Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 19, 1901
NOW, IS THE TIME.
By Mrs. P. Alderman
MRS. P. ALDERMAN.
If we gain the heavenly portal
Pure at last,
All the seeming and the scheming
In the past,
Now’s the time for victory,
Heed no more the selfish plea;
Be steadfast.
Then He’ll trust us with His treasures,
Gems untold,
When no guile nor secret measures
We shall hold,
When our souls are pure and white
As fine linen in the light
Of His fold.
Longs my soul to be made pure
In His sight,
Ne’er to falter, but endure
In the fight.
Then He’ll give us things most holy,
Cleansing blood, O make me lowly,
Free from blight!
Now is time to wake and pray.
Soul of mine,
Sleep not till another day,—
’Tis not thine,—
For the Lord has given us warning,
Haste to seek thy soul’s adorning;
Rise and shine.
A VERY PRESENT HELP.
By Ellen G. White
MRS. E. G. WHITE.
God desires His people to remember the message given to the Church of Ephesus: “These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. . . . He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches: To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”
“Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
John was commanded to write this wonderful message for us. Why has it not more influence in our lives? Why are we satisfied with a low standard, when such wonderful incentives are placed before us to lead us to reach the standard of perfection?
If those who enter the service of God would strive earnestly to increase in fervency and genuine love, what a powerful and convincing evidence in favor of the truth would be given to the world! Hearts would be knit together. The believers would search the Scriptures daily, as did the noble Bereans. Their faith would rest upon a sure foundation, even the tried stone, which sustains the whole structure of Christianity. Founded upon truth, their convictions would not be shaken by storm or tempest. They would not depend on feeling, knowing that feelings are changeable. Their faith would lay hold of unchangeable, eternal truth.
When God gave Christ to our world, He endowed human beings with imperishable riches. John writes of Christ, “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.”
This is the One who says to us to-day, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Then cling to Him. Do not, I beseech you, dishonor your Redeemer by turning from Him to seek help from human beings. Help those who are weak in faith by showing firm confidence in God. Do not encourage these souls to lean on any human prop. Do not insult the Saviour by turning from His promises, from the fullness of His love and assurance, to human resources. Speak not a word of doubt in the One who loves you, whose you are by creation and by redemption. Go not for help to those who are just as dependent as you are. Christ has declared, “Without me ye can do nothing.” “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Christians, do you believe this promise? Had there been a surer way of finding rest, would not the Lord have pointed it out to His weary, fainting children? But He has told us of no way in which to find rest except by wearing His yoke. “Take my yoke upon you,” He says, “and learn of me; . . . and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” And the dear Saviour adds, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
I wish to say to my friends here and in foreign countries, Do not waste time and money by writing to your friends for something with which to satisfy your soul-hunger. Christ says, “I am the bread of life.”
When you need help, go to Him who alone is able to take away your sin. No human being can do this work. Then why do you appeal to men for wisdom? “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” In your unworthiness and helplessness, come to Christ, saying, “Lord, save, or I perish.” From Him you can learn the manifold wisdom of God, wisdom more precious than words can tell. “Ask, and it shall be given you.”
Have we not all acted disrespectfully and uncourteously toward the One to whom we owe all we have? God sees the dishonor we do Him, He knows that in humanity we shall find no solace for our woe, and He pities us because we are so needy yet so unwilling to make Him our confidant, our burden-bearer. He sees human beings slighting the love and mercy provided for them, and He says, sadly, “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” Our distrust is an insult to the One who has done so much for us. He will never neglect those who come to Him. Of the poor, fainting soul, tired of looking to humanity only to be betrayed and forgotten, Christ says, “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.”
All are invited to eat of the bread of life. It is for our present and eternal happiness to accept this invitation. When we are in need of guidance, let us go directly to the One who says, “I know thy works.” “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” Our Saviour is not lying in Joseph’s new tomb. He has proclaimed over the sepulcher, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” Then do not take your sorrows and difficulties to man. Present yourself to Him who is able to do “exceeding abundantly,” more than you ask or think. He knows just how to assist poor, trembling souls. Do not turn from the loving, compassionate Redeemer746to human friends, who, though they may give you the very best they have, may lead you into wrong. Take all your troubles to Jesus. Cast your helpless soul upon Him, who will not only take your burdens, but will receive you and strengthen and comfort you. He is the great Healer of all maladies.
“Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope.” There is strength for us in Christ. He is our Advocate before the Father. He dispatches His messengers to every part of His dominion to communicate His will to His creatures. He walks in the midst of His churches. He desires to sanctify, elevate, and ennoble His followers. He holds the stars in His right hand, and it is His purpose to let His light shine forth through these to the world. He desires to say of His people, as He said of Israel of old, “Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.” He desires to prepare His people for higher service in the Church above. He has given us a great work to do. Let us do it with accuracy and determination. Let us show forth in our lives what the truth has done for us. Let there be less dependence on human counsel. Why turn from Him who is all-sufficient to ask counsel of finite beings? Let us make the Saviour our confidence, saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”
GOD IN HISTORY.
By Prof. E. A. Sutherland
PROF. E. A. SUTHERLAND.
“A God in history? Gibbon, seated among the ruins of the Capitol, and contemplating its august remains, owned the intervention of a superior destiny. He saw it; he felt it: in vain would he avert his eyes. That shadow of a mysterious power started from behind broken pillars. . . . Shall we not discern amidst the great ruins of humanity that almighty hand which a man of noble genius—one who had never bent the knee to Christ—perceived amid the scattered fragments of the monuments of Romulus? . . . and shall we not confess it to be the hand of God? . . .
“And see what luster this great truth (God in history) receives under the Christian dispensation. What is Jesus Christ if He be not God in history? It was this discovery of Jesus Christ which enabled John Müller, the greatest of modern historians, fully to comprehend his subject. ‘The gospel,’ said he, ‘is the fulfillment of every hope, the perfection of all philosophy, the interpreter of every revolution, the key to all seeming contradictions in the physical and the moral world; it is life and immortality. Since I have known the Saviour, everything is clear to my eyes; with Him there is no difficulty I cannot solve.’”
Thus wrote an eminent historian; and is not this great truth, that God has appeared in human nature, in reality the keystone of the arch, the mysterious link which binds all earthly things together, and connects them with heaven?
The recognition of this principle—God in history—has rendered immortal the work of D’Aubigné, from whom the preceding quotation is made. Men who have searched deep into the annals of nations find there the hand of God. “The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men.” Who of all people upon earth should know this fact, and not only know the fact, but be able to interpret the handwriting of Jehovah as seen in past and current history,—who, if not the people who are looking for the Saviour’s second coming?
The value of the study of history is theoretically acknowledged by those who have had their minds turned toward the prophecies; nevertheless it is true that comparatively few understand the philosophy of history. This weakness is one cause of inefficiency on the part of the ministry. God’s voice is to be heard on every hand, speaking in trumpet tones; but to the majority it is but as the sound of thunder, and the multitudes pass on unwarned to the day of final reckoning.
In the hand of the man who has a knowledge of God in history, the subject becomes a power in the proclamation of the message for to-day. How sad the fact, then, that so little use is made of the historical works which have been prepared for our people! I have reference especially to the histories prepared by Elder A. T. Jones, with great labor, after years of study, with the one purpose of pointing out the truth that God is in history, and of placing in the hand of the student a key to the interpretation, not only of prophecy, but of current events as well. I say it is a lamentable fact that so little time is devoted to the study of the three volumes, “Empires of the Bible,” “Empires of Prophecy,” and “Ecclesiastical Empire.”
The golden thread of truth is, in these volumes, followed from the days of the theocracy in Israel to the present time. The philosophy of history is given in clear statements, and principles are illustrated by striking historical facts. Cause and effect are so carefully compared that the thoughtful student is furnished with a key for the interpretation of facts wherever they may be encountered. These books were prepared for our ministers and our advanced schools. It is a mistake that they do not receive universal recognition.
Many realize their deficiency and inability to meet men of education and culture, but they are unable to enter a training school for a better preparation. For such Emmanuel Missionary College will open a Correspondence Study Department. The study of the Bible, and history in the light of the Scriptures, will be one strong feature. The three histories written by Elder Jones will be the basis for this work in the Correspondence Study department. Moreover, Elder Jones himself will outline the work to be pursued by students of history, and will furnish test questions for the lessons. Work done by correspondence will be carefully graded by the secretary, and as the faculty of the Correspondence Study department is largely made up of members of the College faculty, the work done by correspondence will affiliate with class-room work. Credit will be given for all work satisfactorily completed. The independent student will find in this department real help to self-improvement. The department opens Jan. 1, 1902.
