Earlier text: AUTO-INTOXICATION, OR HOW A MAN MAY POISON HIMSELFDAILY READING FOR JANUARY 27 TO FEBRUARY 2
Sunday, “Thoughts on the Revelation,” verses 1-6. Monday, “ ” “ ” “ ” 7-12. Tuesday, “ ” “ ” “ ” 13-17. Wednesday, the Fall of Satan, in Spiritual Gifts, “Early Writings,” page 17. Thursday, The Plan of Salvation, in Spiritual Gifts, “Early Writings,” page 21. How many principal actors in this chapter?—The woman, child, and dragon. Who were represented by each of these symbols? The Woman.—Give Scriptural proof that God uses a symbol of a woman to represent the Church. What period of the Church is referred to in verses 1-5? in verses 6-14? also in verse 16? State how the earth helped the woman. What are the two marked characteristics of the remnant Church? V. 17. The Child.—Give five facts stated in verse 5 that will identify the child.—(1) Man child—“the MAN Christ Jesus;” (2) rules all nations—“KING of kings;” (3) rules with rod of iron—Son of God will rule with rod of iron. Ps. 2:7-9; (4) caught up to God—“I ascend unto my Father;” (5) taken to the throne of God—“I . . . am set down with my Father in His throne.” Dragon.—What power ruled the world when Christ was born? Who sought to slay Him while yet an infant? Matt. 2:16. Who finally condemned Him to death? Acts 4:26, 27. Who instigated the Roman rulers to do the cruel work? Who is the real dragon that works through earthly powers? How many times is Satan said to be cast down in this chapter? First Fall of Satan.—Where was he in the beginning? V. 7. Where was he cast? V. 9. Could he ever enter heaven after that? V. 8. When did this fall take place? Second Fall.—Where did Satan go to accuse our brethren?—To the gate of heaven. What does each loyal angel present at the gate of heaven? See Experience and Views in “Early Writings,” page 32. Could it be possible for the evil angels to enter without this token? What did Satan represent in the council at the gate of heaven? Job 1:7. By what right?—As prince of this world. What was Satan’s death knell?—“It was Christ’s death on the cross that struck Satan’s death knell.” Who now represents the earth in the heavenly councils? How did the heavenly universe receive the second casting down of Satan? V. 12. What work did Satan then begin on earth? V. 13. In Revelation 20 we have an account of a third casting down of Satan, which will be in the future. Russia-China Arrangement for Shengking
The following are the items of the arrangement entered into by Russia and China, concerning the Manchurian province of Shengking, published by Russia a short time ago:— 1. The Tartar general, Tseng, undertakes to protect and pacify the province, and to assist in the construction of the railroad. 2. He must kindly treat, feed, and lodge Russians engaged in the military occupation and in the protection of the railroad. 3. He must disarm and disband the Chinese soldiery, delivering to the Russians all munitions of war in such arsenals as the Russians have not yet occupied. 4. All forts and defenses in the province not occupied by the Russians, and all powder magazines not required by them, must be dismantled in the presence of Russian officials. 5. New Chwang and other places now in Russian occupation shall be restored to the Chinese civil administration, when Russia is satisfied that the pacification of the province is complete. 6. The Chinese shall maintain law and order by local police under a Tartar general. 7. A Russian political resident, with general powers of control, shall be stationed at Mukden, to whom the Tartar General Tseng must give all information respecting any important measures. 8. In the event of the local police being insufficient for the emergency, General Tseng will notify the Russian resident, and invite Russia to send re-enforcements. 9. The Russian text shall be the standard. And Russia assures the United States and the other Powers that she will not take any Chinese territory! And the United States assures the world that “the people of Cuba are, and of right ought to be, free and independent,” and that this pledge shall be fulfilled “to the letter”! “And the Word was made flesh.” “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman.” Gal. 4:4. “And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isa. 53:6. We have seen that, in His being made of a woman, Christ reached sin at the very fountain head of its entrance into this world; and that He must be made of a woman to do this. And thus all the sin of this world, from its origin in the world to the end of it in the world, was laid upon Him; both sin as it is in itself and sin as it is when committed by us; sin in its tendency, and sin in the act; sin as it is hereditary in us, uncommitted by us, and sin as it is committed by us. Only thus could it be that there should be laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. Only by His subjecting himself to the law of heredity could He reach beyond the generation living in the world while He was here. Without this there could be laid upon Him our sins which have been actually committed, with the guilt and condemnation that belong to them. But, beyond this, there is in each person, in many ways, the liability to sin, inherited from generations back, which has not yet culminated in the act of sinning, but which is ever ready, when occasion offers, to blaze forth in the actual committing of sins. David’s great sin is an illustration of this: Ps. 51:5; 2 Sam. 11:2. In delivering us from sin, it is not enough that we shall be saved from the sins that we have actually committed; we must be saved from committing other sins. And that this may be so, there must be met and subdued this hereditary liability to sin: we must become possessed of power to keep us from sinning—a power to conquer this liability, this hereditary