The Present Truth, vol. 14

January 27, 1898

“Our Father's Care.—Matt. vi. 24-30” The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

FEBRUARY 6

“No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor for your body, what ye shall put on.” Matt. vi. 24, 25. R.V. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 49.1

The first part of this passage, concerning the two masters, is self-evident. No man can serve two masters, especially when they are directly opposed to each other, as God and mammon. Mammon was the Chaldean God supposed to preside over wealth and the acquisition of property. So here it stands for property of any kind, not necessarily great riches, but whatever one acquires of this world's goods. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 49.2

But what is the force of the “therefore”? Why “Therefore ... be not anxious”?—Because such anxiety would show us to be servants of mammon, and not servants of God. We serve that for which we live. If our whole anxiety is for food, drink, and clothing, this is an indication that we live for those things, that we serve them, instead of making those things our servants. But if there were nothing more to life than merely a struggle to get that with which to keep life going, life would not be worth living. But the life is more than meat, and the body more than raiment. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 49.3

A LESSON FROM THE BIRDS

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow the not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” Verse 26. In what respect is man better than the birds? Why, he is of more value than they. Luke xii. 7, 24. It is not that man is better able to make a living than the birds are, for that idea would destroy the Saviour's lesson, which is one of trust in the Lord, and not in ourselves. No; but God who feeds the birds will much more feed us, who are of much greater value than they. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 49.4

How are the birds fed by the Lord? Do they sit on a limb or in their nest, waiting for Him to drop the food into their mouths?—Not by any means. “These wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That Thou givest them they gather; Thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.” Ps. civ. 27, 28. They do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; but they pick up what God provides for them, and at every season of the year they find something provided. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 49.5

Can man do more? Does man provide his own food, or “make his own living,” as it is sometimes called? In other words, can man create?—No; he can not add an inch to his stature, or an ounce to his weight. Everything comes to him from without-from above. In reality he does no more than the birds do; he simply picks up what God strews over the whole earth. Why not acknowledge God's hand in the gifts received, instead of claiming that we ourselves do all? for he who is worried and anxious gives God no place in the work. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 50.1

THE CLOTHING OF THE LILY

“And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Verses 28, 29. What was the difference between Solomon's clothing, gorgeous as it was, and the lilies? Here is something for us to study. We know that Solomon was clothed with garments, out of material taken from plants and animals. Spinning and weaving were necessary. Was it so in the beginning? No; Adam and Eve, as long as they remained faithful to God, were clothed with light, even as God is. God is clothed with light, as with a garment (Ps. civ. 2), and man also when first created was covered with light. Ps. viii. 5. But all have sinned, and so have lost the glory of God (Rom. iii. 23), and as one consequence, they must have clothing made for them by hand. Let God himself provide this, even as He did for our first parents. Gen. iii. 21. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 50.2

But what is the clothing of the lily?—It is its colour, or the various colours, green, white, yellow, red, that it has “for glory and for beauty.” Yes, but what composes or forms these colors?—Nothing else but light. So the lilly has its original clothing of light, which man has lost, and which all Solomon's wealth and wisdom cannot equal. This clothing comes direct from God, without the intervention of human hands. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 50.3

Now God is “bringing many sons unto glory.” Heb. ii. 10. The “robe of righteousness” and the “garments of salvation” with which He clothes those who trust Him (Isa. lxi. 10) are the glory of the Lord with which they shall shine forth in the kingdom of their Father. Matt. xiii. 43. Well, cannot He who does that which is greatest be trusted to do that which is lease? If we believe that God, and His power alone, can give us eternal life and “all things that pertain until life and godliness” (2 Peter i. 3), can we not trust Him to provide the things that pertain to this earthly life? And if we cannot trust Him for this least, do we really have any faith in His promise of eternal life? PTUK January 27, 1898, page 50.4

HEATHENISM PROFESSEDLY CHRISTIAN

“Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Verses 31-33, R.V. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 50.5

