Review and Herald, Vol. 82, No. 13. (3/30/1905)

Review and Herald

Mar 30, 1905

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Mar 30, 1905

The Law of God

And God spake all these words, saying,

I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing loving-kindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

Publishers’ Page

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

An Appeal to Clergy

Though over 400,000 of this “Open Letter” tract have been circulated since the first of January, still the orders are coming in for hundreds and thousands, and with these come good reports of effective work accomplished in their circulation.

Of the tract, a worker recently said: “While it is only an eight-page, costing less than one half of a cent, it is equal to an eight-inch solid shot in its results.”

Price, 40 cents a hundred; $3.75 a thousand.

April Life and Health

By Editor

Now Ready

THIS issue of Life and Health will not only be the same public benefactor as former numbers, but will possess attractive features and selling qualities superior to other numbers.

Its contents impart much information that will be appreciated by the public in the treating of the following topics:— “Hygiene Among the Israelites,” “Economy in Food,” “Health by Hard Work,” “An Informal Talk on Dietetics,” “Care of Sleeping Rooms,” “How Disease Is Transmitted,” “Sore Throat Precautions,” Reports of the progress of medical missionary work, Practical Suggestions on various topics pertaining to good housekeeping, Prescriptions, in the form of answers to questions, for Dyspepsia, Toning the System after an Attack of Pneumonia, for Hair Tonic, Eczema, Bad Coughs, Lung Diseases, Stomach and Liver Troubles, etc.; Editorial topics: “Fletcherizing Foods,” “Germ Diseases,” “Stimulants,” “Displacement of Stomach,” “Food and Salvation,” “Sugar as Food,” “After Forty—Comments on Oslerism,” “Distilled Water,” “Right Habits for Children,” News Notes, etc.

Life and Health is making friends every day in the week, and many flattering things are said of it to our agents as they deliver it month by month. The following are samples of some of the expressions made: “Life and Health! indeed, it is appropriately named;” “Here comes my smiling physician;” “Every new number seems to be better than the old one;” “I do not want to miss a single number;” “Only five cents a call, but it does me more good than my physician;” “Certainly if you can not deliver it personally, I will give you my annual subscription, and also one for a friend.”

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The Need of Religious Liberty Leaflets

THE recent circulation of the petitions against Congressional legislation has revealed the result of the systematic circulation of National Reform literature begun a few years ago for the education of the public in favor of the enforcement of Sunday observance by law. Our workers are astonished to find so many who now favor enforced Sabbath observance. This is the result of the universal presence of reform literature, and the absence of religious liberty literature.

While liberty-loving people have rested, and the reformers worked, the public has lost sight of the fundamental principles of religious liberty, and has become favorable to Sunday laws and Sabbath legislation, and developed into advocates of the establishment of the civil Sabbath.

This situation demands increased efforts, and the circulation of millions copies of the religious liberty leaflets recently prepared under the following titles:—

“Principles Too Little Understood,” 8 pages, 38 cents a hundred.

“Sunday Laws, Their Origin, Nature, and Object,” 8 pages, 38 cents a hundred.

“The Logic of Sabbath Legislation,” 8 pages, 38 cents a hundred.

“The Civil Sabbath,” 12 pages, 55 cents a hundred.

These four tracts practically cover the question of Sunday observance; and millions of copies are needed for the defense of the principles of religious liberty against the National Reform literature that has been flooding the country for the last five years.

The Year-Book for 1905

contains over two thousand interesting, important historical facts about the rise and progress of the denomination, with its fundamental principles, directories and present classified organizations in all countries, and it is meeting a demand long felt by furnishing people with a statement of the belief of the church in a condensed outline of its fundamental principles, together with a comprehensive history of the church and an impressive display of its present thorough organization, and also in supplying, in convenient form, general information constantly needed in connection with the work of the church.

The fundamental principles, together with the history of the rise and progress of the denomination, will be of great service in missionary work; for there is a constant demand for a statement of the belief of Seventh-day Adventists, which can not be supplied since the pamphlet “Our Faith and Hope,” by Elder James White, has been out of print, but which can be supplied by the Year-book better than ever, on account of being associated with the history and organization of the denomination. Not only every worker, but every family in the denomination should have a copy for reference and study, and thousands of copies should be used in missionary work.

Price, 25 cents, post-paid.

The Story of Daniel the Prophet

“THE STORY OF DANIEL THE PROPHET” is a biographical, historical, and prophetical work, revealing in the life of Daniel and his close connection with God all the vital principles of the gospel message for the present time.

