The Present Truth, vol. 14

September 29, 1898

“The Morning Dawns” The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night.” Isa. lxii. 6. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 609.1

“Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.” Isa. lii. 9. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 609.2

“Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night; it ye will enquire, enquire ye; return, come.” Isa. xxi. 11, 12. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 609.3

God's watchmen are all the followers of Jesus, and not simply a few men called prophets or preachers. Every one, no matter what his station in life, who regards the words of Jesus, is a watchman, for the Lord Jesus said: “The Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every wan his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye, therefore; ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch!” Mark xiii. 34-37. It is obvious from this that every one who follows Jesus is a watchman. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 609.4

What is their cry? “It is high time for you to wake out of sleep, for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far spent, and the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” Rom. xiii. 11, 12. “The morning cometh and also the night.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 609.5

From the texts already quoted, it is evident that the morning for which God's people are watching is the coming of the Lord. When Jesus came, the people which sat in darkness saw great light.” “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men; and the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not.” John i. 4, 5. All the time that sin reigns on this earth, from the fall of Adam till “the times of restoration of all things,” at the coming of the Lord, is night, because sin is darkness. The light of Christ's life is the only light that pierces the gloom of this night. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 609.6

But Jesus is the Word, and so the word which His Spirit inspires, being His own life, is the light that shines in this darkness. It is our guide, So the Apostle Peter, speaking of “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” of which he was an eyewitness on the mount of transfiguration, wrote: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” 2 Peter i. 19. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 610.1

Jesus is “the bright and morning Star.” Just before the coming of the Lord His Word is to he proclaimed, and His life to be manifested, to an extent and with a power never before known. This will be the shining of the Day-star, which will usher in the perfect day, when “the Sun of Righteousness” will shine over all the land, and “the earth shall be covered with the knowledge of the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea.” Christ cannot come until the power and love of God have been demonstrated in the lives of His followers to the same degree as in His own life. God will show by means of the church,-that is, all true believers in Jesus,-His power to work perfect righteousness in sinful mortals, thus accomplishing a work even greater than that which Satan set himself to overthrow. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 610.2

“The morning cometh, and also the night.” Light rejected means darkness. For those who, when light comes to them see no light in it, there remains nothing but deeper night. Man's attitude to God's Word of light determines whether or not the morning, which necessarily comes with the bright shining; of that Word in its perfection in human lives, will be morning for them. They who come to the light, find the morning; they who reject God's Word, have no morning. “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to the Word, surely there is no morning for them.” Isa. viii. 20. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 610.3

“For Zion's sake will I not bold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.” Isa. lxii. 1. The perfect day that is to dawn on the whole earth, and never cease, when the Lord comes, will not be simply the shining of the glory of the Lord in the heavens, but the shining forth of His glory in the lives of His people. They that “be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” Therefore “arise and shine for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 610.4

“Notes on the Sunday-School Lessons. Jehoshaphat's Good Reign. 2 Chronicles xvii. 1-10” The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

OCTOBER 9

Jehoshaphat came to the throne of Judah at the age of thirty-five, at which time Ahab bad been king of Israel three years. The reign of Jehoshaphat, like that of his father Asa, was a prosperous one, but while, like his father, Jehoshaphat acknowledged that the Lord was the strength of His people, he also followed the policy of Asa in increasing the number of his fighting men. Although the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about .Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat, this did not seem to be considered sufficient, and so we find the armies of Judah reaching the enormous total of one million, one hundred and sixty thousand, without counting the garrisons which the king put in the fortified cities throughout all Judah. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 610.5

“NOT BY MIGHT”

It had been necessary to teach Asa that the national safety did not depend upon its armed hosts, and there were events in Jehoshaphat's life which showed that, with all his piety and steadfastness, he needed to learn the same lesson. The possession of so large an army made him a desirable ally, and Ahab sought his assistance against the king of Syria. Ahab and Jezebel would know how to entrap the unworldly Jehoshaphat, if he should cease to seek the Lord humbly for wisdom and guidance, and they seem to have taken special pains to gain his goodwill. “And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that he had with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth-gilead.” Jehoshaphat knew that Ahab was a wicked king, who had almost extinguished the worship of the true God, by favouring the idolaters and persecuting the servants of Jehovah, yet his answer to Ahab was, “I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war.” The alliance between the two was strengthened by the marriage of Ahab's daughter to the eldest son of Jehoshaphat, a union which bore evil fruit. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 610.6

