Review and Herald, Vol. 82, No. 8. (2/23/1905)

Review and Herald

Feb 23, 1905

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Feb 23, 1905

The Law of God

And God spake all these words, saying,

I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing loving-kindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.

Publishers' Page

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Association

The Great Nations of To-day

“THE GREAT NATIONS OF TO-DAY” reveals the causes of the movements of the nations at the present time, together with a clear presentation of their rise, relations, careers, and their destinies, in connection with a clear, concise treatise on the Seven Trumpets, the Three Woes, Babylon, the Beast of Revelation 13 and its Image, the Commandments, the Hour of God's Judgment Come, and the Setting up of the Everlasting Kingdom of God.

While people are studying the present war between Russia and Japan, it is a most favorable time to interest them in “The Great Nations of To-day.”

Bound in paper covers, containing 257 pages; price, 25 cents a copy.

1905 Year-Book

By Editor

Nearly 200 Pages

On account of delay in securing a portion of the copy, the Year-book for 1905 has been delayed; but it is now planned to have it—

Ready March 5

This Year-book will not be similar to those heretofore published, but will be the most complete, thorough, and reliable ever issued. Besides the directory and statistical features of former year-books, it will contain, in addition to many other important improvements, a thorough historical summary of the rise and progress of the denomination, and a clear, concise statement of the fundamental principles of the Seventh-day Adventist belief.

These two features alone are worth more than the price of the book. Many of our people do not fully grasp the importance of the work accomplished in the giving of the first and the second angels’ messages. They do not seem to understand that the third angel’s message is the outgrowth, the consequence, of these messages. The definite step taken in each of these messages is clearly traced; and if the people can have this definite knowledge of the great advent movement, which brought into existence the denomination, they will be greatly strengthened and encouraged.

Fundamental Principles

The fundamental principles, together with the history of the rise and progress of the denomination, will be of great service in missionary work; for there is a constant demand for a statement of “the belief of Seventh-day Adventists,” which could not be supplied since the pamphlet “Our Faith and Hope,” by Elder James White, went out of print, but which can be supplied now better than ever with a statement of the fundamental principles of the denomination, separate and apart from any semblance to a creed.

Those not of our faith who secure the 1905 Year-book from which to obtain the belief of the church, will also have with it a history of the rise and progress of the denomination, and a statement of its present thorough, systematic organization in all parts of the world. These facts will cause thinking people to consider more seriously and favorably the divine origin of the denomination and its work. The coming new Year-book, therefore, will be a good witness in missionary lines, and the best ever issued for our own people. Not only every worker, but every family in the denomination, should have a copy for reference and study; and thousands of copies should be used in missionary work.

It will be on sale at every State tract society depository.

Price, 25 cents, post-paid.

Religious Liberty Leaflets

100,000 Ordered

SINCE the announcement of the completion of these leaflets in the issue of the REVIEW bearing date of January 26, 100,000 of the Religious Liberty Leaflets have been ordered; and the orders are coming in so rapidly that an edition of 40,000 each is now being printed, and will be ready for delivery in a few days.

Principles too Little Understood

The leaflet bearing the above title contains a short, practical, impressive discussion of the fundamental principles of personal, national, and religious liberty. Eight pages; price, 38 cents per hundred.

Sunday Laws; Their Origin, Nature, and Object

Leaflet No. 2 is an eight-page tract treating upon the origin, nature, and object of Sunday laws. Any one reading this tract will not fail to discern the true spirit of these religious enactments. It will be a good educator on Sunday legislation. Eight pages; 38 cents per hundred.

The Logic of Sabbath Legislation

Leaflet No. 3 exposes the evil of Sabbath legislation, and reveals the true meaning of Sabbath laws. It contains eight pages; price, 38 cents per hundred.

The Civil Sabbath

Leaflet No. 4 exposes the arguments for the establishment of the civil sabbath in the United States, and reveals principles of true Sabbath observance contrasted with enforced observance. 12 pages; 55 cents per hundred.

These four tracts, with “An Appeal to Clergy,” completely cover the Sabbath question and the enforcement of Sunday observance by law.

An Appeal to Clergy

By Editor

280,000 Ordered February 19

LAST week we reported 200,000 copies of “An Appeal to Clergy” ordered, and predicted a large increase of orders before the nineteenth of February, which date marked the first month of its existence in tract form. Eighty thousand copies represents the increase in orders since this report, making a total of 280,000 copies ordered during the first month of its existence; and large orders are still coming in.

