WHAT CHRIST MEANS TO 
ME TODAY 
THE FUTURE UNVEILED 
SURVIVAL THROUGH FAITH 
A 5tAitt F4•44 4. 4 5(44c. Faulk 
* INCLUDED IN THIS ISSUE 
_Aar/1;aq 
BY DORIS E. BRIGGS 
The fragrance from the flowers. 
In the fields so fair, 
Sends a silent message 
On the perfumed air. 
The soft touch of the south wind 
Stirring in the trees, 
Brings a breath of promise 
To the rustling leaves. 
The sweet notes in the bird-song 
Fall upon the ear, 
Telling us the story 
We all love to hear. 
The glory round the sunrise 
Fills the eastern sky, 
Opening Heaven's gateway 
To the wakeful eye. 
The presence of such beauty 
Through the early dawn 
Calls us out to worship 
On this lovely morn. 
Picture: The village church, Altarnun, Cornwall. 
Mad 
A Family Journal of Christian Living. Dedi-
cated to the proclamation of the Everlasting 
Gospel. Presenting the Bible as the Word of 
God and Jesus Christ as our All-Sufficient 
Saviour and Coming King. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CONTENTS 
EDITORIAL 
Thee Road to Rome �
 4 
GENERAL ARTICLES 
What Christ Means to Me Today �
R R Bietz 7 
The Future Unveiled �
 Frederick Lee 8 
How Readest Thou) 
�
R. T. Bolton 10 
Survival Through Faith �
 Leslie Shaw 12 
Sabbath or Sunday?-1 
How Old is Sunday Observance? 
�
V. N. Olsen 14 
Who are Israel Today? 
�
G. Elliott 16 
The Bible's Basic Beliefs.-10 
When God Settles the Account . . . J. A. McMillan 18 
Let us Pray.-2 
How to Pray �
 Ernest Cox 21 
Sabbath in Heaven �
 R. H. Pierson 23 
�
Choose You This Day! 
 Lois L. Lane 26 
REGULAR FEATURES 
Prophecy Speaks! �
S G. Hyde 29 
The Children's Pages �
 32 
Mirror of Our Time �
 35 
POEM 
Morning Worship �
 Doris E. Briggs 
2 
Cover picture: "Summer Days" 
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VOLUME 78 �
JUNE, 1962 �Price xi- 
THE BIBLE AND OUR TIMES is printed and published monthly in 
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CIRCULATION MANAGER 
W. LESLIE EMMERSON 
�
 RAYMOND D. VINE 
C. M, HUBERT COWEN 
�
 J. H. CRAVEN 
 
 
This Month . 
THE BIBLE 
AND 
= �
WITHOUT doubt one of the 
= 
E �
m o s t important recent items of 
E 
= �
church news was the visit of Dr. 
= 
= �
Archibald Craig, Moderator of the 
Church of Scotland, to the Vatican 
= �
to meet the Pope. This was the 
E �
fourth of a series of "courtesy calls" 
a- �
which began when Dr. Geoffrey 
Fisher, then Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, visited Rome at the end of 
= 
= �
1960. The significance of these visits 
E--'_ 
..".
7_ �
is discussed in the editorial, "The 
ai �
Road to Rome."—Page 4. 
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-.=. 
--_—.-€ 
z...--. 
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Many people have the idea that 
the Christian faith is no longer rele-
vant to the world of today. R. R. 
Bietz certainly does not believe this, 
as he explains in his article, "What 
Christ Means to Me Today."—Page 
7. 
One of the arguments for modern 
versions of the Scriptures, like the 
New English Bible, is that they make 
them more easily understandable to 
a generation which has lost touch 
with the message of the Bible. R. T. 
Bolton, however, points out in his 
article, "How Readest Thou?" that 
no version, however modern, will 
break down resistance to the Gospel 
unless the reader is willing to listen 
to the voice of God with open mind 
and heart.—Page 10. 
We hear a great deal these days 
about plans for survival in case of 
nuclear holocaust. But even more 
important than this, declares Leslie 
Shaw in his article, "S u r viva I 
Through Faith," is preparation for 
survival in the day of God's final 
judgment on an impenitent world. 
—Page 12. 
The appointment of a parliamen-
tary committee to study the Sunday 
laws on the statute books once again 
raises the problem of the relation of 
Sunday to the Sabbath of the Deca-
logue. In this issue V. N. Olsen 
begins a series of three articles with 
the question, "How Old is Sunday 
Observance?"—Page 14. 
Another question which has been 
revived by the re-establishment of a 
Jewish State in Palestine is, "Who 
are Israel Today?" G. Elliott takes 
us to the Bible for an answer.—
Page 16. 
In "Prophecy Speaks" this month 
S. G. Hyde deals with one of the 
most startling of the symbols of the 
book of Revelation, "The Scarlet 
Woman."—Page 29. 
THE TIMES 
CURRENT EVENTS 
IN THE 
LIGHT OF 
THE BIBLE . . . 
By 
The 
Editor 
N 
N historic event more important than 
the visit of Dr. Geoffrey Fisher to 
the Vatican in 1960." Such is the 
opinion of one commentator about the 
"courtesy call" which Dr. Archibald C. 
Craig, Moderator of the Church of Scot-
land, made a week or two ago on Pope 
Pius XXIII at the Vatican Palace in 
Rome. 
There is good reason for saying this, 
for the Presbyterian church, of which 
Dr. Craig is the elected head, represents 
"the most extreme wing" of the great 
Protestant churches which separated from 
Rome in the Reformation movement of 
the sixteenth century. Dr. Craig himself 
has called it the "citadel of spiky Pres-
byterianism," and never in the inter-
vening four hundred years has a Modera-
tor of that church stepped across the 
Pope's threshold, shaken him cordially 
by the hand, and exchanged presents with 
him. Indeed, since 1647 the "Westminster 
Confession," which is the basic theo-
logical document of the Presbyterian 
The Road to Rome 
church, has specifically designated the Pope as "Antichrist, man 
of sin, son of perdition." 
No wonder that the Roman newspaper, 11 Tempo, remarked 
after the visit that the ecumenical movement must have made 
gigantic steps forward in recent years for a successor of Calvin 
and John Knox to pay such a call; and another Rome paper, 
Paese Sera, hailed it as "a victory over the most rigidly Pro-
testant circle in Scotland." "The wind of change," Presbyterian 
John Grey called it, and Professor A. M. Renwick, head of the 
Presbyterian College in Lima, Peru, for over eighteen years, 
and now lecturing in Scotland, was constrained to confess that 
"in Scotland the pace toward Rome seems more rapid than in 
England." 
In actual fact, Dr. Craig's visit to the Vatican was the fourth 
made by leaders of the non-Roman churches since Dr. Fisher, as 
Archbishop of Canterbury, went there fifteen months ago. Last 
year the Pope received Dr. Arthur Lichtenberger, presiding 
bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, and Dr. 
4 
J. H. Jackson, president of the National Baptist 
Convention, U.S.A. And since Dr. Craig's courtesy 
call, Dr. Mervyn Stockwood, Anglican Bishop of 
Southwark, paid his second visit to the Pope in 
three years. 
Without question, therefore, there is urgent need 
to study this startling phenomenon of modern Pro-
testantism and to discover its meaning. 
When we look at non-Roman Christendom today 
we discern two tendencies of immense significance. 
The first is the increasing eagerness of the non-Roman 
churches for reunion among themselves. This finds 
its chief expression in the World Council of 
Churches, which a few months ago held its Third 
Assembly in New Delhi, India. Stemming from the 
International Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 
1910, the World Council was officially organized in 
1948 at Amsterdam, and today comprises no fewer 
than 198 churches in more than 150 countries, and 
from extreme Protestant bodies like the Baptist, 
Congregationalist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Re-
formed on the one hand, to Anglican, Old Catholic, 
and almost the entire Orthodox church on the other. 
The second significant trend in the ecclesiastical 
world today is the growing cordiality between these 
non-Roman churches and the Roman Catholic Church, 
indicated by the steady stream of church leaders who 
have been paying "courtesy calls" on the Pope. 
In one sense these two trends may be regarded as 
parts of the same "ecumenical movement," but really 
Dr. Archibald C. Craig, Moderator of the Church of 
Scotland (below), is the latest non-Roman church leader 
to take the road to Rome opened up by the "courtesy 
call" of Geoffrey Fisher (left), fifteen months ago when 
he was Archbishop of Canterbury. 
we should recognize a fundamental distinction be-
tween them. For while the non-Roman churches are 
drawing increasingly close together and union 
churches are in process of being formed across con-
fessional barriers, as in South India, there is no 
likelihood within any measurable period of the non-
Roman churches being ready to "submit" to Rome 
in the interests of reunion. As a matter of fact, each 
of the recent visitors to the Vatican has made it 
clear that there is a wide gulf between non-Roman 
and Roman Christendom. And in his centenary 
sermon at St. Andrews Kirk, Rome, Dr. Craig was 
at pains to emphasize that "the ecumenical movement 
bristles with complexities and problems," and that 
the Kirk "adheres to the theological and ethical 
tradition deriving from Calvin and Knox." 
These visits, however, do clearly show a growing 
readiness, in spite of continuing doctrinal differences, 
to find a basis of co-operation with Rome, and even 
a willingness to accept the leadership of Rome as 
"first among equals" for the creation of a "Chris-
tian front" against the outright atheism of the Com-
munist East and the growing materialism and 
secularism of the West. 
Now the significant thing about these two parallel 
movements is that they are exactly in line with the 
prophetic picture which the Bible gives us of the 
religious situation in the last momentous days of the 
world's history. 
In the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of the 
Revelation, John records a series of visions which he 
was given depicting the development of the cul-
minating apostasy of the last days. First, he saw a 
power designated "the beast" which, after exercising 
a tyrannical spiritual dominion over the lives of men 
for many centuries, would suffer a "deadly wound" 
(Rev. 13:3), to be followed, however, by such a 
spectacular recovery that "all the world" would 
wonder "after the beast." There is no difficulty in 
recognizing this as the power of Rome which, after 
its zenith of power in the Dark Ages, was almost 
extinguished by the French Revolution and the 
democratic upheavals in nineteenth century Europe, 
but which today is experiencing such a resurgence 
that one of its leaders has said that "when the history 
of the church is written it will be recognized that 
the fifties and the sixties of this century were the 
golden age in the development of the Catholic 
Church."—Archbishop Murphy in the Universe, 
March 9, 1962. 
The Revelator goes on in his prophecy to declare 
that contemporary with the resurgence of "the beast" 
there would come into existence an "image to the 
beast" (Rev. 13:14), a parallel ecclesiastical or-
ganization of the non-Roman churches which would 
so water down the "protest" which led to their' 
exodus from Rome, that they would become a virtual 
"image" of the Roman "beast." And no-one who 
has studied the development of the ecumenical move-
ment of the twentieth century can have failed to 
notice the progressive Catholic tilt which has changed 
what was a predominantly "Protestant" association 
of churches at the First Assembly of the World 
Council of Churches at Amsterdam in 1948, to a 
predominantly "Catholic" association at New Delhi 
in 1961, where, on a churchmember basis, "Catholics" 
outnumbered "Protestants" by something like four 
to one! 
With evident satisfaction, the Archbishop of 
Canterbury declared at a meeting in London on his 
return home that as a result of "the great influx 
of the Eastern Orthodox" the World Council of 
Churches was no longer an "exclusively Protestant 
show." And even before the Assembly convened, 
Canon DuBois of the American Church Union had 
sounded the call "for Catholic and Orthodox Chris-
tians to assume positive leadership of the reunion 
movements." 
No wonder that R. A. Ward in the Church of 
England Newspaper has described the "tilt . . . 
away from Protestantism" as a "deadly peril," and 
warned: "It would be sad if what was banished 
at the Reformation came in by the ecumenical back 
door." 
We might have expected, as we continue to follow 
the prophecy, that these two parallel religious move-
ments would finally merge into one great last-day 
apostasy, but actually this amalgamation does not take 
place. Instead we note that, to the end, "the beast" 
and "his image" will remain independent. There will, 
however, be increasing co-operation between the two, 
with "the beast" taking the lead in the development 
Princess Margaret has explained to her the operation of 
the new cobalt "bomb" which has just been installed 
at a Middlesbrough hospital. 
of the final apostasy against God. And perhaps this 
is what we are beginning to glimpse in these 
Anglican, Episcopal, Baptist, and now Presbyterian 
"courtesy calls" on the Pope. 
Contemplating the progressive undermining of the 
Reformation movement in our time, it is understand-
able, therefore, that Professor A. M. Renwick, whom 
we quoted above, should warn that "this eagerness 
for building up new relationships with the Roman 
Catholic Church is something that needs to be very 
closely watched." The Monthly Record of the Free 
Church of Scotland goes further and characterizes 
Dr. Craig's visit as a "grave betrayal of Scotland's 
Protestant faith and heritage" which will "bring 
nothing but harm to the cause of Christ the Lord," 
and the honorary treasurer of the Kirk of St. Andrews 
in Rome has resigned his post in protest at the 
visit. 
Which brings us to the culmination of John's pro-
phetic survey of the last days, in which we learn 
that, parallel with the resurgence of "the beast" and 
the increasing co-operation with it of the "image to 
the beast," there will be a drawing together of a 
third group of faithful believers, only a "remnant" 
(Rev. 12:17) by comparison with the multitudes 
being blindly led into the final apostasy of Christen-
dom, but who in the power of the Spirit will not 
"worship the beast and his image" (Rev. 14:9-11), 
but will "keep the commandments of God, and the 
faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. These, and not the great 
churches slipping steadily into the clutches of the 
great apostasy, are the true people of God in the last 
portentous days of earth's history. 
