Earlier text: The Word of KindnessDuring the whole of one of last summer’s hottest days I had the good fortune to be seated in a railway car, near a mother and four children, whose relations with one another were so beautiful that the pleasure of watching them was quite enough to make one forget the discomforts of the journey. It was plain that they were poor; their clothes were coarse and old, and had been made by inexperienced hands. The mother’s hat alone would have been enough to condemn the whole party on any of the world’s thoroughfares. I remembered afterward, with shame, that I myself had smiled at its antiquated appearance; but her face gave one a sense of rest to look upon, it was so earnest, tender, true, and strong. It had little comeliness of shape or color; it was thin and pale; she was not young; she had worked hard; evidently she had been very ill; but I have seen few faces which gave me such pleasure. The children—two boys and two girls—were all under the age of twelve, and they were talking over all the wonders they had seen, with a glow of enthusiastic delight which was to be envied. Only a word-for-word record would do justice to their conversation; no description could give any idea of it, so free, so pleasant and genial; and the mother’s part borne all the while with such equal interest and eagerness that no one not seeing her face would dream that she was any other than an elder sister. In the course of the day there were many occasions when it was necessary for her to deny requests and to ask services, especially from the eldest boy; but no young girl, anxious to please a lover, could have done either with a more tender courtesy. She had her reward; for no lover could have been more tender and manly than was this boy of twelve. Their lunch was simple and scanty; but it had the grace of a royal banquet. At the last, the mother produced, with much glee, three apples and an orange, of which the children had not known. All eyes were fastened upon the orange. It was evidently a great rarity. I watched to see if this test would bring out selfishness. There was a little silence, just the shade of a cloud. The mother said: “How shall I divide this? There is one for each of you; and I shall be best off of all, for I expect a share from each.” “O, give Annie the orange! Annie likes oranges,” spoke out the eldest boy, with the air of a conqueror, and at the same time taking the smallest and poorest apple himself. “O, yes; let Annie have the orange!” echoed the second boy, nine years old. “Yes, Annie may have the orange, because that is nicer than the apples, and she is a lady, and her brothers are gentlemen,” said the mother, quietly. Then there was a merry contest as to who should feed the mother with the largest and most frequent mouthfuls; and so the feast went on. Then Annie pretended to want apple, and exchanged thin, golden strips of orange for bites of the cheeks of Baldwins; and, as I sat watching her intently, she suddenly fancied she saw longing in my face, and sprang over to me, holding out a quarter of her orange, and saying, “Don’t you want a taste, too?” The mother smiled understandingly when I said, “No, I thank you, my dear, generous little girl. I don’t care about oranges.” At noon we had a tedious interval of waiting at a dreary station. We sat for two hours on a narrow platform, which the sun had scorched till it smelled of heat. The eldest boy held the baby, and talked to her, while the tired mother closed her eyes and rested. The two other children were toiling up and down the banks of the railroad track, picking ox-eyed daisies, buttercups, and sorrel. They worked like beavers, and soon the bunches were almost too large for their little hands. They came running to give them to their mother. “O, dear,” thought I, “how that poor, tired woman will dread to open her eyes; and she can never take those great bunches of common, faded flowers, in addition to all her bundles and bags.” I was mistaken. “O, thank you, my darlings! How kind you were! Poor, hot, tired little flowers; how thirsty they look! If they will only try to keep alive till we get home, we will make them very happy in some water, won’t we? And you shall put one bunch by papa’s plate and one by mine.” Sweet and happy, the weary and flushed little children stood looking up in her face while she talked, her heart thrilling with compassion for the drooping flowers and with delight in the giving of their gift. Then she took great trouble to get a string and tie up the flowers, and then the train came, and we were whirling along again. Soon it grew dark, and little Annie’s head nodded. Then I heard the mother say to the eldest boy: “Dear, are you too tired to let Annie put her head on your shoulder and take a nap? We shall get her home in much better case to see papa if we can manage to give her a little sleep.” How many boys of twelve years hear such words as these from tired, overburdened mothers? Soon came the city, the final station, with its bustle and noise. I lingered to watch my happy family, hoping to see the father. “Why, papa isn’t