The Present Truth, vol. 14

June 9, 1898

“The Equality of Faith” The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

“By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Eph. ii. 8-10. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 353.1

God “will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Tim. ii. 4. This being so, and it being also true that “without faith it is impossible to please Him,” and that salvation is only by faith, it necessarily follows that “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Rom. xii. 3. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 353.2

Much vain speculation has been indulged in as to what faith is, and how it is to be obtained, and the discussion of the subject has brought confusion to thousands. As a consequence many settle down to the conviction that it is too hard a thing for them to understand, and that they are so constituted that they cannot believe anyhow. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 353.3

All this is as Satan would have it, but is contrary to God's plan. Satan would make people believe that the way of life is hard to find, and that only the learned, and those with philosophical minds, can comprehend it; whereas God tells us that the way is very simple, and that it is hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes. Nothing is easier than to be saved, if one but sets his heart upon it. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 353.4

The idea that one must understand faith, and be able to define it, in order to exercise it, is as absurd as that one must be able to explain sight in order to see, or that one cannot hear unless he can explain the laws of acoustics. Faith is as easy as seeing or hearing, and is as natural to mankind. Many persons are born without sight or hearing; but no soul is born into this world without the quality of faith, and the ability to believe. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 353.5

There are many inequalities in this world but there is one thing in which all men are equal by birth, and that is in the matter of faith. There are vastly different conditions under which children come into the world, some being born to wealth, others to poverty; some to refined surroundings, and others to degradation; some have a fair start, in that they inherit many good traits from a godly ancestry, while others seem to have inherited all the evils that the flesh ever exhibit; but all have in equal measure the same legacy of faith, given to each directly by the Lord Himself. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 353.6

The child naturally believes everything. All that it learns is learned only by faith. It lays hold of realities, and takes them just as they are. If there were a child that had not the ability to believe, it could never learn anything. But the child of the wicked man, the infidel, and the blasphemer believes just as readily as the child of pious parents. For example, one learns to read wholly by faith, by believing what one is told, and the child of the infidel can learn as readily as the child of the believer. And this is only one of scores of things that come to all people only by faith. Sin is inherited, but infidelity cannot be transmitted from father to son. Unbelief, infidelity, is something that one has to learn. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 353.7

In making all men equal in the matter of faith, God has more than counterbalanced all the inequalities in this world, and made it equally easy for all men to be saved. For salvation depends not on us, but on God. It is His power that saves. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast; for we are His workmanship.” It is the power of God that saves, and nothing is difficult for that power. So it makes no difference how much worse one person may be than another, or how much greater a load of sin he may have inherited; since salvation is by faith in the power of God, who does the work, and the same faith is given to each person, the vilest sinner stands as good a chance of salvation as the one who seems to be the best. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 353.8

What shall you believe, in order to get this salvation? Believe just what the child believes; believe the things that you see. Whoever is saved must become as a little child, and a little child believes what it sees, even if it cannot fathom the mystery of them. What do you see?—In everything that is made you see the eternal power and Divinity of God. The Gospel is just that power exerted to save men. Lay hold on that power, and you find salvation. Simply trust yourself to the power that made and that upholds the universe. Rest in it, give yourself completely over to the eternal power, and it will give you the eternal salvation. Believe that the God who makes the heavens perfect, and keeps them so, can also “make you perfect in every good work, to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight,” if you are as passive in His hands as the heavenly bodies are. He has been working in you to keep you alive ever since you were born, waiting for you to yield to Him, that He might carry the work to perfection. Will you not let Him have His own way now? PTUK June 9, 1898, page 354.1

“Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons. The Risen Lord. Matt. xxviii. 8-20” The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

JUNE 19

In a former lesson we study concerning the resurrection of Christ. In this lesson we are to consider of events which occurred after His resurrection. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 354.2

The experience of the two women in meeting Jesus, and the instruction which He gave to them are full of Gospel teaching. “Jesus met them.” They had come “to see the sepulchre,” expecting to find their Lord in a tomb. Still it was their love for Jesus which brought them there, and the angel had said to them, “I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified.” But instead of finding a dead Saviour in Joseph's tomb, the living Saviour met them. Although their faith had not taken in the fact of His resurrection, yet in response to their thought of Him, such as it was, “Jesus met them.” And so it is with us. To the feebleness of our thought of Him, He responds with a mightiness of His grace. Though we may sometimes speak and act as though the Saviour was dead, yet even then He reveals Himself to us as the living Saviour, “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or a think.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 354.3

