Signs of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 49.

Signs of the Times

Pacific Press Publishing Association

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CAL

THE MORNING COMETH."

By Frances Eugenia Bolton

THE MORNING COMETH."

WHEN the angels o'er the shepherds Sang announcement of Christ's birth It was heralded forever

"Joy to men and peace on earth." Tho an interval like midnight, Should ensue before the dawn; Yet the light of life had advent, And the blazing day comes on.

O the day dawns, swiftly hastening, When the shadows all shall pass When the thorn-prick and the thistle Will not stab us through the grass. Tares and weeds will find the furnace, Stubble will no more increase, Roses bloom through every desert,— "Joy on earth, good-will, and peace."

Over all the night's battalions Come the armies of the Light. One rides forth in blazing pageant With the flaming sword of might. As the shadows of the midnight Melt before the day's increase, So shall evil fade and vanish,— "Joy on earth, good-will, and peace."

Catch God's hope and let it light you From earth's dense miasmal gloom. Ill is transient, temporary, God is everlasting bloom. Hate's a shadow passing under Light of love with no surcease, Radiant, conquering, immortal,— "Joy on earth, good-will, and peace."

What a day 'twill be! O rapture! Not a shadow in the dome. Glorious life and light and beauty, Love forever, rest at home; Harmony for heart's sweet tuning Into song that can not cease, One with Christ and with all others,— "Joy on earth, good-will, and peace."

FRANCES EUGENIA BOLTON.

Is the Lord Coming?

IS THE LORD COMING? Seventy thousand copies of this truth-filled special number, the above words appear on the cover instead of "Thanksgiving Number." This change is made for the benefit of many who will continue selling it after Thanksgiving Day is passed.

SEVENTY THOUSAND COPIES of this truth-filled issue have been ordered, and excellent work has been done in many places.

After the circulation of 700,000 copies of the Earthquake Special Number, this issue, pointing out the true meaning of other great events of the present year, is gladly received. As one person who has taken part in selling it says: "People are not only willing, but anxious to buy the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, and to know what it says about the happenings in the world to-day."

Every one connected with the office of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES who could be spared from the work spent a portion of Thanksgiving week in house-to-house work with this number. They had an excellent time, and received special blessings. As a result of this effort, in connection with other members of the church, copies were placed in more than 700 homes in this valley.

THE PAPER CONTAINS A MESSAGE. In the article "SIGNS OF THE END," ten of the most apparent conditions in the world to-day are clearly shown to be heralds of the soon-coming of our Saviour.

HAVE YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS HAD OPPORTUNITY OF READING THIS ARTICLE? Papers can still be furnished, and orders for several hundred are daily being filled.

PRICE. In lots of 1 to 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 cents each 25 to 75 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 " 100 or more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2½ " Address your tract society, or SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, Cal.

CO-OPERATION CORNER.

We have the following note from a worker in a southern center:

“I have two reading racks in the waiting rooms of the railway station here, from which several hundred copies of our papers have been taken, the results of which the judgment will reveal. At present we are out of papers to keep these racks supplied, and would dislike to take them away, so I have written to ask if you would send me some back numbers of the SIGNS, and if you can, keep me supplied with these as long as possible. The opportunity is a grand one to get the truth to all parts of the United States, this being an important center of traffic. I await your early favor. Yours for the advance of the truth.”

We have quite a supply of the September issues of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. While it is hardly possible for us to donate these, we will be glad to furnish them at the rate of 1½ cents each, which barely covers cost of printing. Are there not those interested in our co-operation corner work, that would be pleased to help keep up this grand work now, by ordering us to send this brother quantities of these September issues of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. They are filled with truth. One dollar and a half will pay for 100 copies to him. We will pay the postage. Address SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, Cal.

Ready Once More!

By Editor

Our fire consumed every trace of the Signs of the Times Leaflets—stock, electrotype plates, drawings, and engravings. Fortunately a duplicate set of electrotype plates had been shipped to Washington, D. C., for use on the Atlantic Coast, and from this another set of plates for our use have been made. These have been received here, and we are now printing a 50,000 edition, and will be ready to fill orders by the time you read this notice. This series of Leaflets covers vital phases of Bible truth for this time, and are condensed to the last degree. Each Leaflet has an especially engraved heading, and consists of two well-filled pages of matter. The titles are as follows:

The Sure Word of Prophecy.
Prophetic History of the World.
Second Coming of Christ.
Signs of Our Times.
The Sanctuary.
The 2,300 Days.
The Law of God.
The Sabbath of the Bible.
The First Day in the Bible.
Who Changed the Sabbath?
The Great Threefold Message.
The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast.
Church and State.
Life and Immortality.
The Great Judgment Day.
The Home of the Saved.

