Signs of the Times, Vol. 16, No. 7. (2/17/1890)

Signs of the Times

Feb 17, 1890

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 17, 1890

The Sabbath and Christ’s Resurrection

THE Sabbath commandment gives as the only reason for keeping the day holy, the fact that God rested on the seventh day and therefore blessed it and made it holy. But the powers that have presumed to make another sabbath on the first day, without scriptural authority, have assumed as their warrant the fact that Christ rose from the dead on that day. Why should that fact be any more entitled to a day of recognition than his sacrifice, which took place on the sixth day, which day the Roman Church likewise idolizes, by a nominal fast? The ordinances which the Lord commanded in commemoration of his death and his resurrection, lay fully as much stress upon the one as upon the other. And inasmuch as the Lord did especially provide, in the communion and in baptism, for the celebration of those, the adding of a further testimony to the resurrection, to celebrate the occasion, the intimation that he did not have a substance of the occasion. But to emphasize the Sabbath rest by something especially pertaining to the memory of Christ, what could be better adapted to the purpose than the day on which he rested,—the seventh day.

STRIVE LAWFULLY.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

"So run that ye may obtain." Not all who run obtain the prize. Some miss the crown that is to be given at the end of the race. Not everyone that seeketh, not everyone that striveth for the mastery, is victorious. Paul says, "If a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully."

Multitudes have had light upon the truth for this time. They have understood the claims of the law of God, but because the world keeps Sunday, they reason to themselves that they cannot be singular. They say, "I will serve God, and be correct in everything else; but I cannot keep the Sabbath, because I should lose my influence in the world. I cannot afford to be unpopular." They say, "I will run, I will strive to obtain the crown of life, and the Lord will not refuse to give me the reward simply because I did not keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. I will keep Sunday as sacredly as anyone can keep the seventh day." But the Lord has said, "Yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully." "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore 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 everyone 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." "And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment; and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen."

Many profess to be children of God who have not taken heed to their ways. They have not understood what Christ meant when he prayed that his disciples might be sanctified through the truth, and added, "Thy word is truth." The man who presumed to come to the wedding feast with the citizen's dress on represents that class who decide that their own righteousness is sufficient to recommend them to God, and they do not purify their souls by looking to Christ, and striving to run so that they may obtain. They do not put away the evil of their doings. They do not the words of Christ. They do not see the necessity of putting on the robe that has been prepared for them at an infinite cost, the robe of Christ's righteousness, and they will be cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In the parable of the ten virgins, five of them are described as wise, and five as foolish. The foolish virgins took no oil in their vessels with their lamps. They did not obtain the grace of Christ. They were just like the wise virgins as far as theory and appearances were concerned. They had their lamps, but they had no oil. They made a profession, but they did not know what genuine conversion meant; and when the bridegroom came, they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. "When once the master of the house is risen up," saith Christ, "and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are; then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity."

There will be multitudes who run but cannot enter into heaven's gates; for they are not crowned unless they strive lawfully. In life and spirit and character they must come into conformity with the will of God.

Genuine faith works by love, and purifies the soul. There is a faith that has power to cleanse the life from sin. The devils believe that Christ came into this world as man's Redeemer, that he wrought mighty miracles, that he was one with the Father, that he died a shameful death to save fallen man. The devils believe that he rose from the dead, that he ascended into the heavens, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. The devils believe that he is coming again, and that shortly, with power and great glory, taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel. They believe all that is recorded in the Old and New Testaments. But will this faith save the demons of darkness? They have not the faith that works by love and purifies the soul. That faith, and that alone, which cleanses the soul-temple, is the genuine faith. Everything that defileth must be put away, all filthiness of the flesh and spirit must be removed from us, if we would enter in through the gates into the city. Jesus says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

Christ’s Coming and Reward

"Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12

A Great American Missionary Conference

It now seems probable that a great American Missionary Conference will be held in this country in 1892 to consider especially the future of the Latin-American republics.

Less Laudation of Men

At a recent Episcopal convention in San Francisco, to nominate candidates for a bishop, a motion was made to limit speeches to five minutes, whereupon Judge Stanley, chancellor of the diocese, remarked, "Three minutes is long enough to tell all the virtues of any man in the church." Sensible. If there were less laudation of men, the churches generally would be much better therefor.

