The Present Truth, vol. 13

July 15, 1897

“Front Page” The Present Truth, 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

“And you hath He quickened [or made alive], who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Ephesians 2:1. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 433.1

The moral condition of the natural man is death, spiritual death. It is essential to the Christian worker to know this, so that he may not lose time in trying to talk to the dead. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 433.2

The Lord Jesus sends every believer into the world to win souls from death. But as well might one go to the cemetery to talk to those who sleep in the grave, as to go with one's own words and wisdom to help unbelievers. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 433.3

It requires none other than a voice the dead can hear to speak to souls dead in sin. They can hear the voice of God, because there is life in His words to give life to the very dead that they may hear. “Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” Ephesians 5:14. He must say it. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 433.4

When the Christian worker understands his absolute inability even to speak to those who are dead in sin, he will not weaken his work by trusting in any human wisdom or ability to present the truth to the perishing. They can hear only God's voice. His words must do all the good that is done. “Which things also we speak,“ said the apostle, “not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.” PTUK July 15, 1897, page 433.5

“Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. The Power that Purifies” The Present Truth, 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Since we did not come so far last week as the close of the second verse, and the third and fourth verses form one sentence with the first two verse, we will for the sake of the connection read the entire four together:— PTUK July 15, 1897, page 433.6

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers, by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds: who, being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, set down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” Hebrews 1:1-4. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 433.7

“He Spake and It Was.” -The story of creation runs thus: “God said, Let there be-; and it was so.” Wherever His Word came, there was the thing that it named. But Christ is the Word. John 1:1. It is in Him that every thought of God is expressed. Therefore “in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him and unto Him.” Colossians 1:16, R.V. By Him-in Him-God made the worlds, because in Christ He speaks, and when He speaks, the thing spoken is. There is a world, yea, a universe, of significance in the statement that God speaks to us in the One in whom all things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, were created. The word which God speaks to us in Christ is the word that creates. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 433.8

He speaks peace (Psalm 85:8), even “preaching peace by Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:36), and so there is peace; for, as the Word is the thing that it names, “He is our peace.” Ephesians 2:14. He speaks righteousness (Psalm 40:9), and therefore the name whereby He shall be called is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Jeremiah 23:6. He “of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness.” 1 Corinthians 1:30. He is the commandment of God, as we learn by a comparison of Deuteronomy 30:11-14 with Romans 10:6-9. This is seen also from the fact that the commandment of God is life everlasting (John 12:50) and to know Him is life everlasting. John 17:3. Therefore the commandments of God, all of which are spoken through Christ alone, carry with them the power of performing the things that they require. So there is rest and peace for us in the greatest and seemingly most irksome of His commandments, when we remember that nothing is spoken to us except in Christ, and that He is the Word by which the worlds were made.Thus it is that “His commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 433.9

The Light of the World .—“Who, being the brightness of His glory.” Christ is the very essence of the glory of God. As the Revision has it, “the effulgence of His glory,“ or as in other translations, “the shining of His glory.” God is “the God of glory.” Acts 7:2. “God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5. “The darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night sliineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee.” Psalm 139:12. God's Word is light (Psalm 119:105, 130), so that when God sent His Word into the darkness, saying “Let there be light,“ immediately the light shone out of darkness. 2 Corinthians 4:6. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 434.1

“The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1), because He has set His glory upon the heavens. Psalm 8:1. God's glory is infinitely greater than that of the heavens, since He is the Creator, and they are infinitely less than He. In the New Jerusalem, when it comes down upon this earth, “the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine upon it,“ for the glory of God lightens it and “the Lamb is the light thereof.” Revelation 21:23. All the light that shines upon this earth is but a portion of the glory of God. Christ is the shining of that glory; therefore He is most literally “the Light of the world.” In every sunbeam Christ comes to us, making known His love and power. If therefore we recognise Him in the light, thanking Him for every ray of light that we receive, walking in the light as He is in the light, we shall realise that He is “the Sun of Righteousness” (Malachi 4:2), and will rejoice in the righteousness that His word speaks. “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day; and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted.” Psalm 89:15, 16. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 434.2