Sold only in full packages of 100 of a kind, or in pound packages containing about 18 of each of the 16 kinds. The prices are as follows: 100, all one kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$0 15 post-paid 1,000, 100 of ten kinds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 30 " " 1,600, 100 each of the 16 kinds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 95 " " 1 lb., about 18 of each kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 " "

Address your Tract Society or the Publishers, PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO., Mountain View, Cal. 1109 E. 12th St., 285 Salmon St., Kansas City, Mo. Portland, Ore. REVIEW & HERALD PUB. CO., Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. Battle Creek, Mich.

"AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH."

GREETINGS of the season to all our readers! With them we rejoice in the great event around which many of the pleasant greetings and glad gatherings cluster in God's great gift of the Christ-child.

BUT this gladness and rejoicing is, in the light of that long-ago star, a matter for every day. For "the Word was made flesh" not for one day in the year, but for every day. We would not, dear friends, say one word to take from the joy of any truly happy season; and the truth never does this if received as truth; for in the knowledge of living truth is always joy. With this thought let us study earnestly the important question.

WHAT does the birth of the Christ-child mean? Of what value is His birth to us? Why should we celebrate His birth more than that of many other children? Listen to the words of retribution spoken to the adversary in Eden, to the people of God a promise and a prophecy of the ages: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." Gen. 3:15. When Adam and Eve yielded to that adversary in Eden, sin became incarnated—infleshed. Sin was dominant in the flesh, subject to the will of the devil. The promise was that there should come into the flesh of an offspring of the woman a seed from above the human, which would lift man from the domination of the devil, and bruise the head of the enslaver and oppressor. And from the day that Mother Eve in the joy of her fearfully disappointing first-born said, "I have gotten the God-man" (so rendered by some), till the day of the angels' song over the hills of Bethlehem, the world was waiting for the promised Seed, the Desire of all nations.

The Infants Jesus and John the Baptist, and Joseph, Mary, and Elizabeth.

IN all the intervening ages men had known God, had known His power to save, but the world had not seen "the Perfect Man." God in His fulness of character had not yet been manifest in the flesh. "But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Gal. 4:4, 5. "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth." John 1:14. "For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the fulness dwell." Col. 1:19. "For of His fulness we all received, and grace for grace."

THE Son of God came into the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth—was made flesh—that through our faith He might come into our flesh; that by faith we might live His life. He did not come, that once a week, or once a month, or once a year, we might partake of a wafer, blessed by a man, and call it the "Real Presence" or the flesh of the Son of God, but that Jesus Christ by His Spirit might come into the flesh of every believer, and live His own life again in each believing soul. For thus it is written: "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God." Whose flesh?—"Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." 1 John 4:2, 4. To this also the apostle Paul bears witness: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me; and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me." Gal. 2:20.

THIS, dear reader, is what the birth of Jesus the Christ ought to mean to us—a present Saviour, Christ in us, with us, our

life, our power, our hope, every day, every hour, every moment, the Real Presence of Christ. How it degrades such a gift, such an abiding life, to connect it with the old heathen Saturnalia of December 25, with its feasting and drunkenness and reveling and gifts; or to link it with the old licentious Norse idolatries of the Yule log and holly wreath and human sacrifice. They are all human and heathen, and O, how they utterly mar the object, meaning, and power of the gift of the Christ-child.

WHENEVER Jesus was born, it was not in the cold of midwinter; for not at that season were the shepherds keeping their flocks in the open field at night. The time was probably in the autumn days. Whenever it was, God has not revealed it, because He did not wish an event which is of equal value and significance every day, to be confined to one day in the year, a day already dedicated to one of the maddest, most licentious feasts of all heathenism.

If we feel that we must observe the day, do not as the heathen do. Let it not be a day of mere sense enjoyment. Would you bestow gifts? Let them be gifts of usefulness and service; let them be gifts to the little child, the needy, the widow, the orphan, the ill, the infirm, the helpless, the heathen, the great, always needy, cause of Christ. Give and give liberally to these needs, and know that the Christ-child and God-man dwells with you.

WITNESSES FOR CHRIST.

