Signs of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 26. (6/27/1900)

Signs of the Times

Jun 27, 1900

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jun 27, 1900

THE SINNER'S HOPE.

By Ellen G. White

WHEN this earth was created by Christ, it was holy and beautiful. God pronounced it "very good." Every flower, every shrub, every tree, answered the purpose of its Creator. Everything upon which the eye rested was lovely, and filled the mind with thoughts of love for the Creator. Every sound was music, in perfect harmony with the voice of God.

But a change has come. Sin has brought decay, deformity, death. To-day the whole world is tainted, corrupted, stricken with a mortal disease. The earth groans under the continual transgression of the inhabitants thereof.

Human beings have degenerated. One after another they fall under the curse, because sin has entered the world, and death by sin. The truth is not made precious by practise. It does not sanctify the soul. It fades from the mind because the heart does not appreciate its value. In consequence, the mind becomes more and more darkened by the atmosphere, which is malarious because of the perpetuating of Adam's sin. The conscience has lost its sensitiveness. Through a repetition of sin, the impression made on the conscience by sin has no longer force enough to arrest the transgressor, diseased, depraved, and dying. The voice no longer echoes the voice of God, or gives expression to the music of a soul sanctified through the truth. The heart, in which God should be enthroned, is a place from which come forth all kinds of abominations. How has the fine gold become dim! Man has lost the reflection of God's character.

This calamity is well-nigh universal. There is no place upon earth where the track of the serpent is not seen and his venomous sting felt. The whole earth is defiled. The curse is increasing as transgression increases. The earth is preparing for purification by fire.

Satan has come down with great power to work with the children of men. Their senses are perverted by his schemes. He lends enchantment to the view which he presents to them, covering transgression with great desirableness. As he tempted Adam and Eve, saying, "Ye shall be as gods, made wise by partaking of the fruit which God has forbidden you to eat," so he tempts men and women to-day.

A view of nature, beautiful tho marred. The gnarled tree trunk and dead branches are all evidences of sin.

But a hope has been set before every sinner. The instant Adam yielded to Satan's temptation, and did the very thing which God had said he should not do, Christ, the Son of God, stood between the living and the dead, saying: "Let the punishment fall on Me. I will stand in man's place. Give him another trial." Transgression placed the whole world under the death sentence. But in heaven there was heard a voice saying, "I have found a ransom." He who knew no sin was made sin for fallen man. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Christ laid off His royal robe and kingly crown, and gave up His command over all heaven. He clothed His divinity with humanity, that He might bear all the infirmities and endure all the temptations of humanity. He was a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. For our sake He became poor, that through His poverty we might be made rich. For us He left the adoration of the angels for the insults and execrations of a mob lashed to madness by the priests and rulers.

The words in the first chapter of John are full of meaning: "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. . . . The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, . . . full of grace and truth. . . . And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace."

All that God could do has been done to save sinners. The Saviour invites all: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and

I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." But those who refuse to yoke up with Christ, who will not learn of the great Teacher, can not receive God's protection. If they are determined to walk in the path of disobedience, Satan will exercise his power over them, after deceiving, to destroy. We may choose God's way, and live; we may choose our own way, and know that sin has entered into the world, and death by sin.

Christ is the true light. Shall this light shine in darkness and the darkness comprehend it not?—God forbid. The Word of God comes to us as a cure for diseased souls and bodies. It is life for those who are dead in trespasses and sins. He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. On Him the iniquities of us all were laid. He lives to be our Advocate. He did nothing worthy of death, yet He died. And if we hear the glad words, "Well done, good and faithful servant; . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," we shall have done nothing worthy of life. Jesus, the sinless, died having done nothing deserving of death. The sinner is saved without having done anything worthy of salvation. He is wholly without merit. But, clothed with the spotless robe of Christ's righteousness, he is accepted by God. The living way has been laid open. Life and immortality have been purchased by Christ. Through obedience to God's commands, sinners may find pardon and peace.

MRS. E. G. WHITE.

"GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR HEART."

By M. R. Vincent

[See 1 John 3: 19-22.]

