The Present Truth, vol. 12

November 12, 1896

“Front Page” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

In opening the recent Church Congress the presiding Bishop was enthusiastically applauded for expressing the opinion that the Church owed a “great debt” to Mr. Darwin for “interpreting the methods of creation.” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 721.1

The leading Nonconformist journal congratulates itself on the change during the last ten ten years which makes it possible for “such a thing to be said and approved,” and many have remarked upon the evidence that the theory of evolution, for which Darwin stood, is very generally accepted in the religious world in place of the Bible account. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 721.2

As it has, according to this notion, been reserved for wise scientists of modern times to get at the real truth about the methods of creation, very naturally Moses is not held in good repute. Yet the One who made the world, the Creator Himself, “made known His ways unto Moses” and told him what to write. But so poor an opinion do many hold of Moses that the fact that the Ten Commandments, written on tables by the finger of God, were committed to him to preserve, leads many to speak slightingly of the law of God. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 721.3

During his life on earth Moses was familiar enough with the ways of critics. “This man,” the people contemptuously called him, while he was communing with God in the mount. But as he was “very meek, above all men which were upon the face of the earth,” he minded none of these things. God called him “My servant,” and “the man of God.” And He said He would not talk with Moses as with the ordinary prophet, but “face to face.” What shallow folly for vain men, whatever their powers of observation, to affect a superiority over Moses and regard him as a recorder merely of unintelligent tradition. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 721.4

Moses was so eminent a Christian that he was a type of Christ Himself. When God promised the Messiah He said to Moses, “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth.” Deuteronomy 15:18. As Moses spoke God’s words, so Jesus spoke not His own words but the words of the Father. And after Jesus had ascended His Spirit declared that Christ was faithful even as Moses was faithful, one as a servant the other as a Son. Heb. iii. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 721.5

Those who refused to receive Jesus Christ did so because they would not receive the testimony of Moses. “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me.” John 6:46. This shows what a serious thing is this modern tendency to belittle and then really reject the testimony of Moses. It is a symptom of the rejection of the Lord Himself. The time has come when men are turning away from the Word and law of God unto fables, and they demand teachers who will satisfy the itching ear and the vain imagination. The Lord’s exhortation for this time is “Preach the Word.” As the faithful minister of Christ heeds this command he can desire no greater thing than God promised Moses when He said, “I will be with thy mouth.” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 721.6

Such was Moses’ Christian experience that when the redeemed stand at last upon the sea of glass on Mount Zion they can sing no higher note of triumph than that sounded in “the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” Revelation 15:2. His critics think of him as dead and buried, but so eminent a man of God was he that the Lord raised him from the dead by a special resurrection (Jude 9; Matthew 17:3), and now he dwells in that light which transfigured his face and shown from it when he came down from Mount Sinai. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 721.7

“Daniel’s Influence” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

When Daniel found that he was expected to drink wine from the king’s table in Babylon, and eat food which he could not conscientiously accept, he at once “purposed in his heart” that he would not do it. How naturally he might have reasoned that the matter was a comparatively small one, and that if he did not do as the rest did in the strange city he would only get into trouble; he would seem odd and eccentric, and perhaps lose his influence. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 721.8

Many since Daniel’s day have overcome their scruples about wrong-doing by such processes of reasoning. They knew perfectly well what they ought to do, but-they did not want to do it, and it was easy to find a fairly presentable moral argument to excuse the disobedience. To make themselves peculiar and different from others would be to lose their influence, and then they would be unable to do much good that they were now doing. So they stifled the voice of conscience and decided to do evil that good might come. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.1

Did Daniel lose his influence? We hear much of him and of his three faithful companions, but they were only four amongst the captives of Judah who were chosen for their grace and ability to stand in the king’s palace with his counsellors and wise men. What of the other young men? They doubtless decided to save their influence and when in Babylon to do as the Babylonians did. They followed the world about them and the customs of the “best society,” and compromised principle. They are nameless, and so far as we know were useless. But God stood by Daniel and his fellows and by their faithfulness witnessed of Himself before Babylon and all the world. Daniel did not lose his influence by doing right. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.2

“Imagining Difficulties” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

“Oh, I can't sleep at night, I can't sleep.” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.3

“Poor fellow, you must cease your overwork, and at once make use of soothing remedies.” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.4