It contains a clear, concise treatise on the prophecies of Daniel, together with an interesting study on the sanctuary and its services. The work will be a delight and a source of information to every student of prophecy. The story of Daniel, while interwoven with historical facts, is presented in so pleasing a manner that it becomes attractive to the young, and Daniel’s example is so attractively impressed that no person can read the book without receiving from it valuable lessons.

Price, $1, post-paid.

The General Conference Reports

By Editor

In the Review

THE REVIEW will contain the reports of the General Conference hitherto published in the Bulletin. It will be enlarged during the time the reports are published, in order to contain the reports and other important matter in connection with the conference, and on account of the additional expense of this enlargement, the two and four months’ subscriptions will be discontinued from April 1 to June 30, and the price of the three months’ subscriptions will be raised from 40 cents to 50 cents, except to present subscribers who may desire to renew before June 30. To these the regular three month subscription rate will be continued.

No change will be made in the six, eight, and twelve months’ rates.

No friend or member of the church can afford to be without the REVIEW for the coming six months.

The General Conference Review Rates

Twelve months, $1.50; eight months, $1.00; six months, 75 cents; three months (April 1 to June 30), 50 cents.

A New Book

By G. H. Heald

Colds, Their Causes, Prevention, and Cure

BY G. H. HEALD, M. D.

“ONLY a cold,” may, and often does when neglected, result in serious complications. The object of our new book is to enlighten the public upon the causes of colds, to teach methods of prevention, and to outline proper treatment for their cure. It will prove a blessing to any household in preventing and relieving suffering, and will save many lives.

The chapter on the Treatment of Colds is in itself worth many times the price of the book. It contains practical directions for “breaking up” a cold by simple, rational treatments without the use of drugs. It is most valuable, however, in its suggestions for the prevention of colds.

It will be found to be a veritable household manual, a ready counselor, and a good physician.

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Order of Review & Herald, Washington, D. C.; Battle Creek, Mich.; Pacific Press, Mountain View, Cal.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Assn., Nashville, Tenn.; or your State Tract Society.

“The Commandments of Men”

THE Pharisees professed great respect for the law of God. They made much outward display of their regard for it. They repeatedly charged Jesus with either abolishing it or breaking it. They were apparently very jealous for the commandments of God, but in reality they made them void. By putting their interpretation of the law in place of the law itself, they disregarded the commandments of God, and taught “the commandments of men.”

We are facing the same situation now. Many of the prominent religious teachers of this city are urging that the ten commandments should be taught in the public schools, but inasmuch as the fourth commandment states that “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,” and plainly declares that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” neither of which statements are accepted as they read, and inasmuch as the Roman Catholic church differs with Protestants as to the application of the second commandment, it is proposed by the leader of this movement that a shorter form of the commandments should be taught. In a published interview he states his plan thus:—

All the “religious teaching” asked for may be put into a few lines, to wit:—

“Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

“Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image to adore it.

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

“Thou shalt remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

This is absolutely all that is asked in the way of “religious” instruction, unless the Board sees fit to adopt a brief exposition of the meaning of these four commandments.

But these are not the commandments as God gave them. They are simply an adaptation of those commandments to conform to the teachings and practises of men. And this reveals the weakness of the whole movement, which is declared to be an effort to stay the present tide of lawlessness by teaching the principles of morality based upon the ten commandments. Instead of maintaining the authority of God’s law and seeking to bring human conduct into harmony with it, the beliefs and practises of men are accepted as the standard of morality, and an amended form of the commandments is substituted for the original law.

Thus the law of God is really set aside, and “the commandments of men” are taught with the pretended sanction of divine authority.

Although it may not be done “with malice prepense and aforethought,” this is, in fact, an organized movement to make void the law of God under the appearance of honoring it. When such a misconceived and misdirected effort as this fails, as it surely will fail, to accomplish the desired result, more positive teaching will surely be demanded. In fact, one of the leading promoters of this movement, who assisted in preparing the report adopted by the conference, says in a published interview:—

The present movement does not go as far as I believe it should go. . . . This nation is not neutral or atheistic. It is a Christian nation.

Here, then, is the program; the commandments changed to suit men’s ideas, the Board of Education at liberty to prescribe an exposition of those changed commandments, and a plain intimation of more to follow.

