The restless, moving life we lead will drive us all to neurasthenia. Leading the pace that kills, not so much as regards vice, but the desire to be always on the move, has ruined our schools and colleges and has attacked the mental and moral fiber of the American brain.
These are some of the signals of danger set up in the roadway of American life by the Rev. John Cavanaugh, president of Notre Dame University, in an attack on modern living as compared with ancient customs and development, in which the latter in no way suffer. Three passions, he says, amazingly developed in the American people, are tearing at the foundations of our characters and home lives.
These are the passion for travel from place to place, the passion for public spectacles, whether they be good or bad, and the passion for gregariousness as against home life.
Father Cavanaugh said: "It is often disputed upon good grounds whether there has been any real progress of the human race within the time of recorded history. In my mind the old poems are the best poems; the old philosophy the best philosophy; the old sculpture, paintings and architecture are still the models.
Demosthenes and Cicero still hold their prominence. In every important phase of expression modern life has made no development.
"Within my lifetime I have seen three passions developed in the American people-the passion for travel from place to place; the passion for public spectacles and entertainment, and the passion for gregariousness as against home life. In the poorest parts of the country, in the hardest times, among the people least favorably conditioned financially, I find the railroad trains and the street cars crowded with all sorts of people darting here and there on errands of pleasure.
The theaters are crowded, the dance hall and the public garden are more frequented than ever, and a new and horrible form of popular entertainment has been found in the 5-cent theater.
"Steam heat and the modern methods of living have driven out the old family hearth in the literal sense; and the passion for living in crowds or among strangers has killed off the old family hearth, in the poetic and social sense as well. An evening that a young woman spends with her family alone is dull, flat and unprofitable; a night that a young man spends with his mother and father at home is a lost night. In a cartoon a doting father is pictured as trying to catch a glimpse of his pet boy home from college for the Christmas holidays. The time the old man has darting in and out around the home is amusing in the picture but not in life. That college boy is legion.
"Obviously, what the country needs is chloroform or locomotor ataxia. The effect of this restless, moving, unreposeful life will be national neurasthenia. Its effect on the mentality of the people is already seen in the thin, pale courses of our high schools, and in the fact that our colleges are deep in social things and shallow in intellectual things.
"I know an eminent neurologist who is treating a dipsomaniac at the present time, and one of the prescriptions he has laid down with most earnestness is that the patient shall abstain from reading popular fiction and from frequentation of the play. The old tragedies scourged the moral power into action; so did the old books. Modern fiction and modern drama are narcotics to the will. They are developing a tribe of maudlin weaklings.
"But in scoring the modem life for negative developments surely something may be said for science, however, and very much may be said for the things that make for comfort and convenience in life. To some of us the railroad train, the steamship and the automobile appeal as conveniences, but to the greater number of Americans such inventions and fruits of the few great brains are merely instruments of their desire to lead the pace that kills."
St. Louis Louis Post Dispatch
This article was republished from The Battle of Armageddon, Forward, Pages Di to Dxix.
Dr. H. S. Pritchett, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the advancement of teaching, speaking on Leadership in the Colleges, said: "Church membership is no test as to whether a man is a religious man or not; nor is it any criterion by which religious men may be chosen. The constant use of this criterion has served to impose upon young men both in and out of college the idea that the obligations of the religious life are binding only on those who have assumed membership in religious organizations. No more unhappy impression could have been created. The obligations of the religious life are the same upon every human being. The idea that he can escape the working out of the great laws which the Maker of the Universe has set up by declining to belong to a human organization is a grotesque one, and yet this is an idea common among young men. I believe, therefore, that the man of sincere religious life, outside any formal organization, has a notable opportunity today for religious leadership in college, and that he escapes some of the limitations which lie in the way of his brother who is part of a definite religious organization. No man has the right to evade the duties of leadership or of service by reason of his belonging to, or of his not belonging to, a religious organization. To advance such a claim is like insisting that a man is not an American unless he belongs to the Republican or the Democratic party."
The pastor of one of the largest and strongest Baptist churches in Ohio writes us, in a letter bearing upon another subject: "I wonder sometimes where we are going to land. The people seem to have lost all sense of personal relation to their Lord, and naturally have no interest in the progress of His Kingdom. The standard of morality is lower-not immoral, perhaps, so much as unmoral. The moral principle does not grip as once it did.
The fact is that the age does not want a moral code to which it shall bring its conduct for scrutiny. That spirit is in our churches all over this city, and, as men speak their heartaches to me, I guess other cities are troubled that way as well as we.
"I am amazed at the number of meetings I find myself in for the transaction of business of the Kingdom with never a word of prayer; just business, cold blooded and heartless as buying and selling steel rails. We are businessizing the Lord out of His place and authority everywhere. Business courtesy has a larger place than New Testament precedent. An appeal to the New Testament is often self-imposed ostracism. The loneliness of it all sometimes comes over me with a depression that is unbearable. I have wished sometimes that I could spend the rest of my life in some mission field, where I could get away from the 'sounding brass' of this cultural religion which spends itself in all kinds of service because it is the prevailing fad, but does nothing because it is a loving expression of a personal relation to the Lord. It is a form of religion, sure enough, but as hopeless and helpless to save men as the outer darkness.... Every pastor I know who has opened his heart to me is suffering from just the same thing. People are the very art of courtesy, but the Word falls like hail upon an iron roof."
Journal and Messenger
This article was republished in Reprints 5131-33, November 15, 1912, entitled, "In Dreamless Sleep Dead Await Christ's Return."
This article was republished in Overland Monthly, Pages 294-297, entitled, "Christendom in Great Danger."
"The struggle under the competitive system is not worth the effort," wrote the publisher at Girard, Kan., of a widely circulated Socialistic newspaper, just before he committed suicide. Could there be a more mistaken reason for a Socialist's self-destruction?