THE subject with which these verses deal is an accusing conscience and its antidote. St. John does not say that the heart may not accuse justly. He does not say that a child of God is sinless by virtue of his relation as a child, and that his self-accusation is quieted by being pronounced groundless. It is entirely possible that one's heart may justly accuse him of sin, and that God's judgment may confirm the accusation of the heart. But he does mean to say that the heart is not the supreme and final arbiter, and that whatever it may accuse us of must be referred to a higher tribunal. You will observe that emphasis is laid on the words "before Him"—we "shall assure our hearts before Him."

God knoweth all things, while our heart is ignorant and blind. Whatever light or power of discernment conscience has, it receives from God. Not a few Christians live habitually in a state of self-accusation. They live in anticipation of divine judgment. Life is one continuous arraignment at the bar of conscience, spite of all their prayer, and striving, and study of the Word. Is it the appropriate daily occupation of a child of God to be a mere bookkeeper, writing down bitter things against himself? And then, once more, it is true that many Christians do not carry up their case from the bar of the heart. It is at this mistake that the apostle's words are aimed. The whole text carries a protest and an antidote against that kind of piety which is too contemplative and self-scrutinizing; which is always studying self for the evidences of a right spiritual relation and condition; which tests growth in grace by the tension of feeling; which limits God's presence by the sense of His presence; which reckons the spiritual latitude and longitude by the temperature of emotion, as if a sailor should take his reckoning by the thermometer. Feeling, religious sensibility, have their place in the Christian economy, and a high and sacred place it is; but its place is not the judgment-seat.—M. R. Vincent.

GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT.

By A. F. Ballenger

WILL the Lord withhold His gifts from one who is walking in the light, and who is wholly consecrated, and keep him back from manifesting the fulness of power because the church is backslidden?—Most certainly He will. For Him to do otherwise would be to bring His truth and His name into disgrace. If those born blind or lame or dumb, were being healed by the ministers of any worldly church to-day, that church would thereby be brought into great prominence, and every act of its members would be closely scrutinized as the acts of the people of the church whom God was approving by miracles and wonders and signs; and the God who gave the power for working these wonders and signs would be measured and judged by the sins of the people of the church thus prominently pointed out and honored.

But did not Christ, while a member of the Jewish church, perform His wonderful miracles of healing? Yes; but in order to save the reputation of God, he was compelled to denounce the sins of the Jewish church, and finally to repudiate them before all the world.

The Jewish church claimed to be the only representatives on earth of the true God. They claimed this when they were more wicked than the Gentiles. When the Gentiles heard their claim and saw their crimes, they blasphemed. Paul says they did. They not only cursed the Jews, but they blasphemed the God of the Jews. This is not strange. The Jews claimed to be like Jehovah. The Gentiles therefore judged Jehovah by the Jews. They knew they robbed widows, and committed adultery. They knew they did all this when they heard them making their long, loud prayers on the corners of the streets. This made them angry, and they blasphemed both the Jews and Jehovah.

Paul presents it thus: "Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you." Rom. 2:21-24.

Jesus came to save not only sinners, but the reputation of His Father. And in order to do this, He must tell the truth about His church. And He did. He declared in the hearing of the Gentiles that the leaders in the church were whited sepulchers,—rotten at heart, were robbers of widows, pious hypocrites, a generation of vipers. When the Gentiles heard this they stopped swearing at Jehovah. They saw that His professed church was misrepresenting Him. They listened to His gracious words. When the Jews ordered them to arrest the Son of God, they refused, and said, "Never man spake like this man."

Christ's miracles followed the cleansing of the temple. "And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple; and He healed them." Matt. 21:12-14.

He could now perform His mighty cures without bringing honor to a dishonorable church, and without bringing dishonor to Jehovah. By calling the Jewish church a den of thieves, Jesus was able to work miracles, while a member of that church, without bringing disgrace upon His Father. But His faithfulness in rebuking the sins of His church cost Him not only His membership in that church, but His life.

