Your ShelfYour Projects

Review and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 43.

MEDITATION ON THE LAW

Review and Herald

Oct 22, 1901

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 22, 1901

MEDITATION ON THE LAW.

By Mary Evelyn White

MARY EVELYN WHITE. (Birmingham, Ala.)
Seek first Jehovah's will to do, the rest shall be added be; But if earth's pleasures first are sought, they must suffice for thee. God's name is Jealous, and His laws unchanged and perfect now As when they first were thundered forth from Sinai's flaming brow.
The ten commands were written there, and then to mankind given, By Him who saith: “I'll alter not the words I spake from heaven;” The same to-day and yesterday, our God, the same for aye; With Him a day a thousand years—a thousand years a day.
Fear Him, and keep His perfect law,—add not, take not away,— Add not unto, lest unto thee He adds the plagues that day When Christ shall come to gather home all those His word who do; Take not away, lest from life's book thy name be taken too.
“Unto no idol bend thy knee.” Obey no king nor priest Who teaches thee to break God's laws, e'en though one of the least. Our Saviour came not to destroy or change, but to fulfill; He said: “I've kept my Father's laws, and done my Father's will.”
As Christ hath done, so must we do; and then we shall abide In Jesus' love. What care we then though sinners may deride? He that hath Christ the Father hath—Father and Son are one; They perfect are, and without change—the Father and the Son.

THE VOICE OF FAITHFUL REBUKE.

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE.
“And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”
At this time Israel was almost wholly given up to idolatry. Clouds and thick darkness covered the whole land. Images of Baalim and Ashtoreth were everywhere to be seen. Idolatrous temples and heathen idols occupied the sacred soil, and the air was polluted with the smoke of the sacrifices offered to false gods. Hill and vale resounded with the drunken cries of a heathen priesthood. Guided by the king and the priests, the people drank iniquity like water, and sported in shameful riot round their idols.
Alas! how had the glory of Israel departed! The light so graciously given them, despised and rejected, had indeed become darkness. The salt had lost its savor. The fine gold had become dim. So dense was the spiritual darkness that it could be felt.
Elijah saw that Israel had departed from God, that idolatry had become widespread, and he besought the Lord of heaven to arrest the people in their wickedness. He prayed that from those who had no appreciation of the mercies daily bestowed on them, these mercies might be withdrawn, that they might be brought to see their dependence, and to humble their hearts before God, confessing and forsaking their sins.
God answered his prayer by sending him to Ahab with the message of Heaven’s curse. The prophet passed the guards,—they seemed to see him not,—and stood for a moment before the king, saying, “There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” Like a thunderbolt from a clear sky the message fell upon the ears of the wicked king, and before he could recover from his surprise, Elijah had disappeared, taking with him the key of heaven. The king made inquiry for him, but he was not to be found. No one had observed his coming or going.
No sooner had Elijah left the presence of Ahab than the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee.” God placed His servant beyond the malice of a king who by his course of action had brought upon the land the terrible denunciation of an offended God.
The prophet’s message had been delivered in the name of the Lord, and the judgment declared immediately followed. “There was a sore famine in Samaria.” The country was desolated. Once flourishing cities and villages became places of mourning. The scorching rays of the sun and hot gusts of wind destroyed vegetation. Plants and trees withered and died. Streams dried up. The lowing herds and bleating flocks wandered hither and thither in distress.
“And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.”
Obeying the word of the Lord, Elijah presented himself before the king. “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” He cast upon the prophet the blame of the heavy judgment resting upon the land. Thus it is to-day when the truth is presented. A son, a daughter, a father, a mother, may heed the message of mercy. The other members of the family refuse to walk in the light. A division takes place, and the unbelieving ones feel that a great injury has been done them because the harmony of the family is destroyed. They cherish hatred against the one who bore the message of truth. The faithful presentation of the message of truth will always cause division. And upon the messenger of truth the blame of the trouble will be cast. “If these men had not come and turned things upside down, all would have been well,” it is said. But the blame rests upon the people, even as it did upon Ahab.
