International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 26, 1889
Immortality
IMMORTALITY is God's seal of perfect righteousness. None but righteous beings are made immortal. God only hath inherent immortality. Man was created capable of both righteousness and immortality, but his immortality is made to depend upon his righteousness. As "the wages of sin is death," and "sin when it is finished bringeth forth death," so righteousness, when perfected, bringeth forth life. Says the wise man: "In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death." Prov. 12:28. "He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life." Prov. 21:21. So those that have been made righteous by faith in Christ, will be crowned with immortality at his coming. It is the eternal seal of their righteous character. Would we have the eternal life? let us then follow after righteousness and mercy.
SPIRITUALISM THE MASTERPIECE OF DECEPTION.
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
SPIRITUALISM is the masterpiece of deception. It is Satan's most successful and fascinating delusion,—one calculated to take hold of the sympathies of those who have laid their loved ones in the grave. Evil angels come in the form of those loved ones, and relate incidents connected with their lives, and perform acts which they performed while living. In this way they lead persons to believe that their dead friends are angels, hovering over them, and communicating with them. These evil angels, who assume to be the deceased friends, are regarded with a certain idolatry, and with many their word has greater weight than the word of God. Thus men and women are led to reject the truth, and give "heed to seducing spirits."
The word of God declares in positive terms that "the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." This plain scripture directly contradicts the teaching of Spiritualism, and if it were heeded would save souls from the snare of the enemy.
Many are investigating Spiritualism simply from curiosity. They have no real faith in it, and would start back horrified at the idea of becoming mediums; but they are venturing on forbidden and dangerous ground. When they are fast in the toils of the deceiver, they find they are in the power of him who makes the most abject slaves of his servants, and514nothing can deliver them but the power of God. The only safety for us is in trusting implicitly and following faithfully the instruction of the word of God. The Bible is the only chart that marks out the narrow path which shuns the pitfalls of destruction.
It was God's purpose to deliver Israel from the abominations that wrought havoc in the idolatrous nations around them. They were not to sacrifice to Moloch, nor to make their sons or their daughters pass through the fire, nor to seek unto wizards, nor defile themselves by communion with those who had familiar spirits. The instruction of God to his ancient people is profitable to us to-day. "Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am the Lord your God, and ye shall keep my statutes, and do them; I am the Lord which sanctifieth you."
The Lord presented before his people the results of holding communion with evil spirits, in the abominations of the Canaanites; they were without natural affection, idolators, adulterers, murderers, and abominable by every corrupt thought and revolting practice. Says the apostle Paul, the "things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils." Sodom had been consumed for the same crime that existed in Canaan; but could it be that the people who had been privileged to behold the glory and power of Jehovah, had need to be warned by these examples, lest they fall into the same errors and die under similar judgments? Men do not know their own hearts, for "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;" but God understands the tendencies of the depraved nature of man.
Satan was watching for an opportunity to lead the people of God into conditions favorable to the development of rebellion and transgression, that they might make themselves as abhorrent to God as were the Canaanites. The adversary of souls is ever on the alert to open channels for the unrestrained flow of evil in our nature, that we have not overcome; for he desires that we may be ruined, and be condemned before God.
The condition of society to-day is the same as when God presented before Israel the abominations of the heathen; and the same warnings are necessary to the remnant people. Spiritualism is advancing through the land in triumph. "The spirits of devils working miracles" are going "forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Men are seeking unto them that have familiar spirits; but the people of God cannot in any sense follow the practices of the world. They must keep the commandments of the Lord. The line of separation must be distinctly marked between the obedient and the disobedient. There must be open and avowed enmity between the church and the serpent, between her seed and his seed.
Satan was determined to keep his hold on the land of Canaan, and when it was made the habitation of the children of Israel, and the law of God was made the law of the land, he hated Israel with a cruel and malignant hatred, and plotted their destruction. Strange gods were introduced through the agency of evil spirits; and because of transgression the chosen people were finally scattered from the land of promise.
The same experience is repeating in the history of God's people. God is leading them out from the abominations of the world to keep his law in the land of the enemy, and the rage of "the accuser of the brethren" knows no bounds. "The devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." The antitypical land of promise is just before us,—a land where no strange god shall ever come, no evil spirit enter; and Satan desires to destroy the people of God, and cut them off from their inheritance.