This man's peculiar creed has been accepted within a few days of his death by a million of his countrymen. A new political party that subscribed to many of his beliefs had polled 4,000,000 votes. If Socialism is a true remedy for political and industrial ills, those who preach it should be filled with confidence and hope.
It is to be feared that it is not a true remedy. Human nature is competitive. No matter how it may be governed, it will not be radically changed. N. Y. World We agree with the editor of the "World" that four millions of American voters and as many millions abroad are Socialists from the conviction that Socialism is the proper remedy for the world's difficulties. We agree with the editor of the "World" also that these well-meaning men are deceiving themselves. The only remedy for the inequality of human conditions is the one which God has declared He will provide. Selfishness is so ingrained in humanity that apparently none can be absolutely just when self interest is in the opposite balance.
God purposes to settle the whole matter for rich and poor in His own way-and His way must be the best way. He purposes to change the hearts of men. In the Bible He tells us that He will take away the stony heart and give a heart of flesh. (Eze. 36:26) This signifies that He will make mankind more tender-hearted, more sympathetic. He will restore that condition of things which existed at the beginning, when Father Adam and Mother Eve were created in the Divine likeness, and declared to be very good and acceptable in God's sight. Gen. 1:26,31.
The fall drove our first parents from laden and necessitated the battle for daily bread, against thorns and thistles, etc. Under this influence selfishness has developed, and now, after six thousand years, is deep seated. What a blessing it will mean for God to take away this stony heart and to give the heart of flesh When that time shall come, and that change shall have been effected, Socialism will be a success, and surely will prevail throughout the whole earth.
But, you ask, by what mighty miracle can this change of heart be accomplished?
How can the whole world be thus converted? The Bible answers that it will be done, not by a sudden conversion, but by a gradual one, which will require nearly a thousand years for its accomplishment.
Are we asked, What power could intervene and force this change of heart upon humanity? The Bible answers that it will be Divine Power represented in Messiah's glorious Kingdom. The Second Coming of Christ, once supposed to mean the destruction of the world, Bible students now see to mean the very reverse-the blessing of earth, the taking away of the Curse, the lifting of the fallen race to all that was lost in Eden, and the destruction of the finally impenitent.
We are not to look into the sky to see Messiah come, but rather to remember that His resurrection exalted Him to the glory which He had with the Father before He became a man. He will at that time indeed empower earthly representatives, to whom the world will look for guidance and instruction; but Messiah and His glorified Church, His Bride, will be invisible to men-on the spirit plane.
Many of our readers will be surprised to know that the glorious blessings of Messiah's Kingdom will steal over the world gradually, coming through human channels-entirely unaware of being used of the Lord. Bible students are so interpreting the wonderful [HG579] things of our day. They are foregleams or early dawning of Messiah's Thousand-Year Day, during which He will roll away the curse and shed forth Divine blessings. Whoever can see the matter from this standpoint must be deeply interested in every fresh advance of invention.
If it be true, as we hold, that these blessings are the foregleams of Divine favor through Messiah's Kingdom, with what patience should all exercise themselves to wait upon the Lord, and not to seek to disturb too radically any present condition which is at all bearable" Who will dispute that everybody today is much better off than his grandparents were-even fifty years ago? St. Paul by inspiration declares that "Godliness with contentment is great gain." We commend this thought to Socialists and every one else.
We do not claim that even-handed justice prevails, nor do we admit that it would be possible under present conditions. People of superior brain power will not use that power for the public good, solely. All still have a sufficiency of selfishness to claim that their superior qualities justly entitle them to superior conditions. Why may we not concede this point, rejoice in the blessings we have, be thankful to God for them, and wait patiently for His Kingdom?
That Jesus Christ should die upon the cross for the salvation of mankind was a "great mistake, a woeful tragedy," and it would have been much better for Him to have gone on unfolding the truth to the world and clearing the old doubts and misconceptions which have given the world such endless difficulty, were the views of the Rev. Edward Cummings, of the South Congregational Church, before the Free Religious association in Ford Hall yesterday morning, in connection with the Unitarian anniversary week.
Mr. Cummings declared the "religion of the cross is a failure," and the "Christian world is tired of it." "Instead of the cross," said he, "I would like to see a white flag on the topmost spire of every Christian church. On the flag of faith there floating aloft I would put the Christians' star of Bethlehem, the star that hangs tonight over the poorest tenement in Boston as it hung over the manger two thousand years ago.
The Garden of Eden story and all the other things that have made up old Christianity have got to go," said he. 'These fables or myths, as you wish to call them, must go. We want to get rid of the story of the Garden of Eden. We want to get rid of this postmortem Christianity. It would have been better had there been no cross."
- Boston Post
Marquette, Mich., March 21-A surgical operation on the brain has changed from a dangerous criminal to a kind and gentle man, Reimund Holzhay, the bandit, known as "Black Bart," who terrorized the West twenty years ago, and a year from next November he will be freed from the State penitentiary. Holzhay received a life sentence in 1880 for holding up a stage coach and, incidentally, shooting and killing A. E. Fleischbein, an Illinois banker, near Lake Gogebic.
Twenty-two years old when captured, Holzhay declared at his trial that his mind had been deranged and perverted by reading so-called dime novels. The court decided that he was a victim of delusioned insanity, and accordingly he was sentenced to prison for life instead of death.
In the March following his incarceration he smuggled a table knife to his cell.
One day he refused to leave his cell, and Warden Tompkins found "Black Bart" holding a guard by the throat and menacing him with the sharpened knife. The warden drew his revolver.
"Let that man go, or I'll shoot you!"
Holzhay laughed. "Go ahead! Shoot!" he retorted, holding the pinioned guard between himself and the warden. So they faced each other for two hours. Finally the warden fired, and the bullet went through four fingers of the convict's hand.
