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Signs of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 35.

Fruit-Bearing Branches

Signs of the Times

Sep 8, 1909

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 8, 1909

Fruit-Bearing Branches

John 15:1-8, A.R.V.
I am the True Vine, And My Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He taketh it away: And every branch that beareth fruit, He cleanseth it, That it may bear more fruit. . . . Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, Except it abide in the vine; So neither can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, Ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, The same beareth much fruit: For apart from Me ye can do nothing. Herein is My Father glorified, That ye bear much fruit; And so shall ye be My disciples.

OUR BIBLE BAND

Schedule for the Week Ending Sept. 18, 1909.

| Su. | Sept. | 12 | Prov. | 13,14,15 | 2 Cor. | 5 | | Mo. | ” | 13 | ” | 16,17,18 | ” | 6 | | Tu. | ” | 14 | ” | 19,20,21 | ” | 7 | | We. | ” | 15 | ” | 22,23,24 | ” | 8 | | Th. | ” | 16 | ” | 25,26 | ” | 9 | | Fr. | ” | 17 | ” | 27,28,29 | ” | 10 | | Sa. | ” | 18 | ” | 30,31 | ” | 11:1-15 |

Suggestive Notes.

Our morning readings begin with Proverbs 13 and close the book. It will be seen that Solomon did not contribute all these proverbs, but chapters 25 to 29 were copied out of Solomon's writings by men appointed by Hezekiah. Chapter 30 brings in the words of Agur the son of Jakeh. Who he was we do not know. Chapter 31 is composed of proverbs which King Lemuel's mother taught him, presumably when he was a child. Lemuel is supposed to be another name for Solomon. The chapter is a beautiful description of the characteristics of a good woman.
Our New Testament lessons begin with 2 Corinthians 5 and close with the 11th chapter. They are full of practical instruction. They place before us the qualifications of the Christian ministry in a wonderful manner in chapter 6. In the same chapter a mighty appeal is made to God's children to separate themselves from the world. True repentance is graphically portrayed in chapter 7, and the necessity of the grace of liberality in chapters 8 and 9; Paul's longing for the Corinthian church and the sufferings that he passed through are given in chapters 10 and 11.

Question Corner

[To Our Inquirers.—(1) The name and address of all who ask questions must accompany questions, not necessarily for publication, in token of good faith, and that we may reply by letter if thought best. All communications will be considered confidential if so desired, and no name will be published unless requested. But we have no time to give to anonymous or unsigned epistles or articles. (2) Let the questions be to the point. Do not say, “Explain Josh. 7:1-8,” but state the thing upon which help is desired. (3) Questions can not be answered immediately in this department. Sometimes it will mean a month or more of waiting. We can not reply to the same question frequently. Read answers to other questions; you may find reply to yours. (4) Members of the Bible Band will kindly enclose stamp if answer is desired by letter. Others will please enclose ten cents. This does not begin to meet expenses oftentimes. (5) “Foolish . . . questions avoid.”]

2928.—What of Seventh-day Adventists?