It is time to heed the Saviour's injunction as never before: "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Trust in God, however perplexing may be your situation. Seek his counsel, and turn not after them that have familiar spirits to be defiled by them. He who has died to redeem you, has promised to guide you, and clothe you with his own righteousness, if you will but loathe sin, and purge yourself from evil by washing your robes of character, and making them white in the blood of the Lamb.
What love, what wonderful love, that God bears with the perversity of his people, and sends help to every soul that desires to do his will, and forsake sin! If man will but cooperate with the agencies of Heaven, he may come off more than conqueror. Fallen creatures as we are, capable of the most revolting crimes, yet we may become victors, through the power of the grace of Christ, and have a place in his everlasting kingdom, to reign with him forevermore.
Character Is Higher Than Intellect
CHARACTER is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as strong to think.
The Lord Is Thy Keeper
The Lord is "thy keeper," but not thy jailor. His keeping—it is protection. When you commit your ways to him, he does not abridge your liberty; he only defends you against evil.
Follow Honest Convictions
By Horace Bushnell
NEVER swerve in your conduct from your honest convictions. Decide, because you see reasons for decision; and then act, because you have decided. Let your actions follow the guidance of your judgment, and if, between them both, you go down the falls of Niagara, go! It is the only course worthy of a man.—Horace Bushnell.
Human Inability to Do Good
It is impossible for man to do better than he is. What is not in him will not come out of him. A bramble bush will not bear grapes. Man has no power within himself to raise himself above himself. The result of every effort of this kind is summed up in the words of one of the strictest of men, outwardly: "For to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." Rom. 7:18. Paul found no uplifting power within himself.
Taking Hold of God's Strength
It is when man realizes his utter weakness (and only then), that the strength of God is given in answer to faith in Christ. The Lord sometimes allows men to fall that they may realize their weakness, not that they may despair, but that they may take hold on his strength. "For when we were without strength [or being still without strength], in due time, Christ died for the ungodly." All are "without strength," all are ungodly; but to him who realizes this, the gracious invitation is, "Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me."
Effectual Personal Faith
THE words of men are often empty. Belief and faith are used in empty, meaningless ways many times. A general sort of belief in Christ is thought by many to be all that the Bible requires. But belief and faith according to the Bible must be effectual. "Belief on the Lord Jesus Christ" means effectual belief. "Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" means effectual faith. And effectual faith is always personal faith. It will not only accept Christ as Saviour of the world, but as a personal saviour from sin and sinning. Faith is nothing if it falls short of this.
Born of God to Overcome
THE child of God is born of the Spirit of God. This birth does not take place after some experience in the Christian life, or, in other words, after the man has overcome; man is born of God in order that he may overcome. "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 1 John 5:4. What is here meant by the world is shown in the second chapter, verses 15-17. The very fact that one does overcome the world and all it implies, is a proof that he is born of God; for only the children of God are overcomers. They are not children of God because they are overcomers, they are overcomers because they are children of God.
Jesus Saves From Sin
"JESUS" is the Greek word corresponding to the Hebrew word "Joshua;" that is "Joshua" in Hebrew was called "Jesus" in Greek. Both words mean "saviour." Said the angel of our Lord, "Thou shalt call his name 'Jesus,' for he shall save his people from their sins." Matt. 1:21. Bear the meaning of the word in mind; it will be help in time of need. And such a Saviour! He is "able to save to the uttermost." Heb. 7:25. He not only saves from past sins; he also saves from sinning. "Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2:14. Redeemed from iniquity is redeemed from lawlessness, or transgression of law; and he who does not transgress God's law is "zealous of good works." This is the mission of Jesus to the world. Is this what he is doing for you? If not, to you he is not Jesus—a Saviour. Effectual faith makes him an effectual Saviour; one who saves us from sin, who keeps us from falling.
RIGHT & MIGHT.
By Annie L. Holberton
OH stand for the right, though alone you are waiting.
While hope has grown weak in the cause you would gain,
Still hold your ground firmly with faith unabating.
For nothing is lost which the Lord will sustain.
Undaunted, unmoved, let no compromise enter,
And try not with evil to compass the right.
In Him and for Him every action to center,
Shall build up the truth in the strength of his might.
