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Signs of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 2.

WALK IN THE LIGHT
Earlier text: XX. THE TEST OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

RIPENING FOR THE GREAT HARVEST. NO. 7.

WE have seen from the last two articles that the human race is on the down grade in moral, physical, and mental stamina; that the present conditions are making fertile soil of the human body in which all manner of diseases are taking ready root. Immorality is making evil conditions, and the evil conditions are producing greater immorality. The evil in men is producing the evil conditions, and the evil conditions in turn are producing evil in men, women, and children. As the world nears its climax, the forces of evil are increasing in intensity, and as they increase, the worn-out condition of the race becomes more manifest.
What the Lord says of the earth at the time when His coming is near is also true of those who will be living on the earth at that time. “The earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner.” Isa. 51:6. That is, the people themselves will wear out as the earth does, aging before their time, dying in their youth, passing away like a garment that is dropping to pieces from age and wear. It is literally true to-day; and the moral condition of earth’s inhabitants is shown in these words of scripture: “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” 2 Tim. 3:13. In fact, the whole chapter has a distinct and definite application to this very time.
In the face of all this, can we say that the world is growing better?—We can not, if we would speak truthfully. Is it wise, is it safe, for us to place ourselves on the side of the “optimists” of the world, and try to make ourselves see a moral and spiritual progress that does not exist? The reader must answer for himself in the light of the open-faced, startling facts of the present time. The condition of the world as we see it is in perfect harmony with what the Word declares that it would be; and the Word declares that it would be in this condition “in the last days.” 2 Tim. 3:1.
But when these terrible conditions have reached their climax, the Son of God will return to this earth, and destroy sin and sinner. At that time “our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before Him; and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people.” Ps. 50:3, 4. “Then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
At the same time, the Word declares that “there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming?” 2 Peter 3:3, 4. And scoffers are multiplying as never before—another sign of the times. But that same Word declares (verses 12, 13) that they who are following Christ will be “looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat;” but that God’s people, “according to His promise,” shall “look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
Better days are coming; and better still, they are coming soon. Men tell us that there is a glorious future before us. There is; but it is not the future for which they are looking. Between this present time and that glorious future there is to be the marvelous “working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.” 2 Thess. 2:9, 10. Between this present time and that glorious future there is to be the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven to put an end to all that unrighteousness, and to them that have pleasure in it. 2 Thess. 2:8, 9; Matt. 24:30, 31. Not as a secret rapture, not at individual deaths, will that coming be; but “in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” and “all the holy angels with Him.”
Truly, the Word is finding its fulfilment in the conditions of this present generation. Inspiration has pointed out these conditions, and pointed to them as signs of the coming end. We see them all around us, and still many doubt that the end is near. When the opening heavens reveal the dawn of the great day of God, the unsaved world will then realize that the warnings of God were worth their most serious heed. The wise course is to give that heed now, and so be expecting Him and ready to meet Him.

A LOW STANDARD.—THE VITAL NEED.

By Editor

We are glad to note that some brave souls are still standing for original Christian ethics, notwithstanding the fearful trend in society. At the monthly meeting of the Channing Society, Boston, Dec. 17, 1903, Ex-secretary of the navy, John D. Long, spoke on the topic of “Co-operation Among Laymen.” Among other good things he said:—
No one can look at the seething current of modern society and not be utterly appalled by the brutalities and crimes, the drunkenness and villainies which are almost epidemic.
The real truth is not that the world has outgrown the simple precepts of Jesus, but it has never reached them in their height or depth. We have never attained to the perfect practice of that simplest Christian rule—to love those that hate us, to love our neighbors as ourselves, to be pure in spirit.
These brutalities and crimes, this drunkenness and misconductare not confined to the lower classes, but they break out among young men and women who have had the opportunity of benefiting by our boasted education.
There is corruption, bribery, and embezzlement by our public servants. The sacred ties of domestic life are disregarded. The temple of the Lord is invaded by mere birds of prey who should be whipped out of it with lashes of scorn.
To correct these evils is our work. The remedy is not in the effort of labor or capital to promote their material interests, it is not in the efforts men make to better their conditions by theories of social organization. These things will, under natural laws in a free country, work out their only salvation.
The vital need is the religion of Jesus; it is Christ in the individual man—reverence for the great fundamental precepts of the Master—their incorporation into actual daily life as controlling springs of action.
And all this is said of these very times in the Word of God.

