p. 3 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 35.

Signs of the Times

Pacific Press Publishing Association

CALLING THE ANGELS IN.

By Margaret J. Preston

BY MARGARET J. PRESTON.

We mean to do it; some day, some day, We mean to slacken this fevered rush That is wearing our very souls away, And grant to our goaded hearts a hush That is holy enough to let them hear The footsteps of angels drawing near.

We mean to do it; O, never doubt, When the burden of daytime toil is o'er, We'll sit and muse while the stars come out, As the patriarch sat at the open door Of his tent, with a heavenward gazing eye, To watch for the angels passing by.

We've seen them afar at high noontide, When fiercely the world's hot flashings beat, Yet never have bidden them turn aside And tarry awhile in converse sweet, Nor prayed them to hallow the cheer we spread, To drink of our wine and eat our bread.

We promised our hearts that when the stress Of life-work reaches the longed-for close, When the weight that we groan with hinders less, We'll loosen our thoughts to such repose As banishes care's distracting din, And then we will call the angels in.

The day we dreamed of comes at length, When, tired of every mocking quest, And broken in spirit and shorn of strength, We drop, indeed, at the door of rest, And wait, and watch, as the days wane on-- But the angels we meant to call are gone!

Subscription to the Signs

Cambridge Springs, Pa., July 25, 1906. SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, Cal. Enclosed please find P. O. order for $1.50 for my subscription to the SIGNS—a blessed good paper in our home. T. C. REYNOLDS.

MRS. JOHN L. HILLERICH

By Mrs. John L. Hillerich

San Francisco, Cal., July 16, 1906.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, Cal.

Gentlemen: I received notice some time ago that my subscription to the SIGNS has expired. I had fully intended to renew before receiving this notice, but we are like the rest of our folks. Scattered sheep, we have been burned out and lost everything we possessed in the way of worldly goods, positions, and all, yet we are thankful to remain a living witness to the things that are taking place in the close of this world's history. I have lost very few numbers of the SIGNS during this great calamity. I have been getting them at the church, and distributing all through the East to our friends. No, we don't want to lose any SIGNS, the best paper in the world. It's so interesting to those who love the Word of God. It is our greatest spiritual pleasure. Enclosed please find $1.50 for a year's subscription.

Sincerely yours in the truth.

MRS. JOHN L. HILLERICH

The Signs in Albany Saloons

By Lilian S. Marden

179 Warren St., Albany, N. Y., July 10, 1906. EDITOR SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, Cal.

Dear Brother: Since I took up work with the SIGNS, I have had an experience I would not exchange for anything. The outside cover has had such good words that it alone sells the paper. Even tho the words are only read in passing they bless. Those good scriptures in prominent type take hold of people more than any words of any canvasser. I have had the joy of beholding their effect as I make my Saturday night pilgrimage through the saloons of the worst district in Albany, and I feel encouraged. There is a call for the "Union Label" by many men, and I hand them a Capital and Labor issue, telling them what scripture tells the laborer to do—"Be patient unto the coming of the Lord." I hope you can get out something special for Labor Day, for I am sure they will appreciate it.

Praying God's richest blessing on the SIGNS and its laborers, I am, Sincerely your sister in the faith, LILIAN S. MARDEN.

Messages^a_nd Messengers

The Great Controversy and Heralds of the Morning

The "Great Controversy" and "Heralds of the Morning" are filled with soul-saving messages for the people just now. That this fact is appreciated by scores who have read and received their messages, the following records prove:

"GREAT CONTROVERSY" SALES IN MISSOURI FOR JUNE

Agent	Hours	Orders	Value
A. L. Kiehnhoff*	265	40	$150.50
Geo. W. Kiehnhoff*	241	65	201.25
F. H. Phillips*	238	95	305.00
Etta Oppy*	207	139	449.00
A. L. Elliott	154	32	102.25
E. Max Trummer	150	59	203.00
E. C. Eden	148	24	96.00
Erma Fisher	114	30	165.50
Lizzie Peebles	76	15	49.00
Flossie Foster	70	20	64.75
Mrs. C. G. Bellah	69	42	169.05
1,732	561	$1,955.30

*May and June. Average per hour, $1.13.

