AS THE governments of the earth progress further ther into this Day of the Lord, this day when there is evidently a special reckoning with the nations, this day when the skies are becoming more ominous of the approaching storm, it is not to be wondered at that some of the world's most sober and discerning minds are thinking more deeply of the significance of these days and so frequently giving, expression to their forebodings, which are not generally of a hopeful character inasmuch as they are unguided by the light of Divine revelation. Thus an interesting Editorial indicates the trend of thought in reviewing the past seventeen years since the beginning of the World War:

SEVENTEEN YEARS AFTER

"Seventeen years ago Germany declared war on Russia after she had waited nearly two days for Russia to suspend her general mobilization, which the Russians well knew would provoke Germany to inevitable war.

"After nearly two decades, the states of Europe are now more anxiously engaged in trying to undo the evil effects -of the war and the subsequent peace than at any time since Aug. 1, 1914. This may be a propitious moment to try to draw a few lessons that may be of help in charting our future.

"For two generations before 1914 Europe had been riding for a fall, with no serious efforts to prevent the ultimate calamity. Unbridled patriotism, feelings of pride and revenge, imperialism and trade struggles, competing colonial designs, tarrif wars, alliances, secret treaties, and vast armaments had transformed Europe into a great power house, which needed only a spark like the murder of Franz Ferdinand to set it off.

"Yet the war was not inevitable after the Sarajevo assassination. If Russia had not encouraged Serbian intrigues; if Germany had checked more carefully on Austria after June 28, 1914; if Austria had been satisfied with the occupation of Belgrade as a means of holding Serbia to her word; if France had not encouraged the fatal Russian mobilization; if Russia had not frustrated promising diplomatic negotiations by that mobilization; if Britain had warned France and Russia that she would not tolerate military aggression-if any one of these things had happened the war might never have taken place.

"If all had happened, and they would if statesmanship had prevailed, there would most certainly have been no world war at the time. But there was no real statesmanship, and Europe partly strode and partly stumbled into the greatest misfortune which ever came to the human race.

"Some ten million persons were killed during the war, and the total casualties amounted to 36,278,000 in killed and wounded. The monetary cost was officially estimated at $331,612,552,000. Writing shortly after the war-was over, Prof. Bogart said on this point:

"'The figures are both incomprehensible and appalling, yet even these do not take into account the effect of the war on life, human vitality, economic well-being, ethics, morality or other phases of human relationships and activities which have been disorganized and injured. It is evident from the present disturbances in Europe that the real costs cannot be measured by the direct money outlays of the belligerents during the five years of its duration, but that the very breakdown of modern economic life may be the price exacted.'

After further reminiscence of the World-War days and noting some of the badly disappointing consequences this writer continues:

"World organization is still a dream of the future. The League of Nations supports many fine humanitarian bureaus, but it has never bitten into a major international controversy in its decade of existence. The World Court does not even handle the kind of cases which are likely to lead to war.

"Security, if there is any, is still procured by sheer military force or diplomatic duplicity. The peace of justice, proclaim d by Mr. Wilson, turned out to be one of- the most vindictive settlements in human history, from the destructive results of which our alarmed leaders are right now desperately endeavoring to rescue the western world.

"Such are the fruits of the four years of carnage and the 13 years of folly. There is little use of crying over spilled milk. But it is not too much to hope that a lesson, so terrible and plain as this, can end policies designed to lead to a tragedy as great or greater than that which started 17 years ago.

"THE COMING WAR"

In another Editorial, under the above caption, bearing upon these times, and to what they appear to be leading in the way of a darker disaster than the World War the Editorial quotes the recent utterance of Mr Churchill, who wrote as follows on the question, "Shat we commit suicide?":

"All that happened in the four years of the great war was only a prelude to what was preparing for the fifth year. The campaign of the year 1919 would have witnessed an immense accession to the power of destruction. Had the Germans retained the morale to make good their retreat to the Rhine, they would have beer. assaulted in the summer of 1919 with forces and by methods incomparably more prodigious than any yet employed. . . . Poison gases of incredible malignity . . . would have stifled all resistance. . . . The campaign of 1919 was never fought; but its ideas go marching along. In every array they are being explored, elaborated and refined. . . . And should war Come again to the world, it is not with the weapons and agencies prepared for 1919 that it will be fought, but with developments and extensions of these which will be incomparably more formidable and fatal."

"FACING THE FACTS--THE^, NEW MOOD"

In another article under the above heading, Mr. P. W. Wilson, writing in the New York Times of Sunday, October 4, notes a number of interesting facts, and observes pointedly the situation as it is at the present moment. Yet, like others, as his article shows, while hopeful that in some way mankind have about learned their lesson, he is still unable to unfold the real remedy as the foundation for hope. We quote this writer's article in part:

"For the first time since the war, a world, distressed by poverty, embarrassed by superfluities, alarmed by uncertainties, bewildered by contradictions, is abandoning phrases, rejecting fictions, sweeping aside evasions and facing the cold, hard, inescapable solidities of fact. An era of unreality, is ending; a period of reality is beginning.

"The man in the street is asking himself the plain question what this life, which he has to live, is supposed to mean. Why is it that Brazil is burning her coffee a s a drug on the market while, on the sidewalks of New York, the richest city n the world, the unemployed are begging for nickels with which to buy a cup of that same coffee, and going without it?

"Why are troopers closing oil wells in Texas and Oklahoma when thousands of mechanics in Detroit are .waiting to build the automobiles which would use that oil? Why is wheat bursting the elevators in Chicago while China suffers famine and in India it is said that hardly a family ends the day fully fed?? Why is gold filling the vaults on Wall Street to overflowing when a dozen countries, Great Britain included, are driven off the gold standard? Why should abundance be the negation of prosperity and why should a bumper harvest be a calamity from which the world prays heaven to be preserved?

"Hitherto mankind has been in no mood to think clearly on such questions. We have been living in the aftermath of the most terrible war ever inflicted on the human race. War is surgery and war is waged under anesthetics. Passion and prejudice and propaganda-impregnate public opinion until an- atmosphere is created in which nothing can be seen in perspective. It has been fatally easy for, statesmen to prefer phrases to facts, to leave urgent issues -unsettled and to attend conferences only to postpone decisions. As for the people, they have been merely confused.

"The supreme question of the moment is whether a depression without precedent in the annals of modern civilization, hitting the rich, hurting the poor and shaking the stability of the social structure, will prove to be a final antidote to what is left of war anesthesia. Is civilization prepared to leave the hospital, to tear the bandages from her eyes, to throw aside those pretenses on which-as on crutches-she has leaned for support, and to face the chill accuracies of unarguable arithmetic? Having conducted the affairs of the world on the assumption that twice 2 may be 3 and should be 5, are we ready, however unpalatable may be the truth, to accept a multiplication table which lays it down that twice 2 are 4? If so, the depression, however costly and tragic in its effects, may prove to have been a stern and wholesome discipline.

Job's Experience Prefigurative

"After all, the first chapter- of the Book of Job was not the last. To lose '7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 5.00 yoke of oxen, and 500 she asses in one day of comprehensive slump was indubitably annoying to the nerves. But the mere pessimism of Job's comforters did not bring these assets back to par. If Job was able ultimately to count his 14,000 sheep, his 6,000 camels, his 1,000 yoke of oxen, and his 1,000 she asses, it was because, having, rent his mantle and shaved his head, he submitted to actualities and began again to sing what Longfellow, in his humdrum way, used to call the Psalm of Life. Like a sensible mar{, he did not know when he was beaten and was content in his campaign to limit his victory to the last battle."

In the last paragraph quoted from the writer above, he unwittingly alludes to one of the forceful Bible pictures which suggests the happy end that is to follow the present dark time of the reign of evil-the life and experience of the Prophet Job. As the sacred narrative seems to reveal, the calamities that befell this honored Patriarch (who was rich and in happy circumstances), resulting in the loss of everything except his life, appear to portray the fundamental truth of the Bible, that man originally possessing life and the glory of human perfection, was overtaken by a great calamity-sin and its consequent penalty, death, losing all. Then as Job experienced a great restoration in the end and had all and more given to him than he had first possessed, so the Bible outlines the Divine Plan of the Ages, that the great restitution coming as a result of Christ's redemptive work will restore all things and return all the willing and obedient to Paradise and to life eternal. It is for this blessed time, as the Scriptures truly portray, that the present dark and tragic events and circumstances amongst men are preparing, that on the ruins of man's efforts and their failure may arise she new institution in fulfilment of our dear Redeemer's prayer, "Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

The Day of Jehovah

"Ye shall not need to fight in this battle; set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the
Lord with you."-2 Chronicles 20:17.

AS THE faithful watchers have long ex pected, the rapidly increasing troubles w now coming upon the world in this day of the Lord are producing an unusual spirit of fear and uncertainty. Observing that the men in responsible positions are admittedly perplexed, and that they are "at their wits end" to devise ways and means of avoiding a disaster they themselves fear, the masses are gradually awakening to the seriousness of the situation, and more and more becoming aware of the stern realities of a possible breakdown of all present institutions. True to many prophetic forecasts of our day, "Men's hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking after those things coming upon the earth." (Luke 21:26.) This fear, is clearly reflected today in the frequent admissions of men in high political and financial circles. It is doubtful ii there has ever been a time when there has been as much- readiness on the part of world leaders to admit anxiety and fear as at the present. True, there is among such leaders a brave attempt to view the whole situation optimistically, and to seize upon and magnify even the slightest signs of recovery; but notwithstanding much whistling in the dark to foster' hope, underneath the surface there can be seen a decided strain of pessimistic foreboding. So evident- is this that few of those holding prominent positions in the public eye are ready to jeopardize their reputation for foresight by making any prediction of an assured recovery in the near future; and their futile efforts to explain the present financial tangle, are as a rule quite vague and unintelligible to the questioning mind of the general, public, and are obviously no answer at all.

It is universally recognized, however, that a spasm of unusual intensity has gripped the nations and demoralized business, and if a recovery is to be hoped for with any degree of certainty, statesmen of the greatest wisdom and skill must be found to lead the way. But even the hope of finding such pathfinders is considered improbable by many leading men who are generally quite optimistic in their outlook. From various quarters the daily press comes with reports of statements made by men of recognized judgment and discernment, and quoting them as freely confessing that the problem of the hour is to find "a Moses to lead the people out of the wilderness." Not a few of the special feature writers of the newspaper, well known to the public, are also lamenting this dearth of competent leaders to whom a weary and perplexed world may look for a worth-while remedy for present ills. Perhaps the significant remark made by Arthur Brisbane. as contained in the "New York American" of recent date will serve to illustrate in a plain, outspoken manner, this lack of confident leadership: "The extraordinary thing is that nobody seems to know anything. It is a guessing contest. Our great financiers are as much puzzled as spring chickens when the first snow comes. You see them putting one foot in the snow, taking it out again and wondering."

In view of these things, then, it is not to be wondered at that the prevailing conditions are causing many to make serious inquiry as to what shall be- the end of this distressing situation. As^, fortunes disappear over night, and positions in business life which were considered permanent down, to old-age retirement, are swept away, it is not surprising that the thought of loved ones dependent on these incomes is giving some men and women great concern. To whom then shall they turn in their search for advice and consolation? Is it true, as Brisbane has said "that nobody knows anything"?

The Scriptures assure us that it would be the privilege of some favored ones to know the answer to these anxious inquiries; for is it not written that "Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." (1 Thessalonians 5:4.) Indeed, the repeated assurance is given that in the very midst of these upheavals it would be the privilege of these "brethren" who are "children of the light" to be exceedingly joyful and optimistic. It was to such that Jesus referred when He said, "When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28.) It is of these same enlightened ones in their tranquillity, that the Psalmist has written: "His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. . . . Zion [the saints] heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of Thy judgments, O Lord."-Psalms 97:4, 5, 8.

Since we have abundant reason for the assurance that we are among those- thus blessed with this knowledge which makes glad, and since the spirit of Divine revelation is such as to destroy all selfishness in the hearts of those properly enlightened, it !becomes self-evident that this knowledge of the nature and purpose of the- impending time of trouble has not been given: to any to be selfishly enjoyed. Manifestly, therefore, those who have been so graciously relieved of much of the fear and anxiety so general among the uninformed, must have a responsibility toward those who are groping in darkness and more or less plaintively asking for some cheering message to lift their burdens. or to make them bearable. Our commission, so comprehensively stated by the Prophet, makes it unmistakably clear that our stewardship embraces the privilege of being comforters in this present hour: "He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, -and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; . . . to comfort all that mourn."-Isaiah 61:1, 2.

But it is most important to remember also that however unselfishly the "children of light" may be in their desire to meet present privileges, obedience to God demands that they make sure that all their efforts, and indeed their entire deportment, shall be in keeping with the clear instructions of His Word. The neglect of what has been written for our guidance in this matter may very easily lead to many abortive schemes to assist the groaning creation, and result, not in producing the needed calm and peaceful outlook, and patient waiting upon God, but rather be adding still more to the confusion of voices, and contributing an additional element in the general free-for-all warfare of contending parties.

Believing that the readers of the "Herald' are all vitally interested in the rapid developments which are now a matter of almost daily occurrence, and that as the Lord's anointed they are seeking to act wisely in their efforts to comfort others, both by word and example, we are once more^, calling attention to the very wise admonitions of Brother Russell as these are set forth in the "Divine Plan of the Ages." Concluding his very remarkable survey of events marking "The Day of Jehovah," he offers much wholesome counsel to the watching saints, all of which is now most timely and enlightening:

Duty and Privilege of the Saints

"An important question arises regarding the duty of the saints during this trouble, and their proper attitude toward the two opposing classes now coming into prominence. That some of the saints will still be in the flesh during at least a part of this burning time seems possible. Their position in it, however, will differ from that of others, not so much in that they will be miraculously preserved (though it is distinctly promised that their bread and water shall be sure), but in the fact that, being instructed from God's Word, they will not feel the same anxiety and hopeless dread that will over spread the world. They will recognize the trouble as the preparation, according to God's Plan, for blessing the whole world, and they will be cheered and comforted through it all. This is forcibly stated in Psalms 91; Isaiah 33:2-14, 15-24.

"Thus comforted and blessed by the Divine assurance, the first duty of the saints is to let the world see that in the midst of all the prevailing trouble and discontent, and even while they share the trouble and suffer under it, they are hopeful, cheerful and always rejoicing in view of the glorious outcome foretold in God's Word.

The Saints Should "Lay Up Treasure in Heaven"

"Therefore they have contentment with their godliness, not because they have no ambition, but because their ambition is turned heavenward and absorbed in the effort to lay up treasure in heaven and to be rich toward God; in view of which, and of their knowledge of God's Plans revealed in His Word, they are content with, whatever of an earthly sort God. may provide. These can joyfully sing:

"Content, whatever lot I see,
Since 'tis God's hand that leadeth me."

