“O FATHER, don’t! I have seen that all are properly helped.” The old man, thus reproved, replaced the butter-dish upon the tea-table, while a pained look settled about his silent lips. But he so wanted to be helpful that presently he laid hold of the cake-plate and would have set it in circulation.
“O father, don’t! No one is ready for that yet; do leave me to attend to things.”
Reluctantly the trembling hand released its hold. It was very hard to find himself of no use anywhere.
“I thought they might be ready,” he murmured with a deprecatory glance toward the daughter who sat straight and solemn with a frown of displeasure wrinkling her brow. It annoyed her to have her father show himself so far behind the times in methods of table service; to have him, despite her oft-repeated instructions and admonitions, relapse into the simple, unconventional ways of a long outgrown age. It fretted her to have him vary in the slightest degree from the latest established modes of etiquette. She failed to realize that he was her most deserving, heaven-sent guest; that his harmless deviations should be endured and condoned rather than sharply rebuked.
An aged tree can not be bent like a tender sapling. Its eccentricities of growth must now be tolerated. To age with its infirmities, its loneliness, its many deprivations, should be allowed all the privileges and exemptions we would accord a most revered guest. The most comfortable seat in the coziest corner belongs to it; the softest bed in the most desirable sleeping-room should persuade slumber to its eyelids. The food the aged one most craves should oftenest coax his declining appetite. So many tempests of sorrow have racked him, so many life-battles have scarred him, that he has earned repose. Turn to the aged only the sunny side of your nature. The country is yet uncivilized that does not try to pluck every possible thorn from the pathway of age, the heart is yet unregenerate that does not strive to make its rough places smooth with the courtesies that cost so little.—Congregationalist.
THE KIND OF RELIGION WE WANT.
We want religion that softens the step, and turns the voice to melody, and fills the eye with sunshine, and checks the impatient exclamation and harsh rebuke; a religion that is polite, deferential to all, and considerate to friends, a religion that goes into the family and keeps the husband from being cross when dinner is late, and keeps the wife from fretting when the husband tracks the newly-washed floor with his boots, and makes the husband mindful of the scraper and the door-mat; keeps the mother patient when the baby is cross, and amuses the children as well as instructs them; cares for the servants, besides paying them promptly; projects the honeymoon into the harvest moon, and makes the happy home like the eastern fig-tree, bearing on its bosom at once the tender blossom and the glory of the ripening fruit. We want a religion that shall interpose between the ruts and gullies and rocks of the highway and the sensitive souls that are traveling over them.—Helpful Thoughts.
Worthy Ends Come Not by Wishing
“Worthy ends come not by wishing. Wouldst thou? Up and win it, then. While the hungry lion slumbers, not a deer comes to his den.”
The Castor-Oil Tree
“In the land where no wise men are, men of little wit are lords; And the castor-oil’s a tree, where no tree else its shade affords.”
Looking Up to Higher Fortunes
“LOOKING down on lives below them, men of little store are great; Looking up to higher fortunes, hard to each man seems his fate.”
Literary Notices.
“GLORIA DEO,” a collection of Hymns and Tunes for Public Worship, in all Departments of the Church. 8vo, cloth sides, leather back. Price $1.25. Funk and Wagnalls Company, 30 Lafayette Place, New York.
This work of 767 hymns with an appendix of fifty responsive Scripture readings makes claim to the following excellences: (1) Every page is arranged to aid the singer; every hymn in the book is given on the same page with the music. No hymn is printed separate from the music. Each syllable of each line of each verse is, with very few exceptions, right in connection with the note to which it is to be sung. Surely this is a great help to eye and mind, and will greatly help in securing better time. (2) It aims to contain the good tried hymns, sufficient in number, comprehensive in scope and field, adapted to various church requirements, and of good musical quality to satisfy varied tastes. (3) The church, the Sunday-school, young people's organizations are all remembered in the one book, the better to unite all these interests, and familiarize all with the best hymns of the church. (4) The psalter, or responsive readings, is bound with the hymn book, thus saving the cost of an additional book. “Gloria Deo” is designed to be strictly undenominational. It would be too much to expect to find a book free from that unscriptural dogma, the natural immortality of man, and the fair face of this book is also marred by that error as well as some others. We are still asked to sing that we have “a never-dying soul to save,” but saved from what? But in its arrangement it is the best general hymn book we know. It has the following indexes: Table of Contents, General Index of Topics, Index of First Lines, Index of Tunes, and Index of Subjects.