You speak of the favorable starting out of other churches and their forming of creeds. What assurance have we that the church of Seventh-day Adventists will not follow in the way of all her predecessors; be satisfied with what she has, grow cold and formal, make a creed, seek worldly and civil aid, and so form one more unit or faction in the world's Babel of creeds? W. N.
It is a fair question, and we not only admit that there is danger; we declare it. Yet there are these things in the organization of the above-named church, and in her belief, which would logically preserve her from the course suggested above.
First, that church holds to the Bible, the whole Bible, as the word of God.
Secondly, she has always stood strongly against the formation of human creeds, believing that finite man can not express in finite language the infinite, expansive truth of the Most High.
Thirdly, the faithful, strong stand against the union of church and state which she has ever maintained would be strongly against such a course.
Fourthly, her views of the Bible, of the more sure word of prophecy, of ever clearer light, of the teaching of the Spirit, would all clearly combine to prevent so dire a calamity.
Yet there is danger of her children's saying: “We have the whole truth. The Lord has led us thus far, and our way has been confirmed, our paths established; wo to him who would seek to teach new light.” There is that danger always to the individual and to the church. Let spirituality sink low, let religious devotion and earnest study of the Bible wane, and there is ever danger. When that time comes that an individual writes “Ne plus ultra”—no more beyond—upon his belief, as Spain inscribed it on her coins, he makes no more progress, but retrogrades, and is not prepared to grasp constantly increasing light which once lay beyond his limited vision. When that time comes that the soul writes upon his views of God's truth, “Finality,” he has reached the end of all advancement, and becomes critical, repressive, and intolerant of views which are beyond his, and yet which may be in perfect harmony with his. That condition spells stagnation, defeat, death; even tho the stagnation be honored as wisdom, and the death deified.
All this is equally true of a church or religious body. When the church reaches that place where she writes upon her generally accepted belief, “No more beyond,” no declaration of the past can prevent her forming a creed written by human hands, devised by human brains. Then when that creed is formed, why should it not be supported, defended, aided by “proper” civil legislation? Such is the logical course of backsliding.
Therefore, the only safety of Seventh-day Adventists, individually or as a church, lies in constant, developing, unselfish consecration to God and in keeping open-eyed to every ray of light from His word, open-hearted to every development of truth from His throne, however humbling to pride, or however much sacrifice that truth may demand. Elaborate methods, vast machinery, great institutions, past experience, will not, can not, save. Only steadfast consecration, walking in the light, love of the truth, can save the individual soul, can save the church of God from Babylon, confusion, death. Through all that we believe God will lead the people named above to glorious victory.

2929.—Wilful Sin.

What is a wilful sin? See Heb. 10:26. When the still, small voice speaks to one who is walking in the light, and says to him in time of temptation, “Do not do that now, wait awhile, for it will be a hindrance or a detriment to your spiritual understanding,” nevertheless that one yields to the overpowering influence of the wicked one simply for the sake of gratifying baser passions of the mind, and commits the sin regardless of consequences; and this is followed by a troubled conscience, not because of the act itself, but because of not having a greater regard for the impulse of the Holy Spirit, is there hope for such an one, or has the poor mortal committed the unpardonable sin—sold his birthright? A BROTHER.
As to whether it is a wilful sin or not depends. The sin mentioned in Heb. 10:26 is a grievous, God-defying sin. It means not only that, but continuance in sin. Compare the passage in Heb. 6:4-8. The ground blessed of God that continues to produce thorns and thistles is at last rejected utterly. So the heart that continually shuts God out and continually yields to the influences of the flesh, sooner or later yields all. From the illustration used in the 28th verse of the text under consideration, it would seem that the wilful sin is one that wilfully sets at naught God's commandments. The men that set at naught Moses' law died without compassion. Of how much sorer punishment should he be worthy who had trodden underfoot the Son of God, and had counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and had done despite unto the Spirit of grace. That is, the Son of God is counted not more than common things; the blood of the covenant no more than common blood; and the Spirit of grace no more than an impulse. One who does this, by the very act of doing it, puts himself in that place where he is unable to discern the Spirit of God; unable to hear God's voice speaking to him.
The danger to the sinner is not that he will come to that place where God will not forgive, but that he will come to that place where there can be no sincere repentance. The very fact that there is true sorrow for sin is always an evidence that one has not passed beyond the limits of God's grace; that there is hope for him. Hope vanishes when the sinner reaches that place where he has no true sorrow for sin. He may be sorry because of the effects of sin; he may be sorry that he is found out, but he whose case is hopeless never has a truly grieved heart because he has sinned against God who is so good, so kind, so merciful. Sometimes when one has sinned grievously, he is uncertain as to his condition for some time; he does not know whether his sorrow is real or not; whether his repentance is sincere or otherwise. God permits this in order that the soul may be thoroly tested. The only way for that one to do is still to trust God; take Him at His word. Read Isa. 50:10: “Let him trust in the name of Jehovah and rely upon His God.”
The unpardonable sin is the unrepentable sin. There is no limit to the infinite mercy of God. That does not mean that it is not dangerous to yield to sin. The danger is even greater than it would otherwise be. The human heart so easily gets accustomed to doing what is wrong that unconsciously it becomes hardened against the appeals of the Spirit of God. Therefore, let this troubled soul say, “I will still have faith in God, I will learn the cause of my defeat, and I will yield myself anew to God, being more careful, more watchful, more zealous lest my feet slip.”