“Gentiles” are heathen. The people of God are Israelites, and not Gentiles or heathen, although they are taken out from among the heathen. The characteristic of heathenism is trust in that which can be seen, instead of in the unseen. That is why they even make images. But it is not necessary that one make graven or molten images, in order to be a heathen. The heathen are wholly absorbed with the things of this life, for they suppose that they themselves must provide for their own wants, even as they make their own gods. Not recognising the God “who no man hath seen, neither can see,” who alone creates and upholds all things, they trust in themselves, and then, finding their own strength (or that which they flatter themselves that they have) inadequate, they actually began to worry. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 50.6

Suppose now that a professed Christian worries over the future, which is in God's own power? what then?—Why, he is simply showing his unbelief in God's power; in other words, he is showing that he is heathen. But worse this, by professing to be a worshipper of the only true God, and still manifesting the anxiety of the heathen, he is leading men who do not know God to think that He is just like gods of the heathen, and not a loving Father, solicitous for the welfare of His children. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 50.7

But, worse than all, suppose, as is often the case, that this anxiety becomes greatest when it is a matter of keeping God's commandments? Here is a plain duty, but the man says, “If I do it, how can I get a living?” Ah, how often that question is asked. There is no question about its being commanded by the Lord, the commandment is too plain to admit of any doubt; the only thought is, “I cannot make a living and keep His commandments.” Yet the man using such language often calls himself a Christian. What sort of a witness is he for God?—a false witness. By acting as do the heathen, he is declaring that the God whom he professes to serve is just the same as the heathen gods,-that He is not able to care for those who serve Him. What a pity that men will thus bear false witness against God. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 50.8

ONLY ONE THING NEEDFUL

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” If a man cannot trust the Lord for his daily bread, is it possible for him to make others believe that he trusts God for eternal salvation? Certainly not? what trust can a man have in God for eternity, if he cannot trust Him for a day? PTUK January 27, 1898, page 50.9

He who is worrying over what he shall eat and what he shall drink, and what he shall wear, and who worries especially when it comes to the question of keeping God's commandments, and who finally concludes that he dare not follow God's commandments in certain thing, for instance in Sabbath-keeping, lest he should not make a living, thereby proclaims that in his opinion this life is worth more than the life to come. As a matter of fact, without the life to come, this life is worth nothing. “What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Matt. xvi. 26. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 50.10

“The kingdom of God and His righteousness” includes everything. “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come.” 1 Tim. iv. 8. In fact, this life is given us for nothing else than a preparation for the life to come; therefore the surest way to get the most of this life, is diligently to seek the life to come, through faith in the Lord. “He that spare not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Rom. viii. 32. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 50.11

“The Epistle to the Galatians. A Zealous Persecutor Arrested” The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

The two lessons already studied, embracing Gal. i. 1-12 have shown us the subject of the epistle and the gravity of the situation that called it forth. The epistle itself, we have seen, deals with nothing less than the whole Gospel, perfect and complete, namely, Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Redeemer, “mighty to save” from the evil of this present world. That which called for a clear, forcible, and direct statement of the Gospel, was the fact that some were perverting it, doing the accursed work of leading the Galatians brethren away from God and Christ, and causing them to rest in a false hope of salvation, which could end only in their destruction. As a contrast to the false gospel which the Galatians were receiving from men, the apostle assures them that the Gospel which he preached did not come from men, but that he received it by the direct revelation of Jesus Christ. As proof of the statement that he was not indebted to any man for the Gospel, he proceeds, in the verses which follow, to give an outline of his history before and after he became a Christian. Read them in connection with the preceding portion of the chapter:— PTUK January 27, 1898, page 51.1

THE LESSON FOR THE WEEK

“For ye have heard of my manner of life in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and made havoc of it; and I advanced in the Jews’ religion beyond many of mine own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me, even from my mother's womb, and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned unto Damascus.Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. Now touching the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. Then I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but they only heard say, He that once persecuted us now preacheth the faith of which he once made havoc; and they glorified God in me.” Gal. i. 13-24. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 51.2

