The Present Truth, vol. 11
December 19, 1895
“Mission Work in Madagascar” The Present Truth 11, 51.
E. J. Waggoner
Now that the French have taken Madagascar it will be with deep interest that many will watch their treatment of English missionaries. The trouble has been that in many fields missionaries have forgotten that they were ambassadors of no earthly power, and have allowed national prejudices to compromise their character of missionaries of the Cross which knows no national distinctions. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 802.1
For the sake of the educational lesson to the native Christians and the honour of the Gospel, as well as for their own good, we hope the Madagascar workers at this critical time have kept from the danger that has destroyed so much of the good accomplished in other mission fields. But the home society has imperiled their usefulness by acting on that mistaken notion that the Christian must fly to earthly powers for protection whenever danger comes. Thus the Freeman, the Baptist organ, says:— PTUK December 19, 1895, page 802.2
Is trouble brewing for the missionaries? M. le Myre de Villers has described the representatives of the London Missionary Society as “the irreconcilable adversaries to French dominion in Madagascar.” Thereupon, under the lead of the Rev. R. Wardlaw Thompson, the society affirms the neutrality, if not friendliness, of its missionaries to the French, and appeals to Lord Salisbury to safeguard their interests. We fear the outlook is doubtful. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 802.3
It is a doubtful outlook, it must be confessed, when a missionary society, working in French territory, specifically appeals to the British Government to protect it, thus linking itself with a foreign power. What complaint can the society make if the agents are treated as foreign and hostile in case trouble between France and England should arise? It places the missionaries at a great disadvantage. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 802.4
The idea of having Governments and gunboats and the sword behind the religious reformer is characteristic of this time. The great majority of Christendom have decided that there is so little power in the Gospel that the arm of flesh must support it. Reforms are to be carried now by legislation and police power. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 802.5
We hope the Madagascar missionaries will remind their home board of the fact that as theirs is not a national mission they may rest confident that God, who has placed them in the field, can protect them in it without resort to the power of the sword. And every appeal to earthly power for protection is an appeal for the sword. This is not the lesson the Christian is placed in the world to teach. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 802.6
“The Word Made Flesh” The Present Truth 11, 51.
E. J. Waggoner
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” John 1:14. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 802.7
God in the Flesh.-We have already learned that the Word was in the beginning with God, “and the Word was God.” Therefore when we are told that “the Word was made flesh” we know that it is the same as though it said, “God was made flesh.” This is most sacred ground, and no one should presume to think of it, much less to speak or write of it in any other language than that of the Scriptures itself. Untold evil has resulted from the attempt to define and explain God in human creeds. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 802.8
Which Flesh?—“All flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fishes.” 1 Corinthians 15:39. Of course there is no chance for thought that the Word was made any other flesh than that of men; but the point to be noted is that there is but one flesh of man, so that when the Word was made flesh, He took a nature common to all man, high and low, rich and poor. He was “made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” Romans 1:8. He is “the Man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 802.9
The Nature of the Flesh.—“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like.” Galatians 5:19-21. No man has any reason to despise another. Whenever we hear of a brutal crime, or see a man grossly degraded by sin, we may know that it is simply the natural working of the flesh which we share in common with him. It needs this view before us, to enable us to comprehend the wonderful love that would lead the pure and holy God to come into such flesh. But this was the very flesh which the Word was made. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 803.1
“Yet Without Sin.”-Although the Word was made flesh, even our own sinful flesh, He was “full of grace and truth.” He was “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15. God made Him “to be sin for us,” yet He “knew no sin.” 2 Corinthians 5:21. He was made to be sin, yet He “did not sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.” 1 Peter 2:22. It is these two things combined that make Him a sympathising Saviour, in whom we may freely confide. No one can sympathise with another’s failings, if he has not been tempted in the same way. Moreover, those who are guilty of any sin are the quickest and fiercest to condemn others for the same sin. Sinners excuse sin, but have no sympathy for fellow-sinners. It is only those who are cleansed from sin, who can exercise charity for the erring. Christ was tempted to the uttermost, and was always pure from the slightest taint of sin; therefore we may trust Him as one who knows and who cares. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 803.2
