Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 20, 1883
General Articles.
By Ellen G. White
Nehemiah Rebukes Extortion.
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
THE wall of Jerusalem had not been completed, when Nehemiah's attention was called to the unhappy condition of the poorer classes of the people. In the unsettled state of the country, tillage had been, to some extent, neglected. Furthermore, because of their separation from God, his blessing had not rested upon their lands. A scarcity of grain resulted. To obtain food for their families, the poor were obliged to buy on credit, and at an exorbitant price. They were also compelled to raise money by borrowing on interest, to pay the tribute to the king of Persia. The people of Israel were not now enjoying prosperity as when the Lord blessed them for their obedience. Because of their sins their defense had been removed, and the Lord had allowed other nations to overcome them. Under the rule of idolatrous kings, heavy taxes were imposed upon them; property, liberty, and life seemed at the mercy of these godless powers.
While they had no thought of revolting against the king of Persia, they had hoped, by repentance and reformation, to regain the favor of God, and to be restored to their former liberty. As yet their hopes were not realized. The tribute money for the king must be forthcoming in its season. To add to the distress of the poor, the more wealthy took advantage of their necessity, obtaining mortgages of their lands, and adding them to their own large possessions. They also required usury for all money loaned. This course soon reduced the unfortunate debtors to the deepest poverty, and many were forced to sell their sons and daughters to servitude. There appeared no hope of improving their condition, no way to regain either their lands or their children, no prospect before them but that of perpetual slavery. And yet they were of the same nation, children of the covenant equally with their more favored brethren. They had the same affection for their children as had the others. Their distress had not been caused by indolence or prodigality. They had been compelled to contract debts because of the failure of crops, and to pay heavy taxes.
As a last resort, they presented their case before Nehemiah. The soul of this man of God was filled with indignation as he heard of the cruel oppression that existed among his own people. He resolved to see that justice was done; yet he did not move rashly in the matter. He felt that God had laid upon him grave responsibilities, and he must be faithful to his trust. "I was very angry," he says, "when I heard their cry and these words. Then I consulted with myself." He took time to weigh the whole matter, and to form his plans. Then with characteristic energy and determination he exerted his influence and authority for the relief of his oppressed brethren.
The fact that the oppressors were men of wealth, whose support was greatly needed in the work of restoring the city and its defenses, did not for a moment turn him from his purpose. Having first sharply rebuked the nobles and rulers, he presented the matter in an assembly of the people, clearly showing what were the requirements of God touching the case, and urging them upon the attention of his hearers.
He cited the people to events that occurred in the reign of the apostate Ahaz, and to the message which God then sent to Israel rebuking their cruelty and oppression. The children of Judah, because of their idolatry, had been delivered into the hands of their more idolatrous brethren, the people of Israel. The latter had indulged their cruel enmity by slaying in battle many thousands of the men of Judah, and seizing all the women and children, intending to keep them as slaves, or sell them into bondage to the heathen. Because of the sins of Judah, the Lord had not interposed to prevent the battle; but by the mouth of the prophet Oded he rebuked the cruel design of the victorious army: "Ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you; but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God?" And the prophet assured them that the fierce anger of the Lord was upon them, and that their course of injustice and oppression would call down his judgments. Upon hearing these words, the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation. Then certain leading men of the tribe of Ephraim "took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren."
After relating these facts of history, Nehemiah proceeded to the case under consideration. He wished to bring the offenders to see the real character of their oppressive work, and to be ashamed of it. Said he, "We, after our ability, have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us?" Nehemiah and others had ransomed certain of the Jews who had been sold to the heathen, and he now placed this course in contrast with the conduct of those who for worldly gain were enslaving their brethren. The fear of God should restrain them from such injustice. Nehemiah declared to the Jewish rulers—some of whom had been guilty of these practices—that instead of judging and punishing other criminals, they should investigate their own work, and cease at once their iniquitous extortion, lest they should become a reproach, even among the heathen.
He showed them that he himself, being invested with authority from the Persian king, might have demanded large contributions for his personal benefit. Instead of this, he had not taken that which justly belonged to him, but had liberally contributed to relieve the people in their great necessity. Those extortioners had no more reason than he had to pursue the course they did. He urged them to cease at once their oppression, to restore the lands of the poor, and also the increase of money and provisions which they had exacted from them, and to lend them without security or usury.
"Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest." "Then," says Nehemiah, "I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise."
