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Signs of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 20.

ALL PRAISE BE THINE

Signs of the Times

May 17, 1905

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · May 17, 1905

ALL PRAISE BE THINE

By George Lansing Taylor

GEORGE LANSING TAYLOR
"NOT unto us, O Lord, not unto us," The praise or honor, power or glory be! Our naked spirit bows in shame and dust, And empty all our nothingness to Thee.
"Not unto us!" How trifling all our might, Our toils or talents, gifts or growth or grace; Nothing, and less than nothing, in thy sight, Our works, ourselves, before Thy glorious face.
"Not unto us;" the grass, the flowers, the trees, Breathe in low whispers when the sunshine rains; "Not unto us;" the beasts, the birds, the breeze, Responsive murmur o'er the hills and plains.
"Not unto us!" with kneeling waves the sea Proclaims in reverence 'round a thousand shores; "Not unto us;" throughout infinity From space to space the star-voiced anthem pours.
"Not unto us;" Thy feeblest offspring sigh, The animated notes through nature sown; "Not unto us;" Thy grandest creatures cry, That burn with formless flames before Thy throne.
"Not unto us!" how sweet to join the strain, In self-deliverance blissful and complete; And all our toils, successes, failures, pain, To lose, O Christ Jehovah, at Thy feet!
"Not unto us;" O Lord of lords supreme, Whate'er we work, Thou workest; Thine the praise; O wake us, cleanse us, light us with Thy beam, And work in us, through us, to endless days.

BOOKS

By Editor

FOR OLD AND YOUNG

THE CONFLICT BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOR

Are you thinking, studying and becoming intelligent upon a subject which must sooner or later concern and affect every man, woman and child in a serious way?
That the contest between capital and labor is becoming most momentous is evidenced by the following statements from learned, observing men:—
"The terrible struggles between capital and labor, with the appalling prospects of world-embracing organizations on both sides, are the darkest aspects of an irresistible tendency."—Rev. Hugh Price.
Senator Hotchkiss, in a speech before Congress on the social and financial problem, is reported to have said: "Mark what I say! If the inexorable law of cause and effect has not been expunged from the statute-book of the Almighty, unless a halt is called very soon, we may expect to see the horrors of the French Revolution put on the American stage with all the modern improvements, and that within the next decade."
Senator Ingalls, in a speech in the United States Senate, made the following significant statement: "We can not disguise the truth that we are on the verge of an impending revolution. Old issues are dead. The people are arraying themselves on one side or the other of a portentous contest."
In view of the confusion and uncertainty, our readers will be glad to know that a book has been written which affords a solution to the perplexing situation. It abounds in interesting facts and figures that will enlighten the reader, and, better than all this, are the principles set forth from the "Old Guide-Book," which never fails to afford means of relief in all distresses, nor to provide a place of refuge to all who will heed its admonitions.
A fair, candid and impartial treatment of the subject from a non-partisan and Christian standpoint.
167 Pages; 18 chapters.
Price only 50 cents.

EDUCATION

The object of true education and how it may be realized by the youth, the parent, the teacher, the writer, the tiller of the soil and the business man, is the great theme of this book.
The first chapter deals with the first principles of education, followed by examples of true education as illustrated in the Israelites, schools of the prophets and the lives of great men of Bible times. The methods of the Master Teacher, and the Bible as an educator, are particularly dwelt on. The chapters on the Study of Physiology, Manual Training, Methods of Teaching, and Discipline are interesting as well as helpful.
Every family will want this book, first of all for themselves, and then for their friends.
320 Pages. Beautifully bound in cloth. Price, $1.25.

STORY OF DANIEL THE PROPHET

A biography of this wonderful prophet of God. Entirely new in its conceptions and designs. The scriptures narrating the story are printed in parallel columns with the author's delineations and interpretations. This one feature of the book alone renders it very serviceable and desirable.
In connection with the story of this remarkable life, a clear and forcible exposition of the prophecies is also given.
The author has endeavored not to arouse controversy, but to suggest thoughts both in the story and side references that will create a religious interest and further study in the things of God.
The book contains both a scriptural and general index of subjects, has eighteen chapters and 369 pages.
Price, $1.00.

