~

11111111111111I111111111111

...

THE

...

0/U~LU'(:)

Hibk Standaltd.
"tbt
61ft of 604 Is Ettrnal [1ft. VOL. 29.

"'n11ft IIlm

WAS

u,
0""~~

will (omt AA~ln.'

~,r0
I

',rllllllllllllllllll"('11

No.

12.

AUCKLAND,

N .Z., DECEMBER,

1900.

TWOPENCE.

hopeless, gave a large majority for reduction. Roduction is secured for Auckland City and for Duncdin, This is telling testimony to the growtll of the movement, the capture of the cities being hitherto considered a hopeless thing. For many years the Press of this Dominion characterised the leaders in the No - License movcincn t as "fanatics," and implied that these were stirring Lip strife which would be resented by the people, But now it can be said that the question has beUbe :l!3anb of come a much broader one, and men :l!3usiness !IDen. are taking part in it from other "motives than those which actuated the "fanatics)" who, by the way, laboured for the weal of their fellows, without fee or reward other than that of seeing the mora 1 and social benefit that came to those who could be persuaded to renounce the drink. In this election new agents have come to the front, and have gi ven the cause a mighty push forward. Hitherto the Trade has had a monopoly of the columns of the daily Press, and have advertised extensively the so - called failures of Prohibition. Here we could not enter for lack of means, This avenue has now been occupied in the City of Auckland by a band of business men, not connected with any Temperance organisation, who guaranteed a large sum of money, and put their heads together to frame advertisements which should effectually answer all the "pleas" and "reasons" of the Liquor monopoly, and should present to the people the facts and argumerits and illustrations as to the benefits of N 0- License. Thus, in a field which the brewers had regarded as peculiarly their own, they were met, and routed. The whimpering complaints that the business men were not "playing the game fairly" showed how keenly they felt their defeat. On the Saturday before the poll it remarkable demonstration took place in Auckland, The Bands of Hope and Temperance Societies of the City united in the preparation of a great demonstration as an appeal on hchalf of the children.' Willing hearts and 'trbe <.Preat hands joined in the necessary IDemonstratioll. labour, and on the appointed day there was seen the results of their enthusiastic endeavours. Hundreds of children in gala

1~~~~-~-~'--iHB elections are now over. For weeks before the poll the whole country was in an excited, unsettled state. The claims of rival candidates and policies have been ad vocated with mu eh insistence, but these have been completely overshadowed by the Local Option Question. Candidates tried to divert the attention of the people to other matters, and the newspapers made strenuous endeavours to get their readers to consider politics, hut it can safely be said that in every constituency the one question has held dominance. As the day of ejection approached the interest bccame more <.Prowtb of pronounced, and it was realised '/Ro::::1Ltcense. that this would be the greatest struggle yet entered into for the settlement of this great matter. The result is that No-License has made a great advance. There are now twelve electorates which have secured No-License on the three-fifths majority. Had the benefits of Local Option been obtained on a simple majority, there would be forty-five electorates in the Dominion without a public-house bar. As it is, it is estimated that over one hundred bars will be closed at the end of next June. It is thought that in some places where carried there will be an attempt to upset the poll, hut this does not give the No-License people uneasiness, as the Act now makes provision for a second poll, and there are no fears as to the popular opinion if it should again be taken. There have been surprises in the country. In the Auckland Province the vote has gone heavily for No-License, the only place in which the liquor people have secured a majority support being in Auckland Central. The other divisions of the City were strongly in favour of N 0- License, City West voting in favour by 64t per cent. Parnell, where no effort was put forth by the No-License folk, because that borough was regarded as

THE

BIBLE

STANDARD.

DECEMBER,

i908.

attire filled the numerous waggons. Pretty and effective tableaux were presented, and some of the waggons were decorated with flowers. Flags and banners with mottoes, appeals and devices were evident everywhere in the milelong procession. As it passed along the streets to its destination the streets were lined with thousands of persons. Many of the women, who watched the happy children as they passed, had tears in their eyes, and the men felt that rising in the throat that makes speech difficult. Never before had there been such a sight in the city. There have been demonstrations not a few, but for size, effective display, and numbers, this was the largest. Although the Press gave little space to it, the designers secured their end, and undoubtedly gained a large number of votes to the cause. What plea is so effective as the plea for the children? The Liquor monopoly can live only as it battens upon the children, and nothing could be more to the point than the people should see for what this great reform stands. So the excitement of the time is over, the second ballots are passed, and the country will settle down to its normal life, but the results of this contest will remain, and we trust that the lessons learnt will be valuable and appreciated, so that when the next opportunity is given for a renewal of the struggle we may fight upon more equal terms, and completely banish this degrading traffic from our shores.

seen, puts the basis of morals where the Bible puts it, and yet it is an obvious thing to any person who will carefully read the Word. That basis is in the relationship of the creature to the Creator, and not in the plan of redemption which the Bible records, and for which it was given. Why is it that men are so wilfully blind to the purpose of the Bible, to which all its histories relate. As at this Congress, so everywhere we find speakers and writers endeavouring to point out the differences between the morality of the Old Testament and that of the New, but no one of U/)e cause ot these ad vocates calls attention to the tbe :fSlintlness. difference of dispensation, and the fact that the dealings of God with men in those past times should be examined in the light of the then ruling dispensation, or Divine administration. 'I'here is no hope at all that there ever will be any successful attempt to teach morality from the Old Testament until the right standpoint is taken. Believing that we see the truth on this matter, we have no hesitation in saying that the J ehovah of the Old Testament is the God of the New, and all His ways are right. Taking into account the conditions of the time, and the immediate purpose in view, the action taken by J ehovah in the days of the Israelites was always the right action, and there is not, and never was, any need for poor fallible man to apologise for the actions of the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. There is the further thought to emphasise, that if ever Goel interferes in the history of men, as He has declared He will, to punish evildoers, and to inaugurate His Kingdom, there will be a recurrence of such acts as arc now being criticised as unworthy of the Divine character. Can those who so glibly criticise show how the Divine purpose can be realised without them? A recognition of these things somewhat detracts from the value of: the corn ments and reasonings of the "moral educational ists," and suggests that there is room on their part for a further review of the subject. On Ist September the Hedjaz Railway, connecting Damascus, the oldest city in the world, with Medinasecond only to Mecca itself in the estimation of "the faithful" as a sacred spot-was opened with picturesque ceremonial-a procession of officials, solemn prayer for the welfare El lRotable of Islam, Oriental oratory, as also mntlerra~ing. illuminations and fireworks. We are probably indebted to the recent birth of constitutional freedom in the Turkish Empire for the presence, at the celebrations in Medina, of the representative of the Times, who has given the world a full description of the proceedings. From the British TV eekly we quote the following, which puts in a clear light some of the matterof-fact consequences that may be looked for from the opening of the new line: "The H edj az Railway was begun eight years ago, and will certainly be the present Sultan's best gift to his

In the month of September at the University of London the first International Moral Education Congress was held. A variety of subjects having to do with the whole ground of educational effort was presented and discussed. The sittings of Congress which excited most interest f1Doral 16t1uca", were those dealing with the Bible non CIongress. and the relations between moral and religious teaching. We note that the dominant note in regard to the study of the Bible itself was that thc results of Higher Criticism must be accepted, and that the biographies and miracles of the Old Testament arc not necessarily to be accepted as true. It was claimed that the Bible is a moral text-book, but that the histories it contains are not necessarily true. A Jewish teacher and preacher said: "While we are quite prepared to let our children understand that the Bible contains a great many legends borrowed from the literature and beliefs of ancient nations, still those elements can be pressed by wise teachers into the service of religion and morality without doing violence to those convictions which the children in the course of time, and under the influence of the modern spirit, will undoubtedly obtain." It seems to us that it is almost a hopeless thing to get men of the present time to view the Bible upon the basis of its own claim. We are of opinion that to treat the Bible as a school book of morals is to put it in the place it was not intended to occupy. It is this error which lies behind the "findings" of the Higher Critics, and it is this which is the great factor in the claim to put the Bible into the schools. No one of these men, in any report we have

DECEMBER,

1908.

THE

BIBLE

STANDARD.
Church (same as Russia}, cent. Moslems.

179
and only two and a-half per

people. It will serve a more important purpose than that of connecting the two holy cities with Damascus. It is likely to bring peace and commercial progress to the whole district, and if the line should ever be fully opened to European visitors, Arabia may become one of the world's popular travel resorts. The scenery in some parts of the line is very picturesque. Sharp peaks of red sandstone, and jagged masses of rock, rise abruptly out of the drifts of yellow sand." All believers in the great future before the Holy Land-which in the judgment of many includes Arabia, as well as Syria-must view with much interest all such developments, and look beyond any immediate bearing upon the fortunes of Islam. Some students of prophecy may find it difficult to associate the railway, the telegraph and other modern inventions with the fulfilment of God's promises, given so long ago to His chosen nation. It is wiser, we think, to be prepared for the fulfilment of the ancient prophecies, so to say, in terms of modern life. Already there are several short railway lines in and adjoining Palestine proper, notably one from J affa to Jerusalem (54 miles), one from Beiru t to Damascus, Horns, and Hamath (96 miles), and another from Haifa to Damascus (176 miles). There lRail\\?a}] are also a number of lines in Asia Jl)rogress Minor, which when the Taurus in tbe JEast. Mountains have been crossed, will be linked with the new line. That line, it should be noted, is at least 600 miles in length; it rnns nearly due south from Damascus, considerably to the eastward of the Jordan Valley, and it is expected to be carried further south to Mecca within about two years. A connection will, it is also expected, be formed with the Bhagdad Hailway-still only a project, we understand-which is to complete the chain of communication between the Bosphorus and the Persian G111. No believer in "the sure word of prophecy" in regard to the futur.e of Israel and the land promised to the Fathers can fail, we think, to see how great a part these iron roads must play in the accomplishment of the latter-day wonders that await the world, not only in the racial and political, but also in the spiritual sense.-.iVJ essenqer. 'I'he action of Bulgaria in declaring its independence from the suzerainty of Turkey is stirring up an excitement, and the European Powers are fearful of war. When the Treaty of Berlin was signed in 1878 Bulgaria, with other provinces, was constituted a separate domain, triU)rospecU"e butary to Turkey, but ruled by a <!banges. Prince. The Turks ruled supreme in Bulgaria for nearly five hundred years previous to the Treaty, and now the nation thinks it is time to proclaim its complete independence. Its population is less than 4,000,000, seventy-seven per cent. of which is of the faith of the Orthodox Greek

Lying to the west is Servia, which also adjoins Austria-Hungary on the north. It is reported that Servia has called out 120,000 of her reserves to be in readiness. Austria-Hungary contemplates the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Russia desires a readjustment of the Berlin 'l'reaty. The Island of Crete has declared her independence from Turkey and has annexed herself to Greece. All of these important changes, coming as they do, so soon after the proclamation of the new constitution by Turkey, may embarrass the Young Turks party who have been in charge recently, and it is said that it is possible that Abdul Hamid may withdraw the new constitution in case of war, claiming that as a pretext. Great and important changes arc impending, and God's children, whose eyes are watching the fulfilment of prophecy, will be specially interested. Let 11S not lose sight of these things but watch, wait and pray.The Last Days.