"But alas! not all of God's children occupy this position. Many have fallen into the discontent prevalent in the world, and are robbing themselves of the enjoyments of life because they have left the Lord's footsteps and are casting their lot and taking their portion with the world-seeking . earthly things whether attaining them or not, sharing the world's discontent, and failing to realize the contentment and peace which the world can neither give nor take away.

"We urge the saints, therefore, to abandon the strife of greed and. vainglory and, its discontent, and to strive for the higher riches and the peace they do afford. We would remind them of the Apostle's words:

" 'Godliness with contentment is great gain; for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing -out. And having [needful] food and raiment, let us therewith be content. But they that. will [to] be rich [whether they succeed or not] fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown [sink] men in ruin and destruction. For a root of all vices is the love of money [whether in rich or poor], which some being eager for were led away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many pangs. But thou, 0 man of God, flee from these, and be pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, meekness; be contesting in the noble contest of the faith, lay hold on everlasting life, unto which thou wast called and didst make a noble covenant.'-1 Timothy 6:6-12.

The Creation "Waiting for the Manifestation of The Sons of God"

"If the example of the saints is thus one of contentment and joyful anticipation, and a cheerful submission to present trials in sure hope of the good time coming, such living examples alone are valuable lessons for the world. And in addition to the example, the counsel of the saints to those about them should be in harmony with their faith. It should be of the nature of ointment and healing balm. Advantage should be taken of circumstances to point the world to the good time coming, to preach to them thecoming Kingdom of God, and to show the real cause of present troubles, and the only remedy.-Luke 3:14; Hebrews 13:5; Philippians 4:11.

"The poor world groans (Romans 8:22, 19), not only under its real, but also under its fancied ills, and especially under the- discontent of selfishness, pride and ambitions which fret and worry men because they cannot fully satisfy them. Hence while we can see both sides of the question, let u counsel those willing to hear to contentment with what they have, and to patient waiting until God in His clue time and way brings to them the many blessings which His love and wisdom have provided.

"By probing and inflaming either real ow fancied wounds and wrongs, we would- do injury to those we should be helping and blessing, thus spreading their discontent, and hence their trouble. But by fulfilling our mission, preaching the good tidings of the Ransom given for all, and the consequent blessings to come to all, we shall be true heralds of the Kingdom-its ambassadors of peace. Thus it is written, 'How -beautiful upon the mountains [kingdoms] are the feet of him [the last members of the Body of Christ] that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that 'bringeth good tidings of good.'-Isaiah 52:7.

"The troubles of this 'Day of Jehovah' will give opportunity for preaching the good tidings of coming good, such as is seldom afforded, and blessed are they who will follow the footsteps of the Master, and be the good Samaritans binding tip, the wounds and pouring in the oil and wine of comfort and cheer. The assurance given such is that their labor is not in vain; for when the judgments of the Lord are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.-Isaiah 26:9.

"Stand Still and See the Salvation of Our God"

"The sympathy of the Lord's children, like that of their heavenly Father, must be largely in harmony with the groaning creation, striving for any deliverance, from bondage; although they should, like Him, remember and sympathize with those of the opposing classes whose desires are to be just and generous, but whose efforts are beset and hindered, not only by the weaknesses of their fallen nature, but also by their surroundings in life, and their association with and dependence' upon others. But the Lord's children should have no sympathy with. the arrogant, insatiate desires and endeavors of any class. Their utterances should be calm and moderate, and always for peace where principle is not at stake. They should remember that this is the Lord's battle, and that so far as politics or social questions are concerned, they have no real solution other than that predicted in the Word of God.

"The duty of the consecrated, therefore, is first of all to see that they are not in the way of Jehovah's chariot, and then to 'stand still and see the salvation of God,' in the sense of realizing that it is no part of their work to share in the struggle, but that it is the Lord's doing, through other agencies. Regardless of all such things, they should press along the line of their own mission, proclaiming the Heavenly Kingdom at hand as the only remedy for all classes, and their only hope."

Half Hour Meditations on Romans

No. 21

"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."- James 1:22.

THUS FAR in our meditations we have seen that just as in chapter 1, the Apostle showed that apart from "his" Gospel of a faith-righteousness the Gentiles were without out hope of salvation, so, in chapter 2, he seeks to demonstrate that the condition of the Jews is equally hopeless. With the Jews, however, we saw that he found it necessary on account of their deep-rooted prejudices to proceed with the utmost caution, and that for a while (2:1 to 16) he speaks covertly, not stating expressly, that he has the Jew in mind, so that the Jew might the more calmly attend to his reasoning. As we considered the first eleven verses of chapter 2, we noted that the Apostle very skilfully sought to turn the mind of the Jew away from his present privileges and advantages to the future day of judgment. (Ver. 5.) In that day, the Apostle was at pains to observe, that the principle of God's true, righteous, or impartial judgment will be abundantly demonstrated. He will then render to every man without exception, according to his deeds. (Ver. 6.) Again, in verse 11, he has emphasized the fact that "there is no respect of persons with God." This principle is one frequently asserted in the Old Testament, and

therefore it would be difficult for a Jew to dispute it. "The Lord your God . . regardeth not per.. sons, nor taketh reward." (Deuteronomy 10:17.) "There is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts." (2 Chronicles 19:7.) See also 1 Samuel 16:7; Job 34:19 and other passages of similar import. But in the mind of the Jew the question would undoubtedly arise, Is not, the fact of the law being given to some and not to others incompatible with this principle of Divine impartiality, and therefore since we Jews have been so highly_ favored as to have been given the law, does this not afford us satisfactory grounds for assurance that "in that clay," apart from all other considerations, it will be well with us? It is with this question that the Apostle proceeds' to deal in the passage that follows.

Not Ceremonial but Moral Law

"For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish, without law : and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by, the law; (for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves : which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another;) in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel." - Romans 2:12-16.

In studying this passage it will be seen that verses 13 to 15 are to be considered as a parenthesis, iii explanation and vindication of the assertions contained in verse 12, and that verse 16 should be read in connection with verse 12.

"Manifestly 'the law' in this passage means not the ceremonial law of Israel, but the revealed moral law given to Israel, above all in the Decalogue. This appears from the language of verse 15, which would be meaningless if the reference were to special ordinances of worship. The Gentiles could not 'show the work of' that kind of 'law written in their hearts'; what they showed was . . a 'work' related to the revealed claims of God and man on the will and life."

The main import of this passage is plain. It is in confirmation or explanation of what has just been said in verse 11, namely that "there is no respect of persons with God." "The Jew, who is primarily in the Apostle's thought, is reminded that his possession of the law, that is to say of the one specially revealed code . . of morals, is no recommendatory privilege, but a sacred responsibility. The Gentile meanwhile is shown, in passing, but with gravest purpose, to be by no means exempted from accountability simply for his lack of a revealed preceptive code. He possesses, as man, that moral consciousness without which the revealed code itself would be futile, for it would correspond to nothing. Made in the image of God, he has the mysterious sense which sees, feels, handles, moral obligation. He is aware of the fact of duty. Not living up to what he is thus aware of, he is guilty."

Law Written in the Heart

Coming now to a closer examination of the passage, we first note that in the opening words of -verse 12, the Apostle speaks of some who have sinned without law. But later in this very Epistle he tells us that "where no law is there is no transgression" (4:15), and again, "sin is not imputed when there is no law." (5:13.) How shall we understand the passage before us consistently with these later expressions? We answer: If those of whom he speaks in verse 12, which verse 14- shows are the Gentiles, had no law at all, it would have been quite impossible to have reconciled these statements. The inconsistency would have been not apparent merely, but real. But the phrase "without law" means not without any law but without the written law, without the revealed moral law possessed exclusively by Israel.

"It is a mistake to suppose that laws must be written externally-upon paper, stone, etc. - and not to realize that a still higher form of writing the Divine law would be in the creation of man so in harmony with the principles of righteousness that it would be proper to say that the Divine lawan appreciation of right and wrong-was written in the perfect organism.^-- in this manner God's law is written in His own being and in that of all the angelic hosts, and thus also, the Divine law was written in the very constitution of Adam and Eve. . .

"As we look about us today we find that the world in general has lost to a considerable extent this original likeness of God in which our first parents were created-they have lost much more than intuitive appreciation of right and wrong. The Divine law, once clearly and distinctively implanted in the Human nature, has been in a very large measure effaced during the past six thousand years of the '.reign of sin and death.' . . .. Nevertheless, even amongst the most degraded peoples of the heathen world, we frequently^, find elements of conscience, and certain more or less crude conceptions of right and wrong. These are the warped and twisted remnants of the original law of man's being, in harmony with which lie was originally created an 'image of God,'' . . . remnants of the original law, fragmentary proofs that it was once innate in humanity.

Neither Jew nor Gentile just before God

The argument of the Apostle then is clear. The Jew is not the only one in possession of a law from God; the Gentile also possesses God's law; written, not on tables of stone, but inscribed on his heart; sadly defaced and corrupted, it is true, but not entirely obliterated, and moreover a law' which is not Only there, but which is heard, as is evidenced by his attempts from time to time to comply with its dictates. If possession of a law and the hearing of it were enough to justify before God, the Gentiles may make equal claim with the Jews. But no law, human or Divine, is ever for a moment satisfied with applause, with approbation. It demands always and inexorably obedience. "Not hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."-Ver. 13.

No one will make the mistake of supposing that St. Paul is affirming^- in this verse that any one, Jew or Gentile, will actually be justified by keeping the law, nor will they suppose that when in the next verse lie says that "the Gentiles . do by nature the things contained in the law," they as a class or. any one of them individually ever did or could obey its every requirement. To so understand these verses would be in contradiction of his conclusion that "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight." (3:20.) In the passage before us he is merely laying down or it-. lustrating a principle, not relating a historical fact. He is saying neither more nor less than that the Gentiles may have the same kind of claim to be actually justified before God as the Jews; but as a matter of-fact, neither Jew nor Gentile has any claim at all to justification, since both have violated the law under which they have lived.

Shall have Sinned

It is interesting to notice that the verb translated "sinned" which appears twice in verse 12, is in what is known as the aorist tense, and is thus preferably translated "shall have sinned." By the use of this tense the Apostle carries our mind away from the present "to the point of time when the result of human life appears as a completed fact."

Is it asked, When will the result of human life appear as a completed fact? We answer: There are some who have full light and opportunity in this life; in their case it will appear at its close. No further light or opportunity will be necessary or possible to demonstrate their heart condition. But many do not obtain full light and opportunity in this life. Many go into the grave not having once heard the name of Jesus, and many who have heard His name, have had it mixed in with so much confusion and error as to have received no clear understanding of the gracious message with which it is associated. Yet the Scriptures make it plain that Jesus, the true Light, is in due time to light every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9; 1 Timothy 2:6.) It is obvious, therefore, that before, the result of such lives can appear as completed facts, they must be brought forth- from the grave, and given full light and opportunity, even as our. Lord declares : "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves . . . shall come forth."John 5:28, 29.

The expression "as many as shall have sinned" is therefore to be understood as applying to those only, who in the face of full light and opportunity shall be found to have persisted in sin. Those who in this life or the next embrace the gracious provisions of the Gospel, will find it producing its proper fruit of holiness in their lives. To these sin will not be imputed; they will not perish, but on the contrary receive everlasting life.

Shall also Perish

We are happy in the thought that all of our readers are fully informed as to the meaning of the word "perish"; that it means annihilation or cessation of being, and that they no longer associate with the death penalty for sin any thought of eternal torment. How strange it now seems to us that we could ever have believed, in even a vague way. that eternal torment was a part of the Plan of our just and wise and loving Creator. Truly men

". . . magnify His vengeance
With a zeal He will. not own."

But since it is true of most if not all of us that we, did once so believe, and since we now realize how far from the truth this evil doctrine of eternal torment is, and when we remember how patiently the Lord has dealt with us in bringing us out of such darkness into His marvelous light, will not such memories make us in turn very patient and gentle and kind toward others who may seem to us to be a little slow in learning the lessons we now see plainly. A truth that yesterday' I did not know, that only this morning I grasped, why must my brother see it this afternoon, on my faulty presentation of it? May it not be that God will show it to him by an abler servant on the morrow? Perhaps too he will by then be the better prepared to receive it. Meantime let love and patience have their perfect work.

The Lord will make Manifest the Counsels of the Hearts

In closing our discussion of these five verses, we note that according to Paul's Gospel it is by Jesus Christ that God will judge the secrets of men in that day. (Ver. 16.) It was of course no new doctrine to the Jew that God would judge the world, nor yet that He would judge it through Messiah, but that Jesus was Messiah, and that God would judge the world through Him, was a "hard saying" for them. Yet it was a doctrine to which "his" Gospel habitually bore witness. Was he not indeed a chosen vessel to bear the name of Jesus not only before the Gentiles and their kings but also before the children of Israel? (Acts 9:1.5.) And with what singular fitness does he mention. the name of Jesus here! "It was the name trampled by the Pharisee, yet the name of Him who was to judge him in the great day.

The "secrets of men" include not only all things done by men secretly, unknown to their fellow creatures, but also the inward motives by which even known actions were secretly influenced in the sight of God, although not in the estimation of men. Especially, are they to be contrasted with those external works, legal or ceremonial, in which the Jews put their confidence. None of those fine externals of piety or morality will deceive the eye of God or of Jesus in that day. If He who is to preside over the affairs of the judgment Day is the One who when on earth declared "except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven," the One who denounced hypocrisy in such stern and solemn terms as we find in Matthew 5:20-6:18; the One who in the glorious vision does not hesitate to represent himself to a lukewarm and boastful church as the Faithful and True Witness, ready to witness faithfully and truly against her evils (Rev. 3:14-22) ; if it is "this same Jesus" as we are assured it is, then we may know that He will not be satisfied with a parade of external righteousness, nor a show of great and wonderful works, but He will demand a holiness like that which He realized Himself, which taking its origin in faith and consecration of heart, extends over the whole life.

"The Seventh Trump is sounding, and our King knows no defeat,
He will sift out the hearts of men before His judgment seat.
0! be swift, my soul, to welcome Him; be jubilant, my feet:
Our King is marching on."

The Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

By I. F. HOSKINS

FOLLOWING the Farewell Meeting in London, June 28th, we begun at once to plan the tour to Egypt and Palestine. The middle of the summer is not the most propitious season to undertake the pilgrimage to those, countries for it is the season of the year that is both extremely hot and dry; there being no rainfall during the summer particularly in Palestine. Nevertheless, the opportunity and privilege of such a tour at any time appealed to us so strongly that what appeared to be a disadvantage and an objectionable feature constituted no barrier whatever to our accepting the very kind offer of the brethren who provided this rare joy and privilege. When it was mentioned to us that July was not a favorable time to travel through Palestine, we recalled that this particular portion of the earth was selected by Divine providence as the place where our dear Redeemer should be born and where He should spend His entire time during the days of His flesh. And we thought that if our blessed Master could dwell in this country for all of His lifetime in performing His great mission for men, without complaint, we should gladly seize the privilege and honor of traveling through those parts and spending one week there even though it should be at cost of great inconvenience, weariness and fatigue.

