What is without doubt the real reason for the popular Chinese dislike of Christianity is set forth by Mr. J. Carey Hall, in The Positivist Review (London). Mr. Hall is the British consul in Japan, and speaks as one acquainted with the conditions he discusses. The Chinese believe that the protection of missionaries and native converts by foreign governments, forced on China by treaty, is only a screen under which foreign countries are marching upon the Flowery Kingdom with a view to its dismemberment and absorption.
In Japan the circumstances are very different. Missionaries are not persecuted; there are no uprisings against Christianity. This, Mr. Hall claims is due wholly to the fact that the missionaries were not forced upon Japan by treaties. Therefore the work of the missionary was not looked upon as having any political significance whatever. It is another witness to the fact that Christianity is not helped by the sword or by legislation. Mr. Hall asks the reason for the different attitude assumed toward Christianity by Japan and China, and answers his own question thus:—
The chief, if not the sole cause of China’s hostility to Christianity is that foreign governments are its propagandists. Had the Christian powers assumed or attempted to assume the same rôle in Japan as they play in China, the converts to Christianity in Japan would hardly be numbered by units, instead of by tens of thousands as they now are.
In 1858 Lord Elgin concluded treaties with China and Japan. In the treaty with China was incorporated a stipulation that persons teaching or professing Christianity should be entitled to the protection of the Chinese authorities, and that England would hold China responsible for their safety. No such clause appeared in the treaty with Japan. The consequences of this Chinese treaty stipulation Mr. Hall outlines as follows:—
Other powers followed the lead of Great Britain in hoisting a propaganda clause into their commercial treaties; but they have not all followed Great Britain’s lead in the moderate manner in which that objectionable clause has been made to work. In their hands it has been expanded and made the basis for further exactions. It has been interpreted to include in express terms native Chinese converts, as well as their foreign pastors, clothed as the latter are with the privilege of extraterritoriality. It has been the means of obtaining for Catholic missionaries and prelates the rank and dignity of state officials. It has afforded to Germany the fulcrum of her pretext for the seizure of Kiao-Chow.
The seizure of Kiao-Chow by Germany in 1898 was promptly followed by the enforced concessions of Port Arthur and Talienwan to Russia, of Weihaiwei and the Kowloon expansion to Great Britain, and of Kwangchouwan to France; and even Italy, backed by other powers, laid claim to the port of Sanmun. The approaching “break-up” of China was openly announced; and “spheres of influence” were mapped out by the powers who had shown themselves so solicitous in their commercial treaties to foster the spread of the religion of Jesus.
In many cases the uprisings in China against the foreigners have originated in the interference of Catholic missionaries between their native followers and the Chinese magistrates, in which these missionaries have assumed civil rank and authority. The outbreak, once started, has not ceased with those who figured in its cause. “The conduct of European governments toward China,” says Mr. Hall, “their greed, aggression, the general attitude of domination, long prejudiced both officials and people against missionaries, who were popularly believed to make use of their professedly philanthropic work only as a cloak, and to be, in fact, spies of their own governments, whose aim was the seizure of the empire and the subjugation of its people.” The fact that the missionaries had the backing of their respective governments gave color to the charge.
How much better it would have been if governments had kept their hands off the work of God in foreign lands, and missionaries had gone forth as did Jesus Christ and Paul and Silas and others, claiming the protection of heaven only. When the Christian missionary looks to earthly governments for protection, he has a shield which the darts of the enemy can pierce at will, and he lays in his own path stumbling-stones to block the way of the cause he came to advance.
National Reformers’ World Conference
The National Reform Association proposes to hold in Philadelphia three years hence—in October, 1909—a “world’s conference on the Christian principles of civil government.” The officers of that organization have already issued a call for this conference. The National Reformers hope at that conference to start a world movement for Sunday observance, bringing the attitude of the various governments into harmony in the matter of religious legislation. It is expected that all civilized lands will be represented by delegates, and the uncivilized portions of the globe by active missionaries. The call closes thus:—
It is obvious that on many questions, such as the true relation of the church and state, wide diversities of opinion will be found to exist among those who agree in the fundamental principles on which this call is issued. We invite the utmost candor in the statement of differing views, and rely on Christian discretion and charity to make exchange of thought mutually agreeable and productive only of good.