“Concerning Zeal, Persecuting the Church.” -This is what Paul said of himself, in his Epistle to the Philippians. How great his zeal was he himself tells in several places. In the text before us, we read that he persecuted the church of God “beyond measure,” and “wasted it,” or, as in the Revision, “made havoc of it.” See also Acts viii. 3. Before Agrippa he said: “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem; and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.” Acts xxvi. 9-11. In an address to the Jews in Jerusalem, who knew his life, he said, “I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.” Acts xxii. 4. This he did because, as the previous verse says, he was “zealous toward God.” So full of this sort of zeal was he that he breathed nothing but “threatenings and slaughter.” Acts ix. 1. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 51.3

It seems almost incredible that any one professing to worship the true God, can have such false ideas of Him as to suppose that He is pleased with that kind of service; yet Saul of Tarsus, one of the most bitter and relentless persecutors of Christians that ever lived, could say years afterward, “I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” Acts xxiii. 1. Although kicking against the pricks (Acts ix. 5), and endeavouring to silence the growing conviction that would force itself upon him as he witnessed the patience of the Christians, and heard their dying testimonies to the truth, Saul was not wilfully stifling the voice of conscience. On the contrary, he was striving to preserve a good conscience, and so deeply had he been indoctrinated with the Pharisaic traditions, that he felt sure that these inconvenient prickings must be the suggestions of an evil spirit, which he was in duty bound to suppress. So the prickings of the Spirit of God had for a time only led him to redouble his zeal against the Christians. Of all persons in the world, Saul, the self-righteous Pharisee, had no bias in favour of Christianity. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 51.4

Paul's Profiting. -Paul “profited,” made advancement, “in the Jews’ religion,” above many of his equals, that is, those of his own age, among his countrymen. He had possessed every advantage that was possible to a Jewish youth. “An Hebrew of the Hebrews” (Phil. iii. 5), he was nevertheless a free-born Roman citizen (Acts xxii. 26-28). Naturally quick and intelligent, he had enjoyed the instruction of Gamaliel, one of the wisest doctors of the law, and had been “taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers.” Acts xxii. 3. After the “straitest sect” among the Jews, he lived a Pharisee, and was “a Pharisee of the Pharisees,” so that he was “more exceedingly zealous of the traditions” of the fathers than any others of his class. Grown to manhood, he had become a member of the great council among the Jews,-the Sanhedrim,-as is shown by the fact that he gave his vote (Acts xxvi. 10, R.V.) when Christians were condemned to death. Added to this, he possessed the confidence of the high priest, who readily gave him letters of introduction to the rulers of all the synagogues throughout the land, with authority to seize and bind any whom he found guilty of “heresy.” He was, indeed, a rising young man, on whom the rulers of the Jews looked with pride and hope, believing that he would contribute much to the restoration of the Jewish nation and religion to their former greatness. There had been a promising future before Saul, from a worldly point of view; but what things were gain to him, those he counted loss for Christ, for whose sake he suffered the loss of all things. Phil. iii. 7, 8. What caused this great change?—Nothing less than the power of the everlasting love and patient forbearance of God. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 51.5

“Separated unto the Gospel of God.” -These are the words with which Paul described himself in the Epistle to the Romans: “Called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God.” Rom. i. 1. So here he says that God “separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace.” Gal. i. 15. That God chose Saul to be an apostle, before Saul himself had any thought that he should ever be even a Christian, is evident from the sacred narrative. On his way to Damascus, whither, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter,” he was proceeding with full authority to seize, bind, and drag to prison all Christians, both men and women, Saul was suddenly arrested, not by human hands, but by the overpowering glory of the Lord. Three days afterward the Lord said to Ananias, when sending him to give Saul his sight, “He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles.” Acts ix. 15. God arrested Saul in his mad career of persecution, because He had chosen him to be an apostle. So we see that the pricks against which Saul had been kicking were the strivings of the Spirit to turn him to the work to which he had been called. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 52.1

