Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Oct 15, 1903
Publishers' Page
Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Company
Three Important Medical Books
BY J. H. KELLOGG, M. D.
Home Hand Book
Of Domestic Hygiene and Rational Medicine: a Vast Cyclopædia of Physiology, Hygiene, and the Treatment of Disease.
It contains the most approved methods for the treatment of more than six hundred diseases, and is thoroughly adapted to home accommodations. The most complete and comprehensive work of the kind ever issued from the press.
Thoroughly illustrated, 1,700 pages, four bindings; prices, $4.50 to $9.
Man the Masterpiece
Especially for the Men, Youth, and Boys of To-day
THE object of the author is to make better men physically, mentally, and morally, but the book treats chiefly from a physical standpoint, advocating that a vigorous body is the best foundation for a sound mind, and that physical and mental health is conducive to healthy morals.
Complete in one volume of six hundred pages, and bound in four styles, ranging in price from $3 to $5.50.
Ladies' Guide
Especially for Mothers, Maiden Ladies, and Girls. Eminently Practical and Reliable
ALL directions are so simple, and the means to be employed in prescribed treatment so readily accessible, that treatments can be successfully taken in the home in the majority of cases without the aid of a physician.
Complete in one volume of 672 pages, and bound in five styles, ranging in price from $3 to $5.50.
Christ in Song
For Sabbath-School and All Religious Services
THIS book contains three times the number of songs found in the average Sabbath-school song book, and more than any church hymnal, and is bound more securely than any other song book in the market—wire stapled through cover and contents, also cloth hinge on the stiff cover styles.
Less than ten copies, postpaid, flexible canvas cover, 35 cents; paper covered boards, 40 cents; canvas-covered boards, 50 cents.
A Practical Reference Book
A Guide to Correct Language
By the well-known author, G. H. Bell. The name of the author of this book is sufficient to guarantee its practicability. Educators all over the country pronounce Professor Bell's treatise on the English language superior to any other published.
“This Guide is intended for reference rather than for study. It should be carefully read, and might be studied with profit, but it need not be learned. It sets forth facts that everybody wants to know, and makes them so easy of access that the book becomes as convenient as a dictionary, and as indispensable. It is a treatise for business men, farmers, and mechanics, as well as for printers, teachers, and students; and will be especially useful to those who write for the press.”
A thorough treatise on practical grammar, punctuation, and the use of capitals.
Substantially bound in cloth. Size, 6 x 9¼ inches. Price, $1, postpaid.
What and How to Answer
An Eight-Page Tract, Words of Truth Series, No. 41
BY MRS. S. M. I. HENRY
A TRACT admirably adapted for answering the questions invariably asked by all children about the origin of life. It gives excellent suggestions to parents relative to what and how to answer these questions, and permits no shadow of deception or evil to rest upon the subject. Written in a forcible, chaste, and gentle manner. Nothing could be more simply wrought out for the perfect initiation and enlightenment of the inquiring child. Every one who has to do with the education of children should have this little tract. “Worth its weight in gold.”
Price, 50 cents a hundred. Kept by all State Tract Societies.
A Help in Sabbath-School Lesson Study
THE president of the Nebraska Conference, writing to the author of “Paradise Home,” says:—
“Have you noticed that the Sabbath-school lessons for the quarter beginning October 1, cover the same field as does your book? It seems to me nothing could have been prepared as a more suitable Sabbath-school lesson help for next quarter than your book. I will call attention to this in the next issue of the Central Advance, and it seems to me that the Advocate and the REVIEW AND HERALD should also call attention to your book as a valuable help in the study of the Sabbath-school lessons.
“A. T. ROBINSON.”
The Abiding Spirit
BY MRS. S. M. I. HENRY
AN exceedingly helpful work, treating upon the presence, power, and ministry of the Holy Spirit, as manifested in the most common, material things, and as needed for the performance of the most simple duties.