This is another program that was needed to bring about that oneness of purpose which will make it possible for one power at last to compel the whole world to bow down at its command. It is evident, too, that the free expression of views at that conference will be limited to “those who agree in the fundamental principles on which this call is issued.”
Sunday Closing of Ellis Island
There are those who criticize the President for his recent order reopening the Ellis Island Immigrant Station on Sundays. Advocates of Sunday sacredness and Sunday laws had secured an order closing the station on Sunday, and compelling the immigrants, many of whom were sick from their long voyage, to remain another day in their stuffy quarters on shipboard. Concerning this matter the editor of The Interior says:—
Upholders of the Sabbath can hardly count in the list of Sabbath-observance gains the recent order prohibiting the landing and examination of immigrants on Sunday. . . . The Sabbath-closing order is in this instance scarcely of the Christian spirit.
The Interior takes a sensible view of the matter in this particular. But when it comes to the matter of enforcing the observance of a day upon a people who do not see any sacredness in it, and do not wish to act what they do not feel—this, too, is “scarcely of the Christian spirit,” and the matter of true-hearted Sabbath observance gains nothing by the effort.
“Behold, What Manner of Love!”
By Ellen G. White
MRS. E. G. WHITE
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
What a precious privilege is this,—that we may be sons and daughters of the Most High, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ! What love, what matchless love, that, sinners and aliens as we are, we may be brought back to God, and adopted into his family!
It is sin that alienates from God. “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whoso sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.”
To every one who surrenders fully to God is given the privilege of living without sin, in obedience to the law of heaven.
“Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.”
God requires of us perfect obedience. We are to purify ourselves, even as he is pure. By keeping his commandments, we are to reveal our love for the Supreme Ruler of the universe. And the Lord has not left us in ignorance regarding his law. While enshrouded in a thick cloud, he repeated from Mount Sinai the holy precepts of the decalogue distinctly and with solemn impressiveness. So deeply were the people impressed when they “saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking,” that “they removed, and stood afar off.”
“Speak thou with us,” they pleaded with Moses, “and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” “And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.” Every provision against sin has been made in our behalf.
The importance of obedience was further impressed upon the minds of the Israelites by the Lord himself, when, as recorded in the thirty-first of Exodus, he “spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. . . . Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”
“And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”
In the providence of God, these same commandments that were written with the finger of Jehovah and entrusted to the Israelites, are now committed to our care. Upon us rests the solemn obligation of proclaiming God’s law to an impenitent world. The last great conflict over the question of loyalty to God, will turn on obedience to the Sabbath commandment, which is so plainly enforced by the Lord himself, “for a perpetual covenant.” Men will labor with an intensity from beneath to make of no effect God’s command regarding the observance of the seventh day; but we are not to be influenced by anything that man may do. Our allegiance to the King of kings must ever be made a matter of paramount importance. We can not afford to be out of harmony with the Creator of the universe.
Men may make laws to enforce Sunday observance, but they have no Scriptural authority for so doing. We can not do otherwise than obey the law of Jehovah, irrespective of any conflicting law enacted by man. When man-made laws are contrary to God’s sacred enactments, we must choose to obey God rather than man. While respecting earthly authorities in so far as they do not interfere with our allegiance to God, we are ever to acknowledge our divine Ruler as the Supreme Authority. And in all our efforts to remain true, we are to keep constantly in mind the words of the beloved disciple, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.”
The final conflict is near at hand, but many are asleep regarding the responsibilities of the hour. “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”
Years ago, in the early days of our denominational work on the Pacific Coast, my husband and I united with a few faithful brethren and sisters in an effort to build meeting-houses in San Francisco and in Oakland. At that time there were not many believers, and we had to make heavy personal sacrifices in order to secure sufficient means with which to erect churches and establish institutions. But we realized that San Francisco and Oakland must be worked, and so we toiled and struggled until the Laguna Street church in San Francisco and the first church in Oakland were built.