“The Impress of His Substance.” -This is what we find in the margin of the Revised Version, for “the express image of His person,“ and it is more true to the original. In a vastly inferior degree we see this illustrated among men. The son is to a degree the impress of his father's being, but only to a degree, since nothing on this earth is perfect. The son inherits not only the goods of his father, but also the disposition and characteristics; and this is by far the most important inheritance. A poor man, without a foot of land, or a shilling above his daily bread, may give his son an inheritance that cannot be valued in money, while a millionaire may bequeath to his son so wretched an inheritance that it would be almost better if he had never been born. But God is perfect, and Christ is His heir. He is the living image of the Father, the very personality of God; for “in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Colossians 2:9. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 434.3

Joint Heirs with Christ .—“And ye are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” Colossians 2:10. If by faith we receive the Spirit of God, then we are children of God; “and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Romans 8:17. Heirs of God; not merely of His possessions, but of Himself. “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance.” Psalm 16:5. “As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.” Romans 5:19. We were made sinners by birth; we are made righteous by the new birth. Just as by our natural birth we inherit evil dispositions, and all the tendencies to evil that dwell in the flesh, even so by the new birth we inherit the graces of the Spirit. To doubt this, would be to say that God is less powerful as Father than man is. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 434.4

But we must not forget that the new birth is accomplished by faith, and is therefore continuous, and is not the work of one instant for all time. God hears us continually, as we believe. It is by the obedience of Christ,-the present, personal obedience of Christ in us,-that we are made righteous. It is this inheritance of the character of God in Christ, that makes us heirs of all His possessions; for if we were not sons, we could not be heirs, and it is the bearing of His image that marks us as sons. “We all, with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18. “As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” 1 Corinthians 15:49. But all this is only because Christ is “the effulgence of His glory and the very impress of His substance.” PTUK July 15, 1897, page 434.5

“Bearing All Things.” -Christ is revealed to us “upholding all things by the Word of His power.” Just as we read in Colossians 1:17, “He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” R.V. The word that creates is the word that maintains; in Christ were all things created, and in Him they are kept. But Christ Himself is the Word, the words that He speaks are Spirit and life (John 6:63), because they are the utterance of His own life. He speaks just what He Himself is; therefore in that He bears all things by the word of His power, He bears all things by Himself. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 434.6

Think closely upon the word “upholding,’” remembering that Christ is the One who upholds. Upholding,-holding up,-holding all things up by Himself. That is, all things rest upon Him. And thus we come to see that the text really says that Christ bears all things by the Word of His power, that is, by Himself. This is the regular meaning of the Greek word, phero, which we have in the word Christopher (Christbearer) and which is the same as the Latin fero, which appears in so many compounds, as for example, coniferous (cone bearing). Other translations give us simply and plainly in Hebrews 1:3, “bearing all things by the Word of His power,“ Here is something for us to think about for a long time. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 434.7

What Christ Bears .—He bears all things. How many things?—AIl things. Are there any exceptions?—Impossible; “for in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, visible and invisible;” and in Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16, 17. All that can be seen, and all that cannot be seen, rests upon Him. This includes the whole universe; but we will confine our thoughts to this earth. He bears the earth, and all that is upon it. The “all things” must necessarily include us,-all men. Yes, He bears us, for “in Him we live, and move, and have our being.” Acts 17:28. His life is the light of men, and it “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:4, 9. But as He bears us, He must necessarily bear all that pertains to us,-all that we bear,-our sins, our sorrows, and our sufferings. As He is our life, it cannot be otherwise than that He bears all that tends to make life a burden. “Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 434.8

Purification of Sins .—We shall have this thought that Christ bears all things constantly before us as we pass along, for it is involved in what follows. The text says that He “by Himself purged our sins.” The word “our” is not found in the best texts. He purged sins by Himself; not simply our sins, but all sins; for “He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” 1 John 2:2. How could He purge the sins of the whole world by Himself?—Because He bears the sins of the world. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:39. Here the margin gives the word “beareth,“ which is more literal. When He hung upon the cross, when He walked by the Jordan, when He was with the Father before His revelation in the flesh, and now that He is at the right-hand of the Majesty on high,“ He bears the sins of the world. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 435.1