2930.—Call No Man “Father.”

Please harmonize 2 Kings 2:12 and Matt. 23:9. W. F.
2 Kings 2:12 records the words of Elisha when he saw the ascension of Elijah: “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” Matt. 23:9 are the words of Jesus: “Call no man your father on the earth: for One is your Father, even He who is in heaven.” The first passage does not say that Elisha called Elijah “father.” It may have been his address to his Father in heaven, not to Elijah. Even tho it was Elijah, he counted Elijah his father in the sense of instructor or leader of the family of the prophets. Our Lord uses the term in the sense of a spiritual father; that is, one by whom we are brought into a state of salvation. Our Lord would have us recognize that our salvation comes from God, and God alone. The words are not that we should not call our own father, “father.” That is perfectly proper so far as earthly relationship is concerned, but we should elevate no man to that position which makes him our gateway to the kingdom of God. Granting that the texts refer to the same use of the term, they are not contradictory, because the former text records only what a mortal man said; while the latter is the injunction of the Master of Life. So looking upon it in any way, there is no contradiction between the two scriptures.

2931.—The Two Witnesses. Rev. 11:1-11.

What are we to understand by the prophecy given in Revelation 11, beginning with the first verse of the chapter and running down to verse 11? Is it a future event, or is it in the past? W. T.
The prophecy is too large to explain in this department. The first verse merely has to do with the prophecy going before, and pertains to the last message which God gives to the world. “Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein,” takes in the whole great system of God's truth which He is revealing to the world. The two witnesses carry us back to a period of time mentioned in Dan. 7:25, and chapter 12, and in Revelation 12 and 13, the 1260 days representing so many literal years.
The Two Witnesses are the Old and the New Testament, the one predicting beforehand what would occur, and the other noting the fulfilment in the lives of Christ and of His church. The 1260 days refer to the days of papal persecution, during which time not only were God's people oppressed, but His Scriptures were suppressed. For a full exposition of this prophecy, see “Daniel and the Revelation” by Uriah Smith, or “The Great Controversy” by Mrs. E. G. White.

