Earlier text: Zeal for God in Finishing His WorkTrust in Him at All Times
By Pearl Waggoner
When the path seems hedged before
you,
When dark clouds obscure the day,
Then just trust in God, who loves you;
He will hear you when you pray. Trust in him in time of sorrow;
Trust him though the tears should
start;
Roll on him your heavy burden,
Him who knows so well the heart. Trust in him when strength has failed
you,
When you feel undone and weak;
'Tis his strength must win the battle,
And 'tis given to all who seek. Trust in him when doubts are pressing,
When the enemy is nigh;
Draw upon his changeless promise,
He will all your need supply. Trust in him when all is pleasant,
When the heart can but rejoice;
Though the way seems light before you,
Listen for his guiding voice. Trust him, too, though round about you
Other friends should faithless prove;
One whose trust in him is anchored
Storms of earth can never move. And if down the darksome valley
It should be you're called to go,
Trust in him who lives and loves you,
Who has conquered every foe. Trust in God, your Friend, Redeemer,
Trust in him forevermore;
He will guide you surely, wisely,
Safely, to the better shore. Trust in him, yes, trust him always;
Trust in him when fears assail;
Find in him your mighty Helper,
Refuge that shall never fail. CLARENCE SANTEE
By CLARENCE SANTEE
Perhaps the greatest trial of faith that can come to a human being is to be brought face to face with hunger and thirst, with no visible means of satisfying either. When encamped at Rephidim, waiting for the pillar of cloud to move, there being no water in that place and that which they had carried with them being all spent, the children of Israel did what others have done, and sought the men whom God had led, determined that they should bring relief or be put to death. Ex. 17: 3, 4. Thus ever has Satan led his subjects to vainly believe that to silence the voice of God's ministers who have faithfully warned them of the results of their wicked course, would bring relief. It was so when Samaria was besieged by the Syrians, while the prophet of God, Elisha, was one of the sufferers from the famine in the city. They said, Kill Elisha. 2 Kings 6:26-31. It was so when Jeremiah earnestly pleaded with Zedekiah to obey the Lord. The counselors said, Put Jeremiah to death. Jer. 38: 4, 5. So it will be when the final warning has been given to this world. "It will be determined to strike in one night a decisive blow, which shall utterly silence the voice of dissent and reproof. . . . In every quarter companies of armed men, urged on by hosts of evil angels, are preparing for the work of death."—"Great Controversy," page 635. But now, as then, God will deliver his tried ones who have trusted in him. The message they gave was not theirs, but God's. They had simply followed the guiding pillar, not being responsible for where it led, knowing that it led toward Canaan. But for this, the wrath of the enemy must concentrate upon the visible representative, because it could not reach the God who sent them. Moses sought the Lord for the relief so sorely needed by the short-sighted people who had followed him from Egypt's darkness. The Lord commanded him to take of the elders of Israel, and go before the people to the rock in Horeb. He was to smite the rock with his rod, but God must give the water. "Moses smote the rock, but it was Christ who stood by him and caused the water to flow from the flinty rock."—"Spirit of Prophecy," Vol. I, page 228. See also 1 Cor. 10:4. Moses' weary heart was refreshed as he stood once more at the feet of that rock in Horeb where many times he had rested his sheep. Ex. 3:1. It had been to him, indeed, "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Isa. 32:2. What a lifetime of experience had been his since he heard the call of God to deliver Israel. It was here that he had received the promise from God when called to return to Egypt: "When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain." Ex. 3:12. Wonderful events had taken place in that short time. If, when pleading in that place with God to send some other man, the meek shepherd of Midian had known all that he was to pass through before again reaching that mountain, he would no doubt have still refused, to his rejection of God and his own ruin. But seeing and walking but a day at a time, he had learned lessons of divine power, resource, and love, that were fitting him to become a messenger to bear words of encouragement to the Son of God when in his time of temptation and trial. Luke 9:30, 31. Even so today; we can see but a step, but by taking that step another is revealed, and again power is given. Is it not all we need? God never calls upon any person to take more than one step at a time. Then, weary, care-burdened soul, trust God and take another step. It is all you need now. The last one—though but one—will carry you across the threshold of the great pearly gate, and inside of the city of God. As Moses smote that time-remembered rock, in the shadow of which he had rested from the heat, the waters flowed out, not a feeble, trickling stream, but a mighty