POWER FOR WITNESSING

A work on the Holy Spirit. Not an exposition of doctrine but an exhortation to doing, illustrating by live and interesting experiences the work and use of the Spirit.
Some of the interesting chapters are "Something to Tell," "Ye Are My Witnesses," "Secret of Rejoicing in Tribulation," "Filling and Feeling," "The Promise of the Spirit," "Miracles of Healing," "How to Seek Spiritual Gifts," "Deceiving and Being Deceived."
Multitudes of men and women are burdened with the guilt of sin. Their lives hold no hope. God wants the great sinning world to know of His willingness to forgive, and His power to keep. This book unfolds the truth so clearly and simply and beautifully that it will certainly impart a new inspiration with the many practical suggestions and experiences given.
200 Pages; 44 chapters. Price, paper, 25c.; cloth, 75c.

THINGS FORETOLD

An attractive book for children, giving simple lessons on prophecy, showing how some things foretold have been fulfilled, how others are being fulfilled, and how still others must be fulfilled soon.
With these interesting talks, the writer weaves in helpful, moral lessons, drawn from the experiences of Daniel and his fellow captives in Babylon, and also sets forth sound principles of right and justice that can not fail to mould and strengthen the young minds for good.
While the book is designed for children, many of the older people will be attracted by its easy manner of introducing and explaining points of prophecy.
112 Pages; 21 chapters. Price, 50 cents.

UNCLE BEN'S COBBLESTONES

Familiar talks with boys and girls about the common articles of every-day use, such as air, water, sunshine, fire, smoke, glass, coal, salt, paper, matches, etc.
Uncle Ben has a very pleasing way of telling about the origin and use of these various things. There is a ray of sunshine streaming throughout the whole book, and yet it does not touch the fickle so prevalent in books for children.
The purpose of the book, aside from the useful information given, seems to be soul culture, for we observe on every page a moral fragrance that will impress young minds in the right way.
Uncle Ben tells about more than one hundred different things in all, and intersperses with happy thoughts that bring good cheer to young and old. 221 Pages. Price, 75 cts.

THOUGHTS FROM THE MOUNT OF BLESSING

This book is an exposition of Christ's Sermon on the Mount, written in beautiful and eloquent language, and bringing out helpful and encouraging thoughts from the Master's words, that were so abundantly laden with Spirit and life.
The reader is taken in imagination back to the scene, and as we sit with the disciples on the mountain side, enter into the thoughts and feelings that filled their hearts. Understanding what the words of Jesus meant to them, we may discern in them a new vividness and beauty, and may also gather for ourselves their deeper lessons. A book for those who enjoy a quiet hour of study.
218 Pages.
Price, cloth, 60 cents.

Publishing Addresses

By Editor

Address your State Tract Society or Pacific Press Publishing Co., MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA. PORTLAND, OREGON, 285 Salmon St. KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, 1109 E. 12th St.
Review and Herald Publishing Co., Battle Creek, Mich. 222 N. Capitol Street, Washington, D. C.
Southern Publishing Association, 1025 Jefferson Street, Nashville, Tennessee

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

PUBLISHED WEEKLY
BY THE PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO.,
Villa Street, . . . . . . . . Mountain View, California.
(Entered September 15, 1904, as second-class matter at the Mountain View, Cal., post-office, under act of Congress of March 3, 1879.)
H. H. HALL, . . . . . . . . BUSINESS MANAGER.

Terms of Subscription.

By Editor

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SPECIAL TERMS.

By Editor

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TO OUR PATRONS.

By Editor

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Appreciation for the Signs of the Times

By George G. Johnson

Menominee, Mich., April 24, 1905.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES Office, Mountain View, Cal.
Dear fellow-workers:
Your letter and leaflet of the 16th inst. is received—thanks. I shall indeed always try to improve my opportunities, and use my influence for the upbuilding of the good work that our blessed pioneer paper, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, is doing. I can not begin to tell you how I appreciate receiving the SIGNS, and reading the good contents. God's speed to the good work!
Yours in God's cause, GEO. G. JOHNSON.
My permanent address remains 702 Michigan Ave., Menominee, Mich. G. G. J.