What is well named "the latest fad" has been presented by the American scholar, Prof. Paul Haupt, to the "Congress of Orientalists" at Copenhagen, and to the "Jnternational Congress of Religions" at Oxford. He read a paper before these two important bodies "setting forth the jLatest thesis that Jesus was in all probaJfab. bility an Aryan, and not of Semitic origin." He professedly bases his view upon the "evidence of a strong effusion of Aryan settlement into Galilee in the seventh century B.C." Here a guess 0]" speculation is labelled "evidence," and then everything must give place to it. What matters it that the Gospels should declare Him to be a Jew, and that the strength of the genealogy presented rests upon the fact that He has descended from David and Abraham. These things are nothing to the "scholar;" all must yield to his scientific theory! At Copenhagen the paper "provoked a spirited discussion, which threatened at one time to become somewhat personal." At Oxford the chief 'opponent to the Professor's view was Dr. Gaster, a noted Jewish writer and lecturer, who pointed out that the Jews never reproached Jesus with a proselyte ancestry, and that the omission of such evidence was highly significant. Not a single delegate supported the theory of Prof. Haupt. It may be that this extreme fad will be adopted by some foolish persons as the latest utterance of science, for no other reason than that it opposes the Bible record. But the humble believer may possess his soul in patience, for this will follow the other thousandand-one fads which, passing into the limbo of forgetfulness, carry with them the reputation of the "scholars" who were so sure they were right.

ur)e

180

THE

BIBLE

STANDARD.

DECEMBER,

1908.

Sir Oliver Lodge is claimed by Spiritists as "the man of the hour in Psychic research" who believes that "the boundarv between the two states-the present and thc future~is still substantial, but it is wearing thin in places." He is quoted as having expressed the opinion that "the :a <I0I111110n dead have been heard from." ComSense lView. menting on this, the NI onlreal Da'ily 1Viiness declares that his statement of belief "is far more likely to weaken men's judgment in the continued robustness of his scientific judgment than to convince them of the achievement. Not that people are not predisposed to accept such a discovery. But the evidences that the departed members of the Psychical Research Society have been heard from through a spiritualistic medium are before us in the shape of their messages. Those messages are so much the very thoughts that are likely to fill the minds of persons on earth engrossed in the question, and arc so utterly lacking in even a hint of information of any other sort, that nobody not carried away with an absorbing passion for an affirmative result would imagine them to be anything but the unconscious, or, as the present word is, subconscious, creation of the person who, honestly enough, no doubt, wrote them down." If it be granted that intelligences are at work, other than living human beings, yet such concession is far from admitting that therefore dead persons are able to communicate with their friends who are alive. Till unshakable evidence is provided which shows that dead men are ali ve we hold by the Bible declaration, which agrees with science, reason and commonsense, that "the dead know not anything," they cannot communicate, and have nothing to tell.

stored, the Rornish Church would demonstrate its idea of tolerance by suppressing all these Evangelical centres by confiscating Bibles and Testaments, and by prosecuting their possessors.-The Christian,

lPaul ano

~be

:Jl3lesseb lbopc."

TUB Apostle Paul had a double ministry committed to him, and communicated by two separate and distinct revela tions. He was a minister (diaconos) of the Gospel which was specially revealed to him (Gal. i. and CoL i.), and he was (subsequently) a minister of the Mystery of Christ and the Church, which was the subject of a second and very special revelation (Col. i., Ephes. iii., Rom. xvi. 25-27). I.-It helps us to concentrate our attention on the essence or "soul" of Paul's Gospel, if we reflect (1) that he wrote his earlier Epistles before the Synoptic Gospels were composed; (2) that John did not write his Gospel, or the fourth Divine biography of the Lord's life and ministry, until a whole generation after the martyrdom of Paul; (3) that there is not a single quotation from any New Testament Scripture in any of his Epistles; (4) only one or two references to the Lord's oral teaching; and (5) that it is therefore manifest Paul did not deri ve his Gospel f ram reading the four Evangelists or the Acts of the Apostles, nor yet from the teaching of the twelve, but he received it, as he himself tells us, by a direct revelation from God Himself. CHRIST AND THE GOSPEL.

In some quarters protests are still being published against the stopping of the Eucharistic Procession, and arguments are advanced in favour of extended tolerance in regard to the Roman Church in England. Such writers seem to be singularly ignorlRoman \Ioler:::: ant of the history of that Church in its relation with other Christian ance in 1870. bodies. Up to the year 1870 no kind of Protestant service was permitted within the walls of Home, except in the Embassies, where, of course, the form of worship could not by any stretch of authority be interfered with. Travellers' Bibles were confiscated, as they were at Florence, and at other places within the boundaries of the Papal States. With the commencement of the Garibaldian rising, the success of the national movement for unity, and the consequent fall of the temporal power of the Pope, there came toleration; and to-day in Rome there are no fewer than three Episcopalian churches, one Scotch, one German Lutheran, two Methodist, four Baptist, one Waldensian, and one "Free Italian." In addition, the Baptists have four mission-halls. In Florence there is a similar condition of things, and Bible carts stand in the streets, as in many other Italian towns. But if the Papal power were re-

H.-This revealed Gospel was a Gospel of and from God, "concerning His Son" (not Christ's Gospel about God as principally found in the Synoptic Gospels). Hence Paul does not call Christ "the Founder of Christianity," a title which universally prevails throughout Christendom, for, according to Paul's teaching, God is the Founder of His Gospel concerning Christ, whereas Christ is the true and only foundation. HI.-To believe from the heart what God has said and caused to be written concerning Christ, according to Paul's Gospel, is to be saved, acquitted, and justified, "being justified by faith, we have peace with God' tlirouqh. our Lord Jesus Christ." God has acquitted us, Christ intercedes for us, the Spirit Himself also helps our infirmities. Therefore the three blessed Persons of the Godhead are for us, altogether on our side-and no created thing can, or ever shall, separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. IV.-"Only a Christian here and there, even yet" (according to Dr. Dods), "grasps Paul's idea and enters into the 'liberty' of the Spirit, which he never wearied of proclaiming." THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM.

Christ and His Gospel of the Kingdom was rejected by all but a remnant, as the four Evangelists so emphatica lly relate. Moreover, the Holy Spirit:~ tE!st\m()'J;ly,

DECEMBER,

i90S.

THE BIBLE STANDARD.

181

with its accompanying signs and miracles, shared a like fate, as it is historically recorded in the Acts. 'I'hen, and not till then, was formally pronounced at the close of the Acts, in A.D. 60-62, that sentence of judicial blindness on the nation of Israel which had been announced as far back as the days of Isaiah, 700 B.O. (Isa. vi.). V.-This Gospel of salvation is now among the Gentiles, the Jews (regarded nationally) being blinded and hardened and often openly hostile to it. This Gospel of salvation which God inspired Paul to embody in his Epistles-the first written Scriptures of the so-called ":N ew Testament" -is for individual faithobedience, both for Jew and Gentile on the principle of' faith alone. It must be individual before there can be any corporate life, as set forth in the Romans, and it is believers only who are corporately addressed in the latter Epistles. Not only are we to believe that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was raised again and seen after the resurrection by so many witnesses-as is historically recorded in 1 Cor. xv.-but God has also told us to reckon ourselves dead with Christ (not only to believe He died for us), and that, in at least five different senses or aspects :-( 1) Dead to sin (Rom. vi. 2); (2) dead to law (Gal. ii. 19; Rom. vii. 4); (3) dead to the world (Gal. vi. 14); (4) dead to false religiousness (Col. ii. 20) ; (5) dead to self (~- Cor. v, 15). OUR REAL CITIZENSHIP. V1.- In the first part of Romans (i. 5-11) and in the Epistles of 1 and 2 Thess. and 1 Cor. it is Christ's death for us which is taught, but the spiritual foundation for a fuller grasp of Pauline teaching, as found in Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, is the faithful and true acceptance, in the heart and life, of our death with Him. VIl.-N ow is it not clear that if these five points are subjective realities in our individual and personal Christianity, in this age or interval during which the purposes of God, as set forth in Rom. viii., and in Ephesians, are in abeyance, that we shall not only be strangers and pilgrims on earth, but that our real citizenship will be in heaven? We shall be looking and waiting for our Lord's mighty putting forth of His power, which will transform these bodies of our humiliation, so that they shall be conformed, assimilated, to the body of His glory (Phil. iii. 20,21). The Lord's coming will then be a daily, constant, and "blessed hope," not only a subject or a doctrine for advent seasons or special conventions only. If we would endeavour to please the Holy Spirit by a more faithful and believing study of His wondrous communications to us of the deep things of God through His chosen vessel, Paul, our spiritual grasp of the glory of our calling on high would be greatly strengthened. JOINT-HEIRS WITH CHRIST. VIlL-When we have believed from the heart God's Gospel concerning His Son, and when we have, indeed,

reckoned ourselves dead with Him in and to this present evil age; when God has sealed us with His approval, and we are sons and heirs and joint-heirs with Christ and members of God's own heavenly household, we may then hope to grasp more completely the deeper teaching of Paul relating to Christ and the Church. The rapidity with which the teaching of Paul was lost is, indeed, a strange phenomenon in the history of the early Church; but is it not a still stranger phenomenon that amid all the theological learning of to-day there has as yet been no complete recovery of even the keys to the Pauline Epistles? "Thou hast left thy first love," was the sad message to the Church in very early days. Until there is a return to this lost "first love," how will it be possible to write more fully on the teaching of Paul concerning the great mystery of Christ and the Church? St. Augustine, wonderful though his writings are, did not fully recover Pauline teaching. Where is the modern theologian who can say that he has mastered the deeper secrets of Paul's later writings? "The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God," says: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Happy and blessed shall ye be in these Laodicean days if we recognise His voice, and open the door while the mystery of Christ and the Church is still being "preached among the Gentiles," and before it is "received up in glory."-Rev. J. J. B. Gales. -~

...

lDanger of jflatter}2.
'I'rrn cat had watched the little hole in the barn for hours at a time every day, but the wise mouse had watched the cat, and so he had never been caught. But one night when the moon was hidden the mouse sauntered out in search of food. It was so dark that he diu not see the cat, who sat behind a bush, watching for him. In less time than it takes me to write it, the cat had seized the poor little trembling mouse. "N ow I shall eat you," threatened the cat as he put the mouse down on the ground with one paw on his back, that he might not escape. "Very well," sighed the wise mouse, "but will you first grant me onc request?" "Y cs," replied the cat, "I will do that, as it is customary to grant last requests to people who are about to die. "What is it?" "1 have often listened to your singing, and greatly admired it. Will you please sing one song to me before you eat me?" "With pleasure," replied the cat, for he was very vain about his voice. So he straightened himself up and sang with all his might. He forgot all about the wise mouse until he had finished his song, anrl when he looked around for the applause he expected the mouse had vanished.-Exchange.

