand, human lives were sacrificed, and the financial loss was hundreds of millions of dollars.

And yet those twenty-eight seconds, to all within the limits of the great earthquake, were long enough and weighty enough to indelibly impress themselves upon the memory of all conscious life to come.

Oftimes in this life of probation the decisions, or actions, of a few seconds are fraught with eternal consequences of weal and wo. It took mother Eve but a brief moment to believe the tempter's lie and disobey God. Then, shortly after, it required but a short interview for her to persuade her husband to do the same thing; and what human mind ever can measure or comprehend the awful consequences. Even the direful disaster of April 18, 1906, together with all like disasters that have ever occurred in the past, or will ever take place in the future, in this world, are the results of that first brief act of disobedience. And these have been supplemented and augmented by subsequent, all hasty and unwise decisions and actions.

There is a right way, and a wrong way. In the right way we are always safe, no matter what may come. "All things work together for good to them that love God," even in this state of mixed good and evil; and the day is coming fast when we shall be forever beyond all accidents, mishaps, or misfortunes—in a home where all will be bliss and always bliss. But in the wrong way we are never safe, and if those who walk it should escape many misfortunes here, there is a hurt that is sure to come to them some day, and that is "the second death." And the consequences of such a hurt will be fearful, fatal, and forever. "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." Rev. 2:11.

H. A. ST. JOHN.

EIGHT REASONS WHY I OBSERVE THE SEVENTH DAY AS THE SABBATH.

By Francis M. Wilcox

CHRIST is the Author of the Sabbath. He made all things. Says the apostle, "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, or that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him." Col. 1:15-19. Read also John 1:1-3.

In the work of the Creation doubtless the Father and the Son were associated together. In Gen. 1:26 we find God saying, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." Evidently He must have been speaking to another Person of the Godhead. The plural form of the pronoun indicates this. Hence as Jesus Christ is the Author of all things, as He was associated with the Father in the work of Creation, He is the Author of the great memorial of Creation, the Sabbath of the Lord.

The question naturally arises, How did Christ create the Sabbath? The record of Gen. 2:1-3 clearly outlines this. The weekly cycle of seven days was before Him. He chose the seventh. Upon this He was pleased to rest, constituting it His own rest day. After resting upon it Himself, He was pleased to pronounce His blessing upon this seventh day, making it a holy day. Placing upon it His benediction, He sanctified it, or set it apart for the use of the human family. This brings me to my second reason.

2. The Sabbath was given to Adam, the father of the race, and through him to the human family in all ages. The words of our Saviour in Mark 2:27 bear out this: "The Sabbath was made for man,"—for the man Adam, the representative and father of all men. Note in this connection:

(a) The Sabbath was given to man in his innocency. It was thus designed for the use of a holy race.

(b) It was re-affirmed to man after sin entered, thus showing that God designed it for man in every condition.

as such is as enduring as the Creation of God.

(d) In being given to the human family before sin entered, it therefore had no necessary connection with the types and ceremonies and offerings which came in in consequence of sin; hence it did not, like the ceremonial law, expire by limitation.

(e) It was given to the human family before the existence of a Jewish nation; therefore was not in any sense Jewish in its origin or purpose.

3. The Sabbath was made an integral part of the great moral law of Ten Commandments. It was placed in the very bosom of that law, bulwarked before and behind, as tho God would preserve it from every assault, thus showing that it partook of the same moral character as do the other nine commandments. Ex. 20:8-11. Moral principles are eternal and perpetual. The law was not written upon parchment, but was engraved upon enduring stone.

4. The particular day of the Sabbath was signalized by a special miracle for forty years. In this way God pointed out the definite day of the week which He designed should be observed. Ex. 16:12-36.

5. The Sabbath was not only instituted by Jesus Christ as Creator, but was also kept by Him during His earthly life. Luke 4:16. And Christ not only observed it in His regular practise, but by His teaching and miracles He sought to remove from it the traditions by which the Jews had made it a burden, restoring it to its original design and purpose in the order of God. He thus recognized the existence of the law, and the Sabbath as a part of that law. Read Matt. 5:17-19; Matt. 12:1-12.