M. JANE TAYLOR

By M. Jane Taylor

I think it is nearly nine years since I first took the paper. A good many religious papers come to me every week, but none with a more ready welcome than the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

M. JANE TAYLOR

A Gift Subscription to the Signs

Enclosed you find 75 cents, for which send the SIGNS OF THE TIMES six months to the following address: ____________________, he being a young man trying to follow in the steps of Jesus. May God grant that the SIGNS will be much help to him. My father is a subscriber, and we have found no paper its equal.

Extending the Signs Subscription List

By Editor

One subscriber sends ten yearly subscriptions, and says: "I regard the weekly visits of the SIGNS as one of the best means of reaching my friends with Bible truths not popularly taught. Hope to extend the list later in the season."

"HE MAKETH THE BLIND TO SEE."

By Editor

SO did our Saviour. Not by a surgical removal of a film, not by medicine or treatment of any kind, but by His own mighty power.
ONE of the many instances is recorded in John 9. By the wayside He passes, with His disciples, a man born blind. Doubtless like any other blind ones he was begging with insistent clamor. "The result of sin," said many of the Pharisees who looked upon affliction of any sort as evidence of transgression and a mark of God's disfavor, while prosperity was proof of righteousness and a mark of God's approval. So poorly had they learned the lesson of their own Scriptures. The same feelings actuated some of the disciples. "Rabbi," said they to Jesus, "who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?" What a horrible doctrine, that before a babe was born it could be adjudged guilty of sin and punished! It was pure Paganism, tho they did not know it. Affliction may be the result of transgression; it is not God's judicial visitation because of sin.
"JESUS answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." Jesus thus taught the great mercy and love of God. Every afflicted one is an opportunity for the manifestation of the works of God on the part of His people. They may not work mighty miracles, but they can minister to the needs of the suffering ones, and so let the work of God be manifested in them and their ministry. And so Jesus declared: "We must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work. When I am in the world, I am the Light of the world." And even so should His followers be.
THEN Jesus spat on the ground, made clay of the spittle, anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. "He went away therefore, and washed, and came seeing." The world was dead no longer. The dreams, the hopes, the longing of the darkened man had all come true. The Light-giver had come, and the windows of the soul had been opened.
WHY did Jesus anoint with clay the eyes of the blind? He healed others with a touch, a word; why did He use the dirt of the street for such a purpose?—He did it out of His mercy and goodness. He met the weak faith of the poor blind man just where it was, and we may infer from our Lord's act (for He does not work meaninglessly) that the blind man had been longing that some one, perhaps Jesus Himself, should put something on his eyes and cause him to see. Jesus met his longing, and anointed his eyes with clay, told the man to wash; and somewhere in the human response of faith the power of God came in and the blind eyes saw.
SOUL, do you see the lesson? There are millions of the lower creatures in the cosmos who see in daylight and dark what human eyes, because of the disease of sin, can not see. There are millions of human creatures who are blind to the beauties of God all around them. They do not see the glory of sunlight, the beauty of blue sky, the resplendence of the starry heavens, the beautiful flowers, the sweet low grasses, the majestic trees. They see the outline, they may have a trained, accurate eye to see the shape and the size, but the beauty of God's creative power manifest in His works they do not see. Greed, pleasure, ambition, hides all from a clearer vision which needs the touch of God.
BUT there are greater beauties and which more millions of blind people do not see—the beauties of holiness. Eyes spiritually born blind can see no beauty in the righteousness of God, in the meekness and lowliness of Christ. They long for all the results, see no beauty in the way which leads thereto. Humility is to them weakness; self-denial, self-sacrifice, self-abnegation, are foolishness; belief in the saving, creative power of an incarnate God is childish; and the righteousness of the Christ-life is too old-fashioned; and blindly they go on haltingly, stumblingly, to death. Their life may have achieved a little fame; it may have piled up a little of earth's gold; but beyond is the grave, the dark, hopeless, unbeautiful grave, tho it be a mausoleum of whitest marble. Their eyes, yea, the heart's eyes, the soul's eyes, need the touch of Christ to make them see things, not as they seem, but as they are,—to see in the Christ-character the highest of all beauty, to see in the humility, in the giving up of self, in the yielding to the law of God's righteousness, in the placing of one's will, one's self, out into the great current of God's life, where in the heart and character flower and fruit shall spring forth in place of thorn and thistle, wheat in the place of darnel; streams of living water where glimmered over the burning sands the deceitful mirage; where the blessed rain of God's life and the sunshine of His love shall fall perennially, and assure abundant harvest for the glorious, eternal, immortal kingdom beyond.
Soul, are you blind to these beauties? Do you desire to see them?—The mighty Healer waits to give you, by His own creative power, eyes that can see.