Let us come a little nearer to this thought, for it has in it all strength, all righteousness. There is no life but from the Lord. “In Him we live.” With Him is “the fountain of life.” Psalm 36:9. A fountain continually flows, and so our life continually comes from God. Our life is not in reality our own life, but His, and therefore it is that all men owe to the Lord righteousness. The sin of the world is that men have taken the life and strength which God has loaned them, and have used them in a way utterly contrary to His will and character. The strength with which man smites and kills his fellow, is not inherent in the man, but is God’s. The breath with which man blasphemes His Maker, is the breath of life from God. The very words with which man denies the existence of God, are a proof of God's long-suffering and love, in that He continues His life to rebellious men. Sin is most repugnant to God, yet He bears it in wayward men, in hope that His love and patience will draw them to an acknowledgment of Him. So He exclaims in words that should move the hearts of all who hear: “Thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities.” Isaiah 43:24. All the sins of the world have come upon the life of God, and so God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. 2 Corinthians 5:19. Man has committed sin of his own free will; but since it was the life of God that was used in the commission of it, God takes the responsibility of it upon Himself, although He was not responsible for it. Sin is most distasteful and abhorrent to God, yet it is upon Him; therefore He says: “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake.” Isaiah 43:26. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 435.2

Is the participle “being,“ in verse 3, we have the idea of cause, thus, Christ, being the brightness of glory, etc., did so and so, that is, having that nature, He was able to do what is said of Him. In a translation before me, which follows the original very closely in this verse, we have the following, “Who, because He is the shining of His glory, and the impressed image of His being, and bears all things by the Word of His power, by Himself made purification of sins, and sat down on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens.” He purged sins, because He is the shining of God's glory and the expression of His personality, and because He bears all things. Since He is all that, He is able to make reconciliation for sins. “He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.” PTUK July 15, 1897, page 435.3

Take now a brief glance over the whole, that we may begin to realise what a wonderful salvation we have in Christ. All power and glory belong to God, but Christ is the power of God and the shining of His glory. God has spoken in Him, and still speaks, the word that creates. All things are upon Him. Everything that affects one of God's creatures affects God Himself, for their life is His life. The sin and the pain that afflict us, make God weary. Everything that man has done was done with God's life, and therefore comet upon God; and God has shown and still shows His willingness that it should come upon Him, by patiently continuing His life to sinful men, and not cutting them off from the face of the earth. But Christ, who bears all things, upon whose life are all sins, has given His life, and thereby made an atonement for all sin. “Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Hebrews 9:26. Now His life is clear; no one can charge, God with complicity with sin, although it was committed with His life. He hates sin, and so He destroys it in giving up His own life. Thus He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, for He bears the sins of the world. For His own sake He blots out sin, and since His life is our life, we necessarily get the benefit of the transaction. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 435.4

Will all be saved, then?—No; because they will not acknowledge sin nor the life of God in them. lt is true that He bears all sin; but if we persist in hearing it as well, either by refusing to acknowledge that it is sin, or by refusing to believe that He bears it, then it necessarily follows that in the final extinction of all sin we must go out of existence also. The sacrifice has been made, and it is ample because it is the life that bears all things; therefore all men might as well be saved as not. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 435.5

He bears all things, even our sins; but it makes all the difference in the world whether we acknowledge it or not. He bears us and our sins, whether we believe or not; but if we do not believe, then we continue to bear them, a most useless proceeding. Since the sin comes upon His life, it is no more burden for Him to relieve us of it, than for Him to hear us with the burden on our shoulders. More than this, it is a joy for Him to relieve us of the burden, because then our lives are saved for sin must he destroyed by His life; “He will swallow up death in victory;” and if we persist in bearing the sin ourselves, we shall be destroyed with it, and He has no pleasure in the death of any. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 435.6

