International Bible Students Association, Q^uAJisJzers.

Religious and Scientific Gleanings

PULPIT HAS DOST POWER.

44*t»HE Rev. Lyman Abbott, of New 1 York, spoke sadly of the decadence of the power of the pulpit, addressing- 3,000 University of Wisconsin men and women at a convention at Madison, Wis. ‘It is said the cloth has lost its power—it has,’ said Di. Abbott. ‘It is said the pulpit has lost its power—it has. But a man, altruistic in the highest sense and spiritual, will never lose his power.’ ” * * *—Press Report.

It was certainly appropriate that Dr. Abbott should make the above statement to college people. Admitting the tacts, let us find also their cause. It is because of the inconsistency of its teaching that the pulpit has lost its power with the masses. The pulpit backs up and endorses the teachings of all the colleges of our day along the lines of Higher Criticism and Evolution. The people are coming to understand that this means that the pulpit is in antagonism to the Bible. If Evolution be true, man never fell and hence needed no Redeemer and no saving from a fallen state, but needed merely to be let alone in his evolutionary progress. According to Higher Criticism the Bible in general is unreliable. Moses never wrote the books accredited to him, and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and others never wrote the books accredited to them—■ never were inspired of God to write these books. And if this be true, then Jesus and the Apostles were deceived and could not have been inspired by God when they quoted from these sacred writings of the past and declared them to be the Word of God and vouched for their authorship.

No Wonder Church Attendance Is Slim.

On the other hand the public notice that the very ministers who thus preach Evolution, Higher Criticism, unbelief in the Divine Revelation, keep right along preaching some of the absurdities which our forefathers claimed were in harmony with the Bible. Is it any wonder that the people are coming to see the inconsistency of such a position?

The result is that the masses have less and less confidence in the clergy. The people do not know what the clergy believe even when they hear them speak, for their address may.be from the standpoint of the creeds or from the standpoint of Higher Criticism, according to their moods. The result of this uncertain sounding of the trumpet is that the masses are coming to the conclusion that the whole matter of religion is a big guess and that some of the guesses are influenced by temporal considerations.

The unbelief of the people grows and threatens to become agnosticism, or Worse, atheism! Those who have brought about this condition of things during the past thirty years are the college professors and the best educated pulpiteers of Christendom. And now they stand astonished at the results, which they should have foreseen. Verily they are fulfilling the Divine prophecies of Isaiah, which, referring to our day, declare, “The wisdom of their wise men shall perish; the understanding of their prudent men shall not be manifest.” (Isa. 29:14.) No wonder the civilized world is in trepidation as it sees the onward march of Socialism! And however honest and well intentioned many Socialists may be, the result of their effort will spell anarchy and a time of trouble such as the world has never yet seen —a time of trouble, however, predicted by Daniel the Prophet, whose prediction was endorsed by Jesus Himself.—Dan. 12: 1; Matt. 24:21.

* * *

What is the remedy? No remedy can possibly reach the disease! The Bible rightly understood is the balm of Gilead which alone could have helped. But matters have gone so far that comparatively few have sufficient confidence in the Bible to be willing to make a re-examination of it in the light of the Divine Plan of the Ages, which alone shows the harmony of the Word of God, from beginning to end.

•The • Handwriting-’on the

Accordingly, the Medes and Persians had consolidated, and their army, under Cyrus, for several months had been besieging Babylon, whose citizens, however, felt quite secure behind their immense walls, and amply provisioned for a longer siege than it was supposed any army could enforce. So great was the confidence of the King of Babylon in the strength of his capital that he made a great feast to a thousand of his lords.

This feast        to have been in

the nature of boast of the greatness of Babylon; ana as though to emphasize his power and. to remind his nobles and lords that none of the gods of the surrounding nations had been able to deliver their peoples out of the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar had called for the vessels of gold and silver brought from the Jewish Temple, and these were profaned by drinking therefrom to the honor of Bel, the god of Babylon.

Flush of Confidence Changed to Terror.

In the midst of the revelry of the feast, the King, his counsellors and lords were astonished to see a part of a hand writing certain fiery letters upon the wall of the palace. The revelry ceased, a hush of fear came over all; the flush of confidence upon the King’s face gave place to one of terror; he trembled and called for the advice of the wise men to interpret the wonderful message, but they were unable to explain the matter satisfactorily. The King was greatly disappointed; but his mother came to his assistance, informing him of Daniel, who had given to his father, Nebuchadnezzar, an interpretation of a dream, when all the wise men of Babylon had failed; and accordingly Daniel was sent for.

