Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 10, 1880
General Articles.
By Mrs. E. G. White
THE LAW AND THE SABBATH.
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
THE Lord charged Moses to make no covenant with the people of the land whither they should go, lest they should be ensnared thereby. But they should destroy the altars of the heathen, break their images, and cut down the groves dedicated to their idols. He then commanded, “Thou shalt worship no other God; for the Lord, whose name is, jealous, is a jealous God.” God claims supreme worship as his due.
God promised Abraham’s posterity the land of Canaan; but centuries must pass before they could enter upon their possession, “In the fourth generation, they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.” The Amorites inhabiting the land of Canaan, were gradually bringing upon themselves the righteous judgments of God by their iniquity. When it was fully settled that they would not be brought under the control of God’s government, and when they gave themselves up to work iniquity, bringing themselves to the most conspicuous idolatry, yet God spared them, for the full measure of guilt marking them for his vengeance, had not been reached. The iniquity of the Amorites must reach its fullness before God would send forth his mandate to destroy utterly. In the fourth generation God dispossessed them to make room for his people. Here we see the long suffering of God; he allows nations a certain probation, but there is a point where their accumulated guilt will meet its punishment. Those who would make void God’s law, advance from one degree of wickedness to another. Children would inherit from their parents the wicked, rebellious spirit against God and his law, and would go to greater extent in wickedness than their fathers before them until the wrath of God breaks forth upon them. The punishment was none the less certain because long delayed. God would have us take these lessons to heart. He would have us see the principle of divine justice in his dealings, and have us understand that a record is kept of the impieties and law breaking of any people and nation with the unerring accuracy of an infinite God. Although the measure of iniquity is filling up, God still bears, he gives additional opportunities and advantages, calling to repentance and proffering pardon. Yet if they continue to refuse light, and heed not the warnings of God, his divine justice will not always bear; for these are a blot, a stain upon his universe; their iniquity will corrupt all connected with them and become wide-spread.
Special directions were given in regard to the observance of the Sabbath: “Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest. In earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.” The Lord knew that Satan was continually at work to lead the Israelites to transgress the divine law, and he condescended to be very definite in his directions to his erring people, that they might not transgress his commandments for want of knowledge. In the busiest season of the year, when their fruits and grains were to be secured, they would be tempted to labor on sacred time. He would have them understand that their blessings would be increased or diminished according to their integrity of soul, or their unfaithfulness in his service.
God is no less particular now in regard to his Sabbath than when he made this requirement of the children of Israel. His eye is upon all his people, and over all the work of their hands. He will not pass by unnoticed those who crowd upon the Sabbath, and employ for their own use the time which belongs to him. Some may think they gain time by this course; but instead of being advantaged by robbing God of that which he has reserved to himself, they will lose. Many do not realize that the judgments which overtake them are from God. Though he may bear long with the transgressor the punishment will surely come at last.
Forty days and nights Moses remained in the mount, and during all this time, as at the first, he was miraculously sustained. And again the Lord “wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.” During that long time spent in communion with God, the face of Moses had reflected the glory of the divine presence; and the brightness did not cease when he descended from the mountain. Unknown to himself, his face shone with such a dazzling, unearthly light that Aaron, as well as all the people, shrank from him. On learning the cause of their terror, he covered his face with a vail, and he continued to do so when coming from such heavenly communings.
Those who trample upon God’s authority, and show contempt for the law given in such grandeur at Sinai, virtually despise the lawgiver, the great Jehovah. The children of Israel who had transgressed the first and second commandments, were charged not to be seen anywhere near the mount, where God was to descend in glory to write the law a second time upon tables of stone, lest they should be consumed with the burning glory of his presence. And if they could not even look upon the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, because he had been communing with his Maker, how much less can sinners look upon the Son of God when he shall appear in the clouds of heaven in the glory of his Father, surrounded by all the angelic host, to execute judgment upon all who have disregarded the commandments of God, and have trodden under foot the blood of Christ!
The law of God existed before man was created. The angels were governed by it. Satan fell because he transgressed the principles of God’s government. After Adam and Eve were created, God made known to them his law. It was not then written, but was rehearsed to them by Jehovah.
