[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.]
CXLVII.
TWELVE years ago I was a devoted Episcopalian. Nor did it occur to me that I ever should be anything else. I had opposed the Sabbath from ignorance. When Brother Thurston loaned me a book on prophecy, I did not know he was a Sabbath keeper, or I never would have taken it. Praise God I did not know him. When I came to the statement that Rome had changed the day, I immediately went to the "Encyclopedia Britannica," and, under articles "Sunday" and "Sabbath," found some things that surprised me. I then went to my Bible, and, to my great surprise, I found no Sunday sacredness there. Then I took statements from Brother Thurston to the Astor Library to verify them. I want to say just here that again and again I have verified statements of "the remnant seed," whom I have learned so devotedly to love. I have never found any statement in the least exaggerated, nor the works quoted from either added to or taken from. When I found I was keeping a counterfeit sabbath, and not the Sabbath of the Lord, I took my stand for God, yet not till after a heavy struggle; for I have had to go through the fire. But I can testify that He walked with me, and the experience brought its own deep, rich, lasting blessing with it.
E. D. VAN RENSSALAER.
CXLVIII.
WHEN seven years old I went to a day school taught by a young lady cousin; there and from her I learned the number and names of the days of the week. From her sister, on Sundays, I learned the Ten Commandments, and that "the seventh day is the Sabbath." Living with the two cousins, I naturally asked: "Why the difference? Where and when was the change made?" And was told, "When you get older you will find out all about it."
At the age of fourteen I overheard a conversation between two men. Both quoted Scripture in their argument, and the result of that night's conversation was that I became an infidel, and never stepped inside of a church for over twenty-one years. At thirty-five, a friend came to the house, and gave me two readings on Daniel 2 and 7, and Revelation 12 and 13, all at one sitting. I worked the next three Sabbaths contrary to my convictions, but have not done so since.
The evidences of prophecy and history, and the grace of God, have made me a follower of the Lamb by faith for nine years.
CHAS. H. HARRIS.
CXLIX.
WHEN about ten years of age, I learned the Ten Commandments. Since then I have been a skeptic about the first day of the week's being the Sabbath. I questioned my parents, and they told me it was changed when Christ arose from the dead. When I asked other questions about it, they hushed me, and said I would know when I was older. I asked ministers, but they would not, or could not, tell me who changed the Sabbath.
Ten years ago last January I read in the "Bible Readings for the Home Circle," who thought to do the awful deed, and in five minutes I was a Sabbath keeper. I was so rejoiced to know the truth of the matter that I told it to every one I met, saint or sinner; and I was greatly disappointed because those who called themselves Christians were not as delighted as I was.
I keep it because the Creator rested on the seventh day, the day after He had finished His work of creating the world. He made it holy, and bids us keep it so. He said, "It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever," and are we not a part of the Israel of God? Phil. 3:3.
L. M. W.
A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM.
A PRIMARY Sunday-school teacher had been talking to her class about home-department work, and how they could help it along in their homes. One little girl who was a Christian, but whose parents were not, came to the teacher after school, and asked if there was not some way by which she could start a home department in her home. The teacher replied that there was, and, taking the child's little Testament, marked here and there a verse. Then she told her to take the Testament to the breakfast table, and, at the proper time, ask her father if she might read a verse aloud, and, if he did not object, to read one of the marked verses. She was then to ask if she might say a little prayer, and, if she was allowed, to kneel down by her chair, and say, "Our Father," etc. It was a trying moment for the little girl on Monday morning; but she was true to her promise. The father did not object, and the verse was read; neither was there objection to the little prayer. With child-like faith she prayed in the presence of the father and mother, both of whom, however, remained seated at the table. Tuesday, Wednesday, and the days following, it was the same, until Sunday came. The little girl told her teacher how she had been able to carry out her promise, and asked to have some more verses marked for her to read the following week. This was done, and the little home missionary took up her work again. Before that week was ended, both father and mother were on their knees by the side of their little girl when prayer time came.
How long this continued I do not know; but not a great while afterward the little girl was taken seriously ill. Her father, entering her room one day, saw her weeping, and asked her the cause. She replied: "Papa, I am not afraid to die, for I know Jesus will take me home; but I have just been wondering who will read the verse and say the prayer at the table when I am gone." The heart-broken father could not stand that. Taking up his little girl in his arms, he pressed a kiss upon her lips, and said: "Those verses shall be read, and prayer offered every morning, if I do it myself." Soon after this his little girl was taken away, but the promise was kept, and the father and mother received into the church.