GO AND TELL

And the living Jesus, who met them, said, “Go tell.” Having seen for themselves that He was not in the tomb, and having heard from the angel “He is risen,” and having themselves seen Him alive, they were to make known these things to others. Thus does the Lord use him and instrumentalities to make known to others the glad news concerning Himself. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 354.4

MY BRETHREN

The whole truth of the incarnation is taught in the way in which Jesus speaks of His disciples. He calls them “My brethren.” It is not because of what they have done, but because of what He has done, that they are His brethren. It was only a few days before this, when the multitude came to take Jesus, that “all the disciples forsook Him and fled.” But “both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” “When God would assure us of His immutable counsel of peace, He gives His only begotten Son to become one of the human family, for ever to retain His human nature as a pledge that God will fulfil His word.” “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” “As many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God.” “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” “Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us.” And so even after human failure and desertion, still He says, “My brethren.” Jesus looks upon every member of the human family as a brother, although some are “estranged indeed from the Father's house, but not forgotten by the Father's heart.” “O, soul lost in sin, however far you have wondered, into whatever depths of degradation and misery you have sunken, God recognises you as His own, precious to His heart of love. Amid all the angels that surround the throne, He still yearns to recover you.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 354.5

Blessed Jesus! would you know Him? Oh, how
He loves!
Give yourselves entirely to Him, Oh, how He
loves! PTUK June 9, 1898, page 354.6

THE FALSE AND THE TRUE TESTIMONY

Two reports of what had happened at the tomb were carried into the city. After this interview with Mary Magdalene “she went and told them that had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that He is alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.” At the same time “some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priest all the things that were done.” And after they “had taken counsel” (but not of Him who “is wonderful in counsel,”) they put a lie into the mouths of the soldiers, and “large money” into their pockets, and sent them forth with a report which condemned themselves for unfaithfulness. “And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.” But the living Jesus was His witness. To His disciples “He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs,” and in His disciples after Pentecost, by His representative, the Holy Spirit, He showed Himself to the world. And each one who can say out of His own experience, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me,” is bearing witness to the fact that the body of Jesus was not stolen by His disciples, but that He “was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 354.7

UNBELIEF

If the disciples had believed what Jesus had told them, they would have known just where to look for Him after His resurrection, for He had said to them, “After I am risen again I will go before you into Galilee;” but though they had been told once, yet the angel sends them word again, “Behold, He goeth before you into Galilee.” And so “the eleven [one is now missing] disciples went away into Galilee.... and when they saw Him, they worshipped Him: but some doubted.” Wherever there is room for the exercise of faith, there is also the possibility of doubt; and even the bodily presence of Jesus did not prevent some from doubting. This is the very nature of the “evil heart of unbelief.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 354.8

ALL POWER IN THE SON OF MAN

It was the Son of man, after His resurrection, who said, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth.” As the Son of God He was, equally with God, the “possessor of heaven and earth,” but giving up all He became the Son of man, that as the Son of man and in behalf of the human family, He might win all things by His life and death and resurrection. And so the Scripture says, “All things are yours,” and we are to be “strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power.” These are the privileges of every believer in the risen Lord. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 354.9

GO THEREFORE AND TEACH

“Go ye therefore ... and I am with you alway.” It is because He has all power and has promised His constant presence that the believers can carry to others the glad news of His power to save. And this they do, not simply in the words which they speak, but by the indwelling of that power. For salvation is after all wholly a question of power, as the Gospel “is the power of God unto salvation.” It requires the same power to save from sin as to create in the first place, and “power belongeth unto God,” and this power is exercised through His Son, Jesus Christ, and therefore “there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 355.1

THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL

The commission of Jesus was to teach all nations to observe “all things whatsoever I commanded you.” But Jesus did not speak of Himself. “For I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak.” “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.” And so the things which Jesus had commanded them were the things that the Lord had commanded from the beginning. He preached the Gospel, the same Gospel which was preached unto Abraham, but brought out in a clearer light, for “never man spake like this Man.” He through whom God's holy law was spoken from Sinai had come to this earth to teach the principles of that same law, both in His words and in His life. In His sermon on the mount, and in all His teaching, He was simply presenting in the clearest manner the same principles of truth and righteousness which had been presented to Israel. And this was the charge which He gave to all believers, that they should continue to proclaim those same principles in the earth, “even unto the end of the world.” And these are the principles of “the everlasting Gospel.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 355.2

“The Joy of Tribulation” The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

Paul the apostle had come up to Jerusalem to worship, and to bring alms to the poor saints, and had been seized in the temple, and all but killed by an infuriated mob led by the rulers of the Jews. He had been beaten, had been bound with two chains, and had been nearly pulled in pieces by the priestly mob as he testified to truth before the council. Now it was night, and as he lay in the castle prison, guarded by Roman soldiers, “the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” Acts xxiii 11. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 355.3

