“Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler of Israel.” Micah 5:2.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 161.1

Compare this with Matthew 2:6, where it is quoted, and note the margin which is closer to the original: “Thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Juda; for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall feed My people Israel.”PTUK March 18, 1897, page 161.2

This is the Holy Spirit's definition of the work of a true ruler or governor. We find it not in the nations of earth, nor in the apostate church, where the princes of the people “exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority over them,“ but we do find it amongst the real followers of Christ, where greatness is according to the amount of service.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 161.3

The Danish version, following the original Matt. ii. more closely than the English, has it: “out of thee shall go a Prince who shall be My people Israel's Shepherd.” This agrees with the marginal reading of our common version, for the duty of a shepherd is to feed the flock. But mark this, that the Ruler of Israel is the Shepherd of Israel; His work as Ruler of the people is to feed them.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 161.4

See how beautifully this thought of a Shepherd-King is expressed in Isaiah 40:10, 11: “Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”PTUK March 18, 1897, page 161.5

This is the only kind of ruling that the Lord sanctions in His church. In Hebrews 13:17 we read the exhortation, “Obey them that have the rule over you,“ but here again we may learn from the margin that these rulers are guides-those who direct the people in the right way, as a shepherd. Christ is “the Prince of princes” the Ruler over all, He leads His people, however, and does not drive them. He leads them where they will find food and safety.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 161.6

This thought is emphasised by the fact that Christ as Ruler comes out of Bethlehem. Bethlehem, literally, is the “House of Bread.” Out of the house of bread comes the Ruler, whose work is to feed the people. How significant! More than this, He Himself is the Bread of Life. In the house of God there is always an abundance of “the hidden manna,“ enough and to spare. Here is a lesson for all who are in positions of authority in the church. Their work is to take the Bread of Life from the House of Bread, to feed upon it themselves, and then feed the people with it. When they do this their authority will be recognised by the people, even if questioned by the scribes and Pharisees.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.1

“The Nightmare of Europe” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Mr. Henry Norman, the Chroncle's Commissioner in Greece, and a well-known authority on Eastern affairs, says that Macedonia is “the nightmare of Europe.” The nightmare consists rather in the events which Macedonia may have power to precipitate, and is the horrid reality of jealous Powers and excitable races armed to the teeth ready to shed blood in torrents. Mr. Norman says:—PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.2

“When I went through the Balkans a year ago one question was put to me above all other’s. Prince Nicolas in Montenegro, Prince Ferdinand and Dr. Stoiloff in Bulgaria, M. Stourdza in Roumania, M. Ristitch and M. Novakovitch in Servia, M. de Kallay in Bosnia, all asked the same thing: ‘Have you heard anything about Macedonia?’ In that strange and almost unknown land Greeks and Bulgarians and Serbs and Roumanians and Turks wait for the signal. Almost anybody may give it, and instantly five armies will march, and omnipotence itself could not hold back the mighty forces of Europe as soon as the stampede for the spoil has begun.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.3

“Austria wants Salonica, Montenegro wants Albania, Servia wants ‘Old Servia,’ Roumania wants what she can get, Bulgaria wants the sea, Greece wants Epirus and much more. Russia wants to control it all. For more than a year the Secret Committee has been working in Athens. Nobody knows who is at the head of it. It has almost unlimited funds, subscribed in Athens, in Constantinople, in Paris, in Smyrna, in Egypt, in Vienna, in London, in Liverpool. It has volunteers as many as it asks for, and Martini rifles and cartridges for them all. For a year its agents have gone backwards and forwards across Macedonia. Everything is ready. Let the word be given in Athens, let a force sally out of the passes of Thessaly, and Macedonia will explode from one end to the other. Armageddon-‘when the trees bud’? We all pray not.”PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.4

It is precisely because Omnipotence can bold back the mighty forces of evil that the universal crash does not come. Europe may be involved in general war, gusts of fury may bIow here and there, but the “four winds”—the world-wide tempests that will end in the Armageddon of the last day—are held back that God's work of saving men may go forward. He says so in Revelation 7:1-3. Politicians take little or no account of this side of the question, but it is nevertheless the fact that but one thing holds back the “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation,“ and that is the urgency of God's message urging men to come out of the world and prepare to meet Him. “This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matthew 24:14. The most blessed work anyone can have to do with in these times is to preach that Gospel by word and works.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.5