Children have more need of models than of critics.

THE

BIBLE
cJ

STANDARD.

DECEMBER,

1908.

'--0-"~"--0--"~"-'i~~

~'--'

~~~::c~~
THE LAST JUDGMEN'r. Rev. xx. 11-15.

JEe bees

from

there must be no attempt to go beyond it, nor must there be any paralysing ligature upon it. I think it quite possible that beyond this great act of Judgment there will be need for further judgment acts, for it is the King who is the Judge, and His rulershi p involves the possession and exercise of both administrative and executive judgment, and the keenest search into the Word reveals no time of which it can be said that all men have been before the Judgment Seat for future judgment and final decision. That may be deemed a strange thing to say, but it can be well substantiated.

THIS is designed to be the closing address of the series upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Coming Judge. At the outset reference was made to the limited ideas which are current regarding His position and His future work, and I declared my intention to attempt in outline one phase of that future work which ought to be more generally known. His relation as Judge, in its bearing upon Israel, the Church, the Nations, has been presented; there yet remains the question of that great office upon the sons of men at large. This I now purpose to put before you. Sufficient has been already said on the subject to amply prove that ours is no narrow message. From the Old Testament has been drawn the testimony which pointed to the great work to be accomplished by the appointed Messiah. In the New Testament are found the records which give the grounds for present salvation, and in the prophecies concerning the future from both Old and New Testaments is outlined clearly the future work of Christ. And what a work it is! How extensive in its operations and effects! How closely and searchingly it fits to present preparation and actions! Instead of the vague and indefinite ideas which are so commonly accepted, this outline gives a very clear view of the perfected work of Christ, the Coming Judge. If I would be understood, speaker and hearers must agree as to what is meant by the expression "The Last Judgment." Usually it is supposed to signify a future time when the present state shall suddenly come to a close, and consequent upon the wreck and ruin of this material world the Great White 'I'hrone shall be set up, and all men, from Adam till that moment of time shall be gathered before it. Saint and sinner shall alike stand there. This view, I have pointed out, is the eeclesiastic and secularistic idea, accepted too hurriedly, and without Bible warrant, and, indeed, is opposed by Scripture. I use the term to-night to express the last of the series of judgments recorded in Scripture. 'I'hat statement implies that other judgments are recorded, and it does not assert that other judgments, not recorded in the Word, may not follow. Looking to the future, to the very furthest point illumined by revelation, this is the last recorded judgment act. I do not intend to say that judgment powers, or judgment acts, are exhausted when this takes place, nor do I mean to say that when this has taken place every human being will have been judged. Just so far as the text goes may we go, but

I shall assume that the former addresses have sufficiently set forth the successive judgment acts which follow upon the Lord's Return to earth; that the order of those judgments is clear. 'I'he judgment upon the Church takes place when the Lord gathers His people to Himself; the judgment on Israel takes place just before and at the introduction of the Millennium; the first stage of the judgment on Satan occurs just at the commcnccment 0-[ the Millennium, and his final overthrow and destruction at its close; the judgment on the nations taking place at the commencement of the Millennium. This is followed by the last recorded act of j udicial authority, which presents a solemn scene-solemn because of the Great White Throne; because of Him who sits upon it; because of those who QrC before it; and because of the decision of the Judge. Nothing can be imagined which can add to the grandeur and solemnity of this scene-a scene from which the world shrinks. By its present actions and pleasures the world is saying, "This shall not take place." But such a denial cannot stop the fast nearing time when this vision foreseen by John shall become a terrifying reality. A throne, a royal seat, a seat of judgment, the seat of the great King and Judge of All. There have been many earthly thrones which have been centres of magnificence and power, but this is greater than all, and supplants all. When this august throne appears, the thrones of human origin have disappeared. It is great. Greater than the throne of the Pharaohs, of N ebuchac1nezzar, of Alexander, of Caesar, of N apoleon, of the Anti-Christ-greater than the greatest. It is white, in its purity, its truth, its justice. It is unsullied, untainted, incorruptible. Transparent in its spotless perfection, it shall stand. Upon it sits the Judge, the Man of Sorrows, the despised and rejected of Israel, the Crucified, but now He whom God raised from the dead. Who, because of His worthiness, now possesses all authority jmd power. Wise to judge, and able to enforce His decisions. What a Throne; what a Judge. Who can abide His appearing? Then see the persons who there appear - "All the dead." But that expression is limited and defined. Here are those who did not rise in the first resurrection; those who are neither of the Church nor of Israel; who are "the rest of the dead," who for a thousand years longer have been sleeping in the dust of the earth. All these shall stand before the Throne. Small and great,

DECEAlllEl~,

1908.

THE

BIBLE'

STANDARD.
that theme as 1 have found it set forth in the Word. 1 have put before you the purpose of God, and have endeavoured to present the Bible testimony to the honour and dignity which pertain to the Lord Jesus Christ in his future work, and then 1 bare tried to show how these things have a very present and pressing bearing upon ourselves. This ie a matter which cannot be relegated to the realm of the merely academic. It touches us vitally. It belongs to the great subject of human salvation, than which there is no higher, no more important. The question I hare now to press is, Do you believe these things? H you do, there ought to be some present resultant manifestation of faith. This is no matter for a mere head belief. Acceptance of these great and solemn truths demands an answer of present loyalty to Him 11'110 is presently coming to be the Judge and Ituler of men. 'I'hcsc arc not the tu ies in which a man who has heard tile llle::;::;age salvation call wil.h impunity play of the part o l Simple, Sloth, and Presumption. He who JlOII"puts the lllCi:iSageon one side does so La his own peril. These things, ::;0 feebly presented by me, so POIVerf'ully and clearly presented in the Word, arc speedily COIning to pass, and he who neglects tile call to "flee from the wrath to come" will surely find that in the COJlling day there will be for him no place of refuge from the doom which must fall upon those who neglected the ofl'crs of a present gracc which holds out eternal life and nothing but good. When the Alm ighty Archer shoots His arrows abroad, where is the place of safety? The old reply was, "Stand by the Archer." That advice is good to-day. Let us, having heard of God's purposes, and having heard His gracious invitations, stand close by Him, ere yet His arrows :fly from the taut bow-string, and carry with them that merited death to those who "will not come unto Him and Iiye."
EDITOR.

from the youngest to the oldest, from the highest to the lowest, kings and peasants, judges and prisoners, rightcous and criminal, all arc there. From the far-off ages they will come-s-men who built up earth's civilisation, or in their lust for power mowed down their fcllows, those who put their thoughts and learning upon the baked cylinders of Assyria and Babylon, and upon the melllory tablets of Accadia ; those who wrote the papyruf' or painted the tombs of ancient Jgypt, or who reared the mighty pyramids, and obelisks, and statues. Kings, architects, and workmen shall waken from the slumber of the centuries and stand before the Great 'White Throne. The peoples who viewed with strange disquiet the advent or the Israelites into Canaan ; the Babylonian, Persian, and Grecian peoples who held that land in conq ucst ; our forefathers, groping their way Iroui savagery and ignorance; the modcrns with their boasted lea rn iJlg, their claim to science, and their mixture of spiritualism, theosophy and new theology, shall stand before the 'I'h roue, and the unerring eye. of the J udgc shall sec what is in man. Yet, further, all will be there who will not now accept the grace of God in Christ, who heal' the Word and receive it not. Then the books arc opened. No human eye lICISseeu those books. Of the contents we know nothing, although much we may surmise; but the contents have been written by unerring hands. They seem to be the record of human li ves, for those who arc present recei vc "every man according to his works." Men have written human history, and this in the main is the record of battle and bloodshed, of strife and conquest for human rulership, and that which is the better part of human history-the struggle for light, for mental freedom, for social improvement-has had but few chroniclers. 'I'ho archives of heaven will give the true history, free from human bias and mi judgment. How different will be God's story of the world's great men, its literary artists; its poets; its philosophers; its kings and mighty men, when told at the Great White Throne. Sea and land shall gi ve up their dead. From the four quarters of the earth at the fiat of the Almighty they shall come; and shall stand before the Throne. And the Book of Life shall be opened. 'I'hon it may he said that if any arc found who have lived according to the measure of Divine light and truth made known to them there shall be life as their portion. The perfect justice of that coming judgment secures this. The issue of that judgment is not an indiscriminate consignment of all to an eternal doom. But mark the nature of the punishment to be meted out to those who arc unworthy to live. "This is the second death, even the lake of fire. And if any was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire." That fire will accomplish its work. Like other fires it will not preserve, but destroy. It will "burn up," so that neither sin nor sinner will remain. I now close this series of talks upon the important theme of future judgments, I have sought to present

K otes of Address gi ven at West Street.

"1be IDie" (!(imbing."

At a certain place in the Alps there is a monument to a guide who had perished when attempting to make the ascent of the mountain. The simple inscription on the stone is, "He died climbing." It is a noble tribute to a heroic man. He was in the line of his duty. His face was forward and upward. Higher and higher was his aim, not in a vain ambition, but in the way of duty; Without fault of his own he fell, the sacrifice to duty. Not lost, but living still, his simple monument telling the story of a life of pure and high aims, that shrank not from perils and death when he heard the call. Happy the man of whom it may be written, his effort was to be better and nearer to God. Happy the man who dies

climbing.-United Presbuteriam:

"The sin of the world made the crucifixion of Christ necessary. "

THE
TABLE
'I'ruc
PAUL

BtBLE STANDARD.
PAGE

DECEMBER,

1908.

OF OONTENTS.
177--180
HOPE"

MONTH AND" OF

..
THE BLf~:SS~D

.. 180-181 181 182-183 18i .. 185-187

TRUTHS ON MAN'S

DANGER J~CHOES

FL,\'f"l'~RY

FHOM

\-VEST STREET NOTES

ASSOCIATIO" HESPECT 'rHE

TO 'rHr, HOLY ONE OF ISRAI-;L CmCLE-ALPHABF:TIC

HOME NATURI~:

.. 188-189
ON nIl< . STUDY OF PROPHECY

LETTlms CnuHCH

TO A YOUNG FHIEND ANIJ :VIISSION N~;W6 ARTIOI,ICS

189-190 190-191 191 192

192

MrscICLLANEOUS OUR

BOOK 'l',18""..
ACKNo"rLEDGMENTS

TH);:ASUHJi-:R'S

.~==-==-== - --

--,-.,-

'====-c..=.'.=-~'

=-=-~

~
MONTHTLY
0" THE

ORGAN

ntw Ztalanet Etlangdistlc anet Publication Jlssoclatlon.

EDITED BY GEORGE ALDRIDGE.

ASSISTED BY SPECIAL CONTRIBUTIONS.

