The Present Truth, vol. 15

December 7, 1899

“Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. Fruits of Right and Wrong Doing. Malachi 3:13-18; 4:1-6” The Present Truth 15, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

We make no apology for printing the whole of these passages of Scripture, for nothing that any man can write is comparable to the word inspired by God; moreover we are persuaded that but few would take the trouble to turn to the passage in their Bibles, and read it while reading the article, and without the text before the eyes, or in the mind, the talk upon it is of little profit. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 771.1

“Your words have been stout against Me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against Thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the Lord spake with one to another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 771.2

“Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord come. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse,” or, “with utter destruction.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 771.3

A few general notes, to enable the student to read the passage understandably, are all that space will allow, and all that are necessary. If everybody knew how to read the Bible, and would read it, there would be no need of any such paper as this. Indeed, there would be little need of religious books of any kind; for to know how to read the Bible is to know the Lord; and to know the Lord well is to be in a position where one needs no other instructor. The promise to God's children is, “they shall all be taught of God;” and when the time comes that all know Him, from the least to the greatest, “They shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord.” Jeremiah 31:34. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 771.4

One should read the entire book of Malachi, in order to get a good understanding of the portion contained in this lesson. It is short, and will not take much time. From the reading it will appear that the service of God had degenerated into a mere form among priests and people, and that the people were weary even of the form. Not only were “the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith,” neglected, but, offerings, tithes and sacrifices were omitted or slighted. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 771.5

FALSE WITNESS AGAINST GOD

Yet they could not see that they had said anything against the Lord. They had evidently not been guilty of open blasphemy, and so they boldly asked, when reproved, “What have we spoken against Thee?” They had said that is was vain to serve God, and that there was no profit in keeping His commandments. The Lord regarded these as very “stout” words against Him, and they certainly were. To say that the service of God is vain, and that there is no profit in keeping His commandments, is the same as saying that He is a liar; for He says that His commandments are sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, and that “in keeping of them there is great reward.” Psalm 19:10, 11. It is the same as saying that God Himself is nothing. What more terrible charge could be brought against God than to say that His service is vain? PTUK December 7, 1899, page 771.6

Are you sure that you have never been guilty of speaking such stolid words against God? Have you never become discouraged, and said that you “couldn't see any use in trying to do right”? Have you never envied the wicked, and called the proud happy, and said that “they that work wickedness are built up,” and that people who look out for themselves, and do as they please, are better off than those who serve God? Have you never said, or thought, that the Lord did not care for you, and that He had neglected you, although you have given diligence to be faithful to Him? Have you never felt like “giving up” the Christian life, or at least that which you supposed was a Christian life, because you could not see that there was any profit in it,-no worldly profit, certainly, and no prospect of any spiritual gain? If so,-and who cannot plead guilty to some such thoughts and speeches at some time in his life?-then your words have been exceedingly “stout” against God. You have been echoing the devil's false witness against the Most High. Surely it is time to repent. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 771.7

SPEAKING GOD'S PRAISE

Malachi 3:16 is often quoted in meetings for prayer and testimony, as an incentive for people to bear testimony for the Lord. No doubt the speaking one to another includes such occasions, but it is most certain that it is not limited to them. They that fear the Lord have conversations with one another about His goodness, and they do not need to be exhorted and urged to do so. Love that is forced, and must be prompted, is not of much value. “All Thy work shall praise Thee, O Lord; and Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.” Psalm 145:10-12. And this they will do spontaneously from the fulness of their hearts. The saints of the Lord will praise and bless Him in the same way that His other works do, only to as much greater a degree as they are greater than all things else. The heavens declare the glory of God without any urging to “do their duty.” Get acquainted with the Lord, and you will know that His service is not vain, but that is so blessed and joyous that you must tell of it to others. “Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul!” “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 771.8

THE LORD'S PROPERTY

The Lord has an interest in this earth. He made it, and He has a desire to the work of His hands. Those to whom He let out His property have sadly neglected it, and have let it run down, and have failed to give Him what fruit it did raise; yet He has not parted with it, and proposes to take the property over at no distant day. When He makes up His property, those who have spoken to one another of His goodness, and have made known to the sons of men the glorious majesty of His kingdom will be acknowledged as His. They are not only His servants, but they are called sons. They serve the Lord, not as slaves, but as sons. At that time there will be no difficulty in distinguishing between the righteous wicked, between Him that serveth God, and him that serveth Him not, for the day that burneth as a furnace will burn them up. They will be nothing but stubble in the flame. But to those who fear the Lord the Sun of righteousness will arise, and they will be able to dwell with everlasting earnings. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 772.1