The aged Prophet, at this time about ninety years old, as an officer of the kingdom, doubtless resided in one of the palace buildings near by, and in response to the King’s command he stood before him. The King, realizing the importance of the message, manifested his anxiety by offering—first to the astrologers, and now to Daniel— a great reward for the interpretation— to be robed in royal purple, with a royal, golden chain as insignia of rank, and to be third in dignity and power in the Empire. The first thing in the account which strikes us is the nobility of God’s servant in renouncing all claim to these gifts as a reward for the service of interpreting God’s message—“Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the King, and make known the interpretation.”

Lesson to Be Learned From Daniel’s

Course.

We may stop here long enough to take a valuable lesson, to the effect that all who would be the mouthpieces of the Lord, and speak forth His Word, should, like Daniel, do so without stipulation of compensation. Only from this standpoint can any hope to be entirely free and untrammeled in speaking words of truth and soberness, which may be very distasteful to those who inquire the mind of the Lord. Had Daniel thanked the King for the promised gifts, and thus accepted them as a reward for his service, he would have felt obligated to the King to such an extent that it might have warped his judgment, or have weaken

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\ 2000 VACANT PRESBYTERIAN PULPITS.

The announcement that 2,000 out of total of 10,000 Presyterian churches *n this country are without pastors was made by the Rev. Charles Little, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.

Dr. Little has been in Philadelphia -attending a meeting of the General Assembly’s Commissions on Christian Work in the Witherspoon Building. About fifteen other prominent Presbyterians from different parts of the country attended the meeting also and will recommend to the next General Assembly a plan to supply the vacant pulpits.

SURPASSING SKILL OF THE ANCIENTS.

“We are losing all our secrets in this shabby age,” an architect said. ‘If we keep on the time will come when we’ll be able to do nothing well.

“Take, for instance, steel. We claim to make good steel, yet the blades the Saracens turned out hundreds of years ago would cut one of our own blades '.n two like butter.

"Take ink. Our modern ink fades in five or ten years to rust color, yet the ink of mediaeval manuscripts is as black and bright today as it was 700 years ago.

Take dyes. The beautiful blues and *eds and greens of antique oriental rugs have all been lost, while in Egyptian tombs we find fabrics dyed thousands of years ago that remain today brighter and purer in hue than any of our modern fabrics.

“Take my specialty, buildings. We can’t build as the ancients did. The secret of their mortar and cement is lost to us. Their mortar and cement were actually harder and more durable than the stones they bound together, whereas ours—horrors!”—New York Press.

(Continued from page 1.) knew that the Medes and Persians were already besieging the city.

So far from being offended with the plain words of the Prophet, Belshazzar seems to have felt their truth, and gave command that the honors already promised should be bestowed upon Daniel. But meantime other matters were transpiring in his capital, of which the King and his lords were unaware, so that the fulfilment of the doom written upon the palace wall was close at hand.

While the Babylonians were feasting' and reveling in fancied security, Cyrus, the general of the united forces of the Medes and Persians, having studied up a plan of attack, had already caused a great ditch to be dug above the city, to divert the waters of the River Euphrates into a new channel. This river flowed through the center of Babylon diagonally, and was protected by enormous gates of brass, which were supposed to be equally impregnable as the three-hundred-foot wall.

Correspondencies Between Fall of Literal Babylon and That of

Mystic Babylon.

Indeed, it would appear that the Babylonians had never a fear of attack from the river, and had left it comparatively unguarded. Consequently, when Cyrus had diverted the stream into the new channel he found little difficulty in marching his troops under the brass gates into the city, so that at the very time the revelry was progressing in Belshazzar’s palace the soldiers of Cyrus were taking possession of the entire city, and very shortly after Daniel’s interpretation of the writing the trcops reached the palace, Belshazzer was slain, and the new empire of Medo-Persia was inaugurated—“without fighting,” as the tablets declare. Thus did Babylon fall suddenly—“in one hour.”