It sets forth the constant presence of the one only Spirit as the condition of existence, and a healthy and successful life as dependent upon the intelligent recognition of this presence, and on the proper adjustment of everything, physical and mental, to this power.
The larger proportion of common religious perplexities are carefully outlined, and the simple way revealed for them, in the place of their darkness.
The purpose of the book is to show the power of the Holy Spirit, and its relation to the human soul. The spirit of the work is excellent, and it should be in every home. It is beautifully bound in cloth, gold stamped, with gilt edges, 75 cents. In plain cloth, 40 cents.
Early Writings
THE best book that we have at present to substitute for “Rise and Progress,” which is now out of print. The price is 75 cents, postpaid. Order of the State Tract Societies.
The Gospel Reader
A READER prepared especially to follow “The Gospel Primer,” being graded and generally adapted to the natural progress of the children finishing the “Primer.” It is also a good reader to follow the “Bible Reader” in the home and church schools.
The long and successful experience of the author (G. H. Bell) as an educator and Biblical student has enabled him to embody in this reader the primary essentials in progressive reading, and to utilize the more prominent events in Bible history as suitable subject-matter for a reader adapted to children. The cardinal principles of the gospel are taught in a clear, progressive, interesting manner, and the language is so clear, simple, and direct that small children have no difficulty in understanding the teaching of the text.
The thirty-five chapters of the reader are beautifully and impressively illustrated with twenty-two fine half-tone Bible pictures, and it is substantially and attractively bound in cloth, with a portrait of the Saviour in gold on the front cover, also bound in board covers in two colors. It contains 192 pages, printed in large, clear, new type. Price, in cloth, 75 cents; board covers, 50 cents.
Bible Nature Studies
BY M. E. CADY
THIS book has been prepared for parents and teachers to educate the children to appreciate the wonderful works of God, and to draw from these the spiritual lessons that will aid them in the development of character. It has been used by many parents and teachers in our church schools with great satisfaction. The revised edition is much more complete than the first edition, containing a large list of recommended nature study books, a Scriptural index, and a complete general index. It contains 519 pages, substantially bound in cloth. Price, $1. Those who wish to secure “Principles of True Science,” which is a compilation of Testimonies on the subject of science in nature, may secure it in connection with “Bible Nature Studies” for $1.50. The regular price of “Principles of True Science” is 75 cents. These two books thoroughly furnish the parents and teachers with the principles of true science of true nature study, and also open to the minds of the pupils a large and interesting field of study in the observation of the various phases of nature about them.
Order of State Tract Societies: Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.; Review and Herald, Washington, D. C.; Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Assn., Nashville, Tenn.
Act Upon It
By Editor
Editorial
Act Upon It
Do you believe that this is the last generation? Act upon that belief. Do you believe that this advent movement is in the purpose of God, and his means for reaching the world with the final message of the gospel? Act upon that belief. Do you believe that this closing message ought to go quickly to the ends of the earth? Act upon that belief. Do you believe that you ought to consecrate yourself and your means to the work of hastening the coming of the Redeemer's kingdom? Act upon that belief. Faith and action are inseparably connected.
An Army of Workers
A BELIEVER is a worker. It is a contradiction of terms to speak of an idle Christian. There are just as many workers in the Lord's vineyard as there are true believers. When the Lord adds believers to the church, he adds workers to the church. A host of believers means a host of workers. If the personal application of these principles seems to cut off any whose names are on the church rolls, let them examine themselves to see whether they are in the faith. These principles will become manifested facts in the experiences just before us. Those who refuse to be laborers together with God in the final campaign of the great controversy will thereby declare that they have no real confidence in the leadership of the Captain of the Lord's host, and the decision not to follow Prince Immanuel will place them in the ranks of the prince of this world. It will thus appear that the attitude which this people now assumes toward the most earnest appeals which are being made to arouse them to service will make clear their real attitude toward the kingdom of God in the earth and in their own hearts. There can be no such thing as a body of believers in the Lord and his salvation whose only anxiety is to save themselves with as little sacrifice as possible of what the world holds dear. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” “He that heareth, let him say, Come.” The great call of the hour is for an army of converted workers who can be worked by the Holy Spirit in presenting to the world the gospel message of salvation from sin, and a preparation to meet the soon-coming Saviour. The darkness deepens. The need of the world grows greater. The message must be given. The time has come for the fulfilment of the oath of the angel that “there shall be delay no longer.” It now rests with each individual to decide whether he has the faith in this movement which will lead him to give all for it. And this decision must be made soon.