Holzhay, when he recovered, continued to be intractable. Recalling his plea of delusioned insanity, the officials had him examined by alienists. They declared him to be insane, and he was transferred to the asylum for the criminally insane at Iona. It was there his brain was operated upon. The operation [HG580] consisted in removing a piece of bone that had been pressing on the brain. Chicago Blade
The transformation of a sagebrush district into a compactly settled, cultivated agricultural community is one of the modern miracles. One of the most inspiring examples of the beneficient results of national irrigation can be found today in the Salt River Valley in Arizona. Here is probably the oldest irrigated region in the United States. Parts of its canals were constructed centuries before the first word of our nation's history was inscribed.
Active work began in 1903. Since that time the great Roosevelt dam, with its enormous storage of flood water, has been completed, hundreds of miles of canals have been excavated and enlarged, most of the systems have been consolidated and unified, and last year 115,000 acres were actually irrigated.
The crops of 1911 had an estimated value of more than $5,000,000, or an average of $40 per acre. The increase in land values during the past six years has been amazing.- Exchange
This article was republished in Overland Monthly, pages OM278-OM283, entitled, "The Sabbath Day."
The Hon. C. W. Trickett, who, as special attorney general, undertook the work of abolishing the unlawful sale of liquor in Kansas City, Kansas, and drove the liquor business out of that city, spoke here the other night and made some forceful statements of conditions in Kansas. In part he said: 'There are 3,300,000 people in Missouri and 1,690,000 in Kansas. If the saloon has made more money for Missouri, your cities should show it in improvements, such as paving, etc. There are a number of cities in Missouri of more than five thousand inhabitants without paved streets. I defy any one to find a city of more than 1,500 population in Kansas which does not have paved streets and its electric light plant.
"A short time ago I got the records in Jefferson City, and found the tax rolls showed the total assessed property in Missouri is $1,650,000,000. In Kansas, where we have had prohibition for thirty years, the amount is $2,750,000,000. In thirty years, from the poorest State in the country, it has come to be the richest. A few years ago, during the panic, Kansas banks sent $50,000,000 to the East, but Missouri did not send a dollar. Kansas has organized more banks in the last five years than any other State.
"In Missouri there is one motor car for every one hundred farmers, one for every thirty-five in Iowa and one for every five in Kansas.
"You may say that you are spending your money for labor. Statistics show that a little less than $8 a week is paid for labor here. In Kansas it is $14. Missouri hasn't put it in her schools, for Kansas has paid proportionately twice as much for education.
"In the last twenty years you have spent $1,600,000,000 for liquor, an amount equal to your taxable property. In that time, Kansas has spent but $50,000,000."
Reform Bulletin (N. Y.)
It was shown by an exhaustive inquiry of the subject in France that the number of accidents increases progressively hour by hour during the first half day; that after the rest at midday the number of accidents is notably less than in the last hour of the forenoon; that in the course of the second half day accidents again become from hour to hour progressively more numerous, and that the maximum number of accidents toward the end of the second half day is notably higher than the corresponding maximum in the morning. [HG581] The influence of the workingmen's fatigue on the production of accidents stands out clearly from these observations, and it is easy to understand how this comes about when it is remembered that with fatigue the attention readily diminishes and disappears. The conclusion, therefore, is that in order to produce a diminution in the number of accidents it would be sufficient to intercalate in the middle of each half day of work a period of repose, naturally not so long as that at midday, but the length of which remains to be determined. In fact, one would only have to apply to the manual labor of adults the measures which for a long time have been put into practice for children as regards their intellectual labor. Exchange
This article was republished in Overland Monthly, Pages 284-287, entitled, "The True Church."
This article was republished in Reprints R4892, October 1, 1911, entitled, "Songs In The Night."
Pastor Barton's Letter to an Adventist Brother
"Let no man therefore judge you, in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days; which are a shadow of good things to come." Col 2:16, 17
DEAR SIR AND BROTHER: Even though differing from you in my views of the Law, I feel constrained to express admiration for the zeal with which you and your co-workers have endeavored to promulgate, what you believe to be the truth of God. If we believe anything to be right we must act upon it until the Lord grants us to see otherwise.
I had far rather be wrong and consistent than right and inconsistent, though it is best of all to be both right and consistent.
I feel justified in addressing you as a Brother in Christ because of the many points upon which we can hold harmonious fellowship. We look to the same Father in heaven. We trust in the merit of the same great sacrifice for sin. We are seeking light from the same inspired Scripture. We are both striving to live in the way that will be to the glory of God. We see eye to eye upon the nature of the soul, the penalty for sin, earth's restitution to Edenic conditions, the Babylonian state of so-called Christendom, and the impending time of trouble along financial, political and social lines. Then last, but not least, we each see the necessity of suffering with Christ if we would be glorified with him, and have already suffered a little of the scorn and derision which the world hurls at the soldier of the cross. The enumeration of all these points on which we are agreed will enable you to realize that what I am about to say respecting our differences is not meant in a spirit of wrangling, but solely for the purpose of sharing with you the blessedness and joy which has dawned in our hearts with this comforting light.
We agree with our Adventist friends that God never authorized anyone to change the Sabbath of the Decalogue from the seventh day of the week to the first, but we do believe that just as truly as the Christian has a greater High Priest, and a greater sacrifice, and a greater tabernacle than Israel had, so, too, the follower of Christ has a much greater Sabbath than the follower of Moses. Everything under the Jewish dispensation was typical of "good things to come." (Heb. 10:1) The Atonement Day, the Passover, the sabbatic years, the jubilees, etc., were all figures of more important things, so why should it seem strange that the seventh or Sabbath day was typical any more than the seventh or sabbatic year? But in order that you may see this to be the Scriptural thought hear Paul in Col 2:16, 17; "Let no man therefore judge you, in [HG582] meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of good things to come; but the body is of Christ." The seventh day keepers will argue that the Sabbath here refers to some of those yearly occasions, which were also called Sabbaths, because part of their observance required rest from ordinary labor; for instance, the Day of Atonement.
