WHOEVER meddles with Spiritism is trespassing upon dangerous and forbidden ground. He is doing that against which God has given a plain “Thou shalt not.” It matters not tho it be done innocently, the experiment is fraught with danger, and the results can not be otherwise than bad.
The reason for this is because the essential doctrine of Spiritism is a most deceptive and deadly evil. The foundation upon which the whole superstructure of Spiritism is built is the error over which Eve was deceived by the serpent in the garden of Eden, the falsehood through which Satan accomplished the fall of the race, the rock upon which the whole human family was wrecked.
The sermon which Satan preached to Eve upon the immortality of the soul—“Thou shalt not surely die”—is the foundation of Spiritism. This, strange to say, has been taught and reiterated by priests, pastors, and teachers of almost all religions, in all lands and in all ages; and the people have received it as pure Bible truth. And the acceptance of this doctrine—upon which are built those other doctrines of eternal torment, purgatory, prayers for the dead, saint worship, Mariolatry, witchcraft, sorcery, necromancy, and the whole system of heathen philosophy—has placed the race where they have been but the sport of the enemy, and an easy prey to all his machinations and artful deceptions.
Some may think it matters little what one believes concerning the nature of man and the state of the dead, whether man is mortal or immortal, or whether the dead are dead or alive. But it does matter, and it matters a great deal; for if we refuse to believe what God says, and accept what Satan says, we are on Satan’s ground, and are prepared to be further controlled and deceived by him. Men and women should therefore reject and repudiate the doctrines of the natural immortality of the soul and the conscious state of the dead as they would flee from Satan himself, for they are nothing else than darts hurled at the whole human race out of his own quiver.
It is no trifling thing to come under the direct influence and power of the wily foe whom the Scriptures declare to be “wiser than Daniel;” of him who, when in heaven, dared to match strength with the mighty Christ, and thought even to ascend into the heights and exalt his throne above that of God Himself. But every one who, to gratify curiosity or to obtain a false comfort concerning the dead, meddles with Spiritism, does this very thing. He tampers with the devil, and places himself upon enchanted ground. He tempts the devil to tempt him. And when once individuals are thus brought under his influence and control, this powerful destroyer ever after considers them his lawful prey, and exercises his power upon them, and that against their will. When they wish to control themselves, they can not. They have yielded their minds to Satan, and he will not release his claims, but holds them captive. And no power can deliver the ensnared soul but the power of God, in answer to the earnest prayer of His faithful followers. It is a dangerous thing, therefore, to have anything to do with Spiritism.
Illustrative Incidents.
1. Who does not know of families or individuals who have had to do with Spiritism, and though repudiating it afterward, have still been troubled with Spiritistic manifestations and influences? The very family with which Modern Spiritism arose, the Fox family, reference to which was made in our first article, is an illustration in point. They got into the thing, and though afterward they sought to have nothing further to do with it, against their own wills they were forced to go on and reveal the whole matter, and strike the match which set the whole civilized world ablaze with its doings.
2. A man living in Melbourne had been mixed up with Spiritism. As he crossed a certain bridge on his way home late at night, he had frequently been tempted to drown himself. He became converted, became a Bible Christian, and as a consequence learned of the true nature of Spiritism, and repudiated it. As he was crossing this same bridge once afterward, he was again tempted to make way with himself. Something behind him seemed to say, “Now is your chance. ‘Jump over, it will take only a minute or two to do it, and end your ‘life.’” He turned around and said, “I know who you are. You are ‘the devil.’” And then, he said, he got such a blow as he had never had before in all his life.
3. A few years ago Pastor A. G. Daniells was speaking on Spiritism in Napier, N. Z. He told how miserably the “spirits” would sometimes treat people who had had to do with them. After the lecture, a young man, a medium, came up and said to him: “What you ‘say is true. I know it, for I myself am a medium. Sometimes when ‘I am going home nights, something knocks me down, and beats me ‘till I am black and blue!” This is in perfect accord with the experience, as recorded in the Scriptures, of certain ones who were “possessed of devils” in Christ’s time. The father who besought Christ to heal his demoniacal son, said: “He is mine only child. And, lo, a ‘spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that ‘he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him.” Luke 9: 38, 39. Spiritism is of the same order. There are many kinds of spirits, however, and they do not treat all alike; but the whole system tends to the ruination of both soul and body.