“Words of Good Cheer from the Throne” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

In a review of the life of Sir George Grey, the Colonial Administrator, it is remarked how often, when his plans and efforts were not appreciated by the shifting ministries at home, he was cheered and encouraged by messages of appreciation and sympathy from Queen Victoria.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.6

The reviewer recounts many other like cases, and it is a matter of common knowledge that the Queen has always been watchful and tactful to speak the cheering word. Many builders of the empire have been cheered by the knowledge that, though far away, and but small figures in the great empire, yet there was a personality representing it who was not blind to their sacrifices nor forgetful of their endeavours.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.7

If such recognition is cheering to the man of the world engaged in building up a kingdom that must soon perish, how much more should the Christian worker find good cheer in the thought that from the very Throne of the Heavens Jesus sends the message of sympathy and courage. Though but an atom in the universe God's care is over him, and He speaks not once or twice but constantly by His Word, in which every promise is assured to every believer. Not the fall of a sparrow escapes His watchful eye, and even the faintest call He hears and answers from His throne.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.8

“The Beginning and End of Knowledge” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

It is the beginning of knowledge to fear the Lord. Is that a statement of fact, or not? Solomon said it was a fact, only he reversed the terms of the expression and so made it more rhetorically impressive by the form in which he stated it,—“To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.9

Solomon was, without question, a wise man. There have been found those who could prate most amusingly and eloquently about the “mistakes of Moses,“ and so, had it but occurred to them, they might have had a still wider field for their riotous wit in the “foolishness of Solomon.” But where Moses made mistakes, and where Solomon was foolish, was where they forgot for the time the very rudiments of knowledge, and failed to base their thought and act upon the foundation of reverent remembrance of God; then they made mistakes, and then they were foolish.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.10

There can be no more conclusive evidence that the beginning of knowledge is really the fear of the Lord than these same mistakes of the great Israelitish leader, and the follies of the wise man. They both paid the penalty of their mistakes and their follies. Except for the errors into which he fell, Moses might not only have led his people into the promised land, but then, having fulfilled his mission, have been, like Elijah, translated, while his vigour was yet unimpaired and his vision undimmed.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.11

Solomon, after his plunge into folly, was filled with the sad reflections that he to whom had been granted the greatest blessings of this world, and the noblest possibilities, had profited nothing by them, but had so used them that they were only a weariness of the flesh and vanity of vanities-all vanity.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.12

Yet the embers of the Divine fire, stiff burning within him, impelled him to urge upon others that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,“ and that the young should remember their Creator in the days of their youth; for the conclusion of the whole matter was that it was the entire duty of man to “fear God, and keep His commandments.” And although he had so misused the wondrous gifts of God himself that now he hated life, and hated all the labour that he had taken under the sun, yet he knew, and taught, that “God giveth to a man, that is good in His sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy,”—and knew that had he been good in the sight of the Lord the joy that he had lacked would have continued his.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 162.13

There can be no more striking testimony than the life and death of Solomon, of the utter futility of mere knowledge and worldly power in comparison with that wisdom which, having its beginning in the fear of the Lord, builds through life on the same rock, and so cannot, in old age, be overthrown.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 163.1

“‘The Passion for War’” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

The Spectator is not a religious journal, neither is it an advocate for peace principles; but, applying itself to an analysis of the passion for war which takes possession of peoples, it very plainly, and from a merely worldly point of view, shows the really ignoble and contemptible nature of the war spirit.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 163.2

“Why” it asks, “do nations suddenly feel, as they undoubtedly do, the stirring of an appetite for war? Philanthropists argue always that peace of itself always produces a desire for peace, that if a nation can abstain from war for a generation it will lose the desire for war, just as a man who has “sworn off” for a long time, loses the desire for drink; but that experience by no means warrants their conclusions. On the contrary, history seems to suggest that war cools the desire for war, and that peace generates it again.... It is after a long peace, when a generation has grown up which knows nothing of actual battle, that a nation begins to grow restless, to recall the pleasures instead of the pains of battle, to feel the desire of glory, and to display a readiness to quarrel which covers a secret desire for war.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 163.3