6. The Sabbath was observed by the most intimate disciples and associates of our Lord after His crucifixion and burial. Luke 23:54-56; 24:1. This scripture declares that they rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment, which could have been none other than the day enjoined by the commandment, namely, the seventh day of the week. It also proves that they considered the Sabbath day too sacred on which even to anoint the body of the blessed Lord, but they went on the first day of the week to do the work which they would not do on the seventh day.

And the Lord Himself closed up His work on the sixth working day of the week, rested quietly in the tomb from His labor on the Sabbath day, and the first day of the week resumed once more the busy activities of His earthly life.

7. The Sabbath was not only kept by the intimate associates of the Lord after His death, but was likewise regularly observed and became a stated day of public worship by the great apostle to the Gentiles. Acts 17:1-3; 18:4-11.

Please note that in these scriptures it was the stated custom of the apostle Paul to use the Sabbath as a day of worship, the same as in the case of our Lord; and Paul not only used the seventh day Sabbath as a day of regular worship in meeting with the Jews and Jewish converts, but he likewise used the same day in his labor for the Gentiles. Acts 13:42-44.

8. The Sabbath of the Lord will be observed in the future state when sin has been forever banished from the universe of God. Isa. 66:22, 23.

The Sabbath, like a great arch, spans this world of sin, reaching from Eden to Eden. It was given to man in his innocency, and when Eden is restored, it will be observed by the whole family of the redeemed in harmony with the original purpose of God. Like a golden thread it has run through the warp and woof of this earth's history. Often it has been obscured by darkness and ignorance and superstition. Error has sought to break the strand, but the power of God has preserved it against every assault. And in that blessed day when truth is triumphant, when victory turns on the side of righteousness, and evil is forever vanquished, the Sabbath of God stands forth in its full resplendent glory, the great sign of God's power, the symbol, and likewise the earnest, of the blessed rest of all eternity.

FRANCIS M. WILCOX.

DANIEL AND HIS PROPHECIES FROM THE CRITICAL STANDPOINT.

By George McCready Price

The Various Views.

IN discussing the numerous questions regarding the value and meaning of the messages contained in such a book as that of Daniel, we can not avoid taking some things for granted, whether explicitly stated or tacitly assumed. Most modern critics always work from the supposition that every point in the record, either the narratives or the prophecies, which comes under the head of the "supernatural" ought to be regarded as fabulous. Hence in such a book as that of Daniel the "critics" do not leave very much that they are willing to endorse as of value to the world to-day, in spite of the express statement in various places therein that "the vision belongeth to the time of the end."

But we as Christians ought to follow the teaching of Christ. The books of the Old Testament, viewed from the Christian standpoint, derive their authority from the recognition accorded them by our Lord and the apostles, as well as from the intrinsic character of the book themselves. And tho there are legitimate questions regarding the interpretation of these scriptures, or even regarding their textual value in some cases, yet the historical parts of the Old Testament endorsed in the New Testament writings ought to be accepted by Christians as true; and no part of the entire Hebrew literature has received a more emphatic seal of authenticity in this respect than the book of Daniel.

Of course the New Testament writers nowhere declare that the text of the Old Testament books had been preserved intact even to their day. But both the apostles and Christ Himself constantly appealed to the form in which these books had been handed down by the Great Synagogue and in the Septuagint version; and, however imperfect the received text may be in some passages, we may rest assured that a book so emphatically endorsed by our Lord and Master has been preserved from anything that would cause our moral or spiritual confusion here in this twentieth century.

It is true there are many points in both the historical and the prophetical portions of the Scriptures which we in the present state of our knowledge can not fully clear up; yet in even the most difficult cases a professed Christian commentator and critic ought to discard all explanations which imply that Christ was ignorant of the history of the past, or of the future which He professed to reveal. We can not admit that while on earth our Lord was subject to the ignorant prejudices of the age in which He lived, and of the people from which He sprung. But on the day of His resurrection, in His glorified state, He twice affirmed the truth of the prophecies which He had previously explained to the disciples. Twice did He explain to their dull, unbelieving minds that the Messianic prophecies contained in the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luke 24: 44) testified of Himself; and if in this He was, as the critics of the "New Theology" affirm or imply, either grossly mistaken or simply acting a part, it seems to me that the whole system of revealed religion is gone.

