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Signs of the Times, Vol. 5, No. 24.

The Gospel Preached to the Gentiles

Signs of the Times

Jun 19, 1879

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jun 19, 1879

The Gospel Preached to the Gentiles

By Mrs. E. G. White

General Articles.
The Gospel Preached to the Gentiles. BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
FROM Antioch Paul and Barnabas went to Iconium. This place was a great resort for pleasure-seekers, and persons who had no particular object in life. The population was composed of Romans, Greeks, and Jews. The apostles here, as at Antioch, first commenced their labors in the synagogues for their own people, the Jews. They met with marked success; numbers of both Jews and Greeks accepted the gospel of Christ. But here, as in former places where the apostles had labored, the unbelieving Jews commenced an unreasonable opposition of those who accepted the true faith, and, as far as lay in their power, influenced the Gentiles against them.
The apostles, however, were not easily turned from their work, for many were daily embracing the doctrine of Christ. They went on faithfully in the face of opposition, envy, and prejudice. Miracles were daily wrought by the disciples through the power of God; and all whose minds were open to evidence were affected by the convincing power of these things.
This increasing popularity of the doctrine of Christ stirred the unbelieving Jews to fresh opposition. They were filled with envy and hatred, and determined to stop the labors of the apostles at once. They went to the authorities, and represented their work in the most false and exaggerated light, leading the officers to fear that the entire city was in danger of being incited to insurrection. They stated that great numbers were attaching themselves to the apostles, and suggested that it was for secret and dangerous designs.
In consequence of these charges, the disciples were repeatedly brought before the authorities; but in every case they so ably defended themselves before the people, that, although the magistrates were prejudiced against them by the false statements they had heard, they dared not condemn them. They could but acknowledge that the teachings of the apostles were calculated to make men virtuous, law-abiding citizens.
The unprejudiced Jews and Greeks took the position that the morals and good order of the city would be improved, if the apostles were allowed to remain and work there. Upon the occasions when the apostles were brought before the authorities, their defense was so clear and sensible, and the statement which they gave of their doctrine was so calm and comprehensive, that a considerable influence was raised in their favor. The doctrine they preached gained great publicity, and was brought before a much larger number of unprejudiced hearers than ever before in that place.
The Jews perceived that their efforts to thwart the work of the apostles were unavailing, and only resulted in adding greater numbers to the new faith. The rage of the Jews was worked up to such a pitch on this account that they determined to compass their ends in some manner. They stirred up the worst passions of the ignorant, noisy mob, creating a tumult which they attributed to the efforts of the apostles. They then prepared to make a false charge of telling force, and to gain the help of the magistrates in carrying out their purpose. They determined that the apostles should have no opportunity to vindicate themselves; but that mob power should interfere, and put a stop to their labors by stoning them to death.
Friends of the apostles, although unbelievers, warned them of the designs of the malicious Jews, and urged them not uselessly to expose themselves to their fury, but to escape for their lives. They accordingly departed from Iconium in secret, and left the faithful and opposing parties to battle for themselves, trusting God to give victory to the doctrine of Christ. But they by no means took a final leave of Iconium; they purposed to return, after the excitement then raging had abated, and complete the work they had begun.
Those who observe and teach the binding claims of God's law frequently receive, in a degree, similar treatment to that of the apostles at Iconium. They often meet a bitter opposition from ministers and people who persistently refuse the light of God, and, by misrepresentation and falsehood, close every door by which the messenger of truth might have access to the people.
The apostles next went to Lystra and Derhe, cities of Lycaonia. These were populated by a heathen, superstitious people; but among them were souls that would hear and accept the doctrine of Christ. The apostles chose to labor in these cities because they would not there meet Jewish prejudice and persecution. They now came in contact with an entirely new element,—heathen superstition and idolatry.
The apostles, in their work, met all grades of people, and all kinds of faith and religions. They were brought in opposition with Jewish bigotry and intolerance, sorcery, blasphemy, unjust magistrates who loved to exercise their power, false shepherds, superstition, and idolatry. While persecution and opposition met them on every hand, victory still crowned their efforts, and converts were daily added to the faith.
