The Present Truth, vol. 11
August 22, 1895
“The Malady of Sin” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
“And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.” Luke 5:17. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 529.1
The Malady of Sin.-On this occasion Jesus showed the people that the greatest need of all was to be healed from sin, and that the power by which the sick were healed was the power of the forgiveness of sins. “That ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (He said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise.” PTUK August 22, 1895, page 529.2
Help for All.-The poor man had his sins forgiven and was healed of his infirmity. All of the Pharisees and doctors of the law were just as needy of help. They knew that they were sinners, even as every man knows that he is a sinner, though not all would honestly acknowledge it. But they were not healed of sin because they did not believe that the power of the Lord was present to heal them. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 529.3
Without Excuse.-Some one may say, But they were without excuse; for they saw the power manifested before their eyes, giving life to a palsied man. True; and we, too, are without excuse if we have not forgiveness of sins and the power of His life working obedience in us. The miracles of Christ were recorded-not for those people back there,—but for us. “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.” John 20:31. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 529.4
The Power Now Present.-Every man sees the power of the Lord working before his eyes to-day. “We are saved by His life.” The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from sin. But “the blood is the life.” The power of Christ’s life is the power of forgiveness and cleansing, and the power which works the will of God in the believer. But that life is present with every man. Every sinner, no matter how wicked, lives by His life every day. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” Every soul that has life, or power to move, has evidence in itself that Christ’s life is given to him. And if he will only believe it, lay hold upon it by faith, that same life will cleanse from sin. The power of the Lord is present with every man to save him from sin and work righteousness in him if he will only let it be done. It is wonderful, but it is true. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 529.5
“‘Duty’” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
This is a word which, like “charity,” is often made most literally to cover a multitude of sins, in a way never intended by the Scripture. For the name most people have an enthusiastic admiration; for the actual thing itself there is less zeal. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 529.6
There are, however, many people who are very strict in the discharge of what they conceive to be their duty. Unfortunately, however, there is too often a total misapprehension of what duty is. When one is in the right way, there cannot be such a thing as a too faithful discharge of duty, for duty simply means what is due, or what one ought to do. The most rigid discharge of real duty, therefore, can never work hardship or injustice to any person, since injustice is not due to any one, and nobody ought to do it. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 529.7
It is when people who are conscientious in the performance of duty have mistaken ideas of what their duty is, that they wrong not only others, but themselves. Paul said: “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem; and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.” Acts 26:9-11. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 529.8
ENFORCING THE LAW
When Paul was doing that work of persecution he was simply enforcing the law. He was not a man to do that for which he had no warrant. He was “more exceedingly zealous of the traditions” of the fathers than were any others of his time. Yet who is there that will say that he was doing his duty in thus persecuting and wasting the church of Christ? PTUK August 22, 1895, page 529.9
Take the case of the persecution of Christians by the heathen. Neander says:— PTUK August 22, 1895, page 529.10
All the ancient religions were national and State religions, and this was especially the case with the Romans, among whom the political point of view predominated in everything, not excepting religion. The public apostasy of citizens from the State religion, or a new one not legalised by the State, appeared as an act of high treason. In this light was regarded the conversion of Roman citizens or subjects to Christianity. “Your religion is illegal,” was the reproach commonly cast on Christians, without referring to the contents of their religion; to this was added the striking difference between Christianity and all that had hitherto been denominated religion. Thus it was said to Christians, “While all other religions are so many sanctuaries for distinct nations, handed down from venerable antiquity, on the contrary, your religion existed from the first with disturbance; it was a revolt against religion of the Hebrews, which was venerable for its antiquity, though blameworthy for its intolerance; that was its origin, and now it threatens to overturn everywhere the established sanctuaries, and the order of things confirmed by sacred customs and usages.” ... Accusations and reasons such as in later times have been urged by the Roman Church against Protestantism, were then brought forward from the standpoint of heathenism against Christianity.-“Memorials of Christian Life,” chap. 3. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 529.11
It will be seen that when the Roman magistrate crushed the fingers of a Christian, or had him crucified, or beheaded, or sent to the mines, he was simply doing what he thought he ought to do, because the laws bade him do it. He would say that he was only “doing his duty.” He might be a humane man, and averse to causing misery, yet his mistaken sense of duty spurred him on, so that the most conscientious man became the worst persecutor. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.1
WAS IT DUTY?
