Earlier text: THE LIGHT OF LIFETHE CYCLE OF THE SABBATH.
By George A. Snyder
THE weekly cycle with Sabbath rest is coexistent with the human race. The Sabbath was ordained at the close of the first week of time as a memorial of creation, and was so observed, as a few texts of scripture will show. In Gen. 4:3, 4 we read that Cain and Abel brought their offerings to the Lord "at the end of days." See margin. From Gen. 8:8-12 we learn that Noah, even during the flood, observed the weekly cycle, by sending forth the dove at the close of two consecutive periods of seven days. We read of Abraham, in Gen. 26:5, that he kept the commandments and statutes of the Lord. Thus we see clearly that the Lord had statutes and laws which were obeyed in those days; and we may reasonably conclude that the observance of the Sabbath was a prominent feature of patriarchal worship. The record gives more definite historical data for Sabbath observance than it does for the observance of some of the other Ten Commandments during the patriarchal age. Sabbath observance is spoken of in connection with the giving of the manna, not as something new, but rather as something which had been neglected during the long period of servitude in Egypt. See Ex. 16:26-28. The manna began to fall about a month prior to the speaking of the law on Sinai, and continued right along for nearly forty years, bringing its lesson of Sabbath observance before the people each week. By the weekly celebration of the Sabbath as a memorial of creation, their minds were drawn away from the idolatrous sun-worship of Egypt, and centered upon the One who created the sun. The subsequent history of Israel shows that when they forgot the Sabbath, they invariably lapsed into Egyptian sun-worship. When the Lord spoke the Sabbath commandment on Sinai, He gave the reason for its observance: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work; . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day." Ex. 20:10, 11. In giving this reason, the Lord spanned not only the time from creation to the speaking of the law on Sinai, but all future time as well. At whatever point of time it can be truly said that the Lord created all things in six days and rested the seventh, there the reason for Sabbath observance exists. That reason has existed ever since creation, and will never cease to exist. It is evident, then, that the Sabbath must always have been observed, and must always be observed by all who remember the reason. But even though people should forget the reason, it would still exist, and they would be inexcusable. It is claimed by some that the Lord did not create the earth in six literal days, but in six long, indefinite periods of time, and then rested in the seventh period. But notice: when God commanded man to work six days, and rest the seventh in memory of creation, He made no distinction between the kind of days in which He worked and rested at creation, and the kind in which man is to work and rest in memory of that event. See Ex. 20:8-11. This agrees with true science, which has demonstrated that the length of the day is governed by the revolution of the earth on its axis. Before any one can ever make it appear that the days of creation were millions of times longer than our days, he must first prove that the earth then revolved millions of times slower than it does now. Some reason that if we observe one seventh of our time, according to our convenience, we are obeying the intent of the fourth commandment. God showed clearly that such is not the case, in the miracle of giving of manna. The Sabbath was there indelibly marked as the definite seventh day of the week on which no manna fell; and the fact was further emphasized by the falling of a double portion on the sixth day of the week. Thus miraculously and repeatedly did the Lord demonstrate the definiteness of the Sabbath to ancient Israel. And the apostle tells us that "all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Compare Ex. 16; 1 Cor. 10:11. It is further declared to be impossible to keep a definite seventh day at different places on the earth at the same time, on account of variations of time. We need never have any trouble over that, because we can never be in more than one place at the same time. Wherever we are, we can always tell when the seventh day, or any other day, begins and ends. In traveling around the earth, we gain or lose a day in going east or west, as the case may be, and would be just that much ahead of, or behind the Lord's time, if we did not drop or add a day in our reckoning. The very fact that men find it necessary thus to drop or add a day in order to keep in harmony with God, is the strongest kind of proof of the definiteness of His method of measuring time. If any first-day observer thinks that God's days are not definite days, let him go around the earth just once, and lose a day without adding one to make up for the loss. He will find himself keeping the seventh-day Sabbath until he goes on around once more, and drops back to Friday; and so on indefinitely, until he learns that God's ways are definite. GEO. A. SNYDER. OUR HEAVENLY HOME.