here!” exclaimed one disappointed little voice after another. “Never mind,” said the mother, with a still deeper disappointment in her own tone; “perhaps he had to go to see some poor body who was sick.” In the hurry of picking up all the parcels and the sleepy babies, the poor daisies and the buttercups were left forgotten in a corner of the rack. I wondered if the mother had intended this. May I be forgiven for the injustice! A few minutes after, I passed the little group, standing just outside the station, and heard the mother say: “O my darlings! I am so sorry! I wonder if I could find them if I went back. Will you all stand still and not stir from this spot if I do?” “O mama, don’t go, don’t go! We will get you some more. Don’t go!” cried all the children. “Here are your flowers, madam,” I said. “I saw that you had forgotten them, and I took them as mementoes of you and your sweet children.” She blushed and looked disconcerted. She was evidently unused to strangers, and shy with all but her children. However, she thanked me very sweetly, and said: “I was very sorry about them. The children took such trouble to get them; and I think they will revive in water. They can not be quite dead.” “They will never die!” said I, with an emphasis which went from my heart to hers. Then all her shyness fled, and we shook hands, and smiled into each other’s eyes with the smile of kindred as we parted.—Exchange. The Fly, a Dangerous Pest
By D. H. Kress
DURING the civil war, four men died of germ diseases to every one who was killed by bullets. During the first five months of the Spanish-American war, there were 158,000 admissions to the hospitals, and thirteen men died of fever and other diseases to every one killed in battle. A few years ago, conditions were such at Panama that when a man from the8North went there to work, he was given an affectionate farewell by friends and relatives. They never expected his return; death was almost certain. During the middle ages, whole nations were stricken with epidemics of disease; and sometimes half the population of an empire was laid low. Cholera, yellow fever, the bubonic plague, smallpox, and other messengers of death waged a relentless warfare upon the race. To-day such a condition is possible only where ignorance and superstition reign. Unable at that time to discover the causes of these epidemics, the people resorted to fasting and prayer. Their prayers have been heard. These epidemics have been stayed—not miraculously, but through an increase of knowledge. The bubonic plague, it has been discovered, is due to a germ which is spread through the medium of the flea, often using the rat as a vehicle. The relentless warfare against the rat has aided in suppressing this epidemic. Yellow fever has been found to be communicated by means of the mosquito. By wiping out the mosquito, yellow fever has been practically eliminated. The mosquito and the flea are by no means the most deadly enemies of man. The ordinary house-fly is probably responsible for a greater number of deaths than even the mosquito. The deaths during the civil and Spanish-American wars were probably chiefly due to the fly. Indirectly, it is responsible for most of the deaths of infants, and for many of those of adults. During the summer months, especially, thousands of little innocents fall victims to diseases spread by the fly. For its size, the fly is probably the dirtiest creature that exists. It is bred in filth, it lives in filth, and it feeds on filth; in fact, it can not exist without filth. Wherever filth is, there the fly is found. Where filth is not, the fly is seldom seen. The fly comes from the barn-yard, from the cesspool, or from a feast on tubercular sputum, and unceremoniously enters our homes, without even wiping its feet. Other visitors enter the sitting-room or the parlor, but the fly prefers to remain in the kitchen, the pantry, or the dining-room. While there, it may plunge into a dish of milk, or alight on the butter or other foods. It carries anywhere from fifty thousand to fifty million bacteria on its legs and back; and by alighting on these foods, it plants in them the germs of disease. Under favorable conditions, these germs multiply with almost unbelievable rapidity. In a few hours the milk visited by a fly may contain millions of bacteria. Often when it is fed to young children, they sicken and die. Their parents wonder why. Lack of knowledge is the cause of death. A few seeds of tuberculosis or typhoid planted on a piece of meat, in the milk-pail, or in other suitable soil, in a few short hours produce an enormous crop of their kind. The food is then served to the family. Is it surprising that one fourth of our young men and women die of tuberculosis, and that typhoid fever, diphtheria, and other germ diseases so mysteriously enter our homes? The fly is undoubtedly the chief agency through which germs of disease are conveyed from places of filth to man, and from man to man. How to Get Rid of the Fly