"And a little child led them."—New York Merchant.
THE MYSTERY OF BIRTH.
By Mattie A. Price
BY MATTIE A. PRICE.
CHRIST'S incarnation was the mystery of godliness. "To this end was I born," says Jesus, "that I should bear witness to the truth." What stronger testimony could be given of the value of truth? This dark world needs the light of the true witnesses. Jesus was the "True Witness." "Ye are My witnesses." When we are born again we will bear witness that we have been with the "True Witness," who was the "Light of the world." To this end were we born, and for this cause came we into the world. "As He is, so are we in this world." He made His followers joint heirs with Him in His glory. In His name they were to go forth to carry out His purpose of bringing many souls to a knowledge of the truth. He is soon to judge the world with His truth. "Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most Mighty, with Thy glory and Thy majesty. And in Thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things." Ps. 45 : 3, 4.
"Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
THE PRICE THAT WAS PAID.
THE Classmate tells a story of a preacher of the Gospel who had gone down into a coal mine during the noon hour to tell the miners about Jesus Christ. Meeting the foreman, he asked him what he thought of God's way of salvation.
"O, it is too cheap; I can not believe in such a religion as that."
Without an immediate answer to his remark, the preacher asked: "How do you get out of this place?"
"Simply by getting into the cage," was the reply.
"Well, that certainly is very easy and simple. But do you not need to help raise yourself?" said the preacher.
"Of course not," replied the miner. "As I have said, you have nothing to do but get into the cage."
"But what about the people who sank the shaft and perfected all this arrangement; was there much labor about it?"
"Indeed, yes; the shaft is eighteen hundred feet deep, and it was sunk at great cost to the proprietor."
"Just so; and when God's Word tells you that whosoever believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life, you at once say: 'Too cheap! too cheap!' forgetting that God's work to bring you and others out of the pit of destruction and death was accomplished at a vast cost, the price being the death of His only Son. Men forget that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself purged our sins, and that their part is but to accept what has been done, and thank God for it."
GOD'S DESIRE TO MANIFEST HIMSELF.
"What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?" Rom. 9:22-24.
There are some things which must be exhibited to all the universe, and among these are the wrath and the power of God. And these are being illustrated in presence of the universe in the working out of the plan of salvation in the earth. It is being demonstrated that His wrath against disobedience is just, and essential to the well-being of all the universe, and that His power is fittingly represented in the Gospel of Christ, "which is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom. 1:16; Eph. 1:19, 20. The wrath of God toward sin, which is disobedience of His holy law (1 John 3:4), is the natural outgrowth of His righteous character; for the scripture says of Him, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity."
In order to illustrate these great truths in a way that all may see the justice of His wrath, He endures with much longsuffering vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction. He gives them years of probation in order that they may choose which they will be—whether they will remain vessels of wrath for destruction or become vessels of mercy for salvation. God does not fit anybody for destruction. All are born under condemnation (Ps. 51:5; John 3:3), but the Lord will fit them for salvation if they will accept of His conditions. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth upon him." John 3:36. He has chosen to remain a vessel fitted for destruction, made so by reason of his sinful nature. "The wages of sin is death;" and the impenitent sinner, choosing the sin, naturally draws the wages.
The probationary time allotted to the sinful race is God's opportunity to demonstrate before all the universe the power of His love in fitting vessels of mercy for salvation. The great adversary of God and his many emissaries have charged that God is unjust; but when the glorious work of redemption shall have been accomplished, His character will be fully vindicated. See the "new song" recorded in Rev. 5:9-14.
God is desirous that His creatures shall learn of Him and His ways. Both His works and His Word have that end in view, with the addition of His Holy Spirit as a teacher of the truth. Men are apt to consider wrath an objectionable trait of character, but God needs not to apologize for His wrath, for it is only manifest against that which His perfect judgment knows to be inimical to the happiness of His creatures. Through its action will eventually come that universal peace which will experience nothing but reciprocal love, because of the universal spirit of obedience to the law of God, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself."
Satan and his adherents, as all living creatures necessarily must, possess a certain degree of power, which is given them by the Creator; but, having perverted it from the purpose of the Creator, it can only work evil, and eventually their own destruction. Disobedience is a kind of boomerang; "sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." God permits the adversary to destroy to a certain extent, in order that he may demonstrate his real character, and the justice of his final annihilation be manifested; and incidentally his machinations sometimes work out the judgments of God. Satan frequently over-reaches himself. So the psalmist says: "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee; the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain." Ps. 76:10.