More important, therefore, than the recognition of 
the resurgence of "the beast" and the crystallization 
of "the image to the beast" in the modern ecumenical 
movement, is it that we recognize and associate our-
selves with the faithful "remnant" who will bear the 
final witness for God amid the apostasy of the last 
days. 
"Come out of her . . . and be ye separate" (Rev. 
18:4; 2 Cor. 6:17) is the call of God to His people 
as apostasy deepens in the earth. 
"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they 
that keep the commandments of God, and the faith 
of Jesus," is the signpost pointing the way to God's 
true church in the last days. 
And "now is the accepted time" to make your 
personal decision that you may be among "the called, 
and chosen, and faithful" (Rev. 17:14) who will 
be "with Him" in the day of Christ's final triumph. 
Communications Satellites 
BY next year the United States expects to put into 
space the first system of communications satellites for 
the receipt and transmission of messages around the 
world. 
• 
Sr 
 
By R. B. Bieti 
 
W
HAT does Christ mean to me today? What 
does He mean to me when walking on the 
crowded city streets or driving on the busy 
and sometimes frightening highways? What does He 
mean to me amid all the marvels of the space age? 
I accepted Christ when a young lad. For me, He 
is "the same yesterday, today and for ever." Heb. 
13:8. I believe Him to be the "Alpha and Omega, 
the beginning and the ending, . . . which is, and 
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." 
Rev. 1:8. 
The yearnings of the human heart through the 
changing centuries find in the changeless Christ 
complete satisfaction. Christ has a way of meeting 
the problems of every heart in every age. His power 
and wisdom are eternal. His love remains constant. 
He is the same Christ who brought assurance to the 
troubled heart of Job three and a half millenniums 
ago when he could find no reasonable explanation 
for life's problems. Job found the answer in Christ 
when he said, "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, 
and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the 
earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this 
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Job 19:25, 
26. The Christ I believe in is called, "Wonderful, 
Counsellor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, 
The Prince of Peace." Isa. 9:6. Great peace floods 
the souls of those who commit their ways to the 
Lord. Whether we live on the mountaintop of hap-
piness or in the valley of sorrow and despair, Christ 
is always near. He 'makes joys more meaningful and 
causes pain and sorrow to subside. When waves 
of trouble and care are about to engulf us, He says, 
"Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28. When 
the burdens of life become too heavy, He calls us 
 
7 
to lean on Him. "Casting all your care upon Him; 
for He careth for you." 1 Peter 5 :7. When relatives 
and friends forsake us, He says, "I will never leave 
thee, nor forsake thee." Heb. 13:5. 
The promises of Christ are life because Christ 
is life. He says. "I am He that liveth, and was 
dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore." Rev. 
1:18. The Christian can say with confidence, "I am 
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, 
but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now 
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of 
God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." 
Gal. 2:20. 
Christ in the heart means hope, and this brings a 
sense of security. Referring to this experience, the 
apostle Paul speaks of "Christ in you, the hope of 
glory." Col. 1:27. 
This hope is not confined to any one particular age. 
Abraham had it when he looked for a city whose 
Builder and Maker is God. Paul had it when the 
ship in which he was sailing was tossed about on 
the tempestuous Mediterranean for fourteen days and 
nights. When the storm was about to dash the ship 
to pieces and all hope of survival had vanished, he 
said, "Be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss 
of any man's life among you, but of the ship. For 
(Continued on page 22.) 
T
HE prime questions posed by 
the nuclear age,' writes 
Stuart Chase, "are not the 
United States against Russia, or 
Russia against China, or com-
munism against capitalism; the 
prime question is the continuity 
of the human race." 
In such times of dire peril and 
uncertainty, the rulers of nations 
turn to their staffs of experts, 
missile men, intelligence agents, 
diplomats, world observers, 
generals and politicians, for an 
answer to the question, "What of 
the future? Will it be peace or 
war ?" 
But can any of these men know 
for sure what tomorrow or next 
year will bring f or th? They 
cannot. God alone knows what 
will come to pass in the years 
ahead—and those to whom He 
reveals it. Through the prophet 
Isaiah He made this fact clear. "I 
am God," He said, "and there is 
none like Me, declaring the end 
from the beginning, and from 
ancient times the things that are 
not yet done." "Behol d, the 
former things are come to pass, 
and new things do I declare: be-
fore they spring forth I tell you 
of them." Isa. 46:9, 10; 42:9. 
Daniel the prophet was one to 
whom God unveiled the future, 
the m o s t outstanding example 
being found in the second chapter 
of his book. 
Nebuchadnezzar, king of 
Babylon, was greatly concerned 
about "what should come to pass 
hereafter." One night he had a 
dream that troubled him, but 
when he awoke he was unable 
to recall it. So he sent for his 
counsellors — magicians, astro-
logers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans 
—and said to them, "Tell me 
what the dream was and what it 
means." Dan. 2 :6, Moffatt. 
Astonished and fearful, they 
cried, "Tell your servants the 
dream and we will interpret it for 
By Frederick lee 
you. It is a rare thing the king requires. No-one 
except the gods who do not dwell with men could 
do this." 
When the king heard their excuses, he "was angry 
and very furious," and commanded that all the wise 
men of Babylon should be slain. The captain of the 
▪ 
king's guard came to take Daniel, for he, too, was 
• 
considered one of the wise men. When the Hebrew 
youth learned the purpose of this call, he asked for 
• 
time to pray. This was granted, and the secret of the 
dream was revealed to him. Immediately he went to 
the palace to tell the king. 
It was a momentous occasion as the calm, devout 
youth came face to face with the distraught monarch. 
Daniel addressed the king with respect and bold- 
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 28-35. 
The king listened in wonderment as the prophet 
proceeded with the interpretation. "Thou, 0 king," he 
declared, "art a king of kings: for the God of heaven 
hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and 
glory.. . . Thou art this head of gold." Verses 37, 38. 
The proud ruler was pleased as he heard this. But 
Daniel gave him little time for satisfaction. "After 
thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee," 
he said, "and another third kingdom of brass, which 
shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth 
kingdom shall be strong as iron." Verses 39, 40. 
With the aid of a chart, this Baptist minister explains the great panoramic prophecies of the book of Daniel which 
outline the course of world history from ancient Babylon to our day. 
ness. "There is a God in heaven," he explained, 
"that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the 
King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter 
days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon 
thy bed, are these.... 
A king's dream 
"Thou, 0 king, sawest, and behold a great image. 
. .. 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 together, and be-
came like the chaff of the summer threshing floors ; 
The picture is clear. Four universal kingdoms were 
to rule in succession. This was fulfilled in the em-
pires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, 
whose history covered the next one thousand years. 
"They shall not cleave" 
Then events were to take a sharp turn. The fourth 
kingdom was to be divided into smaller nations, 
"partly strong, and partly brittle." Verse 42, margin. 
Of this period of world history Daniel declared, 
"And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry 
clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of 
men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even 
as iron is not mixed with clay." Verse 43. 
Marvellously accurate was this prophecy! When 
Rome was overrun in the fourth and fifth centuries 
(Continued on page 25.) 
9 
T
HE recent new translation of the New Testa-
ment has been in our hands for some time 
now and most of us have no doubt read it. 
The translation was prepared, as the Introduction 
says, to provide "English readers, whether familiar 
with the Bible or not, with a faithful rendering of 
the best available Greek text into the current speech 
of our own time." 
It is generally agreed that the translators have 
made a good job of their difficult task. They have 
not pleased everybody and did not expect to, but 
much that was hard to understand by those familiar 
and those unfamiliar with it is now made readable 
in our current speech. But it would be wrong to 
suppose that it was ever intended to be as easy to 
read as the daily newspaper. 
Christ's method of teaching was not simplicity it-
self neither would it ever make easy reading, for 
He deliberately taught by means of proverbs and 
parables because men were required to give careful 
thought to what He said. His words were for the 
seekers; for those who were willing to apply both 
heart and mind to understand the principles of the 
kingdom of heaven. They were not for the casual 
hearer, the indolent or indifferent, nor were they for 
the hypercritical. A ready heart and mind were pre-
requisites to a knowledge of the divine oracles which 
He taught. 
It may be therefore that not a few are disappointed 
with the new translation. They feel that while the 
New Testament is now easier to read and generally 
to understand, yet the real mysteries of religion are 
still locked up in the niceties of proverb and parable, 
and it still takes hold of themes so profound as to 
be beyond the grasp of the man in the street—es- 
10 
pecially in the "letters," where the great doctrines of 
the Christian faith are hammered out by the apostle 
Paul and other writers. 
Not intellect but heart 
What then is the ordinary man to do ? He must 
recognize that his own approach to it is the greatest 
hindrance to understanding it. When he reads any 
other historical book he does not find it difficult to 
understand. Why is this? Because he reads it willing 
to accept the recorded facts of the history opened up 
to him. He does not dispute the facts for he wasn't 
there and he has few if any prejudices. 
It is not so with the Bible. He is almost sure to 
have prejudices. He will not read without some 
mental reservation and he may read it to find fault 
with it; he may not even like to be seen reading it. 
BY R. T. Bolton �
H �
\A 
With such an approach it will be a wonder if he 
does understand it and be moved to believe and 
obey it. The truth is, the Bible is not hard to under-
stand if the mind is attuned to it and if there is 
just the ordinary desire to understand it. Most people 
read and comprehend much more difficult matter than 
that found in the Bible. But the understanding of the 
Bible is not so much a matter of the intellect as of 
the heart. Not that he must love God before he 
can understand, but he must come to it with an open 
heart and with the spirit of a learner and the deter-
mination of a seeker: with this approach he will 
come to know God whom to know is to love. 
The experience of the Psalmist David is relevant. 
He says: "0 how love I Thy law! it is my meditation 
all the day . . . I have more understanding than all 
my teachers: for Thy testimonies are my meditation. 
I understand more than the ancients, because I keep 
Thy precepts." Psa. 119:97-100. The love the 
Psalmist had and the superior knowledge he gained 
may come to every Bible reader whose heart is fixed 
on knowing God. 
It is then not so much a new translation that we 
need. It is a right approach, an interest in it, a will to 
know and to believe, and the humble spirit of a �
• 
seeker after truth. Such a reader will not fail to find 
more than he would have asked or thought; even 
profound mysteries will become clear and all things 
become new. 
The simple Gospel 
Let us notice how simple the fundamentals of the 
Christian faith are. Every schoolboy can read and 
understand the Ten Commandments: "Honour thy 
father and mother," "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou 
shalt not steal," "Thou shalt have none other gods 
before Me." These are simple, plain, and clear; all 
who read may understand and yet they are basic in 
the teachings of Christianity. We are also told that 
transgression of this law is sin, that "all have sinned," 
that the "wages of sin is death," and that there is 
a day in which God will judge all men and reward 
every man according to his deeds. None of these 
things are hard to be understood for they show us 
clearly what we are—sinners, law-breakers—and that 
God will judge and punish us for those things. 
What follows is most amazing, yet it is within the 
accept by faith the gift of His Son's sacrifice who 
died a cruel death to pay the penalty for our sins. 
A child can understand this story of God's great 
love for us all, and the story is there in the gospels—
why is it that it is not understood ? 
It is not a matter of intellect, it is not a matter 
of language, archaic though it may be, but a matter 
of faith. The words of Christ to His generation seem 
applicable today. "If they will not hear Moses and 
the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though 
one rose from the dead." Luke 16:31. If men today 
cannot understand God's message to man in the 
language of beauty in which it is set in the Authorized 
Version of 1611, neither will they be persuaded by 
the most impeccable of modern translations. "Except 
ye . . . become as little children, ye shall not enter 
into the kingdom of heaven." 
READEST THOU? 
understanding of the simplest. It is the good news, 
the Gospel, which tells us that God so loved us 
that "He gave His only begotten Son, that who-
soever believeth in Him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life;" that "if we confess our sins, He is 
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to 
cleanse us from all unrighteousness." What is hard 
to understand here is not the recital of the facts, 
but the declaration that God loves us so much. We 
are sinners who are bound to be found guilty when 
judged, yet He is willing to forgive us if we will 
The Bible is artlessly and simply written, showing 
the will and love of God for us. It does not contain 
"cunningly devised fables," but eternal truth. It is 
not written merely to please, but to tell the truth. 
It is not written so as to dispel all doubts; in fact 
room is left for the doubter to doubt. No undue 
pressure is brought upon the mind, but he who runs 
may read and understand and will find plenty of 
pegs upon which to hang his faith, by which he may 
come to know, and love, and serve God, and find the 
peace which passes understanding. 
The apostle Paul commended the Bereans because they "searched the Scriptures daily" to assure themselves of the 
truth of the message he taught. 
H
UMAN fear today is primarily a fear of bodily 
destruction, fear of the loss of limb and 
life; fear "for looking after those things 
which are coming on the earth" (Luke 21:26), which 
Christ foresaw and foretold would imperil human 
existence. It is not a fear of doing wrong, a fear 
of sinning because of the deadly, destructive con-
sequences of sin! It is not the "fear of God," for 
as the Scripture accurately says of the great majority, 
"There is no fear of God before their eyes." 
