The Present Truth, vol. 12

April 30, 1896

“Giving Praise” The Present Truth, 12, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

The Divine injunction is, “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” Psalm 150:6. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 273.1

This is without qualification. Rich and poor, high and low, the prosperous and the afflicted, the good and bad,-all are called upon to praise the Lord. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 273.2

There is no reason in the world why all men should not praise Him. “He is good;” and “His mercy endureth for ever.” Psalm 137:1. “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” Psalm 33:5. “He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.” Luke 6:35. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 PTUK April 30, 1896, page 273.3

But some will say, “I don't see how it is possible for the wicked to praise the Lord; for when I am conscious of having sinned, my mouth is closed, and I cannot praise Him.” There are very many professed Christians whose experience is the same. They praise the Lord when they feel in good case, and not otherwise. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 273.4

That which such ones call praising the Lord is really praise of themselves. The Pharisee doubtless thought he was praising the Lord when he said, “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men.” He had no consciousness of sin, he felt good, and so he praised-himself. The fact that so many persons do not think that they can praise the Lord except when they feel in the best condition, is evidence that their praise is not for what the Lord is but for what they are, or what they think they are. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 273.5

True praise to God is that which arises solely from a sense of His goodness. The highest angel in heaven would find nothing for which to praise the Lord, if he looked to himself. We can praise only the object that we are looking at and thinking about. Praise to God is for what He is, and not for what we are. Now God is always the same, no matter what our condition. Therefore He is always worthy of praise. Out of the depths we may praise the Lord, and thereby be lifted up into the presence of His glory; for He says, “Whoso offereth praise, glorifieth Me.” If the wicked would begin to praise the Lord, they would cease to be wicked. In our greatest sinfulness we may praise the Lord for His love and mercy to sinners. The goodness of God leads to repentance, and the continual recognition of that goodness keeps the soul in dependence upon it. So let all say in sincerity: “I will extol Thee, my God, O King; and I will bless Thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless Thee; and I will praise Thy name for ever and ever.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 273.6

“Essaying the Impossible” The Present Truth, 12, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

“Without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better,” says the Scripture. That is the reason why the greatest human intellect is misdirected when it essays to defend or vindicate the Bible. The Word of God requires no vindication. No great man can do anything for the Word, save to speak it, and to believe it. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.1

The other day a newspaper described an introduction which Mr. Gladstone has written for a new Bible History, as “a masterpiece of vindication.” The notion that the Bible is a book which a great man and a scholar can vindicate springs from the impression that it is more or less a product of human thought, capable of being strengthened by superior human intellect. Hence it is not surprising that the reviewer quotes, as worthy “to be written up in letters of gold“:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.2

It is not the Bible that produced religion and morals, but religion and morals that produce the Bible. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.3

Every one knows that Mr. Gladstone thinks to commend the Bible, and he says many things in a beautiful way of it, but when the finite attempts to measure the infinite and apologise for God’s own Word, the result is sure to be a pitiful failure. So subtle is the spirit of scepticism that the work of tearing down the foundations of belief goes on even in literature professing to speak for the Bible. It is because Mr. Gladstone rejects-by interpreting-the matter-of-fact statements of the creation, and is willing to submit other portions to “critical and corrective judgment” that a newspaper that is always reviewing with favour the work of the most advanced “higher critics” hails his contribution as a “masterpiece of vindication.” But “the foundation of God standeth sure.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.4

“‘Who Is My Neighbour?’” The Present Truth, 12, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

Politeness and courtesy should be the habit of our lives. Tenderness, thoughtfulness, kindness, should so invariably characterise every thought and word and act as to leave no room for a suspicion of roughness, thoughtlessness, or unkindness. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.5

There is an unlimited breadth of consideration for others in the injunction: “Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them.” The surly question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” was the impulsive reply elicited by the preliminary examination in the first murder trial. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.6