tendency that is in us, to sin. All our sins which we have actually committed were laid upon Him, were imputed to Him, so that His righteousness may be laid upon us, may be imputed to us. And also our liability to sin was laid upon Him, in His being made flesh, in His being born of a woman, of the same flesh and blood as we are. Thus He met sin in the flesh which He took, and triumphed over it, as it is written: “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin IN THE FLESH.” And again: “He is our peace, . . . having abolished in His flesh the enmity.” And thus, just as our sins actually committed were imputed to Him, that His righteousness might be imputed to us; so His meeting and conquering, in the flesh, the liability to sin, and in that same flesh manifesting righteousness, enable us in Him, and Him in us, to meet and conquer in the flesh this same liability to sin, and to manifest righteousness in the same flesh. And thus it is that for the sins which we have actually committed, for the sins that are past, His righteousness is imputed to us, as our sins are imputed to Him. And to keep us from sinning, His righteousness is imparted to us in our flesh, as our flesh, with its liability to sin, was imparted to Him. Thus He is the complete Saviour: He saves from all the sins that we have actually committed, and saves equally from all the sins that we might commit, dwelling apart from Him. If He took not the same flesh and blood that the children of men have, with its liability to sin, then where could there be any philosophy or reason of any kind whatever in His genealogy as given in the Scriptures? He was descended from David; He was descended from Abraham; He was descended from Adam; and, by being made of a woman, He reached even back of Adam, to the beginning of sin in the world. In that genealogy there are Jehoiakim, who for his wickedness was “buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem” (Jer. 22:19); Manasseh, who caused Judah to do “worse than the heathen;” Ahaz, who “made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord;” Rehoboam, who was born of Solomon after Solomon turned from the Lord; Solomon, who was born of David and Bathsheba; there are also Ruth the Moabitess, and Rahab; as well as Abraham, Isaac, Jesse, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah; the worst equally with the best. And the evil deeds of even the best are recorded equally with the good. And there is hardly one whose life is written upon at all of whom there is not some wrong act recorded. Now it was at the end of such a genealogy as that that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” It was at the end of such a genealogy as that that he was “made of a woman.” It was in such a line of descent as that that God sent “His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” And such a descent, such a genealogy, meant something to Him, as it does to every other man, under the great law that the iniquities of the fathers are visited upon the children, to the third and fourth generations. It meant everything to Him in the terrible temptations in the wilderness of temptation, as well as all the way through His life in the flesh. Thus, both by heredity and by imputation, He was “laden with the sins of the world.” And, thus laden, at this immense disadvantage, He passed over the ground where, at no shadow of any disadvantage whatever, the first pair failed. By His death He paid the penalty of all sins actually committed, and thus can justly bestow His righteousness upon all who will receive it. And by condemning sin in the flesh, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity. He delivers from the law of heredity; and so can, in righteousness, impart His divine nature and power to lift above that law, and hold above it, every soul that will receive Him. And so it is written: “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Gal. 4:4. And “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for [on account of] sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3, 4. And “He is our peace, . . . having abolished in His flesh the enmity, . . . for to make in Himself of twain [God and man] one new man, so making peace.” Eph. 2:14, 15. Thus “in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.” Whether temptation be from within or from without, He is the perfect shield against it all, and so saves to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him. SOME MORE ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY
Of Rome’s assertion of authority over the Greek states, and of her dealings with them whom she had freed from the oppressions of kings, the ancient history records:— The Romans rendered themselves the sovereign arbiters of those whom they had restored to liberty, and whom they now considered, in some measure, as their freedmen. They used to depute commissioners to them. . . . They soon assumed a magisterial tone, looked upon their decrees as irrevocable decisions, were greatly offended when the most implicit obedience was not paid to them, and gave the name of rebellion to a second resistance. . . . We shall hear one of the chief magistrates in the republic of the Achæans inveigh strongly in a public assembly against this unjust usurpation, and ask by what title the Romans were empowered to assume so haughty an ascendant over them; whether their republic was not as free and independent as that of Rome; by what right the latter pretended to force the Achæans to account for their conduct; whether they would be pleased should the Achæans, in their turn, officiously pretend to inquire into their affairs; and whether matters ought not to be on the same footing on both sides. All these reflections were very reasonable, just, and unanswerable; and the Romans had no advantage