Earlier text: THE AWFUL CHASM BRIDGEDThe Industrial Conflict in the Light of Revelation.
By Geo. W. Rine
THE PARAMOUNT CAUSE OF POVERTY.
(Continued from last week.) PRACTICALLY, all thinkers who are in sympathy with the prevailing industrial, financial, and economic system of the Caucasian nations deny that any considerable part of the intense and wide-spread poverty of our day is owing to social or economic injustice. They insist that poverty is almost wholly the result of indolence, shiftlessness, and especially of intemperance. It is obviously true that much destitution and suffering are directly traceable to the drink habit. But systematic and painstaking observation and methodical investigation prove conclusively that by far the greater part of the wretchedness, the suffering, the squalor, and the woes incident to poverty is caused by inadequately paid labor. An eminent and conservative English writer, who is neither a socialist, nor a champion of “labor,” alleges: “We positively place a premium on dishonesty by the meager reward we offer to honest toil: we legalize the appropriation of the produce of labor, and allow men to lead idle lives of luxury. And then we are filled with virtuous indignation when some unfortunate pariah, at great personal trouble and risk, contrives to filch a purse, or, possibly, abstract a few turnips. We doom men to such wretched existence that the marvel is that so comparatively few should diverge from the path of rectitude. . . . The only remedy [for acute poverty] of any great and permanent value is the equitable remuneration of labor. Once bring about such a condition of society as that every one shall have an opportunity to engage in honest work, and be adequately rewarded, and more will be done in a single generation to diminish suffering and crime than the whole army of judges and bench of bishops will accomplish in an eternity under the existing system.” A noted jurist succinctly says that “more intemperance results from hopeless poverty than poverty from intemperance.” The late lamented president of the W. C. T. U., Miss Willard, aphoristically expressed the same truth: “It is time to cease making men comfortable by making them sober, but begin making them sober by making them comfortable.” The Russians have a proverb that runs thus: “Even a bishop will steal if he is very hungry.” The thought is that much of the wretchedness, crime, and even drunkenness would disappear if the fear, the woe, and the despair resulting from poverty could be abolished. I shall now offer undisputable proof for the contention that the paramount cause of poverty is inadequately paid labor. The Christian Organization Society, of New York, has shown in a carefully-tabulated statement that five per cent. of the cases of actual destitution in the principal cities is due to shiftlessness, dishonesty, or a roving disposition; ten per cent. to intemperance; thirteen per cent. to sickness; and forty-seven per cent. to lack of employment, or underpaid employment. The value and authority of this showing result from the fact that it is the product of systematic and painstaking visitation and inquiry by an organization that is in immediate touch with the problem, and which embraces in its affiliations more than one hundred and fifty organizations in the chief cities of this country and Canada. “When we further remember,” says a writer for the Arena, “that insufficient food and clothing are directly conducive to sickness, and that the wretchedness and despair of poverty drive men to intemperance and crime, increased emphasis is laid upon the relation of involuntary poverty to the great social problems that confront us. It becomes apparent, also, that to cut the taproot of involuntary poverty would at once and permanently relieve the situation.” “It would do more; for, however dreadful the fact of poverty itself, the fear of poverty is a far more serious fact in our complex civilization; and in removing the occasion of poverty we would also remove that anxiety regarding our own future, which permeates every grade and department of life to weaken its moral stamina and to seduce its virtue.” Is it not evident that the world to-day is in far greater need of justice than of charity between man and man? Give every person who desires to produce wealth by his labor a chance to do so, and permit him to retain a just and righteous portion of the wealth he produces, and you will soon transfigure this suffering world into a veritable Utopia. Again I must advert to that remarkable forecast of last-day industrial conditions given by the Spirit of God through the Apostle James: “Come now, ye rich. . . . Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days. Behold, the hire [wages] of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out; and the cries of them that reaped [toiled] have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” How convincingly clear is the inspired testimony that in these last days, the laborer, the actual producer of wealth, will be oppressed, will be defrauded of a just share of the wealth he creates. The capitalistic employer appropriates to himself a large part of the proceeds of labor, which, in justice, belongs to the laborer. In 1890 our factory workers produced $9,250,000,000 worth of goods, but they received only a little more than $2,000,000,000 in return for their toil. Twenty per cent. of the working men of this country get less than seven dollars a week. Mr. Herbert Casson writes: “The average woman’s income [of those who are wage workers] is $269.70; her average expenses for positive needs are $261.30, leaving her $8.40 to invest in gold bonds and steam yachts.” On the other hand, the sugar trust made $236,000,000 profits in ten years. One of our trust magnates has an actual income of $40,000,000 a year. Even skilled laborers in England receive but $375 a year, if continuously employed, while of scores of their employers, each nets a profit of from one-half million to five million dollars annually. In New York alone there are 70,000 girls toiling in the horrible sweat-shops making shirts, overalls, knee-pants, etc., at from thirty to seventy-five cents a dozen. We read about women who finish an elegant cloak for four cents; about children who work twelve hours a day for a dollar a week; about women in Europe, who are glad to get a chance that offers six cents for four hours’ work. A man, interested in economical questions, recently said: “We are assured on good authority that the ‘sweating system’ is forcing men and women to work sometimes for thirty-three and even thirty-six consecutive hours to avoid starvation! How evident, then, it is that the reason why so many of the world’s toilers are distracted and harassed by poverty, while the wealthy devotees of pleasure are wallowing in luxury, is owing to the divinely foretold fact that the just wages of the laborer are fraudulently withheld. This is one reason why the ‘rich’ are enabled to heap up treasures ‘for the last days.’” Our Lord’s message to the poor, who are oppressed and afflicted, is, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.” Do not resort to violence, mob law, boycotts, or any kind of physical coercion. To the rapacious rich God sends this warning: “Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his.” Let the oppressed toilers remember the promise of Him, who loves the poor: “He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy.” Ps. 72:4. How They Became Convinced
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.] I was raised a Catholic, and was taught not to read the Bible. My parents always kept a Bible as a precious treasure, but not as a book of instruction. One day I stole out the Bible and read some of the teachings of Christ, also the commandments, which greatly astonished me. The next Sunday I stole off to a Protestant church, and listened very attentively. After the service the minister took his stand at the door for a hand-shake, and I waited so as to be one of the last to approach him. When I grasped his hand there seemed to be a touch of warm welcome, and tender love in his salutation. Then I asked him if I could not get a Bible from him. “Yes, to be sure, brother,” was his kind reply. I got the Bible, and I have kept it to this day. Inside of three months I made it known to my parents and brothers and sisters that I had become a Protestant. This was not very pleasing news to them, and they made it very unpleasant for me also for a while. But in the strength of Christ, I fought the battle long and hard, and the result is that to-day we are all keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. When I began to study my Bible, I kept it in the grain house, and studied it at night, by lantern light. At last, when the battle was the hottest, my sister sent for a priest to bring me back to the fold; but I had the Gospel gun loaded, and gave him the good truth so fast that he had no time to say anything but that he was sorry that I was accursed. So he left me in my “lost state,” but, glory to God in the highest, I won the battle. Thanking T. O. Saxton, of Horton, Pa., for bringing me a sample copy of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, I am, yours truly, S. S. STURGEN. Present Truth Is Interesting; Tell It Now
By A. C. B.