WHEN Jesus was about to ascend to heaven, He held several interviews with His disciples, in order that they might not only understand the reasons for His going away, but also the nature of their duties in His absence. His last instruction was both a promise and a charge—a promise of power commensurate with their responsibilities, and plain directions as to the use they should make of that power. This instruction was: “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8.

The next verse says, “And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” And we learn from Luke 24:50, 51, that He was parted from them while in the act of bestowing His blessing upon them.

The leading thought, however, in the parting instruction of the Lord is that His disciples are to be witnesses for Him in all the earth, and that power direct from on high is essential to such witnessing. Notwithstanding all the experience and previous instruction of the twelve, under His personal supervision, they were not yet qualified for efficient witnessing in all the world. They still lacked the power, and He had told them to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until “endued with power from on high.” They were endued with this power on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon them; and there and then they began their powerful witnessing.

Now the sole duty of the believer while in the present life is to witness for Christ. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Rom. 10:9, 10.

Jesus Christ came into the world as a witness. He was the “faithful Witness” (Rev. 1:5), and “a faithful witness will not lie” (Prov. 14:5), “a true witness delivereth souls” (verse 25). “Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.” Isa. 55:4. He also was “full of the Holy Spirit;” was “led by the Spirit” (Luke 4:1), and was endued with “the power of the Spirit” (verse 14). Moreover, He was obedient to the commandments of God. See Matt. 5:17, 18; John 15:10. Herein lies another essential to true witnessing. “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 7:21.

We sometimes hear one say, “I am doing the best I can,” or, “I am serving the Lord in my poor, weak way.” Such service is not acceptable to God. He wants His people to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” Spiritual weakness is unbelief. “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Tim. 1:7. Says Paul, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Rom. 1:16. Faith, obedience, and the power of the Spirit (and these three are one) are necessary to a “faithful witness” and a “good confession.” Let us keep in mind the parting instruction of our Master, and strive to be faithful witnesses till His return.

DO YOU KNOW THEM?

The Signs of His Coming.

EVERY one who studies the prophecies and believes them is impressed with the rapid fulfilments of the divine predictions. We live in the midst of transpiring scenes that were delineated in prophetic vision some millenniums ago. How inspiring is the thought! How gloriously sublime it is to be living to-day! This is the one generation on which all prophetic utterances are focused; the days are at hand when Christ is to appear in person, panoplied in all the shining splendor of heaven, and attended by every angel of glory. The voice of the Son of God is soon to be heard reverberating throughout the whole earth, and then we will stand amid the exultant scenes of the resurrection of the righteous dead. How soul-inspiring! The sublimest joys and the fruition of every Christian hope are soon to be richly realized by the return of the Prince of Peace—Creation's omnipotent King.

The Day and Hour.

We may not know the exact day and hour of His coming. No one can tell the year or even the decade in which He is to come. But we may know when the time is at hand; for He Himself has said: “Now from the fig-tree learn her parable; when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh; even so ye also, when ye see all these things, know ye that He is nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished. Heaven and earth shall pass away; but My words shall not pass away.” Matt. 24:32-35, R. V. The Lord does not leave us to doubt or conjecture, for He says, “When ye see all these things, know ye that He is nigh, even at the doors.” “Know ye,” is the perfectly definite statement. And we are to “know” that He is near when we “see all these things.” “All these things” that we are to see, and thus “know” that He is near, even at the doors, are the signs that the Lord has given to apprise us of His coming. There are not only the signs that He mentions in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, from which the foregoing text is taken, but there are numerous lines of prophecy and various other signs mentioned in other places in the Word of God.

The Great Lines of Prophecy.

If you are a careful student of the Bible, you should be aware of the fact that there are at least four distinct lines of prophecy in the book of Daniel, every one of which begins in the old monarchies that existed before the time of the birth of Christ, and traces the history of the world to its close. And in the book of Revelation there are at least four other lines of prophecy that, in like manner, trace the history of the world in advance, so that we may “know” when the end is approaching. Every one of these lines of prophecy casts its great search-light upon this generation in which we live, and shows this to be the very time in which we are to “know” that the end of all things is right at hand.

Numerous Signs.

And not only are there these great lines of prophecy, but Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Micah, Paul, Peter, James, and others of the prophets and evangelists, have foretold numerous things that would particularly characterize this last generation that is to exist before the Lord comes.

