EVERY prosperous age has been an age of excesses and careless living. This has been the repeated story of history since the world began; consequently every age of prosperity has been followed by a period of decline. What is true of nations is true of man. In fact, it is only true of nations as it is true of their individual members. Warriors have conquered large territory, and then fallen a prey to the demon intemperance. It seems to be one of the depravities of human nature that when it comes to possess much, it uses to excess, and this always destroys the capacity to keep.
On the other hand, the temperate man will not only reserve the waste, but will acquire power to receive. Such a person is sure to accumulate in some way, either for himself or for others. Our forefathers were temperate men. It was their simple, sturdy, industrious life that laid the foundation for the greatness of our country; and the principles of true temperance can alone give assurance for the future.
The standard of temperance is a somewhat variable quantity. Almost every man has some standard to fit his special tastes. Most people are temperate in some things, while in others they go, either willingly or ignorantly, into excesses. Once when riding on a train, I overheard two men discussing the matter, and one was very strong in his conviction and practise that to be temperate was to be able to use just so much stimulant and not take any more.
The question, however, is not settled by individual opinion. Nature provides her standard; and those who adopt it, she blesses abundantly, while those who only partially adhere to it, she deals with patiently and kindly. Nature is not an arbitrary ruler. While no sin against her can go unpunished, she deals liberally with the wayward, and when they reform, will heal their wounds with even miraculous power.
Nature's standard of temperance is the natural use of all her functions and forces, and the banishment from the body and life of all foreign elements. Everything she has given us is to be enjoyed. She gives liberally, and tells us to use freely, but not to excess. She holds before us no hard and fast lines. Her ways are so liberal that we can adapt ourselves to them under any necessary conditions. A man may go to a country where it is necessary almost completely to change his diet and manner of dress; yet nature is just as close to him as before. Still, we can not depart from her ways with safety. When we take questionable food, when we follow a mode of life that is artificial and not real, we are outside of her protection.
The temperate man is temperate in all things,—in eating, in drinking, in work, in rest, in recreation, in dress, in his social life, and in the use of the functions of the mind. The temperate man excludes from his diet everything which does not contribute to the building up of the body. Only pure food is selected. All poisonous and deteriorated articles are excluded, as well as stimulants, condiments, and the indigestible. That which is taken is for the needs of the body. He does not exceed the maximum, nor take less than the minimum quantity necessary to support life with all its God-given energies. In selecting, preparing, combining, and eating food, he has due consideration for the needs and requirements of the system. His tastes are educated to enjoy that which his intellect chooses; and the latter will never run at cross-purposes with his natural tastes. The temperate man uses water for his drink. He uses the purest, and uses it freely, and at times when the upper part of the alimentary canal is not being used for digestive purposes.
Every man should have an object in life, to which he devotes all his energies. He has no time to lose or "pass away." His muscles and nerves are his agents for doing work. For the temperate man they work efficiently for this object. They have been well fed. They do not have to contend with poisons or foreign matter introduced into the system, or developed there, tho such elements often occur in the alimentary canal of an intemperate eater, entirely disarranging and perverting nerve functions.
The temperate man is never so anxious to make money or accumulate any possession that all his forces are enslaved to the passion. He never follows an occupation that makes it impossible to take proper exercise. The muscular system is used sufficiently to keep the blood freely circulating to all parts of the body. He will in some way bring the sweat to his brow, and not allow the eliminating activities of the skin to be forced upon other organs. He may make the head save the muscles from unnecessary work; but he will also make the muscles do sufficient work to keep up their nutrition, and to give the nervous system its corresponding growth.
The temperate man takes sufficient rest to allow the rebuilding of all the wastes of the body—a work which is largely carried on during sleep. When we take away from the minimum quantity of sleep which nature requires, we make our life so much shorter and more useless. The temperate man regulates his recreation according to the amount of work he does. Recreation is not for pastime, but for reconstruction. The manner and mode of securing recreation is guided by the form of work which has made recreation necessary, and by the opportunities which he has during recreation to contribute to the development of his life.
