The Present Truth, vol. 11
April 11, 1895
“Front Page” The Present Truth 11, 15.
E. J. Waggoner
When we turn our backs upon the cross, we walk in the darkness of our own shadows; for the cross is light. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 225.1
Men become athiests only when they try to comprehend infinite truths with finite minds. The apostle says. “We have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:16. With that mind we can grasp the truths which God has revealed. That they are not grasped is not the fault of God, but of men who prefer their own natural minds to the mind God has given them in Christ. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 225.2
We see truth clearly only when we see “the truth as it is in Jesus.” He is the light of this world, and in that light truth appears in no uncertain outlines. Those who will not look to Christ, cannot expect to know the truth. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 225.3
The mistake which people make in “going to law” with one another, is in using the law of man instead of the law of God. The law which would settle all difficulties is that law which says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” PTUK April 11, 1895, page 225.4
“I would have you know,” writes Paul, “that the head of every man is Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:3. Would that all men knew and believed this to-day. Can it be thought strange that the world is in such a sad state spiritually and that so little moral progress is visible, when so many men, even in the church, are trying to get along without a head? As well might the body try to get along without a physical head. If we reject Christ, we disconnect ourselves from our Divine Head and are spiritually headless. And if we make some man our head,—be it the Pope or any other-we simply go one step farther and put on a head in the place of the one which has been severed. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 225.5
“Our Heavenly Parent” The Present Truth 11, 15.
E. J. Waggoner
To have a correct view of the nature of God and of His dealings with mankind, we must view Him as our Parent. This is the light in which He presents Himself to us in His Word. In that Word we are commanded to love Him with all the heart, mind, and strength; and we cannot do this without a correct idea of the relationship between Him and ourselves. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 225.6
Love of a parent is natural, being the first love that an individual knows. We love our parents for their relationship to us, and not for their rank and position in the world. So we may love God, not because He is a Judge and a King, but because of the love and gentleness which mark His relationship to us as our Father. It is that word which God puts into our mouths as soon as we open our hearts to Him. “Because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” Galatians 4:6. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 225.7
There is no reason for loving and showing reverence to an earthly parent, which does not apply, with immeasurably greater force, to our relation to God. If we are proud to be known as the sons and daughters of those who are noble, gifted, and philanthropic on the earth, much more should be our delight to proclaim ourselves the sons and daughters of One whom all high and noble attributes dwell in perfection. “We have,” says the apostle “had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence, shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live. For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.” Hebrews 12:9, 10. God is a parent who never makes a mistake, and who never deals with us in any other spirit than that of love. No greater reason for love could exist than that which we have for loving and trusting Him. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 225.8
But God does not compel anybody to love Him. He has not made any person without the power to choose whether he will love Him or not; and therefore He has not made any one without the power to sin, for sin is but the result of not loving Him. And no one who will view God in His rightful position of a parent will wonder for a moment why He has not done so. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 225.9
What loving parent could be satisfied with a show of love which came not from the child’s free will? It would be but a show, and not genuine love, if it did not proceed from the will of the giver. How much less, then, can God be satisfied with that which would not satisfy man? Just as much less, indeed, as His powers of appreciation are higher than ours. “God is love;” and in this fact, divinely revealed to us, God has set the very highest estimate upon the value of love. He has marked it as the most valuable thing in the universe. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 225.10
Since God loves us, He speaks to us in the voice of love. And that voice is a “still, small voice.” Even the human voice, when it speaks in love, is never loud and harsh, but soft and musical, as far as the capabilities of the speaker will admit. But no human voice can speak in the accents of the “ still small voice” that speaks to the soul. That is tenderness and sweetness without ever a tone that jars upon the ear within. It is the voice of instruction and not of command, and is full of infinite patience. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 225.11
Some people query why God does not govern the world so as to prevent, by His mighty power, the evil deeds with which it is filled; why He does not give such a display of His majesty and sovereignty as will strike terror to the heart of the evil-doer and compel him to cease from his wrong purpose. Such people forget that God is a Parent, otherwise they could answer their own query by asking themselves why they do not brandish a club over their children and storm and shout at them to make them see that something they are doing is wrong. There is a better way than that to deal with children, and that is to teach them; and no child can be taught anything by first being terrified. God knows the best way of dealing with children more fully than man knows it; and so He teaches us and does not terrify us by thundering from the heavens. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 226.1
And we have the hope of one day being like Him, and seeing Him as He is. But since He is love, we also, to be like Him, must be love. When we are love, our lives will be but a manifestation of love, as is His life. And we can become love by being filled with Him and created new in Christ, who is also love, like His Father. When we are thus filled with love, or turned into love by the new creation, we become like God. Though still in mortal form, compassed with human imperfections, we are nevertheless in character just what He is. And being like Him now in character, we shall be like Him in form when He appears. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 226.2
“Preparing War” The Present Truth 11, 15.
