The Present Truth, vol. 10
December 13, 1894
“Front Page” The Present Truth 10, 50.
E. J. Waggoner
To be falsely accused is usually felt to be one of the worst calamities that can befall one. It is too grievous to be borne. But there is something far worse, and that is, to be truthfully accused of an evil deed. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 785.1
When one’s motives are misjudged, and he is misunderstood and thought to be guilty of things of which he is innocent, it will help him to be cheerful and composed, if he will call to mind how many times he has been given credit for good intentions and qualities which he did not possess. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 785.2
When a certain public man was being pilloried in the newspapers for certain irregularities with which he was charged, a friend met him and began to console with him. “Don’t say anything,” said the other, cheerfully, “they don’t know half of it.” There are few men who do not know more evil about themselves than anybody has ever thought about them. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 785.3
“Politicians and Christ” The Present Truth 10, 50.
E. J. Waggoner
Politicians and Christ.-When Pilate learned that Jesus was from Galilee, he sent Him to Herod, the governor of that province, who was then in Jerusalem. Herod amused himself for a while with Jesus, and then sent Him back to Pilate. “And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together; for before they were at enmity between themselves.” They both knew that Jesus was innocent, yet they were willing to sacrifice Him to their political ambition. This is the treatment that the cause of Christ will receive from worldly men. But none of His followers expect any aid to Christianity from politicians. “The disciple is not above his Master.” “If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 785.4
“The Gifts of God” The Present Truth 10, 50.
E. J. Waggoner
All from Above.—“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:17. To every person the word comes, “Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” 1 Corinthians 4:7. “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him come heaven.” John 3:27. Even the power which earthly rulers have, is granted them from heaven. Jesus said to Pilate, who boasted of his power, “Thou couldst have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above.” John 19:11. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 785.5
“Natural Talents.”-It must be evident, therefore, that it is a mistake to speak of some men as having greater natural endowments than others, or for men to take pride in their abilities, as though they themselves originated them. Each one’s ability is a gift direct to him from heaven. The keen intellect that is employed in opposition to the truth of God, is a gift from that same God that is opposed. The power to acquire wisdom, is also a gift from God. It is God that gives men power to acquire wealth. Deuteronomy 8:18. King David recognised this when he made his offerings for the temple. He said, “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of Thee, and of thine own have we given Thee.” 1 Chronicles 29:14. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 785.6
Chosen Vessels.-Men often speak of the Lord as looking about, whenever He has any special work to be performed, for some person with the necessary ability to do it. Thus it is said that He found in Luther the qualifications that would make him a leader in the Reformation, and that He chose Paul because he had had the training that would fit him for the work to be done. This is true in a sense, but the very way in which it is stated conceals the real truth, namely, that God Himself had been training those men for the work that He had for them. It was not by accident that God found certain men ready to do certain work. While they were unconscious of any design in their lives, God was fitting them to the work for which He designed them. Paul was a chosen vessel; but he was not chosen because he had the necessary qualifications for the work, but he was chosen for the work, and then taken through the school that would fit him for it. He was chosen from his birth (Galatians 1:15, 16), as were also John the Baptist (Luke 1:13-17), and Jeremiah. Jeremiah 1:5. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 785.7
“To Every Man His Work.”—“For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.” Mark 13:34. Here we learn that God has a work for every one. It is not merely that there is work for every one, but that there is a work for every one. Each person has some specific work laid out for him. It may be a very humble work, but that makes no difference. Not all have the same work, or the same kind of work; very few are chosen to carry on a great work that will attract the attention of the world, yet their work is none the less planned for them by the Lord. And since the Lord’s work cannot be complete unless all the parts are finished, it is evident that the least work is not unimportant. And the man who is appointed to a small task, and who does it well, will receive the same commendation from the Master that is received by the one who has a greater amount to do. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 785.8