Beautiful Feet and Costly Stockings

By Editor

WHEN women can wear stockings so woven with gold, and embroidered with diamonds and emeralds, as to cost five hundred dollars, as is reported of Mrs. Sharon, wife of the California millionaire, it is no wonder that the poor complain. How much good this five hundred dollars might have done to the poor! Just think, more for a single pair of an American woman's flimsy stockings than many large families who serve the rich, get for a whole year's labor! But they adorn the feet. Despite all this, however, we still believe—

"Beautiful feet are those that go On kindly ministries to and fro, Down lowliest ways if God wills so."

The Royal Niger Company and the Gospel

A PROMINENT missionary worker writes in the London Christian that "it is no longer a secret, close or open," that the new Royal Niger Company, recently chartered by England, "has made treaties with the several Negro Mohammedan powers in the Soudan of Africa, east of the Niger, promising not only that they will do nothing through their own employes to attempt the conversion of Mohammedans, but will do all that lies in their power to obstruct the others who come under their influence. This amounts to open war of so-called Christian men with the gospel." The new policy began with January 1 of the current year.

Churches and Worldly Powers

THIS is about what is to be expected from worldly powers. The promise not to labor to convert Mohammedans is all right. A government has no right to charter a company for that purpose, nor has the company the right to employ men under such a charter to propagate religion. Neither has the company the right to make war on Christians or to obstruct the work of the missionaries, so long as those missionaries confine their work to their legitimate sphere, namely, teaching and persuading men. Woe be to that church which depends on the State for help. She will always come from such a union defiled and shorn of strength.

Jews Considering a Change of Sabbath

IN a recent issue the New York Sun said:—

"It is a curious fact that while even the reformed Jews of New York are averse to changing their Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, those in smaller cities throughout the country have come to a point where they are seriously considering the subject. A Jewish newspaper of character and standing in the interior of this State is championing such a change, and advancing arguments, drawn from the Bible itself, to prove its position. The main point put forth by it and the other champions of the change is that the observance of Saturday as a Sabbath is certain to become almost obsolete in this country, and that unless the Jews want to see their religion gradually fade away, they should take into consideration the drift of modern opinions and the ways of the modern man."

Upon this the Truth Seeker (infidel) remarks:—

"We should like to see the argument drawn from the Jewish Scriptures which sustains a change of day for the Jewish Sabbath. It must be unique if nothing more."

Any argument of the kind would do violence to the Jewish Scriptures, just as all arguments for the change of the Sabbath do violence to the Christian Scriptures. It is only better than do the other arguments. Such arguments are not a mere statement of the infidelity that

A PRAYER.

By E. R. Champlin

FATHER, take not away The burden of the day, But help me that I bear it As Christ his burden bore, When cross and thorn he wore, And none with him would share it— For his sake, help, I pray!

I ask alone for grace To see his patient face, And my impatient one; Ask that mine grow like his— Sign of an inward peace— From trust in thee alone, Unchanged by time or place. —E. R. Champlin, in Religious Herald.

PROPHECY FULFILLING.

By Chas. P. Whitford

PASSING events are viewed by the student of prophecy with an anxious eye, for he sees in them the fulfillment of God's ancient predictions. The recent call to arms in behalf of religious legislation, and a better observance of Sunday, is evidence that public sentiment is fast shaping in favor of the fulfillment of Rev. 13:11-17. Here the last persecutions of the church are described as they are brought into conflict with earthly powers. Nearly a half century ago, Seventh-day Adventists took the position that the two-horned beast of verse 11 symbolized the United States. Notwithstanding that the principles of this government were at the first "lamb-like," yet the spirit of the dragon was here, and it only needed the authority, when it would "exercise all the power of the beast before him." How much power did the Papacy exercise? Let from fifty to one hundred millions of martyrs answer. But what gave the Papacy such unlimited power to exterminate God's people? But one answer can be given, viz., the church and her doctrines were upheld by the civil power of the world. And will the civil power become subordinate to the ecclesiastical in this country?—It surely will, for so the prophecy declares. In verse 14 this power is represented as saying to them that dwell upon the earth, that "they should make an image to the beast." It is well understood that an image is a likeness to the thing after which it is made. Under the 1,260 years of papal supremacy, the church was clothed with civil power, so that heretics and dissenters were punished by fire and by sword. The Church and State were united. And will the church in free America be clothed with similar power? The prophecy says so, and both time and events will shortly demonstrate that the prophecy has told the truth.