Doesn't the above record stir up the minds of many of our readers who formerly acted as messengers for the truths contained in the "Great Controversy"? If so, will you not arrange at once to secure a prospectus and work up a fall delivery for this book? Special suggestions from old experienced agents have been recently printed and will be furnished free to you.

"HERALDS OF THE MORNING" SALES IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FOR JULY

Agent	Hours	Orders	Value
Lylon Hart	118.5	111	$196.50
Floyd R. Moore	112.5	109	207.05
Elizabeth Gregory	108	104	182.75
Thos. Steele	107	16	19.25
Bessie Hart	97	76	130.00
U. V. Wilcox	85	112	206.25
Ella Olsen	81	74	130.00
J. V. Pierson	80	47	82.25
Inez Hoiland	71	136	350.50
Glen Kennedy	70	29	47.50
Emma Covell	66	20	35.00
Earle Benton	62	88	154.00
Susie Barker	58.5	49	83.75
M. J. King	49	56	126.00
1,165.5	1,027	$1,950.80

Average per hour, $1.67.

Inexperienced solicitors find

Heralds of the Morning

particularly easy to present because it gives the meaning of present-day happenings. A striking chapter on the San Francisco earthquake and fire, the Mount Pelee eruption, and other recent calamities, has just been added and the price raised to $1.75. One agent says of the new edition:

I find the $1.75 book sells just as well as the $1.50. I tell my customers it is brought down to the present time; in fact, is not yet off the press.

There never was so good a time to sell this book as just now. Are there not hundreds of young people, particularly, who will become messengers for the message contained in

Heralds of the Morning

Although the plates and a large edition of both

Great Controversy

and

Heralds of the Morning

were burned in our fire, new editions are being printed, and the books will be supplied on time. For prices and detailed information, address your state tract society.

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CAL. 285 Salmon St., Portland, Ore. 1109 E. 12th St., Kansas City, Mo.

A PRESENT LESSON FROM THE PAST.

The Feast of Belshazzar.

A MOST striking lesson of the past, pre-eminently applicable to-day, is the fall of Belshazzar, the last of the kings of rich, proud, luxurious, voluptuous Babylon. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime," an apostle of Jesus Christ declares, "were written for our learning." Be assured we can study this with profit.

Belshazzar was not sole king of Babylon. He reigned conjointly with Nabonadius, his father, who gave up his last days to his religious devotions and temple-building, leaving the pleasure-loving Belshazzar to deal with the grave affairs of state. Belshazzar seems to have been the grandson of Babylon's mightiest king, Nebuchadnezzar.

HE had had the privilege of learning some of the useful lessons of life. He must have known of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, interpreted by Daniel, the prophet of the God of Israel; and that God in that interpretation had declared that it was He, the God of heaven, that had given to Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom. He had learned of Nebuchadnezzar's attempt to force the loyal servants of God to worship the great golden image on the plains of Dura. He had learned the utter failure of that attempt, the death of the king's warriors who attempted to execute his sentence, and the miraculous preservation of the servants of God in the furnace of fire. He had learned of the proud monarch's humiliation when he exalted himself against God, of his seven "times" of insanity and exile, of his subsequent restoration to his kingdom, and his acknowledgment that the God of Israel "doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth," and that "those who walk in pride He is able to abase." Belshazzar doubtless knew, or had had the opportunity to know, all these things; for they must have been matters of public record. Yet he did not take them to heart.

INSTEAD of learning that "the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men," he seemed to think that he ruled, and his kingdom, Babylon, would stand forever; that even then, while the victorious Medes and Persians were without, the city's mighty walls would resist all attack; and in nightly revel he boasted of his puny power and cheap glory. On the last night of his inglorious revel, drunken with wine and vanity, he called to his lackeys to bring forth, from the place where Nebuchadnezzar had deposited them, the golden vessels taken from the holy temple of Jerusalem, "that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein." In the graphic words of the poet—

"Bring forth, cried the monarch, those vessels of gold Which my father tore down from the temple of old, They are brought, and before him the vessels all shine; And he bows unto Baal, and he drinks the dark wine."

