Signs of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 46. (12/2/1889)

Signs of the Times

Dec 2, 1889

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 2, 1889

The Influence of the Home

By Editor

THE following utterance from the New York Tribune is well worthy of being considered, not only by parents, but by those politicians who hope to teach Christianity in the schools:—

“It may be that the public schools could do something to remedy this evil [lack of manners and respect], but the parents could do much more; and, until they do their duty in the matter, the efforts of teachers will be of little avail. The fact of the matter is that parents obey their children altogether too much in this country. They do not look for respectful obedience from their children, and, of course, they do not get it. Nor does anybody else get it either. In view of all this, the need of teaching good manners to our children is very apparent. But even more urgent, perhaps, is the need of teaching good manners to their parents.”

The influence of the home is greater than that of all other influences put together. The home and the church are the places to teach religion, morals, and manners. The public schools are founded for a different purpose.

THE PERSONALITY OF CHRIST.

By Samuel T. Spear, D.D.

1. THE personality of Christ, from his birth to his death, in the sense of a distinct and continuous individuality, is the central fact that links together all parts of his earthly history intermediate between these two points in time. The wonderful story begins at Bethlehem and ends on Calvary, leaving not a shadow of doubt as to the person to whom it refers, and whose record it describes.

2. The Christ of this history, having been crucified and buried, rose from the dead on the third day, and thereafter for forty days, at sundry times and in different places, showed himself to his apostles “alive after his passion by many infallible proofs,” and thus, in the body which had been crucified, identified himself to them as the real Jesus whom they had previously known. Acts 1:3. There was no such difference between the risen Jesus and Jesus before his death as to create any confusion in their minds on the question of identity. They saw him and talked with him, and recognized him as the same Jesus; and on this basis they were competent to testify to the fact of his resurrection.

3. This same Jesus, thus identified to the apostles, did, under their direct observation, ascend into heaven, in a manner that excluded all doubt as to the fact of the ascension, and as to the person ascending. He was, to their perceptions, the same person to the last moment of visibility; and, when he ceased to be visible, such he continued to be to their thoughts during the whole of their subsequent career. He did not, by passing out of their sight, become extinct, or another and different person. The central fact of his personality, not lost to their minds, remained with them

as a living and permanent force. The unseen Jesus was as real to them as ever the Jesus seen had been in the days of his flesh.

4. The personal titles and phrases by which this remarkable personality is designated in the New Testament, are numerous; and each one, though having primarily a special reason for its application, possesses, except when qualified in some particular use, the general character of proper names, and, as such, indicates the entire personality of Jesus, as made known in the Bible. Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Christ, Jesus Christ, the Lord, the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of man, the man Christ Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour, the Mediator, the Lamb, the Lamb of God, the High Priest of our profession, the only Begotten Son, the only Begotten of the Father, the Prince of life, the Lord of life and glory, the King of saints, the King of kings and the Lord of lords—these are the leading titles and phrases in biblical use for this adorable personality; and except when qualified by some limiting words, they mean the entirety of his whole being. Their number forcibly suggests the significance of the person to whom they are applied. When considered in reference to the particular reasons for their application to Jesus of Nazareth, they furnish an instructive theme for study. History and doctrine alike lie behind them.

5. This personality—contemplated simply in relation to one class of facts, and that, too, a very large class—is clearly human, in the sense of embodying the essential elements of human nature. Jesus when on earth had, and now has in heaven, these elements of one common humanity. This nature in him, when he was on earth, consisted in an organized human body, and a human soul, as real in him as in any man; and it now consists in a glorified human body, which Paul calls “his glorious body.” Phil. 3:21. . . . Humanity in both worlds is assigned to Christ.

No one, if giving to the language of the Bible its proper force, can doubt the humanity of Jesus when on earth, any more than he can doubt that of Paul or Peter, or of any other man. He had a bodily and mental organization that was human, and was recognized as such by all who came in contact with him; and to this organization were attached the usual incidents and facts that mark human nature. Jesus was born of a woman, and was once an infant, then a child, and then a man. He grew in wisdom and stature. He slept and waked. He ate and drank. He saw and heard. He breathed and talked. He suffered and was tempted. He had human thoughts and human feelings. He wept. He prayed. He died. It is true that he was sinless in character; but this does not exclude his humanity, since sin is not essential to humanity. It is also true that his human nature was the result of a supernatural conception; yet this does not disprove his humanity against the facts that clearly prove it.