MEN OF STRAW.
By Editor
Antinomianism.
THE Christian Standard, the organ of the Disciple sect, has been greatly stirred over the advance of Sabbath truth, and the editor has of late been putting forth especial effort to "neutralize Advent teaching." Several of these papers have been sent us by different persons, and we are asked to reply to them in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
In the first place, the articles are not worth the space for reply. They do not touch the Biblical evidence or argument for the Sabbath of the Lord. They set up at convenient distances nice little men of straw, and then pop away at them with all sorts of antiquated guns and discarded modern weapons, which do not always affect seriously even the men of straw. The principal complaint the Standard makes is that Seventh-day Adventists claim to go by the Bible and the Bible alone, and then proceed to quote history in large quantities, especially in the history of the Sabbath and Sunday, and in the interpretation of prophecy. But it is still true that the Bible and the Bible alone is the norm of their faith and practice; yet we do not see why this should prevent them from showing by history the fulfilment of prophecy, and we do not know how it is possible to give a history of Sunday as a religious institution save from history, for it has no such record in the Bible.
The Standard declares that the Sabbath as the seal of God's law is based on the statement that "sign" and "seal" are synonymous terms, contrary to the Standard's understanding of the matter; that the generic term "Israel" does not include twentieth-century Christians, and that it is a great mistake to say that the United States will become a persecuting power and enforce Sunday observance under penalties.
In the first place, to put it in very few words, the great truth that the Sabbath is the seal of God's law rests on a broader, larger basis than the synonymous use of "sign" and "seal." The sign of circumcision was a seal of Abraham's righteousness. Rom. 4:11. The Sabbath, a sign between God and His people (Ex. 20:12, 20), is also a seal of His law, and becomes such to those who receive the Sabbath for what it truly means, the rest of God in Christ Jesus, both Creator and Redeemer.
As to the term "Israel," it is God's designation of His household and commonwealth. Eph. 2:19, 20. Compare with verse 12; 3:3-6. There are no promises to the world at all save through Israel. Rom. 9:4, 5. If one wishes to persist in being a Gentile, he takes himself out of the pale of God's promises.
When Seventh-day Adventists first declared, on the basis of the prophetic Word, that United States would become a persecutor through the enforcement of Sunday laws, there was not a single indication of it in the land. Since 1850 the matter has been agitated in every state in the union, several states have prosecuted and imprisoned men for the sole reason that they worked on Sunday, to the disturbance of no one, and the state laws have been upheld by Federal Courts, while the Federal Congress has three times committed itself to religious legislation. While we would to God that such action by this government, as set forth in Rev. 13:11-17, might never be, we know from the "more sure word of prophecy" that it will certainly come.
The Standard criticizes "Sabbatarian Use of History" after this sort:—
On the Sabbath question, they claim to prove from history that the church kept the Sabbath for hundreds of years after Christ; that Sunday observance came from the pagans, was brought in by Constantine, made holy by the pope; that before this, for three hundred years, it had been a common work day in the church, etc.
But where could proof for the above be found save in history? Of course it was all predicted in the Word. History, however, abundantly reveals all these claims.
These facts do not prove the Sabbath obligatory upon all men, but they do prove that God had loyal souls in the piping times of apostasy. Even down as late as 538 the council of Laodicea pronounced anathema on those Christians who kept the seventh day. Sunday was not kept before Constantine's time as a sabbath, and almost universally not for a long time after that emperor.
Abundant quotations from history are often given because they are not accessible to all, while a Bible reference is sufficient to refer all to the passage cited. One editorial of the Standard is entitled, "Did Constantine Change the Sabbath?" And more than two columns is taken to answer the question, when two letters would answer it, namely, "No." No one claims, so far as we know, that Constantine changed the Sabbath. What we do say is this: Constantine issued the first law for Sunday observance on record. And it is well to note that that first law is found, not in the Scriptures, but in the code of a sun-worshipping pagan emperor. The next day he gave instruction as to how the heathen soothsayers, or haruspices, were to proceed to determine the will of the gods. The Sunday law was doubtless given to please professed Christians, but it was given by a pagan.7
Neither does any Sabbatarian affirm that the pagans rested on Sunday. Sunday was "the wild solar holiday of all pagan times," partly of work and partly given up to mirth and folly. It needed no law to lead men to carnal pleasures. This is the simple fact: The first law for Sunday was issued by a pagan emperor, for an apostate church; but his edict was not to enforce the Lord's day, but "the venerable day of the sun," a wholly pagan name.