E. J. Waggoner
“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong.” Joel 3:9, 10. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 227.1
In our own day we hear much proclaimed by the prophets of peace. We hear a temporal millennium prophesied, when the art of war is to be forgotten. Such proclamations have only the weight of the words and wisdom of man. We must seek to a higher source for positive knowledge. Such a source is the word of prophecy; and those who are wise will seek to it, and shape their expectations in its light. But that word draws no fine picture for this world, calculated to please and assure those who build their hopes upon it. There are “wars and rumours of war,” “famines, pestilences and earthquakes in divers places,” “men’s hearts failing them for fear,” and “tribulation” in many forms, but not “peace and safety” till the Prince of Peace comes again and displaces earthly kingdoms with His own. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 227.2
The time of which the prophet Joel speaks is shown by the verses following those quoted. “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down; for the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.” Verses 12-16. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 227.3
It is when “the day of the Lord is near” that this proclamation goes forth. As that great day draws nigh there will be preparations of war among the nations. The heathen will be wakened, and made ready for a part in the mighty fray. There will be a general sound and stir of preparation for conflict. This is as Christ predicted to His disciples. When they asked of Him, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” He said, “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Matthew 24:7, 8. The end will be worse than the beginning. It is as if the earth felt and shuddered at its coming doom. Certainly the rulers of its darkness fear and know what is coming, and redouble their efforts as their reign draws near its end. “The devils .. believe and tremble.” James 2:19. The “god of this world,” the spirit that “ruleth in the children of disobedience,” have greater wrath “because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Revelation 12:12. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 227.4
We have but to note the existing conditions in our world to-day, to know that we have reached the time of Joel’s prophecy. The nations are armed to the teeth. On all sides is heard the sound of preparation for strife. The ploughshares and pruning-hooks have been beaten into swords; the iron that would have made ploughshares and implements of peaceful industry, has been moulded into weapons of war, and the labourers of the fields have been taken from the pursuits of peace. And now the “heathen” are being awakened, the nations of the far East are practising at war, and finding their place among the world’s belligerent powers. In the final conflict of the nations, they will be ready to step in. Supplied with the deadly products of the highest military art, the “heathen” may well consider themselves antagonists not to be despised. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 227.5
At this time, therefore, we cannot look for peace. Peace will not be the outcome of the present strained situation. The great armed camp of Europe will not break up in a bloodless termination of the established military system. God has said, “Prepare war;” He has proclaimed it among the Gentiles, and it is useless for man to proclaim to the contrary. God has not ordained war among men, for this time or any other; but He foresees and proclaims what will come. The war and strife come from the evil that pervades the world, from the lust for power and riches, and for the evil passions that work in unregenerate hearts who reject and despise the law of the Most High. So long as wicked men fill the earth, so long will there be commotion and strife. “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” Isaiah 57:20, 21. When the wicked shall have been finally removed by the judgment of the day of God, then “the meek shall inherit the earth,”—made new for their abode,—“and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.1
As the signs of the great day become more marked, and men’s hearts begin to fill them for fear of what is coming, there will be prophets of peace proclaiming “peace and safety,” by whom the world will be lulled into false security. But the Word of God tells us, “When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5:3. It becomes us to know what is coming, that we may escape. The light of the prophetic word is shining upon us for this very purpose. And therefore the apostle writes, to such as heed that light, “Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.2
“Be not wise in your own conceits.” PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.3
“‘Persecution and Tolerance’” The Present Truth 11, 15.