The Bible often calls Jesus a man and the Son of man with reference to the fact that he was such. It says that “in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,” and that he was “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Heb. 2:17; 4:15. Any theory that denies or displaces the humanity of Jesus both corporeal and spiritual, is plainly contrary to the facts, and to the teaching of the Bible. We cannot too strongly emphasize the positive fact that Jesus Christ tabernacled on earth in human nature, and that this nature was not merely apparent, but real.

6. This same personality is also presented to us in the Bible as divine, not in any secondary sense, and not merely after his ascension into heaven, but in the absolute sense, and while he was on earth. The facts connected with this proposition, referring to Jesus when on earth, consist in assumptions and allegations of divinity on his part, repeated by his apostles, and in divine acts done by him.

Nothing can be plainer than that the idea of his divinity was frequently on the lips of Jesus himself. He so spake as to imply it, and was so understood, and knew that he was so understood. A notable instance to this effect occurred when he stood before the Jewish Sanhedrim on the charge of blasphemy, because he had assumed to be divine. He there declared himself to be the Son of God, in a sense which, as he knew, would be construed into an assertion of his own divinity. Matt. 26:63, 64. He taught that “all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” John 5:23. No prophet before him, and no apostle after him, ever ventured to speak of himself as did Jesus speak of himself. . . .

The divinity of Christ was not so vailed in the flesh, or by the flesh, or suspended, or dormant, or self-limited, as not to appear in the facts of his earthly history. It was a divinity in action as well as in doctrine. He not only spake the words of God, but also did the works of God. Take, as an illustration, the healing of the paralytic at Capernaum. Jesus said to the paralytic: “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” The scribes and Pharisees who heard this saying, at once in their thoughts imputed to him blasphemy, and in their hearts said, “Who can forgive sins but God only?” Jesus, knowing what was going on in their minds, and not disputing their logic about the forgiveness of sin by God only, but rather conceding it, wrought a miracle, and cured the paralytic, for the express purpose, as he declared, that they might know “that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sin.” Matt. 9:2-6; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26. Here is an act of divine power in the miracle wrought; here is an exercise of the divine prerogative in forgiving sin; and here is divine omniscience in reading the hearts of these scribes and Pharisees. Jesus, on this occasion, surely spake and acted as if he were God. He did what only God can do.

Omniscience belongs to God and him only; and John virtually assigns this attribute to Jesus as in action when he says: “But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man.” John 2:24, 25. The same apostle tells us that Jesus knew from the beginning “who should betray him”—long before Judas had the purpose in his mind at all. John 6:64. When Nathanael was coming to him, with whom Jesus had never had any intercourse, he said of him: “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” And when Nathanael said, “Whence knowest thou me?” Jesus replied, “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee.” John 1:47, 48. Here in Jesus was omniscience disclosing itself in facts. So, also, when Jesus told the Samaritan woman, whom he had before never met, to go and call her husband, and then told her that she had had five husbands, and further told her that the man with whom she was then living was not her husband, we have a similar exhibit of the divine attribute of omniscience on the lips of Jesus. John 4:16-18. The truth is that Jesus not only declared his divinity, but in specific instances set forth the fact by divine acts. He both spake and acted as if he were God.

The idea, advanced by a distinguished clergyman in this country, that Jesus simply declared his divinity as a matter of his own faith, but did not, while on earth, show the fact by divine acts, and hence that this divinity, though taught by him in words, was, so to speak, held in a “dormant” and inactive state in Jesus, which is the theory of this clergyman, does not accord with the gospel narrative. A “dormant” divinity in Jesus, while rather a queer idea, and for the time being no divinity at all, would practically reduce him, while on earth, to the level of merely an inspired man, not essentially different from the position of Moses or Paul. This clearly is not the position assigned to him in the gospel narrative. Neither Moses nor Paul ever said, or could properly say, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matt. 11:28. The words of Jesus, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,” in which he asserted a parallel between himself and God the Father, would not fit their lips. John 5:17. When the Jews charged him with blasphemy in making himself God, he said to them: “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.” John 10:37, 38. Here Christ assumed that his works were divine works; and this surely has no appearance of a “dormant” divinity, inactively reposing in the person of Jesus. The exact opposite of this idea is in the language used by him.—Samuel T. Spear, D.D., in Independent.