Now will anybody claim that Saul of Tarsus was “doing his duty” when he persecuted the disciples with the sanction of the highest authority in the land? He himself came to look upon it as a great sin, and such it was. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.2
Can there be found a man in all England who will defend the Roman governors and magistrates for their merciless persecutions of Christians? Impossible. Yet those men were simply carrying out the law of the land. Ought they to have enforced those laws? Certainly not; and some of them, when Saul of Tarsus, ceased to be the instruments of unrighteous laws, and in turn suffered the persecution which they had inflicted upon others. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.3
NO CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCES
Strange how differently most people will regard the same action when done at different times! Even in law-loving England there is not a man who will applaud the ancient Romans for their devotion to laws which were directly opposed to the truth, and which resulted in torture and death, or, at the least, in confiscation of goods for the Christians. And there is not a man who will not applaud the magistrate or executioner who refused to be bound by such laws, even at the risk of his own life. Yet when certain laws in England stand in direct opposition to the commandment of God, and men are punished for obeying God in spite of those laws, those same men will say, “It is too bad, but the laws must be enforced.” Yet these English laws are opposed to the law of God, are but a part of those same laws of heathen Rome, for the violation of which Christians were put to death. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.4
Read again what the Standard said concerning the recent fining of the International Tract Society for Sunday work:— PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.5
The magistrate who has to deal with cases of this sort is not to be envied. It is indisputable that the seventh day, not the first, was set apart for rest and worship. There is nothing more than tradition to explain how or when or why the early Christians exchanged the seventh day for the first. Mr. Haden Corser did wisely to refuse all argument, insisting upon the law:—so did Pilate, his victim might explain. These Seventh-day Adventists are urged to claim exemption upon the terms allowed to Hebrews; but they indignantly assert their Christian faith. It is no use talking, however. If they must go on breaking the Factory Act, the law must go on punishing them, right or wrong. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.6
The Chronicle, in saying that “Her Majesty’s Factory Inspectors would be neglecting their duty if they did not take note of the circumstances,” but echoed the words of the magistrate and the Inspector. And doubtless there are thousands of others who, while they feel sorry for the victims of the law, do not see how it can be helped as long as the law stands as it does. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.7
WHERE THE EVIL LIES
Now let one thing be made clear, namely, that the evil in the days of ancient Rome did not consist in the fact that some Christians were tortured or put to death. The evil consisted in the fact that the laws of Rome were directly opposed to the law of God. People allow their sympathy for the suffering martyrs to obscure the real issue. The sin was in the laws themselves. They were just as sinful when nobody was killed, as when persecution was at its height. So in the case now before us, as well as in those other countries, notably in America, where Seventh-day Adventists are working in the convict gang, the great evil is not that innocent people suffer hardship, but that God is dishonoured. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.8
MAN’S FIRST DUTY
The one thing that all men need to have impressed upon them is that their first duty is to God. “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Matthew 22:37-39. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.9
Duty to man can never conflict with duty to God, for we do our duty to men only when obeying God. Therefore when men make a law which is in opposition to the law of God, and which cannot be obeyed without disobeying God, it is nobody’s duty to obey that human law. Neither is it anybody’s duty to enforce it. The reason is plain. It is because to obey or to enforce such a law is sin, and it is nobody’s duty to sin. On the contrary, it is everybody’s duty to do right. So while we may admire the disposition of a man who will unflinchingly do what he believes to be his duty in the enforcing a wicked law, we must be none the less faithful in warning him that he is committing a grievous sin, and doing the opposite of his duty. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.10
Let no one think that this means a crusade against wicked laws, or of any resistance of human government. The example of Christ and the apostles is sufficient proof of this. They did their duty to God just as though no laws contrary to His ever existed, and that was all. And in so doing, they work no ill to any human being. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.11
Let us therefore hear the conclusion of the whole matter: “Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man,” or, as the margin of the Revision has it, “This is the duty of all men.” Either statement involves the other. A human law cannot absolve us from duty to God, since we are not to be judged by man, but by God. “For God shall bring every work in the judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.12
“Tradition and the Monuments” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
How easily the knowledge of the events of creation and the fall could be passed by word of mouth from earliest time to the days following the deluge, can be seen at once when it is remember that Noah lived hundreds of years with Methuselah, who was contemporary with Adam. And the children of Noah must have imparted to their children whatever knowledge they possessed, and they themselves lived in the days of the oldest of the patriarchs, who had lived in the days of Adam. And besides all this, and more than all, God spoke to men by prophet and teacher, the witness of Enoch, “the seventh from Adam,” and of Noah, the “preacher of righteousness,” being mentioned in Scripture. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 530.13