The historical portions, of course, have been one of the main points of attack by the destructive critics. In the present state of the controversy, while the battle is still going on, and fresh discoveries are continually being made among the monuments of Babylon, it seems very unwise to treat any point as settled adversely against the historical statements recorded in the book of Daniel, as even such a stout defender of the Old Testament as Professor Sayce of Oxford seems to do. It is true that while the buried witnesses have risen in whole armies from the dust-heaps of forgotten centuries to testify to the literal accuracy of great portions of other parts of the Old Testament, there are many statements in the history of Daniel, like the capture of Jerusalem related in the first chapter, and the account of "Darius the Mede," which have not yet been thus vouched for by contemporary inscriptions; yet the argument from our ignorance is never secure, and is not likely to carry very much weight for the patient believer in the Word of God, who remembers the history of oriental discovery during the last century or so. But in a brief article like this the details of such matters can not be discussed, nor can we pause to consider such matters as why there are two, possibly three, languages used, or why Daniel himself is always spoken of in the third person in the first six chapters, while the first person is employed in the rest of the book.

But the prophetical part is of more interest, and indeed of more importance to us; and in beginning this subject I can not do better than quote from a valuable book recently issued by Rev. Chas. H. H. Wright, of Oxford University, England:

In discussing chapters VII-XII, one must strongly repudiate the "methods" which have been adopted by critics in order completely to destroy its importance.

If it were admitted that the Roman empire is the fourth kingdom depicted in chapters II and VII, the conclusion must follow that the writer of the book of Daniel was supernaturally gifted with prophetic insight into the future. Unbelieving critics have, therefore, from the time of Porphyry downwards, been compelled to suggest some other solution of the enigma. Those four kingdoms were expounded by eminent Jewish interpreters to be the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman, in ages before Christ came into the world, and long after that event. The same explanation is followed by Christ, and by the great majority of Christian expositors for nearly two millennia.—"Daniel and His Prophecies," Introduction, XII. Williams and Norgate, London, 1906.

The very numerous and conflicting interpretations of the prophecies of Daniel that have been put forth may be conveniently arranged in three distinct classes or schools.

1. The Orthodox or Biblical School.

These consider the prophecies of Daniel to be history in outline written beforehand; that they sketch the great outlines of history from Daniel's time down to the second coming of Christ. As is stated in the above given quotation, this view has been the one almost universally received by the church until quite recent times.

2. The Critical School.

These strive to maintain that the book of Daniel was written in the days of the Maccabees, say B. C. 164, and is not in any sense a prediction of future events, but merely a statement of contemporary and past occurrences. During much of the nineteenth century it was fashionable in critical circles to interpret the fourth kingdom to be the empire ruled over by the Diadochoi, or the successors of Alexander. This view is now quite generally abandoned, tho still maintained by Dean Farrar and some others. But in place of this solution, most modern critics subdivide the Medo-Persian into two distinct empires, the Median and the Persian. These, they claim, are respectively the second and third kingdoms referred to in the prophecies, while the fourth, the Grecian, can still be squeezed in between the time of Nebuchadnezzar and the date at which it is alleged the book of Daniel was composed, and thus the whole thing become not real prophecy, but merely past history written in the prophetic style. This view, it may be remarked in passing, is based almost wholly on the casual mention of "Darius the Mede" having received the kingdom at the death of Belshazzar, and the assumption that the writer regards the Median and the Persian empires as distinct.

3. The Futuristic School.

This might almost be called also the Roman Catholic school, for it seems to have originated with Ribera (1585), a Jesuit, who was opposing the work of the Reformation; and it was eagerly adopted by other Jesuit interpreters of the seventeenth century. The essence of this view is that the "little horn" of Daniel 7 and other parallel passages refers to an anti-Christian power destined to arise yet in the future, in connection with the beginning of the setting up of Christ's everlasting kingdom. It would lead us too far afield to examine in detail the fantastic views of this school regarding the imaginary antichrist of the last days. As Wright well points out, these interpretations have led the Futurists into conclusions which tend to undermine the foundations of all Christian evidences, their reasonings and principles being "more incredulous than those of the infidel," while Professor Birks, of Cambridge, stated as long ago as 1841 that "when such opinions gained general currency and approval in the church, the reign of open infidelity would be at hand."