In the days before Christ came to this earth to 
live among men, man had come to have an entirely 
wrong view of God. Man had come to look upon 
God as harsh and tyrannical, unforgiving and un-
relenting. Christ came to remove this misapprehen-
sion, and to reveal God as a loving, merciful, and 
thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the 
Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the 
covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy 
thing, and done despite to the Spirit of grace? For 
we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth 
unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And 
again, the Lord shall judge His people. It is a 
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living 
God." Heb. 10:28-31. 
Jesus while here upon this earth dwelt upon the 
love of God, but He most certainly believed in the 
wrath of God. Ten times in the gospels, He is quoted 
as referring to the Gehenna-fire which is the literal 
hell of the last judgment in which all rejecters of His 
mercy find their rewards. And at least 137 times the 
"wrath of God" is spoken of directly in the Word of 
THROUGH 
By Leslie Show 
compassionate heavenly Father. John, speaking from 
first-hand experience could say of Him, "We beheld 
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth." 
Today we stand in the equally dangerous position 
of misunderstanding G o d, of misunderstanding 
Christ, of misunderstanding Their joint love for 
humanity. In the swing away from the stern, frighten-
ing, "hell-fire" preaching of yesterday, there has 
come a preaching of the love of God in such a weak, 
sickly, sentimental fashion that it has become the 
mode to think of God as so good, so kind, so 
merciful that He will not punish man even though 
he does not repent of his sins. It has either been 
forgotten or overlooked that while the Lord God is 
"merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant 
in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, 
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin," yet 
that generous side of God's character will "by no 
means" allow Him to "clear the guilty." Exod. 
34:6, 7. 
It has been forgotten that there is such a thing 
as "the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev. 6:16), the wrath 
of a despised and offended love! "He that despised 
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three 
witnesses," says the writer of Hebrews. "Of how 
much sorer punishment suppose ye, shall he be 
God, many of which references are in the New Testa-
ment! And the most forceful and fearful of these 
verses is found in the book of Revelation, the last 
book of the Bible, wherein it speaks of drinking "of 
the wine of the wrath of God" a wine which is 
"poured out without mixture {i.e., without mercy 
mingled with justice) into the cup of His in-
dignation." 
Surely then we ought not to be concerning our-
selves so much about survival in this world from the 
warrings and wrath of man as about survival from 
the impending wrath of God! Perhaps it is the devil's 
purpose to get men so concerned with present survival 
that they will forget the need of preparation for sur-
vival in the "day of God." Listen to this: "For the 
time is come that judgment must begin at the house of 
God : and if it first begin at us, what shall the end 
be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? And 
if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the 
ungodly and sinner appear ?" 1 Peter 4:17, 18. 
Who shall stand? 
The greatest question, therefore, is, "But who may 
abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand 
when He appeareth?" Mal. 3:2. And the Psalmist 
long ago anticipated and answered this question: 
"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or 
who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath 
clean hands and a pure heart." Psa. 24:3, 4. Truly 
12 
without holiness "no man shall see the Lord." 
Heb. 12:14. 
Now it is the testimony of the Scriptures that 
-there is none righteous, no, not one." Rom. 3:10. 
And it is the burden of Paul's argument in the 
first three chapters of his epistle to the Romans 
that Jews and Gentiles are equally under condem-
nation as sinners, and so in need of the same salvation 
of God. If it is true, then, and it is, that we are all 
sinners, Job's problem is equally ours, "But how 
should man be just with God ?" Job 9:2. 
FAITH 
Infinitely more important than plans for survival in case 
of a nuclear holocaust, is preparation to survive the day 
of God's judgment upon a sinful world. 
The answer is that God has devised a means, and 
if we are to survive that day of wrath, which is to 
be revealed for the perdition of ungodly men, and 
was originally "prepared for the devil and his 
angels," then we must avail ourselves of that means. 
"For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on 
the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; 
neither doth God respect any person: yet doth He 
devise means, that His banished be not expelled from 
Him." 2 Sam. 14:14. 
If we will only make the proper use of this 
means, and not misuse or abuse it, then we may 
all survive the day of His wrath. Will you accept and 
use this means? It is the only means of survival—
and it is through faith. 
Justified by faith 
The position is this: There is an eternal law of 
righteousness of which sin is the open violation 
(1 John 3:4; Rom. 4:15; 5:13; 7:7), and he who 
(Continued on page 28.) 
HOW OLD IS 
THE FIRST OF 
THREE ARTICLES 
on the question of 
h o w the Christian 
church came to ob-
serve Sunday in-
stead of the true 
Sabbath of the 
Hecalogue. 
By V. N. Olsen, M.A., M.Th. 
Even if it could be proved that the writings of 
Ignatius were authentic, still the often quoted state-
ment regarding the Lord's Day is false. The word 
"day" does not appear in the Greek version, but the 
word "life," and the sentence should read, "living 
according to the Lord's life." The Lord's Day is 
interpolated from an extension of this letter dated 
around A.D. 300. The fact is therefore that even a 
correct rendering of the text gives no support to 
Sunday observance. 
Pliny, who was governor of Bithynia in Asia 
T
HERE are indications that the question of Sunday 
and its observance is becoming the subject of 
renewed controversy. Authors writing in favour 
of Sunday as the Christian's rest day claim that there 
is "abundant testimony from the Early Church Fathers 
as to the observance of the first day of the week 
from the earliest days of the Christian church." On 
the other hand, they state that those who believe 
that the seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth command-
ment, that is the day we call Saturday, or really from 
Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, is the day which 
Christians should still be keeping, "can draw little 
support from church history for their contentions." 
The object of this series of articles is to examine 
and evaluate the statements brought forth by Sunday-
keepers in order to "prove" that the Sabbath was 
transferred to Sunday in apostolic times and that 
this has been the Christian holy day since the second 
century of our era. 
Evidence of Ignatius 
Sometime between A.D. 107 and 117, Ignatius, a 
bishop of Antioch, was sentenced by Emperor Trajan 
to be sent to Rome and thrown to the lions in the 
Colosseum. On his way to Rome he is supposed to 
have written seven letters to various churches, and in 
one of these letters the following statement is 
alleged to appear: "If, therefore, those who were 
brought up in the ancient order of things have come 
to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing 
the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's 
Day, on which also our life has sprung up." 1 
When evaluating this statement of Ignatius, it is 
important to notice that his writings are considered 
to be "the most perplexing question which con-
fronts the students of earlier Christian history." 2 
The letters of Ignatius were at an early date "inter-
polated, curtailed, and mutilated by pious hands, 
that it is today almost impossible to discover with 
certainty the genuine Ignatius of history under the 
hyper- and pseudo-Ignatius of tradition." 3 Because 
of this, "the cautious student of the history of polity 
and doctrine will decline to base important con-
clusions on the unsupported testimony of these 
writings." 
While many Christians sincerely believe that the ob-
servance of Sunday goes back to the time of the apostles, 
the facts are that we know nothing of it before the 
second century of the Christian era and the first known 
reference to Sunday as the "Lord's Day" was not until 
about the end of that century. 
14 
Minor from A.D. 109 to 111, was one of the first 
non-Christians to write about the Christians. He 
wrote to the Emperor Trajan telling him about the 
extensiveness of Christianity in the region he 
governed and how it affected the older temple 
worship, so that it was almost forsaken. In this con-
nection he stated that the Christians worshipped on 
a certain "fixed day." 5 
Pliny's letter does not state that the Christians 
worshipped on Sunday, but merely that they had 
a -fixed" day for worship. In a later article it will 
that the Lord's day is Sunday. Since there is ne 
indication in this letter, neither is there in any other 
writing up to this time that the Lord's day should be 
Sunday, it is only reasonable to suppose that it must 
be the Lord's day of the Bible, namely the Sabbath. 
Eusebius, the great church historian at the time of 
Constantine the Great, tells us that Melito, Bishop 
of Sardis wrote a book "On the Lord's Day." This 
book is not in existence now, and all we know about 
it is its title as listed by Eusebius. Even the title 
cannot help us determine the actual subject of the 
 
nn 
 
 
 
 
 
lu 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
be made clear that Eastern churches kept the Sabbath 
for several centuries; therefore, in the light of this 
fact it is practically certain that the "stated day" was 
not the first but the seventh day. 
• 
An early Christian writer, around A.D. 125 to 150, 
wrote a small pamphlet of less than a thousand 
words, and in order to give this pamphlet apostolic 
authority it was called "The Teaching of the Twelve 
Apostles." In the English translation the following 
statement appears: "On the Lord's day of the Lord 
came together, break bread and hold Eucharist." 6 
This statement does not give us any clue as to the 
day to which it refers, and Sabbath-keepers could 
with good reason say that it refers to the Sabbath. 
Yet, we would not make use of this statement to 
prove the biblical Sabbath, because here again the 
word "day" does not appear in the Greek text. An 
exact translation of the Greek reads: "According to 
[or upon) the Lord's [ ?) of the Lord coming 
together break bread and keep Eucharist." In harmony 
with the whole sentence construction in the Greek 
the phrase could just as well have been "According 
to the command of the Lord." In all circumstances 
there is no proof here for Sunday being the Lord's 
day. 
Statements by other early Christian 
writers 
Dionysius, a bishop of Corinth, in the third 
quarter of the second century wrote a number of 
pastoral letters. In one sent to Bishop Soter of Rome 
the following passage appears: "Today we have 
passed the Lord's holy day, in which we have read 
your epistle." In this letter there is no indication 
book, for the word "day" does not occur in the 
Greek text, which reads, "Concerning the Lord's." 
It was 250 years later that a Latin translation added 
the word "day" to Eusebius's list of Melito's writings. 
In the first half of the second century, two Chris-
tian writers, Barnabas and Justin Martyr,8 were 
seeking to denounce Sabbath observance and urging 
the observance of Sunday. Barnabas spoke about 
Sunday as the eighth day, and was clearly influenced 
by the Platonic philosophy; Justin Martyr stated that 
the "day of the sun" was observed by Christians. 
The leading reason given by him for its observance 
was founded on a mystical interpretation of certain 
passages supposed to refer to the millennium. The 
resurrection of Christ on that day was mentioned 
incidentally as a secondary reason. If at this time 
Sunday was called the Lord's day, these two men 
would no doubt have made use of it as an argument 
for Sunday keeping or would have referred to John 
the Revelator as their example, but they did not do 
this because the idea of Sunday being the Lord's 
day had not occurred to anyone in their day! 
When was Sunday first called the 
Lord's day? 
It is not very encouraging for observers of Sunday 
to know that the first written evidence of Sunday 
being called the Lord's day was found in an 
apocryphal gospel. This gospel was written about 
the year A.D. 190, in the name of the apostle Peter, 
and was called the Gospel of Peter. It was in this 
"gospel" that Sunday was first referred to as "the 
Lord's day." 9 
(Continued on page 31.) 
15 
T
HE words "Hebrew," "Jew," and "Israelite" are 
often used interchangeably, as though in all 
circumstances they were one and the same. 
But that is an over-simplification. All of them cer-
tainly originally related to the posterity of Shem, 
but this does not by any means exhaust their meaning 
today, and particularly the term Israel. Let us then 
look at these terms a little more closely. 
When, of Jacob's twelve sons only one, Joseph. 
had as yet settled in Egypt, it is recorded that it 
was "an abomination unto the Egyptians" to "eat 
bread with the Hebrews." Gen. 43:32. Which points 
of course to an earlier source for this word. Of in-
terest is the fact that the name of Shem's great-great-
grandson was "Eber" (Heber, Luke 3:35). And 
therefore all Shemites in that sense were "Hebrews." 
A Jew originally was one who belonged to the 
tribe, or who was of the kingdom of Judah. (2 Kings 
16:6; 14:22.) Later, after many out of the twelve 
tribes had returned from the Babylonian captivity 
(Ezra 6:16, 17), the meaning of the word was 
extended to include this people in their entirety. 
(Esther 2:5, 6; 3:13.) 
"Israel," too, is a name which has more than one 
meaning in Scripture. Originally it was the new 
WHO ARE 
name given by God Himself to Jacob, after the 
patriarch's triumph of faith, in his struggle by the 
brook Jabbok. (Gen. 32:24-30.) Naturally, there-
fore, "the children of Israel" were primarily those 
descendants of Jacob who feature in sacred history. 
During the period following the Jewish occupation 
of Canaan, there were the tribal divisions of Israel 
and Judah. But in the time of our Lord one finds 
again the unified term, "the twelve tribes of Israel" 
(Matt. 19:28) for the whole race. Consequently, 
in His reference to "the house of Israel," Jesus was 
alluding to the entire Jewish nation which had once 
been called into covenant relationship with God. 
The probation of national Israel 
At the beginning of their national history the 
children of Israel had resolved to obey God, saying, 
When the Jews as a nation rejected the Messiah, they 
ceased to be "Israel," and their place was taken by 
spiritual Israel, the church of God. 
16 
"All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." Exod. 
19:8. Their promise, and that of God, constituted 
a mutual agreement or "covenant" and they could 
justifiably be called Israel. What is not generally 
realized, however, is the wholly conditional nature 
of both the promises and the warnings of the Lord. 
(Ezek. 3:16-21.) Note the qualification in His 
covenant promise, "Obey My voice, and [thereby) 
.. be My people." Jer. 7:23. Therefore it was upon 
the continued fulfilment of their solemn pledge, so 
to do, that the status of national Israel as God's 
chosen people depended. (Exod. 19:5; Deut. 7:6.) 