HOME INFLUENCE.

The San Francisco Chronicle says:—
One college president notifies parents that if they send spoiled boys, the institution will try to make of them decent men, but that if twelve months show the spoiling process to be going on they need not be surprised to see the hopefuls coming home, all charges prepaid and no more samples wanted by the faculty. It is rare nonsense to expect a college to develop character suddenly in a youth whose father has taught him that it is manly to drink, healthy to smoke, and picturesque to swear. It is the home training that counts for most.
And that teaching is generally done through example, and is followed because of the example, even tho such parent may have sought to teach his boy by words that such things were wrong. Young men have said to their father, “Why do you tell us not to smoke or drink when you do it yourself?” The father replies, “But I see the evil of it, and so warn you not to indulge in it.” “But you do it,” they reply, “because you want to; and so may we,” and so they do, and so they do the other things they should not do, until the whole bent of the young men’s lives is wrong. Even tho they may control themselves enough to remain in college, they are sent into life under a fearful handicap. It is only a step from the pipe or cigar to the use of what some one has so appropriately named “coffin nails”—cigarets; and under the influence of these conscience killers all kinds of crimes are hatched. Home training has its influence; but unquestionably a great mass of it to-day is on the wrong side.

Question Corner

By Editor

1461.—Paying Tithes.

Will you please explain the basis on which the tithe is reckoned? The Bible seems to indicate that it is to be paid on the increase. Is this to be understood as the net increase, after all expenses are paid? P. H.
The tithe is to be paid on one’s income, from which should be deducted the expenses incurred in acquiring it outside of one’s own labor. To illustrate: Mr. Brown rents a farm for which he pays $500; he hires one man and a girl a portion of the time for which he pays $500. His gross income from the farm is $1,500. His tithe would not be $150, a tenth of $1,500; but $50, a tithe of the income after expenses apart from his own labor are deducted. The estimated living expenses of his regular family ought not to be deducted, for in such case he does not stand equally with his brother in rendering to the Lord His due. The man who works for a salary (and there are many such we know) pays tithes on all he receives, and from the nine-tenths pays house rent and all other living expenses. The safest way is to be sure and render to the Lord all His own, as you would wish others to do by you if you gave them all and required a tenth in return. It pays, and we speak of an experience of years, to be in partnership with God, not from a mere sordid or commercial investment in tithe-paying; nor is it any particular credit to us that we have rendered unto the Lord His own; but it is good to know that we are, by His grace, in harmony with His plan, and therefore all His precious promises are ours. Mal. 3:10-12. How much better are God’s laws of time and means for His worship and cause than all the substitutes and questionable devices of men.

1462.—Paying Tithes on the Sabbath.

By Editor

Is it wrong to pay our tithes and rent on the Sabbath day, handing it to the treasurer in a sealed envelop, having it arranged on a week day, the persons living far away and not able to attend a business meeting? Also is it wrong to ride in the cars and pay fare, when living far away and not able to walk? Often there are those having young children, who would have to stay at home unless they came that way. L.
What is meant by "rent"? If it is rent on one’s house, we should do it in some other way, send it by mail or otherwise some other day. If it pertains to the work of God, the place of worship, we see no harm in paying it as above indicated. Nor do we see any wrong in thus attending church. God asks no unreasonable things of His children.

CAUSES OF OUR RECENT FINANCIAL TROUBLE.