With face to the foe give no quarter, nor falter;
Be true to your colors whatever avail;
Be steadfast while raising to Heaven your altar;
The right is the might that with God cannot fail.
—Annie L. Holberton, in Sabbath Recorder.
PIETY BY PROXY.
THERE is a craze for doing all duties and curing all evils by proxy. Rich Christians try to do their charity by checks and other substitutes, and poor Christians leave all the praying and teaching and working to the pastor and his appointed assistants. The theory that every man has personal duties that no one can do for him is quite exploded, and the Romish idea that the church and the priest can settle all religious matters, private and public, is popular.
As a natural result of such opinions, we find that many persons rely upon law to take their place in all public responsibility. A few men are elected or appointed to official positions, and thousands at once surrender all their interests and relinquish all their civic duties to these representatives. The claims of morality upon every individual, to use influence and force of character and self-denying effort in favor of right and justice and honesty and temperance, are ignored because there are laws to establish and enforce these claims. There are laws against all offenses, and police and magistrates to execute them, and therefore the average citizen is satisfied. If the law is broken or not enforced, it is no concern of the citizen, but only of the official. It is the duty of the individual to prevent intemperance in his family and among his servants, but instead of doing his personal duty to those dependent upon him he prefers to place this duty upon the law-makers and charges them to prevent drunkenness by prohibitory law. Law has potency because it can punish, but it has no saving or reformatory power.
The best prohibitory laws cannot prevent a man from becoming a drunkard, but how many men have been saved by the personal influence of a devoted wife, a loving sister, or a faithful friend. What the law can never do, the unselfish, fearless and loving Christian has power to accomplish. The triumphs of the gospel of Christ from the time of the apostles have been signal examples of personal power under divine inspiration. And while we remove temptation from every pathway by legislation, and punish crime by legal enactment, we should never forget that this is not piety and cannot take the place of individual effort to save the sinner and reform the erring.
Throughout society we see this growing tendency to shirk personal duty and to shrink from individual efforts. To societies, laws, associations, and substitutes are entrusted the performance of religious, charitable, social, and patriotic duties. As a consequence, selfishness grows and perilous times are at hand.—N. Y. Observer.
THE RELIGION DANIEL HAD.
By Theodore Ledyard Cuyler
DANIEL must have been fully ninety years old when his jealous rivals concocted their diabolical plot against his life. Failing to find any flaw in his administration of public affairs, they attacked him through his religious convictions. The issue they made was a sharp one. Either renounce God or face the lions! The issue was as clean-cut as Martin Luther had to meet when he entered the Diet of Worms, and old General Von Froudsberg, tapping him on the shoulder, said: "My dear little monk, you are taking a step such as I or no other commander has had to encounter on the field of battle." If Daniel had been willing to play the coward, there were plenty of plausible pretexts and side-doors of escape. He might have said, "My life is of great value, and prudence requires that I should not throw it away to please my enemies." He might have refrained from prayer—as too many sleepy and tired-out Christians do—and relied on the efficacy of prayers already made. He might have closed the lattice and locked the door, and prayed to his heavenly Father in secret. When a man wants to dodge his duty, the devil will always show him a door of escape.
There are three things about Daniel's course that we wish young men to notice. First, the "Grand old man" did not send any apology to the king. Apologies are dangerous and belittling procedures; they take off the grace from the best actions; the fewer of them you have to make in life the better. Secondly, he did not bluster about what he was going to do. I am always rather distrustful of people who unite with the church with very loud professions; they remind me of poor Peter's boastful "Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I." Daniel neither apologized nor played the braggart. He knew all about the ferocious lions out in the royal park, and had made up his mind to face them when the time came. So he quietly went up to the chamber on the roof of his house, threw open his lattice and faced his God "just as he did aforetime." Actions speak louder than words. There the old hero is, on his knees, three times515in a day; and the very sight of him is as eloquent as Martin Luther's immortal "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise; God help me. Amen!" Daniel did not ask God to muzzle the lions, nor was there any intimation given him that such a miracle would be wrought. Martyrs, when they make up their minds to die for the right, expect that lions will bite and that fire will burn.