These portions of sacred history teach an important lesson. Those who profess to love and fear God should cherish sympathy and love for one another, and should guard the interests of others as their own. Christians should not regulate their conduct by the world's standard. In all ages the people of God are as distinct from worldlings as their profession is higher than that of the ungodly. From the beginning to the end of time, God's people are one body.
The love of money is the root of all evil. In this generation the desire for gain is the absorbing passion. If wealth cannot be secured by honest industry, men seek to obtain it by fraud. Widows and orphans are robbed of their scanty pittance, and poor men are made to suffer for the necessaries of life. And all this that the rich may support their extravagance, or indulge their desire to hoard. The terrible record of crime daily committed for the sake of gain, is enough to chill the blood and fill the soul with horror. The fact that even among those who profess godliness the same sins exist to a greater or less extent, calls for deep humiliation of soul and earnest action on the part of the followers of Christ. Love of display and love of money have made this world a den of thieves and robbers. But Christians are professedly not dwellers upon the earth; they are in a strange country, stopping, as it were, only for a night. They should not be actuated by the same motives and desires as are those who have their home and treasure here. God designed that our lives should represent the life of our great Pattern; that, like Jesus, we should live to do others good.
The customs of the world are no criterion for the Christian. He is not to imitate their sharp practice, over-reaching, and extortion, even in small matters. Every unjust act toward a fellow-mortal, though he be the veriest sinner, is a violation of the golden rule. Every wrong done to the children of God, is done to Christ himself in the person of his saints. Every attempt to advantage one's self by the ignorance, weakness, or misfortune of another, is registered as fraud in the Ledger of Heaven.
He who truly fears God, would rather toil day and night, and eat the bread of poverty, than to indulge a passion for gain which would oppress the widow and the fatherless, or turn the stranger from his right. Our Saviour sought to impress upon his hearers that a man who would venture to defraud his neighbor in the smallest item, would, if the opportunity were favorable, overreach in larger matters. The slightest departure from rectitude breaks down the barriers, and prepares the heart to do greater injustice. By precept and example, Christ taught that the strictest integrity should govern our conduct toward our566fellow-men. Said the divine Teacher, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
Just to the extent that man would advantage himself at the disadvantage of another, will his soul become insensible to the influence of the Spirit of God. Gain obtained at such a cost, is a fearful loss. It is better to want than to lie; better to hunger than to defraud; better to die than to sin. Extravagance, over-reaching, extortion, indulged by those professing godliness, are corrupting their faith, and destroying their spirituality. The church is in a great degree responsible for the sins of her members. She gives countenance to the evil, if she fails to lift her voice against it. The influence from which she has most to fear is not that of open opposers, infidels, and blasphemers, but of inconsistent professors of Christ. These are the ones who keep back the blessing of the God of Israel.
All who would form characters for Heaven must be Bible Christians. They must be diligent in the study of the Chart of life, and must carefully and prayerfully examine the motives that prompt them to action. The business world does not lie outside the limits of God's government. True religion is not to be merely paraded on the Sabbath, and displayed in the sanctuary; it is for every day and for every place. Its claims must be recognized and obeyed in every act of life. Men who possess the genuine article will in all their business affairs show as clear a perception of right, as when offering their supplications at the throne of grace.
God cannot be excluded from any transaction in which the rights of his children are concerned. Over every one that is serving him in sincerity, his hand is spread as a buckler. None can wound the humblest disciple of Jesus without smiting that hand which holds the sword of justice.
The apostle James, looking down to the last days, addresses a solemn and fearful warning to those who have heaped up riches by fraud and oppression: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth."
"IN ALL THY WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM."
"In all thy ways acknowledge him,"
To whom thy path is known;
Thy wisdom is to trust his care,
Nor strive to walk alone.
Commit thy way to God; the rest
Leave to his will—he knoweth best.
"In all thy ways;" in each rough path
Stretch forth thy feeble hands,
And seek protection from his love,
Who heaven and earth commands.
Thy strength in each emergency
Sufficient for the day shall be.
"In all thy ways;" when clouds arise
And darkness clouds thy way,
He knows thy griefs—appoints e'en this
Deep sorrow—oh, then "pray;"
Thy burden roll upon the Lord,
And stay thyself upon his word.
"In all thy ways;" thy strength brought down,
With lingering sickness pressed;
Too weak to raise thy head, thou may'st
Rest on the Master's breast.