Here are the simple facts: Constantine became emperor July 25, 306, and his victory over Maxentius, at which it was said he saw the cross, and was converted to Christianity, occurred in 312. But this victory he ascribed, not to Christ, but to instinctu divinitatis, on his arch in Rome, in 315, and he carried his pagan title to the grave, as also the figures and names of the pagan gods on his coins. He was not baptized till just before his death, in 337. His "conversion," the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia well says, "was a change of policy, rather than of moral character. Long after that event he killed his son, his second wife, several others of his relatives, and some of his most intimate friends, in passionate resentment of some fancied infringement of his rights." And this is the "Christian" (?) emperor to whom the first Sunday law can be traced.
One other statement in this article is that "they [Sabbatarians] argue that before this [321] all Christians had worked on Sunday." We simply say this, that the day was not observed as a Sabbath. Here is another sample of the Standard's recklessness:—
Just so in the time of Constantine. All Christians were keeping the Lord's day, and had done so for ages. Of this there is an abundance of historical proof.
What is meant by "keeping"? They kept the days of the betrayal and crucifixion, we are told, also. How? What is the true "Lord's day"? Let Mark 2:26, 27; Ex. 20:8-11 and Isa. 58:13 answer. The Lord has called but one day His, namely, the seventh day, the Sabbath. What is meant by "for ages"? Never till apostasy came in did professed Christians begin to observe the times and days of heathenism. Gal. 4:8-11.
When apostasy came into the Jewish Church they trampled the Sabbath underfoot, turned to pagan "times," and Jerusalem was destroyed in consequence. Ezekiel 20; Jeremiah 17. When the Christian Church apostatized (and it had already begun in Paul's day, Acts 20:29, 30; 2 Thess. 2:7), it also departed from the Sabbath of the Lord, the true Lord's day, and exalted a man to the place of Christ, and a pagan day to the place of the Sabbath of the Lord. Now, if there were none that observed the Sabbath of the Lord from the apostles' day to this, that would not make the truth of God of none effect. God's Word will stand whatever men may do.
One of the chief efforts of the devil from the beginning has been to deceive men into believing that God's law was "done away," "abolished," or "changed." He is the original antinomian. He quotes scripture, as he did to Jesus, to support his theory. He has his disciples still. He has always had them. Ever they cry, to excuse human conduct, "The law is abolished." They are crying it to-day. The sad thing is that many of those who are doing it profess to be "Christians." Of that law Christ the Lord said, "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." He kept it Himself. It was a part of the character He imputes to men. The good of all Biblical ages kept it. Those who turn from that law God calls "a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of Jehovah." See Isa. 30:8-14. Jesus says, "If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments." Matt. 19:17. Again He said, "I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." John 15:10. The beloved disciple says, "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked." 1 John 2:6.
These scriptures—and a multitude of others might be adduced—are God's answer to the Standard's antinomianism. It is no wonder that our contemporary turns from the Word and endeavors to make people believe that history has been perverted by Sabbatarians. Sabbatarians have not perverted history, yet they want no one to stand on any other foundation save the law of God as it is in Christ Jesus.
MUST I YIELD?
By Editor
"Dollars Want Me" is the title of a new book by the editor of a New Thought journal. We have not read it. It is said to be the new road to opulence. It is said to explain just what mental attitude to hold in order to draw the Dollar. It is said that it will enable one to rise above the drudgery of enforced labor. The title conveys the impression that money is seeking to possess the individual; and the author seeks to teach the individual how he can so yield that he will be conducted into the pastures of opulence.
How striking is the similarity between this New Thought deception and the deception practised in Eden. The "god of this world" taught Adam and Eve how they could yield to Him, and in so yielding gain all, and become gods themselves. Satan wanted the souls of the race, and promised them great things. They yielded to him, lost all, and were forced to labor as they had not done before. Now comes the champion of the New Thought, seeking the same thing, making the same offer, and in addition holding out a remedy which "will enable you to rise above the drudgery of enforced labor." If the two propositions are not instigated by the same power, then the coincidence is a remarkable one. And the last deception holds out the promise of immunity from one of the results of the first, that is, labor. Only yield to the invitations of the New Thought, and all you desire to have you may have, all you desire to be you may be, even tho your desire, like that of Lucifer, be to be "like the Most High," and to take the great title, "I AM."