Our Itinerary

As our plans proceeded for the pilgrimage, we were glad to find that Brother Frederick Lardent of London was able to join us in the tour. In an experience of this kind, there is an advantage of course in the companionship of one or more in a party who have a common interest in the various important scenes and locations to come under observation. Careful consideration led to the decision to accept from Thomas H. Cook & Sons, a plan of travel and of touring these countries. This Company who have their representatives in cities of importance in all countries is prepared to care for every need of all travelers who put themselves in their hands. Thus the traveler is met at all boats and trains and conducted to proper hotels and is given all necessary instruction. This Company also has its touring cars in all the principle cities of these eastern countries so that the contract entered into may include this feature of being shown around to all points and places of interest that he may have in mind. Such was the arrangement that we entered into with Thomas Cook & Sons. Briefly the tour was as follows: Leaving London our first stop was to be Paris, then to Marseilles on the southern shores of France. From there through the Mediterranean Sea to Port Said in Northern Egypt; thence, northward by way of Cairo through Palestine and portions of Syria including Damascus and Baalbek in the north, returning by way of Beirut and down the Mediterranean Coast through Tyre and Sidon and Haifa; then southward, back to Port Said. From there across the Mediterranean Sea again, to Italy, stopping at Naples, Rome, and Milan; thence by way of Zurich, Switzerland, and from there direct back to London; the entire trip covering about four weeks.

Through the Air to Paris

Our contract with the Cook Company provided, with but very little extra cost, the trip by air from London to Paris, thus enabling us to make better connections with the boat sailing from Marseilles. On the morning of July 2nd our journey began, when we boarded the large twenty-passenger airplane at the Croyden Aerodrome, all the seats of this giant plane being occupied. The day was beautiful and the atmospheric conditions favorable. The experience; was a novel one and full of thrilling interest. As a giant bird of some fairy tale the great machine mounted gracefully up at once to an altitude of about 2,000 feet, and we were no sooner started on the way than we were immediately facing a heavy bank of clouds. Instead of plunging into these clouds our pilot at once guided the plane to about 1,000 feet higher, making about two-thirds of a mile above the earth. Here we were lifted entirely above the clouds in the full blaze of the sun. It would be difficult to convey to the mind of another the sense of sublimity and grandeur we experienced in looking down upon what appeared to be a great bed of cotton beneath, and the sense of awe was only accelerated as presently here and there through the clouds below we discovered apertures through which we could get glimpses of the scenery on the earth below. While a sense of fright seizes one in the commencement of the flight, yet this quickly passes as the full mastery on the part of the pilot and the seemingly perfect operation of the machinery, together with the steadiness of the plane, has the effect of inspiring confidence and assurance that all is well and comparatively safe. How marvelous indeed is this time of the Age in which we live and 'how wonderful the transformation that is taking place because of the flashes of Jehovah's lightning, making possible the application of modern knowledge to human affairs, in this, the day of His preparation for the coming reign of righteousness.

The flight was made to Paris from London in about two and one quarter hours, at a rate of speed of more than one hundred miles an hour. The remainder of the day was spent in the French Capital visiting various points of interest, several hours being devoted to an International Exposition that was being held in the city at the time. That evening we boarded the train for Marseilles arriving in that city about noon the following day, and we were soon transported to the vessel that was to carry us to Port Said. It was an English vessel and the line that carries passengers regularly from London to Australia by way of the Mediterranean Sea. We found the accommodations on this vessel in every way satisfactory.

Through the Mediterranean

Our passage lengthwise of the Mediterranean Sea brought us between the two islands, Corsica and Sardinia, thence further southward past the little Isle of Stromboli, which is at the present time a smoking volcano, and thence through the Strait of Messina that separates Italy from Sicily. The next land that came to view was the Isle of Crete or Candia; now we realized that we were passing through waters and viewing lands that were made sacred by the various travels, voyages, and ministries of the Gospel in the Apostolic period of the Age. In passing by the Isle of Crete, we were reminded that mention is made of the Apostle Paul giving advice to the Centurion who was taking him as one of the prisoners to Rome, that they should take refuge on this island for a time in view of the inclemency of the weather. (Acts 27:10.) Not far distant from this is the Isle of Melita where the Apostle Paul and his crew were shipwrecked as a result of the Centurion's failure to take the Apostle's advice. The entire company however were saved and the record is that they remained on this island for some three months: Acts 28:11.

The voyage of four days on the Mediterranean Sea though comparatively uneventful was most restful, the Sea being very quiet and the weather beautiful. The majority of the passengers were English speaking and amongst them were several missionaries enroute to India and other points of the Orient.

In the Land of Egypt

The second day of the voyage being Sunday we made application to the captain of the vessel for the privilege of holding a meeting in the lounge; our request was granted, and on Sunday afternoon at three o'clock, about twenty of the passengers assembled in this room while we sought to present to them the Word of the Lord on the subject of present world events and their significance to the prophetic student. It is hoped that some were profited by the message. In seeking an opportunity to present the message to one or another of the missionaries, however, we found little encouragement, as their hearts and minds seemed to be completely absorbed with their own methods and schemes of assisting the Lord in saving the heathen.

Our arrival at Port Said was on Wednesday morning, July 8th. On disembarking here we realized at once from the sights and general scenery that we were bordering closely on the Orient. Peculiar and strange scenes met our eyes; the majority of the people at this place were Egyptian though there were many Arabs. Port Said is at the northern entrance of the Suez Canal and about 145 miles northeast of Cairo. It lies on the western side of the Canal on the low, narrow, treeless and desolate strip of land which separates the Mediterranean from Lake Menzala, the land at this point- being raised and its area increased by the draining of a part of the lake and by the excavation. of the inner harbor. Port Said dates from approximately 1859, and its situation was determined by the :desire of the engineers of the Suez Canal.

For many years after its foundation it depended en-y tirely upon the traffic of the Canal, being the chief coaling station of all ships passing through and becoming the largest coaling station in the world. The population appears to be largely of a heterogeneous character, being a mixture of Indian, Egyptian,. and Arab, and many of what appeared to be an undesirable class. This with the damp heat and the dirt and noise of the incessant coaling operations gives the town an unenviable reputation.

Many of the inhabitants of this place go about dressed in apparel peculiar to ancient times, looseflowing gowns that reach nearly to the ground. There is a general uniform dress among the Arabs, though there is somewhat of a variety used by various tribes. Amongst some of the upper classes there is a kind of silk dressing gown thrown over the long skirt; frequently, too, a brown or black coat distinguishes the wealthier citizen. His head dress is a handkerchief fastened round the head by a band. Turbans are by no means uncommon; the ordinary color is white, they are worn over one or more skull-caps. In some districts a sort of trousers form part of the dress, and a voluminous sash in which a dagger or an ink-stand is stuck, is wrapped round the waist. The poorer folk however and the villagers often content themselves with a broad piece of cloth. round the loins and another across the shoulders. The women also wear loose gowns and some add the veil to their head dress. They are overfond of ornaments, gold and silver; their hair is generally arranged in a long plait hanging down behind. All men allow their beards and mus taches full growth though this is usually scanty. Most of them shave their heads and indeed all, strictly speaking, ought by Mohammedan custom to do so. An Arab seldom or never dyes his hair. Sandals are worn more commonly than shoes; but the very poorest go barefoot.

As it is amongst the Arabs

The journey of four hours by train from Port Said to Cairo engaged our keenest interest, as nearly all the way we were passing through what appeared to be Arab towns, which were anything but attractive. Nearly everywhere along the roadway and off in the distance, in the desert, we observed what is called the "ship of the desert," being the name of the camel or of caravans managed by various of the Arab tribes. It was observed that an Arab town or even village, except it be the merest hamlet, is walled round; but seldom is a stronger material than dried earth used; the walls are occasionally flanked by towers of like construction. A dry ditch often surrounds the whole. The streets' are irregular and seldom parallel. It is said that the Arab indeed lacks an eye for the straight. If the town be large, the expansion of one or ,two streets becomes a market place where are ranged a few shops of eatables, drugs, coffee, cotton or other goods. Many of these shops are kept by women. The. chief Mosque is always near the market place. Drainage is unthought of; but the extreme dryness of the air obviates the inconvenience and disease that under other skies could not fail to ensue, and which in the damper climate of the coast makes themselves periodically felt. The streets are roughly swept every day, each householder taking care of the roadway that lies before his own door. Whitewash and "color are occasionally used, but the color of the sun-dried brick predominates and gives an Arab town ^-the appearance at a distance of a large dust heap in the center of the bright green ring of gardens and palm groves.

Egypt as the Background of Israel's History

Including the land of Egypt with our pilgrimage to the Holy Land, it was not out of idle curiosity to visit that country as merely one of the places rich in ancient lore; rather it was strictly from the standpoint of religious and biblical interest.' Egypt amongst its many other aspects of interest has this special claim that it is the background of the whole history of the Israelites; the land to which next after Palestine their thoughts either by way of contrast or association immediately turned. Even in the New Testament the connection is not- wholly severed; and the Evangelist emphatically plants in the first page of the Gospel history the prophetical text which might well stand as the inscription over the entrance to the old dispensation, "Out of Egypt have I called My Son." Doubtless some light must be reflected on the national feelings of Israel by their Mesopotamian origin; and when in the second great exile from the land of promise they found themselves once more on the shores of the Euphrates, it^-is possible that their original descent from these regions quickened their interest in their new settlement, and confirmed that attachment to the Babylonian soil which made it in later times the chief seat of Jewish life external to the boundaries of Palestine. But these points of contact with the remote East were too distant from the most stirring and the most brilliant epochs of their history to produce any definite result. Not so Egypt. The first migration of Abraham of Chaldea is one ^,continued advance southward, till he reaches the valley of the Nile; and when he reaches it, he finds there a kingdom, which must have been to the wandering tribes of Asia what the Roman Empire was to the Celtic and Gothic races when they first crossed the Alps.

As the Holy Land to Israel

Egypt is to them the land of plenty, while the neighboring nations starve; its long strip of garden land was the oasis of the primitive world; through Abraham's eyes we first see the ancient Pharaoh with palace and harem and princes and long trains of slaves and beasts of burden so familiar to the traveler in the cultured profession and sacred images of Thebes and Ipsambul. What Abraham had begun was yet further carried on by Jacob and Joseph. Whatever' may have been the relations of this great Israelite migration to the dynasty of the Shepherd Kings; there can be no doubt that during the period of the settlement in Goshen, Egypt became the Holy Land; the Israelites to all outward appearances became Egyptians; Joseph in his robes of white and royal ring-son-in-law of the High Priest of Oin-was incorporated into the reigning class as truly as any of the figures whom we see :in the Theban tombs. The sepulchre of Machpel-ah and Shechenm received, in the remains of himself and his father, embalmed Egyptian mummies. The shepherds who wandered over the pastures of Goshen were as truly Egyptian bedouins as those who of old tended' their flocks around the pyramids or who now, since the period of the Musselman conquest, have spread through the whole country.

As from that long exile or bondage the exodus was the great deliverance, so against the Egyptian worship and imagery the history of the law in Sinai is a perpetual protest though with occasional re'semblances which set off the greater difference; against the scenery of Egypt all the scenery of the desert and of Palestine is put in continual contrast though with occasional allusions which show that their ancient home was not forgotten. To that home, the heart of the people as at first, so afterward, was always "turning back." The reign of Solomon, the revival of the Egyptian animal worship by Jeroboam, the leaning on the broken reed of the Nile in the Egyptian alliances of Hezekiah and Jehoiakim, interweave in later times the fortunes of the two nations, which else had parted forever on the shores of the Red Sea. And in the new Egypt of the Ptolemies arose the second settlement of the Jews in the same land of Goshen, destined to exercise so important an influence on the last and greatest stage of their history by the Alexandrian translation of the Hebrew Scriptures and by the Alexandrian forms first of Jewish and afterwards of Christian philosophy.

Egypt Prelude to Palestine

Egypt therefore is a fitting, it may almost be called a necessary, prelude to Palestine. Even the outward features of those countries in their historical connection cannot be properly appreciated without some endeavor to conceive the aspect which the valley of the Nile with, its singular imagery and scenery offers to the successive generations of Israel. But as no view of the Holy Land can for the reasons above stated be complete without a glance at what may be called its mother country, therefore it seemed the ;part of wisdom and a justifiable extra expense that we should spend at least two days in the land of the Pharaohs. While many days or even weeks might possibly be spent in Egypt from the standpoint of gaining knowledge and information of a scientific and archaeological character, we conclude that our investigation and, observations of the two days at our disposal will be in the direction of those considerations that stand more directly related to ancient religious history and that have a bearing at least in some remote way on the progress -of the Divine purposes. Cairo is to be the center of our visit and the place of our sojourn while in this land, from which point we will visit the Great Pyramid of Gizeh; and this will next occupy our consideration.

Our Father In Heaven

"And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.--Matthew 11:27.

ONE of the very special features of our Lord's instructions to His immediate disciples, during the three and a half years of His earthly ministry, was that of the relationship existing between the Father and Himself.. Again and again we find Him referring to His work as being particularly intended to reveal the Father to them; to have them understand that in seeing and hearing Him as He walked about with them, they were being privileged to come into close touch with the Father Himself. So much was this the desire of Jesus that there seems to be an undertone of surprise and disappointment in His words to Philip: "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; how sagest thou then, Show us the Father?" (John 14:8, 9) - as though He would say to them, Can it be that you have failed thus far to realize that as the Son of God among you I have done only what the Father Himself would have clone under similar circumstances, and that you have failed to recognize the character of My Father in Me? As one who loved His Father supremely, His great desire was to reveal Him to them in all the fulness of His Fatherly love and care, and whatever of love and goodness He as the Son possessed, He wanted it understood, had originated with the Father. This was the great lesson they needed to learn, for the correct understanding of their own relationship as sons would be of special importance to them in after days. There was no need to teach these men that there was but one true God. 'They knew that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was the great "I Am," the Almighty. They were also familiar with the sacred name of Jehovah by which He was known to His people, Israel, and they needed not that any man should teach them that no other gods could be recognized or worshiped but they did not know God by the deep significant name, of Father. To Jesus this was 'most important, yea, the very secret of, eternal life itself.-John 17:3.

True, on more than one occasion the name "father" had appeared in their ancient Scriptures, but not with the meaning that Jesus now gives to it. David. had called God "a father of the fatherless," and every Jew who was familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures could recall the comforting assurance of His protecting care in the promise, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." (Psalms 103:13.) Then again, they must have seen the words of the Prophet regarding the time when "Thou shalt call Me, My Father; and shalt not turn away from Me." (Jeremiah 3:19.) They were therefore in a position to know that the name father was one particularly appropriate to God in His true relationship to all of His intelligent creatures who obey Him.