E. J. Waggoner
PERSECUTION AND TOLERANCE, Being the Hulsean Lectures preached before the University of Cambridge in 1893-4, by the Bishop of Peterborough, Dr. Creighton. Longmans, Green, & Co. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.4
This book is not an apology for the persecutions which blacken the record of the professed church since the days when earthly power was accepted by it. It rather shows how utterly contrary to the spirit and teaching of the Master was the desire for such power, and consequently how antichristian was the exercise of it. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.5
In the first place, it must be remembered that the idea of enforcing uniformity of worship for the supposed good of society and the State comes from Paganism. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.6
It was a matter of political expediency that men should at least profess to hold the same religious opinions. The language of Plato did not materially differ from that of the Inquisitor: “Let this then be the law: No one shall possess shrines of the gods in private houses, and he who is bound to possess them, and perform any sacred rites not publicly authorised, shall be informed against to the guardians of the law; and let them issue orders that he shall carry his private rites to the public temples, and if he do not obey, let them inflict a penalty until he complies. And if a person be proven guilty of impiety, not merely from childish levity, but such as grown-up men may be guilty of, let him be punished with death.” PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.7
Similar principles were put in operation in the Roman Empire, and as the teachers of the Gospel went out into the empire preaching the doctrine of the Cross, they were persecuted as disturbers of the social order. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.8
The Gospel, teaching that every man must give account of themselves before God, denied the pagan principle that the individual must allow the authorities of the State to be conscience for him. Soon after apostolic days came the “falling away” from the principles of the Gospel in the church, and when the rulers of the church compromised with an assimilated Paganism, they succeeded to the evil principle of enforced uniformity. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.9
The origin of the spirit of persecution is well stated in these words:— PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.10
It comes from the universal sense of inconvenience, when we do not at once get our own way. Then follows impatience, irritation, and resentment. Then reason is called in to help passion, and clothe the feelings with the semblance of deliberate action founded on policy and expediency. The love of power comes next, suggesting the future good to be obtained from a prompt display of resoluteness. Power supplies its own justification; for would it be there if it were not meant to be used? And who can blame it when it has succeeded? Then comes “that last infirmity of noble minds,” the hope for fame, the gratification that attends success, the proud consciousness of having cleared a difficulty out of the way. All this is so natural, and yet so wrong. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.11
It is wrong, of course, for it is the devil’s own way of working. It is the spirit that exists in every heart were self exists. The life of Jesus Christ working within is the only power that can keep the natural man down, and so it is a fact that the spirit of persecution is in the hearts of all men who are not in Christ, and only awaits an occasion to break forth. As the Papacy was founded on the principle of self-exaltation, it was prepared to manifest the Spirit of intolerance to the highest degree. Yet it was not without protest that some church leaders saw the principle carried out to its logical extremes at first, and then, also, not without the argument that always comes in to excuse religious persecution, the plea that the good of society demands it. Dr. Creighton says:— PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.12
Uniformity of religious belief was ruled by the State to be necessary, and was enforced accordingly. This was contradictory to the spirit of the church, and was long felt to be so. Yet the church gave way to the supposed necessities of its new position. Paganism was forbidden; heretics were reduced to obedience by the strong arm of the law. When the penalty of death was first inflicted for erroneous opinions, the Christian conscience was profoundly shocked. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.13
But when a wrong principle is espoused the natural man soon gets accustomed to its most rigorous application. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.14
The protest was soon forgotten by those who lived near the time; by the middle of the next century, Leo the Great accepted as a duty the suppression of heresy, and raised no objection to legislation which treated heresy as a crime against civil society, and declared it punishable with death. Thus the Divine law and the human law were put on the same footing, and the truth of God was no longer to be borne in upon the consciences of man by gentle pleading, but to be enforced as part of the necessary framework of social order. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.15
With the history that followed all are more or less familiar. The church and the world were hand in hand. It was not called religious persecution. The church delivered the heretic to the civil power and he was punished as a destroyer of order. Or the church succeeded in getting her ecclesiastical institutions adopted as part of the common law, and then the State was bound to maintain the institutions of the church in order to maintain its laws. When the civil power for political or social reasons wished to engage in the suppression of the rights of a people, the church lent her sanction to the secular policy, and pronounced the crusade justifiable on religious grounds as well. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 228.16