Everything Planned.—“Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.” Acts 15:18. The Psalmist said, “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me.” There are therefore no accidents in our lives. If we realised this, there would be less complaining. God knows the way that we take. That circumstance that is seemingly the most untoward is designed by God to aid us in our appointed task. Even though the devil lays an obstacle in our way, God will use that as a help. Knowing this, we can rejoice in tribulation. We serve a Master who “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 786.1
Refusing the Task.-But God compels no one to labour for Him. Allowing us to work for Him is an honour that He bestows upon us; but we may refuse the honour. There are very few who did not make more or less objection. Saul of Tarsus wearied himself in fighting against the design of the Lord. God knew from the beginning what He wished to have him do, and was training him for it, but Saul resisted for a long time, because he had planned something else for himself. He is not the only one that has kicked against the pricks. What a sad thing it is when men persist in refusing to do the work that God has for them, because they do not relish the necessary training, or else wish to have their own way. Not the least among the sorrows of the lost in the day of Judgment, will be the revelation of the honourable position to which God called them, and which they foolishly rejected. Many men who have been mighty to do evil, will see with bitter sorrow that at a certain turning-point in their lives they had just within their grasp a position of trust that would have given them an honoured name throughout eternity. They refused it, because in the blindness of human calculation it seemed to be obscure and mean. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 786.2
Making “Sacrifices.”-From this point of view how contemptible seem all men’s boasts of what they have sacrificed for the Lord. Many who have wealth or great mental ability and attainments, and who enter the service of the Lord, are regarded and often regard themselves, as though they had conferred a great favour on the Lord. People act as if they had originated something, and had at great cost fitted themselves for usefulness, and now had enriched the Lord with themselves and their gifts. Let such remember that they have nothing that God did not give them, and that He gave it to them for a purpose. If before we entered the service of the Lord we had certain attainments, or if we have a peculiar aptness for a certain line of work, let us not boast of that, but consider that God gave us that readiness, in order that we might do the work to which He has called us. Instead of boasting, we have rather need to feel ashamed that our childish fretfulness against the training of the Lord has deprived us of much of the ability that we ought to bring to His service. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 786.3
“What We Need” The Present Truth 10, 50.
E. J. Waggoner
What we need is not prosperity, as we would naturally define it, but the grace of Christ. The Saviour said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” “Most gladly therefore,” says the apostle, “will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, and persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am my strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 786.4
All is prosperity that is accompanied by the grace of Christ. That grace is “exceeding riches.” Ephesians 2:7. But while self lives in the heart the true riches cannot be discerned, and men turn aside from them and heap to themselves “treasure” of a different sort. Despising “the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long suffering,” they treasure up for themselves “wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Romans 2:4, 5. The riches of His grace are all that we need, under all circumstances, both in this life and in that to come. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 786.5
“Ye ask and receive not,” writes James, “because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” If we would receive that which we ask, we must pay the price. We must not shrink from the thorns in the flesh. The flesh must be pierced by something more than thorns, for Christ’s flesh was pierced not only by thorns, but by the nails of His cross; and we must be crucified with Him. Whatsoever we shall ask in the name of Christ, we shall receive; but His name means His meekness, His unselfishness, His sacrifice. We cannot ask in His name without partaking of His Spirit. The Lord causes His face to shine upon us only that it may manifest in us the glory of His name. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 786.6
“Studies in Romans. Glorified Together. Romans 8:17-25” The Present Truth 10, 50.
