The Present Truth, vol. 10
September 20, 1894
“Front Page” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
“How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” Matthew 18:12-14. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 593.1
Sometimes men and women get discouraged, and think that the Lord does not care for them. They do not consciously charge the Lord with being unsympathetic and forgetful, but they feel their own failings so keenly that they do not think they are worth being cared for. They feel as though the loss of one insignificant person would make no difference to the Lord. It is to such people at such times that the Saviour’s words are of peculiar importance. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 593.2
The man who had an hundred sheep did not think it a trifling matter that one had gone astray. He might have said, “It is only one, and I will not bother with it.” But men who talk in that way do not preserve their property. He who should talk like that about one sheep, because it is only one, would say the same of every other one, and so one by one they might wander away until he had none left. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 593.3
The shepherd well knows that the preservation of his entire flock depends upon his watchful care over each member of the flock. To be indifferent to the fate of any one, because it is only one, is in reality to be indifferent to the fate of the whole. Therefore since the safety of the whole depends upon the shepherd’s care for each one, it is really the case that his solicitude is the same for each one as for the whole. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 593.4
Even so it is with the Great Shepherd and His flock. His care for each individual is equal to His care for the whole. Christ “died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15), but He tasted death for every man. Hebrews 2:9. Each individual receives as much of the merits of Christ as does the whole world. To say that the Lord is unmindful of anyone of His creatures, is the same as saying that He does not care for anybody. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 593.5
It is not in reality, therefore, a sense of our own unworthiness that causes us to become discouraged, but ignorance or forgetfulness of God’s character. He who knows the Lord, must trust Him. “They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee.” Psalm 9:10. It is thought to be a terrible thing for the infidel to charge God with cruelty and indifference; but how much worse it must seem for a professed Christian to say what amounts to the same thing! They who know the Lord will not become discouraged because they know that He does not forsake those who trust in Him. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 593.6
“A Marvellous Thing” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
A Marvellous Thing.-There was one thing at which our Lord Himself marvelled while here on the earth, and that was unbelief. Many things cause great surprise to His disciples and the multitudes that attended Him, but the most surprising thing to Christ Himself was the blindness and hardness of the human heart. This so hindered in His own country that He could do no mighty work there; and “He marvelled because of their unbelief.” Mark 6:5, 6. Also when He healed the centurion’s servant (Luke 7:2-9) He marvelled, not because the centurion had faith, but because His own people had less faith than did this Roman. Unbelief is a stranger thing than is the mightiest miracle ever performed; because there has been a cause for every miracle, but for unbelief there is no cause. It is not strange that God can do most astonishing things, for He is omnipotent and omniscient; but it is strange indeed that man will not believe His word. It is so strange as to be absolutely without reason. Do you believe the Lord? If not, why not? PTUK September 20, 1894, page 593.7
“The Chief of Sinners” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
If you were told to point out the greatest sinner that you know, whom would you name? Perhaps some might think it too delicate a task to give names. But if every one had the knowledge of the Gospel that the Apostle Paul had, there would be no difficulty either in asking or answering the question in public. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 593.8
There were many wicked men in the apostle’s day, but when he looked into the royal law of God, at the righteousness of God, as in a glass, beholding what manner of man he was, he said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” 1 Timothy 1:15. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 593.9
He had had many years of service for his Master; but he does not say, “I was chief,” but “I am chief.” The man who follows the inspired injunction to look “into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein,” will never forget that in himself dwelleth no good thing, and he will know that in himself, his flesh, are all the sins that are inseparable from the carnal nature, ready to spring upon him the moment he puts confidence in the flesh. And he knows more about his own weakness and sinfulness and need of salvation than he can know of anybody else. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 593.10
Sometimes people who have learned something of the Lord seem afraid to acknowledge that they are really sinners. We have even heard of mission preachers making efforts to find if there was a sinner in the audience. But Paul knew the Lord so well that he was not ashamed to confess himself-so far as he personally was the judge-the chief of sinners. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 594.1
The nearer we come to the Lord, the closer view we get of His righteousness-the righteousness of the law of God; for PTUK September 20, 1894, page 594.2
“In Thy life the law appears,
Drawn out to living characters.”—
PTUK September 20, 1894, page 594.3
the more we sense our own sinfulness and need. This for ever shuts out spiritual pride. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 594.4
The moment our own sinfulness seems a small thing, it is evident that we are so far from the Lord that we cannot see His righteousness. We never get beyond the prayer of the publican, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” And it is a blessed confession; for Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The publican was justified; and praying that prayer from the heart of faith continually is living by faith-the faith that justifies, the faith of Jesus. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 594.5
“Works of Supererogation” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
“Supererogation” means works above what are required; and works of this nature are very common among men, whether in the Catholic Church, or out. It is a propensity of human nature to be willing to do either more or less than God requires, but not exactly what God requires. The Lord addresses people of this class by the prophet Isaiah, saying, “When ye come to appear before Me, who has required this at your hand, to tread My courts.” Isaiah 1:12. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 594.6
Every work which the Lord has not required is a work of the flesh. The Lord’s will is that we should be perfect and holy, as He is perfect and holy; and as nothing can go beyond perfection, and perfection is what is required, every work not required must fall short of this, and only serve to condemn us. And one plain thing which God has not required is the observance of the first day of the week, by which men think to honour Christ; for it is also a propensity of human nature to be willing to honour God in every other way than the way which He has designated. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 594.7
“Reunion with Rome” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
