Now, BEFORE sin came in to darken the mind, it was not necessary to tell us that the lessons of God were manifest in leaf and flower, in tree and rock and streams and clouds. You see when man saw a leaf, he saw the lesson connected with it, and could read just as plainly on every leaf of the tree and of the forest as we can read on the printed leaf of God's word, and the revelation of God was printed there just as plainly. But when men's minds became darkened, so that they could not read the lessons, then God must bring the revelation of himself to them in some other way, and so he began to tell them what they meant. He began to say, "This is what that means; this is the lesson I would convey in that." It became necessary for him to point out to us the lessons we should learn; and so all through the Bible we have the lessons and operations of nature connected with God; and again and again is our attention called to these things as we read the Bible.
"But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?"
Now take just what is brought out there. "Ask now the beasts"—there is the study of zoology, you see; as we would put it in our modern way, "Study zoology, and it shall teach thee." "And the fowls of the air,"—ornithology,—and it shall tell thee; "speak to the earth,"—geology, mineralogy,—"and it shall teach thee;" "and the fishes of the sea,"—ichthyology,—"and they shall declare unto thee." Who knoweth not that in zoology, in ornithology, in geology, and mineralogy, and in ichthyology, the hand of the Lord hath wrought all these?
But in the way those sciences are taught at the present time, there are few that are led into a personal experience that God has wrought in them, that the same power that wrought in them works in the Christian, that the same power which gives life to all that we see gives life to us, that the same power by which they were created creates us anew in Christ Jesus, and that the same word which speaks through them keeps us from falling. You see the knowledge of God as a personal Creator and Redeemer, as our Upholder and Saviour, as revealed in Jesus Christ in his word and in our experience, has been separated from the study of these things.
THE OBJECT OF TEACHING SCIENCE.
Now of what final value is it if we should know all that the books can teach us concerning the facts of these things, so that we should be able to pass a most critical examination upon these sciences, if we separate those things from God and his work? What are we here for? to build ourselves up in our own estimation, and indulge in the feeling of pride that we have made some discoveries, and lift up man because of it?—No, that is a mistaken view of it. The more we learn of God as revealed in nature, as he would have us learn of him, the more we are led to adore him as the King and Creator. And the humbler the views we get of ourselves, the stronger are the feelings of gratitude, adoration, and love. The more strongly are we bound517to him in loyal service when we recognize him and his goodness and love in everything with which he has surrounded us.
That is, just in the briefest way, the outline of the way it seems to me that the works of God should be taught. If it is necessary in order to do this that we should discard the idea that we must study this science and that science and the other science, it is all right. It seems to me that if we could in some way arrange a course of study in the sciences, in which from first to last it should be simply a progressive knowledge of God, we would simply take the face of nature as our study, and let it lead us where it would, let it bring in as it would all the principles and facts that are laid down in the text-books upon the different lines of study, but progressing simply in the knowledge of God and in the ability to read the handwriting of God in the material universe. Then the study of the sciences would be simply the study of God, and what we learned in science would not be simply certain facts, but we would read in those facts God's works continually.
Now it is just as true in reading and studying the Bible. There are many who read the Bible simply as an aggregation of certain facts in history. They do not really see the revelation of God in Jesus Christ in everything that is seen and done. From first to last there is a complete revelation of God in Jesus Christ. If people were taught to read the Bible in that way, there would not be a dispute in these days as to whether we should throw away the Old Testament or not. Does God ever become too old for practical use? Does Jesus Christ ever wear out? Are his virtues ever too old for us? They begin with the first chapter of Genesis, and they run all through to the last chapter of Revelation.
I have read somewhere that a copy of the Constitution of the United States has been so engraved and printed that, standing at a distance, you see a perfect portrait of George Washington, and coming nearer you are able to read the words and the Constitution complete. Every word, every line is so arranged that, standing at a distance and looking at it as a whole, it is the face of George Washington. So in the face of nature, when we are taught to read it aright, so in the Scripture, when we are taught to read it aright, there is one face that shines faithfully, a complete portrait of Jesus Christ. Many read the printed page and do not see Jesus as he is. They do not behold that face from which shine light and love and blessing for everyone, because their eyes have been blinded by the "god of this world," lest the "light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" should shine unto them.