Unwavering Faith
WHEN A WAVE sweeps over the surface of the ocean, there is a great commotion, and much apparent movement of the water, but there is no real forward movement. There is much stir, and whatever is on the surface of the water is almost irresistibly tossed about, but it results in no particular progress toward any definite point. On the other hand, there may be a genuine current setting steadily in a given direction, carrying everything along with it, and this without any particular disturbance on the surface. “He that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
“Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel,” was the forecast which Jacob made of the experience of Reuben, although he spoke of him as “the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power.” When left free, water yields to any pressure brought to bear upon it, and takes its shape wholly from the action of forces outside of itself. It has no power of resistance which it can exert against outward influences. It responds to every wind that blows. The rock has a definite form which it maintains against the influence of outside forces. When the wind and water come against it, they are turned aside by the firmness of the rock. The doubter is like the wave of the sea. The man of faith is as firm as the rock. Genuine faith is unwavering. It lets God be true continually, “with whom can be no variation.” The faith of Israel was the human factor in changing the unstable water of the Red Sea into a solid wall. “The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.” In response to the same faith the walls of Jericho became as unstable as water. “The wall fell down flat.” The faith which will speedily bring the triumph of this message is the faith which believes God regardless of outward appearances, and which results in progress, and not merely a commotion. “Lord, give me such a faith as this.”
Battle Creek College Again
By Editor
In other parts of this paper there will be found two articles which deal with the reopening of Battle Creek College and the training of our young people for usefulness in this work. One is written by Dr. J. H. Kellogg, and is printed on page 20. The other is written by Mrs. E. G. White, and is printed on page 8. A comparison of these two articles will show that they differ widely in the views presented upon these questions. The one explains and defends the policy adopted of providing special educational facilities for young people in Battle Creek; the other sets forth an entirely different policy, and gives the reasons for this counsel.
There are three definite propositions in the instruction given through Sister White which stand out clearly, and which demand careful consideration:—
1. Our young people should be not “trained to enter the field as missionary nurses, some as canvassers, some as evangelists, some as teachers, and some as gospel ministers. The Lord has plainly instructed me that our young people should not be encouraged to devote so much of their time and strength to medical missionary work as it has been carried forward of late.”4“It is not necessary for so many of our youth to study medicine.”
2. Provision should be made in places away from Battle Creek for giving the necessary preparatory training to those who ought to take up the study of medicine. “From the light that the Lord has given me, I know that our training schools in various parts of the field should be placed in the most favorable position possible for qualifying our youth to meet the tests specified by State laws regarding medical students. . . . But let not the young men and young women in our churches be advised to go to Battle Creek in order to obtain a preparatory education.”
3. The reasons given for this counsel are that the influences which prevail at Battle Creek are such as to make it an unfavorable place for the proper education of Christian workers, and the character of the teaching imparted there is such that it does not give the young people a proper preparation to give this message to the world. “There is a congested state of things at Battle Creek that makes it an unfavorable place for the proper education of Christian workers.” “The instruction they [our young people] receive regarding Bible doctrines is not such as to fit them to perform properly the work that God has entrusted to his people.”