If the United States makes an "image" to the Papacy, will the church in this country be clothed with civil power? But one answer can be given, and that would be, Certainly. Well, this is just what Seventh-day Adventists have been telling the world for more than forty years. The greater part of this time they have been counted as fools, hobby-riders, and all such things; but times have changed, and there is no disguising the fact that the churches of the land are to-day clamoring for the support of the civil arm to protect their darling institution of Sunday—and that, too, with a zeal and a sedation that would indeed be commenced without forth for the securing of

How shall our American church be preserved? is the hour. All other questions are rapidly sinking into insignificance, and must take a back seat as compared with this.

It is well known that an immense pressure was brought to bear upon Congress one year ago, to secure what they were pleased to call "righteous sabbath laws." It was claimed that fourteen million citizens of the United States asked Congress to pass the Blair Sunday-Rest bill. Does not this accord with what the prophecy says the two-horned beast (the United States) would do, "Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast"? Rev 13:14. Is not the saying already abroad in the land? Last winter the bill was defeated, but it was again introduced on December 9, 1889. But why this appeal to Congress in behalf of Sunday rest? The reason is plainly stated: "We are likely to lose our sabbaths unless Congress interferes."

What a strange, evanescent affair "our sabbaths" are, that they should be lost, just because others do not regard them. The civil power out of which came the tyranny of the Papacy in the fourth century, was subordinated to the religious in precisely the same way as is now proposed by a certain class of religionists, who are asking the government to bolster up religious institutions by law, and thus make this nation a sponsor for their own religious bigotry.

It was executing the supposed will of God that put to death the early Christians. They argued, just as professed Christians do nowadays, that God's will ought to be made law.

Could the voices of untold millions who have lost their lives because they would not yield to laws that conflicted with conscience and their understanding of God's requirements be heard to-day, they would cry aloud, and spare not, against this wicked scheme,—the destruction of civil and religious liberty.

Dear brethren, as I survey the agencies by which the church in this country is to gain control of the civil power, the rapidity of their rise and growth, and how they are blending and forming into one solid mass to throw around Sunday observance the protection of civil law, I am almost startled at the rapid fulfillment of what God has foretold from the beginning. Surely we have not followed cunningly-devised fables in this matter. God in his providence has committed to us as a people a message of warning against this very work. Rev 14:9-12.

Not only as friends and lovers of religious liberty does it become us to raise the note of alarm, but it is God's will that we warn the people, and pray that the political elements of war and strife may be held in check until the sealing message has gathered out all the jewels of earth to keep the commandments of God.

In view of the light God has given us, great responsibilities are resting upon us. To whom much is given, much will be required. I cannot believe the people of the United States are yet ready to calmly and deliberately surrender their precious, blood-bought liberties. They do not understand the nature of the government they are so earnestly petitioned. It is our duty to do all the work of the children them. The terrific and untruthful are predicted by the process of the world, and ever our very heads.

What use are we making of the light which God in his love and tender mercy has committed to us? Opportunities are now granted us to work as never before. The saying is now being heralded through the land, Come, let us make an "image to the beast." Corrupt, fallen Christianity is about to gain control of the civil power. Where will then be the religious liberty which American citizens have so long enjoyed? When the Constitution shall be so amended as to permit Congress to make laws for the establishment of religion, religious liberty will be at an end. Then will we experience something of that which characterized the religious despotisms of the Dark Ages.

Brethren everywhere, we are coming into straight places, and that, too, very soon. Shall we be able to give an intelligent reason why we cannot yield to the requirements of the beast? If we cannot, we shall be put to shame, and the truth we profess be disgraced. Satan is marshaling his hosts, and the battle is before us. It must and will be fought. He who would be loyal to God should gird on the armor of truth for the conflict. With firmness and humble trust in our great Commander, let us arouse to action as never before, and victory will surely turn on Zion's side.

Dear brethren, be of good courage. In due time we shall reap if we faint not. When the battle is fought, and the victory won, then we shall meet and greet each other in that kingdom where Christ will then reign through his own mighty power and unmeasurable love.