How true it is that the Lord gives not peace as the world gives. A man of the world, wishing to comfort a friend in trouble, would say, “Cheer up, old fellow; this can't last long; in a day or two we shall have you out of this trouble.” That is to say, what everybody knows, that the world knows of no comfort in tribulation; its only method of comfort is to seek to remove the tribulation. If it cannot see any prospect of a speedy cessation of the trouble, it can only say, “Well, bear it like a man; I'm awfully sorry for you, but I can't help you; you'll have to make the best of it.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 355.4

Cold comfort that, isn't it? It is the best the world can give. Now what better has the Lord to give? Here it is, as shown in the case of Paul: Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have borne witness here in chains, before a howling mob who would think no more of taking your life than that of a mad dog, even so must you bear witness in Rome. That is, the Lord comforted Paul in his tribulation by telling him that he was to have yet more of it! That is indeed not like the comfort of the world, and the world would not recognise it as comfort at all; but the man who knows the Lord, and has tasted “the comfort of the Holy Ghost” can understand it and rejoice in it. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 355.5

DIFFICULTIES MADE HELPS

God comforts His people in such a way that, to the one who accepts it, there is no possibility of becoming downcast and disheartened. He does it by turning the devil's weapons against him. He takes the thing designed to overthrow, and makes it a means of building up. The tribulation itself is made a source of comfort, not imaginary, but real. Now it is evident that it is useless to think of disheartening or defeating a man who is in close, vital connection with One who turns sorrow itself into joy, difficulties into helps, and poverty into riches. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 355.6

Christ is the Comforter. While He was visibly present with His disciples, they were happy. When they heard that He is going away, they were sad, but He told them that He would send them “another Comforter,” even the Holy Spirit, His own Representative, whom the world could not receive because it cannot see Him, but who will abide for ever with those who receive Him. The comfort of the Holy Ghost is therefore the comfort of the Divine Presence. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 355.7

“BE OF GOOD CHEER”

Jesus closed His last talk to His disciples, in which He had told them that they must suffer reproach and persecution and even death, with these words: “These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John xvi. 33. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 355.8

The first recorded instance of the Lord's use of the words, “Be of good cheer,” is in Matt. ix. 2, to the palsied man: “Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” In Christ “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. i. 7), and that is the real comfort of the Holy Ghost. With that assurance, we can find joy in every situation. That is why in Him we have peace. So the Apostle Paul writes: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Rom. v. 1-5. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 355.9

WEAKNESS MADE STRENGTH

The reason for glorying in tribulation is given more in detail by the apostle in 2 Cor. xii. 7-10: “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 356.1

“Every man at his best state is altogether vanity” (Ps. xxxix. 5); but “power belongeth unto God.” Ps. lxii. 11. Tribulation discovers to us our weakness. But if we learn the full lesson, then the trouble that reveals our helplessness, at the same time reveals the infinite power of God, who is “a very present help in trouble.” Christ does not fail, nor become discouraged. He bears the burden of the whole world, with all its sin and misery; yet He declares that His “burden is light.” Matt. xi. 30. In all His conflict with Satan, He had perfect peace; in all the weight of affliction that was laid on Him, the joy of the Lord was His strength. The victory was His continually, and if we believe it we can say, “Thanks be unto God, which causeth us to triumph in Christ.” 2 Cor. ii. 14. Is it not clear that tribulation, which simply reveals more perfectly the presence of the mighty Comforter, who Himself is afflicted in all our afflictions, and who bears all our burdens, is itself a joy? PTUK June 9, 1898, page 356.2

But there is another cause for glorying in tribulation. It is given by the Apostle Paul, who was certainly well qualified to speak, in 2 Cor. i. 3-5: “Blessed [be] God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 356.3

Notice that God comforts in all our tribulation. This He does by His presence, which gives rest (Ex. xxxiii. 14), and He has said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Heb. xiii. 5. No trouble frightens Him from us. If we are only willing for His presence to abide with us, there is no trouble in which we may not “rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 356.4

THE ABILITY TO COMFORT OTHERS

But “none of us liveth to himself,” and God does not bestow gifts upon us merely for our selfish gratification. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ consists in giving. The Spirit is the “living water,” but living water is flowing water; so that if we would enjoy the living water we must keep it flowing to others. The Lord blessed Abraham, in order that he might be a blessing. So He comforts us in all our tribulation, in order “that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 356.5