By Mrs. Luella B. Priddy
EVER since God planted the first home in Eden the Christian home has been the nearest approach to paradise of any place on earth. The nearer the home conforms to the model established in the beginning, the greater its influence to draw its inmates heavenward. The more happiness in the home, the better able are we to appreciate the happiness of the home above. So the first work of all successful missionary operations among heathen and degraded races is to raise the standard of the home life, that the people may be enabled to understand what a joyful place heaven is. The love of home has been planted in the human heart by the Creator. Men toil and save that they may enjoy a home for a little season; but, even at its best estate, the earth home is marred by sin and sickness. Sorrow and death invade it, and men are led to ask, "Is this all of life?"—No; there is a better home than this, where all our purest and best anticipations will be realized. There will be no disappointments; for "they shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble." Isa. 65:23. So much of our labor here is in vain. We plant fruits and flowers, and the heat and frost destroy them, and the next year the work has to be done over again; but there no leaf shall fall, no blossom wither and die. "They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." Isa. 65:21, 22. Here there is much poverty and distress; but there the streets of the capital city are made of transparent gold, and its foundation walls are of precious stones. Rev. 21:18-21. The home of our first parents, before sin entered the world, was perfect; for God made it, and He pronounced it good. Let us read the description of it: "The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food." Gen. 2:8, 9. We can scarcely imagine the extent and variety of Adam's garden, for the earth has felt the effects of the curse, and now only a small part of its fruits and flowers can grow in one climate. But while Satan has been permitted to mar the world by sin, the Scriptures tell us that it will be restored to its Eden beauty. "For thus saith the Lord 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 the Lord; and there is none else." Isa. 45:18. "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:13. "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. . . . And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." Rev. 21:1-4. Christ said, "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:2. These are not uncomfortable little cabins in back alleys; they are all mansions. And in the "many mansions" of the Father's house, each child of God will have some loved and lovely spot that will be his own. If we would accustom ourselves to think upon the realities of this heavenly home, it would quicken our desires to be there. If, amid the busy round of toil, we would pause and think that we are heirs of a King, to a home far surpassing the most beautiful homes on earth, and that our inheritance will be eternal, it would add a charm to life's humblest duties done in His name, and sweeten the cup of sorrow that sometimes comes to us all. "O, the transporting, rapturous scene
That rises to my sight,
Sweet fields arrayed in living green
And rivers of delight!
"No chilling wind nor poisonous breath
Can reach that healthful shore;
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death,
Are felt and feared no more." "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." 1 Cor. 2:9.
MRS. LUELLA B. PRIDDY.
Bastrop, La. LIFE AND IMMORTALITY. No. 3.
IN every creature the Creator placed the law of that creature's life. Obedience to that law means continuance of life. Eternal obedience means eternal life. Even the seemingly inorganic mineral comes within this reign of law and life, each particular kind having its particular law. For instance, the crystals of chloride of sodium, or common salt, have their characteristic form. If dissolved and again crystallized, they resume their own characteristic shape. The crystals of chloride of potassium of Iceland spar are of other forms, and so on to the end. The perversion of the law of the formation of these crystals destroys their cohesion, and disintegration, death, follows. Plants have their law in life; in other words, there flows out from the great Fountain the eternal life of God into the plant. Normally the plant would live forever. If its law is perverted, the power of its life works death. The same is true of animals—beast, fowl, reptile, fish, and insect, only in higher degree. The life is the same in all. It flows out from the same eternal Fountain, furnishing each of God's creatures according to the law of its being, and perpetuating the existence of each as long as the law of its life is obeyed. From the highest man to the lowest polyp, nay, even to the crystal rock, all are maintained and sustained by the life of God, each according to the law of its being, written therein at its creation. Over all these lower creations man was made king. "And God said, . . . Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Gen. 1:26. "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands." Ps. 8:6. The law of man's life, of man's existence, of man's being, is the law of God's character. In other words, the moral law of God is the law of God's life; and to God's design that man should possess His character was coupled the glorious thought, purpose, that, having that character, man should live forever; his conscious, joyous existence should run parallel with that of his Maker. Perversion of Righteousness and Life.