Many are the voluntary expressions of appreciation of the merits of the matter composing this tract, coming from all parts of the country. We quote a few as samples of the many:—

“It is surely a clincher.”

“It is an eye-opener.”

“It contains the message for this time.”

“I think you have struck the keynote in the ‘Open Letter’ that will start the ball rolling, and bring the truth before millions of people.”

“It is a clean-cut argument on the question of religious liberty, and will do much to open the eyes of the honest in heart.”

“There is a wonderful amount of stubborn facts summed up in a small space. Just what men of business want to read.”

Price, 40 cents a hundred; $3.75 a thousand.

The Vegetarian Cook Book

THE author of the “Vegetarian Cook Book” has served an apprenticeship in scientific and hygienic cookery, and has for several years conducted one of the most successful hygienic restaurants in the country, and is eminently qualified to impart the needed rational information in hygienic cooking.

In addition to the numerous practical recipes of all kinds of palatable hygienic dishes, the author devotes considerable space to common-sense rules with reference to boiling, steaming, stewing, baking, braizing, and broiling, and the benefit to be derived therefrom when science and reason are combined. This feature of the work is alone worth the price of the book.

The “Vegetarian Cook Book” contains over 225 pages of choice recipes and valuable information. Every home should be in possession of a copy of this excellent work on hygienic cookery.

Bound in cloth; price, 75 cents.

A New Book on Colds

By G. H. Heald

By G. H. Heald, M. D.

We are pleased to announce the completion of the new book on colds by Dr. G. H. Heald, Editor of Life and Health. The work is a treatise on colds, and imparts all the information necessary on the causes, prevention, and cure of this prevailing disease. It is written in simple, direct language, and can be readily comprehended by all, and its suggestions can be practically applied in the home.

Of all the ills to which the flesh is heir, colds are perhaps the most frequent, and especially so at this season of the year. A cold should have immediate and proper treatment. Sometimes the symptoms of a more serious disease are mistaken for a cold.

Our little booklet will be a great blessing to all the families possessing it in the treatment for colds, and in instruction for their prevention. It is within the reach of all, being only 25 cents a copy, post-paid. Neatly bound in white leatherette.

Order the Review & Herald

Order of Review & Herald, Washington, D. C.; Battle Creek, Mich.; Pacific Press, Mountain View, Cal.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Assn., Nashville, Tenn.; or your State Tract Society.

Out of the Depths

THE psalmist's hope in the Lord's forgiving love is beautifully expressed in the one hundred and thirtieth psalm. “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Jehovah. . . . There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. . . . With Jehovah there is loving-kindness, and with him is plenteous redemption.” Who has not been at some time in his life in the depths of sorrow, in the depths of distress, in the depths of anguish? Who has not known the experience of being almost overwhelmed with the waves of trouble? David has pictured it with much clearness: “The cords of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The cords of Sheol were round about me; the snares of death came upon me.” And he also points out the right course to pursue: “In my distress I called upon Jehovah, and cried unto my God.” The result is most encouraging: “He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry before him came into his ears.” We may have brought all our trouble upon ourselves, and may richly deserve all the distress, but still when “out of the depths” we cry unto the Lord with a desire to turn unto him, he will send us help out of the sanctuary. So it was with Jonah, but his testimony is, “Out of the belly of Sheol cried I, and thou heardest my voice. . . . All thy waves and thy billows passed over me. And I said, I am cast out from before thine eyes; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. . . . When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Jehovah; and my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple.” In spite of his wayward course, Jonah was delivered when, “out of the depths,” he cried unto God. In times of distress we may adopt the words of comfort which have been written for our learning: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him, who is the help of my countenance, and my God.”