The church of to-day is not free from its hypocrites and whited sepulchers. It is not free from its generation of vipers and its robbers of widows. And, again, the Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of them. And, again, Jesus must come into the temple and cleanse it before it can again be written that "the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple; and He healed them." Who will follow the example of Christ? Who will go into his pride-filled church, which he knows is full of unconverted men and women whose sins are a disgrace on the Christian name, and cry at its festivals and fairs and oyster suppers, Babylon "is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird"? This is the first step for a consecrated man to take who is seeking the gifts of the Spirit while holding communion in a world-loving church. But his power to cast out devils may be purchased at the cost of his being cast out of his beloved synagogue, and finding a home with some humble church "everywhere spoken against." And from the church which will not be cleansed, Christ, in the person of His true disciples, will depart, uttering the fearful words, "Behold your house is left unto you desolate."

But could not some one who is not a member of any church, who is consecrated, be intrusted with the gifts of the Spirit?—No; for the gifts of the Spirit are given to the church, not a disconnected, irresponsible individual. "God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." 1 Cor. 12:28.

"The church of the living God" is "the pillar and ground of the truth." 1 Tim. 3:15. It is not an invisible, intangible, irresponsible nonenity, but a real, tangible body, made on purpose to be looked at—"Ye are the light of the world"—and handled, and read—"Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." 2 Cor. 3:3. Of Christ it is written, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory." John 1:14. But He has returned to His Father, and we see Him no more, only as we see Him in the flesh of the "church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

No attempt was made by the glorious apostolic church to hide its literal organized existence, and thereby shirk the responsibility of the influence of unworthy members. It had power to cleanse itself from its Ananias and Sapphira, and to strike such terror to the hearts of the hypocrites on the outside that "of the rest durst no man join himself to them." This repudiation of church organization so common to-day is the swinging of the pendulum to the opposite extreme from the tyrannical organization of a fallen church, and is intended to escape the responsibility of church membership, and the unpleasant duty of cleansing out those who "trespass" and who "will not hear the church" and repent of their sins. Matt. 18:15-17.

Yes, the absence of the confirming signs and wonders to-day is a solemn, silent, infallible proof of the presence of sin in the church. God is defending His honor from disgrace. He is withholding His witnessing wonders from a lukewarm church to save His reputation both in heaven and earth.

But how long shall this disgrace continue? How long shall God be compelled to testify against His church? When the unbeliever challenges the church to show the miracles which are plainly promised, we who believe the promises, explain their absence on the ground of the presence of sin. But this is a disgraceful confession. It is a confession from the church that her relations with the world are such that her Head can not fully identify Himself with her without bringing Himself into disgrace.

Who that reads these solemn truths will sense the sad situation, and take the matter to heart? Reader, are you zealous for God’s honor? Does the condition of the church concern you? Do you “sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof”? Do you “weep between the porch and the altar,” and cry, “Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach”? Who will begin to cry to God for cleansing, both for himself and the church, “and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth”? To this the writer has dedicated every power of body and mind. And he can bear testimony from personal experience to the fact that God will respond with His witnessing power just as fast as ministers and people are purged from their sins, which separate them from the power of God.

A. F. BALLENGER.

COUNT THE MERCIES.

By Mary D. James

COUNT the mercies, count the mercies; Number all the gifts of love; Keep a daily faithful record Of the comforts from above. Look at all the lovely green spots In life's weary desert way; Think how many cooling fountains Cheer our fainting heart each day. Count the mercies, count the mercies; See them strewn along our way.

Count the mercies, tho the trials Seem to number more each day; Count the trials, too, as mercies, Add them to the grand array. Trials are God's richest blessings, Sent to prompt our upward flight, As the eagles' nest, all broken, Makes them fly to loftier height. Count them mercies, count them mercies, That bring heaven within our sight.

Let us number all our jewels, Let us estimate their worth; Let us thank the gracious Giver, Strewing blessings o'er the earth. Let our hearts o'erflow with gladness; Let us tell the wonders o'er, Till our multiplying treasures Seem a countless, boundless store. Then let praises, grateful praises, Be our language evermore. —Mary D. James, in the Moravian.

MUST.

By A. W. Roffe

DOING right because you feel that you must is like having to make bricks without straw. If you are going through on the must line, you are still a stranger to the “run and not grow weary,” the “walk and not faint” experience. The joy of mounting up with wings as eagles is unknown.