Last week, at Preston, Cardinal Vaughan defined the Roman Catholic position on the reunion question. The only possible ground of reunion is the acceptance of Rome’s claims, and she has nothing to concede. She knows well enough that she is the real home of all who want a church authority apart from the authority of the Scriptures, and so she waits and works, and glories in the progress being made. The growth of Romish principles and practices in the churches separated from her in ecclesiastical government is the main point for congratulations. Cardinal Vaughan sees this amongst both Nonconformists and Anglicans. His hopes of submission to Rome on the part of an ever-increasing number of Anglicans rest on the following facts-and that they are facts every observer must admit:— PTUK September 20, 1894, page 594.8
1. The growing realisation of the Catholic, and therefore of the non-national character of the church of Christ, and the increasing distrust of national limitation in the idea of religion; 2. The growing appreciation of Catholic doctrines and devout practices, and a sensible diminution of the difficulties and prejudices that have hitherto obscured them. Contrast the churches of the Establishment of sixty or seventy years ago-closed from week end to week end; no daily service, no festivals and saint’s days kept, the communion service read three or four times a year, everything dry, cold, and formal-with the present churches, which are often distinguishable only with extreme difficulty from those belonging to the Church of Rome. The study of the patristic, of the theological, ascetical, devotional, liturgical, and rubrical writers of the Catholic Church has brought about a change in the mind, feelings, and tastes of an ever increasing section of the Anglican Church, which has been simply a revolution. The doctrines of the Catholic Church, which had been rejected and condemned as blasphemous, superstitious, and fond inventions, have been re-examined and taken back, one by one, until the thirty-nine articles have been banished and buried as a rule of faith. The real presence, the sacrifice of the mass, offered for the living and dead-sometimes even in Latin-not unfrequent reservation of the sacrament, regular auricular confession, extreme unction, purgatory, prayers for the dead, devotions to Our Lady, to her immaculate conception, the use of her rosary, and the invocation of saints, are doctrines taught and accepted, with a growing desire and relish for them, in the Church of England. A celibate clergy, the institution of monks and nuns under vows, retreats for the clergy, missions for the people, fasting and other penitential exercises-candles, lamps, incense, crucifixes, images of the Blessed Virgin and the saints held in honour, stations of the cross, cassocks, cottas, Roman collars, birettas, copes, dalmatics, vestments, miters, croziers, the adoration of an ornate Catholic ritual, and now recently an elaborate display of the whole ceremonial of the Catholic Pontifical-all this speaks of a change and a movement towards the Church that would have appeared absolutely incredible at the beginning of this century. And what is still more remarkable is that the movement has been stronger than the rankest Protestantism, stronger than the bishops, stronger than the lawyers and the Legislature. A spasmodic protest, a useless prosecution, a delphic judgment, and the movement continues and spreads, lodging itself in Anglican homes and convents, in schools, churches, and even cathedrals, until it is rapidly covering the country. Has there ever been seen a more marvellous change, and this within half a century! PTUK September 20, 1894, page 594.9
“Tampering with God’s Word” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
Tampering with God’s Word.-The English Churchman, speaking of the prevailing laxity of Sunday observance, says, “In England, the Bible and the Sabbath observance have been great blessings; but now, men are tampering with God’s word, and encouraging the idolatrous system of Rome.” Yet the Churchman accepts and defends, almost in the same breath, one of the worst results of tampering with God’s word, which is seen in the almost universal disregard of the true Sabbath, “the Sabbath of the Lord.” Tampering with God’s word is not a recent innovation; it was seen centuries ago, when pagans in the guise of Christians began to substitute the Sunday institution for the seventh-day Sabbath. It is useless to try to defend the truth without an appeal to God’s word. The trouble with regard to Sunday observance is that there is nothing with which to produce a conviction in men’s minds that it is a sacred day and ought to be observed. It takes nothing short of the plain, direct word of the Lord to strike that conviction to the soul which will turn it from a course of worldliness into the path of obedience to God. And therefore, since there is no word of the Lord to support the Sunday Sabbath, it is useless to attempt to institute a reform in its behalf. The only way of Sabbath reform is to call the attention of men to the true Sabbath which rests upon the word of the Lord, in contradistinction to the first-day institution, which has no support but the traditions of men. Let all who desire a reform in Sabbath observance join in presenting the claims of God’s holy day, which are plainly set forth in His word; and they will have the satisfaction of knowing that their efforts will not be in vain. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 594.10
“Studies in Romans. ‘Heir of the World.’ Romans 4:13-15” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
In our lesson last week we began the study of Abraham as a special illustration of the doctrine of justification by faith. We found that Abraham could not glory before God, because he was justified by faith only, and not at all by works. But the verses which follow will involve a sufficient review of the first part of the chapter, and therefore we will at once proceed to the study of PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.1
THE INHERITANCE AND THE HEIRS
“For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect; because the law worketh wrath; for where no law is, there is no transgression.” Romans 4:13-15. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.2
QUESTIONING THE TEXT
What promise was made to Abraham? PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.3
“That he should be the heir of the world.” PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.4
To whom was this promise made? PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.5
“To Abraham” and “to his seed.” “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.” Galatians 3:16. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.6
Who is the seed? PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.7
“He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Galatians 3:16. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.8
Is Christ in His own person the only seed? PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.9
“And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.10
Of what are Abraham and his seed heirs? PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.11
“Of the world.” PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.12
On what basis was this inheritance promised? PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.13
“The promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.14
If they which are of the law be heirs, what is the result? PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.15
“Faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect.” PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.16
Why so? PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.17
“Because the law worketh wrath.” PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.18
If there were no law, what would there not be? PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.19
“Where no law is, there is no transgression.” PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.20
Why is it, then, that the law worketh wrath? PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.21
Because “by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.22
WHERE IS THE PROMISE?
