Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Oct 8, 1903
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Bell's Language Series
In Five Books
THIS series gives an outline study of the English language, adapted to the training of the child from the nursery till he is graduated from college. These books claim the attention of practical educators everywhere. Based upon the natural method, giving and illustrating principles rather than rules, they are particularly suited to home study. This unique series consists of —
Book One, Primary Language Lessons from Life, Nature, and Revelation. 227 pages. Cloth......$ .65
Book Two, Elementary Grammar. 224 pages. Cloth...... .65
Book Three, Complete Grammar. 281 pages. Cloth........... .80
Book Four, Rhetoric and Higher English. 375 pages. Cloth..... 1.25
Book Five, Studies in English Literature. 599 pages. Cloth..... 1.75
Home and Church School Manual
WE hope every mother and teacher will secure a copy of the Mothers' and Teachers' Manual immediately. We do not desire this simply because we have these manuals for sale, but because we hold them to be of inestimable value in the home training and the church school.
It supplies a long-felt need in the work of our home and church schools, and its coming, as it does, recommended by the General Conference Educational Committee, should inspire confidence in it. The object of this Manual is to furnish a basis of organization upon which parents in the home and the teachers in the schools may build.
Beginning with the general principles of Christian education, and their application to the home training in the education of the children until they are of school age, it provides a course of study for church and intermediate schools, with definite instructions upon the application of these principles. It contains many hints and helps for teachers, and solves many of the practical problems in our church-school work.
In paper covers, 35 cents; cloth binding, 50 cents.
The Webster Dictionary and Complete Vest-Pocket Library
A WORK of convenience and value to all classes of people. Adopted for use in the State Normal School, Oswego, N. Y. Others of the foremost educational institutions, including Harvard, Yale, Brown, Chicago, and other universities, as well as colleges, academies, and normal schools, place this book in stock, being convinced upon examination that it is a safe and reliable guide, and the best thing of the kind that has ever been placed on the market. Used personally by educators of the highest rank, and commended by them in highest terms.
It will be found very useful for the home and church school, as well as the academy and college.
STYLES AND PRICES
Elegant cloth, red edges................$ .25
Morocco, gold stamp, gold edges........ .50
Extra quality morocco, with calendar, memorandum, and stamp holder................ .60
All three styles are indexed.
Mental Arithmetic for Home and School
THERE is no lack of books treating on this subject, but this work presents it to the pupil from an entirely new, original, and practical standpoint, yet in harmony with sound arithmetical principles, and greatly simplifying them.
The book contains 87 lessons, 240 pages, including drills in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, common and decimal fractions, giving practical examples in astronomy, botany, physiology, natural history, carpentry, masonry, farming, percentage, tables of liquid and dry measure, square measure, linear measure, avoirdupois weight, etc., covering the entire field for children. Price, 65 cents.
TESTIMONIALS
I am particularly pleased with the large amount of actual doing that is required of the student in connection with the mental training.
EMMA M. LONG.
The problems are practical, natural, and useful, being taken from surroundings of the child in the Christian family and school.
JOSEPH H. HAUGHEY.
The pupil is not burdened with innumerable rules as to how to do, but from the first must learn by doing.
S. P. S. EDWARDS.
Best Stories From The Best Book
BY JAMES EDSON WHITE
THIS work for the children contains thirty-five selected readings from the most important and most precious Bible lessons. Written in a simple and entertaining style, they at once serve to educate the child in the great principles taught, and to impart instruction in reading and spelling. A feature which can not fail to be of vast service to the teacher, whether in the schoolroom or at the fireside, is the “Introductory Department of Easy Lessons for Children,” by Ella King Sanders, consisting of exercises in reading, spelling, and penmanship, illustrated with the use of colored drawings of selected objects of nature.
200 pages.
Thin paper edition, heavy paper covers................$ .25
Heavy paper edition, board cover, cloth back................ .50
Heavy paper edition, presentation cover................ .75
In German, Danish, and Swedish at same prices.