E. J. Waggoner
In the preceding verses of the eighth chapter of Romans we have seen how we are adopted into the family of God as sons, and made joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit establishes the bond of relationship. It is the “Spirit of adoption,” the Spirit proceeding from the Father as the representative of the Son, that proves that we are accepted as brethren of Jesus Christ. Those who are led by the Spirit must be even as Christ was in the world, and are therefore assured of PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.1
AN EQUAL SHARE
in the inheritance with Christ. For “the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.2
“And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” Romans 8:17-25. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.3
QUESTIONING THE TEXT
To what does the Spirit bear witness? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.4
“That we are the children of God.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.5
If we are children, then what are we? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.6
“If children, then heirs.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.7
Heirs of whom? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.8
“Heirs of God.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.9
With whom do we share this heirship? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.10
“Joint heirs with Christ.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.11
What did Christ inherit on this earth? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.12
“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted.” Isaiah 53:7. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.13
Then if we are joint heirs, what must we do? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.14
“Suffer with Him.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.15
What else will also be sure? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.16
“We may be also glorified together.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.17
What may we know of the sufferings of this present time? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.18
They “are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.19
For what does the material creation wait? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.20
“For the manifestation of the sons of God.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.21
To what was the creation made subject? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.22
“To vanity.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.23
How? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.24
“Not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.25
What is the hope? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.26
“The creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.27
Into what will it be delivered? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.28
“Into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.29
What is the condition of the whole creation at the present time? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.30
“The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.31
What besides the lower creation is in this condition? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.32
“Ourselves also.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.33
For what do we groan? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.34
“For the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.35
What have we received as a surety that the body will be redeemed? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.36
“The firstfruits of the Spirit.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.37
By what are we saved? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.38
“By hope.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.39
For what do we hope? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.40
“For that we see not.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.41
What does hope lead us to do? PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.42
“We with patience wait for it.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.43
Suffering-Christ’s life on earth was one of suffering. He was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” He “suffered, being tempted,” but His sufferings were not all in the mind alone. He knew physical pain; “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases.” Matthew 8:17. R.V. He suffered hunger in the wilderness; and His works of love were done at the expense of much bodily pain and weariness. The sufferings which He endured at the hands of the rough soldiers in connection with His mock trial, and His crucifixion, were simply a continuation in another form of what He had endured throughout His whole life on earth. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.44
Glory Following Suffering.-In all the prophets, the Spirit of Christ was witnessing and testifying of “the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” 1 Peter 1:11. When Christ, after His resurrection, talked with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, he said. “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Luke 24:26, 27. We know that the first part of those prophecies was fulfilled, and therefore must know that the rest are as sure. As surely as Christ suffered, so surely will the glory follow. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.45
Suffering Together.-Our suffering is to be “with Him.” We are not to suffer alone. But we could not suffer eighteen hundred years ago, before we were born. Therefore it follows that Christ still suffers. Otherwise we could not suffer with him. Read what is said of His connection with ancient Israel: “In all their affliction He was afflicted.” Isaiah 63:9. So in Matthew 25:35-40 we learn that Christ suffers or experiences relief whenever His disciples suffer or are relieved. He is the head of the body. Now if when one member suffers all the members suffer with it (1 Corinthians 12:26), how much more must that be true of the Head! So we read of Christ that even now, as high priest, he is “touched with the feeling our infirmities.” Hebrews 4:15. A high priest must be one “who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that He Himself also is compassed with infirmity.” Hebrews 5:1, 2. So we learn that Christ has never divested Himself of the human nature which He took upon Himself, but that He is still identified with suffering, sinful men. It is a glorious truth, to be recognised and confessed, that “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.” 1 John 4:2. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.46
