Your ShelfYour Projects

Review and Herald, Vol. 81, No. 19.

Publishers' Page

Review and Herald

May 12, 1904

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · May 12, 1904

Publishers' Page

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Company
“A Preparatory Course”
THIS world, with its trials and temptations, with its joys and sorrows, is a school of experience, in which the actions of daily life are recorded for merit or demerit.
“Education,” by Mrs. E. G. White, is a beautiful and instructive book dedicated to all in this preparatory school, to aid them in securing development and joy in service here, and a fitness for the higher course in the school of the hereafter. It is a book for the times, and is suitable for parents, teachers, and students. Price, $1.25, postpaid. Write for discount to resident canvassers.

Testimonies for the Church, Volume VIII

THIS volume of the Testimonies is now ready. It contains 350 pages, and is bound in two styles,—cloth and limp Russia leather. The prices are 75 cents and $1.25.
Inasmuch as the preface of this volume clearly reveals its importance and its contents, we quote it as follows:—
“In the preparation of another volume of ‘Testimonies for the Church,’ an effort has been made to select those things, both new and old, that would help our brethren and sisters to see where we stand in the closing conflict between the powers of light and the powers of darkness; and to comprehend the riches of the grace of God, freely provided, that we may be more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.
“The calamities that have recently befallen our largest institutions, and the efforts of some of our brethren to arouse from their drowsiness and self-serving, and to go forth into the unworked portions of the Lord’s great harvest-field, have been but imperfectly understood. In order to understand clearly our work as the people of God and the conflict in which we are engaged, we need, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to study diligently the prophecies, the experiences of the church in all ages, and the counsels given to the church in our own day.
“But few are familiar with the testimonies,—the instructions, the warnings, and the great encouragements,—given during the last fifteen years to the leading men in our conferences and institutions. For this reason it is now necessary to publish many of these testimonies, for the benefit of all the church, and especially for the guidance of our younger ministers, physicians, conference officers, and managers of institutions. These young men must come forward in large numbers to bear the burdens of the work; they will be called to pass over the same ground, and to meet the same problems and difficulties, as did those to whom the messages of instruction were first given; therefore the counsels addressed to the pioneers in the work are now published for the guidance and encouragement of these younger co-laborers.
“From a large number of manuscripts, those portions have been selected that are of general interest and importance. The readers of this book are asked to study its contents in the spirit of Christian love and fellowship, bearing in mind that we can understand aright the messages given for our guidance and edification only as we study them in the light of the love of Christ our Lord.
“With the hope that the instruction herein given may help many to understand more clearly the responsibilities and duties of the church, this book is sent forth upon its mission.”