The Editor wishes it to be understood that, while he exercises It ;;cueral enpervision over the articles and Correspondence appeariug in the STANDUD, responsibility for sentiments expressed resta upon the individual writer.

The Conditional Immortality Mission held its Thirtyfirst Annual Conference on September 1, 2, and 3, at Bournemouth. This is the first occasion on which the Conference has met in this town, and, indeed, it is long since it assembled at a point so far south. The weather is reported as being unfavourable, but although this may have detracted from the numbers who would otherwise have attended, it is held by all who did attend that the Conference was a success. Forty-eight visitors and delegates were present from 24 places. Addresses were given during the Conference by J. R. Norrie, of Edinburgh, on "The First and Last Adam ;" F. A. Freer, of 'l'cignmouth, on "Immortality According to Sir Oliver Lodge;" R \\1. Strang (Glasgow) on "The Claims of Conditional Immortality;" W. 'I'. Chesterman, of Bath, on "Orthodox Paradox on Human Destiny." Mr. Norrie gave the concluding address, entitled, "Christ Coming as a Thief." As a result of a suggestion made at the Conference, an arrangement is on foot to draw together yOlmg men holding the Life and Advent Truths. Mr. Bowker has resigned the editorship of the Words of Life, and the President (Mr. R. W. Strang) has consented to undertake the duties for a year.

:J!3e (\3entle ant! 1Itint!.

For one soul saved by scolding and fault-finding, ten are saved by sweetness. For one soul saved by fear of hell, ten are saved by the thought of the love of God. A gentle voice and a smiling face make a religion beautiful to the miserable and the sinful, whereas gloomy looks and a harsh or condescending manner make religion seem a thing to be avoided. Do you wish to draw souls to God? Then let your soul reflect His love. Be gentle, be sweet, be patient. Practical people may condemn you, but only thus can you imitate Jesus.-Christian Uplo ok.

Elssociatton

1Rotes.

The Annual Conference of the Association will be held at the West Street Church, Auckland, on January 2nd, 1909. As usual, the business of the Association will be taken at the morning session, and in the afternoon papers will be read by visiting brethren. 'I'he Conference Picnic will take place on the 1st of January, at Brown's Island. We hope that there will be a large attendance of country friends, and that the churches will sec to it that delegates are appointed, and that their names are forwarded at an early date to the Secretary (Bro. A. Page). Bro. E. H. 'I'aylor, having concluded his term of service in 'I'aranaki, has returned to the Thames, where he resumes his duties in connection with the Pollen Street Church. The service he has been able to render to the N o-Licenso cause in Taranaki has been much appreciated, and he has benefited in health by the change. The Association Executive is grateful to the brethren who at some inconvenience have journeyed to the 'I'hames to fill thc Sunday appointments during the absence of Bro. Taylor. We learn that Bro. Symes, one of the early members of the Auckland Church, has fallen on sleep. He has resided at Lucas Creek for some years past, but always retained his interest in the Church, and the truths for which it stands. He had reached to the full term of man's allotted years, and now peacefully rests, awaiting the Master's call to enter upon the full possession of that eternal life which is in Christ Jesus the Lord.

The E1:ening News not long since contained the following: "At S. Fcrdinando di Iiosano, a few miles from Reggio di Calabria, the new parish priest, while celebrating a solemn mass on the occasion of beginning his new duties, perceived that the wine in the chalice had a very bitter taste. He spoke about it to the sacristan, who, to verify the matter, drank some of the saine wine. A few moments later both were seized with violent pains. A doctor was summoned, and discovered, says a correspendent of the Teleqraph., that they had been poisoned by sulphuric acid, which hac1 been placed in the wine by some unknown hand. The priest and the sacristan both died after terrible sufferings. Another cleric, who was jealous of the new parish priest, is suspected of the crime." Surely here we have another evidence of the lying nature of transubstantiation. Let Rome explain: How could the poisoned wine cause the death of these two men if it had been changed into the veritable blood of Christ?

DECE:\fBER,

1908 ..

~--~==========================7==========================~~

THE

BIBLE

STANDARD.

185

11~et1pect to tbc 1bol~ ~ne of 3srael.

"Behold, unto the Lord thy God belongeth the heavens, and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that therein is. For the Lord your God, He is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the gren t (,oel, the mighty, and the terrible" (Deut, x. 1417).

T [I E proverb reminds us that "familiarity breeds contempt." 'Ye who belong to the Anglo-Saxon race are, through the various Christian agencies, so familiar with the name of Goel that the respect due to that great Xame is not always inwardly ob iorvod and outwardly manifested. It may not be a large class who publicly refer to the sacred Name in terms savouring of gross contempt, but, alas ' there arc many, too many, who fail to (1isplay that feeling of reverence and awe which should characterise all human speech when referring to the Eternal 80(1, the Creator of: all things. 'I'he old Hebrews were bidden to "have respect to the Holy Onc of Israel" ( IR. xvi i. 7), and through the last of their prophets God Himself chides them with their want of respect. "If I he a Master, where is my reverence, 0 ye that despise My ); ame for I am a great King, saith the Lord of Hosts, and My Name is terrible among the Gentiles" PIal. i. e and 14). Who is God? What are the attributes of the God of the Bible? In answer to the first question we cannot get beyond the statement of Moses, "From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God" (Ps. xc. 2). Veiled in eternity is the Divine Being. "Verily Thou art a God that hidcst Thyself," exclaimed Isaiah (xk 15), and J ob asked, "Canst thou by searching find out God?" (xi. 7). The attributes of God we are all familiar with. In the work of creation we see His wisdom and power. Holiness, justice and truth are the pillars of His throne. And towards the rebellious sons of men HE' has displavod infinite goodness, compassion, love and mercy. But His threatenings are to be trembled at, His anger is to be feared, His judgments-whether by sword, pestilence or famine (Ezek. vi. 12)-are full of terror. And let us not forget that the God of the Bible, in the possession of these attributes, is unchangeable, "I, the Lord, change not" (Mal. iii. 6), "With Him there is no variableness or shadow of turning" (J ames i. 17). As He was in the beginning, so is He now, and such will ever be. While it is true that "God is love," and that He "delightcth in mercy," yet is it an equal truth that "God is a God of judgment" (Is. xxx. 18), and we read of "the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God" (Rev. xix. 15), and the prophet asks, "Who can stand before His indignation? His fury is poured out like fire" (Nahum i. 6). "Who knoweth the power of Thine anger" (Ps. xc. 11)? Is it not necessary in this day to emphasise this side of God's character? Prophets of old hesitated not to speak of the Lord as one "who taketh vengeance on His adversaries" (N ahurn i. 20). David exclaims, "T am afraid of Thy judgments" (Ps. cxix, 20). The Apostle Paul solemnly wrote, "Knowing the terrors of

the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Cor. Y. 11). In this day people arc not, to use nIieah's expression, "Afraid of the Lord our God" (vii. 17). Thev clo not say as the Psalmist did, "My flesh trembloth for fear of Thee" (Ps. cxix, 120). Walk our streets to-day, consider the demeanour of the inhabitants of our cities and townships, and the most cursory glance will tell that there is but little "trembling at God's Word" (ls. lxvi. 25), and no real dread of the Almighty's power. A disastrous earthquake, a volcanic emption, a tidal wave, strike!' terror into the heart of the most in fidel and abandoned, a feeling' of helplessness and powerlessness seizes upon cverv human being within sight or sound of the awful outbreak. \Yitb. pallid cheeks and trembling limbs men wonder what will come next, and cry to Heaven for deli vera nee and relief. But when the danger is past and nature resumes her ordinary course, sce how speedily tile fear is gone, and the terrified ones relapse into their old condition of indifference to and independence of Almighty God. Is not the Christian pulpit in some measure responsible for this want of respect towards God? Might not the irreverence everywhere manifested have been in some measure checked had the fear of God been more earnestly inculcated in sermon and religious books? Some may sneer at the old Puritan days and characterise the men and women of that time as long-faced and sour-tongued. Rut it is beyond controversy that the youths and maidens of Puritan households were clean and pure and worthy in their lives to an extent which put to utter shame the conduct of the great mass of the Cavaliers' households when the profligate Stuart King was on the throne again. The Puritan preachers may have erred in laying undue stress upon the justice of God in His judgments, and failed in setting forth the love of God to mankind; but, however that may be, they did preach a dignified Goel. But to-day the general idea of God seems to be that of One who is so full of love and tenderness that it really doesn't matter so very much how a man lives or what he believes, so long as he is fairly decent and respectable-eventually all will come right. The sternness of J ehovah, it is said, is a Jewish misrepresentation, arising from the old Hebrew misconception of the character of the Deity. Wc enlightened Christian folk do not recognise the God as taught in the Old Testament. The God of the Christian world to-day is a mild, gentle Being, the loving Father of all mankind, easy to entreat, dealing lightly with sinners, and almost incapable of permitting any final disaster and ruin to overtake any member of the human family. True, there will be a Judgment Day, but there will be a way of escape even from the Judgment Throne. It will be found that the threats and penalties of Holy Writ are not so severe and lasting as it might appear they would be. Let us not be deceived by any such teaching as this, which introduces us to what we may call an undignified God-a God who says onc thing and means another, a God who hesitatcs to inflict His own threatenings, a God lacking in

r86

THE

BIBLE

STANDARD.

DECEMBER,

1908.

what the Book of Job calls "terrible majesty." Let us not lose sight of the fact that the New Testament, equally with the Old, recognises the sterner aspect of the Divine character, for what could be stronger than this"Our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. xii. 29); "the chair He will burn up with unquenchable fire" (Luke iii.17). It is well to remind ourselves of the great truth that J ehovah the God of the whole earth has His purposes concerning it and its inhabitants. And here is a most potent reason why we should fear Him. We all lie-so to speak-in the hollow of His hand, and He can dispose of us just as He wills, for we are absolutely powerless to resist. In all the events of human history, whether they be regarded as secular or religious, a secret hand is to be discerned working, there is a hidden power behind all that is manifest, a power acting in accordance with "the determinate (marked out) counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Acts ii. 23), a power by which all human affairs are so directed and moulded that even the wickedness of man aids in developing the Divine determination. That the determination-the intention, resolution, fixed purpose--of J ehovah must be a righteous one is beyond controversy. That our God is omnisci.ent and has foreknowledge-a previous apprehension, perception, understanding-of the whole course of human history, from its cradle to its grave, cannot be questioned. If He has not, He is not God, a certain combination of unexpected circumstances might take Him by surprise and upset all His plans. Without argument, then, we may take it as undeniable that God has not only foreknowledge of, but has actually planned all that takes place, and such happenings are exactly in accord with His eternal purposes. I am by no means denying man's freewill. There stand side by side in Scripture the twin truths of (1) God's sovereignty, and (2) man's freewill. Ask me to explain how they can exist side by side, call upon me to defend these two truths from the charge of being mutually destructive, and I reply, I cannot. But I fearlessly assert that the one is in the Word of God as is the other. They are comparable to parallel lines, which never meet. But no one denies the possibility of such lines, even though no earthly power can bring them together. Neither will we deny the sovereignty of God, on the one hand, or the freedom of the individual on the other. These are the parallel lines of Divine revelation. And if I, a poor mortal of few days, with but a very limited comprehension, cannot grasp the mystery of this twosided truth, none the less do I believe it, for my reason tells me that if I have not a will of mine own I am not a responsible creature; and, on the other hand, if God sees not the end from the beginning, and more than that, ~f God has not laid down the plan of "the course of time," but cast our globe into space to work out its destiny uncontrolled and undirected by Himself, then He is not the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent God; He is deficient in foresight; He is lacking in power, and is not everywhere present. It means that the Crea-

