Earlier text: THE PARABLE OF THE TWO SONSSAVED BY FAMILIES.
By S. M. I. H.
THE unbelief of the husband does not make him any less a part of the believing wife, but the faith of the believing wife makes him half a believer in spite of himself; for they are one flesh, and the faith of the believer does sanctify, or set apart, the unbelieving to the faith that must sometime become a realization. This is true in your case according to your faith to receive it, and your willingness to be, to live, and to labor for it. There is another doctrine that has been promulgated by the world for its selfish benefit. Because of the hardness of the unbelieving heart, God has left for the help of those who are still on the plain of unbelief, some things that do not belong to his own people. He has not only given statutes that are not good, by which wicked men may shorten their own days of misery, but he has also given instructions by which those who will not accept the true principles of family life may “break up” the concern that is profanely called by that holy name; and then he has thrown to each of its human fragments a rope. And shall those who call themselves the saved people of God reach out after this rope, which can belong only to the lost, or seek to adjust their family affairs according to any of those things that are only allowable because the hard-hearted and unbelieving will catch hold of them, and so may be kept afloat until they may be able to understand the only words that lead to life? “They twain shall be one flesh.” “For to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” How beautiful is the possibility! Behold! here are a man and a woman who have been living together for years: he has made himself cruel with drink, with tobacco, and unbelief. By the grace of God she has found, in the untold sorrows that she has been made to suffer, that which has driven her to find her dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, where he himself has taught her many new things out of the depths that are hidden in his bosom. The divine Teacher has taken her back to first principles, and from that standpoint she looks at her husband, and in its primeval glory she lives and labors together with God. But the more she reveals of God, the denser seems to grow the darkness in which her husband lives. The more she loves the truth, the more he seems to hate it. The more tender and true she becomes as a wife, the more demoniac and unlike a Christian he seems to become, until finally one day he lays his hand violently upon her. What shall she do then?—Shall she run away to her neighbors to escape the second blow, or go to camp-meeting expecting never to return?—O, no; for she stands in a place so light with truth that she has no occasion to flee; she only says, gently, with a tender, tearful quaver in her tone: “Forgive me, darling, that I struck you.” “Struck me!” he cries fiercely. “You did n’t strike me: I struck you, and I’ll do it again!” “O, no,” she says, “it was I struck you, and I am sorry. Forgive me; for, you see, this is your arm: you and I are one; this is your arm, and the arm that struck is my arm, if it does hang from that shoulder. Forgive me that I struck you.” Could he strike her again?—Nay, verily; but humiliated and sobered, he can only listen as she goes on:— “I do at least a half of all the mean things that your hands do, and am one half responsible for all you say with your tongue, because you and I are one; and in my efforts to serve the Lord, and in my love of the truth, you have a half interest, if you do think you hate it. This is your heart, you know, for I gave it to you long ago; it is yours; it is not mine any longer. It has not been since those days when you and I found each other. It is your heart that has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is filled with the love of the truth. My love of the truth is yours—all yours, for I am yours, all there is of me.” Do you suppose that any man who ever loved a woman well enough to ask her in marriage, could stand long under any such a rendering of the truth, and face it down? I would like to see the man who could do it. He would be a curiosity. He is not in one of your homes. What is needed to bring about that perfect union of the family is a revival of the old spirit of loving that came out of God, in sufficient measure to make it possible for these two to win each other out of all the world of men and women for themselves. That spirit, reinforced by the truth of God, and the larger opportunities which it brings, would be invincible in any home. But in spite of all this, some one will still say: “But there are homes in which no reconciliation can take place, where the wife must stand alone for the truth, where there is continual bickering, and fretting, and confusion. She can not by anything that she is able to do change this condition. What shall she do?” One thing is still settled,—one person alone can not make a quarrel; so she can make peace in her house by making quarreling impossible through silence; and after that, it is her privilege to be an open channel through which the Lord shall fill her home so full of the power of his Spirit, and make her life such a continual testimony to the truth, that the unbelieving, contentious husband will very soon do one of two things,—he will either say, “She is the truth, and I must yield myself to the truth in her, and be led by the same Spirit that leads her,” or, refusing to do this, he will run away. If he will not yield, he can not long endure such an atmosphere, and must leave it behind. But what is the matter with this contentious, reckless, unbelieving husband?—Simply that he is spiritually sick. What he needs is to have the floods of that river of healing waters about which Ezekiel tells us in his forty-seventh chapter, come flowing in upon him, not simply to the ankles, or the knees, or to the loins, but “waters to swim in,” which shall carry him off his feet into the depths of salvation. These waters go down toward the desert, where even the dead fish are, and where everything, even the dead in sin, shall be healed; for as these waters “go down into the desert . . . everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the waters shall come, shall live.” And if this seems impossible to you, I have only to take up the words of Christ, and say, “O thou of little faith,” and again, “according to your faith be it unto you.” If your faith be for salvation, family and all, this you will have; if your faith be for failure, failure and loss shall be your portion. It will be a sad day for any who are responsible for a broken home when our Lord shall come. EXTRACT FROM CORRESPONDENCE.