The thoughtful Bible student must of necessity have always in view the many correspondencies which the Scriptures institute between Literal Babylon and Mystic Babylon, and when he is studying the account of the fall of Literal Babylon his attention is naturally drawn also to the foretold fall of Mystic Babylon, in the end of this Age. Indeed, he must be comparatively blind who cannot see that the wonderful prophecies which speak of the fall of Babylon were not wholly fulfilled by Cyrus the Persian. The fall of literal Babylon, while it was sudden, and while it made a great commotion amongst the nations, lacks much of filling to the full the prophetic picture. Much of these prophecies still wait for fulfilment in Mystic or Symbolic Babylon today; and this fact is abundantly supported by the prophecies of the Book of Revelation, written centuries after the fall of Literal Babylon, which unmistakably refer to Mystic Babylon, and use language almost identical with that of Jeremiah.

We request that at your convenience you read Isaiah 13: 1-19, in confirmation of what we have said. We recommend further that you compare Jeremiah 50: 15, 29 with Revelation 18: 6; and Jeremiah 50: 38 with Revelation 16: 12; and the 46th verse of Jeremiah 50 with Revelation 18: 9. Compare also Jeremiah 51: 6-9 with Revelation 18: 4-6; and verse 13 of Jeremiah 51 with Revelation 17: 1-15; and verses 37, 63, 64 of Jeremiah 51 with Revelation 18: 2, 4, 21.

It will be noticed, further, that, as Literal Babylon sat upon the literal River Euphrates, so Mystic Babylon is said to sit upon the waters [peoples]. It should be noticed, also, that as the literal city was captured by the diversion of the literal waters, so Symbolic Babylon is to fall by reason of the diversion of the symbolic Euphrates, which in Rev. 16: 12, it is foretold, shall be “dried up—that the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared.”

The Kings of the East, or Kings from the sunrising (R. V.), are, we understand, the Kings of Christ’s Kingdom, who are also Priests—the Body of Christ, the Royal Priesthood: "Thou hast made them unto our God kings and priests, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5: 10.) From this standpoint of view, Cyrus with his army, overthrowing Literal Babylon, was a figure or illustration of Messiah, King of kings and Lord of lords, who with His faithful will shortly overthrow Mystic Babylon, and take possession of the world in the name of Jehovah, to establish the Kingdom for which He taught us to pray, “Our Father; . . . Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.”

Cyrus a Type of the Conquering Christ and His Message.

This likeness of Cyrus to Messiah is not merely in the particulars noted. It should be remembered that the name Cyrus signifies “the sun,” and that thus in his name he reminds us of the prophecy of Christ—“The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His beams.”

Ion, represented by a woman, is said to make all nations drunk with the wine, or doctrine, which she gives them out of the golden cup which she holds in her hand. Like a great millstone Mystic Babylon shall be cast into the sea to rise no more. As the literal Israelites were invited to leave Babylon the literal, and were helped so to do_c but only a few responded, so Spiritual Israelites are urged to leave Mystic Babylon, in which they have been in captivity, but only a comparatively small number have a sufficiency of courage, love and zeal to respond at the first—others will be delivered after her collapse. Now, however, the message is, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen” [that is, sentenced to fall, which sentence, we believe, will be fulfilled shortly]. "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” —Rev. 18: 2-5.

Where Is Mystic Babylon?

No student can examine the records without astonishment and a realization that Mystic Babylon must be some great, influential system of great power in the world during this Gospel Age, and especially at its close. The very prominence given to Babylon, both in prophecy and in Revelation, warns God’s people that if they have not yet found Babylon they should seek for her. For so great an institution as made all nations drunk with her false doctrine must be very prominent, indeed, to those who were made so under the influence of the stupefying’ draft from her cup.

Indeed, the intimation is that the whole^civilized world will be so intoxicated with the false teaching of Baby Ion as to be completely under her influence. And when she falls it is particularly explained that all the great, the rich, the mighty, the influential of earth will mourn the catastrophe of her fall. Only the saintly few will recognize its true import and rejoice.

It seems very clear that many of us were once part and parcel of this great Babylon—this great system of confusion by which the Divine character has been so traduced through the creedal misinterpretations of the Divine Word. We are aware that Catholics declare Protestants to be this Babylon system; and we are aware that Protestants claim that Catholics are this Babylon system. To our understanding of the Divine Word, both are rights Babylon is the “mother” system and the various sects of Protestantism are the “daughters,” and the name Babylon is a family name. It belongs to the “mother” system first, and to all the “daughters” of the system now, as welk Improper association with the world, its governments and systems, is a crime to which both are parties. The “daughters” have followed the example of the “mother,” and more or less are coming back into sympathy with her in all particulars. None of them have maintained the proper attitude of virginity and separateness from the world.

