The Present Truth, vol. 12

April 2, 1896

“Front Page” The Present Truth, 12, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

“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.” Isaiah 53:6. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.1

We have turned every one to his own way, because we regarded our way as better than the Lord’s way. The fact shows that we have regarded our own judgment as better than the Lord’s judgment. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.2

Thus we find it to be a fact that every man naturally thinks himself above and better than the Lord. So “that man of sin,” “the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4), is simply the full development of human nature. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.3

Our turning to our own way is therefore a direct insult to the Lord. “He is despised and rejected of men.” Isaiah 53:3. By what men is He despised?-By all men-by us; for “we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.4

We ourselves have done this. The insults that were heaped on Christ in Herod’s judgment hall; the crown of thorns; the spitting and the blows in the face; and the cross itself, are all chargeable to us. “The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.5

When we remember this, we may begin to appreciate the wonderful goodness and forbearance and love of the Lord in giving Himself for us. Forgetting all the insults that we have heaped upon Him, His hand is stretched out still, and His gentle voice pleads, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.6

But how shall we come to Him? We all like sheep have gone astray; we have wandered far away from the fold; how shall we know how and where to find Him? Well, in the first place, we must settle it that we cannot, except as lost sheep. Christ came to save the lost, and He accepts us in our lost condition. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.7

“Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,-
O, Lamb of God, I come.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.8

“Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve,
Because Thy promise I believe;
O Lamb of God, I come.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.9

Yet still the despairing cry is uttered, “Oh that I knew where I might find Him!” Our minds may at once be set at rest concerning that. “He is not far from every one of us.” He does not stand in His comfortable home, and call us, but He seeks us until He finds us. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” We have not to hunt for Him; He comes to us, and we have only to accept the salvation that He brings us. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.10

For let it never be forgotten that in Him is all fulness. He is not only the Shepherd seeking the lost sheep, but He is the door into the fold, and the fold itself. So, no matter how far away we have wandered, the very moment we yield to the call which He utters close beside us, we are at home. The Shepherd and the fold come to find the sheep; and from lost wanderers, we find ourselves at once in our Father’s house. What a blessed encouragement that Jesus has brought heaven itself down to earth for us. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.11

“God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.12

“Ecclesiasticism” The Present Truth, 12, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

Ecclesiasticism.-Hungary is about to celebrate the thousandth year of her existence as a nation. Therefore the Primate has granted special privileges during Lent. “Meat may be cooked with adjuncts as ordinarily during the forty days, and in towns associated with the memory of St. Stephen it is permissible to eat meat during Holy Week, with the exception of Wednesday and Friday.” Ecclesiasticism delights in binding rules of its own devising upon men, and then to release their stringency temporarily, just to show that it is itself above its rules, and that whatever the people get comes of the great power of the clergy. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 209.13

“Casting the Shadow” The Present Truth, 12, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

Many persons think so much of the influence they are going to exert that they become vain and self-conscious, and merely exhibit self. The man who must needs assume a weighty and ponderous manner in order to make himself impressive only gives an impression of himself. Spiritual egotism is the most painful thing in the world. Let the man walk with God, with eyes fixed upon him, and the influence of the life will care for itself—the less one is conscious of it the better. Some one has truly said— PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.1

“A growing tree is not thinking of the shadow it will cast. It is growing to bear its fruit or furnish the timber of its being. The shadow grows in consequence. And it is so with an honest, good life. The inspiration of it is not the desire of others’ applause, or the growth of personal influence, but the wish to do the duty of the day because it is duty. It is not by mere brains that good, enduring influence is secured, which inspires confidence, wins respect, and by the very laws of life tells on others-this is the force which a good man directs. But self-conceit, a personal vanity, and over-confidence in one’s self are not consistent with this character.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.2

“Refusing to Worship Mars” The Present Truth, 12, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

It is a simple thing. A man says, “I am a Christian. I love my fellowmen. I am commissioned by Jesus Christ to do them good, without respect of race or nation. All are my brethren, and I am debtor to give to all the Gospel of life.” But the modern military power says, “No; you must take up the weapons of war, and prepare yourself to kill your fellowmen.” And all the time the Powers talk of God and Christianity and the Gospel! An evening newspaper, the Echo, says:- PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.3

The German Government has caught a veritable modern George Fox in the person of the Alsatian soldier Thornev. He is a member of “The League of Evangelical Baptized Believers,” a sect which split off some time ago from the old German Mennonites on the question of the lawfulness of war. Thornev has been twice punished already for refusing to take his gun, though he has quietly submitted to wearing the military uniform. On his first insubordination he was condemned to two months’ imprisonment; then, upon a second refusal, he was sent to jail for a whole year. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.4

