p. 11 | Review and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 32. (8/11/1910)

MRS. I. H. EVANS

By Mrs. I. H. Evans

The White Slave Traffic— No. 2

MRS. I. H. EVANS

In spite of the recent wide-spread agitation on the subject of the white slave trade, and the arrest and imprisonment of a few men and women engaged in it, even in spite of more stringent laws, we have little reason to believe that it will cease, or that its dangers to girls—our own, sheltered, protected, and beloved, as well as those who are homeless, poor, and alone—will be entirely withdrawn. Indeed, only a callous, selfish heart could be content with safety for its own, while thousands of other girls, as innocent, as deserving, as virtuous, as dear to Heaven, are become the victims of the despoiler, preyed upon and exploited, in many instances, by those to whom they have every right to look for protection. Parents have a duty not only toward their own daughters, to see that they are warned and guarded, but to all girls who are in danger; and it seems as if the time might soon come when none would be exempt.

The report of the special committee of the Immigration Committee, which began its work in the fall of 1907, was transmitted to Congress in December, 1909, and a portion of it was printed as Senate Document No. 196. Its statements are regarded as authentic and conservative, and therefore as having more than usual weight. While dealing directly only with the question of the importation of foreign girls into this country for immoral purposes, the number of whom, it declares, “runs well into the thousands each year,” the conditions it portrays are such as confront any girl who is enticed into such a life. A few extracts from the report show plainly some of these conditions:—

“Most pitiful for the women and most brutal on the part of the men are the methods employed for exploiting these women imported contrary to law, both those coming willingly to lead a vicious life and those lured into the country as innocent girls by deception and by their affections.”

“The procurer may put his woman into a disorderly house, sharing profits with the madam. He may sell her outright; he may act as an agent for another man; he may keep her, making arrangements for her hunting men. . . . If she tries to leave her man, she is threatened with arrest. If she resists, she finds all the men about her leagued against her; she may be beaten; in some cases, when she has betrayed her betrayer, she has been murdered.”

“Of her earnings she gets practically nothing; if she is docile and beautiful, and makes herself a favorite with the madam, she may occasionally be allowed to ride in the parks, handsomely dressed. . . . She is usually kept heavily in debt, in order that she may not escape. . . . Frequently she is not allowed to leave the house except in company with those who will watch her; she is deprived of all street clothing; . . . she often contracts loathsome and dangerous diseases, and lives hopelessly on, looking forward to an early death.”

In answer to the question, “Why don’t the girls escape?” the report has this to say:—

“An innocent girl often revolts bitterly against the life, and refuses to submit until compulsion is used. . . . If she tries to escape, he may apply for aid to any other man (in the same business) in any city in the United States. . . . Not only do these men wish to help one another, but they wish also to impress upon their own women the difficulties and danger of attempting to escape. In many cases it appears as if the police made little effort to assist the girls. . . . Instead of feeling safe with the police, they are usually threatened with the police by their masters, and sometimes they are arrested and punished on some false complaint.”

As already stated, the influence of the work of the special grand jury in New York City extended to other cities throughout the country. As a result, the officials of many cities increased their activity and vigilance in this direction. Numerous committees of investigation were appointed, and their findings give increased evidence of such traffic.

“On January 16, at Watertown, N. Y., a detective rescued three girls of respectable families, who had been abducted by a man and a woman from Utica, N. Y., on the promise of lucrative positions. The newspapers stated that the facts in this case indicated the existence of a well-organized white slave syndicate operating near the Canadian border.”

“In Los Angeles was discovered a man who has been making periodical trips to Belgium, bringing back each time a woman who, he claimed to the authorities, was his wife, but who was subsequently sold into slavery. The man was arrested in Baltimore for enticing a seventeen-year-old girl from Dauphin, Pa., to that city. On one of the prisoners was found memoranda of names and addresses of girls in nearly every city in the East. A sixteen-year-old girl, employed in a typewriter factory in Grand Rapids, Mich., was enticed into a resort by two women, and was refused her freedom. She managed to escape, and brought action against the women.”