The Sabbath of the fourth commandment was instituted in Eden. The principles embodied in the decalogue existed before the fall, and were suited to the condition of holy beings. After the fall, these principles were not changed, nothing was taken from the law of God, but additional precepts were given to meet man in his fallen state.
A system of sacrifices was then established, to keep before the fallen race that which the serpent made Eve disbelieve, that the penalty of disobedience is death. The transgression of God’s law made it necessary for Christ to die as a sacrifice; for only thus could he redeem man from the penalty of the broken law, and yet maintain the honor of the divine government. The sacrificial system was designed to teach man humility, in view of his fallen condition, and to lead him to repentance toward God and faith in the promised Redeemer for pardon of past transgressions. Had the law of God never been transgressed, there would have been no death, and hence no need of additional precepts to suit man’s fallen condition.
Adam taught his descendants the law of God, which was handed down to the faithful through successive generations. The continual transgression of its precepts called for a flood of waters upon the earth. The law was cherished by Noah and his family, who for right-doing were miraculously saved in the ark. Thus the Lord preserved to himself a people, from Adam down, in whose hearts was his law. He says of Abraham, he “obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
The Lord appeared to Abraham, and said unto him, “I am the Almighty God. Walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make a covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”
He then gave to Abraham and his seed the rite of circumcision as a token that God had separated them from all nations as his peculiar treasure. By this sign they solemnly agreed to fulfill the conditions of the covenant made with Abraham, to be separate from all other nations, and to be perfect. If the descendants of Abraham had faithfully kept this covenant they would have escaped a great temptation to indulge in the sinful practices of other nations, and would not have been seduced into idolatry. By mingling with idolaters they lost to a great extent their peculiar, holy character. To punish them, the Lord brought a famine upon their land, which compelled them to go down into Egypt to preserve their lives. But because of his covenant with Abraham, God did not forsake them while they were in Egypt. He suffered them to be oppressed by the Egyptians, that they might turn to him in their distress, choose his righteous and merciful government, and obey his requirements.
The Lord heard the cries of his people in the land of their captivity and delivered them, that they might be free to serve him. After they had left Egypt, and the waters of the Red Sea had been divided before them, he proved them to see if they would trust in him who had taken them, a nation from another nation, by signs, temptations, and wonders. But they failed to endure the trial. They murmured against God because of difficulties in the way, and wished to return again to Egypt. To leave them without excuse, the Majesty of Heaven condescended to come down upon Sinai, enshrouded in glory, and surrounded by his angels, and in a most sublime and awful manner make known his law of ten commandments. He would not permit even his angels to teach those sacred precepts, but spoke them himself, in the hearing of all Israel. He did not, even then, trust them to the memory of a people who were prone to forget his requirements, but wrote them with his own finger upon tables of stone. He would remove from them all possibility of mingling with his holy precepts any tradition, or of confusing his requirements with the practices of men.
Faith I Live By. p. 80
MY CONFIDENCE.
I HOLD thy truth, oh, Lord, within my heart,
Thy law I love;
I hold thy cross, and try to do my part
My faith to prove;
I hold thy promise, Lord, and daily pray,
"My faith increase,
That I may closer cleave to thee, the way,
And have thy peace."
Yet little joy my holding brings to me,
Because I know
That though my soul still trusting clings to thee,
I may let go.
But I am held, oh, Lord, thou hast my hand,
And thou art strong.
Throughout my journey in this desert land,
However long,
Thou givest me support. I shall not fall.
Though foes assail,
And press me hard, over myself and all
I shall prevail.
Great joy thy presence and thy pledge affords,
Because I know
That thou wilt not—since thou hast given thy word—
Of me let go.
Minds and Light
The minds of some people are like the pupil of the human eye, contracting themselves the more and stronger the light is shed upon them.
THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY.
By U. Smith
BY ELDER U. SMITH.
(Continued.)