The messengers sent by God to deliver His warnings are hated by those whom they warn. The people charge upon them the calamities which are the result of their own departure from righteousness. Those who thus place themselves in Satan’s power do not see things as God sees them. They are blinded by Satan. When God’s mirror is held up before them, instead of repenting and turning from sin, they become indignant to think that they should be reproved. They think that an uncalled-for attack is being made upon them, and that the messengers of God are their enemies.
Elijah did not attempt to excuse himself or to flatter the king. He did not smooth down his message in order to save himself. He did not seek to evade the king’s wrath by the good news that the drought was almost over. “I have not troubled Israel,” he answered; “but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” The prophet told the king plainly that his sins and the sins of his father’s house had brought upon Israel the terrible calamity from which the land was suffering.
In this our day grievous sins have separated the people from God. Infidelity is fast becoming fashionable. “We will not have this man to reign over us,” is the language of thousands. God’s people must lift up the voice like a trumpet, and show the people their transgressions. The smooth sermons so often preached make no lasting impression. The trumpet does not give a certain sound. Men are not cut to the heart by the plain, sharp truths of God’s word.
Many of those who profess to believe the truth would say, if they expressed their real sentiment, “What need is there of speaking so plainly?” They might as well ask, Why need John have said to the Pharisees, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Why need he have provoked the anger of Herodias by telling Herod that it was unlawful for him to live with his brother’swife? He lost his life by speaking so plainly. Why could he not have moved along without incurring the wrath of Herodias?
So men have argued, till policy has taken the place of faithfulness. Sin is allowed to go unrebuked. When will the voice of faithful rebuke be heard once more in the Church?
“Thou art the man.” These words are almost unheard among us. If they were not so rare, we should see more of the power of God. The Lord’s messengers should not complain of their efforts being without fruit until they repent of their own love for approbation, their desire to please men, which leads them to suppress the truth, and to cry, Peace and safety, when God has not spoken peace.
The world is full of flatterers and dissemblers. Those who are men-pleasers, who cry Peace, peace, might well humble their hearts before God, asking for pardon for their insincerity and lack of moral courage. Such men do not smooth down their message from love for their neighbor, but because they are self-indulgent and ease-loving. True love is a love which seeks first the honor of God and the salvation of souls. Those who have this love will not evade the truth to save themselves from the unpleasant results of plain speaking. When souls are in peril, they will not consider self. They will not excuse or palliate evil.
Would that every minister of God realized the holiness of his work and the sacredness of his office. As divinely appointed messengers, ministers are in a position of awful responsibility. They are to reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering. In Christ’s stead they are to labor as stewards of the mysteries of heaven, encouraging the obedient, and warning the disobedient. Worldly policy is to have no weight with them. Never are they to swerve from the plain path in which Jesus has bidden them walk. They are to go forward in faith, remembering that they are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. They are not to speak their own words, but the words which One greater than the potentates of earth has bidden them speak. Their message is to be, “Thus saith the Lord.” God calls for men like Elijah, Nathan, and John the Baptist, men who will bear His message with faithfulness, regardless of the consequences, who will speak the truth bravely, though it calls for the sacrifice of all they have.