Confessing Sin

In the model prayer which our Saviour has taught us he has instructed us to say, “Forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.” To pray this prayer daily is not to charge God with having failed to forgive our sins when we have asked him, neither does it imply that he is not able to keep us from sinning. It simply recognizes the proper attitude of a sinner saved by grace who keeps his sins forgiven, whether they be sins of omission or sins of commission. There is a wide difference between the humble contrition of one who accepts the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, and believes in the power of God to keep from sin so long as he acknowledges himself to be nothing but a poor sinner, and the boastful claim of the one who makes the mistake of thinking that the experience of righteousness by faith transforms a sinner into a sinless being instead of changing a lost sinner into a saved sinner. The only way that we can be kept from committing sin is by confessing that we are sinners, wholly dependent upon the forgiving mercy of God. The publican who prayed, “God be merciful to me a sinner” was accepted of God, and “went down to his house justified;” but if he had returned the next day with the prayer of the Pharisee in his mouth, he would have lost his justification. “No deep-seated love for Jesus can dwell in the heart that does not realize its own sinfulness. The soul that is transformed by the grace of Christ will admire his divine character.” It is Christ’s righteousness, not our own, in which we are clothed, and even when the righteousness of Christ is revealed in us, there is still no merit to be claimed as of ourselves, and we retain his righteousness by confessing that we are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” The first step toward sin is to claim that we are free from sin. Let the Lord justify us, and not we ourselves.

“Immanence” and “Pantheism”

THE editor of Public Opinion recently submitted the following question “to a number of theologians, sociologists, social workers, and psychologists:” “Are the masses of men yet sufficiently developed to determine and follow out a course of right conduct without the impelling power of a belief in, or a fear of, a personal God who rewards and punishes?” Some of the replies and the editorial discussion of them appear under the heading, “Social Value of Religion. What Would Happen if Belief in God Were Lost?”

In his introduction to these replies the editor says: “Not only the expositors of the ‘New Theology,’ but many other religious thinkers and teachers who are otherwise orthodox, are showing an increasing tendency to discard the belief in a personal God, and to substitute for it the idea of an immanent God or of an unnamed First Cause.”

One reply to the editor’s question runs as follows:—

I think that whatever consequences for conduct are involved in the loss of belief in a personal God have already been, to a great extent, anticipated, and may now be heavily discounted. I am sure that the masses of men and women in the United States no longer believe in any theological creed as they believed in my youth. The doctrines of evolution,

although imperfectly understood by the people, have yet been uncritically accepted as probably true, and human conduct is gradually adjusting itself to that state of mind.

This is not the first time that men have tried to get along without God, and it may be profitable to consider what such a course means. Here is the result as pictured in the Word of God: “And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful.” What can better account for the increase of lawlessness and the present carnival of crime than the fact that men and women are refusing to have God in their knowledge? There is no power for righteousness in the doctrines of evolution, and the barriers against sin are being broken down by the “increasing tendency to discard the belief in a personal God, and to substitute for it the idea of an immanent God.” May we not reasonably expect that the final outcome of this evolutionary system of religion will be the utter abandonment of righteousness if such results have already appeared while “human conduct is gradually adjusting itself to that state of mind”? We are surely in the time when men have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. Soon an insulted God will rise up and vindicate his own existence and character.

Another writer seems to appreciate the fact that the waning of religious belief may be attended by serious results, and says:—

It is a natural fear that unless a substitute for religion can, within a measurable time, be found, a period of moral confusion will ensue. Philosophers will, of course, be kept right not only by their philosophy, but by the character which dedication to philosophy implies. It is not likely that there will be any sudden catastrophe. Society will not fall to pieces. It will be held together by the necessity of labor, of order, of mutual help and forbearance, by the domestic and social affections, by opinion, by the law and the police. But it does not follow that pending the reparation of the basis, society may not undergo a bad quarter of an hour, especially if, in the absence of spiritual aims and of hopes beyond this world, a passionate thirst for pleasure and for the means of obtaining it should prevail.

But this is just what is now prevailing to an increasing degree. Men and women are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,” and are disregarding every principle of righteousness in the mad race for wealth which supplies the means for gratifying pleasure. In spite of this writer’s assurance, and according to the predictions of God’s prophets, we may soon expect a “sudden catastrophe,” even that “sudden destruction” which is to come when men are saying “Peace and safety.”

From still another reply we quote the following:—

While the doctrine of divine immanence is not supposed by its advocates to be the same thing as pantheism, in its practical popular effect it is the same. The radical moral defect in both these systems is that they deny the freedom of the human will, and remove from the conscience the sense of sin, and reduce virtue to a mere natural phenomenon. According to pantheism, the mind of man is but a necessary emanation of a blind impersonal force to which no responsibility either of praise or of blame can belong. The doctrine of divine immanence, when pushed to its extreme, as it is by many at the present time, asserts that everything is the result of the present activity of God. As advocated by Dr. Lyman Abbott, all secondary causes are abolished, and everything resolved to the direct agency of the Creator; this makes God the author of sin as well as of virtue. . . . Any use of language which dulls the luster of this great principle [“that man is the arbiter of his own moral fortune”], and makes man feel that he is the mere creature of circumstances or the mere product of the direct activity of the underlying force of nature, whatever that may be, can be productive only of untold evil.