“Such occurrences as these,” says Mrs. Rose Woodallen Chapman, “recorded from all over our land, should enforce upon our minds two vital lessons:—

“One is the need for drastic legislation in every State in the Union, looking toward the complete wiping out of this nefarious traffic.

“The second lesson is one that needs to be learned by parents and young people everywhere; and that is, that these traps are spread for young and innocent feet not alone in the big and wicked city, but in the smaller place as well. Harry A. Parkin, assistant United States district attorney of Chicago, says: ‘I think it safe to say that every city, village, and hamlet whose daughters are fair to look upon, has been or will be, as time proceeds, the hunting-ground of some procurer or agent for the white slave syndicate. I make this statement for the purpose of sounding a warning to that resident, that mother, that daughter, who sits in the schoolhouse or church pew, and believes that she is safe from the snares of the traffickers because of the remoteness or the inaccessibility of her peaceful village. It is not alone the large cities that furnish beautiful girlhood to lives of shame and debauchery. It is not necessary to go to New York, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, or Kansas City to procure beautiful and attractive girls. It is well known that out on the prairies in Texas, in Missouri, in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, in fact, all over our great West, there are as beautiful types of womanhood as ever graced God’s footstool. It is these that the trafficker is seeking. They are

the ones who furnish the easiest victims for his snares.’”

“Parents need to be awakened to the fact that they must be watchful always if they are to insure the safety of their girls, even when living in the seclusion of their own homes. Sometimes a young girl in the country or small town is allowed to marry a man from the city, whose polished ways have blinded her natural protectors to the necessity of a full knowledge of the character and history of the man into whose hands they must put the welfare of their child. Too often has the marriage proved to be but the convenient trick of the procurer, and the girl found herself his innocent victim.

“Then, too, the girl living at home sometimes thoughtlessly picks up acquaintances at the post-office, the railroad station, when off on a picnic, and little by little comes under the insidious influence of one who is deliberately plotting her ruin.

“Parents should understand that these dangers are very real, and should do all in their power to guard against them.”

Takoma Park, D. C.

The Care of the Baby

By Emelyn Lincoln Coolidge, M. D.

Prickly Heat

BABIES are very apt to have prickly heat in summer. Most mothers are able to distinguish prickly heat from other skin eruptions. It consists of a fine red rash, or little pimples, raised up enough to give the skin a decidedly rough feeling when the hand is passed over it. It may appear in only one place, or be scattered over the greater part of the body. It is caused by heat, and greatly aggravated by thick flannel underwear. To prevent it the baby should be given frequent cool sponge-baths on every warm day, then lightly dusted with a pure talcum powder. His clothing must contain a little wool, but must be light in weight; a thin silk-and-wool band, and the lightest-weight wool-gauze shirt should be worn, as a rule, but on very warm days the shirt may be omitted. The band must always be kept on, as it protects the digestive organs. With the diaper these two articles of clothing are the essentials of the baby's dress in summer: the petticoats, dress, stockings, shoes, and outer garments may be regulated as the weather demands.

When prickly heat has actually developed, the body should be sponged often with equal parts of vinegar and water, tepid water in which a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda has been dissolved, or water in which a small lump of starch has been dissolved. A bran bag squeezed in the bath water until it looks cloudy is another soothing thing to try. What will suit one baby's skin may not be so helpful to another, so all the above things may be tried, and the one that gives the greatest relief continued. After the bath the eruption should be lightly covered with a powder made of one tablespoonful of corn-starch, one tablespoonful of talcum powder, and two teaspoonfuls of boracic acid powder, all thoroughly mixed together. If the eruption is on the body, and the silk-and-wool band seems to irritate the skin, a little linen shirt may be worn next to the skin, and the band put on outside of this. Sometimes the eruption is so intense that little pustules will form, making the baby still more uncomfortable. In such cases it is well to have the druggist put up one-half drachm of ichthyol with eight ounces of water. Mix well together and sop on the irritated skin every two or three hours; then dust on the powder suggested above. This is one of the best things to use for a severe case of prickly heat.