Was it not a certain lawyer who asked the Master what he should do to inherit eternal life?-and the Master replied by asking him how he read the law, and what he found written there. He answered that he found there the injunction to love God, and to love his neighbour as himself. But when he was commended for this he asked again-“And who is my neighbour?” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.7

Yes, who is my brother and neighbour? Who is this man to whom I should ever be polite, and courteous, tender, thoughtful, and kind, whom I should love as myself? Who is he indeed, and how shall I be able always to recognise him? Shall I know him by his fair skin and the cut of his clothing,-because he is dressed in a scarlet uniform, and carries a saber or a Maxim gun? Who is my neighbour and my brother? “But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?” Did the question justify him? If not, then we are not justified in our caste prejudice, or our racial favouritisms. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.8

Mr. D. L. Moody, the Evangelist, has expressed himself with characteristic plainness upon some of the race and caste animosities which have come within his own experience and observation:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.9

Down South you tell a white man that the negro is his neighbour and his brother, and he has got through all dealings with you. You cannot preach to him any more. It is the same in California. It will not do to tell the white man in California that the Chinaman is his neighbour and brother, or he will get mad at you. I was going down a street in San Francisco when a white hoodlum rushed out and seized a Chinaman by the queue and pulled him over flat on the walk. I interfered on behalf of the Chinaman; the hoodlum was mad at me, said he didn't think so much of me as he did of the Chinaman; he drew a knife, and I came near losing my life, just because I didn't want to see the Chinaman abused. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.10

We are no better than the Jews who despised the Samaritans. We are a mean lot, the whole of us. It is so easy to be a priest or a Levite. Tell a high-toned man that the reeling drunkard in the city streets is his neighbour, and he will be indignant at you. We do not get acquainted with ourselves. If we did we should come closer to the knowledge of who our neighbour is. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.11

We should become acquainted with Christ and He will show us ourselves. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.12

The time is past in which we can have any doubt as to who is our neighbour and our brother, and as to what our duty is toward him. We know that to love the Lord, and thy neighbour as thyself, is written in the law, and that the reply of Jesus to the lawyer was, “This do and thou shalt live.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.13

“On the Mount of Transfiguration” The Present Truth, 12, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

MOSES AND ELIAS

When Christ comes on His throne of glory, with a cloud of angels, to give reward to the righteous, there will be two great classes of them: those who shall be translated without seeing death, and those who shall be raised from the dead. These, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, shall also appear with Him in glory. Colossians 3:4. Now representatives of these two classes were with Him on the mount of transfiguration. If they had not been, it would not have been a true representation of the “power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” as Peter says it was. All Bible readers are familiar with the fact that Elijah (the Hebrew form of the name which in Greek is Elias) was translated without seeing death. See 2 Kings 2:1-11. The record says that as he and Elisha went on, and talked, “behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder: and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” So Elijah was there with Christ in the mount, as a representative of those who, when Christ comes, shall be caught up to meet the Lord without tasting death. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.14

Concerning Moses, we have the record: “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He [the Lord] buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.” Deuteronomy 34:5, 6. Turn to Jude 9, where we read: “Yet Michael the Archangel, when contending with the devil He disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuked thee.” What could cause a dispute between Christ (who is Michael) and the devil, concerning the body of Moses? Only this one thing, that the devil has the power of death (Hebrews 2:14); he brought sin into the world, and death comes by sin; those who die he considers his lawful prey, and he refuses to open the house of his prisoners (Isaiah 14:16, 17), which is the grave. He is the strong man keeping guard over his house; but Christ is the stronger than he, who has entered into his house, overpowering him (Luke 11:21, 22), and who now has the keys of death and the grave. Revelation 1:18. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 274.15

This power Christ gained by virtue of His death (Hebrews 2:14); but long before His death and resurrection He had this power through the promise and the oath of God, which were the surety that He would be offered. Knowing these facts, and reading that Christ contended with the devil over the body of Moses, we are forced to the conclusion that their dispute was concerning the resurrection of Moses, Satan claiming that Christ had no right to take him. But in every contest with Satan, Christ has come off victorious, and so Moses was raised from the dead, and appeared with Christ on the holy mount, as a representative of those who, at the second coming of Christ, shall be brought from their graves to ever be with the Lord. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.1

