■

SIGNS TIMES
Is
Modern Life
a

Mockery?
•

It is,
Without
Jesus
•
MARION A. BOURDEAU

OARING subways, rocketing planes, traffic jams, blaring radios, and

haunting mystery plays are all a part of the haze and maze in which we modems
live, and which we call life. It moves us, it sways us. It drives us, it kills us.
We are carried on and on—where? What lies beyond to-morrow?
Life is a dizzy kaleidoscope, ever changing, unreal, never the same. Go to
the city and watch. On your right a jeweled society sophisticate alights from
a flashy car and parades into a fashion shop. On your left, crouched in a de-
serted doorway, a distorted shivering cripple holds out a few pencils in his
filthy misshapen hat.
The rich strut. The poor cower in shame. The mass endlessly moves and
seethes in its restless search for pleasure, for self-satisfaction, and relief from
its pains and burdens. No one is content. The suffering want relief, the weak
want strength, the strong want thrills. The poor want riches, the rich want
distinction. The distinguished want simplicity and freedom from care.
Wherever you turn, you'll see the maddening futility of life. Man has built
towers that reach into the heavens. He has drilled into the bowels of the earth.
He has conquered the seas, on the surface and in the depths. He has tamed
rivers and harnessed electricity. He has visited the poles of the earth, has
circled the globe by air. He has trained nature to produce the kinds of fruits
The business
man of to-day
and vegetables he desires. Through his telescope he has studied and measured
must struggle the stars. .In short, he has conquered the earth and its atmosphere, and has
with all the attained to a knowledge of the heavens—and still he is unsatisfied. Still he
pressure and is unhappy, seeking that which he has not.
complexity of
modern life.
Back of this dilemma of life lies a fundamental reason, a cause. Man, in
his self-made luxury, his ingenuity, and his inventive triumphs, in his never-
VOL. 59, NO. 28 JULY 19, 1932
ending quest for new discoveries, new
thrills, and super-knowledge, has turned his
back on the Source of life and wisdom, on
the Creator and Maker of all things—his
God. Religion holds no appeal for him.
Profit and pleasure are the gods he worships.
Wealth and happiness are the highest ideals
for which he strives.
Blinded by glittering gold and the fiery
comets of human achievement, and deafened
by the din and roar of past successes, man
has forgotten to give glory to his God, to
the Creator of the world that has been con-
quered, to the Maker of the brain which has
conceived and planned this conquest. The
very magnitude of the tiny bit of God's wis-
dom and power he has discovered blinds him
into believing that because he discovered it
he has attained a superhuman intellect which
makes God unnecessary, superfluous.
A WORLD WITHOUT GOD
While man has not reverted to heathen-
ism, his daily life shows that his Lord plays
no part in his existence; that he makes his
decisions, his plans, without the divine aid,
which he might have for the asking.
The average man gets up in the morning,
distraught by the thought of his credit ac-
counts and unpaid bills. His hoped-for pro-
motion and raise in salary didn't materialize,
and now he is beginning to fear he will lose
his present position. As he washes down his
breakfast with strong coffee, he gives the
morning paper a sidewise reading. In it he
reads of murders the night before, of acci-
dents, of the increasing number of unem-
ployed in his city, and of prospects of lower
wages throughout the land.
In order to forget these things, which but
add to his general misery, he loses himself
for a few minutes in the serial story the
paper is carrying, which paints a thin veneer
of glamour over the wretched realities of
life. As he finishes the last line of the day's
installment, he is plunged anew into the
sharp realities of life, into the naked facts
which he has but momentarily laid aside.
TRYING TO FORGET
The principle of trying to forget trouble
instead of trying to solve it guides him
throughout the day. At the office he shoves
his troubles and worries into the background
by concentrating on his work. If he cannot
do this, he amuses himself with a lethargy
of daydreams. After work he loses himself
for a few hours in a nerve-racking talkie or
vaudeville show.
To sit at home all evening, alone with his
thoughts, alone with the oppressing facts of
life, would be unbearable; so he leaves his
wife and children and goes to attend the
celebrated "business meeting" which is in
reality of ten a poker game that leaves him
in debt because he was a good sport and
wouldn't quit. A whole day has passed with-
out a thought of religion or of God.
As he tries to rest for the grind of to-
morrow, his mind is a jumble of business
transactions, daydreams, jazz orchestras, the
roar of the subway, dancing chorus girls,
movie plots, bad hands of poker, and unpaid
bills. The picture of a horrible automobile
Vol. 5 9
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Page Two
wreck he saw during the day continually
haunts him—reminds him that his own
death may be only a few hours off.
THE GRIND THAT KILL'S
His head aches, and he cannot relax
enough to allow sleep, so he takes a little
"dope" to deaden the pain. In a few hours
he is up again, drinking strong coffee, read-
ing the news, and digesting the next install-
ment of the serial story—getting set for
another torturous day of life.
This is the life of the modern man—with-
out God. This is the grind, the rut, that
The Inflexible Christ
"He [Jesus] steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem."
Luke 9:51.
LLEWELLYN A. WILCOX
0 GENTLE that a "bruised reed" He would
S "not break;" so meek that "when He was
reviled, [He] reviled not again;" so easily ap-
pealed to that the needs of those about Him
robbed Him of rest and food and money, yet He
will not be swayed, nor swerved, nor deterred
from His purpose to go to Jerusalem. And why
is He going to Jerusalem? To be crowned with
thorns. To be exalted—on the cross. Well He
knows it; but for this He came. And neither the
entreaties of His friends nor the shrinkage of
His own human heart from the ordeal can stay
Him. Until the last moment He will be healing,
comforting, helping, turning not away one in
need; but He has a goal, and when His hour is
come, nothing shall be allowed to block His
march on the path to martyrdom.
"He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusa-
lem." Many a conqueror, fired with ambition,
has steadfastly "set his face" toward aggran-
dizement, popularity, fortune, and applause.
But Jesus reversed all that. With a determina-
tion unequaled, He bent uncompromising steps
toward the death of a malefactor.
In Galilee the Great Healer who fed five
thousand might have been king. In Transjor-
dania He might at least have been safe. In
Samaria they would "not receive Him, because
His face was as though He would go to Jerusa-
lem." Unfalteringly, unflinchingly, He looked
death in the face,—for you and me,—and went
on. It was not the rash courage of the moment,
but the calm, premeditated courage of a life-
time and of a preexistence in the shadow of the
cross.
And it was the spirit of the Christ that con-
trolled Paul (Acts 20:22-24) ,—the spirit of that
host of holy heroes from times apostolic to the
present hour who in the calmness of an un-
shrinking faith have seen the inevitable end of
SIGNS of the TIMES, JULY 19, 1932
millions are in. They leave nothing in the
world to make it better. They see nothing
in the future. They live only in the pres-
ent, striving to make it pleasurable by in-
dulgence, intoxication, and passion. Their
only and greatest anticipation is death, re-
lief from pain—a "burying" of themselves
from the realities by which they find them-
selves surrounded. This is the 1932 exist-
ence that is being lived by mankind to-day.
It is the life that you and I are living.
How different would all this be if we
would let Jesus come into our lives—if we
(Continued on page 14)
their confession, but have not turned back. It
must be the spirit of every follower of the
Lamb. We have been promised persecutors. We
have been assured of the world's hatred. The
Spirit witnesses to us as to Paul that bonds and
afflictions await us. In the path of every Chris-
tian lies an ultimate Calvary. To it, in the Mas-
ter's strength, let us go on, 'unswayed and un-
dismayed. "The Lord God will'help me; there-
fore shall I not be confounded: therefore have
I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall
not be ashamed !" Isaiah 50:7.
COMPROMISE OR LOYALTY?
There is another path—of compromise and
ease. There are siren voices to lure us back.
There are beckoning hands to entice us from the
way. The glamour of popularity and the blan-
dishments of comfort, and the smoke screen of
doubt, and the fog of caution, and the induce-
ments of gain, and the appeal of friends would
woo or warn us to turn back. But let no moons
that shine with borrowed light; let no meteors
that dazzle but never guide, turn us from our
adamantine purpose of following the Star. "I
have set the Lord always before me: because
He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved."
Psalm 16:8.
That is the secret of keeping steady in a world
of uncertainty and failure. "He steadfastly set
His face to go to Jerusalem." And have you
done likewise, to reach another Jerusalem, not
of death, but of eternal life? He steadfastly set
His face—to die for you. Oh, will you not, with
a heart that is broken by such love, set your
face, unswervingly, come what may, to live for
Him? Because for you He was faithful unto
death, He wore a crown of thorns. For Him,
be "faithful unto death," and He will give you
a crown of life.
N o. 28
SIGNS of the TIMES
Is BAPTISM Necessary to SALVATION?
lvErr after the lapse of many years I
-I can still see the form of my infant
I brother struggling for breath. He
was only eight days old, and the doctor had
just told us that he would perhaps pass away
within the next hour. He was to have been
baptized the following Sunday, but it was
now forever too late. Although I was very
young, I felt that my heart would break, not
because the little one had to die, but because
the minister had said that whoever is not
baptized is eternally lost.
With tear-dimmed eyes I looked toward
the starlit sky, hoping that the loving heav-
enly Father, of whom my mother so often
had spoken, would have mercy on the little
one. Could the same Jesus who said, "Suffer
little children, and forbid them not to come
unto Me : for of such is the kingdom of
heaven" (Matthew 19 : 14) permit my
brother, who had never sinned, to suffer
eternal condemnation?
Not until many years later was this im-
portant question made clear to me. I firmly
believed that what the minister had said
must be the voice of God, until I finally read
the Bible to ascertain the truth. Such texts
as Ezekiel 18:20 helped me better to under-
stand the wisdom and justice of God. "The
soul that sinneth, it shall die," His word
says. "The son shall not bear the iniquity
of the father, neither shall the father bear
the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of
the righteous shall be upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."
From my earliest childhood I was taught
that I was a member of Christ, a child of
God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of
heaven, through the sprinkling I received
-when I was eight days old.
BAPTISM FOR REPENTANCE
Wesley says: "If infants are guilty of
original sin, then they are proper subjects
of baptism; seeing, in the ordinary way,
they cannot be saved, unless this be washed
.away by baptism. . . . It is certain by God's
word that children who are baptized, dying
before they commit actual sin, are saved."—
"Christian Baptism," page 75. But however
great a man may be, and whatever statement
he may make, we do well to compare his
assertion with the Scriptures, because the
path of safety lies in keeping strictly to the
inspired word of God.
In regard to baptism, we need not be in
darkness, for there are several examples
; given in the New Testament of the mode of
.for JULY 19, 1932
Or is it merely a rite of
the church that may be
dispensed with at the
Christian's option?
GUSTAV AHL
baptism. When the ministry of John the
Baptist began, as recorded in Matthew 3:2,
a voice was heard in the wilderness, a voice
startling and stern, yet full of hope: "Re-
pent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand." John proclaimed the coming of the
Messiah, and called the people to repent-
ance. All classes of people flocked to him,—
rabbis, soldiers, publicans, and peasants ;
and those that turned from their evil ways
and repented were baptized, in order that
they might participate in the kingdom he
announced. "I indeed baptize you with
water unto repentance," said John, "but He
that cometh after me is mightier than I,
whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : He
shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and
with fire." Matthew 3:11.
WHY WAS JESUS BAPTIZED?
When Christ was about to enter upon His
mission for the dying world, He directed His
steps toward the river Jordan where his
cousin, John the Baptist, was preaching and
baptizing. As Jesus requested baptism, John
exclaimed, "I have need to be baptized of
Thee, and comest Thou to me?" Firmly and
gently, Jesus replied, "Suffer it to be so now :
for thus it becometh us to fulfill all right-
eousness." Matthew 3:14, 15. As John
yielded to the request of Jesus, they together
walked into the waters of the Jordan ; the
Son of God was buried beneath the flowing
tide, and as He arose out of the water, the
heavens opened, and there came a voice,
saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased." Verse 17.
Not as a confession of guilt or on His own
behalf did Jesus receive baptism; and there
could be nothing appropriate in this purpose
in His being baptized for Himself ; for He
had no sin to confess, and needed no repent-
ance. But inasmuch as the Lord "laid upon
Him the iniquity of us all," it seemed fitting
that He should be baptized, even as sinful
men must be, as an example for us to fol-
low. "He bare our sins," and He lived and
suffered as our substitute. (1 Peter 2 :21-
24 ; 2 Corinthians 5:21.)
If it was necessary for Christ, who in
Himself had no sin, to fulfill all righteous-
ness, how much more should our carnal,
sinful nature cry out for redemption and
cleansing through baptism that we may walk
in the newness of life? "0 wretched man
that I am! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?" Romans 7:24. When
all human help fails to remove the deep-
rooted sinful habits, then Jesus says, "Go,
wash and be cleansed. Let the world know
that you believe in My death and resurrec-
tion. You, too, go down into death; let the
baptismal waters submerge your body and
forever bury the old nature."
As Jesus went about in the land of Judea
with His disciples teaching and healing the
people from all manner of disease, He
taught that believers should be baptized.
"After these things came Jesus and His dis-
ciples into the land of Judea; and there He
tarried with them, and baptized." "Jesus
made and baptized more disciples than
John." John 3:22 4:1. And when He had
finished His mission on this earth, He gave
to His disciples the commission to "teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost." Matthew 28:19. "He that believ-
eth and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damned." Mark
16:16.
.TO RENOUNCE THE WORLD
The ordinance of baptism is the sign of
entrance into the Lord's kingdom. It is a
condition, to which all must comply who
wish to be acknowledged as under the au-
thority of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Baptism is a most solemn renuncia-
tion of the world, a renunciation which de-
clares that we have forsakdn the service of
Satan and have become members of the
royal family. As we are buried with Jesus
in baptism and are raised out of the watery
grave, we commemorate His resurrection
and begin to walk "in newness of life."
Ephesians 6:4. Such was the experience of
the Ethiopian eunuch whom Philip met on
the road to Gaza. After the eunuch had been
instructed in the way of life, he asked, "See,
here is water; what doth hinder me to be
(Continued on page 9)
Page T4ree
 This old-time Finnish bark, off the coast of Denmark, is one of the few remaining links with an age that is past. We now live in the
era of the machine. The change was predicted in the Bible centuries ago.
1. Within modern times an entire
change has come over the world with
regard to our methods of travel and
our means of communication. Did the
Bible give any indication that such a
change would come?
Yes; it clearly foretold just such a state
of affairs. The angel told the prophet Dan-
iel that at "the time of the end" the pro-
phetic parts of the Bible would be better
understood, because "many shall run to and
fro, and knowledge shall be increased."
Daniel 12 :4.
2. How long ago was this written?
About twenty-five hundred years ago.
Even if we concede all that the "critics"
wish regarding the supposedly late date of
the book of Daniel, we know that it was
translated into Greek long ago before the
Christian era. So on any basis we have here
a wonderfully precise and concrete predic-
tion which has been fulfilled only in our day,
and which even up to two hundred years ago
was no more in prospect of being fulfilled
than had been the case two thousand years
ago.
3. How does this refer to anything
going on in our time?
Modern mechanical inventions and scien-
tific discoveries are resulting chiefly in mak-
ing it easier to travel from place to place
more quickly, and to communicate more
Page Four
Is Christianity the foe of prog-
ress? Is religion at enmity with
modern science?
V ern times as never before, in spite of the
GEORGE McCREADY
PRICE
readily when people do not actually travel.
Most of our outstanding inventions have
been of a nature to promote this ease of
travel and of communication between dis-
tant parts of the earth. Time and distance
have been largely abolished. In these mod-
em conditions we surely have a strikingly
literal fulfillment of this prediction.
4. How is it also true that "knowl-
edge" has been "increased"?
This may refer to knowledge of the truths
of revealed religion, or to knowledge of
truths recoverable from nature by means of
scientific discovery. It must refer to an in-
crease of true knowledge, not to an increase
of "science falsely so-called." But in what-
ever light we may look at this prophecy, we
must own that its prediction has been most
strikingly fulfilled. A knowledge of the pro-
found truths of religion has been greatly
enlarged; and again this knowledge has be-
come far more widespread, as is witnessed
by the enormous expansion of missions in
recent years. Also a real understanding of
the laws of nature has been attained in mod-
many false theories which have arisen to
confuse the real lessons from these dis-
coveries.
5. Have not these discoveries and
inventions come about rather as the
result of man's racial development,
his upward evolution?
Certainly not. If they had been the result
of a natural evolution, they ought to have
come about somewhat gradually during the
preceding thousands of years, and not be all
crowded into the last century or so of human
history, after the collapse of so many prom-
ising civilizations.
That it has been no gradual development
is witnessed by the following:
"It may be doubted whether there existed
in the world in the year 1800 a postal service
that would compare in speed and efficiency
with the express service of the Romans in the
time of Cmsar far less was there a telegraph
service that could compare with that of the
ancient Persians. Nor was there a ship sail-
ing the seas that a Phoenician trireme might
not have overhauled."—H. S. Williams, En-
cyclopedia Britannica, vol. 6, p. 406; 11th ed.
SIGNS of the TIMES
 6. Who is considered the very great-
est of all the men of science?
Undoubtedly Sir Isaac Newton (1642-
1727), who formulated the laws of motion,
discovered the law of inverse squares, and
invented the fluxional calculus. "Any one of
the three (if it could have been produced
alone) would have made his name immor-
tal; the fact that we owe all three to one
person places him upon a pinnacle of great-
ness which has not been approached by any
other man of science."—"The Development
of the Sciences," edited by L. L. Woodruff.
Yale University Press, 1923.
7. Newton was a very religious
man, and wrote a good deal about the
prophecies of Daniel. What did he
have to say about this prediction that
in "the time of the end" many would
run to and fro, and knowledge would
be increased?
He realized that this prophecy was still
future in his day; but on the basis of its
literal meaning he expressed his confidence
that some day in the future the methods of
travel would be greatly speeded up; and he
said he had no doubt that at some time
people might actually be traveling fifty
miles an hour.
8. Was not this considered a very
risky interpretation for him to make?
Yes; and it nearly spoiled his reputation
among certain classes. Voltaire (1694-
1778), who wrote a half century later than
Newton, was very fond of quoting Newton's
discoveries in science as if they were against
the Bible; but he did not like Newton's re-
ligion. In his sneering way he referred to
this expectation of Newton, that men would
some day be rushing about at the dreadful
rate of fifty miles an hour, and claimed this
as proof of how the study of the prophecies
of the Bible had led even the "prince of phi-
(Above) The glittering of the electric lights on the thoroughfares of any metropolis forms a striking
contrast to the candles and gas lamps of a generation ago. (Right) In ways of warfare mankind has
made much progress,—witness this new Curtiss "A-8" attack plane, said to have a speed of two hun-
dred miles an hour, and mounting six machine guns.
for JULY 19, 1932
losophers" to make a fool of himself. In our
day it is easy for us to see which was the
fool—the believer or the unbeliever.
9. What was Newton's attitude to-
ward his own great discoveries?
He repeatedly declared that his scientific
discoveries had been made in answer to
prayer.
10. What did Lord Kelvin say along
the same line?
He said: "I consider the most valuable
discovery of my life was made when I dis-
covered that Jesus Christ was my Saviour.
He has been my constant friend and helper
in my life work; and every discovery I have
made that has contributed to the benefit of
man has been given me in answer to prayer."
11. What did Sir John Herschel, the
astronomer, say in this connection?
He said: "All human discoveries seem to
be made only for the purpose of affirming
more and more strongly the truths contained
in the Sacred Scriptures."
12. What did Sir Francis Bacon, who
might almost be called the founder
of the inductive method in natural
science, say concerning science and
religion?
Said Bacon: "This I dare affirm in the
knowledge of nature, that a little natural
philosophy, and the first entrance into it,
doth dispose the opinion to atheism; but on
the other side, such natural philosophy, and
wading deep into it, will bring about men's
minds to religion."
13. What was the testimony of
Clerk Maxwell, the accomplished
mathematician and physicist?
Said he: "I have looked into most philo-
sophical systems, and I have seen that none
will work without a God."
14. What did Louis Agassiz (1807-
1873) say about a scientist's need of
religion?
He said that we sometimes hear of people
who are without God and without hope in
the world, but that a man of science in this
condition is much more in need of pity than
are other men.
15. What has Lord Rayleigh, dis-
coverer of argon and one of the presi-
dents of the Royal Society, said re-
garding the relation between science
and religion?
He has declared, "In my opinion, true
science and true religion neither are nor
could be opposed."
16. Joseph Lister ( 1827-1912 ) , who
was also a president of the Royal So-
ciety as well as of the British Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science,
was created "Lord Lister" because of
his discovery of antiseptic methods in
surgery. What did he have to say?
He declared: "I am a believer in the fun-
damental doctrines of Christianity."
17. What other illustrious men of
science always wished to be known as
Christians?
Sir George Stokes; Sir Michael Foster,
the eminent physiologist; Sir William Hug-
gins (1824-1910), who has been termed "the
father of modern astrophysics;" Lord Ave-
bury; Sir William Ramsay, the chemical
adviser of the British Government during
the war; Professors Balfour Stewart and
P. G. Tait; Prof. A. H. Sayce, who has *re-
cently been elected an honorary Fellow of
the Royal Academy; Sir Joseph Prestwich,
Boyd Dawkins, and Sir J. W. Dawson, three
eminent geologists, and the latter for long
the president of McGill University, Mon-
treal; Sir James Y. Simpson, the discoverer
of chloroform, one of whose last utterances
was, "I have unshaken confidence in Jesus
only." Very many others, both from Amer-
ica and from abroad, might be mentioned.
18. What was the experience of
G. J. Romanes?
George John Romanes (1848-1894) had
been religiously brought up; but with the
coming of Darwinism he lost his faith in
Christianity, and for many years wrote
books against the Christian religion. He be-
came a professor in Oxford University, and
founded the lectureship there which goes
under his name. Then, with a candid re-
examination of Christianity, he returned to
the faith of his childhood, and wrote the
following touching lines before his early and
lamented death:
"I ask not for Thy love, nor e'en so much
As for a hope on Thy dear breast to lie;
But be Thou still my Shepherd—still with such
Compassion as may melt to such a cry,
That so I hear Thy feet and feel Thy touch
And dimly see Thy face ere yet I die."
Page Five