Five books from the Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia, all of unique and striking cover design, nicely illustrated, and beautifully printed, designed for young folks and children. The uniform price of each is one dollar. The books are as follows:—
“GALOPOFF, THE TALKING PONY.” By Tudor Jenks. Illustrations by Howard E. Cott. The story of a Russian pony, and his conversation with two girls and others.
“CAPS AND CAPERS.” By Gabrielle E. Jackson. Illustrations by C. M. Relyea. A story of boarding-school girls.
“THE LITTLE LADY—HER BOOK.” By Albert Bigelow Paine. Illustrations by Mabel Humphrey and others. The story of a little girl.
“TOMMY FOSTER’S ADVENTURES.” By Fred A. Ober. Illustrations by Stanley M. Arthurs. A boy’s adventures in the southwestern part of North America, among Mexicans, Indians, etc., giving much information in an interesting way. It is the most worthy book of the lot.
“FOLLY IN FAIRY LAND.” By Carolyn Wells, illustrated by Wallace Morgan.
We frankly say that the books generally are entertaining and that is about all. Largely that is all they are written for. There is little moral worth in them, and the good there is is often hidden or obscured by mere fancy. The children of the age are getting altogether too much of such unwinnowed provender, made up into attractive candy balls.
“THE MYSTERY OF BAPTISM.” By Rev. John Stockton Axtell, Ph. D. 12mo, cloth, 401 pages. Price, $1.20, net. New York and London: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
We have not space in this brief notice to review this book. Suffice to say that nearly 400 pages are used to obscure a glorious Scripture ordinance in meaning and mode. There are truths taught in the book, but even these are obscured in the effort to teach what Bible baptism is not, a sprinkling. The author tells us that the Scriptures do not mention the mode, when it is indicated by the very Word itself. Forty-two pages in Madison C. Peters’s little book, “Why I Became a Baptist,” is worth the ten times that number in Mr. Axtell’s work, in the elucidation of Bible truth.
“THE AFFIRMATIVE INTELLECT.” By Charles Ferguson. 12mo, cloth, 264 pages, 90 cents, net. New York and London: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
A very bright book, full of studied talking periods. It is an optimistic book, projected on wondrously bright, fetching lines, which will end in the fog of oblivion. Mr. Ferguson believes that “the kingdom is at hand.” The primal and spiritual impulse he finds in faith—the faith of the affirmative intellect. Its outward manifestations he sees, in embryo, in three social organisms: the Church, the Political Party, and the University. The positive organization of society, he believes, will consist in a blending of the three: the Church de-dogmatized; the Party humanized by the abolition of the political machine, and the University democratized by an infusion of the modern practical spirit. All of which would be good if true; but according to the Divine Word is not true. The kingdom of Christ will not enter through “the gateway of politics,” or “the affirmative intellect” of American university life. It is a brilliant dream, but only a dream, “as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite.” It is not the evangel of “the American Spirit” that the world needs, but the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ. And yet Mr. Ferguson says some good things, and shatters many idols that he may erect his own, clothed with the garb of the Divine.
The Discourse of the Rev. Geo. Thos. Dowling, D. D., delivered a few weeks ago in Christ Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, Cal., of which he is Rector, and which is published by his Vestry, on “Romanizing Tendencies in the Episcopal Church,” has reached its ninth thousand.
“A NEW AMERICA.” Alumni Oration at the Centennial Celebration of the University of Georgia, June 18, 1901, by Emory Speer, LL. D. A glorification of the past South and the future America linked with England.
