The Present Truth, vol. 13

February 11, 1897

“A Parable of the Kingdoms” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

A Parable of the Kingdom .—“So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.” Mark 4:26, 27. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 81.1

“The Sower Soweth the Word.” —We are workers together with God, and He is the great Sower. The field is the hearts of men, and the fruit is the fruit of righteousness. A willing heart is good soil. We cannot understand “how” the seed grows. It is the mystery of life and of God. But we understand the fact that it does grow. Nicodemus was unable to understand with his head how a man could be born again, but later he understood the fact with his heart. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” PTUK February 11, 1897, page 81.2

By Automatic Power .—In describing the process the Lord uses a word which makes the subject very plain. “For the earth bringeth forth fruits of herself,“ literally automatically, or spontaneously, by a controlling power within. Good soil in which the seed is sown cannot help bringing forth the fruit, because the life in the seed causes it to spring up automatically. And remember that the earth, the soil, is the heart, and the seed is the Word. Just as the seed of corn causes the earth to bear the bread of our physical life, so the “incorruptible seed” of the Word must cause every heart that receives and holds it to bear fruit unto everlasting life. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 81.3

Man an Instrument.—The Lord used that word, from which comes our word automatic, to describe the action of His Word in the heart. An automatic figure at a waxworks, for instance, to use a common illustration, moves its head or hand as though alive. It works automatically, by some spring or power within which controls the figure. Just so man is but helpless clay. The power of Satan has worked within, moving hands and feet and all the members as “instruments of unrighteousness.” Now the great Sower sows the Word in the darkened hearts, and as it is received every word has power within itself to cause the members to move and act “as instruments of righteousness unto God.” PTUK February 11, 1897, page 81.4

Man Not a Machine .—While the automaton, or wax figure, is a perfect representation of the way in which the Word works in man, in actual life the instrument is not an unconscious form. The fruits of righteousness can only be rooted in a willing heart. Man is a living free moral agent, and even God will not work in him contrary to his will. God pleads with men to share His Word, to choose life, to be willing to do His will. “He that willeth to do His will shall know the doctrine”—God will teach it to him by living it in him. Every word believed with the heart is a power to put the thing described in that word into life. All the time man is free; he must choose, he must will to do God's will continually, and as he does thus place his will on the side of righteousness God's powerful word of grace comes in. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Every man holds the decision of his salvation in his own hands, but, thanks be to God, when the choice is on the side of life, the working out of that life is by the power of God. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 82.1

The Word Works .—The meaning of all the Bible criticism of which we hear so much is that Satan wants men to believe that there is no power in the Word to work in these days, when he has himself come down to work as never before, “knowing that he hath but a short time.” Men see what the Bible says, but do not believe they can do what God tells them to do. When men study the Word with their hearts they readily learn what God requires, but the general impression is that what He says cannot be done. The whole point of Christian living and salvation, then, comes to just this, Has the Word that brings salvation power to work the works of God in the one who believes it? The Lord says it has. To the Thessalonians Paul said, “When ye received the Word of God ... ye received it not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13. It worked so effectually that it turned those who received it from the way of sin and from the traditions and customs of the world to the truth of God, and it kept them, too, in the persecutions and afflictions that were brought upon them. It is still the living, working Word, calling men away from the untruths and traditions that have covered the earth with gross darkness. As you hear it, believe it, open the heart to it, and let it work. It will work nothing that is against you, but only for you. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 82.2

“Religious Coercion Is Anti-Christian” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Why is it that those who have passed under the name of Christian, and whom the world at large accounts as representative of Christianity, have, so universally, sought temporal power? PTUK February 11, 1897, page 82.3

He who is really Christian follows in the footsteps of Christ, does he not? But Christ avoided even the slightest assumption of temporal authority. He even refused to be an arbitrator in a simple dispute as to the division of property, saying to the one who sought his intervention, “Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you?” PTUK February 11, 1897, page 82.4