tor has to wait upon the workings of His own creation, and from time to time to decide how to act according to the disposition and character of His own creatures and exigencies of the moment. Away with such a thought. Your salvation and mine is a very insecure thing if it rests on so uncertain a basis as this. The root of the quarrel between man and God as to His all-pervading sovereignty lies here-man has such a profound conceit of himself. And the Christian Churcli has for centuries done its very best to foster this monstrous delusion. Learned Divines, Collegiate Professors, Popes, Bishops, and Clergy, helped by distinguished laymen, have all striven in disseminating belief as to the great value of every human soul. They declare that man is naturally an immortal being, and therefore of infinite worth. God Himself has no longer lease of life than the most degraded and debauched of the human creahues He has made--God Himself is powerless to end the existence of any devil or demon in human shape, seeing that He Himself originally gifted humanity with immortality, which, of course, is a life that cannot be destroyed. Now, we who accept the Scriptures as the Word of God, who take the Bible as our one standard, and believe that the Book means exactly what it says, we reject as an utter delusion this man-glorifying doctrine, and label it as a pure human invention. We contend that the Scriptures unanimously and uniformly assert that human beings are, comparatively speaking, of little worth in the estimation of heaven. Scores, if not hundreds, of texts could be quoted, whereas we know not of a single text that our adversaries can produce to prove the immortality of the inhabitants of this earth. A sample must suffice. "Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of" (Is. ii. 22) ? "Lord, what is man that Thou takest knowledge of him? Man is like to vanity, his days are as a shadow that passeth away" (Ps. cxliv. 34). "The inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers" (Is. xl. 22). "All the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance, they are as nothing before Him, they are counted less than nothing" (Is. xl. 15-17) . "All flesh is grass (Is. xl. 6). "They die and return to their dust" (Ps. civ. 29). "They perish for ever, like their own dung" (Job xx. 7). "Into smoke they shall consume away" (Ps. xxxvii. 20). Where is the superabounding dignity and worth of a creature whose life depends upon the continuance of his breath, and whom God speaks of as vanity, a grasshopper, a drop of water in a bucket, the small dust of the scales, as grass, as smoke, as dung, as nothing, and to intensify his comparative worthlessness, uses the singular expression "less than nothing?" Abraham, the friend of God, spoke of himself as "but dust and ashes" (Gen. xviii. 27), and David, the King of Israel, said, "I am a worm" (Ps. xxii. 6), and Asaph the Psalmist declares, "I was as a beast before Thee" (Ps. lxxiii, 22). Dust and ashes, a worm, a beast! Surely these are wrong words to use when referring to

DECgM13El~, 1908.

THE

BIBLE

STANDARD.
of the Lord sitting lIpO,llHis throne, high and lifted up, attended by the seraphim. Filled with awe and trciubling, the prophet exclaims, "Woe is me! for 1 am lllldone; because I am a man 0 [ unclean lips; for mine eyes bare seen the King, the Lord of Hosts" (Is. vi. 5). Because of sin, the distance between Cloel and man is great, and not to he bridged over, except by sovereign grace. "Clod is in heaven, and thou upon earth, let not ill ine heart be hasty to utter anything before Hi Ill, let thy words be few" (Eccle. v. 2). So said the King or Israel, and wc shall do well to lay His advice to heart. Wc arc not heard for our much speaking (Matt. vi. 7). 'I'he man whom Gotl wi] I regard is not hint with a glib tongue, but "him that is 0 [" a contrite heart and trcrnhlcth (standcth in filial awe 01') at My Word" (IH. l xvi, ;~). Fear and trembling if; compatible with faith and love. A dutiful child will not be lacking in respect nor guilty of an unhallowed familiarity. God will never be il':-;H than Ood. Through eternity I can never rise h ighl'r than that of "a creature" made by the Great Creator, and owing to Him the immortality and incorruption which then may be mine, And RO, with heartfelt lovalty, wc shall cast our crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthv art Thou, our Lord and OUT Goll, to receive the glory and the honour and the power; for Thou didst create all things, and, because of 'I'hy will, they were and wore created. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be unto out" God for ever and ever" (Rev. iv. 11 and vii. 12). Rotorua, C. CRISP BROIV~.

immortal creatures, one of whom, according to the prevalent theology, is worth more than all the material universe. But-it is triumphantly asked-"Wonld the Son of God have been at the trouble and pain of descending to earth, becoming Himself a sacrifice and dying for those of little or no worth?" Our answer is, that, rate man as highly as you will, he is not worth S11Cha cost as God paid to redeem him, i.e., by the degradation and death 0 E His well-beloved Son. But it makes the work of our adorable Lord much more signi fieant, and enhances a thousandfold what He did when we remember that those for whom He died, in themselves considered, are utterly worthless, and have no claim whatever upon the Divine compassion. To die to save "a precious immortal soul" would be great love and condcsconsiou. But the love was greater and the condescension far more remarkable if it be true that it was fOIa poor uyillg creature (only a Iittle higher in the social scale than the beasts that perish), who in himself and of himself has no hope of any future life. Marvel of marvels if Christ died for such, and by dying brought for these poor mortals "life and incorruption to light" (2 'rim. i. 10). But we know that we arc not immortal beings, and we know also that those who assert we are, make the asscrtion with the full knowledge that the Bible, from first to last, knows nothing whatever of any sucn extraordinary creature as an immortal sinner. Heaven would lose nothing if the whole race of mankind, from Adam downwards, never has any resurrection, and so ceases to exist. God existed in His own eternity before the commencement of the few thousand years of our sojourn on earth, and God WOll1<1ontinue to exist "were all the nations c dead." God made us for His own purposes and glory, and we arc quite sure that it was none of His purposes that any sinful creature of His should have a life contemporaneous with His own, and so be of infinite value in himself and to the God who made him. Here, then, is the contrast. On the one side, we have the Eternal and Holy God, the Great Creator, and on the other side the short-lived, sin-stricken creatures who owe their very being and preservation to His Omnipotence. Even had the Adamic race preserved its integrity, turned a deaf ear to the Satanic tempter, and continued pure as the unfallen angels, their correct attitude toward their Creator would have been that of lowliness and humility. Do we not read that the angels, "greater in might" than wc (2 Peter ii. 11), whose number is "ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands" (Rev. v. 11), pay homage to Jesus the Son of God-"let all the angels of God worship Him" (Heb. i. 6)? And if they do thus lowly reverence to the Son, likewise do they stand in reverential awe of the Divine Father, and with words of adoration upon their lips, cry, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts" (Is. vi. 3). It is only becoming, then, that so helpless and worthless a race as man should be very respectful in thoughts of and approach to God. See how Isaiah behaved himself when he had the vision

3-mprO\1tno an G)pportnnit)?
HI~lW is a story which William Jennings Bryan tells;'I'hcre was once a funeral out in Nebraska, and the preacher who had been asked to deliver the funeral oration was a stranger in town and didn't know the departed sister very well. After he had said all that he could, he suggested that anyone who could acid a few words about the dear departed would be heard gladly. Three or four arose in turn, and paic1 tribute to the memory of the woman who had passed beyond. 'I'hcn there was a pause. Finally, onc old brother arose and said i-s. "Well, if you're all through speaking about the (leparted sister, 1 will now make a Iew remurks on the tariff."

Do not look forward to the changes of this li Ie in fear; rather look to them with full hope that, as they arise, God, whose you arc, will deliver yon out of them. He has kept vou hitherto, do vou but hold ["alit to hi" hand, anc1 He will lead you safely through nil things. Do not look forward to what may happen to-morrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you to-dav will take care of y011to-morrow and every oay.-fi'mnl"ls de

Sales.

188
e
+ .
$ -..

THE

BIBLE

STANDARD.

DECEMBER, 19O5. goes to show that they regarded it as the veritable place itself, where the wicked .Iews should be punished." (8) By what name does God call it? "Therefore, behold, the days !oome, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but THE VALLEYOF SLAUGHTER" (Jer. vii. 32). He must be a bold man who, in face of this statement, will dare to affirm that Gehenna is a place where souls shall be preserved for ever in suffering! (9) Who, in the New Testament, names this place of punishment? JESUS Cl-mIST ONLY. (10) To whom does He speak of it? To JEWS ONLY. There is no mention of it to a Gentile. He speaks of it to those who knew exactly the geographical location of Gehenna. The Apostle Paul was sent abroad as the Apostle to the Gentiles, but NOT ONCE did he speak or write about Gehenna. Why do our modern preachers ignore these facts? (11) Does Christ anywhere intimate that He means some other place, of which that local valley was the type? No, IN NO SOLITARYINS'rANCE. (12) Is there anything in Scripture which warrants us in taking this name away from the original valley and applying it to some other place of which it could be the type? NOTHING WHATEVER. ( 13) Is there anything which strengthens the idea that Christ literally means that the sinners of that locality shall' perish in Gehenna-the vale of Hinnom? Yes. (a) The location of Christ's judgment throne;"When the Son of Man shall come in His glory . . . then shall He sit ~m the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations" (Matt. xxv. 31). "Let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the valley of .Iehoshaphat ; for there unll. I sit to judge all the nations r'01wd about" (Joel iii. 12). (b) The destiny of some thus judged; "These shall go away into eternal punishment" (Matt. xxv. 46). (c) The place of their punishment will be near Jerusalem;"And they shall go [orth. and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against Me" (Isa. lxvi. 24) . (14) But if so, then the wicked are punished on the earth? Yes. "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed IN THE EARTH. How MUCH :MORE THE WICKED AND 'rIlE SINNER" (Prov. xi. 31). Whilst it is thus made manifest that the place where the wicked shall be punished is the earth whereon they sinned, the foregoing evidence makes it abundantly clear that the word Gehenna was a local term, referring only to those who knew both its character and its location. The associated ideas expressed to them death and destruction. To those who lived beyond Palestine this place is never named, the nouns and verbs expressing the penalty defining sufficiently clearly the nature of the doom to fall upon those who do not "obey Him." Mod-