Able to Help.—“In all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.” Hebrews 2:17, 18. And He is “able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through Him.” Hebrews 7:25. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 803.3
People sometimes imagine that because Christ never sinned, He cannot so fully sympathise with us in our sin; but that is just why He can. He knows the strength of temptation as no one else does, for He felt all the power of Satan. The one upon whom the enemy exerts all his power in vain, knows the extent of that power more than the one does who yields to it. The man who pulls against the tide knows its strength better than the one who floats with it; and the man who successfully breasts the current knows its strength better than the one who is swept back by it. So Christ not only knows all our need, and cares for it, but He is able to deliver. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 803.4
For Whose Benefit?-It is quite commonly assumed that the Word was made flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth eighteen hundred years ago, in order that He might learn man’s condition and needs, and thus be able to sympathise with and help them. That this is a mistaken idea can be seen by a moment’s reflection, as well as by plain statements of Scripture. The Psalmist says, “He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.” Psalm 103:14. Again, “O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.” Psalm 139:1-4. It is He upon whom men must depend for a knowledge of themselves. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins.” Jeremiah 17:9. “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Jeremiah 10:23. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 803.5
All this was as true eighteen hundred years before Christ as eighteen hundred years after. God knew men as well, and sympathised with them as much, four thousand years ago as He does to-day. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, “in all their affliction He was afflicted.” Isaiah 63:9. The prophet could say of a truth, seven hundred years before Christ, “Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” Isaiah 53:4. God was in Christ, not that He might know men, but in order that man might know that He does know them. In Jesus we learn how kind and sympathising God has always been, and have an example of what He will do in any man who will fully yield to Him. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 803.6
Still in the Flesh.—“Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.” 1 John 4:2, 3. To confess Christ, it is not enough to believe that He once lived and suffered and died and rose again. We must confess not merely that He did come in the flesh, but that He “is come in the flesh.” He is a present Saviour. As in all the afflictions of the Israelites of old He was afflicted, so now “we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” Hebrews 4:15. He still feels everything that touches us, for He is still in the flesh. Even in the heavenly places. He is still “the Man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5. He is our forerunner, that is, one of the brethren who has gone before to prepare a place for the rest. When He comes again, He will come in the flesh for His flesh did not see corruption and the same flesh that went into the grave also ascended to heaven. “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that He might fill all things.” Ephesians 4:10. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 803.7
In Every Man.-The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, literally, “tabernacled in us.” But since all human flesh is the same, and Christ took the flesh common to humanity, to show how closely God is identified with the human family, it follows that He is in all, just to the extent that any will allow Him. Remember that “the life was the light of men,” and that it “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” “He is not far from every one of us,” which means that He is very near to every one of us, so near that “in Him we live, and move, and have our being.” Acts 17:27, 28. The demonstration of the fact that the Word is in all flesh, is seen in that all know themselves to be sinners, and that even the wickedest men have at times prickings of conscience, and desires and even determinations to live better. This is the work of the Spirit, Christ’s representative, striving with them. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 803.8
Still further, we have the words of Moses, in Deuteronomy 30:11-14, quoted by the Apostle Paul in Romans 10:6-8. From these two texts we learn that “the Word” of which Moses speaks is Christ, the same Word of which John writes. So we read, “The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart.” Romans 10:8. This is not spoken to those who are perfect, but to those who are being exhorted to hear and do the commandments of God. “The Word is very nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” Deuteronomy 30:14. It is not there because we have done it, but in order that we may do it. Therefore it must be in every man, since God is no respecter of persons, desiring that all shall repent and live. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 803.9
Yet again we read, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobate?” 2 Corinthians 13:5. The reprobate is the one who is rejected as worthless. But God does not reject anyone who has not first rejected Him. He will never leave any man who has a desire for His presence. He does not leave men to themselves until they drive Him away. Christ, therefore, the Word who is God, is in every soul that comes into the world, lingering there until ordered out. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 804.1
