CONFUSION AND THE REMEDY.
By W. N. G.
THE Pacific Coast organ of the Christian denomination, the Harbinger, has this to say about the so-called "American Sabbath":— We read a great deal in our religious exchanges about "the American sabbath." Now we confess that we do not know what the American sabbath is. If there is a day which the Americans recognize as a sabbath, we have never found it out. There are very many Americans, intelligent people too, who speak of the first day of the week as the American sabbath or simply as the sabbath. There is a great organization, known as "The American Sabbath Union," which issues a publication devoted to the advocacy of the American sabbath; and yet all this only leads to confusion. It is confusing one of the laws of the Decalogue, as given to Moses, with Christianity. It not only gives a confused idea of the design and uses of the Lord's day, but it leads to many religious errors. Seventh-day Adventism is a legitimate outgrowth of such teaching and such confusion. The absurdity of the "American Sabbath" cry is discerned by a great many even of the advocates of Sunday observance. It certainly "only leads to confusion." But it will be through confusion that the masses will be deceived in the last days. The majority, under the influence of the image to the papal beast (Rev. 13: 11-17), will be led to receive the mark of the beast,—the counterfeit sabbath. They are thus susceptible to deception "because they received not the love of the truth" (2 Thess. 2: 7-12). See Ps. 119:142; John 17:17. But it is not true, as stated by the Harbinger, that it confuses "one of the laws of the Decalogue as given by Moses with Christianity." Between these there is no confusion. The law and the gospel harmonize perfectly. The work of God for sinners in the patriarchal age and under the Mosaic dispensation was as certainly Christian as that since the time of Christ. The true believers in the past ages were just as truly actuated by faith in Christ as are those of our own day. See Hebrews 11. In connection with the last message of warning given to our race, we read, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. The compliment paid to Seventh-day Adventists in the last sentence of the Harbinger’s comment is one we hardly expected from that quarter, and we heartily appreciate it. It is true that this organization of believers never would have existed but for the confusions that led to, and have grown out of, this first-day observance business. The deceptive work of attempting to destroy the Sabbath of the Lord, and to set up a rival institution in its stead, necessitated the raising up of a people to repair the breach (Isa. 58:12). There is a necessity in these days of confusion, in regard to this as also to other doctrines, that there be a people who will speak according to the law and the testimony (Isa. 8:20). The Seventh-day Adventists are that people, and the "dragon" is "wroth," and is making war with the woman (the church), and "with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17. The only remedy for confusion is the proclamation of the word of God. W. N. G. IN the General Parliament of Religions to be held in connection with the World's Fair at Chicago the following are the topics to be considered and the general line of discussion, as indicated by the committee having the matter in charge:— The idea of God, its origin and universality; The primitive forms of Theism; God in the light of modern science and the view of God now prevalent; Man, his dignity, nature, and place; The universe; The essential relations of the world and man to God; Religion essentially characteristic of humanity; Forms of religion; Value of the weekly sacred rest day; Religion in its relations to science and to morals; The religion of the family and of civil society; The African race and its religious missions and needs; The religious reunion of Christendom, etc. As will be noted, one of the topics to be discussed is that of the "value of the weekly sacred rest day," meaning Sunday. The enforcement of the Sunday rest day by law will lose nothing from this discussion. This Parliament of Religions will no doubt be only one of the many combinations and councils of the last days to give weight and authority to Sunday legislation. It is hoped by its admirers that this parliament will go a long way toward bringing about international unity and cooperation on the topics discussed. This, perhaps, it may do, but it will not be the unity for which Christ prayed, a united body separate from the world and depending alone upon the great Head for guidance and assistance. Rather, it seems to us, will it result in the confederacy spoken of by Isaiah, a combination against the truth of God for these last days, and a union to enforce by law that day which God's word declares to be a counterfeit and usurper. May the honest-hearted engaged in the Sunday-law movements be led to recognize the lawful claims of the true rest day, and realize that it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Master, that Christian unity is effected and the truth of the word promoted. ALTHOUGH the pope has no territory under his control, he keeps up the play of temporal sovereignty, and a number of governments recognize his pretension by receiving and accrediting diplomatic representatives. The Catholic News gives the following list:— There are apostolic nuncios in Austria, Bavaria, France, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. Holland has an apostolic internuncio. There is an apostolic delegate and envoy extraordinary in the republics of Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, San Domingo, Hayti, Venezuela, and the United States of Colombia. Brazil is in possession of an apostolic internuncio on an extraordinary mission. And now we, too, have an apostolic delegate. The following have representatives accredited to the Holy See: Austria, France, Spain, Portugal, Prussia, Bavaria, Belgium, Monaco, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador, Haiti, and San Domingo.