The persistent and fatal error with which so many of His personal followers were possessed was that He was about to set up an earthly kingdom. But Christ combated this error continually, taking every occasion of reproving them for their worldly ambitions, and of setting before them the contrast between the futility of all earthly things and the eternal stability of the mansions of that kingdom eternal in the heavens, which He went to prepare. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 82.5

The follower of Christ must follow Him in truth, or else he is not a disciple and a follower, but a pretender and a traitor. Christ sought no temporal authority over men. He strenuously referred even the smallest opportunity for the exercise of such power. Is it then consistent with the life and example of the Master, for those who claim to be His disciples, to seek to dominate over their fellow-men? PTUK February 11, 1897, page 82.6

If the example of Christ is followed, those who carry His Gospel will use no authority in religious things, other than the persuasion of the Word. Christ judges no man. He Himself said so. He permits all men to judge themselves, to choose that which they will, whether it be life or death. This being so, it is impossible for men who claim to speak for Christ, and exercise authority from Him, to coerce men into accepting and receiving eternal life. Spiritual coercion is futile. It even goes beyond futility, it defeats itself, and becomes an active agent in the opposite direction to that in which it purports to work. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 82.7

The fact that this is so marks the origin of this great deception, and its masterly development to the present hour, as coming from the arch-enemy of God and mankind. When the teachings of the Word of God, and the example of Christ, are so plain, and the evidences of the destructive working of Satan's deceptions so evidently seen, it is indeed a “mystery of iniquity” that man should choose the antichristian way and call it Christian. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 82.8

“‘The Great Change’” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

AMONGST NATIONS DURING THE GENERATION

Let anyone read the words which follow from the Prime Minister and then think of the third chapter of Joel's prophecy and other portions of the Scripture predicting the preparations for war in the very last days, and it seems as though the conclusion that the perils of those days are about us must be inevitable. Lord Salisbury, speaking from his place in the House of Lords as the responsible minister of the Crown, was not talking as an alarmist. Nevertheless the very caution and counsels of statesmen are helping to “sound an alarm,“ even though they themselves are party to the warlike preparations. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 82.9

People say truly that there has always been war. There has been ever since Satan began war in heaven. But so greatly has the spirit of militarism spread of late that it is marked as “the great change” that has come in this generation. It is not the only great change either in this generation, the people of which may see the signs of the end multiplying. The words referred to are:— PTUK February 11, 1897, page 82.10

“What would you say is the great change which has passed over Europe since the older of us were young men? It is this tremendous increase in the burdens which the necessity of self-defence has cast upon every nation of the world. That burden goes on getting higher and higher; a larger and larger part of the population is devoted to military service, more and more money has to be spent in the provision of the mechanical apparatus of war, and, as the conquests of science are extended, not only are all the previous efforts determined to be obsolete and have to be thrown away and something new introduced in their place, but a larger and larger proportion of the public wealth has to be devoted to this unremunerative purpose. The burden has become so serious to nations that many men have thought that the day will come when they will rather rush into war and provoke a decision once for all than continue to groan under the sufferings which modern necessity forces upon them.” PTUK February 11, 1897, page 82.11

“The Promises to Israel. ‘Another Day’” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

[In studying this subject last week we saw that the rest promised is God's rest-the rest into which Adam entered when the Lord “caused him to rest in the garden of delight.”] PTUK February 11, 1897, page 83.1

It is sin that brings weariness. Adam in the Garden of Eden had work to perform, yet he had absolutely perfect rest all the time he was there, till he sinned. If he had never sinned, such a thing as weariness would never have been known on this earth. Work is no part of the curse, but fatigue is. “Because ... thou hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground.” Genesis 3:17-19. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 83.2

KEEPING THE REST

Up to this time he had enjoyed perfect rest while labouring. Why?—Because his work was simply to “keep” that perfect work which God had prepared for him and committed to him. Adam did not have to create anything. If he had been asked to create no more than one flower or a single blade of grass, he could have wearied himself to death over the task, and died leaving it unfinished; but God did the work, and placed Adam in possession of it, with directions to keep it, and this he did so long as he “kept the faith.” PTUK February 11, 1897, page 83.3