There are two roads for every young man in the journey of life. He must decide which he will take. The one is a smooth, easy path of connivance and compromise, with no lions to encounter. The other is by God's air-line of everlasting right; whoever treads that path must expect to be battered, and to have his name bespattered with ridicule and reproach. There are two kinds of church-membership. In the one case Brother "Facing-both-ways" stands with one foot over in the world, and the other in the church; he is secretly despised by both. The other type of religion is that of him who comes out squarely and "separate from sinners," not as pleasing men, but God—which trieth the heart. This latter sort of religion is at a premium in these days, for there is no superabundance of it.
—Rev. T. L. Cuyler, in Evangelist.
THE BOOKS OPENED.
By St. Louis Christian Advocate
THE book of Revelation is, the gospel illustrated. The picture of the Judgment is graphic and impressive:—
“I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”
These books are the things that make that hour terrible and its decision alarming. These books are simply the proofs of what we are, tested by what we do. Each one is writing a book, the transcript and picture of ourselves, our thoughts, our fancies, our words, our works; we write the book and the book is as we are. It is not a self-chosen task, but one to which we are decreed, as certain as life; to live is to write. The biographer runs parallel with the biography; they are one. The books are not open now; character is hidden, silent, shaded. Men are not what they seem; not hypocrites, but concealed; not sham, but flowing under ground. Paul says, “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men.” Our conceptions of men are partial, the facts are not all before us, cannot be. But the Judgment will have all the facts. To us the books are not open; then they will be opened, everything full, uncovered, exact. Then shall we be seen and known as we are, the veil torn from character, the light let in on human motives and history. More fearful if possible than the great white throne will these books be. For the books will give to the throne its terror—its decision made up from their lips, its Judge speaking only the sentence they had rendered. Those opened books have armed that throne with all its fierceness, kindled every flame, written every doom. These books are being written, each individual is writing secretly and openly his book. Every sensation, act, word, deed, like the pulsations of the heart, is making the record, is making the history, is writing the book. This book, the transcript of what we are, and what we have done, is the Book of Death. But over against it the Book of Life will be opened. With what painful, trembling solicitude we will listen to the unfolding of its long roll of saints and heroes. Will our names be written there? What kind of a book are we writing? What character and eternal destiny does it bear for us under its sealed cover?
SUNDAY IN PITTSBURG.
SUNDAY in Pittsburg and Allegheny City, is thus described by the New York Times:—
“Probably no other given community of 330,000 people in this country is restrained more by the laws governing the observance of Sunday than Pittsburg and Allegheny City. Every legalized saloon and hotel bar is closed tight, and one can get no intoxicating liquors of any kind from these. The 120 drug stores will sell nothing in their line save medicines on prescription. The traveler who may want tooth-picks, tooth-brush or tooth-powder, or any other toilet article or necessary thing, must wait until Monday. The doors of the barbers' shops are locked, and the man who has not had time for a shave on Saturday must shave himself or go to church, or elsewhere, with stubbles on his face. The sizz of the soda water fountain is hushed, and in but three places in the two great cities is it possible to get soda, lemonade, sarsaparilla, milk, or other soft drink to quench the thirst and cool the suffering citizen. The thousand stands and stores where cigars and tobacco are dealt in six days of the week are silent and deserted on the seventh, and the man who has forgotten to provide himself with a Sunday supply of these comforts must do without or borrow from his neighbor.
Children can get no candy in Pittsburg on Sunday, housewives no groceries or meat, lovers no ice-cream, readers no newspapers unless they catch a boy in the forenoon, for the news stands do no business on Sunday. Only the street cars, the newspapers, the hotels and restaurants, and the churches carry on their affairs unobstructed. The hotels and restaurants serve meals, but do no bar business, and sell no cigars even for after-dinner smoking.”
THEIR REAL OBJECT.
By Editor
WE learn from the Denver News of June 3 that an effort is being made to create public sentiment there in favor of Sunday laws, ostensibly for the purpose of closing saloons on Sunday. We are in full sympathy with any movement which will be effective in reducing drunkenness; but our observation has not led us to attach much importance to Sunday closing laws. It is probable that more people are idle on Sunday than on any other day of the week, and possibly some engage in drinking on that day who do not indulge to any great extent upon other days; but we believe it to be a fact that there is more drunkenness from six o'clock Saturday night until twelve o'clock than during the entire day Sunday. Moreover, we cannot forget that the repeal of the Arkansas exemption clause, some two years since, was in response to a demand for the Sunday closing of saloons. Neither can we overlook the fact that while the saloons were not closed under the law, and while no effort was made to close them, good, and otherwise law-abiding citizens were fined and imprisoned for doing ordinary farm and other quiet work upon Sunday, after having conscientiously observed the seventh day of the week according to the letter of the fourth commandment.