The "SIGNS"
QUESTION
CORNER
If you have a question on some subject apropos to the field of the
"SIGNS OF THE TIMES," write preferably direct to Dr. Wirth.
Anonymous questions will not be answered.
THE SEVENTH OF ROMANS
W. F. Schwartz of Canada asks an expla-
nation of Romans chapter seven.
Although Bible students differ as to
whether Paul, in Romans 7, is speaking of
the unregenerate or the regenerate man, an
understanding of the context of this section
of Romans seems to indicate most clearly
that the latter is in the Bible writer's mind.
In a word, this chapter tells of the Christian
who has a theoretical Christ of external legal
performance, in contrast with the Christian
who has the indwelling, experimental Christ.
By his illustration of verses 1 to 6, Paul
shows that when we accept the Lord as our
Saviour, our old body, the fleshly nature of
sin, dies. This opens the way for us to "be
joined" to the Redeemer for righteousness.
This blessed union with Christ "results in
intense sensitiveness to sin," as Meade Mac-
Guire well says in his "Life of Victory," page
85. This "sensitiveness" Paul graphically
portrays in verses 7 to 24.
Quoting MacGuire further: "We see our
own hearts, deceitful and desperately
wicked, we long for complete deliverance
and victory, and with sincere resolutions and
firm determination we begin to struggle to
attain it. Again and again our fight seems
to end in ignominious failure and defeat,
until in despair we cry, '0 wretched man
that I am! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?' "—Id. , page 86. Like
the sudden shining forth of he glorious rays
of the sun after it has been in hiding behind
dark clouds, Paul then breaks forth into the
realization of the Christian's full victory
through His only Saviour; and in the next
verse, the 25th, he exultingly exclaims: "I
thank God ["I shall be delivered," under-
stood] through Jesus Christ our Lord." And
in the 8th chapter he tells of the complete
deliverance through the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit in Christ.
"SHALL RUN TO AND FRO"
A reader in California asks if the expres-
sion "run to and fro" in Daniel 12:4 is a
literal running to and fro on the earth or is
it merely, as some suggest, a turning to and
fro of the leaves of the Bible in careful
study.
The words "run to and fro" come from
the Hebrew verbal form shoot, which means
to go or rove about physically. In Daniel
12 :4 shoot appears in the Polel form, and
means to go eagerly, quickly, to and fro
physically. I say physically because in all
the instances in the Hebrew of the Old Tes-
tament where shoot appears in its various
forms, every time the idea is that of a physi-
cal going to and fro. This is shown easily in
such references as 2 Chronicles 16:9; Job
1:7; 2 :2; Jeremiah 5:1; Amos 8:12 ; and
Zechariah 4:10.
Page Six
Conducted by
WILLIAM G. WIRTH
5447 El Verano Avenue,
Eagle Rock, California
Gesenius, in his Hebrew Lexicon, does say
on shoot in Daniel 12:4 this: "metaph. to
run through a book, i. e., to examine thor-
oughly." It is difficult to see on what he
bases his judgment. If metaphorically shoot
in Daniel 12:4 does carry this meaning at
all, it could only be, as Dr. Charles well ob-
serves, a superficial reading of the book, for
shoot does not carry the meaning of an ear-
nest study of the book.
From all this, our position that it refers
to the rapid means of travel and communi-
cation of the last days is quite well taken
and defensible so far as the Hebrew is con-
cerned.
DIET
From California comes the question
whether it is a sin to eat meat, and whether
Christ ate meat.
It is plain from Genesis 1:29 that man in
the beginning subsisted on a nonmeat diet.
Anatomists tell us that in our bodily struc-
ture we resemble the higher mammals,
which, for the most part, are herbivorous
and frugivorous. Since the advent of sin,
however, man has been permitted to eat
flesh (see Genesis 9:1-4), which explains
why there is nothing in the Bible making
meat eating sinful. That our Lord ate meat
is proved by Luke 24:41-43.
WHAT CONFESSION SHOULD BE
MADE?
A reader in an Eastern state asks about
certain confessions, and how publicly they
should be made.
Inasmuch as the sin of which the ques-
tioner writes is known only to God and her-
self, she need not confess it to anyone. As
she writes, she has, since this wrong was
committed, given herself to God and
through her conversion left the life of sin,
and so may fully be assured that God has
forgiven all her transgressions. Is there not
heartfelt comfort in the beloved apostle's
words: "If we confess our sins, He is faith-
ful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and
to cleanse us "from all unrighteousness"?
1 John 1:9.
To confess this evil to the one mentioned,
who has now devotion toward her and im-
plicit confidence in her fidelity, might come
to him as a great shock, and lead to great
harm in their relations, and to no resultant
good whatever. Why disturb this mutual
affection and fidelity, supported as they are
now by the new life in Christ? Take God
fully at His word, that He has forgiven you,
and do not let the evil one tempt you to do
something that might very easily result in
suspicion, estrangement, and even hatred.
Satan's endeavors to lead us into sin vary.
Oftentimes he tempts us to pursue an evil
course by provoking us to an unwise over-
conscientiousness, as he does at other times
by tempting us not to be conscientious
enough.
WHAT ABOUT SABBATH BREAKING?
A reader asks if there could not be circum-
stances under which a man would be justi-
fied in regularly working on the Sabbath.'
It is not for me to pass judgment upon
any man who, seeing clearly his duty before
God to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, feels
he cannot do so because of economic condi-
tions. God Himself speaks to us plainly in
His word regarding this matter of obeying
fully His law, of following Him at any cost:
"Think not that I came to send peace on the
earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
For I came to set a man at variance against
his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law: and a man's foes shall be
they of his own household. He that loveth
father or mother more than Me is not
worthy of Me ; and he that loveth son or
daughter more than Me is not worthy of
Me. And he that doth not take his cross and
follow after Me, is not worthy of Me. He
that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that
loseth his life for My sake shall find it."
Matthew 10:34-39. "Be not therefore anx-
ious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be
clothed? For after all these things do the
Gentiles seek: for your heavenly Father
knoweth that ye have need of all these
things. But seek ye first His kingdom, and
His righteousness; and all these things shall
be added unto you." Matthew 6:31-33. Do
not these scriptures plainly reveal that God's
demands upon us are first to be met, and
that economic, social, or human conditions
or relations of other kinds must not be
placed before our obeying God?
Surely God does not mock us by asking us
to obey Him and then leave us to starve be-
cause we do obey Him. He may test our
faith for a season; but if our faith holds to
the devoted carrying out of His will, He will
not forsake us. His very love is our pledge
of His care and support. What comfort for
us is found in the psalmist's words: "A
man's goings are established of Jehovah;
and he delighteth in His way. Though he
fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for
Jehovah upholdeth him with His band"!
Psalm 37:23, 24. And so certainly did he
know by experience that God "upholdeth"
the man who "delighteth in His way," that
with satisfaction he adds: "I have been
young, and now am old; yet have I not seen
the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
bread." Verse 25. Said Jesus to His dis-
ciples: "If ye love Me, ye will keep My
commandments" (John 14:15) ; "if ye keep
My commandments, ye shall abide in My
love; even as I have kept My Father's com-
mandments, and abide in His love" (John
15:10). And from John conies the echo:
"This is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments : and His commandments
are not grievous." 1 John 5:3.
All the Ten Commandments are of equally
binding force, that on keeping the Sabbath
as well as that against murder. James
writes: "Whosoever shall keep the whole
law, and yet stumble in one point, he is
become guilty of all. For He that said, Do
not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill.
Now if thou dost not commit adultery, but
killest, thou art become a transgressor of
the law. So speak ye, and so do, as men that
are to be judged by a law of liberty." James
2 :10-12.
8IGNS of the TIMES
 NJ 50 EDITORIAL
CAN TIMES POSSIBLY GET BETTER?
AST week on this page the question was asked, "When will
times be better?" This week we wish to go into the
analysis of the situation a little more fully, and raise the
question as to whether or not, with the present trend in the
manifest character of humanity, times can really ever get
better until after the climax of the second coming of Christ.
Last week we quoted and commented on the first two verses
of 2 Timothy 3, but this week we wish to quote the entire chap-
ter, and ask the reader to give to each utterance his most
thoughtful consideration. The chapter entire is as follows:
"Know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful,
haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-
control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed
up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form
of godliness, but having denied the power thereof : from these
also turn away. For of these are they that creep into houses,
and take captive silly women laden with sins, led away by divers
lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. And even as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses,
so do these also withstand the truth; men corrupted in mind,
reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no
further: for their folly shall be evident unto all men, as theirs
also came to be. But thou didst follow my teaching, conduct,
purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, patience, persecutions, suf-
ferings; what things befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, at
Lystra; what persecutions I endured: and out of them all the
Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors shall
wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But abide
At Dneprostroi, Russia, a group of workmen gaze with pride upon the
newly completed dam, finished on May 1 in the presence of thousands
of visitors. The darn, intended to open enormous hydroelectric re-
sources, has a power station capable of turning out 650,000 kilowatts.
thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured
of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from
a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation which is in Christ Jesus. Every
scripture is inspired of God, and profitable [marginal reading]
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which
is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, fur-
nished completely unto every good work." 2 Timothy 3:1-17.
Last week, in commenting upon the first two verses of this
chapter, particular attention was called to the great amassing
of wealth in this time, and how this very thing is at the bottom
of the "grievous times" of these "last days." We have on the
one hand such a multitude of millionaires throughout the world,
with their hoarded wealth, and on the other such an aggregate
of millions who are paupers, that in the very nature of things
revolutions that are distressing almost all portions of the world
must soon reach to this continent, and make the picture com-
plete. But give further thought to the words of the scripture
quoted above. Not only will the love of self and the love of
for JULY 19, 1932
EZ
money be outstanding causes of the grievous times in these last
days, but men are boastful, haughty, and railers; they are un-
thankful, unholy; they are without self-control; they are fierce;
they do not love the good; they are headstrong; and they are
puffed up; and in the midst of all these grievous times there are
the "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." And still
while they love 'pleasure above God, the text says specifically
that they hold at the same time "a form of godliness, but having
denied the power thereof."
If the individual will reflect on the real conditions, he must
be impressed with the outstanding fact that America, Australia,
and many of the islands of the sea, as well as all of Northern
Europe and Asia, are nominally Christian. They hold to the
"form of godliness;" but it is right in these professed Christian
nations themselves that we had the awful spectacle of the
World War, followed by a peace that is now assuming propor-
tions of disaster even more direful than the war itself.
What a striking picture of the actual situation this scripture
presents when we think of the fierceness, the riotous indulgence
in pleasures, the lack of self-control, and all the other specifi-
cations! How remarkable, how outstanding, is the fulfillment!
Men need only thoughtfully to reflect upon the word of the
living God, and look out upon the world to-day, to see how
completely everything is being fulfilled that the inspired
prophet has predicted; and we may know the outcome of the
situation without the risk of a single peradventure.
"Jannes and Jambres," spoken of in the text, are the names
preserved to us in the archaeological record of two of the out-
standing magicians that opposed Moses when he was about to
lead Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land. Their folly back
there was finally made manifest; and the prophecy promises
that the folly of the men cursing the world to-day will be over-
thrown, even as were Jannes and Jambres and all their folly.
But while passing through this storm, those who will "live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution," because, accord-
ing to the text, "evil men and impostors shall wax worse and
worse, deceiving and being deceived." But the soul that trusts
in the living word of the living God as did the apostle Paul, who
wrote this scripture, and the young evangelist, Timothy, to
whom he was addressing it, will, the same as they, have divine
protection and a glorious victory terminated in the indescrib-
able and incalculable rewards of everlasting life at the second
coming of Christ.
The fierce, the riotous, the self-centered conditions of this
time are becoming so tremendous that governments are no
longer a protection to mankind. Storms of revolution and riot-
ing are breaking out all over the world, and these conditions are
filling hearts with an intensity of fear and depression unprece-
dented within the memory of man. But God's promises are
sure, and He has promised to protect in this time those who
will turn away from their selfishness, from their love of money,
from their fierceness, and from their mere formalities of reli-
gion, to the realities and the blessedness of that which is taught
by the loving Christ. What a change would come over the
world to-day if men would only seek for the fulfillment in their
own lives of those simple words of the Master, "All things
therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you,
even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the
prophets." Matthew 7:12.
And do not overlook the blessedness of that wonderful invi-
tation of the Christ : "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are
heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you,
and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall
find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden
is light." Matthew 11:28-30. What the world needs to-day is.
the "rest" and peace found alone in Christ. T.
Page Seven
 Will the