“Oh, that will do no good; the trouble is not with me: I could sleep very well if I had an opportunity, but there is no time in which to sleep; I can never sleep any more.” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.5

“Why not? How can that be?” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.6

“I have just learned that the earth is round, and that it isn't night at all places on the earth at the same time, and that therefore it is impossible for people to sleep.” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.7

“Foolish fellow! Who has been telling you that?” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.8

“Nobody; but my pastor, who is a learned man, has told me that it is impossible to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, because it is not the seventh day all over the world at one time; and I have sense enough to see that if we can't rest on the seventh day, then we cannot sleep on the seventh night; and if we can't sleep on the seventh night, we can't sleep on any other night. What shall I do?” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.9

“Do! why, go to bed to-night, when the night comes to you, and sleep where you are, instead of thinking you must sleep where you are not. Didn't you sleep well last night?” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.10

“First-rate; never slept better in my life; but then you see I had not heard the parson’s theory.” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.11

“Well, don't let a theory run away with the fact. The fact is, you can and do sleep every night when it comes to you; when the night is on the other side of the earth, you do not need to sleep. So with the Sabbath-the seventh day-which God made for man-for all men-to keep. Keep it when it comes to you; when it’s not present with you, then you are not required to rest on it. Let your soul rest in the assurance that God has never given a commandment that it is not possible for all men everywhere to obey.” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.12

“Brotherhood of Man” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

The phrase “Brotherhood of man” embodies no new thought. It is as old as the world. Its written and spoken expression is as old as the Word of God to man. And its disregard is as old as the question, “Where is Abel thy brother?” and the answer, “I know not; am I my brother’s keeper?” The very question was fatherly; implying the assumption of the relation of fatherhood, and asserting the relation of brotherhood. The reply denied neither, but in expressed terms acknowledged the brotherly ties, while repudiating its obligations. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.13

So it is that man has always, throughout these thousands of years, accepted the relationship of brotherhood with his fellows,-when the stronger, reserving to himself the right and authority to dominate, subjugate, and rule his feebler brother; when the weaker, using the tie as an evidence of rightful claim to the charity and protection of the other, however futile the plea might prove to be. And it is true that the obligations of the relationship, whatever acknowledgment they may have received, have never yet been sufficient to lead mankind to do each to the other as he would have the other do to him. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.14

What must follow the practical acceptance by mankind of the fact of the fatherhood of God? It must necessarily be the acknowledgement and acceptance of, and obedience to, all divine truth. Brotherhood with all the children of God would then necessarily and inevitably follow. But if this be admitted, then brotherhood presupposes a common father, and He, being All-father, is consequently Creator and God. The two clauses of the expression, “Fatherhood of God, and brotherhood of man,” answer to each other logically, as they do rhetorically. The antecedent regards its consequent, and the consequent its antecedent. Thus the action of the human mind, by the unavoidable sequences of its necessary processes, brings men, inevitably, to the statement of the two facts, which require him in their turn, to meet and fill the sphere of their demands, and love his Creator-father with all his heart, soul and mind, and his brother as himself, and the first and second great commandment, on which hang all the law and prophets, have been received and acted upon. This being so what remains? Nothing; all the conditions have in this have been met, for in this the Divine comprehensiveness of omniscience has condensed all the requirements of true religion. Of these two commandments the necessary antecedents are “the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man!” These two propositions, then, depend upon each other. One cannot be fully received without the other. Their entire significance is comprehended in the one word “Christianity.” For that is the message of the Father to man through man’s Elder Brother. Therefore he who accepts and professes, and practices the doctrine of the “fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man” must give up all false religion, put away all false gods both within and without; all idolatry must end, there must be no more service of mammon or self; to no false god, or idol, or selfish desire, must he bow; he must remember the name of God to keep it holy upon his lips; he must remember the day of God to keep it holy in his life; he must care for, love, and honour his father and mother; he must not commit the sin of Cain or even cherish anger in his heart toward his brother; he must do no impurity, or even harbour an unclean thought in his mind; he must respect his brother’s property rights, never even so much as desiring that which is his brother’s, and bear no false witness against him; he must in all things give ear and credence to the word of the Father, and love the coming of his Elder Brother. To acknowledge, and to do, all these things is to be a Christian, and every Christian must live before all his brothers as the representative of that Elder Brother for whom he waits. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 722.15

“The Promises to Israel. The Entering of the Law” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

“Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:20. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 723.1

