The Present Truth, vol. 12

August 6, 1896

“Accountability for Light” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Of Jesus Christ is written, “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:9. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 497.1

The light is His life. “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men” because this life has been given to every man that was ever born into this world, the light has been manifested to every man. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 497.2

Every man, therefore, who is not saved will be “without excuse;” for the light has enlightened every man. The most benighted heathen, without the written law and revelation, nevertheless receives life from Him, and the very life by nature gives him sufficient knowledge of the law of God, so that in the Judgment his conscience will witness for or against him. Romans 2:14-16. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 497.3

The man who knows least of the will of God knows better than he has done, and is conscious of guilt. And it is not for not knowing that he will be condemned, but for not believing and doing what he knew. God is just. The condemnation is not that men did not know, but “that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.” PTUK August 6, 1896, page 497.4

“Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.” It is the law of the kingdom of heaven. Great light brings greater responsibility. When the Word reveals God’s will to a person, who sees it for the first time in his life, he can never go on in the old way, turning from the light, and be the same that he was before the fresh light came to him. “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.” John 15:22. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 497.5

The record concerning the cities of Galilee illustrates this principle of accountability for light rejected. Jesus came and dwelt in Capernaum. “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Naphthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.” Matthew 4:14-16. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 497.6

Here Christ lived and wrought most of His mighty works. The region was populous and one in which to reach men of all nations. Says Dean Farrar, in his “Life of Christ“:- PTUK August 6, 1896, page 497.7

Through this district passed the great caravans on their way from Egypt to Damascus; and the heathens who congregated at Bethsaida Julias and C?sarea Philippi must have been constantly seen in the streets of Capernaum. In the time of Christ it was, for population and activity, “the manufacturing district” of Palestine, and the waters of its lake were ploughed by 4,000 vessels of every description, from the war-vessels of the Romans to the rough fisher-boats of Bethsaida, and the gilded pinnaces from Herod’s palace. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 497.8

But the great light was seen, and the people rejected it. It was not convenient just then to receive it, and they lapsed again into the shadow of death; but now into denser darkness than before. And so Christ pronounced the woe upon these busy cities, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 497.9

“And thou, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell; for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.” Matthew 11:23, 24. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 497.10

Yet Capernaum, the religious centre of the North, prided itself on its scrupulous performance of religious forms, and its formal piety. But in rejecting the “great light” that had arisen, it sunk lower than Sodom, which sinned so terribly and yet without as great light as Capernaum. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 497.11

Sharing with Jerusalem in the rejection of the light, Capernaum and the coasts of the sea shared in the general desolation that fell upon the land which had filled up the cup by centuries of apostasy. Of the region now, a visitor, Archdeacon Farrar, PTUK August 6, 1896, page 497.12

says:The shores are now deserted. With the exception of the small and decaying town of Tiberias-crumbling into the last page of decrepitude-and the “frightful village” of Mejdel (the ancient Magdala) where the degradation of the inhabitants is best shown by the fact that the children play stark naked in the street-there is not a single inhabited spot on its once crowded shores. One miserable, crazy boat-and that not always procurable-has replaced its gay and numerous fleet. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 498.1

The ruins here piled about amidst the rocks and brambles bear mute testimony to the fulfilment of such portion of the woe as pertains to this world. And in the day of account the fearful record of rejected light must be faced by those who might have walked in it. The mighty works brought in Galilee are written that we might believe and have life. John 20:31. They trusted in following the ways of the fathers, the traditions of the elders, and refused to walk forward in the light. Nowadays we hear much of the enlightenment of the Reformation. But the light that shines from the Word since the Reformation set it free, and since God’s providence has so multiplied it and made it possible for all to study it, only throws upon people of this generation the greatest responsibility that has ever come to a generation since Jesus walked among men in Galilee. The light still shines. The Reformation is not ended. As Jesus said to the people in that day, so He says to all now, “Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.” PTUK August 6, 1896, page 498.2

“All Things Were Made by Him” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

The activity of natural forces is ceaseless. Such an expression as this does not seem to be necessarily religious in its character. Indeed men indulge in many so-called expressions of scientific facts, and philosophical statements, and often congratulate themselves that they are avoiding all reference to questions of religious truth, or possible religious controversy. But this is a mistake. Though couched in the most abstruse and philosophical language, all questions having to do with the powers of nature must lead directly, whether it be acknowledged or not, to a discussion of religious truth, and some reference to God and His providence. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 498.3