A mutual agreement must be honoured by both con-
tracting parties for it to remain valid, and human 
failure to qualify by obedience for divine blessing 
inevitably releases the Lord (in His own considered 
time) from His qualified promise to give it! Thus He 
explained, quite frankly, to the Jewish nation: "If 
ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do 
them" then it is "that the Lord shall keep unto thee 
the c o v e n a n t." Dent. 7:12. These alternatives, 
obedience and acceptance or disobedience and re-
jection are set forth at great length in Deuteronomy, 
chapters twenty-seven to thirty, with the significant 
warning to the Jews, in case of disobedience, "And 
pronouncement upon the Jewish hierachy, "Behold 
your house is left unto you desolate." Matt. 23:38. 
Parabolically our Lord took up the symbolism of 
Isaiah 5, and, speaking plainly of retribution, He 
solemnly affirmed, that God "will let out His vine-
yard unto other husbandmen." Matt. 21:41. "There-
fore, say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be 
taken [away) from you, and given to a nation bring-
ing forth the fruits thereof." Verse 43. Could 
language be clearer? 
The "Israel" in Christ Jesus 
This means that with national Israel's defection 
and rejection one must look elsewhere for their re-
placement. His plan itself remained unchanged. Many 
had been the indications that God purposed to gather 
to Himself a people not merely from one race, but 
from the world. "Many nations, . . . shall be My 
people, saith the Lord." Zech. 2:11. There would be 
a change in races hitherto unresponsive, for "I will 
say to them which were not My people, Thou art 
[now] My people" (Hos. 2:23) and He would 
"take out of" the Gentiles "a people for His name." 
Acts 15:14. 
TODAY? �
By G. Elliott 
the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from 
the one end of the earth even unto the other." 
Deut. 28:64. 
What was the outcome? Could it be said that 
Israel of old met the divine requirements of being 
"called, and chosen, and faithful"? Or is it true to 
say that the Old Testament is one long indictment 
of national Israel's backsliding and apostasy? So 
warning came to His "vineyard" from the heavenly 
Keeper, that, failing a transformation of character, 
He would "lay it waste." Isa. 5 :24, 5, 6. That some-
thing more was in the divine mind than the dis-
ciplinary action of the captivity may be seen from 
the allotment to them of probationary time which 
was to extend until the first advent of the "Messiah." 
(Dan. 9:24-26.) 
With the advent then, the "day" of opportunity 
for national Israel was about to close. Study our 
Lord's words: "Thou knewest not the time of thy 
visitation." Luke 19:44. "How often would I have 
gathered" thee, the Saviour testified, but "ye would 
not." Matt. 23:37. And they called forth His grim 
All this begins to bring into proper perspective 
the word "Israel." The name was not bestowed 
originally upon Jacob because it sounded better than 
his own! It had tremendous significance. And only 
those with the "Israel" experience ever merited the 
title in the Lord's estimation. This divine recognition 
of the genuine is implied in the words of Jesus when 
He said of Nathanael, "Behold an Israelite indeed." 
John 1:47. Paul's statement is more emphatic, "For 
they are not all Israel, which are of Israel." Rom. 
9:6. "He is not a Jew [or one of the true Israel of 
God] which is one outwardly; . . . but he is a Jew, 
which is one inwardly." Rom. 2:28, 29. "They which 
are the children of the flesh [or literal descendents of 
Abraham] these are not [by virtue of their descent 
alone] the children of God." "For ye are all the 
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus"! Rom. 
9:7, 8; Gal. 3:26. 
Here is revealed the spiritual, and new, Israel of 
God. From it no nationality is excluded. For in 
Christ "there is neither Jew nor Greek . . . all are 
(Continued on page 20.) 
17 
THE BIBLE'S BASIC 
BELIEFS No. 10 
In this article J. A. McMILLAN tells 
what the Bible has to say about re-
wards and punishment in the great 
judgment day. 
M
ODERN man asks many questions regarding 
acountability and the sense of respon-
sibility. Is there a definite standard of 
right and wrong, or are morality and ethics simply 
matters of relative values? When we turn to the 
Bible we read, "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord 
is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save 
us." Isa. 33:22. 
We have already established the fact that man 
is a sinner, and that by reason of his transgression of 
the divine law, he is subject to death. The judgment 
of God centres around this basic position. 
Weighed in the balance 
We have all heard of "the writing on the wall." 
But not so many are aware of the origin of the phrase. 
It was in connection with the last critical night in 
ancient Babylon's history. Belshazzar, the last king, 
was feasting with a thousand of his nobles. During 
the royal banquet, as the wine flowed and debauchery 
reigned, the sacred vessels of God's service, plundered 
from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, were brought 
in and an oblation was offered to Babylon's gods. 
While this unholy revelry was proceeding, there 
appeared a mysterious hand, which wrote fateful 
words upon the wall. One of the words etched on 
the frieze of the palace banqueting room was 
"Tekel." Daniel later interpreted this as meaning, 
"Thou are weighed in the balances, and art found 
wanting." Dan. 5:27. The dramatic terseness of the 
closing scene is truly gripping. "In that night 
Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain." Verse 30, 
R.V. 
Our Lord once told a similar story. A rich farmer 
had just enjoyed a bumper harvest. His barns were 
already bulging with fruit and food, so he decided 
to build larger barns. Here was his selfish plan: 
"And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my 
barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow 
all my corn and my goods. And I will say to my 
soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many 
years; take thine ease, eat drink, be merry. But God 
said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy 
soul required of thee; and the things which thou 
hast prepared, whose shall they be?" Luke 12:18-20, 
R.V. 
This short-sighted man, who thought himself so 
prudent, was foolish in three respects. First, he 
mistook his body for his soul (verse 19), forgetting 
that a man's life does not consist in the possession 
of "things." Secondly, he mistook himself for God. 
(Verses 18, 19.) Note his possessive "my barns, . . . 
my fruits, . . . my goods, . . . my soul." 
He thought of himself, of himself alone, 
Of himself and of none beside; 
Just as though Jesus had never lived, 
As though He had never died. 
Thirdly, he mistook time for eternity. This prudent 
man hoarded up for his earthly future, but made 
no insurance for eternity. According to our Lord's 
teaching, that man is foolish who is preoccupied 
with the body to the neglect of the soul; with time 
to the neglect of eternity. 
Each of us is being "weighed in the balance." 
And the verdict may be just as sudden and as un-
expected for us as for Belshazzar and his feasting 
nobles or this foolish farmer. 
The "balances of the sanctuary" 
But now, what sort of "balance" does God use ? 
I remember hearing of a rather plump lady who 
always weighed herself on one particular spring-
weighing machine. When she was asked why she 
did this, she replied, "Because it makes me twenty-
six pounds lighter than any other machine." That 
good lady is typical of many ; they would prefer 
scales that pander to their peculiar weaknesses, that 
are kind to their foibles. 
But God declares that we shall be weighed on 
the "balances of the sanctuary." The Word of God is 
clear and decisive on this. "Let us hear the conclusion 
of the whole matter : Fear God, and keep His com-
mandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For 
God shall bring every work into judgment, with 
every secret thing, whether it 
be good, or whether it be 
evil." Eccles. 12:13, 14. "Let 
me call your attention," says 
D. L. Moody, "to the fact 
that God wrote on the tables 
of stone at Sinai as well as 
on the wall of Belshazzar's 
palace. These are the only 
messages that God has written 
with His own hand." 
But this raises a difficult 
question. If we are weighed 
in the balances of the 
sanctuary, and these comprise 
18 
the eternal law of God, which all have trans-
gressed and come short of, how can we hope to 
escape its just condemnation? The answer of scrip-
ture is that Jesus took our place, lived a life of 
obedience to all the law's demands, died in our 
stead, and now offers His own perfect righteousness 
to the repentant, believing sinner. 
The earnest prayer of the contrite soul is beauti-
fully expressed by David. "Enter not into judgment 
with Thy servant: for in Thy sight shall no man 
living be justified." Psa. 143:2. As our sins and 
deservings are placed on the divine balances, we 
might well be overwhelmed with despair. But our 
extremity is God's opportunity. "He has laid help 
on One that is Mighty." And this One is "mighty 
to save." 
No human effort is sufficient to cleanse the soul 
from sin. "For though thou wash thee with nitre, 
and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked 
before Me, saith the Lord God." Jer. 2:22. No 
human panacea can cleanse the conscience, or remove 
the guilt from a sin-polluted life. But here is where 
the Gospel invites us, "Come now, and let us reason 
together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as 
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they 
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 
1:18. 
God's character vindicated 
We should remember, however, that in the judg-
ment, there is much more at stake than just our 
Thee, 0 Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only 
art holy: for all nations shall come and worship 
before Thee: for Thy judgments are made manifest." 
Rev. 15:3, 4. 
The heavenly judgment will be the climax of a 
controversy that has been raging for thousands of 
years. The mighty contestants in this spiritual struggle 
for the allegiance of all are Christ and Satan. From 
the moment when "there was war in heaven," and 
"the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, 
he that is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver 
of the whole world," until the present time, the 
world has been a stage. For each of us, in our 
decisions to follow Christ or follow Satan, "are made 
a theatre unto the world, both to angels, and to 
men." Rev. 12:7, 9, R.V.; 1 Cor. 4:9 (margin). 
Satan, the "accuser of the brethren" began his 
warfare against God's government by casting as-
persions on God's character and His law. "He was a 
murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the 
truth, because there is no truth in Him. When he 
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a 
liar, and the father thereof." John 8:44, R.V. 
For a time, a liar has an advantage over the one 
who tells the truth. He can turn and twist everything 
to his advantage. But in the long run, truth 
triumphs. Even so the day of judgment will expose 
every lie of Satan and vindicate the truth of God. 
Isaiah assures us: "In that day shall the Lord of 
hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of 
beauty, unto the residue of His people, and for a 
WHEN GOD SETTLES THE ACCOUNT 
acquittal and the condemnation of the unrepentant. 
The most vital aspect of the judgment is concerned 
with the character of God. It is a principle of 
British justice, that "justice must not only be done, 
but it must be manifestly 
seen to be done." So in 
the heavenly assizes, the 
judgment will be con-
ducted in such a way that 
the ways of God are finally 
vindicated to all the in-
telligences of the universe. 
The ultimate verdict of 
the universe will be, 
"Great and marvellous are 
Thy works, Lord God Al-
mighty; just and true are 
Thy ways, Thou King of 
saints. Who shall not fear 
spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, 
and for strength to them that turn the battle to the 
gate." And all evil doers will be overthrown by the 
strength and beauty of truth. "Judgment also will 
I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: 
and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies." 
Isa. 28:5, 6, 17. 
Here is the reason why judgment has been so 
long deferred. God is working for eternity, not for 
time, and He can afford to wait. Also it gives men 
ample opportunity of developing their true dis-
position. I believe that it was Marie Antoinette who 
once remarked to the cynical Cardinal Richlieu, "My 
lord, God does not pay off every Saturday night, but 
in the end, God pays." The "day of judgment" 
spoken of by our Lord is the time when God will 
call men to final account. The margin of the Au-
thorized Version renders Romans 9:28, "He will 
finish the account." 
19 
The judgment-hour message 
As the time for this final judgment draws near, 
the Lord ordained that a startling message would 
be proclaimed "unto them that dwell on the earth, 
and unto every nation and tribe and tongue and 
people." This message would stress the need to 
"fear God, and give Him glory; for the hour of 
His judgment is come." Rev. 14:6, 7, R.V. 
When Paul was arrested and imprisoned, the 
governor Felix listened while Paul preached to him 
"concerning the faith in Christ Jesus. And as he 
reasoned of righteousness, and temperance, and the 
judgment to come, Felix was terrified." Acts 24:24, 
25, R.V. This worldly Roman was rightly frightened 
as he contemplated the searching gaze of God upon 
his soul. Today, the message is not of a "judgment 
to come" but the even more startling announcement 
that "the hour of His judgment is come." God is 
closing the accounts of men and nations, and each of 
us has a case pending. 
"Some men's sins," says the apostle Paul, "are 
open beforehand, going before to judgment; and 
some they follow after." 1 Tim. 5:24. Where are 
your sins? Have they gone before, by repentance and 
confession; or are they following after? We must 
be sure about this as we face the inevitable and 
inexorable judgment seat of Christ. 
At his second coming Christ will "reap" the "harvest" 
of the earth and gather His people into the heavenly 
garner. 
Who Are " Israel " Today ? 
(Continued from page 17.) 
one in Christ Jesus." He, primarily, is the promised 
"Seed" of Abraham. "And if ye be Christ's, then 
are ye Abraham's seed." All "they which are of faith, 
the same are the children of Abraham." Gal. 3:7, 
8, 16, 28, 29. All those with faith in Christ now 
comprise "Israel." It is a spiritual appellation. It is 
not now any single race. God "bath chosen us in 
Him." Eph. 1:4. 
It is often thought that God saved ancient Israel 
in some way different from Christians. That is not 
true. (Heb. 4:2.) The work of grace has always 
been on account of "the Lamb slain from the 
foundation of the world." The covenant made with 
Israel of old was virtually a covenant within a 
covenant. It was ratified at the cross in "the blood 
of the everlasting covenant." Heb. 13:20. "The 
Mediator" of the "better covenant" is "Jesus Christ." 