As this knowledge was handed down from generation to generation it would of course become perverted as the world lapsed into idolatry, refusing to retain God in their knowledge. The ancient tablets which are being dug from the sands of Assyria and Babylonia show that this was exactly what occurred. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.1
Thus there are tablets giving accounts of the creation, the institution of the Sabbath, the fall, the deluge, and the dispersion of the descendants of Noah, showing in a striking manner that the most ancient heathen world possessed traditions-twisted and corrupted to meet the pagan polytheism, it is true, but nevertheless traditions which have started with a gradual perversion of the truthful story of the events, as narrated in Scripture. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.2
To the believer the Scripture needs no confirmation, and these records are interesting merely as evidence of the extent to which the nations had departed from the knowledge of God which they once possessed as the apostle shows in the first of Romans. But unbelief-always unreasonable and capable of the strangest freaks-reverses the true and natural course of tradition, and learned Assyriologists gravely say that the plain statements of Scripture, which we know are the words of the Holy Spirit, are derived from the mystical traditions of these tablets of primitive times. Could anything illustrate more completely the disposition of the times to explain away the Word of God? PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.3
“What Europe Teaches Its Youth” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
A single paragraph sometimes reveals to perfection the hideous workings of the war spirit, which transforms good-natured men into very demons, exulting in the thought of killing. A war correspondent tells how he met a young fellow just leading his company back from a charge on the field of Mare-la-Tour, the thirteen officers above him having been killed in it. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.4
He told me all about what fun it was to be in command, and that he was sure to get something now, and that he meant to have another go in directly, etc. He was the most thoroughly English-German boy I ever saw. We stood under a tree together, and I gave him some cigars and left him. Two hours afterwards I saw his dead body laid out with others in a row, the cigar still stuck between the buttons of his coat. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.5
This was in the Franco-German war of 1870-71, which was to settle the differences between these countries. Of course it did not; and ever since both of these civilised nations have been training their young men for war, and doing their best to put into their hearts the same fierce war spirit. And all the other Powers are following more or less closely behind. In every honest, pleasant-faced, and lusty young fellow the Continental Powers see the possibilities of a fighter, and claim the right to take him from school or business in order to teach him how to kill his fellow-men, yet these are called “Christian” nations. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.6
“‘Not Under the Law’” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
There are a few texts of Scripture, or rather, a few fragments of texts, that almost everybody seems to be familiar with. One of them is the statement that we are “not under the law, but under grace.” The following extract from a letter which makes a very kind reference to the PRESENT TRUTH, shows the object for which that portion of Scripture is usually quoted:— PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.7
What you say concerning the Sabbath as a law to be observed by Christians is not scriptural; for we are not under the law, but under grace. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.8
This is but a sample of numerous communications that come to us, or of statements which we frequently hear. So general is the idea that we are not to keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, because the apostle says, “Ye are not under law, but under grace,” that it deserves special attention. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.9
One strange thing is that we never hear that text applied to any other than the fourth commandment. But the fourth commandment is only a part of the law; and if the fact that we are not under the law absolves us from keeping the Sabbath, then it just as surely frees us from obedience to the other nine precepts of the law. Suppose therefore we make the application. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.10
The eighth commandment says, “Thou shalt not steal.” But when the thief is reproved for his dishonest practices, and is told that he should live by labour, and not by fraud, he may retort, “Your argument is not scriptural, for we are not under the law, but under grace.” PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.11
The violent man whose hand is against every man, when told that hatred and violence are murder, and that the commandment says, “Thou shalt not kill,” has as good a right to use the text to justify himself, as the man who uses it against the Sabbath. “We are not under the law, but under grace,” he will say, as he makes an assault upon his neighbour. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.12
Our friend sees a man who is going to the house of the woman whose “steps take hold on hell,” and he admonishes him to turn back, quoting to him the commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” But this man has heard our friends say that it is unscriptural to keep the fourth commandment, because we “are not under the law, but under grace,” and so he says, “Have you forgotten your text so soon? Don’t you know that we are not under the law, but under grace? Instead of reproving me, you had better come along with me, for surely so conscientious a man as you are does not want to be in opposition to Scripture.” What can our friend reply?—Nothing whatever that will have any effect upon that man, unless he says, “I was mistaken; I made an unwarranted use of those words.” Let us hope that he would do so. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.13