fountain. "He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers." Ps. 78:16. O that Israel had now learned the lesson of faith! They had been delivered from the bitterest servitude. Their lives had been preserved from the armies of Egypt; they had been fed with the "corn of heaven" (Ps. 78:24), water had been given from the flinty rock. Could they not now trust their all—wives, children, cattle, goods—with God? They had barely camped when Satan made another attempt to thwart the plan of God by their destruction. He instigated Amalek to gather their armies, hoping to blot out the posterity of Jacob from the earth. The old hatred of Esau was in their hearts, they being his descendants. Gen. 36:12. Amalek began by seizing those who had lagged behind. God here taught a lesson through Moses that should never be forgotten. While Moses, with the shepherd's rod pointed toward heaven, prayed, Joshua and the men of Israel fought. The prayers and the doing continued until the close of day, and the enemy was defeated. Ex. 17:9-13. God has prepared no place in which to lay off the armor until the day is gone. Prayer and faithful battling will be sure to win. To dispense with either, will leave the other weak and profitless. "Divine strength is to be combined with human effort." As a result of that day's battle, it is said: "Nor was any one of the Hebrews slain, but the slain of the enemy's army were too many to be enumerated."—"Antiquities," book 3, chap. 2, sec. 5. Again many hundreds of years after, Amalek made another, a supreme, attempt to blot Israel out in the days of Esther, but was himself destroyed from under heaven. (See the book of Esther. Haman was an Agagite. Agag was king of the Amalekites. 1 Sam. 15:8.) Because they, as the descendants of Esau,521"had a perpetual hatred" (Eze. 35: 5), the Lord had said, "I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." Ex. 17: 14. While encamped before Sinai, Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came to meet him, bringing his daughter, Moses' wife, with her sons. Moses' wife and children had been sent back to the quiet of Jethro's home while those stirring events, the trials in Egypt and on the way, were taking place. The Latter Rain
By G. B. THOMPSON
“Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord will make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.” Zech. 10: 1. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came in fulfilment of the Saviour’s promise, given in the upper room, that “another Comforter” would come to take his place in the church, there took place what is called in the prophecy of Joel, the “former rain.” Joel 2: 23. This same prophecy also speaks of the “latter rain,”—a second outpouring of the Spirit,—for the strengthening of the church, the ripening of earth’s harvest, and the completion of the work of the gospel. And as surely as the former rain came upon the church, the latter rain will also come. We are exhorted to “ask,” or “pray,” for rain in the “time of the latter rain.” The time is here. Are we praying for and receiving the rain? In response to the prayer, the Lord promises to give “showers of rain.” The result of this outpouring of the Spirit is that “the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.” Joel 2: 24. The latter rain will give force and power to the message of the third angel, and the earth will be lightened with the glory of the truth. “I heard those clothed with the armor speak forth the truth with great power. It had effect. Many had been bound; some wives by their husbands, and some children by their parents. The honest who had been prevented from hearing the truth, now eagerly laid hold upon it. All the fear of their relatives was gone, and the truth alone was exalted to them. They had been hungering and thirsting for truth; it was dearer and more precious than life. I asked what had made this great change. An angel answered, ‘It is the latter rain, the refreshing from the presence of the Lord, the loud cry of the third angel.’” “Mighty miracles were wrought, the sick were healed, and signs and wonders followed the believers. God was in the work, and every saint, fearless of consequences, followed the convictions of his own conscience, and united with those who were keeping all the commandments of God; and with power they sounded abroad the third message. I saw that this will close with power and strength far exceeding the midnight cry. “Servants of God, endowed with power from on high, with their faces lighted up, and shining with holy consecration, went forth to proclaim the message from heaven. Souls that were scattered all through the religious bodies answered to the call, and the precious were hurried out of the doomed churches, as Lot was hurried out of Sodom before her destruction. God’s people were strengthened by the excellent glory which rested upon them in rich abundance, and prepared them to endure the hour of temptation. I heard everywhere a multitude of voices saying, ‘Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.’”