Glorified Together.—“If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.” Christ does not have anything that is not for us equally with Him. His prayer was, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.” John 17:24. And He says, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne.” Revelation 3:21. Whatever He has, we have, and we have it when He has it, since we are joint-heirs with Him. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.47
Glory Now.-The above statement may at first sight seem to be untrue. It is the common idea that Christ is glorified long before those who are fellow-heirs with Him. One text is sufficient to settle this matter: “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.” 1 Peter 5:1. Peter declared himself to be a partaker of the glory. This was because he believed the saying of Christ, in His prayer for His disciples, “The glory which thou gavest Me I have given them.” John 17:22. If Christ has glory now, his disciples share it also. Again we have the words of the apostle Peter. Speaking of Christ, he says, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” 1 Peter 1:8. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.48
Grace and Glory.-The apostle John tells us that although we are now the sons of God the world knows us not, because it knew not Christ. There was nothing in the appearance of Christ on earth to indicate that He was the Son of God. Flesh and blood did not reveal that fact to anybody. To all appearance He was but an ordinary man. Yet all the time He had glory. We read that when He turned the water into wine He “manifested forth His glory.” John 2:11. His glory was manifested in the form of grace. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” John 1:14. The grace with which God strengthens His people is “according to the riches of His glory.” Ephesians 3:16. Whoever is in Christ is chosen “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” Ephesians 1:6. Grace is glory, but glory veiled so that mortal eyes may not be dazzled by it. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 787.49
Glory to be Revealed.—“The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” The glory is for us to possess now, but it will be revealed only at the coming of Christ. It is then that His glory will be revealed (1 Peter 4:13), and then our trials will “be found unto praise and honour and glory.” Christ’s glory has not yet been revealed, except to the chosen three on the mount of transfiguration. At that time the glory that Christ already possessed was allowed to shine forth. He appeared then as He will appear when he comes. But to the mass of mankind there is no more evidence now that Jesus is the Son of God than there was when he was before Pilate’s judgment seat. Those however who see it by faith and who are not ashamed to share His sufferings, also share His hidden glory; and when He shall appear in His glory, “then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Matthew 13:43. That will be “the manifestation of the sons of God.” Then for the first time Christ will be manifested to the world as the Son of God, and those who are His will be manifested with Him. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 788.1
The Hope of Creation.-The word “creature” in verses 19-21 means the creation; this may be seen from verse 22 where we read of the whole creation as groaning, waiting to be delivered from that to which it has been made subject. When man sinned, the earth was cursed on his account. See Genesis 3:17. The earth had done no sin, but it was made to share the fall of man, to whom it had been given. A perfect earth was not the dwelling-place for sinful man. But it was made subject to vanity in hope. God made the earth perfect. “He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited.” Isaiah 45:18. And He “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” Ephesians 1:11. Therefore the earth is sure to be glorified as it was in the beginning. “The creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 788.2
Adoption and Redemption.-Both the earth and we are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” The earth waits for it, because it can not be relieved of its curse until we are set forth as sons of God, and therefore lawful heirs. The Holy Spirit is the pledge of this heirship. The Spirit seals us as heirs, “unto the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30. It is to us a witness that we are children of God, but the witness is not accepted by the world. They know not the children of God. But when that glory which He has given us is revealed, and our bodies are redeemed from destruction and made to shine like His glorious body, then there will be no doubt in the minds of any. Then even Satan himself will be obliged to acknowledge that we are God’s children, and therefore rightful heirs of the glorified earth. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 788.3
Hope and Patience.-Hope, in the Bible sense, means something more than mere desire. It is certainty, because the ground of the Christian’s hope is the promise of God, which is backed by his oath. There is nothing that our eyes can see to indicate that we are the sons of God. We can not see our own glory, and that is why we are charged not to seek it here. We can not see Christ, yet we know that he is the Son of God. That is the assurance that we are also sons of God. If there were any uncertainty, then we could not wait with patience. We should be uneasy, and should worry. But, although the natural eye cannot see any indication that we are owned as God’s children, faith and hope assure us of it, and so we with patience wait for that which is unseen. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 788.4
“Testimony of the Centuries. The Burden of Egypt” The Present Truth 10, 50.