When the Scriptures began to be opened in the beginning of Reformation days, the light of the Gospel of liberty began again to be seen. Yet, as we have seen, the spirit of Rome is but the spirit of human nature and the devil, and so the evolution of the work of reformation has presented strange inconsistencies; and yet perhaps not strange when we remember the gross darkness which the long rule of the Papacy had cast over the earth. Luther denounced the use of force in matters of conscience, and declared that the Word of God alone must contend. But in later years he forgot the principle. “Luther had his reward; his movement fell into the hands of secular princes, who were authorised by theologians to decide controversies among preachers, and put down dissensions by the secular arm.” And thus the Reformation in Germany has stood still where Luther left it, and Rome has long been winning back its hold upon the Fatherland. Calvin delivered Servetus to the death, and the once gentle and mild Melanchthon congratulated him on getting the “blasphemer” put to death. The Reformers were not able all at once to throw off the blindness with which the Papacy had smitten in the eyes of all peoples. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 229.1
Dr. Creighton shows that the modern idea of toleration rests not so much upon the recognition of the principles of the Gospel, as upon the demands of political and social expediency. Such a basis cannot secure lasting results. It is often said that in this enlightened age the intolerance of past ages could never manifest itself. All history shows that this is a delusion. The Bishop says of tolerance:— PTUK April 11, 1895, page 229.2
It was not won by enlightenment, and it cannot be maintained merely by a trust in enlightenment. Christianity was converted into the basis for social order, and men were bidden to accept it for the maintenance of that order. Opinions which are judged necessary for social organisation tend to be exacting in their demands for entire allegiance. They advance at first by persuasion; then their upholders chafe at the slowness of progress. Why not quicken advance by compulsion? Why not reduce obstinacy by force? The temptation is always present; the spirit of persecution is ever ready to reassert itself unless it be checked by some controlling sense of duty. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 229.3
But when men throw off the restraints of the Lord and are fighting against His Word and truth the sense of duty is thrown utterly to the winds. Dr. Creighton closes the volume with a warning which is doubly significant in these times when signs are abounding showing that the old methods of securing uniformity are to be revived on the same old plea of maintaining social order. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 229.4
Meanwhile I do not know that the tolerance which is now praised by the world is very firmly established. It rests at present mainly on an equilibrium of forces which might easily be upset. There is always a temptation to the possessors of power-be they individual, or an institution, or a class-to use it selfishly or harshly. Liberty is a tender plant and needs jealous watching. It is always unsafe in the world, and is only secure under the guardianship of the Church; for the Church possesses the knowledge of man’s eternal destiny-which alone can justify his claim to freedom. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 229.5
But all the history of intolerance since the apostasy in the early centuries shows that it has been “the church” that has led in persecution. Not indeed the church of Jesus Christ, which is composed of all who have the life of Jesus manifested in the flesh, but those ecclesiastical organisations which have sought the favour and power of the world, and have made a virtue of “tolerance,”—these have always been led into using their power to cast down the truth and to silence dissent. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 229.6
The very use of the term “tolerance” in this interesting volume shows the frailty of the foundation on which the popular idea of religious liberty rests. The wickedness of intolerance is shown, but it is assumed that tolerance is a virtue. The word tolerance may often be incorrectly used by those who would repudiate that which their language signifies. But the idea that tolerance is a virtue must of necessity rest on the assumption that the person who dissents from another’s use has committed an offence against him, requiring the exercise of tolerance. Thus in matters of religion the one who “tolerates” assumes a lordship over the other’s mind and conscience. In other words he puts himself in the place of God, the very species of self-exaltation which characterises the Papacy. Tolerance and persecution are very closely allied. Tolerance is far from being a recognition of that perfect liberty of conscience which God grants to every man during earthly probation, and which He Himself will not invade. John 12:47, 48. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 229.7
“Vanity and Power” The Present Truth 11, 15.
E. J. Waggoner
How foolishly we may act when we attempt to maintain the spurious dignity which vanity exacts in recognition of a little power or authority. A Moscow gentleman made inquiry on a matter of business of the department of the Russian Government, and after long delay received a long official paper, and bearing the signature of several officials, saying that as no stamp was enclosed in his communication he could receive no reply. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 229.8
“The Sinews of War” The Present Truth 11, 15.
