THE WATCHMAN
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY TIIE
SOUTHERN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
NASHVILLE, TENN.
Price, $1.00 per Year Single Copy, 5 Cents
G. I. BUTLER
: P. T. MAGAN Associate
L. A. SMiTR | Editors t
E. J. BURNHAM { Editors
FNTERED AT THE POST OFFICE AT NASHVILLE, TENN.
AS SECOND CLASS MATTER, APRIL 12, 1906.
Hl
Nashville, Tennessee, Nov. 19, 1907.
CHRIST'S METHODS OF WORKING
SOME GLTMI'SES OF I'S WONDERFUL RESULTS
HE Father has committed to his Son
the special management of the great
scheme of redemption. The prophet de-
clares, “He shall not fail nor be dis-
couraged, till he have set judgment in the
earth.” He will,.in short, bring back this one
lost world to its allegiance to God, cleansing
the universe from all the defilement of sin;
and the great rebellion of Satan and his ad-
herents will be forever put down. ‘Then
peace, joy, and happiness will reign, and in the
vast universe of God no evil will exist forever-
more. But as vet this prediction remains un-
fulfilled. Never did evil its head in
prouder form, nor seek more persistently to
intrench itself. But it is doomed; and we
gladly welcome the advancing signs of its ut-
ter overthrow, when Christ shall come in his
glory.
raise
For nearly six thousand years Christ has
been engaged in gathering his precious jewels
from the rubbish of the disloyal hosts of
wicked men, with which to people the new
earth when it is rescued from Satan’s grasp.
He has, by his wisdom and omnipotence,
guided, directed, and interfered at important
crises to hold evil in check, carry out his pur-
poses, and fulfil the predictions of his proph-
ets, and no word of his has ever failed of its
accomplishment,
It is encouraging to the child of God. while
buffeted here below, struggling as he is in the
heat of the conflict, and pressed under heavy
temptations, to get glimpses of our beloved
Captain’s special interference in the affairs of
men, to rescue his followers and give them vic-
tories over all their foes.
Could the curtain be lifted, how many of
these special providences should we behold!
As it is, the blessed word brings many of
these to light. Yea, and in our own experi-
ences we can doubtless recall instances where
Providence (but another name for Christ's
wonderful care for his people) has specially
cared for us in times of peril. IL.et us notice
a few out of the vast number introduced in
Scripture. The call of Noah
world of the deluge, and save a seed to pop-
to warn the
ulate the earth after he had purged it of a race
of rebels, is a special instance of Clirist’s in-
terference.
I'THE WATCHMAN
The Calling of Abraham
The call of Abraham to leave Chaldea, and
in Canaan prepare the way for planting his de-
scendants there to serve as a channel of light
to the world, is another. Christ's visits to
him, instructing him concerning the coming of
himself as the promised Seed, and the great-
ness of his promises to prepare him to be the
father of the faithful, thus marking a new
era 1m the development of the plan of salva-
tion, is a matter of deep interest. His visit
when sending his angels to save Lot and to
destroy Sodom and the other cities for their
awful wickedness, is a striking interference,
showing his watchfulness of the affairs of the
cities given to iniquity and his care for his
people.
Jacob’s Great Victory
That great crisis in Jacob's life, when con-
fronting Esau and his four hundred men,
trembling for the safety of his family and all
that was dear to him, and conscious of his
sins against his brother, is a wonderful cir-
cumstance. Jacob, though a believer in God
for a long time, had now come to the point
where it was most important for him and for
the well-being of his posterity and the full ac-
complishment of God's plans through them,
to be fully cleansed from the sins of the past,
and to lead a higher life and be fully conse-
crated to God. Doubtless he could not read-
ily discern all that needed to be done for him;
but Christ could, and so caused affairs thus
to culminate to bring matters to this crisis.