Similar warnings to that effect were uttered by other writers. The warnings have passed by unheeded. What was foreseen has long since come to pass. Both in England and Germany the old interpretation of Daniel and the Apocalypse has been too often cast aside, as worthy at best only of the study of antiquarians, and the disparagement of the prophecies of Scripture as truly "inspired" has grown apace.

I must close this article with another quotation from Wright showing how these false views of prophecy tend directly to make converts to the Roman Catholic Church:

When the Tractarians began their work in the Church of England under the leadership of Newman, Pusey, and their confederates, they soon discovered that it was absolutely necessary for the spread of their opinions that a blow should be struck at the old so-called "Protestant" interpretation of prophecy, which was then almost universally accepted as correct. Newman, as he states in his Apologia pro vita sua, was long kept back from imbibing peculiar Romish views by the notion which had been instilled into him in early days that the pope was the anti-christ. When that opinion was once demolished to his satisfaction, he proceeded comfortably on the road towards Rome.

These Futuristic views of prophecy quite naturally were soon popular among the High Church Party, and were imitated by many others to avoid the pointed, convincing arguments of those who still adhered to the old interpretation, and who showed that important truths are due at the present time. The so-called "Plymouth Brethren" have quite generally adopted these views, as well as such men as Baxter, Dimbleby, G. H. Pember, and Sir Robert Anderson, the author of "Daniel in the Critics' Den." But from Daniel and the Apocalypse, as interpreted by Christ and by nearly all Christian writers for many centuries, we can not avoid the conclusion that God has a vital, special message for the world at the present time. And the work of the Futuristic school, as well as that of the "higher critics," is only an effort, weak and ineffectual, to avoid the claims of this message upon our attention to-day.

At some future time perhaps we may consider this subject more in detail.

GEORGE MCCREADY PRICE.

PATIENCE.

By Edward Collins Downing

TO THOSE who sit and watch at night And look to God alone for strength, There will arise, I know, at length, A foregleam of eternal light.

The morning does not hesitate; The glory of its hour is fixed, Tho sorrow has been strangely mixed In all our lives, there is no fate That can retard the coming day.

Be patient. In His perfect time God's purposes will unfold, sublime, And light and joy shall have their way.

—Edward Collins Downing.

The Foundation of Culture

the THE foundation of culture, as of character, is at last the moral sentiment.—Emerson.

JOINT-WATER.

IN the fourth chapter of Ephesians, beginning at the eleventh verse, we have an enumeration of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which have been placed in the church, a statement of the object of those gifts, and the period during which they are to continue. Then in the 15th and 16th verses, we have an illustration. The Church is compared to the human body with Christ as the head, "From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of body unto the edifying of itself in love."

Notice, the whole body is fitly joined together and compacted "by that which every joint supplieth." Now every one who is at all acquainted with the human body, knows that "every joint" supplies what is called joint-water. This fluid is found in every joint of the body, and its office, or work, is to prevent friction. The different members of the body are brought together at the joints, and were it not for the presence of the lubricating joint-water, there would be friction, and such friction as would make it almost, if not quite, impossible for the body to exist.

The most important office of this joint-water, however, is "the effectual working in the measure of every part." That is, by means of this joint-water every part, or every member of the body, is enabled to attain to its full measure, or size. Whereas, were it not for the presence of this lubricant, the stronger member coming in contact with the weaker one, would prevent its growth, and the body would thus present an unnatural, or abnormal appearance, instead of being symmetrical in all its parts as it should be.

And the Creator has displayed no less wisdom in supplying this important joint-water to the spiritual body as well as to the natural body. The passage quoted above, and other passages, make it plain that this important fluid is love. The church is made up of members coming together from all the various stations of life, entirely unacquainted with each other's peculiarities and needs, and often having no sympathy for the weaknesses and failings of their fellow members,—weaknesses and failings which they, with their superior advantages in life, know little about. Under such circumstances it is nothing to be wondered at that there should be more or less friction at the joints; and in these days of confusion and general misapprehension it is of the utmost importance that every church-member be provided with a liberal supply of joint-water.—Canadian Union Messenger.