SOME SCRAP QUOTATIONS.
By GEO. E. PRICE.
GEO. E. PRICE.
(Tracadie, New Brunswick.)
FOR some time I have had two valuable quotations, or extracts, on hand which I have thought I ought to share with my fellow laborers. I have hitherto refrained from sending them because I could not see my way to work them up into suitable articles. But I give them now just as they are, and while neither may be entirely new to all our workers, yet to many they will serve as a valuable help in explaining the prophecies of Daniel:—
“The ram was long the emblem of Persia; the golden diadem of the empire was ornamented with rams’ horns; and, what seems strange, among the sculptures of Persepolis, the old capital, may still be seen the ram’s head with two horns, one higher than the other.”—“Buried Cities Recovered,” page 508, by F. S. De Hass.
The complement of this I found in the Standard Dictionary, under “Ammonite:” “The word is derived from the ancient Egyptian Amen or Amon, who was identified in the Great Oasis (el Khargeh) with Kneph or Khnum, to whom the ram was sacred, and who was there worshiped as Amen-Khnum under the form of a man with the head of a ram. It is from the form of the ram’s horns of this deity that the fossil mollusk called Cornu Ammonis derives its name. See also the Greek Ammon, a form of Zeus with ram’s horns, also called Jupiter-Ammon. Alexander the Great is represented on the coins of Lysimachus deified, with the horn of Ammon and diadem.—Amelia R. Edwards, letter to Standard Dictionary, Oct. 23, ’91.”
I have another which has recently come to hand, and which, though on an entirely different subject, I think is too good to be lost.
It is in a recent review of “Lost Essays” of the late Prof. Max Müller, of Oxford, found in Nature, July 11, 1901, page 251; and Nature, as everybody knows, is one of the very highest of English scientific journals.
“The essay on ‘Coincidences’ will be read by every one who is interested in the study of comparative religion with the deepest interest, for in it is demonstrated with considerable clearness and with incontrovertible proofs, if we accept the facts set out by Prof. Max Müller, that Christianity owes much to Buddhism. The Roman Catholic missionaries Huc and Gabet, while traveling in Thibet in 1845, discovered to their horror that the Buddhist priesthood possessed the crosier, the miter, the dalmatic, the cope, the service with two choirs, the psalmody, exorcism, and prayer beads, and that the celibacy of the priesthood, spiritual retreats, worship of saints, fastings, processions, litanies, holy water, etc., were as much the characteristics of the Buddhist as of the Roman Catholic religion. After thinking the matter over for some time, the Christian missionaries made up their minds that these resemblances were the work of the devil, who wished to lead astray any missionary who ventured to travel in Thibet, and now we know that an actual historical communication existed between Roman Catholic and Buddhist priests. It has recently been proved that the Buddhist Canon was collected at the Council held in 259 B. C. at Patna by Asoka, and that the Pāli Canon of Buddhism was written down in the first century before our era, and that the Sanskrit Canon was written down in the first century after. Thus it seems clear that if any borrowing at all took place between the two religions, the Christian borrowed from the Buddhist, and not the Buddhist from the Christian. This need cause no surprise, for, apart from the well-known historical connection which existed between the Buddhists and Nestorians in the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, there was undoubtedly frequent communication between Judea and Persia and Asia Minor from the time of Alexander the Great. The Buddhist religion was, like the Christian, a missionary religion, and in proof of this Prof. Max Müller has adduced some very interesting facts.”
Of course the reader will understand the use of the words “Christians” and “Christianity” in the above remarkable paragraph, as synonymous with “Roman Catholic” and “Roman Catholicism.” It is difficult to imagine what further evidence along this line is needed to show the true origin of the Roman Catholic Church, or the transcendent unlikeness between true Christianity and every form of heathenism.