The concluding act of this program, involved in the first act, but not mentioned, will be that, under the pressure of pains and penalties, an effort will be made to compel obedience to “the commandments of men,” which have been substituted for the commandments of God. This is all bound up in the proposal to have the state teach religion under the guidance of the church.

The Greatest Experience

By William Ambrose Spicer

THE best and greatest experiences are the simplest. Not away beyond the reach of the common man or woman, but near at hand, God places the choicest gifts.

Luther had stood for God and truth before all the majesty and learning and power of earth. His work was shaking the foundations of the papal system. No man since Paul’s day had been more highly honored in the call to distinguished service.

Yet, when the devil came to tempt his soul, it was not the memory of these services before councils and the great of earth that brought him comfort and release. Great deeds accomplished, high office, or brilliant gifts have no value for the hour of personal trial.

In Luther’s waking vision of the temptation, he acknowledged the list of his sins which Satan held before him. The sense of unworthiness and guilt pressed hard upon his very life. But confessing his sins,—not as a reformer, but as a common sinner,—he seized the pen and wrote across the scroll the words of pardon: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” In that assurance there was rest for his heart, and the power of the tempter was broken.

No man is called to service so exalted but that the deepest, truest joy will be in the knowledge of sins forgiven and of peace with God through Jesus Christ. And this best and sweetest of all experiences on earth is open to the lowliest and simplest believer. W. A. S.

Editorial

By Editor

Loving and Hating

RIGHTEOUSNESS is to be loved, and iniquity is to be hated. Righteousness is to be loved to such a degree that it will be revealed in the life, and iniquity is to be hated to such a degree that even the appearance of it will be avoided. “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.” The love of righteousness is to be cultivated, and the hatred of iniquity is to be stimulated. The natural man loves iniquity, and hates righteousness. Only love incarnate can work a transformation in human nature. Are we loving and hating according to the Scriptures?

The Only Hope

THERE is no foundation in the Word of God for the expectation that the principles of righteousness will gradually permeate the world, and that thus the kingdoms of this world will become “the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.” On the contrary, the times of Noah and of Lot, and the conditions prevailing in Sodom and Gomorrah, are declared to be typical of last-day experiences. The revelations of moral corruption, which are now coming so thick and fast, mark the nearness, not of a millennium of peace and righteousness on this earth, but of the sudden end of this order of things. All hopes, all plans, all schemes based upon a general reformation of society will end in disappointment. The third angel’s message and the coming of the Lord constitute the only hope in this time of overwhelming wickedness. Sin is revealing itself for destruction.

Loyalty to This Message

By Editor

THE belief of the Seventh-day Adventists has never been formulated into a creed which has been adopted by the body. We profess our adherence to the Protestant principle that the Bible, and the Bible alone, is a sufficient rule of faith and practise, and we regard the teaching of the Scripture, as set forth in the language of Scripture, as the only authoritative expression of our belief. It is true that this admits of considerable latitude of interpretation upon what might be termed the incidental teaching of the Bible, but under the guidance of the Spirit of truth it ought to lead to essential unity upon those doctrines which constitute the warp and woof of the gospel message for this generation.

Inasmuch as this message is designed to correct those errors which really overthrow the foundations of genuine Christianity, it is certainly clear that every teacher of this truth ought to accept without mental reservation the doctrine of a personal God in the well-established meaning of the expression, and openly to reject that nebulous and pantheistic conception of an immanent God which to such an alarming extent pervades the teaching of the present day. This means that we should determine our thought of God by the revelation which he has made of himself in his Word and in the person of his Son, rather than by the speculations of human philosophy and the discoveries of science. The Infinite Energy of science is not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Creator is not to be confounded with creation. The personal God revealed in the Scriptures is not properly defined as the unknowable Power of modern scientists. He is “our Father who art in heaven.” Every one who is loyal to this message must have a definite and positive belief in a personal God.

Those who are familiar with the rise of this advent movement, and all who really understand its fundamental principles, must surely know that the teaching of the Scripture concerning the priesthood of Christ and his ministry in the heavenly sanctuary is such an essential feature of this message that to discard it is the same thing as discarding this message. That which brought comfort to the advent believers who were disappointed in 1844, which renewed their confidence in that interpretation of the prophecies that showed the coming of the Saviour to be near, and which brought harmony out of confusion, was the light upon the question of the sanctuary. They saw that at his ascension Jesus entered into the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary; that the beginning of the judgment hour in 1844 marked a change in his ministry from the holy to the most holy place, and that this was the fulfilment of the prophecy concerning the cleansing of the sanctuary at the end of the twenty-three hundred days. This Scriptural view of the sanctuary and its cleansing distinguishes Seventh-day Adventists not only from the leading denominations, but also from all other Adventists. So far as we are aware, no other denomination in the world holds this view of the sanctuary, but it is an essential feature of the teaching upon which this advent movement is based.

