Your ShelfYour Projects

Signs of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 4.

The Commanded Blessing
Earlier text: The Commanded Blessing

The Importance of True Temperance

By Ellen G. White

By Mrs. E. G. White

Temperance in All Things.

“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is TEMPERATE IN ALL THINGS. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.”
The apostle Paul here mentions the foot-races, with which the Corinthians were familiar. The contestants in these races were subjected to the most severe discipline in order to fit them for the trial of their strength. Their diet was simple. Luxurious food and wine were prohibited. Their food was carefully selected. They studied to know what was best adapted to render them healthful and active, and to impart physical vigor and endurance, that they might put as heavy a tax as possible upon their strength. Every indulgence that would tend to weaken the physical powers was forbidden.
By this figure, Paul seeks to impress upon the Christian the necessity of doing his best to obtain a fitness for the work to which he is called. “So run, that ye may obtain,” he says. To win the prize for which these contestants strove,—a chaplet of perishable flowers, bestowed amid the applause of the multitude,—was considered the highest honor. But what a vast difference between the contest for such a crown and the race of the Christian for a crown incorruptible!
The Saviour presents for our consideration something higher than what we shall eat and drink and wherewithal we shall be clothed. In our days, eating and drinking and dressing are carried to such excess that they become sinful. They are among the marked sins of the last days, and constitute a sign of Christ’s soon-coming. Time, money, and strength, which belong to the Lord, but which He has entrusted to us, are wasted in superfluities of dress, and in luxuries for the perverted appetite, indulgences which lessen vitality and bring suffering and decay.
Our first duty, one which we owe to God, to ourselves, and to our fellow men, is to obey the laws of God. These include the laws of health. If we are sick, we impose a wearing tax upon our friends, and unfit ourselves for doing our duty, either to the family or to our neighbors. And when premature death is the result, we bring sorrow and suffering to others; we rob our families of the comfort and help which they should have received from us, and rob God of the service He claims of us to advance His glory.
In order to preserve health, we must practise temperance in all things—temperance in labor, in study, in eating and in drinking. Our heavenly Father would have us use with discretion the good things He has provided for us.

Temperance and Spirituality.

Those who by habits of intemperance injure mind and body, place themselves in a position where they are unable to discern spiritual things. The mind is confused, and they yield readily to temptation, because they have not a clear discernment of the difference between right and wrong. Sinful indulgence defiles the body, and unfits men for spiritual worship. He who cherishes the principles of true temperance, has an important aid in the work of becoming sanctified through the truth, and fitted for immortality. But if he disregards the laws of his physical being, how can he perfect holiness in the fear of God?
The religion of the Bible is not detrimental to the health of either body or mind. The influence of the Spirit of God is the very best medicine for disease. Heaven is all health; and the more deeply heavenly influences are realized, the more sure will be the recovery of the believing invalid. The true principles of Christianity open before all a source of inestimable happiness. True religion is a continual well-spring, from which the Christian can drink at will, and never exhaust the fountain.
The relation which exists between the body and the mind is very intimate. When one is affected, the other sympathizes. The condition of the mind affects the health of the physical system. If the mind is free and happy, from a consciousness of right-doing and a sense of satisfaction in causing happiness to others, it creates a cheerfulness that will react upon the whole system, causing a freer circulation of the blood, and a toning up of the entire body. The blessing of God is a healing power, and those who are abundant in benefiting others, will realize that wondrous blessing in both heart and life.

Our Reasonable Service.