Our friend goes as a missionary to China. He teaches the heathen that the Bible is the Word of God, and to be obeyed, and an honest-minded heathen who has read the Bible for himself begins to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, “according to the commandment.” Our friend is shocked, and says, “That is not at all right; you must not keep the Sabbath; we are not under the law, but under grace.” The poor Chinaman does not see it clearly; but since it is much more convenient not to keep the Sabbath than to keep it, he allows custom and convenience to make up for the obscurity, and yields to his new teacher. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.14
But the next day our missionary friend is shocked to find his new convert making obeisance to a hideous idol, and burning some strange smelling stuff before it. “What!” he exclaims, “Have you forgotten that the great God who created all things has said, ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,’ ‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, ... thou shall not bow down thyself to them’?” And the simple-minded man will reply, “Me no forget; me ‘member your teaching velly well; not under law, under grace.” By what arguments will our friend make it plain to him that while the expression, “not under the law, but under grace,” takes away the obligation to keep the fourth commandment, it does not in the least diminish our obligation to keep all the others? PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.15
We have not drawn a fanciful picture. Many hundred years ago the same argument was used that we have put into the mouth of our friend. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 531.16
Read in Jeremiah 7:8-10 the reproof which the Lord gave to Israel of old: PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.1
“Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?” PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.2
As a matter of fact the words, “not under the law, but under grace,” are not now used, at least not to any great extent, to justify disobedience to any other commandment than the fourth. And why not? There is but one reason, and that is, that in this country it would be unpopular to do so. This would be a severe accusation if it were not for the fact that those who make use of the excuse do not know what they are doing. They may say, and with truth, that they do not wish to steal, and murder, and commit adultery; that such things are abhorrent to them. Quite so; but that only proves that it is not the commandment of God that restrains them, but the impulse given them by their training and by public opinion. If it were popular to do those things, and they had been brought up to do them, they would plead the same excuse for them that they now do for not keeping the Sabbath. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.3
Now let us consider what the Scripture really does say, and thus we shall know what it means. The text is Romans 6:12-15, and reads thus:— PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.4
“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.5
Note these obvious facts:— PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.6
1. Those who are not under the law are those over whom sin has no dominion. But “sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. Therefore, PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.7
2. Those who are not under the law are the ones who are not transgressing the law, but who are keeping it. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.8
3. It is not stated, as a universal fact, that all men are not under the law, but under grace. The words, “Ye are not under law, but under grace,” are addressed to those who have been “baptized into Jesus Christ,” “in the likeness of His death,” and have been made “alive from the dead,” “in the likeness of His resurrection.” It is therefore not at all true of the transgressors of the law that they are “not under the law, but under grace.” Such persons are still under the law. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.9
4. But “the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” Titus 2:11. Its object is to save men from sin-from the transgression of the law. Those who accept this grace are brought out from under the law, to walk in it without fault before God. For “God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:3, 4. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.10
Let us take heed not to trust in vain words that do not profit, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose delight it was to do the will of God, whose law was in His heart. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.11
“Missionaries and Governments” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
The massacres in China have led to a chorus of protest in the press against missions. One journal says:— PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.12
The good these missionaries do is counterbalanced by the evil results. Many of these missionaries are more zealous than discreet. It is simply ridiculous that nations should be under constant risk of going to war in order to protect the missionaries. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.13
There are missionaries and missionaries, but the true missionary does not ask his home government to protect him. The less he is associated in the minds of the people with foreign governments the better off he is, and much of the hatred that is treasured up against the preacher is due to the interference of foreign powers. A writer stated in one of the Reviews a short time ago that even Li Hung Chang to this day persists in seeing in the English missionary the representative of the power that battered down the Taku ports and forced opium upon China. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.14