In Lystra there was no Jewish synagogue, though there were a few Jews in the place. The temple of Jupiter occupied a conspicuous position there. Paul and Barnabas appeared in the city together, teaching the doctrine of Christ with great power and eloquence. The credulous people believed them to be gods come down from Heaven. As the apostles gathered the people about them, and explained their strange belief, the worshipers of Jupiter sought to connect these doctrines, as far as they were able, with their own superstitious faith.
Paul addressed them in the Greek language, presenting for their consideration such subjects as would lead them to a correct knowledge of him who should be the object of their adoration. He directed their attention to the firmament of the heavens—the sun, moon, and stars—the beautiful order of the recurring seasons, the mighty mountains whose peaks were capped with snow, the lofty trees, and the varied wonders of nature, which showed a skill and exactitude almost beyond finite comprehension. Through these visible works of the Almighty, the apostle led the minds of the heathen to the contemplation of the great Mind of the universe.
He then told them of the Son of God, who came from Heaven to our world because he loved the children of men. His life and ministry were presented before them; his rejection by those whom he came to save; his trial and crucifixion by wicked men; his resurrection from the dead to finish his work on earth; and his ascension to Heaven to be man's Advocate in the presence of the Maker of the world. With the Spirit and power of God, Paul and Barnabas declared the gospel of Christ.
As Paul recounted the works of Christ in healing the afflicted, he perceived a cripple whose eyes were fastened upon him, and who received and believed his words. Paul's heart went out in sympathy toward the afflicted man, whose faith he discerned; and he eagerly grasped the hope that he might be healed by that Saviour, who, although he had ascended to Heaven, was still man's Friend and Physician, having more power even than when he was upon earth.
In the presence of that idolatrous assembly, Paul commanded the cripple to stand upright upon his feet. Hitherto he had only been able to take a sitting posture; but he now grasped with faith the words of Paul, and instantly obeyed his command, and stood on his feet for the first time in his life. Strength came with this effort of faith; and he who had been a cripple walked and leaped as though he had never experienced an infirmity.
This work performed on the cripple was a marvel to all beholders. The subject was so well known, and the cure was so complete, that there was no room for skepticism on their part. The Lycaonians were all convinced that supernatural power attended the labors of the apostles, and cried out with great enthusiasm that the gods had come down to them from Heaven in the likeness of men. This belief was in harmony with their traditions that gods visited the earth. They conceived the idea that the great heathen deities, Jupiter and Mercury, were in their midst in the persons of Paul and Barnabas. The former they believed to be Mercury; for Paul was active, earnest, quick, and eloquent with words of warning and exhortation. Barnabas was believed to be Jupiter, the father of gods, because of his venerable appearance, his dignified bearing, and the mildness and benevolence which was expressed in his countenance.
The news of the miraculous cure of the cripple was soon noised throughout all that region, until a general excitement was aroused, and priests from the temple of the gods prepared to do the apostles honor, as visitants from the courts of Heaven, to sacrifice beasts to them, and to bring offerings of garlands and precious things. The apostles had sought retirement and rest in a private dwelling, when their attention was attracted by the sound of music, and the enthusiastic shouting of a vast assembly, who had come to the gates of the house where they were abiding.
When these ministers of God ascertained the cause of this visit and its attendant excitement, they were filled with indignation and horror. They rent their clothing, and rushed in among the multitude to prevent further proceedings. Paul in a loud, ringing voice that rose above the noise of the multitude, demanded their attention, and, as the tumult was suddenly quelled, he inquired, “Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein; who in time past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
The people listened to the words of Paul with manifest impatience. Their superstition and enthusiasm had been so great in regard to the apostles that they were loth to acknowledge their error, and have their expectations and purposes thwarted. Notwithstanding the apostles positively denied the divinity attributed to them by the heathen, and Paul made a masterly effort to direct their minds to the true God as the only object worthy of worship, it was still most difficult to turn them from their purpose.
They reasoned that they had with their own eyes beheld the miraculous power exercised by the apostles; that they had seen a cripple who had never before used his limbs, made to leap and rejoice in perfect health and strength through the exercise of the marvelous power possessed by these strangers. But, after much persuasion on the part of Paul, and explanation as to the true mission of the apostles, the people were reluctantly led to give up their purpose. They were not satisfied, however, and led the sacrificial beasts away in great disappointment, that their traditions of divine beings visiting the earth could not be strengthened by this example of their favor in coming to confer special blessings upon them, which would exalt them and their religion in the estimation of the world.