THE DIVINE RIGHTS OF KINGS.

By H. A. St. John

ELDER H. A. ST. JOHN.
Have kings any divine rights? — To be sure they have. Let us enumerate some of them: —
1. They have a divine right to the divine nature, the same as every other man, and no class of human beings have greater need to become partakers of the divine nature than kings.
2. If they have come to the throne legitimately and honorably, they have a divine right to rule after the divine plan and the divine order. For this purpose they are set up and ordained of God.
3. They have a divine right to command and to enforce obedience to their commands, provided always that their commands are within the bounds of their divine authority to rule.
4. They have a divine right to be honored. “Honor the king.” It is not honoring a king to disobey God, or do a wrong thing, even though it be in obedience to the command of that king. God commands children to honor their parents, but it is a great dishonor to any parent for a child to sin, even though the parent commands it. Even so sin is a reproach and dishonor to any nation, and likewise to the king or ruler of that nation.
5. If a king will do the commandments of God, he may have the divine right to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God, and hence the divine right to an abundant entrance through the gate into the immortal, undefiled, and unfading city of God.
Truly, kings have a respectable array of divine rights, which, if rightly respected by them, will entitle them at last to the divine respect of the King of kings.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S CONVERSION.

By S. N. Haskell

ELDER S. N. HASKELL.
“Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all the people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are His signs! and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation.” Dan. 4: 1–3.
In the fourth chapter of Daniel is found the experience of Nebuchadnezzar as first related by himself, and recorded by the Spirit of God for the benefit of all who might live in subsequent time. In some respects it is the experience of every truly converted soul. It was first written by himself, and sent to “all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth.” It was the first impulse of a soul set free by the grace of Christ. He published this to show “the signs and wonders that the high God” had wrought in his own heart. He was free from the fear of man, from the restraint of pride or position, and with a spontaneous outgushing of soul, declared what God had done for him. This is the first impulse of the soul that has been truly illuminated by the Holy Spirit. He was not ashamed to tell to all the world that the ruling sin of his life had been the means that God had taken to humble his proud heart before Him. Pride had so blinded his heart that he could not discern spiritual things; it had so closed the avenues of his soul that the Spirit of God could not enter. This sin of pride is shown by his own words: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?”
About thirty years before this, God had sent to this proud monarch the following message: “Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all.” It was God who had given him wisdom to perfect the city of Babylon; it was God who had given him power and strength and glory; it was God who had given him control of the nations, and made him ruler of the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air. In the eyes of man, and from a worldly standpoint, he occupied much the position in a fallen world as Adam did in an unfallen world.
The kingdom of Babylon was the mightiest and the most magnificent that ever existed in this world. The prophet Isaiah, a hundred years before the king was born, had called Babylon “the glory of kingdoms.” Jeremiah had said that it was God who gave all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, and had declared that he was “my servant.” He was simply the agent which God used to bring that nation to its height and glory in order to reveal to the universe certain principles that show the falsity of Satan’s charges against Christ, and to show what man would become without Christ, when ruler of the world. Nebuchadnezzar did not recognize that God’s hand was in the affairs of the nation; he did not recognize that God had given him success, but thought it was because he possessed superior qualifications.
Thirty years before this the wise men of Babylon, in whom the king had trusted, were brought to confusion by Daniel’s revealing the dream and giving the interpretation, a record of which is given in the second chapter of Daniel. At that early date the Spirit of God had begun to work upon the heart of the king, but he did not submit to its influences. Pride stood in the way. This had so closed the avenues of his soul that the Spirit of God could not enter; and, although his wise men were confounded, and He was obliged to acknowledge that God was a God of gods and a revealer of secrets, still, in the form of idolatry, he worshiped Daniel instead of worshiping the true God. It was pride which prevented the conversion necessary to bring him into close relation with God, and so he commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors to Daniel.
Twenty years later the Lord called his attention in a public manner to His power again, by delivering the three worthies from the fiery furnace. On this occasion he acknowledged that he knew God and His Son Jesus Christ, for when he beheld the four men walking in the fiery furnace, he said, “The form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Daniel and his brethren must have taught that the Son of God had a form, and that the angels could and would protect His people. He acknowledged their deliverance to be by the ministration of an angel, for he said that God had sent His angel to deliver His servants who trusted in Him. He also acknowledged that there was no other god who could deliver after this sort.
Isaiah’s prophecies had been recorded concerning King Sennacherib, and how God had said to him: “Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defensed cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way which thou camest.” Isa. 37: 26–29. The king must have been acquainted with all this, and with the proud Assyrian king’s humiliation by angelic ministration. God does none of His work in a corner, but that all nations should fear before Him. This should have been a lesson to this proud monarch; and if he had regarded it, he would have been saved from the sad experience recorded in Daniel 4.