DEPARTING FROM GOD

Micaiah, a true prophet, gave a faithful warning as to the disastrous results that would follow the projected campaign, but the first steps had been taken in departing from the Lord, and it seemed easier to go forward than back. Jehoshaphat perhaps comforted himself with the thought that, supported by so large an army, he could not run much risk, but he had forfeited the protection of the Lord, and nothing else could avail him. His new ally dexterously arranged, as he supposed, to divert all danger from himself to Jehoshaphat, and therein demonstrated at once to the latter how poor an exchange he had made in forsaking the Lord for such a friend. The principal onslaught of the Syrians was made upon Jehoshaphat, and his life was in peril till he “cried out, and the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 610.7

TURNING TO THE LORD

As Jehoshaphat returned to his home in Jerusalem a sadder, and perhaps a wiser man, a prophet was sent to meet him with the rebuke, “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.” The vain-confidence which had prepared the way for the disaster was not confined to Jehoshaphat, for all the cities of Judah were permeated with the military spirit. It was therefore necessary that all should learn how cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.” The report came that a great multitude of the Moabites and Ammonites were gathered to battle against Judah. “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah, and Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 610.8

THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOMETH

Victory was certain then. Even with a large army, if that were all, success would have been extremely uncertain, but the turning to the Lord in faith was the overcoming. “The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord.” Prov. xxi. 31. So the message was sent to praying Judah. “The battle is not yours but God’s.” They had turned the matter over to Him, and He took it up promptly and gladly. To every soul before whom is the battle of life, against sin, God sends the message of comfort, “that the warfare is accomplished.” Victory is achieved, and faith may take it from first to last. “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you.” The enemies of Judah were totally destroyed, “and the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.1

ENTERING INTO REST

It was not the fault of the Lord that His people did not have rest all the time. Jehoshaphat had it at the beginning of his reign, and the only thing that disturbed the rest was the army he raised to secure it. God had been always proclaiming rest, and to this day the rest remaineth for the people of God; rest, because the works are finished from the foundation of the world, peace, because the warfare is accomplished. Israel failed to enter in because of unbelief, and that is the only barrier between us and God's perfect rest. “Let its labour therefore to enter into that rest.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.2

EXALTING THE NATION

Because Jehoshaphat did not learn perfectly every lesson given him, he was not therefore rejected. God blessed him to the fullest extent possible, and established the kingdom in his hand. Jehoshaphat provided for the more thorough teaching of the Word of God throughout his dominions by sending forth men of the tribe of Levi, who “went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.” They had with them the book of the law of the Lord. In this work and in the prosperity that followed in its train, it was made manifest that “righteousness exalteth a nation.” They realised the truth of the words spoken by Moses. “This is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” As the Word of the Lord was diligently taught throughout the land, the fear of the Lord was made known to the surrounding peoples, and the Philistines and the Arabians were numbered among those who brought presents and tribute to Jehoshaphat. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.3

“The Everlasting Gospel: God's Saving Power in the Things That Are Made” The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

THE SEED QUICKENED

John xii. 24, 25: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.4

1 Cor. xv. 36-38: “That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; and that which thou sowest not the body that: shall be, but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other kind; but God giveth it a body, even as it pleased Him, and to such seed a body of its own.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.5

Gal. iii. 16: “To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.6

Gal. iii. 27, 29: “As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the premise.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.7

1 John iv. 17: “As He is, so are we in this world.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.8

Matt. xxvii. 42: “He saved others; Himself He cannot save.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.9

Phil. ii. 5-9: “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, counted It not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.10

Heb. x. 5: “When He cometh into the world, He saith, sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.11

Eph. v. 30: “We are members of His body.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.12

Rom. viii. 8-13: “They that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.13