And now a strange change came upon the fickle, excitable people, because their faith was not anchored in the true God. The opposing Jews of Antioch, through whose influence the apostles were driven from the coast, united with certain Jews of Iconium, and followed upon the track of the apostles. The miracle wrought upon the cripple, and its effect upon those who witnessed it, stirred up their envy, and led them to go to the scene of the apostles’ labor, and put their false version upon the work. They denied that God had any part in it, and claimed that it was accomplished through the demons whom these men served.
The same class had formerly accused the Saviour of casting out devils through the power of the prince of devils; they had denounced him as a deceiver; and they now visited the same unreasoning wrath upon his apostles. By means of falsehoods they inspired the people of Lystra with the bitterness of spirit by which they were themselves actuated. They claimed to be thoroughly acquainted with the history and faith of Paul and Barnabas, and so misrepresented their characters and work that the heathen idolaters, who had been ready to worship the apostles as divine beings, now considered them as worse than murderers, and that whoever should put them out of the world would do God and mankind good service.
Those who believe and teach the truths of God’s word in these days meet with similar opposition from unprincipled persons who will not accept the truth, and who do not hesitate to prevaricate, and even to circulate the most glaring falsehoods in order to destroy the influence and hedge up the way of those whom God has sent with a message of warning to the world. While one class make the falsehoods and circulate them, another class are so blinded by the delusions of Satan as to receive them as the words of truth. They are in the toils of the arch-enemy, while they flatter themselves that they are the children of God. “For this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
The disappointment experienced by the idolaters in being refused the privilege of offering sacrifices to the apostles, prepared them to turn against these ministers of God with a zeal which approached that of the enthusiasm with which they had hailed them as gods. The malicious Jews did not hesitate to take full advantage of the superstition and credulity of this heathen people to carry out their designs. They incited them to attack the apostles by force; and they charged them not to allow Paul an opportunity to speak, alleging that if they did so he would bewitch the people.
The Lystrians rushed upon the apostles with great rage and fury. They hurled stones violently; and Paul, bruised, battered, and fainting, felt that his end had come. The martyrdom of Stephen was brought vividly to his mind, and the cruel part he had acted on that occasion. He fell to the ground apparently dead, and the infuriated mob dragged his insensible body through the gates of the city, and threw it beneath the walls. The apostles mentions this occurrence in the subsequent enumeration of his sufferings for the truth’s sake: “Thrice was I beaten with rods; once was I stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often; in perils of waters; in perils of robbers; in perils by mine own countrymen; in perils by the heathen; in perils in the city; in perils in the wilderness; in perils in the sea; in perils among false brethren.”
The disciples stood around the body of Paul, lamenting over him whom they supposed was dead, when he suddenly lifted his head, and rose to his feet with the praise of God upon his lips. To the disciples this seemed like a resurrection from the dead, a miracle of God to preserve the life of his faithful servant. They rejoiced with inexpressible gladness over his restoration, and praised God with renewed faith in the doctrine preached by the apostle.
These disciples had been newly converted to the faith through the teaching of Paul, and had stood steadfast notwithstanding the misrepresentation and malignant persecution of the Jews. In fact, the unreasoning opposition of those wicked men had only confirmed these devoted brethren in the faith of Christ; and the restoration of Paul to life, seemed to set the signet of God upon their belief.
Timothy had been converted through the ministration of Paul, and was an eye-witness of the sufferings of the apostle upon this occasion. He stood by his apparently dead body, and saw him arise, bruised and covered with blood, not with groans nor murmurings upon his lips, but with praises to Jesus Christ, that he was permitted to suffer for his name. In one of the epistles of Paul to Timothy he refers to his personal knowledge of this occurrence. Timothy became the most important help to Paul and to the church. He was the faithful companion of the apostle in his trials and in his joys. The father of Timothy was a Greek; but his mother was a Jewess, and he had been thoroughly educated in the Jewish religion.