Heb. 8:6. Hence "the house of Israel," today 
which under the "new covenant" is to be obedient 
to the law of God written "in their hearts," is the 
church of Christ! (Heb. 8:10; Jer. 31:31-33.) 
Thus Peter tells us that Joel's prediction of 
spiritual wonders began its fulfilment in the early 
church. (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:16-21.) James 
similarly saw the restoration of "the tabernacle of 
David" as pointing to the evangelizing of the Gen-
tiles! (Amos 9:11, 12; Acts 15:14-17.) 
With all charity, it must be said that the modern 
State of Israel has no place in the purpose of God 
for true Israel. Since "the kingdom" was "taken" 
from literal Israel by the Lord, where is the man who 
will presume to try to give it back ? Jesus plainly 
taught, "My kingdom is not of this world." John 
18:36. Who then dare nominate Him to reign over 
modern Jewry as His "kingdom" in the near future? 
In point of scriptural fact, when the Lord Jesus 
Christ returns it will be to take true Israel (Gentiles 
and Jews) to share His millennial reign in the 
heavenly "mansions" He is now preparing (John 
14:1-3; Rev. 20:6), and not to set up a monarchy 
anywhere on the earth! 
The focus of both Old and New Testament pro-
phecies is upon God's promised blessings to His 
people in Christ. And it will save us from many 
errors to realize once and for all that "the common-
wealth of Israel" today signifies those of every 
nationality who are "now in Christ Jesus." Eph. 
2:12, 13. 
COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
Cover picture, Keystone; page 2, Reece Winstone; page 4, 
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Lisa; page 8, Pacific Press; page 9, Fox Photos; page 10, M. 
Cowen; page 11, Newton; page 13, Keystone, Newton; page 14, 
Newton; page 16, Eyre and Spottiswoode, Keystone; page 18, 
Studio Lisa; page 20, Newton; page 21, Camera Clix, Newton, 
Keystone; page 22, Studio Lisa; page 23, Studio Lisa; page 24, 
Religious News Service; page 26, Newton; page 27, R. & H.: 
page 29, R. & H. 
:14 
I
N a previous article we saw that our Saviour was 
essentially and supremely, a Man of prayer. 
At every crisis, either in His life or His 
ministry, He gave Himself specifically to prayer. 
Jesus not only prayed much Himself, but He was 
also obviously anxious, by precept as well as by 
example, to teach us to pray. In many different ways 
He constantly endeavoured to show us how we may 
cultivate a powerful and infinitely satisfying prayer-
life. 
In the first place, the Saviour often insisted that 
our prayers if they were ever to reach the heavens 
at all, must be plainly marked by sincerity. Hypocrisy 
nullifies prayer. Either open or secret insincerity 
makes of the most eloquent intercession a hollow 
mockery—tantamount to an insult to God. 
"When thou prayest," Jesus says, "thou shalt not 
be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray 
standing in the synagogues and in the corners of 
the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily, I say 
unto you, They have their reward." Matt. 6:5. 
The general public are often very easily deceived 
by an outward and impressive show of sanctity. 
God, however, clearly discerns the real "thoughts 
and intents of the heart" irrespective of what words 
the lips may utter. (Heb. 4:12.) 
Jesus well knew that the Pharisees' sonorous 
phrases were dissipated on the empty air. Their 
prayers, though probably models of rabbinical elo-
quence, neither reached the throne of God nor the 
unconverted heart of man. Such petitions could not 
be other than an offence to the One they professedly 
addressed. 
The Pharisee's hollow prayer 
To emphasize this Jesus Himself gave us a striking 
example of the impotent prayer. It was actually 
prayed on the holy ground of the Temple courts, 
and by a man who, if his own word may be believed, 
must have been a most worthy citizen, as well as 
an eminently religious person. He was careful in the 
fulfilment of ceremonial observances, meticulous in 
the discharge of religious obligations: He was, in 
fact, like the young Saul of Tarsus, a perfect example 
of "the righteousness which is in the law." Phil. 3 :6. 
Probably this man had quite a circle of admirers. 
Certainly he profoundly admired himself, and did 
not hesitate to remind God of his remarkable merit. 
"I fast twice in the week," he declared. "I give 
tithes of all I possess." Luke 18:11. 
Nevertheless his visit to the Temple was value-
less, and his prayer therein futile. Despite his rich 
robes and his grandiloquent manner, Jesus assures us 
that he departed from God's presence as sin-stained 
as when he arrived. 
Obviously then, the success of our prayers, and 
whether they are answered or not, depends, ac- 
cording to Jesus, not upon the prayers themselves, 
but upon the state of our hearts before God when 
we pray. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit," 
David declares. "A broken and a contrite heart 
[rather than a facile tongue] 0 God, thou wilt 
not despise." Psa. 51:17. 
The effectual prayer of the publican 
The Saviour's teaching on prayer, however, was 
not just negative. It was strongly positive. He de-
clared not merely that pride hinders prayer, but 
also that true humility immeasurably helps prayer. 
Indeed, there can be no prayer really acceptable to 
God, and answerable by Him, unless it springs from 
genuine lowliness of mind. 
When the Pharisee came into the Temple to pray, 
Jesus tells us how another came also at the same time, 
and for the same purpose. But there the similarity 
between the two men ended. The Pharisee sought 
and found a prominent position among the wor-
shippers that he might the better accomplish his 
double purpose of approaching God and impressing 
men. 
The publican, however, knew that he was socially 
an outcast. He was regarded as a renegade Jew, a 
mercenary minion of idolatrous Rome, a traitor to 
his own people's spiritual hopes and national aspira-
tions. He knew that his coming to the Temple at 
all, would be regarded by many with covert hos-
tility. Therefore he stood "afar off," or just on the 
threshold of the sacred edifice, hoping that he might 
there remain unnoticed or ignored by his brethren, 
22 
yet hoping, almost against hope, that he might not 
be altogether unheeded by God! So, he "would not 
lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote 
upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a 
sinner." Luke 18:13. 
Significantly enough, the publican's ostracism, his 
deep need of forgiveness, his broken-hearted con-
fession of guilt—all combined to bring to his lips 
the one prayer which God delights to hear and 
immediately to answer. For, if only we will "confess 
our sins," the Lord will freely "forgive us our sins, 
and . . . cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 
1:9. 
Even when we daily pray the "Lord's Prayer" we 
are conscious that some of its principal petitions, 
indispensable as they are, nevertheless cannot be 
fully answered until this present world order shall 
have passed away. 
But the "publican's prayer," by whomsoever it is 
prayed in sincerity, is fully and joyously answered 
at once! The earnest and repentant seeker after God 
may claim His gracious promise, "Before they call, 
I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I 
will hear." Isa. 65:24. 
Possibly the reason why our prayers go unanswered 
sometimes, is because it is our human failing to live 
and pray nearer to the Pharisee than we do to the 
publican. 
Let us rather cultivate a spirit of quiet reverence, 
of deep sincerity, and heartfelt repentance, as often 
as we come to "kneel before the Lord our Maker." 
Psa. 95:6. For thus only may we learn how truly to 
pray. 
What Christ Means to Me 
(Continued from page 7.) 
there stood by me this night the angel of God, 
whose I am, and whom I serve. . . . Wherefore, sirs, 
be of good cheer: for I believe God." Acts 
27:22-25. 
Christ always satisfies my soul, gives assurance 
and peace to my heart. Whether I am living quietly 
near some mountain stream, undisturbed by fear of 
atomic bombs, or in a city, constantly being reminded 
of fall-out shelters, Christ has the same promise: "Let 
not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe 
also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions : 
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to 
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare 
a place for you, I will come again, and receive you 
unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be 
also." John 14:1-3. 
It is this hope, the hope of everlasting life, which 
gives life here on this transitory planet a security 
which not even the biggest bombs can destroy. Christ 
within gives assurance of life everlasting. 
By 
Robert H. Pierson 
• 
4 
• 
S
ABBATH-KEEPING in heaven? It may be an 
entirely new thought to you. Your Bible, how-
ever, has many interesting 'things to say about 
keeping God's Sabbath in God's land of glory. 
Listen! The Gospel prophet, Isaiah, was given a 
glimpse into that beautiful beyond. He was shown 
the "new heavens" and the "new earth" which the 
Creator will bring into existence from the ashes of 
this sin-cursed earth. (Isa. 65:17.) Isaiah further 
makes mention of this "new heavens" and "new 
earth" in the sixty-sixth chapter of his book and 
verse twenty-two. Then he also declares: "It shall 
come to pass, that from one new moon to another, 
and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come 
to worship before Me, saith the Lord." Isa. 66:23. 
What a grand occasion! Imagine attending church 
with Jesus! We need not be surprised at such a 
thought. Inspiration declares that Jesus is "the same 
yesterday, today, and for ever." Heb. 13:8. During 
His earthly ministry it was His custom to worship 
on the Sabbath day. (Luke 4:16.) Should it then be 
strange that He who had made the Sabbath in the 
beginning (Col. 1:16; Gen. 2:1-3), and who kept 
it faithfully during His sojourn among men (John 
15:10), should meet from Sabbath to Sabbath with 
His redeemed throughout eternity? 
Picture with me, if you are able, that glorious 
scene with Jesus in heaven. It is the Sabbath day. 
From all sections of the new earth the saved of all 
ages wend their way to the grand convocation called 
by the Saviour Himself. 
As the redeemed view the matchless beauties of 
Gods' new creation on every hand, they are reminded 
anew of their Creator's love, "and the ransomed 
of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with 
songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they 
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing 
shall flee away." Isa. 35:10. What a sight! What 
joy to be numbered with that vast throng in that 
glad day. 
In old India, in Africa, in Europe, in Central 
America, in the islands of the West Indies I have 
seen followers of Christ on the Sabbath day con-
verging on meeting places from all directions. In 
crowded cities as well as along dusty roads, through 
lush green paddy fields, wending their way slowly 
down verdant mountain trails, fording streams, afoot, 
on horseback, carrying infants, alone, and in groups 
I have seen them coming. Many times I have been 
impressed with the great joy Sabbath keeping and 
gathering with those of like precious faith has 
brought to the hearts of these dear believers. 
Literally "with songs and everlasting joy upon their 
heads" I have seen them coming, singing joyfully 
as they came. And looking "through a glass darkly" 
upon such scenes I was able to behold by faith 
"the ransomed of the Lord" as they will converge 
on Zion from one Sabbath to another throughout 
eternity in the new earth. 
A commandment keeping people 
What sort of people will these Sabbath-keepers 
be? John says they are those "which came out of 
great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Rev. 
7:14. Following Christ on the earth had not been 
easy. They had faced ridicule, scorn, opposition, and 
persecution. But Christ had taken them safely 
through. Because of their faithfulness to all of God's 
commandments they now "have right to the tree of 
life, and may enter in through the gates into the 
city." Rev. 22:14. 
This vast throng includes men and women from 
all walks of life representing all nations scattered 
throughout the length and breath of this world of 
ours. From the dark jungles of Africa, from the 
23 
One day, if faithful, we 
shall have the privilege 
of coming "with songs" 
to the heavenly Zion. 
scattered islands of the sea, from the crowded streets 
of great cities, from the byways of the pleasant 
countryside, from the Occident and from the Orient, 
from the palace and from the hovel, the Lord has 
"set His hand the second time" to recover "the 
remnant of His people." Isa. 11:11. Soon they will 
throng the highway of heaven on their way to wor-
ship Him upon His holy Sabbath day. 
"The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the 
ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the 
lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb 
sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out 
and streams in the desert." Isa. 35:5, 6. How much 
the ransomed of the Lord will have to praise their 
God for on those heavenly Sabbath days! Deliverance 
from sin and disease will have become an accom-
plished fact. Physical and spiritual infirmities will 
have been gloriously overcome. What joy for the 
blind to see Jesus, the deaf to hear His voice, the 
dumb to shout His praise in that glad day! 
I never read this text without thinking of poor 
blind Koilpillai, in South India. "Koilpillai" in the 
Tamil language means "child of the church." Blind 
from early childhood, Koilpillai had truly been a 
child of the church. Every Sabbath morning I used 
to see him coming to service—sometimes feeling his 
way along the village street with a stick or, more 
often, with his hand on the shoulder of some young 
guide. Some day, if faithful, Koilpillai will have 
those sightless eyes opened, and with the blood-
bought throng, will make his way unaided to Sabbath 
worship from week to week in the heavenly New 
Jerusalem. 
What will be the theme of our worship ? Isaiah 
has told us that the ransomed of the Lord shall 
"come to Zion with songs." What a privilege for 
redeemed mortals to blend their voices with the 
angel choir in the grand Hallelujah Chorus! John 
by revelation saw the great congregation of the 
redeemed standing upon a sea like transparent glass 
shot through with fire. (Rev. 15:2.) With harps 
tuned to the melody of heaven he saw them singing 
"the song of Moses the servant of God, and the 
song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are 
Thy works, Lord God Almighty: just and true are 
Thy ways, Thou King of saints." Rev. 15:3. 
What an appropriate Sabbath anthem! Through 
the ages the Sabbath had been a memorial to God's 
creative power. How fitting that on those heavenly 
Sabbaths, His redeemed creatures will continue to 
eulogize their Creator with Sabbath songs, "Mar-
vellous are Thy works." This, the Revelator declares 
will be the theme .of their singing. As those who 
have "washed their robes, and made them white in 
the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. 7:14), the redeemed 
will ever be mindful of a Saviour's death that ran-
somed them from eternal punishment. Ever will 
grateful lips voice the praise of Him who jeopar-
dized His own place in heaven to save sinners! 