Confessing Christ.-We have read that every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Now read once more Romans 10:6-8, which tells us that the Word, even Christ, is very nigh us, in our mouth, and in our heart, and read onward, “that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” To confess Christ, therefore, is to acknowledge that He is in us with power, even the power of the resurrection, and that He has a right to be there, having purchased us by His death; and that means to yield ourselves to Him fully (for He will not use any force), that His life may be manifested in us in its perfection, and not fitfully in the intervals when we do not repress it. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:6. Then we may say, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 804.2
Free Course for the Word.-We have read that the Word is very nigh us, in our mouth and in our heart, waiting for recognition. What is wanted is that Christ may dwell in the heart by faith. Ephesians 3:17. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Romans 10:17. If we hear the Word and believe it, then Christ, the Word, dwells in the heart by faith; and in those who believe it works effectually. But in spite of the fact that the Word is living and active, powerful, it can do nothing in us contrary to our will, because it is love. Therefore upon us depends whether or not the Word shall work effectually in us. So the Apostle Paul asked the brethren to pray for him and his companions, that the Word of the Lord might have free course and be glorified, even as with them. 2 Thessalonians 3:1. The Word is living water, and must be allowed unhindered flow, or else it ceases to be life to us. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 804.3
Holding Back the Word.-In Romans 1:18 we read of men who “hold the truth in unrighteousness.” That does not say that they merely have the truth in unrighteousness, but that they hold it. It ought to be allowed to run; they hold it back. If that repressing is persisted in, the Spirit of the Word will finally be driven out, and the light that is in men will become darkness. But if we confess our sins, as the Word shows them to us, the Word of God will grow mightily, and prevail. See Acts 19:18-20. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 804.4
The Practical Result.-We have seen that Christ, the Word who is God, is inseparable from the written Word. If we believe the Scriptures, Christ dwells in the heart by faith. The mystery of God made flesh is to be repeated in us. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), is the mystery of the Gospel. Since Christ is in the Word, when it is received in faith, we have the Word made flesh, even our flesh, by yielding ourselves to do all the requirements of the Word. Christ said, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Psalm 40:8. He is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8. Therefore if He dwells in our heart by faith, He will render in us the same obedience to the law that he did of old. The righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in us. We shall be doers of the Word, and not hearers only; its precepts will be things of life, vitalising our flesh; and we shall live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 804.5
“The Lion and the Lamb” The Present Truth 11, 51.
E. J. Waggoner
For some years Protestants in the United States-and in all the world, for that matter-have been wooing the friendship of Rome. The papal policy has been consistently directed to the encouragement of the fraternising spirit. It has been very largely forgotten, when it was convenient to join in some scheme of advancing religion by political action, that there was mortal antagonism between the principles of Protestantism and Romanism. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 804.6
Protestant leaders have so far dropped the principles of the Gospel which led their fathers to leave Rome, that there has been much talk of brotherhood in faith, and of the bonds that should bind together all “branches” of the Christian Church. A great deal has been made of union meetings and congresses in which the keen clergy of the Roman Church have condescended to appear alongside the Protestant clergy, yielding nothing, but encouraging Protestants in their effort to forget that their very name suggests a positive and undying protest against the papal system. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 804.7
Now, however, the time has come for a bolder stance. The lion has been humouring the simple lamb, and now if a lamb lies down with its playful companion it must be inside the lion’s capacious maw. This is the significance of the Pope’s recent letter to Cardinal Satolli, his legate in America:— PTUK December 19, 1895, page 804.8
We have learned that in the United States of America conversations are sometimes held in which people assemble promiscuously, Catholics, as well as other denominations, to treat upon religion as well as upon correct morals. In this we recognise the desire for religious things. But although these promiscuous conventions have unto this day been tolerated with prudent silence, it would, nevertheless, seem more advisable that the Catholics should hold their conventions separately, and that lest the utility of those conventions should result simply to their own benefits, they might be called with the understanding that the admissions should be open to all, including those who are outside of the Church. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 804.9
There is still the same brotherly desire for union-only now these Protestants whose joy it is to fraternise with Rome must go into strictly Catholic conventions as outsiders. Rome is for reunion, but the outsider must get inside. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 804.10
“The Boycott” The Present Truth 11, 51.