World Be Won
to CHRIST During the

MILLENNIUM
•

Some believe that this world will be a

veritable Eden during the millennium, and
that everybody will turn to God. The 'Bible
truth on this period, however, is far different.

ROBERT L. BOOTHBY

HE devil is to be bound for a thousand thousand-year period in the Bible is the read, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part
years. For nearly six thousand years he has twentieth chapter of Revelation, where we in the first resurrection : on such the second
been deceiving the world. He has been have already read of the binding of Satan. death hath no power, but they shall be
tempting men and women to sin; but the How is the devil bound? Surely not by a priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign
time is coming when he will not be able to literal chain, for no such chain could hold with Him a thousand years." Revelation
deceive anyone for a whole millennium. that powerful being. The Gospel of Mark 20:6. Paul also wrote to the Corinthians
John, writing of this time, says : "I saw an tells how one of the Gadarene men was filled about the raising of the righteous. He said,
angel come down from heaven, having the with devils, "and no man could bind him, no, "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall
key of the bottomless pit and a great chain not with chains: because that he had been all be made alive. But every man in his own
in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, often bound with fetters and chains, and the order: Christ the first fruits ; afterward
that old serpent, which is the devil, and chains had been plucked asunder by him, they that are Christ's at His coming." 1 Co-
Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and and the fetters broken in pieces, neither rinthians 15:22, 23. It is those .who are
cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut could any man tame him." Mark 5:3, 4. Christ's that are made alive when He comes.
him up, and set a seal upon him, that he Notice that the manner in which Satan is "But the rest of the dead [the wicked]
should deceive the nations no more, till the • bound is "that he should deceive the nations lived not again until the thousand years were
thousand years should be fulfilled : and after no more till the thousand years should be finished." Revelation 20:5. Not only have
that he must be loosed a little season." Rev- fulfilled," "and when the thousand years are all the wicked who died before Jesus' coming
elation 20:1-3. expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his remained dead, but all the wicked living have
Will this binding of Satan bring a great prison, and shall go out to deceive the na- been stricken dead by this glorious appear-
revival of righteousness in the earth? Will tions which are in the four quarters of the ing of our Saviour. Many of the prophets
multitudes at that time be converted? Will earth." Revelation 20:3, 7, 8. During the wrote of the fate which would then come to
it be easier for the drunkard to stop drinking millennium the devil can't deceive because sinners. John saw this scene in vision, and
and the gambler to stop gambling? Will in- there is no man to deceive. The wicked are gave the following graphic description:
fidels find it easier to believe the Bible and all dead during the thousand years, and the "The heaven departed as a scroll when it
God? Will hypocrites put away hypocrisy, righteous are in heaven. Jeremiah wrote of is rolled together; and every mountain and
and will the worldly-minded learn to love this day, "I beheld, and, lo, there was no island were moved out of their places. And
God? man." Satan is bound by the chains of cir- the kings of the earth, and the great men, and
WHAT "MILLENNIUM" MEANS cumstance. the rich men, and the chief captains, and the
The thousand-year period begins with the mighty men, and every bondman, and every
When I was being graduated from high
freeman hid themselves in the dens and in
school, the nations were fighting the World second coming of Christ. At this time the
the rocks of the mountains; and said to the
War. The preacher who delivered the bac- righteous dead are raised, and thus all the
mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us
calaureate sermon said that soon the millen- righteous are alive and are taken to heaven.
from the face of Him that sitteth on the
nium would come and a golden age of peace Of this blessed hope Paul has said, "The
throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb : for
would be ushered in, so that the world would Lord Himgelf shall descend from heaven
the great day of His wrath is come; and who
turn all of their armaments into instruments with a shout, with the voice of the Arch-
shall be able to stand?" Revelation 6:14-17.
of commercial enterprise. Is the time indeed angel, and with the trump of God: and the
coming when there will be no more war? dead in Christ shall rise first : then we which THE WRATH OF GOD
What change will be brought in this world are alive and remain shall be caught up to- Isaiah declared, "Behold, the Lord will
when the devil is bound for a thousand gether with them in the clouds, to meet the come with fire, and with His chariots like a
years? The only place to find a sure answer Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with whirlwind, to render His anger with fury,
to this question is in the Bible. the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by
The word "millennium" comes from two There are two resurrections. The time fire and by His sword will the Lord plead
Latin words: mile, thousand, and annus, when the righteous are raised at the coming with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall
year, and the only specific mention of this of Jesus is called the first resurrection. We be many." Isaiah 66:15, 16.
Page Eight SIGNS of the TIMES
 away; and there was no more sea. And I
John saw the holy -City, New Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven, pre-
pared as a bride adorned for her husband."
Revelation 21:1, 2.
The end of the thousand years marks the
termination of the long controversy between
good and evil. The battle has been intense.
The powers of darkness have used every
possible method of deception to lead souls
away from Jesus and His saving power.
Some have been so engrossed in making
money that they have been too busy to find
God. Others have been led to become so
infatuated and entangled with the world, its
frivolities and pleasures, that they have had
no room in their hearts for the love of Jesus
and heaven. Others Satan has satisfied with
a form of godliness without any personal
experience of salvation from sin, and hence
they are unfit to dwell in that glory to which
sin cannot be admitted. He has led many to
pick an easy way, a way with no cross, and
thus he has turned them aside from the
straight and narrow way which leads to life
everlasting.
THE CONFLICT ENDED
Now the controversy closes. The two
classes of humanity, the saved and the un-
saved, meet face to face, and the rewards of
Japanese bombs hopelessly wrecked the
railroad at Koupangtzu, Manchuria. Chi- the two stand in contrast. The righteous
nese workmen vainly endeavored to repair have chosen to serve God; and as Noah and
The wicked will not be buried, for there
the damage just before the city fell into his family were inside the ark, so the saints
the hands of the Nipponese. The bom- will be in the city of protection. The wicked
will be no man to bury them. Jeremiah bardment was terrific. Will the millen-
prophesied, "The slain of the Lord shall be nium bring peace? are on the outside. Both have made their
at that day from one end of the earth even own decisions. They are where they are as
unto the other end of the earth: they shall a matter of choice.
not be lamented, neither gathered, nor Oh, sinner, what choice are you making?
buried; they shall be dung upon the ground." wilderness, and all the cities thereof were Where will you be? The scripture says,
Jeremiah 25:33. broken down at the presence of the Lord, "Fire came down from God out of heaven,
and by His fierce anger." Jeremiah 4:23-26. and devoured them. And the devil that de-
Though the sinful are not raised in the
This is a picture of what this world will be ceived them was cast into the lake of fire
first resurrection, they are some day to be
like when a righteous God manifests His and brimstone." Revelation 20:9, 10. Sin
made alive. Jesus, when upon earth, said,
presence. is to be destroyed and also the sinner who in
"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming,
in the which all that are in the graves shall Thus we see, in summing up the situation, this life refuses to be saved from sin. The
that during the thousand years while the night of evil has reached its darkest hour.
hear His voice, and shall come forth; they
righteous are all in heaven, the wicked are Soon the eternal dawn of heaven's day will
that have done good, unto the resurrection
all dead, the earth is in desolation, and the break. Soon the decisions will all be made.
of life; and they that have done evil, unto
devil is bound from his work for lack of Soon the destiny of every person is to be
the resurrection of damnation." John 5:
some one to deceive. settled. They are to be either saved or lost.
28, 29. At the end of the thousand years this
At the end of the thousand years Satan "Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for
second resurrection takes place.
goes out to deceive the sinful, because at why will ye die?" Ezekiel 33:11.
A DESOLATE CHAOS this time they have been resurrected. The
The earth during the thousand years is to Bible tells the story as follows: "When the
be in a chaotic condition. At the coming of thousand years are expired, Satan shall be Is Baptism Necessary?
Jesus there is to be a terrible earthquake loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to (Continued from page 3)
which will cause the very mountains to be deceive the nations which are in the four baptized?" Acts 8:36. Philip gladly con-
moved, and will leave great holes and chasms quarters of the earth, God and Magog, to sented to baptize him, and "they went down
in the earth. The cities are to be laid in gather them together to battle: the number both into the water, both Philip and the
ruins, and desolation is to be spread every- of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they eunuch." Verse 38. The method of baptism
where. There will be vast heaps of debris went up on the breadth of the earth, and here used cannot be mistaken.
from fallen buildings. Even vegetation is to compassed the camp of the saints about, and During the lifetime of the original apos-
vanish, and the earth is described by Jere- the beloved city: and fire came down from tles the church and her teachings remained
miah as being "without form, and void." God out of heaven, and devoured them." essentially pure, but during the second cen-
Darkness is to cover the earth. Surely John Revelation 20:7-9. tury strange doctrines were introduced, as
rightly named it when he called it a "bot- The city which the wicked are to surround foretold by the apostle Paul: "I know this,
tomless pit." Revelation 20:1, 2. is the New Jerusalem, the city of God. It is that after my departing shall grievous
Let us see if we can find a description of called the camp of the saints. It is the place wolves enter in among you, not sparing the
this condition in the Bible. Read what Jere- that Jesus has gone to prepare for the re- flock. Also of your own selves shall men
miah has written of this time of destruction: deemed. It is the city of which Paul wrote arise, speaking perverse things, to draw
"I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without when he said Abraham "looked for a city away disciples after them." Acts 20:29, 30.
form, and void; and the heavens, and they which hath foundations, whose builder and Later, paganism with its superstitions, mys-
had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, maker is God." And John tells of this city teries, and outward display gained a power-
lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved being brought to this earth, to become even- ful hold of the early church. The word of
lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, tually the capital city of a new earth. "I God was thrust aside by ambitious church
and all the birds of the heavens were fled.. saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the leaders, who substituted their own tradi-
I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a first heaven and the first earth were passed tions. Bishops and presbyters declared bap-
for JULY 19, 1932 Page Nine
tism to be "a saving ordinance, and thought
that there was divine virtue in the water to
wash 'away all sins." "It may be inquired,
What is the reason why the baptism of the
church, which is given for the remission of
sins, is, by the custom of the church, given
to infants also? Whereas if there were noth-
ing in infants that wanted remission and in-
dulgence, the grace of baptism might seem
needless to them. . . . Infants are baptized
for the forgiveness of sin."—Origen's point
of view, book 11, chap. 4. And Cyprian
commanded that infants be baptized as soon
as born. "As far as we can, we must strive
that if possible no soul be lost."—Cyprian,
vol. 1, page 198.
PERSECUTION FOR BAPTISTS
This unscriptural doctrine gained such a
hold on the unfortunate church during the
Dark Ages that even the Reformation was
unable to restore the ceremony as it is com-
manded to be performed. As late as the year