But it may be asked how the Sunday question is to be affected by the proposed Constitutional Amendment. Answer: The object, or, to say the least, one object of this amendment is to put the Sunday institution on a legal basis, and compel its observance by the arm of the law. At the National Convention held in Philadelphia, Jan. 18 and 19, 1871, the following resolution was among the first offered by the Business Committee:—
"Resolved, That, in view of the controlling power of the Constitution in shaping State, as well as national, policy, it is of immediate importance to public morals, and to social order, to secure such an amendment as will indicate that this is a Christian nation, and place all Christian laws, institutions, and usages in our government on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the nation, specially those which secure a proper oath, and which protect society against blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, and polygamy."
By Sabbath-breaking is meant nothing else but Sunday-breaking. In a convention of the friends of Sunday, assembled Nov. 29, 1870, in New Concord, Ohio, the Rev. James White is reported to have said: "The question [of Sunday observance] is closely connected with the National Reform Movement; for until the government comes to know God and honor his law, we need not expect to restrain Sabbath-breaking corporations." Here again the idea of the legal enforcement of Sunday observance stands uppermost.
Once more: The Philadelphia Press, of Dec. 5, 1870, stated that some Congressmen, including Vice-president Colfax, arrived in Washington by Sunday trains, Dec. 4, on which the Christian Statesman commented as follows (we give italics as we find them):—
"1. Not one of those men who thus violated the Sabbath is fit to hold any official position in a Christian nation."
"He who violates the Sabbath may not steal, because the judgment of society so strongly condemns theft, or because he believes that honesty is the best policy; but tempt him with the prospect of concealment, or the prospect of advantage, and there can be no reason why he who robs God will not rob his neighbor also. For this reason, the Sabbath law lies at the foundation of morality. Its observance is an acknowledgment of the sovereign rights of God over us.
"2. The sin of these Congressmen is a national sin, because the nation hath not said to them in the Constitution, the supreme rule for our public servants, 'We charge you to serve us in accordance with the higher law of God.' These Sabbath-breaking railroads, moreover, are corporations created by the State, and amenable to it. The State is responsible to God for the conduct of these creatures which it calls into being. It is bound, therefore, to restrain them from this as from other crimes, and any violation of the Sabbath, by any corporation, should work immediate forfeiture of its charter. And the Constitution of the United States, with which all State legislation is required to be in harmony, should be of such a character as to prevent any State from tolerating such infractions of fundamental moral law.
"3. Give us in the National Constitution the simple acknowledgment of the law of God as the supreme law of nations, and all the results indicated in this note will ultimately be secured. Let no one say that the movement does not contemplate sufficiently practical ends."
From all this, we see the important place the Sabbath question is to hold in this movement—the important place it even now holds in the minds of those who are urging it forward. Let the amendment called for be granted, "and all the results indicated in this note," says the writer, "will ultimately be secured;" that is, individuals and corporations will be restrained from violating the Sunday observance. The acknowledgment of God in the Constitution may do very well as a banner under which to sail; but the practical bearing of the movement relates to the compulsory observance of the first day of the week.
Even now the question is agitated why the Jew should be allowed to follow his business on the first day after having observed the seventh. The same question is equally pertinent to all seventh-day keepers. A writer signing himself "American," in the Boston Herald of Dec. 14, 1871, said:—
"The President in his late message in speaking of the Mormon question, says, 'They shall not be permitted to break the law under the cloak of religion.' This, undoubtedly, meets the approval of every American citizen, and I wish to cite a parallel case, and ask: Why should the Jews of this country be allowed to keep open their stores on the Sabbath under the cloak of their religion, while I, or any other true American, will be arrested and suffer punishment if we do the same thing? If there is a provision made allowing a few to conduct business on the Sabbath, what justice and equality can there be in any such provision, and why should it not be stopped at once?"
And this question, we apprehend, will be very summarily decided, when once the Constitutional Amendment has been secured.