Jacob knew great dangers were before him,
and sought God in retirement. Then Christ
in the darkness appeared to him as an enemy
about to destroy him. And poor Jacob, the
supplanter, had to meet a terrible conflict,
where his life trembled all night in the bal-
ances. No doubt with death apparently so
imminent, all the sins of his life passed rapidly
before his mind, and he longed to be for-
given, and to be certain that his peace was
made with God. When weak with the long-
protracted struggle, his soul overwhelmed with
a sense of his peril and great need, and his
feelings roused to their utmost tension, he was
made aware that his antagonist was a divine
Being, his Saviour and his God. How quickly
he grasped him by faith, and clung to him with
all his soul, claiming a blessing. The loving
Saviour gladly forgave the sins of the past,
now that Jacob realized them, and called his
nanie Israel. What a new man Jacob was
from this on! He had no fears now of his
brother. His peace was made, and he could
trust all in the hands of his Lord. ol his
change in him gave a wonderful influence to
his after life, and deeply affected his posterity.
The great Captain knows just how to touch
these hidden springs of human conduct at the
critical point.
lsrael’s Experience in Egypt
Jacob’s strange way of getting to Egypt to
accomplish an important work in God's great
scheme is another special providence. What
a peculiar training he received, and what con-
sequences grew out of it! So of the birth,
education, and training of Moses for the great
part he was to act. That Rock that went with
Israel, not only in all their wanderings, but in
Egypt also, guiding them out of slavery by
way of the Red Sea and Mount Sinai’s awful
thunders, simply shows Christ's constant su-
pervision and watchcare in the carrying out
of his design to plant Israel in the great thor-
oughfare of the nations, to be a light to the
heathen world.
Joshua met the Captain of the Lord's host
at the critical siege of Jericho, and no doubt
thousands of angels were with him unseen,
who at that critical point, when the loud blasts
of the trumpets rang through the air, toppled
down every stone of Jericho's four walls, leav-
ing a clear pathway for Israel’s hosts to march
into the Canaanite stronghold.
The Mission of Elijah and Elisha
The wonderful mission of Elijah and Elisha
was another special intervention of Christ our
Lord,—a last mighty effort to save the ten
apostate tribes from ruin. It did preserve
them for a season, but they were too far gone
on the downward pathway to be rescued.
Proud Ephraim was joined to his idols, and
finally disappeared as a nation in the Assyrian
captivity. A few pious souls, joining them-
selves to Judah, came back from the cap-
tivity — enough seed to preserve a skeleton of
the commonwealth of twelve tribes.
The mighty power of God manifested through
Elijah and Elisha, brought some at least to
their senses. It was Christ's almighty power
that caused the water to be licked up in the
trenches and consumed the bullock, in the great
test to determine who was the true God. It
was he who sent the rain; and at last snatched
his servant away in the fiery chariot, as a type
of the translated saints at the second advent.
Christ was present to raise the dead at his
servant’s entreaty; and with a mighty host of
angels surrounded Elisha when his attendant
was permitted to have a glimpse of the heav-
enly guard that attended the prophet. What
a mighty Saviour he is! G. I. B.
(To be continued.)
EI
THE ORIGINAL SABBATH DAY
CORRESPONDENT who is sure that
the original seventh day of the week,
the creation Sabbath, has lost its iden-
tity and cannot be known from other
days at the present time, says :(—
‘he claim that successive Sabbaths from
the day on which our Lord rested, can be iden-
tified and pointed out in exact chronological
order down to the present time, must require
a wonderful stretch of the imagination. That
there is not the thin shadow of testimony to
prove such claim is evident from the fact that
there was no law from Adam until Moses,
2.500 vears before there was any account of the
creation, so far as recorded. It is absolutely
certain that Sabbaths cannot be traced back to
the creation, nor can they be traced back to
Why not?
structed by the Lord to remove Israel from
Egypt on the night of the 14th day of Abib,
The Lord
Moses. Because Moses was in-
the first month of the new year.