Now the purpose of teaching science, as we call it, that is, the purpose of becoming acquainted with nature, is not simply to be able to know that certain things happen in certain ways, not simply to become acquainted with certain laws and certain facts as laws and facts, but it is to see the face of Jesus Christ in everything; it is to see in it the revelation of God; and when these things are taught in any other way, they are not taught as God would have them taught. When we learn that the laws of nature are but the operations of God, and when we look upon everything as a revelation of God and a reminder of God, there can nothing happen that shall not be an encouragement and help to us continually. We will get hope and courage out of everything.
ITS CONNECTION WITH THE SABBATH.
Why is it that such an attempt has been made to turn men's minds away from the Sabbath of the Lord?—Because that is the reminder of God, the Creator. Why is it that during the last half century in a special way this attempt has been made, and during this same time, in a special way, began this teaching of science that would lead men to forget God in nature and see only some unknown cause acting under some unknown impulse, but not observing in nature the constant operation of God? Now those two things go together. Here was the Sabbath reform to be brought in, but the Sabbath was a reminder of God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Now if out of men's minds could be gotten the idea that a personal God was the direct Creator of heaven and earth, that he spake, and it was done, he commanded, and it stood fast, that by his word the heavens were,—if men could be led away from this, then men would be prepared to reject the real idea of the Sabbath as a reminder of God, who is the Creator.
Now this is illustrated well in this way: One of our brethren was talking with a young man who was studying for the ministry, and he laid before him this instruction concerning the Sabbath and the spiritual nature of the Sabbath as a reminder of the creative power of God, and that by that same creative power in his word we were made new creatures in Christ Jesus. The young man listened with interest to his statement, and he said, "That would have much force to my mind if I believed in the literal idea of creation, and in the literal six days of the first chapter of Genesis; but science shows us that those were long periods of time, and that these things were not spoken into existence at once; and therefore that loses its power to my mind." And yet all true science is but the interpretation of the handwriting of God in the material universe, and the handwriting of God in the material universe does not contradict the handwriting of God in his Book of Revelation, so science never teaches anything contrary to the word of God. But do you not see the connection that, by turning men's minds away from the idea of literal time and the creation by the power of the word, their minds have been prepared to discard the idea of the Sabbath as the reminder of that power, and the Sabbath idea as being the revelation of God in Christ, just as the creation was the revelation of God in Christ?
And really I believe that as much has been done to undermine the word of God and the authority and power of the revelation of God in the hearts of men by this teaching of science (falsely so called) as by any teaching from the pulpit. It has stealthily undermined the very foundation, because when you take out of nature the literal idea of the personal Creator, who created all things by the word of his mouth, and upholdeth all things by the same word, and the idea that Jesus Christ was the Agent in creation, by whom all things were made, you take out of the Bible the very life and power of the revealed word, because the revealed word was only given to tell men in their own language what God had already told them in his language in the face of nature. Now you see when you take that idea out of nature you kill the very life and power of the Bible, which is the revelation to us in our language of the very same idea, thought, and character of God that he had already revealed in his language on the face of nature.
(Concluded next week.)
The Martyrdom of Today
By Theodore Parker
RACKS and fagots soon waft the soul to God, stern messengers, but swift. A boy could bear that passage, the martyrdom of death. But the temptation of a long life of neglect and scorn and obloquy and shame and want and desertion by false friends, to live blameless, though blamed, cut off from human sympathy—that is the martyrdom of to-day.—Theodore Parker.
Christ’s Feet and Future Throne
By Matthew Henry
He who sits at Christ's feet here shall sit on his throne hereafter.
GOD'S PURPOSE CONCERNING THE EARTH.
By William Covert
BY ELDER WM. COVERT.
THE Lord purposed when he made the earth that it should be inhabited. That purpose will prevail, for he did not make it in vain. As an evidence of the truthfulness of this proposition study Isa. 45: 18.
The Lord works all things after the counsel of his own will. Eph. 1: 11. There can, therefore, be no doubt as to the ultimate outcome, because when God has spoken, he cannot lie. Titus 1: 2. The Strength of Israel will not lie, nor turn from his eternal purposes. See 2 Sam. 15: 29. Therefore, the earth having been brought into being for a place of habitation, it must be made to fulfill that mission.
The wisdom that inheres in that purpose is seen when we study the subject of its inhabitants. God was preparing the way for man's creation; and that man, when brought into being, might not be a homeless wanderer, nor an intruder on room belonging to others, the Creator first provided the home, and then made man to inhabit it.