Phil. iii. 8-10: “For, verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord; ... that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.14

Rom. vi. 5: “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.15

Phil. iii. 20, 21: “For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it way be conformed to the body of His glory according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 611.16

All our knowledge comes from the Word. The statements that follow are not comments, but simply repetitions of what is set forth in the preceding texts. They are for the purpose og calling closer attention to the texts themselves. Let each reader ponder these texts until they are indelibly printed in his mind and on his heart. They should be as familiar to us as our own names. Then can we sea not only the truths that follow, but much more that cannot be put into words. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 612.1

The kingdom of God is like seed cast into the earth. Mark iv. 26-29. We are God's husbandry, or tillage. 1 Cor. iii. 9. The growth of a seed from the time that it is sown until the harvest, is a visible and constantly recurring manifestation of the truth of the Gospel as it affects men. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 612.2

That which was placed in the earth in the beginning, to cause it to bring forth grass, herbs, find trees, was the Word of the Lord. The Lord, therefore, is the real seed, the life of all visible seeds. Christ is the Word, and He is the Seed. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 612.3

If all men would remember one of the first and plainest truths concerning plant life, it would be their salvation. That truth is that the seed must die in order to live and multiply. No one ever gets back the seed which he sows, yet this fact does not cause the farmer to keep the seed, and not sow it. He who would keep the little quantity of grain that he may have, gets nothing from it; but if he casts it into the ground, seemingly throwing it away, he gets much more. So the man who lives for himself, loses his life, while he who lives for others, giving his life for them, gets more abundant life. Even Christ pleased not Himself, yet He has the most perfect Satisfaction, and fulness of joy. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 612.4

In coming to earth Christ “emptied Himself.” The word in Phil. ii. 7, rendered “made of no reputation,” and “emptied” in the Revision, is the same that is rendered “made void,” in Rom. iv. 11 and 1 Cor. ix. 15, and “of none effect” in 1 Cor. i. 17. Thus we can see that Christ not only gave up everything that He had in heaven, in coming to this world, but He most literally gave up Himself. God prepared Him a body, and made Him a perfect Man. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 612.5

“He saved others; Himself He cannot save.” This intended taunt flung in the face of Jesus as He hung on the cross, was really His glory as the Saviour of men. Only by giving Himself, taking absolutely no thought for Himself, could He save others. He gave up His life, not simply when He was on the cross on Calvary, but constantly. His whole life was in giving of His life for others. But in giving away His life, throwing it away, as it must have seemed to many, when He chose death rather than being made king, He not only gained it, but saved the lives of millions more. Any man who is thoroughly devoted to the salvation of others, thinking not once of himself, not even of his own salvation, will be made salvation to others, and will thereby have his own salvation assured; for only the presence of God with a man can work this perfect unselfishness which saves others, and that presence is the man's own salvation. While we are looking out for others, God Himself is looking out for us. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 612.6

God prepared Jesus a body, by the same power by which He prepares a body for every seed that is sown. And by the same power, He makes us members of Christ's body. Just as the Spirit of God completely filled Jesus, so that His body was only the instrument through which the Holy Spirit manifested Himself, even so it will be with all who give up their own lives for the sake of the Lord Jesus. God will prepare them a body fit for His own dwelling place. The body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 1 Cor. vi. 13. He will use the brain to think through, the vocal organs to speak through, and the hands and feet to act through. It will be God manifest in the flesh, for Jesus came to this world for no other purpose than to show us the possibility of this being the case with every man. The life of the seed that is sown, as well as of the plant that grows, is the life of God alone. That life manifests itself through the form which we see, as a constant object lesson to us. If we are willingly as passive in the hands of God as the grain is involuntarily, His life will work in us the same as in Jesus of Nazareth. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 612.7

This in “the power of the resurrection.” The resurrection of Jesus simply declared Him to be the Son of God with power. Rom. i. 1-4. He was the Son of God all His life, but the resurrection from the dead made it apparent to all; for that showed that the power by which he had lived a righteous life was the power that brings life from the dead. The very same power wits manifested in His resurrection that was manifested in all His life. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 612.8