A very natural inquiry upon reading the thirteenth verse would be, Where is there any promise that Abraham and his seed should be heirs of the world? Many think that no such promise is contained in the Old Testament. But there can be no doubt about the matter, for the apostle says that there was such a promise. If we have not found it, it is because we have read the Old Testament too superficially, or with minds biased by preconceived opinions. If we consider the connection, we shall have no difficulty in locating the promise. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.23
Of what is the apostle speaking in this connection? Of an inheritance through the righteousness of faith, and also of the fact that circumcision was given to Abraham as a seal of this righteousness which he had by faith, and therefore as the seal of the inheritance which was to come thereby. Now where in the Old Testament do we find the account of the giving of circumcision, and of a promise in connection therewith? In the seventeenth chapter of Genesis. Then that must be the place for us to look for the promise that Abraham should be the heir of the world. Let us turn and read. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.24
“And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.... And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt Me and you.” Genesis 17:7-11. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.25
The reader will at once say: “Yes; it is plain enough that there is a promise here; but what we are looking for is the promise that Abraham and his seed should inherit the earth; and I do not see that here. All that I can see is a promise that they should inherit the land of Canaan.” But it is certain from the connection in Romans that we are on the right track, and we shall soon see that this is indeed the promise that Abraham and his seed should be heirs of the world. We must study the details of this promise. And first let us note the fact that the inheritance promised in this place is PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.26
AN EVERLASTING INHERITANCE
The Lord said to Abraham, “I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.” Note well that both Abraham and his seed are included in all the promise. The inheritance is not to be merely in the possession of Abraham’s seed for ever, but Abraham himself is to have it for an everlasting possession. But the only way in which both Abraham and his seed may have everlasting possession of an inheritance is by having everlasting life. Therefore we see that in this promise to Abraham we have the assurance of everlasting life in which to enjoy the possession. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.27
This will appear still more clearly when we consider that the inheritance is PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.28
AN INHERITANCE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
“For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Romans 4:13. That is just what we have in the promise recorded in the seventeenth of Genesis. For that covenant was sealed by circumcision (see verse 11), and circumcision was the seal of righteousness by faith. See Romans 4:11. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.29
Someone may say that this does not appear from the Old Testament itself, and that therefore the Jews could not be expected to have understood it; we have the New Testament to enlighten us. It is true that in studying the Old Testament we owe much to the New Testament, but it is also a fact that there is no new revelation in it. One may see from the Old Testament alone that the inheritance promised to Abraham and to his seed was only on the condition of righteousness by faith. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 595.30
This is the natural conclusion from the fact that the inheritance is to be an everlasting possession. Now the Jews well knew that everlasting life belongs to the righteous alone. “The righteous shall never be removed; but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.” Proverbs 10:30. “For evildoers shall be cut off; but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.” Psalm 37:9. “For such as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of Him shall be cut off.” Verse 22. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 596.1
The fifth commandment reads, “Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” The keeping of the commandments has never made any difference in the length of men’s lives in this present world. But the inheritance which God promised to Abraham is one that will be everlasting because of the righteousness of its possessors. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 596.2
THE PROMISE AND THE RESURRECTION
Another point from the promise is recorded in Genesis, if we read carefully. The promise was to Abraham and to his seed. Now Stephen stated as a well-known fact that Abraham did not have so much of the promised land as he could set his foot on. Acts 7:5. We may learn this from the Old Testament record, because we are told that he had to buy from the Canaanites, whom God had promised to drive out, a spot of land in which to bury his wife. As for his immediate descendants, we know that they dwelt in tents, wandering from place to place, and that Jacob died in the land of Egypt. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 596.3
Further than this, we read the words of David, whose reign was at the time of the highest prosperity of the children of Israel in the land of Canaan: “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not Thy peace at my tears; for I am a stranger with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.” Psalm 39:12. See also his prayer at the consecration of the gifts to the temple, when Solomon was made king. 1 Chronicles 29:15. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 596.4
Still further, and this is most positive of all, we have the words of God to Abraham when he made the promise. After telling him that He would give the land of Canaan to him and to his seed, the Lord said that his seed should first be slaves in a strange land. “And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again.” Genesis 15:7, 13-16. Thus we see that Abraham was plainly told that he should die before he had any inheritance in the land, and that it would be at least four hundred years before any of his seed could inherit it. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 596.5
But Abraham died in faith, and so did his seed. See Hebrews 11:13. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” They died in faith, because they knew that God could not lie. But since God’s promise must be fulfilled, and they did not receive the promised inheritance in this present life, we are shut up to the conclusion that it can be obtained only through the resurrection from the dead. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 596.6
This was the hope that sustained the faithful Israelites. Abraham had faith to offer Isaac upon the altar because his faith was in God’s power to raise the dead. When Paul was a prisoner on account of “the hope and resurrection of the dead” (Acts 23:6), he said, “And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come.” And then, to show the reasonableness of this hope, he asked, “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” Acts 26:6-8. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 596.7