[From the Degradation of Wall Street, in Leslie’s Monthly for December.]
THE Shipbuilding scandal sums up in itself the weaknesses, follies, and vices of the whole chapter of what Wall Street calls its great industrial boom—the period which saw the rise and decline of the billion-dollar Steel Trust, the $75,000,000 Copper Trust, the Asphalt Trust, the International Ship Trust, the Consolidated Lake Superior, and other enterprises formed on the same exaggerated notion of prudent company finance. When conservative history, some decades hence, reviews the three past financial years it will probably set forth as the three characteristic features of the movement, (1) the absence of any intelligent view of the true relation between market prices and intrinsic value; (2) the utter disregard in the industrial combinations of principles which had been for years observed by the manufacturers whom they had bought out, and (3) the confidence apparently entertained by experienced financiers in the continued and endless gullibility of the investing public.
It was part of the penalty which has been inflicted on these promoters of inflated enterprises that they came to share themselves in the delusions into which they had led the public. Some of them branched out recklessly into buying the stocks of other trusts, and carried their purchases so far that, immensely rich as the “boom” had made them, they were forced to borrow money to keep up their extended speculations. In the case of one prominent trust financier, the president of an enormous combination, common report of his wild speculations of this nature forced the directors to require his resignation. Other millionaires of the same recent growth subscribed huge sums to these “underwritings,” reckoning that the public would easily buy all the stocks, and that their own money would come back to them, with a few million dollars in “commissions.” Very fortunately, the public came to its senses in time and refused to buy the stocks. The “syndicates” had to pay the money which they had expected to keep, and in return for it got nothing but the stocks of whose real value they were unpleasantly aware, and which they had hoped to sell at false values to the confiding public.