There is too much service self-caused. “I have no particular desire to go to the house of God, but I suppose I must.” So soliloquize a great many. The reason they don’t like to go is because they don’t get blessed, and the reason they don’t derive spiritual benefit is because they go thinking they must go, and not because they enjoy going. There is too much “I” connected with what is said and done. “I am expected to. It will be thought strange if I don’t. The fact is, I must.” This is one way of rendering service, but it is not the best way, nor is it His way. “And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes.” Not self-caused, but Spirit-caused. Not I must, but I delight to do Thy will, O God.

—A. W. Roffe, editor Christian Worker, Toronto.

ADULTERATION.

By George B. Thompson

MEN in general detest adulteration. They do not like to be deceived. If they purchase goods, they wish them to be free from all foreign substances. The milkman is watched to see that he adds no water to his milk. If a garment is warranted "all wool," no cotton is desired in it. Pure groceries are sought after, and the adulterated articles are shunned.

Yet this is an age of deception. Do the best you can, still you are apt to be deceived. Deceivers lurk on every hand, ready to humbug you and betray your confidence. What we thought was pure, on further investigation, proves to be base. The thread of adulteration can be traced in nearly all transactions of the business and social world.

But it is of religious things that I wish to speak particularly. If anything should be pure, it should be religion, and the genuine article is. But there are "lo here's" and "lo there's." Every wind of doctrine is blowing, and we need carefully and prayerfully to scrutinize that which comes to us claiming to be divine. Thank the Lord, there is a detector. Says the apostle, "As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby." 1 Peter 2:2. Or, as Rotherham’s translation reads, "the unadulterated word." God’s Word is free from all adulteration. "Every word of God is pure." Prov. 30:5. The Bible, as it reads, is the test of all opinions and creeds. It is not diluted from the pump of mortal reason; it is uncontaminated by human analysis.

But we need to watch lest we receive error. That pagan maxim, "Whatever is, is right," receives considerable recognition. Long established precedents are frequently cited in proof that a certain practise is right. Customs, venerable with age, abound on every hand. It is unsafe to accept, without investigation, all these. To do so is but to stop the sun of progress in the heavens. It is well to look for adulterations. Age can never make right that which is wrong. Satan is old, but he is Satan still. Says Gibbon:—

The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing religion as she descended from heaven arrayed in her native purity; a more melancholy duty is imposed upon the historian; he must discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption which she contracted in long residence upon earth among a weak and degenerate race of beings.

It is not enough to ask, Does a certain thing exist? but, By what right does it exist? Is it founded upon the Bible? or can its lineage be traced back to the bogs of superstition and tradition? If God did not establish the practise, surely man did, and a religious practise having for its basis the precept of a man, even tho he be a pope, is vain.

Things have come down to us in religious practises that are adulterations of the divine Word. In Killen’s "Ancient Church" (preface) it is said:—

In the interval between the days of the apostles and the conversion of Constantine, the Christian commonwealth changed its aspect. The bishop of Rome—a personage unknown to the writers of the New Testament—meanwhile rose in prominence, and at length took precedence of all other churchmen. Rites and ceremonies, of which neither Paul nor Peter ever heard, crept silently into use, and then claimed the rank of divine institutions.

Some of these things which "crept" in and claimed the rank of divine institutions are still here. They are adulterations, and should be sought for and put away. One of these is the observance of Sunday instead of the seventh day, the Bible Sabbath. This is a spurious rite, even tho it claims to be divine. It has no foundation in the Word of God. The great detector shows it to be a usurper. Dr. Scott, the noted commentator, says:—

The change from the seventh to the first appears to have been gradually and silently introduced by example rather than by express precept.—Comment on Acts 20:7.

He admits that it is one of the things which "crept silently" into use, that it was never commanded by the Lord of Life. Again, the Christian at Work, 1884, says:—

We hear less than we used to about the apostolic origin of the present Sunday observance, and for the reason that, while the Sabbath and Sabbath rest are woven into the warp and woof of Scripture, it is now seen, as it is admitted, that we must go to later than apostolic times for the establishment of Sunday observance.