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the pledge and surety of the resurrection of those who believe on Him. See 1 Corinthians 15:13-20. The apostles “preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” Acts 4:2. And one of them says for our benefit, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5. And then he adds that this faith is tried that it may “be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” And this brings us to the conclusion of the matter, namely, that the promise to Abraham and to his seed that they should be heirs of the world, is PTUK September 20, 1894, page 596.8
THE PROMISE OF CHRIST’S COMING
The Apostle Peter says that it is necessary to remind us of the words that were spoken by the holy prophets because “there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 2 Peter 3:1-4. Note in this text that the promise of Christ’s coming is connected with the fathers. The promise was made to the fathers, yet, say the scoffers, it has not been fulfilled, but everything continues as it was from the beginning of the creation; and therefore they do not believe in the promise at all. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 596.9
But they do not reason well, “for this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water, perished; but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:5-7. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 596.10
Take notice that not only has the promise something to do with the fathers, but it concerns the whole earth. The complaint of the scoffers is that since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. But the apostle shows that when they say so they shut their eyes to the fact that the same word that in the beginning made the heavens and the earth, also destroyed the earth by the flood. Also the earth is by the same word now preserved until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, when it will be destroyed by fire. “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:13. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 596.11
According to What Promise?-Why, according to the promise to the fathers, which was that Abraham and his seed should inherit the earth. It has been a long time, as men count, since that promise was made, but “the Lord is not slack concerning His promise.” It has not been so long since it was made that He has forgotten it; for “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” The reason why He has waited this long is that He is not willing that any should perish in the fires that will renew the earth, but He desires that all should come to repentance. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 597.1
And so we find that we have as great an interest in the promise to Abraham as he himself had. That promise is still open for all to accept. It embraces nothing less than an eternal life of righteousness in the earth made new as it was in the beginning. The hope of the promise of God unto the fathers was the hope of the coming of the Lord to raise the dead, and thus to bestow the inheritance. Christ was once here on the earth, but then He did not have any more of the inheritance than Abraham had. He had not where to lay His head. God is now sending His Holy Spirit to seal the believers for the inheritance, even as He did to Abraham; and when all the faithful shall have been sealed by the Spirit, “He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:20, 21. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 597.2
The reason why in the promise to Abraham only the land of Canaan was mentioned, although the promise included the whole earth, will receive a brief consideration in a separate article entitled, “The Heavenly Canaan.” PTUK September 20, 1894, page 597.3
“Penance in China” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
The Catholic doctrine of penance was borrowed from the old pagan idea that the favour of the gods was to be won by bodily torture and meritorious works. The servants of Baal cut themselves with knives in their efforts to get the attention of their god, when Elijah challenged them to the test before Israel. The doctrine is current amongst all pagans, for it is only the natural outgrowth of the religion on self. Many professed Christians, even, think to make themselves better by punishing themselves in various ways. The following words of a missionary in China show how fully the Buddhist priests are in harmony with the Catholic idea:— PTUK September 20, 1894, page 597.4
It is no uncommon sight to meet a priest in China going about begging, with four or five long skewers run through his forearm, and little ribbons hanging therefrom. Two I have met had long iron rods running through their cheeks, and they had made oath to remove them only when they had collected a certain sum of money sufficient to repair their temples. One has had the iron rod through his face for over four months, living the while on soup and tea only. Another way of raising money is for a priest to take his seat in a little brick sentry box, and let himself be walled in, leaving only a small window, through which he can see, and pull a rope by which a big bell is sounded and the attention of passersby is attracted. Here he will sit for months. I have known one to remain in his box for nearly a year without being able to lie down or stand up, but apparently perfectly happy, and always ready to have a bit of gossip. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 597.5
“The Heavenly Canaan” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
It is not at all surprising that the casual reader of the Bible should conclude that all that God ever promised to Abraham and his seed, was the possession of what was and is known as the land of Canaan. But it is surprising that men should insist that an earthly inheritance was all that was promised them, after they read that the promise was that they should be heirs of the world, and that it was such an inheritance as could be obtained only by faith in Christ. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 597.6
First, let it be remembered that if it were true that the promise was that Abraham should have a temporal inheritance in the land of Canaan, then the promise failed, because he did not have it. God “gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet He promised that He would give it to him, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.” Acts 7:5. But God’s word cannot fail. Nothing can frustrate His promises, but every one of them will be fulfilled to the minutest detail. Sometimes we hear it said that God tried one plan, and that when that failed, He tried another. But that cannot be. God “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” Ephesians 1:11. He is true, although every man fails. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 597.7
Neither did Abraham’s descendants possess the inheritance that God promised them. Isaac and Jacob, as well as Abraham, “sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles.” Hebrews 11:9. They “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” It is true that when God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, He did give to them the inheritance, and they began to possess it by faith; but they did not keep the faith, and so they put from them the inheritance. They did not realise how great a thing God had given them, and so they let it slip from their grasp. As it could be gained only by faith, so it could be held only by faith; but we are told that the word preached to them did not profit them, because faith was lacking. “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” Hebrews 3:19. This refers not only to those who died in the wilderness, but to those whom Joshua led into the land of Canaan, because we read that Joshua did not give them rest. Hebrews 4:8. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 597.8