But the choice must be man's. If man preferred the glorious boon of God's eternal life, himself God's agency in ministering it to his own and to the creatures over which he was given dominion, he could choose and possess it by yielding willingly to its blessed law. But if man preferred his own way, which is ever the perversion of God's way, he must take the consequences of death; for as righteousness is the character of God, embracing all that is good, so sin is the perversion of God's righteousness. It is "missing the mark" of God's glory. It is turning by the power of choice the unselfish ways and works of God to selfish uses. For "the law is holy" and "spiritual," but used carnally it becomes in such uses a "law of sin." Rom. 7:11-25. Righteousness is unswerving. A "right line" is a perfectly straight line. The least departure from a right or straight line makes it crooked. So the least perversion of God's perfect righteousness, or holy law, whether of intent or of ignorance, is sin. "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. And "all unrighteousness is sin." 1 John 5:17. As righteousness is the path of life, so sin is the path of death. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4, 20. "Sin, when it is finished ["full grown," R.V.], bringeth forth death." James 1:15. "The commandment, which was ordained to life, I [the sinner Paul] found to be unto death." Rom. 7:10. "To be carnally minded is death; . . . because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:6, 7. From the above and previous considerations it will be evident to the candid, unbiased reader that God's life—the eternal life of the eternal God—always flows out from the great Fountain in harmony with His holy law. From Him all life flows as eternal life. If received and used in harmony with His holy, eternal law, it will be eternal life forever. So it is in the angels who never sinned. But when that life is received by a selfish heart in harmony with a perverted law, the perverted law is sin, and the perverted life becomes death. The law of gravitation is a beneficent law. It secures the equilibrium and stability of earthly bodies, but if a man cast himself from a precipice, by the power of that, same law he is dashed to pieces. The law is good, but its power was perverted. Electricity is so harnessed that it propels street-cars and lights cities, and so used is a highly valuable agent, but if the current of the live wire which propels the car or lights the street be perverted by a broken wire, so that it enters a human body, death is almost the invariable result. The fault is not in the electricity, it is in the perversion of its current. So the perversion of God's law is sin. The perversion of God's life is death. "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." 1 Cor. 15:56. There is no force or power in evil of itself. All the power sin possesses is the power of the good perverted. The evil is not, therefore, in the power, but in the perversion of the power. Man was created "upright," "in the image of God." Before him were placed righteousness and sin, life and death, with the awfully responsible right of choice as the only means of developing character. God pleads with man to choose life, that he may live, but Infinite Power will do no more than plead and seek in every way possible to Infinite Love to win man's allegiance, but within the sacred circle of man's will God will not, can not, step without man's consent. He desires man to serve Him from choice and live; for that is the only righteous way. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" Eze. 33:11. THE ORDINANCE OF HUMILITY.