We speak Not Unkindly.

Do not misunderstand us. We believe that there are true saints of God in all the various parts of Christendom— “mother” and “daughters.” We do not even charge nor believe that those who have upheld and are upholding the various sections of Babylon have an evil intention; we believe that they are thoroughly “drunk,” intoxicated with their own erroneous theories. The fall of their present institutions will be a startling blow to them, for they verily believe them to be Christ’s Kingdom—and style them such—Christendom.

The fall of Babylon will astonish the entire world, so complete is the delusion that Christendom represents the throne and government of Messiah amongst men. And, be it remembered, the vast majority in all the various sects and denominations of Christendom are worldly people who have no conception whatever of the true Church and her cause. Their ambition is to approximate righteousness and a form of godliness, but no more than this seems to them necessary; more would be irrational, unreasonable, since they have not been begotten of the Holy Spirit and therefore cannot appreciate things from the Divine standpoint.

To them the fall of Babylon at first is astounding, a perplexity, but will work no real injury, because the reign of Babylon over the earth will be superseded by the reign of the New Jerusalem—the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. The most saintly of God’s people will hear the voice of Divine command, “Come out of her, My people,” and will obey it before the fall comes. But a large number, even of the Lord’s people, lacking courage, will share with Babylon the troubles of that hour.

Subsequently, however, these will rejoice and be glad, when they realize the . justice of the Divine execution against Babylon; and to them will! come, as an inferior company, an invitation to attend the “marriage sup-

of the Lamb.” Their honorable •xasition will be that of bridesmaids to Mile still more faithful and courageous ^little flock,” who will be accounted worths to be the “Bride” and to sit with the Redeemer in His throne. ■Then speedily will follow the long-inremised “Times of Restitution” to the of mankind, for which we pray,

THE WORLT DOES well to keep up a cheerful outward demeanor—^fo '’’derive dull care away” to the best of its *Wiity. Nevertheless, there is great •Awce and weight to St. Paul’s words to effect that “the whole creation is groaning and travailing in pain together, waiting” for Messiah’s Kingdom and its long-promised blessings to lift the curse of sin and death and to "restore to mankind the smile of the ‘Father’s favor. Reason though they anay that there is no personal God—> fthat there is merely a blind god of mature, an evolutionary force, etc., aevertheless, deep down in the heart, aaen believe that there is a God. Almost ’unconsciously the mind attributes to fflm Wisdom, Justice and Power—but iitttle of Love or sympathy with humanity and its frailties.

This very intuitive knowledge of i@od is closely associated with many oiuman troubles. The root of nearly every trouble, perhaps deep below the surface, is sin—disobedience to recognized principles of righteousness, and a fearful looking for of retribution, and uncertainty as to what it will mean. This is true, not only of mny Christians, but frequently true •c.kso of others who have made no profession, who have taken upon them oo solemn vows of obedience.

This troubled heart condition does *ot. always show upon the surface. Sometimes the troubled heart is in the theatre to try to forget its troubles. Sometimes its owner is immersed in sinful pleasure-seeking, in endeavor to firown some haunting grief. Some-;times relief is sought through intoxicating liquors or narcotics; sometimes .to suicide. Sometimes the troubled »ne is on the stage. One cannot surely know that the merry laugh and witty joke and cheery song do not come from a troubled heart. We are wre that they do, in many instances, •ftor frequently those who have been indulging in merriment have committed suicide a few minutes thereafter, leav-tog messages that their hearts had Seen severely burdened, while outwardly cheerful.

The Fear of the Lord-

In our troubles we, sooner or later, realize the lack of human sympathy at least, its impotency. Feeling our helplessness, we instinctively look ia our Creator. In the hour of trouble remarkably few doubt the existence of Sod.” As Jesus said, “Ye believe in God.” But as we look to the Almighty Sor protection and consider Divine Justice and realize our own weaknesses and shortcomings, the heart of man ails. How could he think that the Omnipotent One would have interest In or care for such a worm of the dust <8 he feels himself to be? How could ©ivine Justice look with any sympathy upon the course of selfishness which he recognizes stretches out be-Mnd him in full view of the All-Seeing '®ye ?