I AM writing this, lying on my back. We are enjoying our home school. We have four little ones. I do not know why the Lord permits my sickness; but this I do know: I love him, and will trust him. My little ones are doing the housework. The oldest one is a boy, nine years old. He does the cooking, and bakes good light bread. His little sister, six years old, helps him. They are piecing quilts out of scraps. They have finished three quilts, and are piecing two more. They are learning to sew nicely. You say you wonder why the Lord permits your sickness. It is because something has been done in your physical practices that he can not indorse with health. This is the case with us all whenever we are sick. Sometimes we do the wrong ignorantly, sometimes we are able to trace effect directly back to cause. The Lord will not give the indorsement of health to anything that is contrary to the principles upon which life and health are dependent. It takes us a long time to learn those lessons that give us perfect health, and I hope that you may discover the cause of this illness, and be able to avoid it in the future. But it is among the “all things” that work for good. Our Heavenly Father has mercifully ordered that even the things that are in themselves evil shall be compelled to work for our good when we trust and obey him. That this is working good in your case is manifest by what you say about your little children. But, of course, you should not stay sick for their good. They should be relieved by health in you just as soon as possible. The burden of such housework must be heavy for such little people. Do not allow them to be kept too closely at it, as that will discourage them. Thank God for the home school! It will be good for you as well as for them; and by this, even while lying upon your back, you can keep your little ones out of harm’s way, and train them up for God. “I SEND the name of my husband and of my son for special prayer. I have been praying earnestly for them for three years, and still they are in opposition to God's word.” An only sister: that she may let go the cares of this world, and take her stand for the truth. A husband: for his conversion to God, and that he may be a blessing to his family. THE KINGDOM OF HOME.
By William Brunton
How pure and precious is the dear home thought,
Made sacred with the memories of old;
It doth all loveliness of life enfold
That can by service true and love be bought.
'Tis into perfectness of beauty wrought,
More wonderful than jeweled works of gold;
Its rich endearments never fully told,
And yet by each and all with passion sought.
There bring the heart all free from guile and snare;
Give sweet devotion through the passing days;
Each want and wish, each pain and pleasure, share,
And naught shall be but thankfulness and praise.
Be true as men and women God has blest
With that dear kingdom evermore the best.
— William Brunton. GRANDMA'S WAY OF KEEPING THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT.