But how long before this had Saul been chosen to be the messenger of the Lord?—He himself tells us that he was separated from his mother's womb. From his birth Saul had been “separated unto the Gospel of God.” This was no new thing. The work of Samson and of John the Baptist was laid out for them before they were born. See Judges xiii. 2-14; Luke i. 13-17. Jeremiah was chosen before his birth to be a prophet of God. Jer. i. 4, 5. Pharaoh, the haughty, defiant king of Egypt, had also been chosen to make the name of God known throughout all the earth (Ex. ix. 15, 16, R.V.), but he refused to do it as the acknowledged servant of the Lord, and so the work had been accomplished through his obstinacy. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 52.2

These things but remind us that chance does not rule in this world. It is as true of all men as it was of the Thessalonians, that “God hath from the beginning chosen” them “to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” 2 Thess. ii. 13. It rests with every one to make that calling and election sure. And he who willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. ii. 3, 4, R.V.), has also appointed “to every man his work.” Mark xiii. 34. He who leaves not Himself without witness even in the inanimate creation (Acts xiv. 17; Rom. i. 20), would fain have man, His highest earthly creation, willingly give such witness to Him as can be given only by human intelligence. All men are chosen to be witnesses for God, and to each is his labor appointed. All through life the Spirit is striving with every man, to induce him to allow himself to be used for the work to which God has called him. Only the Judgment day will reveal what wonderful opportunities men have recklessly flung away. Saul, the violent persecutor, became the mighty apostle; who can imagine how much good might have been done by the men whose great power over their fellows has been exerted only for evil, if they had yielded to the influence of the Spirit? Not every one can be a Paul; but the thought that each one, according to the ability that God has given him, is chosen and called of God to witness for Him, will, when once grasped, give to life a new meaning. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 52.3

The Revelation of Christ. -“When it pleased God.... to reveal His Son in me.” Note the exact words. The apostle does not say that it pleased God to reveal His Son to him but in Him. Moreover, he does not say that it pleased God to put His Son into him, but to reveal His Son in him. There is a great truth in this, which stands out very plainly in connection with some other texts. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 52.4

Read the whole of Deut. xxx. There we see that two things were placed before the people for them to choose between, namely, life and good, and death and evil. This, together with the fact that they were exhorted to keep the commandments of God, shows that they had not yet attained to righteousness. Then in verses 11-14 we read that the commandment is not far off so as to make it necessary for some one to bring it to them, in order that they might do it; “but the Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” PTUK January 27, 1898, page 52.5

We see, therefore, that the Word is in the hearts of men before they do it, and that it is there in order that they may do it. But what is the Word?—Read John i. 1-14, where we learn that the Word is God. “And the Word was made flesh.” That this is what is meant in the passage just quoted in Deuteronomy, is seen from Rom. x. 6-9, where it is quoted, and the Word is plainly declared to be Christ. Christ, then, dwells in the heart, in the flesh, of every man, and has come thus near to all men in order that they may be made the righteousness of God. Most men are ignorant of this divine presence, and live as though God were not, and that they were their own creators and preservers. But when the Spirit of truth brings a man to the knowledge of the truth, then Christ dwells in his heart, not as hitherto, unappreciated and unrecognised, but “by faith.” Eph. iii. 17. Then is Christ revealed in him, and he fulfils the Divine purpose of showing forth the excellencies of Him that called him out of darkness into His marvellous light. 1 Peter ii. 9. Only by such a revelation of Christ in a man can he preach Him among the heathen; with that revelation, his whole life is a Gospel sermon, even though he does not utter discourses. So we see that the work of the human preacher is exactly the same as that of the heavens; to declare the glory of God (Ps. xix. 1-8) and it is to be done in the same manner. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 52.6

Conferring with Flesh and Blood. -“Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” This statement is made for the purpose of showing that the apostle did not receive the Gospel from any human being. He saw Christ, and accepted Him, then he went to Arabia, and came back to Damascus, and not till three years after his conversion did he go up to Jerusalem, where he stayed only fifteen days, and saw only two of the apostles. Moreover, the brethren were afraid of him, and would not at first believe that he was a disciple; so it is evident that he did not receive the Gospel from any man. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 52.7