'"The fear of the Lord is the begin-®8ng of wisdom,” is the inspired Message. Surely many have this begin-®lng of wisdom come to them at some period in their life’s experience. But such a fear is the start to wisdom only when it leads the fearful one to great-sr carefulness of living and to a desire for the Heavenly Father’s approval. If this be the leading of the fear, M is indeed the precursor of, the lead-sr to, wisdom. As proper fear or reverence for the Almighty comes in, it acts as a restraint upon sin. It tends ft® make one more thoughtful, more careful, more wise, in seeking for a । better way.

Come by the Narrow Way.

Jesus addressed the words of our iext to Jews who, under the instruction of the Law given by Moses, had learned of Divine righteousness and the Divine requirements of all those who would come into harmony with Him. They believed in God. They tfecognized His Justice. They were desiring to be His people; they had heard

Jesus; they had traveled with Him as His disciples. In a general way they believed in Him. To a large degree they accepted Him as the promised Messiah and yet they found it difficult to exercise a fulness of faith. Probably there are many in this same attitude of mind today among the mil-Mons who will read this. We would 36ke to bear home upon the hearts of these the very Message that Jesus gave ft© those who heard His Voice: “Let not

Upon postal-card request, addressed to Bible and Tract Society, Brooklyn, N. Y., we will send you, free of charge, papers containing any three or more of the ’following interesting topics'-— “The Rich Man in Hell” “The End of the Age” “Thieves in Paradise” “Christ Our Passover” “Foreordination and Election’* “The Desire of All Nations” “Sin’s Small Beginnings” “Paradise Regained” “The Coming Kingdom” “Sin Atonement” “Gathering the Lord’s Jewels” “An Open Letter to an Adventist" “Refrain thy Voice from Weeping” “What is the Soul?” “The Hope of Immortality” “Calamities—Why Does God Permit Them?”

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ture—the death process for the creature. It is a matter, as the Apo® tie explains, of rejoicing in tribulation^ knowing that the trials and difficulties of the present time, under God’s prov-idence, are working out for the faithful a share in that “far more exceed ing and eternal weight of glory” prom ised to the Elect, the Bride of Christ— a share in the Kingdom which shortly! through the power of the First Resurrection, will be exalted to glory an& dominion over the earth. This is th® spiritual Seed of Abraham which, during Messiah’s Reign of a thousand years, is to bless Israel and, thrqugte Israel, all the families of the earth.— Galatians 3: 29.

We cannot give this message to th® world, even as Jesus could not do so₀ It is better for the world that theta hearts should now be troubled to & considerable degree. Those who are is the most dangerous position, perhaps, are the ones who have no troubles Se the present life and, therefore, no isa centive to seek the great Burden-Bear er and fellowship with the Father through Him. Jesus said of such, Wo® unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unta you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for y® shall mourn and weep. Woe unto yow when all men shall speak well of yow!' for so did their fathers to the fals® prophets.”—Luke 6: 24-26.

Scriptures Misunderstood.

At the present time we have l,20®„ 000,000 that in no sense of the won are called by the Lord, and therefor® have had no opportunity of respond ing to that call. With the thcugM that has prevailed for centuries, th®,! these uncalled millions are doomed ft© eternal torture, the hearts of God’s people have been very sorely troubled and infidelity has been very greatly assisted into a denial of everything pertaining to Christian faith. AHI agree that it would be very unreasonable for the Creator of those 1,200,000, 000 to expose them to the danger ofc eternal torment, and not give them th® slightest opportunity for hearing ofc the only terms of salvation from it.

But when we get the correct, th® Scriptural view of the matter, we se® that the penalty upon those 1,200,000,-000 is, “Dying, thou shalt die,” and that in this particular they are no! different from their fathers, who were under the same curse, or sentence ofc death—the Adamic condemnation.

We see from the Scriptures, too, thai our Lord Jesus, “by the grace of GoS tasted death for every man”—“to b® testified in due time.” (Hebrews 2: 9,, I Timothy 2: 6.) Jesus, therefor® tasted death for all these 1,200,000,000. and for all their forefathers. He has; given the ransom-price for their sins as well as for ours, the Church’s, and a resultant blessing must come ft® them as well as to us.