When the Baby is Chafed

As babies are more apt to have diarrhea in summer than in winter, chafing of the lower parts of the body is naturally more frequently seen at this period of the year. No one realizes how much the poor baby suffers from chafing: every time he passes water, or has a movement, he is in actual agony, and the most scrupulous care must be taken to keep him dry and clean. Never for one moment should he be allowed to lie in a wet or soiled diaper.

The greatest possible care must be taken of the diapers themselves. As soon as they are soiled, they should be placed in a covered pail (never on the floor or on a chair) while the baby is having a fresh napkin put on. When this is accomplished, the soiled diaper should be at once rinsed in cold water until all the solid parts are removed. It should then be placed in a covered pail of water, and allowed to soak until such time as the more thorough washing may be given it. This should be at least once in twenty-four hours, when all the soiled napkins should be washed with hot water and a pure, white soap, and then boiled for at least fifteen minutes. They should then be very carefully rinsed in cold water, so that all soap is removed, wrung, and dried in the open air. It is better to iron the diapers, but all busy mothers do not have time for this. They must be well aired and warmed before they are put on the baby.

When the parts are badly chafed, they should be washed with olive-oil in place of water. Then an ointment, made of two teaspoonfuls of oxide of zinc powder, two of starch, and one ounce of pure petroleum—all thoroughly mixed together—should be rather thickly spread on soft linen or cheese-cloth and placed on the parts inside of the diaper. Every time the child is changed, fresh ointment must be applied. When the chafing is less severe, washing the parts with olive-oil and dusting on a stearate of zinc powder is often beneficial. The ichthyol solution and powder mentioned above are also helpful in many cases.

Acid movements from the bowels are one of the chief causes of chafing; and as sugar water makes the movements acid, it is therefore very wrong to give sweetened water to a baby. Teach him from the first to take plain boiled water. — Emelyn Lincoln Coolidge, M. D.

Make a Chum of Your Boy

My heart goes out in sincere pity to the man who does not make companions of his boys. Do you know, fathers, that you are unconsciously depriving yourself and your sons of the sweetest pleasures if you do not make them your companions?

Think what you are doing by allowing them to grow up without your protecting care. Some day, perhaps, you will realize what you miss by not associating with them more. Be with all your children just as much as possible while they are little; for by so doing you will become young yourself, and will appreciate with keener zest the really good things of this life.

Many boys go on the wrong road because their fathers maintain an indifferent attitude toward them from the time they are two years of age until they are eighteen or nineteen. You can not reasonably expect a boy to turn out as you would like to have him if you take no personal interest in his welfare. I know a father who has a son in whom he takes a genuine interest, and they are the closest chums it is possible to imagine. It is, of course, impossible for them to be together all the time; for the father works all day at his store, and the boy goes to school, but at night they are always together. The father does not monopolize the companionship of his son by any means. He invites other boys to the house, and when you see them all together, you can well imagine that there is no man about. The father enters with spirit into all the sports of the boys, who rightly aver that he is “great.” That boy is now almost nineteen; but when he had passed the age of twelve, the father said: “My, O, my! next year you’ll be in your ’teens, and then what shall I do?”

“Same as you’ve always done,” said the boy, while a dimple came in his cheek and a sly twinkle came to his eye. “You know we’ve pledged ourselves to stick together forever.”

“So we have, so we have,” said the father, “and no matter how big you get, you will always be my chum.”

That’s the way to treat your boy.—Baptist Commonwealth.

Golden Rules for the Nursery

NEVER give the baby “tastes” of food from the table.

Do not allow the baby to put everything he touches into his mouth.

Never allow a baby to have water from the cars or parks. When going away from home, take enough pure water in a corked bottle for his use.

Be very careful to wash your hands after changing the baby.—Selected.

Employments for Every Circumstance

We have employments assigned to us for every circumstance in life. When we are alone, we have our thoughts to watch; in the family, our tempers; and in company, our tongues.—Hannah More.

Reaching Heathen Populations

By T. E. BOWEN

T. E. BOWEN

How shall we reach the great heathen populations?—Not altogether by the direct contact of American or European, working with the masses. This is evident. Two insurmountable difficulties at once present themselves—languages and overwhelming numbers.