“A generation without experience is, in many respects, like a young man, who, even if he has work to do, begins after a few years to resent the monotony of life; to be impatient of humdrum even if profitable; to feel in his veins, without conscious volition, the desire for a larger arena, for deeper excitement, for adventure, even if it should bring both danger and pain. In a man the craving is often satisfied by love; but a nation cannot love; the one excitement which soars its blood to the adequate degree, which carries it out of itself, and out of its wearisome sameness of existence, is battle-a struggle with equals which involves both danger and the chance of gain.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 163.4

“‘War, with its happy chances,’ said Napoleon III. It has often been said by historians that the French in 1848 were positively sick of the tameness in which their lives had been passed for thirty-two years, and especially of the last sixteen, during which the nation had flourished, commercially and intellectually, as it never flourished before, but had never enjoyed either a great adventure or an enlivening thrill of alarm. You can see the same signs of restlestness in all the nations now, [this was written several months ago] extending even to Great Britain, where the thirst is in part kept down by the incessant drawing off of the wilder spirits of each generation to search for success and careers in the wilder life of India and the great Colonies, and showing itself most visible in America, where in the absence of enemies the desire for peace ought to be perpetual.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 163.5

“There is a certain fear of war everywhere, due to a perception of the vast scale on which it must be fought, and the terrible reduction in the chance of escape which the new weapons will ensure, but nevertheless there is hardly a nation which is without the feeling that if war came life would be brighter, more vivid, more like the dreams which fill the brains of youth. The sudden passion which fills music-halls and makes all newspapers pugnacious, is not altogether either vapour or a mere product of vanity, but has its roots in a spirit which, bad or good-and we are not judging it just now-has its origins in some permanent constituent of human nature. Philosophers say that this constituent is the actual love of fighting, the survival of the animal in man; but we do not feel quite sure, for we notice that it is as strong or stronger in those who do not intend to fight, that writers in prose and poetry grow especially bloodthirsty, and that women, though they will suffer most and enjoy least from battle, are often readier than men to declare that battle ought to be risked. We incline rather to believe, though it is a disheartening thought, that the impelling force, often unconscious, is rather a thirst for the deepest of all excitements, that of the arena. No more dangerous thirst can be conceived, but that it can be developed as it were of itself in periods of profound peace we feel as certain as we do that neither the philosophers nor the theologians have yet discovered any remedy for it, or any prophylactic.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 163.6

There is but one remedy and that is the Gospel. The Gospel takes all the fight out of the heart by freeing men from the power of the god of this world who is the author of war. But this is a remedy which the world in general refuses to accept, and so the war clouds hang heavily over the nations continually.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 163.7

“Evangelising in Turkey” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

The brother in charge of our Society's work in Turkey reports his first tour in the provinces since the rising in Constantinople. He says:—PTUK March 18, 1897, page 163.8

“The last revolutionary movement of the Armenians against the Turkish Government so changed the internal condition of the country that it has become impossible for an Armenian to travel as he pleases. The important ports were taken under close watching. A special court was arranged to investigate all Armenians who wanted to leave the country. As I am an Armenian, I had first to appeal to this court. I am glad that God gave me favour before the council. When they learned that I was a Sabbath-keeper, they took this question under consideration, and I was permitted to visit Cilicia.”PTUK March 18, 1897, page 163.9

Meetings were held in Adana and Tarsus, and in both places a number were baptized. “Protestants stood afar from us” he says, “but (Catholic) Armenians, especially young people, were stirred to study. Some Protestants consulted together to put me into the hands of the Government, but God brought their plans to naught.” It is the old story over again: those who have a little light and do not appreciate it nor live up to it, fight bitterly against the light which shows their transgressions and invites to a higher life, while those poor souls who feel their poverty rejoice when the Word comes to them.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 163.10