The world is full of trouble. It is not possible that a man should be in the world, and not have some trouble. It would not be possible to enumerate all the various kinds of trouble, for their name is legion. We see its poor victims on every side, and the heart that is not moved to pity at the sight is indeed calloused. But pity is not always comfort. We may pity where we are powerless to help. Now God wishes us to help people who are in trouble, for that is the only way we can be workers together with Him; and in order that we may be able to comfort people who are in any sort of trouble, He lets us have all sorts of trouble. This trouble reveals His comfort, which we can pass on to other afflicted souls. It follows therefore, that the more trouble we have, provided of course that we trust the Lord, the better workers we shall be. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 356.6

If we fret and murmur under tribulation, and refuse to bear it, then we are refusing the means that would make us helpful. Then as we go along we see some poor fellow who has fallen into the miry pit, and we wish we could help him. “O, if I only had a lever or pulley by which to lift this man out of the pit!” And then the Lord may say to us, “Well, I offered it to you some time ago, but you refused to take it, saying that you couldn't be bothered with it. Your neighbour, who was willing to bear the burden, can now render the comfort that you are powerless to give.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 356.7

TRIBULATION A TALENT

This was well understood by Dr. Moon, whose blindness made it necessary for him to invent a means by which he could read, the result being the system that is now generally in use among the blind. He said: “God gave me blindness as a talent to be used for His glory. Without blindness I should never have been able to see the needs of the blind.” Was not that a beautiful way of considering an affliction? He who has that spirit, will never be found wondering how it can be true that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings, for he will see his afflictions as blessings. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 356.8

We do not need to make trouble for ourselves for there is enough already; neither do we need to seek for it, for it will come unasked; but who that knows “the comfort of the Holy Ghost,” and the blessing that comes from ministering comfort to despondent souls, would seek to be exempt from it? What a glorious privilege God bestows upon us, that of associating us with Himself in comforting those who are oppressed by the devil. He saves the lost, and makes them saviours of others; and He takes the very means which Satan uses for our destruction, and by His Divine power makes it a means of salvation. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 356.9

“THE JOY OF THE LORD”

“The joy of the Lord” is in seeing souls saved for whom He has suffered. See Isa. liii. 10, 11; Luke xv. 10. All therefore who would enter into the joy of the Lord must share His sufferings. If we did not suffer with Him, we could not appreciate, much less share, His joy, even if we were admitted to heaven. For us there would be no joy in heaven. For us there would be no joy in heaven. Do not imagine that the joy of the redeemed in heaven is simply joy over being delivered from suffering. If it were, then absence of tribulation here would bring the joy. No; it is joy that comes as the direct result of tribulation. It is through much tribulation that we enter into the kingdom of heaven. The tribulation introduces us to the comfort of the Lord, which is so vast that it takes all eternity to fathom it. Then “thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 356.10

“The Sign of the Cross” The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

The Apostle Paul wrote: “Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Gal. vi. 14. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 357.1

Again he wrote: “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are; that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” 1 Cor. i. 27-31. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 357.2

Still again we have the words of the Lord by the prophet Jeremiah: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” Jer. ix. 23, 24. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 357.3

Putting together these different texts, all given by the same Spirit of truth, what do we find?—Just this: That the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ reveals God and His righteousness and lovingkindness to us. We are not to glory in anything but the Lord: yet we are to glory only in the cross; then of course the cross is inseparably connected with the Lord. We are to glory only in the knowledge of God and His lovingkindness and righteousness; but we are to glory in the cross alone; therefore it is the cross, and the cross only, that enables us to know God. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 357.4

But “that which may be known of God is manifest” even unto the ignorant heathen; “for God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made,-even His everlasting power and divinity.” Rom. i. 19, 20. Therefore since all that may be known of God is seen in the things that He has made, and, as we have just learned, it is the cross that gives us all our knowledge of Him, it follows that the cross is found in all creation, in every created thing. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 357.5

How so?—Thus: God's everlasting power is seen in the things that He has made; and the cross is the revelation of the power of God unto salvation. 1 Cor. i. 18. The power that it took to create the world, and all things that are in it,-is the power that saves those who trust in it. This is the power of the cross. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 357.6

Moreover, Christ is revealed to us as the One who bears the sins of the world. The curse is upon Him; but the cross is the embodiment of the curse. It is in the cross, that He bears the curse. “Christ and Him crucified” is the one thing worth knowing. But the curse is everywhere. Everywhere we turn our eyes we see death, and yet life in spite of it. Wonderful! Death kills, yet it comes upon men and all creation, and life continues nevertheless! Why?—Because of the presence of the Crucified One, who alone can receive all the poison of death, and yet live. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 357.7