With this instruction before us, setting forth the matter in such a definite way, it will be a simple thing to understand our duty, and to know how to relate ourselves to this issue. There is no argument or explanation which will justify parents, or our young people, or the managers of our institutions in departing from the plain counsel which has been given concerning the plans which should be followed in preparing our young men and women for “doing the very work that needs to be done now, just now.” Let us have peace with God and peace with one another by walking in the counsel of the Lord. There is no other basis for peace.
The “Mark” Will Soon Be Enforced
By L. A. S.
To one acquainted with the principles and methods and recent history of trades unionism in this country, it must be evident that the way is prepared for an early fulfilment of the Bible prophecy concerning the enforcement of the mark of the beast. A power has arisen in the United States which has for its one specific purpose the control of the buying and selling of goods; that is, it controls labor, upon which buying and selling are dependent. Already the mandate of this power has been heard forbidding buying and selling except by its permission. To the non-union man it says, “You shall not sell your labor,” and to the employer it says, “You shall not buy non-union labor.”
The individual who incurs the enmity of this power, whether working man or employer, finds it impossible to secure his rights. The working man can not obtain work, and without this he can not buy the necessaries of life for himself and his family; while the employer, rather than face the loss incurred by a strike of his employees, will agree to the most unjust exactions. Witness the extortion of money from builders in New York City and elsewhere by walking delegates of the labor unions, under threat of ordering a strike for noncompliance with their demands. It would be a brave merchant to-day who, if ordered by the labor trust in his city not to sell to, or buy from, a certain individual or class of individuals, under penalty of having his business ruined by a strike or boycott, with its attendant acts of violence, would venture to disregard the dictum of this power.
It only remains that the power of this great confederacy be turned to the enforcement of the mark of the antichristian power prophesied of in Revelation 13 and 14. And as the mark of this power is an institution the essential feature of which is cessation from work, it is plain that no great step will be required to bring the labor confederacy to the point of dealing with this matter.
And the prospect is that just this thing will be done. Believers in this institution realize the possibility of such action, and are calling for it. Note, for example, the following words spoken recently by a Des Moines, Iowa, clergyman, to a large audience, his subject being the problem confronting labor:—
If it (unionism) is ever to furnish the panacea for our labor ills, it must broaden and deepen its life currents on the moral ideas that affect the welfare of the laboring man. It must join the churches everywhere in the protection of Sunday as a day of rest and recreation. It means more to the laboring man to have all unnecessary work done away with on the Lord’s day than to any one else. Here is a place for effectively using the splendid machinery of organized labor.
To this statement add the following from an editorial in The Independent (N. Y.) of October 1:—
No one can watch the recent development of trade unionism, with all its unquestioned value and importance, and not be impressed by the rapidity with which it is tending to become a dogmatic religion, surcharged with bigotry, fanaticism, and superstition. The unions have erected Sunday into a sabbath of the faithful. The union itself has become a church, to which on every seventh day the faithful repair. The unbeliever is no longer merely a “scab,” he is a sinner, living under wrath. The individual member who goes out from among the industrially redeemed is a lost being, who can not be permitted to live inconspicuously among his fellows, but must be followed with anathemas and all the pains and penalties of the excommunicated. . . . The trade unions embrace possibly two and a half million members. If they are all to become dogmatic religionists, the days of persecution “for the faith” are not over.
A little change in the situation which will bring the matter of Sunday rest to the front as a thing to be enforced by union labor, and bring under the wrath of the labor confederacy those who oppose the Sunday sabbath, and the crisis will be upon us. And how suddenly, in this day of sudden things, such a change may be brought about! The final conflict, like other final consummations, has been delayed only by the delay in God’s work. But “there shall be delay no longer.” L. A. S.
The Reason for Giving Thanks
The goodness of God is the basis of all thanksgiving unto God, and the reason for thanksgiving is found, not in outward circumstances, but in the character of God; and inasmuch as the character of God is always the same, whether seasons be fruitful or unfruitful, whether outward circumstances be favorable or unfavorable, there is always a good reason for giving thanks unto God at all times. “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good.”
