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Review and Herald, Vol. 80, No. 51.

Bethlehem!

Review and Herald

Dec 24, 1903

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Dec 24, 1903

Bethlehem!

“And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.”

Bethlehem!

O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light; The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee to-night.
O morning stars, together Proclaim the holy birth! And praises sing to God the King, And peace to men on earth. For Christ is born of Mary, And, gathered all above, While mortals sleep the angels keep Their watch of wondering love.
How silently, how silently, The wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven. No ear can hear His coming; But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will accept Him still, The dear Christ enters in.
—Phillips Brooks.
“Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

Publishers’ Page

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Company

The Abiding Spirit

BY MRS. S. M. I. HENRY
An exceedingly helpful work, treating upon the presence, power, and ministry of the Holy Spirit, as manifested in the most common, material things, and as needed for the performance of the most simple duties.
It sets forth the constant presence of the one only Spirit as the condition of existence, and a healthy and successful life as dependent upon the intelligent recognition of this presence, and on the proper adjustment of everything, physical and mental, to this power.
The larger proportion of common religious perplexities are carefully outlined, and the simple way revealed for them, in the place of their darkness.
The purpose of the book is to show the power of the Holy Spirit, and its relation to the human soul. The spirit of the work is excellent, and it should be in every home. It is beautifully bound in cloth; gold stamped, with gilt edges, 75 cents; in plain cloth, 40 cents.

The Gospel Reader

A READER prepared especially to follow “The Gospel Primer,” being graded and generally adapted to the natural progress of the children finishing the “Primer.” It is also a good reader to follow the “Bible Reader” in the home and church schools.
The long and successful experience of the author (G. H. Bell) as an educator and Biblical student has enabled him to embody in this reader the primary essentials in progressive reading, and to utilize the more prominent events in Bible history as suitable subject-matter for a reader adapted to children. The cardinal principles of the gospel are taught in a clear, progressive, interesting manner, and the language is so clear, simple, and direct, that small children have no difficulty in understanding the teaching of the text.
The thirty-five chapters of the reader are beautifully and impressively illustrated with twenty-two fine half-tone Bible pictures, and it is substantially and attractively bound in cloth, with a portrait of the Saviour in gold on the front cover; also bound in board covers in two colors. It contains 192 pages, printed in large, clear, new type. Price, in cloth, 75 cents; board covers, 50 cents.

“At the Door”

THE new art booklet on prophecy fulfilled. A brief, artistic, forcible, five-minute outline history of the world, foretold by Christ, illustrated by fifty engravings selected and arranged with historical marginal notes and comments by F. E. Belden, showing the fulfilment of every prophecy in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, except the final act.
Christ’s own words are in large type above and below the engravings. He foretells; the pictures answer, Fulfilled, from his time to ours; from Vesuvius and Pompeii, A. D. 79, to Mt. Pelee and Saint Pierre of to-day; from the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, to the latest political, social, and religious disturbances.
The new “Diagram of the Dark Ages, and the Dark Day” is the best summary of the subject ever presented. The booklet is printed in colors, and sells at sight. The busiest man stops to look. It smiles, leads, teaches, convicts. It “casts up the highway,” and truth rides into the soul. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” Beauty secures attention; brevity encourages it; arrangement controls it; directness adds power to the truth.
The letter of Oct. 8, 1903, to the author, from the celebrated astronomer, Prof. A. C. Young, of Princeton, N. J., will interest you on the subject of meteoric showers. New truth here.
The opinions of General Nelson A. Miles, Bishop Newman, Dr. Lyman Abbott, the New York Christian Advocate, Archdeacon Farrar, Dr. Eyton, Cardinal Gibbons, etc., may surprise you.
The great Bible expositor, Uriah Smith, and other good judges, have declared this to be the briefest, most artistic, and forcible treatise ever published on this subject. It introduces the great themes of truth for to-day.
Price, 15 cents; 25 cents in heavy covers, enameled paper, silk cord. In lots of ten, 40 per cent discount, or 9 and 15 cents, respectively. A valuable present. Better still, sell it. Poor plan to give away. Attractive truth sells. Try it quick. Order of the State Tract Societies.