Bible Object Lessons and Songs For the Little Ones
On the Life of Christ
THIS excellent kindergarten book contains fifty-two lessons, one for each Sabbath in the year, and each lesson is accompanied by suggestions to mothers and teachers; thirty child's songs and hymns written specially for the lessons; thirty-six full-page pictures, half-tones, with colored plates; fifty-two pen drawings, showing how to use the kindergarten material when teaching the lessons; 160 pages, quarto size, beautifully printed on enameled and supercalendered paper, bound in four styles, as follows: board covers, 7 1-2 x 10 inches, $1.50; blue cloth, $2; lemon edge, royal edition, 9 1-2 x 11 1-2 inches, $2.75; gilt edge, paneled sides, 9 1-2 x 11 1-2 inches, $3.75. Special discount in quantities.
Kindergarten Supplies
WE have three boxes of kindergarten material prepared so that any mother or teacher can illustrate the lessons given in “Bible Object Lessons and Songs for the Little Ones.” The price of these boxes is $1.75.
We carry a stock of tables and chairs. Our table has a round, hard-wood top, with folding legs, and inside cabinet for the material; seats eight pupils and the teacher. Price, $3.75. Our chairs, which are twelve inches in height, the average size for children of kindergarten age, sell for 50 cents apiece; teachers' chairs, 60 cents.
When the three boxes of material are ordered with the book in any style of binding, the purchaser will receive a beautiful premium,—portfolio blackboard sketches on the Life of Christ, to aid mothers, teachers, and children in drawing.
The Gospel Primer
As indicated by the title, this primer is one which, in teaching the alphabet and the very beginning of word learning, instills into the mind of the little ones the wonderful story of God's love and care. The lessons, in a simple way, take up the gospel story, and when the last chapter, “A Little Child Shall Lead Them,” has been studied, the child has been made acquainted in simple language with the great plan of redemption. 128 pages; 33 full-page illustrations.
English cloth, embossed cover, lemon edges, 50 cents; heavy board, handsome design in colors, 25 cents. Also issued in German, Danish, Swedish, and Spanish.
The Gospel Reader
A Companion Volume to the Gospel Primer
IN this reader the beautiful theme of redemption and of the gospel is told in a connected and unbroken story, many of the great events of Bible history being given in chronological order. From the creation to the consummation, the history of God's people, and the hope set before them, become familiar subjects of thought and study.
The book contains thirty-five chapters, twenty-two half-tone engravings, and 192 pages.
Cloth, with portrait in gold, of our Saviour, 75 cents; board covers, in two colors, 50 cents.
Order of State Tract Societies: Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.; Review and Herald, Washington, D. C.; Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Assn., Nashville, Tenn.
The Closing Work
By Editor
Editorial
The Closing Work
THE generation which witnesses the coming of the Lord will be used in doing the closing work of the gospel which will prepare the way of the Lord. This closing work will mean such a preaching of the pure gospel of salvation through faith in Christ that every unsaved one will be without excuse in the day of judgment. This closing work will be a reform work. Every hidden truth will be brought to light. Every perversion of gospel truth will be exposed. Those gifts which belong in the church, but of which it has been deprived for centuries, will be restored. All the inventions and traditions of men, which have been allowed to assume so important a place in the church, will be swept aside, and the gospel in its simplicity, that gospel which convicts and converts the sinner, will be taught with authority. “At the eleventh hour, when the work grows harder, a variety of talents will be brought in. The workers called at this hour will prove faithful, and will receive their penny. Sacrificing men will step into the places made vacant by those who were not willing to do that which would have fitted them for a place in the heavenly temple. These workers will continue to come in. The Lord will provide openings and facilities. He will call upon the youth to fill up the places made vacant by death and apostasy. He will give young men and women, as well as those who are older, the co-operation of heavenly intelligences. These will have converted minds, converted tongues. Their lips will be touched with a live coal from the divine altar. If they will continue to walk humbly with God, if they will do that to which the Lord has appointed them, they will be enabled to carry his work onward and upward.” These are the experiences which await us in the near future in this closing work. Let all believers, young and old, be quick to hear and quick to obey the voice which calls them to their places in this closing work.