Often, of course, if indeed it be not usually, the phraseology will be such that he who only recognises statements of religious truth by the formal language in which they are expressed will repudiate them, and even criticise them, perhaps, as materialistic or irreligious. Frequently, indeed, it is true that the very writer or speaker himself does not appreciate, or would even deny, the force of his own words,-strangely thinking that by the use of Greek or Latin derivative he can eliminate God from a thought which is clearly filled with Him when expressed in simple Saxon. The truth is that as language itself is from God, and the very mentality which develops and uses speech is also the gift of God, therefore it is utterly impossible to so use language as to ignore or deny the existence of God. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 498.4

He who would deny and blaspheme in the terms of his denial proves that which he would deny,-and he who blasphemes acknowledges and confesses by his very blasphemy. The man who thinks to discourse upon the ceaseless beneficence of the forces of nature, or any other subject for that matter, and ignore or deny the existence of Divinity in it all must be himself unaware of the origin, growth, and history of the very words which he is himself using. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 498.5

“Walk Carefully” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

The Lord exhorts us to “lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way.” Christ’s life is an example of path-setting. In fact, the only straight path there is is the one He made, “leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps.” The trouble is that so often we follow carelessly, forgetting that the careless step may be a cause of stumbling to those who are behind. Speaking of the fact that believers do not live unto themselves, a look or word, insensibly to themselves, having a far-reaching influence on others, Dr. Hugh Mcmillan uses some illustrations from the physical world which very vividly emphasise the need of careful attention to the walk if the lame are not to be turned aside from the way. And remember that it is not carefulness in externals merely that can guard against evil influence. What we need is to set the heart to follow hard after the Lord, and he who gives power to walk in his footsteps will attend to the influence of the life. Only when the heart is right, single before the Lord, will the walk be right. A straight tree will cast a straight shadow:- PTUK August 6, 1896, page 498.6

“Chemists tell us of substances whose ownership is disturbed by the slightest motion, so that they rush into permanent combinations. The touch of a feather will cause the iodide of nitrogen to explode, and the vibration of any kind of sound will decompose it. The scratch of a pin will so alter the arrangement of the molecules of mercury that their action on light is altered, and the colour of the whole mass is changed at once from yellow to bright red. Many other substances could be named whose equilibrium is so unstable, whose affinity is so weak, that the most insignificant and apparently inadequate causes will immediately change their properties, so that they become henceforth quite different from what they were before. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 498.7

“Among the high Alps, early in the year, the traveller is told to proceed as quietly as possible in certain places. On the steep slopes overhead, the snow hangs so evenly balanced that the sound of the voice, the crack of the whip, the report of a gun, or the detachment of a snowball, may destroy the equilibrium, and bring down an immense avalanche that will overwhelm everything within reach in ruin. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 498.8

“Applying these illustrations of the physical world to the condition of society around us, are there not many whose moral character is so unstable, whose principles are so unfixed, who are so evenly balanced between good and evil, that a word, a look, may incline them to the one side or to the other, and produce effects that will alter the colour and the nature of their whole future existence? Are there not souls around us hanging so nicely poised on the giddy slopes of temptation, watching us, and ready, on the least encouragement to evil from us-of which we ourselves are not conscious-to come down in terrible avalanches of moral ruin, crushing themselves and others in their fall?” PTUK August 6, 1896, page 498.9

“Will It Always Work?” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Will tribulation always work patience in those who believe the Lord?-Yes, invariably. “Well,” says one, “I am sure that anybody would be impatient if he had as much to trouble him as I have.” Question-Would Christ become impatient? He had the things to endure that you have? Did He not have as much to endure, and more? You must admit that He did. Was He impatient?-“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth.” Isaiah 53:7. Then if He were in your place, He would be patient. Why, then, do you not let Him be in your place? Faith brings Christ into the heart, so that He is identified with us, and therefore He bears the burdens. “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee; He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 498.10

“The Promises to Israel. Israel in Egypt” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

It will be remembered that when God made the covenant with Abraham, He told him that he himself should die without having received the inheritance, and that his descendants should be oppressed and afflicted in a strange land, and that afterwards, in the fourth generation, they should come into the promised land. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 499.1

“And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs. And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt; but God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.... Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, and were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham had bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor, the father of Sychem. But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, till another king arose who knew not Joseph. The same dealt subtilly with our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.” Acts 7:8-19. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 499.2