In my little book now being issued by the Pacific Press Publishing Company, I have undertaken to show on scientific evidence that all the geological changes took place at the flood, as stated, or at least implied, in those precious seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters of “Patriarchs and Prophets.” I have some valuable material bearing on the subject, but I know that there is an immense amount of material of equal value that I have not yet seen. If any of my readers would kindly send to the REVIEW any facts bearing on this subject, I have no doubt the editor would open a small corner for this exchange of747
ideas, and thus aid in developing an integral part of this message which calls upon this age of evolutionists to “worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters;” a message which brings to us the Sabbath as a souvenir of creation and creation’s God, and thus an everlasting protest against the fashionable evolutionary geology. A great reform on our views of science is, I believe, now due; and if we will each contribute our mite, we may soon see the Biblical story of a universal deluge demonstrated by scientific evidence beyond all reasonable cavil.
[We are at your service, in any way we can assist.— ED.]
THE CONDITION OF THE PITCAIRN ISLANDERS.
The London Standard.
Among the Parliamentary Papers yesterday issued was one of an extremely interesting character, in the shape of a report forwarded to the Admiralty by Commander George F. S. Knowling, of his Majesty's ship “Icarus,” dated Honolulu, March 31, in which that officer gives an account of his visit to Pitcairn Island. Commander Knowling says:—
PITCAIRN ISLAND.
“I arrived in Bounty Bay at 5 P. M. on Feb. 21, 1901. A boat-load of islanders (men) came off; but in view of there still being several cases of dengue fever in the ship, I allowed only Mr. James R. McCoy, the Chief Magistrate, on board. He reported all well in health, one hundred and twenty-six people on the island, the adult females being rather in excess of the males. Arrangements were made to land next day, and I then proceeded to Northwest anchorage, where there was less swell; anchored there—losing an anchor, which was afterward recovered—for the night, and landed at Bounty Bay the next morning. After this I communicated with the island each day, myself and a few officers landing, but by the surgeon's advice no islanders were allowed on board. The swell continued more or less heavy in both anchorages, so we stood off and on, or lay to off the island during the remainder of our stay. Mr. McCoy has only recently returned to the island, he having very pluckily piloted a burning ship to Mangareva, beaching her there rather than agree to her captain running her, as he wished to do, on to the coast of Pitcairn.”
“Supplies of the following things are abundant: poultry and goats (the latter the islanders either shoot or drive in from the hills; and the young goats, of which we took a large number, are excellent. There are two herds of these, each numbering about one hundred); cocoanuts, bananas, pineapples, marsh- and water-melons, limes, oranges, mangoes, pumpkins, coffee, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, Indian corn, and arrowroot. A strong blow in August last, followed by what is described as a tidal wave, and which swept away a portion of the boathouse in Bounty Bay, did much damage among the oranges, almost destroying this year's crop, and also blew down large numbers of banana trees.”
“There is an abundance of water in Brown's well, which is nearly in the center of the island, fed from the high hills around, and which has not been known to run dry since the present inhabitants' return from Norfolk Island. A water-course leads the water from the well to a tank close above the village. There is another large well farther to the westward, and there is generally plenty of water.”
“During the last four years thirty-five vessels, on an average, have called at the island each year, but the islanders generally seem to see very little of the crews of merchant vessels. In most cases only the master of the vessel lands for a short time, the ships scarcely ever anchoring. During his stay last month in Mangareva (Gambier Islands), Mr. McCoy endeavored to arrange something in the way of a regular trade between the two islands, and one of their vessels has since called at Pitcairn, taking away large quantities of bananas, pumpkins, and arrowroot. The leading men here think that they will be able to maintain this trade. There is now a very fair road leading to the landing place at Northwest anchorage.”
BOUNTY BAY, PITCAIRN.
“The adult males have to give all their labor during the early part of the day—from after an early breakfast at 5 A. M. until 2 P. M.—to works for the public good, directed by the local Parliament of seven. At the present time twenty-nine men are available, and their labor is divided between building a new church adjoining the present school-room, a new whaler, and the necessary boat work, shooting of goats, etc. The dinner hour is at 2 P. M., and the remainder of the day the people employ themselves about their own business of gardening, etc. The women of the family do all the housework, and many of them smooth and paint cocoanuts, plait and decorate mat bags, etc.”