Does the New Thought promise all this? Let the answer be found in its own teaching. The author of the book above named says editorially in the journal Now:—
Man is conscious Mind. Conscious Mind is self determined; is the personal God. To-day man is conscious of himself, says, "I Am," but has not awakened to his power as a conscious manifestation of God—of the One, so he can say what he is. He is coming to that consciousness. All power lies potentially in the human ego. Man, as an individual, and a race, is limited only by his ignorance of his powers. As he thinks himself to be, that he is. To teach him to think of himself as potentially omnipotent, and to bring him into recognition of his possessions, is the object of Now.
If we were to italicise any of the above, it would be necessary to italicise all, so sweeping and all-including is the blasphemous assumption of human omnipotence. Man is made the "personal God," the "I AM," the "One," the possessor of "all power," "potentially omnipotent." But this is not all. He continues:—
Man is that which he thinks he is, because thought is power; and by this power, which is creative, man creates himself. . . Man is spirit, with all the possibilities of divinity, and may manifest these possibilities here and now.
It would seem that nothing but an intellect crazed by self-admiration and self-worship could make such assumptions as above quoted; and we find that it was that very thing that turned the head of Satan and brought discord and rebellion in heaven and brought sin into this world. "I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness; I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee," Eze. 28: 16, 17. God's rebuke to the king of Tyrus—symbol of Satan—can just as fittingly be applied to the exponents of the New Thought. "Thus saith the Lord God; because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, tho thou set thine heart as the heart of God." Eze. 28: 2. One of the faults of that king was an inordinate desire for gold, treasure, and glory. The New Thought makes "the road to opulence," and the release from labor, one of its aims. How striking is the similarity throughout!
Now let us notice some of their "Affirmations," following each with a Scripture reference.
"As life I am perfect." "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Rom. 3: 19. "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no not one." Verse 12.
"Through faith in myself as a manifestation of the infinite life, I am health and happiness." Even Jesus declared: "I can of Mine own self do nothing." John 5: 30. To His followers He said: "Without Me ye can do nothing." John 15: 5. And Paul says: "I can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me." Phil. 4: 13. The New Thought does all of itself and through itself.
"I think of myself as the I AM, which is infinite." "And knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked." Rev. 3: 17. "Yet thou art a man, and not God, tho thou set thine heart as the heart of God."
"I live the eternal life and partake of present immortality." "The King of kings and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality." 1 Tim. 6: 15, 16. "When this mortal shall have put on immortality." 1 Cor. 15: 54. That takes place at the resurrection of the just.
We might give many more of these bold and audacious assumptions, which are plainly refuted by the Word of God, but it is not necessary. Those given show the animus of the whole teaching, and brand it as the wicked thing it is. In the face of all this shall we yield to the deception, taste, and fall, as did our first parents? The New Thought teaching is as contrary to the Word and truth of God as was Satan's contradiction in Eden. It is based upon and propagates the same falsehood, the immortality of the soul. It seeks the same object, the exaltation of the creature above the Creator. Knowing this fact, how can we hope for any other reward than the reward of the fallen cherub if we accept and propagate the doctrine which struck discord in heaven and brought sin, sorrow, and suffering to the earth? Yield not to its vain philosophies, its wicked assumptions, its empty promises. The deception of the pit is in it, and its glowing promises are worse than Dead Sea fruit.
GRACE.
FOLLOWING are some definitions of the word "grace," as given in the "Standard Dictionary," together with their Scriptural foundation:—
1. The unmerited love and favor of God in Christ, especially as shown in the salvation freely provided for mankind; hence, free gift.
"God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved); and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that [the grace] not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Eph. 2 : 4-8; also Titus 2 : 11.
2. The divine influence acting within the heart, to regenerate, sanctify, and keep it.
"Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which hath not profited them that have been occupied therein." Heb. 13 : 9. "By the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." 1 Cor. 15 : 10.
3. A state of reconciliation to God, of deliverance from the dominating power of sin, and of full participation in the enjoyment of God's favor and free gifts on the ground of Christ's merits.
"Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Rom. 5 : 1, 2. "Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." Eph. 1 : 2-7; also Rom. 11 : 15.
4. The power or disposition to exercise saving faith, to live the Christian life, and to endure with patience the trials of the earthly state.
"Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. 2 : 1. "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." Eph. 4 : 29.
"He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest upon me." 2 Cor. 12 : 9. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." James 4 : 6; also Acts 4 : 32-35; Heb. 4 : 16; 1 Peter 1 : 2-4.