Beautiful Christmas BOOKS
AMONG all the little books published for gifts, those listed below are easily the most attractive and valuable. The publishers, T. Y. Crowell & Company, of New York City, have certainly earned the thanks of the public by placing within their reach such carefully selected, well printed and beautifully bound books.
PRICE, 35 cents each
$3.00 for 12
FOLLOWING IS THE LIST
What a Carpenter Did with His Bible
Poetry of the Psalms
Good Manners and Success
Laddie
Golden Rule in Business
Unto the Hills
By the Still Waters
Don't Worry
Ideal Motherhood
Miss Toosey's Mission
Blessings of Cheerfulness
Loving My Neighbor
Girls: Faults and Ideals
An Iron Will
Greatness of Patience
What Is Worth While
Fruit of the Vine
Young Men: Faults and Ideals
Pacific Press Publishing Co.
OAKLAND CALIFORNIA
RURAL HEALTH RETREAT STOCKHOLDERS.
All persons owning stock in the Rural Health Retreat Association of California are entitled, upon the transfer of said stock, to receive a life-membership in the California Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, the new incorporation organized to take its place. Promptness in sending in stock is very desirable, as it will expedite the transfer to the new corporation. Address, E. E. Parlin, Secretary Cal. M. M. & B. A., 1436 Market Street, San Francisco, Cal.
TIDINGS FROM AFRICA.
By Estella Houser
Natives Grinding or Stamping Corn Outside of Village Fence, So. Africa.
NO PART of the great harvest-field yields richer returns, in proportion to the amount of labor performed, than the needy fields abroad. Why?—Because these fields are already ripe for the harvest, and the set time has arrived, just before the coming of the Son of man, when this Gospel of the kingdom is to be preached to all the world. We see the signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and in the earth, and rejoice, because they portend the return of our Saviour. But the progress of this last message of mercy to earth’s remotest bounds is no less a sign,—yea, it is an earnest,—that He is coming quickly. True, “upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity,” exists. Yet in the midst of all this distress, the Gospel message goes forward. This has been demonstrated by the experiences of the missionaries who are laboring in South Africa. One would naturally think that such circumstances as have existed there for the past two years would retard the work. But in spite of these discouraging conditions, the present year in many respects has been one of the most successful. True, what might have been done in times of peace and comparative prosperity is now being done under discouraging, forbidding circumstances; but the results are no less sure.
The South African Conference
S. D. A. Church in Rhodesia, So. Africa. Erected in July, 1899.
of Seventh-day Adventists has just closed one of the most prosperous years of its existence. Souls have been converted. Altho military surveillance has of necessity prevented the general circulation of literature, that which has been sent out has been received gladly, and has been the means of calling the attention of some to the Christian’s hope soon to be realized. The fact that because of the war, laborers were not able to move freely from place to place, gave them opportunity to work more thoroughly the fields where they were located, and as a result churches have been organized or companies of believers developed. The following testimony concerning meetings held at one point gives an idea of the nature of the work going forward in that field:—
I held meetings on three Sabbaths and Sundays in succession, and each evening of the first week. A mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit began with the very first meeting, at the close of which three young souls yielded themselves to the Lord for the first time. This was a signal for many new consecrations, which continued throughout the course of the meetings, culminating on the afternoon of the second Sabbath, when a large number of church-members were lifted out of long-standing clouds, and gained victories over stronghold besetments. I have never before seen such a manifestation of God’s power as came into that meeting. I had the joy of burying five young sisters in the watery grave.
At the conference recently held, steps were taken to enlarge the work. The territory of South Africa was divided, and mission fields embracing the Orange River Colony, Natal-Transvaal, Basutoland, and Rhodesia, were formed. Among the heathen nations the Lord has blessed in a remarkable degree. The mission among the Basutos, which began about two years ago, is assuming interesting proportions, and some of this tribe are rejoicing in the truth for these times.