Easy Steps in the Bible Story

THIS is the only book we have for children that gives the story of the Bible in the order of inspiration. The stories of the Bible from creation to Sinai are given in the same order of the Bible, but told in a simple, interesting way, which impresses the children. As the child grows up and reads the same scriptures in the Bible, the order is not disturbed, and the facts are not confused. The Biblical association of facts and subjects is of more importance than many appreciate. This is one of the features of Bell’s Series of Sabbath-school Lessons that have rendered it so successful for the past twenty years. “Easy Steps in the Bible Story” is a book on the right line, and one that lays a good foundation for a thorough, connected knowledge of the Scriptures. It is the best Bible book for children—a child’s Bible in simple form. The children themselves like it. This is its best recommendation. It ought to be in every home where there are children. Prices, 25 and 50 cents.

What and How to Answer

By Mrs. S. M. I. Henry

An Eight-Page Tract, Words of Truth Series, No. 41

BY MRS. S. M. I. HENRY
A TRACT admirably adapted for answering the questions invariably asked by all children about the origin of life. It gives excellent suggestions to parents relative to what and how to answer these questions, and permits no shadow of deception or evil to rest upon the subject. Written in a forcible, chaste, and gentle manner. Nothing could be more simply wrought out for the perfect initiation and enlightenment of the inquiring child. Every one who has to do with the education of children should have this little tract. “Worth its weight in gold.” Price, 50 cents a hundred.

Patriarchs and Prophets

AN excellent and authentic commentary on Biblical subjects from Adam to the close of the reign of David. Especially helpful in the study of the present International Sunday-school Lessons, and also an unfailing counselor in the study of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Thousands of these books have been sold to Sunday-school superintendents and teachers during the past two years, since the International Lessons have been upon the Old Testament history, and the following unsolicited testimonial from a Sunday-school teacher is a fair sample of the many which are coming to the publishers of this appreciated book:—
“I have a copy of ‘*Patriarchs and Prophets,’ and it has been a source of wonderful information to me during the past year. It has proved to be a key that has unlocked many, many Scriptures, and unfolded them, and made them plain and comprehensive. I found it of great assistance in preparing the Sunday-school lessons all last year, when they were in the Old Testament. I am very thankful for its great help.
“L. D. SMITH, Biggs, Mo.”
Copies of this book can be furnished in the following bindings: cloth, gilt edges, $2.75; library, $3; full morocco, $4.50.

The Bible · Text-Book

By Elder O. A. Johnson

BY ELDER O. A. JOHNSON
A COMPENDIUM of Bible subjects bound in a neat and attractive form, and easy to carry in the vest or coat pocket.
The book contains forty-nine tersely written Bible readings on as many different subjects.

Our Paradise Home

By Editor

THE fourth edition of 10,000 each is now ordered. The third edition is nearly all gone.
This little messenger is now five months old, and there have been 30,000 copies sold. It is a little book which is full of the message, and its general topics cover many of the cardinal principles of the message for this time. These are made so plain and impressive that readers can easily understand them, and they lead to a desire for a fuller study of the prophecies which teach the coming of the Lord.
Unsolicited testimonials for this book have become too numerous for us to attempt to publish them.
This book is of a nature that any individual can sell it. A person does not have to be an experienced canvasser in order to place this book in the homes of the people.
It contains 128 pages, is nicely illustrated with new pictures made especially for the book; cloth-bound, 50 cents; board, 25 cents.

Order of State Tract Societies

Order of State Tract Societies; Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.; Review and Herald, Washington, D. C.; Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Assn., Nashville, Tenn.

Editorial

By Editor

An Encouraging Promise

THROUGH the prophet Isaiah the Lord speaks these words to us: “Fear not, O Jacob my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon the thirsty land, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.” It is upon the thirsty land that the water is poured. It is upon the dry ground that the streams come. The parched land is in itself a plea for water, and this mute appeal is regarded. So our need is our most effective plea. A sense of our need is the first step toward the supply of that need. Let us not be afraid to present our need, in humble faith, to him who is able and willing to supply our need through Christ Jesus.