Tho' now the end thou can'st not see,
Thou yet shalt say, "'Twas good for me."
"In all thy ways acknowledge him,"
Leave every painful doubt
To him whose name is Wonderful,
His ways past finding out.
In child-like faith his rod receive,
His precious promises believe.
—Selected.
"The Set Time."
By N. Y. Independent
It would be hard to estimate the mischief which has been passed down through generations to the church of God by false exegesis of certain familiar scriptures. A fixed meaning has been given to passages by which they have been bound by that "turn of interpretation," to the exclusion of the true thought of God.
Among such scriptures is the one that stands at the head of this article. "For the time to favor her [Zion], yea, the set time is come." From this passage a theory of revivals has grown up in the church, which in our judgment, has done much to hinder revivals and limit the Holy One of Israel in his gracious desire to bless and increase his church: That revivals of religion are not the legitimate and natural outcome of well-ordered use of the means of grace, but there-result of the arbitrary and sovereign will of God; that when his "set time" to favor the church has come, then he will pour out his Spirit upon us and revive us; that the Spirit not only breathes where it listeth, but when it listeth, and that it is not for us to seek to move God to do otherwise than his sovereign will has determined. Therefore, all efforts to promote a revival of religion, are not only useless, but they are wrong.
Now, in our judgment, nothing could be further from the mark than this idea, and nothing more disastrous to the church than that we should act on this theory. It is akin to another false idea, that it is of no use for a sinner to seek the salvation of his soul. For if he is elect, when God's sovereign time for his conversion has come, he will send forth his Spirit and convict him of his sin and bring about his conversion. If he is not elect it is of no use for him to seek the Lord at all.
Before astronomy had advanced to its present position of comparative exactness it was supposed that comets were lawless in their movements, coming and going by no obedience to the laws which reigned otherwise in the universe of God. But now we know that they are as obedient to the law of their orbits as are any of the planets. So it was and is still held by some that revivals come according to no known laws in the spiritual world, but whenever it pleases God to send them. Such theories do violence to every law of God revealed in his word for our guidance and use. The set time to favor Zion is just whenever Zion seeks the Lord with her whole heart. In Psalm 102, where this passage occurs, it is preceded by a distressed outcry to God, in which the psalmist spreads out his woe and want before the Lord, crying to him for help: "Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me; when I call, answer me speedily." It is followed by a declaration of the fact that "Thy servants take pleasure in her [Zion's] stones, to favor the dust thereof." It is at such a time that "He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer," and "hear the groanings of the prisoner, and loose those that are appointed to death; to declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem, when the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord."
From the foregoing we infer that the time to favor Zion is when his people cry out unto him because of their sins, lie down before him in their helplessness, take pleasure in the interest of his church, and begin to declare his name and sing his praises in presence of the people. In other words, the Lord's set time is when his people seek him with their whole hearts, and turn away from a life of worldliness, self-seeking and vanity. This is in accordance with the entire history of God's dealings with his people, from the earliest times when the prophets and judges had, by preaching and instruction, led them to "lament before the Lord," "to put away their idols and serve him with their whole hearts," until this present day. "Ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart." The Lord's ear is not heavy that he cannot hear, nor his arm shortened that it cannot save, by reason of any arbitrariness of sovereignty in his will, but by the fact that our sins have separated us from him. Whenever his people are disposed to turn to him with their whole hearts and put away vanity and folly from their lives, consider the transcendent importance of spiritual things and seek after them, then will his "set time" have come to them.
If we are to have a harvest of spiritual blessings, then must we sow in tears and plant in penitence before him, breaking up in the meantime the fallow-ground of our hearts, and gather out the thorns and weeds of carnal things that we have allowed to grow with unchecked liberty; and they have choked the grace that is in us and prevented it from bringing forth any fruit to perfection. The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the love of pleasure, and the lust of other things—have not all these served to hinder the free operation of the gracious life-giving spirit, not only in our own lives, but in the life of the church, through which it is God's pleasure to bless the world? God's time is now. It remains for us to decide whether the blessing he is waiting to pour out upon us shall fall. Of what use is the sun and rain to an unsown field; or, if sown, to a field that is allowed to be overgrown with thorns and weeds? We speak it reverently; but God's time is limited by our attitude toward him. Shall we have revivals throughout our churches this winter or not? It is for us to decide. Or shall the season pass away again and another year of barrenness and death be added to those which have gone before? How many years has it been since your church has been invited with a great wave of spiritual blessing from the Lord?—N. Y. Independent.