THE FATE OF THE WICKED

This scripture shows sufficiently, if there were no other in the Bible to the same effect, that there will come a time when there will not be a sinner in the Lord's dominions. Not because all will be converted, for the Lord tells us that the majority will go in the broad road to destruction (Matthew 7:13, 14), but because at the last day those who have utterly refused the Lord, will be utterly destroyed. The Lord is coming, and His fan is in His hand, “and He will purge His floor, and gather His wheat into His garner; but the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:11, 12. Then will the wicked “be as though they had not been.” Obadiah 16. “The wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of the lambs; they shall consume; in the smoke shall they consume away.” “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” Psalm 37:20, 10. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 772.2

These truths concerning the final fate of the incorrigibly wicked are not arbitrary. They are a necessary consequence of the truth that Christ Jesus came into the world that “whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. The utter extinction of those who reject the Lord is not an arbitrary act of vengeance on the part of God, but is the inevitable result of their rejection of Christ, who is “the way, and the truth, and the life.” Since they reject “the Author of life” (Acts 3:15, margin), who is the only life, the One in whom alone men can live, and move, and have any being (Acts 17:28), it inevitably follows that they must cease to be. “Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.” Psalm 139:7-10. And wherever God is, He must reign. Therefore when men say that they will not have Him to reign over them, that they will not be led by Him, and that they will not have His right hand hold them, because they wish to be “free from restraint,” and declare that they will not live in His presence, it is plain that there is no place for them in the universe. The only place where they can flee from His presence is to get out of existence. And God, who gives to every man the desire of his heart, will graciously send them there. It is not necessary that He perform any arbitrary act in order to do this, but simply to let them be; when His life is withdrawn from them, according to their wish, they at once sink into nothingness. Outside of God there is nothing. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 772.3

NEW LIFE AND PERFECT HEALTH IN CHRIST

When the Sun of righteousness arises it is with healing in His wings. He is our life. He who forgives all our iniquities also heals all our diseases. Psalm 103:1-4. He redeems our life from destruction. This He does by giving us His own life, which is eternal life. Now the characteristics of eternal life is that it is ever new, ever fresh. Who ever drinks of the water of life that Christ gives, has in him a well of water, ever springing up. John 4:14. The vigour of this life will be seen to be full when all things have been created new and sin and sinners have been cleared from the earth by the fires of the last, great day. Then the righteous will go forth, and from very exuberance of life, from the bare joy of being alive, shall leap and gamble as calves let loose from the stall. “Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing; for in the wilderness shall the waters break out, and streams in the desert.” Isaiah 35:6. But all this freshness is not to be reserved till the last day. Even now does the Sun of righteousness shine, and we may if we will rejoice in His healing beams. When the lame man at the gate of the temple was made strong in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, he went with the apostles into the temple, “walking, and leaping, and praising God.” Acts 3:6-8. “They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31. The life is manifested, in order that we may have fulness of joy, and joy of the most real kind. The life is life indeed. “It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning.” Lamentations 3:22, 23. It is possible,-and whatever is possible with the Lord is our privilege and duty,-for men to live so fully by the life of the Lord, that His new mercies will make them feel new life every morning, so that they will be glad with the joy of life. This is not sentiment,-it is not a matter of theorising, but comes by consciously taking the life of the Lord as it is manifested in His gifts to us, and of receiving it fresh from the Fountain head, in the purest form possible. “Then shall thy health spring forth speedily.” The words of God our health to the flesh of all who will live by them. Proverbs 4:20-22. We must not try it for the mere selfish purpose of desire and to feel better physically, but because we wish to live wholly to the glory of God, who gives us life; doing this, we shall find even with the progress of years the freshness and buoyancy of youth. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 772.4

THE LAW OF MOSES A DEFENCE

The law of Moses is not obsolete. Even down to the very last days, just before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord, it is to be remembered. If the Spirit and power of Elijah the prophet are given in connection with this law, to work a reformation among men, so that the Lord will not be obliged to smite the earth with utter destruction. “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” Isaiah 13:9. “The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.” Isaiah 24:4-6. But because some will remember the law of Moses, which God commanded him in Horeb, with all the statutes and judgments, and will not say that there is no profit in keeping His charge, there will be a few men left. “Fear not, little flock; for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 773.1

Moved by the Holy Spirit, the Psalmist David prayed: “Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Thy mercy remember Thou me for Thy goodness sake, O Lord.” Psalm 25:7. That therefore is a promise that the Lord will do as requested. What a comfort to know that all the sins and follies of our youth are forgiven, and that we need not be handicapped by them, but can run the race set before us as freely as though we had never sinned. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 773.2

