The Present Truth, vol. 13

July 22, 1897

“Going Home” The Present Truth, 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Going Home .—“Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father.” John 13:1. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 449.1

For Us .—But there was no selfishness in His thought. “It is expedient for you that I go away,“ He told His disciples. He was soon to leave this sinful world for the Father's house, but His heart was with His children here. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 449.2

His Love Constant .—“Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.” Verse 1. Not the agony of the garden nor the horror of great darkness upon the cross could dim the flame of love which makes His life the light of men; it was for this love that He bore us that He endured the awful weight of sin. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 449.3

In the World .—We are in the world now, and we are all His, for He “gave Himself for us.” All are His by purchase. And He loves His own in this world. Weak, sinful, surrounded by evil, He knows all about it, and here, in this world, where we need the help and comfort, He tells us that He loves us, and He loves us unto the end. “And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” PTUK July 22, 1897, page 449.4

Power and Service .—“Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God”—knowing that all power in heaven and earth was His, He did not exact recognition of His superiority after the manner of the great and powerful of earth-but “took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.” Verses 3-5. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 449.5

An Object Lesson .—How that object lesson must have appealed to the disciples after the Lord's ascension. He who sat on the throne of the Father, at the right hand of power, was “this same Jesus” whom they had seen kneeling at their feet. His whole life taught that the highest exercise of power is in service, but in this ordinance, which appealed to their senses, Jesus showed that, with full knowledge of His power and superiority, He did not hold Himself above those whom He loved. And “God was in Christ. The Creator was kneeling at the feet of the simple fishermen, performing the service to show His love and fellowship with His children, and to set them and the church for ever an example in humility. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 449.6

An Example .—Jesus came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. The rule of His kingdom is self-sacrifice and service. “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them.” Not the duty of service, but the happiness of service is here enjoined. The forced service, the affectation of humility, is not a following of the Lord's example, but the service prompted by the love of Christ in the heart is the means of grace and joy. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 449.7

Self-Love .—Self-exaltation has been the cause of all the trouble since Lucifer said in heaven, “I will exalt my throne.” He exalted himself and fell. Then he persuaded man to join him in his religion of self-conceit and rebellion. To save man, Jesus humbled Himself more than any man. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him.” Philippians 2:9. Not lifting up oneself but humbling oneself is the way of honour; not that it is possible for one to humble himself in order to win exaltation, but that God gives grace to the one who seeks nothing for himself but that he may serve. “Learn of Me,“ says Jesus, “for I am meek and lowly in heart.” Vain man, in his petty pride, must learn humility of his Creator and Saviour. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 449.8

There had been a controversy among the disciples as to which should be the greater. On this His last night with them before the crucifixion He taught them what He meant by that saying, “Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” Matthew 20:25-27. The Lord introduced this ordinance the same night that He instituted the Lord's Supper. Had its lesson been kept in mind there never could have arisen in the church that strife for the supremacy which led up to the Papacy. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 450.1

And the lesson is not more for a lordly clergy, who assume authority over God's heritage, and whose movements are attended by stately pomp and ceremony, than for all the Lord's people. It is love of self that causes all the alienations and troubles among brethren. Jesus at the feet of His brethren (even of the traitor Judas, by that service making His last loving appeal to win him from his sin), is the example for the follower of the Lord. In such an attitude of mind no offence, even when intended, can cause resentment and bitter feelings. In the church of Christ self is dead, and Christ lives within the hearts of His children. He is “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” Now His joy is to serve His brethren. Now he who has Christ within will be ambitious only to serve. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 450.2

This spirit is not something that can be put on. It is put into the life when “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.” “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.... And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:30, 32. “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:15. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 450.3