It certainly ought to be evident to every right-minded person that one who teaches such an interpretation of the Scriptures dealing with the sanctuary and its services as in effect contradicts the position in which this message originated is really tearing down what this movement has built up. We do not claim authority over the views or the teaching of any man, neither do we attempt to force even the Biblical doctrines upon others, but we do claim that it is neither fair nor right for any one to maintain a profession of unity with this message, and then to undermine confidence in its essential doctrines by putting such a new meaning into the old forms of expression as really puts a new philosophy in the place of well-established truth. This has been the course of the higher critics from the first. Instead of openly declaring their rejection of orthodox doctrines and withdrawing from the churches, they have gradually put new interpretations into Biblical statements of beliefs until they have largely overthrown the fundamental tenets of the old faith.

We say in all frankness that when one finds himself so much out of harmony with either of these important doctrines that he can not longer honestly advocate them in a positive manner, but, on the contrary, feels impelled to teach views which either plainly or by plain inference tend to weaken the confidence of the people in these fundamental truths, he ought to let his position be known. This is simply to follow the principle of common fairness of dealing among men. To take any other course is to sail under false colors. To say, “I believe in the inspiration of the Bible,” and “I believe in the Testimonies,” and “I believe in a personal God,” and “I believe in the sanctuary teaching,” meaning all the time, “I believe . . . according to my own interpretation,” is not an honest statement of belief.

We accord to every person the fullest right to believe just as he is persuaded in his own mind, and the fullest privilege to publish his views; but when one chooses to believe and decides to publish doctrines which are a complete subversion of this third angel’s message, it can hardly be expected that believers in this message would like to circulate such teaching, if they understand what they are doing. We therefore feel in duty bound to advise our brethren in the field to acquaint themselves with the literature which they are asked to place in the homes of the people. This is due both to themselves and to the people.

The Worship of the Flag

IN a recent address President Woodrow Wilson, of Princeton University, expressed himself plainly concerning a custom followed more or less generally in this country. He said: “I doubt the utility of the worship of the flag now taught in the public schools.” Commenting upon this utterance, the New York Sun says:—

Veneration for the flag, however, may be said to take the place of the religious instruction and worship in our public schools which are made impossible by the variations and conflicts of the different schools of theology and philosophy; but is not such a substitute desirable, even requisite? . . .

The flag, therefore, is for them something more than merely a patriotic symbol. It has a moral efficacy in representing the dignity and the order of the social organization and the power of the state for their preservation.

In other words, in this veneration of the flag, this desirable substitute for religious instruction and worship in the public schools, the genius of the state, represented by the flag, takes the place of Deity, and the flag “has a moral efficacy,” and therefore “the national emblem of power and order should be kept before the children for reverence and passionate devotion.” One can hardly read this without being reminded of the pagan idea of religion which prevailed in the days of another republic when it was held that “of all the gods of Rome there was none so great as the

genius of Rome itself.” All this confusion of ideas about worshiping some representation of the dignity of the state, and the moral efficacy of such worship, grows out of a false conception of the right relation between religion and government. It indicates a decided tendency to substitute paganism for Christianity, and to accept the idea of the state as “the highest idea of ethics.” We have certainly fallen upon strange times.

Hindu Sunday Observance

By W. A. S.

It is doubtless in India that we find modern practices most nearly approaching the ancient pagan forms of honoring the day of the sun.

The idea of sun-worship runs all through the religion of Hindu pantheism. Old temples bear carvings of the sun-god resembling those known in ancient Greek and Roman art. The god rides forth in his chariot, drawn by seven horses, representing the seven days of the weekly cycle.

In common every-day worship one may see the Hindu doing homage to the sun. Sun panels appear in decorations of temples and palaces. And the day of the sun itself is specially honored. Hunter, the great authority on modern India, refers as follows to the popular regard for the sun and the Sunday among Hindus in our own times:—

The sun-god in his golden chariot appears among the divinities which a native artist has figured as the objects of popular adoration in Orissa. Both there and in Bengal, the Brahmans daily repeat a prayer to the sun after bathing; and the stricter sort of Vishnu worshipers refrain from animal food on the first day of the week, which bears the name of Sunday alike in England and India (Robibar [sun-day]).