At a Ministerial Association of the M. E. church, held in Healdsburg, Cal., April 26-28, 1870, Rev. Mr. Trefren, of Napa, speaking of S. D. A. ministers, said, "I predict for them a short race. What we want is law in the matter." Then referring to the present movement for a law, he added, "And we will have it, too; and when we get the power into our hands, we will show these men what their end will be." From a work recently published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, entitled "The Sabbath," by Chas. Elliott, Professor of Biblical Literature and Exegesis in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest, Chicago, Ill., we take this paragraph:—
"But it may be asked, Would not the Jew be denied equality of rights by legislation protecting the Christian Sabbath and ignoring the Jewish? The answer is, We are not a Jewish but a Christian nation; therefore, our legislation must be conformed to the institutions and spirit of Christianity. This is absolutely necessary from the nature of the case."
There is no mistaking the import of this language: No matter if the Jew does not secure equal rights with others. We are not a Jewish nation, but a Christian; and all must be made to conform to what the majority decide to be Christian institutions. This affects all who observe the seventh day as much as the Jews. And we apprehend it will not be a difficult matter to lead the masses, whose prejudices incline them in this direction, to believe that it is "absolutely necessary" that all legislation must take such a form, and cause them to act accordingly.
Several years since, Dr. Durbin of the Christian Advocate and Journal, gave his views on this subject as follows:—
"I infer, therefore, that the civil magistrate may not be called upon to enforce the observance of the Sabbath [Sunday] as required in the spiritual kingdom of Christ; but when Christianity becomes the moral and spiritual life of the State, the State is bound through her magistrates to prevent the open violation of the holy Sabbath, as a measure of self-preservation. She cannot, without injuring her own vitality and incurring the divine displeasure, be recreant to her duty in this matter."
At a meeting held at Saratoga Springs, Aug. 12, 1860, ex-president Fillmore said that "while he deemed it needful to legislate cautiously in all matters connected with public morals, and to avoid coercive measures affecting religion, the right of every citizen to a day of rest and worship could not be questioned, and laws securing that right should be enforced."
And the Christian Statesman of Dec. 15, 1871, speaking of the general disregard of the Sabbath [Sunday] in the arrangements for welcoming the Grand Duke Alexis, says:—
"How long will it be before the Christian masses of this country can be roused to enact a law compelling their public servants to respect the Sabbath?"
A very marked and rapid change is taking place in public opinion relative to the proposed religious amendment of the Constitution. We have learned of instances of men who were at first openly hostile to the movement, now giving their influence for its advancement, and clamoring loudly for a Sunday law. And some who at first regarded it with indifference, are now becoming its warm partisans. As a sample of this change of feeling, the following paragraph from the Christian Press of Jan., 1872, may be presented. The Christian Press is the organ of the Western Book and Tract Society, Cincinnati, Ohio, and its editor, speaking of the National Association above referred to, says:—
"When this Association was formed, while we were prepared to bid it God speed, we did not then feel that there was any pressing need for the object sought; and as our mission was specially directed to the Christianizing, enlightening, and elevating of the masses of the people, we have said little in our columns on the subject, being assured that if the people are right, it is easy to set the government right. The late combined efforts, however, of various classes of our citizens to exclude the Bible from our schools, repeal our Sabbath laws, and divorce our government entirely from religion, and thus make it an atheistic government—for every government must be for God or against him, and must be administered in the interests of religion and good morals, or in the interests of irreligion and immorality—have changed our mind, and we are now prepared to urge the necessity for an explicit acknowledgment in the National Constitution of the authority of God and the supremacy of his law, as revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments."
With the anti-Sunday movements of the present day, considering their associations, and the manner and object in and for which they are carried forward, we have no sympathy. They aim at utter no-Sabbathism, freedom from all moral restraint, and all the evils of unbridled intemperance—ends which we abhor with all the strength of a moral nature quickened by the most intense religious convictions. And while the indignation of the better portion of the community will be aroused at the want of religious principle and the immorality attending the popular anti-Sunday movement, a little lack of discrimination, by no means uncommon, will, on account of our opposition to the day, though we oppose it on entirely different ground, easily associate us with the class above-mentioned, and subject us to the same odium.