E. J. Waggoner
The organised boycott is a true child of the Papacy, though the Catholic Church did not call it by that name. At the Council of Tours, in 1163, the following decree was issued:— PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.1
We commend all bishops and priests to keep a watchful eye upon the heretics, and to forbid all men, under pain of excommunication, to harbour, or assist, or trade with them, that so, through deprivation of the benefits of society, they may be forced to repent of their error. And whosoever shall attempt to oppose the decree shall be smitten with the same anathema. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.2
It was the common treatment meted out to “heretics.” Now, when by flattering labour with dreams of a social millennium, the religious world succeeds in getting compulsory Sunday rest, and gets accustomed to the use of oppressive power, it will be an easy matter to set going the great religious boycott. Having wilfully rejected the Sabbath of the Lord, and chosen to enforce the institution which Rome holds forth as the mark of her authority over the Word, it will come naturally that the old weapon of the boycott will be added to the usual dragooning processes by which religious bodies in power have always tried to force men into conformity. The Scripture shows that this very thing will come:— PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.3
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 12:16, 17. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.4
But God Himself will break the great boycott, and the overflowing scourge shall sweep away the refuge of lies. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.5
“In Finland” The Present Truth 11, 51.
E. J. Waggoner
Our work in Finland was started by some of our Swedish brethren, and during the few years in which workers have been labouring in this interesting Russian province the truth has made good progress. A report from Norway speaks as follows of the way in which efforts to hinder have been overruled to the advancement of the work:— PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.6
“In Finland the church authorities, being exhorted through the press to investigate our work, have held councils as to what to do with us, and they published the report of these meetings in one of the largest city papers. They gave the name, and I think the price, too, of each of our books and pamphlets which we have issued in both the Swedish and Finnish languages. This was a splendid advertisement. They also said that some of our missionaries ‘were unlearned and ignorant men.’ One, they said, had been a farmer, the other a book-keeper, and the third a stone-mason, but as they were very pious and good Christians, they considered our work dangerous, especially for farmers and the uneducated. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.7
“The next day the paper contained a long article in our favour, stating what we believed, and adding that in their opinion it would not be difficult for us to prove our position from the Bible. Since then we have heard nothing in that line, but a few days ago I received a letter informing me that a Swedish preacher who differs very little from the State church had been ordered away. This man is convinced of the Sabbath of the Lord, and perhaps the Lord in this manner will teach him to trust Him. Our labourers there fear that they also will be ordered away or sent back to Sweden; but if that should be the case, we will send others over there.” PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.8
“Thirsting for Blood” The Present Truth 11, 51.
E. J. Waggoner
In saying good-by to the second detachment of troops leaving for Ashanti the Duke of Connaught said:— PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.9
I know you all hope, and I hope to, that you will have a chance of discharging your carbines and rendering a good account of the enemy. If you have the opportunity I am confident that you will not be slow to take advantage of it. Now I wish you all a pleasant journey and good luck when you land on the West Coast of Africa. In this expedition I am sure you are all animated with the same loyal spirit of devotion to Queen and country, and desirous of giving a good account of the foe if only he gives you the chance. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.10
“Said one distinguished general officer to his son who commands a squad, ‘Good-by, good luck, and a fight.’” PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.11
The references to the desired opportunity for fighting of course arose from the chances that peace may be concluded. The first detachment of soldiers going out were much depressed by the possibility of a peace being arranged, and cable despatches say that they cheered lustily when hearing at the first port they touched that there had been no peace concluded. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.12
Only the intoxication of the war spirit can explain how men who are possibly genial and kindly gentlemen in London can find delight in the chances in favour of using their guns on the natives of any tribe. It only shows what a truly devilish thing war is. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.13
The same number of the Chronicle which printed these good-by speeches was eloquent in denunciations of “sportsmen” who proudly publish their record of so many thousand head of game killed in a day. Attention was also called to the fact that many head of game at these killings are only maimed, and crawl away into the bush to die in slow agony. It is cruel to think of it; but what, oh, what can be said of the horrible cruelty of war, when human beings-fathers, and brothers, and sons-are the killed and wounded? The paper speaks casually of little wars, with so many killed and wounded, and it seems very generally to be taken just as an item of statistics. But even though the victims are “blacks” it means quivering flesh and gasping lips and the agony of death without hope. It is fearful. And God is no respecter of persons. Civilisation is essentially pagan still. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 806.14
“The Pence that Make the Pound” The Present Truth 11, 51.