THE BLESSING OF GIVING.

By G.

ALL that Christ said or did while on earth is not recorded in the four Gospels. At the end of John's record we find this testimony: "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." There is one very important saying, not noted by any of the Gospel writers, which Paul cites in Acts 20: 35. The apostle's statement to the Ephesian elders is, "I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive."
Nowhere else in the Scriptures are these words to be found, nor their exact equivalent. Yet the Lord amply teaches the importance of giving, and the gain, temporal and spiritual, to be derived from giving. "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." Matt. 19: 29.
Many will inherit the kingdom of God because of the faithful performance of duty that involved comparatively-small investment of means, altho the spirit of love and self-denial for the Lord's poor will have been manifest in large degree. They will have fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, and visited those who were sick and in prison; and the Lord counts it as having been done unto Him. See chapter 25: 31-40. The magnitude of the blessing attached to such giving is emphasized by contrasting the doom of those who selfishly neglect such Christian benevolence. "These shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." Verse 46.
It is not the intrinsic value of the gift that is rewarded, for all is the Lord's before anything is given; but it is the spirit of love and self-denial that is rewarded in heaven. The poor widow's two mites were reckoned as more than all the larger gifts of the wealthy donors, because of her sacrifice for the Lord's cause. Mary's box of precious ointment, because of the loving sacrifice in honor of the Saviour, was given a place in Sacred History, that it might be spoken of as a memorial of her wherever the Gospel should be preached throughout the whole world. See Mark 14: 3-9. Thus the Lord gives honor for honor an hundredfold.And the little cup of cold water given as a disciple of Christ will not fail of its reward.
So the Lord has our own welfare in view—not our selfish ambition—when He says, "Freely ye have received, freely give." Matt. 10:8. G.

THE ASSURANCE OF THE WORD.

By S.

JOB declared, “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and at last He will stand up upon the earth.” Job 19:25. And Paul declares, “Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His.” 2 Tim. 2:19. It is worth all that we are or hope to be to have that undying confidence in the blessed Word of God. Friends fail us; our fondest hopes wither like thirsty leaves in the searing winds of summer; our powers decay; the great men of earth go wrong; while all the handiwork of man is crumbling before our eyes.
Nevertheless, God is; and as He is, His Word is true, His power supreme, and His purpose concerning us as sure as that He Himself is.
The lives of the great men of old have gone out like a whisper in the night; but the word of our God abideth forever. We have before us constant reminders of the weakness of men; but, if we will but see them, there are all about us just as constant reminders of the greatness and power and endurance of our Father in heaven. We have looked upon the most glorious and most substantial works of men, and have seen their dust scattered by the desert winds. We have seen sickly childhood, tottering age, and the feeble frame of the wasting invalid, and we have seen the plumed hearse and black-robed mourners leading a perpetual procession to the tomb. Men have looked upon this, and have asked if there is nothing truly substantial, nothing imperishable, nothing perpetual but death and decay in all the twinkling, star-sprinkled universe of God. Let such questioners go out in the stillness of night, when the prattle of humanity has been hushed upon the bosom of the crooning old earth, and look up into God’s great torch-light procession marching to the orders of heaven, and then fall down upon their knees and ask God about it. Question the Maker. He is not bound by time nor distance; His ear is always within hearing of the faintest whisper of His weakest children. Ask Him if there is nothing stable, tangible, perpetual, in all His realm.
He will tell such in answer that “from everlasting to everlasting” He is God. He will tell them that tho “all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field” that perisheth, yet the word that has gone out of His lips “shall stand forever.” He will declare also, “I am the Lord, I change not.” “The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Notwithstanding the fact that every earthly building is undergoing a process of decay and disintegration, He will tell you that there is “a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;” that the kingdom which He promises to the ransomed of earth is “an everlasting kingdom.”
Earthly love may fade and die out, but God assures us that He has loved us “with an everlasting love,” and while assuring us of that, He is seeking to bind us to Himself with His everlasting cable of loving-kindness. If we are discouraged and cast down, then may we know that “underneath are the everlasting arms.” When trouble comes in like a flood till the very earth seems to tremble beneath our feet, then it is for us to know that “the foundation of God standeth sure.” As He knoweth the stars and “calleth them all by name,” so He knows His children, calls them by name, knows their frames, and remembers that they are but dust. At the same time “the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which can not be uttered.”
There is indeed an eternal Rock to which the most storm-tossed can anchor; there is an eternal habitation for the most footsore pilgrim; in the midst of change and destruction, there is One who is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;” tho the words and works of men are fading and crumbling into decay, the word and works of God “stand fast forever;” the pyramid may become the plaything of the summer breeze, but “the foundation of God standeth sure;” the record of human selfishness will fade from the memory of the redeemed, but the story of Calvary and the triumphs of the cross will be sung by the redeemed as long as God shall live. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
S.