—“Early Writings,” pages 133, 139. For this glorious result we are to look and to pray earnestly, under the influence and power of the latter rain. We must not make the mistake of looking for the evidence of the latter rain in some great demonstration or spectacular performance. Rain does not convey the idea of show or display. From a special testimony I quote: “Unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. It may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern nor receive it.” This is a startling statement. It is only those who are “advancing” in “Christian virtues” who will either recognize or receive the power of the latter rain. All about them are those whom God is visiting, but those who are failing to make advancement in the Christian life are passed by. Surely this is a very sad experience. This brings us face to face with what it means to us individually to receive the latter rain and share in the final triumph of the work of God. From the testimony from which I have already quoted, I make another extract:— “It was by the confession and forsaking of sin, by earnest prayer and consecration of themselves to God, that the early disciples prepared for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The same work, only in a greater degree, must be done now.” The key, then, that unlocks the storehouse of blessing, and brings us to the blessed experience of the latter rain, is consecration. Earnest and importunate prayer, and forsaking of all sin, are included in this. This consecration, we are told, is to be carried forward to a “greater degree” than before Pentecost, when the promised Paraclete took his place in the church. The reason, then, why the latter rain is withheld must be that those who are expecting it are not ready to receive it. Nothing is clearer than that a Christian receives power from God in proportion to the completeness of consecration, or surrender. So before the fulness of the latter rain, there must be the fulness of consecration. Great power means great surrender. “In conversion we receive, in consecration we give; in the one we accept eternal life from God, in the other we offer up ourselves in self-surrender to God; in the one we appropriate the work of Christ done for us, in the other we fulfil the work of the Spirit in us.” True consecration is illustrated by the device seen on an ancient seal. It is that of a burning candle, and underneath it the superscription, “I give light by being myself consumed.” We give light only by giving up our lives. All must be laid on the altar, a living sacrifice. And when we unreservedly place ourselves on the altar, God will kindle the fire. The seal on the tomb of Adam Clarke is a candle burned down to the socket. Underneath are the words, “In living for others I am burned away.” Rev. Charles L. Goodell says: “A good picture for every pastor’s study is the scene of Newburyport with Whitefield, on the last night of his life, ‘weary in his Master’s work, but not of it,’ standing on the stairs of his humble home, holding a light in his hand and talking to the people till the candle burned to its socket and went out. Then the old hero goes up to his chamber. As the light of the morning breaks, the lamp of his life goes out. There you have your burning and shining light.” These illustrations are all similar, and express the idea of what consecration to God means. When this fulness of consecration comes into any life, the latter rain will begin. An impressive illustration of consecration, and the power of the Holy Spirit which was manifested as a result, is seen in the life of Whitefield, the noted divine. He was the companion of the Wesleys in their work. He tells us that he spent whole days wrestling, Jacob-like, with God for his blessing. He found this blessing, and thus speaks of his experience at his ordination:— “When the bishop laid his hands upon my head, if my evil heart doth not deceive me, I offered up my whole spirit, soul and body, to the service of God’s sanctuary. Let come what will, life or death, depth or height, I shall henceforth live like one who this day, in the presence of men and angels, took the holy sacrament upon the profession of being inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon me that ministration in the church.” “I call heaven and earth to witness that, when the bishop laid his hand upon me, I gave myself up, to be a martyr for him who hung upon the cross for me. Known unto him are all the future events and contingencies. I have thrown myself blindfolded, and I trust without reserve, into his almighty hands.”