Now, have you been studying these things? Do you know that “all these things” which the Lord has foretold to mark the second coming of Christ may be seen to-day? Do you “know” that He is near to come? O, do you know that He is very near, “even at the doors”? And are you ready to meet Him? If not, you have no time to lose. The day is right at hand. Hasten, O, hasten to get ready!

If you are ready to meet your Lord in that day of His coming, you are zealously at work for others. You are seeking to tell every one

that Jesus is soon to appear, with all the angels. You are telling them that the resurrection day is almost here. You are urgently inviting every one to prepare to enter the city of God and dwell in the glorious new earth that Jesus has promised to every one who will receive His salvation.

These are momentous days. Let us live them full of faithful service to the Master.

Question Corner

By Editor

1954.—Deut. 14: 21-26. Please explain the meaning of Deut. 14: 21-26. A. C. T.

It does not seem to us that the scripture needs explaining. It is all very plain indeed. It tells the children of Israel how they should bring their tithes and offerings and keep a feast to Him. They should use their means, or means turned into money, to enable them to make the journey, and then, after they had met together, they should bestow their money for whatever they desired. We suppose that the special thing which has raised question in the mind of our correspondent is concerning ''strong drink,'' and ''whatsoever thy soul asketh of thee.''

It must be remembered that the strong drink of those ancient times was not distilled liquor, and it would probably take a great deal of it to make one drunken or bestial; and God's children who came together to praise and serve Him would not have a mind to seek after those things that would make them drunken and foolish. They had His restrictions and injunctions and precepts elsewhere, and all this liberty which He gives must and would be understood by them, in harmony with all those precepts. And so we should understand it. Those who made license out of liberty and brutes out of humanity would suffer the penalties which God had abundantly written elsewhere.

1955.—Ending of the Seventy Weeks. Is it safe to accept the theory that the seventy weeks of Daniel 7 end with the death of Stephen, Acts 8:4? About how long after the crucifixion was the conversion of Cornelius as recorded in Acts 10? G. B. W.

It is safe to accept the theory that the seventy weeks ended 490 years after the time that they began, which was B. C. 457. They therefore ended A. D. 34. Seventy weeks of years were set apart upon God's people, divided to them, that is, the Jews. During those seventy weeks the Lord worked for them, and through them for others. At the end of that time they were no longer the special people of God. The nation, as a nation, had rejected Him, and He could use that people, as a people, no longer. A very clear marking of that event, was the second rejection of Christ in His servant Stephen by the Jews, as recorded in Acts 7. As they had said when Christ was crucified, so they said by their actions when Stephen was stoned, ''His blood be upon us and upon our children.'' Thenceforward His people were scattered abroad, winning souls from other peoples wherever they went. It was about seven years after this that Peter preached to Cornelius the centurion.

1956.—Healing the Sick. Mark 16: 17-20. Please explain the four last verses of Mark 16. Does it mean that all who are truly converted can heal the sick by the laying on of hands, and can cast out devils? and also that no deadly thing shall hurt them? A. O. D.

This is not the meaning. All that is implied in this brief summary in Mark 16 is that God would pour out His Spirit upon His children, and His gifts would be distributed among them. The distribution of those gifts are set forth in other passages, like Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4. If you will read those scriptures you will see that not to every one are all these gifts distributed, but they are divided among them. After mentioning various gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, the apostle says, ''But all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as He will.'' Among these is the gift of healing. Some may not be fit to bear the responsibility of that gift. God may give them a very much more important gift, and yet one which the world would scarcely honor. See also verse 28: ''And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues.''

Some of the very things that the unconsecrated heart would be moved by are among the lesser gifts of the Spirit of God. It might be true that in a company the Lord had no one that He could trust with apostleship, or gifts of healing, or teaching. There might be some humble child who had the gift of healing. If you will study these scriptures aright, you will find these lessons: (1) It is our aim and object so to seek God that He can bestow upon us His Spirit for cleansing and fitting for service; (2) We should covet the best gifts for us, those that we can best use to His glory; (3) These gifts are not possessed by all, but the Spirit divides them as God will; (4) We are not to test the people of God by the presence or the absence of what seem to us marvelous things, nor are we to test ourselves in that way. The real test always in all ages has been the commandments of God; therefore, Mark 16 does not teach that every one should do all these things; it simply assures us that these signs shall follow them that believe, be manifest among them, and that has been true when God's people have been true to Him.