Meanwhile, some see the evils involved in this movement, and raise the voice of alarm. The Christian Union, Jan., 1871, said:—
"If the proposed amendment is anything more than a bit of sentimental cant, it is to have a legal effect. It is to alter the status of the non-Christian citizen before the law. It is to affect the legal oaths and instruments, the matrimonial contracts, the sumptuary laws, &c., &c., of the country. This would be an outrage on natural right."
The Janesville (Wis.) Gazette, at the close of an article on the proposed amendment, speaks thus of the effect of the movement, should it succeed:—
"But independent of the question as to what extent we are a Christian nation, it may well be doubted whether, if the gentlemen who are agitating this question should succeed, they would not do society a very great injury. Such measures are but the initiatory steps which ultimately lead to restrictions of religious freedom, and to commit the government to measures which are as foreign to its powers and purposes as would be its action if it should undertake to determine a disputed question of theology."
The Weekly Alta California of San Francisco, March 12, 1870, said:—
"The parties who have been recently holding a convention for the somewhat novel purpose of procuring an amendment to the Constitution of the United States recognizing the Deity, do not fairly state the case when they assert that it is the right of a Christian people to govern themselves in a Christian manner. If we are not governing ourselves in a Christian manner, how shall the doings of our government be designated? The fact is, that the movement is one to bring about in this country that union of Church and State which all other nations are trying to dissolve."
(Concluded next week.)
A Great Deal to Thank God For
Of the late Bishop Ames the following anecdote is related: While presiding over a certain conference in the West, a member began a tirade against universities, education, etc., and thanking God that he had never been corrupted by contact with a college. After proceeding thus for a few minutes, the Bishop interrupted him with the question: "Do I understand that the brother thanks God for his ignorance?" "Well, yes," was the answer. "You can put it that way if you want to." "Well, all I have to say," said the Bishop in his sweet musical tones, "is, that the brother has a great deal to thank God for."
KEEPING ALIVE.
By Theodore L. Cuyler
BEING born is one thing—but keeping alive is quite another thing. Myriads of children who were born five years ago are lying under the white coverlet of this March snow. Conversion is a birth into a new life through the power of the Holy Spirit. But not all the people who have been converted are now leading a strong, effective, happy spiritual life. A fearfully large number of Christ's enrolled army are to-day in the hospital or else asleep under the baggage-wagons. Some have deserted outright.
Two things are vital to the preservation of a healthy Christian life. The first of these is genuine prayer. Not the formal repetition of devout phrases every night and morning—which lulls the soul to sleep just as surely as a low crooning tune puts a child asleep in its crib. Genuine prayer is a very different thing. It is the soul's uplifted look and uplifted cry to the Infinite Love. It is the keeping of an open track to the Throne, and maintaining a constant intercourse with God. Prayer establishes the same connection between my soul and God that the water-pipes in my house do between my household and the Ridgewood Reservoir. Prayer is the conduct-pipe between me and my heavenly Father. It is the outlet upward for praise and penitential confession and petition for hourly help; it is the inlet through which the supplies of divine grace descend into the soul. When the heavenward channel is allowed to freeze up, I am in the same plight with the housekeeper who inquires, "How is it that the water does not run to-day?" The plumber comes and soon explains the difficulty. "Madam, your pipes are frozen up; the connection with the reservoir is stopped." Woe be to the Christian who has broken his connection with Jesus! And no surer reason can be given for the lack of conversions and spiritual growth in certain churches than the fact that their prayer-pipe is frozen up; there is not faith and fervor enough in their meetings to thaw out the ice.
A twofold office belongs to genuine prayer. It serves as the outlet of gratitude and the inlet of grace. We must thank God heartily for all he has given, and then we shall receive still more abundant gifts to be thankful for. Stinginess in praise brings scantiness of spiritual growth and blessings. Our prayers do not smell sufficiently of the sweet fragrance of thankfulness. For us ill-deserving sinners to be anywhere out of perdition is a matter for thanksgiving; but to be actually on the pathway of hope, with showers of blessings and the sunlight of promises streaming on us, is enough to make "our feet like hinds' feet," and our souls leap for joy. Inventory your mercies, brother! stop complaining, and throw on the altar a handful of frankincense, that the Lord may smell "the sweet savor" of our gratitude. "Father," said Molly, the little daughter of the Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, "I wish I was big enough to say grace at the table to-day, for I was thinking what must poor people do who have no salt to their potatoes; and look what a plenty of both we have got to-day."