E. J. Waggoner
The automatic penny-in-a-slot machines are very familiar figures in the railway stations now. Three thousand of them are said to be in use at the stations, and the railway companies received last year ?7,244 for the rent of the space they occupy. It seems a large sum, but the owners can very well pay it. The machines delivered last year 6,794,810 packets of chocolate and 5,127,594 packets of sweets. This means that very nearly twelve million pennies were dropped into slots, or nearly ?50,000. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 810.1
The pennies, one by one, make the pounds. And it is worth while remembering that probably a large proportion of this ?50,000 was dropped in, not because the persons who bought the packets really wanted or needed them, but because they had nothing to do while waiting for the train, and invested the penny to while away the time. It would scare some people if they could see in pounds the amount they spend in pence during ten years for little things that happen to strike the fancy, but which they do not really need. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 810.2
“Items of Interest” The Present Truth 11, 51.
E. J. Waggoner
-A cannon ball fired from one of the great Krupp or Armstrong guns travels at the speed of 2,887 feet per second. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 814.1
-A Bill is being prepared for next Sessions of Parliament for powers to provide London with a supply of sea water by pipes from Lancing, near Brighton. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 814.2
-After the Franco-German War it was calculated that the proportion of killed to the bullets spent in endeavouring to kill them was as one to one thousand three hundred. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 814.3
-In France a newspaper entitled “Le XXe. Si?cle” is published once a year, for the purpose of securing a copyright of its title, to be used when the nineteenth century is no more. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 814.4
-From 1884 to 1894 the Transvaal produced 7,250,000oz. of gold, of which no less than 6,500,000 came from the Rand, while last year the same district, of which Johannesburg is the centre, raised 2,000,000oz. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 814.5
-A tablet made of Nile mud, recently found in the British Museum, contains in cuneiform characters the marriage proposal of a Pharaoh for the hand of the daughter of the King of Babylon. It was written about 3,500 years ago PTUK December 19, 1895, page 814.6
-A writer in the Times states that 100,000 elephants are killed in Africa every year. A few years ago it was calculated that there are annually killed in Africa a minimum of 65,000 elephants, yielding it production of raw ivory worth ?850,000. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 814.7
-An experiment is to be tried this winter in the streets of Paris in providing warmth and shelter for the poor. In all but the richer quarters there are to be awnings, under which enormous braziers will be kept constantly burning. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 814.8
-The Board of Trade returns show the exports of British and Irish produce for the eleven month ending November 30, to be ?200,989,686. The year before the figure was ?198,693,654. The imports of foreign goods for the same period was ?379,720,125 this year, and ?375,399,574 last year. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 814.9
-Two new battle-ships, said to be the finest in the world, were added to the navy last week, in the Channel Squadron. The speed at which they have been constructed (the time was two years) is said to have stirred Russia up to consider how her shipbuilders can be made to turn out more work. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 814.10
-The Desert of Sahara is not all desert. In 1892 more than nine millions of sheep wintered in the Algerian Sahara. The Sahara nourishes also 2,000,000 goats and 260,000 camels. In the oases palms, citrons, and apricots abound; there are cultivated also onions, pimentos, and various leguminous vegetables. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 814.11
-The disaster to the Italian troops in Abyssinia, reported last week, has led to considerable increase of the Italian army in that country. The Abyssinian army is large and active. No one seems to know what use the Italians can make of the country when they conquer it, but the lust for African dominion explains many otherwise unexplainable campaigns against African peoples. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 814.12
“Back Page” The Present Truth 11, 51.