The temperate man clothes the body according to its requirements. It is clothed evenly, and the limbs are more thoroughly protected than the trunk. It is not overburdened with heavy wear, and yet there is sufficient to protect from sudden atmospheric changes. The material of his clothing is that which is best calculated to keep the skin healthy and the circulation good. There is never any constriction about the clothing that will prohibit the free use of all the muscles or hinder a free circulation in any blood-vessel.
The temperate man is social. He is of use in the world wherever he is placed. He makes society better wherever he goes. His healthy life has a healthy influence upon everybody around him. But his social functions are not exercised merely to please. His interest in everybody is to make them better; and the soul's power which influences always reacts upon himself. Any form of life which is artificial, and which does not contribute to the purposes for which he lives, is always excluded. The social life never interferes with his work or his rest.
The temperate man cultivates the functions of the mind as naturally as he cares for those of the body. Systematic exercise and rest for the brain pave the way for its strength, and for the accumulation of knowledge. The wise direction of all the forces of his physical life prepares the way for true greatness.
The mind directs every care which he takes of his body, but it never interferes with its working. Thousands are suffering from meddlesome dealing with the forces of our physical life. They become so anxious that everything shall be just right, or every wrong shall be properly corrected, that nature has no chance to follow out her own lines, but is in the condition of a child cared for by an overanxious, zealous mother. The mother who undertakes to make her child grow according to her own mind rather than according to its nature, will continually hamper and harass it in every way, and will very likely warp its life all out of shape; and the man who undertakes to make his own life or his physical functions work according to a theory of his own, instead of carefully observing and following the various instincts and self-written laws with which every organ is provided, will often find his various physical functions in a similar unfortunate condition.
THE SIN OF IDLENESS.
By L. J. B.
THE Lord cursed the ground for Adam's sake, making it necessary for him to work for a living. "In the sweat of thy face," He declared, "shalt thou eat bread." This was not an arbitrary decree nor a matter of punishment, but the work he must do would be a blessing to Adam. Satan finds work for idle hands; but exercise promotes health, keeping poisonous matter out of the system. And his labor would give Adam an appetite for the plain but delicious food which the Lord had provided.
The apostle Paul says, "This we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." This is not only a command, but it contains a principle. Without work, the appetite becomes poor, and the system overburdened in taking care of food which is not needed.
"And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee; . . . and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle." Men of activity are always in demand. Activity means life; but idleness, lethargy and death.
"By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through." In other words, the lack of exercise, physical, mental, or spiritual, results in weakness and decay.
"He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster." But this is not his only relative; for idleness is the father of many vices and diseases. Time is our capital, and the way we spend it determines what our income will be. "Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger." "Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread." "Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep; so shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth, and thy want as an armed man." Physical, mental, or spiritual idleness will surely result in poverty of muscle, poverty of mind, and poverty of soul. "The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets;" but the man who goes out to meet the lion gets life and strength to overcome larger obstacles.
Idle hands are like idle words; both must be accounted for in the day of judgment. And not only is he idle who is doing nothing, but he also is idle who might be better employed. We should—
"Strive to live not long, but well;
How long we live, not years, but actions tell."
L. J. B.
The Wonderful Law of Life
LIFE AND IMMORTALITY. No. 5.
The Wonderful Law of Life.
ALL life is from God; for with Him "is the fountain of life." Ps. 36:9. This must never be forgotten. From the great Fountain, the Heart of the universe, pulses the life currents to all the creation from mineral to man.
God's life is given subject to two relations: (1) "The relation of the creature to the Creator; (2) the natural manifestations, fruits, developments, etc., as regards the law of the creature's own being.
In man, the first relation, as hitherto pointed out, is governed by the law of character, spiritual in its nature; the second relation of life, as regards the natural manifestations, developments, etc., is governed by physical law.
The first law is all-dominant in man's career. It is the law of God's life. Its basis is righteousness, the very character of God. For as "God is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works," His life must flow to all His creatures in harmony with His holy law. In other words, God's law is the law of His life. It is the expression of life's normal flow. According to it, life would flow on forever, knowing no perversion, no death. For "in the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death." Prov. 12:28. "The commandment . . . was ordained to life." Rom. 7:10.