San Francisco has been visited with a terrible calamity. The Lord in mercy spared life, in order that the people may still have opportunity to repent. The wickedness practised in San Francisco, and in Oakland as well,—though in a lesser degree,—has been opened before me again and again. No tongue can describe the conditions that existed before the earthquake; words are inadequate to portray the awful iniquity carried on. To an unusual extent, many were “lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,” “heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.”
God has manifested his displeasure in a signal manner in San Francisco. He is seeking to teach men that they can not always disregard his authority with impunity. He has given to us a law, which, sooner or later, we must acknowledge as holy, and just, and good. The Ruler of the universe bears long with those who trample on his law and disregard his holy Sabbath; but in the fulness of time he arises to vindicate his supreme authority.
In his judgments, God remembered mercy. He spared life. We now have a solemn work to do in San Francisco.9
The third angel’s message is to be proclaimed in San Francisco with power. If possible, the people are to be aroused to a realization of their peril. By this stroke of God’s providence they are to understand that it requires but a single touch from the One in supreme authority to break up the foundations laid by man, and to bring destruction to the works of human hands. God’s judgments are not sent for naught. They are given in order that all may take warning. Every one should inquire, Have I a hope in God? Do I believe in him? Can I take hold of him by living faith?
In the midst of the confusion caused by the earthquake and the fire, the people are to be taught to discern the wondrous import of the words, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.”
Diligent work is now called for. In this crisis, no half-hearted efforts will prove successful. In all our city work, we are to hunt for souls. Wise plans are to be laid, in order that such work may be done to the best possible advantage. More and more, as wickedness increases in the great cities, we shall have to work them from outpost centers. This is the way Enoch labored in the days before the flood, when wickedness was rife in every populous community, and when violence was in the land.
God in his providence has spared Oakland, and thousands are flocking to it. We have a present duty to perform in Oakland. We are now to give this city a decided warning; for God has spared it in order that we may do a thorough and a quick work here. Let not those who are in this place become discouraged over the outlook. The Lord has a message to be borne just now to the people in Oakland. Decided efforts are to be made to lead men and women to see that God is Supreme Ruler, and that his commandments are to be obeyed.
In the night season there have passed before me many presentations, in figures, regarding the work to be done in Oakland. Among other things, I saw One from heaven standing before the people in Oakland and in the surrounding cities, and bearing the proclamation, “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.”
To the members of the Oakland church I would say: Do not be discouraged because many of your brethren and sisters are going away in response to the counsels given that our people should leave the cities. Do not feel that Oakland is to be left without a witness. Help and strength must be given to the work in Oakland. God may touch Oakland, but he has spared it thus far, in order that those who have never heard the third angel’s message, may be warned and converted and saved. Those who choose to stand on the Lord’s side shall behold “what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.”
Much missionary work is to be done in Oakland, and in the surrounding communities. We expect to stand by the brethren and sisters of the Oakland church; and we shall expect you to unite heartily with the conference laborers by rallying around the standard and by doing much personal work among your neighbors and friends. Money will also be needed for the maintenance of the laborers. Let every church-member deny self as Christ denied himself. Let us study the closest economy because of the many pressing calls for means to advance the message. As we sacrifice willingly, God will not fail us in time of need. The Source of all our blessings, he will not allow us to suffer because of our liberality.
More and more, as time advances, our people will have to leave the cities. For years we have been instructed that our brethren and sisters, and especially families with children, should plan to leave the cities as the way opens before them to do so. Many will have to labor earnestly to help open the way. But until it is possible for them to leave, so long as they remain, they should be most active in doing missionary work, however limited their sphere of influence may be. As they yield their talents and their all to God to be used as he may direct; as they live out their consecration by engaging in practical missionary work wherever opportunity affords, God will bless them with wisdom and discretion, and in his own way and time he will make it possible for them to place themselves where they will not be surrounded constantly with the contaminating influences of modern city life.