TRUTH is interesting; tell it. Present truth is interesting; tell it now. A. C. B. If all men realized the extent of Heaven’s interest in them, there would not be so many careless sinners in the world, nor so many lukewarm Christians. God has a purpose in view for every soul that has ever come into the world. That purpose is the formation of a character with which He can trust the priceless gift of immortality. To confer that gift upon a promiscuous host of such persons as have inhabited the world during any epoch of its history, would be to invite the everlasting continuance of every sin with which that age was polluted. That God will not do that is shown by His declaration to John on the Isle of Patmos: “Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to render to each man according as his work is.” Rev. 22:12. The verses following that quoted show how the division is made. Those who have washed their robes are given the right to enter the city of God and partake of the fruit of the tree of life; but the other class—the breakers of God’s law, whose robes are soiled and polluted with sin—they are left out. Inside that city is the blessed presence of the eternal Father, the Creator and Redeemer, and those who are accounted worthy to obtain that world are such as are in harmony with His will, who have made the choice of righteousness and the unfading joys of the eternal world. Such will find a continual unfoldment of pleasure in the purity of heaven’s associations. The other class, having chosen those things and lived for those things that are out of harmony with the will and purpose and character of God, would find no pleasure in such associations. Their chief sorrow will be in the knowledge of the fact that they are cut off from the pursuit of those things which they love. The course of the libertine is ended, the worshiper of gold can glut his greed no more; the disciple of fashion must lay it all down forever; the devotee of “society” has reveled away his last night on earth. All, or nearly all, of these love life; but they love it for what they can get out of it—not for its opportunities for good, not for the Gospel privilege, not for the hope it holds out of an everlasting inheritance in a kingdom of righteousness. Thus by pandering to their own purposes they have literally unfitted themselves for the associations of heaven. The heaven which they would choose would be one in which they could pursue their selfish course unhindered by any of the restraints of law. God has no heaven for such. Envy, selfishness, hatred, jealousy, anger, evil-speaking, greed, profanity, falsehood, lust—these can not inhabit the immaculate palaces of eternity. That sin and its results are entirely outside the purpose of God, is shown by the fact that God has made no provision for the continuance of the sinner. He has no permanent place in the universe. The sinner is to be “cut off from the earth.” Sin is to be “burned up root and branch.” There are to be “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Before sin entered the universe, there was nothing but righteousness in it. God’s purpose is the perpetuation of righteousness; therefore His purpose that man shall attain a righteous character. When the wicked are finally “cut off,” then will only righteousness, true and tried, abide forever. There is no pleasure to Jehovah in the destruction of the wicked. He declares on this point: “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope for your latter end.” Jer. 29:11. Again: “I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth.” How insignificant appears the short life in this world devoted to the pleasures of self and sense when compared with the purpose which God has in view for every soul upon the earth. We can fritter away our little day here, and wither and lie down like a seared and crinkled autumn leaf, worthless and spent; or we can shape our lives, by His abundant help, in harmony with His purpose concerning us, and, with the accepted robe of Christ’s righteousness upon us, receive the crown of eternal life, the seal of an enduring righteous character. While mercy still lingers, let us make that better choice. THE most wonderful, most comprehensive, chapter of all the Book of God is the twelfth chapter of Revelation. It spans the great controversy between Sin and Righteousness, between Christ and Satan, for all time past, till the setting sun of earthly history is sinking upon a persecuted church. Yet it does not leave one struggling soul in despair; it is vibrant with the shout of victory. Three prominent personages stand out in bold relief in its symbolic language—the Woman, the Man-child, and the Dragon. The old prophet sees them as tho acting in the sidereal heavens among the stars, showing that the conflict, the warfare, the battle-ground, lies in the spiritual realm, not in the physical. Brief studies of this wonderful chapter will help all our readers, we are sure. First of all, then,— In symbolic prophecy a woman represents a church, an assemblage, of people called out and united for a spiritual purpose, either good or evil. For we use “spiritual,” not in contradistinction to “carnal,” but to outward and physical, just as there are spirits both good and evil. The true church is represented by a true woman. The Lord says, “I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.” Jer. 6:2. The apostle writes to a church, “I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” 2 Cor. 11:2. Consonant with this, His message to His people anciently is, “I am a husband unto you.” An apostle with the same relationship in mind declares that Christ’s work for His people is “that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.” Eph. 5:27. We need only to refer to those parts of scripture where backsliding Israel and Judah and Babylon and her daughters are likened to harlots, who have ensnared souls, and corrupted the nations of earth. Eze. 23:5-21; Isaiah 47; Rev. 17:5. The woman of Revelation 12 represents the true church of Christ as she stood just prior to, and at the time of, the birth of Christ. The moon, which shines not by its own light, is under her feet. The glory of the sun clothes her. Twelve