The Scriptures declare, "They drank wine and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, and of wood, and of stone." He debased the holy of the Lord to honor the heathen sun-god Baal and his images.

BELSHAZZAR had taken his last step, and had crossed the "hidden boundary," beyond which there is no returning. "In the same hour" the hand sent from God traced in letters of fire on the plaster of the wall of the palace before the king, "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN"—numbered, numbered, weighed, divided. The king's guilty heart told him that it portended evil, but he could not read it. His wise men and astrologers and soothsayers and Chaldeans are blind to its meaning. The fiery, heart-piercing letters strike deeper terror to the guilty soul of the king as they remain unread. Finally, through Nebuchadnezzar's widow, Daniel, the aged, is called. He comes in; boldly he tells the king to give his rewards to others, and keep his gifts to himself. It is not the mission of God's prophets to labor for such baubles. He pointed out the lessons which God had taught the kings of Babylon through Nebuchadnezzar, how God humbled his pride, and yet Belshazzar had not humbled his heart, tho he knew it all; but he had lifted up himself against God, had profaned God's holy things by praising the gods that were no gods, while "the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." Therefore the writing, the sentence, the doom: "MENE: God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL: Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting. PERES: Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." That very night was slain Belshazzar the king, and Babylon passed to her conquerors.

"WHATSOEVER things were written aforetime were written for our learning." Rom. 15:4. God gave these lessons in the beginning to teach those who lived at the time the lesson was given. He had them written, that after ages might profit by the same lessons. May we not learn the lesson here? There are no divers weights and measures in God's

balances. His weights and measures and rules are of eternal righteousness, weighing, measuring, estimating, us at just what we are.

He has given us lessons, many precious lessons, and often repeated. By numerous scriptures and simple laws, repeated "o'er and o'er again," has He told us His will. He has declared the reward of obedience, and the fearful results of disobedience. He has illustrated this by numerous examples, from Cain to Ananias. He has shown, and is constantly showing, us that righteousness is life, and sin is death. He has shown that righteousness enlightens, while sin blinds and deceives. He has revealed by precept and example how holy are His precepts and institutions, and that He accepts no substitutes for either. His glory will He not give to another. The proud ruler and the humble peasant are alike amenable to His laws.

The common fire will not become sacred, tho kindled by a consecrated priest, whose miter bears the inscription, "Holiness to the Lord." The holy ark can not be wantonly handled by the "holy nation," or even by the consecrated Levites. Not even the king may serve at the priestly altar; in the holy work, with unholy heart and hands, health turns to leprosy. The man and woman who loved a lie could not live in the presence of the Spirit of God, while the sinner who longed for righteousness is cleansed and made whole. These are among the lessons that God has given this generation, lessons that should lead to consecrated carefulness and faithfulness in His service. More than this, He has revealed to us His great love and His mighty helpful power and sympathy in Christ Jesus,—a love longing to save, stooping to save, mighty to save, from sin to righteousness. And God has revealed all this that responsive love and gratitude may lead us to the greatest faithfulness in His service.

WEIGHED—but we shall be weighed, all and each. The kings and rulers of earth will be weighed. A great, proud, worldly church will be weighed in the balance of God's sanctuary. Six thousand years of light and object-lesson have been flooding and beaconing her pathway; how has she received it? Has she turned toward it? or has she placed herself between it and the clearly revealed duty, blinding self and obscuring duty? God's law of Ten Words, interpreted by prophet and apostle, worked out in the life of Christ, has been demanding obedience—obedience to the one God, the Creator of heaven and earth, regard for His holy name, reverence and observance of His holy Sabbath; how has she regarded these things?—She has turned from the law to tradition, has offered her man-made substitute for the holy Sabbath of the Lord. "Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them." Eze. 22:26. God is weighing these things. He is weighing each one, you, reader, among the rest. He is measuring your character by the law; He will weigh us all by the unerring scales of truth and justice.