"But these ideas of God's fatherhood rested upon the old conception of the father's place in the family. 'he emphasis was not upon tender sympathy and love, but upon authority and dependence. 'O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay and Thou our potter: and we are all the work of Thy hand.' But Jesus not only laid bare the truth of God's fatherliness, but also revealed what true fatherhood is, and both changed. our conception of God and exalted our notion of fatherhood. He did this by opening -to us His own inner life of relationship to God. He called and conceived God as His Father. He laid the emphasis not upon God's creative power, or His almighty sovereignty over human life, although these are just conceptions of God, but upon His loving, fatherly relations. 'My Father,' are His words, or simply 'Father.' This is almost the only title of address Jesus used. It is never 'O Infinite One,' or 'O ruler and preserver of all -things,' or 'O great and eternal God,' but just 'Father.'

"I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these_ things from the - wise and understanding and hast revealed them unto babes..' (Matthew 11:25.) 'Father, what shall I say? Save Me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name. (John 12:27.) 'Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.' (John 17:1.) 'O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.' (Matthew 26:39.) 'Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.' (Luke 23:46.) As might be pointed out in connection with Jesus' habits of prayer, it is this very intimacy of relationship 'which adds such a spirit of reverence to Jesus' life. Sometimes He prefixed an adjective as 'Holy Father,' 'Righteous Father,' but He does not, as we so often do, exalt the attribute above the Father. It is not so much the justice of the Father that is in Jesus' mind as the fatherliness of the justice. It is the person, not the quality.

My Father and Your Father

In all this Jesus is teaching us the lesson of our own relationship to God. By precept and by example He encourages us to constantly enlarge upon the facts of our sonship. While not forgetting the majesty and power of God, we are, nevertheless, to think of Him most frequently as "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," as "our Father which art in heaven," and to remember that we "have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father." Being begotten of the Spirit, we are taught of the same Holy Spirit the form of language most consistent with this introduction into the family of God. The spirit bearing witness with our spirit, and assuring us that we are now the children of God, likewise prompts to a full appreciation of our privileges as such. As many as are led by the Spirit of God will of a certainty display a special delight and joy in its leadings in this as in all other matters, and all such will at once see the beauty and appropriateness- of our Master's instruction, "When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven." (Luke 11:2.) To confine oneself chiefly to the form of address suitable to servants is to forget the proprieties of our standing as these have been urged upon us by Jesus Himself. "Henceforth I call you not servants ; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you." (John 15:15.) Could any other name be sweeter to the child of God than this wonderful name of Father? Could any other name be so conducive to adoration, obedience, and consuming love, as this name so pregnant with reminders of the extraordinary grace bestowed upon us? Could any other name be so effective in binding kindred spirits together as the peerless name given us by Jesus-"Our Father"? We can think of no title so appropriate, so unifying in the Church, and so pleasing to the ear of God when uttered by clean lips, as this restricted, and endearing name by which we are privileged to address Him. Is it not precious to hear Jesus say, "My God and your God"? Yea verily, it is, but how much more wonderful to have him draw us closer in His matchless words: "My Father and your Father"; "The Father Himself loveth you"!

A True Vision Molds Character

It is not difficult for the reverent student of God's Word to recognize that behind every revelation He gives us of His will there is a blessing awaiting our obedient response. It may not be questioned that this is true in regard to the explicit commands laid upon us, for a cheerful obedience to these is necessarily imperative. But we need to remember that the promise to the alert, attentive child of God is, "I will guide thee with Mine eye." Surely this must mean that it will be sufficient for some of God's dear children just to know the slightest wish of their Father, and catching that wish they will delight to obey. If then. instead of habitually putting the name Jehovah, or Almighty God, or similar terms in our mouths in our approach to God, or in our reference to Him in discourse and conversation, Jesus has plainly revealed this wish that we should say "Our Father," there must be a very special blessing accruing to those who delight in that name. There must be something in the power of that term which will react favorably on our hearts, resulting in blessings otherwise impossible, and a little reflection will convince us that this is so. This, fact is most clearly taught in the various names by which God revealed Himself in Ages past. As illustrating the point we might note in passing, the declaration of God to Moses "I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by My name Jehovah was I not known to them." (Exodus 6:3.) There was a special blessing conveyed in this further unfolding of His character as revealed in this name, Jehovah. It was to be an added source of encouragement and strength to Moses in his great undertaking. And so it is with this name of Father as given us through our Lord Jesus. The individual who is careful to think deeply upon this expressed wish of God, that we address Him by that endearing title, just as Jesus did, will quickly discover that there is both a revelation and a blessing in it.

It made a world of difference to a Jewish mind to get a vision of God's true attitude toward mankind in general. For long centuries they thought of Him chiefly as the "Lord of ^-hosts," and "the Lord mighty in. battle." They visualized Him largely as a national God, sympathetic only with themselves, jealously guarding the interests of the Jew alone, hating the Gentile world in general, and the despoilers of Israel in 'particular.' Their view of God's special favor became distorted by prejudice and hatred, resulting in an over-emphasizing of His delight in the destruction of those they considered enemies, and a selfish pride in a sole right to favor and blessing.

In the (lark days of the Christian era it made a great difference to the Church when the true vision of God's fatherhood of all believers was lost. In Apostolic days the character of God 'was set forth, revealing Him as "The God of all comfort, and Father of mercies," as One who was "no respecter of persons," as "in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself," abolishing all barriers between Jew and Gentile, and^, inculcating by the breadth of His Gospel of grace, a true spirit of love for Himself and for the believer's fellow-man. But when "doctrines of devils" subverted the truth, and God again became a factional, vindictive, destructive character in the minds of a deceived people, it was not long before the stake and the rack were considered wholly in keeping with His Word and Spirit.

Today, as in a darker past, the same results inevitably follow the lost vision of God's true character. The human heart still remains the same, fertile ground for bigotry, intolerance, self--righteousness, and general selfishness. Today, as in former days, a people's conception of God will be revealed in the doctrines they hold and teach. The fact that greater light was once enjoyed, and the errors of the past deplored and exposed, is no guarantee that a more charitable treatment of others living^- contemporaneously, will always be displayed. Unless a true conception of God is received and His image stamped on the mind indelibly, the very fact that greater light is enjoyed will, if not received in the spirit of pure love, create a separation that will develop into spiritual pride, seclusiveness, and an assumed right to a place' in the favor of God denied to all others, however sincere and saintly they may be. Ere long the spirit of truth becomes extinct, and once more God becomes, even in this enlightened day, visualized as a God of slaughter ready to exercise a destructive vengeance upon all whom a distorted imagination consigns to disfavor.

Under such false teachings the constructive features of truth are soon relegated to the background, and ability to call clown fire from heaven fervently desired, but mercifully withheld. Deprived of the stake and the rack, the hardening influences of error will find in the Second Death, or other punishments, sufficient gratification to satisfy the lovelessness of a heart enslaved by false teachings regarding the character and conduct of God. Against all this false, narrow, human tendency, this seclusiveness of access to the foot of the cross, and the Throne of Grace, stands this appeal of Jesus, "When ye pray, say, Our Father," and the individual who will consistently embrace in his prayer all believers in the shed blood, all lovers of God and His Word, will soon know in a blessed, mellowing, wider sympathy, just why Jesus wants us to be thinking of God and addressing Him as a Father.

Imitators of God as dear Children

In his Epistle to the Ephesians Paul urges them to "Become therefore imitators of God, as beloved children." (Ephesians 5:1, Diaglott.) Here we have the most important feature of the lesson before us. This is just why Jesus desired that we be constantly reminded of our relationship to God. All of His own life was so blessedly influenced by it that He cannot do other than urge it upon us. "The very deeds that He did, Jesus said He did because He had seen the Father doing them. 'The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.' (John 5:19.) In our homes we constantly see little boys doing what their fathers have been doing. Sometimes they do these things just because they are their father's in miniature, and their father's spirit is in them, and sometimes they do them because they have seen their fathers doing them, and nothing will satisfy them until they have done 'just as father has done.' Jesus said that He was His Father's own Child in this matter, and that He did what He saw His Father doing. (John 8:38.) But it was also the Father's own nature in Him reproducing itself. 'The words that l: speak unto you I speak not of Myself,' He said, 'but the Father abiding in Me, He doeth the works.' '--John 14:10; 8:28.

Here is surely sufficient inspiration to stir our hearts to emulate the Son in whom the Father was well pleased. 1t was this note that was always made prominent in the ministry of Jesus. Be like "your Father in heaven," be perfect as He is, be forgiving^- as He is, be_, compassionate toward the just and the unjust as e who sends His rain and sunshine on both. Surely no other name would be so fitting as the name of father to stir in the hearts of children such a spirit of imitation. Blessed indeed is the one who loves to say, "Our Father," and realizes those delights experienced by our beloved Master. Happy the one whose. prayers, labors, fellowships, and, influence, are all perfumed with this spirit of the Father. Unquestionably there are occasions when the great names of God may be taken upon our lips, and in language most appropriate and pleasing we may extol the various excellencies of His character, but the native habit of the true child of God will be fixed in the consistency and in the imitation-impelling influences of. the name that Jesus loved supremely, and which as we have seen He invariably used. Can it not be safely said then, that by our habits of address as we approach God in prayer,_ or as we speak His name, we give evidence of an intimate fellowship with Him as sons, or an evidence that we are as yet living in the more remote relationship of servants? If the prayers and Habitual address of Jesus may be taken as a criterion as to this, the point seems well worthy of consideration. Let us by the grace of God seek to be, above all other things, imitators of Christ, so that we may indeed be "unto God a sweet savor of Christ. By so doing we too shall-enjoy the sweeter fellowship possible only to those who may be guided by the eye of our Father, alert to obey His every wish. And then, since the great purpose of our high calling is to make us like our God, let us recognize that it is our privilege to be able to say, as did our Master, I do nothing of Myself; but only what I see My Father doing. This will mean that we are liking in closest fellowship with Him, and we cannot live close to Him until we are one with Him in all His patience, compassion,. and love.

"Thou God of might,
Infinite Wisdom and unmeasured, matchless power,
Whose^- mindful care and all creative skill
Can speak' a universe to life or cIothe a flower,
Omnipotent,^, omniscient, and all present still
My Father!

"Thou God of justice
Who holdest out the balances of sternest law,
Who will remembervirtues well, nor vice forget,
Who canst; not pass the slightest fault or flaw,
Immutable, austere, and just and yet
My Father!

"Thou God of love
How deeper than the, ocean depth and strong as death.
That gave His only Son a sacrifice for me,
How tender as a mother's whispering breath, --
O God of mercy, Thou wilt ever be,
My Father!"

The Boston Convention

Those. who anticipated a happy and profitable season of fellowship in attendance at the Boston Convention. October 10-12, were surely not disappointed. It was a time when the brethren realized afresh the significance of those sacred word, "The fellowship of kindred minds like to that above."

Friends in attendance came from various points, some of them, from quite a distance. The theme upon the hearts and lips of all seemed to be the "old, old story of gracious; heavenly love"; praise to the King- of kings' for His abundant--grace, mercy; and, love in having called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

In these stirring-times of unrest and confusion, of distress and perplexity over the world, the serene and peaceful state of mind and heart so strikingly in evidence in those assembled, gave assurance that the Spirit of the Lord is still guiding and directing the counsels and meditations of His people. The promise of the Scriptures is being realized in the experiences of those who are firmly standing for the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and who contend earnestly for what they know to be right and true in the sight of God and men, that "In quietness; and confidence shall be your strength."

The Sunday afternoon, service was somewhat in the nature of a public meeting, when there were several strange faces present who were evidently seeking a better understanding of the Divine purposes. The warm interest expressed in this meeting and the close attention given to the discourse was very encouraging.

The discourses and testimonies of the brethren at Boston exalted the name of our God and His well beloved Son, Jesus Christ. The solemn instructions of our, Father's Word, admonitions and exhortations which, have to do with inspiring the Christian with zeal, hope, and love, were called to mind and considered with ptofit to all. It was noted again that the Christian life is truly a progressive one; that "speaking the truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things which is the Head, even Christ"; that this signifies that -throughout the Christian pilgrimage 'ere we ;should experience greater and still greater' depths of that love Divine, all love excelling, and should be caused to know "what is the hope' of His ' calling and what the riches. of the, glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness: of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power."

A prominent note at the convention was indeed the love of-Christ, the love of God, and love for one another. All with one accord recognized that this condition of heart leads to peace and rest-rest in the Lord and in His sure promises that His eternal purposes shall yet bee accomplished and that soon all the faithful children of God will be delivered and, blessed forevermore. Messages of warm greetings from a number of other Classes were received and read to the convention, the sentiments of which were fully reciprocated..

Words of Encouragement

Dear Brethren:

Loving greetings to you. I have 'to thank you Very kindly for your letter of September 17 reminding me of the lapse' of my "Herald" subscription. I did not quite intend this, but have been-having some trying experiences and found it inconvenient for a time. However, if you will kindly continue to send the "Herald" I will send the subscription along through the "Bible Students Committee" as usual. I presume. this is the best way to act as it is not easy to send to, you direct from England.

May I 'take this opportunity of thanking you, dear brethren, for the spiritual food contained from time to time in the "Herald." I have found it grandly helpful in my isolated position, having no regular Class that I can attend, and with the sadly mixed experience 'which one meets with at this severely sifting time. It is a joy to find some one whose anchor has not been removed from the solid "Rock and who finds something still in, the simplicity of the Gospel without consuming the dictionary in order to define some abstruse matter which in the end proves of very doubtful authenticity.

I would not be misunderstood! I am quite conscious that knowledge is essential, but I have come across so much of it that has been^, of love that I am bound to adhere to the adage I once found, namely, "knowledge essential, but love pre-eminent." Yes "love is the greatest," and if we are rooted and grounded in love to the Lord, we shall certainly desire knowledge, but that of the unadulterated species.

May the spirit of the Master, the great and true Head, infuse your efforts to build up and' encourage the Body members of Christ:

Yours, all for "Him," in tender love,

W.C. -- Eng.

VOL. XIV. November 15, 1931 Nos. 22

A Holy Nation and a Peculiar People

"Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is
righteous."-l John 3:7.

IN SEEKING for a definition of the term holiness sufficiently comprehensive to embrace its full significance, we recognize that diversity of language is almost a necessity. Like the description of a landscape picture in which both harmony and diversity are combined, so is the defining of the Scriptural use of the word holiness. Viewed from the negative side it can be defined as an abstaining from that which is sinful-not to be sinful. But from the more positive viewpoint it means, to have a clean heart, a delight in (holiness, to have the affections centered in the character of God. In yet another way it may be described in its active operations, as perfect love in exercise and motion. This is suggested in our Lord's epitomized statement of the intention of the law, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And .. . thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Matthew 22:37-39.) This, says the Apostle, is describing it "in one word, even in this; thou shalt love thy neighbor 'as thyself." (Galatians 5:14.) Then again, if defined in its simple, practical meaning, it just means a glad obedience to the revealed will of God -the doing of what God commands, and doing His will so cheerfully and with so much joy that there is no shadow of a thought that His commandments are grievous; a state of mind and habit of life ,where, of a truth, the soul mounts on the wing at the mere thought of how Christ the life has bought; and, 'Tis joy, not duty, to show His beauty, and to show forth the praises of Him who has redeemed us from the guilt and blight of sin.