Our Pattern.
We are exhorted to follow the example of Christ; yet how many, instead of this, take erring man for a pattern, oftener copying the vices than the virtues of this poor pattern. Many excuse their sins by the poor apology that others sin too. What but the insanity of sin could produce such fruit? Poor sinner, has Christ ever directed you to adopt any standard less than his own? Can you be so demented as to follow the example of a sinner like yourself, when you have such a noble example as Christ has given?
The Moralist's Dream.
At last, in his old age, the grace of God brought him to a better mind. And this is substantially the account which he himself gave of the method of his change:—
One night, when retiring at his customary hour, and in his usual health, he had the following dream:
He dreamed that he had died, and entirely self-conscious, he found himself in what seemed to be a spacious apartment, from which there was but one exit, and that by a large door. Upon the wall above it he distinctly read in large characters this sentence: "You shall pass from this room directly into heaven, whenever you can show that you have paid all your debts."
"O," said he, "then I shall go at once to heaven, for I am sure that nobody can say that I owe him a farthing."
Just then he heard a confused noise outside the door, as if a number of persons were seeking admittance. Then it opened, and a pale, sickly looking stranger approached him, and said:—
"I am come to demand the payment of my debt."
"I owe you nothing. I do not remember that I ever saw you in all my life."
"Do you not remember," said the pale stranger, "about twenty years ago, when on a hot and dusty summer day, as you were riding in your carriage to Boston, that you overtook a stranger, weary, sick, and poor. Do you remember the imploring look which he cast upon you, asking you that you give him a ride in your carriage, and how, regardless of his appeal, you dashed along, and left him almost fainting by the wayside. I was that sick stranger, on my way to the hospital. You owed me a ride. Not by the rules of earthly law, but by that code which is the law of Christ's kingdom. You owed a ride; and that debt stands charged against you on God's book, with interest through all those twenty years."
New thoughts began to work in the man's mind, but ere he could speak another person advanced and accosted him: "I have come for the payment of my debt."
He recognized in the speaker a former poor neighbor, and replied: "Surely I owe you nothing?"
"Did you not once buy of me a cow?"
"Yes, I remember that, though it's a long time ago. But I paid you for her."
"Yes," replied the man, "but do you not remember the circumstances—the hard winter, my sick family, my failure to get work, so that, to save myself and household from starvation, I was forced to sell that cow at half her real value. And you, my rich and powerful neighbor, took advantage of my situation, and I was forced to take your offer, though you knew as well as I that it was no fair price. You owe as much more, by God's law, by heaven's jurisprudence, and it's been on interest all these years."
Mr. — sank back conscience-stricken and condemned. He saw through the half-open door a vast crowd of persons struggling for admission, each bringing a claim against him, which he felt was just. Overwhelmed with confusion and remorse, with his sins staring him full in the face, and in despair of any way of meeting these accumulated obligations, he exclaimed at last:—
"O, God of mercy, show me how I can be released from these claims; show me how I can be saved from these debts which I can never pay."
Just then the writing faded from the wall, and in its place he saw these words:—
"The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin."
"Ah!" cried he, that is what I need; and with these words he awoke to renounce his own righteousness, and to cast himself with penitence and faith upon the great atonement, and to find peace and joy in believing in Jesus.—New York Observer.
Looking Into One’s Heart
GET in the habit of looking long and steadily at your own heart, gazing down into its depths of corruption, and do this, until you look your sins out of countenance, and they flee abashed.
Christ, the Blessing of the World
CHRIST is the great blessing of the world; all that are blessed, whatever family they are of, are blessed in him; and none of any family are excluded from blessedness in him but those that exclude themselves.
“Jewish.”
By W. N. Glenn
“There is a disposition among professing Christians to sneer at anything that they believe to be “Jewish,” or to have come to us from the Jews. This disposition is particularly manifested toward the moral law, and more especially toward the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, which it is claimed was given to the Jews for the Jews. The term Jew was originally applied to the people of Judah, or of the kingdom of Judah, but was afterward given a wider application, and as far back as the days of the apostles it comprehended all of literal Israel. It is now generally so understood. That “old Jewish law”—that “old Jewish Sabbath,” are common expressions among antinomians and emphatic Sunday advocates.