And this goodness of God, and this character of God, are shown in what God does; and so the psalmist says, “Thou art good, and doest good.” And so at all times, in all places, under all circumstances, we may always respond to the exhortation, “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good.” Because whatever is, he does good.
And the goodness of God and the character of God are not to be measured, are not to be decided upon, by our human judgment, but by his own statement of his own character and goodness. And so, whether it seems so to us or not, whether the outward circumstances would indicate to us from our standpoint of judgment, that there was reason for thanksgiving, yet we can always find the true reason for thanksgiving, under all circumstances, in all places, in the very nature of the character of God. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good, and does good.
Further: to those who believe in God, all that he does they will count good, whether or not it appears from the human standpoint to be good; those who believe in God will always find a foundation for thanksgiving in what God does, because he does only good, and those who believe in God will say so.
And so we find the seventy-third Psalm opening in this way, “Only God is good to Israel, to such as are of a pure heart.” Not simply the general statement of God’s goodness, and that he5does good; but now, “Only God is good to Israel.” Every true Israelite, every true child of God, every one who has learned to know for himself the character of God, will never hesitate to say, under all circumstances, in all places, “Only God is good to Israel.”
Now as for the way in which this goodness of God is shown, and with which we may connect the thought of his goodness, we read the experience of the apostle Paul and of his fellow worker Barnabas, when they preached among the heathen, and after they had healed the lame man at Lystra, as recorded in the fourteenth chapter of Acts, eleventh verse: “And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
Every fruitful season, then, is a testimony, an outward testimony, to the goodness of God. Mark, a barren season is not a testimony against the goodness of God. Note the difference. And yet a fruitful season is a testimony for the goodness of God; and his filling our hearts with food and gladness, is his testimony to us and to all men that he has not left himself without witness in that he supplies the wants of his creatures.
It is because we are so far separated from the direct working of God in supplying these things to us, and because our conditions have become so artificial, that, instead of receiving these things, as it were, directly from the hand of God, we receive them under the forced, artificial conditions of civilization, until we are apt to forget that the fruitful season is a testimony to the goodness of God. Nevertheless so it is, one of God’s established testimonies as to his character, as to his goodness.
And further, the fruitful season, the gift of God unto his creatures, is based upon another gift of his goodness, which we ought also to recognize in every other gift flowing to us as the result of it.
When he gave his Son to the world, he was in that gift testifying not only to his creatures here upon the earth, but unto all the universe, that God is good; and his Son, who came in the likeness of our flesh, testified unto the character of God that he is good. He did this both by word of mouth and also by the works that he wrought.
And the purpose of God in this gift is that we might share with him in that goodness of character; as Jesus, God’s gift in the flesh,—the same flesh that we bear,—went about doing good, and thus was in himself a testimony that God is good, so the purpose of that gift was not merely to show that God is good, but to make provision also that we might be able to share in that very goodness of character which is the foundation of our thanksgiving unto God.
And so we have the statement made in the epistle to the Hebrews, thirteenth chapter, verses 20 and 21: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ.”
This is a different statement, a different wording of the thought that is given unto us in the second chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians, where we are told that our salvation is “not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
This scripture in the thirteenth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes especially how that result is to be brought about: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,”—resurrection power,—just according to the word of the apostle Paul when he says that God would have us know “what is the exceeding greatness of his power . . . which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand . . . far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, . . . and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body.” Resurrection power is guaranteed unto every believer in the gift of God’s goodness, in order that the good works which God hath before ordained should be wrought out, in and through the believer, “through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” to “make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight.”