The object of the entering of the law at Sinai was “that the offense might abound.” Not that there might be more sin; for since we are warned not to continue in sin that grace may abound, it is evident that the righteous God would not deliberately increase sin in order that He might have an opportunity of exhibiting more grace. The law is not sin, but has the effect, by its own righteousness, of causing sin to “appear sin,” “that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” Romans 7:13. The object, therefore, of the entering of the law at Sinai, was to cause the sin that already existed to stand out in its true nature and extent, so that the superabounding grace of God might be appreciated at its true value. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 723.2

The entering of the law made the offence to abound. But the sin which the law made to abound already existed; “for until the law sin was in the world.” Romans 10:13. Therefore the law was also in the world before it was given upon Sinai, as well as after, for “sin is not imputed when there is no law.” To Isaac, God said, “Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statues, and My laws.” Genesis 26:5. The blessedness of Abraham was that of sins forgiven, “and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also.” Romans 4:11. Before the children of Israel had reached Sinai; when the manna first fell, God said that He was proving them “whether they will walk in My law or not.” Exodus 16:4. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 723.3

It is evident, therefore, that the giving of the law upon Sinai did not make any difference whatever in the relation that already existed between men and God. The very same law existed before that time, having the same effect, namely, to show men that they were sinners; and all the righteousness which the law demands, and all that it is possible for any man to have, had been possessed by men of faith, of whom Enoch and Abraham are notable instances. The only reason, therefore, for the giving of the law upon Sinai, was to give men a more vivid sense of its awful importance, and of the terrible nature of sin which it forbids, and to lead them to trust in God, instead of in themselves. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 723.4

This effect the circumstances attending the giving of the law were calculated to produce. No such event of awful majesty and power had ever been witnessed by man. Neither has its like been seen since. The event of the giving of the law upon Sinai will be paralleled and exceeded only by the second coming of Christ, “to take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and “to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 723.5

PARALLELS

At the giving of the law, “Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire.” Exodus 19:18. At the second advent “the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven,” “in flaming fire.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:8. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 723.6

When God came to Sinai, sending forth from His right hand “a fiery law” for His people, “He came with ten thousands of saints.” Deuteronomy 33:1, 2. The angels of God-the armies of heaven-were all present at the giving of the law. But long before that time, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, had prophesied of the second coming of Christ, saying, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment.” Jude 14, 15. At His coming in glory, He will have “all the holy angels with Him.” Matthew 25:31. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 723.7

God came down upon Sinai to proclaim His holy law to His people. “From His right hand went forth a fiery law for them.” That law from Sinai was a verbal description of God’s own righteousness. But when He comes the second time, “the heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is Judge Himself.” Psalm 50:6. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 723.8

To announce the presence of God upon Sinai, in royal state, “the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder.” Exodus 19:19. So Christ’s second coming will be proclaimed by “the trump of God.” “For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed,” for “He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds.” 1 Corinthians 15:52; Matthew 24:31. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 723.9

When the trumpet sounded long and loud upon Sinai, “Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.” Exodus 19:19. Then God spake all the words of the ten commandments “out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice; and He added no more.” Deuteronomy 5:22. In like manner, ” our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people.” Psalm 50:3, 4. “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 723.10

But herein the Lord’s coming to judgment will be greater than His coming to proclaim His law: for then none of the people saw Him. “The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.” Deuteronomy 4:12. But when He comes the second time, “every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.” Revelation 1:7. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.1

Lastly, a parallel as a difference in the effect of the voice of God: When God spoke His law from Sinai, “the whole mount quaked greatly.” Exodus 19:18. “The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God; even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.” Psalm 68:8. “The earth trembled and shook.” Psalm 77:18. But even greater will be the effect of that voice at the second advent. From Sinai, His “voice then shook the earth; but now hath he promised, saying: Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” Hebrews 12:26. “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise,” (2 Peter 3:10), for “the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” Matthew 24:29. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.2

Wonderful likenesses we find between the coming of the Lord to give the law at Sinai, and His coming to judgment in the end of the world; and we shall find as we study that the likenesses are by no means accidental. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.3

THE MINISTRATION OF DEATH

“The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.” 1 Corinthians 15:56. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.4