But this cannot be the meaning of Paul's language, for he had already included all these yearly sabbaths under the words, "an holy day." In harmony with his usual systematic forms of expression Paul first spoke of the yearly holy days, then came the monthly festivals, the new moons, and next the weekly rest days. The Christian has a sabbath, too, but, as we shall see, his sabbath is as much greater than the Jewish sabbath as the substance of a thing is greater than its shadow.
You may ask: Did not the Lord in Exo. 31:16 speak of the seventh day Sabbath as being given for "a perpetual covenant?" I answer to this that the very identical language which the Lord used here of the Sabbath he uses elsewhere of the harvest offering (Leviticus 23:14), the Pentecostal sacrifice (Leviticus 23:21), the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:31, 32) and the feast of tabernacles (Leviticus 23:41). The same Hebrew word "clam," which is translated "perpetual" in the seventh day reference, is the word translated "forever" in the other passages. See Young's Analytical Concordance. So if the Advent view is correct we should still be keeping the feast of tabernacles as well as the Sabbath, but as some of your own brethren have shown, when dealing with the punishment of the wicked, the word "clam," like the Greek "aion," really means "agelasting," or "lasting to a consummation." It is sometimes used in the sense of eternal, but not necessarily. Thus in Exo. 29:9 we read of the priestly office being given to Aaron and his descendants "for a perpetual statute," the same word "olam" being used. But that it does not properly mean "perpetual" in this passage is evident, for Aaron's family lost the priesthood 1800 years ago. Note Heb. 7:11-14.
We find, then, that Jehovah used the very same language in speaking of the weekly Sabbath which he used respecting other Jewish institutions which passed away when that of which they were typical came, so similarly may not the Jewish Sabbath have passed away, being supplanted by a greater sabbath? Notice our Lord's words in Matt. 5:17, 18, 'Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfil; for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass one jot or one little shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled." Our Savior did not say the Law should not pass away, but that it should not pass away until it was fulfilled. But he tells us first that he came to fulfil it, so if it was fulfilled in him it has passed away. There is a vast difference between a thing being destroyed and passing away as a result of fulfillment. The law of circumcision was never destroyed, but it passed away and was abolished when that to which it pointed, circumcision of the heart, was set forth, and it is this higher circumcision we must observe. (Rom. 2:28, 29) Likewise Christ did not destroy the Law, or set it at naught, but his perfect life fulfilled its every requirement, as we imperfect creatures could not, and thus he became the great inheritor of all the promises of the Law, with the right to distribute what he inherited under the Law to all who would become his.
Additionally the Law led to Christ and pointed him out as the Holy One of whom Moses had said, "Hear ye him." (Acts 7:37; Gal. 3:24, 25) Therefore to consider the Law given through Moses as binding upon the Christian is to doubt whether Christ has accomplished what he came for; "to fulfil" the Law. Of course the Christian must study that Law, and he finds jewels of inspired wisdom in it, but he studies it as a shadow of better things, as typical of the blessings promised under the greater than Moses-Christ.
Then is the follower of Christ under no law? Yes, he is under a new law, a higher law. Just as he has a better High Priest, a better sacrifice, a better everything than the dew had, so he has a better law, and it contains a better sabbath. Isa. 42:21 foretold that Christ was to "magnify the law and make it honorable," and we are now under this magnified law. The law said: "Thou shalt not kill," but Christ magnified that when he taught that whosoever hateth his brother without a cause is guilty of murder. (See Matt. 5:21, 22, 27, 28) The Law said: "Thou shalt not steal," but Christ taught us that we should not merely refrain from robbing our neighbor, but be ever ready to share with him what we had, even to the extent of laying down our lives for our brethren. (John 13:24; 1 John 3:16) The Law said: "Honor thy father and thy mother," but we are instructed to "honor all to whom honor is due. "Rom. 13:7 Now, dear brother, the Adventists see that Christ magnified the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th commandments, but they fail to realize that he magnified the 4th, the Sabbath commandment, too. To the contrary, they believe he made it smaller. One of your brethren put it to me this way: "Before Christ every little act contrary to the Sabbath commandment, even the building of a fire, was to be severely punished, but since Christ's sacrifice, so long as we try to do our best to keep the Sabbath, the Lord will pardon and overlook where we come short in our obedience to that command." That would have [HG583] magnified God's mercy, but it would not have magnified the commandment.
Would it be magnifying the 6th commandment if we should say: "Before Christ murder was to be severely punished, but since then, if you try to keep the Law-'thou shalt not kill'-it will be all right if you do kill a man once in a while?"
Let me now present our understanding of how Christ magnified the Sabbath Law.
The Israelite was to consider one-tenth of what he had as holy unto the Lord; but do we ever hear the Christian advised to give a tithe to the Lord? Not once. How much are we advised to give him? All that we are and have. We are to give all that we can in as direct a way as we can, and the remainder is to be given him in a more indirect way; e. g., we give him the money we spend for food and clothing, because our body belongs to him and is being used to glorify and serve him. The food gives us strength to do more for him, therefore the money we spend for food is being spent for our Lord. (Rom. 12:1; 1 Cor. 6:20; 10:31; 2 Cor. 5:15) In Luke 14:33 our Master does not tell us to forsake or surrender a tenth, but "all that he hash."
The Jews sang: "Some of self and some of thee." The Christian sings. "None of self but all of thee."