THE purpose of ordinances and memorials established by the Lord is that eternal truths may be impressed upon the minds of men. Great truths are portrayed by striking events, and these are memorialized in ordinances, that the goodness and mercy of God may not be forgotten. Men are prone to forget God and His wonderful love to them. The psalmist says of Israel, after their deliverance from Egypt by the power of God, that "they soon forgot His works; they waited not for His counsel; but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert." Ps. 106:13, 14. The results of sin from the beginning had such a degenerating effect upon the human mind that "they did not like to retain God in their knowledge," and "God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient." Rom. 1:28. This being the natural tendency of man, God desires to help the memory of those who make profession of faith in Him. Therefore He gives them visible object lessons, that through the observance of these the mind may be renewed and faith strengthened. The Spirit through Peter tells us that we need to be reminded even of the things which we know. See 1 Peter 1:12, 15; 3:1, 2; also Jude 5. In the thirteenth chapter of John we have the record of the institution of the ordinance of feet washing. It is very explicit. Jesus rose from the Passover supper to perform the act, which was then and there set apart to be observed by His disciples. True, there was a then present reason for this impressive object lesson in humility; for Luke, in reporting this Passover occasion, says, "There was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest." Luke 22:24. But if those who had spent so much time in His personal company, and had witnessed so much of His life of meek humility, needed such a lesson at that solemn, critical moment, it certainly would not be amiss for those coming into the church in after times, especially when the "falling away" should come in the last days. If, as in the ordinance of the Lord's supper, it be necessary to "show the Lord's death till He come" (1 Cor. 11:26), why should it be of less importance to commemorate His humility of life until that time? We might almost say that the latter ordinance or memorial is the more necessary of the two, inasmuch as those who profess Christianity are, as a rule, more willing to follow Christ's example in dying for their religion than they are to imitate His humility in living it. Concerning this ordinance of humility the record is very plain, and the injunction for its observance is emphatic. How did He do it?—"He pourreth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded." What was the command for future celebration of the ordinance?—First, the assertion of His authority: "Ye call Me Master and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am." Secondly, the direction: "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to [owe it to] wash one another's feet. For I have given7you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." But this ordinance has been neglected, ignored, practically rejected by the mass of professing Christians. Only a few now observe it at all. We are told that Christ was only observing a common custom; but there was no such custom. It was a common act of hospitality to give sojourners who came to a house water to wash their own feet. See Gen. 18:1-5; Luke 7:44. On this occasion the necessary hospitality was observed by the owner of the house, who had provided for them "a large upper room furnished and prepared." Mark 14:15. The company comprised merely a family of brethren, with present temporal wants all supplied, and there was no call for hospitality among them. Had this ceremony of feet washing been a custom, Jesus could not have said, "What I do thou knowest not now;" for they were all well acquainted with the customs of the country. He was teaching them a great spiritual truth, to be afterward commemorated by a visible act. The promise, "Thou shalt know hereafter," indicated further that they did not then understand the import of the ordinance. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:13, 14), and they had not yet the spiritual understanding with which they were afterward endued. The neglect of this ordinance, its virtual rejection by many, and its open rejection by many more, comes from a failure to appreciate its import. Even some who formally observe it do so under the impression that it is designed merely to commemorate that one humble act of the Saviour in washing the feet of His disciples. But it means more; it points to the whole humble life of the Lord, of which that act was but one, altho a very striking one. In observing the ordinance of the Lord's supper we commemorate more than the expiration on the cross. The Lord's whole earthly career was one of sacrifice, contemplating the giving of His life as the climax. His purpose in taking upon Himself our nature was for the "suffering of death; . . . that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." So the ordinance of humility should bring to mind afresh the humility of Him who stooped from the exalted position of Ruler of the universe to that of bearing the sins of the whole world and suffering the penalty on the cross. "Who, being in the form of God, . . . made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Phil. 2:6-8. The humility was as manifest when He at first volunteered to take this step as when He took the basin and towel to wash the disciples' feet. Coming to earth on His mission of self-denial, He was born in a stable, cradled in a manger, and His parents were of the poorer class, who resided in a Galilean city, despised by those who looked for the Messiah to come in pompous display of temporal power. The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah should always be read in connection with the record in John 13 of the institution of the ordinance of humility. Long before the Saviour's advent to earth, the prophet said: "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth." Verses 2-7. It is not uncommon to hear an objector say, "I would not be ashamed to wash the feet of a brother, if it were necessary; I don't think such an act shows any great humility." And herein lies a misconception of the ordinance; it is not designed to display humility, but to commemorate a life of humility in Him whose example we are enjoined to follow. The cross is not in the simple act, but in the humble life that is essential to a true appreciation of what the ordinance means, and an appreciation of the importance of obeying a commandment of the Saviour, however insignificant it may appear in itself. To dip himself seven times in the waters of Jordan seemed a foolish act to Naaman the Syrian, but in obedience to the direction of the prophet he was healed of his leprosy. To the institution of the ordinance of feet washing the Saviour adds, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." Is not the promise of the Lord worthy of attention? Does not every child of God want to be happy? There is no true happiness to him who, knowing his Master's will, neglects or refuses to do it. Luke 12:47. Surely the lesson of the Lord's great life of humility and self-denial is worthy of a simple memorial designed to impress it upon our weak minds, which are so prone to forget. And no one can afford to forego the promise of happiness, that is sure to those who exercise an obedience wrought in faith. COUNTRY VERSUS CITY.