In Rhodesia,
altho the ranks of laborers have been repeatedly broken by death, and only recently by the death of the superintendent, Pastor F. L. Mead, who could ill be spared, the efforts have been prospered beyond the expectation of the laborers located there. The work has been placed on a substantial basis. Some true conversions have been experienced, and to-day four young men are among their own people, teaching what they were taught at the mission. Two have a school of twenty-five members, and the other two have thirty enrolled. One chief, two hundred miles to the northeast, has sent two of his boys to be educated at the mission farm, and calls anxiously for a teacher. How sad to say, “We can not supply your demand.” Yet such is the reply that has been made. May He who has called us to this work touch the hearts of those whom He is fitting for these needy fields. One new mission station has been opened one hundred and forty miles northeast of the present mission farm, and only for lack of men and means have other points been passed by without the help they should have, and for which they have entreated.
The thorough work that has been done for the young men in the school at the mission farm is illustrated by the earnestness of one who walked seventy miles to another mission station and back again, in order to secure a Zulu Bible, paying for it out of the small earnings he had saved from his work at the mission farm. Another walked fifty miles and returned, to pay from his earnings a debt which he had contracted before his conversion. And even the children who are in the orphanage show an interest in carrying the Gospel to those of their people who have not had the privilege of hearing it, by going without breakfast one morning during the week, that the cost of the meal may be used for missionary purposes. Plans are now on foot to assist the young men who have been converted, but who can not be sent out as evangelists or teachers, to form Christian homes in the vicinity of the mission, where their surroundings may tend upward, and where they may be strengthened by the Christian influence of their teachers.
The White Man’s Grave.
On the West Coast, familiarly known as “The White Man’s Grave,” a little company of Sabbath-keepers is rejoicing in the hope of the soon-coming of the Saviour, and pleading that some one be sent to assist them in warning their fellow-men. Altho they have not had the help of a missionary for four years, they have remained faithful, and have been able to add a few to their number. This location must soon receive attention; for the last message of mercy is due to the people of the West Coast of Africa, as truly as it is to any other part of the world, and reports indicate that there are some in that part of the harvest-field who are hungering for light on the Word of God.
In Egypt
the message of truth is progressing, altho the enemy has seemed to leave no stone unturned to thwart the work. The mere handful of laborers, however, are enjoying the blessing of the Lord, and earnest believers in the second coming of Christ are being developed. A captain who for many years had kept the Sabbath of the fourth commandment amidst bitter opposition, having discovered from the Word of God that it was binding, was recently found by one of our missionaries. It was known throughout his entire neighborhood that he observed the seventh day. A minister of the Gospel has been stirred up13to assist in proclaiming the closing message, and many are inquiring. The little that has been done has created a stir in this ancient land of the Nile, even as far south as Assouan. One interesting conversion is that of a man about thirty years of age, who lost his sight five years ago, and has been in the institute for the blind two years. He professed to be an infidel. He has asked for baptism, and is keeping the commandments. He understands seven languages, and has been appointed to take charge of an institute for the blind in that country. He is very anxious to do something to give to the blind in Egypt and other countries the message which is so precious to him.
Need of Laborers.
In the dark continent of Africa, with almost two hundred million souls, only five ordained ministers are laboring to proclaim the last message. With these are associated several licensed ministers, Bible workers, and colporters. But what are these few to the vast numbers that must be warned? As the progress reported brings good cheer, because it betokens a completion of the work entrusted to the church, at the same time it should inspire to greater activity. The one work before the church to-day is to send this Gospel to earth’s remotest bounds. When that is done, her mission on earth is finished. There need be delay no longer. Where once we waited for the open door, now the open door invites. There is no country so closed but that the messenger may enter, and no people so hardened but that a few may be gathered out for His name.
Not one individual here and another there, is called to this work, but he who claims the promise, “Lo, I am with you alway,” must also accept the commission, “Go ye into all the world.” Like the Macedonians, may we who profess to love His coming first give our own selves to the Lord, then all we possess, for the advancement of His work, and so do with our might what our hands find to do, that His coming may be delayed no longer.