Likewise the Jew gave God one-seventh of his time, but the Christian is to give him seven-sevenths. The Lord said in Leviticus 19:30, "Ye shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary." The sanctuary was the holy structure through which God manifested himself to Israel, so to them the word meant a certain definite holy place; but the Christian finds his sanctuary wherever he is; every place is a holy place to him. Similarly every day is a holy day, a sabbath of rest to him. He has a better sanctuary to reverence and a better sabbath to keep. But not only does his sabbath differ from the typical sabbath, the nature of his rest also differs. It does not merely mean a cessation from manual labor, but a rest from laboring for self in order to work and live for God. It means to rest as God rested after he had completed the work of creation, as the Word expresses it: "To enter into his rest."
God's rest does not mean idleness, "He sends his rain and causes his sun to shine" on the seventh just as much as on any other day. Then how did he rest? He ceased working for himself in order to work for man through his Son. And how do we rest like him? By ceasing to work for self in order to work for him through Christ.
Hear Heb. 4:10, "For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own worm, as God did from his." And then Paul continues in verse 11, "let us labor therefore," not let us cease from labor, but labor to put down these selfish propensities which would lead us, contrary to God's will, to live for self, instead of permitting w "to enter into his rest." This rest of which the seventh day was a type will not end with this life, but it will continue an eternal rest, begun here and consummated in eternity.
Let me digress here to say that God's rest day was not a period of 24 hours, but, like the six days of creation, was a long period of time. In our own language this is a very common use of the word "day," and it is equally frequent in Bible language. (2 Pet. 3:8; Psa. 95:7-10) While the day of salvation of 2 Cor. 6:2 is already over 1800 years long, so it was with the great days of creation; they were long periods of time, and likewise the seventh day, in which God rested, is a long period; it is not over yet.
But to return to the subject of this letter. In Isa. 58:13 we have a description by the inspired Prophet of what constitutes Christian sabbath keeping. We must refrain from doing our own ways, and from finding our own pleasures, and from speaking our own words. That is the sabbath keeping. But the Christian must do that every day, therefore every day must be a sabbath to him. For fear you may not apply the latter part of the verse to the sabbath let me refer you to the Revised Version, which reads: "And shalt honor it, not doing shine own ways," etc., Every day we are to "speak as the oracles of God." (1 Pet. 4:11) Every day God is to work in us "to do of his good pleasure." (Philip. 2:13) Every day "the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord." (Psa. 37:25) So again I say, every day is a sabbath to him who liveth "not unto himself." Is not this a glorious magnifying of the Law?
We can now see how "Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth." (Rom. 10:4) We can understand why Paul could say in Gal. 3:19, "The Law was added TILL THE SEED SHOULD COME," and then in verses 23 to 25 he boldly compares the Law to a severe pedagogue to whom they were committed for a season, "but after that faith is come we are no longer under a pedagogue." And we can comprehend why Paul mourns because "ye observe days" (Gal. 4:10, 11), and intimates that the brother is weak who "esteems one day above another" (Rom. 14:5-read verses 1 to 7), failing to realize that they are all to be counted as days in which his glory is to be sought.
I know how the seventh-day Adventists divide the Law into two parts, calling the Decalogue "the law of God," and the remainder "the law of Moses," and then claiming that Christ did away with the Law of Moses, but not with the law of God. This is an awful mistake; it was all the Law of God, because it came from him, and it is all the law of Moses in that it came through him. (Leviticus 26:46; Deut. 5:5) Thus our Savior, in Mark 7:10, quotes one of the ten commandments [HG584] (Exo. 20:12; Deut. 5:16), and then in the same verse a law which was not in the Decalogue (Exo. 21:17; Leviticus 20:9), and yet attributes them both to Moses. He was not the author of either, but he was the agent through whom God delivered both commands. Furthermore, the fact that the Law, which was until John (Luke 16:16; Matt. 11:13), included the Decalogue as well as the ceremonial features of the Law, is proved by Rom. 7:6, 7; for Paul, after saying, "we are delivered from the law," leaves no doubt as to what law is meant by quoting from the tenth commandment. And as his words show we are no longer under the letter (it was the letter which was on the stones), but under the spirit, the antitype, that which was shadowed forth in the words on stone, the greater law of love. (Jas. 1:26; 2:8) When we read, therefore, in the books from Acts to Revelation about the redeemed keeping "the commandments of God," we do not think of the letters in stone given through Moses, but of the magnified law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:2) Notice another passage, viz., 2 Cor. 3:3-11. The expression, "written and engraver in stones," and the reference to Moses face shining at the time is evidence that Paul is speaking of the Decalogue. In verse 7 he tells us how the Law was accompanied with such glory that it even caused Moses' face to shine. Then in verse 8 he refers to something which would be accompanied with more glory, and following this up shows that when "the glory that excelleth" (v. 10) should come then that which was given with glory-i. e., the Law written and engraver on stones-was to be "done away." (v. 11)
Note the remarkable similarity between the Revised Version rendering of verse 11 and Matt. 5:18. Then in verses 12 to 18 Paul shows that while Israel had Moses cover his face so they could not see the glorious results of the giving of that glorious Law, yet we should refrain from covering our hearts with the veil of prejudice, etc., as we wish to see the more glorious results of this more glorious law upon the hearts and lives of our brethren, especially as it was reflected in our great Elder Brother, the Lord Jesus. 2 Cor. 3:18
Dear brother, much more might be written, but I must refrain from more than one or two brief statements. Paul's preaching upon the seventh day, etc., is no endorsement of seventh day Adventism. That was a day when the cessation from labor brought the Jews together in their synagogues and gave Paul an opportunity he gladly used. Wherever and whenever he found ears to hear he was ready to preach. There were crowds in the synagogues on the seventh day, so Paul went there, and there were numbers at the market every day, so Paul preached there on other days. (Acts 17:17)
So just as Paul esteemed those opportunities, so we esteem the opportunities afforded us on the first day, not because there is a divine command to consider that day a sabbath above other days, although we consider it a very appropriate day for meetings of the people of God, being our Lord's resurrection day. However, refraining from actual labor on the first day is not an endorsement of the wrong ideas many have held about it, any more than a belief in the Bible would mean an endorsement of the many wrong views which have been entertained of its teaching. It has been a great comfort to me to find that salvation did not hang upon such a slender cord as the keeping of a weekly rest day.
