the day of judgment and perdition of un-
godly men.” Then “ the elements shall
melt with fervent heat; the earth also
and the works that are therein shall be
burned up. . .. Nevertheless we, ac-
cording to his promise, look for new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwell-
eth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3.
“And I saw a new heaven and a new
earth; for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away; and there was
no more sea.” Rev. 21:1. This is the
settlement of the great land question,
and this very definite spiritual, yet lit-
eral, promise can be traced from the first
part of the book of Genesis to the very
closing part of the book of Revelation.
This is the promise and the glorious in-
heritance, the earth made new, the first
dominion. “And God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes; and there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow nor
crying, neither shall there be any more
pain; for the former things are passed
away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new.”
Rev. 21:4, &.
THE WATCHMAN
“The wilderness and the solitary place
shall be glad for them; and the desert
shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice
even with joy and singing. The glory
of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the
excellency of Carmel and Sharon; they
shall see the glory of the Lord and the
excellency of our God. ... Then the
eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the
cars 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. . . . . And the
ransomed of the Lord shall return and
come to Zion with songs and everlasting
jov upon their heads; they shall obtain
jov and gladness, and sorrow and sigh-
ing shall flee awav.” Tsa. 35:1, 2, 5,
0, 10.
This is the definite, the glorious, the
spiritual, yet real promise that is made
to Israel. In our next article we will
consider the true return of Israel.
Present [ruth
JOHN R. MITCHELL -
HE great thought in the
minds of the pilgrim fathers
was to establish in this coun-
try “a church without a pope
and a state without a king.”
After a long and bloody
struggle, this end was ob-
tained, and how wonderfully
God has blessed. }
We need now to study those moral
battles which were fought for the lib-
erty we all now enjoy. The principles
for which our forefathers struggled were
grand ones: and so long as we remain
loyal to them, the benediction of Heaven
will rest upon our fair land. To-day
America is the greatest nation on earth,
and all because her government is based
upon the principles of the separation of
church and state, in harmony with God’s
“Render therefore unto Cesar
the things which are Cesar’s, and unto
God the things that are God’s.”
How sad is the fact set before us in
the sure word of prophecy (Rev. 13:11
and onward) that this grand and glori-
word :
<
ous land of freedom is to “speak as a
dragon:” “ He exerciseth all the power
of the first beast [the papacy] before
him, and causeth the earth and them
which dwell therein to worship the first
beast, whose deadly wound was healed:
. saying to them that dwell on the
earth, that they should make an image
to the beast. . . . And he had power to
give life unto the image of the beast,
. . . and he causeth all . . . to receive
a mark in their right hand, or in their
foreheads.” Rev. 13:11 - 16.
Every organization is what the prin-
ciples upon which it is founded and gov-
erned cause it to be. Therefore if this
nation is to conform to the line of action
followed bv the first beast, or in other
words to make its image or its exact
likeness, it must change its principles to
conform to the principles governing the
power to which it is to make an image.
We must find, therefore, in the nation.
sentiment which will demand a change
of governmental action. ‘The first
beast,” the papacy, was a union of church
69
and state, which enforced religious dog-
mas by the civil power; so when the
majority of citizens in our own land de-
mand such a rule of action, the “ image ”
will have been formed in principle, and
the result will be seen as soon as “life ”
is received.
We inquire, Has this image been
formed? — Yes, .in principle it has.
Listen: One of the leading religious or-
ganizations in America has for its pur-
pose, as avowed in Art. II. of its consti-
tution, “to secure such an amendment
to the Constitution of the United States
as will declare the nation’s allegiance to
Jesus Christ, and its acceptance of the
moral law, and so indicate that this is
and place all the
Christian laws, institutions, and usages
a Christian nation;
of the government on an undeniable legal
basis in the fundamental law of the land.”
When this organization succeeds, all re-
ligious liberty will be taken from the
people, and we shall have a complete un-
ion of church and state. Thus in prin-
ciple the image is formed, and now steps
are rapidly being taken to give it life.
He “ causeth the earth and them which
dwell therein to worship the first beast.”
How can this be brought about? Dy
forcing upon all an act which the first
beast will consider as worship.
“The observance of Sunday by Prot-
estants is an homage [or worship] they
pav, in spite of themselves, to the au-
thority of the [Catholic] Church.” —
Plain Talks about Protestantism, p. 213.
How will this worship be brought about?
— Byv compelling all to keep Sunday, and
bv so doing the “earth 7 also is made to
worship the first beast, even as in Bible
times the ““ earth enjoyed her Sabbaths.”
And furthermore, this power, the Ro-
man Church, points to Sunday as a sign
or mark of her authority. Hence in
compelling all to observe Sunday, this
country will cause all to receive a mark
in their foreheads or in their hands; in
the forcheads of those who desire to
keep it; in the hand of all who are com-
pelled to observe it.
It 1s really alarming to see how this
sentiment already prevails in the land.
In endeavoring to secure signatures to
a petition against the Sunday bill now
pending in Congress, the writer had
many interesting experiences. The
matter was taken up a few weeks after
the close of one of the recent camp-
meetings in the South. The town was