The apostle Paul exhorts the church, “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Those who have been bought by the blood of His Son, God does not excuse from working faithfully in His service. Every true Christian is a coworker with Christ. Nothing can be more offensive to God than to cripple or abuse the gifts lent us to be devoted to His service. It is written, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
In every important work, there are times of crisis, when there is great need that those connected with the work should have clear minds. There must be men who realize, as did the apostle Paul, the importance of practising temperance in all things. There is work for us to do—stern, earnest work for our Master. All our habits, tastes, and inclinations must be educated in harmony with the laws of life and health. By this means we may secure the very best physical condition, and have mental clearness to discern between the evil and the good.
Intemperance of any kind benumbs the perceptive organs, and so weakens the brain nerve-power that eternal things are not appreciated, but are placed on a level with common things. The higher powers of the mind, designed for noble purposes, are brought into slavery to the baser passions. If the physical habits are not right, the mental and moral powers can not be strong; for great sympathy exists between the physical and the moral. The apostle Peter understood this, and raised his voice of warning: “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.”
Thus the word of God plainly warns us that unless we abstain from fleshly lusts, the physical nature will be brought into conflict with the spiritual. Lustful indulgence wars against health and peace. A warfare is instituted between the higher and the lower attributes of the man. The lower propensities, strong and active, oppress the soul. The highest interests of the being are imperiled by the indulgence of unsanctified appetite.
As we receive light, we are to make advance moves. No one can depend upon a past experience. Let all seek to walk in the light, cleansing themselves from every habit that would tend to defile the physical system. We are to govern our appetites and passions by the revealed will of God.
“It is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”

If They Only Knew.

By Ella M. Robinson

By Ella M. Robinson.
HE is coming, we have heard it, And our hearts throb with delight. Soon will end earth's dismal story, Soon will close her dreary night. Then will dawn, in matchless glory, Her eternal morning bright.
O, that every one might know it! Is the burden of my prayer. O that men would pause to hear it ’Mid their ceaseless toil and care! O that thoughtless youths might learn it, And their careless hearts prepare!
Would the rich cling to their riches, Would they hoard their gold away While earth's weak ones cry of hunger From the famine they might stay, If they knew that when He cometh All their wealth will pass away?
And the ones who bear life's burdens Who are weary and oppressed, Who must toil and plan and struggle, Would their hearts be cheered and blessed If they knew the Heavenly Master Soon will come and bring them rest?
And the suffering and the sick ones, Who have sought for health in vain, Carry them the joyful message. It will help them bear the pain— This sweet hope of seeing Jesus, And of being whole again.
Those who run the race for pleasure, Who but chase a fleeting goal, Tell them of the love of Jesus That can satisfy the soul. They may spare heaven's purest pleasures While eternal ages roll.
Tell them all the joyful tidings; It will cheat earth of her woe, It will fill all hearts with gladness— Tell them all! O let them know.

The Hurt of Sin.

“It hurts like Sin.” Thus we heard a man speak some days ago. We wondered if he realized the significance and force of his simile. Sin hurts. It does nothing else, that is its business. It is a sharp, double-edged sword, and it cuts deep. It is the vile vitrol of the devil’s laboratory, and its blistering burns blight the beauty of human life, leaving scars which are carried throughout eternity.
The individual who carries sin in his bosom is as foolish as the man who knowingly harbors an assassin in his bed-chamber. Both strike, and both strike to kill. And yet how true it is that familiarity with sin, like familiarity with danger, emboldens us to risk its presence. As has been said:
“Sin is a monster of so frightful mien, That to be hated needs but to be seen, But seen too oft, familiar with its face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” — Philippine Christian Advocate.

Our Bible Reading

Promises to Israel.