The king “who knew not Joseph,” was one of another dynasty, a people from the East which conquered Egypt. “For thus saith the Lord, Ye were sold for naught, and ye shall be redeemed without money. For thus saith the Lord God, My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now, therefore, what do I here saith the Lord, seeing that My people is taken away for naught? they that rule over them do howl; saith the Lord; and My name continually all the day is blasphemed. Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore they shall know in that day that am He that doth speak; behold, it is I.” Isaiah 52:3-6. R.V. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 499.3

WHAT EGYPT SIGNIFIES

From the text last quoted we learn that the oppression of Israel in Egypt was opposition and blasphemy against God; that contempt for their God and their religion had a great deal to do with its rigour. We learn also that their deliverance from Egypt was identical with the deliverance which comes to all who are “sold under sin.” “Ye have sold yourselves for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money.” “Knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.” 1 Peter 1:18, 19, R.V. A brief study therefore of what Egypt stands for in the Bible, and of the real condition of the Israelites while there, will enable us to understand what was involved in their deliverance. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 499.4

EGYPTIAN IDOLATRY

Of all the idolatry of ancient times, that of Egypt was undoubtedly the grossest and most complete. The number of the gods of Egypt was almost beyond computation. “Every town in Egypt had its sacred animal, or fetish, and every town its local divinities.”-Encyc. Brit. But “the sun was the kernel of the State Religion. In various forms he stood at the head of each hierarchy.”-Sun Images and the Sun of Righteousness, in O. T. Student, Jan. 1886. “Ra, the sun, is usually represented as a hawk-headed man, occasionally as a man, in both cases generally bearing on his head the solar disc.” PTUK August 6, 1896, page 499.5

The union of Church and State was perfect in Egypt, the two being really identical. This is set forth in “Religions of the Ancient World” (Rawlinson) page 20:- PTUK August 6, 1896, page 499.6

Ra was the Egyptian sun-god, and was especially worshipped at Heliopolis. Obelisks, according to some, represented his rays, and were always, or usually, erected in his honour.... The kings for the most part considered Ra their special patron and protector; may, they went so far as to identify themselves with him; to use his titles as their own, and to adopt his name as the ordinary prefix to their own names and titles. This is believed by many to have been the origin of the word Pharaoh, which was, it is thought, the Hebrew rendering of Ph’ Ra-the sun. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 499.7

Besides the sun and moon, named Osiris and Isis, “the Egyptians worshipped a great number of beasts, as the ox, the dog, the wolf, the hawk, the crocodile, the ibis, the cat, etc.” “Of all these animals, the bull Apis, called Epapris by the Greeks, was the most famous. Magnificent temples were erected to him while he lived, and still greater after his death. Egypt then went into general mourning. His obsequies were solemnised with such pomp as is hardly credible. In the reign of Ptolemy Lagus, the bull Apis dying of old age, the funeral pomp, besides the ordinary expenses, amounted to upwards of fifty thousand French crowns. After the last honours had been paid to the deceased, the next care was to provide him a successor, and all Egypt was sought through for that purpose. He was known by certain signs which distinguished him from all other animals of that species: upon his forehead was to be a white spot, in form of a crescent; on his back, the figure of an eagle; upon his tongue, that of a beetle. As soon as he was found, mourning gave way to joy; and nothing was heard in all parts of Egypt but festivals and rejoicings. The new god was brought to Memphis to take possession of his dignity, and there installed with a great number of ceremonies.” Rollin’s Ancient History, Book 1, part 2, chap. 2, sec. 1. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 499.8

These ceremonies, it is hardly necessary to say, were of an obscence character; for sun-worship when carried out to its full was nothing else but the practice of vice as a religious duty. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 500.1

So strong a hold had superstition upon the Egyptians that they worshipped even leeks and onions. In this we are reminded that superstition and abominable idolatry are not necessarily connected with a low order of intellect, for the ancient Egyptians cultivated the arts and sciences to a high degree. The practice of idolatry did, however, cause them to fall from their former high position. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 500.2

The very name Egypt is a synonym for wickedness and opposition to the religion of Jesus Christ, and is coupled with Sodom. Of the Lord’s “two witnesses,” it is said that “their dead bodies shall lie in the street of that great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.” Revelation 11:8. That the Israelites in Egypt took part in its wickedness and idolatry, and that they were prevented by force from serving the Lord, is evident from several texts of Scripture. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 500.3