What joy and strength there is for all who really believe that Christ hears all things. He is come in the flesh, so that we have not to go and search for Him in order that we may cast our burdens on Him. They are there; the question is, Will we persist in bearing them also, or will we allow Him to relieve us of them. There is a strong temptation pressing upon you; He feels it, for He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities; believe that with all your heart, and hold to it, and you are free, for since He bears it, why need you? He can bear it so easily. He has demonstrated His power to resist evil even in the flesh, therefore we may safely trust Him with all that we have. You have a task, perhaps a daily round of toil, that worries you, and tries your patience beyond endurance; why not accept the fact that Jesus bears the burden, and that He can do it without losing patience? It is a common saying that “misery loves company,“ which means that people in trouble like to have a companion who can sympathise with them. It seems to divide the suffering. Well, Jesus is a companion in tribulation, who not merely divides it, but who takes it all, so that we May have fulness of joy. John 15:11; 16:33. Believe it, and you will find that it is no fancy, but actual fact. In time of pain and sickness there is ease and healing in the knowledge of the fact that Jesus feels every pang. As with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, so with the heart may man believe unto health. Let Him then bear the burden in His own loving way; whatever it may be, let this truth be indelibly printed in your mind, and be upon your lips, “He bears it,“ and you will have so much to thank the Lord for that you will forget how to doubt, murmur, or be afraid. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 435.7

Yes, He bears all things by the Word of His power, and tile Word is very near us, even in our mouth and in our heart (Romans 10:10); therefore “unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 436.1

“A Californian Sanatorium” The Present Truth, 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

The accompanying illustration is a picture of the St. Helena Sanatorium, an institution under the direction of our Society in California. It is located among the mountains, amidst beautiful scenery, and enjoys a good patronage from those in search of health. It was founded somewhat under a score of years ago, and has done good work in caring for the sick, and as a centre for the dissemination of health and temperance principles. There is published in connection with it a monthly magazine devoted to health subjects, and in all its work the aim of the institution is to preach the Gospel. Three physicians are employed in its work, with a corps of thirty nurses. Much is hoped for from this and the other larger sanatoriums conducted by our Society in various parts, in the way of supplying trained and consecrated workers for needy mission fields abroad. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 439.1

“One Evil Thing Held To” The Present Truth, 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

One evil habit held to, one wrong sinful way that is not given up, will ruin the life. The Lord wants us to let Him cleanse our hearts from “all sin.” However pleasant evil ways may appear to be, they surely end in sorrow, and unless repented of, in death. Here is a little parable that has in it a good lesson for us:— PTUK July 15, 1897, page 445.1

“Flowers, shake off all your caterpillars,“ said an old elder tree. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 445.2

“Why? Why?” said all the flowers. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 445.3

“Because if you don't, they will eat you all up.” PTUK July 15, 1897, page 445.4

So they shook off all the caterpillars. But one lovely rose tree said: “This is such a beautiful caterpillar, and he is not very large! I want to keep him. Just one won't hurt me.” A few days after, there was not a whole leaf on the rose tree; all her beauty was gone. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 445.5

“Natural Drink” The Present Truth, 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

The Welsh miners who, some years ago, were locked up for many days without access to solid food were sustained, said the late B. W. Richardson, because, fortunately, near to them, and within their reach, was a little stream which supplied them with water. And, in the absurd feats of men living without food, we find they all take water; when sometimes for even forty days, they survive. Many call this starvation, but it is really not so. The water acts as a food-not, after all, a surprising fact when we consider that the human body, including even the teeth and the skeleton, is made up pretty nearly of sixty-five per cent. of water alone. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.1

The greatest fact, however, derived from natural history is the magnificent one that all animals except man, and all plants, demand, as a drink, nothing but water. Life, strength, activity, intelligence, are sustained on this fluid alone. Nay, if we take man, we discover that not all men, women, and children use alcohol. Millions and millions never touch it, and yet, as our modern experience shows us, they live just as well, just as industriously, just as actively, as do they who indulge in alcohol. Most convincing is it, too, that men who take alcohol take it with water. Brandy contains half water, and it has to be diluted with more before it can be tolerated; our beers and ales contain over ninety per cent. of water, our wines over eighty; so that eve the alcoholic populations are largely water-drinking communities. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.2

The only drink for man, plant, or animal, in a natural sense is water, without which we could not live, but which many poison with this foreign substance, giving no credit to the water that is their mainstay, and deluded in supposing that it is the alcohol, or spirit, they have put into the water that renders the vital service. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.3

“Tobacco-using Fathers” The Present Truth, 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

It often occurs, and, indeed, is true as a rule, says a medical journal, that the chief effects of the use of tobacco are not seen in the man who indulges the habit, but appear in his children. Whence came such a vast army of nervous, sickly, yellow-faced young women? Inquire, and learn that their fathers were tobacco-users, and you have the secret. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.4