.',
ALPHABETIC

,
TRUTHS NATURE. No. X. ON

.
MAN'S

Jerusalem, separating Mount Zion to the north from the 'Hill of Evil Counsel,' and the sloping, rocky plateau of the 'plain of Rephaim' to the south" (Smith's Bible Dictionary).
(7) How came this place to be associated with the idea of future punishment? Note the following historical facts;(a) This valley was polluted by a horrid form of idolatry, which drew away the allegiance of the Israelites from Jehovah.

THE

BIBLE

MEANING

OF HELL.

The word "Hell" occupies a prominent place in all discussions on the Nature and Destiny of Man, and we think it a profitable thing to put a few searching questions with a view of getting the JJible evidence before the people in cornpact and easily tested form. (1) What is the signification of the word "Hell"? It is popularly believed to stand for a place of present and future punishment, in which the wicked are to remain for ever in conscious suffering. (2) Does the Bible bear out this idea? No; on the contrary, its declarations concerning the nature and place of future punishment are against this popular view. (3) From what word, or words, is this term "Hell" translated? There are three words in the original; Sheol (or Hades), 'I'artarus, and Gehenna, all translated "Hell." (4) Do they all signify the same thing? No; the first of these is equivalent to "gravedom." The second occurs in one passage only; "For if God spared not the angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell (Tartarus)" (2 Pet. ii. 4). The third word, viz., Gehenna, is the only word which really refers to the place of future punishment. As such 1' OCCURSONLYIN 'l'HE NEW TES'l'AMENT, and but twelve times-Matt. v. 22, 29, 30; x. 28; xviii. 9; xxiii. 15, 33; Mark ix. 43, 45, 47; Luke xii. 5; .Iames iii. 6. (5) Is "Gehenna" a Greek word? No; it is merely the Grecian mode of spelling the Hebrew words "Gai Hinnom," which in the Old Testament are translated "Valley of Hinnom." Our translators have no more authority for translating Gehenna by "hell" than they would have for translating the names Sodom or Gomorrah "hell." In the French and Italian versions the word is simply transferred, and spelled according to the demands of each language; - French, gehenne; Italian,

geenna.
( 6) Where is this Valley of Hinnom? "The border went up by the valley of the son of Hinmom: unto the side of the Jebusite southw(J!rd (the same is Jerusalem)" (Josh. xv. 5). "The valley of the son of Hinnom which is in the vale of Rephaim northward" (Josh. xvi ii. 16). "The valley of the son of Hinmom; which is by the entry of the gate Harsith" (Jer. xix. 2). "A deep and narrow ravine with steep rocky sides, to the south and north of

"Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in tlN8 mownt: that is before Jerusalem, and for Moleeh, the abomination of Ammon" (1 Kings xi. 7). "Moreover, he (Ahaz) burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burtit his children in the fire according to the abominations of the heathen" (2 Chron. xxxiii. 6). "He (Manasseh ) also made his childr'en to pass throuqh. the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom" (2 Chron. xxx iii, 6). "The Rabbins say that the idol Moloch or Moleeh, god of Amrnon, was made of brass and seated on a throne of the same metal, adorned with a royal crown. His head was that of a calf, and his arms were extend-ed as if about to embrace some one; the image was hollow, and heated from within. When the worshippers offered children to him in sacrifice, the idol was heated to a fierce heat, and then the victims were placed in his arms, where they were quickly consumed. The noise of their shrieks was drowned by thc beating of large drums and the playing of other rude musical instruments." (b) In consequence of this awful idolatry it was afterwards defiled. "And he (Josiah) defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or daughter to pass through the fire to Molech" (2 Kings xxiii. 10). "Most commentators follow Buxtorf Lightfoot, and others, in asserting that perpetual fires were here kept up for the consumption of bodies of criminals, carcases of animals, and whatever else was combustible." An orthodox Eastern missionary writes ;-"1 remember a similar place in Calcutta, called the Burning Ghat. It was naturally a pleasant spot on the banks of the wide, deep Hooghly, but the bodies of the dead were here burnedoften very imperfectly-and so there was always the smouldering flame, the heavy, black smoke, the noisome smell of burning, corrupting flesh; while crowds of lazy, bloated vultures were lounging about oppressed with their heavy meal. It was a painful, disgusting sight; but it put me in mind of the valley of" Hinnom at Jerusalem, and showed me how it came to be regarded by the Jews as an image of the place of the lost, Gehenna, or the valley of Hinnom, as hell is called in the New Testament." On this note; "There is not a particle of evidence that the Jews regarded this valley as "an image of the place of the lost," but all the testimony

DECEMBER, 1908. ern belief has wholly grafted on the word frightful conception to the Jew, who heard used by Christ. unwarrantably en"hell" a far more than was conveyed the word as it was EDITOR.

THE

BIBLE

STANDARD.
the end of the

189
gloominess, of the trumpet and alarm against fenced cities and high battlements, when their blood should be poured out as dust and their flesh as the dun". Neither their gold nor their silver could deliver them in the day of the Lord's \~rath, the mighty man shall cry there bi tterly, for the Lord shall make a terrible end of all them that dwell in the land" (ver. 14-18). Iu the second chapter we have it call to repentance, with a special hope held out to all "meek" ones: "It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." To the nation there is a suited warning, but an earnest appeal is made to the godly remnant of righteous Jews. '~here shall be an earthly hiding place for the remnant who shall be preserved through the terrors of the closing scene (see Isaiah xxvi. 20, 21; Rev. xii. 6). Then we have the warning of what will take place in the day of -Iehovah's anger which no doubt has been partly aceomplished, and will be yet more. Gaza and Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekran-powerful cities of Philistia.-shall be rooted up, Moab and Amrnon shall be as Sodom and Gomorrah. And then comes a magnificent prophecy that goes right on to the end of the age. All the gods of the earth are to be overthrown, "and men shall worship Jehovah, not only in Jerusalem, but everyone from his place in his own country. Our Lord confirmed this in His talk with the Samaritan woman (John v. 19-24). The doom of Ethiopia and Assyria is then pronounced. Nineveh, "the joyous city, that said in her heart, 'I am, and there is none beside me,' shall become an utter desolation, and every passer-by shall hiss and wave his hand." The third chapter commences with a sharp rebuke to Jerusalem for her grievous sins. She is called "rebellious and polluted, an oppressing city." She trusted not in Jehovah, her princes were like roaring lions, her judges as evening wolves, her prophets light and treacherous, her priests profaners of the sanctuary. God had warned her by cutting off surrounding nations for their wickedness, but the warning was unheeded. Hence the sentence is finally pronounced that in the day when God deals with the world at large, Judah must come up for punishment. This is not the judgment of "the great white throne" (Rev. xx. 11-15), for immediately following we find a gracious promise to such remnant of the Gentile nations as shall have escaped, "I will turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the Lord to serve Him with one consent." It is a world at last restored to harmony with its Maker: In verses 10 to 13 we read of the return of the Jews and the removal from their midst of the proudly exulting ones. A remnant-a poor and afflicted peoplewho "shall not do iniquity nor speak lies" shall possess the land, "and none shall make them afraid." There must be moral integrity as well as true lowliness before Israel shall be entrusted with the throne. They are destined to have "the first dominion," but before they rule the world thev have a sea of humiliation to pass through, and thus by outward cir-

the final consummation, course of evil.

LeLters to a Young Friend on tbe Study of Propbecy.

LE1'TER THE PROPHECIES XXI. OF ZEPHANIAH.

My DEAR FRIEND,The pedigree of Zephaniah is given for four generations, perhaps because Hizkiah is the same as Hezekiah the King, and if so, the prophet is of royal descent. He prophesied in the earlier days of King Josiah (before the great reformation took place) (2 Chron. lLxxiv.xxxv.) in a time of abounding wickedness. His prophecy is not confined to the land of Judah, but comprehends other na tions-s-such as would serve as examples of his great subject, the universal government of God as Judge of all the earth. The prophecy is one whole, and not divisible into distinct parts. As the result 0 f J osiah 's earnest piety and his remarkablez.eal in dealing sternly with all that profaned the name of .Iehovah, there came a great wave of blessing over the Jewish nation. The outcome would be sanguine hopes that permanent and lasting good-moral and temporal-was in store for the people. Many would say that never again would the nation backslide and fall into abominations such as disgraced the reign of Manasseh, the grandfather of Josiah. It was of great importance, therefore, that God's mind about the matter should be made known in order that none, if deceived by appearances for a moment, should be bitterly disappointed at last. Promising times were near at hand; and there should be much good to many individuals through the grace and goodness of God. But the mass of the nation, though outwardly coerced into a form of righteousness, were at heart still alienated from Jehovah, and on the death of good King Josiah they returned to their sins "as a sow that is washed to her wallowing in the mire" (2 Pet. ii. 22). And so Zephaniah, instructed by God, began his message with the awe-inspiring words, "I will utterly consume all things off the face of the earth, saith Jehovah." Then is made known the clean destruction that is coming; "man and beast, fowls of the heaven, fishes of the sea, the idols with the wicked, I will cut off, saith Jehovah." It is a universal judgment affecting sea and earth. The prophet's language is similar to that of Gen. vi. 7. (See also Is. xxii. 21; .Micah ii. 2-4.) A complete desolation is here foretold. No partial reformation can turn aside the stern decree. And all the minor and preparatory judgments are but forerunners and foreshadowings of this last judgwen t of the world, The prophet foretells