In the first place, when Moses was sent to deliver Israel, his message to Pharaoh was, “Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, even My firstborn; and I say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me.” Exodus 4:22, 23. The object of the deliverance from Egypt was that Israel might serve the Lord, an evidence that they were not serving Him there. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 500.4

So again we read that “He remembered His holy promise, and Abraham His servant. And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness; and gave them the lands of the heathen; and they inherited the labour of the people; that they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws.” Psalm 105:42-45. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 500.5

But strongest of all the evidence that Israel had joined in the idolatry of Egypt is found in the reproach for their not forsaking it. “Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up Mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known unto them in the land of Egypt...then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. But they rebelled against Me, and would not hearken unto Me; they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt.” Ezekiel 20:5-8. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 500.6

STILL IN EGYPTIAN BONDAGE

Neither has it been done unto this day. The darkness that overspread Egypt at the time of the plagues was no more dense than the darkness that Egypt has cast over the whole earth. That physical darkness was but a vivid representation of the moral darkness into which the people had fallen, and of that which has since come from that wicked country. The story of the apostasy in the Christian church is but the record of the errors which were brought from Egypt. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 500.7

Near the close of the second century of the Christian era, a new system of philosophy sprung up in Egypt. “This philosophy was adopted by such of the learned at Alexandria as wished to be accounted Christians, and yet to retain the name, the garb, and the rank of philosophers. In particular, all those who in this century presided in the schools of the Christians at Alexandria-Athenagoras, Pantaenus, and Clemens Alexandrinus-are said to have approved of it. These men were persuaded that true philosophy, the great and most salutary gift of God, lay in scattered fragments among all the sects of philosophers; and, therefore, that it was the duty of every wise man, and especially of a Christian teacher, to collect these fragments from all quarters, and to use them for the defense of religion and the confutation of impiety.” PTUK August 6, 1896, page 500.8

“This mode of philosophising received some modification, when Ammonius Saccas, at the close of the century, opened a school at Alexandria, and laid the foundation of the sect called the New Platonic. This man was born and educated a Christian, and perhaps made pretensions to Christianity all his life. Being possessed of great fecundity of genius as well as eloquence, he undertook to bring all systems of philosophy and religion into harmony, or attempted to teach a philosophy by which all philosophers, and the men of all religions, the Christian not excepted, might unite together and have fellowship. And here, especially, lies the difference between this new sect and the eclectic philosophy, which had before flourished in Egypt. For the eclectics held that there was a mixture of good and bad, true and false, in all the systems; and therefore they selected out of all, what appeared to them consonant with reason, and rejected the rest. But Ammonius held that all sects professed one and the same system of truth, with only some difference in the mode of stating it, and some minute difference in their conceptions; so that by means of suitable explanations they might with little difficulty be brought into one body. He, moreover, held this new and singular principle, that the popular religions, and likewise the Christian, must be understood and explained according to the common philosophy.”-Mosheim’s Eccl. Hist., Cent. 2, part, ch. 1, Secs. 6, 7. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 500.9

“Clement of Alexandria has been mentioned as one of the Christian teachers who was devoted to this philosophy. Mosheim tells us that “Clement is to be ranked among the first and principal Christian defenders and teachers of philosophic science, indeed that he may even be placed at the head of those who devoted themselves to the cultivation of philosophy with an ardour that knew no bounds, and were so blind and misguided as to engage in the hopeless attempt of producing an accommodation between the principles of philosophic science and those of the Christian religion.”-Mosheim’s Commentaries, Cent. 2, Section 25, Note 2. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 500.10

Let it be remembered that the only philosophy was pagan philosophy, and it will be very easy to imagine the inevitable results of such devotion to it on the part of those who were the teachers in the Christian church. Mosheim tells us that “by the Christian disciples of Ammonius, and more particularly by Origen, who in the succeeding century (the third) attained to a degree of eminence scarcely credible, the doctrines which they had derived from their master were sedulously instilled into the minds of the youth with whose education they were entrusted, and by the efforts of these again, who were subsequently for the most part called to the ministry, the love of philosophy became pretty generally diffused throughout a considerable portion of the church.” Origen was at the head of the “Catechetical School” or theological seminary of Alexandria, which was the seat of learning. He stood at the head of the interpreters of the Bible in that century, and was closely copied by the youth who flocked to that seminary. “Half the sermons of the day,” says Farrar, “were borrowed, consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly, from the thoughts and methods of Origen.”-“Lives of the Fathers,” chap. 16, sec. 8. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 500.11