“Why bowest thou, O soul mine.
Crushed by ancestral sin.
Thou hast a noble heritage
That bids thee victory win.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 773.3

“For Little Ones. A Child of Promise” The Present Truth 15, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

I hope if you remember our little talk together a few weeks ago about the “the Parables of Jesus,” and that these are to be found all through the Old as well as the New Testament. Of the one of which we are going to talk to-day, the Apostle Paul especially tells us: “Which things are an allegory.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.1

You have heard, have you not, the story of Abraham,-how God called him out from the heathen country where he had been born and brought up, and promised to lead him to a better country. God blessed him and gave him great flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle, many servants, and great riches. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.2

But there was one thing that Abram (as he was then called) and Sarai his wife, would rather have had than all these. God had not given them any children, and this was a great disappointment and grief to them. Yet God had promised Abraham that his seed, or descendants, should be “as the dust of the earth,”-as numerous as the grains of sand that make up the dust of the ground. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.3

One night when God was talking with his friend, Abram said to him, “What wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless?” This seems to have been a gentle reminder to the Lord of His promise not yet fulfilled. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.4

Then God “brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them; so shall thy seed be. And Abram believed God.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.5

Yet the years passed, and the promised child was not given, and Abram and Sarai were so old that they began to give up hope. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.6

At last one day when Abram was ninety-nine years old, long past time when fathers and mothers usually have little children of their own, God appeared to Abram again and said: PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.7

“Thou shalt be the father of a multitude.” “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be called Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made thee.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.8

“As for Sarah thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.” Sarah means “a princess,” and the reason why God gave her this name was; “She shall be a mother of nations; kings of people's shall be of her.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.9

Long afterwards when Paul was writing a letter to the Romans, he reminded them of this promise of God to Abraham and Sarah, and said that God “calleth the things that be not as though they were.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.10

So when Abraham and Sarah had no children and no hope of ever having any, God called Abraham “the father of a multitude,” and Sarah, “the mother of nations and of kings.” If any man had done this it would have been a lie, but God can call anything just what He wishes it to be, and there is power in the Word that He speaks to make it just what He says. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.11

Abraham knew the Lord, he knew that he is the Truth, and cannot lie; and so when God called him “the father of a multitude,” he rejoiced that he was to become so, and his faith made the promise of God a reality to him. We are told that he “against hope believed in hope, that he might be the father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, so shall thy seed be.” He was “strong in faith.” Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and trusts only in that Word. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.12

So Abraham did not think of himself, nor of his wife, and of their great age, and how unlikely, or even impossible, it was that they should have a son, but “looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.13

God's word is “Spirit and life;” it created all things in the beginning, and as Abraham and Sarah forgot themselves and thought of and looked to God's word and promise, by the power of the Spirit that worked through the Word, the long-promised, long-expected son was born. When the fulness of God's time was come, Isaac, “the child of promise,” was “born of the Spirit.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.14

Next week we will tell you of another “child of promise” of whose birth the birth of Isaac was the type or shadow, and through whom we too may be “born of the Spirit,” and so become, like Him “the children of promise.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 778.15

“Items of Interest” The Present Truth 15, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

-Paris has a place of worship for each 17,000 inhabitants; London one for each 2,000. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.1

-“For every two Christians in Japan there are five Buddhist temples, in all about 263,000 houses of idol worship.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.2

-According to the report, there are at present 1,744 cases of infectious diseases in Glasgow, of which 995 are scarlet fever. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.3

-A Sunday law has been enacted in Dawson City, Alaska, and anyone violating this law lays himself liable to a heavy fine. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.4

-A 20,000 fire at the Brownhill Colliery, Northumberland, on the 27th ult., has thrown 1,000 men of employment. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.5

-By a new agreement, Russia has obtained the prolongation of her monopoly of railway building in Persia for an indefinite period. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.6

-Lady Salisbury wife of the Premier coin rehearse, was buried on the 26th ult., with ceremonies exceedingly simple. She was loved by all. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.7

-A projected new route across the Isthmus of Panama is being surveyed. The distance is only thirty-seven miles against forty-five of the Panama route. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.8

-The London School Board declares that it will take 46,000,000 meals a year to supply dinners to the underfed scholars attending the Board Schools. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.9

-The world's agriculture occupies the attention of 280,000,00 men, represents a capital of ?4,800,000,000. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.10

-Protestant missionaries have been forbidden by General Otis to sell or distribute Bibles or tracts, because the archbishop of Manila and the Spanish priest objected. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.11

-It is estimated that at the present rate of raising money in America for missions, it would take four years to raise a sum equal to the amount spent their in one year for chewing gum. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.12