By Editor
WE have noted from time to time the superiority of the country over the city in the early education of the boy. The following, from Prof. H. W. Foster, superintendent of schools in Ithaca, N. Y., printed in the Independent of August 2, is so good that we give it to our readers. Mr. Foster's article is headed "Physical Education versus Degeneracy." He says:— It is generally conceded that the country-bred boy has made for himself a strong record. Necessity, difficulties, effort, struggle, are essential factors in maintaining a vigorous stock. City life can be shown to lack certain essential elements in the training of a vigorous manhood. This fact becomes extremely important in view of the present drift toward the city, and the marvelous increase of the means to make life easy. The old, ungraded district school is often given credit for the success of the country-born. The country boy's success in the world has been attained, not because of the ungraded country school, but in spite of it. The real cause lies in the home life on the farm, and not in the district school. Through that life these elements of character are directly cultivated,—fearlessness, pluck, self-reliance, activity, responsibility, patience, endurance, judgment. The boy becomes conscious of the necessity and dignity of labor, aggressive in the pursuit of his purposes; he gains skill to contrive various ways to meet difficulties, and a ready use of his physical powers. Here are the foundations of a vigorous character. Without these how shall success be attained? The boy may not, indeed, react against his environment. He will surmount his difficulties and grow thereby in manliness, or, failing to react against them, he will live unresponsive and dead to progress. Upon the farm, labor is dignified; to rich and poor alike it is honorable. It calls for the application of intelligence. It is no mere tending of machines, to be assumed at the strident, imperious call of the whistle, to be dropped without interest the instant the whistle blows again. The child sees it not only honorable, but a necessity. Seed must be sown for the harvest, but before the sowing the plow must break the ground. Live stock must be fed, and the living animals appeal to his loving care. Fires must be supplied with fuel, that the household may enjoy the comforts of the fireside. However unwillingly he may sometimes appear to go about his toil, he never doubts the justice nor the honor of labor. Your farm boy has responsibilities placed upon him, and his judgment is cultivated. He must rise early enough to get his chores done before school; he must get back and attend to them after school. There is wood for him to split and get in; there are cows to be milked, stables to be cleaned, live stock to be fed. He must push ahead with his work to get it done in time. He must feed judiciously, he must milk clean, so that the cows shall not go dry. He feels that he shares some of the responsibility for the sustenance of the family. He becomes self-reliant, because he finds in himself power to do. Ox and horse are obedient to his will. The tough knot will yield at last to his vigorous axe. Where he sows, the green crops spring up and grow to maturity. He endures cold, heat, and fatigue with fortitude. For his labor he is rewarded with strength of body. He must learn to manage and repair the farm implements and machines. He is compelled to be a "handy" man. The farm has furnished a training of the vigorous mind and body in that "just familiarity betwixt mind and things" which Bacon so aptly states to be the object of education. There is another element which the country boy's association with nature brings him, and which is wanting in that of the city lad, and that is sincerity and honesty. Not that the country boy is by nature more honest than the city boy, but the country itself is more sincere, more honest, than the city. Nature does not deceive the boy. She meets him always with commendable ingenuousness when he has learned her ways. She does not cover up; she does not hide the corrupting cesspool with a fair exterior. She does not say, "Sow thistles and reap wheat." It is man that does this, and the city is the fruit, the reflection of human effort; with all its dishonesty and insincerity. Let us say to the farm boy, Do not long for the city. Use your opportunities for the building up of a strong, noble manhood, on the farm. Let parents study the things suggested in these thoughts. The character, the education of their children is of importance beyond compare. POOR, frail human beings all need rest. Sin has made us all very tired. We tire physically and spiritually. Our follies lead us to such excesses that we all become abnormally tired. Few take the rest they might enjoy, the physical rest which an indulgent providence has provided for even the persistent sinner. We are in an age of intensity; men are rushing on in quest of the perishing things of earth. They press on at such an unnatural