THE KING’ S BUSINESS
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“May the Lord convict us as a nation where the hindrance is, and cause us to humble ourselves and confess it quickly Jor our good.” Still another writer in the same issue o f The Life of Faith gives another reason. He writes:' “Will you allow nie to suggest that the appointment o f an envoy to the Pope at the present day must not be tolerated at any price. The protest should not be allowed to drop, either in Parliament or outside, when we reflect that the Papal gigantic imposture is a political system sail ing under the disguise o f a religion, and would (as the late Cardinal Manning said) be willing to shed rivers o f blood to bring about the restoration o f the temporal power o f the Papacy. “ If a curse was pronounced upon the one who should rebuild the walls o f literal Jericho, how much greater curse rests upon any one who should attempt to restore the spiritual Jericho? or pander to the pre tensions o f the kingdom o f Antichrist, and thereby call down the wrath o f God upon us at this critical time—even by the employ ing o f an envoy to the Pope, which was made illegal in the reign o f William III., when the Stuart dynasty, which well-nigh ruined our country, was forever deposed. It is surely analogous to the ‘accursed thing’ o f Joshua 7:11.” Others still are giving other reasons, and doubtless there are yet- other reasons, tvhy the hand o f God is withheld. But ought not we who have not yet been sucked into the awful maelstrom o f war to inquire whether there are riot things that we need to set straight in bur individual life, in our church life, and in our national life? There is too much o f a disposition on the part o f many, o f us to take it for granted that we cannot possibly be involved in the war, and to think that while other nations are sinning, that we, and we alone, are pursuing a course that is pleasing to God. Any one who thinks so must be blind indeed.
tecting our island as He has done, causing His winds so often to turn back the Zep pelins, even as He used them against the Spanish Armada ? “ God’s command and promise stands good, ‘I f thou turn away thy , foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy o f the Lord, honourable— I will cause thee to ride upon the high places o f the earth, and feed thee with the heritage o f Jacob thy father for the mouth o f the Lord hath spoken it.’ Isaiah 58:13, 14. And the warning is this: ‘If ye shall despise My statutes, I will set My face against you, and ye shall be -slain before your enemies.’ ‘Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths—because it did not rest in your Sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it.’ Leviticus 26:15, 17, 34, 35. “ God sent this message by Jeremiah, when the people would not give heed; ‘Thus saith the Lord. Because ye have not heard My words, behold I will send and take all the families o f the North, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar, King o f Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land. And this whole land shall be a deso lation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the King o f Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the King o f Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquities.’ Jeremiah 25:8, 9. . “ ‘The Lord hath a controversy with the nations. T ie will plead with all flesh. He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.’ Jeremiah 25:31. “ The fulfillment took place when the Babylonians captured Jerusalem, burnt the house o f God, and those that had escaped the sword were carried away captive to Babylon. “ Perhaps the Lord will use your paper as He used Isaiah’s mouth when He said to that prophet: ‘Cry aloud; spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgressions. Yet they seek Me daily and delight to know My ways as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinances o f their God.’ Isaiah 58 :1, 2.
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