If there should still be a lingering doubt in the minds of any that Moses was really raised from the dead, and they should think that it was only his disembodied spirit that appeared on the mount, we will state (1) that the transfiguration is expressly declared by Peter to have been a representation of “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and that at that time he and James and John were “eye-witnesses of His majesty,” which shows that it was a view of Christ in His kingly glory; (2) it is absolutely certain that when Christ comes there will be no such thing as disembodied spirits, because, says Paul, he “shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21), and this change is performed for both the living and the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:51. When the saints are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, it is with their own bodies glorified like the body of Christ. Therefore, (3) since the transfiguration was a representation, on a small scale, of this glorious event, it is certain that Moses must have been there in person, and not in shadow. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.2

“Christ the Lawgiver” The Present Truth, 12, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

“For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us.” Isaiah 33:22. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.3

In Numbers 20:4-6, we have the partial record of an incident that took place while the children of Israel were in the wilderness:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.4

“And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.5

The people spoke against God and against Moses, saying, Why have ye brought us up into the wilderness? They found fault with their Leader. This is why they were destroyed by serpents. Now read the words of the Apostle Paul concerning this same event: “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.” 1 Corinthians 10:9. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.6

What does this prove? That the Leader against whom they were murmuring was Christ. This is further proved by the fact that, when Moses cast in his lot with Israel, refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Hebrews 11:26. Paul says that the Fathers “did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:4. And in the third of Hebrews it is again shown that it was Christ who was “grieved forty years” in the wilderness. So, then, Christ was the Leader of Israel from Egypt. Moses, the visible leader, “endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.7

Now read Exodus 20:1-3:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.8

“And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.9

Who spoke these words? The One who brought them from Egypt. And who was the Leader of Israel from Egypt? It was Christ. Then who spoke the law from Mount Sinai? It was Christ, the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His Person, who is the manifestation of God to man. It was the Creator of all created things, and the One to whom all judgment has been committed. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.10

THE VOICE THAT SPAKE THE LAW

This point may be proved in another way. When the Lord comes, it will be with a shout (1 Thessalonians 4:16), which will pierce the tombs and arouse the dead. John 5:28, 29. “The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall mightily roar upon His habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 25:30, 31. Comparing this with Revelation 19:11-1, where Christ, as the Leader of the armies of heaven, the Word of God, King of kings, and Lord of lords, goes forth to tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, destroying all the wicked, we find that it is Christ who roars from His habitation against all the inhabitants of the earth, when He has His controversy with the nations. Joel adds another point, when he says, “The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake.” Joel 3:16. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.11

From these texts, to which others might be added, we learn that, in connection with the coming of the Lord to deliver His people, He speaks with a voice that shakes the earth and the heavens,-“The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage.” 2 Peter 3:10. Now read Hebrews 12:25, 26:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.12

“See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 275.13

The time when the Voice speaking on earth shook the earth was when the law was spoken from Sinai (Exodus 19:18-20; Hebrews 12:18-20), an event that for awfulness has never had a parallel, and never will have until the Lord comes, with all the angels of heaven, to save His people. But note: the same Voice that then shook the earth will, in the coming time, shake not only earth, but heaven also; and we have seen that it is the voice of Christ that will sound with such volume as to shake heaven and earth, when He has His controversy with the nations. Therefore it is demonstrated that it was the voice of Christ that was heard from Sinai, proclaiming the ten commandments. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 276.1

Is it asked how Christ could be the Mediator between God and man, and also the Lawgiver? We have not to explain how it can be, but only to accept the Scripture record that it is so; and the fact that it is so is that which gives strength to the doctrine of the atonement. The sinner’s surety of full and free pardon lies in the fact that the Lawgiver himself, the One against whom he has rebelled and whom he has defied, is the One who gave Himself for us. How is it possible for anyone to doubt the honesty of God’s purpose, or His perfect goodwill to men, when He gave Himself for their redemption? For let it not be imagined that the Father and Son were separated in this transaction: They were one in this, as in everything else. The counsel of peace was between them both (Zechariah 6:12, 13); and, even while here on earth, the only begotten Son was in the bosom of the Father. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 276.2