That law is the law of man's character. "Be ye holy; for I the Lord your God am holy," is the Lord's injunction to man. This law is given in a twofold form to man,—largely negative in the Decalogue; positive in the character of love in Jesus Christ.
It comes to sinful man in its negative form. That sin—"the transgression [perversion] of the law"—might be seen to be "exceeding sinful;" that man might forever know without excuse what sin was, God spoke His law from heaven with His own voice. God wrote His law in the beginning in man's physical being, but man so perverted it that with His own finger God wrote it again in tables of the enduring rock. It was a complete law in itself. "He added no more." Ex. 24:12; Deut. 5:22.
This is what James designates "the royal law according to Scripture," "the law of liberty," by which men "shall be judged," the law which prohibits killing and adultery. James 2:8-12. This clearly shows that the Decalogue is the royal law to which the apostle refers, the law of the great King.
Other scriptures clearly show the same truth. Here are four expressions:—
"All unrighteousness is sin." 1 John 5:17.
"Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4.
"By the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. 3:20.
"Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Rom. 7:7.
The only law which declares, "Thou shalt not covet," is the Decalogue. It enjoins all righteousness; it condemns all sin. There is not an act or principle of righteousness in all God's character but what the law witnesses to it. There is not a sin in the whole Satanic catalogue of transgression that is not condemned by the law. "But," says the anti-nomian, "the law, the Decalogue, says nothing about hatred or selfishness." Let us see. Each commandment is the expression of a principle, striking against the highest transgression of the principle, and including in its scope every lower transgression. For instance, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," not only condemns rival gods to Jehovah, but condemns all that selfishness which would even seek to divide affections with God. "Thou shalt not kill," not only prohibits murder, but every principle and passion which if developed to the ultimate would result in murder. It therefore condemns envy and pride and hatred. "Thou shalt not commit adultery," includes in its exceeding breadth every impure cherished thought.
Such is the nature of God's law in its negative or prohibitive form. In its positive form it is the law of love and life, enjoining love to God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and one's neighbor as himself. In this way it was manifest in the life of Christ; and His blameless life no precept of the Decalogue condemned.
When man lived the perfect law of God, the eternal life of Christ flowed in continual streams into every fiber of his being. The physical law of his life was in harmony with God's righteous law. When he transgressed God's law, he perverted God's life in the law of his physical being. The transgression of righteousness is sin. The perversion of life is death.
Before man sinned, righteousness was incarnate, or infleshed, and would have forever so reigned if man had never transgressed. But after man fell, sin became incarnate. Man's physical nature became subject to a perverted law, the law of sin working counter to God's law of righteousness. Still God gave His life. Still from the great Heart of Heaven pulsed forth into humanity the streams of eternal life. But man received that life into a sin-subject body, and, tho it sustains him for a time, perverted life eventuates in death.
Such has ever since the fall been the law of man's physical being. He sinned, and he died. He could give to his posterity nothing more than he himself possessed, and hence all mankind are doomed to death. In all mankind by nature sin is incarnate. The mind, the soul, the affections are in harmony with sin. "The carnal mind [the minding of the flesh] is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:7. And "to be carnally minded is death." Death and all its concomitant woe and misery have been the heritage of the sinful race ever since the fall, and the whole creation has groaned and travailed, longing for deliverance.
Now, as in righteousness alone is life, it follows that man must obtain righteousness, in order to again receive into his own being the eternal life of God. How he may do this will be the subject of our next.
IS THE UNITED STATES A SUBJECT OF PROPHECY?
Identifications That Are Absolute.
THE great symbol books of the Bible are Daniel and the Revelation. In these prophecies nations and kingdoms are represented by wild beasts. In the application of these symbols to various Old-World powers, dynasties, and empires, there is general agreement among the commentators. It is a general principle that every great nation or empire which has had a molding influence upon the world, which has changed its trend or face, is regarded as of sufficient importance to be recognized of God in divine foretelling. So Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, Rome, Egypt, Tyre, the Mohammedan power, and other ancient and eastern nations of importance, find place in the prophetic word.