Note that this perfect rest was rest in the new earth, and note further that if sin had never entered, the earth would have remained new for ever. It was sin that brought a blight upon the earth, and has caused it to wax old. God's perfect rest is found only in a heavenly state, and the new earth was most decidedly “a better country, even an heavenly.” That which was given to man in the beginning, when he was “crowned with glory and honour,“ which he lost when he “sinned, and came short of the glory of God,“ but which the Second Adam has in His own right, being crowned with glory and honour, because of the suffering of death, is what God has promised to Abraham and his seed, and will be given to them when the Messiah comes at “the times of restitution of all things.” PTUK February 11, 1897, page 83.4

A BIT OF EDEN STILL REMAINS

That perfect, new creation has disappeared-but the rest still remains. The proof that the works were finished and the rest prepared from the foundation of the world, is that “God did rest the seventh day from all His works.” The Sabbath of the Lord-the seventh day-is a portion of Eden that remains amid the curse; it is a portion of the new-earth rest spanning the abyss from Eden lost till Eden restored. For as the Sabbath rounded out the creation week, and was the proof that the work was finished, it was the seal of a perfect new creation. Now a new creation is necessary, and it must be brought about by the same power as in the beginning. In Christ all things were created, and “if any man be in Christ he is a new creation;” and the seal of perfection is the same in both cases. The Sabbath therefore is the seal of perfection, of perfect righteousness. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 83.5

WHAT THE SIGN SIGNIFIES

But it must be understood that Sabbath rest does not consist merely in abstaining from manual labour from sunset on Friday evening till sunset on Saturday;—that is but a sign of the rest, and like all other signs is a fraud if the thing signified is not present. The true Sabbath rest consists in complete and continuous recognition of God as the Creator and Upholder of all things, the One in whom we live, and move, and have our being, our life and our righteousness. Keeping the Sabbath is not a duty to be discharged in order to obtain the favour of God, but the keeping of the faith by which righteousness is accounted to us. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 83.6

There is no room for the objection that we ought not to keep the seventh-day Sabbath because we are not saved by works; for the Sabbath is not a work, it is a rest—God's rest. “He that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” Hebrews 4:10. True Sabbath-keeping is not justification by works, and is utterly disconnected from any idea of such a thing; it is, on the contrary, justification by faith,—it is the absolute rest that comes from perfect faith in the power of God to create a new man and to keep the soul from falling into sin. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 83.7

But “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,“ (Romans 10:17), so that it is idle for anybody to profess faith in God while ignoring or rejecting any word of God. Man is to live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. In every word of God there is life. If a man knew no more than one word of God, and accepted that word as God's word indeed, he would be saved by it. God has compassion on the ignorant, and does not require that men should know a certain amount before they can be saved; but wilful ignorance is a different thing. A person's ignorance may be the result of deliberately rejecting knowledge, and he who does that, rejects life. For as there is life in every word of God, and the life is one and the same in every word, whoever rejects but one word that clearly comes to him, thereby rejects the whole. Faith takes the Lord for all that He is,—for all that we see of Him, and for all the infinite unknown. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 83.8

A GIFT TO MAN

Let it not be forgotten that the Sabbath is not a burden which God lays upon people (whoever heard of perfect rest being a burden?) but a blessing which He offers them; it is the removal of burdens. “Come unto Me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Instead of forcing it upon people, God says that it is impossible for anybody to share the Sabbath rest, if he does not believe. To the man who says, “I don't believe that it is necessary for me to keep the Sabbath,“ the Lord replies, “You cannot keep it; you shall not enter into My rest; you have no part nor lot in it.” It is impossible for a man to keep the Sabbath of the Lord without faith, because “the just shall live by faith.” The Sabbath is God's rest, God's rest is perfection, and perfection cannot be obtained except by perfect faith. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 84.1