Thus variously expressed in Scriptural thought, holiness is revealed in the life "by pureness, by knowledge, by love unfeigned." It is to distinguish its possessors as "lights in the world, "the salt of the earth," and as "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people." Then in its inward operations within the heart of the believer, it is to be both a principle and an emotion. As an established principle it will govern the conduct, and as an emotion it will stimulate, refresh, and satisfy the heart's yearning after God, just as the hart panting for the water brooks finds complete satisfaction in its cooling waters. Thus holiness "is character and sentiment in one-character resulting from a thorough transformation of being by the Holy Spirit; sentiment in that it stirs the sensibilities, and flames up through them in joyous feelings and transporting. hopes. Those, therefore, who talk about character and principle as distinct from emotion, talk nonsense. As well talk about a love that does not love, or a joy that does not rejoice. On the other hand, ;they who locate holiness in ecstacies, as against character, make a mistake no less absurd. As well speak of having a sensation without a sense, or a house without a foundation.

"Character is the pedestal-a beautiful life, the statue placed upon it. Holy experiences in the heart are the invisible roots of Christian life. From roots in vegetable growth are sent up a vitalizing sap which gives thrift, beauty, and fruitfulness to all the visible parts of the tree. And without this vivifying and constantly revivifying element, decay and death are inevitable. So in religion, the spiritual work in the heart projects a quickening power into every faculty and force of the life.

"Nor can there be any sanctity of character without such a vital element to give it birth and force. A holy walk is a plant springing from a holy seed. A perfect Christian is a tree of righteousness rooted and grounded in love. His primary and most Divine life is' hid with Christ in God. He is so pervaded by the Holy Spirit, and so indwelt by Christ, and God so lives and walks in him, that he feels and confesses, as did the Psalmist, 'all my springs are in Thee.' The unseen and the seen in religion are a unit. They are correlated as fountain and stream, as body and soul.

"Hence it is asked, Is religion or holiness internal or external? We answer, It is both. It begins internally and works outwardly like pent-up fires. The two parts are inseparable and interdependent. We cannot have the visible beauty without the inward cleansing. All the vernal bloom that makes the earth gay is traceable" to a germ buried out of sight in the bosom of the earth. So a life. of conspicuous sanctity is begotten and nourished by an invisible principle of vitality Divinely implanted in the heart. The heart becomes the secret, but active, generator of a sanctified life. It is charged with hallowing forces. Wherefore in defining holiness it is not enough to say, 'We, as passive vessels, are emptied of sin and filled with love'; such a formula represents the work as too mechanical. Sin and holiness are not so loose and detached from the soul as this language would seem to imply. When human nature fell, it suffered more than contact with sin. And when it is redeemed, it will be more . than touched with external grace. There is an interpenetration in both cases. Sin must be expunged and holiness wrought in. Far better to say, 'Purged from sin,' and 'Created in righteousness and true holiness.' Sin, 'like a crimson dye, has saturated our whole being. And God seems to think that so fast and deep-set is the scarlet hue that it can only be gotten rid of by a process of purgation. Hence He says of Christ, 'He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver.'

"Holiness is not an article deposited in the soul, as you would set a piece of furniture in a parlor, or hang a picture 'on a wall. It is worked into the texture of our being by the Holy Spirit. The whole fabric of character is Made over and renovated. . . . Accordingly, the command of God is, 'Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.' And again, 'Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.'

"A Christian is not a statue clipped down into form and beauty by external forces. He is melted into shape, and becomes a new being; a new moral species; a new style of manhood, not carved out, but born [begotten] again, 'not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.'"

Blessed are They Who Hunger

The great gifts of Divine love are kept safely beyond the careless reach of those who are unprepared to seek them in God's way. No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly, and if the hands held out for His blessings are clean hands, He will have an increasing delight in giving, as faith grows strong to ask yet more and more, and the habit of appropriation becomes established; when faith can ask for much of the blessings of His grace, and then "believe that ye receive it," God does rejoice to give. "How much more," Jesus tells us, "shall the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him"-so much more gladly than could the most perfect earthly father open his hand to the child of his love. God in His loving kindness may without discrimination send His :rain and sunshine upon just and unjust alike, but in dispensing those special tokens of His love which have to do with sonship and its possibilities in grace, He is partial indeed. To obtain these deeper and richer blessings there must be a yearning of heart for them, a longing that will amount to a real hunger and thirst after righteousness, unsatisfied and unhappy apart from the blessed realization of feeding experimentally upon Christ, the Bread of Life.

This, as the writer just quoted has shown, is the great underlying principle of true holiness. Inasmuch as the Scriptures teach that God will not work in us contrary to our will, it follows that there must first of all be the desire on our part for His favors. "To them that ask Him," is the way Jesus states it. In view, then, of the willingness of the Father to give us these blessings; even that of making us partakers of His own holiness, and in view of the fact: that "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for those that love Him," is there not a world of soul-stirring inspiration in the statement of Jesus? Listen to His words, "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Only awakening in His likeness, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, faultless in His glorious presence, can fulfil that promise to the class Jesus had in mind. Blessed indeed is the one who will not be satisfied with anything short of this, not for the sake of reward, but for love of righteousness.

Holiness puts Us in Accord with God

To experience this magnetic power of holiness drawing on the most splendid emotions of which a regenerated heart is capable, is to know the greatest power in spiritual life. It is to know in the most blessed sense how God works in us to will in unison with Him,- and to know the impelling influences which constrain us to delight to do His will. Under these circumstances, visions of the completeness of our justification and standing in Christ, will surely be followed by an intense desire for an actual transforming of our mind, and for the complete cleansing of ourselves "from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit," to the end that we may experience all the possibilities of grace. And with this God-implanted desire for these attainments before our vision, what reinforcement of that desire is found in the repeated assurance that He "Who has begun the good work in us is able to complete it." 'Sufficient it is to know that we have been led to will it, and to be kept on willing it, then God, to whom all things are possible, is able to do for us, yea, "more than we can ask or think."

This pursuit of holiness may very properly be said to be for the purpose of obtaining three objectives: first, to glorify the God of all grace whose love has made it possible; second, to personally possess these fruits of righteousness and joys of salvation; and third, to be indeed a "light in the world," witnessing to "a crooked and perverse generation" the power of Divine love to produce the fruits and graces of godliness in grateful, consecrated hearts. Summing up the desirability of knowing that these great purposes are the most potent influences in Christian life, we quote again from the same writer

"Holiness puts the soul in perfect sympathy and accord with God, and all immaculate things. A pure heart in its relation to perfect love is like the upturned cups of flowers;, and the craving lips of vegetation, which gratefully drinks in the distillations of dew and rain that come oft upon it. Vegetation does not reject the dew because it comes in the night; nor does it repel the rain because it drops from black and frowning clouds. Water is its element, and therefore, always grateful to its nature, whatever be its source or the time and manner of its coming. It is so with a pure soul. Holiness is its life, and that life is sweet and fondly cherished. It gives the spirit an active affinity for all that is pure, an appetite for all that is stainless. The acceptance of holiness by such a soul is not contingent on place or time _or methods. These are but the wrapping paper and twine of the precious merchandise of full redemption. They are but the bark and shell and chaff of the real substance. All a sincere seeker wishes to know is this: Will the grace presented satisfy my hunger? Is it full salvation? Is it the enduement of power? Is it the fulness of God? If so, it is just as sweet to my taste if drank from a gourd as from a silver cup.

The same thought was surely in the mind of the poet in his plea so expressive of this willingness to let God work out these things for us in His own way:

"Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
E'en though it be a cross
That raiseth me.
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee!"

To be willing to drink in the sweet influences of holiness when beckoned on by serene and tranquil circumstances, is good, but to be equally ready to receive it when God chooses to send it in disci plines and chastisements, is after all the real test of our longing for it. If only the results desired may be attained, are we willing, in the matter of ways and means, "To leave the choice to Him"?

Ye are My Witnesses

When God has been allowed to work unhindered in our hearts until the first two of these objectives have been measurably accomplished in us, then,and then only, can the third be possible. Some one has said, "Every Christian is some one's Bible," and undoubtedly this is true enough to make it vitally important to remember, that, in so far as our testimony is concerned, "actions speak louder than words." It will be Christ living in us, that will be the most convincing of all testimony to those without. We quote again:

"What a field of golden graces spreads out before us: 'Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.' Love, the perennial spring of spiritual life; joy, the upgushing of its waters ; peace, the restfulness of a holy mind, and the placidity ^,of God's presence that spreads over it; long-suffering, the enduring quality of a sanctified and merciful heart; gentleness, the amiability of external conduct and softness of manner, the politeness of Christian courtesy; goodness, the label, that tells the quality of the whole make-up of the man; faith, the atmosphere that surrounds the Christian, and works like heart-beats within him, keeping every attribute of soul and body alive and every organ in motion; meekness, the regulator of temper, the veto of anger, the antidote to fits of madness, the cure of a quarrelsome disposition, the power that draws the stings out of external provocations ; temperance, the scales that weighs all our tempers, words, actions, and pursuits, and keeps the Christian in a perfect balance.

"Now, reader, by their fruits ye shall know them. The Savior has given us the rule by which we may test ourselves and others, especially ourselves. There is no use in professing holiness if these fruits are not: characteristics of our holiness. Men do not 'gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles,' and the reason is, it is not the nature of these bushes and briars to produce such precious fruits. It is, therefore, not expected.

"It is easy to make the application. If we do not bear the fruits of the Spirit we are mistaken in supposing that we are wholly sanctified. And as sinners can judge of the quality of fruit as well as saints, no claims to superior sanctity, no sacred associations, no amount of zeal in attending spiritual meetings, no plainness in dress, or sanctimony of manner, no parading our interest in the subject of holiness in any way, can compensate in any degree for the want of these Divine fruits. And wanting these it will be impossible to inspire a very .high confidence either in us or our theme.

"Good fruit, Divine fruit, is the most effectual argument to convince the popular mind of the genuineness of our religion. We may hold absurd theories, but if our spirit is sweet and hallowing, and our conduct unimpeachable, our mistakes will be condoned and our religion accepted. Specimens of what grace can do is the want of mankind. The trade of the world is now carried on chiefly by samples. A small piece of cloth will often sell all the goods a manufacturer can produce. One good apple will sell a whole barrel. So with Christianity. It is taken on trust from what they see in one man."

"What majesty and grace
Through all the Gospel shines!
'Tis God that speaks, and we confess
That doctrine most Divine."

The Power of The Spirit

"To be spiritually minded is life and peace."-Romans 8:6.

ABILITY TO understand the Scriptures, to talk fluently upon them, and to expound them clearly, is a qualification which we think should follow in the wake of spiritual mindedness; but some might be able to expound Scripture very well, and to express truths in very good form who are not necessarily very spiritually minded. A parrot can repeat certain words and phrases ; 'but no one would think of a parrot as being spiritually minded. So there are some people who can repeat certain spiritual truths, apparently with a good deal of zest.

To be spiritually minded is to have a mind in harmony with the Spirit of God, and fully surrendered to the Divine will-fully consecrated to the Lord. It would not be enough merely to have a preference for good, saying, "I prefer not to do any gross sin; I prefer to live a life that will be honest and decent." This attitude would not be spiritual mindedness. Adam was not spiritually minded, but in his perfection he had a mind to do right. He had the mind of God in the sense that he had a balanced mind, not one having a preference for sin, or one that was weak. He was sound minded and could appreciate things from the standpoint of righteousness and justice. But even in his perfection Adam had not a spiritual mind in the highest, or Scriptural sense of the word.

Our Lord became Spiritually Minded at Jordan

In Romans 8:6 the Apostle Paul uses the expression, "spiritually minded" in describing a certain class who have become followers of Christ, who have made a full consecration of their lives to the Lord and who, in harmony with this consecration, have been begotten of the Holy Spirit. These are spiritually minded. These are granted a spiritual insight into Divine things.

This was true of our Lord Jesus. Having' left the glory which He had with the Father, and having humbled Himself to take the human nature, He was found in fashion as a man. We read that He was not an imperfect man, but "holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners." (Hebrews 7:26.) Yet with all these special qualities He did not have the spiritual mind to which the Apostle has reference. Our Lord had a mind such as Adam had before the fall-a mind in perfect harmony, perfectly balanced. Our Lord received a spiritual mind, however, at the moment when He was begotten of the Spirit, when He made full consecration at baptism, and as a consequence the Holy Spirit descended and lighted upon Him in bodily form like a dove.

Following that begetting, the Lord had an enlargement of understanding and was granted , to see certain deep things of God which He had not seen before His consecration ; so we read in that very connection that "the heavens were opened" to Him-the higher things became clear to Him-the more spiritual things. These things St. Paul calls "the deep things of God." "The natural man," St. Paul says (the natural man would be a perfect man ; fallen man is imperfect, unnatural), "receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, . neither can . he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14.) Then he proceeds to say that we have received the Spirit of God through the begetting of the Holy Spirit; and that having the new mind, this Spirit begetting, we are enabled to understand the deep things of God. "The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God; and we have received . . . the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." Thus to us is it given to know the deep things of God. -1 Corinthians 2:11, 12.

No Natural Man is Spiritually Minded

So, then, the one who has been begotten of the Holy Spirit is spiritually minded.. He sees things from the new standpoint which God specially brings to the attention of the Spirit begotten. As the Apostle John says, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye all know it." (1 John 2:20.) Whoever receives this begetting of the Holy Spirit, this anointing, has an understanding of heart and of mind which is different from that which any natural man would have, a quality that will progress with him. He has the privilege of growing in grace and in knowledge and in the appreciation of the deep things of God; and he should grow.

The Apostles Peter and Paul go on to explain (1 Peter 2:2, 3; Hebrews 5:13, 14; 6:1, 2) that one thus begotten of the Spirit of God is at first only a babe, and, as a babe, should desire the sincere .milk of the Word-the first principles of the doctrine of Christ; but as he goes on he should feed upon the strong meat of God's Word. Some of those who have the begetting of the Spirit may be blessed with the special gift of language, so that they can make the matter very clear to others; some others who have also received the begetting of the Spirit' may not be blessed with this gift.. But all certainly would have the desire to tell forth the blessings which they have received from the Lord, that others might know and might glorify God in their bodies and.' spirits, which are His..