To condemn anything because it is “Jewish,” is a very unsafe position for a Christian to assume. We need not stop here to show that the Sabbath was inaugurated at the close of creation, and therefore not Jewish; nor that the principles of the moral law were in force from Adam to Noah, and therefore not Jewish; but we will admit for the present purpose that they are Jewish, because they were given to the Jews in the most solemn manner; and if that were the original enactment, the law would lose none of its force or importance. Were the Lord to speak a new law to his people to-day, it would be none the less binding because it had not previously existed. Admitting, then, that the moral law and the seventh-day Sabbath institution are Jewish, we repeat that it is unsafe to condemn anything for no other reason than because it is Jewish.
What position do Gentile Christians occupy in the church of God? They are merely graftings. Rom. 11:17. “Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.” Verse 18. Throw away all that is Jewish in the Christian religion, and what is left? The Old Testament—with its history, its instruction, its poetry, and its prophecies—is Jewish; there was not a line of it written till the days of Moses. The Saviour was a Jew; the twelve apostles were Jews, and the whole of the New Testament was written by Jews. In short, “salvation is of the Jews.” So says the Saviour himself. John 4:22.
And the New Jerusalem will be a Jewish city,—its twelve gates named after the twelve tribes of Israel (Rev. 21:12), and its twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Verse 14). And the “old Jewish Sabbath” will be observed there: “And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:23. In Isaiah’s time no weekly Sabbath was known but the seventh day. It was then, as in Moses’ day, the Christian Sabbath. Moses was a Christian, “esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.” Heb. 11:26. And the people were Christians, “for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed [marg. went with] them, and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Cor. 10:4. To make the identity more striking, it is said that some of them tempted him (verse 9); and finally, at his advent but comparatively few of them were ready to receive him.
Had this Sabbath not been polluted by the Jews, their city would not have been destroyed. And here is a warning that all modern “Israelites” (grafted) would do well to heed. “Now these things [as with all judgments upon them for violations of the law] were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.” “And they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.” Shall any mere grafting say, “I don’t want anything that is Jewish?” “Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.” W. N. Glenn.
A Boy Learned in the Scriptures.
"From a child hast thou known the Holy Scriptures."—2 Tim. 3:15.
THESE words are in a letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, a young preacher of the gospel. His mother had been very careful in the training of her son. No doubt she taught him about many things; but his chief study was the Scriptures.
Not many children in these days take pride in a knowledge of the Bible. You like to be thought bright in your studies at school, and that is all right; but think how much more important a knowledge of God's word is than all other knowledge. And how much easier it is for you to learn the Scriptures than it was for Timothy. He had no well-bound and printed Bible as we have now. He had to learn from the lips of his parents and instructors. The difference between him and most children now is that he put his mind down to this one thing. He was determined to learn this if he should know nothing else.
God had a great work for Timothy to do, and Paul speaks of his knowing the Scriptures as qualifying him for this work. God does not give great work to people who ignore his word. The great workers in the church always make much use of the Bible. If you want to be a good Christian and a good workman for God, you dare not ignore the Bible.
Many people would be woefully ignorant of the Scriptures if it were not for preaching. Let it be not so with you. Make the study of the Bible a daily study; and then make preaching a help to the understanding of what you read and study. Do this, and then sometime you will think that the best thing in all the letters that you shall ever get will be just what Paul wrote to his friend Timothy, "From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures."
The Lord on Our Side.
By Roswell F. Cottrell
It is good to have the Lord on our side. Said the psalmist, "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us; then they had swallowed us up quick." Nothing else is equal to having the Lord on our side; but in order to have him on our side, we must take our position on his side. He will not forsake his truth and righteousness and come over to our side; but if we take position with his truth, if we love his will and yield obedience to it, he will certainly be on our side to defend us. He is strong and able to help us. He is a strong tower into which the righteous run and are safe.
In the great day which is a very little in the future, all other refuge will fail. Nothing can shelter us but the protecting power of the Almighty. Then it will be good to know that we have chosen the way of the Lord—that we are on his side, and consequently he is on ours. "The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you." 2 Chron. 15:2. Here is encouragement. Who will accept the terms, and be found on the Lord's side? To such he will be a shield. They shall be safe in the time of trouble. The Lord of hosts will be on their side; and he is stronger than all his foes and ours. By his assisting favor I will be on his side. Will you, reader? Make your choice while you may. Be decided. Do not delay. Soon it will be too late—too late to gain Heaven—too late to exhort others and save them. Let us redeem the time. R. F. COTTRELL.