4. In one of the first places the writer ever preached the Gospel in America, a woman, a prominent lady of the town, accepted the truth. But she had to quite an extent been meddling with Spiritism. She broke squarely off, however, but in relating to us afterward her experience in doing so, she said, “You do not know what a terrible time I have had to do it.”
5. A man in Victoria, with whom I am well acquainted, innocently got deeply into Spiritism when young, and before he was converted. Later he became converted, but the “spirits” continued to trouble him and his family. Their influence upon him was such as seriously to interfere with his business relations; he would do things he had no intention of doing, and was bound as if by chains from doing other things he desired to do. His little children would frequently start back from the windows of the house in fright and terror, declaring they saw some kind of beings outside. At night-time the family were often disturbed by terrible noises, as if drygoods boxes were being thrown at the house. Tho often praying and seeking to get rid of these manifestations, he got no relief until a faithful brother went to his assistance, seeking God through fasting, and by united, earnest prayer nearly all one night. That was three years ago. The man and his family have not been troubled with the manifestations since. We have in this case an illustration of the persistency with which evil spirits hold on to those who have once given themselves up to their control. We have in it also an illustration of that kind of spirits of which Christ said, “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” Matt. 17: 21.
6. Another man, of New Zealand, had, in his early days, before he was converted, considerable to do with Spiritism. Afterward, after his conversion and repudiation of Spiritism, he thought himself strong enough to go and listen to a so-called “exposure” of Spiritism. He went, but before he got through with it, he found it to be the real thing. When a call was made for any in the audience who were opposed to Spiritism to come onto the platform, he went. When left all alone on the platform, his coat was violently torn off from him, and he was knocked about till his hair fairly stood on end. The “spirits” were evidently giving him a good trouncing for his apostasy and opposition. Moral: It is dangerous to go on forbidden ground.
7. Moses Hull, a gifted young minister and a powerful and eloquent speaker, in its early days in America dealt Modern Spiritism some heavy and telling blows. Coming to feel himself capable of meeting it alone, he readily accepted challenges for discussions with Spiritists. He was warned against doing this in the following words: “In ‘discussing with Spiritists you have not merely to meet man and his ‘arguments, but Satan and his angels. And never should one man be ‘sent forth alone to combat with a Spiritist.” But he disregarded the warning, and soon afterward engaged, single-handed and alone, in a discussion with a noted Spiritist. As a result, he lost his faith in God and His Word, and soon became an avowed Spiritist himself. This was in 1863. The one who saw his pride, self-sufficiency, and danger, and who gave him warning, said: “He was presented to me as standing5upon the brink of an awful gulf, ready to leap. If he takes the leap, it will be final.” He took it, gave up the faith, and has been a Spiritist ever since. This case shows the powerful deception there is in Spiritism, the danger in recklessly meddling with it, and is a solemn warning against pride, presumption, and independence. We are well acquainted with the parties here referred to.
8. Another strong-minded young man and minister, a most logical and convincing speaker and writer, and a powerful opponent to Spiritism, in order to learn more about Spiritism, in company with his wife attended a number of seances, circles, and table rappings. A few years later his wife went off into Spiritism, and one day while on a visit to California, as he was crossing San Francisco Bay, in a ferry, a man, a perfect stranger to him, stepping across from the opposite side of the ferry, said to him: “Is your name Mr.—?” “Yes,” was the response. He continued, “I have a message for you from your aunt —— (deceased). She tells me to say to you that you will yet be a ‘Spiritualist.’” Imagine the influence such a message would naturally have upon one under such circumstances! But it proved a lie, for this man lived and died a Seventh-day Adventist, and his wife also, after a few years, gave up her connection with the delusion. It shows, however, the persistency with which wicked spirits will pursue those who have tampered or in any way trifled with them.
Twice in his lectures against Spiritism, and each time while reading the scripture found in Deut. 18: 9–14, through the influence of Spiritist mediums present, this man’s tongue was completely paralyzed so that he could not utter a word, until he dropped upon his knees and asked God, in silent prayer, to deliver him from the spell. Upon arising he said, “In the name of the Lord I rebuke the evil spirit present,” whereupon the conjurers, who, as was afterward learned, had come for the avowed purpose of overpowering him, left the building in precipitate haste, as if fleeing for their lives.