Announcement of the Revision and Completion of the Series

By Editor

Easy Steps in the Bible Story

FOR a number of years the publishers have been studying how to meet the growing demand indicated practically in the following oft-repeated expressions written them by parents in search of a simple, pure, and connected story of the whole Bible:—
“We want a book that will give our children a clear, clean, and connected conception of the Bible story. We wish the children were taught the story of the Bible in a simple, connected way. When we were children, we were taught the Bible consecutively from Genesis to Revelation, and we knew it, too.”
In the study of the books now published by the denominational press one over was found in which the supplying of this demand was contemplated and successfully begun, but through the oversight or neglect of the publishers it had never been completed.
After bestowing careful study on the plan and the nature of the book, and receiving safe counsel, it was decided to ask the author of this book, “Easy Steps in the Bible Story,” to complete her first plan, and to produce a full story of the Bible for children, in a series of six books, 6½ x 9⅜ x ½ inches in size, printed on good quality of paper, in new, large, open-face type, profusely illustrated with original, full-page drawings, colored plates, and new attractive marginal illustrations that really illustrate the text, every page to contain a picture made especially for illustrating and impressing the story recorded on that page, and a beautiful new cover design for the entire series.
The first volume is to cover that part of the Bible story from the creation of the world to the giving of the law—the old book revised and four new chapters added.
Volume two will resume the narrative, and give the story of Israel in the building of the Tabernacle and establishing its services, The Sin of Nadab and Abihu, The Numbering of the People, Israel Leaving Mount Sinai, The Sending of the Quails, The Sin of Mariam and Aaron, The Report of the Spies, The Sin of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Moses and Aaron Dishonor God, The Fiery Serpent, The Victory over Sihon and Og, Balaam, Death of Moses, The People Cross the River Jordan, The taking of Jericho, The Sin of Achan, and the Defeat of Ai, The Sun and the Moon Obey Joshua, The Land Divided, The Last Words of Joshua, Gideon, Samson, Story of Ruth, Child Samuel, The Ark Taken by the Philistines, The Ark Sent Back to Israel.
The other volumes will cover the remaining story of the entire Bible, with the wars, intricate and complicated narrations, only necessary for adults, eliminated, and practical moral lessons woven in where the child would not be able to draw them from the text without the aid of a more mature mind.
The work on the first two volumes is far advanced, and we are pleased to be able at this date to announce that they will be completed by August 1, and that the remaining volumes will be published as early thereafter as possible. This series of the “Child’s Bible” will be bound in two styles, board and cloth, and will sell for 50 and 75 cents a copy.
Undoubtedly these will be the best books on the story of the Bible that have ever been produced for children, and the price is low for the quality.

Back to the Old Paths

IN the leaflet “Back to the Old Paths,” Mr. Biggs tells, in his own words, how he got back to the “old paths” from which he had strayed; also why he changed his belief in regard to Sunday observance and the immortality of the soul, etc.
The price of this 16-page tract is one cent each; 70 cents per hundred.
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.

Now Owned by the Denomination

By Editor

THE readers of the REVIEW will be interested to learn that the Family Bible Teacher, formerly published at Cincinnati, Ohio, has been sold to the Southern Publishing Association, so that now this publication is owned by the denomination.
For the benefit of any who may not have seen a set of the Family Bible Teacher, we will say that it is a course of printed Bible studies embracing twenty-eight lessons, each lesson being on a separate sheet of four pages. The purpose of the author was to produce a course of lessons which would take the place as nearly as possible of the living teacher. They cover the subjects usually presented in a series of lectures, or a course of oral Bible readings, and are designed particularly for house-to-house work. The price of the entire course is only ten cents, postpaid, with discount in quantities.
From the vast amount of good which these lessons are accomplishing it is evident that they are a most effectual means of giving the truth to the masses. Bible workers are finding them of inestimable help, enabling them to reach, and that effectively, hundreds of people whom they otherwise could not reach. This course of studies affords each one, no matter how weak or inexperienced, an opportunity to do real, successful work in the advancement of the message.

Editorial

By Editor

Wonderful Possibilities

THERE are wonderful possibilities for every faithful believer in the genuine gospel of Christ. The grace of Christ transforms the character and reveals the image of the divine, so that even in this present life the Christian is introduced into a new order of existence. “If any man be in Christ, there is a new creation.” By contemplating the things of God the mind is enlarged and is brought into fellowship with the divine mind. “An ambition, such as meets the approval of heaven, is aroused, and every power of the being is put to the stretch in the effort to attain to the loftiest ideal of character. With such human effort there is divine co-operation, and there is a realization of such results as would be utterly impossible apart from the gospel. But this is a mere beginning, merely the preparatory work. When the limitations of this present order of things have been removed, when the redeemed are made immortal and dwell in the glory of the visible presence of ‘the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,’ with an eternity for the development of every faculty of the mind, there is no language with which to express the possibilities presented to man restored to the image of God. Truly ‘eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.’ ‘There immortal minds will contemplate with never-failing delight the wonders of creative power, the mysteries of redeeming love. There is no cruel, deceiving foe to tempt to forgetfulness of God. Every faculty will be developed, every capacity increased. The acquirement of knowledge will not weary the mind nor exhaust the energies. There the grandest enterprises may be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations reached, the highest ambitions realized; and still there will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of mind and soul and body.’ ‘O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!’”