Origen’s skill as an “interpreter” of the Bible was due to his skill as a philosopher, which consisted in making evident things that had no existence. The Bible was used by him and his companions, as were the writings of the philosophers, as a thing upon which to display their mental skill. To read a simple statement, and to believe it as it reads, and to set plain truth before the minds of students, leading the minds of the people to the Word of God, was considered too childish, and altogether beneath the dignity of a great teacher. Anybody could do that, they thought. Their work was to seem to draw from the Sacred Word something which the common people would never find there, for the reason that it was not there, but was the invention of their own minds. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 501.1

In order to keep their prestige as deep scholars and great teachers, they taught the people that the Bible does not mean what it says, and that whoever follows the plain letter of Scripture will certainly be led astray; and that it could be explained only by those who had exercised their faculties by the study of philosophy. Thus they effectually took the Bible from the hands of the common people. With the Bible practically out of their hands, there was no way by which the people could distinguish between Christianity and paganism. The result was not only that those who already professed Christianity were in a large measure corrupted, but that the heathen came into the church without changing their principles or practices. “It came to pass that the greater part of these Platonists, upon comparing the Christian religion with the system of Ammonius, were led to imagine that nothing could be more easy than a transition from the one to the other, and, to the great detriment of the Christian cause, were induced to embrace Christianity without feeling it necessary to abandon scarcely any of their former principles.” PTUK August 6, 1896, page 501.2

Thus it came to pass that “nearly all those corruptions by which, in the second and subsequent centuries, Christianity was disfigured, and its pristine simplicity and innocence almost wholly effaced, had their origin in Egypt, and were thence communicated to the other churches.” “Observing that in Egypt, as well as in other countries, the heathen worshipers, in addition to their public religious ceremonies, to which everyone was admitted without distinction, had certain secret and most sacred rites, to which they gave the name of mysteries, and at the celebration of which none except persons of the most approved faith and discretion were permitted to be present; the Alexandrian Christians first, and after them others, were beguiled into a notion that they could not do better than make the Christian discipline accommodate itself to this model. The multitude professing Christianity were therefore divided by them into the profane, or those who were not as yet admitted to the mysteries, and the initiated, or faithful and perfect .... From this constitution of things it came to pass, not only that many terms and phrases made use of in the heathen mysteries were transferred and applied to different parts of the Christian worship, particularly to the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, but that, in not a few instances, the sacred rites of the church were contaminated by the introduction of various pagan forms and ceremonies.” PTUK August 6, 1896, page 501.3

THE CALL TO COME OUT OF EGYPT

It is not necessary to enumerate the various false doctrines and practices that were thus introduced into the church. Suffice it to say that there was not a thing that was not corrupted, and there was scarcely a heathen dogma or ceremony that was not either adopted or to a greater or less extent copied. The light of God’s Word being thus obscured, the “Dark Ages” necessarily resulted, continuing until at the time of the Reformation the Bible was once more put into the hands of the people, for them to read for themselves. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 501.4

The Reformation, however, complete the work. A true reformation never ends; when it has corrected the abuse which first called it forth, it must go on with the good work. But those who came after the Reformers were not filled with the same spirit, and were content to believe no more than the Reformers had believed. Consequently the same story was repeated. The word of men came to be received as the word of God, and therefore errors still remained in the church. To-day the current is setting strongly downward, as the result of the wide-spread acceptance of the doctrine of Evolution, and of the influence of the so-called “Higher Criticism.” Several years ago the historian Merivale, Dean of Ely, said, “Paganism was assimilated, not extirpated, and Christendom has suffered from it more or less ever since.”-“Epochs of Church History,” p. 169. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 501.5

It may easily be seen, from this brief outline, that the darkness that at any time covers the earth, and the gross darkness that envelops the people, is the darkness of Egypt. It was not merely from physical bondage that God set Himself to deliver His people, but from the spiritual darkness that was far worse. And since this darkness still remains to a great extent, that work of deliverance is still going on. Ancient Israel “in their hearts turned back again into Egypt.” Throughout their whole history they were warned against Egypt, an evidence that they were never fully free for any length of time from its blighting influence. Christ came to earth to deliver men from every species of bondage, and to that end He placed Himself to the fullest extent in man’s position. There was therefore a deep significance in His going down into Egypt, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.” Since Christ was called out of Egypt, all who are Christ’s, that is, all the seed of Abraham, must likewise be called out of Egypt. This is the work of the Gospel. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 501.6