stars crown her head. The age of types and shadows, borrowing, like the moon, its light from a burning and shining body, is cast off, and will soon be removed from sight. The Sun of Righteousness, with a glory of character such as the world never before saw, yet ever longed for, was about to arise, and in the period of the vision did arise, filling all with His splendor. The twelve stars represent the twelve tribes of God’s true people, over which our Lord places the twelve apostles. Hidden from man tho they may be, all are remembered, all are recorded, before Him who holds all in His power. James 1:1; Rev. 7:4-8; 21:12, 14. That church is therefore shown as belonging, not alone to the period since our Lord walked the earth, but belonging to past time as well. God had a church in the days of Moses and David and Elijah as truly as He did in the days of Paul and Luther and Wesley. From the beginning of the conflict of sin among the children of earth, from the time that the mercy of God called man from sin’s doom, there has been the church militant of God. Our English word “church,” according to the Standard Dictionary, comes from the Anglo-Saxon “circe,” the Greek kyriakos, “of the Lord”; from kyrios, “lord,” kyros, “might.” But, desirable as this origin might be, it is not the Bible origin of the word “church.” In every instance in our English Bible the word church comes from the Greek word ekklēsia, from which “ecclesiastical” is derived. The meaning of the Greek term, ekklēsia (pronounced, ek-klay-see’ah) is derived from two words, ek “out,” and kaleō, “call,” and means “called out.” The church of Christ is therefore composed of “called-out ones.” More than this: The word ekklēsia has larger meaning than merely called out, but, as defined by Liddell and Scott’s Standard Greek Lexicon: “An assembly of the citizens regularly summoned, opposed to sullogos, an assembly, concourse, or meeting of persons, whether legal or riotous.” The church of Christ is therefore composed, not of a promiscuous assembly, not of a congregation called together by some one without authority, but an assembly, a people, “regularly summoned.” We do not have the word “church” in the Old Testament in our English Bible; the terms there used are generally “assembly” or “congregation.” But two things show quite clearly that the assembly, or congregation,—even army,—of God’s people in past ages is identical with the church in the present. (1) The martyr Stephen in Acts 7:38 refers to the children of Israel, as they journeyed from Egypt to Canaan as “the church in the wilderness.” (2) The Jewish scholars who translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek about two and one-half centuries before Christ, many times speak of the assembly, or congregation, or tribes, of Israel by the term ekklēsia. Instances of this may be found in Lev. 8:4; Deut. 9:10; 2 Chron. 30:23; Deut. 23:1, 2, 3, 8; Judges 21:5; 1 Kings 8:14, 22, 55, 65; 1 Sam. 17:47. These evidences are conclusive that the congregation of God (the better term) are the called-out ones by God in all ages, by whatever name they may be called. When Adam and his posterity yielded to Satan, they became his bond-servants, in the sore slavery of sin. They turned from their true Master and chose a tyrant and murderer. God in His mercy and goodness calls them out of that condition to be His. All who accept the call become His called-out ones, His ekklēsia, or church. In Adam’s household those who accepted God’s call became, as truly as in later times, the church which was “in his house.” Col. 4:15. And thus also with Noah and Abraham, and the good of all patriarchal times. The patriarch was the first under God. When God called Jacob’s seed from Egypt, the church took on a larger aspect. The nation became the ekklēsia, the church, the congregation of the Lord. Its services, its government, its worship, its priesthood, and all pertaining to it became more elaborate. Its membership shrunk by death and apostasy; it was replenished by births and conversions. New light and duty weeded out the time-servers and hypocrites, but they also won noble souls and developed strong, loyal characters. And thus the church passed from century to century, from crisis to crisis, till we come to the first advent of our Lord, the chronological view-point of our prophecy. [The “Calling of the Church,” will be considered in our next.] ASIDE from the dire results of carelessness, ignorance, greed, and fraud, disaster seems to be, to some degree, a concomitant of the elements, whose sudden freaks become more and more frequent as we near the end. A city located on an island four feet above the sea-level is suddenly inundated by a tidal wave, and five thousand people are drowned. Another city is situated by a modest mountain stream, and a short distance above is a dam. In an evil time the dam breaks, and two thousand people perish by the flood. Still another city is built at the foot of a supposedly-extinct volcano, when an unexpected eruption puts out the lives of twenty-five thousand inhabitants, and leaves the buildings a heap of ruins. And yet another, a great city, is proudly planted on elevated ground, by a noble river; and as the waters are flowing peacefully by, a hurricane dashes through the city, and five hundred victims go down to death. But it is not only in the cities that disaster is carried by the elements. The forest fire, the prairie fire, the cyclone, the tidal wave, and the cloud-burst have their records of destruction in the country districts as well as in the city, altho the sparsely-settled country does not present so many victims in a given area. There are no absolutely safe spots on all the sin-cursed earth; but the Israel of God can console themselves in the thought that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, tho the earth be removed, and tho the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; tho the waters thereof roar and be troubled, tho the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Ps. 46:1–3, 7. He is preparing us a land of safety, where “there shall be no more sigh, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.” Rev. 21:4. IMMORTALITY NOT INHERENT.