-Anxious to make some little personal present to her soldiers serving in South Africa, the Queen has decided upon sending a half-pound can of chocolate to each man, with her compliments. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.13

-A whale, measuring 66 feet in length, was captured in the Thames last week near Woolwich Arsenal. The struggle was an exciting one, and there were many narrow escapes before he was grounded on the beach. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.14

-Messrs. Krupp will shortly supply the Turkish army with 108 quick-firing guns, after the model of the guns presented by the Emperor to the Sultan last year. From Messrs. Cramp, of Philadelphia, the sultan has ordered a cruiser, to cost ?600,000. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.15

-It is reported from Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.A., that the law against kissing, enacted in the of King Charles II., is being revived. It prescribes forty lashes, administered on the bare back, for the man, and thirty for the woman caught kissing in public. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.16

-A telephone of a novel character has just been invented in Paris, which receives and registers messages in the absence of the user. Political speeches, business communications, and music-hall songs can, therefore, be stored and taped at will. Experiments between Paris and Marseille are said to augur wide success for the new telephone. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.17

-There is a sensible diminution of the smallpox epidemic in Hull. Since the first appearances of the visitation, there have been 552 cases, of which 13 per cent. have succumbed. During the past three weeks over 30,000 revaccinations have been affected there. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.18

-In several hundred villages on the slopes of the Alps and Appennines, Italy, cannon are fired at a given signal from the weather observatory. The effect is said to be astonishing. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.19

-Nineteen thousand arsenal employes are now busily employed at the Royal Laboratory, Woolwich Arsenal, preparing war stories for South Africa. They have been notified that the Imperial interest will necessitate their working through Christmastide. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.20

-H. L. Hastings, the well-known writer of Anti-infidel literature has just died at Goshen, Massachusetts, U.S.A. His lecture on “The Inspiration of the Bible, or WIll the Old Book Stand?” had a sale of over 3,000,000 copies, in eighteen or twenty different languages. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.21

-It is reported that in a recent examination among the students in China, the young Emperor had a question about the “Flood” put in the examination papers. This caused considerable stir among the people, and said the students in crowds to the missionaries to get Bible so that they might find the answer. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.22

-One question that is before the Vatican for settlement, says an English Catholic authority, is whether “absolution” given by telephone, is valid. As the paper recently decided that the Pope's blessing received by biograph was as potent as when received in the accustomed ways, it would seem that absolution by telephone might be allowed. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.23

-In America there has recently been formed a society called the Anti-Kissing League, the object of which is to save children from being kissed by everybody. We are quite in sympathy with this move, and wish that a similar one might be inaugurated in England. This is one of the most prolific means of communicating contagious maladies, and parents should not permit promiscuous kissing of their children. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.24

-A carpenter in Chicago, has invented a new implements of warfare, consisting of a series of kites, supporting a cable upon which a “trolley” kite was made to travel. The trolley kite carries a bomb of high explosive power, which is automatically released, and will support a weight of twenty pounds. The test made have all been of a highly satisfactory character. Thus one more in should of destruction is added to the long list of life-taking implements of war. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.25

-The Khalifa, who for thirteen years, until the battle of Omdurman last September, has been the ruler of the Dervishers, was killed in a battle with the English on the 25th ult., and 9,000 prisoners taken. As a ruler he ranks as one of the worst in history, having caused the death of thousands of innocent people on the nearest pretext, and his authority was maintained by the wholesale slaughter of recalcitrant tribes. “The Soudan may now be declared open” are the words of the Sirdar. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.26

-All is not peace and quiet in China, even in the face of the promise of the U.S. Government that the Cubans should have their independence, for according to the latest reports 1,000 armed Cubans have assembled in the Pinar del Rio, raised the Revolutionary flag, and are prepared to fight for independence. American military officers are confident that there is serious trouble ahead, and American troops in Cuba are being placed in readiness for action at a moment's notice in case an outbreak occurs. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 782.27

“Back Page” The Present Truth 15, 49.