To keep the fly out of the house, it is merely necessary to screen the windows and doors, and to make a liberal use of fly-paper and fly-traps. But it is possible for a fly to carry infectious diseases from one person to another outside the house. Epidemics of sore eyes are frequently due to the fly. It seems to have a special preference for this delicate member, and may carry infection from one child to many others. Even syphilis may be conveyed from man to man in this way. Our aim should be not merely to shut flies out of our homes, but to get rid of them. That this can not be accomplished by the ordinary means we have thus far employed, is evident. At Panama they could not get rid of the mosquito by the means they had employed up to six or seven years ago. Formerly, while they were killing a dozen mosquitoes, they were at the same time cultivating a million in breeding-beds to take their place. For every mosquito killed in this manner a dozen attended the funeral. At Panama and in Cuba they got rid of mosquitoes by getting rid of their breeding-places. Mosquitoes need warm, stagnant water, in which there is dead organic matter, for the purpose of propagation. By drainage and a liberal supply of kerosene-oil the mosquito was virtually eliminated, and with it yellow fever and malaria. Flies may be gotten rid of just as easily. It is not so difficult a problem, in fact, to get rid of them as it was to get rid of mosquitoes. Flies are cultivated chiefly in manure heaps, around stables, in garbage-cans, and in outhouses. A proper disposal of manure and garbage will go a long way toward getting rid of flies. Clean premises and proper sanitary conditions will practically eliminate them. Garbage-cans should be kept covered or screened, to prevent breeding. So long as the kitchen is kept scrupulously clean, or cleaner than the outside, the fly will naturally prefer to remain on the outside. But when meats are cooked, and animal fats are freely used in frying foods, the fly is attracted to the kitchen and dining-room. Those who during the summer months subsist chiefly upon grains, breads, fruits, and nuts, and who eat their foods in as natural a state as possible, will find it less difficult to keep flies on the outside of their dwellings than those who spend much time cooking in the kitchen. No doubt flies have a mission in the world, so long as filth exists. They feed upon the bacteria which are bred in the organic impurities contained in filth. Nature has wisely arranged that the same conditions which favor the cultivation of germs, should encourage the cultivation of flies to consume them. There is no doubt that without the fly, germs would multiply more rapidly. The difficulty is they roam about too much. This is what makes them a pest. By improved methods of sanitation we get rid of both the germs of disease and the fly which conveys them. Cleanliness affords the only permanent protection from both. After giving to the children of Israel the best sanitary code of laws ever given to man, God declared through Moses that if they would keep all his statutes, he would “put none of these diseases” upon them which he had “brought upon the Egyptians.” This promise we may claim. I FIND that there are still people who, when lost or “turned around,” will say: “I wonder which way is north? How I wish I had a compass! Then I could surely tell.” Now, every boy ought to know that a watch is just as good a compass as it is a timekeeper. In fact, I would rather trust to a watch than to a compass if life depended upon my finding my way; for a watch can not be deflected by a foreign substance as a compass can. Given only one condition,—ability to see the sun or the place where the sun is,—and you can trust a watch to tell you the absolute truth about the points of the compass. It is as reliable as the sun itself. Now, to explain how a watch may be used as a compass: All you have to do is to point the hour-hand to the sun, wherever the hour-hand may be at the time, and south will always be exactly half-way between it and the figure twelve on the watch dial. Try it any time of day, and wherever you may happen to be, and you will find this method of determining north and south will never fail to work with the most perfect accuracy. The only difference between using the watch and using the compass is that you must remember that with the watch you find south instead of north. We will suppose that it is ten o’clock in the morning. The sun is pretty well up in the sky, and as you point your hour-hand toward it, you will see at once that the figure eleven, half-way between ten and twelve, indicates the true north and south line. It will be the same anywhere, no matter in what section of the world you may be. Even in cloudy weather you can often locate the sun by the delicate shadow from your open knife blade when you hold the knife upright on your palm. You will be surprised to see how often, on a cloudy day, you can determine the position of the sun by this experiment. This method of finding the points of the compass is called “orientation by the sun.”—Selected. “THE test of the correctness of one's faith is the life which such a faith insists upon.” Longing for Deliverance
By F. M. W.