What then? The sooner we realize that the great bulk of the work must be accomplished through the efforts of trained native evangelists working for their own countrymen, the quicker, we believe, will the problem be solved of getting the message into Africa and the great Orient during the limits of “this generation.”

One writer upon this point says: “Experience teaches that natives have been the chief human factor in the evangelization of different countries. No extensive field has ever been thoroughly evangelized but by its own sons. This seems to be God’s method. Eminent and successful missionaries have emphasized by word and by practise the essential character of the native arm. Duff said that ‘when the set time arrives, the real reformers of Hindustan will be qualified Hindus.’ Neesima, speaking after years of observation and experience in Japan, expressed his conviction that the ‘best possible method to evangelize her people is to raise up a native agency; and such an agency can be procured only by imparting the highest Christian culture to the best youths to be found.’ Not long before his death, Mackay said: ‘The agency by which, and probably by which alone, we can Christianize Africa, is the African himself. But he must be trained first for that work, and trained, too, by the European in Africa.’ Dr. Nevius repeatedly expressed his belief that the millions of China must be brought to Christ by Chinamen. Dr. Griffith John wrote that ‘the remarkable ingathering of the past few years in Fukien, Hupeth, Hunan, Manchuria, and other parts of China, is to be attributed, under God, mainly to the efficiency, earnestness, and assiduity of our native brethren.’ Dr. Goodrich, in writing from north China about the important part which native agents must have in spreading a knowledge of Christ, said: ‘Whether considered politically, economically, sociologically, or historically, this is the only sound policy and effective method of evangelizing a great nation.’”

The same principle applies to the finishing of the gospel in all the world for a witness, contained in the third angel’s message. The missionaries sent out from America and Europe with this important message should go principally as trainers of the brightest and best among the nations where they are sent, that these may, in turn, take the truth to their own countrymen. This is the vital thing to do. God can bless the simple message of the devoted Chinese, Japanese, African, or Korean believer to the conversion of souls, the same as that of the messengers of more enlightened lands.

The training of men in the field to work for their own people, we believe, is really the key for the finishing of the third angel’s message in all the world in the limits of this generation.

Takoma Park, D. C.

Pakhoi, China

By J. N. ANDERSON

J. N. ANDERSON

PAKHOI (literally, the “north sea”) is a small city in the extreme southern part of the province of Kwangtung, which is itself the most southern province of the Chinese empire. According to the Chinese way of classifying cities and villages, Pakhoi is strictly a village, for the reason that it has no wall about it. The fact that its inhabitants number thousands, and that it is situated on the sea, giving it some commercial standing, does not avail to give it rank as a city in the estimation of the Chinese. In a direct line Pakhoi is about three hundred miles southwest of Canton; but in making the distance between these two places via Hong-kong, the distance covered is not less than five hundred miles, mainly in the open sea.

Special interest centers in Pakhoi just now from the fact that within the last few months a new mission station has been opened up there. All stations where foreigners are located are designated as “main stations,” as opposed to “out-stations” which are carried on by Chinese assistants without a foreigner in residence. Pakhoi is a main station, the work having been opened there the first part of the present year by Brother and Sister A. H. Bach, who have recently taken their stand with us as a people. As they have been in China for about ten years, they are well prepared to enter on this work, owing to their long experience with the Chinese people and their knowledge of this language. As a suitable house could not be found, Sister Bach and the two boys were compelled to go to Macau (a Portuguese colony about forty miles southwest of Hong-kong) where suitable quarters were easily found. She has remained in Macau ever since, largely because she is not strong and also because the hot season in Pakhoi is very trying. All this time Brother Bach has been in Pakhoi alone, carrying forward the work there with the aid of Chinese workers.