From the beginning there have been wrecks stranded on the shores of time, prominent among which are such characters as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who have sailed on the seas of life boasting that wisdom, power, and might were theirs, without acknowledging the God of Israel. Notwithstanding God had thus spoken to the king, he manifested his pride, as recorded in the third chapter of Daniel, when he made the image all of gold, not recognizing that the future kingdoms of this world would greatly deteriorate, as represented by the silver, brass, iron and clay, in the image of the second chapter. The decree issued by the king, as recorded in the third chapter, was far from the decree that would come from an enlightened conscience that could say, “Thy gentleness hath made me great.” It was not religious liberty to force men not to speak against the God of Daniel. Pride in the soul prevented the working of the Spirit of God. It is the same with every other heart that is filled with pride; should God work with our efforts, the instrumentality would attribute the glory to his own smartness, his own wisdom, his own ability, and do as the Pharisee, boast of his own accomplishments:“I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” Nebuchadnezzar still felt to boast of all that he had done. But when self is hidden in Christ, pride and boastfulness will not be manifested, but the practical side of Christianity will be revealed.
Eight years before Nebuchadnezzar wrote this letter to all the nations of the earth, he had received a warning of what would come upon him. God had given him a dream, and had sent the warning by the prophet Daniel: “O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be an healing of thine error.” One more year of mercy was granted to the proud monarch, but even then his proud heart was boasting of what it had done: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar.” There is a limit to God’s mercy; there is a last call before mercy takes its everlasting flight from any soul. Had not this sad experience humbled his proud heart, his destiny would have been forever sealed. He was driven from men, and he was compelled to eat grass as oxen.
During these years of insanity, he must have had some knowledge of God, and he must have known that he was wrestling against the Spirit of God; for when he lifted up his eyes to the God of heaven, his understanding returned to him, and he blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him. Then he relates his own belief that “all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou?”
Many walk over the same road that Nebuchadnezzar did. Self is exalted, and they feel that the success of the work of God depends wholly upon them; they have wrought wonders; they have built up Conferences; they are the ones who have done such wonders in such a wonderful manner. “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?” Other means of building up the cause of God are not necessary in their estimation, for they can accomplish more by their own methods than others can accomplish by different methods; in short, no one is capable of doing what they can do. Such a spirit gives evidence of an unregenerate heart and an unsubdued soul; and unless their hearts are renewed, they will find that God has no use for them in His work. Had not God prospered this monarch, and does Babylon not stand forth to-day as a monument of a kingdom of glory as far as this world is concerned? In all the history of the past six thousand years, who gives wisdom and strength and power? Is it not God? God should be acknowledged as the author of every bright idea, as the source of every intelligent thought expressed. Our success must be in God. When self becomes so large, God cannot dwell in the soul. It is Christ’s life that brought salvation to the world; in the cessation of His life, the surrendering of His own self, lay the secret of salvation. The great apostle to the Gentiles said, “I die daily.” There is no room for selfishness or self-righteousness when Christ has possession of the heart. He will take no inferior place; for it is either He himself that fills the soul or self swells up to importance and fills the soul-temple.
It is because of this pride of heart that Nebuchadnezzar could not see the true spirit and be led by the Spirit of the Lord into true conversion when God first called him by a direct message from heaven. It is the same at the present time; man cannot see God. Pride shuts the avenue of the soul so that the Spirit of God cannot enter the heart. It was God who humbled the proud king. The language of the apostle Peter is: “Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” When God humbles men, it is after they refuse to humble themselves. It is not always pleasant, but it is quite effectual. It was thus in Nebuchadnezzar’s case. He who swayed the mightiest scepter ever swayed by mortal man, was brought to where he could acknowledge God, and God alone. “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou?” A holy watcher had the guardianship of the king from the beginning. God had bestowed upon him wisdom, glory, and power. The king in his dream had seen this “holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it.” It was the last call that inspiration records that God ever gave this king; but it accomplished its object.
This is the last we hear of Nebuchadnezzar. We hope that his last days were as recorded in this chapter. If so, he will be saved as a monument of grace, having passed through an experience that brought him where his whole soul felt that he must acknowledge God before all people, nations, and tongues.
When he was restored to his former position, the promise that God will restore the years that the cankerworm hath eaten was fulfilled. He spoke of himself as an instrument in God’s hands to accomplish what was done, and acknowledged God’s works as truth and His ways judgment. The last words of this letter which the king sends forth are, “Those that walk in pride He is able to abase.”
We learn two important principles from this record: First, the proud heart is ever seeking to divide the glory with itself until self becomes god, and is worshiped by himself and others. The evils which come from this state of mind and the different ways of manifesting itself are legion; second, a heart thoroughly humbled before God will so appreciate the saving grace of Christ that its first desire will be, not what I have done, but, “Hear what the Lord hath done for my soul.” The work of changing the human heart is the greatest of all miracles.