“Mr. Burk is wasting his time making us repeat the commandments in Sabbath-school—as if any of us were tempted to kill or steal,” said Stella. “The eighth commandment is at least often strained in this family,” answered grandma, quietly. “Mother, if you have seen the children doing anything of that kind, you ought to have told me,” spoke up Mr. Gordon. “I did not say the children were the only transgressors,” replied grandma, laughing. Mr. Gordon colored. Had grandma been down to his store, and had her puritanical ideas been shocked over the weighing of brown paper with sugar? or some other little advantage allowed to the seller? “I am sure I do not steal,” said Stella, emphatically. “Grandma, keep a record of every time we break the eighth commandment the coming week,” suggested Mrs. Gordon. “Saturday evening you shall read it, and the one who offends most must buy the kitchen clock I need.” Each one of the Gordon family was willing to buy a clock if convicted of stealing. “If it were impatience, mother, I should expect to buy my own clock,” Mrs. Gordon said, as they gathered around the glowing grate, Saturday evening. “If it were a quick temper, I would open my bank; but I am safe,” said Stella. Mr. Gordon and his son, Ben, felt too secure to even consider the matter. “I have not been with each one of you every moment, so can give only the few things I have seen. These will no doubt remind you of other things in which you have broken the eighth commandment,” said grandma, producing a large notebook, with a smile at her doubting audience. “To begin with Stella: I noticed two old Sabbath-school books, the kind that every one wishes, in her closet, and a song-book on the piano, marked, ‘For the Sabbath-school room only.’” “I've always forgotten to return them,” interrupted Stella. “Yes, as you have the handkerchief Hattie left, which is in the wash nearly every week,” continued grandma. “Then you stopped practicing Monday to talk a half-hour to Lizzie, stealing time from your music. You forgot to give your mother that important message, and took an afternoon from her when she went out to see about it, and got that headache that took another half-day, and a dollar to the doctor, besides the medicine, and you took away your mother's patience when she found that all this came from your neglect.” “The Bible does not say what we shall not steal, so the inference is that we shall not take anything that belongs to another without his consent. It certainly took money out of your father's pocket when you carelessly broke the parlor window yesterday. When you took the second dish of berries last night, you took Bettie's fruit as certainly as the boy at the corner took the oranges from the old man. Both went without fruit that they supposed was theirs. When you took your mother's new veil, and lost it—” “And my new lead pencil,” interrupted Ben, who was rather enjoying his positive little sister's discomfort. “Thursday you broke into my room as I was falling into a sleep, and stole a much-needed rest from me,” went on grandma, with a smile. “I put down the nights her cousin stays, and they keep us all awake until midnight, talking and giggling,” added Ben. “You may take some of these samples to yourself, Ben; and, with her neglect of the eighth commandment, Stella has been often very helpful and sweet to us all, so I pass to your own private record,” answered the old lady. “Besides the stolen books in your room, I saw a silk umbrella that had another name than Ben on it.” “I mean to take that back,” murmured the culprit. “I believe that excuse would not hold in court,” replied grandma. “Monday evening I have recorded that my grandson boasted that the car was so crowded that the conductor had failed again to ask for his fare.” “But, grandma, he is paid for collecting fares.” “Your ‘Thou shalt not steal’ has nothing to do with the conductor's duty to his employer,” went on grandma, in a tone very severe for her. “The next evening, when company came, the cake saved for supper was gone, and your mother thought Bettie must have eaten it, but I saw a tall young man slip away from the cake-box.” “A fellow can't starve,” murmured Ben, hanging down his head. “It is only the question whether cake is made for your lunch or for the family tea which makes taking right or wrong,” went on grandma. “Then, several times I have heard a young man tease his little sister until he took away her sunny temper.” “O grandma! teasing isn't stealing.” “My boy, if teasing takes away from Stella something she wishes to keep, what is it but stealing? Then, the mornings you were late to breakfast, I heard busy Bettie say that it took the best of the morning to get your breakfast, and clear up after you.” “Ben has nearly bankrupted us all, if you are going to consider the times we have all waited for him,” laughed the father. “Two evenings he stole the time from his lessons to read a foolish story, and will probably steal some of the Sabbath to get those lessons. Ben took his father's good temper when he took his cuff-buttons without asking, and his mother's when he took her new magazine and lost it, and his grandmother's when he took her new church paper to wrap up a package, and thus stole part of her Sabbath reading,” read grandma from her notebook. “I'm sorry I took your paper,” murmured Ben, who was really a good-hearted boy. “Anyway you haven't anything against mamma, for she gives up to every one.” “That's her worst fault,” said grandma. “She is robbing her old age by using up her nervous force, and robbing you children of independence by everlastingly waiting on you.” “Didn't you catch her getting money out of the pocket of my best