The Lord by his Spirit moved upon the mind of David to write for us upon this sweet theme, saying: "Our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." "The Lord hath been mindful of us; he will bless us." "Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; but the earth hath he given to the children of men." Ps. 115: 3, 12, 15, 16.
Of course the Lord knew all about the kind of being he was about to create, and what his nature would require, and this was provided for in the formation and endowment of the earth.
The ability of God to perfectly adapt his works to the harmony of his purposes is eloquently stated by the Psalmist: "Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places." Ps. 135: 6. The seas, the rivers, and the lakes, the aquatic creatures were made. To show his love, his skill, his power, and his wisdom, amphibious nature is made to speak forth his praises. The feathery tribes he has made to traverse the air, and enjoy a field as wholly to themselves as do the fishes in the waters.
Then upon the earth, and in the earth, are things innumerable which tell the wonders of the power that formed them and gave them a habitation. It was over all these, and for his interest and enjoyment, that man was created and given dominion.
Moses testifies to the existence of this purpose in the mind of the Creator before man was made. His words are these: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Gen. 1: 26. After they were created God revealed to them his purpose, and gave them their commission, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish518the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Gen. 1: 28.
The commission noticed in the above scripture is cited by Paul in Heb. 2: 7, wherein he says the Lord crowned man with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of his hands. Could we but behold that Edenic beauty which our first parents saw in the lovely home which God prepared for their habitation, we would long for an inheritance there.
It was the hand of the Creator that prepared the home where Adam first dwelt, for says the inspired word, "The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed." Gen. 2: 8. It was by divine power exerted on purpose to make happy the holy pair, and beautify their place of abode, that God wrought. No man, since Adam left Paradise, has possessed a home equal to that one which was first given to man. Read the following, and then try to conceive of its beauty: "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden." Gen. 2: 9. Nothing that was either beautiful or good was left out of that garden. It contained everything "that was pleasant to the sight and good for food."
It was Adam's part to dress and to keep that holy and beautiful place. What unalloyed joy was placed within his possession! Every animal, every fish, and every fowl belonged to our first parents. All these were perfectly submissive, and fondly looked to them to be directed. Then they dreaded not the fisherman's rod, the hunter's shot, nor the butcher's knife. No net, no snare, neither goad nor trap, made wild nor terrified Adam's flocks while the forbidden tree remained untouched in Paradise. No storms nor chilling atmosphere made unpleasant that abode. The air was made fragrant with perpetual bloom and the ripening fruit of that place.
Of course all can see that God is able to make this earth to be as glorious as that of any place in all the universe. If God has made heaven beautiful, he did it by the same power that he used in beautifying Eden. If there are beautiful landscapes and lovely bowers in the place where God and Christ and angels dwell, it was our Father's power and skill that did it all. Remember, too, that for none in all the worlds has he shown more love than he has manifested for Adam's race, to whom he has given this earth. If we do not now see our home as beautiful and free from pain and sorrow as we wish it were, just call to mind that our Heavenly Father and our Redeemer will bring it about in their own time and way.
And now, while we wait a little while for that glad day, let us study the Bible in a few short lessons, that we may know something about how it all is to be accomplished.
Burlington, Vt.
THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY.
By I. E. Kimball
BY ELDER I. E. KIMBALL.
SOMETIME about A.D. 320 or later a violent contest arose in the see of Alexandria. More than a hundred bishops were suffragans to this primate, and more than a thousand of the inferior clergy were dependent upon him. His sway extended over all the districts of the Mediterranean coast. Alexander, the primate, called a conference of the clergy under his immediate jurisdiction, to discuss certain theological questions. He broached the subject of the Trinity, gave his views, and asked for an expression of opinion with reference to it.
Arius, a young man of thirty years, gifted, highly educated, who had been ordained presbyter, and appointed to take charge of the Alexandrian School of Theology, where Cyprian and Origen had formerly distinguished themselves, was against the primate. To Alexander's opinion that there is but one Deity, who appears sometimes as the Father, and again as the Son, or as the Holy Ghost, or, if not exactly this, that three persons existed in one God, distinct, and yet of the same substance and the same eternity, Arius rejoined that, although the Son was of the same or like substance, yet he was the offspring of the Father, and had a beginning.
The conference came to no decision. Councils were convened, Arius and his adherents condemned, excommunicated, and Arius banished. Lest the pestiferous doctrine go farther, they decreed that none but the primate should preach in Alexandria. Soon every district and church blazed with the excitement of the contest.