“Disease appears to be still almost unknown. The typhoid of 1894 was brought here by a ship-wrecked crew, and no other epidemic has touched the island since. The leading people prefer to continue, as hitherto, without medicines of any sort. One small boy has been recently killed by a fall while chasing goats on the cliffs. Thursday October Christian, son of the man of the same name, and grandson of Fletcher Christian, master's mate of the ‘Bounty,’ is the oldest man on the island, aged now eighty-three; two other men are over seventy-five, and the oldest woman is seventy-two. None of these old people suffer from anything beyond the weakness of old age, and all seem thoroughly contented and happy. The early loss of the front teeth in the upper jaw continues among many of the islanders, but the teeth of numbers of adults, as well as of the children, are without a flaw. Some families, in which up to the present there has been practically no intermarriage, still suffer from this loss of teeth. No one smokes or uses intoxicating liquor. Men, women, and children seem, without exception, in robust health and full of vigor.”
S. D. A. CHAPEL, PITCAIRN.
“Thanks to the care of the elected Parliament—consisting of seven members, with Mr. McCoy as President—full employment is found for every one. The discipline seems to be all it should be, the islanders contented, and the day's work often, to my knowledge, such as would astonish748many a British laborer, as it astonished, on more than one occasion, myself and the ship's company. Their religion remains that of the Seventh-day Adventists. The Saturday services are well conducted, and the strong religious feeling which was once so marked a characteristic of the islanders appears—after the check it received a few years ago—to have again gathered strength.”
BANYAN TREE, (PITCAIRN) COVERING OVER THREE ACRES.
“To Mr. McCoy's firmness and tact, ably seconded by the six other elected members of the Parliament, I consider is due the general improvement which must have taken place in the island since the date of the ‘Royalist's’ visit. It was common talk, during our recent visit to both Honolulu and Tahiti, that the islanders were rapidly deteriorating in morals and physique, a condition of things which my officers and myself—after the best opportunities of judging—believe does not hold good at this time; and, on the other hand, looking to the present flourishing state of the island and its people, it is difficult to understand how reports to their detriment can have got abroad. Mr. McCoy had been away for a few months before the murder case which preceded the ‘Royalist's’ visit, and he admits that he found on his return much that needed improvement. A strong hand is naturally required at the head of this unique community, and fortunately Mr. McCoy is likely to be at the front for many years to come. The names of the present seven members of the local Parliament are as follows: Mr. James R. McCoy (President), Mr. Charles Vieder Young (Judge), Mr. Benjamin Stanley Young (Judge), Mr. Gerard Bromley Christian, Mr. Ernest Hayward Christian, Mr. Moses Young, and Mr. George Francis Warren (Secretary).”
“The principal difficulties which the near future may bring to the island are, I think, three; namely, (1) the absence among the men of early middle age of a fitting successor to Mr. McCoy; (2) the surplus of females in the present and rising generation, a difficulty naturally accentuated in a small and secluded community. Any arrangement which would include the removal and care of some of these youthful females—of whom some of the grown-up ones would now willingly leave—would be a work of useful philanthropy; (3) the tendency growing among the islanders to make use of a sort of language of their own, which I am told is a clipping of English words, and which is, at the best, a species of pigeon English. This shows signs already of making some of them appear slow of comprehension when addressed in English.”
“Much rain has fallen on the island of late, but only one day during our stay was wet. The wind blew generally from the northeast, with little strength, but bringing a long swell and often a confused sea into both anchorages, making landing at Northwest anchorage impracticable, and in Bounty Bay possible only under an islander's pilotage. The current at the anchorages was generally westerly, and at times reached a strength of one and a half knots. During the visit of the ‘Icarus,’ and at what may, I think, prove to be a somewhat critical stage of their existence, I found the leading islanders always grateful for any recognition of their recent improvements, and for advice as to their future conduct, and I feel sure that such recognition and advice from the higher authorities would strengthen their hands, and be of much value to the whole community.”
GANGRENE OF THE SOUL.
By Elder K. C. Russell
ELDER K. C. RUSSELL.
In 2 Tim. 2:17 are recorded the names of two persons who were afflicted with this terrible disease. See margin to text and Revised Version.