But there is much to learn from Paul's not conferring with flesh and blood. To be sure, he had no need to, since he had the Lord's own word; but such a course as his is by no means common. For instance, a man reads a thing in the Bible, and then must ask some other man's opinion before he dare believe it. If none of his friends believe it, he is fearful of accepting it. If his pastor, or some commentary, explains the text away, then away it goes; flesh and blood gain the day against the Spirit and the Word. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 52.8

Or, it may be that the commandment is so plain that there is no reasonable excuse for asking anybody what it means. Then the question is, “Can I afford to do it? Will it not cost too much sacrifice?” The most dangerous flesh and blood that one can confer with is one's own. It is not enough to be independent of others; in matters of truth one needs to be independent of one's self. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Prov. iii. 5. “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.” Prov. xxviii. 26. When God speaks our part of wisdom is to obey at once, without ... of one's own heart. The Lord's name is “Counselor.” Isa. ix. 6, and He is Wonderful in counsel.” Hear Him. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 52.9

Paul's Visit to Arabia. -In the record of Paul's conversion, in Acts ix., we are told that as soon as he was baptized he began to preach in the synagogues, “proving that this is very Christ. And after many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him,” and being let down over the wall by night in a basket, he escaped them, and came to Jerusalem. Verses 22-26. If we had no other record than this, we should not know but that Paul spent all the time in Damascus unto he returned to Jerusalem; but in Gal i. 17, 18 we learn how long a time those “many days” cover, and that in the three years Paul visited Arabia. Returning to Damascus from Arabia, he continued preaching until his earnestness and power called down on him the wrath of the Jews, and he was obliged to flee for his life. Yet in all this time three years’ preaching, Paul never saw any other apostle. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 53.1

Paul's Miraculous Conversion .—There is no question that Paul's conversion was a miracle; but so is every conversion. Men seem to think that Paul's conversion had something more of the miraculous in it than ordinary conversions; but the fact is that exactly the same elements entered into Paul's conversion as in all other conversions. It was more than ordinarily striking, to be sure, because Paul was a more than ordinarily hard case to deal with, and was called to, as he was fitted for, an extraordinary work. Paul saw the Lord, and thereby learned is own wretched condition; this at once humbled him, and he accepted the Lord. That was the whole of it, and it is the same thing that occurs in every conversion, although not necessarily with the same outward manifestations. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 53.2

“But was it not marvellous that Paul should have been able at once to preach Christ so powerfully and so convincingly?”—Indeed it was, as it is marvellous that any man can preach Christ. That anybody should be able to preach Christ in very truth, involves no less a mystery than Christ manifest in the flesh. But do not let anybody suppose that Paul got his knowledge instantaneously, without any study. Remember that he had all his life been a diligent student of the scriptures. It was not an uncommon thing for a Rabbi to be able to repeat the greater portion or the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures from memory, and we may be sure that Paul, who had made more advancement than any others of his age, was as familiar with the words of the Bible as an ordinary school-boy is with the multiplication table. But his mind as blinded by the traditions of the fathers, which had been drilled into him at the same time. The blindness which came upon him when the light shone round him on the way to Damascus, was but a picture of the blindness of his mind; and the seeming scales that fell from his eyes when Ananias spoke to him, indicated the shining forth of the Word within him, and the scattering of the darkness of tradition. Paul's case was very different from that of a new convert who had never read or studied the Bible. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 53.3

The Persecutor Preaching .—Compare the statements in Gal. i. 18-22 with Acts ix. 26-30; xxii. 17-21. Circumstances rendered it impossible that Paul should get any teaching from the Jewish Christians. It was not necessary, to be sure, and it was so ordered that all could see that he was taught of God, and not of man. So for years after his conversion he was “unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but they had heard only. That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed,” or, “of which he made havoc.” And they glorified God in him. That is what God designs shall be done in each one of us. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 53.4