When a leader of religious thought, who does not know anything of this third angel’s message in terms, but who stands against this modern idea of divine immanence, declares that this teaching is “in its practical popular effect” the same as pantheism, may we not well believe that in the genuine teaching of this message which is to save the people from the errors of this time there will be an utter repudiation of this whole pantheistic conception of the divine immanence and an immanent God? Ought the message which is to point out the pernicious error and save from it, to be clothed in the same language as the error? Let it be remembered that in the estimation of at least one man who discerns the tendency of evolutionary and scientific religion the doctrine of divine immanence is “in its practical popular effect” the same thing as pantheism, and let those who do not wish to be classed as pantheists discard the beliefs and the language of pantheism. There is a wide difference between the true teaching of the omnipresence of God and the false teaching of the divine immanence as it is now being proclaimed. The message which is to call attention to the true God and his worship as against false gods and false conceptions of God, will not be based upon such an interpretation of the Scriptures as will harmonize with the “increasing tendency to discard the belief in a personal God and to substitute for it the idea of an immanent God.” This advent message is in its very nature a constant protest against this perversion of the truth. They have nothing in common.

Editorial

By Editor

Prepare for It

“THAT hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” is rapidly approaching. Prepare for it. “The coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” Prepare for it. All things are now shaping for the downfall of the world. Prepare for it. Soon the faithful will hear the invitation, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Prepare for it. Soon “the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” Prepare for it. “Get ready, get ready, get ready. Ye will have to die a greater death to the world than ye have yet died.” “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus.”

The Government and Sectarian Schools

By L. A. S.

SOME years ago a battle was fought out in Congress over the question of governmental appropriation of public funds to sectarian schools. It was found at that time that the Catholic Church was profiting more than any other denomination by this gift of public money, having by some means been able to secure from the government, each year, a sum almost equal to the amount secured by all the Protestant denominations combined. On the ground of the violation of Constitutional law and republican principles of government which such appropriations involved, the battle was fought and won by the opponents of the scheme, the appropriations were stopped, and apparently there was an end of the matter unless Congress should yield to sectarian pressure, and reverse its policy.

Now, however, a new chapter has been opened in the history of this misappropriation of public money, and proceedings are brought to light which are thoroughly characteristic of the spirit which prompts the effort to reach sectarian hands into the public treasury. It appears that there were funds held in trust by the Department of the Interior for certain Indian tribes, the use of which was regulated by treaties with the tribes and by a federal statute which provided that “treaty funds can not be diverted from the objects for which appropriated without the consent of the tribes, expressed in general council, which consent, stated in writing, must be approved by the Secretary of the Interior.” Papal officials who had fostered the policy of sectarian appropriations to their Indian schools saw in the existence of these funds an opportunity to continue to draw money for their use from another source than the Catholic Church treasury.

Nine allotments of money from these funds have been made to Catholic Indian schools, and in most, if not all of these cases, it is admitted, there was no consent in general council of the tribe whose funds were thus diverted, to the proceeding; while on the other hand, it is affirmed that petitions against the allotment, more numerously signed than those calling for the same, were ignored.

But more than this: the money so allotted should represent only the pro rata proportion of the tribal money to

which the individual Indians petitioning for such an appropriation are entitled. But what are the facts? According to the agent of the Indian Rights Association, Mr. Brosius, one of these mission schools, that at Pine Ridge, which is entitled to only $700, receives this year $21,600, drawn from the funds collectively belonging to the whole tribe of which the petitioners are members. He states further that the three mission schools at Pine Ridge, Rosebud, and Crow Creek, taken together, which under a pro rata division would be entitled to $1,803, actually receive $55,620. It was very innocently represented by those who manipulated the matter that the money was to be taken, at the request of the Indians, not from any congressional appropriations, but from their own funds; but, as stated, no consent in general council of the tribe was obtained, and what was actually done was to appropriate income belonging to the entire tribe to the benefit of a few who, under Catholic influence, made the request for it. There was deception practised upon the Indian Bureau, and it appears that Catholic political influence was brought to bear upon the responsible parties to secure this dishonest division of Indian funds.