ESTELLA HOUSER.
FIRST-FRUITS FOR GOD.
By J. W. Cochran
First-fruits for God—of corn and vine,
Of tree or bush, of sheep or kine;
Of all that men call mine and thine—
The first and best for God.
First-fruits for God—of daily toil,
What hands have gathered from the soil,
Or brains have wrought by midnight oil—
The first and best for God.
First-fruits for God—from stores and trade,
From ships and railroads lending aid,
From all that factories have made—
The first and best for God.
First-fruits for God—for this new year,
We'll give Him all we hold most dear;
We'll try to spend it in His fear—
The first and best for God.
—J. W. Cochran.
THE THRILLING CRY.
By W. A. Spicer
A Season of Prayer and Gifts for Missions.
“In earth’s dark hour God’s Word gives light,
Its rays dispel the thickening gloom;
The path to glory now is bright—
The Bridegroom soon will come.
Then lift your voices, saints, and sing
Your sweetest strains to Zion’s King—
The thrilling cry—we hear it sound,
‘Prepare to meet your Lord.’”
So runs a verse of one of the old Advent melodies. We are singing the old songs over again now, with a new inspiration; for the call comes from heaven to awaken the church to go forth to meet the Bridegroom.
We are to meet Him out on the world’s great highway, holding forth the lighted lamp of truth. When awakened believers press through every land with the thrilling cry, the end will come—He will come whom we love, and come to save.
Believers in the Advent doctrine have been too prone merely to watch the signs of the end and assert with all truthful emphasis the fact that the coming King is at the door; while the work given us to do, as heralds of His coming, has not been taken up as the all-absorbing interest and obligation of the life. Consequently there has been delay. The witness to the coming One has not been borne to every tribe and people.
Now, as clearly as tho by a fresh revelation from heaven, the literal rendering of the closing phrase of Rev. 10:6 has come to Advent believers: “THERE SHALL BE DELAY NO LONGER.” With the whole world open before us, in the name of King Jesus, and by His grace, let us take up the commission, “THE ADVENT MESSAGE TO ALL THE WORLD IN THIS GENERATION!”
It can be done. First of all, God’s power is pledged to the people who will accept the commission. “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” A power and a glory that shall compass earth and sea, and bring the Advent warning to all flesh within the space of one generation, are to be revealed. The time has come for it. In our generation it is to be done.
The world is waiting for the message. Everybody knows that a hand, as plainly revealed as tho it were visible, is holding back the elements of strife; it is the arm of the Lord made bare. Out among the nations there is an undercurrent of intensity that heaps up intensity as the days fly by. The world is ready, on its side, for the great Armageddon. Not all, by any means, will hear the message with the ear of faith. But among men generally there is such a revelation of the truth, from heaven direct, that there is a conviction in the heart of the truth of the Advent warning. I have found it so among Mohammedans and Hindus of the East. Our missionaries everywhere report that the “thrilling cry,” “Prepare to meet your God,” is the cry that arrests attention. The Holy Spirit is preparing every heart in this whole world, I verily believe, to give the final answer soon to the invitation of the message.
Just one thing now is wanting. Believers in the Advent message are to speed through every land as heralds, sounding the cry. It is a simple problem after all—the consecration of all that belongs to the life, and a united seeking of God to know the place and the way of witnessing. Thousands must go to other lands. Thousands more must work and pray and stand by with financial support. But those who go, and those who stay, must throw into this work their every energy.
Our Mission Board is sending out workers. Nearly every week, this past season, some have been sailing. It seems pitiful to send one or a dozen to lands where scores and hundreds are called for, and where thousands would not represent the distribution of effort which obtains in this home-land. But step by step we have been getting a foothold in every continent. Now the cry is to press in and finish the work. No more delay. Pray and give and go, and soon the work will be done.