“Lessons From the Book of Hebrews. Christ's Superiority to the Angels” The Present Truth, 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Let us take a brief glance at what we have passed over. God has spoken, and still speaks. He speaks to us in His Son, that only begotten Son-the Lord-who was in the beginning with God, and who was God. This Son through whom God speaks to us is the heir of all things, because in Him were all things created. Moreover He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), the very impress of His substance, and the shining of His glory; and because He is all this, and because He hears in His own life all creation with the sins and the curse of the whole world, He has by Himself, and for His own sake, made a reconciliation, a cleansing, of sin, and is seated “on the right hand of the Majesty on high; PTUK July 22, 1897, page 450.4

“Being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” Hebrews 1:4. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 450.5

“Being made so much better than the angels.” How much better?—So much better as to have a seat on the right hand of the Majesty on high, a place that is infinitely higher than that occupied by the highest angel; and this place He has by right, because “He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” PTUK July 22, 1897, page 450.6

The “More Excellent Name.” -What is the “more excellent” name? It is a name that He has “by inheritance,“ and must therefore be the Father's name. God the Father Himself addresses the Son as God, saying, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” He is as much more excellent than the angels, as the Creator is above the thing created. In Christ were the angels in heaven created (Colossians 1:16), so that it is impossible that any angel should ever equal the Son in rank and power. The place which He occupies He has by right of inheritance, as the only begotten Son of God. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 450.7

“For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and he shall be to Me a Son?” PTUK July 22, 1897, page 450.8

To this question there can be but one answer-to none of them. But God has said it to the Son. He has said it to the Son, because it is true of the Son. Angels are sons of God (Job 38:7), but not in the sense that Christ is. He stands in a relation to the Father, that the highest angel cannot attain to, because not born to it as was Christ. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 450.9

We also are Sons .—But “behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God!” “Before the foundation of the world,“ He “predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” Ephesians 1:4, 5. To us God says what He has not said to any angel, but what He has said to Christ, the only begotten Son: “I will receive you, and will be to you a Father, and ye shall be to Me sons and daughters.” 2 Corinthians 6:16, 17, R.V. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 450.10

There is nothing in this to cause any soul to feel proud and exalted, although the position promised is the highest that is in God's power to bestow. On the contrary, it produces true humility, in that it exalts the infinite love of God, and the infinite power that can take creatures of dust, and fallen creatures at that, and make them “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” It is the inheritance only of the meek. Because Christ possessed, even while yet in heaven, the mind of humility that led Him to take the form of a servant, as He already had the character of a servant; therefore “God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name.” Philippians 2:5-9. It is only in the gentleness and humility of God, that we can be made great. But with all who humbly accept Him, Christ shares all that He inherits,-His character, His possessions, His glory, His name. See Romans 8:17; Revelation 21:7; John 17:22; Revelation 3:12. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 451.1

The Son of Man Exalted .—Jesus sits on the right hand of the Majesty on high-but in what capacity?—As the Son of man; for “now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.” Ephesians 4:9, 10. All this happened to “the Son of man.” Matthew 20:17-19. It would be no more than men would expect that God would give to His only begotten Son the place which He had by right from eternity; but here we see the Son of man exalted to that same position,-that Son of man whose “visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men” (Isaiah 52:13, 14), so that He scarcely had the appearance of a man, and who in His utter abasement said, “I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” Psalm 22:6. “This Jesus hath God raised up,“ and by the resurrection from the dead it is demonstrated that He is the Son of God as well as the Soil of man. Romans 1:4. He was by the resurrection declared to be the Son of God with power “according to the Spirit of holiness,“ because it was on account of His holiness through the Spirit, that it was impossible for the grave to hold Him. Acts 2:24. Because Christ was marred and bruised and degraded more than any man, and yet by the Spirit of holiness shown to be the Son of God, and exalted to the throne of the Majesty on high, there is no room left to doubt that the very lowest man may through Him attain to the same position. “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of gory.” 1 Samuel 2:8. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 451.2

“And again, when He bringeth in the first begotten into the world, He saith, and let all the angels of God worship Him.” PTUK July 22, 1897, page 451.3