1. By what names are God’s people called in the Old Testament?
“Hebrews,” “Jews,” “Israel,” or “Israelites.”
2. What is the origin of the term “Hebrew”?
“Abram the Hebrew,” probably from his ancestor Eber. Gen. 14:13; 10:21; 11:14. See Phil. 3:5; 2 Cor. 11:22.
3. How does God show His regard for them?
“Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let MY PEOPLE go that they may serve Me.” Ex. 7:16.
4. What was the origin of the term “Jews”?
Probably from Judah, Jacob’s fourth son, to whose Seed is “the gathering of the people.” Gen. 49:10. (See Esther 2:5, for its first use.)
5. What definition is given of a true Jew?
“For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; . . . but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; . . . whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Rom. 2:28, 29.
6. By what words does Jesus show how God honors that people?
“Salvation is of the Jews.” John 4:22.
NOTE.—The tribe of Judah was given the kingship; from that tribe came David, and David’s greater Son, Jesus our Lord. The name takes on a great spiritual meaning, those begotten of Jesus Christ.
7. Whence came the name of Israel?
“God created man upright [Hebrew, “Israel”]. Eccl. 7:29.
8. How does fallen man attain to it?
“And He said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob [supplanter, the unregenerate name], but Israel; for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” Gen. 32:28.
“By his strength he had power with God; yea, he had power over the Angel, and prevailed; he wept and made supplication unto Him; he found Him in Bethel; and there He spake with us.” Hosea 12:3, 4.
NOTE.—The name “Israel” is wholly of spiritual significance, meaning the prevailer with God, over sin and self, the very purpose God had in creating man. It was the Angel of God’s presence, He who afterward became Jesus, who met Jacob that night at the ford of the Jabbok. There Jacob gained the character-victory; there he became one of the Israel of God. Even so by faith does every overcomer attain. The term Israel was afterward and often applied to Jacob’s descendants, but its true spiritual significance is not lost sight of; “for they are not all Israel, that are of Israel, neither, because they are of Abraham’s seed, are they all children; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, it is NOT the CHILDREN of the FLESH that are children of God; but the CHILDREN of the PROMISE are reckoned for a seed.” Rom. 9:6-8.
9. In that great city of God which all the redeemed shall enter, how many gates are there?
“Having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels.” Rev. 21:12.
10. From whom are these gates named?
“And names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.” Rev. 21:12.
NOTE.—All therefore who are saved are in God’s perfect plan, in one of His twelve tribes, as they are recorded in the book of life, twelve tribes, the plan of which goes back of the creation of man. They are a part of God’s design of a perfect world. Man having fallen can come back only by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. When the earthly tribes of Israel were formed, it was God’s plan to present on earth as far as possible His heavenly order, even as the sanctuary was a type of the heavenly temple.
11. Who only will enter that holy city?
“Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the Tree of Life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.” Rev. 22:14, A.R.V.
12. How long shall the Israel of God possess their inheritance?
“But Israel shall be saved in Jehovah with an everlasting salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah, and there is none else.” Isa. 45:17, 18.

“The Sabbath Made for Man.”

By Arthur L. Manous

Various Comments on Mark 2:27.

“And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27.
“ALL mankind are included in the privilege of the seventh-day rest.”—Bible Cyclopedia.
“The Sabbath was not for Israel merely, but for the world.”—“Desire of Ages,” Chap. 29, par. 8.
“‘The Sabbath was made for man,’ not for the Hebrews, but for all men.”—Pillars of Truth, p. 88.
“Christ . . . says, ‘The Sabbath was made for man,’ i. e. not for Israel only, but for universal ‘man’ (Mark 2:27, 28).”—Bible Cyclopedia.
“‘The Sabbath was made for man,’ not for the Jews or Gentiles, but for the species, for all mankind, even to the end of the world.”—Pulpit Cyclopedia.
“‘The Sabbath was made for man,’ not as he may be a Jew or a Christian, but as man, a creature bound to love, worship, and serve his God and Maker, in time and eternity.”—Kitto’s Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature.
“‘The Sabbath was made for man,’ not as he may be a Jew, or a Christian; but as man, a creature bound to love, worship, and obey his God and Maker, and on his trial for eternity.”—Watson’s Theological Dictionary. ARTHUR L. MANOUS.

Working Against Our Interests.