The Sure Foundation

By Ellen G. White

By Mrs. E. G. White
“Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them.”
“Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them.”
“Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it.”
IN these words Christ presents before us two classes of builders. One class build upon the rock, and the building is proof against the force of the tempest, for the foundation is sure. The other class build upon the sand, and the house is swept away before the fury of the storm. It is important to us to know how we are building. Are we simply hearers of the words of Christ, or are we doers of them? The answer to this question will tell upon what foundation we are building. If we are obedient to the words of Christ, we are building wisely. In order to build securely, we must be like Christ. He said, “I have kept My Father’s commandments.” John writes, “He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.”
The popular teaching of the present day is largely made up of the injunction, “Believe, make a profession,” and that is the end of obligation to God. But saving faith is a working faith; it will accomplish something for our character and life, for it works by love, and purifies the soul. It makes the Lord’s great standard of righteousness the standard of the life, and brings the heart into obedience to the divine precepts. The law of God condemns all sin, and requires all righteousness. It demands not only an outward profession of godliness, but also a pure heart, a spotless character. The law of God is adapted to all men, to the conditions of every nation and period. There are many in this age who cast contempt upon the law of God, even from the pulpit; and many who profess holiness cry, “Away with the law.” But those who turn away from God’s great standard of righteousness, only turn to a standard of their own, which they exalt in self-righteousness. While living in transgression of God’s law, their claims to holiness bring contempt upon the law of God. Those who have this loose kind of religion are represented by the foolish man who built his house upon the sand; they are hearers, but not doers, of the word. The religion that will stand the test is characterized by a living faith that will unite us as closely to Christ as the branch is united to the living vine.
How anxious, how determined, we should be to build upon the right foundation; for we know that every soul is to be tested, and only those will stand the test who build upon the solid Rock, Christ Jesus. When the truth of God has found its way into our hearts, and we receive it in love, we shall be enlightened as to what we must do to be saved. We shall have no self-sufficient spirit. The more we search the Bible, meditating upon its precepts, the more clearly we shall see the reasonableness, the perfection, the beauty, of the divine requirements. We shall realize that the law, holy and just and good, is at variance with selfishness, with deception, with unchaste thoughts and actions, and we shall feel our dependence upon Christ for strength to receive and to fulfil the requirement of God. When we accept the testimony of Scripture, and incorporate its teaching into our life, our friends will see a work of transformation in us. We are in this world that through the grace of Christ we may develop a pure character, like unto the Master’s. Such a character will make us successful candidates for an eternal home in the kingdom of glory.
John saw a company in white robes standing around the throne of God, and he says: “One of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” This is the work that we must do in this day of preparation. We are to cleanse our characters, and imitate the life of Christ. We must build upon the sure foundation; for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
But every building erected on other foundation than God’s word, will fall. He who, like the Jews in Christ’s day, builds on the foundation of human ideas and opinions, of forms and ceremonies of man’s invention, or on any work that he can do independently of the grace of Christ, is erecting his structure of character upon the shifting sand. The fierce tempests of temptation will sweep away the sandy foundation, and leave his house a wreck on the shores of time.
You who are resting your hope on self, are building on the sand. But it is not yet too late to escape the impending ruin. Before the tempest breaks, flee to the sure foundation. “Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste.” “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.”