God does nothing arbitrarily. Whatever He does stands fast for ever and ever, because it has in it the very substance of eternity, namely, truth. He does not, as men do, place persons in a position that is purely artificial, and demand that they shall receive homage because of their position and surroundings; but with God the character makes the position. He did not demand that all the angels should worship Christ because He had arbitrarily placed Him over them, but because Christ was worthy of worship; and the angels saw in Him that which commanded their adoration. In Christ's deepest humiliation, when haggard and worn with the burden of sin and the conflict with Satan, when battered and bruised, His face covered with shame and spitting,-even then He carried with Him kingly authority and dignity, that was felt even by those who mocked Him because of His appearance, but who would have done homage to Him if He had come with the outward pomp and trappings of a king. He was king by force of character, and therefore to Him was accorded the homage due to a king, even while arrayed as a degraded criminal. In His most humiliating position He had royal honour, to show us that in the most truly exalted position there must be humility. The truly noble does not exalt itself-it has no need to. Only in the absence of greatness is there the vaunting of names and titles, and the arrogation to one's self of position and homage. Jesus demonstrated His right to be highest over all, and to receive the adoration and homage of the universe, by the possession in the deepest poverty and abasement of a character that compelled the adoration of the highest angels of God. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 451.4

“And of the angels He saith, Who maketh His angels spirits [winds, R.V.], end his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy follows. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they shall all wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou told them up, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.” Hebrews 1:10-13. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 451.5

God has not exalted the Son at the expense of the angels. Human pride and ambition overreaches itself, by seeking to exalt itself at the expense of others. It is a common failing with men, to depreciate others, in order that self may stand highest. When we do that, we do not think that the very fact that we must depreciate the worth of others in order that our oven may be seen, is an evidence that ours is very small, smaller than that of those whom we seek to depreciate. Only true worth can recognise worth. The chapter before us shows Christ's infinite superiority to the angels, but it does not in the least give the angels a low position. Of their greatness and work, however, we will speak in the next article. Let as now note what is said of the Son. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 451.6

Christ is God .—“Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” Who says this? God, the Father. To whom does He say it?—“Unto the Son.” The Father, therefore, addresses the Son as God, thus showing that He is worthy of all worship. This is to give Him the very highest position in the universe, or, rather, to recognise His right to it, the position which He has at the right hand of the Majesty on high. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 451.7

The Word of God .—It is worth while in passing to learn a lesson as to how we should read the Scriptures. The words, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,“ are quoted from Psalm 45:6. One who reads that Psalm would naturally say that they are the words in which David addresses God. That is all true, but it is not all the truth. The truth, as we see from the first of Hebrews, is that the words are God's own words, showing us that when we read the Scriptures, we should read them, not as the words of men, but as they are in truth, the words of God, This is an illustration of the statement in the first verse: God spake in the prophets. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 451.8

A Kingdom of Righteousness .—“A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.” What is a sceptre?—It is a symbol of power. It is the emblem of kingly power and authority. The fact that the sceptre of Christ's kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness, shows that the kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness. Christ rules in righteousness. He wins, “not by might nor by power,“ as men understand those terms, but by the inherent righteousness of His cause. “Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of Thy throne.” Psalm 89:14, R. V. The margin of the common version has “establishment” or “foundation.” God's throne-Christ's throne-is for ever and ever, because it is founded on righteousness,-it is righteousness. Whatever is right must stand for ever. In this we have a lesson to learn: We need not concern ourselves about defending ourselves and our cases; all we have to do is to leave ourselves in God's hands, that He may work His righteous will in us, and our case must stand, no matter what is said and done to overthrow it. “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” 1 John 2:17. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 451.9