The Yellow Peril

THE present war between Russia and Japan has revived the discussion of what is called “the yellow peril.” This is the brief and rather striking expression which is used to indicate the possible danger that the yellow races of the East, under the leadership of Japan, may inaugurate a crusade against the white races, which shall overthrow the civilization of the West, and greatly retard the progress of religion, science, and the arts. To the minds of some of the statesmen of the world the problem of “the yellow peril” is a very grave one, threatening a great evil to all the more enlightened nations. It will doubtless have a considerable influence in shaping the policy of some of the great nations of to-day. But there is another yellow peril which is more widespread, and which threatens more serious results than the one just mentioned. This is the love of yellow gold. Every person in the world is exposed to this peril, and there are few who are not affected more or less seriously by it. The disastrous results of this yellow peril are thus set forth in the Scripture: “Godliness with contentment is great gain: for we brought nothing into the world, for neither can we carry anything out; but having food and covering we shall be therewith content. But they that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” This is always true. When the love of money rules the life, there is little opportunity for the cultivation of the Christian graces, and little hope that the divine nature will be revealed. But in the last days this yellow peril involves serious results even in this present world. In the time of trouble just before us those who are known to possess money and the good things of this life will suffer from the violence of the lawless, who will disregard property rights and attempt to seize by force whatever they desire. To the rich in the last days these words are spoken: “Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you.” Now is certainly the time to heed the instruction of the Master: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.” Beware of the yellow peril. It means ruin to those who do not conquer it.

The Natural and the Supernatural

IN various ways the attempt is being made to put all men in the same class in their relation to God, regardless of the question of personal faith, and thus to prepare the way for setting aside the atoning work of Christ as being entirely unnecessary. One of these ways, quite common among the teachers of the “New Theology,” is to deny that there is anything supernatural in religion. This makes religious experience simply a question of evolution. According to this view, every man is on the road to perfection, the only difference being that some have advanced further than others. All will attain to the same ideal, the image of God, at some time, and if not in this state of existence, then in the future state. According to these teachers, “all natural law is spiritual law,” and “religion may be defined as natural unfoldment which brings into manifestation the divine type.” “In slow, wearisome stages we are pressing toward that ideal which in him [Christ] was actualized.” “The supernatural of yesterday becomes, as in the process of evolution we advance from the lower to the higher, from the more material to the more spiritual, the common and natural of to-day, andwhat seems to be the supernatural of to-day becomes in the same way the natural of to-morrow, and so on through the ages.”
The logical conclusion from this teaching, although not always openly stated, is that there is no such thing as the fall of man [“only a delusive fall, for it was—up-hill”]; there is no such thing as sin, for all sin is “only undeveloped good,” and consequently there is no need nor place for the atonement. The practical result of this teaching is that man, being persuaded that there is no such thing as sin, does not lay hold upon the provision offered to him for deliverance from sin, and thus becomes hopelessly bound by the cords of his own sins. It is Satan’s final effort to lull souls into a false security in the very hour of judgment.
In order to appreciate the gospel we must recognize the change which has been introduced into the world by the entrance of sin. We must admit the fact of the fall of man and the need of more than the development of his own inherent power to save and restore. An English writer has called attention to the distinction between the natural and the supernatural, in the following words:—
The first creation was a creation in grace, both of angels and men. The distinction between nature and grace, between the natural and the supernatural, did not exist. The natural was supernatural, the supernatural was natural. At least they co-existed, if they were not indeed identical; the supernatural enveloping and interpenetrating the natural. Such would seem to be the true, the ideal, the normal condition of created life, to be one day realized in the consummated state. The entrance of sin it was that created for man, and in man’s thought, the sharp division between the natural and the supernatural, between nature and grace. The higher endowments of creaturely life in close conscious communion with God were cut off by the alienation induced by sin. The lower elements remained, constituting man’s natural life and powers; so-called because they are those which belong to him by birth, and put him in relation with that visible world around him which we call nature.
The following paragraph from “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VIII, presents very clearly the truth concerning this whole matter, and points out what is really involved in these false teachings, so pleasing to the natural heart:—
Our condition through sin has become preternatural, and the power that restores us must be supernatural, else it has no value. There is but one power that can break the hold of evil from the hearts of men, and that is the power of God in Jesus Christ. Only through the blood of the Crucified One is there cleansing from sin. His grace alone can enable us to resist and subdue the tendencies of our fallen nature. This power the spiritualistic theories concerning God make of no effect. If God is an essence pervading all nature, then he dwells in all men [this must be true if every man, saint or sinner, is the temple of the Holy Ghost]; and in order to attain holiness, man has only to develop the power that is within him. These theories, followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the whole Christian economy. They do away with the necessity for the atonement, and make man his own savior.
The presentation of the pure gospel of this closing message is designed to expose the utter weakness of this false gospel according to man, and to save from its deceptive working all those who are willing to believe in God instead of in themselves. It says, “All flesh is grass. . . . Behold, your God!” It says, “Ye must be born again.” It emphasizes the words of Jesus, “Without me ye can do nothing.” It proclaims an unchanged law, by which comes the knowledge of sin, and then preaches Jesus Christ as “able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him.” And this message is the hope of the world in this generation.