The Original Message

WHEN the Lord started this advent movement, under angelic guidance, he gave to his servants the very message which would prepare the way for his coming. The need of the world in this last generation, the supreme effort of Satan to hide the revelation which God has made of himself, and the truth to be proclaimed to save from latter-day delusions all who are willing to receive light and salvation, have all been in the mind of God from the beginning. The developments of these days which come like a shock to us do not take him by surprise. He has foreseen and provided for them. And in the original message by which this people has been called out from the world is to be found the very presentation of the gospel which is needed at this time. The blessed truths of this original message have been coming out with greater clearness, and the wondrous fulness of their meaning and the striking way in which they meet the needs of this time have been more distinctly seen, but the fundamental truths of this threefold message will remain unchanged. There is no provision, or demand, or place, for a new theology in this advent movement. “Woe to him who shall move a block or stir a pin of these messages. The true understanding of these messages is of vital importance. The destiny of souls hangs upon the manner in which they are received.” We are confident that a special blessing in personal experience will come to every Seventh-day Adventist who will prayerfully seek for a better knowledge of the original message for this generation, in order that he may translate that message to others. There is plenty of room for growth in this original message, but so long as we remain under the guidance of the Spirit of truth, we shall never outgrow it. Do not be moved away from the original message.

“Emmanuel”

THE great fact of the gospel is God manifest in the flesh, “God with us.” The time of the year when the Saviour was born is of minor consequence, and is not known, but the “good tidings of great joy” should be made known at all times of the year. The shepherds in the field, the angel of the Lord, the glory of the Lord, the announcement of the birth, the babe in the manger, the multitude of the heavenly host, and the chorus of praise,—“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,”—these should be ever-present experiences to those whose confidence for salvation from sin rests in the daily union of divinity with humanity. “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
“Eternal depth of love divine, In Jesus, God with us, displayed, How bright thy beaming glories shine! How wide thy healing streams are spread! “To thy sure love, thy tender care, Our flesh, soul, spirit, we resign; O, fix thy sacred presence there, And seal the abode forever thine!”

The Coming of the Seed

The Promise of the Land

The command of God to Abraham was that he should leave country, kindred, and father’s house for an unknown land which would be shown unto him. In obedience to this command “Abraham took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. . . . And Jehovah appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land.” This was a double promise. It was a promise of seed, “when as yet he had no child,” and it was a promise of the land to that promised seed. We have already seen that this promised Seed was Christ in the flesh, the Saviour of the world. Let us consider now what was involved in the promise of the land.
After Abraham and Lot had separated from each other, “Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan,” and the Lord renewed his promise to him in these words: “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. . . . Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it.” In this statement of the promise both Abraham and his seed are mentioned, and the length of time during which they are to hold the land is stated—“forever.” In the next step in the development of the promise it was made clear to Abraham that he would not come into the possession of the land during his natural life. The Lord said to him, “Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age,” but at the same time he made a covenant with Abraham, saying, “Unto thy seed have I given this land.” Again when “Abram was ninety years old and nine,” the Lord spoke to him, saying, “I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.”
Having now the full statement of the promise of the land before us, we are prepared to learn what relation this promise sustains to the coming of the Seed. And first we may observe that allthat was promised to Abraham was involved in the original promise of the Seed. A little study of the matter will make this clear. The promise of the Seed was the promise of the gift of the Son of God to identify himself with humanity, to become ‘the last Adam,’ the head of a new humanity. Through this gift of divinity to humanity provision was made that man should become a partaker of the divine nature, and be restored in the image of God. But the greater includes the less, and the provision for the redemption of man was broad enough to include the redemption of all that was given to man as his original possession. And so the price which redeemed man redeemed the earth.
Furthermore, the very nature of the price paid for the redemption of man involved the redemption of the earth. Christ, the promised Seed, God’s gift to man, sustained such a relation to created things that when he was given to man, not simply this world, but all worlds and all things were given to man in Christ and through Christ. ‘For in him were all things created, . . . things visible and things invisible, . . . all things have been created through him, and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.’ When the Son of God became the Son of man, and as the Son of man paid the penalty for sin, conquered death and the grave, and ascended in triumph to the heavenly courts to be accepted by his Father as the representative of the human family, the man, then, was given to man in the person of Christ, the Son of man, all that belonged to the eternal Son of God, and all who are in Christ share in this ownership of all things. Inasmuch, therefore, as all things are included in Christ, the apostle Paul could well ask, ‘He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?’ And again he could well say, ‘All things are yours, . . . the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours.’ He who accepts Christ will come into possession of all things in Christ. And the possessions thus acquired will not be simply visible things, for ‘things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,’ were also created in him. Kingly power for victory over sin and all the powers of darkness belongs to every one who really accepts the gift of Christ.
But all this was directly included in the promise of the land to Abraham. That promise of the land was the promise of the world. The Holy Spirit so interprets it when he through the apostle Paul defines it as a promise ‘that he should be heir of the world.’ And as Abraham was to die in a good old age before the fulfilment of this promise, it follows that through this promise he was assured of the resurrection and the new earth. But the resurrection of the righteous occurs at the second coming of Christ: ‘For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.’ Therefore the promise of the land will not be fulfilled before, or apart from, the second coming of Christ, and the promise of the land was also a promise of the coming of Christ, the coming of the Seed. And since we are Christ’s, and are therefore ‘Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise,’ we are anxiously looking ‘till the Seed should come to whom the promise hath been made.’ And so it again appears that all our hopes depend upon the coming of the Seed.