in the question but force. With that bit of ancient history, now read the following bit of modern history as published in the Manila correspondence of the Hongkong Telegraph, in August, 1900. The Mr. Mabini of the account was formerly minister of foreign affairs and premier of the provisional Filipino government:— At four o’clock this afternoon Mr. Mabini was taken to the Ayuntamiento, and introduced to the North American commission. There were present President Taft, two other members of the commission, the interpreter, and a shorthand writer. Mr. Mabini asked for this conference in order that it should not be said that he had confined himself to an imperious position without seeking means of approximation and intelligence, according to circumstances. When the session was opened, he said: “I have been imprisoned since December last, and not allowed to be set free without previous recognition of the American sovereignty. The word ‘sovereignty’ in international law has not a precise nor fixed definition. So that in the South African trouble England claims to have sovereignty in the two republics, notwithstanding the recognition of their complete independence made by her with respect to their internal administration. My efforts in favor of my country have no other object but to obtain the most solid guarantee for the liberties and rights of the Filipinos. I therefore asked for a conference to find out to what extent American sovereignty will restrain that which naturally belongs to the Filipino people.” Mr. Taft, having heard the remarks of his companions, replied as follows: “The American sovereignty has the object of giving the Filipinos a good government. The sovereignty that the United States of America claims is the same as that which Russia or Turkey would claim if they occupied the Philippines, with the only difference that the exercise of this sovereignty will be inspired by the spirit of the Constitution. The commission will endeavor51to establish in the Philippines a popular government after the style of that adopted for Porto Rico.” To this Mr. Mabini replied that the principles on which the American Constitution rests declare that the sovereignty rests with the people by natural right; that the American government, by not contenting itself with restraining the sovereignty of the Filipino people, but with completely nullifying it, commits an injustice that sooner or later will demand reparation or explanation; that there can not be a popular government where the people are not given a real and effective participation in the constitution and performance of that government. The commission replied, saying that they were not authorized to discuss abstract matters, as they had orders to make their views prevail by force, when the views of the Filipinos are heard. Then Mr. Mabini said he considered the conference as closed, for he thought it useless to discuss matters and give his views to those who did not want to listen to the voice of reason. Mr. Taft asked him if he wanted to help them in the study of the taxes that may be imposed on the people of the Philippines. Mr. Mabini replied that, considering unjust every tax imposed without the consent of the representatives of those who are to pay it, he could not take part in such study without the representation and command of the people. Mr. Mabini said that he saw the Americans persisted in reducing the Filipinos to the hard alternative of dishonesty or death; and that since this was so, he would prefer to behave himself as an honest man, who puts above all his duties his honor. Between dishonesty and death, it was his duty to prefer the latter. To what pass has the government of the United States come when by its highest possible representative, the personal representative of its president, the chosen standard of comparison in government is “Russia and Turkey”! Is that the government founded by the Fathers? And the commission “are not authorized to discuss abstract matters,” such as “the principles upon which the American Constitution rests”—“sovereignty rests with the people by natural right,” etc., etc., but have “orders to make their views prevail by force, when the views of the Filipinos are heard”! But from whom did the commission get such “orders” as these? Bear in mind that that commission was not created by Congress; it is the “personal representative of the President.” The commission, not being created by Congress, has not from Congress any “orders” of any kind, nor any instruction of any kind. Being the “personal representative of the President,” all the “orders” the commission could receive, could be only from the President himself. Then from whom did the commission receive “orders” to make their views “prevail by force”? And this without any authority, and instead of any authority, to discuss the principles upon which the American Constitution rests: making these only “abstract matters”—the metaphysical; and “their views prevail by force” the concrete—the practical. That commission, not being the creation of Congress, and so having no instructions or directions from Congress, is not a creature of law. The Constitution being held not of its own force to extend to the Philippines, and it not having been extended itself by Congress, the commission is not a creature of law, either statutory or Constitutional. The commission being only the “personal representative of the President,” receiving its “orders” only from him, and that not from him as commander-in-chief of the armies and navies of the United States, but only as civil executive; because the commission is entirely civil, not military,—this makes the commission only the creature of will, and its government only a government of will, and not of law. And will anybody say that this is not a repudiation by the