trousers?” asked Mr. Gordon, smiling at his wife. “No, indeed; she was too well brought up for that. But, besides stealing time for work that ought to be used in sleep or rest, or improving the mind, you, too, Rebecca, have broken the commandment. I have noticed that you do not hurry up supper when your sewing girl is here, so in a week you manage to get an hour or more for nothing; and Thursday you took Bettie's afternoon to have her put up fruit.” “I meant to give her Friday, but company came. I see I did wrong, mother; for I do not like it if a girl takes as much as a spool of thread that does not belong to her,” answered Mrs. Gordon. “Now, Benjamin, you went to the store last Sabbath afternoon, and took some of the Lord's day for accounts.” “But the bookkeeper, mother——” “Yes, no one steals unless there is need of something, though I can hardly say that when you take Rebecca's time to pick up after you.” “What's a wife for, mother?” “Not to pick up collars off the bureau, coats off the chairs, and handkerchiefs and old letters off the floor. For a man to take his wife's time in picking up after him, is like stealing pennies from some one who intended to spend dollars for him. You stole Thursday evening from the prayer-meeting, when you were much needed there, and then took two hours of the minister's time to talk about something; and I heard his wife say, this afternoon, that he would have to sit up till midnight to finish his sermon, because he had had so many callers.” “Look here, mother, you need not read the rest of that book. I'll admit that we do not keep the commandments any too well, and I fear in business it is even worse. I hope the children will learn one lesson. It is not so bad to take things from the cupboard, or our bureau drawers, but it makes them indifferent to property rights, and might make them form a habit of taking from others, when it would be considered real theft. Anyway, mamma comes out best; so, children, we will get her that parlor clock she has been wanting, and the kitchen clock, too,” said Mr. Gordon. “You have given me a new idea, mother,” said Mrs. Gordon. “We must follow the golden rule very closely, or we shall often break the eighth commandment by taking happiness, or time, or health from others, and really robbing them more than if we had taken only money or other property.” It is said that a zinc-lined bath-tub can be made to look like a silver tub if rubbed vigorously with a cloth moistened with kerosene. Try it, and you will know whether this is true or not. And it is worth trying; for there is hardly anything more uninviting than the soiled zinc of a bath-tub. (February 25 to March 3.) It may seem to some that this lesson is a difficult one; but it may be thoroughly mastered by every one if faithful study is given to it. We have this instruction for our encouragement: “The noble powers of the mind may be so dwarfed by lack of exercise on themes worthy of their concentration as to lose their ability to grasp the deep meaning of the word of God. The mind will enlarge if it is employed in tracing out the relation of the subjects of the Bible, comparing scripture with scripture, and spiritual things with spiritual. There is nothing more calculated to strengthen the intellect than the study of the Scriptures.” Take up the arithmetical calculation carefully, step by step. Go over it again and again, until even the children can take the dates, and solve the problem. Draw a simple diagram, indicating the different periods of time mentioned, and the events connected therewith. No review topics are suggested, as it will perhaps be more helpful to review the regular lesson. 1. How long a time was to be allotted to the Jewish people? What events were to occur during that period? 2. Divide the seventy weeks into the three divisions given, fixing in mind the events that were to mark each division. 3. With what commandment were the seventy weeks to begin? Study the history of the various decrees issued for the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem, and determine the date from which to reckon. 4. Review the texts which indicate that in symbolic prophecy each day stands for a year. 5. Beginning with 457 B. C., and counting forty-nine years (the seven weeks), where does this period end? How fully had the church been restored in Jerusalem at that time? 6. Beginning with 457 B. C., and counting four hundred and eighty-three years (the seven weeks, and the threescore and two weeks), when would this period end? (Allowance must be made for the fact that the decree of 457 B. C. was not issued until after several months of the year had passed. This throws the date of the ending of the time into the autumn of A. D. 27, instead of on the last day of A. D. 26, as might at first be thought.) 7. What event marked the close of the four hundred and eighty-three years? What is the cause of the difference between Luke 3 : 21-23 and the date given in the margin? 8. Beginning in the autumn of A. D. 27, and reckoning by the Passovers, when did the ministry of Christ close? What date and what event marked the “midst” of the seven years (the one week)? What date and events marked the close of the seven years, which is the close of the time allotted to the Jews? 9. How many years remain of the twenty-three hundred after the four hundred and ninety years (the seventy weeks) are passed? If the four hundred and ninety years end in A. D. 34, when would the twenty-three hundred years end? 10. What is the nature of the event that began in 1844, and is called in the prophecy the cleansing of the sanctuary? FEBRUARY STUDY OF THE FIELD. PART IV.
“Unoccupied Fields of Eastern Asia.”