1651, those were persecuted who did not
baptize their children, as we read in "The
History of the Baptists in New England."
Three members of that church were accused
of denying their children the baptismal rite
as commanded by the established ecclesias-
tical system; and here is a testimony from
John Spur: "Denying infant baptism would
overthrow all, and this was a capital offense;
and therefore they were soul murderers.
When, therefore, the governor, Mr. John
Endicott, came into court to pass sentence
against them, he said thus, 'You deserve to
die. . . . By virtue hereof you are to take
into custody and safe keeping the body of
John Spur for a heinous offense by him com-
mitted.' " Little do we realize how our
forefathers have suffered persecution at the
hands of those who should have known
better !
Through baptism we are united with the
church and with the kingdom of God; but
let no one think that baptism in itself im-
parts special virtue and power. It is but an
outward expression of an inward work al-
ready accomplished, and is a sign or a testi-
mony to the world that a person is now a
new creature in Christ Jesus. If any merits
could be attributed to baptism without faith
and repentance, then we would have suffi-
cient reason to accept the infant as a candi-
date for baptism. Again the promise is made
to those whom "the Lord our God shall
call;" but infants are not subjects of any
calling. The promises are to those who re-
pent and obey; and infants can do neither.
Only those who have sinned are in need of
remission of sin; the infant has no sin, and
is therefore not in need of repentance or
baptism. It is necessary, therefore, to keep
strictly within the bounds of the teaching of
the Scriptures as to who are subjects for
baptism, lest by perverting the ordinance we
make it merely a means to minister to our
own ideas.
BAPTISM AT WHAT AGE?
There is a time in the experience of an
individual when baptism may properly be
administered. Outside of that order it is not
the institution of the gospel; and as Christ
took a little child from the multitude of
great men and said, "Except ye be converted,
and become as little children, ye shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Mat-
thew 18:3), so we too must accept Him in
Page Ten
humility. As soon as the child understands
fully the meaning of conversion and bap-
tism, let him be baptized, that he may enjoy
the blessed privilege of being called the child
of God.
"Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
0 Lamb of God, I come, I come."
At last the surrender is made. We give
ourselves to the Lord, and take Him to be
our Saviour and Redeemer. We cannot ex-
plain the mysterious process; we only know
by faith that it is so. "Ye are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Galatians
3 :26. "Know ye not, that so many of us as
were baptized into Jesus Christ were bap-
tized into His death? Therefore we are
buried with Him by baptism into death:
that like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life." Ro-
mans 6:3, 4. But in this union with Christ
it is His personality that dominates; we
SECOND ADVENT
OBJECTIONS
EXPLODED
gY FRANCIS D NICKX
OBJECTION No. 4. It is sometimes said that
it is revolting to the Christian idea of love to
believe that Christ will come as a destroyer, and
wreak vengeance on the world.
T IS strange indeed that this objection should
Ibe presented, because almost without excep-
tion it comes from those who hold the quite
widely accepted doctrine that the wicked go at
death into hell-fire, there to stay through the
ceaseless ages of eternity. If it seems to the
objector more in harmony with the Christian
idea of love to believe in never-ending hell-fire
as the destination of the wicked, rather than
speedy destruction by the coming of Christ,
then we must simply confess our inability to
follow such reasoning, and close the discussion.
But with the matter set forth in this definite
way, we doubt very much whether the objector,
or anyone else, would think of affirming that
greater love is indicated by the ceaseless tor-
tures of hell than by the consuming of the
wicked in connection with the second advent.
Every one who holds to the primary doctrine
that there is a difference between right and
wrong, and that there is a judgment day when
God will reward men according to their deeds,
must believe that there is a punishment for the
wicked as well as a reward for the righteous.
This is too evident for dispute. The history of
the beliefs of virtually every denomination re-
veals a tenet regarding the punishment of the
wicked. The believers in the literal second
advent of Christ certainly are not unique in
holding that the wicked will suffer. Surely the
consuming fires of the second advent could burn
no more fiercely than those pictured in the hell-
fire of the creeds of so many denominations.
How can it conceivably be argued that it is in
harmony with the Christian idea of love to take
the wicked to some distant place for punish-
yield ourselves to Him, become swallowed
up in Him, so that the one person is not us
but Christ. "If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God."
Colossians 3:1.
RELIGION should help us to avail ourselves
of our almost unlimited opportunity for
growth and development, to budget our time
so that each year we show advancement.
Religion, dealing with values, shows which
of the goods are eternal and which are only
temporal. Science deals with facts, religion
with values. Science discovers poison gases;
religion determines how they shall be used
—to exterminate humans in the throes of
convulsions or to rid the farmer of the pests
that attack his crops, so that there may be
more food for mankind. Unless what civili-
zation there is in the world is to go to pieces,
we must constantly keep revising our values,
and that is what religion must do.—Dr.
Henry Darlington.
ment, while it is revolting to the Christian idea
of love to punish them right here on the earth,
where their crimes have been committed?
God does not take any pleasure in the death
of the wicked. See Ezekiel 18:32. It is not
because God hates men, that He finally de-
stroys the wicked. There is simply no other
alternative left if He is to blot out sin from the
universe. Sin is something found only in con-
nection with moral beings, possessed of free
will. The germs of sin can thrive only as they
burrow deep into the very mind and heart.
Thus the destruction of sin necessitates the
destruction of the sinner.
God has ever been of too pure eyes to behold
iniquity. It has never been possible for sinful
man to gaze upon the face of God. It is the
pure in heart that will finally see God. When
Moses in the mount sought to see God's face,
his plea was denied. The Lord placed him in
a "cleft of the rock" that he might be hid from
the divine glory as God passed by. See Exodus
33 and 34.
From this we may learn a spiritual lesson.
We as poor sinners may also be hid in the cleft
of the rock, the Rock Christ Jesus. The oppor-
tunity is offered to all to avail themselves of
this offered protection. When hidden in Christ
our sins are forgiven ; His holy life covers us.
We thus stand unafraid in the day when the
glory of God is revealed from heaven at the
second advent. The same awful brilliance en-
velops all, the righteous as well as the wicked.
The difference is that the righteous are pro-
tected by the covering of Christ's righteousness,
while the wicked stand spiritually naked. They
must cry for the literal rocks to fall on them
and hide them from the face of Him that sits
on the throne. They have brought death upon
themselves by the course that they have will-
fully taken.
SIGNS of the TIMES
Daniel Foresaw All the WORLD'S HISTORY
Twenty-five
hundred
years ago
the prophet
Daniel told
Nebuchad-
nezzar the
entire
future
of the
human
race.
This great bas-relief from the palace of Ashur-bani-pal shows
the king in his hunting chariot attacked by a wounded lion.
Many of the sculptures coming down to us from the times of
Babylon and Assyria were contemporary with Daniel,
p
ANIEL went before the king, and was
greeted with the same question
which on the day before Nebuchad-
nezzar had propounded to the wise men:
"Art thou able to make known unto me the
dream which I have seen, and the interpre-
tation thereof ?"
The prophet in answering was careful to
point out that it was God who had given the
king the dream, and was now ready to reveal
its meaning. "The secret," he said, "which
the king hath demanded cannot the wise
men, the astrologers, the magicians, the
soothsayers, show unto the king; but there
is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets,
and maketh known to the king Nebuchad-
nezzar what shall be in the latter days."
Daniel 2:26-28.
Then he went directly on to the descrip-
tion of the dream. "Thou, 0 king, sawest,
and behold a great image. This great image,
whose brightness was excellent, stood before
thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
This image's head was of fine gold, his breast
and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs
of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron
and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a
stone was cut out without hands, which
smote the image upon his feet that were of
iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the
silver, and the gold, broken to pieces to-
gether, and became like the chaff of the sum-
mer threshing floors; and the wind carried
them away, that no place was found for
them : and the stone that smote the image
became a great mountain, and filled the
whole earth." Verses 31-35.
It may well be that as soon as the prophet
uttered the words, "And behold a great
image," there again flashed upon the mind
of the listening monarch the whole dream,—
for JULY 19, 1932
GWYNNE DALRYMPLE
the prophet.
the mysterious image, terrible in form and
excellent in brightness, with its head of gold,
its breast of silver, its waist of brass, its legs
of iron, its feet of clay and iron. Once more
there came before his mind the mighty stone,
cut without hands, plunging into the image,
destroying it, crushing it, pulverizing it, till
it was no more; while the stone, vast and
magnificent, "became a great mountain, and
filled the whole earth."
That was the dream; now came the inter-
pretation. "Thou, 0 king, art a king of
kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee
a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
And wheresoever the children of men dwell,
the beasts of the field and the fowls of the
heaven hath He given into thine hand, and
hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou
art this head of gold." Verses 37, 38.
A GOLDEN KINGDOM
Great Babylon, the realm of Nebuchad-
nezzar, was indeed a golden kingdom.
Builded in ancient times by Nimrod on the
plains of Shinar, the city had grown in
splendor through the passing years. It may
check the vanity of modern men to remem-
ber that it is doubtful if there has ever been
on this earth another metropolis whose
grandeur equaled that of Babylon. It was,
Herodotus asserts, in the form of a square,
each side of which was fourteen miles long,
so that the city area was one hundred ninety-
six square miles. Its walls, he adds, were
two hundred cubits (311 feet) high, and
fifty royal cubits (87 feet) thick, pierced
by one hundred gateways with brazen gates.
Through the city ran diagonally the river
Euphrates. Inside the walls, as Quintus
Curtius assures us, at least nine tenths
of the area consisted of gardens and or-
chards and parks; so that the inhabitants,
even though tightly shut up by besiegers,
were assured of an abundant supply of food.
The size and beauty of the city were
matched by the size and beauty of its pal-
aces and temples. Ctesias asserts that the
palace on the eastern bank was surrounded
by three walls, of which the outermost was
seven miles in circuit; the middle, four and
a half miles in circuit; and the innermost,
two and a half miles in circuit. The two
inner walls were beautifully decorated with
colored brick, depicting a furious hunt of
leopards and lions. Between the eastern and
western palaces ran a great bridge, thirty
feet broad and over a thousand yards long.
As for temples, the city was full of them.
Idolatry was, if we may so speak, one of its
chief occupations. There was the temple
of Belus, with its colossal statues of Bel-
Merodach, of Dawkina, and of Zer-panitu.
There was the sanctuary of Du-azaga, "the
place of fate," where the future was sup-
posed to be revealed to inquiring Babylonian
monarchs. There was the towering E-tem-
nenan-ki, more familiarly known to us as the
"tower of Babel ; " and there were also
sumptuous temples for the goddess Min-
mah, for Sin, the moon-god, for Samas, the
sun-god, for Gula, the goddess of healing,
and for a variety of other deities.
To Babylon, then, flowed the wisdom and
culture, the pride and the power of that
ancient generation. From its observatories
and schools and libraries came whatever of
learning and science that ancient world pos-
sessed. Travelers from distant lands paused
to remark the splendors of the golden city,
and tributary kings sent their gifts to en-
hance its magnificence. Its very name,
"Bab-ili," "the gate of God," summed up
its large pretensions.
A DOOMED SPLENDOR
Yet Babylon should pass away, and the
time would come,—though how impossible
it must have seemed to contemporaries!—
when the populous city would be desolate
ruins. "And after thee," said Daniel to Neb-
uchadnezzar, "shall arise another kingdom
inferior to thee." Daniel 2:39. "Babylon
shall become heaps," declared another
prophet. (Jeremiah 51:37.) "And Baby-