A few days ago, upon the expiration of his long arrest, Thornev was sent to join his troop, and his gun was again offered to him. He persistently declared that his conscience would not allow him to use it, or, as George Fox used to say, “to learn the postures of war.” He is now locked up for the third time, and the authorities are considerably perplexed how to deal with so incorrigible a trouper, who seems to be a man of irreproachably good character, and not in any respect a fit inmate for a prison. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.5

“How Tradition Makes Void the Word” The Present Truth, 12, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

In the days of Christ the Jewish teachers had set the traditions of the elders before the Word of God. They professed to take the Word, and read and expound it to the people, but it was the Word as interpreted by the elders. To justify their course and give a semblance of Divine authority to their traditions this theory was invented. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.6

ORAL TRADITION

They held that when Moses was called into the mount to receive the instruction which he wrote in the “Book of the Law,” he had also important teaching concerning the law committed to him which was not written. This he transmitted orally to Joshua, and Joshua in turn to the elders, and they passed it down to the men of the Great Synagogue, the doctors of the law. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.7

By this theory the rabbis sought to give Divine sanction to the oral traditions which had accumulated from generation to generation. By degrees these traditions were given equal place with the Scriptures, and by the time of Christ they had displaced the Word of God. Thus the teachers were able to claim to be the sole guardians of truth, and the people were not supposed to know anything except as a priest taught them. “This people who knoweth not the law are cursed,” said the Pharisees when the common people gladly heard the Gospel. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.8

The Jews had reached the point of apostasy which the Lord rebuked through Isaiah, saying, they “have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by precept of men.” Isaiah 29:13. For this Christ repeatedly reproved the scribes and teachers. The whole point of their opposition was that He did not follow tradition. He set free the word and taught the people to follow the Lord. When the Pharisees complained to Him, that His disciples transgressed the tradition of the elders, He replied, “Why do ye also transgress the commandments of God by your tradition?” “Full well ye reject the commandment of God that ye may keep your own tradition.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.9

THE SAME THING OVER AGAIN

Since the days of Christ we have had a perfect parallel to the story. Again the religious world is full of practices received by tradition and not founded on the Word. The Spirit of God, the Author of all truth, declared by the apostle that the Holy Scriptures were able to make the man “perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:17. Yet when doctrine and ritual are tested by the word and found wanting, the reply is that these things are established by tradition and the Church Councils. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.10

In order to explain certain practices the Catholic Church has invented the theory of apostolic tradition. The apostles, it is said, received instruction which is not recorded, which they passed down to their successors, and so it comes down through the centuries. True to its very nature, the tradition makes void the Word, and hence the people are taught not to follow the Word but to come to the teachers who are able to interpret it by the aid of the traditions of men. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.11

And not Roman Catholics alone, but the greater part of the professedly Protestant peoples, in some particulars cling tenaciously to practices which are unknown to the Scriptures. In the matter of Sunday observance, almost the whole of Christendom follows the path of tradition, which fully makes void the Sabbath commandment. It is often said that this is one of the things that Christ said, the which, if they were written, “the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” One grave Protestant Bishop says that Christ instructed the disciples to change the day and for some wise reason told them not to say anything about it. It is the old story of Moses and Joshua and the elders over again, and again it is shown that the Catholic rule of faith, “The Bible and tradition” inevitably becomes, “Tradition instead of the Bible.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.12

But it is the Word alone that is a light and a lamp to the feet. Let all believers hold it forth. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 210.13

“Not of the Will of Man” The Present Truth, 12, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

PARLIAMENTARY RELIGION

Religion is not a form. It does not consist in forms. Neither is it a theory. It is a life. To be sure, forms appear in the exercise of religious practices, for whatever exists necessarily has some form; but all people do not necessarily have the same forms. But these forms, whatever they may be, are not religion. That is, they are not the Christian religion. All other religions than the Christian religion consist wholly of forms. And herein Christianity may be distinguished from all false religions. They are dead forms; it is a living thing. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 212.1

Any other religion than the Christian religion may be changed at the pleasure of those in power. It may be regulated by Act of Parliament, at the same as the tax on tobacco. People may not like to change their religious forms at the command of the State; but when their religion consists in forms, and the right of the Government to interfere in matters of religion is granted, they have no more reason to complain of any change that may be made, than they have to complain of any other political action. They must submit to it till they can induce the law-makers to make another change. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 212.2