What a wonderful manifestation of love! The innocent suffered for the guilty; the Just, for the unjust; the Creator, for the creature; the Maker of the law, for the transgressors of the law; the King, for His rebellious subjects. Since God spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all; since Christ voluntarily gave Himself for us,-how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? Infinite love could find no greater manifestation of itself. Well may the Lord say, “What could have been done more to My vineyard that I have not done in it?” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 276.3

“Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 276.4

“The Child-Mirror” The Present Truth, 12, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

In the National Review is a paper on the sayings of children, showing the quaint philosophy of childhood. The writer says:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 277.1

Very charming in this way are the half disclosures of the natural egoism of the first attempt at politeness and kindness. A wee maiden who was enjoying a swing cast a half pitiful glance at her unlucky comrade who was standing and looking on with big and admiring eyes, and observed, “I wish I wasn't so fond of swinging, then I would get out and let you swing.” With this may be compared the following mal apropos. A little girl on taking her toy from another child who was playing with it said, by way of explanation, “You know we can't both enjoy it.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 277.2

Grown-up selfishness may see itself as in a mirror here. Though experience and pride may teach the adult not to avow the selfishness so frankly, how often he uses the same infantile logic to excuse his faults. Thus one excuses his irritation by pleading an irritable disposition; it is “his way.” But this is precisely the difficulty. Like the child who thought she wished to let her playmate swing, many people say they wish they were rid of bad habits and yet cling to them. The fact is, we can do as we wish. If we wish to drop the sin that besets us, there is strength enough from heaven to enable us to be free. If we cling to the sin and selfishness it is because we love it. It is important that we should recognise this fact. The Lord is no more deceived by the reasoning with which we are prone to satisfy conscience for having our own way than we are by the transparent excuses of these very natural little girls. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 277.3

“An ‘Easter Symposium’” The Present Truth, 12, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

In its Easter number the New York Independent publishes twenty-four columns from twelve different writers, prominent in religion, literature, and education, upon the subject of Easter day and immortality. This is a religious subject; the Independent is a religious paper, the majority of the writers contributing to this “Easter Symposium,” belong to the ministerial profession; the question is one upon which the Bible is the only sufficient authority,-yet, in the whole twenty-four columns, containing nearly twenty-seven thousand words, there are to be found but twelve references to Scripture texts, while even these are not all relevant to the subject,-certainly not as understood by the writer,-and all are to be found in three of the articles, leaving nine without even an attempt at Scriptural substantiation of the views presented, or expression of Biblical foundation for the thoughts they embody. The treatment accorded the subject of the day, Easter, and its celebration, is superficial and purely sentimental,-scarcely excepting, even, one historical article entitled, “Easter Holidays in Old England,” in which the author in one of his first paragraphs destroys the religious significance of the festival, to those who profess Christianity, by the source from which he draws the origin of the day and its observance. He says:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 277.4

The celebration of Easter is of very ancient origin. Some authorities derive the name from the Saxon Oster (to rise). Others trace it to Eoster, or Easter, a Saxon goddess, whose rites were kept at the opening of spring. Sloane suggests that the Saxon Eoster, the English Star and the Hebrew Ashtaroth, all came from a long-forgotten original-perhaps Phoenician-signifying fire. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 277.5

A very old English Easter custom was the extinguishing of all the household fires toward the end of Passion Week, to be relit on Easter Even from consecrated flints preserved in the churches especially for the purpose; from regard to the popular belief that holy fire thus obtained would avert the evil effects of tempests, thunder-storms, etc.-the flint signifying Christ and the fire the Holy Ghost. In this connection was the invarable custom of extinguishing the fires in the old baronial halls. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 277.6