It was my privilege to visit Pakhoi the latter part of March. I found Brother Bach hard at work carrying on meetings in a chapel on one of the main streets. These meetings were held every night, and careful instruction in a very simple, direct way was imparted to the forty or fifty men and women who gathered to hear. Very few of the people there have sufficient knowledge of the Chinese characters to enable them to read the Bible and other gospel literature. For this reason nearly all the teaching must be done orally, and the instruction must be given in the most simple language. Most of the people who come to hear are from the raw heathen classes. Sentence by sentence they are taught the great truths of the Bible; and in the same way they are trained to sing gospel songs. This class of inquirers is steadily increasing, so that the last I heard from Brother Bach there were some sixty, men and women. We are confident that a goodly number of these will be ready to receive baptism and be organized into a church toward the latter part of the present year. This will give us a good foothold in that part of the province. From that point it will be possible to carry our work into the surrounding cities and villages, where some openings have already been made through the distribution of literature. With those large cities and the vast stretches of country on all sides, there is not only ample room for several additional foreign workers, but there is real need of them. How can one man compass such a vast field by his own efforts?

In common with many other cities in these parts of China, Pakhoi has been fatally visited by the bubonic plague. At times the number of deaths have been as high as sixty a day. In some cases whole families have been decimated. In the midst of this scourge, hundreds and thousands fled to the surrounding country in despair, knowing no better way to escape this devouring death. By such a process it is very easy to carry the plague to the cities and villages all about.

In a situation like this the faith and courage of the missionary are most severely tried. The converts and inquirers naturally look to him for succor in such an hour of distress. What can he do? To what lengths can he go in mingling with the stricken people to comfort and help them? No specific rule can be laid down for the worker to follow in every case; but the great principle enunciated by our Saviour, that the true shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, is a safe one. We must ever remember that we are true ministers of the eternal life in proportion as we lay down our own lives.

Shanghai.

Dominica

By PHILIP GIDDINGS

PHILIP GIDDINGS

THE Englishman whom I mentioned in a previous report has been baptized, also a schoolmistress who has been interested for several months. A young woman whose sister was the first to join us, but who herself had kept back, looking at the world, took a stand for the truth last Sabbath. She said she could delay no

longer. Her niece, who had been held back by her influence, took the same step. A young man who had heard the truth, but who had not fully decided, yielded after attending a week’s meetings held by Elder H. C. J. Walleker at the church during his short stay. His testimony in surrendering was very touching. The visit of Elder Walleker was very helpful and profitable to us all.

Three weeks ago a gentleman came ten miles from the country to see us. He said a friend had told him to visit us whenever he came to town. He wanted to understand about the Sabbath and Sunday, and we tried to make the matter plain to him. As he reads a little, some literature was given him.

A girl who has become anxious to read the Bible was threatened by her parents, but she insists that she will read one the first opportunity she gets, and may join the Adventists later. As her parents would not allow her to come to our meeting, we took our meeting to her by an open-air service near her home. The attendance and attention were good. The girl, standing in the doorway of her home, listened attentively, as did her mother within, until the mother, evidently thinking the girl was getting too much, drew her into the house. But she finally came outside again, and listened until we finished.

We emphasized the necessity of each one’s reading the Bible, and the truth that Christ, a complete Saviour, is the only Door, the only Way, to the Father. This girl belongs to the Society of Mary, so we read the text showing that Mary can not save any one, but is saved by the same Jesus (Luke 1:47) whom she called “my Saviour;” for she, too, must have been a sinner like the rest of mankind.

We know the value of prayer. Therefore we ask the readers of the REVIEW to remember Catholic Dominica when they pray for the fields beyond.

Roseau.

Again in Burma

By H. H. VOTAW

H. H. VOTAW

AFTER an absence of about a year, we were very glad indeed to arrive again in Burma. We were given a hearty welcome by all. The evidences of friendship were so varied and so marked that we feel that God is verifying his promise to give us brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers when we forsake all for his sake and the gospel's.

We were glad to see the evidences of God's blessing in the work. Brother and Sister R. R. Cook have labored faithfully, and several new ones have been added to the church in Rangoon. The tithe has been gradually increasing. It now amounts to about $110 a month, exclusive of that paid by the American laborers. Our Sabbath-school donations last quarter were larger than ever before, and the best part of it is that none of the money is used for local supplies, but all goes into the mission treasury.