rate that they are too tired to enjoy the little measure of success which they do gain. How much better to heed the invitation of the Saviour, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. . . . For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light"! THE movement away from Rome in Catholic Austria, tho strongly political in character, tho lacking in the elements of true Protestantism, is, nevertheless, of no mean proportion. Not less than 15,000, it is said, had left the Roman Churches as early as the 1st of May this present year, and the movement is gaining momentum. Earnest appeals are made in all quarters for means to build Protestant churches. At first the Catholic Church ignored the movement, but now it is actively engaged against it. The government, which is Catholic, has been opposed all along, and has done all it could to hamper and restrict the work, by punishment, arrest of its servants, and even discharge of military men who have circulated Protestant literature. One society in Germany has distributed in Protestant literature not less than 8,800 pounds of Bibles and other literature. The conversions in Vienna the last year amount to 1,382. This will be a decided loss to the Roman Church, at least for a time. It is not as great a gain to Christianity as might at first appear. In most cases it is but a change of creed, not of heart. It does not bear the essentials of true Protestantism, the Bible and Bible alone, and absolute divorce from all State aid. But it does this,—it presents an excellent missionary field, we should judge, for the presentation of true Bible Protestantism, the preaching of the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. Unless those who leave the Roman communion come to know that, they will either return to Rome or become infidel, either of which is deplorable. THE DRIFT TOWARD MONARCHISM.
IT is not generally known that there exists in this country to-day an element whose purpose it is to turn the republic into a monarchy. Nevertheless, the existence of such an element is a reality. It was first openly manifest in the demand, on the part of many people, for an expanded constitution, and an expanded interpretation of the Declaration of Independence, such as would comport with the course upon which the republic had entered. The law must be altered that the act might be legal. So far has this monarchical sentiment advanced that the open denunciation of those time-honored documents is heard again and again in public assemblies by prominent speakers; and influential journals are supporting the movement in the most outspoken manner. The doctrine of the equal rights of men is made a laughing stock by many a learned speaker, and the "divine right" of king and master is finding favor with some. The oppressed of the Old World sought liberty in the New; but their children are holding under military subjection three times as many inhabitants of the Old World as fought for liberty in the New. That such an act was out of harmony with the spirit of both the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, was denied by some. Others—and they are coming to be the majority—admit what is known to be a fact, and declare those documents "out of date." The bolder ones declare these sublime principles "absurd maxims," "an absurdity," and "an insult to the intelligence of the people." The following is a portion of what the Des Moines Globe has to say on the subject:— "For a long time thinking people who have large commercial interests have felt unsafe with our present form of government. Now is a good time to do away with our obsolete Constitution, and adopt a form of government that will be logical, with expansion ideas, and will give ample protection to capital. "A constitutional monarchy is probably the most desirable plan that we could now adopt. Everything is ripe for the change. . . . We believe that history and experience have proven beyond cavil that a republican form of government can not subsist beyond a certain stage; that as soon as a people become rich, strong, and great, the republic droops and dies. We believe this is so of necessity, and not by chance. We believe that there is not a single case on record where the masses of a great nation possessed the intelligence to initiate laws, and were intelligent to compel enforcement of such good laws as they might pass. It would seem as if science teaches that men were created to follow their masters,—the inspired minds of the world. History shows that a king must be and is found in every nation, to guide its people in every great crisis. Neither is the change to be dreaded or looked forward to with foreboding. While we are in fact largely under the conditions of a monarchy, we have the evils without the benefit of the same." The position of the Army and Navy Journal, of Washington, D. C., is set forth in the following extract from that paper:— "Fate has decreed for us a destiny in which an imperial executive, free from the