The Greater Works

IN his instruction to his disciples on that last night before his crucifixion, Jesus said to them: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father.” Remembering that Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead, some have been led to inquire what these greater works could be.
If we study the whole lesson as recorded in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters of John, we shall see that Jesus is seeking to set before the disciples the privileges and blessings which would result from his ascension to heaven and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They must be enlightened concerning these things in order to avail themselves of the benefits resulting from his incarnation. “The Saviour was deeply anxious for his disciples to understand for what purpose his divinity was united to humanity. He came to the world to display the glory of God, that man might be uplifted by its restoring power. God was manifest in him that he might be manifested in them. Jesus revealed no qualities, and exercised no powers, that men may not have through faith in him. His perfect humanity is that which all his followers may possess, if they will be in subjection to God as he was.”
Although his bodily presence was to be taken from his followers, yet by his representative, the Holy Spirit, he would still be in his church, dwelling in the heart of the believer, and revealing the working of his divine power. Thus in response to the faith of each believer there would be manifested the same works which Jesus himself wrought. In this way the works of Jesus would no longer be limited to his bodily presence, but his works would be greatly multiplied, as believers multiplied. In speaking of “greater works than these,” “Christ did not mean that the disciples’ work would be of a more exalted character than his, but that it would have greater extent. He did not refer merely to miracle-working, but to all that would take place under the working of the Holy Spirit.”
And we are to remember further that what was stated to the disciples is not limited to any generation or to any place. “The Saviour’s promise to his disciples is a promise to his church to the end of time. God did not design that his wonderful plan to redeem men should achieve only insignificant results. All who will go to work, trusting not in what they themselves can do, but in what God can do for and through them, will certainly realize the fulfilment of his promise.”
Depending upon such an assurance as this, the people of God to-day may go forward with courage to accomplish the work of warning the world of the judgment hour and the coming Saviour. In giving the great commission to his followers, Jesus said, “All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. . . . And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” The faith in the church which lays hold of this promise will reveal in the church the greater works. Thus will testimony be borne to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Thus will the coming of the kingdom be greatly hastened.

4 Struggle for Control

By L. A. S.