This case, like the others already cited, illustrates the powerful and Satanic influence connected with Spiritism, and the dangers of going on forbidden ground to investigate it, even for ostensibly good purposes. We may learn all we need to know about it without ourselves meddling with it. We were intimately acquainted with this man, also with his wife. Our best and only advice to one and all is, to let Spiritism entirely alone.
Our next article will deal with the relation of Spiritism to the second coming of Christ.
W. A. COLCORD.
A BETTER WAY.
A CORRESPONDENT questioned the belief of the Outlook in the Divinity of Christ, and that journal replied in its issue of August 3. Beyond stating its belief, it splendidly presents the unprofitableness of purely religious controversy. We have not space for all the article. We quote as follows:—
We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and the express image of His person; that God was in Christ, and that Christ was God manifest in the flesh; and we believe that this was true in such a sense that he who has seen, that is, known, Christ, has seen, that is, known, the Father. Or, if this is not plain enough, we will state it in the exact words of John in the prologue to his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and ‘the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among ‘us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) ‘full of grace and truth.’” . . . And we also reaffirm the declaration of the editorial that “Jesus Christ is not a substitute for God; He is access to God; and we are to bring to God all our love, and all our worship, and all our surrender, because we no longer worship an unknown God, but God made known to us through His Son;” and we repeat, condensing it, the further declaration that to do this it is not necessary to believe that Christ’s unity with the Father is a metaphysical unity, or to know what the phrase metaphysical unity means, or to form any intellectual conception of the nature of the unity between Jesus Christ and His Father.
Mrs. L. P. Broad has written, and the Kansas Congregational Home Missionary Society has published, the following little story; hundreds of thousands of copies of it have been distributed; and it is reported, apparently authentically, that this little story has led hundreds to begin a Christian life:—
Wi-yu’s father and mother were pagans. She was a little Indian girl. She never heard a word about Jesus until she came to the mission. We were glad to take the children of pagans, even while both parents were living. One day Wi-yu walked up to me and said, “I want to give myself away to you.” I was much surprised, but looked into the little girl’s black eyes, and said, “Why does Wi-yu wish to give herself to me?” “Because,” said she simply, “I love you.” After this they all called Wi-yu my little girl.
One day while Wi-yu sat by my side learning how to hem a pocket handkerchief neatly, I asked her if she loved Jesus, of whom I had been talking to her. “No,” she said, “I do not; but I want to. I want to be a Christian; but I’m too little.”
“But Jesus says, ‘Suffer the little children to come unto Me.’”
“I don’t know how to go to Him; I don’t know what to do,” said she.
“Wi-yu,” said I, “you must give yourself away to Him.” She looked at me in surprise.
“How can I do that?” she exclaimed.
“How did you give yourself away to me?”
“I came to you and asked you to take me, because I love you.”
“Why do you love me, dear?” She hesitated a moment, and then answered, “I think it must be because you love me.”
“Yes, Wi-yu, that’s just the reason. Now, Jesus has been loving you all this time, while you have not been caring in the least for Him.”
She stopped sewing and sat very still awhile, thinking. I did not say a word, because I knew the Holy Spirit was teaching her. At last she said,—
“Would Jesus be willing for me to give myself away to Him just as I did to you?”
“Certainly, my dear child; that is exactly what He wants you to do. He wants all of you, too. He wants your little feet to run for Him, your lips and tongue to speak for Him, and your whole heart to love Him.”
After some more quiet thinking, Wi-yu knelt by my side and said: “My dear Jesus, I give myself away to you. I give you my hands, my feet, my mouth, my tongue, and my heart; I give you all of myself. Please take me, dear Jesus.” She arose and said,—
“Do you think He heard me?”
“I am sure of it,” said I; “and you will find His answer in your little Testament.” Together we found these precious words in her Indian Testament: “Any one that cometh unto Me, I will not thrust aside.” Believing that Jesus meant just what He said, she from this moment knew that she was His own, dear, saved child.