We cannot believe that the ministers of the various churches are as disinterested in clamoring for Sunday-closing laws as might at first sight appear. Our conviction is that their object is the exaltation of Sunday rather than the restriction of the liquor traffic. This conviction is strengthened by the history of events already referred to in Arkansas, and also in other places. It was only recently that a man in Jersey City was sentenced to five months in the penitentiary at hard labor, not simply for selling liquor in violation of the law, but for selling upon Sunday. We have no sympathy whatever with the liquor traffic, we believe that it is an evil, but we do not believe that it is proper and right for the State to say that a certain act is criminal upon Sunday, and that the same thing is proper and right upon other days. If the liquor traffic is wrong, if it entails evils upon the community, and should be prohibited, then516let the prohibition extend to all days of the week; but if it is a legitimate business, one which is demanded for the good of the community, then let it be placed upon an equality with other branches of business.
But that it is not liquor selling which they wish to prohibit on Sunday, but all branches of business, is evident from the fact that while in some places their main effort seems to be directly against the saloons, in other places candy stores and other branches of legitimate business are denounced in equally strong terms. For instance, the Philadelphia Inquirer of May 21 contains a report of a meeting of the so-called Sabbath Association of that city, at which a resolution was passed to prosecute, under the laws of the State, a man who sells candy on Sunday. There can be no possible physical or sanitary reason for wishing to prosecute the keeper of the candy store for selling on Sunday. The sole reason must be because those who desire to prohibit candy selling on that day regard it as sacred time; that is, they have conscientious scruples against doing business on that day, and they are determined to compel others to conform, at least outwardly, to their ideas in this respect.
Another reason for doubting the sincerity of these zealous Sunday advocates, who would have us believe that they wish Sunday laws simply to close saloons, is that whereas they brand as the allies of saloon keepers all who dare to raise their voices against Sunday laws, they have no word of censure for those who advocate Sunday laws but oppose prohibition. Several religious papers, notably the Christian Union, have taken decided grounds against constitutional prohibition, and it is stated by the Christian Union that a considerable number of the Chicago ministers are opposed to prohibition; but as yet we have not seen these ministers or these papers charged with being in league with saloon keepers; while, on the other hand, the advocates of Sunday laws do not cease to class us with saloon keepers and infidels because we oppose Sunday laws as a matter of principle. We can see no consistency in this; and it does seem as though the advocacy of Sunday laws is regarded by them as the sum of all morality. Practically it amounts to about this: that those who favor Sunday laws or who observe Sunday are moral, and those who do not regard Sunday are immoral. We are not, however, prepared to admit any such conclusion.—American Sentinel.
MARAH.
By Mrs. L. D. A. Stuttle
BY MRS. L. D. A. STUTTLE.
Once upon my weary journey
O'er a desert, drear and cursed,
Nought but Marah's bitter waters
There appeared, to mock my thirst,
Till I longed to see the border
Of death's mighty river wide,
And to lose my sense of sorrow
'Neath its solemn, silent tide.
Once my life was full of sunshine,
And my heart o'erflowed with song,
And in happy mood I mingled
With the gay and careless throng;
But the hand of sorrow touched me,
With its chilling finger tips,
And my brimming cup of gladness
Turned to gall upon my lips.
Once I had a hope of Heaven,
But the tempter came this way,
And I sold my precious birthright—
On a well remembered day,
Sold it for a mess of pottage,
Sold it for an honored name,
And I bartered hope and Heaven
For the shining bauble—Fame.
Once I heard an angel whisper,
"Careless wanderer, thou dost roam,
Following earth's bright ignis fatuus;
Come, and I will guide thee home;
Come, and I will be thy day-star,
Guiding thee to realms of bliss."
But I sold my hope of Heaven
For a fleeting world like this.
Then the angel sadly left me,
And my heart grew hard and cold.
And I wandered in the gloaming,
Farther from the Shepherd's fold.