THE SERAPH'S TOUCH.

By M. E. Sangster

"Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar."
BEFORE the great white throne on high, Their faces covered, veiled their feet, They stood, who on Love's errands fly With swift precision, strong and fleet, In light to make the noonday dim, These golden ranks of seraphim.
Than theirs, a glory greater far O'erhung the wide and stately place, The sun excels the grandest star; Before the Lord they veiled the face, And waited, fair, serene, and still, Till came the time to do His will.
And ever bursts of music sweet, With sudden triumph swayed the bands, When thrice they would the name repeat Of him who ruleth sea and lands, And "Holy, holy, holy," cry, "Art Thou the King, the Lord Most High!"
There faltered, on the outer verge Of that rich throng, a trembling soul, From whom there broke, in weary dirge, A moan of bitter grief and dole; "Ah, woe is me, for I, unclean, The King, the Lord of hosts, have seen."
A shining seraph heard his plaint, The cry of shame and quivering dread, Beheld him shrinking, terror-faint, And to the glowing altar sped. Thence bore a burning coal away, And touched him where he, abject, lay.
A sudden bolt of sternest pain Shot quickly through him like a dart, And then, like softest summer rain, The seraph-voice fell on his heart: "Lo! this hath touched thy lips," he said, "And sin and wrath from thee have fled."
In rapt, ecstatic gratitude, The man arose, by Love set free From servile fear, and straight he stood Where glittering throngs of seraphs be, To do their work his strong desire, Sealed unto God with sacred fire.
"Send me," he cried, when spake the King For one to go with words divine. O seraph watcher, haste, and bring To us the fiery, burning sign; We, too, would feel the blessed pain, And lift our foreheads, pure of stain.
We, too, would know the joyous thrill Of consecration unreserved, And, set apart to do His will, With hearts by nothing earthly swerved, Would still, whate'er Love's message be, Say each: "O, Lord of life, send me!" —M. E. Sangster.

Can God Organize Matter to Think?