CHAS. P. WHITFORD.

Moultrie, St. John's Co., Fla.

THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD.

By Mrs. M. J. Bahler

"And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." Ps. 90: 17.

LET the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. What is the beauty of the Lord?—It is the beauty of holiness,—the beauty of perfection,—the beauty of goodness. In Zech. 9: 17, we read, "For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!" The psalmist says: "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." Ps. 27: 4.

In God's temple was a good place to inquire of his attributes, to learn to comprehend more fully his great love and goodness. In the house of the Lord, David had seen wonderful revealings of the beauty of the Lord. As the length, and breadth, and depth, and hight of God's perfect law, which is only a representation of his character, were considered in the seclusion of God's house, away from the distracting cares of life, the beauty of the Lord was revealed as nowhere else. And so wonderful, so inspiring, were these revealings, that David desired to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life.

Have not you and I often felt this same longing? Listening to a vivid portrayal from the word of God of the amazing love revealed therein for us, and of God's goodness to the children of men—which lead to acceptance—have we not realized, deep and intense longings, that that beauty of the Lord might be made manifest in our lives, in a way we have never experienced elsewhere, and, realizing this, have we not been loath to leave "the house of the Lord"?

Yes, the beauty of the Lord attracts us; we are drawn and bound to him by it. And as this beauty is the beauty of a perfect character, the beauty of tender compassion, of faithful love, of fullness, of goodness, we may well pray with David, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us."

If this beauty is upon us, then we can pray, "Establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it;" for if this beauty rests upon us, the work of our hands will not be a selfish work.

But if we indulge a spirit of harshness, censuring others, finding fault, or murmuring at our lot, then the beauty of the Lord will not cover us. If we are envious or jealous, God's beauty cannot be upon us. If we abound in loving words and actions, if we are pitiful, tender, courteous—in these his beauty is manifested.

Oh, let us pray earnestly every day, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us"—the beauty of a loving, pure, unselfish life—and, "establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." MRS. M. J. BAHLER.

"IT IS A POOR RULE," ETC.

By H. B. Maurer

A BROTHER in the ministry has a landlord who is a Methodist. As was his custom, on the first of each month he called upon his ministerial tenant for his rent. Sometimes the conversation turned on the difference in belief, and so, on this particular morning, the discussion concerning baptism having gone against the landlord, he remarked: "Well, anyhow, it is a matter of little importance how much water is used in baptism so long as there be water. It is merely a form."

"Very well," replied the Baptist, "the transaction between us this morning is a matter of form merely. The quantity of money used is a matter of indifference, so long as there be money paid. I will, therefore, give you dimes instead of dollars."

"That will not do," replied the other, "dollars and not dimes will meet the terms of the contract."

"Equally true is it in regard to baptism, since a body of water, and not drops or jets only, can meet the requirements of Scripture; for, according to its teachings, baptism is primarily designed to symbolize a burial and a resurrection."

When baptism is under consideration, Baptists are quick to resent the charge of too much literalism, and are ready, with forcible arguments, to overcome the objection that the form is of little importance. They know that adherence to the form is essential, not only to baptism, but to obedience to the Master, since anything else than immersion is no baptism. Anything which God has commanded should be unconditionally obeyed. "To obey is better than sacrifice," is a favorite text with Baptists, and, as proof that God must be in the smallest things, the sin of Uzzah, who did such a thing with good motives, as to reach forward to steady the ark, and was punished by death, furnishes another striking proof that, however insignificant the deed may be, the sin that is committed is disobedience. So with Saul, when the prophet reproved him with the words, "To obey is better than sacrifice."

Now we would suppose that Baptists, who thus, in dealing with the commands of God, appreciate that there is no such thing as a matter of indifference, or small sins, would not come down from their high and ideal ground, and yet the objection almost invariably made, when it is maintained that the seventh day must be the Sabbath, is that the day is a matter of no importance, that it is contending for trifles. Only quite recently a pastor of one of our Baptist Churches in New York City expressed to me his surprise that I should have fallen into such literalism as to believe that the seventh day is the Sabbath. Whether or not the change is a matter of little importance, let one of the foremost Baptists of the land testify:—

"Dr. George Dana Boardman, of Philadelphia, in his late book on the commandments, calls the change from the seventh to the first day of the week, 'a great revolution.' A change which displaces a day which God has sanctified by one he has said should be kept secular, which secularizes a day he has made holy, which displaces a God-given set of reasons by another set of doubtful origin and which have nothing more than a fancied connection with the Sabbath,—such a change may well be called 'a great revolution.'"