Departing From the Faith

A PROMINENT minister of the Methodist Church, who is a professor in a well-known university, has been summoned to trial on the charge of heresy. The basis of the indictment against him is that his “views concerning the Deity, the inspiration and authority of the Holy Scriptures, and the atonement are contrary to the plain teachings of the Scriptures, and that his teachings of eschatology and his views of Christian experience are also contrary to the Scriptures and to the established doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church.”
In an editorial with the heading “Heretics in the Ministry” a leading daily paper comments upon this proposed trial as follows:—
Probably these charges are true; but how many are there among the more intellectual ministers of the Methodist Church and of Protestant churches and theological seminaries generally against whom similar charges could not be brought with equal reason?
In all this country there are, so far as we know, not half a dozen theological seminaries, even of the most nominally orthodox Protestant churches, where the old theology is taught. In its place has come up a “new theology,” of which the features objected to in the Methodist professor’s teaching are a distinctive part. The authority of the Holy Scriptures is explained away. The dogma of the atonement is reduced to a meaningless abstraction. Everlasting punishment in the future state is taught no longer. Even doubt of the personality of God is stimulated.
If, therefore, heresy trials like that of the Boston Methodist minister are to be begun, they will have to be increased to hundreds before all the heretics are brought to book. Moreover, how will it be possible to get courts not themselves tainted with heresy?
The personality of God, the inspiration and divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, and the atoning sacrifice of Christ as the sinner’s only hope of salvation are the fundamental truths of Christianity. To reject these truths is to reject the foundation principles of Christianity. To substitute something else for these truths is to substitute something else for Christianity. To depart from these truths is to depart from “the faith once delivered to the saints.” And yet there is an increasing and alarming tendency among religious teachers to-day to accept and to disseminate such views of these fundamental doctrines of the gospel of Christ as really make it another gospel altogether.
The authority of the Scriptures is being discredited by bringing them to trial at the bar of human reason; the inspired statement that “Christ died for our sins” is interpreted as meaning nothing more than that Christ gives his life to sustain our physical being, and inasmuch as this is done for the whole animal creation, the whole idea of an atonement for sin is thus set aside; the new conception of the being and nature of God destroys any wholesome thought of his personality, and dissipates him into Infinite Mind, Power, Intelligence, the unknown Force, Kosmos, etc. And when these ideas prevail, there is no real basis for faith in the forgiveness of sins, and there is no barrier against sin. Man becomes the creature of inexorable fate; and cut off from any real hold upon God, he is left to be a prey to the powers of darkness.
These teachings are the real essence of idolatry in a refined form, adapted to modern modes of thought. They just as truly subvert the gospel of salvation from sin as did the teachings of the priests of Baal in the olden time. “With many, a philosophical idol is enthroned in the place of Jehovah; while the living God, as he is revealed in his Word, in Christ, and in the works of creation, is worshiped by but few. Thousands deify nature, while they deny the God of nature. Though in a different form, idolatry exists in the Christian world to-day as verily as it existed among ancient Israel in the days of Elijah. The god of many professedly wise men, of philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists,—the god of polished, fashionable circles, of many colleges and universities, even of some theological institutions, is little better than Baal, the sun-god of Phenicia.”
Are we not seeing the fulfilment of that prediction concerning the latter days, that some should depart from the faith? Is it not clear that the way is being prepared for that overmastering deception of Satan, when he will openly reveal himself with the claim that he is Christ? Just now the message ought to sound forth with great clearness and power, “Behold your God!” “Fear God, and give glory to him; . . . and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” And the people who give this warning message must be wholly free from these satanic sophistries, or they will be simply blind leaders of the blind. “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?”