The law entered for the purpose of making the sins of the people stand out in the boldest relief. The sin which lies dormant, and of whose power we are unconscious because we have never entered into mortal combat with it, springs into life and activity when the law enters. “Without the law sin was dead.” Romans 7:8. The law sets forth sin in its true character and magnitude, and arms it with its power-the power of death. “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20. To point out sin, and to show its hideous strength, is the sole office of the law. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.5

But death comes by sin. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:12. Where sin goes, there death goes. Sin does not merely bring death in its train; it carries it in its bosom. Sin and death are inseparable; each is a part of the other. It is impossible to set the door far enough ajar to allow sin to creep through, and to shut death out. Be the crevice never so small, if it be large enough to admit sin, death comes with it. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.6

Since sin already existed before the law entered at Sinai, the entering of the law proclaimed a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Galatians 3:10. That curse was death, because it was the curse which Christ bore for us. It is evident, therefore, that the giving of the law from Sinai was the ministration of death. “The law worketh wrath.” All the attending circumstances proclaimed that fact. The thunders and lightnings, the devouring fire, the smoking mountain, and the quaking earth, all spoke death. Mount Sinai, itself a symbol of Divine law broken, was death to whoever should touch it. It needed not the barriers about the mountain to keep the people away, after the awful voice of God was heard proclaiming His law; for when they heard and saw, “they removed, and stood afar off,” and said, “Let not God speak with us, lest we die.” Exodus 20:18, 19. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.7

“Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.” (Romans 7:8); for “the sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.” It was impossible that there could be a law given which could give life. But it was not necessary that there should be; and this we shall see clearly when, in the light of revelations previously made to Israel, we consider the deeper reason. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.8

WHY THE LAW WAS GIVEN

Did God wish to mock the people by giving to them a law which could bring them nothing but death? Far from it. “Yea, He loved the people;” and never did He love them more than when “from His right hand went forth a fiery law for them.” Deuteronomy 33:2, 3. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.9

For be it remembered that although “the law entered that the offense might abound,” yet “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Romans 5:20. Since it is the law that makes sin to abound, where can its hideous magnitude be more clearly defined than at Sinai? But since “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,” it is evident that at Sinai we may most clearly see the vastness of God’s grace. No matter how greatly sin abounds, in that very place grace superabounds. What though “the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven?” Still we have the assurance, “Thy mercy is great above the heavens; and Thy truth reacheth unto the clouds.” Psalm 108:4. “As the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.” Psalm 103:11. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.10

Jesus is the Comforter. “If any man sin, we have a Comforter with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1, R.V. margin. So when His disciples were sorrowing because of His announcement that He was going to leave them, He said, “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth.” John 14:16, 17. While Jesus was on earth, he was the embodiment of the Spirit; but He would not have His work limited, so He said: “It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go away, I will send Him unto you. And He, when He is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” John 16:7, 8. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.11

Mark well the fact that the first work of the Comforter is to convict of sin. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, which pierces “even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12. Yet even while sending the keenest and deepest conviction, the Spirit is the Comforter. He is none the less the Comforter in convicting of sin, than in revealing the righteousness of God for the remission of the sin. There is comfort in the conviction which God sends. The surgeon who cuts to the very bone, that he may remove the poisonous death-breeding substance from the flesh, does it only that he may successfully apply the healing oil. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.12

The great sin of the children of Israel was unbelief-trust in self rather than in God. This is common to all mankind. What is needed is something to destroy this vain self-confidence, so that faith may come in. The law entered in a way calculated to do this, and to emphasise the fact that only by faith, and not by works of man, does righteousness come. In the very giving of the law is shown man’s dependence on God alone for righteousness and salvation, since men could not so much as touch the mountain where the law was spoken, without perishing. How, then, can it be supposed that God ever designed that any man should, for a single moment, imagine that he was to get righteousness by the law? At Sinai Christ the crucified One was preached in tones intended to reach all people, even as they shook the whole earth. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 724.13

“Rome in America” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Rome In America .-The Papacy has long had its eyes on the New World as the place to find a new leverage by which it can regain its old position in the Old. It is rapidly getting the upper hand in the United States, with the aid of professed Protestants who, by leading the way into politics over the question of Sunday laws, have fairly dragged the papal hierarchy into the position of the advantage which it might have taken them much longer to have reached without this help. The German Kölnische Zeitung warns the Protestants in the United States that Rome is surely getting them into her hands. Of her plans this well-known journal says:- PTUK November 12, 1896, page 725.1