The triumphs of the cross in heathen lands have been won by men who put their lives in the hands of those for whose souls they prayed and worked, trusting the God whose voice many times has said to fierce and barbarous hearts, “Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm.” Sometimes, it is true, the Lord has allowed life to be taken, and then the blood of martyrs has been the seed of the church, and savage natures have been won to Christ by the patient sufferings of those whom they persecuted. How different the situation when heathen peoples understand that around the missionary are the bayonet and the cannon. He then loses his distinctive character as an ambassador of Heaven, and becomes in the eyes of the people, and in fact, the semi-official representative of a foreign religion. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.15
For this reason the missionary of apostolic mould, not only does not ask protection of his home government, but protests against it. Here is one of the paragraphs in the prospectus of the Soudan and Upper Niger Mission, by its heroic founders, Brooke and Robinson, which breathes genuine Christian courage, and sets forth the true principle of the Gospel worker:— PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.16
POLITICAL STATES.-As the missionaries enter the Moslem States under the necessity of violating the law of Islam, which forbids anyone to endeavour to turn Moslems to Christ, they could not, under any circumstances, ask for British intervention to extricate them from the dangers which they thus call down upon themselves. But also, for the sake of the natives who have to be urged to brave the wrath of man for Christ’s sake, it is necessary that the missionary should themselves take the lead in facing these dangers; and should, in every possible way, make it clear to all that they do not desire to shelter themselves, as British subjects, from the liabilities and perils which would attach to Christian converts from Mohammedanism in the Soudan. They will, therefore, voluntarily lay aside all claim to protection, as British subjects, and place themselves, while outside British territory, under the authority of native rulers. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.17
“‘Present Truth’” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
In 2 Peter 1:12 we read, “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.” What is present truth? It is truth that is with us; and the revisers have given an exact rendering of the original in these words, “Wherefore I shall be ready always to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is with you.” To whom is this addressed? “To them that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” That is, to all Christians in every age. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.18
What is this present truth, or this truth which is with us? Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” John 14:6. Moreover, He is always with us, for He says, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Matthew 28:20. And He is always the same, for we read again, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8. This, then, is the present truth, the truth that is ever present with us. He who grows in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is growing in the knowledge of the truth. To proclaim this truth is the sole object of this paper. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 532.19
“A Press Opinion” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
Returning to a case in the State of Georgia (U.S.A.), where a man was sentenced to a year in the chain gang for quietly performing his work on Sunday, after having “rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment,” a New Orleans daily journal says:— PTUK August 22, 1895, page 533.1
A State which retains on its statute books laws that punish an industrious man for keeping his Sabbath on the seventh day, and working on the first day of the week, is a State whose civilisation and whose Christianity are of a questionable and medi?val character. There is an ancient statue known to most people, which says, “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.” We have not heard that this ancient statue, given by Jehovah Himself to the leader of His chosen people, has ever been officially or authoritatively repealed; nor are we aware of any logical reason why people calling themselves Christians should take it upon themselves to maintain all the other commands of the Decalogue intact, and interfere, for their own convenience, with this statute alone. Indeed, we are of the opinion that people calling themselves Christians are considerably unchristian when they punish their fellow-citizens for keeping one of the commandments of the moral law, which they themselves are in the habit of breaking. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 533.2
“Dragging Skirts” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
If a woman who wears a dragging skirt as to street dress could walk behind herself and see how it looks sweeping the pavement she would surely discard this habit for a more rational one. The Lancet says:— PTUK August 22, 1895, page 540.1
“Granted that the germs of disease abound in a given quarter, no ordinary means could more effectually insure their disappearance than the broom-like action of a flowing skirt.” PTUK August 22, 1895, page 540.2
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes put the following speech on this question in the mouth of one of his characters in “The Professor at the Breakfast Table:”— PTUK August 22, 1895, page 540.3
“Because a queen or a duchess wears long robes on great occasions, a maid-of-all-work or a factory girl thinks she must make herself a nuisance by trailing through the street, picking up and carrying about with her-pah! That’s what I call getting vulgarity into your bones and marrow. It any man can walk behind one of these women, and see what she rakes up as she goes, and not feel squeamish, he has got a tough stomach.. would not let one of them into my room without serving them as David served Saul at the cave in the wilderness-cut off his skirts, sir! cut off his skirts! ... Don’t tell me that a true lady ever sacrifices the duty of keeping all about her sweet and clean to the wish of making a vulgar show. There are some things that no fashion has any right to touch, and cleanliness is one of these things.” PTUK August 22, 1895, page 540.4