Arius, who had fled to Palestine with many adherents, sent confessions of their faith to the Eastern bishops, who quite generally accepted them, and acknowledged Arius as one of the communion, notwithstanding the anathemas of Alexander.
Among the Eastern bishops, one suspicious as a favorer of Arius was Eusebius of Nicomedia.
"Every bishop in the East but three," wrote Arius to Eusebius, "have taken my part."
"Their views are mine," wrote Eusebius to Arius, "and as thou thinkest what is right, pray that all may think likewise."
Arius and his adherents, confident and strong, greatly agitated the matter. "The Thalia," a poetical production of Arius, was made to speak his doctrines, also "Songs for the Sea, the Mill, and the Road," were sent forth to gather converts. Then Constantine spake, and by the hand of Hosius, bishop of Cordova, sent a joint epistle to Alexander and Arius. But the disturbance grew more and more. At last, to adjust and settle this vexatious quarrel, Constantine called a general council of the bishops of the Eastern provinces to convene at Nice, not far from the imperial residence at Nicomedia.
Three hundred and eighteen bishops, and, it is said, two thousand and forty-eight persons assembled. The bishops at least were entertained and supported out of the public treasury. Arius was cited, and the primate Alexander came on, supported by his right hand man, Athanasius, who was afterwards to figure so conspicuously; for he finally grew to be the very life and soul of the more rigid Catholics.
The issue at Nice was not merely to settle the strife of words whether Homoönsia or Homonoönsia (same substance or like substance) expressed the true doctrine of Christ's existence, but whether the Catholic Church could have a doctrine settled and compounded befitting the imperial religion; whether in fact the church should stand foremost, or individual independence should still be retained, and her creed and doctrines be subject to private interpretation. Bishops from Gaul, Carthage, Cordova, and from the Goths were present.
The discussion was heated and discordant. The bishops Eusebius of Nicomedia and Eusebius of Cæsarea, together with their followers, were for compromise and reconciliation. It could not be effected. The tension, strained to the extreme at the first, resulted in a final rupture. Constantine, disposed at first to follow Eusebius, soon assumed the imperious tone of authority. The Nicenes adopted a creed, and pronounced anathema upon Arius and his partisans. "Everyone rejecting the decrees of the council shall be instantly banished as disobedient to divine laws," cried the emperor. Therefore nearly all submitted, and Arius was banished.
TIME OF EASTER.
At this council the time for the celebration of Easter was finally fixed and other questions settled. It is said that Acesius, a Novatian bishop, was cited to this council by the emperor, who questioned him concerning the difference between the Novatian belief and the Catholic. Acesius stated to the emperor that they did not believe in the power of priest or bishop to pardon those who fell away from the truth in times of persecution, or to pardon any sin, which was God's prerogative alone, "who hath the ability and the authority to remit sin." "Then," said the emperor, "set up thy ladder, Acesius, and mount alone to heaven."
The session of the council closed with a participation in the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Constantine's reign, which far outshone all the heathen glorifications of former emperors.
The decrees of the council were sent immediately to Sylvester, bishop of Rome. At the thirteenth Roman council, two hundred and seventy-five bishops being present, the decrees were confirmed and all anathematized who rejected them. Constantine addressed all the people of the empire, imposing the name Parpherians upon all Arians, consigning all their writings to the flames, and pronouncing capital punishment upon all who concealed the writings.
Thus the matter ended, a victory for Roman Catholicism. Constantine died A.D. 337. Constantius, who finally succeeded to the full authority and kingdom of his father, was an Arian, and succeeded in reversing the fortunes of Arianism for a time.
WITH ALL THY STRENGTH.
By Ram's Horn
If we love God with all our strength, we will be strong enough to hold our tongues when the devil tells us to use them to find fault with people and things that do not exactly suit us. We will be strong enough to visit the sick and those in prison, and strong enough to reach down into our pockets occasionally and lift out a dollar or so that Christ would spend if he carried our pocket-books.
The man who loves God with all his strength does not sit in the front room and smoke while his invalid wife is out in the back yard doing a two weeks' washing. Neither does he spend the most of his time in holding519down store boxes on the shady side of the street, while the companion of his bosom makes a living for him with her needle. The man who loves God with all his strength is never afraid of being overloaded, and he don't say, "I pray thee, have me excused," whenever the Lord shows him a cross that looks to be extra heavy.—Ram's Horn.