The machine at the command of the Pope is a very formidable. No other machine can compare in organisation with the Catholic hierarchy. The army of Rome in the United States consisted in 1895 of 16 archbishops, 70 bishops, 9,686 priests, and 2,122 theological students, which army attends to the spiritual wants of 9,410,790 Catholics. The Church has 8,012 churches, 3,795 chapels, 1 university, 37 seminaries, 116 high schools, 637 academies, and 3,610 parochial schools, with 768,496 pupils. At the head of this formidable array stands the apostolic ambassador, with the rank of a cardinal. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 725.2

“Murder in Italy” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

At a public lecture in Rome, by Baron Garfalo, it was recently stated that during the past year a murder had been committed in Italy every two hours. The Baron atttributed this almost incredible fact to the absence of effective, practical, religious teaching in Italy. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 725.3

“Whipping Their Gods” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Many act as though it were the Lord’s duty to please them, instead of their duty to please Him. Then when He does not give what they think they ought to have they murmur and complain. This is as childish and unreasonable as the action of the Chinese in beating and whipping their gods when requests are not granted. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 725.4

“Aggressive Romanism” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

The “Catholic Truth Society” has just held its half-yearly meeting, at which it was apparent that Roman Catholicism is not only making headway in England, but is planning a still more active campaign. The secretary stated that there is a great demand for the Society’s publications, and that many new pamphlets are in preparation. The necessity of active propagandism was urged by all the speakers. It was urged that instead of as in the past devoting the most of their time to those who belong to the Church of England, the Catholics should reach out to Nonconformists, and that special literature dealing with the views of English Nonconformists should be prepared. Cardinal Vaughan said that during the past summer he had, while in Wales, preached to gatherings of Wesleyans, Baptists, Methodists, etc., and had always been listened to with the greatest attention. He had no doubt that if Catholics study the wants of Nonconformists, and try to meet them, they could make a great impression. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 726.1

The Cardinal stated that the Pope’s message denying the validity of Anglican orders, had made a great impression, and the confident expectation is that it will result in bringing many over to the Catholic Church. As an illustration, he cited the case of a Protestant schoolboy who refused to go to communion any more, because he had heard that the Pope had denied the validity of Anglican orders. It is most likely that the boy’s own disinclination had more to do with his refusal than the Pope’s bull had; yet beyond all doubt there is in the hearts of most people a latent, unrecognised reverence for popery. It is the natural outgrowth of the failure to recognise one’s true personal relation to God. He who does not take God alone for his personal guide, is bound sooner or later to depend on the Pope. Now is the time, as never before, to say to the people of earth, “Behold your God.” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 726.2

“An Incident in Our Work in Turkey” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

The recent troubles in Constantinople occurred just before the time appointed for a several weeks’ Bible school and conference of our workers in Turkey. At the time of the Armenian rising the brother in charge of our Society’s operations in Turkey, an Armenian, was in Roumania, and as Armenians were forbidden to return to Constantinople it was a matter of perplexity to him to know how he would be able to return to the Bible school and to his work. One of our European brethren, who attended the school, gives the following interesting report of the manner in which the Lord overruled the difficulties:- PTUK November 12, 1896, page 726.3

“On account of the new troubles, the Turkish consul refused to visé his passport, so it was not possible for him to return to Constantinople for the school, except contrary to law; this he ventured to do, leaving the results with God. In the ordinary course of of events, he would not be allowed to land, or would be sent to prison. We went to the steamer to meet him, and to see what the Lord would do. What was his surprise to meet at the gangplank the police director whom we had met four years ago in Mersin, near Tarsus, where our pockets had been searched and all books and papers taken. At that time this director had learned that our work was not dangerous to the government; he at once recognised Brother Baharian and was friendly to him; wrote a note to the police court, requesting that he be allowed to land, on the ground that he knew him to be a safe man; and send with him a policeman in citizen’s dress, for he said it would be humiliating if he had to go with a policeman. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 726.4

“At the police headquarters, he was put in ward till the president should come; but before his arrival, the minister of police, whose office is in the same building, arrived; the case was brought to his attention, and he at once sent an officer to bring Brother Baharian to his room, where he received him very cordially, and set him at liberty without a word of reproach because he had come to the city contrary to the law. On the contrary, he began at once to speak to the gentlemen in his room in such high terms of the character of Brother Baharian, that our brother was much embarrassed. At ordinary times, those allowed to land without previously having their passports viséd, must pay double the regular price, but the minister overruled all so that Brother Baharian had no expense at all.” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 727.1