“God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” John 4:24. His rest therefore is spiritual rest, so that mere physical rest without spiritual rest, is not Sabbath-keeping at all. Only those who are spiritual can truly keep the Sabbath of the Lord. So long as Adam was led by the Spirit, he enjoyed perfect rest, both of body and soul; but as soon as he sinned, he lost the rest. But although the curse upon the earth causes weariness of body, the Sabbath still remains from Eden, the pledge and seal of spiritual rest. The abstaining from all our own work and pleasure on the seventh day,—from everything by which we could personally profit,—is simply in recognition of God as Creator and Upholder of all things,—the one by whose power we live; but this apparent rest is but a farce if we do not really and wholly recognise Him as such, and commit ourselves fully to His keeping. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 84.2

The Sabbath, therefore, is especially the poor man's friend; it appeals above all to the labouring man, for it is to the poor that the Gospel is preached. The rich will hardly listen to the Lord's call, for they are likely to feel content with their lot; they trust in their riches, and feel able to take care of themselves in the present, and as for the future, “their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever;” but to the poor man, who knows not how he is to get a living, the Sabbath comes bringing hope and joy, in that it directs his mind to God, the Creator, who is our life. It says, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Instead of being obliged to say, “How can I get a living if I keep the Sabbath?” the poor man may see in the Sabbath the solution of the problem of life. “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” 1 Timothy 4:8. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 84.3

THE BLESSED DAY AND THE BLESSED MAN

Bear in mind that while the Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week, the rest which the Sabbath day brings to view is continuous. Just as a day is not a man, so there is a difference between blessing a day and blessing a man. God blessed the seventh day (Genesis 2:3), but He blesses men every day. The Sabbath is kept only by those who rest in the Lord all the time. While nobody can be a Sabbath-keeper and ignore the day upon which God has placed his blessing, it is equally true that the man who does not continually rest in the Lord does not keep the Sabbath. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 84.4

Thus, rest in the Lord is found only by faith in Him; but faith saves from sin, and living faith is as continuous as the breath, for “the just shall live by faith.” If now a man distrusts the Lord during the week, is doubting and fearing as to how he shall get along, perhaps fretting and worrying, is impatient, or harsh, or in any way unjust to his fellow-men, he is certainly not resting in the Lord,—he is not remembering the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; for if he really remembered the Sabbath day, he would know God's power to provide for him, and he would commit the keeping of his soul to Him in well-doing, “as unto a faithful Creator.” PTUK February 11, 1897, page 84.5

THE CROSS OF CHRIST

The Sabbath comes revealing Christ the Creator as the burden bearer. He bears the burdens of the whole world, with all its toil and sin and sorrow, and He bears it easily;—His burden is light. “His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes we are healed.” 1 Peter 2:24. It is in the cross of Christ that we receive life, and are made new creatures. The power of the cross, therefore, is creative power. So when on the cross Jesus cried, “It is finished,“ He was simply announcing that in Him, through His cross, could be obtained the perfect works of God, which were finished from the foundation of the world. Thus the Sabbath—the seventh day rest that commemorates creation completed in the beginning—is a blessed reminder of the fact that in the cross of Christ that same creative power is freely offered to deliver us from the curse, and make us in Him as complete as was everything when God saw it and pronounced it “very good.” The word of life which is proclaimed to us in the Gospel is “that which was from the beginning.” PTUK February 11, 1897, page 84.6

He does not fail nor become impatient or discouraged; therefore we may confidently cast all our care on Him. Thus the Sabbath is indeed a delight. In the Psalm for the Sabbath day, David sang, “Thou, Lord, hast made glad through Thy work; I will triumph in the works of Thy hands.” Psalm 92:4. The Sabbath means triumphing in the works of God's hands, not in our own works. It means victory over sin and death—everything connected with the curse—through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the worlds were made. It is a remnant of Eden before the curse came, and therefore he who keeps it indeed really begins his eternal rest,—he has the rest, the perfect rest, which the new earth alone can give. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 84.7