As these spiritually minded ones would thus endeavor to tell the Good Tidings, we have no doubt whatever that the Lord's blessing upon them would more and more qualify them as ambassadors and representatives, that they might tell the message to others-if not in one form, then in another. We have noted, however, that some who speak with stammering lips have sometimes accomplished very wonderful things, while some with a ^.great deal of eloquence have failed to obtain the same results. The victory is not always to the strong nor to the swift; for the Lord may grant His blessing with the feebly spoken word, particularly if the whole life be in harmony with the message given out.

The Life not the Words, a True Index

We have been surprised at times to find that some who have apparently considerable understanding of spiritual things, in the sense of being able to tell about them, do :not always give the best evidence in their lives that they really have the Spirit of the Lord. Sometimes in their private lives there is that which is quite contradictory. This condition surprises us; causes us to wonder how it is that those who apparently understand the Truth should be without the power, or manifestation of the power of the Truth in their daily lives. We should bear in mind that whoever speaks the Word of the Lord with his mouth, should uphold it in his every act, thought, in private life as well as in public.

The Bible should be the standard. Everything else is certainly quite contrary to the Divine will; and that person who fails to uphold the Truth in his daily life gives evidence that he has not the Spirit of the Lord in the proper degree. If, therefore, any of us should find that in our daily lives we have not been laving in conformity with ' the message of our lips, it would be a matter of serious concern, for we cannot doubt that whoever is out of harmony with the Lord in his heart will sooner or later get out of harmony in his utterances.

The Secret, of all Power

We read of our Lord that "they were astonished at His doctrine; for His word was with power. (Luke 4:32.) We have before us in these words the greatest teacher that ever lived ; and if we inquire wherein His power, consisted, the answer is, It was the power of the Holy .Spirit, which He had without measure. (John 13:34.) This is the secret of all power in the work of the Lord. Learning and worldly wisdom, or natural talents of fluency of .speech or oratory, are no. substitutes for this indispensable requirement for the Divine service. No preaching, no teaching, is of value, except it be in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In this power our Lord Jesus came up from - he wilderness into Galilee. How did He obtain t is power? He obtained it in the same way His followers may obtain it, namely by entire consecration to God, faithfulness to that consecration, and by communion with Him in prayer' and meditation upon His Word. The complete consecration our Lord had made and symbolized at Jordan; and while carefully studying the Law and Prophets in order to an exact knowledge of the will of God, He had just endured a most subtle and severe conflict with the powers of darkness for forty days alone in the wilderness. Through implicit faith in the wisdom, love, and power of the Father, He came off that battlefield victorious, and filled with the power of that Holy Spirit which had given Him the victory. Thus He was equipped with power from on high for the great work upon which He immediately entered. It was no wonder, indeed, that the people "were astonished at His doctrine; for His word was with power." "He taught them as one having authority" as one who knew the Truth by an implicit faith in God which admitted of no doubt, and by the practical demonstration of its power upon His own heart-and not as the scribes who had no such insight into the holy things of God.

Silent Influence of a Consistent Christian Life

It is thus and only thus, that the followers of Christ may also gain this power which will mightily convince men of the Truth, and which will compel respect for it, even in those who are not prepared to receive it into good and honest hearts. The preacher or teacher acceptable to God must, therefore, like the Lord, be first sincerely and fully consecrated to God. Then, when tried and tempted, he must prove his faithfulness to that consecration. Then let him go forward in the work of the Lord with a resolute purpose, to do His will at all. hazards of human approval or disapproval, or of human praise or persecution. Most likely, like the Lord Himself, he will have some of both-at first some of the praise, but afterward the bitterness of persecution.

There is no preaching of the Truth more forcible than the silent influence of a consistent Christian character, bearing in richness and luxuriousness the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, and self-control. And no preaching of the Truth, however eloquent, reasonable, and logical, is likely to. be productive of results to the glory of God, if not backed by the silent yet potent influence of a consistent Christian life.

Here is a way of preaching the Gospel which may be measurably overlooked by some who are anxious to do more active service in the cause we love. Let us not forget that golden opportunities lie all about us. Ye are indeed living epistles, known and read of all men. Our families, our relatives, our neighbors, are judging of the Truth by its effects upon us. Let us not forget this.^, We must be transparent and let the light of God's truth shine through all our doings.

Our Victorious Faith

"Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God."-John 11:40.

INTO the home of our Lord's beloved friends at Bethany a great sorrow had come. Death had invaded the little circle and severed ties that to all appearances had been of the most pleasant character. If we may accept as true the various conjectures which make Lazarus the rich young ruler who on one occasion was found inquiring the way of eternal life, we may safely conclude that this home in Bethany was one of more than ordinary comfort and refinement. The deep sorrow of the two faithful sisters would seem to reveal also that the three inmates of this home had lived together in a state of peaceful and tranquil companionship. Under such circumstances, and in view of the special love Jesus had for these three, the grief He witnessed as He approached the home and His reaction thereto, makes this incident one of great interest to us today. When the spirit of inspiration singles out an individual for more than the usual general mention, we may be sure that this peculiar individualization is deeply significant. We are therefore ready to note with appreciation the remark which was 'by no means incidental: "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." (John 11:5.) The keeping of this fact before our minds will give much greater force to the helpful lessons this narrative contains for ail those who "through much tribulation" are seeking to enter the Kingdom. Here then, were dear ones who enjoyed this special place in the love and affection of Jesus, loyal hearts whose every experience would be of deep concern to Him, yet how peculiarly He seemed to act toward them in the earlier hours of their difficulty. Had we been there taking note of the sorrow of the bereaved sisters, and had we been
possessed of the knowledge 'of His wonder-working power, would we too not have asked with a note of surprise, "Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?" The old question of how love can appear to stand aside while the blows of affliction shatter some of our fondest dreams, has been, and will continue to be, asked by burdened hearts until sorrow and sighing flee away forever. True, faith may remain unshaken in the wisdom and love of God, and heroically say, "Though He slay me yet will I trust Him," but, "frail shrinking nature" is ever prone to "'cry enough" before the tribulation has accomplished its refining work. Faith will not forget that "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth" (Hebrews 12:6), but somehow the thought will remain, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died"--I would surely not have had this particular trial or experienced this disturbance of my peaceful environments, if Thy presence had been really with me. But where love abounds, the heart is teachable and ever ready to confess, "Thy judgments, Lord, are true and right, and brighter every day," and in our heart of hearts we entreat Thy patience, yea,

"Until, by dint of strokes and blows,
The shapeless mass appears
Symmetric, polished, beautiful,
To stand the eternal years."

The value of so many of the beautiful story lessons contained in the Gospels, lies in the fact that we may live them over again and again in our own daily lives. They are not just records of what Jesus said and did nineteen hundred years ago, and of how certain characters reacted under the circumstances, but they are living pictures of the life we live ourselves, in which Jesus moves, and lives, and speaks, with His words of comfort, and compassionate love. How often, then, our beloved Master needs to come to us in the midst of our trials to assure us that we have not been forgotten, and to remind us afresh of the love and power vested in Himself, and perhaps say to us as of old, "Believest thou this?" How often in our forgetfulness of the fact that He will be with us in six troubles, and remain with us even in the seventh, we have drawn on the fulness of His patience, and again and again, perhaps as frequently as special trials have overtaken us, He has needed to remind us that these experiences are after all but passing shadows, light afflictions which are but for a moment in present duration, but laden with great possibilities of "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

If, then, in the hours of our chastening and scourging we are listening intently, we will find that the love that met the needs that day at Bethany is as blessedly near to us with the same reassuring declaration, "I am the resurrection and the life." Be it the open grave that has received some loved and seemingly indispensable kindred spirit, or be it the defeat of some cherished 'hope of a worthy character, or some effort to hold aloft the high attainments possible to the people of God, and in connection with which we had entertained great expectations only to see them swept beyond the hope of present realization, or some deep humiliation and grief of heart over our own personal failures to reveal our true self in words and acts both strong and noble-ah, then, it is He who calms our spirits -with the confidence that since He is the "resurrection and the life," all is not lost; if we will only believe we shall yet see evidences of His power which will dispel all our sorrow. All these things may be stepping stones, He will say, to higher and greater ends, for I am able to make all things work together for good to those who love My will supremely-"Believest thou this?"

A Very Present Help is He

In Me midst of her trouble Martha ,was quite prepared to believe that Jesus would eventually act on her behalf. The sad calamity had happened, and her brother had now gone beyond the hope of any present help. Sometime in the distant future all would be well. "I know he shall rise again at the last day." But until then, she thought, she must wait for the reward of her faith. And just as Jesus must teach her that the thought must not always be fixed on the end of the way, when, "the toils of the road will seem nothing," so He is constantly teaching us today. By His own example He has shown us that if we are bearing the cross unwillingly, there will be a very real disposition to talk much about the trials through which He leads us; but if we walk close to Him, happy in the abundant supply of His grace for every time of need, and catching something of His spirit of delight in the Father's will, ah then, we can and will rejoice in our privileges of suffering for His sake, and to the end that the refining we so much need may be accomplished in us. Then our --

"Sorrow touched by heaven grows bright
With more than rapture's ray;
As darkness shows us worlds of light
We never saw by day."

My Peace I Give Unto You

"A very beautiful name is given to Christ when He is called 'The Lord of peace.' He is the Great Peacemaker, for He has 'made peace by the blood of His cross'; and He is also the great Peacegiver, for He says, 'My peace I give unto you.' Bringing to us, first of all, peace of conscience, and teaching us how to look up to God without fear, He brings us next, peace of heart, and teaches us how to look out upon the world without fear. By His cross He makes us satisfied with God's way of saving us; by His life He teaches us to be equally satisfied with God's way of training us. He brings us into His own perfect calm by showing us how to live, as He Himself always did, with an absolutely unquestioning trust in a heavenly Father's love. . . . Not one single instance can we find in which He sought to have His earthly lot changed from what His Father had appointed it to be, or complained because He could not change it, or made Himself miserable by anticipating the sorrows that were lying in front and ready to fall.

"We are constantly criticizing God. Christ never did. Even though not actually criticizing Him, we are yet constantly imagining that things might, somehow, 'have been better arranged for us; the rebellious heart, if not the lips, will say, 'I could have borne this if it had only come to me at some other time-if it had come alone, instead of being accompanied by so many other depressing circumstances--if it had been of a different kind, failure in my business instead of failure in my health, a stroke upon, myself instead of upon my child, the loss of some other friend than just that one that was the best-beloved of all,' and so on through a hundred suppositions of what might have been better arranged. How seldom do we realize the faithlessness that is in such a mood of soul as this!

"But we may come to realize it, and escape front it too, if, in the secret of His presence, alone with Him, we lay our burdens at His feet and listen for His word of peace. For, as we listen, He will tell: us much.

"He will tell us that the whole explanation of the severity of the trial (in our view of it) is that our desires and His purposes are not moving in the same line, that we have not the same idea of life that He has, otherwise there would be no disappointment in us with the pain that life may bring; that if we are making it our chief aim in life just to have a prosperous time of self-indulgence, while His aim is to train us all along life's way to holiness of character and heavenliness of spirit, there is sure to be collision everywhere between our wills and His, and that not till this collision ceases can we get the peace we long to know.

"In the secret of His presence He will tell us more. He will tell us that if we rebel against our trials, it is only because we do not see His planned issue of them in our greater good: that they are only a Great Refiner's fire for the purifying of His gold, a Great Vine-dresser's knife for increasing the fruitfulness of His vines. He will whisper to our crushed hearts in the secret place, "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter."

"It is only the eye of the sculptor that can see beforehand the finished statue in the rough marbleblock; but he does see it, and all the strokes of his tools are meant to bring out to the eyes of others what is already clear to his own. And the strokes of God's hand are only to produce the perfect beauty of the soul, and make that as visible to others as it now is to Himself. Nothing is more certain than that we will be perfectly satisfied with His work when we see it finished. Why should we not he satisfied now when He tells us what a glorious finish He will make, and leave to Him the choosing of the tools.

"Our gracious God promises us more than sympathy alone when we lay our sorrows at His feet He promises us help as well. But we must leave to Him the way of helping us. Many a time we distress ourselves needlessly by refusing to rise above our fears till we see how the help is to come, and iii what precise 'way we may look for an answer to our prayers. We want God to explain to us the secrets of His working before we feel certain that He will make things go right. But there is something better than understanding God, and that is, trusting Him. He does not promise to explain Himself. He does promise to reveal Himself: but He never reveals Himself except to an absolute trust."

And has it not been often so, that we, like Martha, have been inclined to say when overshadowed with some special trial, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here my brother had not died." And even when we have been conscious of His power, we could think only of its exercise in that future day when all will be made right, forgetting that "the Resurrection and the Life" is even now with us, "a very present help in trouble, and fully competent to steal the bitter from life's woes, and send us on our way with a glad and trustful heart here and now. Over and over again we have been assured of His power to make all things ,work out our highest good, to make these things profitable even in the life that now is, and as often been assured that ere long there will be a looking back to praise the way love has led us day' by day. And repeated experiences have surely been ours when the cloud has lifted and the afterward of blessing come, that the Master has said tows as He said to Martha long ago, "Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" "Believest thou this?" Yea, Lord, we do believe, help Thou our unbelief, and graciously hear us as we pray

"O for a faith that will not shrink,
Though pressed by every foe;
That will not tremble on the brink
Of any earthly woe.

"Lord, lead me to a faith like this,
Through trial though it be;
For O! the rest of faith is bliss,
The bliss of rest in Thee:'

Through Faith to Sight

"Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see?" "This was the Lord's tender way of comforting a very sad-hearted disciple, from whom, after weary waiting and disappointment, hope seemed to have fled forever, Four days before, He had said 'This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby;' and these words spoken first beyond Jordan, He had sent as a message of hope, while He Himself still lingered far away. No doubt on coming to Bethany, He had repeated them Himself to her. But the dead body, with corruption already begun, seemed to give them the lie, and as she looked at the grave, her faith staggered under the blow.- Jesus did not argue with her; He just calmly put all her objections aside. She was looking at the difficulties in the way. He never so much as alluded to difficulties. He simply took her in. behind the difficulties, and bade her think of His Almighty Power, and trust Him to the last. 'Said I not unto thee?' Well, I say the same thing still.