The Iroquois Theater Fire

By Editor

One of the saddest calamities in years occurred in Chicago on December 30, the burning of the Iroquois Theater, which was filled mostly with women and children. Five hundred and eighty-two persons are known to have lost their lives as a result of the conflagration, and a large number are missing. The fire started in the scenery on the stage, and in less than five minutes these lives were snuffed out, and hundreds of others were maimed or burned. This theater was supposed to be a fire-proof building, and a heavy asbestos curtain was so arranged as to drop between the stage and audience in case of fire. As often happens, when the emergency arose, the curtain did not work, and the fire from the stage swept out into the audience, climbed to the balconies, and drove the audience in a mad rush for the exits. Some of these were curtained so that the audience did not notice them. The fire escapes were not completed, and as some climbed out onto the platforms they were crowded off by those coming behind, and many fell to the ground below and were killed. Many were literally trodden to death, parts of their bodies being ground away under the feet of the frenzied multitude. In one of the passageways bodies were found piled ten feet high, burned and charred, or crushed by the weight above them. Perhaps the saddest part of the terrible affair was the crushing out of the lives of so many children. It was an afternoon matinee, which is usually attended most largely by women and children. The latter had no chance in the awful rush of their frightened elders, and their little lives were ground out in a moment. Chicago has received expressions of sympathy from all over the country, and from the rulers of some foreign countries. What a lesson to parents is this terrible catastrophe!
The large donations of the year 1903 in the United States, by actual gift and by bequest, to charity, religious enterprises, educational institutions, libraries, etc., amounted to $76,934,978. These sums do not represent contributions to charity in a general sense, or church contributions, but only those individual donations and bequests which have been published as news announcements. Of the amount above stated $39,950,692 was given to educational institutions. Charity received $21,726,318, and $3,906,912 was given to religious purposes. Over twenty-one millions of this total amount was given by Mr. Andrew Carnegie, and the second largest contributor was Mr. J. D. Rockefeller. The latter's gifts were almost wholly for educational purposes.
Charges that a large number of teachers in the public schools of New York are drawing two or three salaries from the city in direct violation of the city charter; that text-books are bought with reckless disregard of the city's interests; that text-books by new authors are bought, involving the purchase of a complete new supply without reason; that superintendents or principals have disposed of disused stocks of books in large quantities to second-hand dealers without turning over to the city any money from the sales; that janitors who have removed books by carloads have found it to their advantage to mention nothing of the facts,—all are supported by reports made by commissioner Owens to Mayor Low, following his investigation of the department of education. The investigation is only about half completed, and whether it will be aired to the bottom will rest with the incoming administration. This shows collusion between all concerned to rob the city, which was paying them for their services. It must have been going on for some time, and there is no reason to suppose New York is the only city in which such things are done.
It is the intention of Congress to make another liberal contribution to the building up of the American navy, during the present session of Congress. Senator Hale, chairman of the committee on naval affairs, states that when the additions now contemplated have been made, the United States will have a more powerful navy than any other nation except Great Britain. Senator Hale's declaration that it is the settled policy to expand and enlarge the American navy on liberal lines, accords with the wishes of the President and the Secretary of the navy, and it is said that this attitude correctly represents the feelings of most of the influential leaders of both houses. The house committee has already begun its preparation of the naval bill. The annual estimates have been largely increased over what they were for last year. These estimates are for the regular establishment, and the increase was on account of new ships about to go into commission. The President and leaders in Congress believe that this policy is necessary "in view of America's new position as a world power."
The world is still guessing at the question of whether Japan and Russia will go to war over their differences in regard to China and Korea. The air is full of rumors of war from that part of the world. Japan is maintaining a very firm attitude, and it is stated that if Russia refuses to make concessions, war is inevitable. We shall know in a few days the substance of Russia's reply, which Japan is now anxiously awaiting. Both powers are laying in supplies of provisions, ammunition, and implements of war. Japan has added to her fleet two new war vessels by purchase, has ordered large consignments of flour, and has established a strict censorship of the press. Russia is ordering large supplies of meat, and continues the sending of troops into Manchuria. The general consensus of opinion is that unless substantial concessions are made by Russia, there will be war.
Pope Pius X. has taken a strong position against the long musical compositions that have been such a prominent part of the Catholic church service. He condemns the transforming of church services into concerts. His criticisms of this part of Catholic church services might as fittingly be applied to many of the Protestant churches that have followed Rome's leading in that matter. It is a great question, however, whether these will follow the pope's advice and curtail their musical programs.
It has just come to light that a white missionary and eighteen of his followers have been killed by blacks in the interior of Liberia. The tribesman declared that they had no fight with the white man, but feared that if they did not kill him, he would bring his country to make war upon them. How essential that missionaries make it known that their mission is not national in any sense, that they are not the forerunners of aggressive and greedy nations.
Pneumonia is now doing more deadly work in the city of New York than is the dread "white plague," consumption. The revised figures of the Health Department, just completed, show that there were 9,691 deaths from pneumonia in New York City during the past year. From the number of deaths, it is estimated that there must have been at least 64,600 cases of that disease in that city alone. Consumption stands second in the record of mortality.
In the little republic of Santo Domingo three factions are now seeking power. There is the party which considers itself the government, tho it has been forced to relinquish its hold; and two provisional governments have been declared in different parts of the island. It is feared that in the fighting, which seems bound to ensue between these rival factions, the lives and property of foreigners will not be safe.
To increase the price of shingles the great shingle trust of Washington will close practically all of its 460 mills in that State during the months of January and February. About half of these mills are already closed. Over 90 per cent of that State's shingle output is controlled by the trust, and the price will be increased by its manipulations of the market.
A revolution has broken out in the republic of Uruguay, according to a recent despatch from Montevideo. The government has proclaimed a state of siege throughout the entire republic.

ALCOHOLISM "REFINED" CAUSES DEATH.

SOME months ago attention was called to the verdict of a coroner's jury concerning the death of a man in Pennsylvania, whose brain was found to have been "pickled" by alcohol. This man had been a hard drinker. Now comes a coroner's jury in New York with the announcement that a man of so-called extremely temperate habits has died of "refined alcoholism."
He had never been intoxicated in his life, and his only indulgence in liquor consisted in a moderate drink of whisky in the morning and another before he retired at night. This habit he had pursued for thirty years, and it was regarded by those who had known him as impossible that his death could have been due to alcoholism.
Nevertheless, it was demonstrated by the autopsy that the man had been suffering from chronic meningitis, softening of the brain, and other maladies attributable to whisky, hence the coroner's verdict was that the gentleman's death had been due to "refined alcoholism."—Union Signal.
Commenting on this case, the Chicago Tribune says:—
May there not be a warning in this case that is worth heeding? It is, perhaps, no exaggeration to say that three men out of every ten in the great cities of this country are indulging in "refined alcoholism." They are not sots or topers. They would, if questioned, claim to be temperate. But they take a drink or two of whisky or of some other alcoholic beverage every day, supposing that they are as free from the danger which besets the drunkard as if they were total abstainers. It is true that comparatively few of these devotees of "refined alcoholism" die with delirium tremens or of softening of the brain, but it may be no more than reasonable to suppose that the maladies to which they fall victims are often aggravated by, if they are not primarily due, to "the occasional drink."