If no one can be a Christian unless he believes that Jesus Christ is truly God, and that the unity of Christ with His Father was a metaphysical unity, then Mrs. Broad seriously erred. She should have explained to Wi-yu what the phrase “metaphysical unity” means—if she herself knew; we somewhat doubt whether any one does—and should have explained to Wi-yu that she could not be a Christian until she understood. We think that Mrs. Broad was right in her interpretation of Christianity, and that Mrs. Parish is wrong. We do not criticise or controvert Mrs. Parish’s theories; we simply regard them as of no practical importance. We emphatically deny that any theological theories respecting the relation of Jesus Christ to the Father are a condition of acceptance with Christ. We condemn such a misconception respecting the relations of intellectual theories to the religious life as irrational, unscriptural, and pernicious. It is irrational because it substitutes theories about life for life itself; it is unscriptural because it substitutes a medieval and scholastic test of character for the simple test which Christ prescribed, “If ye keep My commandments, ye ‘shall abide in My love;” it is pernicious because it shuts the door of the kingdom of God against the humble, the uneducated, the little children, and because it turns the zeal of men away from doing the work of the Master in simple, loyal service, and incites them to doubtful disputations about words and phrases which have different meanings to the different disputants, and to many mean nothing at all. To be a Christian is not to have a theory about Christ’s relation to the Father, ancient or modern, conservative or liberal; it is to love Him because He loves us, to give ourselves to Him because He has given Himself to us, and to set our feet to run for Him, and our hands to work for Him, and our lips and tongue to speak for Him, because our whole heart loves Him.
A HOLY LIFE.
THE world never needed holy lives as much as at the present hour. Nothing will exert such potential influence and power as holy living. We may have every other accomplishment, but without this our lives will be a failure. With this inward adorning and outward manifestation, although minus many other graces, we will succeed in making an impression on the minds and hearts of others that will stir within them a desire to be good. Holiness of heart and life should be the supreme aim of all to obtain.
The injunction of Holy Writ is, “Be ye holy.” To this command we should yield a willing obedience. No Christian can live beneath this privilege, and retain the knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ. There is no room for controversy on this point. The question of the possibility of so doing, it seems to us, can not be raised. There can be no mental reservation or equivocation here. We stand in the presence of Jehovah’s stern decree. To please God I must live a holy life. God will not abide in the heart where sin dwells. When He assumes sway in our nature, all rivalry must cease. Obedience to Him is the test of discipleship.
No departure from this law is allowable. Every thought, word, and deed must be in accordance with His will. The lack of spiritual power in the individual Christian life is at this point. The profession of salvation is one thing; the exemplification of this is another feature. Normal Christianity will not meet the demand. There must be the practical and the experimental.
There can be no substitute for piety. A revival of holy living is the great need of the church to-day; lives deeply rooted in the teachings of the Word of God; lives influenced by the guidance of the Divine Spirit; lives hid with Christ; lives that can not, and will not tolerate the questionable in thought or practise; lives clear, manly, open, frank, candid, square, transparent, not concealed from the gaze of the world; but lived in the open. Would to God that all who profess His name lived in this way! What an influence would be exerted! How soon would we see the ranks of the enemy waver!—Baltimore Methodist.
The Secret of Happiness
“ONE great secret of happiness is never to allow your energies to stagnate.”
The Danger of Self-Trust
“WHEN a man trusteth in himself, he easily slideth into human comforts.”
“THE LORD WAS WITH JOSEPH.”
By G.
This statement is made several times in connection with the career of Joseph. It comes especially in contrast with his trials and temptations. His brethren sold him to Ishmaelite traders for twenty pieces of silver, about eleven dollars. If they divided the money equally, each one received about a dollar and ten cents. This was their estimate of the value of a young brother whom they envied and hated. But God was with him. Did God release him from the Ishmaelites?—No; but He went with him to Egypt.
Arriving in Egypt, the merchantmen sold Joseph to an officer of the king’s guard. Neither did the Lord interpose to prevent this transaction; but He continued with Joseph. God does not have any less regard for Jacob’s son because he becomes a chattel of Ishmaelite speculators, nor yet when he becomes the servant of an Egyptian. It was a great fall for the favorite son of a rich father to be reduced to the position of a bond slave in a foreign country; but the Lord didn’t lose sight of him. This fact should be an encouragement to every child of God, and enable him to learn the lesson of contentment in any and every condition. Paul says, “I have learned, ‘in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.’” Phil. 4:11.