GOD's INVITATION TO SABBATH-KEEPING

Now we can understand why the Sabbath occupies so prominent a place in the record of God's dealings with Israel. It is not because the Sabbath was for them exclusively, any more than salvation was exclusively for them; but it is because Sabbath-keeping is the beginning of that rest which God promised His people in the land of Canaan. It is sometimes said that the Sabbath was not given to the Gentiles, but it must also be remembered that the land was not promised to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are “strangers from the covenants of promise.” But it is true that the Gentiles—all the world—were called to come to Christ, the living water. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” The promise to Israel was, and is, that “nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel.” Still further in the call, the Lord says:— PTUK February 11, 1897, page 84.8

“Keep ye judgment, and do justice; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hands from doing any evil. Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, “The Lord hath utterly separated me from His people.... Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain; and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar; for Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him beside those that are gathered to him.” Isaiah 56:1-8. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 84.9

And to both these and those,—to all to whom He proclaims peace, both near and far (Isaiah 57:19),—the Lord declares:— PTUK February 11, 1897, page 85.1

A GLORIOUS PROMISE

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah 58:13, 14. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 85.2

Those who call the Sabbath a delight—not a burden—shall delight themselves in the Lord. Why?—Because the Sabbath of the Lord is the Lord's rest—rest that is found only in His presence, where there is “fulness of joy” and everlasting pleasure. It is the rest of Eden, for Eden is delight, pleasure; it is the rest of the new earth, for Eden belongs to the new earth. We have read that those who come to the Lord to keep His Sabbath, shall be made joyful in the house of the Lord, and of them it is said, “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures,“ literally, “Thy Eden.” Psalm 36:8. This is the heritage of the Lord, now is the time, to-day is the day in which we may enter upon it, for He is the portion of our inheritance, and in Him we have all things. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 85.3

“When the Busy Bee Takes to Drink” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

The late Dr. Richardson said that the appetite of animals could be cultivated to demand alcoholic drinks as well as that of man, and the following paragraph shows that the busy bee can also lose his character for business industry and orderliness by taking to the cup. There is so good a temperance lesson in it that it may be we should print it in our temperance column instead of here:— PTUK February 11, 1897, page 92.1

“Dr. Bulhoer has published an interesting report upon the experiments which he has recently carried out for the purpose of ascertaining the effects of alcohol upon working bees. By placing them on a regimen of alcoholised honey the most astonishing effects were produced. He discovered unmistakable signs that they revolted against their queen, and gave themselves entirely over to idleness and to habits of pillaging and pilfering, until they were cast out by their fellows.” PTUK February 11, 1897, page 92.2

“The Christmas Sacrifice” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Under the title “Feasting and Mortality” a correspondent of The Echo says:— PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.1

“Judging from the returns as published in the papers week by week, the Registrar-General's report of the annual rate of mortality in 33 great towns, with Dublin, Edinburgh, and Glasgow added, it would seem that Christmas feasting is deadly in its effects. In Christmas week, commencing 27th, there were 1,136 deaths; in the three subsequent weeks, there were 722, 724, 738—i. e., 33 per 1,000 in the Christmas week, and 20 per 1,000 in the three following weeks. ln some towns the death-rate was most striking in the time of feasting:—Newcastle-on-Tyne, 33; Wolverhampton, 40; Derby, 41; Huddersfield, 11; Gateshead, 51; Norwich, 62; Bristol, 65; Halifax, 72; Oldham, 73; Dublin, 31; Preston, 92, per 1,000.” PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.2

It has always been the religious festivals of heathendom which have been credited with demanding the sacrifice of human life,—but here is the evidence of official statistics, which cannot be denied, proving conclusively that our Christmas festivities will scarcely bear favourable comparison, in the matter of the destruction of human life, with the ancient Juggernaut festivals of India. It certainly cannot properly be called a Christian festival which produces such results as this. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.3

“Items of Interest” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

—There are said to be one million of men under arms in the British service. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.4

—There is an organised native effort in China to abolish the custom of foot-binding. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.5