"INDUSTRIAL CENTERS."

THERE is a popular charm about this expression that is calculated to "draw." Therefore the great "industrial centers," so-called, become the plague spots of the earth. The very suggestion calls men to a scramble for promised wealth. A thousand will aim to live and get rich on business that legitimately calls for a hundred. At such "centers" we find human nature illustrated as nowhere else. There is seen the greed, the rush, the trampling of toes, and the utter forgetfulness of nature's bounties that are more evenly distributed and in greater quantity, where there is ample room to move and breathe and be comparatively happy. The aggregations of humanity apologetically styled centers of industry usually contain a far greater percentage of non-producers, idlers, beggars, and criminals of all classes than any other habitable places on earth. The selfishness and consequent greed that characterize these crowded "business" marts has no parallel, yet they are the places that control the financial and political politics of the world. Is it any wonder there is so much fraud in the one and so much corruption in the other? The great crime trust is the most persistent manipulator of business that can be found in any of the great centers of industry. It operates seven days in the week, and twenty-four hours a day. The centering of industry carries with it the concentration of idlers and the combination of criminals, thus forming an aggregation of leeches that prey upon the "industry" of the "center." The principle was condemned at Babel, and the consequences of its persistent encouragement were illustrated in Sodom and Nineveh and Babylon.

CRIME AND ITS INCREASE.

"FIFTEEN separate murder trials are now pending in the Superior Court," says a San Francisco daily. "District Attorney Byington says that the record of homicides was never so great in this city as it is at the present time. The court calendars are dotted all over with the names of persons accused of taking human life, and the year 1903 will be written down as a red-letter twelve month in the matter of capital crimes committed in San Francisco. The State's prosecutors will be engaged for several months to come in the trials of those now accused of murder. Only one of the fifteen trials is now in progress, and the other cases will have to await the time of the courts." And this city is not exceptional.

The Case of Senator Smoot

Concerning the case of Senator Smoot, of Utah, Senator Hoar has made a point that can hardly fail of recognition, to say nothing of the merits or demerits of the Smoot case. Mr. Hoar makes the point that the question of Smoot's eligibility is before the Senate as a judicial body, and, therefore, popular petitions for his removal are as much out of place as they would be if presented in a case before the Supreme Court.
There is more to this point than many people are willing to admit. They seem to forget that Smoot is already a member of the Senate, having been sworn in at the special session last spring. It matters not that consideration of charges that he is a polygamist was specially waived, he is now a member of the Senate. Therefore any charges against him, designed to unseat him, must be in the nature of an impeachment. In an impeachment case the Senate sits as a court of justice, and must be governed by evidence introduced in a regular way, and not by popular petition. In an ordinary court of justice one who would try by simple petition to influence the decision of the court in any given case would be liable to punishment. There is no doubt that Smoot gained a decided advantage when he was formally admitted to the Senate, whatever his character may be. If the Senate did not purpose to retain him in his seat, it would have been proper and better to have deferred his admission until such time as the question of his eligibility could have been fully considered.

THE RIGHT KIND OF COURAGE.