THE great change which has come over the labor question in this country recently is shown by the fact that while the wage question was the chief point at issue when organization into unions was begun a few years ago, to-day this question has but little concern with that for which the labor unions are contending. With a realization of power has come a broadening of ambition, and to-day the unions aspire to the control of the great industries of the country, not only in respect of wages, but of all other features. This question of control is the present issue between employers and unions. A recent editorial in the New York Times, calling attention to an article by Mr. William E. Walling in the World’s Work, says of the present main issue in the industrial conflict:—
The question of wages enters very little into the matter. Of scarcely greater concern is the question of hours of labor. Expressed in the simplest terms, the issue between employers generally, and trades unions as they average, is whetherhours of labor and output shall be in inverse ratio to wages paid. Mr. Walling tells of a foundry owner in St. Louis who took a contract to cast some rough iron plates, and based his estimate upon the conviction that a workman of ordinary skill could mold and pour about fourteen in a day. The man who was first selected to do this work made but one in a day, and spoiled that. He was discharged as inefficient, and the work given to the best molder in the shop. He also finished but one in a day, excusing his inefficiency on the ground that the union rule was that the first man on the job “set the pace.” In the face of such conditions as this would indicate, the question of wages is without significance. Mr. W. H. Pfahler, of the National Stove Founders’ Association, gives in few words the reason why manufacturers who believe in high wages object to the union control of industries: “The unions define the workman’s rights, but say nothing of his duties.”
The struggle for control is now raging around the question of the “open shop.” A movement for an open shop, that is, for the right to employ non-union workmen, has been instituted by employers, who have banded together for mutual support against union dictation. Since the year 1900, when the first employers’ association was organized in Dayton, Ohio, such associations have been springing up in various States, and these were federated together last fall at Chicago, into the Citizens’ Industrial Association, which has branches in St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati. A summary by Mr. Walling of what has been accomplished under this movement says:—
Every city where the unions have acted in concert has now its employers’ or manufacturers’ association or its Citizens’ Alliance. The movement has been nationalized in the Manufacturers’ Association, the Anti-Boycott Association, and the Citizens’ Industrial Association of America.
“It is significant,” says the New York Times, “that whereas the old trade associations were generally favorable to the unions, the new national associations, and most of those formed to protect local interests, are hostile to them. There are a great many reasons for this, the chief of which is undoubtedly the disposition of the unions to oppose every measure to which employers are actuated by the instinct of self-protection. They have used the powerful machinery of the boycott to destroy whatever they could not control, and have forced the representative men of every community which is sustained by productive or distributive industry to say in effect what was lately said by the head of one of the largest business houses in the United States: ‘Some day the unions and the business community will have to fight it out to see who owns Chicago.’”
Such, unfortunately, is the prospect before us,—that of a fight “to a finish” between the business communities and the unions, to see who owns the country. How much better if the contending parties would adjust their relations by the application of the principles of the Prince of Peace. L. A. S.