With Intense Earnestness
THOSE who really believe that this is the last generation, and that they will live to see the return of our Lord, will certainly give themselves with intense earnestness to the work of sounding the warning message in all the world. To do less than this would be criminal, and would involve responsibility for the loss of souls. The work of preparing the way of the Lord will not be completed until the gospel of the coming kingdom has been proclaimed with a loud voice throughout the whole world. In this work divine agencies are to co-operate with human instrumentalities; and humanly speaking, much depends upon the zeal and consecration of the instrument. It is the constant effort of Satan, the enemy of God’s kingdom, to bring every possible influence to bear upon us to deaden our appreciation of the solemnity of the time and the importance of the work, and to check any spirit of real zeal for the hastening of the Lord’s work in the earth. We must recognize this working of the enemy, and not permit him to accomplish his purpose concerning us. We can not afford to allow any other interest to absorb our attention, or any other purpose to absorb our energies, so that we can not give our best efforts to the work of saving souls from the impending ruin. “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly,” and the great mass of the inhabitants of the earth are being deceived and robbed of their rightful inheritance. O for men and women of intense earnestness, but with a zeal according to knowledge, who could be used mightily in establishing the kingdom of God in the hearts of the people! The third angel’s message, proclaimed in the demonstration of the Spirit, will accomplish this result. Let the message be given with intense earnestness.
The Inner Life
IN his teaching Jesus placed the greatest emphasis upon the actual indwelling of that life which would reveal itself in conduct in harmony with right principles. To Nicodemus, the formalist, he said, “Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.” To the Pharisees he said, “Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.” To his disciples he said, “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” All genuine religious experience is the direct result of a work wrought by divine power within a man, and is the fruit rather than the cause of the inner life. “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do.” This is the teaching of the inspired prayer of the great apostle: “Now the God of peace, . . . make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ.” And so the Saviour said, “Without me ye can do nothing.” No mere outward activity can take the place of this inner life. No mere fleshly zeal to push to apparent success plans of our own devising, even though they may be professedly aimed at the furtherance of the Lord’s work, can supply the lack of the genuine principles of righteousness implanted in the heart. What a spectacle it is when satanic principles and methods are adopted in their work by those who claim to be laborers together with God. The very sanctuary of God thus becomes the stronghold of the enemy, and the most sacred trusts are betrayed. But such is the deceitfulness of sin. Only a personal acquaintance with God and his truth, and a settled purpose to submit our lives to his rule, will save us from this terrible snare of the enemy. An indwelling Saviour is the only Saviour who can save us from our sins. The life current must be from within outward. “A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit.” The inner life determines the quality of our Christianity. “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” “Ye must be born again.” The life of Jesus must be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
A Special Message
THE prophecies make it clear that a special gospel message is to be given to the world in the last days, just before the coming of the Son of man on the white cloud. This is the last call to the gospel feast. This is the final offer of salvation before the close of probation. Amid the strife and commotion which indicate the full development of evil in the earth, there is a power which will control these adverse forces until the purpose of God can be accomplished in sending the warning message to all the world. Through the giving of this message, the body of people known as Seventh-day Adventists has been called out from the churches and the world, and to this message it owes its existence. This people has been raised up by this message, and to them has been accorded the privilege of heralding this message among the nations of the earth. We shall throw away our opportunity and forfeit our privilege if we allow ourselves to be turned aside from this distinctive work.
There are many charitable and philanthropic movements in the world which are seeking to ameliorate the terrible results of sin, and with whose aims we ought to have a hearty sympathy; but in his providence the Lord has raised up leaders and provided means for carrying forward these movements. It would be a mistake for us to attempt to take their work off their hands, or to compete with them in the same line of effort. The Lord has called us to another work.
Jonah was not sent to Nineveh to establish a philanthropic enterprise for the benefit of its inhabitants, although there was doubtless a splendid opening for such a work. He was instructed to proclaim, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” His message saved the city, and nothing else would have saved it.
The apostle Paul did not go from city to city to organize charitable associations among the people, and to affiliate with them in such a work. His distinctive message separated those who received it from all their former associations, and his route through the different countries was marked by churches which he had raised up.
Martin Luther was not called to reform the methods employed by the papacy in doing its extensive charitable work, but to give a message which would overthrow the papacy itself. Neither papal diplomacy nor the power of the state could turn him aside from his divinely appointed task, and the Reformation of the sixteenth century was the result.