By George Ethelbert Walsh

[George Ethelbert Walsh, in Christian Advocate.]
"THIS foolishness must stop!" exclaimed the foreman of the gang of riveters, as he stood on the bank below, and saw one of his workmen poised between heaven and earth on a huge iron beam that was being hoisted to its place five hundred feet above the river.
"We've had accidents enough," he continued, sharply. "The next man who goes up on a girder or beam will be discharged."
That night the order went forth. The more conservative of the men greeted it with wise and approving nods of the head. There were dangers and accidents enough in their business without inviting unnecessary ones. There was no earthly reason why any one should go up with a beam, sitting astride of it, or standing upright to show his comrades how cool he could be.
But not all of the younger men and apprentices viewed it in this light. "I guess no one will get hurt riding up on a beam," said Henry Cleveland, one of the most daring of the riveters' apprentices. "It's no worse than hanging on the beams to hold hot rivets, or walking the narrow girders. I guess the foreman has indigestion."
Several of the other apprentices and assistants applauded this sentiment; but Harry Motley, one of the youngest of the boys, shook his head doubtfully, and said:—
"I don't think we should take unnecessary risks, anyway."
There was a shout of derisive laughter at this sage remark.
"Say, Harry, you must have lost your nerve," one of the boys replied.
"Never had any," said Henry, with a grunt. "Did you ever see him walk a beam? He keeps as far away from the edge as possible, and looks at the sky instead of the water. I'll bet he couldn't walk this beam here and look down."
Henry indicated a narrow steel girder, which had just been placed in position. It extended across from one cable to another. In the wind it swayed a little, and it was certainly a precarious foothold for any one.
"Come now, dare you do it?"
"Yes, I dare do it, but I'm not going to," replied Harry, with a flush suffusing his face.
"A nice thing to say. Well, I'll show you how to do it."
In an instant Henry had climbed out to the beam and was walking across it, balancing himself deftly on the narrow surface, and calling back to his companions when he reached the other side.
"That's the way to do it," he shouted. "Now do you take the dare?"
Harry was strongly inclined to show his comrades that his nerves were as strong as their leader's. The dizzy height had no terror for him. He had time and again looked down from a high perch and knew that his head was perfectly level. He hesitated, thinking that he was foolish not to earn the good opinion of his comrades, and then a rush of thoughts overcame him. What right had he to imperil his life for nothing—simply for a dare? Did he not have a mother and tiny brother dependent upon his wages for their happiness?
"That was well done, Henry," he said, with a smile and laugh, "but you don't expect me to do it simply because you did."
"And why not? The other fellows will do it."
They were dominated by Henry, so that when he ordered them to walk the beam they did so without a word of expostulation. But there was one moment when all hearts suddenly stopped beating. Williston Young, a new worker on the bridge, hesitated an instant on the way back, swayed, and turned pale. For an instant it seemed as if he would fall to the river below. It was a case of sudden fright and fear that comes sometimes to almost all workers on high places.
The boys stood stock still, fear clutching them at the heart. Only Harry Motley grasped the situation and acted. Without apparent hurry or excitement he stepped toward the beam, and, pointing to the derrick above, said in his most natural voice:—
"See that gull on the top of the derrick, Williston. I believe it's a big Labrador gull. They do come down this river in summer. I saw one once stuffed in a museum."
The frightened, trembling boy on the beam looked up at the gull, his attention being so diverted from his perilous position that he forgot it temporarily. When he looked down again Harry was standing on a neighboring beam, frailer and narrower, but swung parallel to the first, with one hand touching Williston on the shoulder. It required all the strength and nerve of his body and mind to hold himself under control, but the danger in which Williston was placed gave him strength.
"We'll cross arms this way," Harry said, slowly, placing a hand on Williston's shoulder. The frightened boy saw the plan, and instantly extended an arm toward Harry. Thus locked together they formed a firm and steady support for each other. A dozen steps brought them safely to the platform.
Williston was so overcome with giddiness that he sat down and buried his pale face in his hands. Henry Cleveland had been a silent witness of the deed. He walked up to Harry Motley and said:—
"That was great—a brave deed. I couldn't do it myself. I was frightened to death when I saw your plan. You weren't a bit afraid, and as cool—"
Harry interrupted him with a nervous laugh. "No," he said, "I must confess it. I was frightened too—terribly."
And he shuddered at the remembrance, and buried his face in his hands. But his confession of fear brought no words of taunt from Henry. Instead he said: "I wish I could be frightened that way sometimes. When I'm frightened it controls me; but when you are frightened you seem to control yourself."