E. J. Waggoner
Egypt was one of the very first of nations to attain to power and civilisation. She attained to such a height of power that for ages she was the strongest nation in the world; and to such a height of civilisation that “the wisdom of the Egyptians,” was proverbial even among the wisest people in the world. It was a commendable qualification in Moses that he “was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” And the Scripture, after stating that “God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore,” proceeds to give the measure, or at least some sort of an idea, of it, by adding, “And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.” 1 Kings 4:29, 30. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 790.1
Egypt was invaded, and, in fact, subdued by Esarhaddon and Asshur-bani-pal, the last of the great kings of Assyria; but she soon recovered strength, and not only assisted Babylonia and Media in the utter destruction of the Assyrian kingdom, but also received as her share all the Assyrian possessions west of the Euphrates, with her stronghold at Carchemish on the Euphrates. 2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles 35:20, 21. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 790.2
In a few years, however, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took all these possessions, even as far as to the very border of Egypt itself. “And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.” 2 Kings 24:7. This was in B.C. 598. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 790.3
But yet the king of Egypt was “like a young lion in the nations,” and “as a whale in the seas,” and in 588-586, Ezekiel took up a lamentation for Egypt, and declared that her ruin should come as the ruin of Assyria had gone before. Egypt was given to Nebuchadnezzar by the Lord, for the service which he wrought in the destruction of Tyre, and the spoil of Egypt was the wages of Nebuchadnezzar’s army, for their work which they did for the Lord in the ruin of Tyre. Ezekiel 29:18-20. The secret of this was that Egypt had helped Tyre in her resistance. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 790.4
We have not space to notice all the prophecies concerning Egypt, but the following passage of Scripture is worthy of special notice:— PTUK December 13, 1894, page 790.5
“Thus saith the Lord God; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked; and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers; I the Lord have spoken it. Thus saith the Lord God; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.” Ezekiel 30:10-13. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 790.6
We have none of the particulars of Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Egypt. It is known, however, that he did invade it twice, and that he was thoroughly successful, and carried large numbers of the Egyptians captive to Babylon. But aside from this, there are three points in the above quotation which stand forth in such perfect fulfilment that no objection can justly be made by any man, to the faithfulness of the words spoken by the prophet Ezekiel nearly twenty-five hundred years ago. We shall notice them in reverse order, taking the last one first. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 790.7
1. “There shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt.” Although Egypt was subdued by Esarhaddon and Asshur-bani-pal, by Nebuchadnezzar, and by Cambyses, the Egyptians still ruled within the country itself. But in B.C. 344 Ochus of Persia invaded the land with three hundred and forty-four thousand troops, while the Egyptian king Nectanebo had an army of only one hundred thousand with which to meet him, and twenty thousand of these were Greek mercenaries. The king of Persia was wholly successful. “All Egypt submitted to Ochus, who demolished the walls of the cities, plundered the temples, and after amply rewarding his mercenaries, returned to his own capital with an immense booty.” “Nectanebo in despair quitted the country and fled southward to Ethiopia,” and from that day till this there has been no native ruler of Egypt. Nectanebo was the last Egyptian king that Egypt ever had. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 791.1
Thus miserably fell the monarchy of the Pharaohs after an unexampled duration of nearly three thousand years.... More than two thousand years have since passed, and though Egypt has from time to time been independent, not one native prince has sat on the throne of the Pharaohs. “There shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt” (Ezekiel 30:13) was prophesied in the days of Apries [the Pharaoh-hophra of Jeremiah 44:30] as the final state of the land.-Encyclopedia Britannica, art. Egypt. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 791.2
Beside the princes of the monarchy itself, there were “local princes” throughout Egypt; these continued for about twelve years, to the time when Alexander the Great took possession of Egypt, and then they too disappeared. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 791.3