Who has not felt longings for home? In the labor and conflict of life who has not longed for a period of peace and rest? This is true in both the material and the physical sense; it is equally true in the spiritual life. The life of the Christian in this world is fraught with trial and difficulty. This perhaps is in God's purpose. Otherwise our affections would be centered upon this world. During the time of our earthly pilgrimage we find seasons of refreshing, of rejoicing in God, even in the conflict. The sweet, abiding peace and joy of his Holy Spirit are given as an earnest of the eternal joy and peace which will come at the end of the journey. This present earth is not the home of the Christian. Before him has been placed a brighter hope, a more glorious heritage. For this the hearts of God's people in every age have longed. The coming of the Lord and the glories of the world to come have constituted the hope of the church of God in every generation. It is the hope of the whole creation. Says the apostle Paul:— “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” In his second epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle beautifully compares our present state in this world with the state to be revealed at the coming of the Lord. We quote his words:— “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (for we walk by faith, not by sight): we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” In this scripture the apostle mentions three conditions:—- “Our earthly house of this tabernacle,” or this present mortal state.
- The condition of being “clothed upon with our house which is from heaven,” or the state of immortality.
- The “unclothed” state,—the interim between the cessation of life and the taking on of the heavenly clothing,—the state of death.
The apostle declares plainly that he does not desire to be unclothed; he does not desire the unconscious condition between the two states of existence, but his desire is to be “clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” When did the apostle expect to enter this state of being “clothed upon” with his house from heaven, the time when mortality should be “swallowed up of life”? This is very plainly revealed in other portions of his letter to the church at Corinth. He states that this change will take place at the second coming of Christ, at the sounding of the last trump:— “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” And yet while the apostle earnestly desired the consummation of this great hope, he was willing still to live and labor on if the Lord so willed. He was willing to remain absent from the Lord, realizing the while that this absence kept him from the presence of his Lord. As he states in his epistle to the Philippians, “I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” In this is expressed his complete resignation to the divine will,—willing to live or to die, as Christ might desire; willing to be buffeted, persecuted, maligned for the cause of Christ, or, if Christ could be better magnified in his death, willing even to lay down his life for the sake of his Master. Paul knew that the Lord Jesus would not return to the earth in his day. In his epistle to the church at Thessalonica he earnestly combated the errors which had crept into the early church, that Christ was about to return. Paul knew that before he would be taken home, the gospel must do its appointed work of gathering out from all nations a people for the Lord; that Antichrist would arise and accomplish his baneful work in the world. But the apostle also realized that should he lay down his life for his blessed Lord, the next waking, conscious thought to him would be the glories of the world to come. In his unclothed state he would possess no conscious existence. The history of the world would be made, prophecy would be fulfilled, evil would run its wicked course. All this, though occupying weary years, and even centuries, would be to the sleeper in Christ as but a moment of time. His faith leaped from the life here to the life to come, taking no account of the time spent in unconsciousness, even as in our life-work here we take no account of the time spent in sleep. The coming of his King was the event upon which his eye of faith was focused. This was the hope that sustained him in all his arduous labors. This was the time when he would receive the crown of life which God had prepared for him. Near the close of his earthly pilgrimage, writing to Timothy, he said:— “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished10my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” May this blessed hope, which has been the inspiration of the church of God in all the ages of the past, prove our inspiration to-day. Soon, if faithful to God, we shall be “clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.” “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” —“Seal not up the words of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand.” The book of Revelation deals with the culmination of things. The fulfilment of its prophecies furnishes the last chapter in the history of this world. There is a cleansing of individual hearts on the part of some, a decided rejection of the last message of righteousness and truth on the part of the many, a declaration of final awards on the part of the great Judge; and then comes the declaration of the Lord himself: “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each man according as his work is.” That is the end of the controversy. To the unprepared, it is the terror of terrors; it is the death that has no glimmer of hope beyond, the darkness through which can shine no ray of sun or moon or star. But to those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, it is the day of days, the joy of joys, the life that has all hope for all things good through all eternity, the light that has no shade of gloom. It is a wonderful hope, a glorious truth, and its fruition is soon to be. Building on the Sure Foundation
By W. W. P.