By Dudley Marvin Canright

Is not God almighty? Is anything too hard for him? Some virtually deny the power of God when they claim that matter cannot be organized by the Almighty so as to be able to think and reason. They take up a stone, and weigh it, measure it, and divide it, and then ask if that thing can think. Of course not. Examine that piece of wood. Can it think? Take a handful of the dust of the ground, from which all things grow. Is there anything here able to think? They analyze a dead body, and find that it is made up chiefly of water, nitrogen, a little sulphur, a little phosphorus, and some lime, with a few other earthy materials. Go farther, and analyze a man's brains. They are found to be composed of eight-tenths water, with a little albumen, a little fat, phosphorus, sulphur, &c. Then they ask us if these elements can think. Can sulphur reason? Can water think? Can oxygen love or hate? No. Hence they immediately jump to the conclusion that no matter, in whatever form or organization, can be made to think. And, therefore, all intelligences, whether man, angels, or Deity, must be immaterial.
So Heaven is fancied to be a vast region entirely void of all matter. God who dwells there has no body, no form, no visible parts, but is a mere essence pervading all space. The angels are the same in essence, having no bodies, being nothing that can be felt, or handled, or seen. The souls of men are the same also in kind,—bodiless, intangible essences. All matter is unthinking, and all intelligence proceeds from immateriality.
One more assumption, and the hard labored conclusion is triumphantly reached; viz., Whatever is immaterial is indestructible and therefore immortal. Hence the thinking part of man is immortal.
But let us examine this baseless fabric. If God is without body, parts, or shape, a mere essence filling all space, and if angels and the souls of men are the same, only smaller, then how can either be a person, or have a separate existence from the other? But waiving this, where is the proof that an immaterial being cannot be destroyed? Has God said so? No. Do they know it by experience? No. Then it is a mere groundless assumption. This theory of the immateriality of the soul is a modern invention, to sustain the tottering notion of the soul's immortality. But the most noted theologians now confess that immateriality does not prove immortality. That which has a beginning can have an end. What God has made he can destroy.
But to the question: Can God organize matter so that it can think? We answer, Yes. But our opponents say, “A stone, a stick, dust, water, iron,—these are material. They cannot think. True, matter in these particular forms cannot reason; but it does not follow that it cannot in a different form, or when differently organized. Here is a ball of snow, very white and very cold. It is material. Shall I therefore conclude that all matter must be white and cold? Here is a piece of coal just as material as the snow-ball; but it is very black, just opposite in color from the snow. Look again. That coal is all on fire, very hot, just the opposite of the cold snow. Lift that block of lead. How very heavy? Now handle those feathers. How light? They seem to be just the opposite of each other, yet both are matter. One form of matter is very sour, as a lemon; and another is very sweet, as sugar.
Indeed, the various combinations of matter may be said to be almost infinite. Yet it only takes a few very original or primary elements to make all these. “The number of the elements, or simple substances, with which we are at present acquainted, is sixty-four. These substances are not all equally distributed over the surface of the earth; most of them are exceedingly rare, and only known to chemists. Some ten or twelve only make the great bulk, or mass, of all the objects we see around us.”—Wel's Natural Philosophy, pp. 11, 12. But God has so variously arranged and organized these few elements that many forms seem the very opposite of others, as we have mentioned; as heat and cold, white and black, light and heavy, sour and sweet.
We utterly deny the distinction between matter and spirit which is claimed. We believe that everything is material, and that these diversities are only different forms of matter. No living man can successfully deny this. The wisest and most scientific men freely admit that they know but little about matter. The more they study, the deeper they search into it, the more they are convinced that its different attributes and capabilities have been but partially understood. Because a certain fact is true of matter in one condition, is it argued that it must be true of matter always and everywhere? But this is illogical and false, for matter is capable of the greatest diversity. Matter in one form may even seem to be directly the opposite of the same matter in another form. For instance, I have before me a piece of ice. I put my hand upon it; it is exceedingly cold. It is a square chunk; I can cut it with a knife, or saw it with a saw into blocks. It is solid. But I put this ice in a vessel and warm it. It soon becomes water, a liquid. It now looks very different from that piece of ice which I held in my hands a few minutes before. I closely confine this water in a tight vessel, and heat it very hot. It now becomes steam, a vapor, and is invisible. Says Mr. Wells, “Steam, which is the vapor of boiling water, is invisible, but when it comes in contact with air, which is cooler, it becomes condensed into small drops, and is thus rendered visible.”—Natural Philosophy, p. 238. It is so hot it would scald your hand in a moment. It can neither be cut, nor poured from vessel to vessel. It now seems to be precisely opposite from that piece of ice, and yet everybody knows that it is the very same material, only in another condition.
If no man had seen ice thus converted into steam, we should all pronounce such a change impossible. Let him look at that piece of ice, put his hands upon it, examine it; and then let him examine steam in its most heated condition; let him try it with his hand, then tell him that they are both the same material, and he would pronounce it the greatest absurdity imaginable. Yet we all know by actual observation that ice, and water, and steam are only different conditions of the same material.
There is as great a difference between steam and ice as is claimed to exist between spirit and matter. We claim, therefore, that it cannot be shown that a spirit is not one form of matter. The Bible nowhere says it is not. On the other hand, it plainly shows that it is.
So because matter in one form does not reason, is no evidence that it cannot when organized in some other way. Look at that coarse, filthy mud in the road. That is matter. Shall we now conclude that all matter is like that? How foolish! for its side lies a beautiful gold watch, measuring off the seconds, minutes, and hours in exact time! The watch is as material as the mud, but oh, how different! Again, there is a piece of black charcoal, hardly worth picking up. Here is a diamond of priceless value, one as large as a thimble being worth millions. Two small diamond ear rings sold for $75,000. One owned by Napoleon was worth $1,000,000. The king of Portugal has one worth $28,000,000. Now, that charcoal and that diamond are not only both material, but, wonderful to tell, they are both of exactly the same material, only differently organized. The contrast between senseless matter and thinking matter would not be greater.
How presumptuous for puny man, with his narrow range of vision and almost utter ignorance of the ways and means of the Almighty, to say what God can do with matter and what he cannot! Though for six thousand years men have been using matter, handling matter, eating it, drinking it, wearing it, surrounded on every side by matter, and they themselves are made of it; yet how little do they know about it! The most profound philosophers, the sharpest chemists, acknowledge their profound ignorance of the simplest forms and operations of matter. Bishop Clark makes this confession: “If it is asked what is meant by matter, or what matter we must confess that we know not what constitutes its essence. In this respect its ontology is beyond our reach; and the only advance we find it possible to make is to point out some of the properties of matter, as discerned by our senses, and to exhibit some of the laws by which it is governed.”—Man all Immortal, p. 21.
Yes, that all of them can do is to tell a few of the laws and properties of matter. Here they are stranded on the shore. The great ocean lies beyond them, all unknown. So said Sir Isaac Newton, the prince of philosophers. Another learned author says, “All the great forces, or agents in nature, those which produce, or are the cause of all the changes which take place in matter, may be enumerated as follows: Internal, or molecular forces, the attraction of gravitation, heat, light, the attraction and repulsive forces of magnetism and electricity, and, finally, a force or power which only exists in living animals and plants, which is called vital force. Concerning the real nature of these forces, we are entirely ignorant. . . . In the present state of science, it is impossible to know whether they are merely properties of matter, or whether they are forms of matter itself.”—Wells' Natural Philosophy, p. 21.
When scientific men make such confessions of their ignorance of matter, others had better be more modest in their statements. And all confess that they know as little about what spirit is as about what matter is.
D. M. CANRIGHT.