“Items of Interest” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

-It is calculated that more steel is now used in the manufacture of pens than in war implements. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 734.1

-The oldest firearms were used in China. The Chinese fought with guns at a time when Europeans used bows and arrows PTUK November 12, 1896, page 734.2

-In London alone, coroner’s juries, during the pent year, returned verdicts of death from starvation in seventy-one cases. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 734.3

-The oldest as well as the largest door-lock in the world has. been unearthed at Nineveh. The key is nearly three and a-half feet in length. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 734.4

-The Trans-Siberian Railway will be 500 miles long, and when completed will enable a tour of the world to be made in thirty-three days. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 734.5

-The hottest place on the face of the earth is said to be the desert near Manaus, 159 degrees in the shade. The coldest is in the north-west territory of Canada, seventy-six degrees below zero. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 734.6

-There is a great revival of brigandage in the eastern countries,-Greece, Turkey, Persia, the Caucasus, etc. An English officer is in the hands of brigands, in Turkey, who demand a ransom of ?16,000. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 734.7

-A scientific test lately made in Berlin shows to what extent the smoke from a chimney poisons the atmosphere. The soot from the chimney of a large sugar refinery was collected for six days, and it was found to weigh 6,800 pounds. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 734.8

-The British authorities in India have been obliged to discontinue the bounties on dead snakes, because the natives went into the business of breeding the reptiles on a large scale in order to secure the reward paid for their dead bodies. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 734.9

-The deepest hole in the earth has just been bored at Paruskowitz, near Rhyhnik, Silesia, to the depth of 6,520 feet. At that point the drill rod broke off, but, in spite of that accident, eighty-three beds of coal were penetrated during the borings. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 734.10

-The House of Commons is protected from fog by the following method, which is both ingenious and expensive. The air pumped in from the river terrace is forced by steam fate through thick layers of cotton wool, which retain all impurities, leaving the air in a state of great purity. The layers of cotton wool are six inches in thickness, and occupy an area of 800 square feet. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 734.11

-This has been a season of disasters in Japan. A fire in the city of Kobe, August 26, destroyed immense property. Just after this fire, severe storms destroyed 4,900 houses in the Gifu Prefecture, together with about 600 lives. In other provinces more than 2,500 lives were fort by floods, which were preceded by terrible earthquakes. At a later date, a regular series of earthquakes shook the country in the Rokugo district. In some places the hills cracked fires broke out in some places, and waters poured forth in others. At Rokugo, over 1,000 hones were overturned. All this in addition to the awful tidal wave, which, earlier in the season, deluged a large extent of country and destroyed some 30,000 lives. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 734.12

“Back Page” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

The new Bishop of London is said to be an extreme Ritualist, officiating in cope and mitre and all the vestments of the most advanced schools. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.1

When the new papal delegate to America arrived off New York a Government revenue cutter was sent to escort him into port. Is it surprising that Rome is exulting over its hold upon the United States? PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.2

Those who think the majority entitled to enforce religious observances upon a minority will not derive much comfort from considering how the doctrine would work out in the British Empire, and which, according to Mr. John Morley, there are 290,000,000 who are professedly non-Christians. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.3

South Africa is anxiously watching the onward march of the rinderpest, and the serious calamity over-hanging in the colonies causes some searching of heart. The Christian Express, edited by Dr. Stewart, of the Lovedale Mission, says:- PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.4

There can be no doubt that the most important thing for consideration at the present moment in this country is the terrible shadow of the cattle plague that is sweeping down upon us from the north.... The plague has spread in spite of precautions, and mocked at cordons and guards.... Can there be a doubt that in all these things scourge after scourge-locusts and drought, wars, pestilence-God has a controversy with us? PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.5

One of our Indian missionaries says of the need of work for orphan children in Calcutta:- PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.6

If we had an orphanage for boys here in Calcutta, it could do a work which I am sure would meet the approval of the Lord. Scores of cases are constantly occurring were little lads are left to the mercies of a cold world. Many of them are taken by Mohammedans and brought up to a life of practical slavery. Others are being gathered by the Catholics. Aside from a small work which one Baptist minister here carries on on his own account, I know of no Protestant effort in behalf of these helpless, hopeless boys in this great city. Seldom do I place my head upon my pillow at night without thinking, What can be done for these helpless, hopeless, destitute little ones. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.7