"I read these words with deepest joy, not because of what they tell me about Martha, but because of what they tell me of her Master and mine. I see the absolute trustworthiness of my Christ. I see His claim to be trusted; but I see more. I see His right to be trusted to the uttermost; and I see that He is infinitely worthy of that trust. Had Martha only known her Lord sufficiently, no doubt would have troubled her poor heart for a moment. , Before I really know Christ, it is difficult for me to trust Him utterly; but, once known, it is impossible not to trust Him. This is a secret that the great Apostle Paul had well learned, when he said 'I know whom I have believed.' He did not say 'I know that I have trusted Him'; he said 'I know Him on whom my, trust reposes; I know His character to be the infinitely trustworthy one'; and this was a thing that could never need reconsideration. It was a settled matter. 'I know whom I have believed'; not, 'I know one whom I must trust, as soon as necessity arises'; nor, 'I know one whom I 'will trust when things come to the worst'; nor, 'I know one whom I must trust as my last resource, when all others fail' but, 'I know Him to whom I have already surrendered my trust, whom I have trusted once for all, and who will keep me safe forever. I trust Him because I know Him. I know Him to be one who will never go back on His word.' Was it not just to this that Jesus sought to bring the weeping Martha? 'Said L not unto thee? What I have once said I will never unsay.' It seems- to me that, for all the high purposes of faith, it is easier for me to know Christ than to know any one else, or even to know myself, and that for the simple reason, that neither I nor other men are ever two days alike, but He changes not. When I see Christ at all I see what He will always be:. Looking at myself and men is like looking at the ever-changeful sea. Looking at Christ is like looking at, a great mountain-peak, the same in all seasons, the same by night as by day. Mists may cover it for a time, but when they lift, it stands out absolutely as it was before. Knowing Him thus, I must trust Him evermore.

"'Said I not unto thee?' was a rebuke as well as an encouragement. It was like what He said to Philip, 'Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me Philip?' What my Master 'wants from me above all things else is a simple faith in what He has already said to me. There is nothing He takes such loving pains to teach me, but nothing I am so slow to learn, as this absolute and unquestioning faith it, Himself: and to all my difficulties He has but one reply, 'Believe, and thou shalt see.' If He delays- to fulfil some of His words, and I begin to think that He cannot possibly fulfil them now, I will remember that the blessing is delayed, only that it may be a more enriching blessing when it comes.. I think often of my Lord's anticipating love, the love that foresees my need, and provides beforehand for it; but I will think also of His tarrying love, the love that keeps me long in the darkness, and seems to disregard my cry. I know, that if He lays some heavy trial on me, it is because He loves me; for the more precious the jewel, the more cutting it gets from the lapidary's hands. I will believe that if He continues the trial, it is still because He loves me; that if He seems only to heap fresh fuel upon an already scorching fire, it is because He loves me; that if, when I call Him to my Bethany, He lingers among the hills of Gilead, it is because He loves me; and I will believe that at last He will explain it all, 'it was for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.' At the right moment for me, as well as for Him, He will reveal that glory, and turn my sorrow inot joy; for --

"'His wisdom is sublime
His heart is ever kind;
God never is before His time,
And never is behind.'

The Unspeakable Glory of the joys to Come

"Let me learn, also, to deal with my own discouragements as Jesus dealt with Martha's, and put the things which I believe over against the things I see, and so find rest. If any simple-minded Christian were asked the secret of his peace, he would say, 'I just believe what my God tells me, and I am at rest. What I see or feel does not disquiet me, because I set over against it, what, on His authority, I believe. I see enough of sin in me every day to make me cry, 'chief of sinners'; but I believe so fully in the forgiveness of sins, that I know ''to me there is no condemnation.' I see in my outward lot, a thousand things that trouble me; but I believe, notwithstanding, that 'all things work together' for my good. I see sin covering the earth, and Satan appearing to triumph everywhere; but I believe his destruction is as sure to come, as it is that Jehovah reigns. I see the sick bed, and the coffin, and the grave of some dearly loved one whose going from me has, left me desolate; but though I see death, I believe in Life; though I see the tomb, I believe in the resurrection from the tomb; though I see and feel the sundering of sweet earthly bonds, I believe in the cementing of still sweeter heavenly ones. I do not see the blessedness of heaven, the white robes, the palms, the. harps of gold; and yet I am not disheartened because I cannot see them, for I believe so surely that God has promised them, that to me they are as the most real of all real things. I can praise Him for all that He is going to do, as truly as for all He has already done, and say 'Glory to Thee for all the grace I have not tasted yet.' And if, when first in heaven, I should for a moment or two be utterly amazed that such a sinner as I should be a 'partaker of His glory,' I think my tender Lord will just repeat to me His old question, even there: 'Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God?"

The Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

BY BROTHER I. F. HOSKINS

By Way of Egypt

AFTER one has journeyed several hours from Port Said as far as Cairo, he begins to settle down to the conviction that he is now in the real "'land of Egypt." Though it is the middle of summer when we are making this tour, and the extremely dry season for this country, yet along the way there is on either side here and there green fields-green with corn and clover-avenues of tamarisk, fig trees, and acacia. Frequently there is the welcome sound of little rills of living water, worked by waterwheels, and falling in gentle murmurs down into these little. channels along the roadside, whence they fall off into the fields or the canals. The sides of these canals are black with the deep soil of the land of Ham. Beyond is the green again, and close upon that, like the sea breaking upon the shore, or (to compare what is much like it in certain desert portions of America) rise the yellow hills of the hazy desert.

Cairo and Its Environs

At no point on the road from Port Said to Cairo do we get any glimpse of the celebrated Nile. We must wait till we have passed through Cairo before our desires in this regard are realized. We reached this city about .noontime., After a brief period of rest, -- not having any particular program with the Cook Company for the remainder of the day, we walk leisurely about the city through various sections and see and observe what we car without a guide.

The citadel, which stands on a low ridge of rocky hills on the east of the town commands the whole. British soldiers and artillery occupy the barracks and are quite in control of the city. The town isa vast expanse of brown, broken only by occasional interludes of palms. or sycamores, and by the countless minarets. On each side rises shapeless mounds -- those on the east covered with tents, and dimly seen beyond the browner line of the desert; those on the west, the site of old Cairo, the site of the Roman fortress of Babylon and of Fostat, where Amrou first pitched his tent, deserted since the time of Saladin. Beyond is the silver line of the Nile; and then rising in three successive groups above the delicate green plain which sweeps. along nearly to the foot of the African hill, are the pyramids of Abusir, Sakarah, and Gizeh, these last being "The Pyramids," and the nearest. There is something very striking in their total disconnection with Cairo. They stand alone on the edge of that green vale, which is Egypt. There is no intermingling, as in ancient and modern Rome. Cairo is not "the ghost of the, dead Egyptian Empire," nor anything like it. Cairo itself leaves a deep feeling that whatever there was of greatness or wisdom in those remote ages and those gigantic. monuments, is now the inheritance not of the East, but of the West. The Nile, as it glides between the tombs of the Pharaohs and the city of the_. Caliphs, is indeed a boundary between two worlds.

After we have walked about the city the first afternoon, and gazed down many of the narrow and unkempt roadways and streets, after we have looked into and studied the faces of many of the natives, Egyptians and Arabs, and beheld them lying about literally wallowing in the dirt and filth that is almost indescribable in many of these unsightly alleys and avenues, we are impressed with the idea that the degradation of ages has descended upon this generation of people in this city and that Christianity thus far has wrought no civilizing or uplifting effect; and one so frequently has occasion to recall the Master's prayer, "Thy Kingdom come." The people of this city appear to have no ambition whatever, there is no spirit of thrift, no particular aim or object in living; and all of this seemingly because of the dense darkness, superstition and ignorance in which they are enveloped.

The Rich and the Poor

The newer or modern quarters of Cairo situated near the river, are laid out in the fashion of French cities, but the eastern parts of the town, retain almost unimpaired their Oriental aspect, and in scores of narrow tortuous streets and busy bazaars, it is easy to forget that there has been any change from the Cairo of medieval times. As in most cities of the world there are the rich and the poor, so in Cairo. While the dwelling places of the poorer classes are mean and too often dirty, in marked contrast are the houses of the wealthier citizens, built generally in a style of elaborate arabesque, the windows shaded with projecting cornices of graceful woodwork and ornamented with stained glass. A winding passage leads through the ornamental doorway into the court, in the center of which is a fountain shaded with palm trees. The principle apartment is generally paved with marble; in the center a decorated lantern is suspended over a fountain, while round the sides is a richly inlaid cabinet and windows of stained glass.

The River Nile

On the morning of our second day, according to our program, we are accompanied by a guide to a point about eleven miles eastward on the edge of the desert to the Pyramids. For the first time we are gazing upon the River Nile, for immediately on leaving Cairo we cross this river. One is impressed at once with the size of this body of water, which is larger than most any of the rivers of Europe. There appears to be no strong current, only a slow, vast volume of water, peaceful and mild, steadily flowing on between its two almost uniform banks, which rise above it much like the banks of a canal, though in some places with terraces or strips of earth marking the successive stages of the flood. These banks form the horizon on either side, and therefore one can have no notion of the country beyond; but they are varied by a succession of eastern scenes-villages of mud, like ant hills, with human beings creeping about like ants, except in numbers and activity-mostly, however, distinguished by the minaret of a well built mosque or the white oven-like dome of a sheik's tomb; mostly also screened by groves of palms, sometimes intermixed with feathery tamarisks and the thick foliage of the carob-tree or the sycamore. Along the top of the banks move, like scenes in a magic lantern, and as if cut out against the sky, groups of Arabs with their two or three asses, or a camel, as the case may be.

To the Pyramids

Leaving the Nile, the approach to the Pyramids is first a rich green plain and then the desert-that is, they are just at the beginning of the desert, or a ridge, which of itself gives them a lift above the Valley of the Nile. It is impossible not to feel a thrill as one finds himself drawing nearer to the greatest and the most ancient monuments in the ,world, to see them coming out stone by stone into view, and the dark head of the Sphinx peering over the lower sandhills. Yet the usual accounts are correct which represent this nearer sight as not impressive-their size diminishes, and the clearness with which one sees their several stones strips them of their awful or mysterious character. It is not till we are close under the Great Pyramid, and look up at the huge blocks rising above into the sky, that the consciousness is forced upon us that this is the nearest approach to a mountain that the art of man has produced. In fact its great height and massiveness, together with what the passages of the inside teach or portray concerning the Divine Plan of the Ages, more deeply impressed us, than ever before, that this sublime structure is surely of Divine origin.

When we have approached within a quarter of a mile of the Great Pyramid by automobile, we change to another means of conveyance; no sooner are we out of the car till we are comfortably seated upon camels to complete the remainder of the journey. The ride on the camel is not really necessary, as the paved road extends within a few rods of the entrance of the Pyramid; but that we may experience something of the thrill of the Orient and perpetuate the custom of pilgrims for ages past, we are obedient to, our guide and so are borne by the camel within the shadow of this colossal building.

The Great Sphinx

However, before stopping to enter the Pyramid, we pass on by, to nearly the opposite side, and there within. a few rods we are brought face to face with a strange and curious figure known as the Great Sphinx which is literally the figure of a gigantic man-headed lion. This figure presents the lion with outstretched paws in repose; the body is nearly two hundred feet long. The face looks out due ^,eastward from the Pyramid field over the Nile valley, and according to the inscriptions of the Eighteenth Dynasty in the shrine between the paws, it represents the sun-god Harmachis. It is said further that the heads of the sphinxes are royal portraits, and apparently they are intended to represent the power of the reigning Pharaoh. The king as a sphinx, in certain religious scenes makes offerings to deities, and elsewhere he tears his enemies in pieces. And so it is conjectured that the Great Sphinx was sculptured at Gizeh to guard the entrance of the Nile Valley, as well as to keep watch over the royal dead. Support is gained for this latter thought by the fact that within the past year or so, certain excavations made by a prominent American University in close proximity to the great Sphinx and just opposite the Great Pyramid, have uncovered the mummies of certain very ancient kings and rulers of Egypt. Thus the Sphinx situated between the Great Pyramid and these ancient tombs of kings, appears to convey the idea of the image of a huge sentinel as a protector or guardian of the resting place of these ancient rulers of Egypt.

Even now after all that we have seen of colossal statues, there is something stupendous in the sight of that enormous head its vast projecting wig, its great ears, its open eyes, the red color still visible on its cheeks, the immense projection of the whole lower part of its face. Yet what must it have been when on its head there was the royal helmet of Egypt; on its chin the royal beard; when the stone pavement by which men approached the Pyramids ran up between its paws; when immediately under its breast an altar stood from which the smoke went up into the gigantic nostrils of that nose, now vanished from the face, never to be conceived again. All this is known with certainty from the remainder of the body which until recent date lay buried deep under the sand. Another who has visited these historic places has asked: "And for what purpose was this Sphinx of sphinxes called into being-as much greater than all other sphinxes as the Pyramids are greater than all other temples or tombs?" And this observer has submitted the following interesting explanation : "If, as is likely, he lay couched at the entrance of the vast approach to the second, that is the Central Pyramid, so as to form an essential part of this immense group; still more, if as seems possible, there was once intended to be (according to the usual arrangements which never left a solitary sphinx any more than a solitary obelisk) a brother sphinx on the northern side, as this on the southern side of the approach, its situation and significance was worthy of its grandeur. And if, further, the Sphinx was the giant representative of royalty, then it fitly guards the greatest of royal sepulchres; and With its half human, half animal form, is the best welcome and the best farewell to the history and religion of Egypt."

Through the Passages of the Great Pyramid

We return to the front of the Great Pyramid and to its entrance. Here we find that Arab guides are plentiful. The entrance known as the First Ascending Passage being closed at the time of our visit, we make our entrance through what is called the forced hole, which is some distance up from the base of the Pyramid and yet a considerable distance below the regular First Ascending Entrance. We proceed along this rough way horizontally until we come to the juncture entering the Descending Passage, at the point where the First Ascending Passage commences. Then we proceed upward until we reach the juncture of the horizontal passage leading to the Queen's Chamber, the Well, and the Grand Gallery Passage. We continue now upwards in the Grand Gallery quite easily, for there is a wooden platform with railing by which the ascent is easily made; there are also electric lights that give us a clear view of all our surroundings. As indicated in the drawings, with which the reader is generally familiar, the ceiling in this Grand Gallery is high, with the wall on either side curiously constructed, in that the great stones as they point upward overlap one another. Reaching the top of this passage we pass through what is presented in the diagram as the Ante-chamber, stooping very low both at the entrance and at the exit into the King's Chamber on account of what appear to be dropped doors, which partly closes the way, leaving only a low passage of a little more than three feet.

The Kings Chamber

We are now in the large open room with quite a high ceiling; it is called the King's Chamber. We are tarrying here a little season, reflecting upon the significance of the passages by which we have reached this place. Briefly, the Divine Plan of the Ages is traced in our minds, and we are considering again the central features of that purpose as illustrated first of all in the great redemptive work of our blessed Master in becoming the instrumentality in the hands of God in opening up the way of life and making possible the Narrow Way indicated in the Grand Gallery, by which followers of Jesus are called in this Gospel Age to walk in His footsteps and to seek the higher life of glory, honor, and immortality, as indicated at the farther end of this way in the room in which we are now standing, the King's Chamber. Our prayer is that by the grace of God we may so run as to be accounted worthy of our Divine Master to receive at last, His "Well done" and approval whereby we may enter in fact the real King's Chamber of glory and honor immortal.