But the case is far different with the Christian religion. No man can accept or reject that at the wish or command of another. It is the very life of the man. A man cannot change the colour of his skin, or the state of his health, at the decree of a court. An Act of Parliament cannot remove poison from the blood; and a man who is burning up with fever cannot cool his blood and diminish the rapidity of its flow, at the command even of the king. Even so cannot the real religion of Jesus Christ be changed at the will of another. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 212.3

“The Sign of the Cross” The Present Truth, 12, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

As long as the early believers kept the faith and preached the Word they could well call the heathen world to come away from the elaborate ritual of the false worship to the simplicity of the life of faith. The mystery of the Gospel was altogether the mystery of a Divine power working in the life, and not in mysterious ceremonies. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.1

But just as soon as there came the falling away, and the Word was first taken by the multitude of professed teachers and believers, there began to come in those adaptations of the pagan forms which are apparent to this day. Cardinal Newman, speaking of these times, said:- PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.2

The rulers of the Church from early times were prepared, should the occasion arise, to adopt, or imitate, or sanction the existing rites and customs of the populace, as well as the philosophy of the educated classes.... We are told in various ways by Eusebius that Constantine, in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen, transferred into it the outward ornaments to which they had been accustomed in their own. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.3

The use which the Catholic Church has made of the sign of the cross is supposed by many to have originated in a pious commemoration of the Saviour’s death. It is far otherwise, however, and hence it has been that where the wooden cross and the sign of the cross are most in evidence, the preaching of the Cross indeed is unknown. This Catholic use of the emblem is one of the things which were adopted to please the heathen, as the Cardinal says. A work entitled “Paganism Surviving in Christianity,” by Dr. A. H. Lewis, gives the following sketch of the use of the sign of the cross in ancient times:- PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.4

A PAGAN SURVIVAL

Comparatively few readers realise that the cross was of heathen origin, and a religious symbol of the lowest order, and that it was not adopted as the symbol of Christianity until the Church was well paganised. Its origin lies in the shadows of the prehistoric period. It was a religious symbol in the Asiatic, Egyptian, Grecian, Roman, Druidic, and Central American heathenism. It originated in the lowest department of sun-worship cultus. Ishtar, the Assyrian Venus, was represented as holding a staff, the upper end of which was in the form of a Latin cross. The worship of Ishtar was one of the darkest features of the Babylonian religion. It was conducted with lacivious rites which may not be named. It corrupted the Hebrews on every side. We find it with other forms of sun-worship, polluting the temple itself, and sharply condemned by the prophet of Jehovah. See Ezekiel 8:14-18. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.5

Tammuz was the young and beautiful sun-god, the bridegroom of Ishtar who bore the cross-crowned sceptre; and this mourning for him was associated with gross obscenity. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.6

Another form of this same worship is condemned by Jeremiah thus:- PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.7

“Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.8

There is evidence to show that these cakes were marked with one form of the cross, the Greek tau (T). In later times the Greeks offered cakes thus marked to Bacchus, in connection with the vilest orgies. Specimens of these are found at Herculaneum. Similar ones have been found in the catacombs. The “hot cross-bun” is the lineal descendant of the tau (T)-marked cakes of the obscene sun-worship cultus. Its association with Friday-day of Ishtar, and Venus, Frega-is a remnant of paganism, although later efforts to Christianise it have associated it with “Good Friday.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.9

The cross appears in the Assyrian history, worn as a religious emblem by the priest-king, Samsi-lul, son of Shalamanezar, and also by Assur-Nazir-Pal. The specimens may be seen in the British Museum. It is the Greek cross, and identical with the “pectoral cross” worn by the Pope, and seen on altar-cloths at the present day. Priority of possession is several thousand years in favour of the Assyrian. The same style of crosses are found in the Etruscan Department of the Vatican Museum at Rome. They are on the breasts-painted-of certain large Etruscan male figures, and are taken from mural decorations in ancient Etruscan burial-places. Similar “pectoral” crosses may be seen also in the British Museum on two figures from Thebes, in the Egyptian Hail. They date from about 1100 B.C., and represent men of Asia bringing tribute. In Wilkinson’s Ancient Egypt the same cross may be seen on the breast of two warriors. There is a figure of the youthful Bacchus, taken from an ancient vase, with which antiquarians are familiar, holding a cup and fennel branch-a figure of much beauty. The head-dress is a band with crosses as of Horus. A portion of the band falls from the head, and with its fringe and single cross, if lengthened, would form a modern “stole.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.10