The Church Without the Message

SINCE 1844, when the Christian churches heard and rejected the message of the hour of God’s judgment, they have been drifting, like a ship at sea which has lost its chart. That message presented to the church the definite purpose of God for that time, to the realization of which the church might and should have bent all her energies. This would have brought cohesion and spiritual life. But the church turned away from the Word that came from heaven, disconnected herself from the purpose of God for the world in this generation, which was to preach the gospel of the kingdom in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and since that time has been drifting about in mist and darkness. The result has been such a spiritual declension and uncertainty of purpose and calling that the query is now being raised in the church as to whether the church will continue much longer to exist, and whether the church ought to try to continue her existence. This is strikingly set forth in an article recently contributed to The Independent by an ex-clergyman, telling “why I gave up the ministry.” A perusal of some of his statements may help Seventh-day Adventists to appreciate more the clear, definite work committed to them, with the definite and mighty result to be realized by it, and to engage with greater zeal in its advancement. We quote:— It is simply a fact that among the Protestant clergy there is an ever-increasing obscurity of conception regarding the very task itself they have before them. In the past dozen years alone that task has shaped itself differently in different periods, and is perpetually shaping itself differently to different men. Once the evangelistic method claimed the best of their attention; then great missionary enterprises found all emphasis laid on them; then came the study of sociology as the sole means toward the desired end, and then the building of parish houses, the doing of institutional church work, the raising of money for the endowment of hospitals, schools, asylums, etc.
Now, to what does all this lead? It is at this point that my doubt takes its deepest plunge, for this I believe to be the most important point of all. It shapes itself into the question, Will the church continue to exist at all? Of course, there are those who answer this question affirmatively, and that dogmatically, and find the reason for their answer in their conception of the church itself, its origin, and its nature. They believe that origin to be divine, and they concern themselves but little for the future of it, confident that that future will take care of itself. I wish I could be so complacent. I can not. I can find no reason for believing in the church’s perpetuity apart from its mission, and the duration of its mission I conceive to be determined by its utility. If the church proves to be worth perpetuating, it will stay; if not, it must go, as have gone before it other institutions created in the service of religion, and even certain forms of that very church’s own worship, such as that in monasteries and that subsequently in cathedrals. Nothing is more idle than to employ statistics to prove whether people are or are not attending church more generally to-day than they did a generation or a century ago. Perhaps they are; perhaps they are not; that is a simple question of fact. The question of more importance is that regarding the enthusiasm which they manifest in what they do when they are there. It is not so hard to see that this enthusiasm is not great, indeed that it is so trivial as to be inconsiderable. Nor is it hard to see that, while the figures representing church attendance, reckoned absolutely, may still be large, relatively the number of young people is appallingly small. This being the case, the question arises, Where is that adherence and support to come from in the next generation? Will it even come at all?
And that in turn raises one other point, embodied in one other question, Should the church persist? Is it not possible that things have changed even in the past quarter of a century alone, and that they are changing to-day with such accelerating rapidity that we have come to the point where it is seriously to be doubted whether the church, with its pulpit, is the best medium of expression for religious or any other opinion? The press, the public platform, and a dozen other agencies have so widened their scope and so broadened their sphere that any one, not to say all, of them have become dangerous competitors.
I know, and that right well, that at this point there are those who assert that even the preaching, teaching function of the church is not its chief function, and that, therefore, even though this one should be superseded, it has a larger, a more vital and a more peculiar function; namely, that of administering spiritual comfort and counsel and developing spiritual energy and power in the lives of individuals who are its wards. Well, just what are the facts here? To what extent do the church’s members themselves to-day look to the church’s clergy in their official capacity for such service? The pastor of one of the largest congregations in New York, a congregation whose nominal “membership” is reckoned in four figures, and himself an earnest, godly man, tells me, in confidence, in perplexity and despair, this. Says he: “I keep, five days in the week, throughout the year, an ‘Office Hour,’ partly in order to economize my time, but in larger part to give to any one who wants to see me upon any matter ample opportunity to do so freely and yet privately. In one year alone I have been interviewed by a thousand different persons; yet in only six cases, by actual count, have these callers come to me regarding spiritual matters. They have asked for money, for influence, for advice in worldly affairs, in short, for everything under the sun—except for spiritual counsel!”
What, then, is the result of this decline in both these functions of the church? Is it not this? The church, thus driven by competition to widen its field, has sent its clergy out, or at least has allowed them to go out, to do many things in thename of religion which have nothing whatever to do with it. The clergy to-day are busy?—Yes. But busy doing what?—Not things they ever were ordained to do. They are busy as managers of institutions, as members of committees, as representatives on boards, as trustees of asylums, orphanages, schools and hospitals, dispensaries and colleges, and builders for themselves of parish-houses, where they organize and execute affairs of clubs and guilds, societies and institutes. They were not “ordained” to do these things, nor did they need years of professional training to become able to do them. Thus it would seem that those men who are busiest in the ministry to-day are busy only doing things which lie wholly outside of that especial sphere, so far as there ever was a special sphere for work in which they were especially trained, in so far as they ever were specially trained. For my own part, I must either find for myself some work in the church which is sufficiently unique to justify my continuing in the unique position of a “calling,” or I must abandon the latter here, to find the former somewhere else. . . .
I differ not at all from dozens like myself, some of whom have left the church already, others who will leave it soon. . . . I feel that there is nothing dishonorable in the step that I am taking. I have simply lost my mission and my message, and have found the courage necessary to give up a lucrative position without present hope of finding even one in which to earn a living. Far has it been from my desire to say anything that may by any possibility sound flippant. On the contrary, these pages record a veritable soul’s tragedy. L. A. S.
Continue reading: Sanitarium Interests at Washington