The belief in the resurrection of the dead is nothing else than the belief in God's perfect righteousness manifested in human flesh. Jesus was “put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” 1 Peter iii. 18. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” This is a thing done not merely at the resurrection of the last day, but every day. For note what the consequence is of this quickening of our mortal bodies: “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 612.9

Jesus said, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I Shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John iv. 14, The water that He gives is the Holy Spirit. John vii. 37-39. “It is the Spirit that quickeneth.” John vi. 63. When we come to the Lord, to receive wholly of His life, to live by Him, our bodies are prepared for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit quickens the body, so that instead of being dead in sin, it is alive unto righteousness. Our members then become instruments of righteousness. The life of Christ manifest in mortal flesh gives not simply victory over sin, but over disease as well. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.” Ps. ciii. 2, 3. It is this same life dwelling in us that, by the same power that it has over the flesh, quickens our mortal bodies into immortality at the coming of the Lord. The power that now works in believers is the power of the resurrection. Christ in us is the hope of glory. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 612.10

The life of Christ in the flesh is of course the perfect example of the quickening power of the Spirit. But God has provided that we may have it continually before us. Every seed that sprouts, of whatever kind, is an illustration of the power of the life of the Spirit to triumph over difficulties. Here is a seed enclosed in a shell that is so hard that a vigorous blow with a hammer will not suffice to break it. The shell is hard and dead. Is it possible that any life can come from that? Wait and see. Silently, without observation, the Word of life within operates, the dead, hard shell gives way before it, and the new life manifests itself. Even so, “the kingdom of God is within you.” It “cometh not with observation” but its power is infinite. If we will but acknowledge that the kingdom is the Lord’s, and allow Him His own rightful place in His own kingdom, we shall “be conformed to the image of His Son,” and though our outward man perish, yet the inward man will be renewed day by day, in righteousness and true holiness. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 612.11

“Contempt for the Word” The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

The value set by Roman Catholics upon the Word of God appears very clearly in the last number of the Catholic Times. Writing of the overwhelming defeat of the Khalifa's army at the Battle of Omdurman, the paper says:— PTUK September 29, 1898, page 614.1

How was it, we may ask, that the sons of the desert, who must have seen that they were fighting for a hopeless cause, threw away their lives so proudly and seemed positively to court death? Well, many men have been known to prefer death to a fate that was even worse. And there was a worse state than death in store for the Dervish warriors. The Rev. R. H. Weakley, so we learn from one of our contemporaries, had in store for the 2,000 prisoners of war, after the Battle of Athara, a consignment of Scripture in the vernacular. Luckily, when he came to look for the recipients of his Scriptures, he found that no Baggara had been taken prisoners. They had neither given nor taken quarter. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 614.2

The writer may have intended this as a pleasantry, for the amusement of his readers, but whatever the object, the extract is interesting in showing how small a degree of respect is accorded by Rome to the Scriptures. There is no surer evidence of apostasy from God than a contempt for His own living Word. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 614.3

“Signs of the Times” The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

From every side come reports of disaster by sea and land. Not only in the political but in the natural world also, there is increasing commotion and unrest. Terrible catastrophes which, a few years ago, would have furnished talk for many days are now quickly forgotten, because followed so quickly by equally serious calamities. Destructive cyclones, volcanic eruptions, deadly plagues, water and food famines, ruinous strikes, insurrections, massacres and wars, are continually brought before our notice in the daily papers. In the numerous disasters which are now occupying so large a place in earth's history, crowding ever closer upon each other, God is warning all men of the danger they run in rejecting His care and protection. We see “upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:” because God, who is man's life and the only shield between him and the malice of Satan, is rejected. Men seek to avoid Him, thinking to find freedom from restraint in forgetting God; but it is life eternal to know Him, and everlasting destruction to be separated from His presence. To the extent that men turn from God they choose death, and if they persist in their choice, they will finally get it. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 614.4