E. J. Waggoner
A writer in Chamber’s Journal states some interesting facts about the “war-chests” of the great powers. The withdrawal of vast amounts of coin from circulation, to rust in idleness until the signal is given for combat, can only have one influence, and that of depression in the commercial world. Of this the writer says:— PTUK April 11, 1895, page 229.9
“We have only lately begun to realise the immense part which the formation of these war-chests has played in the commercial depression from which the whole world has been so severely suffering. It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that the amount of hard cash now reserved by the various Governments in view of a possible outbreak of war, exceeds rather than falls short of one hundred and fifty million sterling, which would not under any circumstances be parted with, even for the most temporary object. It does not require much investigation to prove that the outcome of this must be anything but beneficial. The miser who hoards his gold injures others as well as himself, just as a landowner who deliberately permits his broad acres to lie waste is inflicting a blow upon the community which might live and thrive upon the produce of the soil. For the greater part of the last twenty years, first one nation and then another has played the part of miser, and laid a greedy hold upon treasure which should have been allowed to circulate and increase manyfold the wealth of those through whose hands it passed. Nor could this have happened at a more unfortunate time; for while the output of silver increased by leaps and bounds, that of gold fell away rapidly. Had silver maintained the position it had always previously held in the world’s currency, there would have been but a slight disturbance; for even had the gold been hoarded, there would have been ample silver to take its place. The gigantic efforts made to convert Europe into an armed camp have impoverished the people, not merely by demanding their labour, which would have been more profitably employed in tilling the ground and tending the mill or the loom, but by heaping upon them an almost unbearable burden of taxation, which they are so much the less able to meet. While the state of things continues, and these war-chests are being added to, there can be little hope of any relief.” PTUK April 11, 1895, page 229.10
“News of the Week” The Present Truth 11, 15.
E. J. Waggoner
-A telegram from Mojanga, Madagascar, states that 16 per cent. of the French stationed there are down with malarial fever. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.1
-The Welsh Disestablishment Bill has proceeded in Parliament as far as the second reading, the motion in favour of which was carried by a majority of forty-four. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.2
-The discovery of a new therapeutic serum, for the treatment of various diseases, including crysipsias, diphtheritic angina, bronchial diseases, meningitis, phlegmon, puerperal fever, etc., is announced from Paris. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.3
-The total revenue of the United Kingdom collected during the financial year ending March 30, amounted to ?101,697,804, and shows, when compared with the corresponding return of the previous year, a net increase of ?3,399,942. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.4
-The recent anti-Semitic victory in Austria has caused much alarm throughout the empire, as it is feared the result will be financial disaster. The Victorious party does not, it is said, represent the best elements of Austrian social or industrial life. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.5
-The British expedition in Chitral is meeting with very great difficulties in the prosecution of the campaign against the hostile tribes of that country, owing to the mountainous nature of the region to be conquered, and the prevalence of terrific storms. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.6
-A French admiral has announced that owing to the opening of the Baltic Canal, France would be obliged to maintain as large a fleet on the northern coasts of Europe as in the Mediterranean. There is no limit for any country to the increase of naval expenditure. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.7
-The announcement of a Chicago doctor that he has died vexed “the microbe of death” will be received by most people, doubtless, with some reserve. The real “microbe” of death is sin. The cause of man’s mortality is not visible within the field of scientific investigation. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.8
-Mr. Astor, an American millionaire, whose wife died recently in England and was buried in America, has ordered a New York florist to place over her grave a daily mantle of violets and lilies of the valley for a whole year. As these blossoms will have to be forced, the cost will be about ?200 a day. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.9
-The fifth annual meeting of the Paris Sunday Rest Association was held in that city April 8. Mr. Gladstone has expressed to the Society by letter his hearty sympathy with its object, affirming that the observance of “Sabbath” rest is in the opinion of a great majority of his countrymen a necessity of the spiritual and Christian life. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.10
-The Cuban insurrection appears to be gaining in strength. Recently the Government troop sustained a defeat, and the activity of Spain in sending reinforcements and taking general measures for the suppression of the outbreak, indicates a more serious state of affairs in the island than she would have the world believe. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.11
-A short armistice has been arranged between China and Japan, but it applies only to the provinces of Feng-tien, Pechill, and Shangtung, and does not prevent naval and military operations being carried on in other parts. The Japanese have bombarded the capital of Formosa. The young Japanese who tried to assassinate Li Hung Chang has been sentenced to penal servitude for life. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.12
-Great floods prevail in parts of Austria and Hungary. Owing to a sudden rise of atmospheric temperature the Danube rose enormously and overflowed its banks; in some towns situated on the banks of this river the water reached the height of forty centimetres in the houses, the inhabitants of which had to be supplied with food by boats. The river Save in Hungary likewise flooded the country in its neighbourhood until it looked like a lake; the water mounted in the houses more than a metre high. From some of the villages, where they lie low on the banks of this river, only the roofs were to be seen. The flood is the greatest known there for twenty-nine years. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 238.13
“Back Page” The Present Truth 11, 15.