—The world's population is said to average 109 women to every 100 men, while eight-ninths of the sudden deaths are of males. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.6

—The world is crowded only in spots. There are still 20,000,000 square miles of the earth's surface that have not been explored. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.7

—During the discussion of the women's suffrage Bill a Member of Parliament stated that there were 1,200,000 more women than men in the United Kingdom. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.8

—The Japanese officers who took part in the war with China have memorialised their government to erect a monument to the horses which perished in the campaign. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.9

—It is estimated that the recent bog flow in Kerry displaced about 6,000,000 cubic yards of bog. There are records of eighteen similar occurrences in Ireland the pest century. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.10

—Three Irish centenarians died on January 21, Martin Walsh, of Tipperary, aged 102, leaving a widow 95; Hersh Hanley, Limerick, 104; Anne McLoughlin, Londonderry, 112. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.11

—According to the compiler of the Stock Exchange Year Book there has, during the last three years, been a balance advance in the value of securities to the amount of nearly ?500,000,000. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.12

—A Bill to give women the vote passed its second reading in the Commons last week. It is generally thought that other measures will crowd it out, and that it will not get into the committee stage. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.13

—There were more National Exhibitions last year than ever before. Those of Berlin, Nishui, Novgorod, Buda-Pesth, and Geneva all made financial losses. The Exhibition of arts and industry at Dresden was alone profitable. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.14

—An unlooked-for effect of the plague and famine in India has been to flood the Leaden market with pearls. One firm of importers has acquired such a stock that, it is estimated, if offered for immediate sale there would be a break of twenty-five per cent in prices. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.15

—The alphabets of the different nations contain the following number of letters: English 26, French 28, Italian 20, Spanish 27, German 26, Solavonian 27, Russian 41, Latin 22, Greek 24, Hebrew 22, Arabic 28, Persian 32, Turkish 33, Sanscrit 50, Chinese 214. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.16

—Repent statistics prove that the danger of navigation has been lessened considerably since the general introduction of steamers in place of sailing vessels. Of 50,095 sailors employed on sailing vessels, 928 were drowned during last year, or 1 in 60. During the same period only 617 men out of 162,169 employed on steamships lost their lives by drowning, which is but 1 in 241, or just about one-fourth of the fatalities on sailing vessels. Navigation Journal. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 94.17

“Back Page” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

The London popular memorial of the Queen's long reign could surely have taken no more appropriate forms than the proposed fund for supplying further regular support for the hospitals. Of the one hundred and twenty-two hospitals in the metropolis, all, or nearly all, are working beyond their incomes. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 96.1

By a concordat with Portugal the Vatican secures the recognition by that country of “the advantages it derives from the Catholic missions, and has agreed to aid them by a liberal subvention annually.” Thus in Portuguese colonial possessions the missionary is but the agent of the Government. Such agreements make it more difficult for Protestant missionaries to enter these colonies, but no covenant to keep out the light of truth has ever yet succeeded. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 96.2

“Wasting His Time” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Wasting His Time.—There is often deep philosophy in the sayings of childhood. The other night a little four-year-old told the Lord in her prayer that she knew that Satan was trying to get her to do wrong all the time, and she wanted the Lord to help her to waste his time. The trouble is that the devil's time is not wasted as much as it ought to be. Older people know by sad experience only too well that very often his time, from his standpoint, is very well spent. But God can frustrate his every effort. The one who hides in the Lord is saved, and the enemy is only wasting his time in trying to carry the fortress by assault. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 96.3

“Man-made Religion” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Man-made Religion.—Religion which is enforced by human law, as a part of the governmental structure which man has built, is a religion which has been developed in the minds of men. It must, necessarily, be no better than the men who made it. Such laws must mirror the minds and hearts of those who made them, and contain a composite picture of their character, and characteristics. The average character of men as we know it by experience, and as we learn it from the teachings of the Bible regarding the natural man, does not warrant us in accepting any religion which emanates from any man or body of men, whatever their intellectual ability or moral worth may seem to be. We may be thankful that we do not need to receive the religious beliefs or theories of any man. God has given to man the science of true religion in His Word, from His own mouth,—and Christ came to this world and made it an applied science. So none need fail for lack of either precept or example. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 96.4