United States of the principles of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government? As a matter of fact it is the repudiation of all Constitutional principle clear back to Magna Charta, and even of the principle of Magna Charta itself, and at the time was repudiated by the pope, and ended by the king. So that, as we have before shown in these columns, the present colonial course of the United States is not merely a going back from American principles to British, it is a leap over and beyond all Anglo-Saxon history and principle to the times beyond Magna Charta, and to the Roman only. The issue that brought forth Magna Charta was simply that “a king should rule in England by law, and not by force, or rule not at all.” And this principle written out and signed by the king, in Magna Charta, King John, of England, had to accept, or not be crowned. True, the pope repudiated it, and released the king from his oath and the binding obligation of his signature; but against pope and king, the kingdom of England held the principle, and the Charter. John’s son, Henry III, also rejected the Charter, and thought to repudiate the principle, declaring: “Whensoever, and wheresoever, and as often as it may be our pleasure, we may declare, interpret, enlarge, or diminish, the aforesaid statutes, and their several parts, by our own free will, and as to us shall seem expedient for the security of us and our land.” But he, as John, was firmly met by the kingdom’s insistence upon the right of the people and the supremacy of the law. In answer to the king’s pronunciamento, an English judge, Bracton, set the voice of English law in words that are important to be remembered to-day, and by all generations. He declared: “The king must not be subject to any man, but to God and the law, for the law makes him king. Let the king, therefore, give to the law what the law gives to him, dominion and power; for there is no king where will, and not law, bears rule.” Again: “The king can do nothing on earth, being the minister of God, but what he can do as Law: . . . so that, if the king were without a bridle,—that is, the law,—they ought to put a bridle upon him.” Upon this it has been well observed: “Let no Englishman, who lives under the rule of law, and not of will, forget that this privilege has been derived from a long line of forefathers; and that, although the eternal principles of justice depend not upon the precedents of ages, but may be asserted some day by any community with whom a continued despotism has made them ‘native, and to the manner born,’ we have the security that the old tree of liberty stands in the old earth, and that a short-lived trunk has not been thrust into a new soil, to bear a green leaf or two and then to die.” The following special dispatch from Washington to the New York Times, published in the Times, Jan. 10, 1901, is of special interest in connection with the foregoing:— WASHINGTON, January 9.—The island of Guam is to be the American St. Helena. The action of General MacArthur, recently reported from Manila, in exiling twenty-six Filipino generals and civilians to Guam, is simply the first step. If it should prove a success, other leading Filipinos will be banished also. It is all a part of the vigorous and severe campaign which it was announced last November that General MacArthur was about to wage. Some time ago General MacArthur proposed this plan of dealing with the Filipino leaders to the Secretary of War, who gave it his approval. General MacArthur asked for a blanket authorization to deport all prominent prisoners whom he should select. The authorization was given, and the twenty-six now selected are the first batch. It is declared at the War Department that the men were picked out by General MacArthur, and not by the department, and that it is not known who they are, except that, according to the newspapers, Ricarte, Mabini, and Pio Del Pilar are among them. Mabini is the famous lawyer whom Senator Hoar eulogized, in his remarkable speech in the Senate last May, as a great statesman, whose state papers were worthy to rank among those famous in history. Del Pilar is a brother of General Gregorio Del Pilar, the young officer who was killed while holding Tilad Pass with a little force of sixty men to cover the escape of Aguinaldo a year ago. There is no surprise that Mabini is one of the first to go. It is an open secret that the disposition of Mabini is one of the most annoying problems that has perplexed the military administration of the Philippines. He has been liberated several times, but would never give his promise not to re-engage in seditious proceedings, and was always kept under surveillance and promptly rearrested. General Otis has officially reported a conversation which he had with Mabini, when he had the lawyer brought before him, and endeavored to get from him a promise that he would employ his talents on the American side. Mabini outargued the general, and was sent back to jail. His influence over his people is so great that both Otis and MacArthur have desired to avoid extreme measures, which might still further alienate the Tagals. The same difficulty has been found in treating him that would be the case if Aguinaldo were a prisoner. A way has now been found, and if Aguinaldo is now captured, there is no doubt what will be done with him. EXPERIENCE OF GOD'S PEOPLE UNDER THE PLAGUES
By B. G. WILKINSON