Loving Righteousness-Hating Iniquity .—“Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity.” Men are wont to transpose the terms, to put hating iniquity first. And then too often they forget the second term. Loving righteousness must precede hating iniquity. When that is the case, there is no danger that hating iniquity will be omitted; for the first includes the second. If one really loves righteousness, that is of itself hatred of iniquity; “for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14. Righteousness is light; unrighteousness is darkness. Light has no communion with darkness, not because it arbitrarily decides to exclude darkness from its fellowship, but because darkness cannot possibly come where light is. Where light is, there darkness cannot be. There is a way common among men, of declaiming against iniquity, in order to show one's hatred of it. It is as though a candle should continually cry out against darkness in order to show that it has no fellowship with darkness, but the fact that it must be always talking against darkness, in order to show its abhorrence of it, is proof that it itself is nothing but darkness. The man who has no way of showing his own goodness except by talking against the evil deeds of others, has not righteousness enough to be seen. Light has nothing to do but to shine; by so doing it drives darkness away, and that is far better than declamations against it. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 452.1

We are not sent into the world to chase after sin,-to hunt it out, trace it to its den, investigate it, attack it, and expose it to view to be hated-and then loved. What are we their to do with sin?—Let it alone; simply love righteousness; be a positive force instead of merely negative. If one goes toward the north, he necessarily goes away from the south. So one cannot love and seek righteousness without fleeing from iniquity. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 452.2

A Kingdom of Joy .—“God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” What does anointing signify?—Separation to a special office. Priests, prophets, and kings are thus inducted into office. Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King, but above all, King, His power as Prophet and Priest is derived from His authority as King. But what is the nature of His kingdom? We have already seen that it is a kingdom of righteousness; now we see that it is a kingdom of joy, for the anointing oil shows the character of the kingdom. Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost. Acts 10:35. So the kingdom of God is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Romans 14:17. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 452.3

The subjects of Christ's kingdom must therefore be glad and joyful. Not, they ought to be, but they must be. Not to be joyful in God is an evidence that Christ is not acknowledged as King. He who accepts Christ, and the righteousness of God which necessarily comes in Christ, cannot be otherwise than glad in the Lord. “Thou hast loved righteousness;”—therefore God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness. Gladness accompanies righteousness just as surely as light accompanies the rising sun. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 452.4

But mark; we are not to make ourselves glad. We have not to force gladness; nor to simulate it. If joy a not spontaneous, it is not joy. In the world gladness is often fictitious; it is either the result of passing events, and so but momentary, or it is put on to cover up real unhappiness. That is the way the world gives peace and joy. But Christ gives not as the world gives. He gives joy that cannot be affected by surroundings. Jesus Christ was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,“ and He says that His disciples shall have tribulation in the world: yet He was a man of joy, for He said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” John 15:11. And even when saying that tribulation must come, He says, “Be of good cheer.” John 16:33. Joy that is unaffected by tribulation and affliction is worth having. Among the many libels published against Christ, is the statement that He never smiled. As if a man of long visage and doleful countenance could ever attract children to him! No; “the joy that was set before Him” enabled Him to endure the cross. Hebrews 12:3. He had the Lord always before His face, in whose presence there is “fulness of joy;” and because He was “full of joy” from the countenance of the Father, our joy can be full in Him. God's countenance is full of joy. Compare Psalm 16, Acts 2:25-28; John 15:11. Because of His anointing by the Spirit, He gives us “the oil of joy for mourning” (Isaiah 61:1, 3), so that although we may be “in heaviness through manifold temptations,“ yet, believing in Him, we are able to “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” 1 Peter 1:5-8. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 452.5

New Heavens and New Earth .—Read verses 10-12 again carefully. They tell, what we have already learned, that Christ is Creator. The Father Himself bears witness to the fact that Christ laid the foundation of the earth, and that the heavens are the work of His hands. When He made them they were as a matter of course new; and they would always have remained new, if sin had not come into the world; for righteousness is eternal and the characteristic of eternity is perpetual youth. But because of sin they have become old and threadbare, like a long used garment. So, like a garment, they shall be folded up and changed. When a garment is worn out, and therefore is changed, what follows?—A new garment. If the old garment were not to be replaced by a new one, there would be no reason for changing it. Therefore in the words, “They all shall wax old like a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed,“ we have the promise of the “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” The same word that in the beginning caused them to stand forth from nothingness, still abides to “create all things new.” PTUK July 22, 1897, page 452.6