This is Christianity; this is God’s provision that the goodness of character, that the goodness of God which leads us to repentance for sin, that the goodness of God which, being revealed to us, draws us toward him with earnest desire, that the goodness of God which is revealed to us in the gift of his Son Jesus, and the goodness of God shown in the death of his Son as the atoning sacrifice for sin, that goodness which rouses our hearts unto a hatred of that which is sin,—that by all this we are drawn directly to God, and have an earnest longing of soul that in us may be revealed the goodness of God through the blood of the everlasting covenant. That is Christianity; that is God’s provision for salvation.
Now, it is a wonderful lesson to learn as a matter of experience, that God is good. When the sun shines clearly, no clouds seem to hide the light, outward circumstances are favorable, and the heart is glad and joyous, then it is a simple thing to let the words slip out between the lips, God is good. But when the sun is under a cloud, and when the heavens seem like brass over one’s head, and when outward circumstances seem to indicate anything else except that God is good, then, for one chastened still to be able to say, even though it be through the tears of his suffering, God is good,—it is a wonderful lesson to learn.
When our family circles are unbroken, and everything about us seems to us so favorable, we look upon friends, children in our home circle, it is easy for us to say then, God is good. But when disease fastens its hand upon one of the number, and we see the suffering that comes from it; and when, although we pray, although we use all the means that God has revealed to us as means of restoration, yet we see that the life is ebbing out day by day; and then we are called to stand by the side of the form from which the life has entirely gone, and we follow one to the long home, then to be able to say that God is good, then to be able to take up the words of the psalmist, and say, “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever;” and to be able to say then, “Only God is good to Israel, to such as are of a pure heart,”—then we know whether we know God or not. Then we know whether we know Christianity or not. Then we know whether our confidence is yet placed in a God near at hand and not afar off, whose help is very accessible in time of need. Then we know whether we have learned how to come unto a throne of grace where dwells our God, and call upon him for help, and receive help from him in time of need, because we still believe that God is good.
“O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”
The Danger of Irresponsible Power
By L. A. S.
An illustration of what may be expected from the domination of labor unions in the industrial affairs of this country, is furnished by the contest between the building trades unions of New York City and their employers during the last six months. Intoxicated with a sense of their power, these labor organizations seem oblivious to all bounds of justice and reason. We note in The Independent (New York) the following strong language on this point:—
It should be borne in mind that neither the rate of wages nor the hours of labor were involved in this controversy, and that they have recently been fighting, under the leadership of their walking delegates, against the adoption of a fair arbitration agreement proposed by men who bind themselves to employ only members of the unions. When, owing to the returning sanity of the workmen and to the conviction of their rascally leader, the end of the wretched contest seemed at hand, a national convention took place in Kansas City, where this leader—a convicted blackmailer temporarily out of prison, and soon to be tried on four additional indictments—won a notable victory over the honest men of his organization, and was raised to the rank of a hero. Now he returns to New York, breathing threatenings and slaughter, and promising to cause strikes on all the building projects where work has been resumed—even upon the new bridge across the East River. The result is, the contractors and architects say, that not less than fifty million dollars which was to be invested in buildings has been withheld. Contracts have been canceled, rents are rising, the savings of the working men in the banks are almost exhausted, and a “blue winter” for the building industry is at hand; for it is predicted by the builders that, whatever Parks and his foolish dupes may do, not more than one half of the skilled workmen will find employment in the coming cold season. At the beginning of the present season, there had never been a brighter prospect of abundant work at high wages in this industry. The effect of this suicidal and criminal folly is not confined to New York. Building has been checked elsewhere, though not to the same extent, and the direct and sentimental influence of what has taken place is seen in the beginnings of depression in the great iron and steel industry. If this depression shall become more clearly marked, other industries and business generally will be affected injuriously in sympathy with it. Never have working men in America sought more diligently and with greater lack of common sense to kill the goose that was laying golden eggs for them.