I HAVE a word to say to those who now profess to be the children of God. The close of probation is just before us. With great swiftness the seven last plagues are surely coming. But there is one lesson that must be learned before we are prepared to pass as victors through those closing scenes. That lesson is willingness to submit to the providences of God. We must now learn to believe that scripture which promises that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” Many are those Christians who now are leading unhappy lives because they will not submit to God's dealings. Death removes a loved one from us, and rebellion against this providence brings a blight upon the Christian experience. Perhaps disease afflicts the body; perchance an extra burden of labor has been thrown upon us. To different persons the test is different. But do you not know that submission breaks the force of the blow? The same wind can tear the rigging into shreds, or it can blow the ship safely into harbor. When we rebelliously place ourselves against the coming of trials, the storm may crush us in our rashness. But by trustfully bowing to the unexpected dealings of the Lord, our eyes will be opened to see the blessings in His visitations. Learn now to have patience until you see the end of this present perplexity. Seek God for strength to abide in Him until He has finished working. Those who will learn this great lesson of submission will pass safely through the raging hours that immediately precede the Saviour's coming. They shall triumphantly endure the last plagues, and of them it shall be said: “The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.” It is not God's desire that any should suffer the falling of the plagues. For that reason He has given ample warning of their approach. He has pointed out the transgressions that call them down; the severity of their coming He has inescapably disclosed. He foreshadowed the end of Rome, should she mistreat the gospel; and Rome has passed away. He revealed the retribution that would overtake the papacy for her martyring the saints; and for some time the papacy has sat dispossessed and bereaved. Just as surely as these prophecies have become petrified into history, so surely will the prophecy of the Beast's enforcing his mark receive its complete fulfillment in the castigating plagues. Just now, then, is the time to study the plagues. The events that carry them in their folds are here, and the contents must soon be emptied out. This record was written to be studied, that by becoming acquainted with what the plagues will be, men might10be warned in time. What good would it do to know of them only when they were falling all around? The clearest exposition of these judgments would then seem but mockery, when we could only exclaim, “Why was not this shown us before?” If we listen to God now, He will listen to us then. “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” It would be very difficult for an army to bombard a city with shot and shell when they have friends within its walls. But no such difficulty will hamper the Lord when He pours out the vials of His wrath. He has children on the earth during the falling of the plagues. As wheat among tares, it would seem that they too must perish. But with marvelous precision the sickles of His wrath cut down the guilty, while the godly stand securely. “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” Those who have held fast the truth will then behold the reward of their integrity. The position of God's people will be like a castle in a storm. The winds may beat upon it, the elements may rage around it; but when these have passed away, there the building stands, as grand as before. They will be like a rock in the billows of the ocean. Though they stand alone, they stand unharmed; for they are precious in the sight of God. They are His new creation. In this they had escaped the deception of the false prophet. Of him it is written, “He had power to give life unto the Image of the Beast;” that is, he was permitted to counterfeit creative power. All the world stood astonished at this miracle; this wonder ensnared them into disobedience to God. But not so with God's people. They were enraptured by another miracle. They were living in joyful admiration of God's transforming power in themselves; for of them it could be said, “You hath He quickened [made alive], who were dead in trespasses and sins.” From their deep distress over their sinful condition, they had risen to wonder at God's power, which had raised them from the dead. And as Adam came forth new from the hand of His Creator, so in character each of these had been made a new man. Forerunners were they of that beautiful world which shall arise from the ruins produced by the devastating plagues. While all the world, which had been deceived by the miracle counterfeiting the raising from the dead, were falling thick before the plagues. God's people, those new creations so precious, stood unharmed. Yet, their experience under the plagues will be largely measured by their experience before the plagues. These terrible judgments will afflict them in proportion as God's warnings have failed to affect them. In proportion as they have neglected to heed His instructions and passed on unprepared, just so much will they feel the surrounding plagues. If they neglect now to learn the lessons of faith, then those lessons must be learned under severer circumstances. If before, they have exercised a wise regard for the care of the body, they will be less affected by the pestilential conditions resulting from the first three plagues. But under the fiery heat of the fourth plague, how great will be their triumph! When Joel saw the withered fields, the parched crops, and the perplexed, wandering herds, he exclaimed: “Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.” Joel 1:11, 12. Thus it was with the worldly; no joy was left to them while witnessing this desolated condition of the earth. But not so with God's people. The prophet Habakkuk saw this same scene. He beheld the ruined state of the world, and amid all he saw the trusting righteous; and as if their spokesman, he thus proclaims the