5. Any spiritual gift or attainment; any development of spiritual excellence.
"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt; that ye may know how ye ought to answer each one." Col. 4 : 6. "As ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace [liberality] also." 2 Cor. 8 : 7. "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, tho He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." Verse 9.
Please explain Heb. 7: 12, in regard to change of law.
A. L. E.
The passage itself clearly tells us what law is referred to, namely, the law regulating the priesthood: "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law." Of what law? —The law regulating the priesthood. The law of the Levitical priesthood excluded all from the priesthood save the tribe of Levi, and the house of Aaron, while, since the crucifixion, Jesus is priest, of the tribe of Judah. See verses 11-14.
What does the scripture mean which says: "It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory"?
R.
It simply means that the body of the Christian is corruptible, decaying, not worthy of honor, in fact, dishonored, if we look upon it from a purely human view-point. Many of them have gone down to a dishonorable death in the sight of the world; but they will come forth from the grave in the glory of Christ Jesus.
THE FRIARS WILL NOT "GO."
THE erstwhile cry that "the friars must go" from the Philippines has about died out, and there is little probability that they will go. The Catholic Mirror says:—
The new Secretary of War, ex-Governor Taft, has not been for four years in the Philippines for nothing. He has learned some very noteworthy things. He set out not very long ago with the conviction that in the interests of the islands "the friars must go." This was the note of the former Secretary of War, and he himself concurred in the conclusion. He found the program impracticable, and now he comes forward, frankly to set forth the reasons why such a cry should never have been raised and such a conclusion arrived at.
Then the Mirror quotes from an address of Secretary Taft, at a banquet of the Presbyterian School Union of Philadelphia, in which he lauds the friars very highly, from whose work we received "ready to hand more than six million of Malays, who are Christians and who are receptive to our civilization." Of course our government never had a legal right to expel them. The cry came from native Filipinos, and the question always was one of polity on the part of Rome, whether to withdraw them (temporarily perhaps) in order to conciliate native priests and their sympathizers. But the sale of their lands greatly minimizes their power and influence.
PAPAL INTERESTS AN INTERNATIONAL QUESTION.
A NOTED French writer in the Cosmopolitan of April, in an article on "Pius X. and the Problems of His Pontificate," expressly informs us over and over that Pius X. will carry out the policy of his eminent predecessor, Leo XIII. Among the live questions is the independence of the pope politically, and he tells us that "Senator Tacini has proposed an amendment to the situation which would have the effect of placing the liberated pontiff under the shield of international guarantees. The pope would then be the grand almoner of courts and nations." But in this there may be danger, so the pope waits until the time when all the interests connected with the "Italo-pontifical question" shall be "defined" so as to be "preserved in their universality." And we are told that this is not a "dead issue, since Austria and Germany have woven it into their diplomatic plots; it is an affair of international importance, and upon its solution all the powers are determined. It is simply to look after the pennies and to cultivate paradox, to say, as one sometimes hears, that the future of the Papacy concerns only the Italians and occupies only the Catholics."
This writer speaks truly. The world is involved in the papal question. All the world will take part in its solution. All—Protestant nations as well as Catholic—are aiding in the healing of the deadly wound and the elevation of the woman on the Tiber to the "mistress of kingdoms," the great city which ruleth over the kings of earth. But this can not be as long as the pope is a prisoner in the Vatican.
But will Italy consent to an independent state within its kingdom—imperium in imperio?—Hardly; there is too much danger to both attending it. What will be the solution? It is offered in Palestine and Jerusalem, and this is more than suggested in certain prophecies in the Holy Scriptures. Such a consummation would be considered the vindication of all the crusades of the past centuries, and all the world would wonder and worship, save those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Rev. 13:8; 17:8.
Berea College Law Challenged
A mooted question in the South is to have a final legal decision. The Springfield Republican says: "The trustees of Berea College have voted to test in the highest courts of the land the new law of Kentucky, forbidding them to educate white and black students at the same institution. The litigation will probably fill two years, and not until a final judicial decision has been obtained will they alter the present9educational system at Berea, or take any steps beyond their present condition. Andrew Carnegie's gift of $30,000 to this institution is now announced, and this indicates that in the end the school may be more helped than hurt financially by the new Kentucky law." It is a good thing that the question is to have a legal settlement, whichever way it goes; then all concerned will know how to act. There is no doubt that all classes are entitled to education, whether separately or in mixed schools; and the system that will give the best educational results, with the least social or racial friction, ought to prevail.