O, how much we need genuine missionaries! How much we need men and women who will labor under the supervision of the Almighty, in the power of his Spirit! How much we need those who know that God has called them to his service! It is when the work goes hard, that living missionaries reveal by their courage and fortitude and their trust in God that they are led and taught by the Holy Spirit.
My Prayer
By MRS. R. J. COUTANT
MRS. R. J. COUTANT
Thou only Source of love divine, To me thy strength impart, And may thy peaceful presence find A home within my heart.
Subdue my will, make all my powers Yield to thy wise control; Thy quickening Spirit on me breathe, And sanctify the whole.
O feed me with the living bread Which in thy Word is found! And may the graces it reveals Within my life abound.
When o’er my path dark clouds arise And earth-born shadows roll, Hold thou my trembling hand and guide, Sure Pilot of my soul.
Let this sweet hope that thou art mine Be with me to the end. Sweet rest in heaven then may I find, With Christ the sinners’ Friend.
Boone, Iowa.
“He That Sanctifieth”
By E. M. H.
E. M. H.
In order that man may be led to recognize, confess, and forsake sin, he must believe that there is one who is able to free him from its power.
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” was the question of the trembling keeper of the prison. The answer came, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:30, 31. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever,” was set apart from the foundation of the world as man’s Saviour from sin. Rev. 5:6; 13:8. “When he came to this world, he said, “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” Ps. 40:7, 8.
Again in John 17:19 he says, “I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” Christ, then, is he that sanctifieth. “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.”
Does the sanctified include every man in the world? For answer let us take the Lord’s own words: “I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” John 17:9. How does Christ in his prayer show that man is sanctified? “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” John 17:17.
Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ with all the heart, and walking as “dear children,” obedient to his holy law, man has his natural heart, which receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, changed, the enmity against God is set aside, and the love of God takes its place.
The first psalm draws a sharp contrast between the sanctified one of God and the man of the world: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.”
Christ will not be ashamed of those of whom we read in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, “of whom the world was not worthy,” nor will he be ashamed of any child of his sanctified through his truth.
“And O, may this my glory be,
That Christ is not ashamed of me!”
Washington, D. C.
Give to Finish the Work
By G. W. Wells
G. W. WELLS
We are proclaiming to the world what we are pleased to call the third angel's message, and it is certain that this is the closing message of the gospel. We know, too, that when the work involved in giving this message shall have been finished, the whole gospel work will close. The time has come when this work is to be done. We have but this one generation—and that very near its close—in which to complete it; yet “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
However great may be the work yet to be done, God's hand is shaping events, and “he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.”
How clear it must appear to all that the progress of the work to be done10must depend more or less on the attitude of the church. May God give us an overwhelming sense of the grave responsibility.
Let us keep in mind that our annual offering for the colored work in the South is to be taken up the first Sabbath in October, 1906. Why not plan to give more liberally this year than ever before? God is blessing this country with unparalleled prosperity, which fully enables us to return to him of that which is his own. Well may we thank God for what his blessing has enabled us to do already in this Southland.
Not for a moment would I suggest that the truth is popular or that superstition has not weakened the people. But the joyful thing is that there is every evidence of the present working of the Holy Spirit. Light is breaking in on this neglected field, and God is saying “to the South, Keep not back.”
When you learn that in this one State of Georgia there are over a million colored people, and we have but one lady Bible worker who is devoting her entire time to instructing them, you may better appreciate our need of means to support workers.
The promised Canaan seems but a little way ahead, and yet a great work must be accomplished before our Master comes. The time for the enlargement and finishing of the work has come. How glorious to see God's arm made bare and the message of the judgment-hour speeding to the nations! May we unite in our prayers to God for this needy field as we meet together the first Sabbath in October; and God forbid that we should quench the Spirit as it may lead us to give liberally of our means to aid in finishing this blessed work.
Alpharetta, Ga.
The Coming of Christ
By J. N. Cross
J. N. CROSS
As one looks upon a mountainous country from the plain, he may see many peaks rising to the clouds, and from his point of view they may seem to rise from a single range; but as he approaches nearer, he may find they belong to different ranges, perhaps separated by long distances, and it may be, by wide and fertile plains.