—Stevens’s “History of Methodism,” Vol. I, page 105. Concerning the results of this complete surrender in the life of Whitefield, Rev. A. J. Gordon says:— “And from the very first sermon of Whitefield, when fifteen were driven to522an agony of conviction, to the last, this was the uniform result of his ministry. John Newton records of him that in a single week he received no less than a thousand letters from those distressed in conscience under his preaching. Surely this was not the fruit of his ‘graceful oratory,’ which Franklin and Chesterfield so much admired; but of that power from on high which is promised to those who are ready to tarry in Jerusalem until they be endued with it.” Is there any reason why the people who expect Christ to come in a few brief years, the people who are longing and praying for the latter rain to come and finish the mystery of God in the earth, should not make as full and unreserved surrender to God as did Whitefield? Should not every minister, on whom the hands of ordination are laid, place himself “without reserve” in God’s hands, “to be a martyr for him who died on the cross”? Should not our consecration go as deep as Whitefield’s? Should not workers in every line do the same? If not, why not? Should not the lay members of the church throw themselves “blindfolded” into his hands? Can we trust God and his truth as far as this? In view of the awful hours which are drawing near, when the test will come up to every soul, will anything less than this do? And as surely as God gave to Whitefield, and to others we could mention, the power of the Spirit, he will pour upon his remnant people the latter rain. Shall we not individually get ready for the latter rain? That voice of the divine Teacher, echoing through the centuries down from the grassy slopes of the rising hills near the sea of Galilee, breaks upon our ears, in distinctive clearness, in those words “simply stated, yet involving principles high as heaven and that compass eternity,” “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” This command, like all the commands of God, is of binding character and is exceeding broad; and in the keeping of it there is great reward. Its observance in the individual life would mean “the glorious privilege of being independent,” and in the home the smile of gladness and sunshine through the disappearing shadows of poverty and want, while its magic influence would mold into better shape and stability various departments of our institutional work, give uniformity to the efforts and aims of men, and reaching into the beyond, would secure to the faithful a right to the tree of life, with a happy entrance through the pearly gates into the city of God. All that our Saviour taught during his sojourn among men—the golden rule, the new commandment, God’s care for the sparrows, and the value of the fragments—was but the magnification of the divine precepts, the law of God,— precepts in themselves the embodiment of righteousness and judgment, the principles on which the throne of the Eternal is established. To come into harmony with these precepts is to come into harmony with the divine mind, of which the teaching of Christ is a transcript. John 17:8. Loss, disaster, and ruin come as the result of little things, little digressions from right principles. “It is the little foxes” that “spoil the vines.” “Watch the little outgoes. Stop every leak.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VI, page 206. “A lack of economy will surely bring debt upon our institutions. Although much money may be received, it will be lost in the little wastes of every branch of the work.” “Every man or woman employed . . . should be a faithful sentinel, watching that nothing be wasted.”—Id., page 207. Very much might be quoted from the Testimonies on this subject, but this is sufficient to show that the commandment of which we speak brings a responsibility upon all anywhere and everywhere who have the privilege of acting a part in the Lord’s work. Would that all could realize this responsibility to the extent of placing Heaven’s estimate upon the fragments, and begin to gather them up. “Waste not the minutes in talking; wasted minutes mar the hours.”—Id., page 206. My brother, my sister, can you hear the Saviour’s voice? He speaks of the fragments of your time, “the moments that carry the threads to and fro in the loom of your life.” Are they gathered up for usefulness and gain to the cause of God, or are they allowed to slip through your fingers and be lost, to witness against you? Ah, those wasted minutes, the careless words and their scattering influence, the marred hours and faulty records, registered in heaven! O, that we might sense the truth that the habits which govern our lives to-day betoken our to-morrow and decide our destiny for the ages beyond, and that “slowly the mark of God or of Cain is coming out on our foreheads day by day.” A kind Providence has caused means to pass into your care as a test of loyalty; are you interested in the cause of him “who for your sake became poor”? have you heard the Macedonian cry? and have you gathered up all the fragments, as Jesus taught, or are they lost? Only a little spent to please the taste, and you bow at the shrine of habit instead of at the mercy-seat. A little spent in adornment that the ever-reappearing camera in its pleasing shadows may flatter pride, presenting all that there is untrue. Quite an amount of means has been expended in multiplying copies of their [the youth’s] pictures. Could all enumerate the amount given to the artist for this purpose it would swell to quite a large sum . . . squandered, invested for self-gratification.”—Id., Vol. II, pages 127, 128. “Every shilling wasted on self-indulgence , or given to special friends who will spend it to indulge pride and selfishness, is robbing God’s treasury. The money expended for garments to make a pleasing show is so much that might have been used to advance the cause of God in new places.”