So the power of the cross, by which along salvation comes, is the power that creates, and that continues to work in all creation. The cross unites us to Christ, since it crucifies us unto the world. We are united to Him by death. Rom. vi. 3. But “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;” or, “there is a new creation.” 2 Cor. v. 17. “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.” Eph. ii. 10. It is in the cross that this new creation is wrought, for its power is the power by which “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 357.8

“The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.” Ps. cxi. 2-4. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 357.9

Here we see that the wonderful works of God reveal His righteousness, and His grace and compassion as well. This is another evidence that His works reveal the cross of Christ, in which infinite love and mercy are centred. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 357.10

But “He hath made His wonderful works to be remembers:” or, “He hath made a memorial for His wonderful works.” Why does He wish men to remember and declare His mighty acts?—In order that they may not forget, but may trust in, His salvation. He would have men continually meditate on His works, that they may know the power of the cross. It is in the works of His hands that we triumph. Ps. xcii. 4. So when God had made the heavens and earth, and all their host, in six days, “He rested on the seventh day, from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” Gen. ii. 2, 3. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.1

The cross conveys to us the knowledge of God, because it shows us His power as Creator. Through the cross we are crucified unto the world, and the world unto us; that is, by the cross we are sanctified. But sanctification is the work of God, not of man. Only His Divine power can accomplish the great work. In the beginning God sanctified the Sabbath, as the crown of His creative work-the evidence that His work was finished, the seal of perfection, and therefore He says: “Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” Eze. xx. 12. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.2

So we see that the Sabbath-the seventh day-is the true sign of the cross. It is the memorial of creation, and redemption is creation,-creation through the cross. In the cross we find the complete and perfect works of God, and are clothed with them. Crucified with Christ means the utter giving up of self, acknowledging that we are nothing, and trusting absolutely in Christ. In Him we rest; in Him we find the Sabbath. The resting upon the seventh day of the week is but the sign of the fact that in the perfect work of God, as seen in creation,-in the cross,-we find rest from sin. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.3

“But it is difficult to keep the Sabbath; my business will suffer;” “I couldn't make a living and keep the Sabbath:” “it is so unpopular.” Oh, yes; nobody ever said that it was a specially pleasing thing to be crucified. Read the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. Christ was not very popular, and least so of all when He was crucified. The cross means death; but it means also the entrance of life. There is healing in Christ's wounds, blessing in the curse that He bore, life in the death that He suffered. Who dare say that he trusts Christ for everlasting life, if he dare not trust Him for a few years or months or days of life in this world? Accept the Sabbath of the Lord, and you will find that it means the cross to a degree that you never before dreamed of, and therefore “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.4

Now say once more, and say it from the heart: “Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” If you can say that in truth, you will find tribulations and afflictions so easy that you can glory in them. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.5

“Hallelujah, what a Saviour!” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.6

“Sunday Keeping in China” The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

In the Quiver for May, the Rev. F. R. Graves contributes a very interesting article on the difficulties which confront Chinese converts. He speaks especially of the hardships involved in keeping Sunday, which the native Christians do on the instruction of the missionaries, China being a country without any recognised rest day. We quote at length from the article. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.7

“The foreigner in China has brought his Sunday with him; the heathen has never known what Sunday is; and the native Christians are in a different position from either. They have entered the Christian church, and among the other religions and moral obligations that they have assumed, comes the duty to keep Sunday. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.8

“To us it seems an easy matter for people to keep Sunday-it is merely a matter of will, of habit. The law of the land and public opinion are helps, not hindrances. To the Chinese Christian there are difficulties innumerable on every side. Public opinion is against him. His heathen neighbours can be trusted to make his going to church as unpleasant as possible for him, and there is the further question of labour, which is a most complicated one. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.9

“The question of keeping Sunday is a serious one to the Chinese Christian. The man may have a business of his own. If he shuts is shop on Sunday while his competitors keep theirs open, he will lose his business. He may be in the employ of a heathen. The man will most probably refuse to let him have the day to himself. To decide what is the duty of the convert in such cases is not always easy. We have to go back to the times of the apostles to find parallels, to see human law and custom on the opposing side. It makes us realise the struggles of the early Christians to see these same difficulties repeat themselves. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.10

“In such a country as Africa, the Sunday question is not so pressing. The converts have to be educated to keep the day and to appreciate its spiritual value and significance; but the Christian convert does not come into conflict with an elaborate system of law and social order, nor in the question of Sunday labour are the converts required to make such sacrifices. If a man lives by hunting or fishing, or by the produce of a small plantation of maize or bananas, it is not so difficult for him to give up the day to rest and religion. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.11