“Livingstone's Influence” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Livingstone's Influence.—In reporting to the Royal Geographical Society on an expedition which he conducted into the Barotse country, north of the Zambezi, Captain Gibbons bears witness to the powerful influence of a life unselfishly devoted to the service of savage tribes. He found that the name and fame of Livingstone was, after these years, still a power in those regions, and the fact that he was a countryman of the missionary secured him the greatest courtesy and kindness from the natives. He attributes his success in making treaties to this admiration of Livingstone, who, single-handed and with no authority but that of a loving heart, won a power over tribes which our explorers find a protection for their expeditions. If there had been more missionaries like Livingstone in the heart of Africa and fewer armed expeditions, Darkest Africa would be much lighter. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 96.5

“Enthroning a Bishop” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Enthroning a Bishop.—The one work of the minister of Christ is to lift Him up. He is the One to be seen. This is where Ritualism, with its vestments and elaborate ceremonies is altogether wrong. It calls attention to the minister and not to Christ. One has only to try to fancy the apostles or the Lord Himself posturing and processioning about in the manner of the modern sacerdotalist to see how foreign all these additions are to the Gospel that teaches that Christianity is a life to be put into men and not a garment to be put upon the outside. The papers describe the “effects” produced by the groupings of colours worn by the ecclesiastics in enthroning the Bishop of London, and the processions, and the enthronement of the Bishop by the Archdeacon, “causing him to sit down” on his throne. All this can have no very cheering effect on Protestants in the Church of England, or on any who know that all of these things come from the time when the church joined the world and the dignitaries of the fallen church adapted the ways and even some of the garments of the civic magistrates of Rome, and had thrones and commanded obedience. Simple Christians may well wait for that enthronement when the overcomer will sit down with Christ on His throne (Revelation 3:21), clad in no vestments borrowed from the pagan church or Roman State, but in the “white raiment” that is the righteousness of the saints. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 96.6

“Astrologers in Council” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Astrologers in Council.—The first annual meeting of an Astrological Society was held in London last week. The chairman challenged any man to show that astrology was not true. Sooner or later it would become the religion of the world. It was practical and ruled the universe; and by it a man could rise to be a god. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 96.7

That was the promise of the author of ancient astrology-that if men would only reject God's wisdom and seek for wisdom contrary to His Word they should be as gods. We know the result when Adam and Eve attempted it. The old lie is still repeated, and the ancient cults by which Satan deceived men in the days of Nineveh and Babylon are being revived in this intellectual but darkened nineteenth century. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 96.8

“Principals and Practice” The Present Truth, 13, 6.

E. J. Waggoner

Principals and Practice.—A magazine writer who has lived in Turkey says some things about the Mohammedan view of Christ's teachings which ought to make Christians think. He says that many intelligent Mohammedans claim that it must be that some false prophet has followed Christ—Issa ben Mirjam, “Jesus the Son of Mary”—and Christianity has been led by the false prophet to depart from the principles of Christ. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 96.9

The simple-minded Mussulman says, for example: “Issa ben Mirjam tells them: “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” But did you ever see a Christian do so? A Greek, or a Catholic Armenian? Or an English missionary? Or any European consul or ambassador?—No! not within the memory of man.... Again: Issa ben Mirjam says: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.” But the other, the false prophet says: “To forgive is a weakness; you must avenge and punish. Whoever forgives makes himself contemptible, dishonourable and ridiculous.” PTUK February 11, 1897, page 96.10

There is no doubt that the simple Oriental mind finds a difficulty in reconciling profession to follow Christian principle with the common practice. The occasions are not wanting which show that when they have seen conduct consistent with the profession many are ready to respect such consistency. PTUK February 11, 1897, page 96.11