(Text-book, February Magazine.) We would urge a careful study of the map in the February number of the Missionary Magazine in connection with this article, as it presents a number of fields as yet unentered by the Third Angel’s Message. 1. Why is Tibet interesting? 2. State the population and area of this closed country. 3. To what country is it tributary? 4. What custom has degraded woman? 5. What can you say of Mongolia? How does its area compare with that of the United States? 6. Although much of this country is desert, what is the number of the population it supports? 7. Tell what you can of the habits of the people. 10. Name and locate other countries as yet untouched by the gospel. In all, how many people are represented in these fields? 11. What can you say of the power of Romanism in Indo-China? 12. What claim have these people upon the Third Angel’s Message? A church school teacher in South Dakota writes of the interest of the children:— We have been interested in the Reading Circle from the first. Our reviews are held in connection with the Sabbath evening missionary meeting. They grow more interesting each week. The children are at work. At the last review they answered most of the questions before any one else had time. We study the lessons some in school; but they are beginning now to study by families, and I think that is better. A similar testimony comes from a teacher in Michigan:— We have been carrying on the Reading Circle studies ever since they began. The plan that we have is this: Each family studies the lesson at home during the week, then on Sabbath we all study it together. All seem to be much interested. It does me much good to see how the little children grasp the lessons that I teach them during the week. When the lessons are reviewed on Sabbath, they delight in answering the questions. I am glad the Lord put it in the hearts of his servants to start the Reading Circle. I know it is a help to us all, CIRCLE REVIEWS.
By L. Flora Plummer
In a former article reference was made to two mistakes commonly made in conducting a review exercise; namely, that of making it a study rather than a review, and the habit of leaders in sometimes doing all the work themselves, and allowing the members to do little or none. In considering this subject further, it will be helpful to notice the following points of special instruction given by the Spirit of Prophecy:— This work of enlightening others is not the work of the minister only, but it is the work of all who profess the truth of God. God has given to every man his work in making Christ known to the world. We must teach the members of the church how they may effectually minister to others. . . . Were the kind of labor of which it stands in need bestowed upon the church, many who are doing nothing would be educated to become diligent laborers in the harvest field. From this it is evident that the kind of labor of which the church most stands in need is that which will prepare each member to engage in the work of God. And it is this very need that the leaders of Circle meetings should constantly keep in mind. In this next extract from the same authority, the idea is carried out still further:— Why do not the overseers of the church have councils to devise ways whereby young men and women may be trained to put to use their intrusted talents? . . . Many have embraced the truth, and yet they have not been educated as to how they may serve the cause of God, and thereby grow in spiritual muscle and sinew. . . . Why should they not be interested in the great work that is to be done? But do not imagine that this interest can be aroused by going to the missionary meeting, and presenting a long sermon; plan ways whereby a live interest may be kindled, and train up the young to do what is appointed them. The Circle meetings in each place ought to be made a training-school for the fitting up of workers. Let the overseers of each church do just as the foregoing quotation says,—counsel together, and devise ways of conducting the work so that the members may be trained to use their talents. Too much can not be said in favor of sending our young people to our colleges and other institutions, that they may obtain an education and a training that will make them valuable workers in the cause of God. But when all that is possible in that direction has been said and done, there will yet remain a large number of both young and old among us who never can avail themselves of such privileges. What does the Lord say should be done?—"In every church the members should be trained so that they will devote time to the work, and win souls to Christ. . . . Will those who have charge of the flock of God awaken to their duty?" By these extracts it ought to be plain to all that the work now to be done in the churches is the training of each member to work for the Lord, and it is the manifest duty of the “overseers” in each place to counsel together as to how this may be done. The work at home and abroad is languishing because this has not been done. The arousing of our churches to do the work in the home field means the releasing of an army of laborers and much money to the foreign work. In every possible way let the Circle studies and the Circle meetings be used as an aid in the training of our brethren and sisters in the local churches as missionary workers, that the coming of our Saviour be not delayed. Ye churches of the living God, . . . consider how your lack of faith, of spirituality, of divine power, is hindering the coming of the kingdom of God. Were every one of you living missionaries, the gospel would be speedily proclaimed in all countries, to all peoples, nations, and tongues. This is the work that must be done before Christ shall come in power and great glory. I call upon the church to pray earnestly, that you may understand your responsibilities. Are you individually laborers together with God? If not, why not? When do you mean to do your God-appointed work? SOMETHING GOOD.