AN OPEN LETTER.

By Chas. P. Whitford

MY DEAR FRIEND: It is sad to contemplate how few seem at all desirous, much less anxious, to know the way of life and salvation. The multitudes are as careless and indifferent to the signs of the times as were those who lived in the days when God proclaimed a message of warning through faithful Noah. For one hundred and twenty years the message was sounding forth to the inhabitants of the Noachian world. A flood of water is coming. True to the warning message, the flood came and destroyed the people. But they need not have been thus overtaken and destroyed. Their attention was called to the fact that the earth was to be flooded with water. A means of escape was also provided, but they would not accept the plan.
Thus, says the Saviour, shall it be in the end of the world. The Lord will not leave the people of this generation to perish without first warning them of the danger, and pointing out a way of escape. I will quote the warning as I find it recorded in Rev. 14:9-12: “If any man worship the Beast and his Image, . . . the same [this same man] shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation. . . . Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
There is not such a solemn message of warning and severe denunciation of wrath to be found elsewhere in the Bible. Notice, it is “the wine of the wrath of God” which is to be poured out upon those who “worship the Beast.” Rev. 15:1, in speaking of the seven last plagues, says, “For in them is filled up the wrath of God”—full of wrath, that is, wrath “without mixture.” Rev. 14:10. In the sixteenth chapter we have a description of the wrath. It is terrible to contemplate that the teeming millions of earth’s inhabitants will “worship the Beast and his Image,” and as a consequence drink the unmingled wrath of God. But it must be so. In the days before the flood they were eating and drinking to excess, going on in a wild and careless career of business and pleasure, and “knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
The trouble then was that the people would not believe the Lord. It is just the same to-day. But few believe the seventh day is the Sabbath, but God says that it is. The Bible says, “God is not a man, that He should lie.” Num. 23:19. The people and their ministers say the first day is the Sabbath; in this they flatly contradict the great God. But in saying that Sunday is the Sabbath they do agree with the popes of Rome and the whole Catholic world, and thereby place themselves on the side of Rome. They not only say Sunday is the Sabbath, but they keep it; and Paul says, in Rom. 6:16, “that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are.” So, then, in keeping Sunday they are doing just what the warning message of God tells them not to do, under penalty of drinking the wine of His wrath.
It is a serious thing to charge God with being a liar. When He states a fact, and we do not believe Him, that is exactly what we do. Here is the proof: “He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar.” 1 John 5:10.
Seventh-day Adventists are a peculiar people. Titus 2:14. They believe the Lord. When the Bible says the seventh day is the Sabbath, and the popes of Rome and the whole Protestant world say that the first day of the week is the Sabbath, Seventh-day Adventists have no hesitancy in deciding which is right. They have no reason to doubt the Lord’s word; consequently they cannot believe those who contradict His word.
Why were the people in Noah’s time destroyed? — Simply because they would not believe theLord. Had the people believed the Lord, they would have been saved. It is faith that saves to-day. Faith would have saved then. “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” Eph. 2:18. But, says one, “I believe. Why am I not saved?” — Simply because you have no faith. Faith works. Read Gal. 5:6, and you will see that “faith works by love.” The principle, then, upon which faith works is love, and love always renders cheerful, willing obedience. Where there is no obedience, there is no love; and where there is no love, there is no faith.
If one thinks he has faith while living in known disobedience, he is deceived. Faith in Noah’s time would have enabled the people to obey the voice of God, and thus have been saved from the destruction by which they were overtaken. Faith to-day in the message of warning which God is causing to be heralded to earth’s remotest bounds, will so work in men that they will be found keeping the commandments of God rather than rendering obedience to earthly powers which are in opposition to God.
The message for to-day is, “If any man worship the Beast and his Image, and receive his mark, . . . the same [that same man, no matter who he is, or where he is] shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” But who believes the message to be of God? — A few despised Seventh-day Adventists. The multitudes do not, and will not, believe the Lord. The Lord says they will not believe, and He has never told a lie. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” It is safe to believe the Lord, and there is no safety anywhere else. The sin of unbelief is the sin of the age. Faith is the connecting link between earth and heaven. Without faith it is impossible to please God. The converse must be true—with faith we can please Him. So then it is faith that brings us into harmony with God in the keeping of His commandments. CHAS. P. WHITFORD.

HOW TO BEGIN TO BE A CHRISTIAN.

By Henry Drummond

MAKE that one corner, room, house, office, as like heaven as you can.
Begin? — Begin with the paper on the walls; make that beautiful; with the air, keep it fresh; with the drains, make them sweet; with the furniture, see that it be honest.
Abolish whatsoever maketh abomination,—in food, in drink, in luxury, in books, in art,—whatsoever maketh a lie,—in conversation, in social intercourse, in correspondence, in domestic life.
This done, you have arranged for a heaven, but you have not got it. Heaven lies within,—in kindness, in humbleness, in unselfishness, in faith, in love, in service. To get these in, get Christ in. Teach all in the house about Christ,—what He did and how He dwells in them, and how He makes all one.
Teach it not as a doctrine, but as a discovery,—as your own discovery. Live your own discovery.—Henry Drummond.

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

By A. J. B.