—Id., Vol. VI, page 215. Only a little, you say? Only fragments, yet a divine Watcher has his eye upon them. Their value decides the balances, and opens heaven or traces the awful characters of doom on the plaster of the palace hall. That church which appears in heaven without spot, on whose banners are inscribed the commandments of God; that remnant church, which stands upon the sea of glass and waves the palm of triumph over sin, is composed of fragments from every nation and kindred and tongue and people, gathered up through the obedience of that living word, which sounds to us from the hills of Galilee. One writer said of economy that it was “the parent of integrity, of liberty, and of ease. Goldsmith, writing to his brother, said, “Teach your son economy.” O, that humanity would learn to love those magic letters that spell that divine word! not for selfish purposes, but that they might stand where Heaven designs they should stand,—in the interests and for the cause of God. Then very soon would be heard the glad proclamation of emancipation from debt, and we could join in the jubilee. The command, “Owe no man anything,” would become the foundation of the establishment of our institutions, and in advancing light “the wilderness and the solitary place would be glad for them.” MANY of us miss the joys that might be ours by keeping our eyes fixed on those of other people. No one can enjoy his own opportunities for happiness while he is envious of another. We lose a great deal of the joy of living by not cheerfully accepting the small pleasures that come to us every day, instead of longing and wishing for what belongs to others. We do not take any pleasure in our own modest horse and carriage because we long for the automobile or victoria that some one else owns. The edge is taken off the enjoyment of our own little home because we are watching the palatial residence of our neighbor, and longing for his advantages. We can get no satisfaction out of a trolley ride or a sail on a river steamer because some one else can enjoy his own carriage or yacht. Life has its full measure of happiness for every one of us, if we would only make up our minds to make the very most of every opportunity that comes our way, instead of longing for the things that come our neighbor's way.—Selected. Effect of Taletelling
By MRS. J. S. PADGETT
“WHERE no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.” Prov. 26: 20. The ancients have illustrated the effect of taletelling on busybodies themselves by a fable to the effect that the crow, once snowy white in color, wears his present garb of black as a punishment for the crime of talebearing. A poet says:— “The raven once in snowy plumes was dressed,
White as the whitest dove’s unsullied breast,
Soft as the swan; a large and lovely fowl;
His tongue, his prating tongue, has changed him quite
To sooty blackness from the purest white.” The person who allows himself to be a talebearer, who indulges in backbiting and slandering, tarnishes his own character and stains it with shades of guilt and sin. The effect upon the person slandered may not be lasting, for good always outlives the envious assaults of meddlers; but the spirit of calumny is interwoven into the very nature of persons who speak evil of their neighbors. Can a leopard change his spots?—No. Can a taletelling mischief-making troubler refrain from playing havoc with the good name of men?—He can; but only by keeping his mouth as with a bridle. “A froward man soweth strife; and a whisperer separateth chief friends.” Prov. 16: 28. “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.” “LEARN to entwine with your prayers the small cares, the trifling sorrows, the little wants, of daily life. Whatever affects you,—be it a changed look, an altered tone, an unkind word, a wrong, a wound, a demand you cannot meet, a sorrow you cannot disclose,—turn it into prayer, and send it up to God. Disclosures you may not make to man, you can make to the Lord. Men may be too little for your great matters; God is not too great for your small ones. Only give yourself to prayer, whatever the occasion that calls for it.” 218. An afflicted Iowa sister asks prayer for the healing of herself and her son. 219. A sister in Texas, who suffers with rheumatism, desires to be restored to health if it is the will of God. 220. An anxious mother writes from Missouri, begging that we pray God to remove the hindering causes which keep her children from entering the work of God. 221. From a sister in Wisconsin comes the request for prayer that her health and hearing may be restored. 222. “I ask prayers for my son, who has just been placed in an asylum, that he may regain his right mind,” writes a mother from Minnesota. 223. A sister in Oklahoma desires the prayers of this people for the healing of herself and her son. 224. An afflicted Indiana sister requests prayer for healing. 225. A sister writing from Michigan asks that we pray for the healing of her husband, who has been afflicted for fifteen years. “Home is the sacred refuge of our life.”