A terrible inheritance of constitutional weakness, nervous debility, and general incapacity for enjoyment, does the tobacco-using father entail upon his children. Most strikingly applicable are the words of Ezekiel, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.” PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.5

With reference to the same subject, the renowned Sir Benjamin C. Brodie said, “No evils are so manifestly visited upon the third and fourth generations as the evils which spring from the use of tobacco.” PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.6

“Items of Interest” The Present Truth, 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

-Russia is threatened with another famine to its southern province. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.7

-About fifty thousand workmen are said to be engaged on the great Trans-Siberian railway. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.8

-Estimates of the damage done by the hailstorm in Essex place is at ?200,000. May persons lost all they had. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.9

-Before a select committee of the House of Commons last week, a money-lender, who testified as to the ways of his class, confessed that he might have lent money at 4,000 per cent. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.10

-Severe heat, with many prostrations and deaths, is reported from the United States and Canada. We have much to be thankful for in the matter of climate in these islands. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.11

-Lisbon recently felt a shock of earthquake, and at points along the Mediterranean Sea the bed of the sea has swayed, varying several feet, so much that anchors have broken loose. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.12

-A Socialist organ in London, which publishes a most inflammatory appeal to Indians to rise against the Government of India, says that it is sending a copy of the issue to every native newspaper of India. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.13

-Explorers in Egypt have recently found a great quantity of ancient records. There are rolls of manuscripts, written on papyrus, dating from the second and third centuries, it is thought. Little has been translated yet, but in one of the papyri there are references to the sayings of Christ. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.14

-The death-rate in Bombay has returned to the normal, showing that the plague is practically extinct. Figures are given showing that between September 20 and May 25 nearly 21,000 persons died of the plague in Bombay, notwithstanding the enormous exodus of the people from the plague-stricken city. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.15

-In Algeria the Mohammedan tribes are being stirred into turbulence by Turkish successes. These far-away Moslems care nothing for Turkey as a Power, but the Sultan represents the religion of Mohammed, and every Mohammedan considers that Allah has again manifested His will that the injfidel should be overthrown wherever he is. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.16

-It is hoped that for the present the riots in India have subsided. Native troops were employed to disperse crowds of their co-religionists near Calcutta, and their loyalty to their officers is much commented upon. However, prudent observers, and men who are acquainted with India, do not disguise the fact that the country is in a more disquieted state than at any time since the great mutiny. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.17

-The Japanese have a large population on a small island home country and they are ever on the alert for fresh fields for their surplus people. The island of Formosa they got from China, but this is not enough. They have been coming into the Sandwich Islands until the government of that republic has become alarmed and thrown itself into the arms of the United States. They are known to be looking upon the Philippine Islands with longing eyes, and now Sydney papers are alarmed at the rate at which Japanese immigrants are coming into Australia. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 446.18

“Back Page” The Present Truth, 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Now, added to all its other troubles, India suffers from an invasion of locusts. Clouds of them are reported in northern districts. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 448.1

The special Papal envoy, representing the Vatican at the Jubilee celebrations, has assured the Pope that “his mission would probably result in improved relations between England and the Vatican.” PTUK July 15, 1897, page 448.2

Of the envoy's reception here the Pope can have no reason to complain. The Sussex Daily News says: “Monsignor Sambucetti was the only foreign envoy whom the Queen rose from her chair to receive; and the length of audience accorded to the Archbishop was much longer than that given to the other representatives.” Rome is “that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:18), and the Papacy expects its representatives to rank above those of ordinary Powers. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 448.3

The movement for enforcing Sunday observance makes continual progress. Last week an International Congress on Sunday Rest was held in Brussels. A member of the Belgian Government who presided, admitted that their purpose “was not attainable in Belgium on religious grounds,“ but thought Sunday rest “might be secured under pressure of public opinion, aided by State intervention.” PTUK July 15, 1897, page 448.4