Great power directed with a disregard of common sense is the ominous feature of the prospect which arises from the present situation. It was never intended that great power should be exercised in this nation except through the machinery of government. In the government the exercise of power is safeguarded by the Constitution and laws enacted and administered by agents chosen by the whole people. Public officials entrusted with power are selected because of their demonstrated ability and worthiness for the place. The whole machinery of the government was designed with a special view to preventing the abuse of power on the part of those entrusted with governmental affairs. But a new and unforeseen state of things has arisen, in which one man, neither chosen by the people nor responsible to them, but merely the representative of a small fraction of the people bound together in a confederacy, exercises the power of a governmental autocrat, and, inspired by motives purely selfish, can throw out of gear almost the whole industrial machinery of the country, and lay a paralyzing hand upon the national prosperity. There has arisen within the government another system which to a large extent usurps the place of government, but in which the exercise of power is attended by no safeguards whatever. There could be nothing calculated to interfere more quickly with national prosperity than the development of such a one-man power. But just this thing has come in this nation, and it remains to be seen to what dimensions the evil will grow. L. A. S.
The Humanity of Christ
By L. A. S.
In order that fallen man might be identified with the Son of God, the Son of God identified himself with humanity. He who was the Son of God became the Son of man. He who was equal with God in the courts of heaven, who was a begotten Son and not a created being, left his station there, and identified himself with a totally different order of beings. He took on him the seed of Abraham. He was born into the world, like any other descendant of Adam. He grew from a babe to manhood, like any other human being. He was crucified and died on the cross; he rose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of God. But he retained his humanity. He is “the man Christ Jesus.”
There was nothing lacking in the completeness of the sacrifice which Jesus made. He gave up all; he “emptied himself;” and after he had trod the pathway from the manger to the cross, condemned sin in the flesh by a sinless life, vindicated his Father’s government before men and angels, and made sure the end of sin and Satan by his death and resurrection, God highly exalted him, and gave him a name that is above every name. Christ’s work is to restore harmony again in his Father’s kingdom; and when that shall have been accomplished, he will deliver up the kingdom to his Father. “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. . . . And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” 1 Cor. 15: 24-28.
As the head of the human family, Jesus longs for the co-operation of humanity in his great work of redemption. He feels all that affects humanity. He is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” and he likewise feels the zeal that is shown by his followers in his service. The sympathy of human beings in his cause is not lost upon him. Behold him, in the supreme hour of trial in Gethsemane, seeking the sympathy of his disciples. In that crisis of his life he desired that they should watch with him, and pray with and for him. Twice he came to them for such comfort as they might have given him. He felt deeply their want of loyalty when they all “forsook him, and fled.” And never were words more grateful to his ears than those addressed to him on the cross by a human being, even a malefactor undergoing punishment for his crime, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”
Though exalted at the right hand of God, and worshiped by the angelic host, Jesus desires the society of human beings. “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.” Not all the joy of his great victory over sin and Satan, nor the glory of his triumphal return to the courts of his Father, could satisfy him without the presence of those who were of that race with which he had identified himself. For that consummation he is longing yet.
“His soul will not be satisfied,
Till he in glory see
The faithful ones for whom he died
From sin forever free.”
And when the redeemed of the human family shall be gathered home, and shall behold his glory which the Father has given him, then “he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.” As a pledge of his desire for the presence and companionship of his human brethren, he said to his disciples as he passed to them the cup of wine at his last supper with them, “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Heaven is not complete, will not be complete, to the Son or the Father, without the society of the human family.
Christ is the second Adam, the head of a new humanity. He is the head of his church. As the head of the human body is the seat of sensation, feeling everything that touches the body and responding to every need that is felt in any part,7so the divine Head of the church feels and responds to every need of afflicted humanity. Humanity has been highly honored in heaven. Its representatives have been made “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ,” and to its Head angels bow in worship. Humanity will feel that it has a perfect right to the place won for it by its divine Head in the glorious kingdom of God.
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” Let us ever keep in mind the high calling of God to humanity in Christ Jesus, and earnestly co-operate in the eternal purpose of God which brought his Son into the human family. L. A. S.