The common people in the plains merely bow to the orb after their morning ablutions; but in the highlands of Manbhum, to the northwest of Orissa, the low-castes do not break their fast till they catch a clear view of the deity,

and in cloudy weather have sometimes to remain a day without food.

During the whole harvest month (Agrahayan, falling within our November and December), each Sunday brings round weekly solemnities in honor of the bright god. Each village household prepares a tray covered with earth, into which rice seeds are dropped. Little earthenware cups containing pure water are placed upon it, and on Sundays the family priest goes through a few simple rites, pouring a libation of fresh water upon the tray, and invoking the sun.—“Statistical Account of Bengal,” Vol. XIX, page 84.

That writer in the North British Review coined a striking title for Sunday when he called it “the wild solar holiday of all pagan times.” It was never a day of rest among the pagans other than in the sense of being a festival of greater leisure than ordinary, when special honor was to be shown the gods. But from earliest times it was the rival of God’s own holy day. When the church itself went into organized apostasy, this solar holiday was set up in the place of the true Sabbath. It ought to make Christian people stop a moment and investigate when they find Hindu idol worshipers paying special regard to the first day of the week. W. A. S.

“Capitalistic Greed”

By L. A. S.

IN a recent issue of The Independent (New York City) is printed what that journal terms “the most remarkable chapter yet written in the history of capitalistic greed, moral paralysis, and political corruption in America.” It is “the story of the handing over of Rapid Transit in New York City to a private monopoly,” told by John De Witt Warner, who gives the history of the transaction in full, with documentary proofs of his assertions. It is a “remarkable chapter” in the history of capitalistic greed because, for one reason, it turns “the search-light upon a supposedly moral, respectable, substantial element in the community,” which is shown to be as faithless to the trust reposed in it by the people as was the “Boss Tweed” ring of old.

The men who compose the New York Chamber of Commerce, those constituting the Rapid Transit Commission, and former mayor Seth Low—men by their positions commanding honor and public confidence in the fullest degree—are the men who, says The Independent, “when it was absolutely within their power to give to New York City a system of rapid transit that should be successful as a means of expeditiously transporting a vast population at reasonable prices, and at the same time a source of vast revenue to the city, deliberately handed it over to private interests, and saddled upon the public an extortionate monopoly which will coin untold millions of dollars from the people’s necessity, and which has already assumed the attitude of opposition to any further extension of subway traffic until the people are made to stand and deliver.”

And these revelations, observes The Independent, are unhappily “but examples of conduct and conditions that prevail in all the great cities of this republic, and probably in most of the towns and villages.” The Independent further describes the situation in the following emphatic language:—

A gigantic struggle is on between capitalism, bent upon the utmost extortion that can be practised, and a people that is becoming thoroughly aroused and wrathful with a sense of outraged right. In this struggle the “respectable” business men, whose duty it is to take broad and sound views of the public welfare, and to stand firmly by the principles of justice and honor, have thus far, with comparatively few exceptions, allowed themselves through prejudice, narrow-mindedness, and selfishness to play into the hands of the most unscrupulous manipulators of economic forces that the world has ever seen.

These “conservative” individuals, “who utter words of solemn warning against agitators,” “the respectable, substantial citizenship of the nation, are the men,” says The Independent, “who are undermining the foundations of American society, endangering the republican scheme of government, and storing up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath.”

A day of wrath is coming,—a day when there will be a French revolution on American soil. More and more is this hinted at by representatives of the most sober, sane, and law-abiding element of the people. On this point The Independent observes:—

So far as the political outcome is concerned, it matters not at all whether a story like Lawson’s “Frenzied Finance” is in the main true or in the main false, if the people happen to believe that it is true. A few documents like those that Mr. Warner contributes to popular enlightenment will convince some tens of thousands of voters that, whether true in detail or not, the writings of Lawson, Miss Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and others have not told the half about the real greed and corruption that have been ruling with a high hand in American business and political activity. When this conviction is once established in the popular mind, no fear of free silver or of populism will deter the people from throwing in their lot with the Bryan type of democracy. They will not stop at “safe” or conservative restrictions of corporate power. They will feel that the positions taken by labor organizations, Populists, and even socialists, more freely express the real interests of the people than do the leadership and “practical judgment” of the business classes. . . . When popular revolt gets under way, it will not stop with the “governmental regulation” of corporate activity. It will proceed through schemes of taxation and otherwise to bring about a redistribution of wealth by a confiscation of property.