The matter is surely not one of little importance, when Baptists, who boast that they are the only and original anti-Romanists, and have imbibed none of Rome's errors, are not able to take up the gauntlet thrown down in the following:—

"Cardinal James Gibbons, of Baltimore, says, 'Read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday.'"—Faith of Our Fathers, p. 108.

Father Enright, a Catholic priest, in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, said: "Sunday is not the Sabbath-day; no man dare assert that it is. . . . I will give $1,000 to the man who will prove by the Bible alone that Sunday is the day we are bound to keep. . . . The observance of Sunday is solely a law of the Catholic Church. . . . The church changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and all the world bows down and worships upon that day in silent obedience to the mandates of the Catholic Church."—Hartford Weekly Call, February 22, 1884.

The change from the Sabbath to Sunday observance is not a trifle, when the Baptists, claiming to discard tradition and modifications of God's commandments, cannot reconcile such a claim with the following bit of history:—

"In 1595 Dr. Bound, a Puritan, invented the theory which, based on a fancied relation between the work of creation and redemption, and bringing in the resurrection of our Lord, sought to apply the fourth commandment to the first instead of the seventh day. Thus, from pagan origin, the result of a Romish compromise, absorbed by Protestantism, Sunday observance found its way into the Baptist Churches."

No, indeed, the change is not a matter of little importance, since, like the substitution of sprinkling for immersion, it does not meet the terms of the command. We are commanded to abstain from secular labor, because God rested on the Sabbath-day and sanctified it. The inferential teachings of Pedobaptists concerning their baptismal notions pale in the presence of the inferences drawn from a few New Testament texts, which have nothing whatever to do with Sabbath observance anyhow, upon which the observance of Sunday is based. No wonder that this "institution," having no Bible to rest on, needs the civil law to enable it to gasp a few years longer. The change may be of little importance to most Baptists, but now and then someone, like Dr. Boardman, will deem it of enough importance to regard it as a great revolution. For great revolutions great causes should be shown and great reasons should be easily given. How easy a matter it is to show such causes and give such reasons can more easily be seen from several facts, that there is altogether too much confusion on this matter to be of divine origin, since God is not the author of confusion; the Baptists have a too great variety of views on the Sabbath question to be good for their reputation for unanimity of beliefs.

Those whose religious belief and practice conform with the Roman Catholics and most Protestants, so that they have an overwhelming majority on their side, may look upon the change as of little importance; but how about that small minority which, when, as has always been the case, leads truth and right? who, like Elijah's 7,000, that small remnant who would not bow to Baal, and who had in their day a majority against them, as the Sabbatarians have in this,—how about those people who cling to God's law, while Christendom follows the tradition of men,—is the change a matter of no importance to them? Many of them who have conscience toward God cannot avail themselves of business opportunities, because business is everywhere done, in violation of God's law, on the Sabbath, some even going against conscience, and forsaking the Sabbath, thus keeping this small body small. Is the change a matter of little importance to them?

That it is to many Baptists a matter of small importance is clear from the fact that for those who have dared to oppose public opinion and declare for the truth, there is the smile of commiseration, and often the unfeeling joke. Whether or not it is to side with God and the truth in embracing the Sabbath, does not seem to enter their minds. As long as desire for preferment and position is the all-determining motive, the setting aside of God's law, and the observance of a human institution, will continue a matter of indifference to many Baptists, and ministers even. What a shame it is for any Baptist to say, as did a prominent Baptist minister recently, while speaking of the Sabbatarians, "They have the Bible on their side, while we have the practice." How can these men make others feel that any part of God's word is to be reverenced, when they set aside, as indifferent, those portions obedience to which might cause inconvenience or loss? How can preachers enforce God's law, when, as has been the case with several, they declare that they would keep the Sabbath if their churches did? When obedience to God depends upon such conditions, where is the line to be drawn? How can the ministry and the church command the respect of men? It is hard to stand by truth with the prospect of losing bread and butter, but how about the sparrow that falleth to the ground, and the hairs of our heads that are numbered? Are such assurances null and void? or can God still be trusted in the interest of truth?