Thus it is with the prophecies concerning the coming of Christ. The words of the Old Testament prophets are like mountain peaks, and seem to mingle together; but as we examine them carefully, we find they belong to three distinct ranges, or classes, and are separated by long periods of time. Just here was the great trouble with the Jews; they blended the different ranges into one, and so were confused. They knew the Messiah was to be a “Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” and yet a great deliverer. They seemed to think that he, like Moses, would be poor and humble in his birth, but in later years would become a great general to deliver them from the Roman yoke, as Moses did from Egyptian bondage. But when they would take him by force and make him king, he went away and left them to their great disappointment. And so he will do now to those who will try to make him king of this or any other nation. He is to be King indeed, but the kingdom is to be given him by the Father, not by men.
The first of the three classes of prophecy concerning Christ, refers to his first advent, his sufferings and death, while another class refers to his second, and finally to his third, advent to earth. As we are all familiar with the first class, we will only speak of it briefly in this paper; for that which is of vastly more importance to us in this age of the world, is his next, or second, coming. Many seem to think that the second coming of Christ is at the death of his people; but if that were the case, he would be here all the time, for they are constantly dying. But with this view, how strange the words of Jesus in John 21:22 sound, when Peter, pointing to John, asked, “And what shall this man do?” According to this idea, Jesus would have answered him, “If I will that he lives till he dies, what is that to thee?” O, no! His first advent was real, personal, visible; and his second must be the same. Again, the angels said (Acts 1:11), “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” This does not sound much like the spiritual coming of Christ at every death. Then the second advent of Christ must be as real, as personal, as visible as was his first.
The question then is, Of what importance is the second coming of Christ to us, or to the world? It has been said that one verse in twenty-five in the New Testament refers to the second coming of Christ to earth; and if this is true, it must be a very important event to all the inhabitants of earth. Let us consider briefly the time, the manner, and the object of that great event; first, the time.
In Dan. 8:14 the angel said, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Daniel did not understand the vision, but Gabriel was instructed to explain it to him. He told him the meaning of the ram, the goat, and the little horn; but Daniel fainted before Gabriel reached the question of time in the vision; but in answer to Daniel’s earnest prayer recorded in chapter 9, Gabriel returned to him, and in verse 24 he begins where he left off in chapter 8, by saying, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people . . . to bring in everlasting righteousness, . . . and to anoint the Most Holy.” Critics tell us the word rendered “determined” means cut off, and it is a well-accepted rule of interpretation that a day in prophecy stands for a year of literal time. Hence we may read this passage thus: Seventy weeks, or four hundred and ninety years, are cut off from the two thousand three hundred years mentioned in the last vision, for the spiritual benefit of thy people. Then Gabriel goes on to say that this time begins with “the going forth of the commandment” to restore and rebuild the city and temple at Jerusalem. And the seventy weeks were divided into four parts,—seven weeks, or forty-nine years, for the building of the city “in troublous times;” another period of sixty-two weeks, or four hundred and thirty-four years, to Messiah the Prince, or the baptism of Christ and his anointing with the Holy Spirit; and in the midst of the seventieth week Messiah should be “cut off, but not for himself;” that is, Christ should be crucified, but not on account of his own sins. This decree went forth in 457 B. C., and this date is said to be fixed by more than twenty eclipses, hour strokes in the great timepiece of the Creator, and from this date we find each event mentioned by the angel occurring exactly at the time appointed, thus giving us another unanswerable proof that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. But the Messiah was to be cut off in the midst of the seventieth week, thus still leaving three and one-half years to the Jews; and we read that the apostles preached the gospel to them during that time, but after that turned to the Gentiles.