(To be continued.)

Mormonism’s Dark Endowment Oaths

INVESTIGATIONS into the Mormon endowment oaths and other "ways that are dark," are bringing out some startling facts. It is being demonstrated that Mormonism, under the surface, is simply a scheme of treason, murder, robbery, and anything else that will further the personal designs of its leaders.

Every Command an Implied Promise

WHAT a comforting thought it is that God does not ask of us any more than he will give us help to do. He is holy, wise, just, and merciful. Therefore every command is an implied promise. Every injunction to duty is a divine assurance that God will give us grace to do the duty enjoined. Likewise God’s promises imply conditions on our part, but conditions which are all possible through his grace. God’s precepts ought to make his promises more precious, and his promises ought to increase our love for his precepts.

Catholic Education in Three Countries

THERE is no greater condemnation of Roman Catholicism than that from Catholics themselves. Take, for instance, the following from the Catholic Review of not long since, in reply to the Independent:—

“In every country of the world to-day the governments are either Protestant or pagan, with the exception of Spain, Austria, and Ecuador. In these three countries the education is Catholic; in the others it has been wrested from the Catholics, not because their methods were failures, but because they were Catholic; because the pagans wished to educate their children as pagans; because they hate Christianity in any shape as superstition, and wish to destroy it.”

Roman Catholicism is welcome to all the honor which accrues to her from Spain, Austria, and Ecuador. In these countries she has had an opportunity to show her powers as civilizer and educator. But what is the result?—Ignorance, superstition, and anarchy.

The Still Small Voice

A WONDERFUL flow of words on the part of a preacher is no evidence that the Spirit of God is with him. The tongues of men or of angels are but as sounding brass or tinkling cymbals, without that love which keeps every known precept of God. 1 John 5:3. Noise is no evidence of power. An empty vessel makes more sound than a full one, but the full one weighs more. In these days of religious excitement, it is well to bear in mind one instance in the life of Elijah. Having fled to Horeb, the mount of God, from the wrath of Jezebel, he goes forth upon the mountain at the divine summons to wait for God. A mighty wind rent the mountain, but God was not in the wind. Then followed an earthquake, then a fire; but God was in neither earthquake nor fire. Then came a “still small voice,” and the still small voice was God’s. The wind, the earthquake, the fire, could inspire fear and dread and excitement, but the still small voice brought the effectual message to the man of God.

The Power of Quiet Words

LOUD words are no evidence of power. There may be power in them, there may not; just as frequently, and perhaps more frequently, there is not. Loudness is all there is many times. The words have neither the substratum of truth or the Spirit, and the noise is used to cover the fatal defects. It may arouse, excite, and alarm, for a time, the sensational, excitable, and timid; but it is not effectual in abiding results. Words do not need to be spoken so loud in order to be powerful. Sometimes a few words spoken in a low tone of love to the hardened or repentant sinner, or the almost discouraged saint, are words of mighty power. The speaker might not have realized this—may never realize it in this life; the one spoken to might not have realized it at the time; but the Spirit of God takes the simple words spoken in love and fastens them upon the memory and heart of the receiver. They cannot be thrown off. They germinate, they grow, they bring forth fruit to the glory of God. Many Christians will learn at the last great day that their most powerful efforts for Christ were not the noisy and seemingly effectual ones to them, but that the quiet, earnest efforts put forth in the love of God, counted nothing by them, were made effectual by the power of God.

JOHN THE BAPTIST.

THE prophet of prophets for ages foretold— A rebuker of people, a rebuker of kings; He speaks—on his lips burns the coal A flame from the altar, the voice of the soul; Ho! leaders of Israel, blind guides of the blind, With madness before you, and vengeance behind, Repent, for the time of Messiah is nigh; For the fire shall glow o'er your city of woe, And the ax at the root of your grandeur shall lie.