William Miller was led of God to teach the prophecies to the world, and to preach the immediate second coming of Christ. He gave himself wholly to this work, and laid the foundation of this advent movement. After the passing of the time in 1844, additional light was given to the faithful believers, especially upon the Sabbath and the law, and the sanctuary question; and these truths, together with the great doctrine of the near personal advent of our Lord, have constituted the pillars of our faith since that time. And these are the truths which need now to be proclaimed with a loud voice in all parts of the earth. In them are included all the truths which constitute a complete gospel of salvation for body, soul, and spirit.
The literature which sets forth these distinctive truths in a simple and forcible way should be scattered everywhere in all languages. Preachers whose souls are on fire with these truths, and who feel a burden to save souls from the impending ruin, ought to go forth in all lands to speak with authority. The world should feel the power of this message. This people should arise with a heaven-inspired determination that nothing shall turn them aside from the purpose to lighten the earth with the glory of this final message. There is not a day to lose. We are already years behind the purpose of God.
Our forces have been much scattered, and our efforts have been to a large degree fruitless for years, because we have been persuaded to smother this message in gospel generalities, and to adopt worldly methods and policies of reform instead of striking directly at the root of the evil. Our present situation ought to stir us mightily, and with genuine repentance for our unfaithfulness we ought to devote all that we have and are to the one purpose of giving our special message to the world in the quickest possible time. This is the only hope of this movement. To this work God is now calling us. Who will respond?
Governments Can Not Be Christian
By L. A. S.
No remedy for the evils which show themselves in church and state in these last days is to be found in the effort to Christianize the civil government. Civil governments can not become Christian, and when they do become ostensibly so, they are invariably unchristian. A profession of religion by the civil government, which manifests its will only by the exercise of force, inevitably involves the persecution of dissenters from that religion.
Christianity is the manifestation of the life of God. It is God made manifest in human flesh. As God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, so Christ is to-day in us, his followers, that we may continue the ministry of reconciliation. Christianity is this, and only this, and the only manifestation of Christianity that can be in any government or nation must be found in the individual lives of its people.
Civil government aims at justice. It is instituted to preserve the rights of the people, and can do this only by being strictly just to the full extent of its powers. Christianity, on the other hand, is a system which combines justice with mercy, justice falling not on the transgressor but upon a vicarious substitute, and the violator of the law obtaining mercy. To mete out justice to the transgressor would defeat the whole purpose of Christianity. Its purpose is not to inflict the penalty of the law on guilty men, but to save them from it.
God, in the exercise of his infinite wisdom and power, has instituted a system of government which can combine justice with mercy, and be grandly successful. To this end agencies are required which are altogether above and beyond any that can be created or directed by man. In the first place, in order that God might be just, and at the same time be the Justifier of them that believe on Jesus, there was required the death of the Son of God. Such a vicarious sacrifice is altogether unknown to any earthly system of government. Then again, angels, divine messengers from the throne of God, are required to be ministering spirits to the followers of Christ on the earth. And more than this, there is required the Holy Spirit to convince the world of sin, and to be the infallible teacher of truth and the Comforter of God's people in their earthly trials. All these superhuman agencies are required for the administration of God's divine system in which mercy is shown to the transgressor. No such agencies are at the command of any earthly government. Human governments can exercise only human power through human agencies. They are therefore altogether incapable of imitating or administering Christianity. They can not even attempt to be Christian without defeating the purpose of their existence.
Christianity provides forgiveness for the transgressor; this is its vital purpose, without which it would be entirely useless to mankind. ‘If thy brother . . . trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.’ How long could civil government exist without falling to pieces if it should forgive the transgressor, the violator of its laws, as often as he might say, ‘I repent’?
Civil government and Christianity—the divine government—are essentially different. The one is of man, conceived in human wisdom and administered by human agencies; the other is of God, conceived in divine wisdom and administered by divine agencies. The purpose5of the one is to preserve rights; that of the other is to save souls. Civil governments, however, while they can not be Christian, are not necessarily unchristian, and will not be so while their aim is to uphold justice; for justice is not against Christianity, being itself a necessary part of Christianity. But justice is only a part of Christianity, and alone can not constitute Christianity at all. When civil government tries to be more than just, it succeeds only in being less than just to some of those under its laws. The hope of the world to-day is Christianity, not civil government in any form, or anything that can be done through civil government, but the extension in the earth of the divine system of government, which saves the transgressor from his sins. L. A. S.