There is another symbol concerning which there has not been so general agreement as to what power it applies, and that is the two-horned beast of Rev. 13:11-17. In not a few instances this beast is said to designate some phase of the Roman power. But a little study, to which we invite our readers, will show not only that the symbol does not apply to the Roman power, but will also show the power to which it does apply. Both symbol and power are so clearly identified that there can be no question in the mind of the devout student of prophecy concerning the matter. Here is the prophecy:—
"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon."
"And he exerciteth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live."
"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Rev. 13:11-17.
1. As to the Time.—When the prophet beheld this beast coming up, the ten-horned or "first beast," or "the beast" symbolizing Rome, had just gone into captivity. This was in 1798. But one power or nation of any account was then lifting itself above the horizon, and that was the United States of America. Here symbol and power met.
2. As to Territory and Nature.—The "first beast" came up out of the great "sea" of national strife and commotion (Rev. 13:1; 157:1), but this beast came up "out of the earth." It came up in territory not occupied by organized government and world powers. More than that, it was to be of the earth. Imperial dynasties are well symbolized by metals, which can be hammered, melted, or welded into one, such as gold, silver, brass, and iron. Daniel 2. But republican forms of government are fittingly symbolized by the clay, which will not blend with the iron. It is of the earth. This specification is met in this great nation. It came up out of the earth, "Like a silent seed," says the historian, "we grew7into empire." It gathered the children of earth from other lands. Molding aspirations were for liberty for all, not for a crown. It was a government of the people, by the people, for the people.
3. As to Its Character.—It "had two horns like a lamb." A lamb is used as a symbol or type of Christ from Genesis to Revelation. A horn is a symbol of strength or power. "And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as tho it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth." Rev. 5:6, R.V. "Seven" indicates completion, fulness. Seven horns, used of character, would indicate fulness of perfection and strength. "Two horns like a lamb" would indicate that the beast of Rev. 13:11 had two characteristics that were peculiar to Christ and His religion,—characteristics peculiar to no other religion and to no other earthly power; for of no other power symbol is it said that it has horns like a lamb. Seven horns are essential in the Lamb of God. Two of these are foretold to be distinctive features in the government represented by this symbol.
Are these met in the United States of America? What are the distinctive features or characteristics of this government—those which distinguish it from all other governments of earth? They are two, namely, the Equality of Man and Liberty of Conscience.
The very foundation of this government was the Declaration of Independence, which declared:—
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
The Constitution declares of the law-making power:—
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.—Amendment I.
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."—Am. XIV, sec. 1.
Emphatically are assured, in these fundamental American documents or charters, the equality of man in regard to inherent rights, irrespective of race or color, and freedom of conscience, or the absolute non-interference with religion by civil law.
No other civil government of earth ever embraced within its scope these features. Class or caste has been recognized either in Church or in State or in both. Special favors have been granted the Church allied to the State. America granted liberty of soul and body, so far as a civil government could, to every person.
Are these principles Christian? Are they of Christ? Listen to Him and His apostles.
As Regards the Equality of Man.—“One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” Matt. 23:6. “God that made the world . . . hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.” Acts 17:24–26. To officers in the church: “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”1 Peter 5:3.
As Regards Liberty of Conscience.—This means the right to believe or not believe so far as human tribunals go. The soul is responsible alone to God. “If any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him NOT; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” John 12:47. “Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy; for by faith ye stand.” 2 Cor. 1:24. “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” 2 Cor. 5:11. The reason: “My kingdom is not of this world.” John 18:36. Therefore, “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” 2 Cor. 10:4. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Mark 12:17.