To put our own interests ahead of others’ is the surest way to hurt our own interests. Because most persons do not recognize or believe this truth, most persons work against their own interests. A clerk in a railroad “information bureau” was asked for a timetable showing the trains to a certain place. He lazily laid one where the inquirer had to reach after it. On being asked whether there were no trains between two indicated in the schedule, the clerk said there were, but that he was temporarily out of his supply of the time-tables that showed them. When the inquirer suggested that it would have been well for the clerk to mention this fact at the outset, and save risk of serious and unnecessary delay through the missing of a train, the clerk’s answer was first a stare, then a sneering laugh. He apparently wanted it plainly understood that he was not going to put himself to trouble like that in order to look after the interests of someone else. His own thoughtless convenience was of more importance to him than any other man’s interests. So he hurt his own interests badly, as he did those of the railroad that he represented, by refusing to think of another’s interests. His attitude was exceptional, to be sure,—but only in the glaring character of his shortsightedness, not in the spirit that it stands for. In subtler ways men and women are constantly hurting themselves by thinking most of themselves. He is greatest — now and here, as well as in the life to come — who is the best servant of others.— S. S. Times.

A New Year Reveille.

By Reginald Wright Kauffman

Reginald Wright Kauffman, in the January Circle Magazine
O, DO not say the Old Year dies; It lives, and on its serried scroll Are writ those deeds that must arise, Some year, to front and fright your soul! That year and last and all your years Gone by are what you made them; make Of this New Year from your old tears One year serene, immaculate.
Remember, willingly or no, As ordered by the Ancient Laws, However heedlessly you go, You are a Soldier in the Cause; The world has need of every man With manhood in him, aye, and more In the New Year now waking than In all the ages passed before.
The sun is up, the bivouac ends, The reveille is sounding clear; A moment and “assembly” sends The echoes sounding far and near; Your place is on the firing-line, Where’er your laggard feet once trod, Be ready for the last divine Command: the “Forward march!” of God.

Elijah’s God in Service

By Richard Fuller

LET us remember that Elijah’s God was with him only while he was occupied in noble and effectual services. When thus engaged, he exulted in the conscious majesty of a life which had upon it the stamp and signature of divine power.— Richard Fuller.

The Final Charge.

By H.

IF thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee,” says the prophet of God, “then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” Jer. 12: 5.
“Strenuous” is a popular adjective in these days. To have such a term applied to one implies that he meets the approval of people who admire strong, forceful men. It is applied to the physical man, the intellectual man, and the moral man — to men who are pushing to the front in their own lines. Of all people, it should be applicable to the Christian. He should be a strenuous man, an aggressive man; yet withal a pure, true man.
Every day of life is a trial with the enemy of souls. To the successful man or woman there are bound to come trials of strength in the contest with evil. We are not alone in the struggle; other men and women run at our sides to-day, pressing on to goals as high as the ones to which we strive, to victory as great and as hard to win. And it is also true that in few lives is there the absence of supreme, severe tests which tax to the utmost — the contention with horses, the swelling of Jordan.
When such a testing time comes, what a source of security it is to know that in all the running with the footmen we have stood in the front, have borne our part in burden and battle! The horses sweep on with terrific strength — and we, borne with the impetus of the charge, and adding our well-tried strength to the fray, mount to the height, to the storming of the battlements. Or, as when the steady stream plunges into a torrent, on the topmost wave we ride in the swelling of Jordan! O, to be there and to be part of the onrush to victory! Every servant of the Master must be there! Every one must share in the glorious victory! H.

Flesh-Eating and Disease.