Prayer is the inlet also, and when that channel is clogged, the starvation of piety begins. Every spiritual supply comes through this channel. Just as soon attempt to keep up a blooming and fruit-bearing piety without fervent prayer, as to get your geraniums into full flower by locking them up in the dust and darkness of a "Greenwood" vault. Backsliding is both the cause and the effect of a neglected closet. The first symptom of consumption in a church is a thin prayer-meeting. The mighty Christians have always been mighty in prayer. A certain mission school superintendent sent for Edward N. Kirk to preach to his ragged flock, and the whole night previous to Brother Kirk's coming was spent in wrestling prayer; the word was clothed next day with power. Piety is born in prayer; if it ever dies it is for the want of prayer.
The second essential to spiritual life was condensed by our Master into the short word "watch!" He knows our weaknesses; and when he coupled prayer and watchfulness, he married the sovereignty of God to the believer's free agency. If we do our part God will do his. Never has there been a human heart that could be trusted without oversight, and a very, close, wakeful, constant oversight. If you were set to keep a bird unfastened on the palm of your hand, you would realize what is meant by "keeping the heart with all diligence." You must have the arm of godly resolution ready to seize it the moment it attempts to fly off into sinful indulgence. Do not take off the eye, do not drop the hand one moment. We never know when the temptation is coming. Temper will start up like an unchained dog; lust will take fire at a stray spark; an unruly tongue may get loose; pride, covetousness and other sins steal in with smooth face and under the cloak that hides their ugliness.
Vigilance is the price which every Christian must pay for being the servant and the heir of Christ Jesus. Watch for the sly approaches of the tempter! Watch for the return of those wretched "tramps," your besetting sins, whom you have so often ordered off your premises. They know every gate; look out! Watch the leadings of your Master. Watch for opportunities to do good. Blessed is that servant whom the divine messenger shall find watching! The most comprehensive hint that we can give for preserving your spiritual life is to use your knees in prayer, your eyes for watchfulness, your purses for benevolence, your tongues for faithful testimonies, and your whole heart and hands in constant work for the Saviour who has redeemed you from eternal death.—Dr. T. L. Cuyler, in Christian at Work.
A LITTLE FAMILY FOX.
ONE of the most malignant of the family foxes is discourtesy, and he creeps into many households where one would not suppose it possible for him to find even momentary hospitality. People who are ordinarily polite, well-bred, and genial, are sometimes guilty of rudeness in manner and speech and action at home, of which they would be ashamed in society. Parents are hasty and fretful in their way of addressing or reproving children, and children forget the respect and honor due to parents. A great deal of unhappiness overclouds homes which might be bright as the morning, but for this wretched habit of brusqueness and incivility, which fastens on some unfortunate victims like a second nature. It has its different phases, to be sure. When papa indulges in it, the family are apt to say that he is tired. If it is mamma who is irritable and peevish, it is intimated that she is nervous.
When Aunt Kitty or Sister Sophy are short and snappish, it is excused because they were up late last night at a party, and it is only little Floy or small Tom who is sent to bed in disgrace for answering impertinently and frowning blackly. A little leaven leaveneth the whole family lump, and it is curious to see how rapidly and certainly this evil infection spreads. Persons who are invariably polite to each other in the presence of their sons and daughters, do not often have to check the latter in a thoughtless or improper manner of speaking, for courtesy, as well as its opposite, is atmospheric and educational. It is worth while, if the fox we are thinking of has intruded into our vineyard and begun his work of spoiling our tender grapes of good-will, of gentleness, and of daily cheer, to think how best to banish him.
There are three magic P's, which have never failed, when properly used, to utterly rout and destroy the subtle foe. Their names are patience, perseverance, and prayer. If you feel that your family has fallen into the custom of being cross and unmannerly, pray first to have your own heart and temper sweetened, then meet angularity and crookedness with invincible patience, and be not discouraged in setting a good example. — Christian at Work.