“Far different is the situation of the Chinese convert in endeavouring to keep Sunday sacred in a country where all labour and mercantile enterprise are organised on the smallest margin of profit, and where he may have to face the question of no work and no wages as the reward of his effort. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.12

“Many times when I have been appealing at home for help for missions and have been sitting in a church where the worshippers were all of the rich, where everything had been done that was possible to make worship ?sthetic and to minister to the physical comfort of the people in the pews, there has come over me a sense of how much unreality there is in fashionable religion, of how little most of the people before me know of the toils by which the church is planted, and the care by which it is maintained. What could they know of the struggle against a hostile world, the fight to establish the elementary truths of Christianity in a heathen land? Very imperfect Christians, no doubt, could be found in those Chinese congregations, but the religion at least is practical and real to them, and they know something of the cost by which it is won. At such times while the eye was filled with the glory of the painted widows, and the ear filled with the sweetest strains of the white-robed singers, my heart has traveled far across the ocean and I have wished that I might exchange it all for the simplicity, the reality, of my Sundays in China.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.13

Many of our readers whose eyes have been opened to the unchanged obligations of the Fourth Commandment, and who have found themselves thereby brought into conflict with “an elaborate system of law and social order,” will read with interest of the experience of the Chinese converts. Although these are taught to observe a day which is nowhere required in the Scriptures to be kept holy, their faithfulness in walking up to the light they have proves the quality of their Christianity. It is to be hoped that these faithful souls will ere long know the Sabbath of the Lord, and, entering into His rest, find it as much more blessed as its authority and character are higher, than the first day of the week. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.14

To any who are dissatisfied with the unreality of fashionable religion, and who long to know the actual experience of genuine faith, such as Mr. Graves refers to among the Chinese, we would say that this is not denied to those who live in a civilised and so-called Christian land. The man who takes God at His word and renders Him a hearty obedience, honouring the Sabbath which He has sanctified and blessed, will find ample opportunity to learn what it is to walk by faith and stand as a witness for truth against the long array of tradition, worldly interests, business policy, popular religion, and alienated friends. Nor is such an one to be pitied. The observance of the day which recalls the power of the Creator has never yet been associated with any lack of ability on His part to keep those who put their trust in Him. Against all the power of the enemy they are more than conquerors through Him who hath loved them, and it needs no “glory of painted glass or white-robed singers” to beautify and strengthen the promise to those “that keep My Sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me,” that “Even unto them will I give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and daughters.” Isa. lvi. 4, 5. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 358.15

“Rest in the Lord” The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

A committee consisting of influential members of the synagogues of Berlin has organised a systematic agitation in favour of the observance of Sunday, not instead of Saturday, but rather in addition to the seventh day as the Sabbath. It has published an appeal that attracts a good deal of attention. In this address it describes the empty synagogues on the Sabbath Day, and then continues: PTUK June 9, 1898, page 359.1

In the great majority of cases dire necessity compels our people to work on the Sabbath. A walk through the streets of our city, a glance into the empty synagogues and the open business houses, factories, offices and schools, must convince everybody that our day of rest has been transformed into a day of labour. It is accordingly not surprising that our children grow up without knowledge of Judaism and without learning to love it. It is not our purpose to undermine or shake the Sabbath, which is holy, and a foundation stone of Judaism, but we want to make provision for those who are not able to attend the synagogues on Saturday. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 359.2

One cannot help wishing most earnestly that those Jews knew the Sabbath “as the truth is in Jesus.” Then they would find that no necessity ever compels a person to labour on the Sabbath; for the Sabbath makes known the power of God that created and upholds the universe,-that everlasting power that saves, and which is the actual, personal possession of every believer. The Sabbath means rest in Christ, rest and eternal salvation from sin; and whoever trusts the Lord to keep him in life through eternity, will have no fear but that He is fully able to keep him alive in this present time. Those who rest in the Lord find it no burden, but a delight, to rest on His Sabbath. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 359.3

“Self-Complacency” The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

It is related that several years ago a large sum of money was sent out to China from England in relief of an appalling famine. But Dr. Wenyon, of the Wesleyan mission, reported in a recent speech that he had discovered in Shantung a commemorative column, erected by the Government's authority, on which this British contribution was calmly set down as “tribute money.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 361.1

We may smile at this Chinese conceit, but we must remember that it is only a touch of that human nature which shows them to be our kindred. It is identical with the patriotism which among the people of every nation consists in believing and in reiterating that their country is the biggest and best on earth. Whoever reads the papers in these days will see that the Chinese have by no means a monopoly of boasting. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 361.2