An editorial in The Daily Drovers Telegram of October 24, published at Kansas City, Mo., intimates that when animals that are examined for tuberculosis do not show a generalization of the disease in their organs, having only one or two minor glands affected, so far as inspection goes, the diseased parts are removed and the rest of the carcass is considered as wholesome and free from disease as any other meat, and is put into the trade channels.
The inspectors endeavor, when the infection is more extensive, to condemn the whole carcass and destroy it for food purposes. This is confirmed by another statement in The Telegram for November 2, which speaks of a herd brought to Kansas City for slaughter. The tuberculosis test was demonstrated by post-mortem examination, showing that each of the animals indicated had tuberculosis and was more or less infected with the disease. The Telegram continues: “In some cases the infection was so slight that careful investigation of all the glands was necessary to discover it. In such instances only the viscera of the animal were condemned, and the meat was allowed to go into food channels. In a few cases, several glands were affected, and the animals were condemned, and the carcasses destroyed.”
We would like to raise the question, if it is not sometimes true that in the incipient stages of disease, the germs are as virulently active, altho not always so manifest as in the latter stages. All observers know this to be true in contagious diseases in the humankind. It is very difficult to tell sometimes whether a patient has one of several different kinds of fevers; and yet the germs,of whatever fever it may be, are very active. The question is, if a post-mortem examination, conducted as they are in slaughter houses would demonstrate the extent of disease without careful microscopical examination.
The further question is, whether this meat from cattle which show that they are infected with tuberculosis, altho according to tests but slightly, is not just as dangerous meat as where some glands are seriously affected.
Our informant, a reliable man, who has been for years in the stock-raising business, writes us that he had a long conversation with a United States inspector who told him that they seldom condemned cattle unless some of the larger glands like the lungs were badly affected. They merely ordered the infected parts to be cut out, and considered the rest of the beef wholesome.
In speaking of hogs, the same inspector said if they were to condemn every hog that was affected with tuberculosis, there would be practically no pork on the market; and he added that a hog had to be badly affected with disease before it was sent to the rendering vat. All of which goes to show how much more preferable vegetarianism is.
A man can inspect his vegetables, and if in any way affected, he can throw them away at less expense than to throw away the carcass of a beef. He can live upon his vegetable food without fear of ptomain poisoning, or of being saturated with a thousand and one disease germs which affect the various mammalian food animals.
We lay these things before our readers, assuring them from an experience lasting over thirty years, and the experiences of thousands of others lasting a greater or less term of years, that the preferable diet altogether is vegetarianism, or to put it in its broader form, a diet consisting of fruits, grains, nuts, vegetables, milk, and eggs. It is not in any sense a starvation diet; it is not in any sense a weakening diet. Vegetarians can do as hard work, as strong work, and can work as many hours a day, and even more, than those who live upon a flesh or a mixed diet, doctors to the contrary notwithstanding.
It is an old proverb that the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the true test of vegetarianism, in its broad sense, is in the lives of those who have been vegetarians. Usually, those who would condemn vegetarianism do so on the showing of some who have brought themselves near to death’s door on a mixed diet, and who have adopted vegetarianism as a last resort. It sometimes takes years to build up what years have torn down. It is a frequent thing to find those whose whole digestive apparatus has been ruined by a number of years of bad diet, mixed diet, during which time they have eaten freely of flesh foods of various kinds. They have come to vegetarianism as a last resort; they are much better than when they first began the new diet. It takes some time to know just how to adapt oneself to a complete change in diet, but when they have once learned that, almost invariably progress toward health and strength is rapid and sure. If some of those who stand as critics of the vegetarian diet, could find an equal army of those who had given up vegetarianism for a flesh diet, and had improved in the doing of it, it would be worth something. It certainly is not a fair way of argument to take the very poorest specimens in the ranks of vegetarianism, those who have ruined their health on a mixed diet, and contrast them with healthy specimens who live on a mixed diet, and who have inherited constitutions strong enough to endure all sorts of hardship in the way of poor provender; for that is what a meat diet essentially is.
The writer is often asked: “Why have you adopted a vegetarian diet? Is it because of your religion? Is it required of you that you shall do that?” And we are always pleased to tell them: “Not at all: we have tried both, and we have adopted vegetarianism as the very best which the earth affords, which will give better service and longer service for the same amount of food.”
We commend these things to our readers. It is not as a matter of religious faith, not as a matter of mere fear of disease, but as the choice of the very best in God’s kingdom, and that which will help every reasonable soul to render unto his Master the best service; for the best diet rule ever given is that of the apostle Paul, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

“We Preach Christ Crucified.”