"THY KINGDOM COME."
O Lord, we yearn for brighter skies,
We long for fresher air;
The sickening cry of human woe
Is floating everywhere.
The earth is waxing dim and old,
Delusion blinds the eye;
The giddy throng rush blindly on,
Unheeding tear and sigh.
"Thy kingdom come." O hear the prayer!
Thy will on earth be done!
O rise, thou Light that shines for aye—
Thou never-setting Sun!
The world's wild fever rages on,
O whisper, "Peace, be still!"
The soul is urgent in its need,
The void, Oh what can fill?
Naught, naught but higher, grander life,—
All fresh from living springs;
A freedom from the pain and care
Of earth and earthly things.
"Thy kingdom come," with tears we pray;
With faith we plead with Thee;
O fill the earth with righteousness,
As waters fill the sea.
The time will come, the day is near!
Rejoice, ye saints, and sing!
O hear ye not a far-off sound,
Like rush of angel's wing?
The warning now is going forth—
The glory soon will dawn!
"Thy kingdom come!" Oh, blessed day!
Creation's happy morn.
—Selected.
FAITH AND OBEDIENCE.
By Christian
"FAITH cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." The root and ground of faith is confidence in God's word. But faith thus begun by the grace and truth of God, requires for its perfection obedience and diligence on our part. We are told that in the case of Abraham "his faith wrought with his works, and through works was his faith made perfect." The prevalent weakness of faith may be therefore attributed first, to ignorance or to neglect of the sacred Word, and second, to our own disregard and neglect of the divine commands. Men doubt God's promises when they have disregarded his precepts. Faith is confidence in God, and confidence must be mutual in order to be complete. No disobedient child can have perfect confidence in the parent whom he has disobeyed. No wayward and disobedient Christian can have full faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. First, God commands us to believe, second, to obey; and "Faith without works is dead, being alone." There must be this obedient life in order to evince the reality of the faith which we have, and to perfect it, giving room for its exercise and its growth. With more hearty obedience, unbelief will vanish like a dream; and knowing God as our Father and our Friend, we shall believe his words, and believing have life through his name.—Christian.
TURKEY'S SICK-BED.
The "Sick Man" has fallen so low with the disease of his religious faith and his unreligious practices, his squanderings of the money wrung from the poor people who unfortunately are his subjects, while the obligations of his Government are ignored or neglected—in fine, he is so low on a political couch that it resembles a death-bed, and he a corpse, that the Signatory Powers have found it necessary to come to an understanding in his case, and they have agreed upon a meeting of their representatives to make a political diagnosis of the case and prescribe a bolus for the cure. Turkey is politically sick—very sick. She has neither money nor credit, neither the power to pay her debts, nor apparently the desire to do so. She would not exist to-day as a Power in Europe had not the Signatory Powers intervened just as Russia was hammering away at the gates of Constantinople. Jealousy of Russia saved Turkey. In a month or two more, if not interfered with, Russia would have blotted the name of Turkey from the map of Europe, as it should have been. But she was saved, upon condition of performing certain stipulations, which she agreed to fulfill, and which she immediately determined not to fulfill, and has not.
She has not kept faith with Greece, nor Montenegro, nor with any other Power. And she fails in all her professed purposes. Without money and without credit, the business of her Sultan is to squander money obtained by any possible means, to maintain his seraglio in splendor, while his subjects starve; and his Pashas use their opportunities and their authority to grow rich by their system of enforced collection of taxes. Germany, which has been holding back, has at length agreed to hold a conference in common with the other Signatory Powers, but requiring that a definite programme shall be prepared before the conference takes place. They will be the conference which shall hold its consultation over the "Sick Man." And they agree beforehand that what they decide upon must be done, and, if military force shall be required in Turkey to ensure the carrying out of the work they agree upon as necessary, each of the Plenary Powers must furnish its complement. Turkey, most likely, will ere long furnish a repetition of the dismemberment of Poland. Nothing but the mutual jealousies of several of the Powers can prevent this result. Turkey is doomed, and civilization has no reason to sorrow over it.—Alta.