In building for time, a good foundation is important. In building for eternity, it is absolutely essential. The Lord intends that Zion shall stand forever, and with this in view he has provided a sure foundation. “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not be in haste.” It is certain that this sure foundation is Jesus Christ. Here is a scripture which will make this clear: “So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner-stone.” It is also clear that this rock foundation upon which a human temple may be builded which shall stand forever, is the union of divinity and humanity in the person of Jesus, Son of God and Son of man. We are assured of this in our Lord’s own words. After Peter, speaking in behalf of all the disciples, had confessed his confidence that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” our Lord said unto him: “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it.” The testimony of the apostle Peter is to the same effect: “The Lord is gracious: unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious, ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood.” In giving his only begotten Son to take the flesh, Jehovah has laid in Zion a sure foundation. Resting upon this foundation, the church of the living God will stand forever. Death will not prevail over it, because Jesus, its founder and its foundation, has conquered death. This is the Christian’s hope. Concerning this foundation it is said, “He that believeth shall not be in haste.” Further light is thrown upon the meaning of this statement by its use in the New Testament. Thus the apostle Peter says: “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame.” By putting these two readings together, it is evident that the expression “shall not be in haste” and the expression “shall not be put to shame” are equivalent in meaning. The one interprets the other. “The meaning is that those who believe the divine declaration, and thus rest for safety on the foundation here promised, shall feel themselves so perfectly secure that they shall never have occasion to suspect their confidence; or, under the impulse of fear and shame, to betake themselves with speed to another refuge. It is security which can never fail.” But the inquiry may be raised, With what propriety can it be said that we believe on a foundation? Those to whom this statement was originally made through the prophet Isaiah did not need to ask this question; for to those who used the Hebrew language the connection was apparent. The word here translated “believe” is closely associated with the word meaning “to build.” He who believes on this foundation thereby builds upon this foundation, and he will never be put to shame because of any defect in the foundation. His only care need be that he uses the right kind of material in building. “For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; each man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man’s work of what sort it is.” We might add, however, that those who really believe on this foundation, who really build by faith, will find that their building will stand. For genuine faith deals only with the Word of God; and “the Word of our God shall stand forever.” In this time of storm and tempest every one ought to know for a certainty that he is building upon the sure foundation. Those who are building upon anything else than the rock foundation will soon be put to shame. “O build on the Rock, forever sure,
The firm and the true foundation;
Its hope is the hope which shall endure,—
The hope of our salvation.
We’ll build on the Rock, on the solid
Rock,
On Christ, the mighty Rock.”