The Sabbath Through the Ages

By Charles L. Taylor

VII. The Sabbath in Israel's Land

By Charles L. Taylor
Throughout that long period of about fifteen hundred years, which extended from Sinai to the first advent of the Lord Jesus, the story of God's holy day is one of intense interest and profit to the student of the Bible. And, remembering that “whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning” (Rom. 15:4), the practical lessons of that story may well be taken to heart.
In tracing the history of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, we must, in order to avoid confusion, ever bear in mind that during the entire time of Israel's existence as a nation, even so long as God owned them as His peculiar people, they were called to observe various feast-days and sabbaths, which were wholly ceremonial and simply a part of the system of types and shadows, which ended with the cross. (Reference to these typical sabbaths may be found in such texts as Ex. 12:15, 16; Lev. 23:21, 24, 25, 27-32, 39, etc.)
The scope of this article is such as to forbid more than a brief statement relative to those days. In all cases, let it be said, they were absolutely distinct and separate from the seventh-day Sabbath of the moral law, and were clearly provisional and temporary in their nature. Summing them all up, the Lord declared, “These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, . . . beside the Sabbaths of the Lord.” Lev. 23:37, 38. For an exhaustive study of the Jewish feasts and shadowy sabbaths the reader is referred to Andrews' “History of the Sabbath.”
As a fitting introduction to our study, as well as to emphasize the importance of the subject, the words of the apostle Paul to the Hebrews are in place. Heb. 4:3-11. A careful reading of this scripture will reveal that “from the foundation of the world,” when “God did rest the seventh day from all His works,” the faith of mankind has been tested by the truth of the Sabbath. Loyalty to the day of rest, to the great memorial of creation, was man's proof of loyalty to the government of God. This was particularly true of Israel from the time of Sinai onward. The word to the Hebrews shows that had the Jewish people been faithful in the observance of Jehovah's rest day, the entrance into the land of Canaan would have marked the beginning of the eternal rest that remains for the people of God.
But the Israelites were unfaithful. Failing to find God's rest in the Sabbath day, they also failed to enter that larger rest of the eternal inheritance. They “entered not in because of unbelief.” Said the Lord, “My Sabbaths they greatly polluted;” and “I would not bring them into the land . . . because they despised My judgments, and walked not in My statutes, but polluted My Sabbaths.” Eze. 20:13, 15, 16. Only two of the generation which came forth from Egypt stood the test and entered the land of promise.
That the Lord considered the matter of the Sabbath as most vital to His work is shown in His decision concerning him who presumptuously gathered fuel during the sacred hours. Num. 15:32-36. The offender was put to death under divine orders, an illustration of what will come to all, by and by, when final rewards and penalties are executed. Let none think that because sentence is not now immediately executed it is any the less certain. Eccl. 8:11. Sin is sin in whatever age committed, and will meet its certain end. Eccl. 12:13, 14.
In every possible way the Lord kept the importance of the Sabbath ever before His chosen nation. Over and over again He inspired His servant to bring home to the conscience of the people their great obligation (see Lev. 19:1-3, 30; 23:3; 16:1, 2; Ex. 31:13-17; Deut. 5:12-15), and in the system of worship ordained and practised, the Sabbath was given peculiar and great emphasis. For example, every Sabbath day the showbread on the holy table before the Lord had to be changed, new hot loaves taking the place of those which had been on the table during the week. Lev. 24:5-9; 1 Chron. 9:32; 1 Sam. 21:6. The lesson to be learned was that the Sabbath day was the time when the Lord Jesus Christ, whose presence the showbread symbolized, gave Himself, with all His new strength and warmth, to His chosen children.
But, notwithstanding all God's efforts to keep His people in living touch with Himself (as true Sabbath-keeping would do), they constantly and stubbornly and almost universally refused to obey the divine instruction. Surrounded, as they were, by the great heathen commercial world, they allowed their love for wealth and worldly aggrandizement to lead them astray. Through the prophet Amos, the Lord truly described their condition, when He said, “Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?” Amos 8:4-6.
It was such circumstances that called forth the messages and appeals of Isaiah. As Sabbath-breaking was but the open door to all forms of heathen influences and customs, so a return to the Sabbath truth would close the door against wrong, bar it from the life, and form the basis of substantial and lasting reform. In his appeals, therefore, the prophet made the question of the Sabbath very prominent. “Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment and do justice. . . . Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it.” Isa. 56:1, 2. Again he wrote: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath [cease trampling the Sabbath underfoot], from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isa. 58:13, 14.
But wonderful tho the appeal and great the blessing promised, the message fell upon deaf ears. The people refused to repair the breach, to restore right paths. Isa. 58:12. Sabbath-breaking continued to increase, bringing all its shameful reciprocal results. Then came the message of the prophet Jeremiah. Jer. 17:19-27. Plainly and pointedly he brought before them the truth that if they would turn again to God and “hallow the Sabbath day,” then Jerusalem would “remain forever;” on the other hand, a refusal to obey would invite Jehovah's wrath, and their city and nation would be destroyed.
Terrible indeed was the outcome of the rejection of the word sent. The Sabbath became almost, if not entirely, lost from the nation's experience; the people lapsed into hopeless idolatry, “till there was no remedy.” And then it was that God withdrew His protection, leaving His people a prey to the king of Babylon, who reduced Jerusalem to heaps and carried them away captive. The heathenism, which all had chosen to supplant the Sabbath and its service, was brought against them as a devouring curse. And the record states that all the horrors which overtook the unfaithful people, were “to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths.” 2 Chron. 36:14-21.
The Babylonian captivity ended, and God allowed His chosen people another opportunity to redeem themselves. Again, however, they failed, and again upon the same point. The record of Nehemiah brings to view the last effort of Heaven to restore a state of allegiance, and that record is a record of Sabbath reformation. Neh. 13:15-22.
It must not be forgotten that during all those centuries of unfaithfulness, of apostasy, of resultant calamity, God had a faithful few who were true to the Sabbath and who bore witness to its divine character. While the great multitude deliberately “hid their eyes” from the holy day (Eze. 22:26) and actually “worshiped the sun toward the east” (Eze. 8:16), some were sighing and crying over such abominations (Eze. 9:4), and upon them the Lord placed the mark of His approval.
As it was then, so it is now. The great world has turned its back, the church refuses to see, but there is a “little flock” of faithful ones. They have learned the blessedness of Sabbath obedience, they sigh and cry, and God is honoring them. Think of it, brother, sister, and make sure that you are one of them.