— Dryden. It is the place in which one resides. It is the spot, or place, dedicated to us and our family circle, where others may not come without permission. It is our place, set apart and enclosed for ourselves. To the eye on the outside there is seen only the measured place or material wall of our dwelling, but on the inside is that which is really home to us. Spurgeon says: “The word home always sounds like poetry to me. It rings like a peal of bells at a wedding, only more soft and sweet, and it chimes deeper into my heart. It does not matter whether thatched cottage or manor house, home is home be it ever so homely, and there is no place on earth like it.” To all God’s children the word home should mean that place which is brightest and best, where there is purest love and truest confidence. Home can be just what home should be only where Christ rules and domestic love presides. Indeed, it is difficult for people to get away from the shade or the sunshine of their own domicile. They may travel far, but the memory cable seldom cuts loose from home. Home is on the mind when they lie down, when they dream, and when they wake up. No matter where the body may be, the thought most generally stays at home. The physical man may ride over the ocean, and yet the mental man for the most part abides at home. His heart and his treasures are in his home. That little place where his family resides, where his own garden grows, and where even his neighbors knock when they wish to be admitted, is bigger and dearer to him than all the world besides. Home is the place where he goes when he wants to rest or when he wishes to pour out the secrets of his soul and divide counsel with that part of himself who keeps the home. Home is the place to which a man returns when his work is done. In that dear old place where we have studied and worked, have eaten and slept, have received our friends and loved our own with all our souls, not only every face but every thing there has become to us sacred and sublime. The old armchair, the consecrated place in the corner, and those who sit in them, are so indelibly written on the home tablet that neither time nor distance can remove them. And that tablet abides in the mind and becomes more and more deeply embedded while passing decades carry us onward in their cycles of time. But neither we in mortal life nor the place we call home on this sin-cursed earth can long abide the wear and ravage of time; yet our home here may be made a place so completely connected with heaven that the abiding presence of God is actually in it. Indeed, our home on earth can in truth become the vestibule of our great eternal home, and so we shall step from it into our mansion in the New Jerusalem. Truly, we are divided by only a little space from our glorified and everlasting home. And so we are to live in our transitory home in such a way as to bind our relatives and household members to heaven with cords too strong for sin to sever. Home should be a happy and holy place, a little church on earth under the control of Him who rules in heaven. There is no period of one’s lifetime when home influences are not needed. When the days of infancy have passed by and the months of childhood have flown, then the years of youthfulness come, during which time the guiding hand of home is needed to direct the vigorous steps leading into the fulness of maturity. Then in the full tide of life, while the responsible years of home-making show their spring-time, their summer, their autumn, and their winter, how careful we should be in our sowing, our culture, and our harvest! For in the strength of these years we show our character, make our history, and seal our destiny. The home of the aged should in a special sense manifest a richness of Christian experience, and the living in it should be enacted vespers for the entering into heaven. In this home the veterans should show the courage of the soldiers that they have been, and proclaim their ripened loyalty to the cause for which they have stood. But in every stage of home life let there be exemplified the true spirit of524kindness which is breathed in the pronunciation of the word itself. It was in exhortation for the people who compose the home and for their betterment that Margaret Sangster wrote,— “If I had known in the morning
How wearily all the day
The words unkind
Would trouble my mind
I said when you went away,
I had been more careful, darling,
Nor given you needless pain;
But we vex our own
With look and tone
I We might never take back again. “For though in the quiet evening
You may give me the kiss of peace,
Yet it might be
That never for me
The pain of heart should cease.
How many go forth in the morning
That never come back at night!
And hearts have been broken
For harsh words spoken
That sorrow can never set right. “We have careful thoughts for the stranger,
And smiles for the sometime guest,
But oft for ‘our own’
The bitter tone,
Though we love ‘our own’ the best.
Ah, lips with the curve impatient!
Ah, brow with that look of scorn!