The Sabbath sermon ? "And one shall say unto 
Him, What are these wounds in Thine hands?" Zech. 
13:6. The answer to this query will be the theme 
of our study throughout endless ages. To sit at 
the feet of the Master Teacher, to hear with our 
own ears the voice of Him who "spake as never 
man spake" will be a glorious privilege. Sabbath 
after Sabbath we shall listen to the words of life 
coming forth from the lips of the Saviour Himself. 
The nail-torn hands—the only reminder of sin 
carried over from this evil-infested world—will be 
the theme of our most profound meditation and 
reflection from Sabbath to Sabbath. 
The sears of love 
Long before I was born my mother was severely 
burned as she risked her life to save my older sister 
from a burning house. So terrible were the flames 
and so intense the heat of the burning structure 
that others who had gathered would not run the 
risk of entering the fast collapsing edifice. Breaking 
away from those who sought to restrain her, Mother 
fought her way through the flames and smoke to the 
bedside of her infant daughter and carried her out 
to safely. In so doing Mather was very severely 
burned. She carried through life the scars of her 
heroism. What a story of love those scars told to 
those of us who knew ! What a story of love the 
24 
scars in Jesus' hands will tell the redeemed through-
out the ceaseless years of eternity. 
What a glorious time it will be when we spend 
eternity with our Saviour, worshipping with Him 
from one Sabbath to another! But, my friend, we 
must realize that if we expect to "follow the Lamb 
whithersoever He goeth" in the earth made new 
and to spend eternal Sabbaths with Him, then we 
must follow Him now in this life. Heaven is a 
prepared place for a prepared people. And part of 
that preparation is Sabbath keeping with Him here 
in this earth now! 
The Future Unveiled 
(Continued from page 9.) 
by barbarian hordes, she was broken into several 
separate kingdoms, forerunners of the nations now 
occupying Western Europe. As the prophecy declared, 
these nations turned out to be partly weak and partly 
strong. As iron cannot adhere to clay, so for 1,500 
years no way has been found to unite these states. 
Numerous attempts have been made to this end, but 
none has long succeeded. "They shall not cleave 
one to another." That is the dictum of God, and 
none can break it. 
One of the first to try to bring these nations under 
one rule was Charlemagne, in the ninth century. 
Although he was crowned emperor of Rome, his 
reign soon revealed the weakness of clay, and 
perished. 
In the sixteenth century Charles V tried and failed, 
as did Louis XIV some hundred years later. 
Then came Napoleon. His insatiable ambition to 
conquer nation after nation was successful for a time, 
but his power was broken when the cruel cold of 
Russia brought disaster to his armies, and later when 
inclement weather helped to precipitate his final 
defeat at Waterloo. 
Even in our day there have been renewals of this 
desire to bring Europe under one head. During the 
first world war the armies of Kaiser Wilhelm swept 
quickly into France and southern Europe, aiming for 
world empire. But they, too, were halted at great cost 
in blood and treasure. 
After World War I was over the political divisions 
of Europe remained practically the same as before. 
Then in 1939 Hitler made a daring effort to seize 
control of Europe, sweeping east and south with 
breath-taking swiftness. His armies reached the por-
tals of Moscow and Alexandria before opposing 
nations gathered sufficient strength to defeat him. 
The prophecy still stands. Let those who fear the 
worst today take hope. "The dream is certain, and 
the interpretation thereof sure." Verse 45. 
But the prophecy does not end here. Man is not 
left alone to meet the repeated threats to his peace 
and security. God still rules in the affairs of this 
world, and some day soon He is going to call a halt 
to these cycles of peace and war, abundance and 
devastation. According to Nebuchadnezzar's dream, a 
great stone, "cut out . . . without hands," struck the 
image on the feet and crushed it to powder. Of this 
Daniel said: 
"And in the days of these kings [that is, the 
nations of modern Europe] shall the God of heaven 
set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: 
and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, 
but it shall break in pieces and consume all these 
kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." Verse 44. 
Today we are living in that period of history fore-
shadowed by the toes of the image, close to the end 
of human history. Soon Christ, the "chief corner-
stone," will smite the nations in judgment and bring 
an end to the reign of sin and sorrow. Not by some 
proletarian or capitalistic Utopia, nor by an inter-
national organization, will man realize his highest 
hopes, but when Christ returns as He promised to 
renovate the world. 
Thank God, man will not be permitted to destroy 
himself in some nuclear holocaust. When the ele-
ments are made to melt with fervent heat (2 Peter 
3:10-13) it will be God's doing, not man's. And 
when He does it, He will be mindful of His people, 
those who love and serve Him. 
In that day Christ will say to the wicked, "Depart 
from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared 
for the devil and his angels." But to the righteous 
He will say, "Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit 
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 
of the world." Matt. 25:41, 34. 
Friend, the hour is late. You now know what the 
future holds. Are you ready for it? 
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sorrow and death. God could have created a race of 
robots, but such creatures could not choose; and in 
the kingdom of God every subject must love and 
obey God of his own free will and choice. 
p
EOPLE talk a great deal, and write a great 
deal, and sometimes shout with a loud voice 
about freedom—freedom to choose for them-
selves where and how they shall live. 
All of us regard freedom of choice as a necessity 
for human happiness, and the inherent right of every 
man. But do we consider with equal earnestness 
the consequences of the choices open to us? Surely 
not, else so many would not choose the way of which 
the wise man wrote: "There is a way which seemeth 
right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways 
of death." Prov. 14:12. 
Now God has the sane idea about freedom of 
choice being the right of intelligent beings. When 
He created man upon this planet, He gave to him 
that priceless gift, and at the same time set before 
him the results of choosing this or that course. God 
knew full well that freedom of choice entailed the 
risk of choosing the wrong way, and He did all He 
could to make the right way so desirable that of his 
own free will man would choose to walk in it and 
enjoy the blessings with which the Creator had 
surrounded him, and the happy future promised to 
h'm and his children. 
Since God is love, He loved the man He had 
created, and since He also has all wisdom and 
knowledge, He knew that the only way in which man 
could find perfect happiness was to love God in 
return, and delight to do His will. Love and 
obedience—these are the ruling principles of God's 
kingdom, and to choose any other course is to choose 
Choice of alternatives 
Any choice involves at least two courses, and so 
an alternative way was made possible to our first 
parents, with the solemn warning that it would lead 
to death. Even so, when the serpent sneered at God's 
command, insinuating that it was given merely to 
prevent them from becoming godlike themselves, and 
flatly contradicted God's statement that if they chose 
to disobey they would "surely die"—then doubt 
was born, and disobedience soon followed. Then 
indeed were the eyes of our first parents opened, 
but instead of becoming "as gods," the divine glory 
of their innocence fell from them and "they knew 
that they were naked." Shame drove them to hide 
from their Maker, and when they could no longer 
do so, sin had worked so rapidly that they were 
ready to blame the serpent, each other, and even God 
Himself for their disobedience. 
How often today we hear people asking why God 
allows the evil that is in the world—evil which is 
merely the result of the choice men have made. 
Surely it is unreasonable to claim the right of free 
choice, and then blame the Giver of that freedom 
for the results of misusing it, results of which He 
clearly warned them! 
Wag of escape 
But there is a way of escape from the results of 
man's evil choice, for "God so loved the world that 
He gave His only begotten Son," and by Him the 
"wages of sin" were paid in full when He died on 
the cross, so that every one that "believeth in Him" 
may stand where Adam stood before he sinned, 
and may choose again for himself either obedience 
and everlasting life, or disobedience and eternal 
death. 
Sad to say, the majority have followed the example 
of Adam, and the present evil in the world is the 
tragic harvest of their disobedience. Yet God has 
never ceased to plead, to warn, to promise, through 
His prophets, through His Son, through His written 
Word, and through His messengers. How poignant 
is Moses' plea to the children of Israel before they 
entered the earthly promised land: "I call heaven and 
earth to record this day against you, that I have set 
before you life and death, blessing and cursing: 
therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed 
may live; that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, 
and that thou mayest obey His voice . . . for He is 
thy life." Deut. 30:19. 
How often, during the six thousand years since 
man was banished from Eden, has God pleaded, 
with tears in His voice: 
"Why will ye die ? . . . For I have no pleasure in 
the death of him that dieth, . . . wherefore turn your-
selves, and live ye." Ezek. 18:31, 32. 
"I sent unto you all My servants the prophets, . . . 
saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing which I 
hate." Jer. 44:4. 
"0 Israel, return unto the Lord thy God ; for thou 
hast fallen by thine iniquity." Hos. 14:1. 
"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which 
is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth 
not? . . . Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear 
and your soul shall live." Isa. 55:2, 3. 
"Consider your ways." Hag. 1:7. 
"Cease to do evil; learn to do well." Isa. 1:16, 17. 
"Return unto the Lord, and He will . . . abundantly 
pardon." Isa. 55:7. 
One of the saddest texts in the Bible is that which 
records the words of Jesus as He sobbed over 
Jerusalem, crying: "How often would I have gathered 
thy children together . . . and ye would noti!" "If 
thou hadst known, even thou at least in this thy 
day, the things that belong unto thy peace!" Matt. 
23:37; Luke 19:42. 
Today God is calling even more urgently to all 
men everywhere to choose whom they will love and 
serve—Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died to 
free them from the choice of Adam, or "that old 
serpent, called the devil, and Satan," who is still 
busy attributing evil to God and contradicting the 
Word of God to man. He is still tempting man 
with "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, 
No-one can earn salvation by good works, but we can 
"choose" to accept the merits of Christ's sacrifice and 
His power to transform our lives from sin to holiness. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I DA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
and the pride of life" and trying to blind him to 
the fact that "the world passeth away, and the lust 
thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth 
for ever." 1 John 2:16, 17. 
Jesus said that no man can serve two masters, 
and though a great many are trying to do just that, 
the time will come when the last choice has been 
made, and that fiat will go forth: "He that is unjust 
let him be unjust still: . . . and he that is righteous, 
let him be righteous still." Rev. 22:11. Then it will 
be too late to change masters, and the outcome of 
every choice will be fulfilled—an everlasting in-
heritance in the kingdom of Christ, or everlasting 
destruction from the presence of the Lord. Let us 
choose now, while it is still the day of salvation. 
"0 happy day! that fixed my choice 
On Thee, my Saviour and my God; 
Well may this glowing heart rejoice, 
And tell its raptures all abroad." 
Philip Doddridge. 
Survival Through Faith 
(Continued from page 13.) 
breaks this law deserves to suffer for his offence, 
deserves to die. God, as the moral Ruler of this 
world must enforce this law. The sufferings which 
punish sin in this world, and the sufferings which 
will yet punish sin in the "day of visitation" are 
but an expression of the irreconcilable antagonism of 
God to sin. 
Now God's love for man made Him want to 
save man. But how could God do this without 
weakening His own moral government? That was 
the divine problem, one that the adversary, Satan, 
thought was insoluble! He thought he had God in a 
dilemma! You see, God could not disregard the de-
mands of the law, that eternal law of righteousness, 
for to do so would perpetuate unrighteousness and 
immortalize sin in His universe. But if the penalty 
for sin is to be remitted on those who have sinned, 
then some divine act in which the ill desert of sin is 
expressed with at least equal force, must take place. 
The Christian atonement is the fulfilment of that 
necessity. "God so loved the world, that He gave 
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
John 3:16. 
But although God has provided a ransom, He is 
not prepared to offer the benefits of that ransom 
to you and to me unconditionally. Your salvation 
and mine depends upon the fulfilling by us of the 
conditions that He has seen fit to impose, and the 
primary one is faith. "That whosoever believeth in 
Him, should not perish but have . . . life." 
"If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as 
your Saviour," one writer puts it, "then, sinful as 
your life may have been, for His sake you are 
accounted righteous. Christ's character stands in 
place of your character, and you are accepted before 
God just as if you had not sinned." (Steps to Christ, 
page 58.) And again, "Through this simple act of 
believing God, the Holy Spirit has begotten a new 
life in your heart. You are a child born into the 
family of God, and He loves you as He loves His 
Son."—Ibid., page 40. 
That is the experience that theologically is called 
"justification by faith." But now what is the nature 
or character of this faith that justifies man before 
God? Is it mere intellectual assent, an assent that 
simply acquiesces to the truthfulness of a fact? 
No, indeed. When God warned Noah of the im-
pending Flood, "by faith, Noah, being warned, . . 
prepared an ark." Noah believed what God said. 
And his belief led him into action. He prepared an 
ark. As a result he and his family were saved. And 
any faith that does not lead to action is utterly 
worthless and most certainly not faith in the Bible 
sense of the word. 
There is much of this merely intellectual faith in 
Christianity today, but it is not worth the name 
Christian. James, in his epistle, knew all about it 
too. "Thou believest that there is one God ;" he 
says, "thou doest well: the devils also believe [that), 
and tremble" because of their knowledge of it; but it 
will save not them nor us. Surely "we are not of them 
who draw back into perdition; but of them that 
believe unto the saving of the soul." Heb. 10:39. 
Here is true, saving faith. A belief that leads to the 
the saving of the soul. 
It was Bishop Handley Moule, I believe, who, 
speaking of salvation by faith, once said, "We are 
justified by faith alone, but faith that justifies is not 
alone." True faith in Christ brings about a trans-
forming experience. No man can have true faith 
and remain only a nominal Christian ! 