— Boston, Mass., is a Catholic city, Romanists predominating.
— According to Paris statistics 1,684 persons were bitten by mad dogs last year.
— Sir Joseph Dimsdale, M. P., is now Lord Mayor of London, succeeding Frank Green.
— The final census reports indicate that the males in this country outnumber the females.
— Insurance men complain that too many of the recent large fires have resulted in total loss.
— President Roosevelt is urged by Indianapolis financiers to reform the present banking system of the country.
— During the past year the United States received 487,918 immigrants — over 100,000 more than the preceding year.
— A petition has come to light, requesting the United States to stop sending supplies to the British in South Africa.
— Dean Lung, a Chinaman, gives $12,000 to the Department of Chinese Literature, of Columbia University, New York City.
— The public debt of the United States is now $1,031,524,365, having decreased $4,825,401 during the month of September.
— Before long Leo XIII will begin the twenty-fifth year of his pontificate. A grand pilgrimage is planned for the celebration of the event.
— Senator Dietrich, recently returned from the Philippines, says that the Samar massacre was “a result of establishing civil government too soon.”
— The residence of the President will not hereafter be called the Executive Mansion, but simply the White House — by orders of Theodore Roosevelt.
— The Russification of Finland still continues to progress rapidly. The Aftonbladet, a Stockholm paper, declares that after Finland Sweden’s turn will come.
— There are nearly 1,000,000 names on the pension rolls of the United States. It is stated that one person out of every seventy-six in the United States is a pensioner.
— An English paper states that smoking, gambling, and drinking are common in the women’s clubs of London. The same is true among the so-called upper classes of this country.
— Of the seventy-seven parishes in the island of Anglesey (off the west coast of Wales), thirty-eight, with a population of 9,414, do not contain a single saloon, or public house.
— Sir Thomas Lipton’s yacht “Shamrock II” will be kept in American waters this winter, in order to enable it to race with the “Columbia” and “Constitution” next summer.
— An exchange says that “cocaine sniffing is on the increase in the South among the negroes. The drug is sniffed up the nose, and the results produced are somewhat the same as those obtained by smoking an opium pipe.”
— The prisons of Italy are now “filled to overflowing with political suspects, big hauls having been made by way of precaution against accidents while the young King Victor Emmanuel III and the Queen are making a tour of the provinces.”
— The native population of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska has greatly decreased. Assistant Surgeon Thornbury, of the Marine Hospital Service, states that “where formerly there were 120 villages on the islands, with a population of from 1,500 to 2,500, there are now only ten villages and 1,000 inhabitants.”
— The names of those who did not pay their taxes last year, in Saxony, have been published in a list which is hung in prominent restaurants. It is said that “those on the list can get neither meat nor drink at these places, under penalty of loss of license” of said restaurants. This reminds one of the treatment which all will receive who refuse to worship the Beast and his Image.
— Owing to the scarcity of labor in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico, “an immigration campaign is being inaugurated,” and “twenty thousand dollars is to be spent in advertising the advantages and possibilities of these States.” The agents of the Canadian government have, by this method of advertising, induced between 30,000 and 40,000 people to settle in the Northwest Territory.
— According to A. D. W. Wolmarans, one of the Boer envoys who has been visiting Mr. Kruger at Hilversum, Holland, the mental condition of the latter is “by no means satisfactory.” He seems to be “slowly growing weaker, physically and mentally,” and it is thought that “his slowness in reaching a decision on important questions is a serious hindrance to those working in Europe in behalf of the Boer cause.”
— In the near future the railroads of Sweden will be operated by electricity. The power for making the current may be easily secured through the abundant water power in the falls and rapids of that country’s rivers. It is estimated that 32,000-horsepower would be ample to operate the 7,500 miles of railroads in Sweden. The cost of erecting twelve central power stations, of 3,000-horsepower each, would be about $10,000,000.
— It is stated upon reliable authority that “the combined cost of the United States army and navy maintenance and increase during the four years preceding the war with Spain was $328,362,242, and the same establishments during the following four years down to July 1 last, cost the government $842,193,149. This is a difference of nearly $514,000,000, which fairly represents the cost of the Spanish and Philippine wars; and as the War and Navy department expense in the past two years has been some $397,400,000, compared with $444,600,000 for the previous two fiscal years covering all phases of the Spanish war, the Philippine conquest may be said to have already proved to be the more costly war of the two,” and that war is not over yet. A. J. B.
Continue reading: BURNED DOWN AGAIN