Courage, Reason, and Restraint

HE who fears to venture as far as his heart urges and his reason permits, is a coward; he who ventures farther than he intended to go is a slave.—Heine.

Talking in Company

WHEN you are in company, talk often, but never long; in that case if you do not please, at least you are sure not to tire your hearers.—Lord Chesterfield.

THE WOMAN'S FRIEND.

By Ellen G. White

He who gave back to the widow her only son, as he was carried to the burial, is touched to-day by the wo of the bereaved mother. He who wept tears of sympathy at the grave of Lazarus, who gave back to Mary and Martha their buried brother,

who pardoned Mary Magdalene, who remembered His mother when He was hanging in agony upon the cross, who appeared to the weeping women after His resurrection, and made them His messengers first to spread the glad tidings of a risen Saviour,--He is woman's best friend to-day, and is ready to aid her in her need if she will but trust in Him.

If Jesus is woman's friend and helper, surely the husband, the father of her children should not feel it beneath his dignity to sympathize with the mother in her cares, and assist in bearing her burdens. He should feel the sin and littleness of adding to her trials by bitter words. He should manifest a noble generosity of spirit toward her, not watching with a critic's eye every little neglect on her part, every failure to meet his peculiar ideas.

Christ respected and honored woman. There is not an instance in His entire life wherein by word or act he gave the least encouragement to speak or think disparagingly of woman, or gave the impression that she was not to be respected and honored equally with man.--Mrs. E. G. White.

TRAINING CHILDREN FOR GOD.

By Floyd W. Tompkins, S. T. D.

[Floyd W. Tompkins, S. T. D., in S. S. Times.]

PARENTS have no right—I put it strongly—to direct their children toward worldly ideas of life. They must remember that God has a prior claim, and that they must answer to Him if they disregard such claim. Why was it that the first-born son was, amongst the Jews, dedicated to the Lord? What meant the presentation of Christ in the temple (Luke 2:22-32) if it placed no accent on this claim of the Almighty? If mothers of old gave their sons gladly and proudly to God; if Hannah stands as a superb example of gracious motherhood; if the enthusiasm of the Roman matron, who preferred her sons to return from battle dead, but victorious, rather than alive and defeated, is an enthusiasm of proud and high-toned womanhood; if life means more than food and clothing and short-timed adulation and honor; if it has an association, through service, with the centuries to come, on earth and in heaven,—then surely the intelligent parent can not but find an impulse too strong for resistance in the guiding of a son Godward from the earliest years, and this guiding will at least suggest the prophetic office.

The Parents' Duty of Direct Influence.

I believe in a positive consecration at birth of the child to God for this holy calling. If the Lord pleases to change the direction of this consecration, then it is well; but the mother has done her duty and exercised her faith and given her gift. Nothing is so deplorable as the day-dreaming of a fond mother concerning her babe's future, mingled, as it so often is, with earthly considerations and human foibles. I would commend the reading of Mrs. Browning's wonderful poem, "Mary to the Child Jesus," as leading to higher and diviner dreams.

Some devout parents hesitate to infringe upon the sacredness of the child's personality, or to seem to assume authority before God, by leading or speaking or praying in the direction of the ministry for their sons. "Must it not be a voluntary offering given in maturer years by the youth himself when he can judge concerning his gifts and the world's needs? Must not God call, and has even a father or mother the right to assume in advance such a call, by leading the easily moulded mind of the child toward a certain goal?" The ready answer is found in the parents' consecration, proved by the very desire and guidance, the love of the heart for God and His work instinctively offering to God the gift of a life.

It is a poor thing that the world, with its chance and changing forces, should be permitted to influence the boy, rather than the earlier and holier affection of the parents. No man wrongly seeks to assume God's part when His only longing is that the child whom God has given shall be given back again to God in the noblest of careers.

The chief difficulty is the worldliness of parents who look for human greatness and power and comfort for their sons. This can be overcome only by a deeper holiness of life and purpose. We need to advance the character of our personal religion in order to attain our aim.

The need of ministers is great. The commonly assigned reasons are faulty. Pastors and Sunday-school teachers and parents hold the issue in their hands. O, for an awakening which shall make us all brave to meet the issue, and to help answer our own prayers when we say, "Lord, send forth laborers into Thine harvest!"