As we see in the signs fulfilling around us the unmistakable evidences of the culmination of the work of God, it is well for us frequently to stop and consider what this warfare means to the world and to us. It is a struggle in which every individual in this world is interested. We read of a war in some far-off land, and our interest is not strikingly and personally aroused. That is their war, and not ours. But this conflict is our conflict; this war is our war; this victory may be our victory. And if not, then it will be our defeat. Victor or vanquished every one of us will be when the final accounting is made. The controversy of the ages between Christ and Satan has been reproduced in each individual in the perpetual struggle between Soul and Self. Satan would place himself above God, and rule the realm for his own glorification,—unapproachable monarch, unyielding tyrant. And Self has set for itself the same object—the “rule or the ruin” of the soul of man. Every soul lost through the triumph of Self is a fitting figure, an eloquent and sad object-lesson, of what the rule of Satan would have meant in the universe of God. Satan would have trampled upon and exterminated, if he could, that One who was the source of life itself, and thus have brought death, in the end, to every creature of the universe. Not only so; but his triumph would have flung confusion and destruction into all the matchless movings of suns and systems as far as the creation of God extended. That struggle between good, personified in God, and evil, personified in Satan, is reproduced in miniature, but none11the less really, in the person of every intelligent human being. There is a struggle in every one of us between obedience and disobedience, loyalty and insurrection. It is a struggle between Soul and Self—which shall be master? If Soul wins, it is a victory for good, for God, and for the individual. If Self wins, it is a victory for evil, for Satan; and the ruin of the individual is as sure and as complete as would have been the ruin of the universe had Satan won in heaven. God’s victory over him there was certain, and the final ridding of the universe of his presence and of all the results of his deceptive operations is sure. But that victory over Satan is no more sure and substantial and complete than ours as individuals may be through our complete acceptance of the gospel and of the work of our Saviour in our behalf. God’s purpose means life; Satan’s purpose means death. Soul ruling over Self means the triumph of God’s purpose; Self ruling over Soul means the triumph of Satan’s purpose. In the unfolding of God’s purpose of perpetual love and life this world has made the acquaintance of Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us; and to us, “who were dead in trespasses and sins,” that purpose has brought life and immortality through the atoning life and sacrifice of the Son of God. In his baptism into death, he held the hand of the human race; and when he came forth from the tomb, he held the guaranty of a race’s resurrection from the dead. So “out from among the dead ones” Christ will bring every soul that has, through his strength “gotten the victory” over Self in the conflict between Self and Soul. That victory symbolizes the final triumph of truth and righteousness over error and iniquity, and is in itself a part of that triumph. It means for the individual what the triumph of Christ means for the universe. It means the setting up of the throne of God in sole sovereignty in the individual heart. Christ himself said of his mission, “I am come that ye might have life.” Again: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” And as death could not hold him, he came forth from the tomb bringing with him life for every soul that wills to do the Father’s will. The believer follows him through the symbol of his sleep (baptism), and rises from that symbolic grave to “walk in newness of life.” The same physical life is in the body, but Soul is no longer chained to the chariot wheel of Self to do its bidding and perish with it. God is acknowledged sole ruler of that realm—the soul is manumitted. Every day lived by such a soul should remind the world of the resurrection of Christ, and preach his power to save from sin and sinning. Our old nature has gone to the tomb in the crucifixion of Self, and now must be made manifest in our lives the saving and vivifying power of the life of Christ in us. We thus become partakers with Christ in the death which he died, are “baptized into his death.” Out of that he came forth triumphant to live eternally unto God. So out of the symbolic grave Christ bids us come forth to live unto him for time and eternity, and to preach him and his saving power in the new life which he gives us grace and power to live. So let us who have followed our Lord in the likeness of his death, arise with him, and walk with him in that newness of life which will preach the resurrection and the power which it gives. Let us “walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us.” Let us also remember these words of Christ himself: “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” He was sent into the world for the salvation of men. He accomplished his purpose by his life among men. Christians are here for the same purpose, that they may, through him, be a “savor of life unto life,” thus carrying forward the same work of salvation, messengers of life in a world of death, harbingers of a better day. But we can not do this work if our life is out of harmony with the message of life which we bear. We must subjugate the fleshly mind and accept in its place the mind of Christ; dead continually to the ambitions and lusts of this world, and thus truly “alive unto God in Christ Jesus.” Then will the light of God’s truth shine out in us, and glory will come to him in the sheaves which we shall bring with us from the tare-strewn fields of this world. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” Let us, therefore, arise and walk in that “newness of life” which his life and resurrection have made possible for us, that Self in us may be vanquished, and God and Christ be all in all. C. M. S. Burning the Heathen Books
By W. A. S.