Ye sons of the hypocrites, howl in despair; Ye kindred of spoil, in its doom ye shall share. He stoops from his throne, and is mighty to save; The prisoner of death, yet the Lord of the grave! The King of all kings as a slave shall expire, But his words shall be spirit, and his baptism, fire. —Selected.

THE CHURCH OF ROME.

By Messiah's Herald

IN every age she has shed blood; her thirst for it is not quenched; she would shed it now and establish again the Inquisition if she could. In all our reading we have never seen one penitent word or act, or read one expression of regret for her persecutions and innumerable martyrdoms in the past! Not one! And against no other on earth is there directed such awful denunciations, such vengeful threats, such exterminating judgments, by Almighty God, as against this murderous harlot!

Why, then, say antichrist has not come? Why scan the future to find what lies in the past? Why burden and blacken the future with shadow that already for more than a thousand years has covered the world? It is settled, and is plain as evidence can make it, that no future apostasy or coming antichrist is needed to fulfill the word of God.—Messiah's Herald.

EDIFICATION.

By Editor

EDIFY means to build up. Edification is the building of Christian character, the laying a solid foundation and the building an enduring edifice on it. This building is a slow, laborious process. But it means permanence, stability, solidity. The absence of this edifying process is one of the alarming defects in modern Christian character. It resembles the Arabian tent rather than the temple, the flower rather than the oak. The material out of which the character is made is too light and flippant; gravity and strength are discarded; granite has no place in the building. It is a very active life because very light; very full of work, but the work is on the surface.

It is of such frequent occurrence that it scarcely amounts to a surprise, to learn that the last defaulter was a leading church man; that the last suicide was a prominent worker in the young people's church societies. Were they gross hypocrites? We do not believe so. They sized religion and got it according to the popular idea of what it is. It did not mean much to them, and it was not much to them, but about as much to them as to anyone else around, either in pulpit or pew. It was a feeble adherence to a feeble system; a busy doing of many churchly and official things; it was simply doing their part to make the church attractive to the world, breezy, social, enjoyable—the keeping up of its finances, and keeping it en rapport with the world—nothing farther from their thoughts than holiness and heaven, no stranger things nor stranger words to them than cross-bearing, self-denial, humility; the whole category of spiritual graces and forces were as foreign to them as to the Hottentot; not a splinter from the real cross, not a semblance of New Testament faith or piety. They made a clean miss of the whole thing; not because of their duplicity, but because of their simplicity, they could see nothing else, there was nothing else around them but this caricature of religion, this shadow without the substance, this form without the power. They sang much; but they sang out of the "supplement"—made up mostly of woman's hymns. As far as regards the ten commandments or the sermon on the mount, they had never heard there were any commandments or any sermon on the mount.

The pulpit is the chief sinner in these cases. It is mostly, if not wholly, to blame for this state of things. With them the humorous, the showy, the sensational, the emotional, or the tasteful and proper, have taken the place of the more homely and scriptural function—that of edifying.

Our pulpits need to be soaked in a few of Paul's precepts about edifying. We please our people; that won't do. We stimulate them; that is worse. We poke fun, spin theories, run syllogisms, stir up feelings. We are hot or cold, dry or moist, cry or laugh. These do not edify; they may take the starch and ice out of us, but edification means to put adamant in the foundation,—iron in the blood and steel in the nerves. It means to use the best material and the best workman, and make a job that will stand the cyclone, the fire, and the earthquake,—to make a character that will defy the world, the flesh, and the devil, and that will be good enough stuff out of which to make archangels. We are living in an age of adulteration, and the pulpit has caught the cue and is putting in, under a fine thin veneering, much bad material, and turns out many bad jobs, which look well and fresh in their tawdry dress, but there is no beauty, no strength, inside. We need spiritual character builders in the pulpit; men who can dig deep, and lay the foundation strong, and build a temple buttressed with God's omnipotence, all ablaze with God's jewels, and all radiant with his glory.

"Let all things be done unto edifying" is Paul's comprehensive direction about this matter. All things to build up—nothing for anything else; even adornment and symmetry are lost sight of. The pulpit has no right to assert its rights to do anything else but edify. "All things," says Paul, "are lawful for me, but all things edify not." "We do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying;" this is the self-denying and laborious ordinance Paul obeyed.—St. Louis Christian Advocate.