God would be a protection to all men, from every danger, if they would only be content to dwell with Him. His presence would give them rest and safety. “Because thou hast made the Lord ... thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” Whoever dwells in God has “a peaceable habitation, a sure dwelling-place, a quiet resting place.” “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.” “It shall not come nigh thee.” Ps. xci. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” Ps. xlvi. 1-3. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 614.5

Earth's history is soon to close amid scenes of woe and desolation, such as never have been since there was a nation. The plagues of the wrath of God will be poured upon the impenitent, and mighty earthquakes and mighty hail will complete the work of destruction. Rev. xvi. Every one may, if he will, flee from the wrath to come, and find refuge in the Lord. As the blood of the Lamb, sprinkled on the doorposts, saved Israel in Egypt from the visit of the destroying angel, so “now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” To all who are thus reconciled to God, He will say, “Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.” Isa. xxvi. 20, 21. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 614.6

God is permitting evils to come upon the world now in order that men may be impressed with their need of a refuge, lest the last great storm burst suddenly and find them unprepared. Some will turn at His reproof, and to such He says, “Behold, I will pour out My Spirit unto you, I will make known My words unto you.” “Whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” But those who despise the reproof and will have none of His counsel, He leaves to eat of the fruit of their own way. To them He says, “When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you; then shall they call upon Me but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me; for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord.” Prov. i. 27-29. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 615.1

“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” Isa. lv. 6. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 615.2

“The Children. ‘After Its Kind’” The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

“So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground.” Let us think for a little while of some more of the lessons of the kingdom that the seed teaches us. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 618.1

Do you get any flowers in your garden just by wishing they were there? No, you must put in the seed before anything will grow. And then you do not sow any kind of seed that you can get hold of, and expect to get from it the particular flowers that you want. You must sow the right kind of seed, the seed of just the flowers that you want, just where you want them, for everything is sure to spring up “after its kind.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 618.2

If you should very much want some roses, and should sow poppy seeds, would you get any roses? Oh, no; all your wishes could never make roses grow from weeds, nor from anything hut rose trees. You cannot gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 618.3

And just so, nothing will grow in your hearts, either good or bad, without seed. Just as you can have in your garden the flowers that you want by putting in the right seed, so you can have your lives just what you wish them to be by having the right kind of seed sown in your hearts. If you want, and I am sure you do, to have the gentleness and kindness of Christ blossom and bring forth fruit in your lives, you must have the good seed of the Word of God sown in your hearts. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 618.4

When God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass,” in that Word He was putting into the ground the seed of all the grass and flowers that have ever sprung up. When He said, “Let the earth bring forth ... the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind,” that was the seed of all the fruit that there has ever been in the earth. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 618.5

He has made you from the dust of the ground, and you are His garden where He plants the seed of His Word, that you may bring forth just what He wishes. When He says to you, “Little children, love one another,” He is sowing in your hearts the seed of love, from which all loving words and actions will spring forth like sweetest blossoms. And then Jesus says to you, “Be ye kind one to another,” and that is the seed of kindness that He puts into you. He says also, “Children, obey your parents,” and this Word of God is the seed of obedience that He sows in your hearts. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 618.6

When you sow seed in the earth you do not have to try to make it grow; neither does the earth try to bring it forth, but it springs up of itself because the life of God is in it. Jesus says, “The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life.” Listen, then, to the precious words of Jesus, and so receive them into your hearts as the earth receives the seed, and you will not have to try to love one another, to be kind and obedient and gentle, but these graces of the Spirit of Jesus will spring forth in your lives as naturally as the flowers spring from the seed that you sow in the ground. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 618.7

But there is something we have not yet spoken of that must be done before the seed is sown. You know that the ground must be dug up and watered and made soft and ready to receive the seed. If it should only lie on the top of the hard ground, or he put just below the surface, it would he lost. In the Parable of the Sower, which you may read in the fourth chapter of Mark, Jesus shows how important it is that the ground should be prepared to receive the good seed. It must sink deep into the soft ground, and then it will spring up and bring forth fruit. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 618.8