If man has an immortal soul, then he is endowed with eternal life in himself; and if this be true, why did God have to make so great a sacrifice in order that eternal life might be made possible? and why is it that, after the sacrifice has been made, there are conditions to be fulfilled before eternal life can be obtained? The doctrine of Christ makes it very clear that man has not immortality in himself. Note the following points:— 1. God forbade Adam to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, saying to him, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Gen. 2:17. What this meant is stated farther on in the record. After Adam had eaten of the forbidden fruit, the Lord pronounced sentence of death in these words: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Gen. 3:19. The man did not die on the very day that he disobeyed, for the reason that the plan of salvation by faith intervened, and he was granted a respite, or a new probation. The penalty of sin and the Gospel of salvation are thus briefly stated by the apostle Paul: “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6:23. 2. Jesus says: “This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:40. Here are two things on which eternal life is contingent—believing on Christ, and being raised up at the last day. If a man were born immortal, both of these conditions would be superfluous, as the sentence of death would be impossible of execution. 3. The will of God that those who believe shall have eternal life is emphasized by the words of Christ to Nicodemus: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. As “the wages of sin is death,” and “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), then all must “perish” who do not believe on the Son. The class to whom this “gift of God” shall come is again noted by the Lord in John 10:27, 28: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” 4. Eternal life is inherent in God (“who only hath immortality,” 1 Tim. 6:14–16), and, with the power to impart it, was the gift of God to Christ. “As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. . . . For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:21–26. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us [believers] eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” 1 John 5:11. Then it is not in us, because in our sinful state life was forfeited; we were under sentence of death. But, “he that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Verse 12. 5. Eternal life will be imparted to believers at the second advent of Christ. “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” Col. 3:2–4. In the judgment, eternal life will be given “to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality.” See Rom. 2:6, 7. “For this mortal must put on immortality;” it is not inherent in our mortal nature. 1 Cor. 15:47–55. FAITH AND TEMPERANCE EXEMPLIFIED.
When God placed all the kingdoms of earth—excepting His own people of the kingdom of Judah—under the supervision of the king of Babylon, He recognized Nebuchadnezzar as His servant. Jer. 25:9. Therefore it is reasonable to suppose that, as far as the heathen mind could be influenced by the Spirit of God, heavenly suggestions were imparted to the man in whom was imposed so important a trust. By some means the king, with all his natural pride, realized the necessity of efficient help in conducting the affairs of so great a kingdom. “And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.” Dan. 1:3, 4. While this wise suggestion was no doubt inspired by the Lord, the king had his own ideas as to how the young students could best be promoted in their work. Their daily living would be an important item, and, as the king ate and drank what he deemed the best for mind and body, he thought to give his future advisers the same diet. “And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank; so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.” Verse 5. “While Nebuchadnezzar believed that the cultivated and accomplished young princes of Judah would be of value in the political control of his vast realm, and especially in ruling his Jewish captives, he had no desire for their religion. The fact that he had succeeded in becoming the head of all nations would naturally convince him that his gods were superior to all others, and his religion practically superior to all religions. Therefore he would logically suppose that a strong point in maintaining the supremacy would be to impress his religion upon all peoples throughout the empire. Such a purpose is indicated by his changing the names of some of the young princes who had been selected for higher education as statesmen. Among the Jewish princes were four whose names were Daniel (“meaning ‘God is judge’”), Hananiah (“Jehovah has graciously given”), Mishael (“Who is what God is?”), and Azariah (“Jehovah helps”). So the names of these princes were