Fame and friends, and fickle fortune,
In a moment left my side,
Till by God and man forsaken,
In my agony I cried,—
"Oh for just one word of pardon,
Oh for one sweet pitying tone,
Is there—is there hope of Heaven?
Must I perish all alone?"
Then my bleeding Saviour whispered,
As he drew me to his breast,
"Thou shalt be no more called 'Marah,'
Weary soul, I'll give thee rest."
Bancroft, Mich.
CARD CONVERTS.
THE following from the Free Methodist (Chicago) is illustrative of how many of the converts of the present day are gathered and counted:—
"We are having in this part of the country some great 'card' revivals. The converts are 'card' converts, and their religion is a 'card' religion. Near the close of the service, the evangelist passes cards through the congregation to all who will take them. The unconverted are asked to sign their names and hand them to the minister, or put them in the contribution on the following evening. That is all. Those who sign are called converted. One of these cards, now being used by Rev. C. H. Yatman, in Youngstown, Ohio, contains the following pledge:—
"I will, by the grace of God, from this day, live a true and earnest Christian life; trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, and run the race to the end.
Sign:—"
"On the card some appropriate Scripture texts are printed, and some references are given. Much of the preaching is good and very instructive, and no doubt some are truly saved; but with the great majority it is merely a religion of good resolutions. Jesus did not say 'ye must sign a card,' but 'ye must be born again;' and if the people were converted the cards would not be necessary. O Lord, deliver us from such shams, and give us the genuine."
STAINED WITH CRIME.
WE are passing through a blood-stained summer. It would seem as if the voice of some death-telling seer had sounded out against it, saying: "Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it." Unparalleled as was that sudden calamity which swept thousands out of existence, yet even more significant, if not more startling, is the increase of the murderous madness which daily strikes down its victims. According to the figures furnished from the columns of current statistics, there has never before been such a "carnival of crime" in this country.
The number of murders committed in the United States during the first half of 1887 was 867; of 1888, 941, and of 1889, 1,547! This is shocking enough, but the first week in July was still worse. During those seven beautiful summer days no less than ninety people were stricken down by murderous hands. This was at the rate of nearly thirteen per day, and if kept up, the harvest month will see some 400 people put in bloody graves. At the same rate this stream of blood will sweep more people out of existence in nine months than did the Johnstown flood.
The latter sent a thrill of horror through the whole land, and through the world, because it fell upon a single hour and a single section. But this continued stroke which slays day and night, not even pausing during the holy hours of the Sabbath, and which spares not the man of gray hairs, the wife, the mother, or the little child, has not so much disturbed the public, partly because of one of its worst features, its prevalence, and partly because of one of its worst causes, indifference. But as a fact bearing upon the problem of human welfare it is far more appalling, not only because of its greater and ceaseless destruction, but because it defies our present methods of improving society, and makes a mockery of much of our seeming progress. A repetition of the flood disaster may be avoided by simply refraining from the folly of penning up a lake of water in the air and trusting to loose sticks and stones to keep it there. A sensible body of commissioners or corps of engineers ought to be equal to the protection of any community from such calamities. But this murderous passion, breaking out everywhere, rising with the general tide, increasing with the common growth, and multiplying its victims right alongside of the multiplication of schools, colleges, churches, organizations for reform and all the means and methods for making men better, what shall we say of it? What is the cause? What is the remedy? Is it a natural part of life under "the best government that the sun ever looked down upon," a deep fault of civilization, or only a kind of paroxysm in the process of fusing diverse and antagonistic elements, not only in a new nation but also under a rapidly changing industrial system? Or is it because man is still brother to Cain?
In our attempts to answer these questions it is not difficult to point out some of the more immediate causes. It will occur to most observers that, along with this marked increase of crime during the year, there have been some notable failures of justice. And a significant feature of these trials which failed to convict was the admission that the accused had committed the deadly deed. They could be pronounced innocent only on the ground that a small pretext was sufficient justification for taking the life of a fellow-being. In one case a bad woman had killed a bad man and was acquitted as a matter of mere sentiment, and wretched sentiment at that. In another case the murderer remarked that the community was in the habit of overlooking his little indiscretions, and would probably do the same with his last one. With such sentiment life in communities, it is easy to see why murderers go unpunished. And not to punish one crime is to invite another.