The Festival, a publication dating as far back as 1511, says of the latter domestic usage: PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.1

“This day [Easter] is called in many places Goddes Sondaye; ye know well that it is the matter at this daye to the fyre out of the hall, and black Wynter brandes, and all thynges that is foul with fume and smoke shall be done awaye, and there the fyre was, shall be gayly arrayed with fayer flowers, and strewed with grene rysshes all aboute.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.2

The article makes reference to various ancient customs more or less puerile and ridiculous and illustrates them by antiquarian excerpts from records in the Tower and writings of early English Churchmen, and closes with a reference to the poetry of Easter, giving several quotations from Dean Milman, Matthew Bridges, Mrs. Hemans, and others. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.3

All this, from the standpoint of literary interest and curiosity is quite interesting and delightful. The same thing can be said of the columns of dissertation upon the subject of “Immortality” when viewed as an exhibition of able and subtle intellectual gymnastics, the futility of which is so well understood that there is no attempt on the part of the reader to take it seriously. Yet the thoughtful reader, who possesses a true Biblical intelligence upon the subject, cannot but be impressed with a profound sadness at so much earnest feeling, capacity of thought and expression, and mental ability dissipated upon things which, so far as the eternities are concerned, are more baseless than the fabric of a dream. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.4

Is it not time to call a halt on such investigations in the realm of theory and philosophy so called, however beautifully rounded the phrases, and powerful the rhetoric in which they are embodied, when the result is nothing more reassuring than such statements as this:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.5

On every side, from beginning to end, this subject is beset with difficulties; but altogether I am of the opinion that there is scientific warrant for the assertion of post-mortem personal self-consciousness in identity with ante-mortem self-consciousness. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.6

Or this from another article:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.7

There is no conclusive evidence of the truth of the doctrine of immortality.... There is no conclusive evidence that the doctrine of immortality is false. We must then deal with the doctrine as an unverified hypothesis. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.8

Or this from yet another, which clearly expresses the error into which the religious mind must fall when it gives itself to the guidance of human philosophy on this subject. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.9

Death, then, is the transition from a life in God here to a better and purer life in God. It is birth rather than death. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.10

So philosophy ever reverses Biblical teaching, continually reiterating in varied form that early falsehood of the father of lies, “Thou shalt not surely die.” Through belief in this came sin, sorrow, and death into the world. An error which has been fraught with such results is not, then, likely to be harmless now. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.11

A very few scriptures decide the question,-and decide it fully, definitely, without leaving room for quibble or question. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.12

Immortality can only come from its possessor, Him “who only hath immortality” (1 Timothy 6:16); it is the gift of God, and man can attain to it only through Christ: “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:12. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.13

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order; Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” 1 Corinthians 15:22, 23. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.14

“Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:...So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” Verses 52-54. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 278.15

“A Scandinavian School” The Present Truth, 12, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

The neede of providing better facilities for training workers in the Scandinavian countries-better than could be provided in local church schools-led our friends in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark to build and equip a school in Frederikshav, Denmar. The school has been running nearly two years and is filling a deeply felt want, enjoying a patronage nearly equal to its capacity to accommodate. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 279.1

The following statement by one who has visited the place will interest those who are interested in seeing the Gospel of the Kingdom making progress in Northern Europe; for the special work of the Frederikshavn institute is, under God, to qualify labourers for the various branches of Gospel work carried forward by Seventh-day Adventists:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 279.2

“Frederikshavn is situation on the northern point of Denmark, and has good steamer connections with both Norway and Sweden. This makes it a favourite point for the location of a school which looks for its patronage to all three Scandinavian countries. Of the five thousand or more inhabitants of Frederikshavn, the largest number look to the sea for their living, and the harbour usually presents a scene of considerable acvtivity. However, the outlying district forms a good farming community, and along the smooth, hard roads, which branch out in various directions as they leave the city, are many well-filled farms and substantial farm buildings. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 279.3