Plans for a Great Missionary Campaign
By A. G. Daniells
THE officers of the General Conference Committee are planning for a general missionary campaign during the coming fall and winter. These plans will be carefully considered by the committee during the Washington council, October 7-21, and published immediately at the close of the council.
We are anxious that this missionary effort shall be general. It ought to be enthusiastically pushed by every union and State conference in the world. Every church should join in the movement. In short, it should be entered into with the whole heart by every believer in the third angel’s message.6
Why not? The one sole purpose of the movement is to make known to lost, perishing humanity the great threefold message of Rev. 14: 6-14. That message is the everlasting gospel presented by the Spirit of God in just the setting required to meet the tremendous issues of this hour. That message is the hope of the world to-day. Its scope covers the whole ground. Its details meet every issue. There is no perplexing feature in the tremendous problems before the human family at this moment that is not solved by this message. It is the way, the truth, and the life. It is the light and the hope of the world.
Is this saying too much for this message? Is it overstating the facts? The third angel’s message is all this, or it is nothing. Being God’s message for this generation, it must cover the whole ground. It must meet every issue. If not, it would be incomplete. If there was a single feature in any of the varied forms of the great controversy of this hour not fully met by the message God has given to this generation, then another message would be required. That would be a strange situation. That is not God’s way. His wisdom foresaw and his love provided all that is required to meet this crisis of the ages. And the threefold message of Revelation 14 is that provision.
The truth of this great message is the dearest thing in the world. It is the pearl of great price, the treasure hid in a field. Having found it, we should rejoice in it, and, like the woman who found her piece of silver that was lost, we should ask our friends to rejoice with us. But no one can rejoice with us in this truth without coming to know it as we have. This means missionary work on the part of those who know the truth. And this is the meaning of the campaign under consideration.
We feel that the effort we are now planning to make this coming winter must be a great one; it must be effective; it must make an impression; it must reach hearts; it must awaken minds; it must lead precious souls to accept this message, and thus prepare them to meet God.
To this end we shall do all in our power to prepare materials, and give assistance in the way of friendly counsel. Last winter we prepared some special tracts on the coming of the Lord. In addition to these, fresh matter will be prepared to meet the present situation. One of the most serious questions agitating the minds of the American people at this hour is the terrible struggle between capital and labor. This question now has the floor, and will undoubtedly hold it until after the next presidential election. It looks as if the recent stand taken by the president of the United States against the demands of the labor unions would intensify the bitterness of the present struggle. The situation is truly alarming. What the coming year will bring to this country no one can tell. The Word of God tells of the awful results that will finally come.
This bitter and unholy war between capital and labor is clearly set forth in the Word of God as a last-day event. It is an ominous sign of the swiftly approaching end. The presentation of the Bible truth regarding this terrible evil is a part of the great threefold message for this time. We can not give the whole message in all its application to the world to-day without proclaiming what God says to both the employer and the laborer. He foresaw this time, and revealed to his prophets the true remedy for this serious evil. None of the leaders on either side of the conflict have found the remedy. Each party has right on its side, but both have wrongs. Both take extreme positions, and both are missing the way. God’s Word shows the way, and we who have that Word and know that way must make it plain to the mistaken millions about us.
When could there be a better time for us to deliver this phase of our message to the world than just now, when the conflict is so hot that it is engaging the earnest attention of every thoughtful citizen? Now is our time to speak and work.
In another column will be found a further statement of plans and opportunities for service.
A. G. DANIELLS.
The Service of This Generation
THE special service for us to accomplish in this generation is the sowing of the seed of truth world-wide in our time. It is God's message to the world. Wherever there are men and women, there this seed must be sown. This message must be given to the world in order to accomplish God's purpose. It must be given to the world in the body that God has given to it in this generation. The truth for this generation, the seed that is to be sown in this generation, that is to bring the right harvest for this generation, must be the truth of God in the body which God himself has given to that truth for this generation, and that is the third angel's message. We may preach eternally on truth in the abstract, about goodness in the abstract, and righteousness in the abstract, but the people of this generation can not embody these principles for this generation, according to God's word, unless we bring them to the people in the very setting that God has given for this generation. This generation is hungry for the third angel's message.