“On the Way to Jerusalem” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Just as the Lord was about to start on His last journey up to Jerusalem, to the passover, Himself to be the Lamb led to the slaughter, He called His disciples aside, where He might speak to them alone, and told them plainly what was about to come to pass. His language could not well be more clear than when He said: “Behold we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priest and scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify Him; and the third day He shall rise again.” PTUK August 6, 1896, page 501.7

They must all have heard it. He took them apart by the way, so that there could be no reason why their attention should be distracted and they fail to comprehend the reality of the facts which He was about to relate to them, or to feel their importance. Then He told them these things in words capable of no double interpretation. One by one, in regular sequence, He named the different scenes in the tragedy that was about to be enacted. First was the going up to Jerusalem,-then the trial,-the condemnation to death,-the delivery to the Gentiles,-the mocking and scourging, the crucifixion,-and, lastly, the resurrection on the third day. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 501.8

How strange it seems that so remarkable a prediction as this, couched in such plain terms, did not immediately and completely absorb their whole attention, occupy their whole thought, and become the entire subject of their conversation. But there is no evidence that they even gave His words a second thought. Seemingly, they were no more to them than the blowing wind,-they did not even make so much impression as they might have done had they entered one ear to pass out at the other. Indeed Luke says, “And they understood none of these things.” It seems now incomprehensible that they should, by any possibility, have failed to understand. One would have thought that as they went up to Jerusalem they would have been saying to each other on the way, “The Master said we should go up to Jerusalem, and now here we are on the way; when we get there, so He told us, He is to be betrayed to the chief priests.” Then when the trial took place, one would have thought that they would have looked in each other’s faces, not needing to speak, for each would know what was in the other’s mind,-that the next step was the condemnation to death. And then when the decree of death was granted they would have known that the delivery to the Roman authorities, the mocking, scourging, and then crucifixion was to follow. But then, when all these different steps, one by one, in their specified order, had been fulfilled, their hope and faith, would have become a certainty, assured,-“and the third day He shall rise again.” PTUK August 6, 1896, page 501.9

But instead of this, they understood none of these things, having scarcely listened while He told them all this alone, apart by the way. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 502.1

It is evident why two of them, at least, did not understand. The very next verses, recounting the request which they and their mother made to the Lord, show that the reason why they did not hear and understand was that they were absorbed in thoughts of self. Mark 10:35. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 502.2

In those days, and in the presence of those men, the words of the Lord were fulfilled, and they were ignorant of that which had been opened as clear as the daylight before their eyes, and so missed the blessing. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 502.3

In these days, and in our presence, the words of the Lord are being fulfilled no less than then. It behoves us to be purged of that darkness of self, and be filled with His life which is the light of men, that we may hear, see, and understand the history which God is making in the world, and know that it is the fulfilment of His prophecy, step by step, as surely as that from the road to Jerusalem to the cross and the resurrection. Of the attitude of wakeful believers, the apostle says, “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” PTUK August 6, 1896, page 502.4

“The Tea Cigarette” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

This latest invention in the smoking line comes from Paris. Next it was heard of as a vice of fashionable New York ladies. And now a London morning paper says it is being introduced at home. We think none of our readers will be in danger of trying the foolish practice if we give the particulars of the way in which the cigarettes are made. We do this that it may be seen that the evil effects are due simply to the poison that is in the tea leaf, of which every user of tea as a beverage gets more or less to the detriment of the health. A drug that has such effect when inhaled is not a good thing to put into the stomach. We take the following from the Daily Mail:- PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.1

One of the most injurious and dangerous of new fashions is the tea cigarette. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.2

Several descriptions of the tea cigarette have been printed, but these have erred in the presumption that the tea was taken as sold, rolled up in a paper and smoked. This would be practically impossible, as the sharp edges of the tea would cut the paper in all directions, spoil the draught, and render the cigarettes unsmokable. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.3

To make the tea cigarette one takes a grade of green tea which has but little dust, being composed of unbroken leaf, and dampens it carefully, just enough to permit the leaves to be unrolled without being broken, and so as to be left pliable and capable of being stuffed in the paper cylinder, while the dampness is not sufficient to stain the paper. The cigarettes are to be laid aside for a few days and are then ready to be smoked. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.4