A Romanist Tribute to the Protestant Bible.
Dr. Newman, the Roman Catholic convert, gives in what follows a just idea of what is the stronghold of Protestantism:—
"Who will not say that the uncommon beauty and marvelous English of the Protestant Bible is not one of the great strongholds of heresy in this country? It lives on the ear like a music that can never be forgotten—like the sound of church-bells which the convert hardly knows how he can forego. Its felicities often seem to be almost things rather than mere words. It is part of the national mind, and the anchor of national seriousness. The memory of the dead passes into it. The potent traditions of childhood are stereotyped in its verses. The power of all the griefs and trials of man is hidden in its words. It is the representative of his best moments, and all that has been about him of soft, and gentle, and pure, and penitent, and good, speaks to him forever out of his English Bible. It is his sacred thing, which doubt has never dimmed and controversy never soiled. In the length and breadth of the land there is not a Protestant with one spark of religiousness about him whose spiritual biography is not in his Saxon Bible."
Evolution.
The Victoria Institute recently met in London. In its membership are many of the most eminent scientists of Europe. One of the most learned papers offered, prepared jointly by several of its ablest men, was on the subject of evolution. They reported that they found no scientific evidence that gives any countenance to the theory that man has been evolved from a lower order of animals. They declared that there is a complete absence of any fossil type of a lower stage in the development of man. They went further and declared that they have not found any proof that any fossil species ever has developed into another. They declared that the link has never been found between man and ape, between fish and frog, or between the vertebrate and invertebrate animals; and that there is no evidence that any species has ever lost its peculiar characteristics to acquire others foreign to it. This is a tolerably square putting down of the evolution theory, but in the school-house debating school, and in some other places, these London and German scientists will have very little influence.—Golden Censer.
Getting Rid of Bad Company.
DR. BONAR, in an address recently delivered to young converts in the Christian Institute, on "Communion with God," said: "I have a case vividly before me just now of two godly men who, before their conversion, were very well known in this district. Their house was frequented by persons of all kinds, not only in the way of business, but for company's sake. When they were brought to the Lord, the question was, How are we to get quit of all this company?—this carnal, worldly company? The Lord guided them wisely. They did not say one unkind word, but they just let their countenances shine; they just showed their acquaintances how happy they were in their new-found salvation. What was the effect? In a fortnight their house was as quiet as they could wish. Their worldly friends did not care for their society. Now, if you are troubled with worldly people who will insist that you go out to dinner, and so on, go out and shine, and then they won't ask you back again. Your very presence will condemn them, and they will feel you are right."
GOD'S WAYS ARE BEST.
SOMETIME, when all life's lessons have been learned,
And sun and stars forevermore have set,
The things which our weak judgment here has spurned,
The things o'er which we grieve with lashes wet,
Will flash before us out of life's dark night,
As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;
And we shall see how all God's plans are right,
And how what seemed reproof was love most true.
And we shall see that while we frown and sigh,
God's plans go on as best for you and me;
How when we called he heeded not our cry,
Because his wisdom to the end could see;
And e'en as prudent parents disallow
Too much of sweet to craving babyhood,
So God, perhaps, is keeping from us now
Life's sweetest things because it seemeth good.
And if sometime, commingling with life's wine,
We find the wormwood, and rebel and shrink,
Be sure a wiser hand than yours or mine
Pours out this portion for our lips to drink;
And if some friend we love is lying low,
Where human kisses cannot reach his face,
Oh, do not blame the loving Father so,
But bear your sorrow with obedient grace.
And you shall shortly know that lengthened breath
Is not the sweetest gift God gives his friends,
And that, sometimes, the sable pall of death
Conceals the fairest boon his love can send.
If we could push ajar the gates of life,
And stand within, and all God's workings see,
We could interpret all this doubt and strife,
And for each mystery could find a key.
But not to-day. Then be content, poor heart;
God's plans, like lilies pure and white unfold;
We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart;
Time will reveal the calyxes of gold.
And if, through patient toil, we reach the land,
Where tired feet with sandals loose may rest,
When we shall clearly know and understand,
I think that we shall say that "God knew best."
—Selected.
Reproof Mingled With Encouragement
Reproofs should be mingled to a greater or less degree with encouragement.
True and False Pleasure
By John Foster
ALL pleasure must be bought at the price of pain. The difference between false pleasure and true is just this—for the true, the price is paid before you enjoy it; for the false, after you enjoy.—John Foster.