In view of the case of Saul of Tarsus, let no one look on any opposer of the Gospel as incorrigible. Those who make opposition are to be instructed with meekness, for who knows but that God will give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth? One might have said of Paul, “He has had the light as clearly as any man can have it. He has had every opportunity; he not only heard the inspired testimony of Stephen, but he heard the dying confessions of many martyrs; he is a hardened wretch from whom it is useless to expect any good.” Yet that same Saul became the greatest preacher of the Gospel, even as he had been the most bitter persecutor. Is there a malignant opposer of the truth? Do not strive with him, and do not reproach him. Let him have all the bitterness and strife to himself, while you hold yourself to the Word of God and to prayer. It may not be long till God, who is now blasphemed, may be glorified in him. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 53.5

“The Tobacco Habit and Christian Liberty” The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

The blinding effect of an evil habit, such as indulgence in narcotics and stimulants, is illustrated by the following story which a popular journal prints under the title, “The Lord Chancellor and His Peculiarities”:— PTUK January 27, 1898, page 54.1

It is one of the idiosyncrasies of the Lord Chancellor (who has just been created an earl) that he never smokes, and, in fact, detests tobacco. The late Montagn Williams, in his “Leaves of a Life,” relates how he was engaged with Sir Hardinge Giffard-now Lord Halsbury-in an important election petition at Shewsbury. At their lodgings Mr. Williams began to smoke. Sir Hardinge protested. He said he “never smoked,” and eventually his eminent junior had to put on a mackintosh and smoke his cigar in a snowstorm. Mr. Montagn Williams did not have to wait long for an opportunity to retaliate. Sir Hardinge carried his habit of punctuality to a height that was only equaled by his politeness. He would have breakfast ready to a moment, but would never commence without his junior. That morning Mr. Montagn Williams tarried so long over his toilet that he did not enter the breakfast-room until three minutes before the hour at which the court sat. He writes:— PTUK January 27, 1898, page 54.2

I found Giffard seated in an armchair before an enormous fire. The breakfast, grilled fish and other delicacies, was placed on the fender. The tea had not yet been brewed. My leader looked in a rage; he must only have been acting, however, for in all my life I never saw him seriously out of temper. I knew, he declared, just as well as he did, what his rules were. I knew that he had been waiting breakfast for me. It was my duty to be down in time and make the ten, and in consequence of my laziness he would have to go to court without any breakfast at all. “But,” I casually remarked, “I never eat breakfast. I don't care about it.” “Well,” he rejoined, “you are, I think, the most selfish fellow I ever came across.” “Oh dear, no,” I said, “you forget the smoking yesterday. You don't smoke. I don't see the difference.” He burst out laughing, and we proceeded to court. That night I remained by the fire when the meal was over and smoke my cigar. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 54.3

WHY HE COULD NOT SEE THE DIFFERENCE

Let us examine the humour of this for a moment. The Lord Chancellor's gentlemanly courtesy lost him his breakfast because he wished to share it with his friend. He might have eaten it alone, and his friend, if he did not wish to eat, could not possibly have been inconvenienced because the other was eating. But the writer of these reminiscences professed to see no difference between this exhibition of courtesy and his own insistence upon smoking in the presence of his friend, knowing that the smoke was offensive to him! The case would have been parallel had Sir Hardinge insisted o his friend's joining him in eating something which Mr. Williams did not relish, but which he himself enjoyed; and, further, if when his friend protested he had insisted upon forcing it down his unwilling throat. There would have been little humour in such a situation. Yet Mr. Williams coolly insisted on having his smoke and forcing his courteous companion to smell the nauseating fumes from the smoker's mouth. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 54.4