“A brisk wall of ten or twelve minutes from the post-office brings one to the High School, which is built on seashore, only a few rods from the waters of the Cattegat. There is a garden and grove of small trees in the rear of the school, and tastefully-laidout grounds in front. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 279.4

“The faculty is composed largely of persons who have studied at the University of Copenhagen, and who are thus well qualified to do thorough work in their respective branches. Considerable stress is laid upon Bible and history, and the courses in the Scandinavian languages are thorough and satisfactory.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 279.5

“Items of Interest” The Present Truth, 12, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

-Great Britain’s territory in Africa amounts to 2,570,000 square miles. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.1

-The combined capital of the Rothschilds is estimated at two hundred millions sterling. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.2

-The Dutch are having hard fighting with native rebels in one of their East Indian possessions. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.3

-Korea is said to be trying to negotiate a loan in Russia, offering as security one of its largest provinces. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.4

-It is estimated that not less than 180,000,000 African slaves have perished to glut the avarice of slave-traders. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.5

-Japan has sixty-one cotton mills in operation, and manufacturing plants of many kinds are being established in the island. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.6

-The German army corps are each to have a portable crematory, looking like a large oven, for the cremation of the dead after a battle. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.7

-Since the Franco-Prussian war, twenty-five years ago, Germany has added 11,000,000 to her population, while France has added but 2,000,000. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.8

-Great Britain’s African territories are supposed to have a population of 80,000,000. Closely following comes the French possessions, and then the Portuguese. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.9

-Travellers may now go round the world from London, by way of Suez, Bombay, Yokohama, and New York, in sixty-four days, travelling by the regular lines. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.10

-The Emperor of Abyssinia has made overtures for peace after his triumph over the Italian army, but the Italians are not at all for peace, and the preparations for war continue. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.11

-It is said that the war it Cuba is costing Spain twelve million dollars monthly. One can see from this what a crushing expense a great war would be under modern conditions. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.12

-Operations have begun in Dover for mining coal. It is expected that paying coal seams abound in Kent, and so great changes are regarded as likely to take place in the county. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.13

-The Far North is not so unhealthful as we might suppose. Lung diseases are said to be rare in the Arctic regions, and in Greenland infectious diseases are said to be unknown. Disease germs do not thrive in those high latitudes. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.14

-A German paper shows that in ten years the debts of European States have increased by ?850,000,000. England, Spain, Denmark, and Luxemburg have reduced their debts. Militarism is mainly responsible for all of those debts. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.15

-In a fight between the Arabs and the Soudanese composing the body-guard of the Kalifs, several hundreds were killed, it is said. While dissension is thus breaking out among the dervishes, the Egyptian force is advancing. The railway up the Nile is being laid at the rate of 800 yards per day. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 286.16

“Back Page” The Present Truth, 12, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

The organ of the Bible Society says that it is fair to assume that the Bible in whole or in part, is now translated into 400 languages and dialects. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.1

Build your house airy and roomy and bright,-and then dwell there. Conceive your deals fair, and large, and beautiful,-and then live them. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.2

The sceptic is a man who closes the windows of his soul, and then either denies that there is a world outside of himself, or else blames his Creator because he has no spiritual outlook. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.3

Since the beginning of the year, the Speaker says, it has been made “increasingly evident that the country is suffering from a violent recrudescence of the war feeling.” This is true not only of this country but of every nation, and the feeling is a striking sign of the times. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.4

According to the well-informed German papers the Vatican was strongly in favour of the Italian campaign against the Abyssinians, who lean toward the Greek Church and have for years resisted the efforts of Rome to bring them over. The Vatican, it is said, had a large number of Roman Catholic missionaries ready to follow the Italian army if the latter had been victorious. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.5

In British Guiana the Anglican and the Scotch churches are concurrently endowed, each having a territorial status, while the Roman Catholic and Wesleyan churches are also assisted by grants from the public purse. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.6