The feeling of a tea cigarette in the mouth is peculiar. The taste is not so disagreeable as might be supposed, but the effect on the tyro is a sense of thickening the head and a disposition to take hold of something or sit down. If the beginner quits them, that settles it, he will not try tea cigarettes again. If, however, the smoker sits down and tries a second cigarette, inhaling it deeply, then the thickening feeling passes and is succeeded by one of intense exhilaration. The nerves are stimulated until the smoker feels like flying, or doing something else entirely out of the common way. This stage lasts as long as the smoke continues, which is until the reaction of the stomach sets in. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.5

Words cannot describe the final effects of the tea cigarette. The agony of the opium fiend is a shadow to that of the nauseated victim of the tea cigarette. It will be hours before food can he looked at, yet the first step toward a cure is a cup of tea. An hour afterward comes the craving for the tea cigarette. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.6

“Items of Interest” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

-In France, when a railroad train is more than ten minutes late, the company is fined. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.7

-A German gunboat with seventy-five men has been lost in a typhoon off the Chinese coast. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.8

-Matches have not yet displaced the tinder-box in certain rural district of Spain and Italy. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.9

-It is said that no one is allowed to die in the sacred island of Miyajima, Japan. Any one mortally ill is sent away by boat to the adjacent land. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.10

-There are at least 14,000 people in Lucknow who are opium-smokers, and so wedded to the vies that the habit is unconquerable. In that city there is no secrecy about selling or purchasing the drug. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.11

-A race riot between Swiss and Italians has occurred at Zurich. Houses have been sacked and several persons injured. It was found necessary to pall out the military to quell the disturbance. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.12

-Miss Clara Parrish is to start in August on a round-the-world missionary tour for the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. This will be the seventh such tour which has been made under the auspices of that organisation. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.13

-The largest encyclopedia in the world is a Buddhistic work of 225 volumes, weighing 8,000 pounds. One copy is owned by the British Government and another by the Russian. The latest quoted price is said to be ?280. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.14

-The great Nijni Novgorod exhibition of Russian industries and area promises to turn out a complete failure. Although the Government have greatly reduced the already cheap railway fares from all parts of Russia to the great fair city, Russians do not seem to take much interest in the exhibition. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.15

-During the peat year a demand has been made in Russia for the abolition of corporal punishment, and for the introduction of universal popular education. The first has been refused, and such active measures taken in opposition to the second that the committees of education at St. Petersburg and Moscow have been abolished. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.16

-Mail advices from depot state that fully 30,000 people were killed by the tidal wave last month. The wave was eighty feet high in parts, and about three hundred miles of coast was swept. A pestilence is feared owing to the bodies unburied, though the authorities are working to relieve distress and to secure proper sanitary arrangements. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.17

-The trouble in the north is being felt throughout South Africa. Everywhere the natives are on the qui vive. Pondoland, the Transkoian territories of the Cape Colony, Basutoland, and Bechuanaland-in all these places the natives are watching their opportunity, and would most assuredly rise en masse, says a newspaper correspondent, in the event of any repetition of the Zulu War disaster in Rhodesia. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 510.18

“Back Page” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

A call comes to our brethren in Norway to send help in the way of workers to Iceland, where there are a number of believers wishing to see our work established in their island. One delegate from Iceland attended the recent annual conference of our Norwegian churches. Publications are being prepared in the Icelandic tongue. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.1

A tidal wave in China has followed the one in Japan, 4,000 being reported killed, and large tracts being inundated, so that famine and pestilence are threatened. While the world is quarreling over possessions and trade in these populous countries of the East, the calamities that are so often sweeping away thousands call loudly upon Christians to preach the Gospel to those who have never heard it. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.2

In view of the distinction which the popular standard of the world’s judgment makes between armed expeditions bent on killing in military fashion, and the man who goes single-handed to kill an enemy, it is not surprising that one of the great morning papers the other day said, “The truth is that the whole question of when you may and when you may not kill a man, grave as it seems to be, is very much in a muddle.” PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.3

It is a fact that the idea of glory is mainly associated with military exploits. In all the world greater glorification of men of arms exists than of those who give themselves to the arts of peace, or who risk their lives in mines or dangerous trades which minister to the comforts and conveniences of life. Distinction may be won in other ways, but glory, after this world’s standard, is most often attained on the field of blood, and national churches give place to the monuments of those who have thus gained fame. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.4