After spending two weeks in Rangoon, I went over to Moulmein to visit Dr. Ollie Oberholtzer. I found her of good courage and working hard. She has raised her house, and put in rooms below suitable for giving treatments. Though not elaborate, they are very neat, and greatly aid in helping to relieve distress and sickness. Dr. Oberholtzer should have help. For more than three years she has labored alone. God has blessed her efforts, and given her souls for her hire. But it is not right for her to be alone. The work is too great. A consecrated man and his wife ought to be sent to Moulmein. There are near Moulmein many villages of from five hundred to three thousand inhabitants, which have never been entered by any missionary society, and which can easily be reached from that place.

After visiting the doctor, the following week Mrs. Votaw and I went to Meiktila, in Upper Burma, where we have a little company of believers. Two years ago we first visited this place, and at that time five adults took their stand for the truth. All these have proved faithful. During our last visit I had the privilege of baptizing a sister who has known of the message for some time, but has not been clear in her mind about all the points of the faith. Now she has taken a firm stand, and we expect her to be a great help to our work.

We found, Prof. R. B. Thurber and wife working hard on the Burmese language. Their teacher told me they were making excellent progress. Brother Thurber has begun to teach in the school we are opening. He spends four hours each day in the schoolroom, and believes the time thus spent is a help to him; for he hears the schoolboys use the vernacular continually, and thus his ear becomes accustomed to the strange sounds.

We hope much good will be accomplished by this school. For a long time the influential Buddhists of this section have asked us to open a manual training-school for their youth. They have shown their good faith by contributing of their means. Over three hundred dollars has been collected, and those in charge of gathering the funds believe that we shall be able to get two thousand dollars. The government is giving us fifty acres of land. The governor of the province has spoken favorably of the project, and pledged himself to assist us as he can. The opening has seemed so providential that we dared not refuse to enter it. Pray for the work here; that many, not only of the students, but of their parents as well, may be led to serve the true God.

Brother R. A. Beckner is also located in Meiktila. He is giving his time to acquiring the language.

Kemmendine.

Works Without Faith

By Feltham

WORKS without faith are like a fish without water; it wants the element it should live in. A building without a basis can not stand; faith is the foundation, and every good action is as a stone laid.—Feltham.

Editorial

By W. A. S.

More Notes From the World’s Missionary Congress

The Strong Side and the Weak

“The next ten years”—that is the period measured off in the concluding message of the Edinburgh congress, addressed to the churches of Christendom. It is a summons to decisive action. To us Seventh-day Adventists, that is a long time. We hope for great events to occur—even the greatest of all events—within such a period, in these days when the Lord is doing a quick work. Here is what the congress says in its appeal:—

The next ten years will, in all probability, constitute the turning-point in human history, and may be of more critical importance in determining the spiritual evolution of mankind than many centuries of ordinary experience.

These are words of the deepest significance. And if thus the world-outlook forces upon watchful observers the conviction that the crisis of human history is right upon us, how much more urgently should the situation appeal to us, who read the signs of the times not only in the light of current events, but in the searching light of divine prophecy.

All creation is saying it, and all prophecy is declaring it—that “the turning-point in human history” is upon us.

The most valuable part of the conference, I think it was generally considered, was the reports of various commissions, which had been working for two years to gather and submit findings as to conditions in the fields, the distribution of missionary forces, the methods employed, etc. In the report of Commission I, on “The Opportunity and the Urgency,” it was stated:—

The non-Christian world is known to-day as it never has been before. The work of exploration has been comprehensive, thorough, and so far as the inhabited parts of the world are concerned, it is practically completed. The whole world is remarkably accessible. Improved means of communication have within the past two decades been spread like a great network over nearly all of the great spaces of the unevangelized world, or are to-day being projected over those regions.

For example, railway lines are being rapidly extended in different sections of Africa, in the Levant, in Central Asia, in the Chinese empire, and in the more populous parts of the East Indies, giving missionaries easy access to hundreds of millions of people.

How clearly the index-finger of Providence points out the field for the last message—“every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Here they are, spread out at our feet in fulfilment of the prophecy. Never before were such doors of access opened or such means of entrance provided. It is the call of God to lay every resource at his feet, and to enter in.