MATTHEW TWENTY-FOUR.

By J. H. Waggoner

BY THE LATE ELDER J. H. WAGGONER.

A STRIKING point of similarity between Matthew 24 and those parts of the book of Revelation which refer to the closing scenes of this dispensation, is that which refers to the working of miracles to deceive. These are the words of the Saviour:—

"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matt. 24:23, 24.

In Rev. 13:11-17 is a prophecy of these wonders, wrought by a certain power called the beast, with two horns like a lamb, by means of which he deceives the world, and fastens upon the people a system of false worship. Against this work of deception and falsehood, God causes a warning to be proclaimed, which is found in chapter 14:9-12; and this warning is given just before the Son of man appears to reap the harvest of the earth, which takes place at the end of this dispensation. See Matt. 13:38, 39 and Joel 3:9-15.

These miracles are again shown at the very conclusion of their work, in Rev. 16:12-14. Here also is shown the object of the deception which is wrought by "the spirits of devils working miracles." It is to gather the kings and the people of the earth to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. And at this point of time the Saviour says, "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth."

The "great day of God" mentioned in this text is that "day of the Lord," "day of his wrath," or "day of the Lord's anger," so often spoken of in the Scriptures, and which immediately succeeds "the day of salvation." By comparing the texts to which reference has been made, it evidently appears that Matthew 24 refers to the same period of time that is referred to in Rev. 13, 14, 16; Matt. 13:38, 39, and Joel 3:9-15. The deceptions are put forth, and the world is deceived, the Son of man appears, the harvest is reaped, the battle is fought, and the enemies of God are overthrown.

OBJECT OF MATTHEW 24.

Now we have a most important consideration to present to the minds of the readers. We think we have given facts and reasonings to prove that the coming of the Lord, mentioned in Matthew 24, is a literal, personal, visible coming. We have no idea that these facts can be controverted, or that these reasonings can be refuted. But if the question be asked of us, Do you, then, believe that the instruction of this chapter was given to prove that the second coming of Christ will be literal and personal even as his first was? we answer, No; we do not. No such object was in view; no question concerning the nature of his coming was asked. Mark well this point. The disciples did not ask him, Master, will you actually come to this world again, that we may behold you personally as we see you now? No; no. This was not yet a matter of query. The Universalist, or spiritualizing, view of the second coming was not yet invented. Nor did the Saviour say, When ye see these things, then ye may know that my coming is personal and visible.

The question was, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" It was a question concerning a certain event, and the time of its fulfillment; and the answer was to this question, and to no other. And to this it was direct. "When ye shall see all these things, then know that it is near, even at the doors."

Thus is shown the great mistake made by a majority of those who study this chapter. They appear to think that the sole object of the Saviour was to guard his followers against the idea that they can know anything about the time of his coming. But, to the contrary, he leads our minds down through a series of events and signs with the special object that we may know the time; not, indeed, the day nor the hour, but the time when it is near,—very near, even at the doors.

Verse 36 is often perverted when it is used to justify the oft-repeated assertion that "we cannot tell anything about the time of the Lord's coming." When our opposers quote this verse, we accept its statement fully and cheerfully. They seem to have exceeding strong confidence in our Saviour's words, that we cannot tell the day nor the hour. We have equal confidence in this declaration. But will they accept, with the same confidence, the statement in verse 33, which gives assurance that we may know when it is near?

If they accept this as they do verse 36, then the controversy of this chapter is ended. If they do not accept it, but still insist that we cannot know, then how can they consistently claim to be believers of the Saviour's words? We invite all readers to look candidly at this point, and answer to their own hearts before God this question: For what was the instruction of this chapter given? If the Lord did not intend that his people shall know anything about the time, what is the meaning of his words in verse 33? He says that we may know when his coming is near, and we have too much reverence for, and fear of, his word to contradict him.

And more than this, we believe that verse 33 is not merely instructive but also preceptive. It contains not only a statement, but a commandment. It does not barely inform us that we may know, but it commands us to know. The original shows, but the English does not plainly show, that the Saviour spoke in the imperative; and therefore no one can justly claim exemption, and say it makes no difference whether we know or do not. To say that we cannot know, is to slight the words of the Lord. To refuse to diligently and prayerfully search in order to know, is to disobey the Lord's commandment. Reverence, humility, and a spirit of obedience, all call for a careful examination of our Saviour's teachings, and a reception of the evidence of his near coming.