CANAAN’S IMPORTANCE
The land of Canaan, and especially the locality of Jerusalem, has from the earliest times been prominent in God’s plan. It was there, on Mount Moriah, that Abraham offered Isaac, and found a ram to offer in his stead. Genesis 22:2, 14. On that same spot the plague was stayed in the days of David, and there the temple of Solomon was built. 2 Chronicles 3:1. It was of this place that Moses in his song after the passage of the Red Sea, said, “Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established.” Exodus 15:17. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 597.9
In this last text we have reference to the Sanctuary of which Christ is Minister, “the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Hebrews 8:1, 2. Take this with the verses immediately following the one quoted from Exodus, “The Lord shall reign for ever and ever;” and also with the statement that Abraham “looked for a city which have foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10), and we shall see that none of the faithful had the idea that they were to possess a temporal inheritance in this present world, but that they desired “a better country, that is, an heavenly.” Hebrews 11:16. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 597.10
If we are children of Abraham, then “ our citizenship is in heaven.” Philippians 3:20, R.V. We have “come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven.” Hebrews 11:22, 23. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 597.11
A CITY WITH FOUNDATIONS
Abraham looked for “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Read in Revelation 21:14-20 the description of the foundations of the city of God. The heavenly Jerusalem, therefore, it is the city for which Abraham looked. “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Galatians 4:26. But this Jerusalem is coming down from God out of heaven, to be the capital of the new earth. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Revelation 21:1-3. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 598.1
And where will the heavenly Jerusalem come down? The prophet tells us that in the time of the great battle of the day of the Lord, “His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” “And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor dark.” That is, as stated in the margin, it shall not be clear in some places and dark in other places. “But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea; in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one.” Zechariah 14:1-9. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 598.2
Even if the Jerusalem that is now on the earth were a fit place for the tabernacle of God, it is altogether too small for all Israel. “The children which Thou shalt have, after Thou hast lost the other, shall say again in Thine ears, The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell.” Isaiah 49:20. The text from Zechariah tells us how the place will be made large enough. We have read that in that day living waters shall go forth from Jerusalem. That is because the tabernacle of God is with men, and from His throne proceeds a “clear river of water of life.” Revelation 22:1. Then will Abraham and his seed inherit the land of Canaan. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 598.3
BOTH SPIRITUAL AND LITERAL
But some one will say that we are spiritualising the text, when it ought to be taken literally. No; we are taking it literally, for the city will be a very real city. “Spiritual” is not opposed to “literal.” The law of God, even the whole Bible, is spiritual, yet it is very real. God Himself is spiritual, yet He is a very real, living God. The trouble with so many who read the promises to Israel is that they forget that the word is spiritual, and so leave Christ out of them. The promise is the promise of the Spirit, and the inheritance will be shared only by those who are spiritual, but it is so real that it will endure when everything else passes away. The promise that Abraham and his seed shall inherit the land of Canaan will be fulfilled to the very letter. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 598.4
Now it is easy to see that the possession of the land of Canaan is in reality the possession of the whole earth. For when the New Jerusalem comes down and all the saints with it, the earth will be made new, and the Lord will be King over all the earth. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 598.5
“But why did not the Lord say ‘the heavenly Canaan,’ instead of simply Canaan, when He made the promise to Abraham, so that we need not make so great a mistake?” Well, in the first place, it is no more strange that He should say simply Canaan, than that He should say simply the earth, instead of “new earth,” in the promise, “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” PTUK September 20, 1894, page 598.6
And secondly, the Lord made it so clear that He meant an heavenly and not an earthly inheritance, that Abraham understood Him, and looked only for an heavenly country. If Abraham could understand the promise, there is no reason why we should make a mistake in regard to it. And now that we know what the promise is, let us remember that they who do His commandments, through faith in Christ, “may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Those gates have on them the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel (Revelation 21:12), so that the gathering of the saints of God into the New Jerusalem is the fulfilment of the promise through the prophets, that Israel shall return to Jerusalem. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 598.7
“Addition and Multiplication” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
Addition and Multiplication.—“Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” 2 Peter 1:5. God only asks us to work by addition, but He Himself works for us in a different way. What that way is we are told in the second verse of the same chapter,—“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” Jude also writes, “Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.” Verse 2. The promise to Abraham was a promise of multiplication (Hebrews 6:13, 14; Genesis 22:17), and this promise was many times repeated to his descendants. The Lord is never stinted and niggardly toward us, but bestows His favours, unmerited as they are, in the most generous manner possible. He always gives us more and greater blessings than we know how to ask of Him. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 598.8
“Unquenchable Fire” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
The most appalling conflagration ever known in America, in point of fatality to human life, swept over the pine forest region of Minnesota and Wisconsin, Sept. 2-4. According to the accounts of survivors, the disaster came in the form of a veritable storm of fire, moving with the swiftness and fury of a tornado. The unfortunate inhabitants of the towns and villages in its path had no more opportunity of escape than had the citizens of ill-fated Pompeii when it was buried beneath the outburst from Vesuvius. To frail mortals who stood before its power, it must have seemed a type of that greater conflagration to come, when, the harvest of the world being ended, and the wheat to be gathered into the garner, the chaff will be burned up with unquenchable fire. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 599.1