Again the report says:—

The minds of the people in most countries are more favorable to the wise and friendly approach of the Christian missionary than at any time in the past.

Well may the leaders and members of the church reflect upon the awful seriousness of the simple fact that opportunities pass. It must use them or lose them. . . . Doors open, and doors shut again. Time presses. It is the day of God’s power. Shall his people be willing?

Is it not plain that God is pouring out his Spirit upon all flesh, and that now indeed is the day of his power and of our opportunity?

Represented in the conference at Edinburgh were the forces that God has been using in opening up the great fields, and in putting the Scriptures into hundreds of languages. It was a most interesting gathering to observe.

The weak point in the conference was that it shut out all work in Roman or Greek Catholic lands. One good Scandinavian missionary to Central Asia, who put in a plea for the needs of Greek Catholics, was reminded that this was not in order. This lack of the Protestant key-note was apparent in the congress. It was not so in the great missionary congress in London, in 1888.

This arrangement is significant of the changing tendency of the times. The idea of closer unity, working toward federation, has come to the forefront. More than incidental reference was made to the absence of Roman and Greek Catholic representatives, and the hope was expressed that these would be in the next conference. The weakening influence of this attitude was apparent in the congress. The leading evangelical paper of England, the London Christian, said of this compromise:—

Why should such a compromise have been conceived, not to say enacted, throughout the conference? Did evangelical honor demand it, or devotion to Christ require it? Did the history of Christianity in (say) North Africa call for it, or the work of the papal church in (say) the South American republics justify it?—Indeed, no. On no ground that can for a moment bear scrutiny can such a policy be defended. . . . East and west, north and south, in all the continents, there are men and women for whom Christ died. Are they benighted through the ignorance that is in them? or are they astray through the misleading influences of churches that have lost their way under hierarchies that despise the Word of God? In either case, these people, dwelling in spiritual darkness, require the light of the gospel, even though they do not ask for it. And yet, in the sacred name of missions, in this century of missionary enterprise, men whose names should inspire hope and confidence, so far miss the mark as to make concessions which leave persecuting churches with a free hand to oppress and confound. While multitudes are fighting for liberty, leaders are apologizing for bondage, are yielding precious opportunities for the enlightenment of the victims of Roman and Greek Catholicism, and by a futile compromise are sowing the seeds of weakness and failure.

Truly the “turning-point in human history” is at hand, and decisive changes are to be observed. And the changes, so far as federation is concerned, are not on the side of the old Roman and Greek Catholic churches. While soft speeches are being made regarding the Catholic Church and the desirability of co-operation, the members of that church are burning Bibles in lands where they dare to do it, as some of our own missionaries can testify. In this same issue of the Christian, from which I have quoted, appears the following extract from the writings of a professor in the Vatican University, Dr. Marianus de Luca, who says:—

The Catholic Church has the right and the duty to kill heretics, because it is by fire and sword that heresy can be extirpated. Mere excommunication is derided by heretics. If they are imprisoned or exiled, they corrupt others. The only resource is to put them to death. Repentance can not be allowed to save them, just as repentance is not allowed to save civil criminals; for the highest good of the church is the unity of faith, and this can not be preserved unless heretics are put to death.

And the works of this professor received the approval of the Pope as late at 1902.

The remarks in the Edinburgh conference most frequently applauded were those suggesting the dropping of denominational distinctions in the mission fields, so as to have one church. But there were also wise and earnest words spoken by some regarding the futility and weakness of compromising conviction in order to stand on apparently common ground. A committee was, however, appointed to continue to work toward closer co-operation between the societies, as to distribution of territory, etc. Much good and meritorious work is, of course, to be done in this direction; but along that way also lie the same dangers and pitfalls that the church federation movement is plunging into in the home lands.

Plainly we see the two forces at work. The spirit from above is forcing open doors, breaking down barriers, and preparing

the way of the Lord. That from beneath is working to hedge up ways, to close doors, and to pervert right principles. Of a truth the conflict is on. With the sword of the Spirit let us press into it. The decisive hour has come.

W. A. S.

Friedensau, Germany.

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