E. J. Waggoner

After an interruption of several years, diplomatic relations have again been resumed between the Vatican and the Argentine Republic. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 784.1

During the past year the St. Giles Christian Mission has provided 21,224 persons with a free breakfast on their release from prison, and has helped 5,998 to reform, nearly all of whom have signed the pledge. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 784.2

A picture of the Pope blessing the world has recently been made, and is being extensively advertised by the Catholic press. It is said to be the Pope's expressed wish that “those who see his benediction in this picture” should derive the same advantage from it as if it had been bestowed upon them personally. We have no doubt but they will. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 784.3

“Our help is in the name of the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” Psalm 124:8. The same One who created heaven and earth also made us, and He is our Helper. He is our Help. He does not help us in the sense of adding His strength to ours, but He supplies all the strength we have. He who creates also redeems. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 784.4

A newspaper notice of the first volume of Encyclop?dia Biblica, edited by Professors Cheyne and Black, says: “The reader will turn anxiously to such an article as ‘Creation,’ to find how the advanced critics regard the first chapters of Genesis,” and adds that the result “should be reassuring,” inasmuch as they are held to be derived only from Babylonian tradition, and “the writer of Genesis 1 handled the tradition in the interests of his great religious beliefs.” Of the book of Acts it is said that criticism “leads not only beyond a mere blind faith in its contents, but also beyond the unhistorical assumption that one is entitled to impose upon the author the demands of strict historical accuracy.” Paul's “conception of God” is said to be “hampered by Jewish modes of thinking.” So it seems that, not content with turning away their ears from the truth, to fables, the leading theological teachers are seeking to “reassure” the people by setting forth the truth itself as a fable. Since the grossest heathenism resulted from changing the truth of God into a lie, we may tell to a certainty what will be the outcome of such “Biblical criticism” as that just noted. See Romans 1:25-31. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 784.5

God promises to give us Himself. He says that He will pour water on him that is thirsty, and He is “the Fountain of living waters.” Jeremiah 2:13. When Christ, the representative of God, the One in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, came to this earth, He “emptied Himself.” Philippians 2:7, R.V. In Him God poured Himself out upon us, so that “of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” John 1:16. Christ “poured out His soul [or life] unto death” for us. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 784.6

The simplest way is always the best, for truth is always simple, and the more simple a thing is, the nearest it is to the truth. The Vicar of High Wycombe has demonstrated this practically. About ?500 was needed, and as he has conscientious objections to bazaars as a method of raising money for the Lord, he asked his people to forgo the pleasure and excitement of such an affair, by which it was estimated that ?400 could be raised, and to put the money into the offertory during a week of special services. The result was that within the week ?589 13s. 5d. was raised, which was more than the amount required. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 784.7

That the Bible is the Word of God may be known by any person who can read it, or even by anyone who cannot read, but who can listen to it. It needs no Pope, no council, no “apostolic succession,” no society, no man of either high or low degree, to prove this fact to anybody who can read or hear. Indeed, none or all of these could possibly prove it to anybody; for however stoutly it might be asserted, there would always remain a question as to the authority of the one making the assertion. The question is one that must be settled by each person individually. Just as Jesus is not receive testimony from man (John 5:34),-flesh and blood cannot reveal the Christ, the Divine Word (Matthew 16:16, 17),-so the Bible does not depend upon man for proof of its truthfulness. The Holy Spirit speaking the words of the Bible to the heart and soul of a man is the only and the all-sufficient proof that it is the Word of God. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 784.8

If thankfulness is indicated by heavy feeding, the people of New York must be very thankful. According to market reports for November 30th, which was “Thanksgiving Day,” a million and a half Nov. 30, which was “Thanksgiving Day,” a million and a half of turkeys, weighing ?22,000,000, and costing 3,000,000 dollars, were sold to families in that city, with which to celebrate the day. Truly there is much need for some one to call attention to the warning of Jesus, “Take heed to yourselves, lest that any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting.” PTUK December 7, 1899, page 784.9

Here is a puzzle for somebody to explain: Why is it that a man who under no sort of provocation would lower himself to the extent of spitting in another's face, and who would be horrified and indignant at the bare suggestion that he could possibly be guilty of so boorish an act as to take wholesome food out of his own mouth and offer it to anybody else, will fill not only his mouth, but his nose as well with vile and poisonous tobacco smoke, and blow it into unoffending people's faces, mouth, nose and eyes, without any thought that he is doing an ungentlemanly thing? PTUK December 7, 1899, page 784.10

When a cat cannot live on milk, it would seem that is high time for human beings to leave it out of their bill of fare. It seems that boracic acid is now extensively added to it as a preservative, and the effect is decidedly dangerous. Dr. Hill, a medical officer of health of Birmingham, stated before a recent meeting that a kitten fed on pure milk, to which boracic acid had been added in the same quantities as used by the ordinary consumer, got thinner and thinner, and died in five weeks. The use of boracic acid is, however, on the decrease, and its place is being taken by formaldehyde, which is still more powerful. The preservative is added by the farmer, and the retailer often puts in more. The safest course for all is the only food that cannot be adulterated, and that is the diet originally provided by the Creator. Milk is only for babes, and nature provides it them free from adulteration. When teeth appear, that is one indication that the use of liquid food should cease. PTUK December 7, 1899, page 784.11