The teachings of Christ in these two respects,—the equality of man, and the utter separation of Church and State, or the non-interference of the State in religious matters,—were embodied in America’s charters of existence as a nation. The nation had the “two horns like a lamb.” The historian Bancroft well said:—
The Constitution establishes nothing that interferes with equality and individuality. It knows nothing of differences by descent, or opinions, of favored classes, or legalized religion, or the political power of property. It leaves the individual alongside the individual. . . . Religion was become avowedly the attribute of man and not of a corporation. In the earliest states known to history, government and religion were one and indivisible. . . . No one thought of vindicating religion for the conscience of the individual till a Voice in Judea, breaking day for the greatest epoch in the life of humanity. . . . enjoined to render to Caesar only that which is Caesar’s. No sooner was this religion adopted by the chief of the Roman Empire, than it was shorn of its character of universality and enthralled by an unholy connection with the unholy State; and so it continued till the new nation, . . . when it came to establish a government for the United States, refused to treat faith as a matter to be regulated by a corporate body, or having a leadership in a monarch or State. Vindicating the right of individuality even in religion, and in religion above all, the new nation dared to set the example of accepting in its relations to God the principle first divinely ordained in Judea; but the American Constitution, in harmony with the people of the several States, withheld from the Federal Government the power to invade the home of reason, the citadel of conscience, the sanctuary of the soul; and not from indifference, but that the infinite Spirit of eternal truth might move in its freedom and purity and power.
With this perfect individuality extending to conscience, freedom should have belonged to labor. . . . In America freedom of labor was the moral principle of the majority of the people; was established, or moving toward immediate establishment, in a majority of the States; was by the old confederation, with the promptest and oft-repeated sanction of the new government, irrevocably ordained in all the territory for which the United States could at that time make the law. The federal convention could not at that time interfere with the slave laws of the separate States; but it was careful to impose no new incapacitation on free persons of color; it maintained them in all the rights of equal citizenship; it granted those rights to the emancipated slave; and it kept to itself the authority to abolish the slave trade instantly in any territory that might be annexed; in all other States and lands, at the earliest possible moment for which it had been able to obtain power.—George Bancroft’s History, Constitution, Book V, chapter 1.
Equality of man and religious liberty were features peculiar to the Christian religion of all religions, and peculiar to the great American republic of all governments.
The dragon voice we will consider in our next.
Religion in Active Service
“RELIGION that is not in active service outside church never brings glory to Christ.”
The Holy Spirit and Hypnotism
A CORRESPONDENT speaks of the control of the Holy Spirit as hypnotism. It is the very opposite. Hypnotism is a subverter of the will, a will weakener. Once yield to its power, and it is almost impossible to resist it thereafter. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of liberty. It will not use man unless he is willing to be used, and he is as free to refuse the second time as the first time. Of old it was said of one controlled by a hypnotic influence, “This is the great power of God.” But there is a radical difference between the two, and God has revealed it in His Word.
Christian Conversation and Gossip
By Henry Ware, Jr.
Do NOT flatter yourself that your thoughts are under due control, your desires properly regulated, or your dispositions subject as they should be to Christian principle, if your intercourse with others consists mainly of frivolous gossip, impertinent anecdotes, speculations on the character and affairs of your neighbors, the repetition of former conversations, or a discussion of the current petty scandal of society; much less if you allow yourself in careless exaggeration on all these points, and that grievous inattention to exact truth which is apt to attend the statements of those whose conversation is made up of these materials.—H. Ware, Jr.
Note to Questioners
By Editor
QUESTION CORNER
NOTE.—We wish those who ask questions to take particular notice: (1) Only such questions will be answered here as we believe to be of general interest and information. (2) We can not undertake to explain from four to a dozen scriptures, as in one sentence we are often requested to do. (3) Do not ask to “explain” a certain text or passage. State clearly the point in question. (4) Give full name and address, not for publication unless desired, but as evidence of good faith, and to give us the privilege of replying by letter if deemed best. (5) Unsigned communications of any kind find the quickest way to the waste-basket. (6) It is always well to inclose stamp. (7) “Foolish and unlearned questions avoid,” also those that minister to mere curiosity. (8) Study the Scriptures yourselves.