But the four hundred and ninety full years reach only to the year 34 A. D., leaving eighteen hundred and ten years of the twenty-three hundred years unaccounted for. Adding these numbers together, brings us to the autumn of 1844; and this is the time when Gabriel said the sanctuary should be cleansed. Thus, Wm. Miller and his associates reasoned, and believed that the cleansing of the sanctuary meant the destruction of the earth by fire, predicted in 2 Peter 3:10, and so, the coming of Christ at that time. But the time passed, and Christ did not appear. Their disappointment is thus described in Rev. 10:10: “It [the little book of Daniel’s prophecy] was in my mouth sweet as honey; and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.” Disappointed they were indeed, yet they could not doubt the word of the angel; and as his word had proved true in four points, it must be true in the fifth. So they said the mistake was theirs, and searched their Bibles to find what it was. The Lord soon showed them that the word rendered “sanctuary,” which occurs about one hundred and forty-four times in the Bible, never refers to the earth, but always to the tabernacle erected by Moses, the temple at Jerusalem, or what Paul in Heb. 8:2 calls the true tabernacle, of which the former was but the shadow; and this true, or heavenly, sanctuary was the only one in existence in 1844, and hence the one then to be cleansed. Thus they saw that the event to occur in 1844 was not the coming of Christ, but the11cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven.
The cleansing of the earthly sanctuary on the last day of the Jewish religious year (the tenth day of the seventh month) is described in Leviticus 16, as the atonement for the altar, and to the present time the Jews throughout the world observe it as the day of judgment for all mankind. The cleansing of the earthly sanctuary, then, is a type, or shadow, of the cleansing of the true sanctuary in heaven, or the work of judgment for the whole earth. There are many points of interest just here, especially in regard to the scapegoat, but the scope of this paper forbids their mention.
The twenty-three hundred days we have considered is the longest time-prophecy in the Bible, and the last to expire. Then does not the Bible give us a clue as to the time of the second coming of Christ?—Certainly it does; for we read in Amos 3:7: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” And the end of the twenty-three hundred days marked the beginning of the judgment of the dead in the end of the world.
In Matthew 24 and Luke 21 Christ gave us many signs which should mark the near approach of his coming. In reply to the question of his disciples, he foretells the history of the world three times in Matthew 24, stating different particulars each time. Among other signs which show his coming near at hand, were the darkening of the sun and moon on May 19, 1780; the falling of the stars, Nov. 13, 1833; distress of nations, with perplexity; wars and rumors of war; earthquakes, famines, and pestilences, more numerous and destructive than ever before; increase of crime, and lukewarmness in the church. But for our encouragement he says the generation that sees these signs shall not entirely pass away till all be fulfilled, and even adds that “heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” And so, as Christ is true, we know there are many men living to-day who will witness the pouring out of the seven last plagues of Revelation 16, followed by the coming of Christ to reap the harvest of the earth. Yet he says, “This gospel” (of his soon coming to set up his kingdom in the earth) “shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come,” and adds the well-known parable of the fig-tree. There are now only three or four nations where the Seventh-day Adventists have not preached this glorious gospel of the soon-coming King and his everlasting kingdom. True, in some but little has been done, but a beginning has been made, and the work is growing. Notice that he does not say the world will be converted; but they will have the gospel for a witness, a warning of the coming end.
In the fifth chapter of James we have a wonderful word-picture of the rich and poor at the present time. The rich are now heaping up treasure for the last days; and we hear the bitter cry of the poor whose wages the rich keep back by fraud. We read in 2 Peter 3:3 of scoffers in the last days who deride the idea of the second coming of Christ. Are there any such in the world to-day? But again, every steamboat that plows the ocean, every railroad train on land, every telegraph wire stretched from city to city, is but a fulfilment of prophecy in preparation for the soon coming of Christ, for it would be impossible to carry the gospel to every nation on earth in one generation without them. Why did we not have them a thousand years ago?—Simply because God did not need them then. But one may ask, Is not his coming to be like a thief?—Yes, to many, but not all, for “ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” 1 Thess. 5:4. “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” True; no man maketh known the “day nor the hour,” the month or the year, but we must know when his coming is near, “even at the door,” that we may be prepared to meet him with joy.