In Joseph’s case the evidence that God was with him was shown in his conducting himself in such a way that “his master saw that the Lord was with him.” Here is another lesson. It is important that the Christian so live as to show that the Lord is with him. Jesus gives us a point right here: “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35. Joseph showed himself a man of integrity; he demonstrated that he loved God by showing a regard for His law.7The Word says, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” 1 John 5:3.
Joseph’s personal integrity is evidence that God was with him, for he could not have shown such a characteristic without the Spirit of God. He succeeded because he yielded to the Spirit of God, and allowed himself to be led by that influence. The Spirit also moved upon his master, and enabled him to see that Joseph’s good work was due to the wisdom of his God. In all this God was making the wrath of man to praise him. Joseph’s faithfulness to his Egyptian master was proved for ten years, and he was trusted implicitly with everything that his master had. “He left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not aught he had, save the bread which he did eat.”
But while Joseph was enjoying the confidence of his master in such a wonderful degree, the tempter came in a most subtle manner to overthrow him. His master’s wife was the medium through which he was tempted to violate the law of his God. But he remained steadfast, saying, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Then came false accusation, under circumstances which had a very damaging appearance, so much so that his master felt constrained to cast him into prison.
Here, again, it is said, “The Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy.” As at first he found grace as a servant before his master, so now as a prisoner he found favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. “And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it,” or, had the charge of it. “The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.” The Lord will dwell anywhere, or engage in any honest calling, to protect His children. “If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:23. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Ps. 91:1.
But both as a servant and as a prisoner, Joseph was sorely tried. He was not put over everything that Potiphar had at first. That position came to him after faithful service at menial work. He was not at first put in charge of all the prisoners, but after he had proved himself trusty and patient and faithful. David says of Joseph in prison, “Whose feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in iron; until the time that His word came; the Word of the Lord tried him.” Ps. 105:18, 19. The Lord permitted him to be sorely tried for the truth’s sake, because He was preparing him for a position of great authority and responsibility. He was passing through the experiences of those in humble positions, of those undergoing penalty, so that when he should become practically ruler of the then leading nation of the world, he would know how to sympathize with all classes. He was learning the lesson that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will.” He was a type of Christ, of whom it is said that “in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.” Heb. 2:17, 18.
But we have still further testimony that the Lord was with Joseph in prison, in the fact that while there he was endowed with wisdom to interpret prophetic dreams. Two of the king’s officers, his chief butler and his chief baker, offended him, and were put into the prison where Joseph was confined. They each dreamed a dream one night, and as Joseph was looking after the prisoners in the morning, he noticed that these two looked very sad. When he asked them the reason of their sadness, they said, “We have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it.” Then Joseph answered, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them, I pray you.” Now if “interpretations belong to God,” why did Joseph ask that the dreams be told to him? Was it not because he believed that God was with him? This was his testimony to his faith in God, and he was conscious that God would honor his faith. Then Joseph’s sympathy had been drawn out for the men who were in trouble, and he was anxious to help them. To this end he would seek relief for them at the hands of the living God, in a way that would give Him the glory. The two officers told Joseph their dreams, and he gave the interpretations, which were fulfilled in three days. The butler was restored to his office, and the baker was hanged, according to the prediction of the Lord’s prisoner prophet.
When Joseph told the chief butler of his good fortune, he asked as a return favor that that official would speak a good word for him to the king. Joseph told him who he was, and that he was in prison for no fault. One would naturally suppose that such a request from a benefactor would be speedily attended to; but somehow the man was so elated with his own success, and so absorbed with his official duties, that he forgot the poor Hebrew servant in the prison. So Joseph was given another lesson in patient continuing in well doing. He was left in prison another two years. But God did not forget him. It was true all the time that “the Lord was with Joseph,” and His Spirit was impressing upon the young man’s character the severe lessons of those years in the school of bitter experience. God so overruled that this course of labor and discipline and suffering were of more practical value to him than the same number of years in the greatest of the world’s universities. Like Moses attending the sheep of Jethro, he was learning lessons that “all the wisdom of the Egyptians” could not have taught him.
G.
LAWLESSNESS IN CHRISTIANITY.
The Lord designed that the church should be composed of just such persons as are described in the preceding article. His church is composed of such. Thus standing for loyalty to God, thus representing Jesus Christ, the church is “the ‘light of the world,’” leading it from the darkness of sin’s bondage to the light and freedom of obedience to the law of God’s righteousness and life. Such a church would ever stand for obedience to God, and due honor to all earthly government.
Thus standing for loyalty to God, the church would be truly “the salt of the earth,”—its preserving power to keep it from corruption, to stimulate action to better, nobler deeds, to loyalty to law and government.
But when the light of the world is darkened, the world must go still farther astray. When the salt of the earth has lost its savor, wherewith can it be salted, or what preserving power has it in the world? The world receives no benefit from the church, and rapidly tends to corruption and collapse.
And this is just what is taking place now. This nation is called “Christian” because a goodly part of its population are professed Christians and church-members. Yet how many there are among them, professed ministers of Christ, too, who are openly teaching that the Decalogue, God’s holy law, is abolished. They cast contempt upon it by calling it “Jewish.” They tell us that it is “repealed,” “done away,” “changed,” “of no effect;” just as if the moral law of the unchangeable God could change!
This teaching has permeated the church. It has affected men in the world who are looking to the church for moral instruction. It is having its effect. Dishonesty is manifest in all the businesses of life, and is growing. Defalcations, embezzlements, peculations, jobbery, and thieving and swindling of all sorts are reported from all the large municipal and State governments of the land. Human property rights are little regarded. Human virtue and purity are lightly regarded, if one is not found out. And human life is considered of little account. Lawlessness is everywhere rampant.
Think of “Christian America.” Of the eighteen assassinations and attempted assassinations of rulers, statesmen, etc., during the last thirty-six years, three of these occurred in America. No other country shows such a record. Of the last seven presidents, chosen as presidents by the people of this country, three have died by the assassin!
Mob law is but another form of anarchy or lawlessness. It is the rejection of law and lawful procedure, and the enthronement in its place of the hungry human passions of unregenerate humanity. How rapidly has this increased of late years. In the short space of twenty years 3,130 lynchings have taken place in this country at the behest of mob law. When Sam Hose was burned at the stake two years ago, a thrill of horror shocked the whole country. It was repudiated north and south, east and west. But in the month of August alone, 1901, there were four burnings at the stake, and how faint and feeble the protests as compared with those at the first occurrence of the kind two years ago. How people have shuddered as they have read of the horrible burnings of captives by the Indians, or other barbarous people; but now “Christian” civilization is reeking with the same horrible deeds. Even the communities where these fearful fruits of mad, blind passion are manifest, preserve, as mementoes and souvenirs, pieces of the garments, etc., of the victim.
These horrible crimes of lynch law act as no deterrent of crime. The Nashville American truly says:—
The mob spirit thrives through suggestion. Lawlessness feeds on lawlessness. Formerly the multitude was satisfied to hang its victim. When the Texas mob burned a negro, it was a shock to the country. The world regarded it with horror. But as crime becomes familiar, its repulsiveness grows less. The first burning of a victim by a mob suggests the crime to others, and it has been repeated so often that it has ceased to be more shocking to the benumbed public mind than an ordinary hanging formerly was. It has grown to be the common method of the mob. It will grow more and more common, and on smaller provocation, until some more fiendish and brutalizing method is resorted to.
The enlightened mind can not fail to realize that such crimes can not be committed without injury to those who commit them. The fire may consume the victim, but the crime leaves black scars on the living which do not heal. There is a penalty for all this which we shall not escape. The thoughtful must shudder as they contemplate this downward drift. Where will it end?
The sad thing of it all is that Christians professedly are found to uphold mob law, and even advise it, as in the case of the wretched assassin of the dead president. But it is all lawlessness, whether in the band of anarchists or in the mad, unthinking mob. It is lack of faith in Christ Jesus, disregard for God’s law, utter repudiation of human law and government.
What does it mean? Increasing lawlessness and Christian apathy are signs of the coming end. “But know this, that in the last days grievous [perilous] times shall come; for men shall be lovers of ‘self, . . . implacable, . . . without self-control, fierce, . . . traitors, headstrong, . . . ‘holding a form of godliness, but having denied the ‘power thereof.’ 2 Tim. 3:1-5. “And because ‘iniquity [lawlessness] shall be multiplied, the love ‘of the many shall wax cold. But he that endureth ‘to the end, the same shall be saved.” Christ is coming. Get ready for Him.
THE ROOT OF ANARCHY.
ANARCHY is lawlessness, without a ruler, without law.
The evil of anarchy may be seen in its baleful fruits, of which this nation is at the present moment reaping its full share. The death of the chief magistrate of this nation is one of the fruits of anarchy. The blow struck was not against William McKinley the man, but President McKinley the representative of government. It was the same when President Carnot of France was stabbed in 1897. It was the same when King Humbert of Italy was killed in 1900. All these crimes were manifestations, outcroppings, of anarchy or lawlessness.
The great Ruler of all is God. To the Christian it is the great Jehovah. The constitution of His government is the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments. This has been acknowledged by nearly every creed of the various divisions into which the professed church is divided.
The root of anarchy lies in the rebellious, turbulent, carnal mind of man. “Because the carnal ‘mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to ‘the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then ‘they that are in the flesh can not please God.” Rom. 8:7, 8. Every sinner, every one who follows his own way, is, as respects God, an anarchist. He may not be an openly active anarchist as respects God; but he is, every day he follows his fleshly desires instead of God, breaking down all respect for God and His law in that most important of all kingdoms, the human heart. Self and its lusts are enthroned instead of God. God is dethroned that self may be enthroned.
The Son of God came in the likeness of sinful flesh to restore the moral image of God in man. He overcame sin in the flesh. He fought man’s losing battle and won. He emptied Himself that God might fill Him with His own righteous, overflowing, ever-triumphant presence. By the power of that presence He overcame; and He desires that every human being shall so empty himself of selfishness and sin that He may come into the heart, cleanse it of sin, and dwell there as King, His law the rule; as expressed by the apostle Paul, “That Christ may ‘dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ‘ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be ‘strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the ‘breadth and length and height and depth, and to ‘know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, ‘that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God.’ ‘I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet ‘not I, but Christ liveth in me.” “Christ in you the ‘hope of glory.” This is divine freedom as opposed to anarchy.
This freedom finds its delight in obedience to the everlasting and infinitely broad law of God; for just as truly as Jesus delighted to do God’s will, because God’s law was within His heart (Ps. 40:7, 8), just so truly as He kept His Father’s commandments, and therein abode in His love (John 15:10), just so truly will He keep the same law in every one of His children in whom He dwells, so that they will say, “This is the love of God that we keep His ‘commandments; and His commandments are not ‘grievous.’” 1 John 5:3. This is divine freedom and loyalty; and the opposite of this is the slavery of sin and anarchy.
THE SNARE THAT BINDS.
By S.
The moderate drinker says, “I can drink, or I can let it alone.” He goes on drinking; and when outraged nature compels him to own that he is ruining himself, and he tries to “let it alone,” he finds entwined with every fiber of his being invisible cords that are stronger than steel. It is not his hands, his limbs, his feet, that are bound about by the unseen net; but every quivering fiber is caught in the cruel mesh, till the feet are forced to run at the behest of the appetite, and the hand is forced to lift the crime-breeding liquor to his lips. Desire is his master, and even his mind is not his own. His thoughts revolve around the one idea, gratification of his uncontrollable appetite. He imagined himself free until he attempted to prove his freedom. Then he found that the soft words of his own desire had trapped and caged his manhood, and made him a slave.
Just so it is with sin and sinful pleasure. Men dally with it, and think it is their servant. They play with it as a fish nibbles at a tempting bait; but when they have swallowed the hook, they find the barb is fastened in their soul. The servant is the master, the master the servant; and to break away from the cord that binds them, the hook that holds them, requires a power that they do not possess, a power which they have hitherto spurned; and too often it is the case that they have no desire for release, no desire to know the only power that can make and keep them free.
Tarry not at the wine; have no fellowship with the pleasures of sin. Are you free? Then may God keep you so; for He alone can. Are you struggling to be free? Then reach up, and by faith lay hold of the arm of God; for He alone can free you. Are the pleasures of sin sweet to you? Then know this, that when the great net of sin has fully encircled you, there will be a bitterness and disappointment in store for you which only a look into the abyss of eternal death can make you realize. Tarry not; turn from it; pass not by it; set your face as a flint Zionward; speed for the goal—speed, and slumber not.