“To Prevent Disappointment” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

To Prevent Disappointment .-The surest way to prevent being disappointed in this life, is to have small expectations, and not to make large demands on our fellow-men. The humble man, who does not think that other people were made for the purpose of serving him, but rather that he is servant of all, will, instead of meeting disappointments, be continually surprised and astonished at the kindness and goodwill he receives. On the other hand, the man who expects the most from the Lord, and who, depending on God’s promises, makes the largest demands upon Him, will never be disappointed; for God gives “exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20), and never forsakes those who put their trust in Him. Psalm 9:10. And a humble man, with the lowest opinion of his own worth, is just a man who can and will confidently make the largest demands on God, for God “has respect unto the lowly,” and he who inhabits eternity dwells with the humble and the contrite ones. Isaiah 57:15. Therefore the humble man is the only truly happy man on earth. He is always contented, for all his desires are abundantly satisfied with the fatness of God’s house. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.5

“He that is down need fear no fall,
He that is low, no pride;
He that is humble ever shall
Have God to be his guide.” PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.6

“Sunday Laws at Work” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Sunday Laws at Work .-Canada has recently been imprisoning Seventh-day Adventists for working on Sunday, and one or two are now in gaol there. The last mail from the States brings word that three others have been sentenced in Tennessee. The real offence, of course, is Sabbath-keeping, as those who do not keep the Sabbath or any day have always worked freely on Sunday. Reports from New Zealand state that our brethren there are also being threatened with prosecution, the churches having taken up a crusade for enforcing the Sunday laws of the colony. It is the one spirit moving the forces of evil in all the world. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.7

“Remedy for War” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Remedy for War .-In the conference at Grindelwald, last week, while the subject of International Arbitration was under discussion, Dr. Parker said that the true remedy for war was to turn the hearts of the people to the Lord. “If the people were penetrated by the Spirit of Jesus Christ they would lead rulers aright.” In this Dr. Parker solves the whole question. In that proportion in which Christianity, pure and undefiled, rules in the hearts of the people, individually, will there be peace. The solution then is simple-preach the Gospel to the whole world, individually. If they receive it there will be peace. If they do not receive it, the Lord has said that when His Gospel has been preached to the whole world He will come and make peace. That will be His kingdom, and in no other way can it come. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.8

“Japan’s Calamity” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Japan’s Calamity .-The detailed reports of the earthquake and tidal wave in Japan, on June 15, which have but just been received, show this to have been a greater calamity than the earthquake of 1891, which destroyed so many villages in the interior of Japan, and rent their sacred mountain Fujiyama. It seems that a tidal wave variously reported as from twenty to fifty feet in height swept the coast for a long distance, and devastating the country for a distance of two miles inland. Twenty-seven thousand persons were drowned, two thousand received serious injuries, and at least sixty thousand are rendered homeless and destitute. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.9

“The Sea Roaring” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

The Sea Roaring .-Some sentences of the published accounts of this catastrophe are suggestions of our Lord’s description of the scenes which should immediately precede His second coming, “upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.” One narrator says that a faint rumbling was heard at first and then,- PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.10

In a few minutes the noise swelled into a tremendous sound, as coming from the sea. Just at this moment a tidal wave about fifty feet high came over, and in a few seconds it penetrated inland as far as Yokomachi, some two miles from the beach. The water dashed about in every direction from terrific force for about five minutes, and then subsided as quickly as they had arisen. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.11

Another speaks of the slight shocks of earthquake and says, “About half-past eight o'clock P.M . , a wild roar of raging waves, resembling the noise made by a violent wind rushing through a forest, rapidly approached.” Then in a moment the village was overwhelmed. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.12

“Not Education and Culture” The Present Truth, 12, 32.

E. J. Waggoner

Not Education and Culture .-Many talk as though civilisation and education must necessarily bring people nearer to Christianity; but this is far from being true. An Indian missionary says of the Parsees: “It is quite true that they are advanced in civilisation, education, and branches of commerce; but I have noticed that the more the heathen native of India becomes advanced in these things, the further he, as a rule, gets from Christ, and the harder it is to convert him.” It was of the intellectually cultured Greek and Roman civilisation that Paul was speaking when he wrote the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans. PTUK August 6, 1896, page 512.13