So the mighty apostle to the Gentiles declared. The Jews asked for signs. They wished to see great miracles, such as God wrought through Moses, as the credentials of the prophet. The Greeks would follow some one with a new philosophy which neither he nor his students could comprehend, but which in its abstruse generalities, expressed in polysyllabic words, seemed great and profound.
The Jews, looking for signs, crucified Jesus who wrought the mightiest of miracles, and is doing it still. The Greeks through their wisdom “knew not God.” “But we,” rings out in triumph from the apostle of God, “preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumbling-block, and unto Gentiles foolishness; but unto the called themselves, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (See 1 Cor. 1:18-25, A.R.V., margin.)
It is the same blessed Gospel to-day. The world needs the preaching of the cross. Many are mad for signs, and Christian Science, Hypnotism, Spiritism, Dowieism, Sanfordism, and a half dozen other isms, have their devotees. Many others are seekers of that multiform “science” which makes void the word of God, and makes the preaching of the cross foolishness.
But, thank God, it is a “foolishness” which “is wiser than men.”
The preaching of the cross — to whom? To a world of sinners, doomed to death and eternal disappointment in themselves. Dying with no hope of the future save the false hope, engendered by the first lie, “Ye shall not surely die; . . . ye shall be as God.” Turning from the word, men have peopled the invisible world with the dead and gone, a theory unproved by Holy Writ and undemonstrated by science. Multitudes now hope that it will be demonstrated by psychological investigations, to be again deceived by “the father of lies,” and the deception confirmed by science. Christ died for the sinner. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes are we healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and Jehovah hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isa. 53: 4-6. The same wonderful story finds its echo in the words of the apostle Paul: “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses. . . . Him who knew no sin He made to be sin in our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Cor. 5: 19-21.
Would we avail ourselves of this stupendous provision? “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16: 31. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3: 16.
But to believe on Jesus is to believe that His voluntary, love-commanded death upon the cross was for us; for “He gave Himself for our sins.” Gal. 1: 4. But the cross must mean more than deliverance from past sins; it must mean to us crucifixion with Him. In other words, as it was our sins which caused His death, we must reckon, at whatever cost of suffering to ourselves, that our sins, our lusts, our carnal man, our love of the world, were then crucified with Him; and that His cross is ever present with us in our lives, upon which dies every unholy uprising of the fleshly man. The cross of Christ is not to be to the Christian a matter of history, but a present experience. Read:
“I AM crucified with Christ.” Gal. 2: 20.
“Knowing this, that our old man IS CRUCIFIED with Him.” Rom. 6: 6.
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world IS CRUCIFIED unto me, and I unto the world.” Gal. 6:14.
“If ye by the Spirit DO MORTIFY [put to death] the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Rom. 8:13.
“PUT TO DEATH therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; for which things’ sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience.” Col. 3: 5, 6.
Faith in Jesus Christ means harmony with Him. It involves, in other words, separation from sin. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” Rom. 10: 12. A faith which stops short of this is spurious; but the righteousness which comes from God through Christ is not built into sins or a sinful nature. It must have soil and subsoil of denial of sin, of yielding all unto Christ, of accepting Jesus our Lord as the wisdom, the righteousness, the power, of God unto salvation. For He “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.
Then, and then only, is there blessedness in the cross. Then is there wisdom in the cross. Then is there righteousness and power in the cross. Then is there glory and joy unspeakable to every soul who believes.

Our Bible Band

By Editor

Schedule for Ten Days Ending February 6.

Morning Evening
Th. Jan. 28 Ex. 19, 20 Matt. 18:21-35
Fr. " 29 " 21, 22 " 19
Sa. " 30 " 23, 24 " 20:1-16
Su. " 31 " 25, 26 " 20:17-34
Mo. Feb. 1 " 27, 28 " 21:1-22
Tu. " 2 " 29, 30 " 21:23-46
We. " 3 " 31, 32, 33 " 22:1-22
Th. " 4 " 34, 35 " 22:23-46
Fr. " 5 " 36, 37, 38 " 23:1-22
Sa. " 6 " 39, 40 " 23:23-39

Suggestive Notes.