feelings of these who had learned the faith of Jesus: “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Hab. 3:17, 18. At the terrible results of the fourth plague, joy will be withered away from the wicked; but from the righteous, joyful expressions of holy trust will faith produce. To the experience of God's children gained by passing through the plagues, there can be found nothing similar in the experience of saints who have lived, up to that time. Through the conflicts of the sixth they pass, and when in the midst of the crashing scenes of the seventh, Jesus appears, to translate them to immortality. They will afterward stand unique among the redeemed hosts. In Rev. 7:9 John beheld in heaven “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.” But after this his attention was directed to another company. So prominent did this special company appear that one of the twenty-four elders spoke out to John the questions that were passing through the apostle's mind: “What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?” John could only reply to the elder, “Sir, thou knowest.” Then came the answer, “These are they which came out of great tribulation. . . . They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.” Who was this special company?—Even those who had passed through that trying period, the space of the seven last plagues. Then how appropriate the expression, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more.” Though they were not called to endure what the wicked endured, yet they were not wholly free from the pangs resulting from the withered fields and the blood-flowing streams. “Neither shall the sun light on them.” The Greek word for “light” here means to “fall upon.” That is, the sun would not pursue them with its burning, fiery rays—such as could only be found in the plague of the fourth angel. But why did one of the elders describe this special company?—Ah! because he had heard them sing. They had sung a song in which he could not join—a song the like of which had never before made heaven's arches ring. In Rev. 5:8, 9, John had heard the elders sing: “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps. . . . And they sung a new song.” This was the first new song. But afterward John was privileged to hear what this elder had heard—the second new song—a song in which the elder and none other could join but this special company, the one hundred and forty-four thousand. Rev. 14:1, 3: “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and [before] THE ELDERS: and NO MAN COULD LEARN THAT SONG but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.” Those who, faithfully holding to God, pass through the seven last plagues will secure a priceless experience. Though their faith shall be severely tried, yet the cost incurred in standing firm to principle will be immeasurably repaid; for this experience will enable them to sing as can no others of all the redeemed host. Let me illustrate: A cultivated English nobleman, accompanied by a friend, went, on one occasion, to hear a famous singer. During the performance the friend turned to the nobleman and inquired how he liked the singing. In reply the nobleman said: “That young lady has a fine voice. She has a splendid training, and her execution is perfect; but she lacks one thing: she lacks spirit. Do you know what I would do if I were a young man again? I would seek to win the affections of that young lady. I would marry her. Then after I had married her, I would mistreat her. I would insult her; I would abuse her; I would break her heart: and then I would send her out to sing. And oh, how she would sing!” So it will be with the saints of God in the last great struggle before us. They will pass through scenes the like of which man never before has undergone. But the matchless experience with God, which they will thus obtain, will qualify them to sing in heaven's courts the praise of God as no other redeemed ones can. But a further reward awaits them. To them, as to all the world, two futures have been offered. For the picture of these two futures we are indebted to two of the angels of the seven plagues. These saints had turned away their eyes from the first, with all its dazzling appearance, and had suffered privations, even unto death, that they might gain the second. The picture of the first is given in Rev. 17:1-6: “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: . . . So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. . . . And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints.” Arrayed in all the pomp of the world, decked with gold and precious stones, this woman had offered to the saints a worldly religion sweetened with earthly honors and riches, or a grave in which to bury their faith. For a season she seemed to prosper, queenly in her pride, and selfish in her popularity. But when she had exhausted the limits of God's patience, one of the seven angels raised the veil, and showed her torn from her regal chair and laid desolate forever from the presence of God. But “there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.” Rev. 21:9-11. From that wicked and worldly woman the saints had turned, and now God rewards them with the fellowship of the Lamb's bride, pure and white. One of the seven angels is commissioned to show that beautiful home, the everlasting abode of the saints. Executor of wrath upon the wicked, to the righteous he becomes the guide to heavenly palaces. It is now the privilege of all so to live that when that angel goes forth on the mission of wrath they may not receive the contents of his vial, but rather the approving glance of his eye. And then when the time of wrath is passed, he shall gather them to that city of their God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from God out of heaven.