"FOUND WANTING"—shall this be the verdict? Man's tradition, however hoary, will not profit then. Great names, however honored of men, will not furnish introduction to Eden's home. Church, priest, or pope can not grant absolution then of sins unconfessed to God. The counterfeit Sabbath or creed or character will not pass current there. The all-scrutinizing eye of God will detect every sham and every flaw. The letters of living light of His holy law will strike through and through with fearful dread every guilty soul, and TEKEL will be inscribed on every brow, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting." But it need not be so to a single soul. God has given us this lesson of Belshazzar to warn us. He has given us His Word to guide us. He has given us His Spirit to enlighten us. He has given us His Son to save us. Will you not yield all to Him, that the verdict may be, 'Well done'?

OUR DIVINE-HUMAN PRIEST

THE 2,300 DAYS.

WE have learned the meaning of the symbols of the vision of Daniel 8. The two-horned ram represented Medo-Persia; the rough goat represented Grecia; the first notable horn of the goat represented Alexander the Great; the four horns represented the four divisions of Alexander's kingdom; the little horn, which "waxed exceeding great," represented the empire of Rome, beginning small, yet by craft and conquest extending its dominion throughout the world.

Rome did more than this: that power stood up against the Prince of princes, took away from Him the spiritual, continual service due Him, and by craft and subtlety and policy perverted God's truth and destroyed souls.

How long, one holy one asked another, should this work of perversion and iniquity and oppression go on, in which God's people should be persecuted and His truth and worship trodden down. And the holy one answered the prophet:

"Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Dan. 8:14.

Then came he who in the courts of God is called Gabriel, commissioned of heaven to show Daniel, and us through Daniel, the vision. And Gabriel, faithful to his trust, declared to Daniel, what we have already learned, the meaning of the symbols. When this was accomplished, the angel left the prophet with this assurance, "The vision of the evenings and mornings which hath been told is true; but shut thou up the vision; for it belongeth to many days to come." Verse 26.

Daniel could at that time bear no more of the great revelation, and was "sick certain days." But he did not forget the vision. What of the vision of the mornings and evenings? What of the number of them—2,300? Altho for many days to come, what did they mean?

Prophetic Time.

The term evening and morning is a Hebrew term for a day. See the days of Genesis 1. So our Common Version renders, "two thousand and three hundred days," but leaves the expression in verse 26 so that the ordinary reader sees no direct and specific connection between verse 14 and 26. The latter specifically refers to the former.

These days are symbols of years. As God uses short-lived beasts to represent long-existing empires, so, in the same connection, He uses short periods of time to represent long periods. The prophetic law is clearly stated elsewhere by the Spirit, "a day for a year." See Eze. 4:4-6; Num. 14:34.

But where does this period begin? Where end? Daniel tells us that none understood the matter. Dan. 8:27. This, however, did not prevent him from exercising an eagerness to know. He seems to connect this period of time in some way with the return of his people from captivity as foretold by Jeremiah. A little from the time of the angels' visit, Belshazzar, the last of the Chaldean kings, had fallen, and a Mede, reigning by permission of Cyrus, the Persian had come to the throne of world-empire. But notwithstanding this sweeping revolution, in which Daniel so strongly figured, we find him a little later still seeking God in behalf of his people. He set his face to know God's will. By confession of sin and earnest supplication with fasting he sought God. A sample of his pleading is given in chapter 9, verses 3-19.

And God answers prayer. Even while Daniel was praying Gabriel comes again. That Daniel may know the object of his coming, he immediately reverts to the unexplained 2,300 days of the previous vision:

"O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee wisdom and understanding; . . . therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision. Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people."

Note the following facts: (1) The vision of chapter 8 includes certain symbols and a period of time; (2) Gabriel was commanded to explain the vision of chapter 8 to Daniel (8:16); (3) Gabriel explained the symbols (verses 17-25); (4) He did not explain the time; but declared that it was true, and that it referred to far future time (verse 26); (5) The reason why the angel could not explain it was doubtless because Daniel could not bear it (verse 27); (6) Gabriel therefore left an important part of the vision unexplained, and his commission of God unfulfilled; (7) Therefore at the first opportune time he returns to Daniel, tells him wherefore he had come, refers to the unexplained vision, and begins where he left off; namely, on the matter of the time.

"Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people." Seventy weeks of what?—Evidently of the 2,300 days. The word "decreed" is in the common version "determined." The original word is chathak, the literal meaning of which, according to Gesenius, Strong, and others, is "cut off." "Seventy weeks are cut off upon thy people." Cut off from what?—The time of the vision, the 2,300 days.

The Seventy Weeks.

Seventy weeks of years are 490 years; and these years are allotted to the Jewish people. Read what those seventy weeks shall see:

"Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Anointed One, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks; it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times. And after the threescore and two weeks shall the Anointed One be cut off, and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined. And He shall make a firm covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate." Dan. 9:24-27.

1. Here are the events to occur, and their meaning: (1) "To finish transgression;" that the Jewish nation might fill up its cup of iniquity (Matt. 23:32; Luke 19:45, 46); (2) "To make an end of sins" in the perfect overcoming of Jesus Christ, who lived for all; (3) "To make reconciliation for iniquity" by His death upon the cross; (4) "To bring in everlasting righteousness" in the perfect character of Christ; (5) "To seal up vision and prophecy," the vision and prophecy made sure by the complete fulfilment of the seventy weeks; (6) "To anoint the Most Holy," either the anointing of Christ as He entered upon His everlasting priesthood (Heb. 2:9), or the anointing of the heavenly sanctuary, as in the type (Ex. 40:9-13), or both.

When the Days Began.

2. The days began from "the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem." This was "the commandment of the God of Israel," carried out by the decrees of three kings, Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes. Ezra 6:14. The decree of Cyrus did not meet God's commandment, for it had to do with the temple alone. Darius merely renewed the decree of Cyrus. But Artaxerxes Longimanus issued a decree given to us in the very language in which it was issued, which covered God's purpose. It embraced the temple building, and the restoration of the Jewish city and commonwealth, even to the trial of all cases and the execution of the death penalty. It is found in Ezra 7:12-26. This decree was given in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, who began his reign in B. C. 464. Seven from 464 is 457. The going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem occurred in B. C. 457.

3. From that date to the Anointed One—Messiah, for so the word means—shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, aggregating sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years. From the autumn of B. C. 457 (for then the decree went into effect), 483 full years reach to 27 A. D. In that year Jesus was baptized, was anointed with the Holy Spirit, and entered upon His three and one-half years of earthly ministry. See Mark 1:15; Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38. When Jesus declared "the time is fulfilled," direct reference was made to Dan. 9:25. The seven weeks of the first part of the sixty-nine weeks were given to the building of the wall and the repairing of Jerusalem, which by Prideaux is fixed as closing in B. C. 408.

4. After the 483 years end, the Anointed One, the Messiah, shall be "cut off, and shall have nothing." Compare with Isa. 53:8; Matt. 26:53; John 1:11. This can refer to nothing but the crucifixion. Then He had no justice, and His very own forsook Him and fled. This event occurred, not in the middle of a week of days, but in the midst of this week of years. By His crucifixion He rendered nugatory the sacrifice and oblation of the earthly temple.

Jesus began His ministry in the autumn of A. D. 27. He attended four Passovers, John 2:13; 5:1, 6:4; 13:1. His first Passover occurred in the spring of A. D. 28; His second in the spring of 29; His third in the spring of 30; and His fourth in the spring of 31, at which He was crucified. The crucifixion is fixed by Dr. Hale's chronology in the spring of 31. During the first half of this week Jesus taught the principles of His covenant to the Hebrews. He confirmed the covenant by His death upon the cross, sealing its principles forever. His disciples for three and one-half years more taught these principles among the Hebrews. This brings us to A. D. 34, where the seventy weeks ended. Then the Jews rejected Christ again in the proto-martyr Stephen; Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was raised up the next year, and the Gospel message was speedily spread to the world.

5. In consequence of the rejection of Christ, the Jews were left to themselves. They had said, "His blood be upon us and upon our children;" "we have no king but Caesar." God gave them their choice and left them to the tender mercies of Caesar. Then "the people of the prince that shall come," the Romans, destroyed the city and the temple; and upon the flood-tide of that nation's iniquity came the utter destruction of the nation, the desolation of their land, and the scattering of the people.