The cross is also found on a Greek pottery, dating from 700 to 500 B.C. It appears in relics of the Latin people of the same period. It was used as a symbol in Buddhism in India long before the time of Christ. It is also found in Thibet, Scandinavia, and other parts of northern Europe. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.11

That the cross was extensively known and used before the Christian era is shown by an admirable article in the Edinburg Review of October, 1870, on the Pre-Christian Cross. The author of the article claims to have collected nearly two hundred varieties of the cross, in its heathen form. He speaks of it as follows:- PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.12

From the dawn of organised paganism in the Eastern world, to the final establishment of Christianity in the Western, the cross was undoubtedly the commonest and most sacred of symbolical monuments, and to a remarkable extent it is so still in almost every land where that of Calvary is unrecognised or unknown. Apart from any distinctions or social or intellectual superiority of caste, colour, nationality, or location in either hemisphere it appears to have been the aboriginal possession of every people of antiquity-the elastic girdle, so to say, which embraced the most widely separated heathen communities, the most significant token of universal brotherhood, the principal point of contact in every system of pagan mythology, to which all the families of mankind were severally and irresistibly drawn, and by which their common descent was emphatically expressed.... Of the several varieties of the Cross still in vogue as national or ecclesiastical emblems in this and other European States, and distinguished by the familiar appellations of St. George, St. Andrew, the Maltese, the Greek, the Latin, etc., there is not one amongst them the existence of which may not be traced to the remotest antiquity. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 213.13

“Items of Interest” The Present Truth, 12, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

-Nearly 10,000 dogs have been removed from the London streets within a month. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.1

-To add to the general reign of violence in Africa the Matabele’s have revolted and massacred a number of whites. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.2

-During the year the lifeboats saved 533 lives, or 39,354 since the foundation of the institution seventy-two years ago. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.3

-Messrs. Cook, the tourist company, are trans-porting the troops of the Soudan expedition as far as they go by the Nile. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.4

-Punctuation was first used in literature in the year 1520. Before that time wordsandsentenceswereputtogetherlikethis. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.5

-Twice within a month the Spanish troops have fought each other in the Cuban campaign, each troop mistaking the other for the insurgents. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.6

-Some of the Arab sheiks in the Upper Nile region are volunteering to form their tribesmen into auxiliary corps to assist the Egyptian batallions who are moving upon Dongola. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.7

-It is reported that several coal mines in the North of England will be shut down soon. In one large mine, whose workings affect 5,000 people the loss for the year is stated at $15,000. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.8

-The Chinese are said to be swarming into Manchuria and Central Asia, clearing forest lands and reducing the wilderness to cultivation. On all this Russia is keeping its eye, and pressing the Siberian railway on to meet it. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.9

-Some of the new photographs now published show the whole of the body of a child, in which all the bones appear in clear relief. The use which such photographs will be in case of fracture or malformation is at once apparent. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.10

-An order has been promulgated in Korea that all queues must be cut. The people object, says a newspaper, and the curious spectacle is being displayed of policemen with scissors catching people in the streets and cutting off their pig-tails. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.11

-The Emperor and Empress of Russia will make their State entry into Moscow on May 22, and the coronation will take place four days later. The first three days will be spent by the Czar and Czarina in the veneration of relics and icons, the offering of prayers at the tombs of imperial ancestors, and the reception of ambassadors. Thousands of soldiers are under orders to take part in the Moscow celebrations, and to guard against possible Nihilist attacks. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.12

-A list of the books condemned by the college for examining new publications throughout Christendom would be a strange catalogue. The best and worst books of the world appear side by side in the Index. The following is the clause in the Papal rescript on this subject. “Wherefore let no one henceforward, of whatever rank or condition, venture to publish in any place or language, or to read if published, the aforesaid works thus condemned and proscribed, but let him be bound to hand them over to the ordinaries of the place, or to the inquisitors of Heresy, under the penalties laid down in the Index of Forbidden Books.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 222.13

“Back Page” The Present Truth, 12, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

A Norwich clergyman says that among the working people in the towns “not one woman of them in ten ever goes to church, and not one man in fifty.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.1

“The whole nation of England,” says a Church paper, “spends less in the year on Foreign Missions than it takes to build one ironclad.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.2

A morning paper the other day referred to the present time as “these exciting and adventurous days when each morning brings a fresh international sensation.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.3