In order to bring the harvest we wish to see in this generation, we can not be eternally sowing good religious principles that are common to our generation, but the principles must be in the setting that God has given for this generation. These are all set forth in the prophecy for this generation. The prophecies make the body for the setting of this whole seed sowing. It is not a new gospel, but God's old gospel in a new setting, and the old gospel in a new setting makes a new gospel for this generation in that sense. It will meet exactly the needs of this generation. Look out upon the face of the world. Read the record day after day, and ask yourself what will meet the needs of the people and of such a situation as the world is facing to-day. It must be a special application of God's gospel directly to these needs. God has given that which will meet the hungerings of the people of this generation, and it is our privilege to give that message to the world in a way that will meet their hungerings; and when we have rendered to him that service, he will give us the reward that comes with that service. There is just one thing to be done. The world must be sown with the message for this time, and it must be done quickly. The reward of that service will be the joy of the Lord, and that joy begins in rendering that service itself. It might be put in this way: the reward of rendering service in suffering and trial, is the ability and opportunity to render service to the Master in glory. The one hundred and forty-four thousand are spoken of as those who are sealed with the seal of God, “therefore are they before the throne of God.” What reason have they for being there before the throne of God in such a time as that? — They have come through great tribulations, and in passing through that experience they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, therefore are they before the throne.
And what do they do? — They serve him day and night in his temple. What is the reward of service that is rendered in tribulation, in trial and much suffering? — “Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.” Eternal service is the reward of short time service. Who wants the reward? Let him serve. Who wants to reap the fruit of this message? Let him sow the message. The law is the same as any law of God. He who would share in the triumph must share in the warfare. There is a work to be done. It is not to sit down and wait for the clock to strike the hour. It is to do the work that brings it. Shall we not arouse, using the very best method possible to do the work, arouse to give the message, arouse to serve where God has placed us? He gives to every man his work, and when this whole army of professed believers in the third angel's message becomes an army of workers in the third angel's message, we have struck the keynote. Then angels come down, the church triumphant comes down to unite with the church militant, the church that has the victory comes down to fight with those that are fighting for the victory, and God will lead his army against the foe, and will defeat the enemy, and we shall share in the triumph. Arouse to the service of this generation, to share in the reward of the service for this generation. May the spirit of service, the power for service, the willingness for service, come upon all this people, that each one in his place may render the service that God calls upon him to render, and then each one gloriously, thankfully, cheerfully share in the reward of the service.
The Certainty of the Triumph
By W. A. S.
The triumph of this message of preparation for the coming of Christ is assured. In holy vision, the apostle John saw the message actually speeding through the earth, sounding out to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.
He saw also, in vision of the future, the band of the blood-washed saints, called out by the final message, standing on Mount Zion. He heard the songs of the ransomed, and their shout of triumph over the beast and his image.
There is no uncertainty, no shadow of doubt, about the triumph of this message in this generation.
But there is a snare to the unwatchful in the very certainty of the victory. It is very easy to say that the truths for which this movement stands are impregnably fortified by all the word of the living God, and that the hand of Providence is clearly manifest in the rise and progress of the movement; and then to sit by practically as a spectator, looking at the progress of the message, and reiterating the certainty of its triumphant conclusion.
The message will triumph, but every soul who triumphs with it will know by experience the labor and the travail, the burden and the conflict, by which a people is to be prepared for the coming of the Saviour and the warning borne to all the world within one generation.
Just as certainly as the truth is true, the mere spectator, or the half-hearted straggler in the campaign that is now on, is surely lost if he does not speedily arouse and let the intensity of the conflict surge into his own soul. Heaven is in earnest. The certainty of the triumph involves the certainty that God will find a people willing in the day of his power to let the intensity of heaven into their own lives.
We are not onlookers in God's work, but a very part of it if loyal to-day.
W. A. S.
The President and the Labor Unions
By L. A. S.