A Pioneer Methodist Preacher on Religious Liberty

The following interesting paragraphs, sent us by Mr. A. Delos Westcott, are taken from “Memoirs of the Life and Travels of B. Hibbard, Methodist Minister.” Mr. Hibbard was born at Norwich, Conn., in 1771, and preached during the early part of the nineteenth century. He says:
“I was the first Methodist preacher that ever went into West Hampton to preach. The people were warned by their minister, Mr. H——, against the Methodists, insomuch that all his people were prejudiced against us, except a Mr. Soule, who had heard the Methodists somewhere in his travels. This man invited me to preach in his house; and in notifying the people, he did not say it was a Methodist preacher that was to preach. So when some came and learned who was to preach, they were about to go away again; but others said, ‘It is no harm to hear for once, seeing we are here.’ This pacified them, and none went away.
“I preached to them, ‘What shall it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul,’ etc. I left many of them in tears, and rode on to Northampton to preach that evening. . . . The system of opposition to the Methodists seemed now to be quite new, tho some thought opposition was done away. We were no longer called wolves in sheep’s clothing, nor deceivers; but we were a Christian people and had done some good. We were not allowed to be a learned people; but we were a sincere people; and our want of learning was a matter of grief and not of disgrace. It was said by some, that if our ministers were men of learning, so as to read the Bible in the Hebrew and Greek, we should soon give up the doctrines of perfection and falling from grace. And this sentiment coming from ministers professing the knowledge of Hebrew and Greek, gave me queer feelings.”
“Many of those who opposed us were ministers of piety and true godliness. But their notions of Calvinism and their love for the order and established religion of New England, had corrupted their judgment, so that they refused liberty of conscience to all but those of the standing order. Yet they thought they gave liberty only because they wanted all to be of their opinion; and we all had liberty to worship with them and conform to their order.”
“The policy of New England was to unite the church with the state, and because they tolerated other denominations, they therefore professed liberty of conscience; but by confounding toleration with liberty, they deceived themselves and others; for toleration is not liberty. Toleration is the counterfeit of liberty, and a bad counterfeit, too; for it assumes a right in the ruler to grant liberty to men to worship their God under certain restrictions. This assumption is tyranny in disguise. If the rulers could answer for their subjects at the bar of God, and if they would do it faithfully, then they might legislate, and direct when, and where, and how, and whom we should worship. But seeing that every one of us must give an account of himself to God, it is an insult, both to God and man, for man to assume a right to dictate to man whom or how he shall worship. It is, indeed, the duty of civil rulers to regulate civil society, and not suffer one to deprive another of his rights. But to presume to dictate to men whom they shall worship, or how, when, and where they shall worship, is arrogating a power to themselves that belongs to God only; and this is not only presumptuous but blasphemous, as it is assuming rights that belong to God alone.”
“The law establishment of religion in New England was a grief and an offense to me. I thought learned men trifled with God and religion to take upon themselves to coerce the consciences of men, and force them to support a religion they did not believe in.”
“I am ashamed of New England, the land of my fathers. Where is thy boasted goodness? How are thine altars (sacred to religion) polluted by the minister’s preaching his party politics and vehement invectives!”