THE SOURCE OF HEALTH

By W. S. Sadler, M. D.

By W. S. SADLER, M. D.

I. GOD THE SOURCE OF HEALTH AND HEALING.

LIFE is the mystery of the ages, the one phenomenon that has baffled physician, philosopher, and physicist. The researches of science, while they have shed much light upon the workings of Nature, have utterly failed to disclose the source and secret of life. We must turn away from Science to Inspiration, and there learn that the mysteries of life are folded in the mystery of Divinity. "With Thee is the fountain of life." Ps. 36:9. "Power belongeth unto God." Ps. 62:11.

"God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us; that Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations." Ps. 67:1, 2.

The light of God's countenance brings health to man; the shining of His face ministers healing to the nations. God alone is able to work the wonder of health.

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance." Ps. 43:5.

Says the psalmist, "God . . . is the health of my countenance." Why should we so quickly surrender our moral courage and mental happiness to every passing influence of wind and weather, when God Himself is the very health of our countenance and the source of our life? Does it well become the Christian to make himself the victim of every change of weather and whim of feeling? Are not many of our mental harassments, moral doubts, and physical difficulties, due to the fact that we forget the great truth that God is our Helper, Christ our Healer, and that both Father and Son are faithful keepers and sustainers of all the faculties of mind, soul, and body?

"For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord." Jer. 30:17.

If health is lost through transgression, is it reasonable to expect God will restore it before we experience a change of heart and habit with reference to our physical and spiritual practises? Must not a change of sowing invariably precede a change in the reaping? When God grants the harvest of health which He has previously withheld, is it not because He discerns the spirit of repentance and sorrow for sin?

Not infrequently the question of co-operating with God in the cultivation of the health is lightly regarded by many who, like Naaman the leper, seem to think that sooner or later, God will, without any effort on their part, even in the face of their continued transgressions, miraculously and instantaneously heal them of their distress or disease.

"And He sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick." Luke 9:2.

The commission to preach the Gospel has connected with it the command to heal the sick. Christ inaugurated a twofold Gospel in the world. He commanded His disciples to preach the Gospel of the spiritual kingdom, and to minister healing for the physical man. Christ was the world's greatest medical missionary; and His followers, to be consistent, must minister to the bodies of their fellows as well as to their souls.

Divine power only can heal the sick. Neither the minister's prayers, the doctor's wisdom, the nurse's treatment, nor any other human influence, can heal the body, any more than these agencies can save the soul. God in heaven is the source of life. The Lord is the Healer.

Harmony with God is the secret of spiritual and physical health. The great river of life proceeds from the throne of God, and every created being is absolutely dependent upon the Creator for life. All life and health and healing emanate from this one divine source.

Within every grain of corn and wheat the Creator has placed the vegetable life which, under proper conditions, will spring into activity and bear fruit. Likewise, every man has been given a lease of human life; and still beyond is the gift of the spiritual life; for it is said of Christ that He is the "Light of life," and "the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John 1:9.

Fresh Air and Good Health

The benefits of outdoor living, so far as health is concerned, has been demonstrated in San Francisco. The editor of the Pacific Nurses' Journal has been talking in Chicago about the situation in San Francisco, and takes special pains to emphasize the fact that the stricken city is not a good place for nurses just now. It was at first supposed that the exposure of so many people to the rigors of outdoor life would cause much sickness, if not epidemics of various kinds, and thus make a demand for nurses. But this has not been the case. While the winds of the peninsula are damp and raw, they are ocean breezes, and the people in the camps have enjoyed more than usual good health. Notwithstanding the many inconveniences and otherwise disagreeable features of the situation, the nurses have found their occupation limited to an unexpected degree. All of which goes to prove that fresh air is much more conducive to good health than the atmosphere in closely built houses, however "modern" and elaborately furnished. But it should not be forgotten that the sanitary regulations inaugurated in the beginning under the auspices of the regular army, and rigidly maintained as long as the army was in charge, set the prestige for the order that has greatly affected the results. Thus it has been demonstrated to thousands of people that fresh air and sanitary surroundings are leading factors in the maintenance of good health. The lesson is well worth learning.

The advice that is wanted is generally unwelcome, and that which is not wanted is evidently impertinent.—Dr. Johnson.

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