From verse 4 to the end of the chapter the prophecy descends to particulars. J udah and Jerusalem are to be visited, "Judgment is to begin at the house of God" (1 Pet. iv. 17). What made the idolatry of Judah so offensive was the joining of the worship of idols with the worship of Jehovah-putting false gods on a level with the true and living God. And is not this one of the sins of to-day? The popular saying is that one religion is just as good as another, provided the worshipper is sincere. Buddhism, Brahm inism, Confucianism, Mussulmanism, Christianity, each and all are but d ifferent roads by which approach is made to the Divine Being. But the l'rncompromising Zephaniah declared that God would "cut off'" the sun, moon, and star worshippers, the devotees of the god Baal, and them "which swear by Jehovah and swear by 1alcham." Jehovah or Malchurn-s-it didn't matter which! But the prophet demands sole allegIance to Jehovah, and pronounces a doom upon all such as "are turned back from following Jehovah, and those who have not sought Jehovah, nor enquired after Him." 'This reminds us that "Jehovah is a jealous God"-jealous of His name and honour, and the praise due to Him is not to be given to another (Is. xlii. 8; xlvii i, 11). And then comes the warning, "Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is at hand. And I will punish the princes and the king's children, and all such as are clothed in foreign apparel" (ver. 5, 6). Zedekiah's sons were killed in his presence, Jehoiakim died a degrading death, Jehoiachin spent half his life in a Babylonish prison. And it appears that the better classes of the Jews were copying the Egyptian and Assyrian fashions of dress, which most likely were connected with the idolatry of those nations. The Israelites were ever to be reminded by their dress that they were the chosen people of God. They were commanded to "make fringes in the borders of their garments, and upon the fringe of each border a cord of blue, that they might look upon it and remember . " (Numb. xv. 37-41). Zephaniah also declared that in the same day all who practised violence and deceit, the bankers "laden with silver," the merchants of the city, and the agriculturalist of the plains, would together meet their doom. God's judgment would cause a universal consternation and ruin. "Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh." No one shall escape, no class or condition, "I will search Jerusalem with .candles." Darkness cannot hide, the eye of the invader shall pierce the most secret place. But the people laughed at the prophet's warning, they denied that any "day of Jehovah" was near, they said, "Jehovah will do neither good nor harm." They regarded God as one like themselves, who loved to take His ease, who would not trouble Himself beca use of a few offences of Israel. Poor souls, they soon had to learn by a bitter experience that the day of the Lord "is a day of wrath, of trouble and distress, of wasteness and desolation, of darknes and

THE
cu msl.ances, as well as by inward grace, shall be fitted for their high destiny. Thc prophet bids Zion rejoice and sing in prospect of future happiness. The grounds of rejoicing arc three: (1) The removal of chastisement; (2) their perfect safety; (3) the presence in their midst of "the King of Israel, even the Lord." And Jehovah "wil! rejoice over thee, will rest in His love, will joy over them with singing. God singing for joy! There is no finer description in the Bible of His complacent satisfaction when mercy has do ne all for the people He has chosen (ver 14-17). But the prophet, in closing, reminds tile people that these joys werc at that ti me in the far distance. The dark cold night of oppression precedes the mi llenn ial morn. Not till otter judgment can the glad change come, But he has wends of comfort for those who mourn in Zion, and nssu rr-s them (vcr. 18,20) that God knows their sorrows, that He will certainly deliver and restore them, take away thcir reproach, and make their name famous through the whole oarth. The clnuaete'rist.ic of Zcphaniah is the declaration of the tenderness of the love of Cod for that remnant of Israel (which survive the thorough sifting which will take away the proud from among them) -the afflicted and poor people whom God will leave in the midst of them. The tenderness of the prophet's language is hardly surpassed even by the overwhelmi ng tenderness of "the love of Christ which passcth knowledge." Your friencl, CAllT'UB. SPEAK ClmERILY. :Jt--

BIBLE

STANDARD.
;r

DECEMBER,

1908.

**~~**~~~: ~~~!'::!:~~~: ~
~

Dividing the Word." it is ours to listen, ently.

If God has spoken, and to listen rever-

Church and Mission News.

AucKLAND.-The excitement of electioneering is passed for another three years. Only one of our meetings suffered therefrom, the Wednesday evenin Bible Class on the 11th. We rejoice that good work was being clone for the temperance cause. . Sunday, November 1: 131'0. Aldridge presided. 1 'I'hessa lorrians .i i. 10-12. The nature and purpose of the call. The great purpose and glory of God. Tn the evening the subject wus "The Coming GOI'ornmant," i'-:evernl order" of h urna n governments and thci r ru lors were referred to. The govo rnmont the Church is waiting for will be a complete change to onr earth-appointed monarchs. The Ruler will be Gorl's a noi uted. Sunday, November 8: TIro. C. B. King presided. 1 Cor. iii. For all things are vours, Christ's ownership, Christ's possessions a fact. 1\1y Church bought with the highest possible price (Eph. ii. 22). 1\1y House, :\Jy Kingdom. Then all who arc in Christ will be sha.rcrs in these possessions. With 118 in fellowship 131'0. 'I'i ppin, of Hamilton. Sunday, November 15: Bro. Lauric \Vi lcoek presided. 1-1obrews xi., last clause of verse 13. A grand exhortation and encou ragcmont. The law of conformitv inaugurated in the reign of Charles n., was referred to. The obstacles and temptations placed ill Lhe Christian's path. The speaker impressed on Ius hearers his desire that they should remcmber that "1'he world is merely a hl'lllge, over which we are passing, but wc must not build upon :it." The evening subject was "A Na.tiona.l Stl'llggle for Freedom." The speaker said he felt it to be his duty to speak plain.ly on tne very important matter, which is for the well-being of the whole Dominion-thc No-Liconso question. Sunday, November 22: Bro. Aldridge presided. Psalm xix. Bro. C. Garratt gave a good address and exhortation, tile key-note being "Modita.tion." In the evening the topic of address was "Building the 'Vall" (Nehemiah ii.). The Old Testament contains intensely interesting stor-ies showing the advance of a great and governing plan. The Books of Kings and Chronicles are important to the Bible as a whole. Re-building the wall of Jerusalem was for the defence of the people. The temperance party in the late elections made a grand effort to build a wall to defend the weak against thc demon drink. The speaker quoted an extract from a speech of Gov. Hanly, who pronounced a strong indictment against the liquor traffic as the foe to everything that ministered to the weal of mankind. Wednesday evening, November 4: The fifth of a series of highly interestmg and instructivc lectures on "How to Read the Bible" was givcn, treating on "Rightly

\Yednesday evening, November 11: The topic was "The Subject Matter of the Bible" (2 Tim. ii. 15). There are natural di visions in the Bible. Chapter divisions are not inspired. A diagram was drawn on the blackboard showing tha t Scri pture is addressed to th ree classes of people-Jews, Gentr.es, Church of God. Sometimes a passage is all about .Iews : sometimes whol ly to or of Gentiles as such; again, there are Books in the New 'I'estament exclusively addressed to the Church. Care must be taken whcn reading to observe to whom the Scri pture is given, so that we nmy rightly in terpret it. Wedncsday evening, November 18: The seveuth lecture on "How to Read the Bible" 11'>1:-; given to a very large gathering. Prayer and thanksgiving for the victory thus fill' gained in the temperance cause occupied a short time before the lecture commenced, The subject was "T'i mcs and Dispensations." The dictionary meaning of "dispensation" was referred to, more particularly the system cstabl ished by God settling the relations of man towards Him as regards religion and morality. On the blackboard seven characteristics of Bible Ages were writtcn-I nnocence, "'ithout Law, Under Law, Grace of God, Judgment Perioo, :\liliellllial, Glory. W.G. \\'AllIT.-We are thankful to say that since our last report both our morlllng a nd evening services have been well attended. There is also a well-sustained interest in the week-uight Bible Class, and onc or two inquiring friends seem to be somewhat concerned over the great question of what it means to be linked to Christ. 131'0. Foster has recently been giving a series of simple Gospel addresses, which have been \'ery much appreciated. :Miss Ellen Goodall, a member of the Salva.tion ArI'I1Y, becoming convinced of the Scriptural need of Baptism, was buried with Christ in His own-appointed way, most of the brethren and sisters being witnesses of her good confession. Our numbers have lately been strengthened by the arrival amongst us of Bro, Joseph Birch, who hails from Australia. He is an energetic and zealous brother, and we are hoping he may do much good and useful work for the Master. The Sunday School continues to grow, and the Singing Class, formed to practise new hymns, is a great success. Our new church building is progressing very slowly. The site is voted a splendid one by all who have seen it, including Bro, Wilcoek, of Auckland, who recently favoured us with a flying visit. \Ve have so far levelled the ground. ~7e find that the Sunday School requirements compel us to contemplate. a building larger than we would otherwise need. Our idea is a building about 39ft. x 25ft., with a Iittle porch in front and a lean-to at the back 12ft. wide and 25ft. long, divided into two class-rooms. The whole

A BAl!Y of three years preached mc a sermon, and I: pass it on for the benefit of other dowucu st and despondent ones who need to lea.ru to rejoice evermore, "llow is the baby?" 1 asked drearily, standing at the foot of the staircase leading lip to a chamber where thc Ii tt!c one lay ill. I was t.ired, un hopcful , my mood ea.me out in my tone, "Peak like you do when you laugh," called the weak little voice from upstairs; and if I ever felt rebuked by an angel, that was the moment. It has come up to me a hundred times since. I hope I am brighter and cheerier for it. "Speak like you do when you laugh." That means sparkle and gladness and good-will. Those fretful l-ines at the mouth corners do not come from laughing. The weary ones around the eyes have another origin. But the plainest outward sign of despondency is that in the tone. The sick feel it; that is why visitors are forbidden. Little children are infallihlc weather prophets. They will not "take to you;" and you and I. just common working men and women, neither sick nor young nor old, but busy and often tired-we love-that is the word, wc love the bright, loving laughing, happy voice. "Speak like you do when you laugh."-Seleoted. Spiritual fied. pride means humility cruci-

1----------------------

f'

THE
properly finished would be worth something over 400, but we feel if we could either borrow 01' collect half of th~t sum trom outside brethren that the local brethren will supply the balance. Some of Our brethren are diffident about making a general appeal-to the brotherhood, but surely, if there are any who have the means either to lend or give for such a purpose, God will abundantly bless them for such good work The brief epistle received from the Auckland Church was read at our Fellowship Meeting last Sunday, and very much appreciated. D_D_ HELENSVILLE.-Dlll'ing the past month our meetings both morning and evening have been well attended. The attendance and interest in the Wednesday Evening Bible Class have also been very encouraglng. Sunday, '1\"ovember 1: 131'0. Cameron presided. Bro. Wyatt, of Kaipara Flats, gave a good address on 1 Peter i. 19, 20: "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." In fellowship with us, Sis. York, of Raupo. In the evening Bro. Camerorr's subject was "Should Christians Vote?" Sunday, November 8: This was a redI:tter day with us, it being just a year smce we held the first service in our own building. Through the kindness of our West Street brethren, we had the pleasure of hearing Bro, G. Aldridge at both morning and evening services. The attendance at both meetings was good. In tile morning Bro. C. Gibson presided, and Bro, Aldridge gave a fine exhortation from Phi lippians i: "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel." The standard (Christ) is high. We should all try to follow this standard. We are linked together, and, if in proper unity, we joy, sorrow and sympathise with each other; none lives to himself, but all to one another in Christ. Paul looked for added joy in faithful service. vVe should all strive for the faith of the Gospel. In the evening Bro. Aldridge gave a stirring address on "Politics, Human and Divine." On Monday (9th) we held an Anniversary Picnic in Mr. Stewart's paddocks. About sixty members and friends came up from town, and cheered us greatly by their presence and interest in our welfare. The weather was rather against us, as a few showers made the grass too wet for games. We are greatly indebted to Mr Moodie, who brought his fine gramaphone with him, and enlivened the proceedings with some splendid selections. At a subsequent meeting of members votes of thanks were passed to the Auckland Church, for the services of Mr. Aldridge, also to Mr. Moodie for his kindness and help. Sunday, November 15: Bro. Cameron presided at the morning meeting, and gave an address on "Christian Responsibility and the Election Poll." In the evening he also spoke on the same subject, urging us to use Our influence and votes on the side of righteousness. A.J.L.R "STAND