Ambassadors for Christ.

Suppose that in Newgate jail, in London, there is a prisoner condemned to death; he is to be executed in a week. Suppose I were near the Queen and she were to say: "Would you like to take a message to that man, a free pardon?" "Yes, I would like it very much." "Well, but he is a very obstinate man, and if you go, you must go in my name, and beg and beseech him to accept the pardon." So I agree to this, and I get the pardon signed and sealed up all right. I take the train to London, and get into a coach to drive to the prison. On the way I stop at a florist's and buy the finest bouquet of flowers I can get; then I go to another shop and say: "Have you any nice new songs, nice cheerful ones?"
"Yes, we have some very nice ones."
Well, I buy half a dozen, and so with the beautiful flowers in one hand and the songs in the other, I go to the prison gate. I knock; the turnkey says: "What do you want?" I show him the Queen's order for admittance, and he lets me in, and takes me to the condemned criminal's cell; he opens the door, and lets me in beside the manacled prisoner, and he tells me I have only a short time, say thirty minutes, to stay there.
Well, I begin and say to the poor man, "My friend, I have seen the Queen." "Have you?" he says. "Yes." And then I begin to tell him about the Queen, about the palace, and to describe the pictures and the gardens. Then I tell him of the Queen's kindness to me, and so the time passes away. Then I say: "Here's a nice bouquet of flowers I have brought you." He stretches out his hand with the clanking irons on it and takes the flowers. "Now I have some nice songs; shall I sing them?" "You may sing if you like." So I sing one after the other, and by and by, when I have nearly finished the last one the turnkey comes and says: Time's up. You can't stop another minute." "Well," I say "haven't I entertained you nicely?" "Oh, yes, you have." Then I go out, the door is shut, the great iron gate is closed after me; and all the time I had the pardon in my pocket. I was to have prayed and besought him to accept it, but I never mentioned it. I have entertained him nicely; but I have not given the message. I was to have begged and reasoned with him to receive the pardon; but I have not spoken of it. Have I been faithful? No, I have not. Am I not as bad as the man himself? Is not his blood upon me?
—Word and Work.

Usury a Thief.

A FATHER has three sons, between whom he desires to divide his estate, value at $30,000.
He has two farms worth $10,000 each, and $10,000 in money.
To William and Henry he gives the farms, and to John the money.
William and Henry have the land, and each possess strong arms and skillful hands.
They have but to touch the rich resources of nature with the hand of labor and wealth leaps forth.
But before the productive forces of nature and the skill and labor of the boys can co-operate in the production of wealth, improvements have to be made, buildings constructed, teams and tools purchased, ground broken, seed provided and some crops cultivated, harvested, and sent to market. They must have money. John has money, but it will earn nothing, neither can he eat, drink, or wear it. It is useless to him as was Robinson Crusoe's keg of gold on the desolate isle to which he was banished.
If the father had divided land and money equally between the brothers, each would have been amply supplied with all that was necessary to insure prosperity, but William and Henry must borrow John's money to render their land productive, and John must rent or hire out his money for usury, for of itself it possesses no productive elements.
So John loans his money to his brothers for an indefinite period, taking a mortgage on their farms, bearing six per cent. semi-annual interest, and goes to work at his trade as a carpenter. The boys all marry and raise families.
John, by skill and industry accumulates a competency at his trade, and is not compelled to call on his brothers even for annual interest.
William and Henry also raise families, and plod along, well-to-do farmers, surrounded by everything that serves to make life happy.
In about twenty-two years the three brothers have each a son of mature age, whom the parents desire to start in life on as good a footing as their father placed them.
William and Henry take an inventory of their wealth, and find that on the $20,000 originally invested, they have made the usual three per cent. and their estates are each worth now $20,000. John calls on them for a settlement and payment of the principal and interest. Upon a careful calculation, his principal being $10,000, to which add semi-annual interest compounded, as is the practice in all banks, brokerage and money transactions, there is due him from each brother $20,136, sweeping their entire estates, and leaving them $136 in debt each.
Such is usury.

The Web of Life

LIFE is a web, time is a shuttle, man is a weaver. The principle of human action is the thread in the web of life. That which goes into the web will come out of the web, and nothing will come out of the web which you do not put in.
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