Yes; a “day of wrath” is coming when there will be “confiscation of property,” and that not by the aid of the law or of the courts. How long can men of wealth who boldly override and defy the law in their robbery of the people, take refuge under that law from those whom they wrong? How long can this continue before the people, in their determination to get even with their oppressors, will set aside all law and legal forms, and lay their hands directly upon these men and their ill-gotten wealth? When the long-pent-up storm of public wrath breaks forth, it will, like the lightning, follow the path of least resistance to the objects of its fury, and that path will not be through the law or the courts. Such is the world’s outlook to-day. How much better the outlook of those whose hopes and ambitions rise above this world, whose eyes are toward “that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” L. A. S.

“We Would See Jesus”

By I. H. Evans

NINETEEN hundred years ago word came to the Master’s ear that some Greeks were waiting outside who desired to “see Jesus.” They were foreigners and strangers. They dared not enter the assembly of the Jews where Jesus was, but modestly waited outside with the hope that they might receive an invitation to enter, or that Jesus would come to them.

We fancy their hearts beat fast as they reverently stood, abiding an answer to their bold request. They were not Israelites. They could claim no kinship to him whom they desired to see. They were hated by the Jews. This man whom they came to see was a Jew. They had heard of his holiness and purity, and they well knew they were greatly lacking in these graces, but still their desire was, “We would see Jesus.”

All down the ages there have been men and women who have longed to see him. Since the guardian angel kept the way of the tree of life, the cry of many a heart has been, “We would see Jesus.”

When once this passion has kindled its fires in the heart of man, its light dims all the glories of earth. Its illumination palsies the charms of riches, and in its presence wealth can but become an instrument to be used to the glory of God. Before its light the honors of earth are accounted as shadowy nothingness, and every position of social influence will be used to hasten the “day of his coming.” At its call “to duty” the strength of manhood and womanhood is laid on his altar for service.

When once this desire, “We would see Jesus,” has entered into the life, all the atmosphere of earth is changed. What once satisfied now palls. That which once lured us on in mad pursuit has now lost its charm to attract. The dreams of earthly pleasure and honor give place to rapturous visions of “the kingdom to come.” Under the inspiration of this desire toil is no longer drudgery, and the marches of earth’s wilderness-wanderings are sweetened by the prospects of “joys to come.” Its uplifting influence despoils the disappointments of earth of their sting, and crowns e’en the agonies of the grave with the radiance of hope. Whoever has tasted the sweets of this desire to “see Jesus” will never find satisfaction at any other fountain; for the song of their hearts is, “Jesus alone can satisfy, Jesus is mine.”

This desire to “see Jesus” has transforming power. He who has this hope in him “purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” He who expects to “see Jesus” will want no stain of earth upon his character. All will be confessed and made right. Every neglected duty will be taken up. Those who have been robbing God will pour their tithes and offerings into his treasury. Hard feelings between brethren will be put away. The soul temple will be cleansed. The desire to “see Jesus” will spur the heart to make ready for his welcome.

Does not your heart cry, “O, transforming power, come into my life”? Truly we are tired and sick of wounding and grieving those we love. The blurred and blotted pages of life hold but few treasures of reward for which we can hope. We can only say,—

“The mistakes of my life have been many, The sins of my heart have been more.” “The wounds I might have healed, The human sorrow and smart! And yet it never was in my soul To play so ill a part; But evil is wrought by want of thought As well as want of heart!”

And yet who would not fain “see Jesus”? He who stilled the bosom of billowy Galilee, I fancy would look into our hearts and say, “Peace, be still.” He who sent the poor publican away with his benediction would hear even our feeble prayer for help. O, we would stretch forth our hand and touch but the hem of his garment, that the life current of sinning may be healed!

But we shall see him soon, and then we shall know him as he is. We shall see him in his glory, and in the power of his might. We shall see him beyond this sin and sinning. Death shall yield her treasures then, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

“He comes, and lo, the world is glad! The hours forget the gloom of night, Mirth cheers the hearts that once were sad, The landscape lies in floods of light, And all is bright. “And so I think that when, ere long, I meet the time I sometimes fear, My heart will sing its joyful song, And gladly say, ‘Be of good cheer, Thy Lord is here!’”

I. H. EVANS.

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