AN EMPTY FLOUR BARREL.

By H. B. Gibbud

[H. B. Gibbud, in Word and Work.]
It is one thing to trust God when the flour-barrel is full, when there is money in the bank to fall back on, and when the wages are coming in regularly.
It is quite another thing to trust God when the barrel is empty, the money in the bank is gone, and no wages coming in. Under those conditions one is quite apt to find that what was supposed to be faith in God was simply faith in a full flour barrel.
I heard the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, of the China Inland Mission, say, "When I came to a place of testing where my faith was most needed, I found it gradually going; then I learned to look less to my faith, and to depend more on God's faithfulness."
The flour may be gone; the money may be gone; but God is there.
I know it to be true. I had often said in public talks, "It takes real faith in God to be able to put your head into an empty flour barrel and sing the doxology." My wife had heard me say this, and not long since she called me to come to the kitchen. I said, "What do you want me for?"
She replied, "I want you to come out here and sing." I thought this queer, so went out to see what it all meant.
In the center of the floor was an empty flour-barrel she had just dusted out.
"Now, my dear," she said, "I have often heard you say one could put his head into an empty flour barrel and sing, 'Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,' if he believed what God said. Now, here is your chance—practise what you preach."
There was the empty flour barrel staring at me with open mouth; my pocket book was empty as the barrel; I was not on a salary, and knew of no money that was coming in. I do not know that my wife enjoyed my preaching, but she was evidently bent on enjoying my practising. I looked for my faith, and could not find it; I looked for a way of escape, but could not find that, my wife was blocking the door exit with the dust brush covered with flour.
I said, "I will put my head in and sing on one condition."
"What's that?" said my wife.
"The condition that you will put your head in with me. You know you promised to share my joys and sorrows."
She consented; so we put our heads in and sang the long-meter doxology. I will not say what else we did, but we had a good time; and when we got our heads out, we were a good bit powdered up, which we took as a token that there was more flour to follow.
Sure enough, tho no person knew of our need or the empty flour barrel, the next day a grocery man called with a barrel of flour for the Gibbuds. Who sent it, or where it came from, we do not know to this day, save that we do know that our heavenly Father knew that we had "need of these things."
I have joined with a thousand voices in singing the grand old doxology; I have sung it in many a fine church building, also in the open air under the blue canopy of heaven; but there is something very peculiar about the sound of the song when sung in an empty flour barrel under the foregoing conditions. I have repeated the experience once or twice since with the same result, tho now I never spend any time in looking for my faith; I simply apply for flour at Phil. 4:19, and then sing, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." Bread, and all our other needs we find can be supplied from the same place.
In the days gone by we have trusted in a good salary, but that sometimes failed to materialize; we have trusted in a good committee, but they did not always know when rent was due. But the Lord knows when the first day of the month comes around, and He has never failed to send us our rent money before it is due. "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily[in "truth," the margin says] thou shalt be fed." The Douay version reads, "Thou shalt be fed with its riches."
There is board and lodging for anybody who will "trust in the Lord, and do good."

LOVING WORDS.

By L. D. Santee

PLEASANT years we've spent together, Youth was sweet and life was fair, And in sun, or cloudy weather, Childhood days were free from care. Bright the sun in daily splendor, Sweet the carrol of the birds, But the thrill of all most tender Was the thrill of loving words.
So the years rolled by in gladness, And a joy o'er all was shed, Transient was each shade of sadness, Resting on each sunny head; But the heavens seemed the nearest, And the heart was deepest stirred, When through tones we loved the dearest, Came the thrill of loving word.
Care and years have left their traces, Since the days of long ago. Wrinkled the once childish faces, Golden hair becoming snow. Heavens darken slow above me, Hearts grow sick, with hope deferred, But the music still most lovely, Is the thrill of loving word.
Soon will come a time when jaded Heart and brain will sink to rest, And in some low chamber shaded, Still hands cross a pulseless breast. When death's darkness comes before me, Let the music latest heard, As the silence gathers o'er me, Be the kindly, loving word.
Elgin, Ill. L. D. SANTEE.
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