restraints of a written constitution, will govern the colonies according to his own ideas." The following, in the same line, is from the Investors' Review, published at Boston, Mass.:— "It is folly to assert that the policy of this country shall be governed by absurd maxims uttered more than a hundred years ago. The greatest evil which now confronts us is the clamor about the old Declaration of Independence, to the effect that all men ought to be free and equal. This is merely generalization of the doctrines of Voltaire and the encyclopedists. It is a dictum absolutely lacking foundation in history, and incapable of syllogistic justification. It suited our purpose in 1776, when we were breaking away from the mother country, but it was only a bit of sublimated demagogism. To bring forward this declaration in this year 1900 is as gross an absurdity as ever was practised, and an insult to the intelligence of the people." These quotations are not given for the purpose of showing how blind to the rights of man and the principles of justice are they who could in seriousness pen them, but rather to show the drift of a current which is growing stronger every day,—a current in which is being drowned the liberty-loving, justice-loving spirit of the people. It was necessary that this spirit should be overwhelmed if this government, which had eschewed and denounced the dragonic principle of force, should itself one day "speak as a dragon;" and the movement toward that end is sufficiently rapid to astonish any who will pause to consider it. This government, which arose, as it were, out of the earth—not out of the wars and strifes of nations—and incorporated in its fundamental law those lamb-like principles of peace, must revoke those principles and adopt the harsher principles of the Old World governments. See Rev. 13: 11. The prophecy will be fulfilled; the lamb-like principles will be revoked; and the nation will "speak as a dragon." The rapidity of present movements toward that end compels the belief that that time is not far distant; and then will follow the ushering in of the great day of God, and that "everlasting kingdom" which shall be given to the "saints of the Most High." "Be ye also ready." C. M. S. THE VOICE OF THE ELEMENTS.
MEN are compelled by every-day occurrences to recognize the increasing destructiveness of the elements. Tornadoes are increasing in frequency and in the fury with which they sweep over the earth; and the commotions of "the great deep" by tidal waves and submerged volcanoes are reported from all parts of the world, while earthquakes are practically continuous. A long series of investigations was recently completed from the statistics of German insurance companies and given to the press. These investigations show a remarkable increase in the frequence and violence of lightning strokes. Several authorities have been convinced that "the intensity of thunderstorms has been steadily increasing during recent years, and that the annual number of lightning strokes and that of injuries to buildings from the same cause are also growing rapidly." The Literary Digest translates the following on this subject from the Revue Scientifique:— "For the central part of the empire [Germany] the number of buildings struck by lightning was on an average 110.8 to the million during the years 1864 to 1876, while from 1877 to 1889 the figure rose to 223.1. For Germany in general, the proportion was 164.2 for the years 1876 to 1883, 258.4 for 1884 to 1891. During the period 1883 to 1897 the increase continued to take place. In sixty-five years the average of accidents was sextupled. From 1833 to 1842 the proportion was 31 in each million of buildings insured, and it rose to 190 for the period 1888 to 1897. "The statistics studied show also that thunderstorms have gained in intensity; for shattering lightning strokes have increased, while those causing fire have diminished. It is well known, as a result of laboratory experiments, that the most violent electrical discharges have a shattering effect, while the weaker ones cause fire. "In the monthly Weather Review [March, 1900], Henry shows that during the year 1899 the number of deaths from lightning was greater than in any preceding year." These statistics, from one of the most reliable authorities in the world, taken in connection with what we can see from day to day of the increased violence of the elements, must convince all who will give the matter thought that the prophecies in reference to the final consummation of this earth's history are faithfully and rapidly fulfilling. We feel the trembling of the old earth; we see the terrible tornado and cyclone; we hear the "sea and the waves roaring;" we see the miseries of mankind, the "distress of nations with perplexity," "men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth;" and soon we shall see "the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." The voice of the elements is a warning voice. Let all give heed. C. M. S.