From reliable medical authority I quote the following statement regarding the disease: “Gangrene, or death of the tissues, is frequently a very formidable condition, and one which requires prompt and efficient treatment. The danger is not only from extension of the disease, but from absorption of the elements of the dead tissue.”
What alarm a knowledge of the presence of this awful malady in our physical system would excite. We would at once seek to obtain the most effectual means to eradicate from our bodies this deadly malady.
If we would be so exercised over the presence of this disease in our physical bodies, and put forth such desperate efforts to have it removed, how much greater should be our alarm when we learn that the disease has fastened upon our souls, and with what earnest efforts we should seek to have every germ of the disease removed.
It may be of interest to know the symptoms of gangrene. Again it is said by medical authorities that one of the first symptoms of this disease is great sensitiveness to the touch; and as it reaches a more advanced stage, the sense of feeling disappears.
The first symptom manifests itself in the soul when the conditions are of such a nature that the person becomes offended. The offense may be caused by some unkind remark by a brother or sister, or in various other ways, or it may have its origin in the imagination of the afflicted one. The symptoms of gangrene of the soul are often seen when things do not move in the church or in the Sabbath-school as the diseased one thinks they should.
Dear reader, are you now experiencing the first symptom of gangrene of the soul, which is great sensitiveness to the touch. If you are, do not delay to employ those means that the Lord has provided by which the disease may be effectually cured.
When the most serious symptom manifests itself, there is a lack of feeling. This symptom is apparent in the soul when the individual can remain away from the services of the Lord's house without feeling any remorse of conscience. It is seen, also, when one can disregard the light God has given concerning the care of the body, with tithing, family and secret prayer, and a daily study of the Bible, without any sense of condemnation.
When a soul reaches that stage, it is in a critical condition, and only the most radical measures will be able to produce a cure.
A cure can be effected only when the patient is willing earnestly to seek God's pardon for his sins, and will continue to seek the Lord until he obtains that peace and blessing that the Saviour longs to bestow.
When we reach a point in our experience where to be right with God is our greatest concern, regardless of what some one else has done, then it is that our great sensitiveness to touch will disappear, and we shall be preserved from reaching a point where we shall become insensible to right and wrong.
The Folly of Social Distinctions
“ARISTOCRAT” and “plebeian” are only comparative terms. Some years ago Professor Geddes, of Edinburgh, moved his family into a slum district, where they hoped to do friendly work among the poor. One evening he asked a distinguished statesman to dine with two local guests, a chimney-sweep and a scavenger. The statesman accepted with unfeigned pleasure; the scavenger said he would come; but the chimney-sweep refused to sit down with the scavenger. At another time the family on the first floor of the decrepit tenement they inhabited told Professor Geddes that if he continued to speak to the family in the garret, he must drop their acquaintance. “If the angels have any fun in them,” wrote Horace Walpole, “how our distinctions must divert them!” — Bible Echo.
Conscience and Vaccination Exemptions
“The magistrates seem to be having a difficult task on hand, in trying to decide questions of conscience,” observes an exchange published in London, England. “The law allows the ‘conscientious objector’ to vaccination to receive a certificate of exemption, but it seems that a man’s statement to that effect is not sufficient. He must prove, to the satisfaction of the magistrates, that he is conscientious. Of course the thing is impossible, for in a case of that kind no one can do more than solemnly declare his conscientious convictions. The result is that the granting of the exemption depends wholly upon what the magistrate believes in the case, and not on what the applicant believes. The worst feature about the matter is the precedent that is set, that a man’s conscience may be a subject of legal examination. The Inquisition was built upon that.”
Measuring Our Love by Our Giving
It is an easy thing to sing, “All I have I give to Jesus, it belongs to Him,” but the singing is hollow mockery when we spend more in one year for chewing-gum or soda water than we give in five years to the evangelization of the heathen world. We often sing, “I love thy Church, O God;” and then pay more for the trimming of a hat or the decorations of a “social function” than we contribute to the Church in a twelve-month. We sing, “My Jesus, I love thee,” and drop a nickel in the collection-basket, reserving the fifty cents for the purchase of a ticket to the Monday matinée or lecture. What does Jesus think? “God so loved the world that He gave,” What? — The best He had. We can measure God’s love by His gift. Suppose He were to measure ours by the same standard! — Selected.