THE same gospel of the power of God that Paul preached in Ephesus, long ago, our workers are preaching among the heathen to-day; and similar fruits of conversion follow. When the fear of the Lord fell upon idol-worshipers at Ephesus, many who had used “curious arts brought their books together, and burned them.” From Kumamoto, Japan, Elder H. Kuniya sends us a post-card greeting, saying:— After we opened the tent-meeting, I went out one morning to get some lumber near the tent. “Teacher! teacher!” I heard a voice cry. I looked about, and saw the man calling me. “Come in,” he said; “I am going to give up my old religion. What should I do with these shrines? I can not keep them after hearing your sermon last night.” “Burn them up,” I told him, “or throw them in the river, as you please.” This he did; and he burned a pile of four Buddhist prayer-books at once. His father was a priest and he was a teacher; but now he enjoys this third angel’s message just as you do. Pray for poor Japan. Lift Up Thine Eyes, . . . and See
By W. A. S.
THE prophet is speaking of the evangelization of the nations; and the scripture applies especially in the last days, when the church is to rise and shine, and the light of the last message is to reach to the uttermost parts. The danger is that many will not see; that the marvelous work of God will be wrought out before men's eyes, and those who see the things transpiring will really not understand the meaning of it all until it is too late to have a saving part in the fulfilment of God's purposes. So it has been in the past, and warnings have been written for our learning in the solemn present. Paul declared to the Jews at Antioch, in Pisidia:— “We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children.” Acts 13: 32, 33. They had the Scriptures in their hands, telling of the wonderful work being done in their time; and the apostle appealed to them:— “Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.” Verses 40, 41. We are seeing remarkable things to-day. God forbid that we should fail to see their meaning in the fulfilment of prophecy. Things that the pioneers in our work preached as matters of prophecy fifty years ago, we see taking place before our eyes. And as we lift up our eyes round about, and look at the signals of the end in the progress of the message toward the uttermost parts of the earth, we see prophecy fulfilling rapidly. Really the leaven of this message is being placed in all parts of the great lump of humanity. Here is a word from Sister O. E. Davis, of British Guiana, South America, that shows how God is working away beyond our knowledge. She says of a trip Elder Davis is now taking:— He left Georgetown for Bartica [on the Essequibo River]. From Bartica he travels in an open boat from forty-three to forty-six days until he reaches Arawi Landing, Wenamu River. After three days of hard traveling from here he will reach Brother Dinklage's home. He expects to spend about ten days with the Indians at that place [we have several companies of Indian believers in Guiana]. From there he takes an Indian guide, and proceeds still farther into the interior, along a trail known only to the Indians. It will take about two weeks' traveling along this trail before he will reach a tribe of Indians who have never seen a white man. In some way they have heard of the Sabbath, and are keeping it. They have heard Elder Davis is coming to see them, and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the “God-man,” who will tell them all about the soon-coming Saviour. Elder Davis will be away from home three months or more. The time has come, and God is fulfilling his promise to cut short the work in righteousness. “Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far.” It is startling to see how the message is reaching out into the dark corners of the earth. We hear of a thousand people crowding around a meeting-place in the interior of China, and of scores of heathen coming forward for prayer as the message of Christ's soon coming is12preached in their ears. Regions that once we looked toward as lying at the end of the way, are yielding fruitage to-day. We are near the end of the way. What we see is sufficient to set every believing heart aflame. It is a time to dedicate our means and service to the closing work. How otherwise can we hope for a part in the soon-coming triumph? W. A. S.