A Bond-street firm lately bought a gold snuff-box at a sale, for which they paid ?3,500. As they expect to sell this bauble at a profit, it can easily be seen that in spite of the hard times there are still people in the world who have more money than they know what to do with. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 361.3

“Hints to Smokers” The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

The following “hints to smokers,” by a German physician, are quoted in Public Opinion from a translation in the Pharmaceutical Era, New York. The hints, the doctor says,- PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.1

“are founded upon his professional observations for many years of the mouth, teeth, stomach, lungs, heart, and skin of the devotees of tobacco. The first and foremost rule is never to smoke before breakfast, nor, as a rule, when the stomach is empty. Never smoke during any exertion of great physical energy, as dancing, running, cycling, mountain climbing, or rowing, and especially if in a contest. Never follow ‘the bad custom of the French and Russians’ by allowing the smoke to pass through the nose; never inhale it through the nose. Keep the smoke as far as possible from the eyes and nose; the longer the pipe the better; the use of a short pipe during work is to be avoided. Always throw away your cigar as soon as you have smoked four-fifths of it. The smoker should rinse his mouth with a glass of water in which a teaspoonful of table salt has been dissolved. It should be used as a gargle at night, and care should be taken that every cavity in the teeth is well washed with it.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.2

If tobacco were as much of a friend and a necessity as some would have us believe, it is strange that such extreme caution should be needed to keep it as far away as possible. It would be better to sum the whole matter up in one hint, and say, “Don't let the vile stuff get near you.” Here is a rule that we can recommend from experience as a sure cure and preventive of all evils from tobacco smoking: Never smoke within forty-eight hours of meal time or bed time. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.3

“Jottings” The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

-Of 51,000 breweries in the world 25,000 are in Germany. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.4

-Russia is increasing in population faster than any other country in the world. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.5

-France uses annually about 4,000,000 tons of potatoes in making starch and alcohol. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.6

-The Houses of Parliament cover nine acres, and contain twelve hundred apartments. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.7

-Russia has ordered ten torpedo-boats from Cramp’s, besides a battleship and a cruiser. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.8

-Mr. Joseph Leiter's corner in May wheat has, says the Central News, now closed with a profit of 5,000,000 dollars. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.9

-Two American expeditions are about to set out for the North Pole with the object of finding Andree if possible. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.10

-Wei-hai-wei has now been formally handed over the English. The Chinese flag still flies by the side of the British. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.11

-A lighthouse of bamboo has just been built in Japan. It is said to have greater power of resisting the waves than any other kind of wood, and does not rot like ordinary wood. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.12

-The banana is the most prolific of fruits. The produce of an acre planted with bananas will support twenty-five times as many people as the produce of an acre planted with wheat. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.13

-Burlar-proof glass has been invented by a smart manufacturer. It is made by pouring molten glass over a network of steel wire. It is especially adapted for skylights and jewellers’ windows. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.14

-An amateur botanist in Russia has succeeded in cultivating roses of a pure black colour. His persistent experiments lasted more than ten years, and he intends shortly to exhibit his new black roses in London. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.15

-The new U.S. Minister to Pekin is charged to negotiate with the Chinese Government for the acquisition of an important seaport on the Chinese coast, as such a place would be invaluable to the American fleet as a coaling station. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.16

-The death is announced in Paris of the Bishop of Angers, who, it is said, had become so heart-broken at the quarrels and dissensions arising out of the administration of his bishopric that he voluntarily starved himself to death. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.17

-The Russians are forcing the first-class merchants to take out licenses at Tallenqau amounting to ?200 annually for each merchant and trader, thus nullifying all the undertakings which have been given as to the place being an open port. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.18

-The blockade of Havana by the United States Navy is slowly but surely finishing the extermination that Weyler started. All the food in Havana or other cities will be utilised for the soldiers, and the reconcentrados must perish, together with the poorer class families. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.19

-Messrs. Bryant and May, the well-known match manufacturers, were charged at the Police Court on Wednesday with not reporting cases of phosphorus poisoning among their employees. It was discovered that seventeen cases had occurred. The full penalty was inflicted. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 366.20

“Back Page” The Present Truth 14, 23.