E. J. Waggoner
It is stated by a missionary from China that fifty years ago there was not a single opium den in the city of Chung-King, where there are now 3,000. All this degradation is due to the efforts of “Christian” England. “Where is boasting?” PTUK December 19, 1895, page 816.1
An observer of bird life says that in his opinion the nightingales, when they have ceased singing, “croak like hoarse frogs.” We cannot tell if it is true of the nightingale, but it is true of the Christian. There is no more melancholy croaking than that of the Christian who has forgotten and ceased to sing the new song. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 816.2
From revelations made in the course of an ecclesiastical libel suit, it appears that devil-worshippers now form a well-defined sect in France. The tenets and rites of devil worship are taught and performed in four conventicles, with priests, choir boys, etc.; and there is an official organ of Satanism, The Bulletin du Diable. It is stated that the Pope has ordered a prayer to be recited to St. Michael after every Mass, with the view of combating Satanism. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 816.3
A few months ago a law was passed in Florida, prohibiting the teaching of white and coloured pupils in the same school, or the teaching of coloured children by white teachers. The Christian World rightly calls it an “infamous law,” and says that the American Missionary Association of the Congregational Churches, which has schools for the coloured people in Florida, is determined to ignore the law, and adds, “For the present the threaten schools are going on in an open disregard of the law, which thus far remains quiescent, though no one knows how soon the lightning may strike.” PTUK December 19, 1895, page 816.4
Christian people could do no otherwise than disregard such a law, and it is doubtful if an Englishman could be found who would not agree with the Christian World, that they are doing right in disregarding such a law. But the only reason why they should disregard it is the very reason why we disregard Sunday laws, and counsel all others to do the same, namely, because such a law is wicked. Any law that is contrary to God’s law is sin; and to obey such a law is lawlessness. No greater contempt for law can be shown than to make or to obey a wicked law. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 816.5
As some four hundred “declared Wesleyans” accompany the Ashanti expedition, a Wesleyan chaplain has been appointed to accompany them. We hope he will preach to them the words of Christ regarding the treatment of enemies, and insist upon the sinfulness of killing those to whom all Christians are sent with the command to preach the Gospel of peace and salvation. But Governments do not pay chaplains to tell people that it is wrong to fight. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 816.6
“Infallibility by Vote” The Present Truth 11, 51.
E. J. Waggoner
Infallibility by Vote.-It has been announced that the present Pope, Leo XIII., has his name in the Index Expurgatorius (that is a list of books which no good Catholics can read or publish) for a book on the Virgin Mary, which he wrote when he was Cardinal Pecci, but which was disapproved by Pope Pius IX. Thus it was settled by infallible authority that he who is now Leo XIII. was at that time fallible. It is not to be supposed, however, that as Cardinal he was any more fallible than his fellow-Cardinals. Therefore the infallibility of Leo XIII. rests on the fact that he received the votes of a majority of the Cardinals, all of whom were fallible like himself. He was fallible until the vote was declared; immediately afterwards, he was infallible! Out of multiplied fallibility, comes infallibility! PTUK December 19, 1895, page 816.7
“He Served a Higher Master” The Present Truth 11, 51.
E. J. Waggoner
Last week the venerable Canon Howell, of Norfolk, celebrated his eighty seventh birthday, we are glad to mention the fact in order to call attention to one of his acts which is worthy of all praise. A newspaper says:— PTUK December 19, 1895, page 816.8
The Canon created some controversy in Church circles a year ago over the question of clerical magistrates. He was elected first chairman of the new district council, and became consequently an ex official magistrate. But he declined to serve on the ground that a servant of Christ has other and better means of bringing offenders into the right path than by sending them to prison,—a statement that brought down upon him the wrath of large numbers of clerical magistrates. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 816.9
It is not often that a clergyman, professedly a representative of the Lord of Heaven, does not feel it a great honour to sit as a petty magistrate. Not long ago a Methodist paper argued that Nonconformist ministers should be more frequently honoured by being raised to the magistrate’s bench. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 816.10
“The Best Protection” The Present Truth 11, 51.
E. J. Waggoner
The Best Protection.-One of our missionaries in the island of Trinidad, reporting successful results of a series of meetings in the town of Conva, tells the following incident in their experience, which shows how much better it is to go to the Lord for help than to flee to police protection:— PTUK December 19, 1895, page 816.11
Some of the baser sort have been stirred up to provoke us in disturbing our meetings with their noise in the street and by throwing stones on the house. But as we took no notice of these things, they have been more quiet the last two nights. In this manner other evangelists have been driven to seek protection from the authorities, always with the result that the rowdies were fined or had a term in prison. How thankful we are that God has taught us to trust in Him rather than in the civil power. These things have caused the company to seek God more earnestly, and the result is that they are having deeper experiences. PTUK December 19, 1895, page 816.12