With Alexander, the Macedonian dominion began.... From this time the Egyptian local princes, who for five centuries, except only during the rule of Psametik and his house, had caused all the divisions of Egypt, disappear from the scene.-Ib. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 791.4
Thus the word has been literally fulfilled that “there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 791.5
2. “I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease.” This is a most remarkable prediction, for of all nations that have ever lived on the earth, the Egyptians were the most abundantly idolatrous. Bodies heavenly and bodies earthly, bodies animate and bodies inanimate, real and imaginary, fish, flesh, fowl, and vegetable, all were worshipped as gods in Egypt; and it was literally true that in Egypt it was easier to find a god than a man. “The basis of their religion was Nigritian fetichism, the lowest kind of nature worship.... The fetichism included, besides the worship of animals, that of trees, rivers, and hills.” The principal god’s, such as Phtah, Ra, Shu, Isis, Osiris, etc., numbered up into the hundreds. Of the animals universally sacred, the principal were cows and heifers, apes, ibises, cats, hawks, asps, and dogs. Others, whose worship was more local, were lions, crocodiles, wolves, jackals, shrew-mice, hippopotami, antelopes, ibexes, frogs, goats, vultures, fish, echneumons, and others too numerous to mention. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 791.6
As numerous as the idols were, and as basic as the idolatry was, the titles have been totally destroyed and the images have ceased utterly. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 791.7
3. “I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers.” All history from the conquest of Egypt by Ochus, before mentioned, till this day, bears continuous testimony to the fulfilment of this prophecy. From the day that king Nectanebo fled into Ethiopia till now, strangers have spoiled Egypt of her wealth and drained her of her treasures. When Alexander the Great had defeated Darius at Issus, he was welcomed by Egypt as a deliver. In the final division of Alexander’s dominion, Egypt fell to Ptolemy the Macedonian, and he and his successors ruled and rifled it for two hundred and ninety-four years. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 791.8
It fell next under the dreadful dominion of Rome, whose iron hand held it for six hundred and seventy years, until A.D. 641. Then the Saracens took it and spoiled it for six hundred years. In 1250 the Manalukes seized it, and held it two hundred and sixty-seven years, and “if you consider the whole time that they possessed the kingdom, especially that which was near the end, you will find it filled with wars, battles, injuries, and rapines.”—Pacocke. In A.D. 1517 the Turks conquered the Manalukes, and took possession of the whole country, which they still hold. And a hundred years ago, Gibbon, in describing the condition of Egypt under their rule, gave the best statement in existence of the fulfilment of the prophecy. He said:— PTUK December 13, 1894, page 792.1
A more unjust and absurd constitution cannot be devised, than that which condemns the natives of a country to perpetual servitude, under the arbitrary dominion of strangers and slaves. Yet such has been the state of Egypt above five hundred years. The most illustrious sultans of the Baharite and Borgite dynasties, were themselves promoted from the Tartar and Circassian bands; and the four and twenty boys, or military chiefs, have ever been succeeded, not by their sons, but by their servants. They produce the great character of their liberties, the Treaty of Selim the First with the republic; and the Othman emperor still accepts from Egypt a slight acknowledgement of tribute and subjection.-Decline and Fall, chap. 59, paragraph 20. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 792.2
And that is exactly as the prophet of God, nearly twenty-five hundred years ago, said it would be. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 792.3
The statement of these facts has prepared the way for the statement in a few words of the fulfilment of another notable prophecy concerning Egypt. After the scattering of the people by Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord said: “And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.” Ezekiel 29:14, 15. In view of the fact that that nation has been so sold into the hands of strangers, and so spoiled by them, it is easy to see how, from the wisest of nations, she should become the basest of kingdoms. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 792.4
There is no more a prince of the land of Egypt; the idols have utterly ceased; the land is wasted by the hand of strangers; Egypt is the basest of the kingdoms; the prophecy is literally fulfilled; and this word which Ezekiel wrote, as he dwelt among the captives by the river of Chebar, nearly twenty-five hundred years ago, is the word of God. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 792.5
“Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper.” PTUK December 13, 1894, page 792.6
“News of the Week” The Present Truth 10, 50.