A TERRIBLE PICTURE.

REV. JOHN BOYLE, a missionary of the Southern Presbyterian Church to Brazil, publishes in the St. Louis Presbyterian a terrible indictment of the Roman Catholic priests of that country. The following is a sample paragraph, the more general statements of which have been preceded by details which fully support them:—

"What a glorious, happy day it will be when these chaste old bachelors (the priests) come to have full sway in the United States! when they can have their families around them and own them publicly! when their children can call them 'papa' instead of 'Father!' when they can have sons-in-law and daughters-in-law and grandchildren! when the prejudiced old bachelor grandpapas can have two or three families, with at least one young wife, even though she be his own niece or cousin! when they can steal the good-looking wives of their poor parishioners! when they can perform a marriage ceremony, and then buy the bride for a few days for thirty-five dollars, as was lately done by a vicar in a town in this province—a fact sworn to by a public official as a notorious fact and published in O Piaz, of Rio de Janeiro, the newspaper of widest circulation; when any chaste old priest has been to the marriage ceremony of the people, and then carry off the young wife as long as he wishes, which happened in S Jose de Tocantins, Goyaz, some years ago! The young brother is now a member of the Provincial Legislature of Goyaz, and I got well acquainted with him there last year. It will be a jolly day for Americans when rich planters or farmers call for their spiritual guides to administer the sacraments of the church to their families, and then run them out of the house and off the place with a revolver, for improper language used to the mother of the family, as lately happened to a vicar in Goyaz, who is a man of education; or when the people must gather and drive their spiritual adviser out of the town and parish, as lately happened to 'Father' Tristoo de Mendonca, vicar of the town of Santa Rita, in Goyaz, as he himself published in one of the Goyaz papers. And this vicar is a man of more than ordinary ability, and so scathing a writer that the bishop is thoroughly afraid of his pen, as he has learned to be from experience."

HARD ON THE BARBERS.

By H. A. St. John

A PROMINENT advocate of human Sunday laws, while on the Pacific Coast, was wont to tell a story of one hundred barbers, who lived and labored in some distant city. The ostensible object of the story was to create sentiment in favor of Sunday laws. The story, however, tended to create the opposite sentiment in the careful, unbiased thinker.

Well, to the story. It runs thus: The one hundred barbers of a certain city sought to enter into an agreement to shut up shop, and not work on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday. Ninety-nine of this number were found ready to enter into this compact; the one-hundredth man said, No, he would not. So the whole ninety-nine were compelled to work on Sunday, because that one man would not stop work on that day. We were told that a stringent Sunday law was needed to make that one barber rest on Sunday, so that those ninety-nine barbers could rest on Sunday.

What a fine set of Sunday-keepers those ninety-nine barbers would make! They did not have conscience, or principle, or moral backbone, enough to keep Sunday unless everybody else did. This class of persons want a Sunday law to compel everybody to keep Sunday so they can keep it. If another person is allowed to work on Sunday, and thus make a few dimes, then they are obliged to work on Sunday, or lose a few dimes; and how then can they keep Sunday holy if there are a few dimes at stake?

A cry is being made for Sunday laws for the benefit of workingmen. Are these ninety-nine barbers a sample of the workingmen that are appealing for stringent Sunday laws? If a man will not keep Sunday when he has the privilege of doing so, just because others will make more money than he does, or because he can make more money by so doing, what is his Sunday-keeping, or his religion, or his moral principle, worth anyway? Is it worth a Sunday law? Would a Sunday law compelling him to keep Sunday, and removing his self objections to its observance, make him more of a man, or a Christian, or a rest-keeper? Such persons may be salt that

has no savor. The world might be filled with such time-servers, such man-made Sunday-Christians, and they would be of no more real moral value to the world than just so many great balls of putty.

Now let it be remembered that one forcible argument, so called, for Sunday laws, when fairly stated, is this, that there are thousands of laborers in this nation who do not keep Sunday because they would lose money by so doing. But a human Sunday law would enable them to make just as much money, with less work, and they could keep Sunday. And they would like this. Why, of course they would like it—the same wages, with a day off, why should they not like it? The same wages, with two days off, would no doubt be gladly accepted also. How easy for a government to make Christians of this stamp by law.