And this view is yet further confirmed by the illustration of the case of Noah. "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Verses 37-39. This shows that we cannot innocently be ignorant on the subject of the Lord's soon coming. It will be a terrible calamity in that day to those who do not know, even as it was to the world in the days of Noah, because they did not know of the approaching time of the flood. If they had had no means of knowing, they would, of course, have been innocent, and have escaped destruction.

But they might have known, for Noah warned them by his preaching, and yet more forcibly in building the ark. In this he "condemned the world." Heb. 11:7. He proved his faith by his works. They proved their unbelief, and were justly condemned. They turned away from his warnings, and forgot his words, and so the flood came when they did not expect it,—they did not know,—and took them all away. So will it be when the Son of man is revealed.

(Concluded next week.)

"BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD."

By Louisa Penn

THIS grand old psalm of David's lyre Doth still our trusting hearts inspire With confidence to trust the hand That issued the divine command.

"Be still and know that I am God." Though oft we pass beneath the rod, Though trouble be of weary length, "God is our refuge and our strength."

"Be still and know that I am God." Though dark and stormy be the road, "The cloud with silver lining," we By faith's triumphant vision see.

On wings of faith and prayer we rise, And scale the walls of Paradise, And gather strength of heavenly birth To battle with the cares of earth.

Should sorrow rise to mountain height, And put our faith and hope to test, We'll turn from dark temptation's power, Be still, and know that God knows best. —Louisa Penn.

THE FORGIVEN SON.

The quaint saying of Jeremy Taylor, that "God fails not to sow blessings in long furrows," has an illustration in the following narrative:—

In the commencement season of 1857, a student of a classical and military school in New England was to have graduated with honors, but by some deviation from the rules of the school his record was impaired. A rebuke from his father angered the young man, and he vowed he would live at home no longer, and, uttering abusive language, left the house.

But the storm of passion was too violent to last long, and soon spent itself. The better nature came back, and entering the room he had so rudely left, he threw his arms around his father's neck, and said: "Father, I've done a very wicked thing. I'm very sorry I have abused you so. It was not your loving son that did it. I was angry. Can you forgive me? I shall never again do such a thing."

The quick embrace and a father's kiss removed the agony of guilt from that broken heart. Never since that hour (both are living to-day) has an unkind word escaped his lips. He nurses his aged parents as tenderly as they used to him.

For several years this event, so full of interest at the time, had no other meaning than an occasional family reminiscence. But as now seen there was a divine intention in it, reaching into future years. In this school incident there was the illustration, and apparently the only one, that would reach the heart of a dying officer, and rescue both body and soul from the wreck of a great battle. So Christ's love and foresight "shape our ends" and sow our "blessings in long furrows," as the following will show.

A few years later found this young man at the West, thoroughly trained in business and military tactics. He went to the front at the call of his country, as captain of a company of his choice—was wounded in that fearful battle of Gettysburg—and on the sixteenth day after, his father found him—gangrene had followed amputation of the right leg just below the knee, and had nearly reached the fatal death mark. He was given up to die. There was no hope remaining. Life was nearly gone. The embrace he gave his father was feeble. His voice was that of one about to give up life. "Dear father, how glad I am to see you once more; you must do the talking now. I'm almost gone."

Returned from a short walk with the surgeon, the colonel asked his father to sit down by him.

"Have you been talking with the surgeon?"

"Yes."

"What did he say about me?"

"He says you must die."

"How long does he think I can live?"

"Not more than four days, and you may go at any moment."

"Father, you must not let me die now. I am afraid to die. I'm not prepared to die. If I must, do tell me how. I know you can, for I've heard you do it for others."

There was no time or place for tears. There was work to be done, and done at once. There was no hesitation. Instantly the Spirit said to the father, "Tell him of the school incident. That is what he wants; I have held it in reserve for this moment."

"My son, you feel guilty, do you not?"

"Yes; that makes me afraid to die."