On this point we note the following in an editorial in The Independent:—

Quite suspiciously enlightening in the matter is the acknowledgment of Professor Scharf, a distinguished Catholic clergyman, that he called the attention of a Republican senator to the fact that there were twenty close districts where Catholic votes might assure Republican success, if the present government did not yield to the objections made by the A. P. A. to these appropriations, and that he would indicate the Catholics who would control the vote.

And in The Outlook we note this still more explicit statement, quoted from Mr. Brosius, who presented it in writing before a committee of the United States Senate, at a hearing held January 31 last:—

A statement has been made to me by an honorable senator which will be amplified before the committee on Indian affairs, if requested, to the effect that a Mr. Scharf, a representative Catholic [Prof. E. L. Scharf, of the Catholic University at Washington], submitted a table of twenty close congressional districts with the alleged Catholic vote in each, and a written proposal to deliver the necessary votes to carry these districts that might be selected by the Republicans if the appropriations for Catholic Indian schools to the amount of $200,000 were continued for two years longer. Even threats were made by this Mr. Scharf that the defeat of certain congressmen would be brought about unless opposition to sectarian appropriations was withdrawn.

I will state further that a member of the House of Representatives who was opposing legislation which provided for support of Indian contract schools from government funds was approached by the same Mr. Scharf, and threatened that if he did not withdraw his opposition to the legislation, he (Mr. Scharf) would see to it that the Catholic Church organization would defeat him at the next election. I am authorized to make this statement to this committee.

President Roosevelt, backed by Attorney-general Moody, takes the position that a pro rata allotment of Indian trust funds to sectarian schools is not illegal, and states that “the practise will be continued by the Department unless Congress should decide to the contrary, or, of course, unless the courts should decide that the decision of the Department of Justice is erroneous.”

This view, however, overlooks the broad Protestant principle underlying the whole subject of governmental appropriations to sectarian schools, under whatever form, which all such appropriations violate; namely, that the best interests of both church and state demand their complete separation from each other. The bearing of this principle upon the matter is well stated by The Outlook, as follows:—

We contend that it [the appropriation to Indian schools] is unjust to the Indians, unwise for the government, and injurious to the churches. Any kind of a business partnership between the government and the church, whether the government is acting for the people at large, as it does in an appropriation bill, or as a trustee for a small group, as in this particular case, is inevitably pernicious in its result. Jealousies, heart-burnings, deceptions, wire pulling, and sectarian conflicts and animosities follow in its train. The fact that in this case Roman Catholic schools were the chief beneficiaries, . . . and that the money was not divided among the Indians pro rata, as the President rightly says it ought to be, has nothing to do with the general principle involved.

We should, says The Outlook, “avoid by every possible endeavor the dangers, perplexities, and annoyances which the people of France and England are in the midst of at the present moment because in England the government and the Protestant church, and in France the government and the Roman Catholic Church, are trying to carry on an educational partnership. No such partnership is wanted in this country.”

These facts show the persistent activity of the spirit that is working for church and state union in this nation, and the ready way in which politics lends itself now, as formerly, to the furtherance of such an end. “We are fighting over again the battles of the fourth century;” and “old controversies will be revived, and new ones will be added.” All these things are heralds of the approaching end.

L. A. S.

It Will Be Agitated

It is certain that the Sabbath question will command more and more attention as we draw nearer to the climax of the great controversy. In one way and another the subject is now almost constantly kept before the minds of the people of this city at the present time. Since the announcement by the Protestant ministers of the purpose to inaugurate a special campaign for better “Sabbath observance,” there have appeared in the papers many columns of letters dealing with the various phases of this question, in addition to a well-written editorial and the reports of our public meetings where this subject has been under consideration.

In the same issue of the Washington Post in which was published the report of our second meeting at the Lafayette Opera House, which is reprinted in another column, there appeared the following letter dealing with the report of a sermon preached in this city on a recent Sunday:—

EDITOR POST: I read with much interest the report of the sermon by Rev. Randolph H. McKim, in which he suggests as a remedy for the moral decadence of the nation the teaching of the ten commandments in the public schools. It is refreshing, indeed, in this age of

lawless teaching, when many from the pulpits are teaching that the decalogue has been either abolished or changed, to hear so venerable and influential a clergyman as Dr. McKim exalt the downtrodden law of God so highly. Evidently the learned rector of the Church of the Epiphany believes that the ten commandments are still binding, and constitute the very essence of morality, and should be taught to the children from infancy. The Lord anciently enjoined this responsibility upon all parents. See Deut. 6:7-9.