H. A. ST. JOHN

THE WEARY PILGRIM.

By Mrs. L. E. Orton

BY MRS. L. E. ORTON.

DEAR Lord, I lift my eyes to thee, As I am bending 'neath my cross; Will it never lighter be? Must all my road be marked by loss?

Youth's brilliant aims and fond desires Have proved to be but "ropes of sand;" The fruit that hung so tempting fair Has turned to ashes in my hand.

For love of thee, who died for all, I strive to act the Christian's part; To follow on at duty's call; But who can know the treacherous heart?

Impatient of my bruising cross, I shrink, and struggle to be free; Dear Healer, send some balm, I pray. I faint because rebuked of thee.

Like storm-spent gull far out at sea, I seek in vain some resting-place, 'Tween clouds above and waves beneath. Oh, show the brightness of thy face!

There comes a voice in accents low— Child of my care, lean thou on me; The cross may never lighter grow, But as thy day thy strength shall be.

Darkest night precedes the splendor Of that long-expected morn; And their crowns will gleam the brightest Who the heaviest cross have borne.

CONVERSION.

By F. Kuegele

TRUE religion is not a thing merely of theory and speculation, but of experience and practice. A religion by which the heart and soul are not comforted, and which is not applied in practice, is an utterly worthless thing. A conversion which does not bring about a change of heart, mind, and sentiment, is only a delusion, and not a conversion at all. By it a change is brought about, so that we become different people from what we were before; and of this the converted Christian is well aware. You will not understand me as saying that conversion is a peculiar feeling creeping over the skin, or a strange kind of sensation vibrating through the nerves; we know that conversion is not a change of feeling, but a change of heart; not something bodily, but something spiritual,—the hidden, mysterious work of the Spirit of God; nevertheless, conversion is a thing of experience. A converted person may indeed not be able to name the day, time, and place when and where this wonderful work of the Spirit was effected in him, but this he knows, that a great change has occurred within him, and this he knows by many things. He knows that formerly he had no real confidence toward God, but now he has; he knows that formerly his soul had not the trust of being cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus, but now it has; he knows that formerly he could not pray with the assurance of being heard in heaven, but now he can. So conversion is a thing of experience, because the converted man knows that inwardly he has become another man than he was before; and in the persevering Christian this experience continues and multiplies. The Christian experiences that, though the flesh remains in him, yet he is no more, as he formerly was, led by the flesh, but is led by the Spirit, and is led on step by step. His spiritual knowledge expands so that he sees more clearly the counsel of God unto his salvation, becomes more grounded in the faith of Jesus, more resigned in afflictions, more experienced in battling against sin. If we, therefore, would know whether we are converted to God, and Christians indeed, we must look and see whether we are led by the Spirit of Christ; for if we are led by the Spirit of Christ we are truly Christ's own, as the apostle here says: "If ye be led of the Spirit ye are not under the law."

You might say, then, St. John in his first Epistle, chapter 4, warns us, and says: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world." How then are we to distinguish the Spirit of God from the spirits of delusion? The Lord answers: "Every tree is known by his own fruit." If a spirit makes a great show of godliness, have a little patience to look and see what fruit it will produce, and by the fruit you will be able to tax the nature and quality of the tree. A distinctive mark of the Spirit of Christ is that he leads not only into some, but into all truth, and teaches to avoid not only some, but all sins; for, promising the Holy Ghost, the Lord declared, "He will guide you into all truth;" and to the Ephesians St. Paul writes, "The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth." Every spirit teaching some truths of the Scriptures and making light of other truths revealed equally clear in the word of God, and every spirit teaching men to walk godly in some things and allowing them unrebuked to transgress in other things, is not the Spirit of God, but a spirit of delusion. Remember, therefore, to judge of the spirits, not by the pretense which they make, but by the fruit which they bring, trying all by the "more sure word of prophecy," and you will be able to distinguish the spirits and to know whether the Spirit of God is in you. The Holy Ghost works this mind and sentiment in the heart, that man wants to err in nothing, but wants to be guided into all truth; that he wants to transgress in nothing, but wants to walk in all righteousness.—Rev. F. Kuegele, in Lutheran Witness.

Continue reading: OVER AGAINST YOUR OWN HOUSE