The Medical Missionary Board of our Society is pushing forward its work on Mexico. A large sanatorium is under construction, as the work of the mission demanded greater facilities. In a recent appeal in behalf of funds to complete this and other enterprises, it was stated that the medical missionary operations in Mexico had met with most cordial cooperation from all save the priests, who did their best unsuccessfully to defeat the aims of the workers. President Diaz has expressed his sympathy with, and interest in, the proposed sanatorium. While all depends upon the presence and blessing of God in the work, it is but an evidence of this that open doors, rather than barriers of prejudice, meet the workers in that needy field. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 448.5

A Chinese missionary tells of a young convert, the son of a wealthy man, who resisted every effort of his friends to compel or persuade him to give up his faith. At last his father was advised: “Send him to England for his education. He will soon lose his religion.” It was done, and sadly enough, his life amidst the formal profession of godliness, with the denial of its power, did the work that the open opposition of heathenism could not do. He returned to China without his religion. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 448.6

A little time ago a statesman who was trying to defend a course of action declared: “Whether their policy was right or wrong, there were very good grounds for it.” The unconscious contradiction of terms was characteristic of human nature in the wrong. In private life people often persuade themselves that there may be good reasons for not doing right. But it is never right to do wrong, and it is dangerous to adopt the world's proverb, “Let us do evil that good may come.” PTUK July 15, 1897, page 448.7

The reception accorded the Russian Archbishop by Anglican clergy-men speaks volumes, when it is remembered that the Russian Church is even now bitterly persecuting all who leave its fold. When he came to London to attend the recent celebrations he passed into the station blessing a kneeling crowd of clergymen and others, and when he left the station platform was again crowded with kneeling people, amongst whom for twenty minutes he passed backwards and forwards bestowing his blessing. The medi?val spirit is growing. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 448.8

Reports show that the persecution of Russian Quakers still goes on amongst the scattered remnant. All accounts show that they are a temperate and industrious people. But they refuse to bear arms or to put themselves ill training for killing their fellowmen whenever statesmen fall out and give the word. This is unpardonable in the eyes of military governments. But if the authorities really knew it, these people, and all conscientious Protestants who suffer in Russia, are the best friends the Government has. That is, at a time when internal discontent threatens the State, and observers predict that it must break out one of these days, these elements that make for righteousness are a power to hold unrighteousness in check to the extent of their influence. It is the hopeless and the malicious who are elements of disturbance. The man who follows Christ can never be other than subject to constituted authorities in all civil things, nor will he be found even in political strife. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 448.9

“Firmer than Earth” The Present Truth, 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Firmer than Earth .—The promise of God cannot be shaken, and the believer can rest securely upon the Everlasting Word even though the earth reels to and fro. It is the lesson to be learned from every shock, now so frequent, warning earth-dwellers that they need to build their hopes on a firmer foundation than temporal things afford. One of our workers in Calcutta speaks as follows of the late earthquake there:— PTUK July 15, 1897, page 448.10

“I had been in two slight shocks before, but they were all over in less than a minute, but this one was fully five minutes so that we had ample time to view the results of the shock as they were occurring. I never can forget it so long as I live. The buildings round seemed like boats on a slightly troubled water, the ground under our feet was too unsettled to stand without stepping in order to keep from falling down. I went up on to the front terrace and looked into the street. The scene was indescribable. The terror-stricken people were running hither and thither, screaming, praying and calling on their gods. The contrast, as I went down into our yard again and saw the calm features of our little company who stood silently looking at this visible manifestation of God's power before us was marked indeed, and I said in my heart, ‘Thank the Lord for the Christian's hope.’ Our house is now undergoing repairs.” PTUK July 15, 1897, page 448.11

“Subject to God's Law” The Present Truth, 13, 28.

E. J. Waggoner

Subject to God's Law .—It is becoming very common to hear religious teachers boldly proclaiming that they do not hold themselves subject to the law of God. Even some whose church creed affirms the everlasting perpetuity of the Ten Commandments-and nearly all church creeds do so-take refuge in the no-law position when loyalty to God's law in Sabbath-keeping is preached by the Gospel. It is but a fulfilment of the Lord's words concerning the last days. “Because iniquity (literally, lawlessness) shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matthew 24:12. This claim of not being subject to God's law is a true but sad confession. “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Romans 8:7. Only the one who will let God save Him from sin can be subject. The Lord Jesus died that He might destroy the carnal, fleshly mind, and our salvation is in letting Him do so. PTUK July 15, 1897, page 448.12