The Word of God tells us plainly that the "seventh day is the Sabbath." The law, spoken amid the grandeurs of Sinai, has never been changed. It reads the same in the Bible now as then, and the words mean the same. They have lost none of their power. Reader, a human adulteration has "crept in" here. What do you propose to do about it? Will you exchange the spurious for the genuine? "Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." Matt. 15:13. Rome, N. Y. G. B. THOMPSON.

SERVICE, THE TEST.

By Joseph Miner

GOD will not save you if you do not try to save some one else. Were it otherwise, the whole plan of redemption would be arrested and nullified. God’s purpose is to save the world through human agency. Every man is to seek and bring his brother-man, even as Andrew brought Simon to Christ. The Spirit of Christ is designed to reproduce itself in the heart and life of every believer. Soul-saving faith makes soul-saving men. I do not think that any man is ever saved except by the direct or indirect intervention of some other man. Christ alone

can call the Lazarus forth, but there is a stone to be rolled away before, and there are wrappings to be removed after the miracle is wrought. And hence God is but working out His own economy in demanding that every member of His kingdom shall be a servant and a worker. Through all time the test of saintship is service.

But this is not all. The divine claim is not exhausted by the mere demand for work. It is declared again and again that no service is acceptable unless it be rendered with the whole heart. God claims the entire man, body, soul, and spirit. He lays his hand not upon our gifts, our wealth, or our leisure, but upon us, saying as He does so, "Thou and thine are Mine." Our very life, with all its powers and possibilities, must be surrendered to Him. Partial, perfunctory, half-hearted service He sternly rejects; and upon those who mock Him by offering it He pours out His righteous wrath.—Joseph Miner.

THE HIDDEN MEANING.

By Ella Wheeler Wilcox

WHATEVER evil falls across my path, I straightway look, with optimistic eyes, To see what purpose underneath it lies. For I believe always God's seeming wrath Is but the vail to some intended good, By men not understood.

But if we will take time amidst our grief To search for it, I think we can not fail To find the hidden meaning 'neath the vail, And, having found it, lo! we find relief; And what has seemed a cruel, chastening rod, Proves the kind touch of God. —Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

PEACE VERSUS WAR.

By Francis M. Wilcox

ALONGSIDE of every truth of God, Satan has placed a counterfeit. Error is hydra-headed; it assumes every conceivable form, and manifests itself in every imaginable place, as may be best suited to its interests. Prominent among the deceptions to be found in the religious world in these last days, stands the doctrine of the world's conversion before the coming of the Lord. Originating in the seventeenth century, this idea has been very favorably and quite universally received by the religious world. The effect of this belief upon Christendom has been to bring into the religious mind a feeling of indifference, amounting almost to skepticism, regarding the second coming of Christ. Indeed, wherever the blessed news of Christ's soon return to this earth is heralded, there must be met the counter claim, that Christ can not come until the world is converted.

That this doctrine should be preached in the last days, occasions no surprise to the student of prophecy; for we find by reference to both the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah that there would be many saying this very thing. Please read Isa. 2:1-3 and Micah 4:1-5. The comparison of these scriptures will show that they are very similar. In the statement in both it is said that "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; . . . neither shall they learn war any more."

But now observe carefully; in Isa. 2:2 and in Micah 4:2 it plainly states that this declaration is not made by the Lord, but is made by the people themselves. Thus we have in these two prophecies the prediction that in the last days there would be "many people" saying that there would be a time of universal peace, when the implements of war should be beaten into implements of peace. But the Lord says, through His apostle Paul, that "when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them; . . . and they shall not escape."

In contradistinction to this prediction of "many people," the Lord emphatically declares, through His servant John, that in the last days, when the time comes for the Lord to judge the world, and to execute His wrath upon the ungodly, instead of all the world being converted, "the nations were angry." Rev. 11:18. The anger of the nations certainly would not be manifest in changing their implements of war into implements of peace. On the contrary, they would naturally do just the reverse; and just the reverse of this does the Lord declare they will be doing in the last days, notwithstanding the delusive cry of "peace and safety."

Prepare War.

Says the Lord through Joel: "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about; thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel." Joel 3:9-16.

This brings to view a far different state of things than is presented by the false prophets. It becomes pertinent now to raise the question, Is this the condition of things among the nations of to-day? Are the nations preparing for war? Are the implements of peace made to contribute to the agencies of bloodshed and destruction? It seems hardly necessary to refer to statistics, or to advance arguments that such is the case. The denial of such a situation to-day could come only from a mind either ignorant or spiritually blind.