It is stated that Catholic dealers have imported a larger number of palms this year than usual, owing to the general observance of “Palm Sunday” by the churches of the Establishment. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.4

The Church Times reproaches the Roman Catholics with lack of ardour in reciprocating the advances of the Church of England. “Reunion has not a fair chance,” it says, “while the approaches are all on one side, and the coolness on the other.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.5

“A great stir has been caused in Kent, especially among tobacconists, news-venders, and keepers of sweet shops,” according to the newspapers, “by the issue of an order by the chief constable to enforce the old Lord’s Day Observance Act, passed in the reign of Charles II.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.6

In the House of Lords last week the Archbishop of York moved the second reading of a bill regulating the opening of public-houses on Sunday. In his speech he said that previous measures had provided for the total closing of public-houses on “the Lord’s day,” as he called it; but he said that he could not in conscience support such a measure, so long as he could obtain for himself and family, on the previous day, the stimulants they required. His bill provided for one hour’s opening in the day-time, but he expressed himself as willing to insert a provision enabling public-houses to open an hour in the evening also. The Bishop of Manchester said that he could vote for the bill only on the ground that the houses should be open for an hour on Sunday evening. It is evident that these Church dignitaries do not believe that there is any real sacredness about the Sunday. They well know that it is not the Sabbath of the Lord. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.7

“We don't wonder,” says the Chronicle, “that the Peace Society has issued an ‘appeal to the people of the United Kingdom’ in face of the war estimates of this country and of Europe. Here are some of the facts it sets forth:- PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.8

ANNUAL COST OF THE ARMIES AND NAVIES OF EUROPE
1869.            1896.
£116,000,000               £230,000,000
NATIONAL DEBTS OF EUROPE
1872.            1896.
£4,680,000,000               £6,000,000,000
OUR NAVAL ESTIMATES
1881.            1896.
£10,500,000               £21,800,000

“As the peace Society points out, all the nations concerned in this reckless race of armaments are relatively in the same position as they were before it began.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.9

The chairman at the recent annual meeting of the “Workingmen’s Lord’s Day Rest Association,” a member of Parliament, said that “Sunday came not from Governments or Parliament, but was a Divine institution.” If they really believe this, why do these societies not preach the Word which they say establishes the institution instead of spending their strength trying to get courts and Parliament to enforce its observance? PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.10

“It is seventy years since the first railway in the world was finished,” says a newspaper, “and now some 400,000 miles are in existence, enough to make a dozen girdles round the earth, with a few to spare.” The world makes history rapidly in these days. Everything is going at railway speed. But there is something quicker than that, and that is the power of God; and when the Lord says of the final calling of His people that “He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth,” we may know that He will hasten forward the Gospel of His kingdom that is to be preached as a witness to all nations ere the end comes. Let no one join in the cry of the evil servant, “My Lord delayeth His coming.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.11

In the beginning man was crowned king of this earth, with all things subject to him. “But now we see not yet all things put under him.” Hebrews 2:8. Statistics for the year 1894 indicate that in India in that year 21,538 human beings were destroyed by snakes, and 2,893 more by wild beasts. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.12

From Tidernes Tegn (The Signs of the Times) published in Christiania, we learn that during the last year canvassers for Seventh-day Adventist publications delivered books in Scandinavia to the value of Kr. 114,700, or more than ?6,350 one of the principal books sold was, Den Store Strid, (“The Great Controversy”), by Mrs. E. G. White. Let the good work go on. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.13

“In a report presented to our Parliament in 1874,” says the English Churchman, “it was shown that in every country in Europe monastic and conventual establishments are subjected to restriction and supervision, with the exception of Great Britain. Consequently, in no country in the world, probably, have convents more rapidly multiplied than in this; so much so, that during the past forty years they have increased from fifty to sixty to over 500.” PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.14

A newspaper says that Emperor Menelik, of Abyssinia, “anxious to introduce all the latest resources of civilisation into his country,” has “European artillery and rifles, European drill instructors and gunners.” Europe stands for civilisation, and all the Powers profess a desire to see civilisation introduced into Africa. Who shall say that the Abyssinians have not proved themselves apt pupils? PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.15

“What to Follow” The Present Truth, 12, 14.

E. J. Waggoner

What to Follow.-“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14. “Follow after charity.” 1 Corinthians 14:1. “Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” Hebrews 6:12. “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.” Ephesians 5:1. PTUK April 2, 1896, page 224.16