“News of the Week” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
-Heavy mortality is reported among the French troops in Madagascar, owing to the climate. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.1
-The Blank Flags of Formosa still continue to oppose the Japanese occupation of the island. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.2
-The Pope, it is said, h as abandoned his purpose of advising the Catholics of France to rally to the Republican Government. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.3
-The Russian authorities have ordered that the English language be substituted for the German in the high schools of Central Asia. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.4
-The Ammer of Afghanistan has written to say that he will never doubt the friendship of England, aster the cordial reception which his son received in this country. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.5
-One of the largest of the firma of shipowners now stipulate that their captains shall be total abstainers. The loss and danger involved in having drinking captains has led to the now ruling. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.6
-A Venezuelan gunboat fired on a British schooner the other day. The territorial dispute between British Guiana and Venezuela is causing irritation, of which the incident mentioned is a symptom. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.7
-Assaults on Englishmen in Egypt continue with increasing frequency. France declares its purpose of raising in October the question of the evacuation of Egypt, and Russia is to support the French protest against longer British occupation. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.8
-The German colonial authorities are planning for the building of a railway in their East African territory. The snort of the locomotive is now heard in many parts of Africa where a few years ago the cry of wild animals was the only sound. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.9
-The average of 120 deaths per day for several weeks has been the record of the effects of yellow favor among the Spanish troops in Cuba. The rebels are strengthening their forces, and it is still a question whether Spain will hold or lose her chief colonial possession. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.10
-A French military journal declares that Germany is preparing for a possible war with France in 1896. The new military orders come into force then, and new arms will then be in the hands of the army. This suspicion causes France to urge on its preparations for the struggle-and the people pay the bill. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.11
-A Peace and Arbitration Conference was held in Brussels last week, to discuss the best ways of bringing States to the point of submitting disputes to arbitration. One orator, whose speech was applauded, said that war would never cease as long as there were two men in the world. True enough, if the men were unconverted. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.12
-At a public conference on the national bread supply held last week, mostly consisting of medical men, it was urged that more stringent regulations should be in force to insure proper quality in bread, many outbreaks of illness being traced to bad bread supply. One speaker created a sensation by declaring that sawdust was now being made. into flour. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.13
-A leader of the Garman missions In China states that the population near Foochow ordinarily only waited for a chance to mob and plunder, and the disappointment occasioned by the outcome of the recent war furnished the opportunity. He points to the fact that German missions have not suffered, while English and French have, as indicating political animus, Germany never having performed acts of aggression while England and France have. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 542.14
“Back Page” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
Wales has been constituted a Roman Catholic see, and the new Bishop of Wales will, it is said, have his seat at Oswestry. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.1
A whole cargo of Russian “holy pictures,” it is said, is to be sent to Abyssinia to supply the churches of that country. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.2
The Pope has organised a mission to Iceland, where hitherto the Lutheran Church has reigned supreme. “This far-reaching propaganda,” says the Chronicle, “is a sign of the times which should not be lost sight of.” PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.3
Sometime ago our brethren in Mexico established a medical mission in Guadalajara, which has had such success that they are compelled to plan for providing accommodations for paying patients. The staff of workers is to be increased, as well as the facilities for caring for the sick. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.4
The annual conference of our churches in Denmark was recently held in Frederikshavn, attended by about three hundred representatives of the work, including some of the labourers in the neighbouring conferences of Norway and Sweden. From the fact that over eight thousand pounds’ worth of publications have been sold in the Scandinavian countries during the year, it may be seen that the work is prospering there. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.5
News from Russia from time to time shows that the Stundists and other dissenters from the State Church are having no easier way than in the days of Alexander III. Yet the truth continues to make progress, and the exertions of all the clergy are powerless to keep it from entering new districts. Occasional reports from our exiled brethren in the Transcaucuses and Siberia show that amidst tribulation they continue preaching the Word, and not without results. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.6