When plague or war sweeps away thousands suddenly the calamity is impressed upon the public mind; but all the time the drink curse and the allied evils are sweeping men away day after day. The opium curse in the East is as bad as the drink demon in the West. Anti-opium workers are reviving the agitation against the State fostering of the evil in the Indian Empire. At a meeting the other day the Rev. F. B. Meyer aptly said:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.7

We have been lifting our hands in pious horror at the Turkish atrocities in Armenia. Let us look at home, and consider how many Chinamen are being continually done to death through our national action in supplying them with the fatal drug. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.8

A report of the Registrar General of the Army in the East Indies, made many years ago, showed that of the military who abstained entirely from intoxicating liquors but three per cent. had been on the sick list during the course of a year, while of men of the same regiments, subjected to the same duties and to precisely the same mode of life with only the addition of the regular rations of alcoholic drinks, an average of more than ten per cent. were on the sick list in the same time. Similar observations in other tropical countries have shown the same thing to be true elsewhere. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.9

“There is a lesson,” says a Transatlantic journal, “in the show-window of a St. Louis druggist. The window is advertised as containing nothing but poisons. Among its contents are paris green, arsenic, morphine, laudanum, face-powder, playing-cards, cigarettes and whisky.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.10

Character is what a man is; reputation is what others think he is. The man who, like the Apostle Paul, is zealous always to maintain a conscience void of offence toward God and man, may be and must be content, though he has no reputation at all. Such a man has no time to think about his reputation. But the man whose great ambition is to maintain a good reputation, must of necessity be more or less of a hypocrite; because while he is zealous to maintain a good outward appearance, he neglects to preserve his heart right with God. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.11

The Odessa correspondent of a newspaper says:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.12

The South Russian Press is again urging the Government to take speedy measures to prevent the growth of Stundism in the southern and western provinces. It is stated that this great movement among the peasants has not been destroyed by the severe enactments directed against it, that the efforts of its leaders have been only diverted into secret channels, and that unless instant steps are taken to counteract it the movement is certain to spread to the large towns, and to Great Russia, where it will be almost impossible to grapple with it. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.13

Stundism stands for Protestantism and Bible only, and by it a Reformation is going forward in Russia which no human power can suppress. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.14

One of the great religious journals has been printing a series of papers from representative men on “The Bible and the Child.” The general tone of them has been that the child cannot understand Genesis, and other portions, as he is unable to understand the arguments by which it is the fashion now to show that Moses did not know what he was writing about. That is the reason why children can learn more of the things of God than the learned critics. The child can believe what God says, while too many who pride themselves in their wisdom are unwilling to receive the Word of the Kingdom “as a little child.” PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.15

“The Flowing Tide” The Present Truth, 12, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

The Flowing Tide.-Sacerdotalism is sweeping over the Church of England like a flowing tide. “As each year revolves,” says the English Churchman, “we are able to mark a distinct growth in the development of the theatrical and sensational aspects of Anglican Romanism in our parish churches... The decay of spiritual religion may be calculated as being in inverse ratio to the increase of ecclesiastical display and priestly officialism.” The standard to be lifted up, “when the enemy comes in like a flood,” is the Word of God. Let our Protestant friends in Establishment forsake political effort and appeals to human laws, ecclesiastical or political, and hold forth the Word alone, and follow where it leads; it is the one rallying point in the conflict. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.16

“An Aged Bible Student” The Present Truth, 12, 18.

E. J. Waggoner

An Aged Bible Student.-The French organ of our Society, Les Signes des Temps, of Basel, publishes the following item:- PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.17

One of our brethren in the United States writes that he has had the privilege of holding Bible studies with a lady of one hundred and twenty-two years of age. She appreciates the present truth and esteems herself fortunate to be able to walk in its light. The youngest of her children, a daughter, is now more than seventy years of age. This is a case of longevity sufficiently rare to merit special mention, particularly when one takes into consideration the fact that she is yet in the full enjoyment of her faculties. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.18

Such an incident as this is a happy illustration of the fact that great age should be and need be no barrier to the appreciation and full acceptance of Divine truth. PTUK April 30, 1896, page 288.19