“For Pious Purposes” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

For Pious Purposes .—Whenever one wants to do a wicked thing he can do it with far more enthusiasm if he can persuade himself that it is for a pious or philanthropic purpose. No wars are so cruel and bloody as those in which men mingle religious feeling with political aims. It nerves them to acts of which they would be incapable did they not consider themselves the instruments of Divine vengeance. They think God is animated by the same hatred that fills their own hearts. Thus they make God like unto themselves, which is the way of all heathenism. In the name also of civilisation, and even “Christian civilisation,“ adventurers can perpetrate upon weak races crimes which even the most heartless would shrink from if they merely considered the atrocity itself. It is the devil's way of making men think they do God's service when they are swayed by the very spirit of Satan.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 163.11

“Items of Interest” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

—The King of Siam is expected to visit England this year.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.1

—It is proposed in the United States to employ convicts in making Turkish rugs.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.2

—The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs is an Irishman, Charles O'Donnell by name.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.3

—The boy King of Spain speaks English fluently, and he is described as being a bright, mischievous, wilful child.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.4

—A steamer has been put upon the Jordan, and makes the journey from Jericho to Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, in five hours.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.5

—The Greek and Turkish citizens throughout the world, subject to military duty, are being summoned by their respective governments to return home.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.6

—The expenditure proposed for ship building during the coming year, by the German naval estimates, is nearly seven times that of the normal average expenditure.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.7

—A new source of tree gutta percha, capable of adding largely to the world's supply, is reported to have lately been found in a creeping plant in the French Soudan.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.8

—Great preparations are being made for the celebration of the Queen's Jubilee Day, June 22. The procession, representing Britain and the Colonies, is to be a mile long, and it is expected that 26,000 troops will be paraded along the route.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.9

—A Japanese scientist believes that he has evidence that the cause of the tidal wave which devastated the coast of Japan last June, was a volcanic outburst at the bottom of the ocean, about two hundred leagues at sea.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.10

-What is said to be the most expensive book to the world is now being published by the Government of the United States, at a total cost of nearly ?600,000. The book is an official history of the American Civil War, and consists of 112 volumes.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.11

—The British and Foreign Bible Society has just celebrated the ninety-third anniversary of its organisation. Nearly 4,000,000 Bibles, Testaments, and extracts, have been distributed the past year. The entire output of the Society to the present date has been 147,366,669 copies of the Bible.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.12

—Twice in one week the X rays were used in Leeds Infirmary for the extraction of coins swallowed by children. In one instance a half-penny was accidentally swallowed five months ago. Under the rays the coin was at once loosed, the requisite operation being speedily and successfully performed.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.13

—A “Sunday Steamer Association” proposes to run a steamer on the Clyde the coming summer. The Dunoon Commissioners have expressed themselves unwilling to open the pier on Sundays. Legal authorities are of the opinion that a pier cannot be closed against a steamer on any day. So a battle at law seems imminent.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 174.14

“Back Page” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

“If you love Me, keep My commandments,“ love and obedience are inseparable. Those who refuse to keep His commandments do so because they do not love Him. In that heart wherein the commandments of God are written, love and faith will both abide.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.1

The fashion is to glorify the culture and philosophy of the ancient Greeks. But it is not realised by those who do this that the Apostle Paul, in the first chapter of Romans, describes by inspiration the true character of that heathen culture which put God out of the knowledge of men and was unspeakably vile.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.2

“The Medical Side of the Drink Question” (Ideal Publishing Union, Memorial Hall, Farringdon-street), is an excellent compilation from the writings of the late Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson. It is a large pamphlet (78 pp.) at the very low price of 1d. May it do much good, for the increasing consumption of drink is due very much to ignorance of the poisonous nature of alcohol.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.3

How foolish that rich man is who thinks he can save his wealth by depositing it in the bank and safety vault of the devil, instead of laying it up where moth and rust can never corrupt, and where there are no thieves to break through and steal.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.4

“Not Protestant” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Not Protestant .—The Anglican Archbishops have replied to the Papal Bull on Anglican Orders, and their reply is ample proof that if the highest officials of the English Church speak for the majority, the majority of the Church of England totally repudiates Protestantism. They address the Pope as their “venerable brother,“ and the argument throughout is that the Church of England has a sacrificing priesthood whose “orders” are every whit as sound as the Roman Catholic.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.5