The Transfiguration

By George E. Tack

Lo, on the palace dome of night, Glitter the stars. Silently from those mines of light, Fall silver bars.
O’er the horizon’s darkened rim, The golden haze Floats, and each mountain vast doth limn With pencil rays.
Dark are the hills once bright with day, While shadows dream Along their base, where waters play, And softly gleam.
Out from the city silent forms, With faces grave, Ascend yon mountain, scarred by storms, Where demons rave.
Now on the summit men appear From realms of light, The ones whom Christ Himself did cheer In their dark night.
They speak of Calvary’s death of shame, The burial, And Resurrection’s dawn of flame O’er death and hell.
Glistering are the garments, white As driven snow, Of Christ, and shed o’er scenes of night A heavenly glow.
And hark, the Father’s voice is heard: “Hear ye My Son. By tabernacles be not lured My will be done.”
The glory fades, the voice is still, The hills soft dream, The four return through morn’s air chill Each face agleam.
Far o’er the brightening azure sky, Whose tapers gleam And flicker, ere they wane and die The sunbeams stream.
But never, till the mountains flee Before His face, Shall men again such glory see, And holy grace.
GEORGE E. TACK.
Baltimore, Md.

Spirituality and Intelligence

By Dwight Mallory Pratt

SPIRITUALITY is the highest form of intelligence. It is the product of discovered and apprehended truth. In proportion to its depth and power and growth it calls for the keenest intellectual activity.—Dwight Mallory Pratt.

A Cat’s Paw

By R.

A SAILOR once told me a story of an ape which they had on board the ship to which he belonged. One day the ape happened into the galley. Some potatoes were boiling in the kettle. The ape was a little hungry, and wanted some of them; but how to get them out of the kettle of boiling water was the question. He noticed the old cat purring under the stove, and a happy idea struck him. By coaxing the cat he got it near enough so that he could catch it. Then, taking the cat by the paw, he thrust the poor cat’s paw down into the boiling water and scooped up some of the potatoes for its own satisfaction. The cat went off with a cooked paw; the ape had attained his object at the expense of the cat.
Thus Satan entices us with some flattering prospect, and gets us to engage in sin; we do his work and become thus a veritable cat’s paw. But the sinner must suffer infinitely more than the cat. Sin yields a heavy percentage of misery in this life; as the word says, “The way of the transgressor is hard.” Hard, very hard, that way is, for after this life is the awful loss of eternal bliss. Let the truth sink down deep into the soul that every one of us has a hell to shun, as truly as a heaven to win. Don’t be a devil’s cat’s paw. R.

“It Is Like the Plan”

By Arthur L. Pierson

“According to the pattern shewed to thee.”
WHEN the great span across the East River was finished, the builder was brought down on his sick-bed to see the bridge—brought in a canal boat and anchored in front of the span. There, lying on his pillow, with drafts of the bridge on each side of him, he looked down at them, and then up at the span, and said, “It is like the plan.” May you and I come to our dying hour and look up to God and say: “My life is like the plan; I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.”—Arthur L. Pierson.

Our Bible Reading

Unselfishness

1 What was a prominent characteristic of the life of our Lord?
“For even Christ pleased not Himself.” Rom. 15: 3. “Who being originally in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.” Phil. 2: 5, R.V.
2. To what extent did He go in His self-denial?
“He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross.” Verse 8.
3. For whom did He do all this, and for what purpose?
“Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14. “Tho He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” 2 Cor. 8: 9. “Rich toward God.” Luke 12: 21. “Rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom.” James 2:5. “Rich in good works.” 1 Tim. 6:18.
4. By what spirit should we be actuated?
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 2: 5. “Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good.” Rom. 15: 2. “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself.” Luke 9: 23.
Continue reading: Protestantism—Its Drift