The Queens Chamber

Looking back over the narrow upward passage to the Grand Gallery through which we reach the King's Chamber, we realize that without the aid of the modern artificial wooden stairway and the electric lights, it would be with much difficulty that we would have made this upward passage, and then only with the aid of a candle in the hand; thus teaching the lesson of the difficulties of the Narrow Way and of how there is darkness all about us and our way is lighted only by the candle light of the Lord's Word in our hand enabling us by faith to continue pressing on, persevering in well doing, and thus finally to reach that plane of glory, honor, and immortality.

We make our descent from the King's Chamber back to the lower point oz the Grand Gallery from which the passage extends horizontally out to what is called the Queen's Chamber. Here again our reflections turn to its significance and we realize that we have come over the symbolic passage that represents a broad, easy Highway of Holiness that will be opened up to all mankind in the coming Age, by which through the same redemptive work of Christ they may in that Age of opportunity find their way back to paradise and human perfection, represented in this room called the Queen's Chamber.

Presently we return to the juncture where the First Ascending Passage leaves the Descending Passage and we make known to our guide that we wish to pursue this Descending Passage to its lower extremity; it is a low passage all the way, apparently not more than three feet in height, and so as we make this descent we are stooping all the way. We pass the point where the well reaches' this Descending Passage, and then but a little distance ahead the descent ceases and we go horizontally a few feet further and are in the room designated the Subterranean Chamber. True to the diagram it is absolutely an unfinished room with nothing at all that could really be called a floor and it does not impart any suggestion whatever of peace or rest. The lesson here also comes home to us as we recall its significance representing the end of the course of sin and waywardness in opposition to the Lord as saith the Apostle, "Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death"; the Subterranean Chamber of the Great Pyramid thus seeming to picture the Second Death.

Climbing the Pyramid

As we once more find ourselves on the outside of this huge building of stone we cast a glance upward with the longing to stand upon its topmost extremity. The sun is extremely hot and it becomes a question of the wisdom of undertaking the task. After a moment or two of reflection, we decide that with the assistance of our guide we will undertake the climb to the top of the Great Pyramid. As we go forward our guide leads over what appears to be rather a beaten track though we are continually climbing over huge stones and the guide is reaching his hand to us and giving us assistance over every step of the way. On account of the extreme heat and because it is very tiresome we are stopping at various intervals. After about onehalf hour we are standing on the top of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh. The very topmost stones of the structure have been removed long ago, and there is a sort of base about thirty feet square of a flattened surface. In these top stones there are thousands of names, in fact all of the stones on top are literally covered with signatures, some of them having been cut long years ago.

From this point there is a grand outlook in every direction as the atmosphere is reasonably clear. The view from the, top of the Great Pyramid has the same vivid contrast of life and death which makes all wide views in Egypt striking -- the desert and the green plain; only here the view over the desert -- the African Desert -- being much more extensive than elsewhere, one gathers in better the notion of the wide heaving ocean of sandy billows which hovers on the edge of the Valley of the Nile. The whole line of the minarets of Cairo is also a peculiar feature-peculiar because it is strange to see a modern Egyptian city which is a grace instead of a deformity to the view. One also sees the strip of desert running into the green plain on the east of the Nile, which marks Heliopolis and Goshen.

The View from the Top

The strangest feature in the view is the platform on which the Pyramids stand. It completely dispels the involuntary notion that one has formed of the solitary abruptness of the Three Pyramids. Not to speak of the groups in the distance, of Abou-Sir, Sakara, and Dashur-the whole platform of this greatest of them all is a maze of pyramids and tombs. Three little ones stand beside the first, three also beside the third. The second and third are each surrounded by traces of square enclosures, and their eastern faces are approached through enormous masses of ruins as if of some great temple while the first is enclosed on three sides by long rows of massive tombs on which we look down from the top as on the flats of a stone-garden. We see in short that it is the most sacred and frequented part of that vast cemetery which extends all along the western ridge for twenty miles behind Memphis.

It is only by going around the whole place in detail that the contrast between its present and its ancient state is disclosed. One is inclined to imagine that the Pyramids are immutable, and that such as we now see them, such they were always. Of distant views this is true, but taking them near at hand it is more easy from the existing ruins to conceive Karnac as it was, than to conceive 'the pyramidal platform as it was. The smooth casing of part of the top of the second pyramid, and the magnificent granite blocks which form the lower stages of the third, serve to show what they must have been all, from top to bottom; the first and second, brilliant white or yellow limestone,' smooth from top to bottom, instead of those rude, disjointed masses which their stripped sides now present; the third, all glowing with the red granite. As it is, they have the barbarous appearance, of that which is unfinished or that has been sadly mutilated. But in their original state they must have shone with the polish of an age already rich with civilization, and that the more remarkable when it is remembered that these granite blocks which furnished the outside of the third and inside of the first, must have come all the way from what is known as the First Cataract. It also seems from Herodotus and others, that these smooth outsides were covered with sculptures. Then we must build up or uncover the massive tombs, now broken or choked with sand, so as to restore the aspect of vast streets of tombs, like those on the Appian Way, out of which the Great Pyramid would rise like a cathedral above smaller churches. Lastly, we must enclose the two other pyramids with stone precincts and gigantic gateways, and above all we must restore the Sphinx, as he was in the days of his glory.

Our visit to the Great Pyramid is concluded. It has been a most interesting experience; for as we have stood by this gigantic building and realized that more than four thousand years were looking down upon us, as we have gone through its various passages which suggest the outline of the Divine Plan of the Ages, and from its topmost extremity viewed the earth for miles around, we are impressed that this vast structure has very probably been brought together under Divine supervision, and we feel that our pilgrimage to this place has been well repaid.

The Mosques and the Museum

The remainder of our time in Cairo we spend visiting the principle mosque and museum. The walls of the citadel contain five mosques, the most interesting of which is one constructed of Oriental alabaster (based on the model of the mosques at Constantinople) founded by the same pasha on the site of "Joseph's Hall," so named after the prenomen of Saladin. The dome and the two slender minarets of this mosque form one of the most picturesque features of Cairo, and are visible from a great distance. In the center is a well called Joseph's Well, sunk in solid rock to the level of the Nile. As we go about these mosques we observe various of the worshipers kneeling here and there and bending over so that their faces touch the floor while they recite over and over one selection or another from the Koran. Again we realize that it is an occasion for thanksgiving' as we are permitted to look forward to the future to the great redemption when the millions now engaged in this form of idol worship and engrossed in superstition will be liberated and be permitted to see the light of the glory of God as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ.

The museum which we visited containing Egyptian antiquities is quite modern and was erected at a cost of over a million dollars. It is entirely devoted to antiquities of Pharaonic times; it is said to contain the most valuable selection in existence except in historical papyri, in which it is excelled by the British Museum. A large section of this museum is devoted to the collection of antiquities that were taken from the tomb of one Tutankhamun discovered some few years ago southward in Egypt near the City of Luxor.' Here we view the sarcophagus that contained the mummy of this ancient king. Many of the pieces of furniture here on display are either solid gold or heavily overlaid with this metal. The number of articles, furniture, chariots, etc., contained in the tomb of this Pharaoh, who is said to have reigned between the days of Joseph and the days of Moses, is almost incredible.

The time allotted for our sojourn in Egypt is now past. Many other places might profitably be visited, such as Heliopolis, Goshen, Memphis, Thebes, Luxor, etc., possessing the ruins of man's handiwork ages ago and rich with ancient lore; but we will be content with a glance which gives us at least a strong hint of the character of this section of the earth and its inhabitants, which has furnished such an important background in the history of God's ancient people. Palestine is now our objective which will be reported next in order.

"A MIRACLE IN STONE"

"Gazing, rapt, awed, upon that mighty pile,
The mind is filled with wonder, and we ask,
Is it a tomb or teacher:' Whence its style?
What men, what age conceived, achieved the task?
Wonder of wonders in this land of Nile,
Of what great thought is it the type and mask?

"Its chambers, passages, mysterious Coffer,
Its layers, angles, measurements, and stone,
All, each, to unsealed eyes of men now offer
Solutions (for four thousand years unknown)
Of truths which stand against the doubting scoffer,
The clearer from their test, as fully shown.

"How, in its presence, modern pride is bowed!
Its hoary wisdom whispering from the dead,
Sublime, mysterious, awful, with the shroud
Of forty centuries wrapped around its head!
We Batch "its muffled tones, now low, now loud,
And hear with wonder nigh akin to dread."

Encoraging Messages

Dear Brethren,

I read with heartfelt appreciation thee third, paragraph of Brother Hoskins' contribution in the October 1st "Herald," dealing with the absence of uncertain and unsound teaching, speculative ideas and notions on types, parables, and symbols. I wish that the danger to the present stage, of the Church in spending energies in speculations over types, symbols, and dates might be more clearly set before the brethren, some of whom are more concerned over who constitute the Great Company than over the duty of making our calling and election sure.

I recently received a visit from a brother who expressed a desire to visit our local Class. I was glad to welcome him, and then he opened up his reason for desiring to meet; with us: to tell us who constituted the Great Company,_, when they had been definitely set apart, the reason being that they had not properly kept the Law Covenant; and much more in the same line. I told him positively that the Class would not allow him to talk along such lines; that they were only interested in "adding to their faith: virtue," etc., with a view to developing, the character-likeness so. far as possible,. of the great Example. I still gave him a cordial invitation to meet with us, but could give him no encouragement that he would be permitted to take up any of our time with speculative theories. He failed to take advantage of the invitation, to meet with us, although he had been very anxious at the start, so I am forced to the thought that his interpretations were of more importance to him than fellowship with the brethren.

While in the past I have been a keen student of the Chronology, Tabernacle Shadows, the Pyramid, and Ezekiel's Temple, I am thoroughly convinced that character-development and the study and practice of the fruits of, the Spirit, are of paramount importance today. Paul's exhortation along this line in Hebrews, 5:12-14; 6:1, 2, should engage our serious consideration today, when our "final examinations" in, the school of Christ are so near at hand . . .

Your brother and fellow-servant, F. M. R.-Colo.

Dear Brethren:

It is with great joy. I enclose my subscription for the "Herald," which the dear Lord has provided. It is the first time I have sent it in as other dear sisters have been providing me with it for the past, two and a half years; but I have always felt I wanted to purchase it myself, and the dear Lord has opened the way.

I need not tell you, dear friends, the great help and uplifting; I have received through the "Herald." . Surely our dear Lord is providing the meat in due season to strengthen the household of faith: I am only in the infant class, yet,., but it. is wonderful how we can grow day by day. My most earnest prayer is that I may grow more each day like my loving Lord, in love, in meekness in tenderness, and learn to say, like He did, it is my delight to do Thy will oh my God; let Thy law be written in my heart. In my home I am seeking to be a witness, as I feel He has called me to be. I pass on your helpful messages to another dear sister who has been called of God to "come out from^- among them." Our hearts and prayers ascend up to the Father for the loving service of our dear ones across the water.

Yours in the, Lord,, E. C -Eng.

Beloved Brethren in Christ:

My heart is lifted up 'to God in praise and thanks for your labor' of love in the precious message of Truth that comes to us through the pages of the "Herald," for the sweet admonitions, and heart-searching articles that quicken our slumbering sensibilities to the duties of the hour, and lift us above the sordid things of earth that, surround us and drag us down to unprofitable thoughts. How cleansing and chastening are the precious thoughts that are fed to us from the bounty of ourdear Lord's table through your efforts, and how we bow before Him in adoration for^-His love in giving us your help. I have just read the article, "Guarding the Heavenly Treasures," and how feeble I am to express to you how it entered the secret depths of my_, being as a purifying power, and a greater quickening of my spirit to do and be what is my Lord's will. How I recognize the dangers that so surely surround my path, how as you say, neglect to give heed is a passive sin. How well you have looked into the very depths of the subtle temptations which be set our path, and still we are not alone, if we but call upon our Lord for grace to help, as we strive to walk in the narrow way.

May our dear Lord bless your every effort to hold us up in this our dying hour. We can all see that "fast falls the eventide; 'the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide." How different the last crucial trials come, to what we once thought. We are left to continue the way, if we so desire, or to grow weary and stand, or turn back. The powers of darkness assail us in many ways. We are gradually, pleasingly led back into the world, or we fight our way through to the end, and are saved by His grace, which helped in our every hour of need. May each one "give more earnest heed to the things which we have learned, lest at any time we should let them slip." God bless you, is my prayer. Christian love;

E. A. M. - Okla.

Convention in Portland, Oregon

January 1, 2, 3

Advice has just come to us of a three-day convention to be held in Portland, Ore.; over the New Year -- Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, January 1, 2, and 3, 1932. No time of the year could be more appropriate for "coming apart" for praise and thanksgiving to the Lord and for spiritual refreshment than the beginning of the year, when the hearts of all true followers of the Lord are especially raised to Him in gratitude for mercies past, and in the attitude of rededication, invoking Him for grace to go forward another year. We take pleasure in making announcement of this gathering in Portland, and it is our hope that many of the brethren in the Northwest may take advantage of this opportunity of assembling in holy convocation, and share in the blessings promised to those who meet in the name and Spirit of the Lord. A warm welcome is assured to all believers in the ransom, and all who love our Lord.

Details of the program have not reached us, but we are confident that every effort will be made to make the best possible arrangements for this gathering. All sessions will be held in^- W. 0. W. Temple, 128 Eleventh Street. For further information address the Class Secretary, Mr., E. E. Morehead, 4326-73rd Street, S. E., Portland, Ore.

1931 Index

SEVENTEEN YEARS AFTER

"THE COMING WAR"

"FACING THE FACTS--THE, NEW MOOD"

Job's Experience Prefigurative

Duty and Privilege of the Saints

The Saints Should "Lay Up Treasure in Heaven"

The Creation "Waiting for the Manifestation of The Sons of God"

"Stand Still and See the Salvation of Our God"

Not Ceremonial but Moral Law

Law Written in the Heart

Neither Jew nor Gentile just before God

Shall have Sinned

Shall also Perish

The Lord will make Manifest the Counsels of the Hearts

Our Itinerary

Through the Air to Paris

Through the Mediterranean

In the Land of Egypt

As it is amongst the Arabs

Egypt as the Background of Israel's History

As the Holy Land to Israel

Egypt Prelude to Palestine

My Father and Your Father

A True Vision Molds Character

Imitators of God as dear Children

Blessed are They Who Hunger

Holiness puts Us in Accord with God

Ye are My Witnesses

Our Lord became Spiritually Minded at Jordan

No Natural Man is Spiritually Minded

The Life not the Words, a True Index

The Secret, of all Power

Silent Influence of a Consistent Christian Life

A Very Present Help is He

My Peace I Give Unto You

Through Faith to Sight

The Unspeakable Glory of the joys to Come

The Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

By Way of Egypt

Cairo and Its Environs

The Rich and the Poor

The River Nile

To the Pyramids

The Great Sphinx

Through the Passages of the Great Pyramid

The Kings Chamber

The Queens Chamber

Climbing the Pyramid

The View from the Top

The Mosques and the Museum

"FACING THE FACTS--THE^, NEW MOOD"