We are giving ten days’ schedule of reading in this issue in order to make it fall with the even week, as there are many who desire it this way rather than have the break come on the day of publication of the paper in the mid-week. Then, too, the paper may not reach some subscribers exactly on time and that would inconvenience them.
Our readings in the Old Testament extend from Exodus 19 to Leviticus 10 inclusive. It will be impossible in our brief space to give anything like extended notes on the chapters covered. The best that we can do is to group them. Exodus 19 to 24 is a description of the children of Israel before Sinai; the record of God speaking His holy law and the other laws which He gave through Moses at that time. It was in love that He gave His law, not to drive the people from Him, but in order to write it upon their heart. He wished to do for them as He did for Moses—bring them all into godly, fatherly nearness to Himself.
Exodus 25 to 31 inclusive is a description of the sanctuary that God would have them build, with explicit directions regarding every part, the center of which was the holy of holies where was placed the ark of the covenant, containing God’s holy law, written on tables of stone. In order that the building might be properly erected, and the work properly done, God placed His Spirit upon the builders, Bezalel and Oholiab, together with other devoted men and women. A special lesson to us that God is just as willing to bless the workers in material things, who are consecrated to Him, as He is the workers in spiritual things.
Chapters 32 to 34 give an account of Israel’s awful idolatry within forty days after God had spoken to them from Mount Sinai, and right in the very sight of the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night,—a great object-lesson for the ages that it is not by fear nor by compulsion that men serve God, but by love. Had they received the Law of God upon the heart as well as upon the tables of stone, there would have been no turning back to Egypt; no worship of the golden calf. These are wonderful chapters, too, of the revelation of God and of Moses’ character.
Chapters 35 to 40 contain the record of the carrying out of the instructions of chapters 25 to 31. They tell us how the ark was builded with all its furniture and equipments, just as God directed, and the wonderful blessing and glory which came down upon the congregation and the building when it was completed.
Our New Testament lessons are all in Matthew, from chapter 18:21 to the close of chapter 23. They contain wonderful lessons on forgiveness; the necessity of obedience; God’s mercy in calling all classes; His reproof for the self-seeking; the triumphant entry into Jerusalem; the second cleansing of the temple; the cursing of the fig-tree,—a warning against fruitless profession; parables of the two sons; the wicked husbandman; the marriage feast; the wonderfully wise answers of our Lord to those who sought to entrap Him; and the woes against those who were leading God’s children astray. Each and all may be studied with great profit.

The Drift of Government.

ONE of the great reasons of the division between classes in our government to-day has been the use of great corporate wealth in molding legislation. Justice Brewer of the United States Supreme Court stated this as long ago as June 1, 1904, in an address to the graduating class of the Albany Law School. He said:
“The conditions of life in this republic have wonderfully changed during the last century. Formerly there were two parties — the individual and the government. Now there are three — the individual, the corporation, and the government. . . .
“No one can be blind to the fact that these mighty corporations are holding out most tempting inducements to lawmakers to regard in their lawmaking those interests rather than the welfare of the nation. Senators and Representatives have owed their places to corporate influence, and that influence has been exerted under an expectation, if not an understanding, that as lawmakers the corporate interest shall be subserved. . . .
“There may be no written agreement; there may be, in fact, no agreement at all, and yet when the lawmaker understands that that power exists which may make for his advancement or otherwise, that it will be exerted according to the pliancy with which he yields to its solicitations, it lifts the corporation into a position of constant danger and menace to republican institutions.”

God Cares for His Institutions

GOD IS ABLE and will abundantly care for all His institutions without any aid from civil power. All that true religion asks, or has any right to ask, from the civil power is non-interference or non-intervention, as long as the equal rights of all are regarded.
Continue reading: In the Great World