We bring no railing accusation of selfishness against those who use the nicotine poison. There are selfish people who do not smoke, as well as people who do smoke who are careful of others’ dislike of the odour of tobacco. But the fact remains that the tendency of the narcotic habit is to dull the senses and make the victim selfish and inconsiderate. It has come to this, that when a Lord Chancellor doesn't like the smell of tobacco smoke it is set down as an “iodiosyncrasy” and “peculiarity” of his, and the press thinks it a joke that a legal friend was once so uncourteous as to force him to inhale his smoke. It is nowadays not the man who smokes on the omnibus that is considered boorish and out of place, but rather the passenger who objects to having his lungs filled with the fumes and his eyes with hot ashes. It is all owing to the stupefying, deadening effect of the poison on the brain and nerves and moral sense of the user of it. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 54.5

When the lad who would learn the vice of smoking makes his first essay at it, the poison usually lets him know its power over him by making him sick, and his system revolts against it. But when by perverse perseverance the system is brought into bondage to it, every year fastens the habit more securely, and makes the man more and more a slave to it. And being thus at the mercy of a tyrannical habit which deprives him of liberty, a man may very readily be as blind to the liberty of his fellows as was the legal gentleman who told the story which we have quoted. Boasting of an age of liberty, the world is coming more and more into bondage. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 54.6

From all this the Gospel delivers men. Whatever the evil habit, Christ has broken every yoke, and every man is free who will assert his liberty. What smoker could conceive of Christ as holding a pipe between those lips that spoke peace, and holiness, and cleanliness of spirit and body? It is a horrible thought. Why?—Because it is out of harmony with every characteristic of His life. But it is no more out of harmony with His life in Judea, long time ago, than it is now with His life in the believer. “I live; yet not I,” said Paul, “but Christ liveth in me.” “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” PTUK January 27, 1898, page 54.7

“‘Day and Night’” The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

Now and then we read in the newspaper dispatches that this or that Power is working “day and night” to increase its armaments and get ready for the struggle which all the nations regard as inevitable. All are now armed as nations were never armed before, but not one is satisfied. Japan, the youngest of the Powers, is feverishly making up lost time, and has, it is said, over two hundred ships of war under construction. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 54.8

Thus the nations are fulfilling the prophecies which declare that as the coming of the Lord draws near at hand all the world would be arming for “the battle of the great day of God Almighty.” We are told, too, that the spirit of Satan is the agent by which all the nations are being filled with the spirit of strife. Rev. xvi. 14. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 54.9

While thus the world is working day and night to fulfil the Word, let us remember that there is another call to-day and night work:— PTUK January 27, 1898, page 54.10

“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.... Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.” Isa. lxii. 6, 7, 10, 11. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 54.11

Here is day and night work for every believer. Christ is coming; let every one who loves Him join in preparing the way before Him. Nothing else is of any importance whatever. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 55.1

“Back Page” The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

“Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” Does He reign in your heart, or does sin reign there? PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.1

The Pope, we are told, has become a member of the “Association of Prayer for the Conversion of England.” There was a time when popes of Rome addressed their prayers for the “conversion” of England to the King of Spain or of France. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.2

When the Lord points out the way plainly many hesitate and say, “I don't see how I can go that way.” How long would it have taken Israel to cross the Red Sea had God left them to their own resources? It is not a question of what I can do, but of what God can do. And faith does not question that for a moment. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.3

The imminent danger of war in the East, of revolution in France, of a clashing of interests in Africa,-these fire the constant themes of newspaper comment. How glad may the Christian well be that he is delivered from all the self-interests that make men generally parties to the strife. His work is to preach the Word that will save out of the wreck all who will accept citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.4

There are already 158 distilleries at work in Scotland, but more are to be erected, says the Glasgow Herald, to meet the growing demand for whisky. And the growth of pauperism, crime, and insanity in the Kingdom more than keeps pace with the multiplication of breweries and distilleries. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.5

The Pekin and Tientsin Times, an Anglo-Chinese newspaper, complained a little time ago:— PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.6

Russia is standing with a pistol leveled at China's head and getting all she wants. The situation can only be leveled up by some other Power getting on China's other side with a Gatling gun. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.7