There are other features of the Sabbath, for instance its foreshadowing of the Millennium, which I have not touched upon at all. Pastor Chas. T. Russell of Brooklyn Tabernacle, Brooklyn, N. Y., has treated that phase of the subject most beautifully. Have you ever read his book," The Divine Plan of the Ages"? It is a book of 386 pages, cloth bound, for 25 cents. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 13-17 Hicks street, Brooklyn, N. Y., supplies them.
Your Brother in the service of the King of kings, B. H. BARTON
"Every foreigner who comes to these shores should be forced to take down his red flag forever and tear it to shreds before he is allowed to enter the country," said Rev. Cortland Myers to the members of the Baptist Social Union last night. Dr. Myers's talk was on "The Business Men and the Kingdom," and he said that the ministry was greatly handicapped by the business men. He said that no drummer, however efficient, could sell goods without samples, and that unless the business man made of himself a good sample of the minister's work, said minister could [HG585] interest no one.
He decried the fact that ministers were displaying a tendency to drift off toward socialism, which, he said, was nothing more than anarchy and nihilism, as evidenced by the trouble at Lawrence and especially by the flags displayed there.
Another substantial aid that might be rendered the church by the business men, according to Dr. Myers, is the donation of moneys, for, said he, "the work of the kingdom needs millions." Finally, in great heat, he stamped his foot and shouted to the men, "Do something" -Boston Journal
The following from the facile pen of the editor of the Mount Vernon Herald is as interesting an account of the progress within the memory of those still living as we have seen for many a day: "A few days ago a man 94 years old died and was buried in Sedro-Woolley. Many who will read this were acquainted with him. His name was Joseph Cheney.
Within the lifetime of this man many of the mightiest achievements of civilization have been accomplished. At the time of his birth there was not a railroad in all these United States; he was older than the oldest kerosene lamp; he was a young man when the first friction match was made; had written many letters before any one had ever seen a steel pen, and had voted before a letter was ever enclosed in an envelope; had hunted big game before a percussion cap was made; was thirty years old when the first sewing machine was made and placed on exhibit-all these things, which, to even the middle-aged, seem always to have been with us, to say nothing of the telegraph, telephone, electric light, aeroplanes and wireless telegraphy."
Burlington [Wash.] Journal.
How our concepts of God's Love gradually have improved, the following from the London Chronicle well illustrates. It says: -"If you could come across at a secondhand book store a copy of 'Hymns for Children, 'by Rev. Charles Wesley (a little volume reprinted and issued with the author's preface, by the Wesleyan Conference Office, as late as 1842) you would find some jolly hymns in it.
Thus: -"'While they enjoy His Heavenly love, Must I in torments dwell, And howl while they sing Hymns above, And blow the flames of hells' "Here is another: -"'There they lie! alas, how long!
Never can they hope release-Not a drop to cool their tongue, Not an hour, a moment's peace; Damn'd they are and still shall be, Damn'd for all eternity' "And yet the same man, in saner moments, wrote, 'Gentle Jesus, meek and mild.
This article can be found in its entirety in the Newspaper Sermons, entitled, "Misconceptions of the Dark Ages.'
"He that hath a froward heart findeth no good." Whoever would be happy must make up his mind to see only the good in others, to hunt for the beautiful things in their characters and to ignore the ugly things; to look for harmony and to avoid discord.
To hold the loving thought, as a mother does toward her children, develops the better side. The delicate flower of manhood or womanhood will not blossom in the foggy, chilly atmosphere of hatred, of jealous envy and condemnation. It must have the warm sun of love, of praise, of appreciation, of [HG586] encouragement, to call out its beauty and to produce the perfect flower.
Never allow yourself to condemn or form a habit of criticizing others. No matter what they do, hold toward them perpetually the kindly thought, the love thought.
Determine to see only that which is good and sweet and wholesome and lovely in them. Try to see the man or woman that God intended, not the warped, twisted and deformed one which a vicious life may have made; and you will generally find what you are looking for.
You will never find the straight by looking for the crooked, or holding the crooked thought in mind. If you are constantly criticizing or finding fault, instead of praising or appreciating, you will ruin your power of seeing the beautiful and the true, just as a habitual liar loses the power to tell the truth.
If you habitually hold the deformed thought, the ironical, the skeptical, the pessimistic, the depreciative thought, you will ruin your ability to see or appreciate merit, or what is good and true.
Whilst Catholics are returning to the Bible, and the present Pope has directed that their people be encouraged in Bible study, Protestants are drifting rapidly into Infidelity under the modern designations of Higher Criticism and Evolution. Our fathers, during the Dark Ages, got away from the Bible by supposing an "apostolic succession." Gradually the Creeds usurped the Bible's place under the supposition that they agreed. Now, having outgrown those Creeds, in rejecting them many are rejecting the Bible also. This is a mistake! The Bible is the most wonderful book in the world when allowed to interpret itself. It furnishes the only rallying ground for human brotherhood and Christian brotherhood. The world otherwise is facing anarchy. A lost religion will soon mean a lost God, and a lost future hope, and a selfish strife for the present life only. The hell-torture theory is nauseating people. They are rejecting the Bible because they erroneously think that it teaches it.
Let us not mourn our errors of the past unduly, but at once now, get right with God and His Book! Its presentation is logical from Genesis to Revelation. It tells of the perfection of our first parents, of the test of their loyalty, of their failure, and its penalty, death-not eternal torture. (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 5:12) It tells that all of present imperfections, mental, moral and physical, are incidental to the death penalty. 20,000,000,000 have been born dying and soon toppled over into the tomb. They are not being tortured in hell or purgatory, but, according to the Bible, are unconscious until their resurrection.