How is it with you today? What kind of faith is 
yours? Is it a faith that merely repeats the Apostle's 
Creed saying, "I believe . . ." or is it a faith that has 
transformed your life from that of a worldling to a 
lover of the things of God? Has it given you a 
distaste for the world's pleasures, and a deep love 
for the spiritual and heavenly? Is your faith of the 
kind that will merit survival, or will it prove to have 
been an empty profession ? 
May each one of you who read, be possessed of 
that living faith which will enable you to lay hold 
of the promises of God, and to survive the calamitous 
destruction which is so soon to overtake this dia-
bolically wicked world, and find life for ever in the 
kingdom of God. 
28 
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SPEAKS! 
ME SCARLET WOMAN 
by S. G. Hyde 
I
N the seventeenth 
chapter of Revela-
tion prominence is 
given to the character, 
d e e d s, and ultimate 
judgment of an insti-
tution symbolized by a 
scarlet-coloured woman 
riding a scarlet-coloured 
beast. 
"I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast. 
. . . The woman was arrayed in purple and 
scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious 
stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her 
hand full of abominations. . . . Upon her fore-
head was a name, . . . MYSTERY, BABYLON 
THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS 
AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." 
Rev. 17:3-5. 
In previous studies, another woman symbol was dis-
covered, a symbol of the true church, the "mother" 
of the Man-child, the "only-begotten Son" of God. 
"There appeared a great wonder; . . . a woman 
clothed with the sun, and the moon under her 
feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." 
Rev. 12:1. 
By contrast with the woman of chastity, symbol of 
the pure and the true, the woman of the seventeenth 
chapter is a symbol of the "great whore" and the 
"mother of harlots" and represents the impure coun-
terfeit church and a formidable anti-Christian estab-
lishment. 
"I will show unto thee the judgment of the great 
whore that sitteth upon many waters [nations]: 
. . . and upon her forehead a name written, 
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE 
MOTHER OF HARLOTS." Rev. 17:1, 5. 
In the books of Daniel, Thessalonians, and earlier 
chapters of Revelation, that great anti-Christian 
institution, the Papacy, has been introduced and her 
character, claims, and deeds prophetically exposed. 
It becomes obvious then that here in the seventeenth 
chapter of Revelation we are presented with a fur-
ther exposure of this politico-religious system, the 
Papacy. Let us consider some of the identifying 
characteristics: 
29 
1. Both the "woman" and the "beast" are scarlet-
coloured. 
The "seat" of the Papacy is in Rome. What arrests 
the attention of the visitor in Rome is the pre-
dominance of a scarlet colour. The Pope's robes 
are predominantly scarlet; his carriage is of that 
colour, as also is its carpeting and trappings. Hats, 
cloaks, and carriages of the cardinals are of scarlet. 
Even the famous Papal guard is provided with a 
uniform whose colour is predominantly scarlet. No 
other institution posing as the "church of Christ" so 
fits in with this colour symbol as does the Papacy. 
2. The scarlet-coloured beast upon which the 
scarlet woman rides has additional symbols—seven 
heads and ten horns. 
According to the angelic interpreter, the "heads 
. . . are the seven mountains [or hills], on which 
the woman sitteth." Rev. 17:9. Geographically and 
historically the story of Rome, whether under the 
Cars or the Popes, has always been linked with 
her seven hills. 
The "ten horns" represent the sub-divisions of 
the Roman Empire which the Papacy was sub-
sequently to dominate. 
"The ten horns . . . are ten kings [kingdoms] 
. . . which . . . give their strength unto the 
[scarlet•coloured] beast." Rev. 17:12, 13. 
NOTE.—The beast-symbol used of the Papacy in 
Revelation thirteen has also the identifying features 
of "seven heads and ten horns." (See Revelation 
13:1.) 
3. The "scarlet woman" is described as "full of 
names of blasphemy." Rev. 17:3. 
Of the several identifying features attributed to 
the Papacy in the prophetic revelations of the Bible, 
the outstanding one is "blasphemy." (See Revelation 
13:1, 5, 6; Daniel 7:25; 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4.) 
On the admission and by the claims of Rome, what 
are some of the papal blasphemies ? 
a. The Pope's claim to God-ship upon the earth. 
"We hold upon this earth the place of God Al-
mighty."—Pope Leo XIII. 
"The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted 
that he is not a mere man, but as it were God."—
Ferraris's Ecclesiastical Dictionary. 
b. The papal claim that her priests are able to 
create Christ through the Roman Mass and the call to 
worship that which is purported to have been so 
created. 
The blasphemy of the Mass has been described by 
Dr. J. A. Wylie as "superstition's masterpiece." He 
further describes it, and rightly, as "the centralization 
of Popish absurdity, blasphemy, and idolatry, . . . 
and will remain unsurpassed by anything which the 
combined folly and impiety of man is able to 
invent." 
Lest any reader should doubt the rightness of 
judgment—probably the supreme blasphemy—we 
quote the actual wording of Rome's own Council of 
Trent, the authority for her dogmas: 
"If any one shall deny, that in the sacrament of 
the holy Eucharist there are contained truly, really, 
and substantially, the body and blood, together with 
the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
therefore whole Christ, and shall say He is in it only 
by sign, or figure, or influence, let him be accursed." 
c. The blasphemous pretence of Rome through 
her priests to bestow the forgiveness of sin. 
Jesus taught us to go directly to God and say, 
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that 
trespass against us." And Paul said, "If any man 
sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus 
Christ the righteous." But Rome says that forgiveness 
is conferred by her priests. Says the Roman Council 
of Trent: "It is incumbent on every penitent to re-
hearse in confession all mortal sins." "The priest 
has the power of the keys, or the power of delivering 
sinners from hell. . . . God Himself is obliged to 
abide by the judgment of her priests." 
d. By substituting for the Sabbath of God which, 
in the divine commandment specifies the "seventh 
day" as the Sabbath day, the first day of the week, 
originally used by the pagans for the worship of 
their sun-god, a substitution which has neither divine 
nor biblical authority. 
e. By the substitution of Mary for Christ, as the 
sinner's Advocate and Saviour: "Thou art the only 
advocate of sinners." "All those who are saved, are 
saved solely by means of this divine mother."—
The Glories of Mary. 
These are but some of the evidences of blasphemy 
with which the Papacy was to be identified. 
That the Papacy, before the end of time was to 
become the overriding yet apostate spiritual authority 
in the world is made clear by the angelic interpreter. 
"The woman which thou sawest is that great 
city [spiritual Babylon], which reigneth over the 
kings [kingdoms] of the earth." Rev. 17:18. 
NcrrE.—This fact was stressed in the thirteenth 
chapter of Revelation where it predicts that even-
tually "all the world" will wonder "after the beast." 
When the heads of the English and Scottish Pro-
testant churches see fit to make their obeisance to the 
Pope—an act that would never have been coun-
tenanced a few years ago—then one can be sure that 
30 
4 
the world is moving rapidly toward the climax of 
history. 
It must ever be remembered that the Papacy, to use 
the famous words of Dr. J. A. Wylie, is the devil's 
masterpiece. It is an institution founded to counter 
the mission and ministry of the church of Christ. 
As such, it is inevitable that she will encounter the 
wrath of God and come to an inglorious end. 
"Great Babylon came in remembrance before God, 
to give unto her the cup of the wine of the 
fierceness of His wrath." Rev. 16:19. 
How Old Is Sunday Observance ? 
(Continued from page 1.5.) 
Sunday-keepers bring forward the argument that 
while they can produce historical references calling 
Sunday the Lord's day, Sabbath-keepers cannot. How- 
ever, the interesting fact is that Sabbath-keepers do 
have historical proof. The only difference between 
Sabbath-keepers and Sunday-keepers is that Sabbath- 
keepers base their doctrines solely on the Bible, sup-
ported by early Christian literature, while Sunday-
keepers have only some obscure statements taken 
from history to support Sunday keeping, the first of 
which, as we have said, is from the apocryphal gospel 
of Peter. 
In the Apocryphal Acts of John we read: "And 
on the seventh day, it being the Lords' day, he said 
to them, 'Now it is time for me also to partake of 
food.' And having washed his hands and his face, 
he prayed." 10 Here is a clear statement that the 
seventh day is called the Lord's day, and even if 
the supposed Lord's day texts, which have been men-
tioned, had been authentic, this statement from the 
Apocryphal Acts of John indicates that the writers 
could have referred to the seventh day and not the 
first day of the week. But Sabbath-keepers do not 
have to base their Sabbath-keeping on statements 
from apocryphal books, even if such can be found. 
How very true Luther's words have proved to be 
when he said that the Church Fathers contradict one 
another, and we therefore should adhere to the Bible, 
and the Bible alone. 
Before the close of the second century a theological 
school was founded in Alexandria and one of its first 
teachers was Clement. He used the expression "Lord's 
day" for the first day of the week, and the 
source of his authority for this was not Christ or 
the apostles, but Plato. Clement of Alexandria wrote: 
"And the Lord's day Plato prophetically speaks of in 
the tenth book of the Republic, in these words: 'And 
when seven days have passed to each of them in the 
meadow, on the eighth day they are set out and arrive 
in four days.' " 11 It is unnecessary to enter into a 
discussion of this statement, for all that needs to be 
said is that the philosophical thinking of Alexandria 
together with allegorical interpretations of the Scrip-
ture reaveal a biblical apostasy in this theological 
school. 
The successor of Clement was Origen. He objected 
to Sabbath observance because he was opposed to a 
literal interpretation of the Scripture. For the same 
reason he believed allegorically in the Lord's day. 
Origen writes: "I have to answer that the perfect 
Christian, who ever in his thoughts, words, and deeds 
serving his natural Lord, God the Word, all his days 
are the Lord's and he is always keeping the Lord's 
day." 12 Thus Origen in his allegorical interpretation 
seeks to eliminate the importance of any particular 
day, whether the seventh or the first. 
In summarizing the "historical" Lord's day texts 
of the second century, therefore, the following three 
points should be noticed. Firstly, most of the so-
called "Lord's day" texts have either been twisted 
or misinterpreted to say what they do not say, and 
which is not very creditable to the scholarship of 
Sunday-keeping theologians. 
Secondly, it is important to notice that the idea 
of Sunday as a holy Sabbath was not thought of at 
all. It took many centuries before the idea of trans-
ferring the sanctity of the seventh day to the first 
day of the week was realized. 
Thirdly, there is no statement to be found any-
where authorizing Sunday to be called the Lord's 
day until the close of the second century. The source 
of the first reference to Sunday as the Lord's day is 
not very encouraging for Sunday-keepers and against 
this should be added the fact that we also have an 
historical statement calling the seventh day the Lord's 
day! 
The question thus remains: What happened in the 
Christian church during the second century so that 
at its close Christian writers had begun to call Sunday 
the "Lord's day" ? The answer is the sad story of 
apostasy, which emphasizes that Sunday-keeping is 
the result of a "falling away." This we will enlarge 
upon next time. 
REFERENCES 
1. Ignatius, To the Magnesians, ch. 9 Ante-Nicene Christian 
Library, Vol. 1, page 182. 
2. J. B. Lightfoot, Contemporary Review. Vol. 30, page 339. 
3. Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2, 2 
vol. ed. page 660. 
4. Schaff-Herzog, Enc. of Religious Knowledge, Ignatius. 
5. Loeb Classical Library, Pliny. Vol. 2, pages 402-405. 
6. Apostolic Fathers. Vol. 1, pages 330-331. 
7. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, Vol. 1, page 204. 
8. Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 1, pages 146, 147; 185, 186. 
9. Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 9, pages 27, 29. 
10. Bernard Peck, The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, 
Andrew, and Thomas. 
11. Clement, Miscellanies, book 5. chapter 14. Ante-Nicene 
Fathers, Vol. 2. 
12. Origen, Against Celsus, book 8, chapter 22, Ante-Nicene 
Fathers. Vol. 4. 
31 
14e 
A
LMOST everyone in the British 
Isles has hear d about St. 
Patrick. In Ireland they celebrate 
"St. Patrick's Day" on March 17th. 
But not all know the history of 
St. Patrick. 
The Bible says the name of the 
righteous shall be in everlasting 
remembrance. So it is that St. 
Patrick's name has been held in 
honour for over a thousand years. 
In the days of ancient Rome, 
Patricius, from which the name 
Patrick comes, meant a Roman of 
noble birth. St. Patrick's parents 
left Rome about the middle of the 
fifth century A.D., and they settled 
in Scotland. A number of the early 
Christian families came to Britain 
about that time. 
Patrick as a lad was rather care-
less about the Chirstian faith, but 
when he was sixteen something 
happened which changed his whole 
life. 
A band of robbers made a raid 
on his home. They wounded his 
father, took his sister as a slave, 
and Patrick with several other boys 
was put on a ship bound for 
Ireland. 
He was put off at a town called 
Antrim, and there he was sold to 
a man called Milcher. He spent six 
years as a slave. 
In his sorrow and loneliness he 
repented of his early careless life, 
and daily prayed to his Heavenly 
Father. 
Toward the end of six years he 
had a dream one night which re-
vealed to him that soon he would 
be freed from slavery. After a 
short time he had a second dream 
in which he heard a voice which 
said: "A ship will call at the coast 
to take you to freedom." 