The coming blessing is a rescue froxa the sin-and-death conditions in whicite they were born; an opportunity fo& rising out of those conditions of degra dation, up, up, up, to full perfection of nature, and all that was lost through Adam’s disobedience. Thfe work of Divine Grace, we see, is to b® accomplished for the world during th® Messianic Age, when Christ and th© Elect Church will constitute God’s Kingdom, with power and great gloff? for the blessing of the world.

THE SCRIPTURES ABOUT.....

SPIRITISM?

Proofs that it is Demonism! ---Also---

“The Spirits in Prison” and why ar© they there?

The necessity of this little brochure lies in the fact that SPIRITISM is showing an increased activity of late, and meeting with considerable success. in entrapping Christians who are feeling dissatisfied with their present attainments and craving spiritual food and a better foundation for faith.

The aim is to show the unscripturaU ness of Spiritism, and to point those who hunger and thirst for truth in the direction of God’s Word—th® Counsel of the Most High. “Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.”—Psa» 73:24.

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But nothing that the world can do ©an interfere with God’s great proposition, that a full opportunity for life or death eternal shall then come to every member of the race because Ghrist died for the ungodly. The only oslass to whom present life means life ©r death eternal is the Church. And by the Church we mean, not church attendants nor outward professors, but those who have entered into a covenant with God through Christ and who have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, tasting of the good Word of Sod and the powers of the Age to some. If these should fall away, the Apostle forewarns us, it would be impossible to renew them again unto repentance. And there will be no hope tor them with the world, in the world’s (trial Day, because they already have snjoyed their share of the merit of CTirlst’s death.

When, therefore, we speak of God •*ad the home, we are not having in mind a family composed exclusively saints, who daily and hourly are tollowing their great Redeemer’s footsteps in self-denial, in sacrifice, in the "narrow way” which leads to “glory, honor and immortality” and association with the Redeemer in His glorious reign which will bless the world.

Our thought is that the Bible teaches hat there are many people of the world, who are reverential, kind, gentile and just to a very considerable decree, who are not saints; who have not presented their bodies living sacrifices to God; who have not been begotten of His Holy Spirit, who are not, therefore, members of that exclusive “little flock” to whom it is the Father’s good pleasure to give the Kingdom—in joint-heirship with their (Lord and Redeemer and lead. To this latter class our Master svidently referred when He said to His footstep followers, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your grood works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”—Matt. 5: 16.

To live righteously, soberly and god-Jiy in this present world to the extent ©£ one’s ability is what everyone Should do—no less. To live a life of sacrifice—to lay down our lives for the brethren, for the truth, in the service ©f the Lord, is another matter, which justice does not require and which the

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Bible nowhere enjoins upon mankind. It is pointed out as a privilege to those who desire it, and glory, honor and immortality on the spirit plane is the reward attached to this invitation or High Calling. It is the selection of this special class of consecrated ones that is the particular order of the Divine program at the present time.

Saint and Sinner Interested.

Having clearly defined what we do not mean to teach, let us now assert that, nevertheless, every sensible man and woman, saintly or not, must feel a deep interest in the welfare and moral progress of the human family, of which’ he forms a part. All, therefore, should rejoice in every movement and endeavor working to even temporary enlightenment, blessing and uplift amongst mankind. The many benevolent institutions of the civilized world attest this general thought. Our only conflict with these humanitarian efforts is that they do not approach the subject of human betterment from what we consider to be the right standpoint. With nearly all of these efforts, more or less distinctly stated, are those God-dishonoring and love-opposing intimations of an alternative of torment, either purgatorial or eternal. This is the great blight which has worked and is working incalculable harm—driving intelligent minds into opposition to the true God and the Bible, which is the revelation of His Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power.

The Bible freely tells us that many features of the Divine plan are now hidden in mystery, but the last book of the Bible, which prophetically pictures the future, assures us that in God’s due time “The mystery shall be finished, which He hath declared to His servants, the prophets” (Rev. 10:7). The same book assures us that in God’s due time, when the mystery is cleared, “All nations shall come and worship before Thee, for Thy righteous acts have been made manifest” (Rev. 15:4). We are now living in the time when the “mystery” is ending and the righteous dealings of God, from the Scriptural standpoint, may be clearly seen.