"You want to be forgiven, don't you?"

"Yes; can I be?"

"Certainly."

"Can I know it before I die?"

"Certainly."

"Do make this so plain that I can get hold of it," raising his feeble arm and closing the hand as if to grasp it.

"Do you remember the school incident years ago?"

"Yes, very distinctly. I was thinking it all over a few days ago, as I thought of your coming."

"Do you remember how you came back into the house, and, throwing your arms around your father's neck, you asked him to forgive you?"

"Yes."

"What did he say to you?"

"He said, 'I forgive you with all my heart,' and kissed me."

"Did you believe him?"

"Certainly; I never doubted his word."

"Did that take away your guilt?"

"Yes."

"All of it?"

"Yes."

"Were you happy at home again?"

"Yes; more than ever before."

"That is just the thing for you to do now. Tell Jesus you are sorry that you have abused him, and ask him to forgive you, just as simply and sincerely as you did me. He says he will forgive, and you must take his word for it, just as you did mine."

"Why, father, is that the way to become a Christian?"

"I don't know of any other."

"That is very simple and plain; I can get hold of that."

Very much exhausted by this effort, the colonel turned his head upon his pillow to rest. The father, having done his work for the dying son, sank into a chair and gave way to a flow of tears, expecting soon to close his son's eyes in death. That painful suspense was not to last long. It could not. It did not. A change had taken place. A new life had come to that soul. Its first utterance changed the tears to joy.

"Father, you need not cry any more. I don't want you should. I want you should sing. It's all right with me now; I'm happy; Jesus has forgiven me; I've told him how sorry I am that I have abused him so. And he has forgiven me; I know he has, for he says he will, and I have taken his word for it just as I did yours. I'm not afraid to die now; I don't think I shall; I feel the stirring of a new life within me, and with it comes the feeling of new life in my blood. I want you to sing that good old hymn we used to sing when a boy at family prayers:— "When I can read my title clear To mansions in the skies, I'll bid farewell to every fear, And wipe my weeping eyes." Immediately the life current, which was rapidly ebbing away, began to flow back,

the pulse beating at the death rate began to lessen, the eyes to brighten, the countenance to glow

with new blood, the voice to be natural, the sadness of that afternoon to give place to cheerfulness and hope. The surgeon coming in as was his wont every day to watch the rapid progress of the dreaded gangrene, put his fingers upon the pulse and said with great surprise: "Colonel, your pulse is wonderfully changed; you look better. What has happened?"

"Well," replied the colonel, "Father has shown me how to be a Christian, and I have done it. I'm better; I'm going to get well. I've asked Jesus to let me live to take care of father, mother, and sister, and to serve my country, for which I have given my leg, and well-nigh my life."

On dressing the wound next morning the whole mass of rotten flesh fell to the floor—the gangrene was arrested—its work ended. The surgeons, throwing up their arms, exclaimed: "Great God! this is a miracle. God only could do this!"

Years have come and gone. This young officer, thus rescued from the wreck of war, still lives. In that school incident in 1857 was foreseen the saving of a valuable life—thanks to sovereign grace. That life has been an important factor in the political, religious, and domestic history of his day. Positions of trust have been freely given and honorably held by him. His official career has been marked by efficiency, integrity, a high sense of honor, a quick apprehension, and a ready decision of official questions, fairness, impartiality, general popularity, and official success. The church knows the influence of his membership and support. In his home, blessed with the wife whom God had prepared for him, a large family has been reared to a Christian life, and all of suitable age are gathered into the church. The morning prayer has held the same place as the morning meal. God grant that such a life may be spared for many years to come.

The lesson of this narrative is that, very generally, the way to become a Christian is indistinct and confused. Ministers should make it so plain that men can get hold of it. It is so simple that "wayfaring men though fools need not err therein."—N. Y. Observer.

A QUERY.

By A. W. Sanborn

THE Sunday-sabbath advocates love to ride the round-world hobby, that makes it impossible to keep the same day, all around the world. And yet these same men are trying to get a law passed to compel all men to keep a definite day, and that day must be Sunday all around the world. Will civil Sunday laws clear up all the difficulties claimed from a round-world theory? A. W. SANBORN.

Douglas, Mich.

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