Ah, says one, I have great faith in St. Paul, and I remember his words: "I am in a strait between two things: having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better." If St. Paul expected to depart and be with Christ, why is it not reasonable to suppose that he did so, and that all others, at least of the saintly, at death so depart and pass at once into the presence and fellowship of Jesus?
Such a misunderstanding of St. Paul's words and thoughts are excusable in view of the general trend of Christian thought on this subject for centuries, and in view of the error made in this case by the translators. We are not faulting the translators, because they had the erroneous thought firmly embedded in their minds and presumably were trying to make the Apostle here say what they conscientiously thought he ought to say.
But what we are interested in knowing is, What did he say on the subject? Let us read the Apostle's words critically. He was in a strait between two things-whether he would prefer to live and suffer further for the Truth's sake, and assist the brethren, or whether he would prefer to die and rest from his labors. Between these two positions he had no choice. But there was a third thing-and if this had been a possibility he would have had no difficulty in deciding-he had a real, positive desire respecting it; neither of the things which were possible to him would have stood in comparison at all, this third thing would have been so desirable.
Now what was that third thing? It was not to live and suffer and help the brethren, nor was it to die and be at rest from his labors. The third thing, according to a literal translation, is expressed thus: "I have a desire for the returning, and being with Christ, which is far better"-far better than either living under the present trying conditions or dying, sleeping, resting and waiting for the Kingdom.
But, says one, by what authority do you render the word depart by a word of very opposite meaning, namely return. We answer that we give this rendering on the authority of the Greek text. The Greek word is analusal; it is found in another place in the Bible, and there it is rendered return. In this other case there can be no question as to the proper translation. See Luke 12:36. [HG587]
Said the door-knob to the door: "Please let me go, I beg, implore, I'm tired of swinging here with you, from day to day, the decades through.
"I'm handled by the rich and great; for me all classes pane and wait; and when I turn, you open wide; but if I'm still, you still abide.
"To me it then is clearly plain, for me to travel would be gain. I'd see the world; I'd get me fame; I'd have renown, and honored name."
The door replied, with patient smile: "You'd better bide with me awhile; 'Tis here you are of greatest use; Away from me you'll find abuse."
"Don't be alarmed," the knob replied, "for me, all doors will open wide. The rich, the poor, the small, the great-all on my motions meekly wait."
"Well, be it so," the door replied, "but when you've fallen from my side, you'll find your fancied greatness o'er, and wish to be with me once more."
The knob fell off with rattling sound, and tumbled helpless to the ground. Nor rich, nor poor, nor high, nor low, cared where the poor door-knob should go. The door-knob soon with sorrow learned that doorknobs, out of place, are spurned.
His pride and fancied greatness o'er, he wished himself back on the door.
'Tis only those who keep their place, and do their work by help of grace, who can be counted great at all. Pride always goes before a fall. T. H. Jeys
This article can be found in its entirety in the Newspaper Sermons, entitled, "One Redeemer For World's Sin."
This article was republished in Overland Monthly, pages 288-291, entitled, "Man's Fall From Divine Favor."
This article can be found in its entirety in the Newspaper Sermons, entitled, "Chief Or First Resurrection.
Toronto is to have another alliance. This time it is to suppress higher critics in Toronto University, Knox College, and McMaster.
The promoters declare that McMaster teachings are heresy, that the Scriptural tuition at Knox is destructive, and at Toronto University poisonous.
McMaster graduates are using vigorous language in expressing their opinion of Rev. W. F. Roadhouse's new role as organizer of the new alliance. Rev. Mr. Roadhouse recently gave up his Baptist pastorale to ally himself with the critics of the Biblical teachers of the universities. [HG588] The new organization is to be called "The Alliance of Bible Crusaders."
The first object of the crusaders is to be "withstanding the present widespread drift from the old foundations, and the belief in the Word of God."
"All interested," can become Alliance Bible Crusaders by paying a fifty cent annual membership fee.
The movement is declared by one prominent McMaster man to be "abnormal."
Another McMaster graduate said: "This thing is very unfortunate." Toronto World
Permanent alteration in the climate of the Alaskan coast, through shifting of warm ocean currents by lifting of the sea bottom, the opening of new fishing banks of unestimated value, and the eventual closing of Behring Straits, owing also to a rise in the floor of the sea, are among the scientific probabilities now being investigated as the result of the eruption of Mount Katmai.
Various geological parties, and men from several revenue cutters, are exploring the bottom of the sea to determine how far submarine geography has been changed. So far as the earth's surface is concerned, the eruption is beneficial, the volcanic ash already having stimulated plant growth.
Geologists assert that the tops of submerged mountains which form the Aleutin mountains, are rising steadily, through pressure on the sea bottom from enormous amounts of sediment, and after eventually cutting off Behring Sea, will continue to rise until what is now the sea will be replaced by a great sweep of land.
A large number of government scientists have sailed from Seattle for Seward, there to take passage for Kodiak. "There shall be no more sea."-Bay City Times
This article can be found en its entirety in the Newspaper Sermons, entitled, "Ancient Garden of Eden."
New York AmericanBolton Hall, counsellor-at-law, of No. 29 Broadway, and son of late Rev. Dr. John Hall, minister of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, has written a letter to the Synod of New York, in connection with what he calls "the question of the admission to the ministry of two candidates who disavowed belief in miracles, was decided in favor of one and against the other."
"We are Presbyterians," the letter reads, "mostly the descendants of hardheaded, reasoning Scotch people, but we do not realize, I think, how ridiculous we seem to the average man of common sense in disputing about such questions as the story of 'Jonah and the Whale, 'The Resurrection of Lazarus' or 'The Virgin birth of the Savior.' There are numbers of persons who accept these things as true-no one really believes them.