By J. G. Wilson
RECIPE.— Two cups nut butter, two cups water, two cups gluten, one tablespoonful salt. Mix nut butter and water first, adding only a little water at a time. When thoroughly mixed, add the gluten, and mix again for a few minutes. Cook in a double boiler or basin for three or four hours. If gluten is run through a meat chopper, it will be easier to mix with the butter. To make gluten, take six or eight pounds of good flour, mix with sufficient water to make a stiff dough, and work thoroughly. Then wash out the starch in about three or four gallons of water. That which can not be washed away is gluten. Let the starch water stand for a few hours, and the starch will settle to the bottom. The water can then be turned off, and the starch placed in tins for laundry purposes. Peas and Beans Instead of Meat
EDWARD ATKINSON, of Boston, speaking of the food problem, in the January Success, says: “In France, they eat soup and stews rich in peas and beans, which are very good. Peas and beans and lentils supply the body with all the elements that meat does. When you eat them, you do not need to eat meat. You also get rid of the need of killing animals if you do that, and you escape the poisons that meat is apt to contain.” THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE.
God would have healed Babylon, but she would not be healed. In the Reformation he sent a balm for her, if so be that she might be healed; but she would not receive it, and, therefore, the Lord was obliged to leave her to her own ways. In the Reformation the Lord sent his gospel anew, and with power, to all people; and at that time all the people were in Babylon, because all were under the dominion of Rome. Multitudes received the gospel, and walked in the light as it was then revealed. But as that was the first step out of darkness, there were other steps to be taken, to reach the fulness of the gospel: there was advance light in which to walk. And here again history began to repeat itself. Many of those who had come out of darkness, and had taken the first steps into the light of the gospel, stopped there, became satisfied with that: they counted themselves sufficiently rich, and increased with goods, and therefore in need of nothing. And, as the consequence, they grew proud of what they had, exalted themselves upon what they had, and became exclusive. Then, as the gospel must go on, as the light must increase more and more unto the perfect day, it followed that all those who would walk in the advancing light, all who would receive more truth,—the fuller gospel,—were excluded from the company of those who were self-satisfied, and were obliged to go forward as had the others at the first. Then, in turn, these became satisfied with what they had, grew proud of it, exalted themselves upon it, and became exclusive. But as the gospel must still advance, the light must shine yet more fully, and as those who would walk in the advancing light, and would receive more truth, could not do so and be recognized as of the company of those who had taken the former steps, they must, in turn, inevitably go on in a separate company. On this subject Mosheim says:— The doctrine of the Lutheran Church remained entire during this [seventeenth] century; its fundamental principles received no alteration, nor could any doctor of that church, who should have presumed to renounce or invalidate any of those theological points which are contained in the symbolical books of the Lutherans, have met with toleration and indulgence. The method . . . observed by Calvin . . . was followed, out of respect for his example, by almost all the divines of his communion, who looked upon him as their model and their guide. Thus those people, instead of continuing to be reformers, became respectively Lutherans and Calvinists. Thus each phase of advancing truth developed a separate denomination. And this is the whole philosophy of the principal divisions manifest in the different denominations of Protestantism. Primarily, of course, it should not have been so; yet, under the circumstances, as they developed, secondarily it becomes essential that it should be so. If those who started in the Reformation had continued to walk in the light as it shone more fully, if they had received advanced truth as they grew in the knowledge of the gospel, it is plain enough that there never could have been any other company, any new denomination: they would all have been reformers; there would have been one continuous and progressive reformation, And that is as it should have been. But when, instead of that, those who had received light and truth refused to receive more; when they held that they had all the light and all the truth, and grew proud, self-exalted, and exclusive because of it; and when they excluded from their company those who would receive increased light and advanced truth,—then, in the nature of things, there was nothing else for these to do but to associate together in the fellowship of the light and truth that they had received, and in the spirit of the gospel to spread it to all people. Then, history further repeated itself. These successive denominations, each in turn refusing to go further, and so rejecting truth, were turned from originally the “Gate of God” to “confusion.” Each one, in turn, as the mother at the first, joined herself to another man: they accepted kings of the earth as their head, in place of Christ, the true Head,—entered into illicit connection with the kings of the earth. The Emperor of Germany to-day, as king of Prussia, is the head, the supreme pontiff, of the Lutheran Church in Prussia. In the Scandinavian countries also the Lutheran is the state church, and the head of the state there, is the head of that church. In England the sovereign is head of the Church of England; and in Scotland the same sovereign is head of the church (Presbyterian) of Scotland. And so, because the same person is sovereign of both countries, the same person is head of one church in England and of another in Scotland: is an Episcopalian when in England, and a Presbyterian when in Scotland. And in New England the Congregationalists became the state church, as had the others each in her place; and each and all of them after the very example of “Babylon the Great, the mother.” From the colonial period forward, will be considered next week. A NEW RELIGIO-POLITICAL MOVE.
