DARK DAYS FOR THE NATION.
By Editor
At a conference meeting in New York, April 6, in an address to the Methodist preachers, Bishop Berry declared that the ministers themselves would be startled if they knew how many young Methodists and boys and girls of the best families, too, were lost to the Methodist church. Of the country he said: "There are dark days ahead of us. Organized capital is often organized greed, and organized labor is often organized tyranny. The only thing that will solve the problem is regeneration, for human selfishness is at the root of the whole matter. The world needs sorely to care for its social ills." But the great trouble is that the country and the doctors of the country, all religious men, are endeavoring to cure the social ills thru the teaching or the transformation of the masses, when the only way by which it can be done is in reaching the individual man. To that old-fashioned Methodism, Presbyterianism, and all true evangelism looked. If they would look to that at the present time instead of politics and what may be called social methods far more would be accomplished. There are dark days ahead, but present methods will never cure the troubles of the country, for the troubles which afflict the body politic or the body social. In Jesus Christ as the Saviour—only Saviour—alone is there hope. If we accept the New Testament as authoritative, on the authority of that we ought to accept the Old. The New Testament abounds in quotations from the Old; and they are ever referred to as unquestionable authority; but this is never the case with the Apocrypha. Of our Old Testament when quoted by the New Testament writers it is said: "It is written," "as saith the Scriptures," "as the Holy Ghost saith," "the Holy Scriptures," and "the Scriptures can not be broken." What greater indorsement do we want of the Scripture canon in our Lord's day? Three times our Saviour meets the assault of the enemy by "It is written," and every time from the book of Deuteronomy. He, at least, had not been affected by the "higher critics." The New Testament is the complement of the Old. They teach the same salvation, hold the same standard of morality, present the same Gospel, all of which are more fully developed. They truly compose the one Book. The Inspiration of the Bible, it needs scarcely be said, must pertain to the originals, rather than to the translations. The books of the Bible may be considered as so many letters of God to us, imparting instruction, comfort, warning, counsel, ofttimes thru lessons of the past. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that thru patience and thru comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope." Rom. 15:4. The translations are the efforts of devoted students to endeavor to place in the language of different people the original letters. We therefore ought to welcome them. They are often different, frequently express different shades of meaning, but they all confirm and make more beautiful our Father's instruction. Our English translations are most of them excellent, and the best of them all, to our mind, is the American Standard Revised Version. Inspiration Is Not Illumination.—The men thru whom God gave His word may have been as educated and enlightened as Daniel or Paul, or as unlearned in the "schools" as the fisherman Peter. They may be able to comprehend what God reveals thru them; they may not understand their own prophecies, as was the case with Daniel. Dan. 12:8, 9. Yet each writing is equally the word of God. One person, like Peter, may have naturally held his "Jewish prejudices," nevertheless, the Spirit breathed thru him, "God is no respecter of persons." It may have been the educated priest, the son of Buzi, with his visions of glory, or the herdsman of Tekoa, but the word is equally the word of God. Prophecy.—Mighty evidence of the divine stamp upon the Scripture canon is that furnished by the prophecies and their fulfilment. Read all the future history of the Hebrews, in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. Note the fulfilment of the prophecies of our Lord given in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, and of Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2. Among the most remarkable books of the Bible are Daniel and the Revelation. The former is considered by the critics as among one of the most questionable books of the Old Testament canon, the latter of the New; and yet in the remarkable prophecies of these books the pen of inspiration has traced the rise and fall of nations and the history of the church. He who desires may know this. Where the historical critics and carpers have found weakness, God Himself has put strength. The Fruits.—A great evidence of intrinsic authority of the book of God is the fruit which it has borne. The Bible has changed the face of the world. Altho in sixty-six parts, it is, after all, all one Book, one building. Brick by brick has the edifice risen, volume by volume has the Gospel of Jesus Christ grown; seemingly different purposes have been dominant in the minds of the writers, various qualities of tone have been heard from the instruments God used, yet nevertheless it is the product of the one Mind, the one Purpose, the one Musician; it is the one rule or canon. To all this its fruits—the great test of the prophets, false and true (Matt. 7:15, 16)—have ever borne witness. Light, hope, cleansing, righteousness, life, gladness, joy, have sprung up wherever its seed has been sown. The Ultimate Test.—There is one test of the authority of the Book of God which every soul may demonstrate. Jesus thus states it: "If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God." John 7:17, A.R.V. This may be said to pertain to the matter and not to the books themselves, but we reply that the books and the matter are so bound together that we can not separate them. He, therefore, who will with submissive heart and teachable spirit come to God's word, that he may know and do the truth, will find light and life. The longing of his life will be met, his thirsty soul will be refreshed, his hungry heart will be fed, and he will rest satisfied in the love of God. Pacific Union College holds a summer session June 4 to July 8. It will be largely a normal institute for all engaged in the teaching profession, or who have it in view, for Sabbath-school workers, officers of young people's societies, and all others who desire instruction. It has excellent aims in uplifting the teaching profession. For full particulars address Prof. E. D. Sharpe, Normal instructor, Healdsburg, Cal. We have received from the Sunset Magazine one of the most beautiful souvenirs ever printed, entitled, "The Road of a Thousand Wonders." That road is the Coast Line-Shasta Route of the Southern Pacific Company from Los Angeles thru San Francisco to Portland, Ore., a stretch of 1,300 miles. This book of 72 pages of fine plate paper tells of this marvelous border-land of America, its charms of sea and mountain and field and lake, its health resorts, and floral loveliness. All its beautiful pictures, and every page is adorned, are in color, a gem of the printer's art. This may be obtained by subscribing for Sunset Magazine at $1.50 a year. This magazine deals largely with the development of the great West. Address Passenger Department, Southern Pacific Company, San Francisco, Cal. To say that this book tells this or that would be to accuse it of empty doctrine, lifeless theory. It does not tell; it is and does. It is a witness, and with it is a power. It does not preach doctrine, nor about the Holy Spirit, but it is a living testimony of what the Spirit can do because it has already done it for one man, the writer, and for scores of others. You can not read it without meeting on every page a moving, breathing epistle, warm with an inner fire of life. It is full of experiences—facts—of what the power of God thru the Holy Spirit has done for the sinner, the unbeliever, the infidel, the professor, the backslider, the drunkard, the fearful, the discouraged, the trembling soul, and the tried and perplexed ones. If you need help and want power, the Holy Spirit's power, this book can put you in the way of getting it. Not at all stilted, but face to face with you, and no beating about the bush. Short chapters, 44 of them to 201 pages, large type, heavy paper, beautiful cover design in three colors, size 5½ by 8, cloth binding, 75 cents, postpaid. Address, PACIFIC PRESS, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CAL.