E. J. Waggoner
-The Austrian Reichsrath recently rejected by 148 to 66 votes a motion for the abolition of capital punishment. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.1
-Prosecutions for horrible cruelties to children and barbarous treatment of wives occur daily in various parts of the kingdom. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.2
-The number of persons killed in the recent earthquake shocks in Southern Italy is officially stated to be eighty-six. Besides these about 600 were injured. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.3
-A dynamite explosion occurred at the Hull Waterworks, near Ottawa, Canada, resulting in the death of five men and two boys, and in injuries to at least forty persons. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.4
-A wedding party of twenty persons, while returning home Hungary, were attacked by wolves, thirteen persons being killed and devoured, the others escaping though badly injured. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.5
-The fears of a renewal of hostilities in Samoa seem likely to be realised. The rebels have recently displayed much activity, and have now given notice of their intention to attack Apia. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.6
-The Pope is about to send to the Sultan a copy of the Decisions arrived at by the recent conference of Eastern Patriarchs to assure his Majesty of the friendly feeling of the Vatican. The Pontiff is also preparing two encyclicals for North and South America. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.7
-While urging the enforcement of the new Wild Birds’ Protection Act, it is pointed out that fourteen varieties of British birds are now extinct, and twenty-five other varieties are in danger of extinction, owing to the wearing of feather trimmings, and the too free use of the gun. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.8
-The Zemmou and the Demilhassem tribesmen in Morocco have revolted and pillaged Ghab. Communication with Fez is interrupted, all the roads being in the hands of the insurgents. Within three days’ time twenty citizens of Fez who had ventured outside the walls of the town were murdered. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.9
-The Anti-Corset League has been holding, in the Queen’s Hall, London, what is termed a “fashion without folly” exhibition. A medical man, lecturing in connection with the display of “rational” garments, declared that ninety out of every hundred of the ladies’ special ailments were traceable to the use of stays. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.10
-The Manchester Ship Canal does not premise to be a great financial success. The gross receipts for the year are estimated by some observers at less than ?80,000, which is insufficient to pay interest on the first debentures alone. The Corporation has lent five millions, and will probably have to lend a million more at least. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.11
-Twenty refugees from the neighbourhood of Sassoun, in Armenia, who have arrived at Athens, give a terrible account of the Turkish atrocities in that district. An Armenian, writing from Constantinople, also gives particulars, in which he puts the number of victims at 6,000, and says that pregnant women were ripped open by soldiers, and their unborn babes carried upon spears through the streets. A London paper voices the sentiment of the civilised world in the declaration that “The perpetrators of these horrible outrages must be punished, and it is the business of Europe to see that this is done.” The days of the Turk in Europe are numbered. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.12
-A proclamation by the new Czar, Nicholas II., granting the people of Finland their ancient rights and liberties, has been received throughout the country with the greatest enthusiasm. When the news was made known that the young Czar intended to maintain the liberties of the Grand Duchy instead of gradually extinguishing them, the people celebrated the event with great rejoicings. The Russian ruler is also liberating, it is said, a large number of political prisoners in Russia, besides which he has telegraphed to the Pope announcing that he has pardoned many of his condemned Polish subjects. The Pope attaches much importance to the conciliatory disposition of the Czar, and has sent the emperor an autograph letter to encourage him in his liberal policy. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 798.13
“Back Page” The Present Truth 10, 50.