6. Taking the seventy weeks from the 2,300 years, and there remains 1810. This added to A. D. 34 carries us to A. D. 1844, the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary, when Jesus shall close His priestly work.

The next paper will explain more fully what is meant by the cleansing of the sanctuary.

FORM VERSUS POWER.

As a characteristic of some professing Christians in the last days, the apostle Paul represents them as “holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof.” That is, their dependence is altogether in the form; the power, or the source of power—the Holy Spirit—having been ignored, there is no power in the form. The Lord has designed certain formalities for the effectual carrying out of His work, and for the effectual witnessing to the Gospel; also ordinances, as memorials for the strengthening and encouragement of His people. The Lord’s work in the earth is to be an organized work, therefore there will be more or less of formality connected with it. This is not to be ignored, but as a sole dependence it is nothing. Profession of Christianity is essential to personal witnessing for Christ, but without the power of the Holy Spirit, it is as “sounding brass.” The profession can not take the place of the power. This power, to be effectual in connection with Christian profession, must first find place in the individual heart. Unless it be manifest in a changed life, a humble, unselfish purpose, the form of godliness can be nothing else than form. Simon, the magician of Samaria, thought to buy this power with money; but Peter quickly assured him that, notwithstanding his profession and his influence among the people, he had “no part nor lot” in the fellowship of Christ.

While the apostle notes this failing as a characteristic of “the last days,” the Lord, by His own mouth, has told us that it would be the condition of “many,” and that in the judgment it would be fatal to their prospects of salvation. “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of

My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Thy name, and by Thy name cast out demons, and by Thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” G.

THE TREND OF POPULAR UPRISING.

OF the Persian governmental policy it will not much longer be said that the law "altereth not" (Dan. 6:8). It is officially stated that Persia is to have a constitution. Of course it will not be such a constitution as that formally acknowledged in the United States, or even in some of the constitutional monarchies of the Old World; but it will be a constitution—at least a small concession to the rights of the people. It is said that the shah found at last, that surrender, or a little show of surrender, had to be made or there would be revolution. The absolute monarchs are finding the truth of the old adage.

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

The poor czar of Russia has been forced to surrender twice within a year; first he yielded to the people, and then to the dukes and nobles. At present Russian “government” is a kind of see-saw, with nominal order and virtual chaos sitting on the opposite ends. It remains to be seen what the people of Persia, after thousands of years of absolutism, will do with a little taste of recognition.

The people of China are also being agitated by a desire for some measure of popular sovereignty, and it is expected that the government will yield a little before long, and the less important of the Asiatic countries will probably follow. The wave is on, and there are great expectations in some circles that popular sovereignty, liberty, and “civic righteousness” in general will prevail.

But it never will reach the degree of liberty comprehended in the Constitution of the United States. This is obvious for two reasons: (1) There is not sufficient time prior to the Lord’s coming for such a development from the crude idea of liberty that prevails among the masses. (2) The ideal set up by the framers of the United States Constitution, which has been the ideal to which the rank and file of other peoples have longingly yet almost hopelessly looked, has lost too much of its force even at home. The tide of liberty is ebbing in the great American republic even faster than it is flowing on the other side of the world.

The Constitution has become the victim of Supreme Court construction to such an extent that its dearest and most vital provisions are deemed legitimate food for judicial whim. And it has all been in the interest of the great combinations of capital, who support and control an army of legal counsel and political operators. Long before Russia and Persia and Turkey and China, and a score of smaller peoples, have really learned the rudimentary principles of civil and religious liberty, the United States will be deep in the mire of church and state union. Then the admirers and followers of the Western Star will become so befogged that the “great day of the Lord” will overtake them unawares, and they will perish in their confusion.