Again, many murder trials fail because it is a part of the business of a class of talented, learned, and distinguished attorneys to make them fail. In the biographical sketch of a celebrated and highly honored attorney who recently died in Chicago there was a list of the noted murder trials in which he had saved his client from conviction, although there was no dispute that they had slain their fellow-men. These victories over justice were mentioned as a part of his greatness. And this estimate of such success is common, but as long as it is common the crime of murder will also be common.
It is also to be noted that here in Chicago, where the murderous disposition was so rampant during the first week in July, the daily papers had for weeks been filled with accounts of a noted crime. The coincidence is significant. There can be little doubt that familiarity with crime through its constant presentation by the press, with graphic descriptions and illustrations, is sadly demoralizing. Keeping crimes and criminals constantly in front makes criminals.
But the deeper question lies nearer the springs of human action. How much of this belongs to the pent up evil of the human heart? Has that new humanity of which we hear so much, and which is to have so little need of the strong beliefs and stern righteousness of the past, really come? If so, would it in a country like this murder a fellow-being every two hours in the day? Whatever the thinkers may think, the humanity against which neighbors have to lock their doors and guard their lives seems very much like the old humanity with which Moses and the prophets had to deal.—Advance.
Trust Follows Love
We trust as we love, and we trust where we love; if you love Christ much, surely you will trust him much.
"PEACE AND YET WAR."
By St. Paul Pioneer Press
THE International Peace Society is deserving of great credit for the persistence with which it waves the olive branch year after year, and preaches the gospel of international amity and comity, even amid the angry mutterings and the harsh clangor of multiform preparations for war. The peace society professes to believe that the era of warfare upon earth is drawing to a close, and it thinks that it is accelerating this conclusion by spending a few thousands a year and sending a score or two of peace lecturers into the field. Yet the European powers have given little heed to peace lectures. About two-thirds of the vast aggregate of the budgets of these governments is chargeable to increased armaments since the Franco-Prussian war. The erection of the German Empire has been a pretty expensive thing for Europe. It increased the national debts from $13,000,000,000 to over $21,000,000,000. Thus, the apprehension of war is almost as expensive as war itself.
The Peace Society, with admirable intentions, has, unfortunately, not been able to allay even the apprehension of war. The truth is, when nations make up their minds to fight, all the conferences in the world won't prevent them. About forty years ago the Peace Society, with impressive ceremonies, celebrated in London the advent of enduring peace. Yet immediately after, the costly Crimean war occurred, originating in a trivial dispute about the holy places in Palestine, and this was followed by the ambitious wars of Prussia, the Dano-Germanic, the Austro-Prussian, the Austro-Italian, the Franco-Prussian wars. The trouble is that nations are not always bent on justice, and they have lusts and passions, and in order to effectuate combativeness they have to be strong; iron and steel walled; studded with fortifications, bristling with cannon. They arm to verify their exorbitant pretensions and to rebut and muzzle the exorbitant pretensions of their next-door neighbors. This spirit is abroad to-day. The arts of peace, on exhibition, glorify Paris to-day. The triumphs of those arts delight the world, and yet French foundries and shipyards are humming with intense activity, turning out big and small guns, gunpowder, torpedoes, steel war-ships and small arms. It is so in Italy, where every energy is tending to keep army and navy in a state of war efficiency. It is so in old Spain, where the debt-burdened and bankrupt government is selling State lands to raise money to increase the naval armament. Germany is a bristling military camp, and the Krupp foundries are always in full blast, producing the material of war. England is spending more money than even on her fleet, and Russia and Austria, and every other European State are hard at work preparing as if war would break out within a few months.
On our side of the Atlantic the same spirit obtains to a lesser degree. The South American Governments are arming, and our own Government is spending a hundred millions on war vessels, and three new costly cruisers have just been ordered. The world is apparently getting ready for a bloody war. New and deadly machinery for killing men and destroying seaboard cities is constantly invented, and to-day, in our present stage of preparation, there is not a seaboard city which could not be shelled and destroyed by a hostile European fleet. Our expenditures are justified by the general arming in Europe, for strongly armed nations with slight principle are constantly tempted to pick quarrels, and our seaboard cities must be protected. Bad management of a small affair, like the Samoan incident, might have precipitated conflict with Germany. We will have to be prepared for defense even while the Peace Society chants its millennial psalm. For the millennium is not yet.