’Twere a cruel fate
Were the night too late
To undo the work of morn.” Pennsylvania Sunday-Law Hearing
By C. S. Longacre
A MOST interesting hearing on the Standard Bill for One Day of Rest in Seven, “and that Sunday,” was held May 14 at the Pennsylvania Legislature before the Committee of Labor. The bill was introduced by a special committee of the American Association for Labor Legislation, at the request of the Commission on the Church and Social Service, a department of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. It will be interesting to know that this Sunday bill had already passed the first and second readings of both the house of representatives and the senate without any opposition to it. Elder A. R. Bell, however, had asked for a hearing on the bill before it was reported out of the committee for a second reading, and the chairman had promised our people a hearing in case it would be reported. But the religious element brought much pressure to bear upon the chairman. It was charged in the house that he was attempting to chloroform the bill in committee. Because of this pressure, he reported it out of committee without granting the hearing promised to our people. Brother Bell demanded that the bill be sent back to the committee and that the hearing which had been promised, be given. Some of the legislators did not want to do this, but they found out that if they did not, a member of the house would demand it, and expose the fact that they had broken their promise, hence the sponsor of the bill recommitted it, and we were granted the hearing. This seems to have been providential. We were given a most respectful hearing on the part of the committee, and those who were present said it was apparent that the Spirit of God worked on the hearts and minds of the committee as they listened to the truth. Elders Bell, W. A. Westworth, and H. M. J. Richards and the writer spoke in opposition to the bill. Four lawyers also filed briefs in opposition to the bill in behalf of railroad companies that they represented. A representative of the Committee on Labor Legislation and the sponsor of the bill were the only ones who spoke in its favor. So far as we could judge, the committee had their minds completely changed and are now opposed to the passage of the bill. We are hoping that it will be truly chloroformed in the committee. I believe the hearing resulted in a glorious victory for the truth and that steps will be taken to repeal some of the drastic Sunday laws Pennsylvania has now on her statute-books. One of the penalties still in existence for breaking Sunday laws in Pennsylvania is to put the offenders in the stocks as they used to do in Puritan New England. Another Pennsylvania Sunday law requires the keeping of Sunday from sunset Saturday night to midnight Sunday, a period of thirty hours. The Resurrection
By L. D. SANTEE
MANY are sleeping whose years have been few,
Resting in peace 'neath the daisies and dew,
Stricken in childhood, in darkness they lie
Waiting the trump that shall sound from the sky,
Waiting the time when the Saviour in love
Opens their prison, and calls them above.
Lips unre plying shall burst into song,
Life shall be given them, blissful and long. Many who've perished by battle and sword
Are waiting in silence the call of the Lord;
Sleeping in valleys that smile in the sun,
Calmly they rest, with their life-journey done;
Lying on shores where the angry waves sweep,
The thunder of ocean disturbs not their sleep;
Resting on hillsides, afar and alone,
Waiting the call from the King on his throne. Hands that were palsied, and heads that were gray,
Sank to their rest at the dying of day,—
Sank to the silence, so long and so deep,
Where none of the sleepers e'er waken to weep,
Passed from a world that shall know them no more,
Calmly they're waiting for heaven's bright shore;
Resting in peace till the trumpet shall sound,
Then waking to life from their couch in the ground. Heads that were heavy, and hands that were worn,
Feet that the thorns of the journey had torn,
Eyes that were sunken and heavy with tears,
Closed in their darkness, till Jesus appears.
Infant and sire are alike in the dust,
Waiting the call that shall waken the just,
Waiting the trumpet that sounds from the skies
Bidding the righteous to glory arise. State and Church
By W. W. PRESCOTT
Reports, Notes, and Comments Pertaining to the Current History of Religious Freedom, and the Campaign “to Make America Catholic.” Conducted by the Religious Liberty Association. Sunday Law Arguments Revisited
THE Christian Statesman for September, 1912, contained a declaration so completely in harmony with the reason given for demanding a Sunday law in the days of ancient Rome, that it will be of interest to our readers. Commenting on the proposition to have moving pictures exhibited in Pittsburgh on Sunday evenings under the supervision of the Department of Public Works, the Statesman says:— “Such a proposal originates from an improper conception of the Lord’s day and the method of its observance. It would mean labor on the part of many to entertain others. It would mean competition with the churches. “Rev. C. R. Zahlinger, pastor of the Lemington Presbyterian Church, wrote a letter of objection to the authorities. . . . He asserted that such pictures on the Lord’s day would be a desecration of the Sabbath, and would decrease attendance at the churches, which have difficulty in securing audiences during the summer evenings.” It will be remembered that in 401 A. D., a convention of bishops in Carthage sent up a petition to the emperor of Rome, asking “that the public shows might be transferred from the Christian Sunday, and from feast-days, to some other days of the week” for the reason that “the people congregate more to the circus than to the church.”—“Church History,” Neander, Vol. II, page 300, note. “It is easier to feel strongly than to be strong. Yet our strong, deep feelings are well worth while—if we put them to work. We need to remember that ‘emotion is power when it is caught in the cylinder and does not escape in the whistle.’ If a sermon sends worthy emotions charging through us, it is easier to commend ourselves for this feeling than to let our whole life be permanently lifted; but we are worse off if we do nothing about it than if we had never heard the sermon. Every stirring of our right emotion is God’s call to us to become empowered for service.” We should live continually so that our life shall make it easier for others to live; never to be hinderers, but always helpers, of others.—“Things to Live For.”