Jesus Christ For Ever the Same .—“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:5. “They shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they shall all wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.” Glorious assurance! Everything else about us may change; we ourselves change; but He is unchangeable. Often in our changing moods we imagine that Christ has changed. Not so; we have been looking at ourselves, instead of at Christ. All the sin and misery in this world comes from putting self in the place of Christ. We rejoice for a season in the pardoning love of God; but, looking away from Christ, we fall into sin, and then we imagine that His feelings have changed towards us. Impossible! “If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13. We wander away in sin, but we need not despair, for we cannot go so far away that we cannot find Him if we wish to. He “is not far from every one of us,“ and He is always the same. He loves “with an everlasting love.” Jeremiah 31:3. “It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22. And “this God is our God for ever.” From everlasting to everlasting He is God, and in all generations He is our dwelling place. Psalm 90:1, 2. The heavens may vanish away like smoke, and the earth may be removed, yet we may abide secure, for the eternal God is our refuge, and “underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deuteronomy 33:27. “Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.” He changes not, therefore “they that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount, Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even for ever.” Psalm 125:1, 2. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 452.7

“Change and decay in all around I see;
O, Thou who changest not, abide with me.” PTUK July 22, 1897, page 453.1

“Perilous Times Have Come” The Present Truth, 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

At the recent meeting of the Yorkshire Evangelical Union Canon Faucett read a paper on the “Signs of the Times,“ in which he said:— PTUK July 22, 1897, page 455.1

“Paganism was being revived, Spiritualism and Theosophy and modern occultism were reviving the oldest forms of demonworship; the Socialistic anarchy of the day, preached not only by word but by daggar and dynamite-no God, no devil, no king, magistrate, law or capitalist. Divorces were awfully on the increase. Suicides in the United States had increased from 2,600 in 1590 to 6,500 in 1896; murders from 4,300 in 1890 to 10,600 in 1896. Science was placed above conscience, heads crammed full, hearts empty. Conformity to the world characterised all Christendom in its apostasy, even the Protestant Churches. Vanity Fair had made its head-quarters where least they would expect it. Amateur theatricals, skirt dances, comic songs, raffles, and palmistry-anything and everything to amuse the congregation and to raise money in the name of religion were practised by the people who burned Mr. Faithful. How strange it was that, when God from heaven was crying, ‘Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and receive not of her plagues,’ bishops, clergy, and laity were longing for union with the apostate Greek and Roman Churches. Transubstantiation, idolatry of images and icons, invocation of the Virgin Mary, angels, and saints, and the blasphemous claims of infallibility, all warned them of the doomed apostasy. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 455.2

Truly the world is filling up the specifications of 2 Timothy 3. It is called pessimism to say that the course of the world is downward, but so it always has been and is to-day. Perilous times have come, and only Divine power can save men from the perils. The world says, “Prophesy unto us Smooth things,“ but the Lord says, “Cry aloud, spare not.” PTUK July 22, 1897, page 455.3

“Items of Interest” The Present Truth, 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

-The bricklayer; in Buluwayo have been striking for 25s. per day. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 462.1

-The Pope has been condemning female voices in church choirs, and declares that the violin is “sensual and profane.” PTUK July 22, 1897, page 462.2

-The heat in America has been so intense that hundreds of death, were occasioned. The shade thermometer in one place was 126 degrees. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 462.3

-In Morocco, just across the Mediterranean from Europe, the slave traffic thrives, and boys and girls are regularly sold in all the cities. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 462.4

-An Italian army officer has invented a new repeating rifle by which eighty shuts per minute can be fired without removing the gun from the shoulder. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 462.5