The Nations' Resources.

The active armies and reserves of some of the leading States of Europe are as follows: Germany, 5,805,351; France, 4,994,148; Italy, 2,102,978; Austria Hungary, 1,725,408; Russia, 5,209,564. These figures represent the land forces alone. When the naval strength is included, there must be added to the armed forces of Germany 61,500; to France, 183,875; to Russia, 975,561. No mention is made of the forces of Great Britain, which have been very greatly augmented during the recent war in South Africa.

But even these figures are inadequate as illustrating the possible fighting strength of the leading nations of the Old World. By the system of conscription, which is carried on in all the Old World governments save England, every able-bodied man is made to do military service for a term of years, thus receiving training as a soldier. In 1897, of the 426,245 registered young men in Germany, 268,000 were required to fill the annual contingent. In the same year the registered men for military service in France was 342,644. In Italy, in 1897, 269,600 were registered. Of this number 93,000 were drawn, the others excused. In Russia the number registered for 1897 was the greatest ever known, amounting to nearly 1,000,000. Out of this number 302,500 were drawn for active service. Thus every year places the available young men in training for war. So when we come to consider the possible resources of the several States, we find that of the population capable of bearing arms, the majority, perhaps, of whom have had schooling in the science of war, Austria could place in the field 9,800,000 men; France, 9,550,000; Germany, 12,000,000; Italy, 7,500,000; Spain, 4,200,000; Russia, 22,000,000. Of course it would be no ordinary occasion which would enlist all these forces. But in the contention for the supremacy of the future it is well to consider possibilities as well as probabilities.

Since 1860 the demand for arms upon the Krupp Gun Works is said to have necessitated an increase of employees from 176 to over 20,000; so that the largest manufacturing establishment now existing in the world is engaged day and night in making implements of war.

Says Mr. Thos. F. Bayard, as reported recently in the New York World:—

Never were the destructive forces of warfare marshaled in such impressive array as we see them to-day—never before did earth shake under the measured tread of so many men armed and prepared to be armed—never in history were weapons so lethal, missiles so mighty, and explosives so terrific and powerful, or in hands so carefully drilled and instructed in their employment—never were the preparations for war on land and sea comparable, in scale and efficiency, to those of the present day. Contemplating all these terrific forces, there is no thoughtful man who is not anxiously questioning his heart, What does all this preparation portend? What is to be the result to the civilization and progress of the human race of the conflict of such forces, and the changes it may at any moment create?

Millions upon millions of dollars are appropriated by the different countries of the world every year for military purposes. Jealously and enviously are the nations of Europe vying with each other, each filled with the greatest determination to make the most of every possible advantage, to advance its power, and to promote its interests. Ominously and threateningly, at every new move upon the political chessboard, does the war cloud gather over earth's inhabitants, and breathlessly do the nations of the earth watch for the torrent of leaden hail and rain that shall follow the bursting of the cloud. One writer has said:—

Never since the world was peopled has mankind stood in such anxious expectancy, awaiting the outcome of the immediate future, as in these closing years of the nineteenth century. Men are wistfully striving to peer through the portals of the year 1900—marveling as the effect and forces of applied science are unfolded to our comprehension, and discovery moves on, each invention leading in another, in stately procession. We, all the while, wrapped in wonder, are straining in hope and fear to catch the coming word, and to comprehend its import.

Terrible will be the responsibility of him who stirs up and opens the smouldering, pent-up fires, which, like the spark in the powder mill, will cause the last and terrible conflagration among the children of men. But, while this terrible ordeal may be delayed, it can not be averted. While the threatening war cloud may be held back by the power of the divine Omnipotence, the execution of His wrath can not long be deferred. Let not the long-suffering of God be taken for indifference, nor the staying of divine execution as repentance of His purpose. The Lord will come shortly from His place, and will punish the inhabitants of the earth. "To-day, while ye hear His voice, harden not your hearts." "Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation." In Him is a refuge from the storm.

Boulder, Colo. FRANCIS M. WILCOX.

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