The New York Independent states that the Pope has just issued a decree allowing working people in the United States to eat meat on fast days, with certain exceptions; but the bishops are directed to give the people the advice that on those days in which they take advantage of this indulgence they should perform “some other act of penance, for example, abstain from intoxicating liquors.” It is just to add that the bishops do not all agree in publishing the indulgence. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.7
With one voice the Pope counsels peace, but true to its traditions the Roman Church favours war whenever there is prospect of advancing its power by this means. A Dalziel’s despatch says that the Bishop of Madagascar gave a lecture before the Geographical Society of Lyons, in which he stated that it would be a mistake to try to treat with the Hovas. “A treaty imposed by force was necessary.” It is necessary because France and the ecclesiastical rulers in France will never be satisfied until Madagascar is deprived of all its rights and liberties. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.8
“Official ‘Conversion’” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
Official “Conversion’.-The strange idea of conversion which passes in statecraft is illustrated by a Rome despatch regarding the young Bulgarian prince:— PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.9
Prince Ferdinand has declared to the Vatican that he will never consent to the conversion of his son to the orthodox religion. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.10
But for the father’s protest, his infant son might have been officially “converted” without being conscious of it, and Russia would soberly have proclaimed its reconciliation with Bulgaria. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.11
“Satisfying the Law” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
Satisfying the Law.-Last week the bailiff was nominally in possession of our printing works, and before this paper reaches its readers goods sufficient to satisfy the recent fines imposed for Sunday work will doubtless be removed for sale at public auction. One can feel nothing but pity for those who have to deal with the matter. Thus the poor bailiff said that he didn’t want to do it, but he was “but a tool.” That is the very nature and purpose of Sunday laws, or of any laws by which the god of this world seeks to propagate his religion of force. Every man must decide whether he will be God’s willing instrument, or an unwilling tool of traditions and customs opposed to God’s Word. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.12
“Very Embarrassing” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
Very Embarrassing.-That eminent French scholar and senator M. Barthélemy Saint-Hilarie, speaking in the French Senate a few years ago, said: PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.13
From what motive has the Sabbath, which is Saturday, become in the Christian Church the Sunday? I have sought in vain the reasons for this act in the best authorities, such as the decrees of the Council of Trent, of Montpellier, and of Meaux, edited by the great Bossuet; I have not found them. It is, in effect, very embarrassing to explain a thing of this nature, which is the result of a kind of tradition.... Much as you may believe that you are obeying a Divine commandment laid down in the sacred Book, and which is, more or less profoundly, respected by all intelligent and philosophical men, still I say that it is not the commandment of God that you observe or pretend to observe. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.14
The embarrassment of explaining why one’s practice is contrary to the Word ought not to come very many times to anyone’s experience. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.15
“True Prayer” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
True Prayer.-Many people think that prayer consists merely in asking. That is the reason why it is so often done mechanically. The fact is that true prayer consists in asking and receiving. Every true prayer is offered in the name of Christ, and the promise is, “If ye shall ask anything in My name I will do it.” John 14:14. And again, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Mark 11:24. True prayer is thus enjoined: “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known.” Philippians 4:6. The thanksgiving is for the reception of the things asked, which faith grasps. When it is understood that the same prayer that conveys our request to God, brings in return His blessings to us, prayer will be pleasure, and will be fresh with praise and thanksgiving. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.16
“Activity in Pitcairn” The Present Truth 11, 34.
E. J. Waggoner
Activity in Pitcairn.-The following communication, which has reached the outside world from one of our brethren on Pitcairn Island, is of more recent date than the long letter which we printed last week, and shows that some improvements in the island are under way:— PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.17
We shall soon have a large building completed for a boarding-school. We are trying to improve the water facilities. We have a windmill in operation, to which we have attached a mill for grinding our breadstuff, and also a turning lathe. We have raised one crop of Indian corn and have another on hand now in good roasting ear. A week ago last Sabbath we had the captain and one lieutenant of the British man-of-war Hyacinth with us at Sabbath-school of which they spoke very highly. I was invited to go on board the vessel on Sunday and talk to the men, which I did, and followed it up with about two hours’ answering questions on scriptural points. They were anxious to read, so we furnished them with a large amount of reading matter. In the afternoon they gave us a parting salute with one of their big guns, and went on their way. PTUK August 22, 1895, page 544.18