Sluggish Christians and Useful Character
A RIVER that is too sluggish to run swift cannot be used for manufacturing purposes. A sluggish Christian may be of some use, but it will take the workers a long time to find out where he will be useful. It is every Christian's high calling to manufacture, by example and precept, honest, manly character.—The Occident.
TRUE HAPPINESS.
By W. H. B. Miller
BY W. H. B. MILLER.
A too common impression prevails among those who have not yielded to the claims of the gospel, that to become a Christian means to forfeit all enjoyment and to renounce all right to every earthly happiness. Is it rational to suppose that the Creator would, after having implanted these desires in our nature, declare all means to their attainment to be unlawful? God does not act thus. Mankind has a natural longing for an eternal existence, and the means to attain the desired consummation has been placed within the reach of all. The craving for rest is gratified by sleep, and the natural desire for food is met by the Creator's bountiful provision, both pleasant and healthful. Yet the enemy of Christ would have men believe that the service of God is stern and forbidding, and that his servants are controlled by rigid, unnecessary laws, requiring them to smother all natural desires, avoiding even the appearance of pleasure or happiness. Can it be possible that the lives of Christians ever present such a testimony to the world?
Wherever this impression prevails, it is a deception, as every true Christian can joyfully testify. The Creator is the author of all pleasure, and he loves to see his servants happy; but Satan takes these blessings, and by their excess or perversion turns them into curses. God is the most reasonable master we can serve. His kindness, compassion, and mercy are infinite, and his love no man can understand. Although we are his creation, he does not compel obedience, but gently pleads with us, offering the most gracious and tender invitations to come out of bondage into the freedom of his service. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; . . . for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Are you afraid, dear unsaved friends, that the pure eye of the Creator will detect so much sin in you that he will refuse your service? All might well fear such a reception; but listen: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Perhaps you fear that you will receive stern rebuke should you stumble often: "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." Can service under such a Master be hard? True, there will be conflicts; but Christ is a Captain who never loses a battle; thus victory is assured while under his banner.
"But I must give up all my pleasures." Drop the shadows and God will give you the rich substance. His storehouse is full of precious blessings, which he is patiently waiting for you to accept. "O taste and see that the Lord is good." Come and enjoy the real pleasures of the Christian; then you will realize how false have been the attractions offered by Satan.
Come, without money and without price, and find that "peace of God which passeth all understanding," that happiness that no man can take from you, that joy which God alone can give. Here is to be found the true realization of all our God-given desires. Satan has invented many clever counterfeits, but God offers the pure, precious realities, the "gold tried by fire," the "pearl of great price." "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
THE LAW OF GOD.
By E. E. Andross
BY E. E. ANDROSS.
"THE Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them." Ex. 24: 12. Moses responded to God's call. Verse 18. "And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." Chapter 31: 18.
The Lord told Moses, while he was in the mount, of Israel's apostasy in the worship of the golden calf: "I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people." Chapter 32: 9. Moses was directed to return to the camp without delay. "Go, get thee down," were the words of God. As Moses drew near the encampment, he beheld the people shouting and dancing around their idol. Instead of engaging in the solemn worship of God, searching their hearts and putting away all evil, thus drawing nearer and still nearer to God, preparatory to the reception of the holy precepts, which they had trembled to hear spoken from the lips of Jehovah but a few days before, as they should have been doing, how different the scene! A scene of heathen riot, in imitation of the idolatrous feasts of Egypt, met the view of the man of God. There, in the sight of the burning glory of God, Israel had "corrupted themselves."
Moses was overwhelmed. He had just come from the presence of God's glory, and, though he had been warned of their course, yet he was unprepared to witness the dreadful exhibition of the degradation of Israel. "To show his abhorrence of their crime, he threw down the tables of stone, and they were broken in the sight of all the people, thus signifying that, as they had broken their covenant with God, so God had broken his covenant with them."
We have all broken God's covenant, for we have all sinned and come short of his glory. Rom. 3: 23. Though we may not have made a literal calf, and worshiped it, yet we have chosen other gods to go before us; and, as the tables of stone were broken beneath the520mount, so must our hearts of stone be broken; for says David, "A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Ps. 51: 17.
But how is this to be accomplished? "Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" Jer. 23: 29. Yes, God has even said: "A new heart also will I give you; and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Eze. 36: 26, 27.
When we hear Christ's voice, and open the door of the heart, letting him in (Rev. 3: 20), he then, by his Spirit, writes that same law, "not" this time "in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart" (2 Cor. 3: 3), for he says, "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." Heb. 8: 10.