changed, to better conform to the Babylonian religion. Daniel was named Belteshazzar (“Bel’s prince”); Hananiah was named Shadrach (“royal”); Mishael was changed to Meshach (“guest of the shah”); and Azariah was named Abednego (“servant of Nego,” or Nebo, a Chaldean god). But the change of names did not change the hearts or purpose of these faithful young princes. The temptations and allurements of their luxuriant surroundings did not turn them from the religion of their fathers. They proved to be noble exceptions to the general apostasy which had brought their nation into subjection to Babylon. So “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” Verse 8. We come now to another instance of the ability of the Spirit of the Lord to influence a heathen heart: “God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.” But, notwithstanding this love, the prince was afraid to ignore the king’s commandment. He had confidence in rich foods and stimulating wines as health-producing elements, and thought that abstinence from these would cause the young men to lose flesh, and show such a sickly appearance that inquiry would be made as to the cause. Then he would surely lose his head for disobedience of orders. But Daniel, having “purposed in his heart,” was not to be dismayed. So he approached the steward, one Melzar, whom the prince had given special charge over Daniel and his three companions, and said: “Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse [peas, beans, lentiles, or other vegetable food] to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.” Verses 12, 13. Daniel was not afraid to make such a test; for the heathen used not only articles of food, but systems of cookery, which were forbidden by the law of Moses; and Daniel would not knowingly disobey God and defile himself, even at the risk of his life. But the steward consented to the test, and at the end of ten days the countenances of the four young men “appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.” Verse 15. Then the steward gave them their chosen food from that time to the end of their school course. The fidelity of these young Jews to their God in the midst of such baneful surroundings was not overlooked in heaven. “God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” Verse 17. At the end of their three years’ course they were examined by the king himself. “And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.” Verse 20. So much for being “temperate in all things,” and faithful to the Word of God regardless of consequences. These examples “were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Whoever purposes in his heart not to defile himself before God, and takes the Word as his guide through life, will not fail of success, in this life, or in the world to come. 1540.—Made Known the Sabbath.
If the Sabbath was known and kept before the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, why should the Lord have made known (Neh. 9:13, 14), unto them the Sabbath after leaving Egypt? Would you infer from Gen. 8:10-12, that Noah was keeping the Sabbath on the seventh day, mentioned? K. Nehemiah refers to Sinai (not “after leaving Egypt”) as the place where the Sabbath was made known; but it is certain that it was observed by Israel a month before this, as recorded in Exodus 16. Before this even had their duty been shown. Ex. 5:5. Pharaoh told Moses that he made the people “rest from their burdens,” literally, keep Sabbath; the same word occurs in Ex. 23:12; 34:21. Noah doubtless kept the seventh-day Sabbath. It was on the Sabbath—“at the end of days”—(Gen. 4:3, margin) that Cain and Abel brought their offerings. God showed to Israel at Sinai: (1) That the Sabbath was so immutable that it was made a part—the very center so to speak—of His holy, unchangeable law. (2) The Sabbath was revealed as the memorial of God’s creative power, calling to constant remembrance Him to whom we owe all. (3) It was made known to Israel as a sign also of His creative power in redeeming His people from sin and destruction. Compare Deut. 4:32-40; 5:12-15; Ex. 31:17. Redeeming power is creative power. Eph. 2:10. God’s Sabbath is a constant, living sign and remembrance of His power to create, save, and sanctify. Eze. 20:12, 20. See “The Lord’s Day, the Test of the Ages,” B. S. L., No. 134 (Part 2, ch. 1), price 15 cents. Will you please give an explanation of Gen. 18:2, in your Question Corner? Did the angels have the form of men? C. L. B. We do not know how to make the verse any plainer than it is. From verses 16, 22, and 19:1, 5, 10, 12, it would seem clear that the angels appeared to both Abraham and Lot in the form of men. So God’s angels have always appeared, more glorious, but in the form of men still. Dan. 9:21; 12:5-7. The original word rendered “angel” means “messenger.” The cherubim and seraphim seem to be different orders of celestial beings. 1542—Noah and Flesh Meats.