THE FOLLY OF INFIDELITY.

By G.

OPPOSITION to Christ never is consistent; it is always self-stultifying. A striking illustration of this fact is found in the case of the bitter antagonism of the chief priests and Pharisees of Jerusalem. After the resurrection of Lazarus, many of the Jews believed on Jesus, and the rulers who had opposed Him at all times became desperate, lest they should lose all their influence with the people. “Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this Man doeth many miracles. If we let Him thus alone, all men will believe on Him; and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and our nation.”
The absurdity of such a plea is its own refutation. Jesus was Himself a Jew, and His labors—going about doing good—were mainly among the Jews, whose welfare He continually sought. Yet there is not the record of a single instance where the Romans found any fault with His work. Even when the Jewish council condemned Him as “worthy of death,” the Roman governor declared Him innocent of any fault. So it is clear that if all the Jews had believed on Christ, and followed His example, they would have avoided much trouble with the Romans, instead of incurring it. Jesus counseled them to “render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s;” surely they would not be in danger as long as they would follow such a course.
In demanding the release of Barabbas, who had been convicted of insurrection against the government, those same chief priests and Pharisees took a course that was designed to increase the pressure of the Roman yoke. And in less than thirty years after their rejection of Christ and His counsel, the Romans did come and destroy their “place.” Thus by their determination to destroy Jesus, His most inveterate enemies called down upon themselves the very calamity that they alleged would come if all the people would adhere to Him.
The foreknowledge of this fact caused Jesus to weep bitterly over the unwise course of those whom He desired to save. See Luke 19:41-44. No man ever yet gave an excuse for not accepting Christ that was not of itself a reason why he should do so. Many people of to-day, even professors of faith in Him, imagine they see lions in the way should they step out and walk in the commandment of God as He did. But the time will come when these dreaded calamities will come upon them because they have not obeyed His Word.
God says, “Come now, let us reason together,” and He never yet has advanced an unreasonable proposition. Nor has He ever suggested a course that was not safer in every respect than any opposite course. He who sees the end from the beginning, is certainly safe guide; and it is folly to prefer the suggestions of those who know not what a day may bring forth. Those who trust in any human leadership will some day be crying, “Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man.” G.

THE SEAL OF GOD AND THE MARK OF THE BEAST.