The Way of Safety

By L. A. S.

WE have reached the time when the enemy of righteousness is to work “with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish,” that he may deceive and bring under his power not only the people of the world, but if possible even the very elect. The only class who will escape his delusions will be those who receive “the love of the truth.” 2 Thess. 2: 10-12.
Safety at this time lies not in having the knowledge of the truth, but the love of it; in having the truth not merely in the head, but in the heart. The heart is the citadel of the soul. It is because of this that the admonition is given, “Keep the heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” Belief amounts to nothing if righteousness is not its fruit.
The greatest intellects of the world never have been, are not now, and never will be, arrayed on the side of divine truth. Unto the world the truth of God is foolishness; and “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.” Recently the papers have been speaking of the death of “the last of the great thinkers of the Victorian era,” Herbert Spencer. He was one of the world's “great thinkers,” but his intellect was not great enough to grasp the truth. That which was understood by babes was hidden from the wise and prudent. This is the difference between believing with the head, and believing with the heart. It is the difference between seeking after truth without God, and receiving truth through a channel connected with Omniscience. That channel is faith.
God can impart to the dullest mind more truth than the mightiest intellect in the world could obtain apart from God.
In these days strong delusion is to come upon all who receive not the love of the truth. Such will be given over to the delusions of Satan, and however wise in the wisdom of this world, they will be made to believe a lie, and accept the worst error in the place of the truth. And many who have a theoretical knowledge of the truth, and can give the arguments which show its Scriptural foundation, will be drawn into the great maelstrom of deception along with those who have never professed to regard it, and meet the common fate of the unbeliever. It will be a “strong delusion” that will come upon them, from which there will be no escape save through the special interposition of God in behalf of his elect. Already there are warning examples of the power of satanic delusions over minds that have known the truth, but held it in unrighteousness.
There is safety in the love of the truth; and why should not every person love the truth? The truth is light in the darkness; it is beautiful; it is glorious; it is the expression of the perfect character of him who is “chiefest among ten thousand and altogether lovely.” Why should not every one who can love that which is lovely, love the truth of God which is now sent out in a final message of mercy and salvation? If we love the truth, we shall not be idle in this hour of its final conflict with the world's confederacy of evil. L. A. S.

He Will Keep That Promise

By W. A. S.

THE Lord Jesus made a special promise to the early advent believers which must cheer their hearts and ours.
Through all the long ages, patriarchs, and prophets, and servants of God have fallen asleep in “the hope of the promise” made unto the fathers, and the very throne of the Eternal is pledged to its fulfilment.
When Jesus was about to leave his disciples, he gave them the promise, “I will come again,” and it was written for the encouragement of all who should afterward believe on him and learn to love his appearing through their testimony. His word can not fail.
And when the time came in the early advent movement that Jesus passed into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, to enter upon its cleansing, he left a promise to those who by faith entered in with him in 1844. The scene is pictured in “Early Writings.” The Father had risen from his throne and entered the holy of holies within the veil. Then Jesus rose from the throne to follow into the inner apartment, to take up the final work. The believers are represented as by faith attending Jesus toward the most holy.
Those who arose when Jesus did, kept their eyes fixed on him as he left the throne and led them out a little way. Then he raised his right arm, and we heard his lovely voice saying, “Wait here; I am going to my Father to receive the kingdom; keep your garments spotless, and in a little while I will return from the wedding, and receive you to myself.” Then a cloudy chariot, with wheels like flaming fire, surrounded by angels, came where Jesus was. He stepped into the chariot, and was borne to the holiest, where the Father sat.
Some of the early pioneers to whom this promise was made are still waiting among us. Others wait while resting in the tomb. But the promise is sure, and in “a little while” the waiting ones will witness the return.
If it were but the word of a noble man, it would be sacred. Many will remember the story of the British statesman, who, while riding in the country, found a forlorn little girl weeping bitterly over the loss of a sixpence, sure of a beating from her mother. He had no money with him, but promised to meet the little girl again next day at the same hour and place, bringing to her a sixpence. Next day he found important matters of state awaiting him, and colleagues depending upon his presence to take up interests of national and international importance at the very hour of his appointment with the little one. His word had been given, and at the thought of the trusting heart that had been comforted in its grief by confidence in his promise, he postponed the council of state, and kept his word. The occasion itself was trivial, but it meant everything to him that he should not disappoint that waiting little one who had trusted implicitly in his promise.
Never can the Lord Jesus fail to keep his promise with those waiting ones who watched him go into the heavenly sanctuary, who all these years have been waiting for the time when he shall come out again and take them to be with himself. His strong right arm still waves the signal message of light and glory to the waiting ones. In our short, swift lives, the time of waiting seems long, and yet it has been but “a little while.” Still, ere the last pioneers pass away, to whom this promise was made, the Lord Jesus will keep that appointment. A mother may even forget her child, but he, our Saviour, can never forget the promise that he made to the little advent band as he passed into the presence of God, there to make intercession for us. In the hope of this promise, now quickly to be fulfilled, we may press on in the work with glowing hearts and abounding courage. It is a new time in our work. Soon we shall see the events long talked about fulfilled. With all who have fallen asleep in the message, we shall see that cloudy chariot roll in sight.
W. A. S.

