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Truth and Error

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 19, 1914

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 91, No. 49.

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Truth and Error

By F. G.

THE following quotations (the first from a geography in very common use, and the second from a book of nature myths in large use in schools) furnish one reason for the lack of simple faith in the creative power of God, which today is so manifest in the world. “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Such teaching as is found in these quotations surely undermines faith:—
“If birds could talk, what stories we might hear! We might learn of a time, ever so long ago, when their grandfathers were not birds at all. Then they could not fly, for they had neither wings nor feathers. These grandfathers of our birds had four legs, a long tail, and jaws with teeth. After a time feathers grew upon their bodies, and their front legs became changed for flying. These were strange-looking creatures. There are none living like them now.”

“Why There Is a Man in the Moon

“‘Goodman,’ said the goodwife, ‘You must go out into the forest and gather sticks for the fire. Tomorrow will be Sunday, and we have no wood to burn.’
“‘Yes, goodwife,’ answered the goodman, ‘I will go to the forest.’
“He did not go to the forest, but he sat on a mossy rock and fished till it was dark, and so he brought home no wood. ‘The goodwife shall not know it,’ he thought. ‘I will go to the forest tomorrow morning and gather sticks.’
“When morning came, he crept softly out of the house when it was hardly light, and went to the forest. Soon he had as many sticks as he could carry, and he was starting for home, when a voice called sternly, ‘Put those sticks down!’ He looked to the right, to the left, before him, behind him, and over his head. There was no one to be seen.
“‘Put those sticks down!’ said the voice again.
“‘Please, I do not dare to put them down,’ replied the goodman, trembling with fear. ‘They are to burn, and my wife cannot cook the dinner without them.’
“‘You will have no dinner today,’ said the voice.
“‘The goodwife will not know that I did not gather them last night, and she will let me have some dinner. I am almost sure she will,’ the goodman replied.
“‘You must not gather sticks today,’ said the voice more sternly than ever. ‘It is Sunday. Put them down.’
“‘Indeed, Mr. Voice, I dare not,’ whispered the goodman; and afar off he thought he heard his wife calling, ‘Goodman, where are you? There is no wood to burn.’
“‘Will you put them down, or will you carry them forever?’ cried the voice angrily.
“‘Truly I cannot put them down, for I dare not go home without them,’ answered the goodman, shaking from head to foot. ‘The goodwife would not like it.’
“‘Then carry them forever,’ said the voice. ‘You care not for Sunday, and you shall never have another Sunday.’
“The goodman could not tell how it came about, but he felt himself being lifted, up, up, up, sticks and all, till he was in the moon.
“‘Here you shall stay,’ said the voice sternly. ‘You will not keep Sunday, and here you need not. This is the moon, and so it is always the moon’s day, or Monday, and Monday it shall be with you always. Whenever any one looks up at the moon, he will say, “See the man with the sticks on his back. He was taken to the moon because he gathered wood on Sunday.”’
“‘O dear, O dear,’ cried the goodman, ‘what will the goodwife say?’”
We cannot expect to have our children established in the saving faith of the gospel while they are being taught untruths concerning the origin of life and the fundamentals of Christian worship.
“The work that lies next our church members is to become interested in their children and youth.” A mighty effort must be put forth to save them from the wave of unbelief and superstition which is sweeping the world. If there was ever a time when all, both parents and those who are not parents, should unite in an intense effort to provide ways and means by which the children of the church may be taught the simple faith of our God, that time is now. We are in the period of earth’s greatest moral darkness, and no means or effort should be spared to save them from the baleful influences of such teachings as are illustrated by these examples. F. G.