Was it necessary for Noah and his family to eat meat to sustain life after the flood? C. L. B. It was if that was all the food he had, and such seems to have been the case. CHRISTIAN BY PROCLAMATION.
IN the Dark Ages nations were made “Christian” by law, by proclamation, by decree of the Papacy, by profession; but in practise they were often worse than the pagans. The pagan nations of Europe became “Christian” in name (they knew no other way), because they believed that it would be of advantage politically; it would tell for future aggrandizement. Are we to see the same thing enacted on a larger scale in the great world?—Truly, it seems so. The early nations of Europe embraced “Christianity” at first because the nations already “Christian” seemed to be stronger, more intelligent, and have greater influence. Later, it became not only profitable but fashionable to become “Christian.” Conditions are parallel in these days. The greatest nations in the world are professedly Christian, Great Britain, Germany, France, United States, and others. Is not their religion the cause of their pre-eminence? So it seems to the heathen mind, who knows nothing of the nature of true Christianity, but who measures it by its ethics, and effects as compared with the worn-out historic religions of his own land. It is thus that Japan, the leading, aggressive nation of the Orient, is looking upon the “Christian” nation to-day. Some of her great men, it is true, losing faith in the religions of their country, reject all religions. An example of this is Marquis Ito, “the real ruler of Japan,” whom a Russian staff writer, of the Novoye Vremya, quotes as saying:— I look upon religion as a thing wholly unnecessary to the life of a people. Science is better than superstition, and what is religion—Christian or Buddhist—but mere credulity and blind faith? And is not superstition necessarily a source of weakness? I do not deplore the fact that rationalism is becoming wide-spread in Japan, for I do not regard it as a danger to society. Some so-called Christian-nation statesmen regard it in about the same way. Yet there are other prominent Japanese who feel that “Christianity” is necessary to put Japan in the front rank as a nation. Admirals Togo and Uriu are both professed Christians. About the middle of May, from Tokyo, Japan, the following cablegram was sent to the London Daily Telegraph:— A great religious meeting, promoted by influential men, was held in the park to-day to determine the question of founding in Japan a church pro-Christian in character, but on independent lines. Leading men consider that the time has arrived to adopt the elements approved by the majority of civilized nations. An edict establishing a national church is not improbable. The New York Evening Mail remarks:— The new day for Japan means readjustment all around. The country is irrevocably committed to modern progress. Some form of Christianity which is elastic enough to serve as a sure stepping-stone between the old and the new is altogether likely to make its way. And through Japan the lump of Christian philosophy may be expected to leaven the loaf of Chinese life more surely and expeditiously than it could through direct missionary effort in China itself. This meeting at Tokyo, the Mail adds, may prove an epoch-marking event in the history of Japan, even more important than the beginning of the war with Russia.—Literary Digest, June 18. But what gain would this mean to real Christianity?—In itself none at all. What it might mean would depend on the way true missionaries of the cross would improve the opportunity to tell Japan that Christianity was not a national religion, was not a military religion, was not a religion of compromise, was not a mere system of ethics; but that it was the life and power of God for the salvation of the individual man, for character transformation and building through a personal Saviour, Jesus Christ; that progress, civilization, greatness, were incidental to Christianity, were resultants of her forces, but were not objective. The true seekers of personal righteousness and a personal Saviour would believe, and this would be a real gain. But the Japanese nation, satisfied with a dead formalism, would join the other nations in their dead formalisms, in their march to a world-religion proclaimed by law, a worship of the sacerdotalism and ritualism and imperialism in religion, of which the Church of Rome is the dominant center. In the union of church and state which would follow, in the exaltation of “the wild solar-holiday of all pagan times,” the Sunday, the mark in a legalized way of apostasy, this pseudo Christianity of the world would fulfil the prophecy of Rev. 13:3 and 18:3. Drunken with the wine of Babylon’s fornication, the whole world will worship the beast power. Against this is directed the awful and solemn warning of Rev. 14:9-12:— “And another angel, a third, followed them, saying, with a great voice, If any man worshipeth the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of His anger; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment goeth up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night, they that worship the beast and his image, and whoso receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”