The last great judgment of God upon the earth will have been preceded by many minor judgments. Some of these, sacred history has recorded. In times when the wickedness of man has risen up to most daring heights, His judgments have fallen to check the spread of people. Thus it was in the days of Noah. There was a flood of wickedness over the earth, and God sent upon it a flood of water. Of the two the latter was infinitely preferable. But His judgments have also come in the form of unquenchable fire. We read that “Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, in giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” Jude 7. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 599.2
The fire which God rained upon those wicked cities was unquenchable, though it has long since ceased to burn. And these cities are set forth as an example of the judgment which will finally overtake the ungodly. 2 Peter 2:6. “Unquenceable fire” is fire which burned until it utterly consumes that upon which it feeds. Its unquenchable character is demonstrated by the fact that it does this, in spite of all efforts that may be made to prevent it. And this is the effect it will have in the Judgment day upon the wicked. It will consume them, one and all, so that they will be utterly destroyed, and become “as though they had not been.” Obadiah 16. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 599.3
“Taught of God” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
The Lord teaches all persons who are willing to be taught of Him. The text-book is His word, and the knowledge to be gained is the knowledge of Him. To know Him is to become wise unto salvation, but to be ignorant of Him is to walk in the path of darkness and death. It is a mistake to say that “the proper study of mankind is man.” The study of man by man, with a view to learning moral and spiritual truth, is heathenism. The proper study of mankind is God; and the proper teacher for mankind is God. Only God Himself knows what knowledge is essential for man’s highest welfare, and only He is competent to teach us the truth concerning Himself. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 599.4
But God’s school, in which He instructs mankind, is the school of adversity. This is so not because God ordained it thus, but because of the perversity of human nature. Men are very rarely able to learn what is good for them to know through prosperity. And therefore, while God delights to bless His creatures with the good things of this life, He is very often obliged to withhold them in order that men may learn that lesson so necessary to life, of entire dependence upon Him. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 599.5
When we remember that the best men of all ages have been fitted for their work in this way, and that only so have they been able to learn the highest lessons of truth, we should view adversity in a different light from that in which it is seen by the world, and should meet it not with a rebellious or despairing spirit, but with a spirit of resignation and even of welcome. The Psalmist says, “Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law.” Psalm 94:12. When chastening comes, it is but the hour of the Lord’s instruction, when He will reveal to us wondrous things out of His law. We shall then learn precious lessons if we do not close up the avenues of communication with Him by murmurings and repining. In that hour we must see with the eye of faith, and by that we shall understand that what seems a grievous calamity is in reality a blessing, and that it is sent in order that in the real day of adversity we may be hid. For that is never a calamity which does not sever the soul’s connection with God, and whatever binds the soul more closely to Him is the greatest blessing. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 599.6
If we understand the meaning of adversity, we shall know that it does not mean that God has forsaken us. For faith says, “The Lord will not to cast off His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance.” The idea which comes so naturally at such times that God has forsaken us, is from the devil, he suggests it to us, for from the first, in his warfare against God, he has sought to gain his point by misrepresentation. So he suggests that God has cast us off, that we have done nothing to deserve such affliction, and that therefore God is unjust and not to be depended upon, and His service unprofitable. It was the devil who brought the trouble, and this was his object in bringing it. But God turns the weapons of Satan into a means of grace to all those who will let Him do with them as He will; and through the very clouds and darkness cast about man by the prince of evil, He reveals more clearly the light of His love and mercy, and His power unto salvation. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 599.7
Happy is that man who is able to discern the Divine hand in his afflictions, as well as in the blessings that belong to prosperity. If men will but open their minds and hearts to him, it will not take Him long to teach them the great lesson of entire dependence upon Him, and Him alone. “He doth not willingly afflict, nor grieve the children of men;” but because men are slow to learn, the affliction and grief are often long drawn out. Job sat many days in sackcloth and ashes while God was teaching him the lesson of justifying Him rather than self, but when at last the time came for God to reveal Himself, a single glimpse of Him caused Job to exclaimed, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” And no man, having the view of God that Job then had, could have said otherwise. It is only because men know not God and will not let Him reveal Himself to them as He longs to do, that they continue to admire and trust in themselves. No one who will let God teach him of Himself as fully as God desires Himself to be known, can fail of eternal life. John 17:2. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 600.1
“A Wonder of the Deep” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
A strange-looking creature this, is it not? It seems to be almost half head. And how fierce it looks, with its great, staring eyes, and its wide, open mouth lined with sharp teeth. But what is that thing rising up from its nose? That is the most wonderful of all, for it is a torch. This fish is called the torch-fish. Its scientific name is Linophryne Lucifer. Perhaps you may know that “Lucifer” means “light-bearer.” A very appropriate name that, for a fish that carries a torch, is it not? PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.1
But what is the torch for? How does the fish use it? Well, sad to say, he does not use it for the good of his fellow-fishes. Instead of using it to light up the dark places in the deep sea, where it lives, so that others may be guided in the right way, the torch-fish uses his torch to lure smaller fishes to destruction. It is not lighted all the time, but only when its owner pleases. When meal time comes, he lights his torch, and the small fishes, thinking that it is a phosphorescent insect like the glow-worm, dart for it, and find themselves, or rather lose themselves, in the huge creature’s mouth. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.2
That is the way in which this lucifer-fish uses his light. Who thinks that it is a proper use of it? Is it not rather an abuse of it? Did God make the torch-fish to prey upon and destroy his fellows? Did He give him that wonderful lantern, for the purpose of luring others to destruction? Good Dr. Watts wrote, PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.3
“Let dogs delight to bark and bite,
For ‘tis their nature to;
Let bears and lions growl and fight,
For God has made them so.”
PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.4
But is that true? Did God design that any of His creatures should tear one another to pieces? Who thinks that He did? Perhaps you all think so. Let us see what the Bible says about it. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.5
After God had created all things on the earth, and in the air, and in the sea, and had given man dominion over them, He said to man, “Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to use it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, where in there is life, I have given every green herb for meat.” Genesis 1:29, 30. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.6
So we see that God’s original design was that men should eat grain and fruit. And that the other creatures should eat herbs and grass. He did not design that there should be any killing and devouring. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.7
We know this also from what we are told of the new earth. The earth is to be restored as it was in the beginning, and of that time we read, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” Isaiah 11:6-9. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.8
Thus it will be when sin is removed, and the earth is restored to its first condition; and so it was before sin entered. Man sinned, and all creatures on earth have suffered in consequence. The gifts which God bestowed on men in order that they might be a blessing to others have been perverted, and are used for their destruction. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.9
Satan, who is the originator of sin and death, was once in heaven. Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” His name was Lucifer, and the prophet Isaiah, addressing the king of Babylon who in his pride was exalting himself against God, uses terms which must apply to Satan in heaven, when his pride was causing him to rebel against God:— PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.10
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Isaiah 14:12-14. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.11
The prophet Ezekiel also describes his beauty and brighteness:— PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.12
“Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold; the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned; therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness; I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.” Ezekiel 28:12-19. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 605.13
He was a beautiful angel in heaven, a light-bearer. Then his light was a blessing to all. But now he has perverted that gift, so that when he chooses he “is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), only for the purpose of luring people to destruction. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.1
All creation has partaken more or less of Satan’s spirit. Men to whom God has given powerful minds, so that they can discover great wonders, use their intellect to the hurt of their fellow-men. Some spend all their time and thought to discover ways of killing others. The man who can invent a machine that will kill the most people in the shortest time, receives great honour. This is not what God intended that men should do, nor what He is now pleased with. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.2
In the same way the lower animals have become perverted in their natures. Instead of living together in peace, they prey upon those that are weaker. We know what the torch-fish does with his lantern, but we do not know what God designed that he should do with it. But we do know that He did not make it that he might the more easily destroy others. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.3
The Apostle John had a vision of what shall be hereafter, and this is what he says about it: “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” Revelation 5:13. That will be the time when “there shall be no more death,” because death itself will have been destroyed. Then, if we have allowed the Lord to work His own will in us, we shall have all eternity in which to study the wonderful works of God, and shall see as we cannot now, His perfect design in all that He has made. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.4
“News of the Week” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
-We import from other lands ?120,000,000 worth of food supplies yearly. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.5
-The preparation of the human hair for the market gives employment to 7,000 Parisians. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.6
-The value of British trade for the first half of the year was ?12,000,000 in excess of that of the corresponding period of 1893. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.7
-Forest fires are still reported from America, while in Algeria and Sicily forest fires were burning last week, and destroying large amounts of timber. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.8
-Moseley says, in regard to the ocean, that probably all is dark below 200 fathoms excepting in so far as light is given out by phosphorescent animals. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.9
-Even the Vatican is disturbed by rumours of Anarchist plots. Special precautions are taken to guard the buildings, and last week two armed men were arrested in the Vatican gardens. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.10
-The telegraph service is carried on at an annual loss-the deficit last year being ?473,000. But the Post Office meets this deficit and makes a profit of nearly three million pounds. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.11
-Japan began to build railways in 1870, and she has now nearly 2,000 miles. China, on the contrary, has, as yet, only 200 miles in actual work. The contrast is all the more striking if we consider the vast area of the one country and the comparatively diminutive size of the other. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.12
-At the recent Trades Union Congress it was voted that forty-eight hours should constitute a week’s work in all trades, and that all the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be collectively owned and managed by the community. This commits the Unions to Socialism. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.13
-Those who can think in large figures may be interested in the fact that the Post Office last year carried 2,799,500,000 letters, etc., besides 54,034,000 parcels. There are 74,819 persons permanently employed in handling the mails, and another 61,000 persons are employed more or loss. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.14
-People who do not think may like to hear that 18 million letters, etc., were sent to the Returned Letter Office. Of course a large proportion of these were wrongly or insufficiently addressed. No less than 34,000 letters were posted without any address at all, and more than 2,000 of these had money enclosures. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.15
-France has been “protecting,” Madagascar for a long time, and now it is generally expected that a quarrel with the natives will soon be the occasion for taking the island over entirely. It is 080 miles in length, and contains 230,000 square miles-about equal to four time the area of England and Wales. The French journals urge that France must make it their chief colonial possession. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.16
-The King of Korea is between the two stools-China and Japan. But he is a philosopher. He is on the best of terms with the Japanese, who are in possession of his capital, and has concluded an alliance with them and asked them to be good enough to drive the Chinese out. He has, at the same time, sent costly presents to the Empress Mother of China as a mark of his respectful satisfaction on her attainment of her 60th birthday. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.17
-West Australia has the excitement of a gold find which is drawing the people somewhat as California and South Africa did. There are said to be immense areas of rich gold deposits. The party which first discovered gold got out ?17,000 worth in six weeks, with the most primitive appliances. Mining towns are springing up, and wealth will doubtless be quickly gained by the fortunate and lost by the unfortunate. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.18
-The Russians have lately had a celebration at the completion of the first 500 miles in Asia of their trans-Siberian railway. They are hastening the work along, but it is an enormous undertaking, and must consume considerable time. Authorities on commercial and military problems in the East point out the enormous advantage such a railway will be to Russia in her apparent designs on the British supremacy in the trade of the East. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.19
-The passion for doing something difficult or new, just for the sake of doing it, is being cultivated and exercised to an abnormal extent in a great variety of ways. One of the latest enterprises is that of a Russian who has started to go round the world on foot. This same foolish ambition is responsible for most of the deaths which occur in mountain climbing, which are annually reported about this season. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.20