-French savants who have been experimenting in the Transvaal, declare that they have found a cure for the rinderpest, where the German professor, Dr. Koch, failed. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 462.6

-The report of the Parliamentary Committee on the raid into the Transvaal declares it to have been inexcusable and criminal and censures Mr. Rhodes severely, while exonerating the Colonial Office authorities from all blame in the matter. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 462.7

-It is said that about 25,000 Spanish soldiers are on the sick list in Cuba. The climate has been more deadly than the battles, and while the Spanish troops suffer from it, the insurgents harry their posts and cut off supplies. The end of the struggle seems as far off as ever. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 462.8

-Great excitement is reported to exist on the Pacific Coast over the discovery of rich gold deposits in Alaska. Thousands of miners are rushing to the country. The United States bought Alaska of Russia for a few million dollars, and it has proved a rich investment already in the fur harvest. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 462.9

-Many M. P.s met privately at the House of Commons last week to hear statements from missionaries as to the ravages wrought in India by the famine. In a discussion a proposal in favour of an Imperial grant received much support, the Mansion House Fund of half a million having been quite inadequate. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 462.10

-Greece has been heavily weighted with financial burdens, sufficient without s reckless war to keep a country on the verge of ruin. Out of a population of 500,000 adult males, 30,000 soldiers and marines have been maintained in time of peace, and there are nearly eighteen thousand Government officers in the civil service, all of whom change office with every change of ministry. Thus nearly 50,000 men out of 500,000 draw pay from the Greek State. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 462.11

-Extensive works are being carried out in Gibraltar, chief of which is the construction of three naval docks capable of accommodating the largest battleships. Heretofore Malta has been the only place of repair along the Mediterranean. A harbour is being constructed, capable of sheltering the whole Mediterranean fleet. A number of years will be required to complete the works, and some officials think they will not he ready till “after the great war is over.” PTUK July 22, 1897, page 462.12

“Back Page” The Present Truth, 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Russia and the Vatican have been drawing nearer together lately. The reunion movement assumes a triangular form, Roman, Greek, and Anglican. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 464.1

“Be strong in the Lord.” Literally, as the Revision gives it in the margin of Ephesians 6:10, it is, “Be made strong.” All the Lord asks is that we shall be willing to be made strong. He supplies the strength according to His almighty power. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 464.2

An Indian missionary, just arrived in London, writes to a newspaper saying that many have an idea that the famine in India is nearly over, whereas distress in some parts is increasing. It is estimated that now one hundred persons are dying of famine every hour. God hasten the day when there shall be no more the curse and blight of sin. And He is hastening it. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 464.3

“Ancient Greek Papyri” The Present Truth, 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Ancient Greek Papyri .—Two Oxford archaeologists last winter searched the rubbish heaps which lie beneath low mounds marking the site of the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus, on the border of the Libyan desert, 120 miles south of Cairo. It was the chief city of the region in Roman times, but since its ruin in the Arab invasion the sands of centuries have drifted over it. As the result of the recent researches, quantities of papyrus manuscripts were discovered, dating from the first to the eighth centuries. Amongst this mass, there is a portion of the Gospel of Matthew, written in a style which the editors attribute to the third century. Thus it is the oldest fragment of Bible manuscript extant, by several centuries. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 464.4

“‘Sayings of Our Lord’” The Present Truth, 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

“Sayings of Our Lord.” -The one portion of these papyri published is a mutilated leaf from a book, purporting to give some of the sayings of Christ. From the style, the writing is dated by the editors about the year 200. Scholars will discuss the genuineness of the sayings with great interest, and doubtless to no profit. It is easy to see how many sayings might pass current in early times, some inventions, some expansions, and the history of later times shows how this grew to lengths in the hands of mystics. But the Lord has not left us dependent upon human memory. It is a life and death matter, and as Jesus offered Himself through the Eternal Spirit for us, so the Holy Spirit left the record of His life and teaching. Many things Jesus did and said that were not written, but what is written by prophets and evangelists, speaking by the Holy Spirit, is sufficient to make the man of God “perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” It is that Word that will judge all in the last day. But the literary world is always more interested in discussing problems than in giving attention to the things assured. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 464.5