So your hearts, which are the garden of the Lord, must be prepared by Him for the seed of the Word which He sows in them. If you ask Him, His Holy Spirit will work in you, and make your heart soft and tender and ready for the good seed. Do you remember what David said about this good seed? “Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” Just as the seed is buried in the soil, so must the Word be hidden in our hearts and kept there. Then we shall be among those of whom Jesus says, “These are they which, having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit unto perfection.” “Whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 618.9

“Jottings” The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

-Only one European was killed by the great cyclone in the West Indies. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.1

-It is a breach of etiquette for a Chinaman to wear spectacles and company. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.2

-From the beginning of 1898 to the present time the rainfall in London and vicinity is 40 per cent. below the average. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.3

-In Paris, 50,000 navvies, who are engaged on the work of the forthcoming Exhibition, have struck for an increase of pay. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.4

-There has been a very heavy crop of plums in Kent. Sandwich alone despatched eighty-five tons to London markets in one day. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.5

-There have been great floods in Spain, the olive crop being destroyed in whole provinces. Eighty dead bodies were found in one village. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.6

-A fund has been opened for sending relief to the West Indies, which is receiving liberal support. A first installment of ?5,000 has already been sent. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.7

-The Mussulman population in Candia is handing in its weapons to the British Admiral, and the ringleaders in the recent riots have been arrested. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.8

-A plague of caterpillars is reported from several districts, thought to be due to the dry weather. Near Hove 700 acres of cauliflowers were destroyed by the pass in one day. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.9

-The drought is causing serious inconvenience to villages in Northamptonshire, most of which are dependent upon surface springs. A number of isolated villages are without any water whatever, and farmers are reducing their lives stock in consequence. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.10

-There are at present eleven distilleries at work in England, 143 in Scotland and 28 in Ireland, and these consume 1,303,561 quarters of malt, 1,396,446 quarters of unmalted grain, 733,333 cwts. of molasses, 6,876 cwts. of rice, and 9,579 cwts. of sugar. What an immense gain it would be if these enormous quantities of food were not diverted from their proper use. And this only takes account of spirits, not of beer. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.11

-The eruption of Vesuvius is becoming more active and the streams of molten lava are flowing in every direction. Seven new craters have formed around the central crater without, however, in any way diminishing the activity of the latter. The volcano is throwing out stones and scorine similar to those ejected in the great eruption of April 1872, when the lava streams covered an area of two square miles, averaging 13ft, in depth, and the damage to property exceeded 3,000,000f. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.12

-It is reported that the European Governments have agreed to hold an international conference in October with a view to taking measures for the prevention of Anarchist crimes. The conference will discuss the best methods of putting down Anarchist propaganda in barracks and workshops. It is thought, however, that the conference will prove abortive owing to the fact that England and Switzerland are determined to maintain the right of asylum, and are opposed to international measures against Anarchism. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.13

-Two new kinds of safety matches have been patented, and are about to be placed on the market. Neither contain any trace of the fatal yellow phosphorus, but the matches strike on any ordinary service. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.14

-The P. and O. steamer China, which went ashore at Perim on March 25, has just been refloated, at enormous cost. This is the most important salvage operation that is taken place for many years. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.15

-Within the last eighteen months over 200 lynchings have taken place in the United States. In several instances no offence is alleged against the victims. One or two women were murdered by the mob, and one child of eight. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.16

-The price of wheat is still on the downward grade, and now stands at 25s. 7d. per quarter of 480lb., as against 48s. 1d. on May 21. There has thus been a reduction of 22s. 6d. per quarter since the highest price during the war scare. Bread, however, shows no such reduction. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.17

-A comparative estimate has been prepared, of the total American loss sustained during the late war. The actual fighting resulted in 279 killed and 1,423 wounded, while sickness and disease, caused by lack of proper care, food and medical attention, were responsible for 2,086 deaths and some 40,000 cases of illness. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.18

-In 1896 the rate of killed out of 980,000,000, persons travelled by rail was one in 196,000,000, in 1897 the ratio rose to one in 57,000,000. The total number of passengers who travelled by ordinary ticket was over a thousand million, in addition to which number must be added a million and a quarter of season ticket-holders. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.19