-The average price of wheat has seldom gone lower than 24s. For the week ending Sept. 1st., however, it went down to 22s. 7d., the lowest average price during the present century. The reports state that apparently it will decline still further. This is doubtless one reason why so many farms are lying idle, and so many villages being partially depopulated. Apiculture seems to have received a hard blow in many of the counties of England. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.21
-The cost of transportation and the profits of the middlemen are keeping the producer and the needy consumer out of reach of one another. So we read of the need in one part of the world, and of surfeit in the supply in another. The consul in Smyrna says that in Turkey horses and cattle are being fed on raisins and other dried fruits. The prices offered in Turkey are so low that the cultivation of the vine will be largely discontinued if there is no change for the better. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.22
-All is not peaceful for the rulers in South-Eastern Europe. The King of Servia was stoned by a mob last week, as he rode in his carriage. Ferdinand of Bulgaria is in difficulty with his great minister, Stambouloff, and partisan feeling runs high. And the news comes that a plot has been discovered against the Austrian Emperor in Eastern Galicia. The spirit of unrest and discontent seems to increase, and self-restraint becomes a rarer virtue. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.23
-The Chinese have long been known as hard and industrious workers, and they have made their way into many western countries, where their competition in the labour market is being felt. They are now being encouraged by the Brazilian Government to enter that country. A Brazilian company has contracted with the government to bring in a million coolies. In Australia the Chinaman has demonstrated his abilities as a farmer and gardener, and Brazil is likely to gain by introducing the Chinese among their lazy easy-going native stock. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 606.24
“Back Page” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
The Pope has decided to convoke a conference next month of all the Oriental Patriarchs to discuss the question of the reunion of the Oriental churches with the Roman See. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.1
The infinite variety of living forms with which the Creator filled the earth affords constant surprises to the naturalist. A work just published, dealing with the classification of fishes, shows that over 300 species of fish hitherto unknown have been discovered in the lakes of Borneo. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.2
The Church Times, in behalf of High Church, repudiates Cardinal Vaughan’s contention that Ritualism is a nursery for the Roman Church. It is claimed that it prevents many from going over to Rome by supplying them with the Catholic doctrine and practice for which they seek within the English Church. It is certainly being supplied. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.3
The President of the Trades Union Congress truly said that the workers “have more to fear from drinking and gambling than from all the capitalists put together.” The man who has a tyrant as an employer may be still a free man. But one who is a slave to his own passions and nature is a slave indeed. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.4
The strained feelings between the Hindus and Mohammedans in Poona led to a riot last week in which four thousand combatants engaged. The Mohammedans in a mosque claimed to be disturbed by the singing of Hindu processionists and attacked the singers, and the riot began. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.5
We charge the rioting between Hindus and Mohammedans to their ignorance of the Gospel. But the Mohammedan might ask the reason for the strange feeling between the Roman and Greek and Armenian Catholics in Palestine. A friend just returned from a visit to the Holy Land says that it is still everywhere noticeable that the presence of the Mohammedan soldiers is all that restrains the fanatical Catholic rivals from doing violence to one another. The reason is the same, the utter ignorance of the Gospel. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.6
Moral back-bone is what we all need, and it is what the Gospel gives. But so many people make themselves miserable by refusing to learn its power. A missionary in India, writing to the Woman’s Signal of the great need of temperance work there, says that a society lady recently said to him:— PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.7
Oh, this cruel custom! I know every time I give my guests wine I may be leading somebody to ruin, but there is no help for it; my husband’s social position gauges his whole Indian career, and I cannot be the means of ostracising him. I must give wine. Ah, zenana might well turn the tables now, and make their way in Anglo-Indian homes, and plead with the English-women to break their own fetters, and so deliver those native society people who are following English customs. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.8
The demand of custom, society, or business is making slaves in all the world. The only man who is absolutely free is the one who has learned the giving up of all things, if necessary, to follow the right. Such an one cannot be driven in the slave-gang of custom. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.9
The sums per head spent by nations on military purposes usually far exceeds that spent on education, says the Echo, although we prate about intellect and pretend to detest brutality. Both England and France show a fat war budget and a lean educational one, but of all countries in Europe Russia shows the greatest disproportion, her war expenses towering aloft and hiding the dwarf column of her school expenses. Switzerland is the only country that spends more on educating her people than in teaching them to kill and maim-the only European country, that is, for the United States can claim to do the same. Denmark spends more on education than any other nation, but her army bill is far larger, although the disproportion is not so disgraceful as in the case of England, France, and Russia. Mental culture is, after all, a hors d’œuvre with us. We talk about brains, but we believe in blood. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.10
God is worshipped only in Spirit and in truth, and His worship is not something apart from life. In every false system of religion, however, the performance of certain rites and ceremonies is supposed to constitute worship, and the ordinary daily life is something quite divorced from religion. How completely Romanism leads its blind votaries toward the same point is illustrated by what Archdeacon Farrar says of a French king:— PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.11
One of the vilest and wickedness of kings-Louis XV. of France-got out of his carriage and went on his knees in the mud before the host, and the mob cheered him as a very religious king for performing this act; and yet he did it coming from the Capre? of his loathly palace, and returning to the sty of his habitual vice. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.12
It is on the same principle that the Italian or Mexican bandit or thief prays to the Virgin Mary for her aid in his criminal undertakings. And the difference is only one of degree when anybody loses the real vital experience of the power of Christ in his life, but satisfies the conscience by continuing the forms of religion which mean nothing to him. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.13
The mortality in India from the bite of snakes in one recent year is put by statistics at the shocking figure of 19,025 human beings. The death of human beings and cattle from the attacks of snakes and wild beasts during the year was 21,988 persons, and 81,668 head of cattle. It seems a terrible list to come from India alone. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.14
A rich French man has introduced bull-fighting as an amusement for himself and friends on his estate near Paris. It is the first time this brutal amusement has ever been brought into Northern France, and the Society for the Protection of animals is urging that it be suppressed by the public prosecutor. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.15
“Obedience and Affliction” The Present Truth 10, 38.
E. J. Waggoner
Obedience and Affliction.-Obedience to God brings tribulation; for “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer perseuction.” 2 Timothy 3:12. But the peculiarity about this tribulation is that it is entirely compatible with peace and joy in the heart of the one afflicted. Thus Paul said, “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians 7:4); and David testified, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes; the law of Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.” Psalm 119:71, 72. All who are willing to let the Lord try them will be able to say Amen to these words. PTUK September 20, 1894, page 608.16