In Willard Hall, Rock Island, Ill., Dec. 31, 1899, “under the auspices of the Young People's Temperance Federation of America,” there was held a conference that, as reported in the Union Signal of Jan. 11, 1900, engaged in “the discussion of the necessity of unified action of Christians on political and reform lines.” And as a result, the following address was adopted at the closing session by a unanimous vote:— To all Christian Voters and Friends of Jesus of Nazareth throughout the United States of America, Greeting:— We believe the fullness of time to have arrived when the eternal principles of justice, mercy, and love, as exemplified in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, should be embodied in the political economy of our nation, and applied in concrete form to every function of our government, national, State, municipal, and local. We believe that the most direct means of accomplishing this end is the formation of a political body of united Christian men and women, who shall use their elective franchise for the selection of able, worthy, and conscientious public officials who will seek in their respective positions to reform the functions of government in the spirit of the Man of Galilee. We believe that a sufficient number of our fellow citizens have been so spiritually and intellectually enlightened by the example and teachings of Christ and his disciples as to equip them for wise and efficient leadership of such a political force; and to these we appeal for immediate and vigorous co-operation. We believe that the pressing need, yea, the necessity of the times among the great masses of our fellow citizens, is a practical application, commercially and socially, of the spirit and principles of Jesus of Nazareth. 1. The eternal principles of justice, mercy, and love, as exemplified in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, never can “be embodied in the political economy” of any earthly nation or government. In the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus as exemplified in himself on earth, there was nothing of the kind ever seen. The opposite of it was seen there. He refused to hold political office (John 6 : 15; Matt. 4 : 8-10); he refused to touch economic questions, or to perform such functions (Luke 12 : 13, 14); he declared, “My kingdom is not of this world.” John 18 : 36. And to his disciples forever he said: “Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so AMONG YOU.” Matt. 20 : 25. That notion of applying the principles of Christ “in concrete form to every function of our government, national, State, municipal, and local,” sounds enough like, to be part and parcel of, that declaration of the National W. C. T. U., in 1887: “The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, local, State, national, and world-wide, has one vital, organic thought, one all-absorbing purpose, one undying enthusiasm; and that is that Christ shall be this world's king,—yea, verily, THIS WORLD'S KING, in its realm of cause and effect,—king of its courts, its camps, its commerce,—king of its colleges and its cloisters,—king of its customs and its constitutions. . . . The kingdom of Christ must enter the realm of law through the gateway of politics.” 2. No “political body” can ever be formed by Christian men and women, united or otherwise; for Christians do not form political combinations, nor do they take part in politics. The Christian's commonwealth, his citizenship, “is in heaven.” Phil. 3 : 20, R. V., or Greek. Christians are “fellow citizens with the saints,” not with sinners. Eph. 2 : 19; Deut. 33 : 2; Jude 14. They are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Heb. 11 : 13-16. All the affairs of government that Christians have anything to do with are the affairs of the government and kingdom of God, which “is not of this world.” 3. No man ever can be so “enlightened by the example and teachings of Christ and his disciples” as to be equipped “for wise and efficient leadership” of any “political force.” And this, simply because there is neither example nor teaching, either of Christ or his disciples, on any such subject. All the example and all the teaching of Christ and his disciples, are designed solely to equip men for efficient work, and leadership, if need be, of religious and spiritual forces only. 4. Yes; there is now and always “pressing need, yea, necessity,” “among the great masses,” of a “practical application, commercially and socially, of the spirit and principles of Jesus of Nazareth.” It is needed “among the great masses” of Christians everywhere in the world. That is just what Christians are in the world for. And this application is to be made by the individual Christian, in all the affairs of his daily life wherever he is. That is simply what it is to be a Christian at all. Our Talents Belong to God
“For all the talents which God has intrusted to us, we are indebted to him who gave us existence.”