But suppose this suggestion is carried into effect. What about the fourth commandment? This says very plainly that “the seventh day is the Sabbath.” Dr. McKim says this should be taught the children in the schools. Shall it be taught as God gave it, or as the church practises it? The seventh day is not Sunday. There is no law in the Bible that says anything about keeping Sunday. Shall the children be taught during the week a law which says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath,” and on Sunday be taught in the churches to disregard the very day this law commands, and keep instead a pagan holiday, nowhere commanded in the Scripture? Would it not help the youth to a higher regard for the decalogue, for the church of the living God to keep this precept with the other nine? How can the youth be taught to highly regard this moral code when every week the church as a body disregards one of its plainest precepts?

It seems that the position of Dr. McKim concerning the perpetuity and unchangeable character of the law is the same as that of the Seventh-day Adventists. They teach that the ten commandments are binding, and should be taught to the children as well as to those who are older, and then put their teaching into practise by observing the day enjoined in the law—the seventh day. The rector of the Church of the Epiphany teaches that this law is also binding, and should be taught the youth. The difference between the doctor and the Adventists seems to be in practise rather than in teaching.

G. B. THOMPSON.

The very next day the Post had an editorial with the heading “Sunday Observance in England,” in which it commented upon a crusade against the non-observance of Sunday which has been begun in England. It set forth the alleged causes for this crusade as follows:—

It is asserted that the rich and idle, who might well be content with six days in which to enjoy themselves to the utmost, are turning Sunday into a day of pleasure, with automobile excursions, boating parties, formal dinners, card parties, and concerts. Sunday has been secularized to such a degree that servants, railway men, and, in fact, nearly all classes of laboring men, no longer secure a day of rest. Customs, too, have changed with the swirl and whirl of society. In the olden days a person who indulged in any form of amusement on Sunday was socially ostracized by all “respectable people;” but since it has become fashionable to play golf on Sunday, to say nothing of other forms of recreation, the Puritan spirit is less dominant, and much is condoned which was formerly condemned. It is this condition of things which has led the clergy into a common movement for the salvation of Sunday.

The attitude of the people of this country toward Sunday is thus stated:—

Except in a few communities, the strait-laced Sunday has disappeared. People are regarding the day with broader spirit. If a man who has labored all the week indulges in recreation on Sunday, no one threatens him with eternal damnation; and if he listens to good music in the evening, he is not at once placed in the category of those who are totally degenerate. Even Christian people, who are careful to walk in the narrow path, and who believe in following religious precept, are more tolerant to-day regarding Sunday observance than ever before, and many of them indulge in harmless pastimes without a qualm of conscience.

The Post has this to say concerning the enactment of Sunday laws:—

No one has been harmed by the slight concessions which have been made to those who find in Sunday the one day free for recreation. On the contrary, it is safe to say that any attempt to compel people to live according to the old “blue laws” would work incalculable injury. A Sunday statute, framed along the lines suggested by some well-meaning but bigoted reformers, would simply invite violation. It could not be effective because human nature is not to be changed by legislation. Above all things, it would be unwise, because unnecessary.

As the claims of the law of God are urged upon the people with greater clearness and power in the teaching of the third angel's message, the spirit of opposition will be more determined, and the prophecies relating to the beast and his image will be fulfilled. It is evident, however, that there still remains enough of the right sentiment to be effective in holding in check these elements until the work of God is accomplished. The little time that remains should be employed to the best possible advantage in presenting to the people God's message to this generation, and in gathering out of every nation a people prepared to meet the Lord. Let every proper means be used to bring the present truth before the people.

The Weak Becoming Strong

By W. A. S.

IN Joel’s prophecy of the military preparations in the last days, he says: “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.”

We have seen in this generation not only the older and stronger powers feverishly turning the produce of the plow and the pruning-hook—the wealth from the soil—into preparations for war, but nations formerly weak have suddenly sprung to the front. The London Contemporary Review remarks on this development in one conspicuous case, that of Japan:—

Lately a despised race, she has swiftly made good her claim to rank as a highly enlightened nation with the first military and naval powers of the globe.

While the nations are fulfilling the prophecy,—and now no nation feels itself too weak to join the mad rush of preparing war,—it is time for another prophecy to be fulfilled. It is a promise for soldiers in the army of the Lord: “And he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.” So now, “Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come.”

W. A. S.

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