The reply of President Roosevelt to the demand of the labor unions for the expulsion of foreman Miller from the government printing plant has been given, and as was to be expected by those acquainted with the character of the president, he refuses absolutely to reverse or modify his former decision. To the representatives of the labor unions he says:—
As regards the Miller case, I have little to add to what I have already said. In dealing with it I ask you to remember that I am dealing purely with the relation of the government to its employees.
I must govern my action by the laws of the land, which I am sworn to administer, and which differentiate any case in which the government of the United States is a party from all other cases whatsoever.
These laws are enacted for the benefit of the whole people, and can not and must not be construed as permitting discrimination against some of the people. I am president of all the people of the United States, without regard to creed, color, birthplace, occupation, or social condition.
My aim is to do equal and exact justice as among them all. In the employment and dismissal of men in the government service I can no more recognize the fact that a man does or does not belong to a union as being for or against him than I can recognize the fact that he is a Protestant or a Catholic, a Jew or a Gentile, as being for or against him.
In the communications sent me by various labor organizations protesting against the retention of Miller in the government printing office, the grounds alleged are twofold: first, that he is a non-union man; second, that he is not personally fit.
The question of his personal fitness is one to be settled in the routine of administrative detail, and can not be allowed to conflict with or to complicate the larger question of governmental discrimination for or against him or any other man because he is or is not a member of a union. This is the only question now before me for decision; and as to this my decision is final.
It is stated by representatives of the Central Labor Union in Washington that the labor federations will not oppose the nomination of Mr. Roosevelt in the national political convention, and that they will make no fight against his election to the presidency. At the same time it is declared by some of them that the president has by his decision in favor of an open shop, “set back union organization twenty-five years.” Further developments in the matter are to be expected.
L. A. S.
A Call to Every Seventh-day Adventist in America
By Arthur Grosvenor Daniells
I WOULD like to speak to every Seventh-day Adventist in the United States about the special number of the Signs of the Times which the managers of that paper are preparing to bring out. It is to be a double number of thirty-two pages and cover. It will be dated December 15, but will be printed and ready for circulation early in November.
The subject to be dealt with in this special number is one that is now commanding the attention of this nation; namely, the conflict between capital and labor. Speaking of their plans to make this number one of great value, Brother C. H. Jones says:—
It is our purpose to secure an article from Mr. Geo. F. Baer, representing the side of capital and the remedy for the difficulties now existing, and another from Mr. Samuel Gompers, representing the side of labor, giving his ideas as to the solution of this difficult problem; then without comment, or taking sides with either party, give what the Bible says concerning the present situation, the remedy, and the final outcome. We think we can make it a most interesting and important issue, and the paper ought to have a circulation of at least a million copies.
It will be beautifully illustrated throughout, the first page of the cover containing a special design, representing capital and labor striving with each other for the mastery, and overriding the masses. Other illustrations will follow, showing the dignity of labor, representing7Christ at work as a carpenter, Paul as a tent-maker, Peter and John as fishermen, etc. Then there will be a few portraits of eminent philanthropists who have used their money wisely for the benefit of mankind, under each portrait giving a brief history of the person, how he used his money, etc. Then there will be illustrations showing views of the late labor demonstrations in the large cities, the hope of the Christian, etc.
In another article in this number of the REVIEW I have given some of the reasons why we as a people should take up this question, and give to the troubled, misguided millions ranged on both sides of this fierce struggle between capital and labor, the only true remedy for the evil.
I wish to appeal to every believer in the third angel's message in America to unite in the circulation of this special number of the Signs. As Brother Jones says, this number should have a circulation of at least a million copies. Many millions of people are most intensely interested in the struggle. Their fortunes and their lives are involved in the final issue.
Under all the circumstances, should not this whole denomination spring to action?—It certainly should. We shall earnestly request every minister in this country to take the field as a leader in this campaign. We shall ask every conference president and committeeman to direct the forces in his special field. We shall expect every church officer in the land to join the leaders. And we shall call to the rank and file from ocean to ocean to take hold of this work with intense enthusiasm. Every one, old and young, and especially the young, can enter this campaign.
Surely we can sell a million copies. We should put some of the enthusiasm into this work that our Salvation Army friends manifest in their work. And we should show more zeal than the world does either in politics or this labor question. Let us prepare for a greater move than we have ever made. All the plans will be fully explained later.