"But whether the miracle tales be true or false is of no consequence whatever. No reasonable man now supposes that any one's salvation depends upon whether he deemed the evidence of a miracle sufficient or not. The object of Jesus' coming was 'to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound'-and to teach men to love one another.
"If a poll were taken of yourselves it would be found that hardly a fraction of our own ministers under forty would say that they believed in miracles. Separately, we cannot say to the congregations that we do not believe, because it would be used as a handle of offense by captious members. It is true that our church is not gaining in proportion to population, and it is true that [HG589] heretical bodies who deny the miracles are gaining. Let w have done with this tomfoolery of dogmas as a means of salvation and get down to the serious business of life which is to hop mankind to live."
There will be more lunatics in the world than sane people 300 years hence, was the prophecy made by Dr. Forbes Winslow. This prophecy is based upon the present rate of the growth of lunacy as revealed by recent returns.
Dr. Winslow expressed strong disagreement with the statement made at the Eugenics Congress by Dr. Mott, to the effect that the increase in lunacy was more apparent than real, and told a press representative that in making such a statement Dr. Mott apparently referred to London only. Dr. Forbes Winslow said that from his knowledge of the progress of lunacy in all parts of the world he had come to the conclusion that "we are rapidly approaching a mad world." He added: "In every part of the world civilization is advancing, and so insanity is also bound to advance. There were 36,762 registered lunatics in 1859, but 135,000 at the present day. That shows the alarming increase.
"If Dr. Mott's theory is accepted, we shall wake up when it is too late to prevent a further increase. What happened to the pauper class in London, as an alleged proof against the real increase of lunacy, was very much beside the question, taken as a whole. Fifty years ago there was one lunatic in 575 of the population, but now one in 236. At that rate of progress," he said, "in 300 years' time there would be more lunatics in the world than sane people." Exchange
Religious circles were aroused over the address of William Lyon Phelps, head of the English department of Yale, scoring clergymen for preaching too much about politics.
"The main difficulty with the church today," said Mr. Phelps, "is that the people in the pews do not have the gospel preached to them.
"Clergymen ought to learn that the chief duty of a preacher is to hold forth Christianity and not discourse on sanitation, political economy or literature.
"The clergy are afraid to preach Christianity, partly because they do not believe in it and partly because they are afraid it won't 'draw, 'so they substitute lectures on politics and socialism for the preaching of the gospel."
Exchange
The Prophet David wrote the 23rd Psalm concerning himself; but in his words there is still deeper signification, namely, that Jehovah is the Shepherd of the antitypical David-The Christ, of which Jesus is the Head and the Church His Body.
In proportion as any are in an attitude of mind in harmony with the Lord they are out of harmony with their present environment, in which the great Adversary is seeking their destruction, under conditions unfavorable for their spiritual development as the Lord's "sheep." Foxes, wolves, lions and even cattle have means of defense and offense; but the sheep has practically none. It seems to have no judgment; therefore, the sheep is dependent on the shepherd. In other words, it is out of its environment if away from the shepherd. God provided for man's protection, but by reason of sin the race got into the wilds and became exposed to various difficulties which otherwise would not have been man's lot.
Those who are the "sheep" will come back into harmony with the Lord. As represented in our text, the Church class comes back in the present time. We all recognize, as the days go by, how necessary is the Divine care. As we come to see the Divine Plan, we see that "all who are of this fold," all those who will come into harmony with God, will have this care; and that eventually there shall be one Shepherd and one flock.
Our Lord Jesus is the representative of the Father. Humanity, as the Lord's sheep, went astray. All of Adam's posterity are now astray. The Great Shepherd sent His Son for the lost sheep. He is seeking them and will ultimately find all who belong to this true flock. He is, therefore, in the highest sense of the word, the Bishop, or Shepherd of our souls, the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.
In our day when the evil spirits seem to be trying very hard to get into close communication with humanity, we learn of what is called the "clairaudient power." Suggestions are made to the person having this great favor from God in being able to hear what others cannot hear. Usually he becomes puffed up, thinking that he is in special favor with God and the angels. Then the fallen angels are very liable to take advantage of his wrong thought and to seek to obsess [HG590] him. We have tried to guard people from this very condition of things; and from time to time we hear of those who are helped. Only a short time ago we had a letter from a lady who had thought that a godly influence was being exercised upon her, whereas later she found that it was a malevolent influence to bring her into slavery of mind. But the voice referred to in Isa. 30:21 we understand to be the voice of God. The Scriptures, written in the past for our admonition, constitute this voice. This voice is behind us in the sense that the history of the centuries is behind us. So we are to hearken to the voice that comes through the Apostles and Prophets; and as we hearken, we recognize that it is the voice of the Lord, pointing the way in which we should go.
But as we hearken to the past we hear also the voices of false prophets; as, for instance, the voice of Satan, the great Adversary of the past. The voice of God said, "Ye shall surely die." The Adversary's voice said, "Ye shall not surely die."
At one time all of us were dead in sin. Some of us were blessed as we obtained the true information and followed in the way God directed. Many of the so-called "fathers" of the past, we find, do not give the same voice that Jesus and the Apostles and Prophets gave. We are to guard against all such voices and to listen for the Shepherd's voice; to look for the righteous arrangements made for us. We are not to investigate anything which would not seem to be the voice of God, but which tends to deceive, to alienate the sheep from the Shepherd.
This article can be found in its entirety in the Newspaper Sermons, entitled, "The Kingdom Lost By Adam, Redeemed By Christ, To Be Restored."
Radical Change in the Views of Scientists Caused by Mendel's Experiments
This article was republished in Reprints 4859-60, July l 5, 1911, entitled, "Unto The Third And Fourth Generation."
Tills article was republished in Reprints 4876, September 1, 1911, entitled, "Covetous Conversation."
This article can be found in its entirety in the Newspaper Sermons, entitled, "Crowns For All Heroes."