E. J. Waggoner
The Catholic Times says that the most formidable difficulties which stood in the way of England’s conversion to Catholicism has been removed. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.1
The Uniat Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem at Antioch, who is making a brief visit to Paris, has expressed himself as firmly believing that the Eastern dissenters will all find their way to communion with Rome in due time. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.2
It is stated by high authority that the petitions for unity, sent to the Pope by prelates and clergy of the Church of England, have greatly affected him. The Pope regards his message to Anglicans as one of the crowning episodes of his pontificate. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.3
War does not settle everything. It doesn’t make peace. It has now been ascertained that while all the Korean ministers have professed great gratitude to Japan, they have been secretly sending messengers to various parts of the country to incite the people to rise against the Japanese. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.4
A new treaty has been made between the United States and Japan. By it Japan is to be treated as “standing on the same plane of civilisation as any Christian country.” China not having developed so much military skill as its neighbour, must for some time yet be considered a heathen country. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.5
In a letter to the Cardinal-Archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal Vaughan states that multitudes of the most educated and zealous of the Anglican clergy and laity teach nearly the whole cycle of Catholic doctrines, so that only “the office and authority of St. Peter,” is needed as the keystone to complete the arch. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.6
The Daily Chronicle’s Rome correspondent telegraphs that a cardinal who took a prominent part in the conference of the Eastern Patriarchs, assures him that the Apostolic Constitution for the Eastern churches is the most important act which the Vatican has performed for several centuries. He added that the Pope, being no longer occupied with Eastern matters, designs to give his full attention to religious questions in England. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.7
While all Europe is expressing horror and indignation at the atrocities of the Turks in Armenia, the Pope, having in mind his scheme for re-extending the supremacy of Rome over the Eastern churches, has sent the Sultan an assurance of his friendly regard. The latter, it will be remembered, has authority which might be exercised greatly to the detriment of the papal scheme, hence his goodwill outweighs all else at the Vatican. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.8
What a strange idea some people have of upholding the dignity of Christianity. The editor of a religious paper, himself a Doctor of Divinity, was writing a series of articles describing his travels, and began one of them thus:— PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.9
It was a matter of difficulty in former times to enter Damascus unmolested, but no other insult was offered to us than a stone thrown at Mr. L—, one of our party. He chased the urchin till he took refuge in a shop, then dismounting from his horse, he brought the offender out, and in the presence of a crowd of bystanders gave him so sound a thrashing that it was certain that he would not soon throw stones at Christians again. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.10
That is to say, that Mohammedan urchin would understand that if a Christian is insulted he will take summary vengeance. It is in this way that Japan is now proving to the Chinese that she is a “Christian nation.” Christ said, “Resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” He is the Author of Christianity, and His words are the only guide for Christians. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.11
The English Churchman rightly says of Roman Catholicism that “the apostate church is well described in the Book of the Revelation as a ‘woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and of the martyrs of Jesus.’” But in the same connection it is said that “the kings of the earth have committed fornication” with her, “and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” This characteristic of the apostate church, namely, that it has connection with the world and its rulers, seems to have been overlooked by the Churchman, because in an article immediately preceding it says, “The real difficulty concerning religious instruction arises from the devices and workings of Ritualism and Romanism. This view of the matter must be kept before the public, and in due time political leaders will take cognizance of it.” Why cannot Protestants understand that the church in politics means Romanism, and that the preaching of the pure word of God alone is the only thing that will check its progress? To try to check Romanism by political methods is like tearing down the dykes of Holland in order to keep it from being overflowed with water. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.12
The first sitting of the present German Reichstag was marked by “a scene of tumult almost unequalled in the history of the Imperial Parliament.” The President called for a cheer for the Emperor, in which the socialist members refused to join. When censured for remaining seated, one of their number stated, amidst great uproar, that they would never cheer for a man who had told the recruits, when swearing them in, that they must be ready to show their obedience by firing on their fellow-citizens and brothers, if commanded to do so. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.13
A similar thing occurred about the same time in the Belgian Chamber of Deputies. The Royal Civil List was being discussed, when a socialist member rose and read a paper protesting against all royal grants. The president called upon the House to give three cheers for the king, when the socialists responded by crying, “Long live the people! Down with capitalists!” Such scenes indicate the presence of a revolutionary spirit that promises anything but good for rulers in Europe. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.14
Whatever clemency may signalise the accession of Nicholas II. to the Russian throne, it will not be shared by the Stundists. On the contrary, their Juggernaut of persecution moves relentlessly on, the latest step being an official edict prohibiting them from holding prayer-meetings. The tide of religious persecution is rising in all lands, and “all who will live godly in Christ Jesus” will feel its force. Their hope is in the deliverance that will come with His appearing. PTUK December 13, 1894, page 800.15