Will not the readers of the SIGNS unite with us in the special season of prayer for missions, Dec. 21–28, and join also in the special offering for mission work to be made during that time? We need an offering of $100,000 during the week for aggressive work that should be taken up at once. Last year, while in India, I had the pleasure of administering a fund of some thousands, raised by readers of the SIGNS for the relief of famine sufferers and needy ones in that stricken country. It was a splendid offering. But now we have to respond to the constant cry of those who famish for the living bread from heaven, the Word of Life. Very few indeed realize what the need is. But we know. We have what the world needs. It is the Message of salvation, the Gospel of the kingdom. All who would like to take part in the special offering for missions during the closing week of this year, are invited to send their offerings to the Editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal., or to the Mission Board, 267 West Main St., Battle Creek, Mich.
W. A. SPICER, Secretary Mission Board.
THE CHICAGO MEDICAL MISSIONARY TRAINING SCHOOL.
The class instruction and training of this school is conducted under the supervision of the Chicago Branch of the Battle Creek Sanitarium. The same general line of instruction is maintained during the first year as is carried on at the parent institution, and it is planned for the workers to take their second year's work in the Battle Creek Sanitarium Training School.
Instruction is given in the different lines mentioned below by the following instructors: Bible Study and Missionary Methods, Dr. David Paulson; Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene, Dr. W. B. Holden; General Nursing, Dr. Mary Wild Paulson; Hydrotherapy, Dr. Elmer Otis; Practical Nursing, Miss Edna Langley.
The fall class is not so far advanced but that a dozen earnest, consecrated young men and women could yet enter, and thus secure, not merely the benefit of efficient class instruction, but also have a part in the unparalleled opportunities that a great missionary effort in such a large city as Chicago necessarily affords.
Those who anticipate coming should write at once for application blanks, and should also send in the names of several responsible persons to whom we could refer for further information in regard to their general fitness for such work. Applicants for this class should be at least twenty years old. They must possess a definite and positive Christian experience, and must already have engaged to some extent in soul-saving work.
Several young ladies who feel no call to take up the Medical Missionary Training School work, but who have a fair education and good tact in meeting people, can secure employment at once in our University Hygienic Dining Rooms, on small salaries. None need make application for this work unless they, also, possess a genuine missionary experience.
Applications for either the Training School or for positions in the Dining Rooms may be sent to the Chicago Medical Missionary Training School, 28 Thirty-third Place, Chicago, Ill.
PERIODICALS WANTED.
CLEAN copies of the SIGNS and tracts for distribution in Thomasville, Thomas County, Georgia. Send, postpaid, to Mrs. Lulu Wightman.
LATE clean copies of any of our denominational publications, for missionary work. Address, post-paid, E. J. Harvey, San Diego, Cal.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
We are requested to state that the Welcome Visitor is Academia, Knox County, Ohio.
THE baptism of three candidates at Eugene, Oregon, is noted in the Visitor by Brother H. J. Schnepper.
THE annual session of the Missouri Conference is set for the 26th to the 31st inst., at Utica, in Livingston County.
A new house of worship was dedicated at Pound, Wis., on the 1st inst., by Brethren C. J. Herrmann and H. W. Reed.
A SABBATH-SCHOOL was recently organized at Clarksburg, W. Va., with F. M. Gardner as superintendent and Minnie Haddix secretary.
IT was decided at the late General Conference Council to select four experienced canvassers from the Australian field and six from the United States, to go to England with the general agent next spring to push the canvassing work there.
AS a result of labors by Brother J. A. Holbrook, at Halfway, in Pine Valley, Oregon, a church of thirteen members was organized October 19. Subsequent labors resulted in an addition of nine more, and the erection of a house of worship.
DOCTOR A. N. LOPER, formerly medical superintendent of the College View (Nebraska) Sanitarium, has accepted the like position in the St. Helena Sanitarium, St. Helena, Cal. Mail addressed to him at Sanitarium, Cal., will reach him promptly.
FROM the South African Sentinel we learn that the church at Claremont received an awakening through the labors of Brother G. W. Reaser, during his brief stay at the recent conference session. Six candidates were baptized, and the church was much refreshed.