1084. H. O. C.—The twelve tribes of Israel which are spoken of in Exodus and elsewhere in the Old Testament were the natural seed, which were typical of the spiritual seed of Abraham, who inherit the promise. The name Israel will adhere to those who are saved in the kingdom of God. Isa. 66:22. True disciples of Christ are Abraham's seed. Gal. 3:29; Phil. 3:3. The twelve apostles will be the heads of the twelve tribes when Christ sets up His kingdom of glory. Matt. 19:28. See also Rev. 21:10–14.
The explanation of Matt. 16:28 is in chapter 17:1–27. In the transfiguration there was shown a representation of the kingdom of glory. There was Christ, the glorified King; there was Moses, who had been resurrected (Jude), representing the righteous dead who will be resurrected at the Lord's second advent; and there was Elias (Elijah), who had been translated without seeing death, a representative of those who will be translated at the coming of Christ. See 1 Thess. 4:15–18.
The Son of Man
1085. E. L. DeL.—The expression “son of man,” in Heb. 2:6, refers to the human race, as is plainly shown in the next verse, with which compare Gen. 1:26-28. Adam having failed, the original purpose of God will be fulfilled in Christ, who was also “made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,” in man’s stead. Heb. 2:9. For this reason Christ is also called the Son of man.
Baptism and Salvation Through Water
By E. L. DeL.
1086. E. L. DeL.—1 Peter 3:21 shows that baptism is not an outward washing away of uncleanness, but it is the answer of faith (“a good conscience”) in the resurrection of Christ, through which we are saved. The expression in verse 20, “saved by water,” is “saved through water” in Revised Version. The original preposition is, and may properly be, represented by several English prepositions, according to the sense. The “eight souls” were saved in the ark through, or during, the deluge of water. The next destruction of the earth will be by fire (2 Peter 3:6, 7, 10), and the righteous will pass through it safely housed in the New Jerusalem—the “camp of the saints” (Rev. 20:6–9).
THE OUTLOOK
By Editor
THE CHURCH AND PROHIBITION.
The New Voice (Prohibition) says, quoting the words of one of its editors, candidate for the presidency, John G. Woolley, that "the honor of the church is the issue of 1900."
It further rightly says:—
"The utterances of the church, through the voices of the chief of its pastors and through its great religious journals, during the past two years, have given the Prohibition party a right to expect, not merely scattered recruits from the church, but solid columns of re-enforcements."
It quotes from great representative bodies such utterances as these: "The liquor traffic can never be licensed without sin, and no political party has a right to expect nor ought to receive the vote of Christian men so long as it stands committed to the license policy, or refuses to put itself upon record in an attitude of open hostility to the saloon;" and the New Voice feels that to be consistent, and honest, and true, the church ought to stand by prohibition. The New Voice feels that the trouble is with the leaders. It further says:—
"Already the cry of a 'great leanness in Zion' has gone up; already up and down the land the inquiry, Why has the church no power? why is she discredited with the masses? is heard from church leaders. The answer is plain enough: If the church is without power, it is because she has taught the world by her conduct in the matter of government, year after year, that she is 'only fooling' when she rebukes sin; and the world has come to believe that Christianity is joining the dead religions."
"Magnify as much as any one will the faults and failings of the organized Christian church along any or all lines of human activity, still the fact remains, and is conceded by most thoughtful people, that the things that the church professes to stand for,—the fundamental principles of the religion of Jesus Christ,—are the basis of every high hope that may be entertained for the progress of the human race. The darkest periods of history have been the days when the church, betrayed by false leaders, has discredited itself before the world, and so cast suspicion upon those high principles. The gravest menace of the present is the peril that false leaders will again betray the church, so that, in blind action, it shall be untrue to its high profession, and the world shall again refuse to accept the truth that it professes, because of the falsity that it practises."
"God hath not left Himself without testimony; but the great churches that fondly believe themselves the special repositories of divine power stand in an hour of deadly peril."
They do. They are not only being tested in temperance reform, the test lies between the Word of God and plain, humble duty on one hand, and human tradition and expediency on the other.