E. J. Waggoner

“The just shall live by faith.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.1

The Bible abounds in exhortations about living, but not about dying. Life, not death, is the theme of the Gospel. Christ “hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” Then let your planning be about life, and not about death. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.2

With some religious people the talk is all about death. We read about “a happy death;” but a happy life is much more to be desired. He who lives right as long as he lives need not trouble himself about death. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.3

Often we hear this expression with reference to some belief or practice, “That will do very well to live by, but it will not do to die by.” A wicked fallacy! Whatever is good enough to live by, is good for everything; and nothing is good enough to live by unless it is perfect. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.4

We are here in this world, not to prepare for death, but to prepare for life. True, we are told, “Prepare to meet thy God,” but we meet Him alive, not dead. He who has the living Word, is “passed from death to life.” Then banish from your songs and talk all those expressions that tend to make one careless of life, by intimating that death is the all-important thing. God has called us to life, not to death. Then rejoice in life that gains the victory over and destroys death. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.5

The British Medical Journal says that the proprietor of a patent medicine recently brought suit against a newspaper for damages alleged to have been caused by a slight error in the punctuation of an advertisement. In the advertisement there was a testimonial which read thus: “I am now completely cured, after having been at the gates of death mainly through taking half a dozen bottles of your medicine.” The insertion of a comma after the word “death,” would have made a different story; but we are not sure that its omission was an error, or that there is any joke in the case. Many people have been brought to the gates of death by taking medicine, and have recovered by leaving it off. It can be said of drug medicines, as the schoolboy wrote of pins, that they have saved thousands of lives. When asked how they had saved life, he replied, “By not swallowing ‘em.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.6

“Be a Christian, and you cannot help being a gentleman,” said the late Samuel Plumsoll, whose unselfish labours did so much to lessen the dangers of sailors. His remark shows that he had learned the secret of life. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.7

More than five hundred representative men of almost very shade of religious and political belief assembled at the Hotel Cecil last Friday evening, at a banquet presided over by Lord Coleridge, to express their enthusiasm for an Anglo-American alliance. The report says:— PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.8

Art, law, the Church, literature, journalism, the stage, the Army, the Navy, and the reserve forces, and the higher criticism were not wanting in strenuous advocates of the union of hearts in its new reading. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.9

The Catholic Times reports that the Pope's appeal to the Catholics of the world for prayers for the conversion of England is being responded to in more than one foreign country. An association has been formed in Germany to this end, which already numbers twenty thousand members. The same issue announces the reception into the Roman Catholic Church of Sir Henry Hawkins, a prominent English judge. They expect that his action will “have a happy influence upon many others.” PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.10

That which is ordinarily known as “the sign of the cross” is but an empty gesture; it accomplishes nothing, for it is nothing. But the true sign of the cross, as will be seen from the article on another page, is no empty form, but is a real thing. God has no meaningless forms in His service. He does not ask people to go through forms and ceremonies, but He gives them realities. Neither does He ask men to make motions and go through forms representing something else; He gives them the thing itself. The sign of the cross carries the cross with it. God has brought to us all “the true cross” of Christ. By it there is salvation. Who will accept it? PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.11

Speaking on the present-day glorification of doubt, the Rev. Alfred Rowland remarked a few days ago that an affectation of this experience was popular among those who had never thought seriously about the doctrines of Christianity. They seemed morbidly anxious to air what they were pleased to call their doubts; and eagerly assured all and sundry that they had lost their faith. It is said that one of these, an undergraduate at Balliol, relying for approval on the reputed scepticism of the Master-Professor Jowett-said to that shrewd teacher, “The fact is, Master, I do not believe there is a God.” “Well, sir,” was the sharp reply, “you must find one by to-morrow morning, or you will be sent down.” And he did, or said he did. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.12

Under the heading, “The Horrors of War,” the Chronicle publishes the following, which needs no comment:— PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.13

At the German Surgical Congress in Wiesbaden the well-known professor of surgery, Doctor von Bruns, of Tubingen, read a paper on “Inhuman Weapons of War,” which has had much attention drawn to it throughout Germany. Doctor von Bruns has made a number of experiments on dead bodies or portions of them with the bullets supplied to the British troops during the recent campaign in the North-West of India. He says that the results of the contact of these bullets with the human body are fearful, and cannot be exaggerated. Not only are the bones, but the flesh as well, torn and splintered in all directions. Even the skin at the point of contact shows long seams torn in all directions. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.14

Of Christ it is said: “He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.” Isa. xl. 3, 4. What does this show?—Just this, that judgment according to what one sees and hears is not righteous and equitable judgment. “But no man in this world has any other means of judgment than his eyes and ears.” Exactly, and that is why there is injustice even in the best of earthly judgment. “Every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” Man is but fallible, and his best judgment is not only faulty, but is often positively foolish. Only the Spirit of God can render perfect judgment. “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” 1 Cor. iv. 5. PTUK June 9, 1898, page 368.15