THE prophet John saw in vision an “angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice, . . . saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in the foreheads.” Rev. 7:1-3. To seal anything is to approve, to authenticate, to give authority to it, as in the case of legal documents. Esther 3:10-12.
God’s seal is His name, His sign, or character. His law contains His seal, and this seal is found in the Fourth Commandment of the law: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work. . . . For in six days the Lord [Jehovah] made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” Ex 20:8-11. “Jehovah” indicates God’s name; “made heaven and earth,” shows Him as Creator, and, therefore, indicates His title or authority; and “heaven and earth” show the extent of His territory.
The Sabbath (the seventh day) is God’s “sign,” a “perpetual covenant,” a sign between Him and the children of Israel forever.” Ex. 31:12-17. Eze. 20:12. Christians are the true Israel. “We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Phil. 3:3.
The sealing of God’s people comes in close connection with the coming of the Lord."And I heard the number of them which were sealed; and there were sealed a hundred and forty and four thousand." Rev. 7:4. "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads." Rev. 14:1.
Sealing the people in the forehead means placing the law in their minds. "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." Heb. 8:10.

The Mark of the Beast.

The "beast" described in Rev. 13:1-10 is conceded by all Protestants to be Rome. "Another beast" is also noted—from verse 11 onward—that eventually furthers the cause of the "first beast" to such an extent that "he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
Then this "mark" must be the sign of authority of Rome. And in fulfilment of the Bible prophecy concerning the "little horn" of Daniel 7 (the beast of Revelation), that "he shall think to change the times and the law" (Dan. 7:25, R. V.), we find that the Papacy has attempted to change the law of God by declaring Sunday to be the Sabbath instead of Saturday, "the seventh day" of the Fourth Commandment.
God says: "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Ex. 20:9, 10.
"Rome says: "The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday."—Catholic Mirror, Sept. 23, 1893.
Again: In reply to a letter inquiring whether "the Catholic Church held the change of the Sabbath as a mark of her power to make such change," Cardinal Gibbons, through his secretary, replied:
Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of doing anything in matters spiritual and religious without her, and the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.
Now read the warning in Rev. 14:9-11 against the reception of this "mark of the beast." Note also that this is given in close connection with the judgment. Verses 6-8. Then note especially that those who escape this doom are "they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Verse 12.
In recording another vision, John gives this further testimony: "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints." Chapter 15:2, 3.
For fuller exposition of this subject, see tract, "The Seal of God and Its Counterfeit," published at this office; 32 pages, 2 cents.

Question Corner

1660.—The Kingdom of God. Luke 17:20, 21.
Please tell, in your query column, what is meant in Luke 17:20: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation," and the next verse, which says: "The kingdom of God is within you." Is the kingdom of God and the coming of Christ the same, or what is meant? I have been told that they are the same.
The kingdom of God is revealed in different aspects. "Jehovah hath established His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all." Ps. 103:19. That kingdom includes: (1) God the King; (2) His territory, the universe; (3) His throne, or center and seat of government; (4) His Law, or rule of government; (5) His subjects, those who are loyal to Him. That kingdom is now in operation, and always was, and the throne of the everlasting Father is "the throne of grace." Heb. 4:16.
Christ has not yet taken His kingdom, and will not until He comes again. He now sits as priest on the Father's throne, gathering out subjects for His kingdom. Compare the following: Luke 19:11, 12; Dan. 7:13, 14; Ps. 2:7-9; Ps. 110:1; Heb. 8:1; Rev. 3:21; 11:18; Matt. 25:31.
Now it is evident that, while the kingdom of God is literal, it is also spiritual. Before one can be a citizen of that kingdom, He must accept of God's rule; God's law must be in the heart; and it is the work of grace to write this law in the heart.
This work is not heralded by pomp, or power, or display; it "cometh not with observation." Man opens his heart, and God, by His Spirit, comes in, and the man becomes a citizen of a heavenly kingdom. The Jews did not know this; they would not discern the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom. "How can a man be born again?" was the language of darkness and unbelief. The King, God in Christ, was there; but they knew it not. None said to them, "Lo, here! or, There! for lo, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you" (R.V., margin), or as the margin of the Common Version reads, "among you." See the following, where the same word is rendered "among:" Matt. 20:26, 27; 26:5; Luke 1:28, 42; John 1:26. Vincent says: "Within. Better, in the midst of." Meyer acutely remarks that you refers to the Pharisees, in whose hearts nothing certainly found a place less than did the ethical kingdom of God. Moreover, Jesus is not speaking of the inwardness of the kingdom, but of its presence."—"Word Studies in the New Testament."
Christ's kingdom is not His coming; but it is then set up.
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