“Sowing the Wind” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Sowing the Wind .—When preachers justify resort to war to gain political independence, and a great hall filled with rebellious people, rings with cheers for those who—let us say—fight for their rights against oppression, it is impossible not to think of an equally noisy meeting, held in the same great hall a little time ago, when an audience distinctly irreligious in its sympathies cheered men who counselled the overthrow of the present colonial system in England. At the recent meeting speakers evoked repeated “groans” by violently denouncing a foreign ruler, the German Emperor. At the other meeting there were groans for the British Government and hisses for the aged Queen. Of course it will be said that the meeting in behalf of the Greek cause was more representative, and that the other meeting represented only a few malcontents. But the point is that when religious people justify resort to bloodshed to overthrow Governments and to secure rights they are losing their influence for peace and encouraging elements of discontent which are increasing year by year. They are sowing the wind and will yet reap the whirlwind.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.6

“Suffering In Rhodesia” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Suffering In Rhodesia .—Following the native war and the rinderpest, the newly opened country of Matabeleland is suffering famine. We have frequently printed reports from our Society's mission there, showing the great needs of the natives. The situation, according to the last report, was increasing in gravity. One of the missionaries writes:—PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.7

When I last wrote, I could chronicle the fact that many who were mere skeletons had been seen, and that deaths were reported from adjoining neighbourhoods. Now we can say they are no longer at a distance, but have become a reality at our door. The dead from hunger is all round us, and human skeletons are walking about on every side, begging for a morsel to eat; but even this has often to be denied them. The road to Buluwayo has been for a few weeks dotted here and there with the bodies of those who have gone as far as they could in search of food: but strength failing, they perished by the way.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.8

“The Cry of the Children” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

The Cry of the Children .—The report further tells of a boy who was caught trying to steal a fowl, who led his captor to a place where a little three-year-old was buried in a hole by a layer of brushwood and soil. The little one was taken out and makes progress toward recovery.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.9

Yesterday a native told my wife that many are disposing of their children by thrusting them into holes, and covering them with whatever is at hand; then placing their fingers in ears to drown their cries, they run from the place as fast as they can go. Oh, that we could take all these helpless ones, and feed them, and teach them of Jesus and a life beyond! We have taken thirty of these needy ones to feed and clothe and teach, and have appealed to the Government in behalf of the many we are unable to help. We hope attention will be given to this appeal. Dear brethren, do we fully appreciate the plenty the Lord has granted us? I am sure I have not in the past, and now our daily desire is that we might have some of that plenty that we have so lightly appreciated in the past, that we might be of service to this distressed people.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.10

“Come Quickly” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Come Quickly .—When one contemplates the increase or suffering in the earth due to disease and crime and injustice, and sees the drink evil extending at home and abroad, and the passion for war continually preparing to add to the volume of misery by the wholesale butchery of the battle-field, one can only consecrate his all to the work of saving souls from the ruin and find refuge in the promise, “Surely I come quickly,“ and respond, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” There is much to be done before this Gospel of the kingdom can be said to have been preached as a witness to all nations. But the Lord is in haste to end the reign of ruin, and “He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make in the earth.” The “wars and rumours of wars” and the “famines and pestilences” which constitute so sorrowful a spectacle are themselves signs which Jesus said would portend His second coming.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.11

“Adding Fuel to the Flames” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

Adding Fuel to the Flames .—In its column, “Books and Authors,“ the Echo remarks that, “the growing popularity of books on navies and armies, of biographies of admirals and generals, is one of the most striking features of the book market.” And among them all that which is “full of fighting from first to last, is the most successful and the most popular.” As flying straws show the direction of the wind, so the output of current literature shows the bent of the popular mind. Preparation for war, on land and sea, is now the engrossing pursuit of all the nations of the world. It is natural that the literature of war should find a ready market. The fact that this is so makes it all the more needful that the literature of peace,—the Bible, should be distributed even more freely, and God's message of peace—the Gospel—be more faithfully preached than ever before.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.12

“The Eastern Question” The Present Truth, 13, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

The Eastern Question .—The first edition of our pamphlet on this question having been exhausted, a second edition (of 10,000 copies) is now being printed. It is a study of the Eastern Question in the light of the “sure word of prophecy,“ which shows how much its solution means to all the world. Price 1d.PTUK March 18, 1897, page 176.13

March 11, 1897

March 24, 1897