-An Imperial edict has been published in China extending the operations of the Post Office throughout the empire. Frequent edicts are being issued by the Emperor, decreeing reforms and cutting down expenditure. These are meeting with approval in some quarters, but they tend to excite irritation in the official classes. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.20

-Kangaroo tails to the number of 1,000 have arrived in London for disposal in Leadenhall market. This is the second consignment to reach England, and is the largest. The first came to hand just a year ago, and was eagerly snapped up by the public, and discovered that “kangaroos soup” was rich, highly nutritious, and possessed a fine “herby” flavour. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.21

-Two deaths at Surbiton have taken place through meat poisoning. From the medical evidence given at the inquest it would appear that fresh meat may be affected by the deadly ptomaines generated in tainted meat. The deceased persons ate some lamb which had been in the same pantry with some decaying ox tongue. The analyst was firmly of the opinion that the lamb had become contaminated through being put in the larder with the tongue, and it was highly probable that the contagion was conveyed from one to the other by flies. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.22

-At the Vegetarian Congress held in London last week, an address was given by the leader of a Russian sect, which abstains from religious motives from taking the life of any animal, and for the same reason, its members refuse to participate in the murder of man by joining the military service, even when the refusal entails suffering and death. The speaker said that “during the last three years more than a thousand human beings have thus given up their lives. At the present moment, when so much is being said about disarmament and the avoidance of bloodshed it is instructive to note that a whole community of men, women and children who are refusing to participate in preparation for murder-are for that very reason being systematically and cold-bloodedly martyred, by the very same power which for its fine words of peace and goodwill is being so enthusiastically extolled.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 622.23

“‘Modern War’” The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

Detailed reports of the battle of Omdurman are beginning to come in, and gruesome reading they are indeed. As one correspondent says, “It was not a battle but an execution,” an execution in which more than ten thousand men were slaughtered in less than four hours. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.1

The Chronicle's correspondent mentions a map of the field, showing the dead, which the commander have allowed him to see, on which the net total of Dervishes slain was placed at 10,824, and says:— PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.2

Remember that the battle cannot be said to have lasted more than four hours in all its phases, and there were intervals when scarcely a shot was fired, while little more than two-thirds of our force, or say 15,000 men, were actively engaged at any time. And the revised estimate of the number of the Dervishes in sight accords with the original estimate formed both by the Sirdar and myself-35,000. Nothing like this slaughter is upon human record, I believe per hour and per mile. In my tale of the battle I spoke of the impossibility of any troops in the world living under similar fire, but I never dreamt of aught like this, and allowing for dips and concealment on the ground, probably not more than 15,000 of the enemy were visible at any one time from our lines after the first demonstration or after fighting began. Think of what this means-four out of six visible men swept away in about three hours’ firing! I hope the map will be published, for no document of war exists which so well shows what modern war is. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.3

The Daily Mail says editorially:— PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.4

The terrible punishment inflicted on the dervishes at Omdurman bears testimony to the deadliness of volley-firing under discipline. With magazine rifles and perfect fire discipline, the next European war will witness slaughter on an unprecedented scale. Victory will more than ever be on the side of the big battalions. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.5

And what about the victors? Oh, they had, as the Telegraph correspondent puts it, only a “trifling loss of a few hundred men.” From all this appears that modern war is the same thing in spirit that ancient war was,-contempt for human life. It differs from ancient warfare only in being more murderous, as modern weapons are more effective than those of old time. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.6

A short paragraph from one of the best written reports shows the spirit of war as nothing else does that we have ever seen. It will be remembered that a small body of Lancers cut their way through a body of Dervishes outnumbering them ten to one, and all of them desperate fighters. Great slaughter was inflicted, and they suffered terrible loss in killed and wounded, yet, when they burst straggling out, their only thought was to rally and go in again. “Rally, No. 21” yelled a sergeant, so mangled across the face that his body was a cascade of blood, and nose and cheeks flapped hideously as he yelled. “Fall out sergeant, you're wounded,” said the subaltern of his troop. “No, no, sir; fall in!” came the hoarse answer; and the man reeled in his saddle. “Fall in No. 2; fall in. Where are the devils? Show me the devils!” And No. 2 fell in-four whole men out of thirty. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.7

They chafed and stamped and blasphemed to go through them again, though the colonel wisely forbade them to face the pit anew. There were gnashings of teeth and howls of speechless rage-things half theatrical, half brutal to tell of when blood has cooled, yet things to rejoice over, in that they show the fighting devil has not, after all, been civilised out of Britons. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.8

No; and civilisation will never take it out. But what a thing to rejoice over,-that the demon of war is still dominant! Devils must certainly hold high carnival over it, but angels can but weep. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.9

WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?