(To be concluded)
The October Collection for the Work Among the Colored People
By E. W. Webster
E. W. WEBSTER
When our faithful people give to advance the cause of God, they want to know the needs of the particular work to which they give. This is proper, for they feel that if they give to it, the work is then theirs, and they have a right to know about it.
The conditions of the colored work in South Carolina are these: We have one church of sixteen members, and a few scattered believers, making, in all, about thirty Sabbath-keepers. There is one lone colored laborer among the half million people of that race in South Carolina. We had another man chosen to labor, but did not have money enough to set both to work. There are several places calling for their labors, but we must be content with what one can do, until we get returns from the October collection. There is not a steady, regular canvasser among them, but hundreds of books are being sold to this people, and interests are springing up that call for public laborers.
There is not a church building or a school among us in all South Carolina. The believers are not able to build, and we are not able to help them. A lot has been offered them in Spartanburg for a church, and they are trying to raise eight hundred dollars with which to build. This is a grand opportunity for helping that needy branch of God's work in the South.
Our people in the North should understand that owing to certain peculiar conditions and prejudices with which they are unacquainted, we can not work promiscuously in the South as in the North. To try to do so would ruin all our work. We have difficulties in the work for both white and colored that our Northern brethren know nothing about. And to add to these perplexities, we are much cramped for means and men for the work among the colored people. If we had the means to start a school and support a teacher, we could soon train workers to do a great and mighty work among them. Who will have a part in this by giving liberally to the October collection?
Brother Reise, of Pennsylvania, donated a tent to the colored work in South Carolina, but we have no laborer to man it except one inexperienced but earnest, faithful worker. If enough is received from the October offering so that needed assistance can be given this work, we shall no doubt see precious fruit borne as a result.
The conditions existing in this State are the same as in all the South, only a little more apparent here now because this work is newer and weaker in South Carolina. Ask me any questions you wish about the work here, I will answer all I can. But let our people plan at once to help this needy branch of the work.
Cowpens, S. C.
Seed Thoughts
By C. E. Holmes
C. E. HOLMES
ONE of the wonderful attributes of the Bible is its simplicity. Like the nourishment contained in seeds, it is compact, and sufficient for its purpose. It is impossible for finite man to express such sublime truths in so few words as are found in the first chapter of Genesis. Like the message sent by God to the king of Babylon and written in blazing letters with the “fingers of a man’s hand,” so he records these great truths by the hand of man.
In the first verse are found truths, which, if believed as they are stated, would overthrow many modern beliefs. Let us notice a few: “In the beginning,”—this contradicts the eternity of matter. “God created,”—this strikes at the root of atheism, because it tells of a Creator—God; and of polytheism, because it speaks of one God. It forbids the doctrine of chance, because “he spake, and it was.” As God is separate from creation, that precludes pantheism. Matter is not God, so it denies materialism.
Takoma Park, D. C.
When Hearts Touch
O How unspeakably small seem our differences when our hearts have the right of way! We denounce each other, and because we do not think alike, we stand apart like enemies; but, if the moment comes when our jarrings are hushed and our hearts really touch, we find that our inmost souls are akin, and that most truly “we be brethren.”—The Baltimore Methodist.
— Louise Phillips
By Louise Phillips
Posies
O FOR the dear old-fashioned posies
Growing close by the kitchen door!
Poppies soft that will bring forgetting,
Balm and mint for a spirit sore.
Heartsease sweet for hearts that are
aching,
Ragged ladies, and four-o'clocks;
Marigolds with wealth uncounted,
Cabbage-roses and hollyhocks.
Old-time pinks with their spicy odor,
Tiger-lilies and columbine,
Honey-sweet in its golden chalice,
Humming-birds in the climbing vine.
Sunflowers tall that turn their faces
Out to the West as the sun goes down;
Morning-glories which close and cower,
Under the rays of his burning frown.
Clover fields with the bees a-humming,
Drowsy grasses that sway and nod;
Busy reapers the ripe grain cutting,
Fragrant breath of new-mown sod.
O for the dear old-fashioned posies,
Growing close by the kitchen door;
And for the loved familiar faces,
Gone from our sight forevermore!