lon," declared a third, "the glory of king-
doms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excel-
lency, shall be as when God overthrew
Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be
inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from
generation to generation; neither shall the
Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the
shepherds make their fold there. But wild
beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their
houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and
owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance
there. And the wild beasts of the islands
shall cry in their desolate houses, and drag-
ons in their pleasant palaces: and her time
is near to come, and her days shall not be
prolonged." Isaiah 13:19-22.
God's sentence against Babylon was car-
ried out, even as all God's sentences are
carried out. Not many years after Daniel's
appearance before Nebuchadnezzar, the
Page Eleven
armies of the Medes and Persians encamped
before those mighty walls. There was a
siege; and Cyrus, king of the Persians, aided
by the slothful drunkenness of the Baby-
lonians, was able to enter and subdue the
city. The rest of its melancholy history we
do not have time to trace. It is sufficient to
say that it was neglected by Cyrus, defaced
by Darius, plundered of its treasures by
Xerxes, and brought to final ruin by the at-
tacks of Parthian marauders. "Vast heaps,"
testifies one traveler, "constitute all that
now remains of ancient Babylon;" and over
these heaps, adds another, broods "a silent
and sublime solitude, a silence as profound
as the grave."
PERSIA AND GREECE
But the strong Persian Empire, which suc-
ceeded Babylon, for all its strength was not
to endure forever. There was to come, said
Daniel, "another third kingdom of brass,
which shall bear rule over all the earth."
Daniel 2 :39. The Grecian Empire, under its
first great leader, Alexander, annihilated the
vast empire of Darius in the three battles
of Granicus, Issus, and Arbela. Alexander
pushed his conquests southward to the Sa-
hara, eastward to the Indus, and paused only
when his army, superstitiously rebellious,
refused to march farther into lands unknown
to western civilization.
Alexander died in drunkenness; but there
was to be, according to the word of God,
another universal empire. Its characteristics
are emphasized. "And the fourth kingdom
shall be strong as iron: for as much as iron
breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things :
and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it
break in pieces and bruise." Daniel 2:40.
How exactly did Rome, the fourth world
empire, the iron monarchy, fulfill the de-
scription of the prophecy! How thoroughly
did it break in pieces and subdue ! The Sam-
nites, the Etruscans, the Carthaginians,
Macedonia, Spain, Asia Minor, Syria, Gaul,
Egypt, all fell before the bruising, crushing
power of Rome.
What but divine wisdom could have fore-
seen that this fourth empire, above all
others, should break in pieces and subdue?
No power was like it before it, and none has
been like it since. The nearest approach to
Roman governmental efficiency is perhaps
seen in the vast structure of the British Em-
pire. But within the space of our present
generation that empire has shown signs of
dissolution; India has become increasingly
restive; Canada, Australia, South Africa, are
autonomous in fact; Egypt has withdrawn,
to follow its own course as an independent
power; and the mighty hegemony is held
together merely by the chain of a noble sen-
timent. Far more binding was the Roman
dominion. Under her crushing governmen-
tal machinery, whole nations and peoples
lost alike their law, their language, and their
national identity. The Gauls, Spaniards, and
Etruscans gave up their very speech for that
of the conquerors; so that to-day half of
Europe speaks, although degenerately, the
language of the Caesars, while Roman juris-
prudence has become the law of the entire
continent.
What is more permanent than iron? And
who would suppose that an iron empire
should ever pass away? The Romans them-
selves imagined that their commonwealth
Page Twelve
would endure forever. Horace, wishing to
predict an eternity of fame for himself, de-
clared that his glory should endure as long
as the pontifex should climb the Capitoline
Hill with the silent vestal. But alas for
human predictions! There is no longer any
pontifex; and the sacred fire in the temple
of Vesta has been cold for a thousaild years.
God said that Rome would pass; and Rome
passed.
The prophecy, however, points out to us
other powers that should yet arise.
(To be continued)
'PASS IT ON"
GOD'S FAMILY
NELS P. NEILSEN
OD has a family upon earth. Its members
G are scattered in all parts of the world.
They speak many different languages and often
cannot understand one another's words; but
still they are one in action and one in spirit.
Their customs and ways of living are different;
but they are bound together by the family ties
of the blessed truth which they all believe. God
is their Father, and Jesus is their Elder: Brother,
and they are all one in Him.
Their relationship may be illustrated by the
philosophy of the dark-skinned native of Africa
who came to the white missionary one day and
said: "You say that the God in heaven is your
Father?" The missionary replied, "Yes, that is
true." Then the native continued: "And you
say that this same God is also my Father ?"
"That is right," replied the missionary. "Well,"
exclaimed the black native, "well, then we be
brothers !"
This is true. The untutored mind of this poor
native had grasped the right idea. If we belong
to the family of God, we are all brothers and
sisters in Him. It matters not if our skin be
white or brown or black. There are to be no
national sections in the family of God, for its
members have risen above the narrow limits
that may confine a nation to its territory, until
they have reached the broader vision of a
world-wide endeavor for God. By the bonds
of love they are bound together into one family,
irrespective of their nationality or place of
birth.
JESUS LINKED TO US
Jesus, our Elder Brother, linked Himself to
His family upon earth with ties that can never
be broken. He partook of flesh and blood and
clothed Himself with humanity that He might
be one with us. He does not hold Himself aloof
from us, for He took upon Himself our nature.
He is not ashamed to call us brethren. (He-
brews 2:11.) His first message sent to His dis-
ciples after His resurrection was: "Go to My
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My
Father, and your Father; and to my God, and
your God." John 20:17.
All members of God's family cannot do the
same work, nor are they called upon to labor
in the same place. But we can all do something
for Him. Our Father knows where we can best
serve Him, and He calls us to do the work which
BOTH palm and cedar are slow-growing,
slow-maturing trees. But they attain to
strength and beauty as the years go on. We
are not to think that God is a laggard in the
slow enlargement and the ripening of a hu-
man heart. We must learn, therefore, to be
patient with the ways of God, as He is pa-
tient with our childishness. Life—this life
of ours upon the earth—is for growth, that
we may rise up to God's thoughts of what
our lives must be. But His assurance leaves
us no room for discouragement.—Isaac Ed-
wardson.
4—
we are best able to do. Some may be permitted
to remain at home "laboring with their own
hands," to support themselves, while working
for the advancement of the cause of God in
their own neighborhoods. Others may be called
upon to go to the far-away sections of earth
with the message of God. Some must go beyond
civilization and all modern conveniences in
order to give the glad news of salvation to those
who are sitting in darkness.
When Father calls, we should respond. We
should be willing to go anywhere He may send
us. The fact is, the Lord of the harvest never
told us to seek out the easy places in which to
work; but His command is, "Go ye into all the
world." We cannot stop . where civilization
stops, nor draw our boundary line where con-
veniences may end, if we are to fulfill our Mas-
ter's command. But if faithful in our lot and
true to our duty, we shall share in the reward
at the time of the great home coming of the
members of the family of God. When the day
is over, and the work is done, we shall be called
home to join the family of God in heaven. What
a wonderful gathering that will be !
THE LANGUAGE OF THE HEART
Some years ago a large meeting was held by
some Christians in Europe. Persons were pres-
ent who spoke many different languages. The
Spirit of God was in the sessions. At the dose,
two of our brethren met to say good-by. They
clasped hands and looked at each other, but
could not speak together, for they knew not
each other's language. They loved the same
message ; they belonged to the same family in
Christ, and the same blessed truth beat warmly
in their hearts as they shook each other's hand.
Finally the one said "Hallelujah," and the other
responded by saying, "Amen." And so they
parted, perhaps never to meet again until they
shall see each other in the grand family reunion
above, where we "shall know as we are known,"
with no darkening language veil between.
Dear reader, do you want to belong to the
family of God? Let me whisper to you that
it is a good family to belong to. It is the best
family upon earth. But if you would become
a member, then you must be born again. There
is no other way. You must renounce sin with
its allurements. We welcome you! Will you
not come?
SIGNS of the TIMES
 W hen GOD Foresees,
Does HE
PREDESTINE?
• cession. Seasons come and go with consist-
Or is a man five to choose
between obeying the law
of life or the law of death?
• these realities, as well as the ultimate issue
• of them, can be predestinated.
ANDREW C. GILBERT
HE whole structure of righteousness
and salvation is founded upon law.
The whole structure of sin and divine
retribution is also founded upon law. The
former is "the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus," and the latter is "the law of
sin and death." These two foundation prin-
ciples are clearly stated in Romans 8:2.
The scroll of divine revelation as handed
down to us by prophets and apostles is a
record of forceful and convincing arguments
and cogent reasons why we should be obe-
dient to the law of salvation as demonstrated
in the Pattern-Man, Christ Jesus. These
revelations emphatically set forth the rea-
sons why we should turn from the danger
and consequent disaster that follow in obe-
dience to "the law of sin a,nd death."
The foreordination of God, or .His pre-
destination or predetermination, is based
upon these two laws of salvation and death.
To understand this point clearly will make
plain, we believe, that which may have been
seemingly obscure to some.
So far as revelation and human experi-
ence have taught us, we believe that all
things are guided and controlled by laws—
laws that are fixed and wholly adapted to
the nature and object of the thing to be
guided and controlled.
So long as that thing is operated in har-
mony with its own peculiar, natural laws, its
course is immutably established and its out-
come unalterably fixed. So long as that law
exists and so long as that thing relates itself
properly and legitimately to its own natural
law, or in other words, obeys that law, just
so long will the development and end be the
Spectators, seeing the
automobile recklessly ap-
proach the onrushing lo-
comotive, may infallibly
know that there will be a
crash. Their foreknowl-
edge, however, cannot be
called the cause of the
accident.
for JULY 19, 1932
same. We may think of one thing or a thou-
sand things that are subject to the same or
a similar rule of existence. Their progress
and finality respectively will be invariably
and exactly the same. For all things are
following the same inflexible guide of su-
preme law.
LAW IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD
On the basis of this reasoning it is not
difficult to make an absolutely correct fore-
cast. It is as simple and easy as growing
beans and potatoes. Beans grow above the
ground, while potatoes grow under the
ground. It has been demonstrated beyond
reasonable doubt that if you plant either or
both, and they are permitted to grow and
mature under certain natural laws that per-
tain to their nature and culture, there will
be corresponding fruitage. Their future, so
to speak, is easily forecast, permanently
fixed, definitely predestinated, specifically
foreordained. Why? Because they form
their growth and maturity in harmony with
well-known, clearly defined, unalterable
laws.
Let us look to our own physical bodies for
another illustration of the principles of this
Biblical doctrine of predestination. The
body is built up day by day. It is operated
in relation to, or in harmony with, rules com-
monly called physical law. If our dietary
and general physical conduct are ordered by
the light of, and in obedience to, these evi-
dent and unalterable laws, it can be known
without hesitation what the results will be.
The outcome can easily be predetermined
or predestinated.
He who violates these physical laws will
suffer an unavoidable penalty. He who ren-
ders obedience to them will enjoy a propor-
tionate measure of health, joy, and hap-
piness.
PENALTY OF NATURAL LAW
Just another series of simple facts: Our
world is grasped and guided by laws. Day
and night follow each other in unbroken suc-
ent regularity and precision. The tides ebb
and flow in pulsations of marvelous uni-
formity and steadiness. These and other