The individual in whom this blessed work has been accomplished, sees the law of God, not as "grievous" (1 John 5: 3), but as that in which he delights (Rom. 7: 22); not as that which is repulsive and from which he would turn away, but as that in which he would meditate day and night (Ps. 1: 2); not as that which would be a "yoke of bondage," or would lead him into slavery, but as "the law of the Spirit of life," which "in Christ Jesus hath made him" free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8: 2). And, thus realizing that "the law of his God is in his heart, none of his steps shall slide" (Ps. 37: 31); having that "great peace" which is "as a river" and that "righteousness as the waves of the sea" (Ps. 119: 165; Isa. 48: 18), he exclaims from the depths of his soul, "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day" (Ps. 119: 97).
Having been thus made a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord (Isa. 61: 3; Ps. 1: 1-3), in the soil of love (Eph. 3: 17), and watered by the Spirit of God (Isa. 44: 3), he will bear rich clusters of fruit, to the honor and glory of God.
Dear reader, if this is not your experience, will you not respond to the gracious invitation of the Saviour, as he pleads with you, with all the tenderness of that great heart of love, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest"? Come, and receive that rest which the cross supplies to the weary, the heavy laden, the sin-sick soul. "Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Plunge to-day beneath the cleansing waves of that Fountain which has been opened to the house of David for sin and uncleanness. Will you not accept of him in whom you can keep that blessed law of love, and thus give you a right to the tree of life, and an entrance through the gates of pearl to the city of God? Oh, come, come, come!
A PRAYER.
By A. R. Wilcox
BY A. R. WILCOX.
O LORD, in faith we come to thee;
Thy help and grace we now implore;
Our hearts make clean from sinful stains;
Oh, dwell in us for evermore!
We are dependent, weak, undone;
Uphold us, Lord, or we must fall;
'Tis joy supreme while here to find
In thee our strength, our all in all.
In blessings rich, oh, let us share,
Ungrateful though we ever prove!
In praise for all thy gifts to us
The truest love our lips shall move.
Thy servants bless in all the world;
To them thy Spirit free impart;
And may the precious seeds of truth
Bear glorious fruit in many a heart.
Abundant grace on all bestow;
When weary hearts with grief are press'd,
Oh, may they find in thee a place
Of boundless comfort, peace, and rest!
Our wayward steps wilt thou attend;
May evil snares be turned aside;
Grant us a place with thee above;
In mansions blest would we abide.
Athens, Vt.
Wealth and Its Qualities
By J. G. Holland
WEALTH takes into itself the qualities by which it is won.
CONCERNING EARS.
By Elliott C. Chapman
BY ELLIOTT C. CHAPMAN.
IN forming man the Lord in his goodness gave to his creatures these delicate and useful members, which he not only adjusted so as to be ornamental, but exceedingly practical as mediums of sound. Whether our all-wise Creator had in mind how convenient they would be for supporting spectacles, pencils, and various inventions of man, we will not venture to say, but certain it is that these little projections are made to serve in a diversity of ways. From the commonly considered genteel custom of bearing about in the name of earrings beautiful products of pride and extravagance in the so-called civilized countries of the world, they are made the recipients of hideous ornaments in some of the heathen lands. Some of these South Sea islanders are accustomed to make what they consider a very neat improvement on this little member by making a hole, which is gradually enlarged, until in some cases their entire wardrobe may be thrust through their ear. The stranger, upon visiting these parts, is usually much impressed with the custom of the young ladies in wearing flowers over their ears. These flowers are usually white, and stand out in bright contrast against the dark face of the islander.
As the ear is an opening through which Satan often assails the soul, the Lord has given some good instruction concerning the care of the ears. Sometimes they should be stopped, as shown by Isa. 33:14, 15, for the one "that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood" is of the sort which "shall dwell with the devouring fire." Again, they should be open to receive "the words of knowledge," and carefully garner the words of truth. Prov. 23:12; 2 Tim. 4:3, 4.
As to outward adorning, the word of God is not silent (1 Peter 3:3; 1 Tim. 2:9, 10); and he who reads these texts in the fear of God can readily see that the part which God would have us beautify is "the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."
Man often wearies of hearing, but there is One whose ears are never tired at the cry of his children. As it was when the prophets of old lifted their voices to God in earnest supplication, so we still have the assurance that "the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers." 1 Peter 3:12.