The trouble with the popular uprisings of our day is, they are largely under the auspices of secret societies and leagues and unions of one kind or another. As the grain bound into bundles is more convenient of gathering, so the gathering of men into organized bundles, especially the secret, oath-bound bundles, renders them more susceptible to manipulation. These are aggregated, or “federated,” and thus made more easily controlled by leading, the unscrupulous, minds whose ultimate purpose is selfish aggrandizement. “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption.” 2 Peter 2:19.

So it is everywhere to-day; the victims of oppression are banded together and led to their own hurt by agitators of various kinds whose purpose is self-interest. In these last days, days of increasing delusion and deception, the sovereignty of the people, civic righteousness, religious liberty, and political equality for the masses, are dreams that will be but partially realized. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. . . . Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” Ps. 146:3-5.

DECEPTIVE VIEWS OF SATAN.

A GOOD move of the National Bill Posters' Association is the declaration that in the future no placards will be posted which bear pictures purporting to represent Satan. The association's reason for this step is not stated, but one very good reason for it would be that such caricatures are very deceptive. These absurd representations have very much strengthened the deception that there is no such being as Satan—no personal adversary of all that is good. Nothing could better please this arch-deceiver, or conduce more to the success of his seductive schemes.

The Scriptures of truth reveal him, under the figure of the king of Tyre, as being "full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty." Furthermore the Lord says of him, "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee."

This was before his fall; and it is also said of him, "Thou wast in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering." See Eze. 28: 13-16. He lost none of his cunning by being cast out of heaven, of which action we are informed by Christ in Luke 10: 17, 18 and Rev. 12: 7-12. Satan knows well how to deceive, and he knows that to carry out his purpose of drawing away men from their allegiance to God he could not succeed by appearing to them as a hideous monster. When he deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden, he chose for a medium the most beautiful and "subtle" of all the earthly creatures, excepting man himself. That the serpent now crawls upon the ground, a loathsome, hated thing is the result of the curse that fell upon it. Gen. 3: 14, 15.

Satan has the power to assume different appearances, even to personate individuals, as in the case of Samuel (1 Samuel 28). He is able to appear as "an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11: 14), that his deceptions may appear to men to be righteous. He could not do this in the horrible forms in which he is popularly made to appear. It would be far better if men, women, and children were made to fear to do the will of the adversary in disobeying the commandments of God, than to fear bodily harm from some haunting genius, or some imaginary hideous creature with horns and cloven hoofs and a dragon's tail. The worst harm that Satan can do to any one is in his most beautiful appearance as "an angel of light," disseminating his pernicious doctrines that the law of God is abolished and that men have natural immortality in themselves. G.

Question Corner

1888. Once in Grace Always in Grace.

Is the doctrine of once in grace always in grace a Bible doctrine? If a man is truly converted, will he fall away forever? D.

There is no such Bible doctrine; it is a part of the theology of men. Take one instance in reply to the latter question. When Saul was anointed king, and yielded himself to God, God converted him, as Samuel predicted he would do. Here is prediction and fulfilment: “The Spirit of Jehovah will come mightily upon thee, and thou . . . shalt be turned into another man.” “And it was so, that, when he turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart.” See 1 Sam. 10:6-9. But Saul, tho once in grace, and possessing a new heart, even being counted among the prophets, fell from grace; God departed from him; and he died because of his intercourse with familiar spirits. Read 1 Sam. 28:3-7; 1 Chron. 10:13, 14. To keep us from this, note the following instructions from the Word: “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.” Matt. 24:14. “For we are made partakers with Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” Heb. 3:14. “By which [the Gospel] also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory [“if ye hold fast,” margin] what I have preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.” 1 Cor. 15:2. This last is to them who “stand” in the Gospel. “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” 1 Cor. 9:27. We may rebel and refuse to go forward right on the very border of the Promised Land.

1889. The Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Luke 15.

In the parable of the prodigal son, who is represented by the prodigal, the sinner or the backslider? Who does the elder brother represent? C. M. D.

There seems to be good reason for saying that the elder brother represents the Jews, and the prodigal, the Gentiles. The two classes of peoples are well represented in the brothers. But above all this is shown—and that is the great object of the parable—the great love of God to the undeserving, whether he be Jew or Gentile, backslider or sinner. God is no respecter of persons.

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