The Courts and Anarchy

ONE does not usually think of anarchy as a sentiment that may be manufactured in courts of justice; yet it is evident that much of the disregard of law which shows itself in so many communities at this time, has its fountain head in those places which should be the very sanctuary of the law, and in the acts of those who should be in a special sense guardians of the law. The truth is brought before us that no person has so much power to bring law into contempt as he who sits in the high position of interpreter of the law, he whose decrees are enforced as the law. The judges of the courts have power above all other classes of persons to manufacture anarchy, and there are facts before us which show that in some instances this is what theyare doing.
Here is an example to which the press is calling attention just now. The case is that of the St. Louis “grafters” whose corruption was exposed, and whose prosecution was secured, by Circuit Attorney Joseph W. Folk, of that city. “Through his efforts, finally aided by an aroused public sentiment, scores of officials have been indicted, a number have been sent into exile, and some twenty officials and prominent politicians have been convicted, and sentenced to terms in the penitentiary. All the cases have been appealed, and the supreme court of the State has just decided the most important of them, by reversing the verdict of the lower court, which found Col. Edward Butler guilty of attempted bribery, and sentenced him to a term of three years in the penitentiary.”
This man has for years been a party leader in St. Louis, and a recognized political “boss.” The charge against him, and of which he was convicted in the lower court, was that of offering a member of the city board of health twenty-five hundred dollars for the latter’s influence in securing the award of the garbage contract. The briber was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary. He made an appeal to the supreme court of the State, and now this court has dismissed the case, on the ground that “the board of health having no authority to award this contract, the defendant could not bribe members to do something which they had no authority to do.” “In spite of the wonderful efforts of Mr. Folk,” remarks the Washington Post, from which we have gathered these statements, “with more than twenty men convicted of bribery, conspiracy, blackmail, or open loot, no one of them has yet been landed in the penitentiary. There should no longer be any expression of surprise when the people cry out in protest against the law’s delays.”
When plain justice is set aside on technicalities by the courts themselves, the people are tempted to take the law into their own hands, and substitute mob rule for orderly government.

L. A. S

By L. A. S.

It is time now to feel that we are indeed strangers and pilgrims on this earth,—this realm of sin and woe, ruled by the spirit of strife,—but that we have a home, and that we are homeward bound. It is time to make this truth a reality in our experience, a truth that shows itself in our words and deportment. Let it be a prospect which will lift us above the obstacles and trials of this earthly way. “Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.”
“The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” And eternal things, the unseen things, are the truly real things. Spiritual things are real; those things which are seen only with the eye of faith are more real than the things visible to the natural eye. We can see nothing with the natural eye that is permanent, nothing that is not soon to pass away and be seen no more forever. God, the fountain head of all reality, is a spirit, and invisible. The Word of God is real, and though we can not seize it with our hands, when we lay hold on it by faith, our connection with it is a reality, and no mere theory or figure of speech. We need to realize more that the spiritual, unseen things are more real than the things of time and sense.

L. A. S

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