Iceland has again been visited by earthquake, the last shock being more destructive than the preceding. The pent-up forces in this old earth are violently seeking outlet. Men of the world often scoff at the idea that these things are tokens of the breaking up of the earth in the convulsions of the great day of wrath, but Peter said that in the last days scoffers would, ridicule the doctrine of the Lord’s coming and claiming that all things “continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.8

“Bold Avowals” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Bold Avowals .-A continental cardinal is said to have received his appointment by the present Pope as a reward for writing a book in defence of the papal principles of Church and State, in which he maintained that “it is not contrary to the spirit Christianity to burn heretics with fire.” Just recently, also, the leading Catholic order of America has been expressly justifying the Inquisition. Formerly it has been asserted that it was not the papal principles but the rough ways of society that were responsible for the deeds of a few centuries ago. The Protestant world is drawing so near the papal principles in the matter of Church and State relationship that Rome no longer feels ashamed to avow her full responsibility for the system by which ecclesiastics made use of civil power to enforce religion and punish dissent. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.9

“Light and Life” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Light and Life .-How necessary light is to existence is shown by the following statement by one of the crew of the Fram, of their experience during the long night of an Arctic winter:- PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.10

The last winter in the ice was simply awful. We had our fill of the darkness. We got sleepy and indifferent, and shaky on our legs. We were not ill, but weak and deadbeat, and the doctor was anxious about our brains. When the day came, with the sun, it was a resurrection for us all. We were electrified when we saw him. Nobody knows how fine the sun looks but those who have been six months in the darkness. Then we came to strength again. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.11

Everybody recognises the fact that light is necessary to life, and even, as intimated above, to correct thinking in life. But the trouble is, that they do not realise that Christ is literally the light of the world, and that the light which the sun conveys to us is but a portion of the glory of the Lord. From the well-known fact that man cannot live without the light of the sun, the Lord would have all men learn that no one can have to life apart from Christ, “the Sun of righteousness.” He is, in fact, the resurrection and the life. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.12

“Church Orders” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Church Orders .-The day before his death, the late Archbishop of Canterbury was engaged in writing a statement to quiet the minds of those who had been disturbed by the Pope’s letter concerning Anglican orders. The Archbishop said that the subject has been investigated in England as well as in Rome, and with much more knowledge of facts, and adds:- PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.13

The result of scrutiny with that fuller knowledge was, and is, to establish that our holy orders are identical with those of the whole Catholic Church. They are in origin, continuity matter, form, intention, and all that belongs to them, identical accordingly with those of the Church of Rome, except in the one point of subjugation to the Pope. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.14

That statement will doubtless be comforting for those who desire that kind of comfort; but the Scriptures give us the true order, which is so simple that a child can comprehend it, and as sure as it is simple. Instead of deriding authority from a doubtful succession of bishops, all of them mere men, and some of them more than doubtful characters, the true church derives its orders in every age direct from the Lord Himself. It is God Himself, who has set the various gifts in the church, and it is the Holy Spirit that works them all, “dividing to every man severally as He will.” 1 Corinthians 12:28, 11. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.15

“Applied Evolution” The Present Truth, 12, 46.

E. J. Waggoner

Applied Evolution .-Evolution, with its doctrines of the survival of the fittest, represents the religion of human nature. The moral of effect of the doctrine has been illustrated wherever a stronger race has come in contact with a weaker. Thus Mr. Selous, the well-known hunter and African explorer, says in his recent book:- PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.16

Matabeleland is doomed by what seems a law of nature to be ruled by the white man, and the black man must go, or conform to the white man’s laws, or die in resisting them. It seems a hard and cruel fate for the black man, but it is a destiny which the broadest philanthropy cannot avert, whilst the British colonist is but the irresponsible atom employed in carrying out a preordained law-law which has ruled upon this planet ever since, in the far off misty depths of time, organic life was first devolved upon the earth-the inexorable law which Darwin has aptly termed the “survival of the fittest.” PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.17

The worst of it is that the doctrine encourages the “atom” to believe that he is irresponsible-that the brutal selfishness animating him is a Divine force. The Gospel is founded on self-sacrifice, the stronger helping the weaker. And, when the day of Judgment evens up earth’s history it will be found that the race was, after all, not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. PTUK November 12, 1896, page 736.18