This complaint is made in all seriousness, as though the blame were China’s, but representing China as the helpless traveler in the hands of rival highwaymen, the newspaper unconsciously bears witness to the true character of the warring nations. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.8

Russia threatens Turkey with an occupation of Armenia if the Kurds are not kept quiet. As these wild mountaineers never have been subject to Government, Russia has only to choose her time to advance her frontier line. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.9

It is neither “conformity” nor “non-conformity” that is needed. “Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.10

“Heaven and earth shall pass away; but My words shall not pass away.” If a person, then, wishes to put his trust in that which is abiding, he must let go of the things of the earth, and lay hold upon the words that abide for ever. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.11

God promised Abraham what was humanly impossible, and Abraham knew it. But “looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief,” and the promise was fulfilled. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.12

“Preparing for Armageddon” The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

While the newspapers were full of the advances made by Russia, Germany, and France in China, the silence of the British Cabinet led to continual questioning as to what would be Britain's policy in this matter, which so vitally concerns her commercial interests. This state of uncertainty has now been set at rest by Mr. Chamberlain in a speech at Liverpool, which, amid much applause, closed as follows:— PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.13

Markets are closed to us sometimes by hostile tariffs, sometimes by hostile commercial occupation. Our own markets are threatened, even our own territories are regarded apparently with jealous eyes, and if we are to meet this we can only do so by defending those that we still retain-and, gentlemen, we shall do this, and at the same time we shall seek to maintain solidarity between all the parts of the empire. We shall try to earn the confidence of our colonial fellow subjects by making their interest our interests. It may be that now we have to come to their assistance, but may not the time come when we shall call for theirs? and, meanwhile, let us be enabled to say, in the words of an imperial-minded post:— PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.14

And we will make a promise, as long as the blond endures
I shall know that your good is mine, ye shall feel that my strength is yours,
In the day of Armageddon, in the last great fight of all,
The house shall stand together, and the pillars shall not fall. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.15

The pathetic part of the matter is that men will go into that “last great fight of all” with high hopes for the future, not knowing that it will be the last fight of all simply because it will be the everlasting destruction of all those who use or sanction the use of carnal weapons. Rev. xvi. 16; xix. 11-21. How such expressions, which are so popular, emphasise the necessity of proclaiming with renewed earnestness the Gospel, which has been given “to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.16

“A Popular Fallacy Exploded” The Present Truth 14, 4.

E. J. Waggoner

From Frem, a Danish scientific journal, we take the following, which ought to be read by everybody:— PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.17

Meat extract, as well as meat soup, is considered by many to be especially nourishing. This supposition is, however, wholly a mistaken one. Professor Volb, of Munich, has recently published an interesting treatise on this subject. Most people reason that, since meat is nourishing, an extract, something taken out of it, must also be nourishing. This is altogether wrong, for in the production of meat extract, as well as in the cooking of soup, all the real nourishment is left behind in the meat. The extract or the soup, on the contrary, contains really only the stimulating matter of the meat, the so-called creatin or creatinin. Both these substances by being taken into our bodies, have exactly the same effect as tea or coffee: they stimulate energy, but they afford absolutely not a particle of nourishment; instead, they rather consume the strength. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.18

This testimony is not at all nullified by the fact, which should be stated, that Frem thinks that people need a little stimulation once in a while; it simply wishes to warn them against the supposition that with their stimulant they are getting nourishment. It adds:— PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.19

A cup of bouillon has only the same stiumulating effect upon us as a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. It is well know that the attempt has been made to feed dogs upon soup alone, and that in a few days they were nearly starved to death. PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.20

In like manner many people, and especially those who are recovering from an illness, are systematically starved by kind friends who suppose that they are doing the best thing to help them to get strength. And then when the stimulating effect has passed away, and languor ensues, the next natural step is to take porter, stake or brandy, and so the drink habit is acquired. When will people learn that what a person, and above all a sick person, needs is nourishment, something that will give strength, and not a whip to make him use up the little strength that is left? “Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?” PTUK January 27, 1898, page 64.21