obvious facts in the natural world are guided
by necessitated, unalterable, unswerving
laws. On this account, future operations of
The laws of the physical world are beyond
our control. If we should endeavor to work
contrary to them, or determinedly oppose
them, it would mean our undoing, and prob-
able destruction. But if we submit to them,
the outcome is a full measure of happiness.
These differing, resultant conditions can be
easily predetermined because they are the
facts of everyday human experience. -
As we think of the world with its variform.
operations, we must ,be cognizant of the
truth that these fundamental laws regulate '
the course of the inanimate, emotionless,
senseless part of God's creation. However,
when we think of man in relation to the laws
of morality and salvation, we are dealing
with beings that can feel, accept, reject. We
deal with morally responsible entities pos-
sessed of mind and conscience, soul and
spirit, beings that can analyze the interrela-
tionship of obedience, duty, and responsi-
bility.
SPIRITUAL LAW
As previously stated, the plan of salvation
is established upon law—"the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." As surely as
we must guide our physical life in obedience
to physical law if we would have the physi-
cal health that God desires for us, so in like
manner we must guide our spiritual life in
obedience to spiritual law if we desire to
have spiritual health and the salvation of
our souls. If one persistently puts himself
at variance with the spiritual law of salva-
tion, he will unquestionably meet with spir-
itual disaster, and lose his soul.
Jesus Christ came to this world to demon-
strate in His human life the law of salvation.
In Him is "the law of the Spirit of life." In
all respects He was fully obedient to the
claims and demands of the law of salvation.
(Psalm 40:8; John 6:38.) Because of this,
He was enabled to develop a perfect human
character, which He offers to every one who
desires to be a Christian. No one can of
himself fit up a character that will meet the
standard of entrance into heaven. Position,
influence, power, wealth, aspirations, high
ideals, noble impulses,—all these have their
place in every life. But none of them or all
of them together can change the sin-scarred
character of the unrighteous into the fair
form and image of the child of God.
A RELENTLESS LAW OF SIN
"The law of sin and death" holds every
unconverted heart with unrelenting grasp.
Man is a helpless thrall in the grip and
clutch of this law. To follow this law, to
succumb to its arbitrary principles, to per-
Page Thirteen
mit the individual life to be grasped and
guided by it, is to foredoom the life to fail-
ure and the soul to eternal destruction.
It requires no laborious effort, no skill or
prescience, to determine the certain outcome
of a life that is under the inflexible rule of
this "law of sin and death." The very fact
that the law is inexorable, changeless, and
unswerving, and the fact that an individual
is under its control, makes it obvious and
absolutely certain that this person is pre-
destined to destruction. He is foredoomed,
foreordained, to this end, not by any sov-
ereign decree of fate nor by any arbitrary
design couched in the mind and foreknowl-
edge of God. He comes to this end by a
determination of his own will and choice.
He allows himself to be governed by this
rule of "law of sin and death." Its natural
course is immutably downward to eternal
woe.
If this individual desires to change his
goal and attain a hopeful, happy, heavenly
end, all that is required is to choose to put
himself under "the law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus." If he is willing to submit
to every claim, condition, and requirement
of this law, at once the forces and resources
of heaven set into operation the machinery
of the law of salvation. The man is rescued
from Satan's overmastering power of "the
law of sin and death." He is set free from
the bondage of sin and death, and becomes a
voluntary servant of Christ and righteous-
ness. (Romans 6:16-18.)
PREDESTINED TO SALVATION
He now lives in relation to "the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ." The law is imperi-
ous, inexorable, changeless. And it is clearly
manifest that it is no intricate problem to
forecast the future of any life whose moral
conduct is thus embraced and directed by
the law of salvation. Such person is pre-
destinated to salvation because he lives in
harmony with the principle or law of salva-
tion, and this by virtue of his own will and
choice. He is foreordained to be saved, but
not by some predetermination of fate or by
an arbitrary decree framed in the prescient
mind of God and executed by His imperial
authority. He comes to this goal because he
chooses to accept Jesus Christ; because by
so doing, he placed himself under obligation
to meet the conditions of the law of salva-
tion; and the natural, logical, legitimate
course of this law is immutably upward to
salvation and heaven.
As already affirmed, man cannot be saved
through or by himself ; therefore God pro-
vided a way by which he can be saved
through a substitute, even Jesus. "For when
we were yet without strength, in due time
Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die: yet perad-
venture for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth His love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8. See also
Isaiah 53:4-6; 2 Corinthians 5:21.
GOD'S PLAN FOR ALL MEN
God's choice for us is that we be saved.
He chooses that no man be lost. He wants
all men to be saved. But many will not ac-
cept God's choice for them.
God knows that any who follow their
choice (not His choice; for they reject His
Page Fourteen
better choice) and submit to the changeless
law of sin,—He knows and sees that they are
predestinated to be lost. God knows equally
well that the man who follows His choice
(God's choice for all men), and submits to
the law of salvation provided in His Son,
Jesus Christ,—He knows and sees that this
man is predestined to be saved.
Perhaps Romans 8:28-30, and other re-
lated scriptures, will be clearer now as we
read them again in the light of what has
been stated. In God's foreknowledge, He
sees every individual who accepts Jesus
Christ and the service of righteousness. He
also sees those who accept Satan and his
service of sin. But this foreknowledge or
prevision has no relation to the individual's
accepting or rejecting salvation, accepting
or rejecting destruction. This final issue,
salvation or destruction, is the result of the
individual's exercise of his own power of
choice. And God's predestination concern-
ing that individual is based on an immutable,
fundamental law.
WHO ARE "CALLED"?
Because we can foresee a catastrophe to
an automobile party if they do not choose
to wait for the speeding train to pass, this
has nothing to do with foreordaining their
salvation if they choose to wait, or in fore-
ordaining their destruction if they persist in
dashing forward, hoping (but failing) to
escape the irresistible force of the train.
Our conclusion is based upon natural law.
It is God's purpose that all shall love Him
and be saved. He calls every human being
according to His purpose. (Romans 8:
28-30.)
By His "law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus," every one who chooses can "be con-
formed to the image of His Son." Every one
who loves Him and responds obediently as
one "called according to His purpose" that
all should be saved by being governed and
guided by the law of salvation,—these will
be saved. They are predestinated and pre-
determined to be saved by the very nature
of that law that is in Christ Jesus. They are
predestinated and predetermined by this
law that is in Christ Jesus to develop a char-
acter and life that is "conformed to the
image of His Son."
WE MAY FALL BACK
Those "whom He would predestinate" to
salvation (because they accepted Jesus and
obeyed the law of salvation) are the very
ones and the only ones ever "called accord-
ing to His purpose" in giving His Son as
man's Redeemer. There is no place or op-
portunity here for fatalism or the arbitrary
selection or election—some to be saved,
some to be lost. His predestination is based
altogether upon the choice that the man
himself makes with reference to the divine
call. His predestination concerning man's
salvation is based altogether upon the choice
that the man himself makes with reference
to God's purpose in Christ Jesus in and by
whom all are called to be saved. See Ephe-
sians 1:4, 5, 11.
This foreordination or predestination or
predetermination on the part of God does
not guarantee salvation to every person who
is at the present time a Christian. For there
is a possibility that this person who is now
a Christian may forsake the will of God for
him in Christ. This man may choose not to
be a Christian. He, by his own choice, puts
himself out of line with that purpose of God
upon which man's salvation was foreor-
dained.
Again, the foreordination or predestina-
tion or predetermination on the part of God
does not commit to destruction every person
who is at the present time a non-Christian.
For there is a possibility that this or that
person who is now an unbeliever will for-
sake the will and service of Satan. This man
may choose to put himself out of harmony
with the purpose of God upon which his
destruction was foreordained. And he may
choose now to put himself in line with the
prearranged purpose of God that all who will
may be saved through His Son, Jesus Christ.
The declaration of our election by the
sovereign will of God has been signed,
sealed, and delivered to us. To have and to
hold eternally the unmerited favors set forth
in this declaration, we must meet the condi-
tions upon which'they are granted. Hence,
we are given this admonition: "Give dili-
gence to make your calling and election
sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never
fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ." 2 Peter 1:10, 11.
Is Modern Life a Mockery?
(Continued from. page 2)
would accept His "Come unto Me"! What
a change would be wrought in our lives by
belief in His words, "I will come again, and
receive you unto Myself ; that where I am,
there ye may be also"! What peace and
happiness would fill our lives! The dread of
death would be gone. Where chaos and
dilemma, pain and misery, hopelessness and
despair now prevail, serene peace of mind
and joyful anticipation of a glorious future
would fully control our minds and interests.
THE CHANGED LIFE
The novel, the movie, the show, or the
poker game would find no place in our lives
as a momentary burying ground for our
troubles. Instead of being jostled and
pushed and driven by the world, we should
be led and directed by a principle, a purpose,
a single aim. Having seen the futility of life
without God, we should welcome Christ into
our lives and hearts, and praise His name
for making such a mighty change in us, for
opening to us the way to eternal life, to com-
panionship with Him.
The worldly life Which ignores God, which
seeks to glorify man instead of his Father,
offers nothing but dissatisfaction.. Gloom
and pain overshadow it. Proof of the fail-
ure of the godless life lies in the fact that
more than eighty-five thousand persons have
been murdered in the last ten years in the
United States alone. In other words, a
murder is being committed every 'fifty-five
minutes, night and day! Twelve thousand
suicides a year add to the incontestable
proof of the futility of modern life with-
out God.
The Christian life brings peace in the
knowledge of forgiven sins, serene happi-
ness, and joyful anticipation of a future life
SIGNS of the TIMES
free from pain, trouble, and worry,—a life
of fellowship with the greatest scholar,
teacher, and companion of the universe—
Jesus Christ.
Life with Him will not be monotonous and
"dead," for every moment will be filled with
a blissful realization of happiness denied us
here on earth. Cripples will walk, the deaf
will hear, and the blind will see. Those who
have been denied an education will sit at
the feet of the. Master Teacher who has said,
"What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
The world offers nothing—Christ offers
all. Will you accept His offer?
The Eclipse of Liberty
(Continued from page 16)
What hope is there, then, for humanity,
or for this world? There is the hope of the
coming of Jesus! "Behold, He cometh with
clouds; and every eye shall see Him." Reve-
lation 1:7. "Behold, I come quickly; and
My reward is with Me, to give every man
according as his work shall be." Revelation
22 :12. At the coming of Jesus those who
destroy the earth shall be destroyed, and
"the Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
Archangel, and with the trump of God: and
the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we
which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be
with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.
Then shall come that reign of peace and
righteousness and liberty for which all ages
have longed. "Behold, the tabernacle of
God is, with men, and He will dwell with
them, and they shall be His people, and God
Himself shall be with them, and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes; and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain : for the former
things are passed away. And He that sat
upon the throne said, Behold, I make all
things new." Revelation 21:3-5.
"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land
unto all the inhabitants thereof." Leviticus
25:10. D.
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79 9
"WET OR DRY • By FRANCIS D. NICHOL