BIBLE
IN

STANDARD.
PLACE AND civ~lisation is a matter of history, and their descendants are now peddling peanuts to abstainers on the street corners of American cities. "The Romans drank, of course, but where is the Roman Empire to-day? It is a matter of ancient history, and the descendants jof these drinking Romans are now protvling around American cities with monkeys and hand organs living off the ~ennies tossed them by abstaining Aruericans. "The Teutons drank, of course, but whu.t 'lioortF' die! we get from the Teutons? The Teutons for years have been running away from the tyranny and oppression of the Teutonic Government to find liberty under the Prohibition laws of America. "Tile Britons drank of course But it required 300,000 of tllese drinking British trained troops to subdue 25,000 abstaining Dutch farmers. "Greece and Rome both died drunk. "'Yioe men a re now writing articles on the decay of France, another drinking nation. "Russia has the del iiiurn tremens, and will soon die or reform. Japan, a ternperance nation, with the oldest dynasty on earth, chased the vodka-soaked Russians all over Eastern Asia."-Mountctin

YOUR LIFT."

This is one of the happiest phrases coined by Dr. E. E. Hale, and was recently commented on by one of our leading secular newspapers as applying to civic affairs. Stand in your place as a good citizen, and lift there. Make your village better, your ward, your city, by doing the best you can in your own little place, however small it may seem; by voting right, by attending the primaries, by interesting yourself in village improvement, by doing what you can, much or little, in your own immediate circle. It is a phrase that has a wider significance still. It is one that every Christian needs to ponder. It would be a good motto for every prayer meeting and every Sunday School class. You have a place, though it may seem a very narrow and constricted place. All you have to do is to lift, and lift right there. Do not reach over into a lot of some one else. Do not wait for a larger place. Stand in your own place and lift. There is a home to which you belong. Help lift its burdens. Every home, rich or poor, has its perplexities, its difficulties, its loads to carry, financial loads, loads of work, loads of service of various kinds. Stand in your place there, and lift. There is a church to which you belong. It has a prayer meeting to support, a Sunday School to sustain, benevolent work to carry on, at home and abroad. Stand in your place in the church, and lift. You belong to a young people's society. You may be a very inconspicuous member. It may be a very small society. But this is your place. Stand in it, and lift. Lift in the prayer meeting every week. Lift on the committees. Lift in the local union. You have the place of no one else to occupy, and the load of no one else to carry; but you have your own. Stand in your place and lift.-Pilgrim,

State Patriot.
GOOD SECURITY.

in OMistian Endeavour World.

WHAT HAS BECOME OF DRINKING NATIONS.

In a leading magazine is printed an article in championship of alcohol as a beverage, in which the following extract appeared:"Now, as ever, it is the drinking people that lead the progress of humanity. The Jews drank and gave us monotheism. The Greeks drank and gave us art and literature. The Romans drank and gave us law. The 'I'eutons drank and gave us liberty. Britain has drunk, not always wisely, and established commerce. What have the. teetotal races done for the betterment of the world?" Tne article was taken and analysed by the New Voice, which said: "The Jews drank, of course, but where are the Jews now? They are scattered over the earth without any national home. Total abstainers are now taking up subscriptions everywhere to provide a place for the Jew where he won't be killee!. "The Greeks drank, of course, but where are the Greeks now? The Greek

"Mister, do you lend money here?" asked an earnest young voice at the office door. The lawyer turned away from his desk, confronted a clear-eyed, poorly dressed lad of twelve years, and studied him keenly for a minute. "Sometimes we do-on good security," he said gravely. The little fellow explained that he had a chance "to buy out a boy that's cry in' papers." He had half the money requi red, but hc needed to borrow the other 15 cents. "Wha.t security CRn you offer?" asked the lawyer. The boy's brown hand sought his pocket and drew out a paper carefully folded in a bit of calico. It was a cheaply printed Pledge against the use of intoxicating liquors and tobacco. As respectfully as if it had been the deed of a farm, the lawyer examined it, accepted it, and handed over the required sum. A friend who had watched the transaction with silent amusement laughed as the young borrower departed. "You think that I knew nothing about him," smiled the lawyer. "I know that he came manfully, in what he supposed to be a business way, and hied to negotiate a loan instead of begging the money. I know that he has been under good influences, or he would not have signed that pledge, and that he does not hold it lightly, or he would not have cared for it so carefully. I agree with him that the one who keeps himself from such things has a character to offer for seeurity.-Yotmg Soldier.

------

Envy is the thorn tree of pride.

which

grows on the

THE

BIBLE

STANDARD.

DECEMBER,1908.

~nr JSOOR'trable.
THE KING A1\1JHIS KINGDOM, by Robert lisher, Flellling H. Revel l Company. Wells Veagh. Price, 2s. Gd. Pub-

~be

:fl3tbLe Stanbarll.
~. <1.
2

The Bible Standard C>1nbe ordered dirrt from the Trea."rer MR. A. M. SKIA'l'ES, Queen Street. Aucklaud . .
Price per ann n m, post free

This, in its method of luminous condensation, is a book after our own heart. In a series of twenty-six studies-the outcome of the author's long experience in teaching-there arc presented suggestive studies of the life and ministry of the Lord as set forth in the Gospels. The outlines are given in terse and impressive form, and the student must be dul l indeed who cannot profit by them. The author assures us that in addition to his own personal experience in using these studies in ClaSS work, they have been successfully employed by others before their final issno in book form. The spirit and temper of the book are reflected in the suggestions found in the "foreword":"Remember the Bible is its OWll best teacher. Let it interpret itself. "Do not be afraid of your doubts. Give the Bible a fair chance. "Cul ti va te a reverent imagination. The study of the Bible deman ds it. "Begin with prayer, continue in the spirit of prayer, and end with prayer." The author follows with careful analyses the recorded life and work of the Lord, and asks his readers to accept the assistance of a carefully-prepared chart designed to specially aid the stu dent in his endeavours to obtain an accurate idea of the geography, the chronology of the times, and the sequence of events as recorded in the Gospels. The chart, if rightly used, cannot fail to assist the mind to grasp, and the memory to retain, the outstanding events of the Gospel records. One point seems clear, namely, that although the author has given his book a very suggestive title he has failed to rightly set forth the true significance of the King and His Kingdom. He who looks upon the Kingdom idea as mainly spiritual misses largely the real importance of the Gospel records. Only as the Kingdom is understood according to its covenant aspects, and in the light of prophecy literally understood, can the full meaning of the Gospels, as the record of the claims of the Messiah and His rejection by the nation, be seen and appreciated. But although in our judgment the author misses the full bearing of this matter, his book retains its value as an aid to students who desire to obtain a sequential view of the life and ministry of the Messiah. Its doctrinal omissions or misunderstandings can be put right by a study of the Word itself. The book can be obtained from the Sunday School Union Depot, Auckland.

2 6

Single copies BOOK STEW ARD-E. H. FAI.IC""~".Queen 8lreet. AGENTS FOR TH~; BIBLlf STANIJA RI): NEW ZEALAND.' Hancock, Bookseller, Queen Street. Wellington-H. J. Barraclough, Myrtle Crescent. Dunedin-Mr. Lawrence. Hope Street. Ka.lapoi= Mr. James Holland. Raug'Iora=-Mr. Wm. Smith. South BrOOK. New Plymouth-Mr. Fred Goodacre, Conrtney Rond. Eltst Oxford-Mr. A_England. Thames-Mr. C. Sanders. Macky Street. Timaru--Mr. H. H. King. Stafford Street. Tinwald, Aahburt.on-vMr. Shearer. Wltihi-Mr. Joseph Foster. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Adelaide=Mr. C. Gamble, Magill Roud, Stepney. NEW SOUTH WAL~~S. Sydney-Mr. H. Cropp, Mitehe11Street. Kogamh.
Anokland-sMr.

Oommunications to the Editor to be add ressed : G~~O.ALIlRIDGF: Brentwood Avenue, Mount Eden. Telegraphic Address .. Rocky Nook." A11commllnications to the Association and ord~I's for Bib~e Standard to be arldressed to the Secretary, MR. ALl<,X. PAGR. MurrlochRoad. Grey Lynn , Auckland.

CHURCH
Hold Services as nnder: AlJCKLA ND-West Street.

OF CHRIST

Sunday, at 11 o'clock ft.m . [fellowship Meet

IHIII

6.45p.m., Preaching Service. 8unday School at 2.45. Wednesday evenlnK, Bible CI08S at 7.4fr. mV>1ngp,list'Q a-Idreas=-Gc I. Alrlridge. Br-ent.wood Avenne Mount Eden. Secretarv=W. Gibson. Ponsonby Road. MOUNT ROSKILL, Corner WaIters Road ~nd Elll,?,a Street-Sunds y at 11a.m., FeTlnwah ip Meet.iug. Suuday at 6.45p.m., Pr-eaching Ser viee. Sunday School at 2.45 p.m. DUNEDIN-Oddfellows' Hall. Stuart Street. Sunday at 11a.m .. Fellowship and Meeting. Flvenlng Preaching Servlc . 6.30. Secretary's Address- S. Laurence, Hope Street. Duned in. HELKNSVILLE--Church. Sunday, Fellowship Meeting, at 11a.m. Sunilay School, at 2.30
Sunday Evening, Preaching, 7.

'trreasurer'a
Standard
Messrs.

'acRnowleDgments.
22ND. Niel Russoll, Moody, Carter, Graves, Nicol, Adams, Brand t, Wagstaff', Craig, Shanahan, F. Ballard, .Ienkins, A. M. SKEATES, Treasurer.

Church Secretary. R. M. Cameron. rBAMES-PollH. Street Lecture Ball. Suodav at 11 a.m . l1'ellowshlp Mp"lln..:. Evenhig Service at 6.30. Suodny School at 2.30. Rlble Class every Wednesdny evenln..: at 7 Rh FJvangelist-liJ. H. Taylor, Bowen Street. Par-awa i. Secretary-Chas Sanders. Mackav Street. 'I'ha.mes. Miners' Union Hall. Sunday 11a.m. Fellowshin Meeting; . 2.30 p.m. Sunday School. Sunday Evening. at 7. A Public Ilible Address, Church Secretary-D. Dcna.ldson. Evangelist-Joseph Foster. Waihi. .Street Ball. Sunday. at 11 a.ID.. Fellowship Mpptlnk. Address-H. H. King. Starrorn street. T'tmnr u

TO NOVEMBlm

Su,bscriptions.-Mesdames

Phil lips, Pa.terson, Wooten, Brayshaw, .Iudkins, Bartley, Meddins, Thames Auxiliary.

Honeyf'ord,

Burmann,

WAIHI-The

Asking questions is throwing open the door of the mind to let truth enter. Faith, like the oak tree, is always the stronger for having been shaken.

TIMARU-Sophla Secretary's

ADELAIDE. S.A.-Druids' H>111. Beula.h Roan. Norwnnil. Secretary's Address~Miss L. L. Blackoby, 226.Rundle Street. Adelaide. S.A.

THE MESSENGER-A Magazine of Christian Instruction and Intelligence. Edited by James Dowie. Annual Subscription, one copy, 1/6, post free, from Roberf Leitch, Tighvon ie, Dunfermline.

Printed by THE BRET"!'PRI"TING AND PURLISHINGCOMPANY. hortS land Street, for the New Zealand Evangelistic and Publication Association. and published bv W. A. SMITH. Selwyn Road. Mr; Arbert, DECEMBER. J908.