But these revelations are not meant for the world in general now, but merely for “the elect,” the “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” “To you it is given to know the mysteries”; to outsiders these things are spoken in parables and dark sayings (Matt. 13:11, 13). But not until the elect shall be glorified and the Messianic Kingdom established will the “mystery” be made fully known to the world and every knee bow and every tongue confess. Hence, only those of a contrite heart may now see, now understand, the real character of God, His real purposes toward man, etc. Thus our Lord declared, “This is life eternal that they should know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”—John 17: 3.

In a darker day than ours the theory, “to doubt is to be damned”, held such a power over many that they dared not use their reason. And thus a certain

“The Wonderful Bible Keys” reverence for God was maintained in many homes—a reverence, however, which surely would not be as highly appreciated by the Creator nor have , as deep an influence upon the creature as would a faith moved by love and an intelligent appreciation of the Divine character, based upon an understanding of the Divine Plan of the Ages.

Au Inundation of Unbelief.

In our day the shackles of ignorance and superstition are breaking. Men, women and children are beginning to think for themselves. They no longer believe the fairy tales of other days; the dreadful hobgoblins and nightmares of the Dark Ages respecting purgatory and eternal torture are doubted by all, and by the great mass totally disbelieved. What have they now to attach them to the Almighty, since they have never been taught the love of God—the lengths and breadths and heights and depths passing all human understanding? This is the world’s great need—to know God as He really is, a Father, a Friend, a God of love! And to thus know Him the people need to be taught how seriously they were mistaught in the past along the lines of hell and purgatory.

How could they ever truly love and worship a God of injustice and of hate —One inferior to themselves—One who knew, foreordained and prepared for their torture, before they were born. They must see that these things, taught by the creeds of the Dark Ages, are wholly at variance with the Bible, else they will never come back to the Bible nor be able to see its teachings in their true light. They must be taught that the sin and death, sorrow and trouble all around us are the wage or penalty of father Adam’s disobedience. They must learn that God proposes a blessing and uplifting which will be as world wide as is the curse. They must learn that the foundation for this work was effected by the death of Jesus, the Just for the unjust. They must learn that God is now selecting a saintly class to be associates with the Redeemer in the work of uplifting and blessing Adam and his race; and that each will be held responsible and receive stripes in proportion to his knowledge and wilful disobedience; and that the persistently rebellious will be destroyed “like natural brute beasts”, in the Second Death.

“I Have Lost My God.”

Not long since, in conversation svith a young lady, she said with great concern, “I fear that I have lost my God.” As a child of religious parents she had had helpful influences in her home, but in school she had come in contact with the general spirit of skepticism, which, instead of repudiating the Bible, as did Ingersoll. Paine and Voltaire, merely smiles at any reference to a Divine revelation, a faith in God and a respect for His will. These teachers are as honest, we believe, as were Ingersoll, Paine and Voltaire; nor can we deny that they have the same right to their disbelief that we claim for our belief. We can, however, say with all sincerity that it is a great pity that the learned men of Christendom are nearly all infidels, in the sense of not believing in the Bible as a Divine revelation.

Many of them even deny that there is a personal God and ascribe everything to—a great Nothing, which they designate Nature-god. Is it surprising, in view of the fact that these teachings are being promulgated in the universities and colleges and theological seminaries, in the high schools, and even to some extent in the common schools—is it any wonder that the rising generation is losing its God? If it even be claimed that a bad thing is better lost than kept, we must dissent from their course. We must claim that the misconception of God can be destroyed only by the introduction to the heart and mind of the true God, whose glorious attributes of Justice, Wisdom, Love and Power will take the place of the malevolent misconceptions of the Dark Ages.

Awakened Parental Responsibility.

It is high time that parents realize the true situation—it is almost too late now. The seeds of unbelief, already sown in the minds of the rising generation, are being watered continually and are growing. All who love their families, all who love mankind in general, should awaken to the fact that a world that has lost its God must of necessity be an unhappy world. Platonic philosophy may for a time serve the purposes of the few, but surely cannot serve tlm masses of the human race.

A godless world will ere long mean a discontented world, an unhappy world and, by and by, a world of anarchy and strife. This is what our worldwide education is leading to. Few of our race can stand an education which recognizes no God, no revelation of Him, no responsibility to Him, and no hope of a future life which will be effected by the conduct of the present.

God in the Home.

We are not pleading for cant and rant. We are urging that in every tome God be recognized to the extent of the opportunities and influence we