* WHAT IS THE TRUTH

ABOUT PROHIBITION ?

Mr. Nichol Gives FACTS What Others Say About

"CIONCEIUTING the Irenee du Pont statement as to a $10,000,000 tax saving
if beer came back, this exchange took place between Senator Caraway
and Mr. Stayton, the secretary of the Association Against the Prohibition
Amendment:
"SENATOR CARAWAY: The thing I am getting to is, Mr. Irenee du Pont
is one of your heaviest contributors?
"MR. STAYTON: Yes, sir. • tions, no guesses, just photostatic copies of court records, other
"SENATOR CARAWAY: And he thought if you could get the Eighteenth
Amendment repealed, that he could lift $10,000,000 tax off his corporation?
"MR. STAYTON: That $10,000,000 of taxes would be lifted from that
corporation; yes, sir.
"SENATOR CARAWAY: That would be a strong consideration?
"MR. STAYTON: I should think so. Yes, sir; since he is an officer of the
corporation.
"SENATOR CARAWAY: I should think so. Well, I was just curious enough
to know what started him to contributing. I think I understand now."—
Lobby Report, pages 4167, 4168.
(The above is only one of scores of quotations given in this illuminating volume.)
"WET OR DRY?"
"ARE you reading the garbled accounts of every Prohibition fact
carried by the secular press? Then you owe it to your own mind
to know the truth. This book contains a masterly presentation
of facts gathered from court records. There are no wild asser-
reports, many of them taken verbatim from the files of the
brewers, distillers, saloon organizations, and politicians."
"OUT of a labyrinthian mass of material you have made selec-
tions which ought to engage the attention even of thoughtful
and truth-seeking Wets and convince them of the correctness
of our position."
44 I AM glad to say to you I believe it to be one of the most graphic
and helpful presentations of the proposition that I have seen.
I am sure it will do a world of good."
"IT is the best little pocket encyclopedia on Prohibition which
has appeared so far."

Chapter Titles: 1. How Good Were the Good Old Days?

2. Was Prohibition "Put Over" by a Minority? SINGLE 05 c
3. Workingman's Friend—Brewery or Prohibition? COPY L 3 POSTPAID
4. The Business Man and Prohibition
5. Prohibition and Crime 10 to 90 copies, 40% discount; 100 or more, 50% discount.
6. Does Prohibition Prohibit? When discounts are given, the purchaser is to pay the transportation.
7. If Not Prohibition—What?
8. Science Indicts Alcohol
9. Rip Van Winkle Runs Afoul of the Law Order of our representative if address is known, or from
10. "They Say"
11. Think Over These Facts PACIFIC PRESS PUB. ASSN., Mountain View, Calif.

for JULY 19, 1932 Page Fifteen

 The VOLD OUTLOOK
THE ECLIPSE OF LIBERTY
N THE Parliament of New South
i Wales, Australia, an unusually bra-
zen attempt was recently made
against civil and religious liberty.
A bill was drawn up to require all em-
ployers to discharge any employees who
did not belong to labor unions. It was
provided that any employer who after
three days' notice should continue to em-
ploy a person not a member of the trade-
union, should be fined five pounds ($25)
for each day that such employment con-
tinued.
This law went even further. Under its
terms the Industrial Commission was to
"have power to prescribe, by award, the
places at which and the times during
which employers in any particular indus-
try shall engage all the employees that
they may require for carrying on their
business." This provision may appear
innocent enough,— laws of this type
often do. It would take away, however,
the right of an employer to decide who
should work for him. It would throw the
work of religious institutions into total
disorder.
The Christadelphians and the Seventh-
day Adventists protested, in the name of
liberty, against such an enactment. No
religious school could continue its work
if it were compelled by law to admit to
its teaching staff teachers of every creed
or of no creed at all. No sanitarium or
health institution, such as the Seventh-
day Adventists operate in Australia, could
go on with its ministrations if it were
compelled to employ as its nurses, doc-
tors, and general help people who were
atheists or agnostics. Furthermore, there
are religious groups which have consci-
entious objections against allying them-
selves with trade-unions.
The denominations adversely affected
presented a protest to the Parliament,
and the Hon. Mr. Coates sympathetically
presented to the House an amendment
granting exemption from these unjust
clauses to those who were "bona fide
conscientious objectors." The amend-
ment being put, it was passed by a ma-
jority of one ! Surely this was a narrow
triumph for the principles of liberty.
The attitude of Australia in this mat-
ter might not be especially significant
were it not for the fact that all over the
world there is a growing tendency for
governments to abridge the liberties of
citizens. Resort to force appears to be
the most modern method of controlling
the people. In Europe we have dictators.
In China there are war lords. In Italy
there is Fascism. In Germany there is
very nearly Fascism, with the temper of
the nation yet uncertain. In Russia,
which is the greatest stretch of territory
on the globe under one political adminis-
tration, there is Communism. Though all
these systems are utterly diverse, they
are all united in this,—that they deny
rights to any political system except their
own, and refuse to grant to men that pre-
cious heritage of liberty with which God
endowed them.
We boast that we live in an age of
great tolerance and broad-mindedness;
but where are this tolerance and broad-
mindedness to be found? Certainly not
in the greater portion of the inhabited
globe.
Fifteen brief years ago civilization
thrilled at the words of Woodrow Wil-
son, President of the United States.
"The world must be made safe for de-
mocracy. Its peace must be planted upon
the tested foundations of political lib-
erty. . . . We are but one of the cham-
pions of the rights of mankind. We shall
be satisfied when those rights have been
made as secure as the faith and the free-
dom of nations can make them."
"Democracy," "political liberty,"
"rights of mankind," "freedom of na-
tions"—how vain, how empty, how al-
most laughable these words sound to-
day! Fear and violence and bloodshed
Edwin Markham and his wife are here shown at
a party given in New York City on April 24 in
honor of the poet's eightieth birthday. Mr. Mark-
ham's most famous poem is "The Man With the
Hoe," an appeal against the oppression
of the poor.
rule over half the nations, and give strong
signs of soon subduing the other half.
Yet the dreadfulness of the times is no
more than students of the Scriptures
have long expected. For the Bible no-
where reveals to us that a golden age is
to be inaugurated by the wisdom and
goodness of men. Instead, it tells us that
"in the last days perilous times shall
come." 2 Timothy 3:1. It tells us that
"the nations were angry, and Thy wrath
is come, and the time of the dead, that
they should be judged." Revelation 11:
18. It tells us that religious liberty is to
disappear completely, for "he [a political-
religious power] causeth all, both small
and great, rich and poor, free and bond,
to receive a mark in their right hand, or
in their foreheads: and that no man
might buy or sell, save he that had the
mark, or the name of the beast, or the
number of his name;" and causeth "that
as many as would not worship the image
of the beast should be killed." Revela-
tion 13:16, 17, 15.
As one student of the Bible expresses
it, "God never forces the will or the con-
science; but Satan's constant resort—to
gain control of those whom he cannot
otherwise seduce—is compulsion by cru-
elty. Through fear or force he endeavors
to rule the conscience, and to secure
homage to himself. To accomplish this,
he works through both religious and sec-
Mar authorities, moving them to the
enforcement of human laws in defiance
of the law of God." And again, those who
are true to Biblical Christianity "will be
denounced as enemies of law and order,
as breaking down the moral restraints of
society, causing anarchy and corruption,
and calling down the judgments of God
upon the earth. Their conscientious
scruples will be pronounced obstinacy,
stubbornness, and contempt of authority.
They will be accused of disaffection to-
ward the government. Ministers who
deny the obligation of the divine law will
present from the pulpit the duty of yield-
ing obedience to the civil authorities as
ordained of God. In legislative halls and
courts of justice, commandment keepers
will be misrepresented and condemned.
A false coloring will be given to their
words; the worst construction will be put
upon their motives."
Slowly and surely the forces of tyr-
anny will augment their sway over hu-
man lives. Occasionally the instincts of
liberty and tolerance will seem to revive,
and those who work against the liberty
of their fellows will suffer a temporary
check; but their onward march will con-
tinue. (Continued on page 15)