“Some of the Alleged Sayings” The Present Truth, 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

Some of the Alleged Sayings .—Six are decipherable in whole or in part. The first, a fragment, ... “and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote that is in thy brother's eye,“ agrees with Luke 6:42. Another, “Jesus saith, A city built upon the top of a high hill, and stablished, can neither fall nor be hid,“ suggests Matthew 5:14. But the one which has caused quite a flutter in some quarters, and which the Daily News leader writer and critic declares to be “positively startling” is,— PTUK July 22, 1897, page 464.6

Jesus saith, Except ye fast to the world, ye shall in no wise find the kingdom of God; and except ye keep the Sabbath, ye shall not see the Father. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 464.7

“If it is to be taken literally, it cannot be genuine,“ decides the Christian World. “It may be a Jewish forgery,“ says the Daily News. “The injunction to keep the Sabbath,“ it adds, “may be supported from the familiar text, ‘I am not come to destroy [the law], but to fulfil. It must on the other hand be contrasted with the story of the disciples who plucked the ears of corn, and with the authoritative utterance, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.’” Some religious papers, too dense to perceive their inconsistency, accept the document as genuine and hail it as a great reinforcement of their plea for Sunday laws! PTUK July 22, 1897, page 464.8

“God's Holy Day” The Present Truth, 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

God's Holy Day .—We would not for a moment suggest that this saying is evidence to be quoted in favour of Sabbath-keeping. That rests upon the everlasting Word, and from Genesis to Revelation there is one voice calling men to loyalty to God's law, which declares the seventh day to be His holy Sabbath, Jesus’ life of obedience, and His death to sustain the eternal integrity of that law and to save man from transgression of it, is His witness. The cross of Christ is His testimony to the fact that not a jot or tittle of that law can fail, of which the Sabbath commandment is a part. The contrast suggested by the Daily News is only in the mind of the writer. Jesus did not declare that He came not to destroy so much as a jot or tittle of the law, and then proceed to transgress one commandment of it, as so many who themselves transgress it would have us suppose. The rulers made the law void by their traditions; Jesus kept it, and did only that which was “lawful.” Yet men so pervert the way of the Lord that Christ is wickedly represented a making void His Father's law, while the Jewish rulers were upholding it. “The Sabbath was made for man” indeed. Then why don't men keep it? It was made for them by Jesus Himself, without whom was not anything made. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 464.9

“A Good Thing” The Present Truth, 13, 29.

E. J. Waggoner

A Good Thing .—Yes, the Word knows but one Sabbath, the Lord's own holy day, and over 130 times in the New Testament alone, the Holy Spirit gives the Lord's appointed title to the seventh day in language which Christians ought to speak. But men generally pay little attention to the language of God, and following the lawless way of the Papacy, the Protestant world has come to apply God's title to a day which He never has blessed or sanctified. But the people are getting to know that there is not one word for Sunday sacredness in all the Book. And whatever leads the religious press to discuss the question is to be welcomed. Whether it talks against the Sabbath or for it, any agitation or mention of the subject serves to call the attention of the people to the fact that all the combined efforts of the churches can produce no Scriptural reason for keeping Sunday. Many have been convinced and led to investigate and keep the Sabbath by books written and sermons preached against it. When men have had their say, God still says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,“ and Jesus says, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” If this little fragment which dates from a time when as yet the Sunday had not displaced the Sabbath of the Lord, sets anyone to searching to see what God says in His Word, it will not have been dug up in vain at any rate. There is a blessing on the Sabbath day for all who keep it, and all need the blessing. PTUK July 22, 1897, page 464.10