1957.—Three Days and Three Nights. Matt. 12: 40. Does Matt. 12: 40 correspond with from Friday night till Sunday morning that the Saviour was in the tomb? C. F. C.

It is strange to us that there are so many who, in the light of so many Scriptures which can be understood and are of such weighty importance, will place so much time on other passages which, at the very most, are only confirmatory of faith or are merely incidental in the teaching of the Word. To the Jews, Jonas was a sign; to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection, he is not.

Secondly, the text does not say that it would be three days and three nights that Jesus would lie in the grave; that is read into the text over and over, but the text does not say it. It does say that ''as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.'' And there is no place in the Word which says that the heart of the earth is the grave. Why not say, as the Scriptures seem to indicate, that it means under subjection to the powers of the earth; for that is what Jesus was from the time of His arrest; for when the soldiers met Him to arrest Him, Jesus used these words, ''This is your hour, and the power of darkness.'' From that time till the resurrection—parts of three days and three nights, which were counted by the Jews as three days and three nights—Jesus was in the hands of the power that ruled the earth, under the prince of this world. That would take in what we call Thursday night, Friday and Friday night, the light part of the Sabbath, and the night following; or, as they reckoned time then, the evening and the morning of the sixth day, the evening and the morning of the seventh day, and the evening of the first day, till Sunday morning, in general parlance three days as the term was used in Bible times. This has been explained quite fully in past numbers, and we can not take the space to go into the various arguments at this time.

1958.—''Hell and Destruction.'' Prov. 27: 20. If hell and destruction are future, why is the word ''are'' used? B.

The word ''hell'' is from the Hebrew word Sheol, meaning the abode of the dead, both righteous and wicked. Both that and destruction in a thousand forms are present and have been since sin entered. The American Standard Revised Version reads: ''Sheol and Abaddon [the grave and destruction, personified] are never satisfied.''

DONATIONS TO THE PACIFIC PRESS.

We receipt the following donations since our last in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES of November 7. We here wish, in behalf of this branch of God's work, to thank these helpers in time of need. We are studying, trying, to make every dollar cover as much ground as possible, and those who are laboring are doing noble work. This brings our list up to November 20.

Mrs. Gilson $50.00 Mrs. Ross Kimble 5.00 Mrs. John Agnew 3.00 O. A. Johnson 25.00 Mrs. F. I. Grush .50 E. L. Chapman 5.00 T. R. Angrove 3.00 Sallie Cain 5.00 Frank Hayden 1.00 John Arpperspade 1.00 Gothieb Kleine .50 Mrs. J. S. G. 6.20 L. G. Corey 5.00 J. M. Cartwright 8.00 G. E. Platts 10.00 V. B. Stevens 10.00 Pacific Union Conference 1.50 Ontario Conference 11.95 Miss Edith Menzel 1.50 A friend in Pueblo .85 A. E. Crist 10.00 Frede Puck 2.00 Thos. D. Sanford 1.05 Mrs. A. Carter 50.00 Mrs. M. F. Brown .50 Wright Barker 1.00 Mrs. A. Hammond 2.50 Oklahoma Society 12.85 N. P. Union Conference 37.05 N. P. Union Conference 11.45 M. T. Cole 1.00 Mrs. J. L. Kline 2.00 Mrs. Eddie Proctor .20 W. E. Johnson 25.00 A. Logan 10.00 A. M. Davis 50.00 Edwin Slayle 5.00 H. S. Anderson 5.00 Geo. Fletcher 16.00 Warren Manst 5.00 A. D. Guthrie 10.00 Mrs. J. R. Cofield 1.00 Alice H. Robinson 5.97 Sarah Abbott 2.25 Mrs. Jones 1.00 Chas. Booth 50.00 Mrs. E. Menzel 10.00 A. J. Iden 10.00 A. F. Dortch 2.00 H. Jorgensen .50 Mrs. Webster 5.00 J. R. Reed 10.00 S. J. Lashire and wife 5.00 A. B. T. 5.00 Miss A. M. Nicholson 5.00 Mrs. Dina Anderson 1.00 Friend in Dos Palos 2.00 Mrs. Elva Watts 5.00 Mrs. A. D. King .50 C. Rasmussen 1.00 Isabell Blakely 2.00 H. C. Jorgensen 3.00 Mrs. Amanda E. Parker 3.50 Wm. Yutz 5.00 W. F. Briggs 5.00 Mrs. J. R. Good 2.50 Arthur R. Swift 1.70 Clarence Bean .85 N. S. Wales Conference 89.47 West. Australia Conference 23.11 New Zealand Conference 4.87

Uneasy Is the Head That Wears a Crown

Recently, a notorious anarchist gained entrance to the palace of Victor Emmanuel, king of Italy, in the guise of a showman. After the performance, the king shook hands with him, and rewarded him generously. The king’s kindness may have deterred the anarchist from killing him. The police were shocked when later they discovered his true character. Uneasy must be the head that wears a crown.