Patrick determined to make the 
journey to the particular spot men-
tioned in the dream. It was about 
300 miles away. The journey was 
hard and toilsome, but when he ar-
rived he had not to wait long be-
fore a ship took him away to 
France. Here to his great surprise 
and joy he again met his parents. 
After a time he had another 
32 
impressive dream in which he heard 
the people of Ireland calling him 
to come and teach them about 
Jesus, the Saviour of the world. 
So about the year A.D. 432, 
Patrick gathered a number of young 
men who were willing to go with 
him, and they returned to Ireland 
as missionaries. 
They landed at a place where the 
town of Wicklow now stands. 
Patrick wanted to go to the place 
where he had been so long a cap-
tive. On the way he stopped at a 
place, where an important chief 
lived whose name was Diehei. This 
chief become his first convert to 
Christianity. He gave Patrick a 
piece of ground to build a church. 
It still stands today and is the 
oldest church in Ireland. Then he 
journeyed on till he came to the 
place where lived his old master, 
Milcher. 
But when Milcher heard that 
Patrick was coming with a number 
of other men he was filled with 
fear. 
He felt sure that Patrick would 
make him a slave, for he remem-
bered all his past cruelty. So he 
piled up all his goods in his home, 
and set it on fire. He placed him-
self in the midst of his house, and 
was burned to death. 
Patrick journeyed on to the hill 
of Tara where lived most of the 
great lords, and the king of Ireland. 
Ruins of its great halls are still 
to be seen ; also great mounds 
where many of the Irish lords and 
kings are buried. 
The king greatly opposed Patrick, 
but he b r a v e l y proclaimed the 
Gospel and gained many converts 
to Jesus Christ. 
In the year A.D. 445 we find 
St. Patrick in Ulster. He built a 
great church at Armagh on a piece 
of land given him by a chief named 
Daire. 
There is still St. Patrick's Church 
on the same spot. 
St. Patrick died where he had 
first landed to preach the Gospel, 
and was buried where now stands 
the Cathedral of Downpatrick. 
4,e Semi oi S. 7atnick 
By M. E. Brooks 
/lip to the Zoo 
By Pamela 
SUSAN!" Mother exclaimed, 
"what are you doing in the 
hall at this time in the morning?" 
"I—er—I was just going to peep 
at the time," Susan answered in a 
very small voice, as she glanced in 
the direction of the grandfather 
clock. 
The big clock wheezed and 
whirred, and then chimed five. 
"There," admonished Mother, a 
little sternly, "at this time in the 
morning little girls and their 
mothers too should still be in bed 
and fast asleep! Get right back 
into bed, and have a few more 
hours' sleep, or you won't be rested 
properly." And she warned: "I'm 
afraid you won't be able to go on 
the outing if you awake tired." 
So back to bed Susan went. Soon 
she was fast asleep again. 
In no time at all, it seemed, 
Mother was in her bedroom draw-
ing back the curtains and saying: 
M. Weston 
"Happy birthday, Dear. Time to 
get up now!" 
Susan needed no second bidding. 
In a flash she was out of bed, 
dressed, and scampering downstairs 
for breakfast. 
The fifth of June had really 
come! She was eight years old, and 
to complete her joy, this was the 
day when Miss Dean had arranged 
to take her Sabbath school class to 
the Zoo in one of the big city parks. 
After breakfast, Susan helped 
Mother with the dishes and then 
dressed for her outing. 
She had barely put on her best 
coat and hat (in honour of such an 
important occasion) when the door-
bell rang. 
"They're here, Mother!" Susan 
called excitedly, as she ran to open 
the door. 
In the porch stood Miss Dean, 
with Gerry, Billie, Ann, and Jane. 
Yes, all the Sabbath school class 
were there, even Billie, who had 
just recovered from an attack of 
measles. 
"Good-bye all," smiled Mother. 
 
"Have a good time, and don't go 
too near the animals!" 
The sun was shining brightly, 
and its golden rays were captured 
in the radiant faces of the children 
as they set off on their outing. 
First there was a train ride, and 
the many exciting things to be seen 
from the carriage window; then a 
bus ride to the gates of the Zoo. 
At last they were through the 
10,001t,g))),,a0)tikevaeltiato)),,a0)),.(011,40,40),,a0,0 • 
THIS BOOK 
By Ellen V. High 
There is a Book 
We all should read; 
It give; us help 
In times of need. 
It tells how God, 
Made all things good, 
Creating all things 
By His Word. 
He ma-'e the lands, 
The hi!ls, the seas, 
Animals and birds, 
The flowers and trees. 
 
 
 
 
Then He made man 
In light arrayed, 
But man grieved God—. 
He disobeyed. 
See how nicely you 
can colour this 
picture and send it 
with your name, age, 
and address to 
Auntie Pam, The 
Stanborough Press 
Ltd., Watford, Herts., 
not later than 
July 10th. 
[Please do not paste 
your pictures on stiff 
card as the best 
entries are mounted in 
our special collection 
of paintings which 
you can see if you 
visit us! ] 
To win men back 
God had a plan: 
His Son must die 
For sinful man. 
And then we read 
How Jesus came, 
A little Babe 
In Bethlehem. 
He grew to be 
A Man so kind—
He healed the sick, 
The lame, and blind. 
He gave His life 
For you and me, 
Upon the cross 
Of Calvary. 
On Easter Day 
He rose again; 
Then went to Heaven, 
With God to reign. 
The Bible say; 
He'll come again. 
Then all His saints 
With Him shall reign. 
bie0A(OltriatgaDira01),40)area k(0),n40)tm[Oli,atO, 
 
 
 
 
33 
turnstiles and in the Zoo grounds. 
There was such a lot to see! 
Leo the lion and his wife Janice, 
Nicko the brown bear, Harry and 
Henrietta the hippos, and many 
more ferocious-looking beasts be-
hind giant iron bars. Even if there 
hadn't been safety barriers around 
the cages, the boys and girls had 
no inclination to venture too near! 
Some of the smaller animals, 
however, looked so harmless and 
playful. The children had a won-
derful time inspecting all the cages 
and Miss Dean had an equally ex-
citing time making sure her small 
charges kept right with her, and 
that no-one put inquiring fingers 
through the bars of the cages. 
"I'd just love to stroke him," an-
nounced Gerry, indicating a harm-
less looking grey wolf. "I'm sure 
a friendly looking fellow like him 
wouldn't hurt anyone." 
But Miss Dean explained to the 
children that nearly all the animals 
they saw would be dangerous if 
allowed to roam wild ; and as it 
was time to stop for lunch she 
promised to tell them a story. 
"Long ago," she began, "in the 
beautiful Garden of Eden, Adam 
the first man, called each animal 
by name, and all loved to be 
stroked and fondled by their master. 
Then even the most timid bird 
would come at Adam's call, and 
everywhere a wonderful spirit of 
love and harmony prevailed. 
"There was no such thing as a 
bird or beast of prey in those days," 
added Miss D e a n, remembering 
how the children had recoiled at 
the sight of the great golden eagles 
eating their meal of smaller birds, 
and the huge beasts ravenously 
gnawing large meat bones. 
"But," continued Miss Dean, 
"you remember how ugliness en-
tered this beautiful garden which 
God had made?" 
"Yes," piped up Ann, the 
smallest child, "Mother read to me 
last night about the beginning of 
sin, and how the first animal was 
killed to atone for Adam's wrong-
doing." 
"That's right, Ann," agreed Miss 
Dean, "and now the barrier of sin 
has come between man and the 
rest of God's creatures, so that 
they don't trust us, and often kill 
each other. However in God's New 
Earth the gentle nature of the 
animals will be restored, and they 
will once again be friendly. 
"Here is a lovely promise which 
God has given to us," said Miss 
Dean, as she took from her hand-
bag the small Bible which she 
always carried. 
Turning to Isaiah, chapter eleven, 
verse 6 she read: 
" 'The wolf also shall dwell with 
the lamb, and the leopard shall lie 
down with the kid, and the calf 
and the fatling together; and a 
little child shall lead them.' " 
"I'm certainly looking forward 
- YOUR LETTER - 
My dear Sunbeams, 
HAVE you ever stopped to con-
sider that OUR TIMES goes into many 
thousands of homes each month? 
And because in many of these 
homes there are several boys and 
girls, no-one can tell how many 
children actually read our pages! 
It's an exciting thought, isn't it? 
Now I have a feeling that we 
should have many more of you 
enrolled in our Sunbeam Band. 
Maybe you don't know how to 
enrol, or even what it means to be 
a Sunbeam, and so I will tell you. 
Sunbeams love Jesus. Every day 
they try their best to shine for 
Him. There are many ways of 
doing this, which you will discover 
for yourself. 
We can shine by helping Mother, 
Daddy, our teacher, or anyone who 
is in need. In fact, just being cheer-
ful and thoughtful for others is 
shining. If you don't believe this, 
just try it and see how much sun-
shine you make ! 
Just as every proper club has its 
rules, Sunbeams have five rules, or 
promises, which they agree to fol-
low. I know you can keep these 
promises by the help of Jesus, and 
enjoy doing so. Here they are : 
1. I will read a portion of the 
Bible every day. 
2. I will not forget my morning 
and evening prayer. 
3. I will try to help someone 
every day. 
to the time when animals as well 
as people will live for ever, without 
any sickness!" emphasized Billie, 
who remembered all too well the 
uncomfortable days he'd recently 
spent in bed. 
"Well, children," remarked their 
teacher. "It makes us very happy 
to think about the beautiful home 
which Jesus is preparing for us, 
and now we have just over an hour 
left before we catch our bus for 
home. Who would like to visit the 
Chimpanzee's Tea Party before we 
leave ?" 
Needless to say there was a loud 
chorus of assent from the children ! 
4. I will defend all animals I see 
unkindly treated. 
5. I will write a letter to "Our 
Corner" at least once every three 
months. 
If you would like to know more 
about the Sunbeam Band, and how 
you can enrol, and obtain an at-
tractive enamelled Sunbeam badge, 
and a Promise Card you will love 
to possess, fill in the coupon below, 
today, and send it to me. Tell your 
friends about the Sunbeam Band, 
too. 
If you are already a member, you 
may send for as many forms as 
you wish for your friends. 
I shall be looking forward to a 
bumper number of enrolments this 
month ! So good-bye until I hear 
from you. 
Yours affectionately, 
To Auntie Pam, The Stanborough 
Press Ltd., Watford, Herb. I am 
interested in joining the Sunbeam 
Band. Please send me �
 ap- 
plication form(s). 
Name 
Address �
 
_ �_ _ 
34 
MIRROR 
OUR TIME 
„.” 
God's hand in the storm 
USING words almost identical with those of 
Abraham Lincoln many years ago, President Kennedy 
recently said at his annual presidential prayer break-
fast, "We see the storm coming, and we believe He 
[God] has a hand in it, and if He has a place and 
a part for us, I believe that we are ready." 
Nerve war 
"CONSIDERABLE progress" is reported in the United 
States in the development of a nerve gas capable of 
paralyzing enemy defence for some hours. The Rus-
sians are also said to be stockpiling a similar gas 
which could be used to gain control of Western 
installations without destroying them. 
Long way to go 
ACCORDING to Dr. Alan C. Kolb, the develop-
ment of a thermonuclear reactor capable of chan-
nelling the power of the hydrogen bomb into peace-
ful uses is "a long way" off. The problem is to pro-
duce a plant capable of sustaining a temperature of 
millions of degrees for the effecting of controlled 
fusion. 
Frightened to life! 
COMMENTING .in the House of Lords on the cam-
paign against smoking, Lord Cohen of Birkenhead 
said that it was not to frighten people to death, 
but to frighten people into life! 
Religious freedom a fundamental 
right 
THE United Nations Human Rights Commission 
has not yet completed its study of the preamble of 
a declaration on religious liberty, but Argentina 
has succeeded in getting into it the paragraph: 
"Whereas religion for anyone who professes it is a 
fundamental element in his conception of life, and 
therefore freedom to practise religion as well as to 
manifest a belief, should be fully respected and 
guaranteed." 
Protestants at Vatiran rouneil 
PROTESTANT and Eastern Orthodox churches are 
to be invited to send observers to the Pope's 
Ecumenical Council opening in St. Peter's, Rome, 
on October 11th. A simultaneous translation system 
will be installed for their benefit as the language 
of the Council will be Latin. 
"Frightening" surpluses 
IN view of the fact that half the world is living 
on the brink of starvation, it seems strange that 
Barbara Ward in an address in Kansas City should 
say of food production in the United States that 
"the surpluses that lie ahead ten years from now are 
frightening." 
Birth ratio levelling up 
THE latest analysis of population trends in Britain 
suggest that by the turn of the century in 2001 the 
population of England and Wales will probably be 
in the region of 58,290,000, and females will only 
slightly outnumber males. Last year there were 
1,373,000 more. 
Near starvation in China 
INFORMATION derived from refugees coming out 
of Communist China suggests that the average daily 
food ration is in the region of 1,300 to 1,600 
calories, of which ninety per cent is pure starch. 
"Protein," declares Joseph Alsop in the New York 
Herald Tribane, "has all but vanished from the 
diet of most of the people in China." 
Chureh unity in India 
"WHEN in India Christians of different confes-
sional affiliations find the way to each other and 
become organized in one ecclesiastical body, this 
means a real challenge to those churches in Europe 
and America which preach the Gospel and still go 
on in their separation," declared Dr. Martin 
Niemoeller in New York at the beginning of a 
lecture tour in the United States. 
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