The days of the coming of the Son of man will be like those before the flood, when the earth was filled with violence. After reading the foregoing, one can form some idea of the awfulness of the time when all the deadly war engines that are being got in readiness all over the world are put in action by men who are “fierce.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.10

These “little” wars are only skirmishes preparatory to the last conflict. The coming of the Lord will not arbitrarily cut short the strife. He will not come until the final choice has been made, and men have placed themselves under His banner of peace and love or else on the side of the prince of evil and destruction; and when men once fully reject the Prince of peace, and are wholly controlled by Satan, they would destroy one another from off the earth within that generation, even if the Lord should not come. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.11

Now, when Satan is plotting destruction for men, as never before, is the time to proclaim as never before the Gospel of life, and to point men to Christ the Life, as the place of safety. Thank God there is perfect safety for all those who dwell in the secret place of God. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.12

“Back Page” The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

Once more the scene is changed in China. Recent edicts, of an enlightened character, announcing important reforms, gave hope that the Emperor was alive to the needs of his country and people, and that there were brighter days in store for the benighted land which, by a strange misapplication of terms, has been named the Celestial Empire. Now the report comes that the forces of ignorance, superstition and established custom, have proved too strong. The Emperor has abdicated, whatever that may mean in China, his aunt, the Dowager Empress, has the reins of power, and the advisers of the late Emperor, who were guilty of counselling reforms, have had to flee for their lives. Li Hung Chang, who has just been disgraced, is expected to return to office, and the Powers of Europe are watching closely to see how the change of situation is going to affect their plans. The circumstances afford one more forceful illustration of the truth that, even given the best intentions and the highest rank, it is better to “put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.13

“Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” Ps. cxlvi. 5. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.14

“The Confessional” The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

The Confessional .—It is through the confessional that the Church of Rome holds the people. Not merely by the knowledge which the priests get of the secrets of the people, but by the very fact of the confessional; for if one is in trouble, or burdened by sin, there is always a desire to share it with some one else; and the Church of Rome makes capital out of this desire, for its own advancement. Now let all those who know the Lord proclaim aloud to every sin-burdened soul that he may cast his burden on the Lord, and freely confide in Him. He will not only share the burden,-He will take it all. He is much nearer than any priest can be, and is every moment near. Every hour we may make our confession to Him. And He has pity and compassion such as no man, even though he be the dearest relative, can feel. There is no fear that He will betray our secrets, for He Himself will forget our sins. “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in men.” He will never fail; and the tender, loving sympathy that He has for the erring, and the perfect peace that He bestows, are beyond all description. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” PTUK September 29, 1898, page 624.15

“Christening War-ships” The Present Truth 14, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

Miss Leiter, who was recently selected to christen the new battleship Illinois, of the U.S. Navy, has received a request from the Woman's Christian Temperance Union that she should use water for christening the ship instead of the traditional bottle of wine. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 626.1

The objection to the use of wine in such a connection seems a little strained, and it is difficult to see how the cause of temperance would be served even if the request of the W.C.T.U. were complied with. It would naturally be supposed that the more bottles of wine were empitied into the sea the better the Union would be pleased. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 626.2

The very idea of christening a war-ship is an incongruous one, for christening, although an unscriptural ordinance, is a religious ceremony, and a most inappropriate one for a vessel of any kind, especially when the object of the ship is to destroy life. If such a vessel must be christened, surely it is fitting that its career should commence under the auspices of that which has proved itself to be a deadly enemy to the human race. PTUK September 29, 1898, page 626.3