THE GREAT SALVATION

By Geo. W. Reaser

By GEO. W. REASER.

GRIEVE NOT THE SPIRIT.

GOD'S insurance policy of His Holy Spirit can not "lapse," and, therefore, become "void," except under certain conditions. To prevent this unspeakably sad experience, the Lord warns those who have received the Spirit, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Instead of grieving the heavenly Messenger away, our daily prayer should be, "Lord, cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me." Note the expression, "grieve not the Holy Spirit." The only thing that will cause its departure is to "grieve" it away, and even then it will take its departure sorrowfully, not willingly. In speaking of the Spirit, we have said "it," but "it" is Christ. He says: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Could opportunity be offered to us of greater privilege than to entertain, and be entertained by, the Creator and the Saviour of men? If we had lived when He was here as a man, with our present feelings toward Him, would we not gladly have received Him to our homes? But to-day is accorded to us the greater privilege of receiving Him into our hearts. Who will not entertain Him, and be entertained by Him?

Too often Christ is treated as a "wayfaring man," and is received for a night, but bidden to take His departure in the morning. Too many let Him knock unheeded, till He finally takes His departure, never to return, and such will be among that class from whose lips will be wrung the words, expressive of the keenest anguish which it is possible for the human heart to experience, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."

"To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." The only thing that can ever cause the loss of the soul of any member of our race is to resist the Spirit of God. There is no possibility of loss of eternal life to those who will ever and always yield to its pleadings and to its keeping power.

The All-Power Waits.

The Spirit's presence brings the power of a risen Saviour into our hearts, to prepare us for His service and for victory over sin and death. This energy is the "all power, both in heaven and in earth," and Jesus is with us to impart it, or, rather, it is the momentary impartation of the life of the Christ dwelling in us. Now, while mercy lingers, and while "the Spirit and the Bride say, Come," all have opportunity of heeding the sweet voice of mercy, and drinking freely of the water of life. But there will be a sad parallel to the experience of those who resisted the Spirit in the "days of Noah." The Holy Spirit, the heavenly Guest, was withdrawn, ceased to plead, and men could find no repentance. When the time comes, as it surely will, ere the coming of the Just One, when His voice, pleading with sinners, is hushed forever, there will be the most terrible spiritual famine the world has ever known. Many will then wander to earth's remotest bounds to catch once more the sound of that thrice-welcome voice, but it is hushed forever. How much importance ought we to attach to this Agency in the plan of salvation? "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"

The Sin Against the Holy Ghost.

Some one will desire to ask, "What is the sin against the Holy Ghost?" It is certainly not a greater sin than can be committed against the Father and Son, for even the Spirit is subject to their direction, and is not, therefore, greater than they. As we have already noticed, the Holy Spirit is God's only Agency for touching and converting the hearts of men, and when this is continually and effectually resisted, the individual so doing has rejected God's means of saving, and therefore there is no salvation for him; and yet this is not an arbitrary matter in the plan of God; He would still save the lost one if He could, but he has virtually refused to be redeemed.

Another way in which the unpardonable sin is committed, is to wilfully, in the light of reasonable Scripture evidence to the contrary, attribute the work of God to Satan. Still another is to sin wilfully—defiantly—against God, after having received a knowledge of the truth, to tread underfoot the Son of God, and to count the blood of the covenant, wherewith the individual was sanctified, an holy thing, and to do "despite to the Spirit of grace."

It is doubtful if this terrible sin is ever committed by the one just beginning his departure from God, but it is the ultimate of a gradual resistance of the Spirit and rejection of light. We understand that the only reason, even then, that the sin committed is unpardonable is because the person so doing has rejected God's only means of reaching the sinner, which is by the tender, melting influence of the Spirit, and therefore he can not repent and be converted.

"Some one will knock when the door is shut, Hear a voice saying, 'I know you not,' Shall you? Shall I?"

Continue reading: THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE