Earlier text: A DIVINE INDICTMENTWaiting for Our Lord’s Return
By W. S. Sadler
SOWING FOR WATCHFULNESS.—No. 1.
Waiting for Our Lord’s Return.
“WHAT I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Mark 13:37. There will be just two classes of professed Christians in the world at the time of Christ’s second coming,—those who will say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will ‘save us;’” and those of another class who will be saying, “My Lord ‘delayeth His coming.’” The latter class have failed to watch; or they have watched so carelessly that they have fallen asleep. Christ says, “What I say unto you I say to all, Watch.” Watching is the most intense occupation that mortals are ever called upon to engage in. To watch means that all the energy of body, soul, and spirit must be centered upon the thing we are watching for. Peter, who was so zealous to declare his devotion and allegiance to the Master, but a few hours later was found sleeping while his Master prayed. On waking him up the Saviour said, “What, could ye ‘not watch with Me one hour?’” Peter had declared his great love for Christ, but he had failed to watch with Him. Did you ever wait at the station for the train,—watching, watching, watching? And did not the time seem very long? It is necessary that you should not stray away from the station; for the train may come and go during the few minutes you have ceased your watchfulness. There is a constant tendency, when we have watched for something about so long, to allow our interest and enthusiasm to diminish. It is to forestall this human tendency to lose interest in the great event of Christ’s second coming, that the Lord has shown all through the Scriptures the admonition to watch, watch, WATCH! It seems to be the all-important word to the Christian, particularly to those living in the time immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. Said the Lord to the children of Israel: “Only take heed to thyself, and keep ‘thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have ‘seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life.’” Deut. 4:9. The object of our watchfulness is to retain the light and truth which have been shed across our pathway, and to prevent our falling into slumbers of negligence and forgetfulness. We are bidden to watch, for watchfulness is necessary for the soul’s activity. If we fail to watch, we soon fall asleep morally; we become inactive, and fail to receive what God has to give us; and in turn we fail to communicate to others that which heaven desired to communicate to us. The Christian life should be one of constant activity, ceaseless shining, and perpetual watching. If we are unable to put that diligence into our watchfulness that would enable us to overcome some besetting sin, to recognize and constantly keep under some short-coming in our character, how shall we expect to be able to watch for that great event which is the end of the Christian’s hope? The great mistake we make, the great reason for our forgetting the foundation hope of our religion, the cause of our saying, “My Lord delayeth His coming”—is that we have failed to watch in the minor details of life. We have failed to watch for truth; we fail to keep our souls diligently; we too easily forget the things which “our eyes have seen.” We must accept the things of God one by one, truth by truth, and principle by principle; and in this way maintain our watchfulness. If we are faithful in these smaller matters, we will be found awake and on the right side when our Lord comes. Day by day there must be put into our religion that reality and intensity which will keep us awake. Can you blame a man for anything that happens while he is asleep? You may blame him for being asleep, but it is impossible to blame him for the thing of which he was not conscious. The only thing that will keep us awake is doing something. Christian activity—working for others—this is the secret of being ready to meet our Lord when He comes. If we allow the activities of the soul to cease; if we stop our labor for others, we will soon fall asleep. In a crisis, when it is necessary to keep awake, it is important to keep moving, to “keep thy soul with all diligence.” “Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command ‘you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, ‘whither ye go to possess it.’” Deut. 11:8. We must conduct ourselves in the waiting time in such a manner as will give strength to our spiritual experiences. It is just as necessary for us to be strong in the time which precedes our Lord’s return as it was for the children of Israel to be strong before going in to possess the earthly Canaan. Strong, vigorous men are not so likely to fall asleep on duty as the weak, fearful, and untrained. We know that strong, hearty men can remain awake on long watches much better than can feeble ones. We must see to it that our characters have woven into them all the elements of divine strength. The soul that is strong in faith and active in work is the one who can watch. You can not simply take hold of the mind, as it were, and say, “I ‘will watch.” Peter tried that. I imagine he bestirred himself with vigor, when he said, “Tho I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny ‘Thee.’” Yet it was the same Peter who fell asleep in the garden, and subsequently denied his Lord. We can make the same resolutions that Peter did, but unless we have beneath them a stronger foundation, they will not be any stronger than Peter’s were. As far as human eyes could see, Peter heard and saw as great, or greater, things than we have seen and heard, but they failed to suffice in the final test, because his faith was not strong, because he failed to watch. If he had strengthened his faith, he could have watched. What will it mean to us to fall asleep in the final hour? Peter had another chance; for when he was converted he could go and strengthen his brethren; but our last opportunity is fast approaching, and what shall we do if we are found asleep? To sleep then on a single point of duty was serious; to be asleep now is fatal. W. S. SADLER. The Lost Sinner’s Saviour
By W. P. Mackay
TAKE the lost sinner’s place, and claim the lost sinner’s Saviour. —W. P. Mackay. The Upturned Face of Prayer
IT is the upturned face of prayer that catches the beams of heavenly hope. “CAN a man live without sin?” “You can live better without it than with it.” In a great daily, which poses as a public moralist, there recently appeared an editorial entitled, “It is Our Duty to Doubt,” recommending again a book which teaches the same thing. The editor of the paper wishes that the author “might have ‘omitted’ from his work a spirit of antagonism to religious faith. Such antagonism is against public policy.” After a quotation from the work, the editor continues:— Unquestionably the tendency to DOUBT is the foundation of progress. For ages the monkeys BELIEVED that they must always run on all fours. But one DOUBTED. He tried to stand erect. And while he tottered feebly, as men totter mentally who try to think independently, that DOUBTING monkey was the forerunner of those who now walk firmly erect and look up to the stars for inspiration. (Typography as we find it.) And then seven skeptical writers are quoted, the majority of whom condemn, and justly, the superstitious credulity of the Medieval Ages, equally manifest now in other forms; as, for instance, the blind following of disagreeing delvers in uncertain science, “falsely so called.” Huxley is quoted as saying:— Skepticism is the highest duty, and blind faith is the one unpardonable sin. Over against this we place the following words of the unknown writer of Hebrews, and of Jesus of Nazareth:— “Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing unto Him [God]; for He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that seek after Him.” “All things are possible to him that believeth.” “According to your faith be it done unto you.” For credulity we have no defense, no apology. It is the fruit of either ignorance or sin or both. To the ignorant it appears as faith. To the instructed it is a base counterfeit. Its basis is the creature rather than the Creator; the thing rather than He that brought it into existence. Faith in the Bible sense means more than mere belief, or assent to a fact or to facts. Faith centers in the one God, the all-sufficient Creator, Redeemer, Father, and Friend, and in the revelation which He has given of His eternal purpose concerning His creatures. Faith impels its possessor to take all as his which God gives, whether in precept or promise, whether in life or service, and to yield all that God requires, whether to work or to wait, whether to proclaim or to practise. Faith accepts, receives, God’s plan of salvation in Christ Jesus, and finds in it all that God has promised. Faith may seem blind to those who know only the use of physical vision; but Faith’s vision, Faith’s seeings, are the seeings of God from a loftier viewpoint, including in their field the eternal as well as the temporal. God reveals Himself—His wisdom, power, and love—in various ways, but in the fullest, clearest way by His written Word, the Holy Scriptures. He does not ask blind credulity in the acceptance of that Book. He gives evidence sufficient to every willing soul; to every soul which longs to separate from sin and self, and become acquainted with eternal righteousness and everlasting love. The doubter will always find a way to doubt. God has even gone so far in meeting the low plane of doubt in the minds of sinful men that He has given double, treble, quadruple witness of the truth of His Word—witnesses which could in no way be accused of collusion. He has given through His servants predictions without number, at times when there was no human evidence that these predictions could possibly be fulfilled; and in later years, sometimes centuries, in His overruling providence the prediction is written in history. The witnesses agree in every detail. Much of the Bible is composed of prophecy, “declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” Isa. 46:10. God declares that He will write His holy law, which even infidels recognize as good, in the characters of those who have faith, who will accept of Christ Jesus. How many poor, wretched, wicked sinners, drunkards, thieves, blasphemers, have complied with the conditions and demonstrated in their own lives and to the world the truth of God’s Book. And every soul can demonstrate this test in himself, if he will. Here it is as given by Jesus: “If any man willeth to do His [the Father’s] will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God.” John 7:17. Here are two-fold tests of the truthfulness and divinity of the Bible,—the one appealing to candid students in a general way, and the other appealing to the individual, promising sure witness in personal experience. In both of these there are a multitude of witnesses. Faith in God Is Reasonable.
Why should not one follow the very laws implanted in every fiber of his being? How natural it is for the child to look up to his father and trust him! If the father proves true to the child, how faith in the father’s instruction develops the child! How naturally he looks, when older, from his earthly father to his heavenly Father! A few years ago we spent some time in converse with a noted scientist, whose study of science in skeptical schools, with no help from a traditional religion, had made him doubt. At the close of our conversation he remarked that he had before said he would not discuss religious matters. We remarked that all our converse had been without bitterness or rancor. “Yes,” he assented, “but it makes me feel uncomfortable.” And then he said that he often found himself, as he sought his bed at night, repeating the prayer taught him at his mother’s knee. And we said then what we say now, that the instinct, the conscious need, divinely implanted, which makes man a worshiping being, was truer than all his skeptical science. It was no figure of speech used by the psalmist,—“My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and weary land.” It was the Spirit of God in humanity voicing humanity’s needs, which only God can supply. And, O soul, fretted and worn with the sins and cares and disappointments of this life, it is the highest reason to trust God; it is the sublimest vision to see in Him the great source of all satisfying supply. In Faith Only Is True Progress.
Faith looks to God, the Infinite One. Not to compass God, not to comprehend Him—it does not expect that; but it looks to God to apprehend Him, to lay hold of Him, to see Him as He reveals Himself, the God of all justice, mercy, wisdom, knowledge, power, and love, and comfort. With soul open toward the Infinite, with intellect strained to grasp the wonderful whisperings of God to His finite children, with heart yielded to the will that controls the universe, how is it possible not to expand, progress, grow! How it enlarges human mercy to behold God’s mercy! How it helps men to see the microscopic littleness of the things of this world, which spread so thinly, yet seem so substantial to faithless eyes, and to place in contrast with all these for eternal choosing, things which may seem small and narrow, but which broaden to all the realms of God, and are as enduring as His throne! How, in the light of God’s love, human love grows, even toward one’s enemies, till all barriers are oftentimes melted, and the enemy becomes a friend! Faith having God for its object, must ever grow and expand toward the Infinite to all eternity, ever seeing new beauty, ever drinking deeper draughts from the satisfying wells of God’s love, ever hearing and singing holier, sweeter, diviner strains of the harmony of the universe. But Doubt is self-centered. It turns the soul from the Infinite to the finite. It shuts out the sun by an eyelid of the flesh. It turns from the heaven-shed light of star and sun and throne to grope in the gloom of a sin-blinded selfishness. It puts the great, good, loving Father in the criminal dock, and erring, puny, doubting man on the judgment seat. It proves, by being out of harmony with its grand major chords and heavenly symphonies, that God’s wonderful oratorio of the universe is a failure! Doubt made Lucifer, the light-bringer, the prince of darkness. It changed an angel to a devil. Doubt brought sin into the world, with all our woe. Doubt has made man, the highest of all God’s creatures of earth, lower than the monkey; in fact, the lowest in morals and vitality, subject to the swarming animalculæ of sin’s environments. Doubt has blasted and blighted, darkened and blackened, cursed and crushed, marred and murdered, from the time it came into the universe until now. Have naught to do with the demon, dear soul; it promises what it can not perform; it takes what it can not replace. Open the soul Godward. Believe Him. Demonstrate the truth of His Word by doing it. Thereby you shall know of the teaching. Trust not in your faith, not in any of the instruments of God, not in the material channels of faith; but trust in Him who uses these channels to impart His light and life and love to all. Doubt denies God; Credulity trusts in the thing, the creature, the channel; Faith with shining eyes lays hold by God’s appointed means of the very hand and heart of the Infinite One. “Lord, increase our faith.” JACOB'S NIGHT OF WRESTLING.
By G.
WHEN Jacob was returning from Padan-aram to Canaan, he met that experience which passed into sacred history as “Jacob's ‘trouble.’” He had endured many trials and passed through dangers that would have overwhelmed men of ordinary temperament unsupported by faith in God. But the ordeal of that night by the river Jabbok stands pre-eminent. His night of remorse, and fear, and penitence at Bethel, as he went out from Canaan more than twenty years before, was a bitter experience, but then the danger that confronted him concerned himself alone. On that occasion, too, he only dreaded the possible pursuit of his brother Esau. Here at the Jabbok the vengeful brother was actually approaching with an army of four hundred men. He would appear the next day, and not only was Jacob in danger, but his wives, and children, and servants, and vast herds and flocks were also at the mercy of Esau. Jacob's faith was on trial as never before. Moreover, the promises of God were on trial. At Bethel God had forgiven Jacob's sins, had transferred to him the promises made to Abraham and Isaac, and had added promises of personal protection and safe return to Canaan. These promises were Jacob's only hope. They had preserved him from the wrath of Laban, his father-in-law, who had pursued him with intent to compel his return to Padan-aram; and he had even been reassured by a vision of guardian angels on that occasion. Would this protection be extended against the present assailant? There was cause for Esau's grievance, a cause which Jacob did not pretend to ignore. At this point the adversary of souls would be sure to interject doubt and discouragement. Had God really forgiven his sins against his brother? Had his life since the experience at Bethel been such as would warrant him in claiming the promises then made? The enemy would hardly let pass such an opportunity to overthrow the faith of him in whom the promises of God were for the time vested. Jacob went apart from his camp to a secluded spot, and, alone in the solitude of night, appealed to God for the promised protection. But just at this critical moment a strong hand was suddenly laid upon him. Supposing it to be an enemy that grappled with him, he put forth all his strength in self-defense. And it is evident from the outcome, that as he struggled his heart appealed to God for mercy. His experience was leading him more and more to realize the utter helplessness of humanity, and that his only hope was in God. It was this realization, this distrust of self, and fear that in some respect he had failed in a perfect reconciliation with God, that added to the agony of soul with which Jacob wrestled that night. However, he was sustained by the promises. He pleaded the promise of mercy to the penitent sinner, and the plea was honored. Whatever may be the appearances, it is always safe to rely on any promise of God. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but ‘My words shall not pass away.’” Matt. 24:35. It was the strength of the promises to which Jacob clung in humbleness of faith that enabled him to endure the terrible conflict until the morning. He did not know that his physical contest was also with the One who had made the promises. It was there583true, as he had said after seeing the vision of the ladder at Bethel, the Lord was in that place and he knew it not. A mere touch of his supposed antagonist convinced Jacob that he had been in the hands of the Lord all the time. The Angel touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, and his “thigh was out of ‘joint,’” causing him great pain. But when Jacob saw that he was wrestling with a Messenger of heaven, he clung to Him all the more firmly. He refused to let go without a blessing; and in this he gained the victory. Now what would Esau be in the presence of one who had prevailed with God? What is any human or even Satanic enemy in contest with one who has come away conqueror from the throne of grace? Here is a contrast that is worthy of consideration: In a physical contest with God, one touch of the divine Finger made a halting cripple of the mere human frame, while the power of heaven could not prevail against the prayer of faith. God “can not ‘deny Himself.’” The following extract from “Patriarchs and Prophets,” by Mrs. E. G. White, makes the application of Jacob's night of wrestling to the people of God in the last days of this world's history:— Such will be the experience of God's people in their final struggle with the powers of evil. God will test their faith, their perseverance, their confidence in His power to deliver them. Satan will endeavor to terrify them with the thought that their cases are hopeless; that their sins have been too great to receive pardon. They will have a deep sense of their shortcomings, and as they review their lives, their hopes will sink. But remembering the greatness of God's mercy, and their own sincere repentance, they will plead His promises made through Christ to helpless, repenting sinners. Their faith will not fail because their prayers are not immediately answered. They will lay hold of the strength of God, as Jacob laid hold of the Angel, and the language of their souls will be, “I will not let Thee ‘go, except thou bless me.” When Jacob was conscious of his great victory, he gave a name to the place to commemorate the occasion. He named it Peniel, or Penuel, saying, “I ‘have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” That he was afterward a cripple, for a time at least, is shown by the statement that “he ‘halted upon his thigh.” This, also, was afterward commemorated by the Israelites, as stated in the record: “Therefore the children of Israel eat not of ‘the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow ‘of the thigh, unto this day; because He touched the ‘hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.” Gen. 32:32. But to this memorial through suffering was added the consolation of the new name, Israel, a prince of God, or prevailer with God. The halting walk would remind him of the frailty of the flesh, while the new name would be a constant reminder of the power of faith. The children of faith are the true Israel of God, and have a sure promise of a part in the everlasting inheritance. G. LET it be understood once for all that the mere healing of the sick is no sign or evidence that the one or ones who heal are doing God's work or presenting God's truth. If healing the sick is evidence of a divine mission, then the healing mediums of “Spiritualism,” hypnotic healers, magnetic healers, “Christian Science” physicians, Mr. Dowie of Chicago, and others, have good claims to present, and evidences to prove their claim. Even now men are saying of more or less of these as was said of one of old, “This man is the great power of God.” Acts 8:10. We would not for a moment intimate that there is not divine healing; there is; there has been since sickness came through the curse of sin. In regular ways, in wonderful, marvelous ways, has God healed the sick; and He has given to His church His gift of healing power, if by faith and holy living they will use it to His glory. But the manifestation of healing power or wonder-working is not the evidence that God is with the worker. The apostle Paul declares that in the last days, just before Christ's coming, Satan will work “with ‘all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all ‘deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.’” 2 Thess. 2:9, 10. Now all power, and signs, and lying wonders must include that of healing after which the whole great sick world is seeking, the most of whom do not question as to the character of the means. Again we read that last-day wonders are wrought by the spirits of demons “working miracles.” Rev. 16:13, 14. And Jesus tells us that many will come to Him in that day, saying, “Lord, Lord, ‘did we not prophesy by Thy name, and by Thy ‘name cast out devils, and by thy name do many ‘mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work ‘iniquity.’” Matt. 7:22, 23. These passages show clearly two things, (1) that there will be many last-day signs and miracles wrought, among them healing, which are not of God; and (2) that the true and only test is obedience to God's holy law. Those who are guilty of “iniquity,” lawlessness, law-breaking, will not be known of Him. Healing of the body is important; healing of the soul, bringing the character in harmony with God, is infinitely more important. One may follow a “healer” to eternal death. The governor of the province of Shan Tung, China, has had occasion to remind the missionaries of that province that they were not expected to assist in the government of the Chinese people. It would naturally seem out of place for a Confucian to instruct a Christian in regard to the latter’s duty; and no doubt there are many Christian missionaries in China who do not need any such advice. Nevertheless it is evident that many missionaries have gone to China so thoroughly imbued with the national-reform idea, that the heathen governor of Shan Tung has been compelled to rebuke them and their followers in order that justice might be done between man and man. It is well known that the Chinese frequently persecuted converts to Christianity; but through foreign governmental influence the missionaries were enabled to give a measure of protection to their converts. This influence of the missionaries increased, and the protection which they were able to give to their converts finally became a sort of shield, or guarantee, against conviction in case of arrest for infraction of law. Unprincipled Chinese took advantage of this protection, and became “converts” in order to have an advantage over their countrymen in cases at law. In many instances missionaries assumed the role of magistrates or sat with the magistrate when one or more of the parties in the case were converts. In this way the Chinese came to look upon the missionaries as usurpers, interlopers, and upon the “converts” who took advantage of such proceedings as dishonest and only worthy of contempt. Thus has the cause of Christ in China been brought into disrepute by the interference of missionaries in the civil affairs of the Chinese. The Chinese people judge of Christianity by what they see in the course of those who profess it, and as the course of such missionaries is repugnant to them, so also is the religion which the missionaries represent, not because of the religion, but because of the course of those who profess to represent it. Governor Yuen’s proclamation, according to the press report, “is in language so energetic as to ‘make it evident that the Chinese magistrates will ‘not allow the missionaries to exercise the same ‘influence as heretofore in local affairs, or in any ‘other than religious matters in the future. Governor Yuen states that he has received many reports ‘from Chinese officials that unworthy members ‘of the church were practising their religion simply ‘for the protection which it afforded them, and were ‘setting aside the law of the land, and seeking occasions to quarrel, and that such affairs were daily ‘increasing in number.’” The governor then orders his sub-officials to administer equal justice to all without regard to whether the offenders are Christians or not. In continuing his instructions to the magistrates, the governor says:— The missionaries are merely preachers of religion. They have no authority whatever to interfere in the affairs of the Chinese people, nor any power to exercise official functions, as everybody ought to know. Of course “everybody ought to know” that the ministers of Christ were not commissioned to govern people, either at home or abroad. The governor was right in declaring that their business was that of preaching rather than governing, and Christians, above all others, “ought to know” that. Paul said, “This one thing I do,” and declared that he was “determined not to know anything . . . save ‘Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” 1 Cor. 2:2. And the Saviour Himself, who has left us an example that we should walk even as He walked, refused the protection of the human arm of His ordained servants, or the twelve legions of angels who would have obeyed His call, and suffered the extreme punishment at the hands of the civil power. When appealed to to settle a question of property rights, He asked, “Who hath made Me a ruler or divider ‘over you?” Christ understood His mission; and nowhere has He given authority to His followers to go contrary to the example He has set. When Christians realize the sacredness of their calling, they will not be seeking political or judicial appointments in their own country or in the lands to which they go as Christ’s ambassadors. That the governor’s proclamation is not a blow at legitimate missionary effort seems apparent from his closing admonitions to his magistrates, whom he enjoins to “make no distinction between church and ‘people,’ and to see to it that if the people insult the Christians, such acts are vigorously suppressed. On the other hand, he directs the magistrates that when a member of the church drags his religion into his suit, when the suit is one that has nothing to do with church matters, and the missionary forces himself into the case, “the magistrate should not hesitate to ‘controvert and reprove, as the facts of the case may ‘justify, and deal with the case according to reason.’ All of which would seem to be very proper and just, and Christians who are such indeed could have no just cause for complaint against the proclamation of the governor. The sad part of it is that those who should be giving lessons in the principles of religious liberty and equal and exact justice should have come so far short of their true calling that they must themselves receive such lessons from those whom they were sent to teach. The Christian worker has no business to tamper with the civil affairs of the land in which he labors. He is not there for that purpose. He bears no commission for such a work. To teach and preach the good news of salvation through Christ, to heal the sick and comfort the afflicted,—this is the work which Christ has given His ambassadors to do; and he whose life is given up entirely to that work will find enough to do to take all his time and attention. “THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.”
THAT utterance of the Roman Catholic Church generally referred to as the “Dogma of the Immaculate Conception,” does not refer to the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit, but the conception of Mary, His mother. Thus Pope Pius IX. stated the doctrine Dec. 8, 1854:— By the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, and our own, we declare, pronounce, and define, that the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful. Then follows the pronouncement of the penalties to any who “dare to think otherwise.” But nowhere in all God’s Word do we have the revelation expressed or implied that Mary was sinless, in the sense of having sinless flesh. She was doubtless a good woman, a Christian woman through grace by faith; but she was conceived and born as were others in the same Davidic family, having the same flesh with the same sinful tendencies. Of this “woman,” one of a class, a representative of women, a descendant of Eve, one of the tribe of Judah, of the family of David, Jesus was born, flesh and blood and bone. We can not explain how the Son of the eternal God, the Creator of worlds, could do this. But God’s Word abundantly reveals that He did do this, and so became Immanuel,—“God ‘with us.’” He partook of our nature that we might be “partakers of the divine nature.” He came clear down to sin’s lowest pit in order that, ascending, “He might fill all things,” and lift man up to Himself. But by devising an absolutely sinless mother, immaculately conceived, Roman Catholics, and Mr. Dowie following after, separate the Saviour from men, and endeavor to bridge over the chasm by humanly-appointed, sometimes self-appointed, priests. MOB LAW AND CHRISTIANITY.
Presumably many of the five thousand farmers who are said to have engaged in the pursuit and burning of the doubtless guilty wretch, near the Texas border, August 20, were professed Christians. Presumably this has been the case in all the other trials under Mob Law, and executions by Judge Lynch, which have occurred with such frequency during the last few years. These manifestations of popular frenzy are ominous signs of the times. In the first place mob law is unreasonable and injudicious. It acts from impulse and passion, not from reason. Reason is in bondage to mad, blind hatred, engendered by prejudice. The one whose life is sought is presupposed to be guilty. Sometimes the victim is not even allowed to make a statement. When he is thus allowed, it is that he may confess his guilt. If he declares his innocence, his declaration is taken for nothing. Surely this is not just. In a recent affair of this kind a man’s life was taken whose name even was not learned. It was averred that he was not even guilty of the crime for which he was cruelly slain; but the sympathetic reporter consoled himself and justified the mad mob by declaring that this unknown man was guilty of another murder, and supposed that the mob was pursuing him for that, tho how this could be ascertained in the premises is not indicated. The victim of the mob did not testify; no one bore witness to this effect, and no identity was established. It is better reason, it is more humane, to let ten guilty go free than to slay one innocent person. In the second place, mob law is unchristian. Christianity rests upon the existence of an eternal God, possessed of infinite knowledge, wisdom, justice, power, and love. He knows the guilt as measured by the crime, and its degree as measured by the inherited tendencies, the intelligence, and the environments of the evil-doer. He knows the punishment due. His Word declares that “we shall all ‘stand before the judgment seat of Christ;” that “every one of us shall give account of himself to ‘God;” “that every one may receive the things ‘done in his body, according to that he hath done, ‘whether it be good or bad;” and that Christ is coming again “to execute judgment upon all, and to ‘convince all that are ungodly among them of all ‘their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed.” In that great day it will be seen that many of those who shouted in the mad mobs for vengeance on oftentimes prejudged criminals, will in the all-piercing light from the throne of God be seen to be more guilty than their victims here. In the providence of God we have civil government, ordained for the purpose of suppressing incivility. Its object is not vengeance, but the protection of the lives, the chastity, the property, the reputation of all. Its whole purpose is for the protection of all, equal justice to all, the suppression of all incivility. But Mob Law and Judge Lynch are moved by the unchristian motives of revenge and hatred. Surely those who thus yield to impulse have no faith in God. He has said: “Vengeance is Mine; I will ‘repay.” Can not He be believed? What if His time seems long? It is not the less sure. Why should poor fallible man, who must sue for mercy at the Throne of Divine Justice, take vengeance on an evil-doer? Why should he not leave it to Him who is all-wise and infinitely just; who never forgets, and who can never fail? Furthermore, the Just One has said: “Judge not, ‘that ye be not judged; for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ‘ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.’” Are you prepared to face God with the unreasonable, unmerciful, unchristian, judgment which you thus render resting upon you? A sad lesson pointed out in these many mad mobs is that men, measured sometimes by the majorities of large communities, are losing faith in God, or else have never possessed it. Jesus implied all this in His question: “When the Son of man cometh, shall ‘He find faith in the earth?’” For months Cuba appealed to the liberty-loving people of the United States for help, and the voices of such people were loud in denouncing the political bands that held her, and in urging the United States Government to take a hand in her behalf. Even those who deprecate war on general principles, for the sorrow it brings and the expense it incurs, refrained from censuring the government for ordering Spain from Cuba, and enforcing its order. Time has passed; and while Cuba was being tutored in the principles of republican government, a tyrant more powerful than Spain, and more conscienceless, has bound her with a chain of steel. That tyrant is human greed in the person of corporate monopoly. Already the exploitation of the island has begun, and the power of wealth is securing to itself what individual effort would not have been able to obtain. Altho the Foraker resolution forbade the issuance of Cuban franchises, an American and British syndicate is reported to be engaged in building a railroad from one end of the island to the other, connecting with every important port and town, destroying all possibility of that competition which alone can keep the transportation rates within reasonable bounds. This syndicate is reported to be securing possession of the most valuable sugar, tobacco, coffee, and timber lands in the island. Thus is this combine able, within a few months, to grasp a great portion of the material resources of the island, and make the transportation of the products of all the island subject to its arbitrary charges; and all this while Cuba is unable to lift a hand to help herself. This is not the fault of those who helped to free Cuba from the rule of Spain. It is the fault of a degeneracy which is creeping over the world, insidiously but surely, making the noble principles of liberty, equality, and humanity—so far as it is concerned—subservient to the worship of self, mammon, greed. It was a sad day for Cuba when the priests of this worship took a hand in the liberation of that island. It was a sad day for the great republic of North America when it came under the influence of that worship, and learned to laugh at the great Constitution, and spurn the principles of the great Declaration, and marshalled its forces against oppressed peoples struggling for the privilege of being free men and governing themselves. There is no one man to blame for this, any more than there is any one man to blame for the growth of the trust, or the religious declension in the churches. It is the spirit of the times, which is the spirit of antichrist working mightily in the earth. The spirit which is causing men to heap together treasure is a spirit which the Word of God tells us would be prevalent in the last days; and to that spirit—the worship of money and self—is due the breaking away from principle so manifest in the recent course of our country. It is that which is causing Cuba to pay the price she does for her release from the Spanish yoke. The power of that spirit is increasing with leaps and bounds, and will continue to increase until the consummation of all things; and its almost incredible increase is one of the infallible signs that this consummation is close at hand. S.