E. J. Waggoner
Will not the Pope turn some of his zeal for social regeneration toward the enlightenment of his own witch-burning subjects in Ireland, before he addresses any more encyclicals “to the princes and peoples of the universe”? PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.1
We have made a note several times recently of the shipment of our larger books to foreign parts. If we speak of it more frequently than in years past it is only because the calls for publications are coming in more rapidly than ever before. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.2
Last week our publishing department shipped a little more than two tons of books to Australia, New Zealand, and India. These go to fill the orders taken by colporteurs in these fields. The frequency of these large orders shows that thousands are ready to read books calling attention to Bible truths for these days. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.3
We have before reported the success of the workers in South American and West Indian fields, who are engaged in selling our publications. Another order from the island of Jamaica, received last week, calls for 4,000 copies of “Steps to Christ.” From British Guiana, also, comes another order for 300 of the same book. As all of these books will set people to studying their Bibles for themselves we are glad to see them going out to the very ends of the earth. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.4
What the “staging” of Biblical subjects by the Salvation Army in Paris, and the production of the “Scripture drama” on the Parisian theatrical stage, it now seems to be a question for serious discussion in the religious world whether the church of the future shall run a theatre, or whether the theatre of the future shall run a church. The fact is a sad comment upon the present attitude of “the church” toward the world. Paul wrote to the Galatian church that Jesus Christ had been “evidently set forth, crucified” among them. Galatians 3:1. The same is true of every Christian church; for every believer is “crucified with Christ.” Galatians 2:20. That is the church’s trauma,—the great, the all-important spectacle which she is to hold before the world for the salvation of souls. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.5
At the late Birmingham Church Congress the fact was set forth for consideration that there is not a town in England in which the majority of the people do not neglect public worship. The same might be said of every other great nation which, in the interests of State support to Church dogmas, is called Christian. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.6
In reviewing a history of the English Church Union, the Church Times contrasts the present triumphant progress of Ritualism with the struggles of thirty-five years ago, and says, “We may wonder not so much why things have levelled up so slowly, but rather how it is that such a widespread and general improvement has come with such wonderful rapidity.” PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.7
“You have the Word but we have the sword,” was the argument with which Bishop Bonner cut short the debate on transubstantiation in Queen Mary’s Parliament. This sword is such a convenient argument that error has always been tempted to use it. But somehow it has always failed to settle questions. The reason is that “the Word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.8
When Naaman the Syrian was told to go and wash in Jordan seven times to be healed of his leprosy, he loftily replied, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?” Here Naaman showed his patriotism; but patriotism was sadly wanting in ability to help him out of his difficulties. Had he followed its dictates he would never have been healed. Patriotism is not Christianity. It can help no one toward recovery from the leprosy of sin. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.9
The idea of a confederation of all religions has a fascination for many minds, but probably few who talk of it see what the end of it would be, and will be. There is one power which would control such a confederacy, “that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth,” the Papacy. God’s word to the Christian when such confederacies are urged is, “Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A Confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.” PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.10
Whenever death places a deanery or a bishopric or some other ecclesiastical appointment in the hands of the Premier, the High and the Low Church organs begin to exhort him to consider the claims of their respective parties. Sometimes he is severely lectured both before and after making the appointment. If it were not a travesty of religion it would be amusing. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.11
A published list of Turkish massacres since 1820, gives the following statement of the nationality and numbers of the victims:— PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.12
| 1822, Greeks, principally in Scio | 50,000 |
| 1850, Nestorians and Armenians, Kurdistan | 10,000 |
| 1860, Marionites and Syrians, Lebanon and Damascus | 11,000 |
| 1876, Bulgarians | 10,000 |
| 1894, Armenians | 12,000 |
Total massacred 93,000 PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.13
This terrible showing throws a lurid light upon the propriety of the name “destroyer” given in the word of prophecy to the Turkish power. Revelation 9:11. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.14
The man who is a “mere tool” in anything may be sure that he is not doing work for the Lord. The Lord has no use for mere tools. The person whom He uses must actively co-operate with Him; His will must sanction the use that is made of him. It is always the devil that uses mere tools. He has done his best since the world began to make men mere tools in his hands. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.15
The colony of Victoria, Australia, has dug out of its gold mines ?280,000,000 sterling in fifty-four years, and every shilling of this amount says Mr. Henry Varley, has been spent upon whisky, brandy, and ales. PTUK April 11, 1895, page 240.16