BROTHER J. M. REES, president of Missouri Conference, reports to the Record a recent visit to the church at Kingsville. He says: “This is one of the oldest churches in the conference, and after many years meeting in a school-house they now have a very nice church building in which to hold their services.”
WRITING to the Dakota Worker from the island of Trinidad, Brother W. G. Kneeland says: “At present we have one chapel to dedicate the 23d of this month [November], and another being built, while a lot has been secured for a third. We are compelled to build or stop our work in these places.” However, they can build churches that answer their purpose much cheaper than in the Dakotas. But he reminds the Dakota brethren that there are many more people to reach in Trinidad with less than one-tenth of the facilities for successful work that are available in Dakota. They expect to use two tents next season.
Medical Missionary Recruits Wanted
Wanted.—Forty young men and young women to enlist as medical missionaries. We want those who have had fair educational advantages, who are sound in health, and who desire to fit themselves to engage in that most useful and important work, the care of the sick. Write at once for application blanks. Address, St. Helena Sanitarium, Sanitarium, Cal.
LESSON 1.—JANUARY 4.—THE BARREN FIG TREE.
NOTE.—In the preparation of these lessons all Scripture references, and the pages of “Christ’s Object Lessons,” should be thoroughly studied first, then the questions. The questions are not the lessons. They are only for the purpose of finding out what we have observed while studying. More of the preciousness of these lessons will be obtained if the lesson is studied each day throughout the week. In the parables of Jesus there is salvation from sin for every type of sinner—from the Pharisee to the prodigal. The lessons are wholly selected from such portions of “Christ’s Object Lessons” as apply to each lesson.
6 “And He spake this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit thereon, and found none. 7 And he said unto the vine-dresser, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why doth it also cumber the ground? 8 And he answering saith unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: 9 and if it bear fruit thenceforth, well; but if not, thou shalt cut it down.”
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
1. With what form of teaching did Jesus continue His instruction? Verse 6. Note 1.
2. What fact was stated as the basis of the lesson?
3. What did the owner naturally expect from his tree?
4. What was the result of his search for fruit?
5. How many times was this experience repeated? Verse 7.
6. What command did he give concerning the tree?
7. What question indicated its worthless condition?
8. How much longer did the dresser of the vineyard ask it to be spared? Verses 8, 9.
9. What effort would he make to render it fruitful?
10. On what condition only would it be spared further?
11. If it failed to fulfil this condition, what was to be done?
12. What application did the parable then have? What application now?
NOTES.
1. TO THOSE acquainted with the Old Testament Scriptures the basis of the instruction in this parable was perfectly familiar. A fruit tree existed simply for the purpose of bearing fruit, and when it failed repeatedly to do this, it was not to be permitted to draw life out of the earth merely to keep itself alive. This was the Gospel of the fruit tree, and it had been frequently interpreted to the people. The cause of barrenness was to be found in sin (Ps. 107:33, 34), while righteousness was the basis of fruitfulness (Ps. 92:12–15), which would continue even “in old age.” The truth had been set forth that delight in the law of the Lord would result in bringing forth fruit (Ps. 1:1–3), and the Messiah’s work in imparting to His people “the law of the Spirit of life” would make them “trees of righteousness.” Isa. 61:1–3.
2. THE rejection of the Messiah and His work of grace resulted in the loss of the kingdom of God, which was given “to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” They thus lost the opportunity of giving to the world the Gospel of the kingdom.
3. THE tree which did not “cease from yielding fruit” was constantly proclaiming the experience of “the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” Jer. 17:7, 8. In the light of these interpretations, those who heard the parable of the unfruitful tree had no difficulty in making a right application of its meaning. With the further light from the teaching of Jesus (Matt. 7:19; John 15:2–5), we ought to be able to make a close personal application of this lesson (2 Peter 1:5–8), and bring forth “fruit worthy of repentance.” Read Luke 13:1–5, which gives the circumstances which led to this parable, and then read Rev. 3:14–19, and note the earnest call to repentance. This parable is present truth.
